Stories by Craig Stedman

ERP, Production Data Can Be a Messy Mix

Redesigning business processes is often the hardest part of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project. But for many companies - especially those that make a complex mix of products - just getting their existing production data into the new system can also be a huge challenge.

Cooperative Sues Oracle Over Integration Debacle

Tri Valley Growers, an $800 million farming cooperative in San Ramon, Calif., yesterday said it had filed a $20 million lawsuit against Oracle Corp. over an abandoned installation of the software vendor's application bundle for consumer packaged goods companies.

A Lot Is Riding on SAP Data Warehouse Release

Most early users of SAP AG's data warehousing software have started small with their installations. But they have bigger plans in mind, as long as an upgrade that's now being beta-tested delivers on SAP's promises.

Chase, Deloitte Eye $3 Trillion B2B Market

The Chase Manhattan Bank Corp. announced plans today to team up with Deloitte & Touche LLP to form a new company that will target the burgeoning online procurement market.

Baan Sells Coda Unit for $50M

Baan Co., which is trying to recover from six straight quarters of losses, today announced a deal to sell its Coda accounting software business unit to U.K.-based Science Systems PLC for $50 million in cash.

SAP Changes Date of User Conference

SAP AG is shifting its U.S. user conference from September to June this year - a decision that forced the Instrument Society of America (ISA) to change the date and location of a manufacturing systems conference it had scheduled for the same week in June.

J.D. Edwards Partners with Siebel, IBM

J. D. Edwards & Co. today announced an expanded reseller deal with San Mateo, California-based Siebel Systems Inc. and also said it plans to start selling IBM Corp.'s WebSphere electronic commerce software.

Baan Hires Banker to Explore Possible Sale

After six straight quarters of losses, Baan Co. NV has hired an investment firm to help it find more funding and explore possible sales of some product or even the company as a whole.

Oracle Provides Users Access To D&B Apps

Matching a move that SAP AG made last February, Oracle Corp. yesterday released a pair of interfaces that let users of its financial applications access The Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s database of information about customers and vendors.

Cost Savings Not Sole Reason To Seek App Hosting

Application hosting can provide some welcome benefits to users, including reduced IT costs. But companies that outsource their business applications shouldn't count on getting huge cost savings.

PeopleSoft Loss Less Than Expected

PeopleSoft Inc. late yesterday reported a $21 million operating profit for the fourth quarter of 1999, down 87 percent from the year-earlier total of $164.1 million.

Exchanges Offer to Ease Overseas Selling

A new online service is emerging: transportation exchanges that let companies use the Web to automate logistics operations such as arranging product shipments to buyers both in the U.S. and overseas.

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