How Oracle Customers Innovate and Grow by Moving to Rimini Street

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Atkins .................................................................................................................................................. 4

UCI International ............................................................................................................................ 6

BrandSafway ..................................................................................................................................... 8

Dean Foods ....................................................................................................................................... 10

Public Health Organization ....................................................................................................... 12

Interpark ........................................................................................................................................... 14

Guest Services ................................................................................................................................ 16

Contents

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50% to 60% of IT funds go towards software maintenancei.

The highest Oracle scored in the friendliness category of its own customer service scorecard was

21.86 out of 200ii.

75% of upgrades are done due to ending support from the OEM vendoriii.

65% of ALL issues and 85% of P1 issues are custom code relatediv.

Thousands of Oracle customers are still running on

EBS 11.5.10, which was made available in 2004v.

Introduction

iHow Software Maintenance Fees Are Siphoning Away Your IT Budget—and How to Stop It, Accenture Operations, 2014iiOracle Customer Service Scorecard, 2015

You’ve invested a lot in your Oracle software over the years. It’s paid off with a more efficient and competitive business. But now high maintenance fees are eroding that value, and satisfaction with vendor support is at an all-time low. Suppose you could cut your Oracle support costs in half — plus increase ROI, strengthen control over your software roadmap and drive innovative IT programs that give your business a competitive edge?

The Unsustainability of Vendor Support ERP remains a high priority for CIOs, ranking as their No. 4 priority in the Gartner 2016 CIO survey. On-premises ERP will remain in place at many organizations, but IT support spending on those applications, as well as databases, will need to shrink as funds shift toward new investments.

High annual maintenance fees and poor support experiences lead to consequences that can include:

― Decreased productivity as IT teams struggle to troubleshoot interoperability anomalies

― Increased spending to self-support and maintain customizations

― Higher risk of downtime due to poor support and long resolution times

― Diversion of resources that could be invested in innovation and customer-centric initiatives

― Creation of risky shadow IT by business teams when IT can’t meet demands

iiiOAUG Survey, 2015ivRimini Street Survey, 2015vKey Decisions for Oracle EBS 11i Clients Upgrading to R12, Gartner, 2015

There Is A Better Way The truth is that most ERP customers are very happy with their enterprise software the way it is. It works — and works well. Oracle delivers reliable, mature solutions that need only two things: Customization and great support.

Read on to explore how leading enterprises have tackled their enterprise software support challenges with Rimini Street, liberating valuable resources and achieving the agility and control needed to innovate.

1

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2Atkins, whose motto is “Plan, Design, Enable,” is the UK’s largest engineering consultancy and the fourth largest engineering and architectural consultancy in Europe.The Atkins ChallengeAtkins’ business revolves around managing some of the world’s most challenging design and engineering projects. As a result, the Oracle EBS Projects application was identified as a key tool for the company. After years of rapid growth, Atkins spent 18 months implementing and customizing Oracle EBS 11.5.10 for its North American operations, going live in 2008.

“Oracle Projects is highly extensible — and I say extensible versus customizable because you can do it within the framework of the application without really touching Oracle’s code,” explains Randy Martin, Director of Corporate Systems for Atkins. “We have put a lot of specific logic into all sorts of areas — everything from revenue recognition to labor costing

Global Design & Engineering Firm BroadensValue of Oracle EBS with Cloud Apps for HR

Atkins

— and now we have an application that’s very well configured to our business.”

In 2013, Martin’s team found themselves in a position familiar to many other organizations running Oracle: EBS 11.5.10 was moving to Sustaining Support, which meant virtually no support. The team at Atkins was very happy with their EBS stable system; it was performing and delivering what the business needed. They weighed their options of upgrading their system or breaking out of the traditional ERP upgrade cycle and driving their own roadmap.

The problem with upgrading to R12 — or tackling a brand new implementation project with Oracle Fusion Cloud — was that there was no business justification, no return on investment, to do so at that time. Martin says, “It was obvious Oracle wasn’t putting much real investment into its legacy products — Oracle clearly seems to be investing mostly in its cloud business models with little in the way of enhancements for our EBS system.

Client Profile: Atkins is a design, engineering and project management consultancy that takes on complex challenges in the energy, transportation and infrastructure markets.

Industry: Architectural and Engineering

Geography: Headquartered in London, with 178 offices across 23 countries.

Revenue: GBP £1.86 billion

Employees: 18,050

Supported Products: Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) 11.5.10, Oracle Database 11.2.03, Oracle Internet Application Server, Internet Developer Suite

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In fact, Atkins wanted to embark on a hybrid IT strategy and implement a series of emerging cloud-based applications for HCM, payroll, recruiting and benefits that would enhance its established EBS system. “We defined a core hybrid IT guideline: New systems will go to the cloud unless there’s a compelling reason why they should not be in the cloud,” Martin explains.

Atkins proceeded in a search to identify a third-party support solution for EBS that would support those business’ goals, enable innovation around EBS 11.5.10 and comply with regulatory updates. In addition to these priorities, “Our conclusion was that Rimini Street would actually offer more comprehensive and responsive support,” Martin says.

The Rimini Street SolutionAlong with moving its EBS support to Rimini Street, Atkins also moved its Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware support. Now the team enjoys better support of all their Oracle products. Better yet, Atkins could change the way they looked at dedicating resources by reinvesting cost savings and shifting attention to innovation rather than self-support or unnecessary upgrades. Not only was Atkins’ team receiving more responsive attention for basic ERP support issues, but they no longer had to devote resources to support their EBS customizations.

“With Oracle, you were always kind of tiptoeing around any customizations that you added because the moment they discovered any, it was either, ‘Well, we can’t help you since you’ve customized that particular part of the application,’ or ‘You need to disable your customization so we can prove that it’s not what’s causing the problem,’” Martin says. This support model necessitated self-support and increased Atkins’ total cost of maintenance.

“With Rimini Street, it was always made clear to us, even before we came on board, that customization support was core to their support program. It wasn’t a hard black-and-white line between what’s Oracle code versus our extensions or customizations,” he adds.

Client ResultsNow that its IT resources have been liberated to perform more value-added tasks than basic ERP support and maintenance, Atkins is extending its technology platform to grow the business. “We’re making inroads in the cloud peripherally around our ERP — especially in the HR/HCM area. We now use Choicelinx for our benefits,” Martin says, adding that Atkins is also utilizing ADP, which is starting to offer more cloud-oriented solutions.

For talent management, Atkins is tapping Taleo from Oracle as well as Cornerstone. Developing a hybrid IT approach enables the company to be more agile and responsive. Since moving to independent support, Martin reports that Atkins has seen more engagement from Oracle, not less, covering both technology stack conversations and cloud applications. “Most people seem to feel that staying on Oracle support is for risk mitigation or that Oracle might hamper their efforts to maintain their system or move to the cloud — but that’s not been the case. Our relationship has improved,” Martin says. “I think, overall, making the move to independent support has increased our ability to redirect resources to strategic initiatives.”

Benefits ― Avoided expensive, disruptive EBS upgrade

but can upgrade in the future at a time that makes business sense with a managed archive process

― Cut annual support fees by 50 percent, freeing up funds for innovation in other parts of the business

― Received ultra-responsive service including support for customized code

“Had we gone to R12, that would have consumed a lot of resources just to do the upgrade — and then certainly it would have resulted in more time and effort needed for stabilization and making changes in processes. The decision to stay on 11.5.10 helped allow our resources to be redirected to other critical projects.”

Randy MartinDirector of Corporate SystemsAtkins

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3UCI supplies vehicle aftermarket with replacement parts, selling its products to companies such as Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, Carquest, NAPA and O’Reilly Automotive.The UCI ChallengeUCI International’s IT team, led by Chief Information Officer Mark Wikingstad, determined that its current Oracle E-Business Suite R11 release was mature and able to continue supporting mission-critical business operations for the foreseeable future.

“Let’s face it, there’s nothing fancy about ERP,” says Wikingstad. “It takes orders. It keeps inventory. It keeps books, it invoices, it posts cash and so on. Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.9 is totally solid, and is working fine for our purposes. The applications are fullfeatured and stable and can support our business operations for many years to come.”

Automotive Manufacturer Takes the Driver's Seat, Preserves Oracle EBS R11

The Rimini Street SolutionUCI International selected Rimini Street to support its Oracle EBS applications and is saving substantial annual support fees while enjoying premium-level service.

UCI International can continue running its mature and stable Oracle E-Business Suite R11 release for a minimum of 15 years without any required upgrades.

In terms of strategic value, the savings from moving to Rimini Street are helping UCI International to meet its budget goals while focusing resources and staff on key strategic business and IT initiatives.

UCI International also receives support for its customizations, as well as support for interoperability, performance and interfaces included at no additional fee, as part of the Rimini Street support program.

Client Profile: UCI International is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of vehicle replacement parts. Its brands include Airtex Products, ASC Industries and Wells Vehicle Electronics.

Industry: Manufacturing

Geography: Headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois with facilities and offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and China

Revenue: $985 million

Employees: 3,800

Applications: Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.9: Order Management, Manufacturing, Shipping, Financials, Material Requirements Planning

Hardware/Operating System/Database: Sun Solaris 10/Oracle 10g

UCI International

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Client ResultsBy delaying or avoiding an upgrade to EBS 12, Wikingstad says that UCI International is avoiding the cost of a complete reimplementation. These savings are in addition to the 50 percent that the company saves on annual maintenance fees.

“These were our options,” says Wikingstad: “Continue with vendor support at a certain cost; or, let’s move to Rimini Street, cut our support costs in half, enjoy a robust support offering and do it for 10 years, putting us in the driver’s seat on our technology direction. In the end it was an easy decision.”

Like many companies in these times of economic uncertainty, UCI International has developed a cost-conscious culture focused on achieving savings at all levels throughout the company. A major ERP upgrade, explains Wikingstad, would entail shifting dozens of the company’s best and brightest to work on the upgrade for about a year, disabling them from work on a range of projects more integral to the business.

Says Wikingstad: “You have certain people, the ones that everybody wants to work on every project. We’ve consciously decided to stay away from major system change because we want to keep our best and brightest free from the burden of an ERP change — free to work on other pressing initiatives more core to our business.”

In hindsight, Wikingstad says his biggest lesson learned — the one he’d share with other CIOs considering the move to independent support — is wishing UCI International had moved to Rimini Street sooner.

“Why didn’t we move faster?,” he asks. “The reality is, Rimini Street Support works. It’s smooth. It’s a huge nonevent. And you get robust support. You take the driver’s seat and you save money. It’s almost too good to be true. For UCI International, Rimini Street has lived up to its claims 100 percent.”

Wikingstad sums up: “We are very pleased with the benefits we are receiving from Rimini Street Support for our Oracle E-Business Suite applications, including significant savings, premium level of service and strategic value.

Benefits ― Gained strategic value: UCI International met

budget goals while focusing top resources and staff on key strategic business and IT initiatives rather than ERP system maintenance.

― Avoided upgrade costs: Freed up significant budget by stabilizing on current robust, highly functional release.

― Eliminated escalating support costs: Saved 50 percent on annual maintenance fees and will continue to save that amount while receiving premium support services for a minimum of 15 years and beyond.

“Why switch to Rimini Street Support? It works. It’s smooth. It’s a huge nonevent. And you get robust support. You take the driver’s seat, and you save money. It’s almost too good to be true.”

Mark WikingstadChief Information OfficerUCI International

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4BrandSafway is comprised of multiple operating units and go-to-market brands that operate in more than 350 locations in 30 countries.

The BrandSafway ChallengeBrandSafway supports multinational and localized business units around the world to provide a wide range of industrial, commercial and forming and shoring solutions for the oil, gas, power, civil infrastructure and commercial construction industries. As BrandSafway was growing into the larger company it is today, the company needed to focus on business integration, business intelligence and e-commerce to manage its global operations.

While planning its IT strategy, BrandSafway began evaluating a pending Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) upgrade from 11i to 12 for one of its business units. After determining that the

Global Services Firm Drives Growth by Optimizing Oracle EBS, Payroll, JDE and Database Support

upgrade would yield few business benefits and little productivity improvements for the cost and disruption it would have entailed, BrandSafway decided to halt the upgrade and refocus those resources on improving the underlying Oracle 11i system while also rolling it out globally to more than a dozen countries.

BrandSafway Global Applications Director Simon Lytton, explains, “EBS 12 didn’t have any features our business needed. We wanted business intelligence (BI) and e-commerce and couldn’t wait for Oracle to provide this functionality in some future release. Those are the things that we build for ourselves now - with tailored solutions in various countries. That’s what is going to really drive the business forward, not the minor enhancements R12 was offering us.” Once BrandSafway made the strategic decision to halt the R12 upgrade, Lytton says, “We were very conscious that we needed to identify an organization to support our company-wide EBS 11i, including payroll.”

Client Profile: BrandSafway is a premier provider of integrated specialty services to the global energy, industrial and infrastructure markets.

Industry: Energy/Manufacturing/ServicesEmployees: 35,000Geography: Headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia, U.S., with facilities across the globe.

Products Supported: Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 including HR/Payroll; Oracle Technology: Internet Application Server 1.0.2.2.2, Oracle Database 9.1.2, 11.2.0.3.0; JD Edwards A8.1 Cume 2

BrandSafway

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The Rimini Street SolutionFollowing a careful vetting process, BrandSafway switched to Rimini Street for support for EBS. Additionally, the company chose Rimini Street to support its EBS Payroll system and Oracle Database. BrandSafway based its decision to go with Rimini Street on several key factors. First, the company wanted support for modified code, and Rimini Street supports customizations at no extra charge.

Second, the global EBS rollout effort requires ongoing global tax, legal and regulatory updates and localizations. “It was vital we had a partner that could provide us with the statutory and regulatory fixes for our payroll solution in the U.K. These updates were soon to be eliminated under the Oracle Sustaining Support Policy,” Lytton notes. To address that looming payroll issue, Rimini Street began providing payroll updates to BrandSafway while the company was still in the process of onboarding to its new support program. Rimini Street delivers comprehensive, tailored compliance updates ahead of a vendor’s own updates - and delivers only the updates needed by each individual client.

A third key factor for BrandSafway was - and still is - proactive support. “The biggest change from Oracle to Rimini Street is the proactivity,” he remarks. “Rimini Street identifies potential issues before they become problems. They give us corrective guidance, as opposed to us reacting to the changes and then trying to chase patches or fixes.”

Client ResultsNow that BrandSafway has standardized on a stable EBS 11i foundation supported by Rimini Street, the company has been able to refocus time and cost savings on its business goals. The core initiatives BrandSafway is working to accomplish, Lytton reports, include continuing to roll out EBS globally and enhancing its model for greater efficiency with projects such as electronic invoicing and business intelligence reporting.

“Before we came to Rimini Street, we had suspended our rollout program as we evaluated an R12 upgrade, but after experiencing Rimini Street’s ability to engage with us globally - but also on a local level in each geography — we didn’t see the value in an upgrade and have since increased our footprint of supported software,” Lytton says. “Early on, we rolled out to the UK., US., Canada, Australia, Poland, Egypt, Mexico and Germany, but we’ve since continued to The Netherlands, Belgium, India, Malaysia, Singapore, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia.”

In fact, Lytton notes, because of BrandSafway’s positive experience with Oracle EBS support, the company has also added independent support for JD Edwards software it has gained through acquisitions of companies around the world. “Because our JD Edwards implementation was stable and doing its job well, we had no business need to upgrade,” Lytton says. “Moving support for JD Edwards to Rimini Street was an easy win because we could reduce operational costs and get much improved service at the same time.”

Along with the EBS global rollouts, the company has made investments in new business processes. For instance, “Instead of doing an R12 upgrade and being forced to spend 12 months training and supporting users,” Lytton says, “we’ve been able to go and do the enhancements we needed around electronic invoicing.”

By not moving its Oracle and JDEdwards applications, BrandSafway has also changed how it approaches finding and delivering key business technology: BrandSafway is no longer tied to an aging single-vendor strategy and is now more open to using third-party technology. “One of our latest strategies involves using mobile hardware and applications to reduce paper and improve efficiencies,” Lytton says. “There are so many vendors out there pushing options, but having a partner like Rimini Street we trust and can talk through new technologies with helps keep us stepping in smart directions.”

Benefits ― Gained Control of enterprise software roadmap: No

forced upgrades are required to retain support for EBS, EBS Payroll, JD Edwards and Oracle Database. The team has flexibility to upgrade if and when it makes business sense.

― Invested in business intelligence and electronic invoicing: By saving on annual maintenance fees and upgrade avoidance, BrandSafway has been able to redirect cost savings to projects that drive business growth.

― Gained the ability to pursue EBS customization strategy: Client customizations are supported at no extra charge.

“We moved to Rimini Street because the risks were low and we knew the financial savings would be a huge benefit. After we experienced far better support than what we had before, our decision was validated, and we’ve since significantly expanded our global footprint through Rimini Street support.”

Simon LyttonGlobal Applications DirectorBrand Energy and Infrastructure Services

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5National brands DairyPure, TruMoo, Fruit Rush, Orchard Pure and Ready Leaf are all part of the Dean Foods suite of food products.The Dean Foods ChallengeDean Foods CIO Brian Murphy needs to allocate IT budget and resources in a way that stimulates innovation and moves the needle for the company. He faced the issue head-on when confronted with the high ongoing cost and limited scope and responsiveness of the vendor’s JD Edwards support program.

“CIOs need to ask themselves, ‘How can I move maintenance dollars into something that would make a bottom-line difference in the business?’” says Murphy. “As we drilled that down into our JD Edwards spend, we had to look at how we could use those maintenance dollars more effectively. How could we take what we spend on maintenance and move it to things that grow and support our business, things that continue to add value every day?"

$8.1 Billion Food Processor Reinvests in Innovative BI and Master Data Platforms

“We were looking to be innovative, so we decided to look at opportunities for our JD Edwards and other environments to be supported in a more cost-effective way. But we didn’t want a drop in service levels; we actually wanted to get better service.” After researching the available offerings in the independent support market, Dean Foods moved to Rimini Street in September, 2014.

The Rimini Street Solution“When looking at Rimini Street’s support model, the first thing that jumped out at us that was a big plus was the Primary Support Engineer,” says Murphy. Each Rimini Street client is assigned a Primary Support Engineer (PSE) with an average of at least 15 years of experience, backed by a team of functional and technical experts. Rimini Street supports all of Dean Foods’ application code, including its mission-critical customizations — at no extra charge. Murphy also uses Rimini Street CNC Managed Services for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, receiving support and solutions for all technical areas including CNC, interoperability and infrastructure.

Client Profile: Dean Foods is one of America’s largest processors and direct-to-store distributors of fluid milk marketed under more than 50 local and regional dairy brands and private labels. The company distributes ice cream, cultured products, juices, teas, bottled water and other products.

Industry: Manufacturing

Geography: Dean Foods has approximately 70 manufacturing facilities and distributes product across the United States.

Revenue: USD $8.1 billion

Employees: 17,000

Applications: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.0, JD Edwards World A8.1

Client Operating System: V5R4 and V6R1

Dean Foods

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“There are no excuses from Rimini Street,” Murphy declares. “Their goal is not to try and de-escalate the problem down. They come in with the sole goal of solving your problem, and until they solve it, they are not happy. For example, if we weren’t on the right vendor support pack and were running an unsupported browser, the vendor would push the issue back to us and tell us we needed to upgrade. With Rimini Street, we don’t see any of those excuses. We just see ownership. We see them taking those issues, running with them and making everything work in our customized environment, not a vanilla environment.”

Client ResultsDean Foods executed a major upgrade of its JD Edwards environment with Rimini Street offering guidance on upgrading the software, techniques for avoiding conflicts with other layers of the company’s technology stack and resolutions to issues that arose.

“We engaged with Rimini Street for advice on timing our upgrade and how to go about it,” says Murphy. “They helped us there, and also in the post-upgrade support activities. As with any upgrade, we had issues, and Rimini Street was right there for us.”

Dean Foods is reinvesting the money it’s gained from switching to independent support into strategic initiatives around its business intelligence (BI) and master data platforms. “This is exactly what I meant about moving run dollars into innovation,” says Murphy. “Those platforms are going to be critical for us going forward, to give the business cleaner and better data on a more regular basis.”

When Dean Foods was re-evaluating support for its JD Edwards system, it was looking for more than the cheapest software repair shop on the block; it was looking for a business partner. Murphy explains: “Rimini Street has clearly helped us fix our bottom line from the cost perspective of maintaining our JD Edwards platform. What we’re interested in now is driving the top line. How do we affect our business in a positive way given the JD Edwards platform that we’re currently on? So the key for us is sitting down with Rimini Street and starting to look at strategy and innovation roadmapping, and talking about how we can leverage their insights from experience there.

“In looking at all our JDE support options in the market, we decided that price was not going to be the differentiator. What we wanted to look at was who was going to partner with us. Who was going to focus in on our business and support our P&L, both on the bottom and the top line. And that’s where Rimini Street differentiates itself.”

Benefits ― Gained control of budget to Invest in Innovation:

Dean Foods reinvested its savings from switching to independent support into critical business growth initiatives including the company’s BI and master data platforms.

― Receiving high-caliber support: Dean Foods enjoys a range of premium features from support for customized code to strategic advisory services.

― Upgraded JD Edwards system: A major upgrade of its JD Edwards environment went smoothly with Dean Foods receiving guidance on upgrading the software, techniques for avoiding conflicts with other layers of the company’s technology stack and resolutions to issues that arose.

― Received cost-effective CNC Managed Services for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne licensees: Managed services include systems administration, monitoring and operational support.

“We were looking for a real support partner, not a cheap cookie-cutter solution. And that’s exactly where Rimini Street differentiates itself.”

Brian MurphyChief Information OfficerDean Foods

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6This Public Health Organization is one of the largest and most trusted voluntary information and medical research charities worldwide.The Public Health Organization ChallengeIn its early years, this organization was very federated with twelve divisions acting independently. As the organization expanded to its current 6,200 employees, millions of volunteers and 70 million registered donors, the loosely coordinated federation became less efficient. As the CIO put it, “We wanted to move toward being a business without barriers to realize our lifesaving mission without boundaries. That requires a change not only to organizational structure but also to the IT infrastructure.”

The organization’s IT architecture had evolved over the years to model the federated organization. The Siebel CRM system was highly customized to support the 12 independent divisions — each doing processes in slightly different ways. The CIO

Public Health Organization VirtualizesSiebel 7 to Mobilize Core CRM Data

explains: “Siebel 7 is our core CRM — which in our case means Constituent Relationship Management — and it provides the database and the applications that we need to manage all our volunteers, donors and really anyone who interacts with our organization worldwide.”

As the organization became more unified, these customized processes had to be reconciled. A significant issue was that the software vendor no longer supported Siebel Release 7, nor provided support for any of the organization’s customizations. The choice was either to move to the latest version at great expense or find another partner to support the Siebel system. Independent support, with its promise of significant savings and a higher quality of support, stood out as a leading option.

The Rimini Street Solution“Every CIO’s challenge is doing more with less. During the move to a more centralized organization, our team was asked to deliver more services, more quickly, at a lower price point,” the CIO says.

Client Profile: As one of the largest voluntary public health organizations in the United States, this charity works to help people stay healthy, return to health, as well as promotes research to prevent illnesses.

Industry: Healthcare

Geography: United States

Revenue: $917 million USD

Employees: 6,200

Applications: Oracle Siebel CRM 7

Hardware/Operating System/Database: Oracle Database

Public Health Organization

page 13

“The concept of independent support is a model that I think CIOs really need to get their head around. It offers a huge advantage in terms of efficiency, cost savings and premium service levels. It took a little bit of convincing at first, butonce our team met the Rimini Street staff, once they understood the opportunities and the economies that we were going to get, the barriers quickly came down.”

The CIO also needed a strategic partner that could help the organization extend the life of its existing system by adding new functionality. “Rimini Street had its work cut out for it when they came in and took a look at what we were doing. To their credit, they never shied away from any of our customizations. They asked great questions about our requirements. From the onboarding process onward it was a well-oiled machine sooner than I could have ever thought. Within a couple of months they literally became an extension of our team. The service that really stands out is the expertise of the Primary Support Engineer assigned to us. He really understands our specific implementation, and because of that we can get quick answers to strategic questions. The expertise of the people that we’re dealing with is head and shoulders above most software vendors.”

Client ResultsThe heavily customized Siebel CRM 7 system, while still at the center of the organization’s business, was showing its limitations. One of the first interoperability challenges was the need to upgrade thousands of desktop operating systems and applications to current versions of Windows and Internet Explorer in order to keep up with desktop security patches and support requirements. In its current state, the Siebel system could not work with the new desktop environment. Rimini Street presented a proof of concept that had the potential to enable the organization’s Siebel 7 system to remain untouched yet interact smoothly with the new desktop OS and IE.

The next interoperability challenge was enabling mobile devices with an assortment of operating systems to access the CRM data, again without upgrading or changing the core Siebel software. “We have an extremely mobile workforce,” the CIO explains. “Many of our employees and all our volunteers are out in the communities where our constituents are located—helping patients, organizing fundraising events, and collecting donations.

We need to enable them to use the devices they have—especially our volunteers who have their own devices—to access our systems. Rimini Street is helping us adapt our legacy environment by virtualizing or ‘mobilizing’ Siebel so constituent information can be accessed from anywhere via iPads and smartphones.”

Rimini Street is unique in its approach in helping clients plan a technology roadmap for 10–15 years that helps clients predict how changes in the technology stack will affect their stable ERP systems. This enables clients to address changes proactively, rather than waiting for something to break. “Rimini Street is helping us on multiple fronts,” the CIO says. “It was the right decision to go with them for independent support. We would absolutely make it again. We just wish we’d made the decision sooner.”

Benefits ― Acquired mobility technology roadmap:

The organization's Constituent Relationship Management system is now accessible by mobile devices by thousands of field workers and volunteers.

― Updated desktop OS and browser solution: A Siebel 7 browser solution was enabled for an organization-wide upgrade of all desktop systems to current versions of Windows and IE.

― Developed a strategic partnership: Rimini Street became an extension of the organization’s IT team, providing guidance for all layers of the changing technology stack

"Many of our employees and all our volunteers are out in the communities where our constituents are located. Rimini Street is helping us adapt our legacy environment by mobilizing Siebel so constituent information can be accessed from anywhere via iPads and smartphones.”

Chief Information OfficerAmerican Cancer Society

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7InterPark combines operating expertise with an ownership perspective, adding value to high-traffic parking centers and managing them for maximum return and sustainable growth.The InterPark ChallengeInterPark parks 20 million cars per year. And all the back-end financial transactions behind every one of those interactions are handled by the company’s fully functional, robust PeopleSoft FSCM 8.8 system. Industry-specific packaged software solutions for parking companies exist, but over the years InterPark has in effect built its own: it’s taken the PeopleSoft Financials architecture and molded it into its own custom solution for billing, revenue, reconciliation, payables and general ledger.

Throughout the 2000s, InterPark steadily upgraded PeopleSoft — from release 7 to 7.5, then to 8, and eventually, in 2008, to 8.8

Parking Company Shifts Funds from ERP Maintenance to Vital Strategic Innovation

SP1. The company has heavily customized its system and has built a complex set of internal and external web applications as a front end, using PeopleSoft’s component interfaces and APIs.

“After upgrading to 8.8, we got to this place where we’re very happy where we’re at with PeopleSoft,” says InterPark Business Systems Manager Mike Tobin. “We know it works, we know what we want to get out of it. It was just a matter of managing the support costs that went along with it. We don’t see enough of a benefit to going through a costly upgrade to 9 or 9.1, at least not at the present time.”

Tobin explains that he began questioning the value of the services received in exchange for the vendor’s annual support fees. His PeopleSoft 8.8 system was fundamentally stable, and he found he and his staff were logging very few support tickets with the vendor. Furthermore, the vendor would not accept issues involving customized code, and InterPark’s PeopleSoft system is heavily customized.

Client Profile: InterPark is North America’s premier owner, manager and developer of parking facilities. The company is known for providing superior returns to the owners of its facilities and superior service to their users.

Industry: Real Estate

Geography: Headquartered in Chicago, IL, with parking management services at more than 100 facilities across the United States.

Applications: PeopleSoft FSCM 8.8 Service Pack 1 (General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Billing, Inventory, and Order Management), including US IRS Form 1099 tax, legal, and regulatory updates for Payables

Technology Platform: Oracle Database, HP-UX Itanium database server, Microsoft Windows file servers

InterPark

page 15

“We knew that PeopleSoft ran — we knew that PeopleSoft ran extremely well. So we were thinking, ‘What are we paying for at this point?’ We made the decision we weren’t going to upgrade until our business situation dictated it, and in the meantime we would explore support options. We wanted to run PeopleSoft for as long as possible, but to retain the strategic flexibility to change course if necessary.

“With a lean team supporting our PeopleSoft applications and environment including PeopleTools, we needed some backup. If one of us got hit by a bus, who was going to support PeopleSoft? And so we made the decision to work with Rimini Street.”

The Rimini Street SolutionRimini Street supports customizations, without qualifying questions, at no extra charge, so the heavily modified PeopleSoft system that InterPark has “made its own” is covered end-to-end. InterPark also uses Rimini Street Global Tax, Legal and Regulatory Update services for its payables process, receiving timely compliance updates ahead of the vendor’s own scheduled updates every year while under Rimini Street support.

In switching from vendor support to Rimini Street, Tobin was motivated primarily by cost considerations: “What are we getting for everything we’re paying the vendor? Not much.” But ever since an efficient onboarding process introduced his team of two to Rimini Street’s extended team of always-on-call technical and functional experts headed up by a regionally-based Primary Support Engineer (PSE) dedicated to InterPark’s success, he has come to see the advantages of Rimini Street’s comprehensive, cutting-edge support program.

Client Results“Onboarding with Rimini Street was very smooth,” Tobin recalls. “Rimini Street helped us archive all our latest PeopleTools releases and patches so that if we choose to move to any of those in the future, we have that capability. Rimini Street onboarded us; but at the same time, we were essentially onboarding their support team to get them access to our environment. The whole process was transparent, and we didn’t have any major issues.”

The standard support program includes a broad portfolio of advisory services on security, risk avoidance, interoperability, innovation, and strategic roadmapping. Tobin notes that “Rimini Street is willing to discuss what I would describe as more like consulting or business solutions, not just break/fix support — but without the consulting fees. Their people advise us on potential options in terms of what we’re attempting to accomplish from a process standpoint. It’s a great added value for us.”

“By cutting our annual maintenance costs, we’ve been able to allocate those funds to more strategic ventures,” Tobin continues, citing ongoing projects such as InterPark’s airport-based pre-flight online business and its central business district online business. “Our business is growing, and Rimini Street is helping enable us to make investments into other vital technologies.”

Benefits ― Saving 50% on annual support fees: InterPark is

channeling that savings into strategic initiatives to grow the company.

― Avoiding expensive, business-disruptive upgrades: InterPark has stabilized on its robust, customized, fully functional, PeopleSoft 8.8 FSCM system. It can upgrade if and when the company’s business situation dictates change.

― Enjoying full-featured support and advisory services: InterPark experiences a whole new level of support that includes a broad portfolio of advisory services for security, interoperability, innovation, and strategic roadmapping.

“Our business is growing, and Rimini Street is helping enable us to make investments into other vital technologies for our online business and mobile initiatives, as a result of cutting our Oracle bill in half.”

Mike TobinBusiness Systems ManagerInterPark

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8Guest Services upgrades PeopleSoft systems to 9.1 to support hospitality services for 35 million annual guests at facilities across the United States.The Guest Services ChallengeFor one hundred years, Guest Services has provided dining, lodging and leisure activities at resorts, conference centers, schools, museums and national parks across the nation. The company’s services are customizable and can range from rustic historic lodging to luxury condominiums.

“We began using PeopleSoft software in 1999, and as a food service and hospitality management company, our model is fairly consistent. We’re happy with the PeopleSoft product and believe it can handle pretty much anything we can throw at it,” notes Steve Jacobs, IT director at Guest Services.

However, vendor support for Guest Services’ customized PeopleSoft Financials 8.4 and HR 8.8 wasn’t as strong as the

Hospitality Company Benefits from ImprovedService during PeopleSoft Upgrade

software itself. “Before, we would try to figure out issues on our own because it was just easier that way. If we couldn’t solve them, we would then recreate and test the issue in a separate database to prove the problem wasn’t related to custom code before taking it to our previous vendor,” Jacobs says.

Still, as Guest Services started its PeopleSoft Financials upgrade from 8.4 to 9.1, it renewed its support contract for one year. “We wanted to upgrade our PeopleSoft Financials applications to 9.1, so we renewed our agreement for another year and went down the upgrade path on this first upgrade,” Jacobs says. “We then realized that our version of PeopleSoft didn’t support the free payroll tax updates that our previous vendor provided. We didn’t have the appetite to spend $50,000 annually on updates, so we began looking to see if we could get those tax updates at a more compelling price — and it turned out Rimini Street bundles them in at no extra charge.”

During the middle of this 9.1 upgrade, Guest Services made the decision to transition to Rimini Street.

Client Profile: Guest Services supplies hospitality management services at 250 facilities nationwide, including museums, hotels, resorts, conference centers, luxury condominiums, schools, retail stores, and state and national parks.

Industry: Services

Geography: Headquartered in Fairfax, VA with 250 client locations in the U.S.

Revenue: USD $400 million

Employees: 3,000

Products Supported: PeopleSoft HR 9.1 (PeopleTools 8.5.1), PeopleSoft Financials 9.1 (PeopleTools 8.5.1)

Guest Services

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The Rimini Street Solution“At first we were worried about making the transition to Rimini Street in the middle of our Financials upgrade because we were concerned it might lock us out from our previous vendor, leaving us stranded before all of our upgrades were complete,” Jacobs notes. “In the end, it was a very smooth transition that didn’t hamper our upgrade plans at all.”

In fact, Jacobs was impressed with Rimini Street’s support and onboarding process. “To get ready for future upgrades, the Rimini Street engineers did an excellent job helping us determine the programs and objects we were entitled to that we needed to archive for 9.2 so we wouldn’t be frozen on 9.1 if we choose to upgrade when the time is right,” Jacobs says.

After Guest Services completed the Financials upgrade, it forged ahead to upgrade HR to 9.1, opening several cases with Rimini Street related to the upgrade. “We had complete confidence that our Rimini Street Primary Support Engineer would be able to support our production environment, tax updates and custom code. We weren’t sure about the levels of support and expertise during the upgrade itself — which included migrating to a new server environment — but we were pleasantly surprised,” Jacobs says. “We have very high regard for the Rimini Street engineers who helped us throughout the upgrade process and ensured a smooth transition.”

Client ResultsBy moving to Rimini Street, clients have 24/7 access to the expertise they need. Guest Services gained three key benefits. First, Guest Services archived its PeopleSoft 9.1 HR software and utilized it to deliver a successful upgrade, while also creating an archive of 9.2 for the future. Second, Guest Services saved 50 percent over its original vendor support fees, without accounting for cost savings associated with supporting customized code or resources that can now focus on mission-critical projects, as opposed to break/fix support. And third, Guest Services now receives tax, legal and regulatory updates without being saddled with an extra annual $50,000 price tag.

All of this, Jacobs says, has helped Guest Services improve the quality of support for its internal customers. The PeopleSoft 9.1 systems provide a stable software base it can build around — and even customize — for years to come, while still preserving the flexibility to upgrade to 9.2 if deemed necessary for the business.

“Any time we use Rimini Street to help solve a problem, that frees up our own experts to refocus on user issues or key projects,” he notes. For instance, Guest Services is evaluating a solution that will help onboard new hires at hundreds of different locations, as well as provide an easy-to-use portal for employees to access hours and benefits.

“One of our goals was to become more flexible in our PeopleSoft applications’ upgrade strategy to be able to decide when and how we upgrade these tools,” says Jacobs. “Thanks to Rimini Street, we’ve successfully done that.”

Benefits ― Created a software archive: The team

successfully upgraded from PeopleSoft HRMS 8.8 to 9.1 with independent support and retained the option to upgrade to 9.2 in the future.

― Achieved upgrade flexibility and cost-effectiveness: Long-term PeopleSoft maintenance and upgrades are ensured as needed by the business.

― Avoided $50K annual tax update costs: Tailored tax, legal and regulatory updates are provided as part of the Rimini Street support program.

― Stabilized PeopleSoft environment: Guest Services now has a solid, stable 9.1 system in place for the foreseeable future.

“We realized we would have to start paying $50,000 a year for payroll tax updates to our previous vendor since our PeopleSoft version didn’t support those updates. We didn’t have the appetite to spend $50,000 annually, so we began looking to see if we could get those tax updates at a more compelling price — and it turned out Rimini Street bundles them in at no extra charge.”

Steve JacobsIT DirectorGuest Services

About Rimini StreetRimini Street is a global provider of enterprise software products and services, and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP products. The company has redefined enterprise support services since 2005 with an innovative, award-winning program that enables licensees of IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and other enterprise software vendors to save up to 90 percent on total maintenance costs. Clients can remain on their current software release without any required upgrades for a minimum of 15 years. Global Fortune 500, midmarket, public sector and other organizations from a broad range of industries rely on Rimini Street as their trusted, third-party support provider.

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