Providing Our Customers with Responsive and Comprehensive Oracle Applications Support
Every company is a little different with regard to how it sets up internal support for Oracle applications. Aptigo provides a complete Oracle support solution for customers using a dedicated support team located in the US and offshore. Support services management and support managers work together with customer management to ensure that Aptigo best understands how and where to help our customers reach their business goals.
Aptigo works with each customer to decide on the appropriate resources, level of staffing, hours of coverage, service level agreements and deployment model. Customers can choose an offshore only resource, a combination of offshore and US-based resources and even an on-site presence. Additionally, for accounts that require it, a support manager can be assigned to attend core team meetings and work closely with the customer, essentially becoming a trusted liaison for the business. The support manager as well as the functional and technical resources assigned to the account will understand the business and not only resolve issues, but also recommend new solutions and technologies in the spirit of continuous improvement.
Aptigo's managed service agreements show agreed staffing levels month-by-month for the term of the contract and can be adjusted, either up or down, without penalty as requirements change. Our goal is to evolve support to fit what is going on with your business. Providing support after a go-live or upgrade, during an acquisition, or after some internal staffing changes are all very different scenarios and Aptigo has the experience to address the complexities of each.
In addition to our Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives, Aptigo can also leverage its experienced leadership team to provide advisory services in all areas relating to ERP. Throughout the life cycle of deploying, supporting and deciding on new options, it is important to speak with trusted partners who have the unique combination of industry and product experience. Having helped hundreds of companies through their Oracle implementations, Aptigo is in a unique position to provide guidance and concrete examples of what has worked for other companies in similar situations. Whether to plan a transforming company event or simply validate decisions being made, let Aptigo speak to you about your next ERP journey.
ERP is a major investment and effort that begins with strategic planning and succeeds only with proper governance throughout its use. Aptigo leadership is prepared to speak with you on where you are today and what is necessary to declare your investment a success. No issue is too great or too small to discuss strategically. Many conversations focus on people—how to staff, what to outsource, and how to facilitate change. Many larger conversations focus on where your company fits in its use of ERP. Are you stable? Is it time to consider an upgrade, a re-implementation, or even a new product? The most typical high-level discussion we have with clients involves gaining more value with your existing product. We can introduce you to similar customers, provide examples of what we have done for others, or even audit what you have today to determine the best course of action.
There are a number of situations that can justify an audit of current processes and systems. Whether a general audit or a targeted one, we look at system set up, discuss process with all the stakeholders and end users, and check alignment with executive management. We are able to produce detailed areas of improvement with associated complexity, risk and priority. The results can be used to plan future efforts at the pace required.
Individual understanding of your ERP system in order to get the most from your investment is a top priority for any company. Efficiency and accuracy will improve as users gain insight in their business area as well as in their touch points across the integrated environment. There are many layers of knowledge in a complex ERP system. Every applied user goes from general awareness to deep understanding as appropriate to their role. It is important to check in with end users to see where the training gaps are and to provide the necessary training and documentation to get them to the next level of understanding.
Issues or events that dictate the need for a good training assessment include staffing changes, process changes, new initiatives, accuracy issues, and upgrades. Additionally, users could benefit from refresher courses several months after go-live. They will have great new questions since they have had ample time to use the system in a practical manner.
Aptigo is able to provide many forms of training to solve current gaps in understanding. We are also able to develop documentation to provide work instructions used for the training. On-site training can be set for departments to provide the best captive teaching and feedback arrangement. For shorter duration training sessions, we are able to provide remote training to a user’s desktop (or many users) using the same type of materials. This can be useful when time is limited or scope does not warrant being on-site.
A proper system audit almost always leads to some identified training gaps. Without an audit, we can survey users and managers and come up with a targeted training program that suits your company needs. This is a great investment in your ERP system and for your end users.
Functional and technical (development) support are provided as a component of a managed service agreement for live customers. Functional support personnel are divided into their key business areas, the most common being finance, supply chain/distribution and manufacturing. Our functional resources will understand the complete module suite in their business area. Technical resources are essentially developers with a deep knowledge of the database tables and programming standards necessary to support Oracle applications.
Additionally, Aptigo uses a support manager for each customer to provide one key resource to manage the relationship. Support managers are, without exception, experienced functional support personnel. Due to their understanding of the product and the customer, support managers are effective at managing customer issues.
All functional consultants are capable of doing application set ups and creating application solutions: design, setups, testing, user training and support. The functional consultants in support are trained (knowledge transfer) to support each of their customers and are ready to help when problems arise. Functional consultants can also provide on-site support as necessary. Many of our functional consultants are scheduled on site routinely on specific days to support meetings and other customer events. For RICE (reports, interfaces, conversions and extensions), it is the Application “Functionals” that create the specification and design solution based on customer requirements.
Support developers are typically either helping to solve production issues or are involved in longer term development projects. They have a complete set of development skills including knowledge of Oracle Application interfaces, database tables, and enough Functional knowledge to create effective RICE solutions. Collectively they also maintain a unique set of skills such as SOA, OAF, ADF, BPEL, AOL, AIA, OBI, MWA, Java, EDI, PIP, GWT, Oracle PaaP and other technologies to support Aptigo customers.
Every company with Oracle products needs to have Database Administrator (DBA) Support or CNC Support. Most companies do not need a full-time resource and Aptigo can provide this service at a fraction of the cost by providing Remote DBA Support services to keep your Oracle products reliable and responsive.
Applications DBA’s are specifically trained in Oracle E-Business Suite and their knowledge extends well beyond what a normal Oracle DBA would understand. A CNC similarly has a detailed understanding of JD Edwards. These resources are invaluable and have the required training and experience to maintain a proper environment, whether hosted or on premise. DBA Support is provided during implementations or as a component of a managed services agreement.
Aptigo DBA Services was created many years ago to support implementations and live customers. All DBA’s at Aptigo are very senior and support all aspects of Applications and Database. We assign a US-based Primary DBA to each customer to provide a tight level of understanding and interaction as it relates to the business. The other US DBA’s are a backup to the Primary DBA and the offshore DBA’s provide the non-US hours of support. Together, the DBA Services Team provides 24x7 support and monitoring.
Aptigo DBA’s provide basic administration, applications maintenance, backups, troubleshooting, SR support, cloning, performance tuning, capacity planning, patching, upgrading and user management, as necessary. DBA’s maintain all instance details and keep sensitive password data in a secure software vault.
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