“Thanks to ROWE, people at Best Buy are happier with their lives and their work”, according to Ressler and Thompson. “The company has benefited too, with increases in productivity averaging 35 percent and sharp decreases in voluntary turnover rates, as much as 90 percent in some divisions”.

Was the technology, collaboration tools and software applications used by Best Buy to define, measure and achieve these improvements as well as enable employees to “have control over their lives” a part of their success? Did the Oracle implementation facilitate ROWE being successful in departments that never would have thought it possible in the past?

With technology now in place to free people from the cube, Ressler and Thompson are on a mission to make ROWE the new status quo.

“Fortunately we live in a time when this is possible. Today technology gives people incredible power over time and information. In our personal lives, technology means we don’t have to wait for the store to open to buy something. We don’t have to watch our favorite show the minute it airs or come down from Mount Everest to make a phone call. But this isn’t about the wonders of technology. This is about what technology could let us do and how we’re not taking full advantage.”

So why don’t we take full advantage of what technology could let us do?

According to a recent study by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson published in Harvard Business Review, “it’s not easy for most companies to deploy enterprise IT successfully. The technologies themselves are complicated to configure and test, and changing people’s behavior and attitudes toward technology is even more challenging." While major ERP players continue to deliver complete solutions that streamline configuration, testing and deployment, it’s not the full answer to the riddle.

Another factor that impacts our adoption of technology are newly emerging trends in the competitive landscape. McAfee and Brynjolfsson's analysis showed that “competition is accelerating within traditional industries within the broader U.S. economy. Not because more products are becoming digital but because more processes are”. As processes become more digital and emerging technologies enable employees to work more effectively, we can expect that “the firm with the best processes will win in most or all markets.”

What do you see as the barriers or enablers to a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE)?

As I listened I was reminded of several articles that I’d recently read about improved productivity and retention that Best Buy experienced by implementing a radical new approach to work – Results Only Work Environments (ROWE).

According to Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, the founders of this new movement and authors of the book, Why Works Sucks and How to Fix It, ROWE is not a modified work schedule, it’s not flex-time, shortened work weeks or any of the myriad of attempts to provide employees more work-life balance. “In a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), people get to do whatever they want, whenever they want as long as the work gets done. “ Sounds too good to be true I thought, but does it work?

“Right now, there are two authentic ROWEs: Fortune 100 retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. and brokerage firm J.A. Counter & Associates in New Richmond, WI. Both firms have embraced technology in ways that allow them to maximize productivity (up an average of 41% on Best Buy teams) while also giving people control over their lives.”

What a concept! It sounded reasonable for groups like Sales or even Marketing to implement an innovative workplace program like ROWE, but would it work for groups like Finance? Would it be possible for employees completing back-office functions to close their books in 3-5 days and still “have control over their lives”?

--Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to M. Leroy, 1789.

But the only similarity that can be found between taxes and death is that none are voluntary. Everything else in tax is considerably more regulated.

Taxation systems are not an invention of the modern world. In fact, they have been around for many centuries:

Before civilization had coined-money, taxes were paid to the authorities in different forms: delivering labour services, giving animals, fighting wars, etc. Taxes applied to almost everything: property, movement of goods, livestock, and other forms of economic activities at the time. Failure to pay the due taxes resulted in severe penalties. Nonetheless, there were multiple ways of easing the tax burden: tax contributors could nominate their own substitutes for rendering services or go to war on their behalf, and they could equally apply for exemptions and exceptions.

If we transpose the relative simplicity of taxation in the ancient world to the complexity of today�s global business environment, it becomes obvious that enterprises need to support their taxation requirements (within and across geographies) with powerful and reliable tools.

If you are a user of financial applications, in the role of a tax manager or as a business user, you often are exposed to the taxation aspects of the business you work in.

And Oracle has good news for tax managers: with Release 12, Oracle has delivered E-Business Tax that is a central tax engine where you define, simulate and action all legal regulations for tax treatment, across geographies and across business cycles (Procure-To-Pay and Order-To-Cash). To help you start the configuration of your tax regulations, you can use the seeded tax configuration library with sample tax data for dozens of countries, or choose to rely on a tax provider to seed that tax configuration for you.

Oracle has even better news for non tax users: E-Business Tax allied with the expertise of the tax manager, allows you not to worry about taxes in business transactions. You just carry on with your daily work and tax will be there for you, promptly and accurately.

More information on:
Oracle E-Business Tax Documentation Resources, Release 12 (Metalink note 397158.1)

Why rise at 6am?  Was it for the bagels, cream cheese and hot coffee?  Not!  Is it that fascinating to get up at oh-dark-thirty to take BART along with hundreds of other commuters into the City and meet with women?  Yes!   The opportunity to spend focused time with other women - listening, laughing, learning, living - is uplifting.  It's not what I eat, nor what I hear or even what I see.  It's what I feel - while I'm there and after I leave.

I feel hopeful as I listen to Heather Hopkins share how her mother's experience of growing up poor and ashamed of her clothing was the impetus for her non-profit, My New Red Shoes which provides homeless children in San Francisco clothing for their first day of school.  I feel encouraged as I meet Magatte Wade, a young Senegalese woman whose desire to preserve her heritage launched a beverage company, Adina, that competes with Starbucks for bottled coffee and tea market share.

I feel grateful as I listen to Cokie Roberts share about founding women like Abigail Adams who radically influenced politics and social change.  I feel proud as I listen to Madeline Albright's wit and humor as she shares about her experiences as our first female Secretary of State.

While Abigail Adams, Cokie Roberts and her mom, Linda Boggs, former Ambassador and Representative, as well as Madeline Albright have lived extraordinary lives, they are not unusual women.  Yes, they're bright, intelligent, articulate, courageous, determined and tenacious.  But that's a woman.  No matter what their education, socio-economic status, or nationality -women have consistently found creative solutions to the problems facing their children, their families, and their communities.  Being at the PBWC conference reinvigorates me with the enthusiasm, tenacity, and creativity to continue finding new ways to solve problems - for ourselves, our children, our families, our communities, our nation, our world.

Thanks to all the women at PBWC that nurture my feeling connected and affirmed.

Thanks to the joint Oracle and Marvel promotional campaign, Oracle HQ employees were treated to a private screening of the new "Iron Man" movie before its official release on May 2.

Now, I am not a comic book connoisseur but the movie kicks some serious body part. It's a perfect summer action flick - so run, not walk, to your nearest movie theater this Friday!

One can't help but wonder if, perhaps, Robert Downey Jr. based his Tony "Iron Man" Stark character on a certain other rock star billionaire who we all know and admire around here in Redwood Shores.

Daaa daaa da-da-da...

I was pleasantly surprised to see that SEC had a roundtable discussion on December 13th debating whether the domestic issuers in US should also be permitted to use IFRS in lieu of US GAAP � The SEC recently approved rule amendments permitting foreign private issuers in US to use IFRS standards instead of US GAAP. 

In his recent speech on Feb 8^th,2008, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has promised �an updated roadmap that lays out a schedule, and appropriate milestones on which the schedule will be conditioned, for continuing the progress that the United States is making in moving to accept IFRS in this country.�

IFRS standards are mandated or permitted in over 100 countries across the world. So, this seems a logical next-step in adoption of global accounting standards in US � I know a lot of multinational Oracle customers are currently reporting in US GAAP and IFRS today � and, am aware of the challenges that they face on a day-to-day basis. This move, if and when it happens, might go to alleviate the overhead associated with reporting in two differing standards.

The perspective expressed in this blog entry is not of Oracle nor its Management, nor of all it�s developers that stand to gain by the way of fixing the bugs associated with differing Accounting standards.

SLA is the new Financials module that centralizes accounting for the entire E-Business suite (and yes, you have to take it, to get your accounting).  Customers have never had such flexibility of configuring their accounting rules before, let alone ensuring their foreign accounting offices are following their corporate accounting policy.  Once a customer grasps the business benefits of SLA, their eyes usually light up and they start asking more optimistic questions, "I have IAD, can you backport it?"

If you're just starting to learn about IAD and this new drug, SLA, you should start by reviewing the Business Benefits of Oracle Subledger Accounting whitepaper.

For those who are ready to undergo a trial treatment program, get a hold of a Release12 EBS installation and take a look at the accounting rules that EBS delivers out of the box.  These rules are configured to perform accounting exactly the same way as in Release 11i EBS (to ensure no adverse side effects), so the rules should look familiar.  If your R12 EBS installation has upgraded data or the Vision demo data in it, just go to the setup for a ledger like Vision Corporation and select the Open Subledger Accounting Method button.  That will take you to the setup pages to view the journal definitions and accounting rules for that ledger.

When you're ready to start longterm treatment and define your own accounting rules, don't try to reinvent the wheel - simply make a copy of the accounting rules delivered out of the box, and make changes to this copy.  Copying rules is fully supported and highly encouraged.  And keep the SLA implementation guide handy for more detailed instruction.

• Financial position, as it is reflected by the records and accounts
  from which the statement is prepared, is revealed in a presentation
  of the assets and liabilities of the entity.

• And an entity is defined as: Any legal structure used to conduct activities
  or to hold assets. Some examples of such structures are corporations,
  partnerships, limited liability companies, grantor trusts, and other
  trusts.

This entry is a continuation of my quest for understanding and knowledge of the hot topics in the Payments arena as a new Strategist for that module.  Please see the first part below:  A Primer on SEPA.

Why is SEPA important?

SEPA�s adoption means fewer charges on transactions and purchases in euros. On the consumer side of things, it could mean you'll be able to buy things on your card in another European country and pay nothing more than you would domestically. On the business side, it'll mean the same thing - moving money around should be as cheap as it is domestically. A more competitive and innovative euro retail payments market will bring with it higher service levels, more efficient products and cheaper alternatives for making payments. Banks will have to sharpen up their IT systems to replace manual processes with automatic ones in order to bring down costs � all good for corporates as well as consumers.

Do I care if I don�t do business in Europe?

YES!  No matter where you do business on the globe, standardization of retail payments is a goal to aspire to.  Making payments inefficiently is an avoidable drain on organizational resources. Transactions within the SEPA regime will be based upon the ISO20022 payment message � a global payment standard that will be made widely available on an �out-of the-box� basis by most (if not all) major software vendors.  You don�t have to go global to benefit from SEPA � but you can gain efficiencies and save on payment processing costs by adopting the global payment standard upon which it is based.

Helpful links:

SEPA Compliance (EBA)

SWIFT Community

The Road to the Single European Payments Area (Die Bank)

As a relatively green Strategist for the Fusion Payments module, I've started a knowledge quest of sorts to get myself quickly up to speed on relevent topics.  In meetings with my new development team, SEPA comes up frequently.  So, I've done a little research and I thought I'd pass on a quick summary of my findings

What is SEPA?

SEPA stands for Single European Payments Area and it is an area in which consumers, companies and other economic actors will be able to make and receive payments in euros, whether between or within national boundaries under the same basic conditions, rights and obligations, regardless of their location.  It is comprised of:

• a single currency
  
• a single set of euro payment instruments - credit transfers, direct debits and card payments
  
• an efficient processing infrastructure for euro payments 
  
• a common set of technical standards
  
• a common set of business practices
  
• a harmonized legal basis

Why did SEPA come about?

Back in 2000, European political big wigs got together in Lisbon and decided the EU would be one of the world's leading knowledge-based economies by 2010 - a plan that has become known as the Lisbon Agenda. Out of this stemmed the idea to support innovation and the idea of a single market by making it easier and cheaper to move money around the EU. The European Commission decided that cross-border payments should cost no more than domestic payments and, in 2002 the European Payments Council (a group of banks) sketched plans for how this would be done. Thus the Single European Payments Area was born.

Stay tuned for more on:

• Why is SEPA important? 
  
• Do I care if I don't do business in Europe?

• GL -  usually pertaining to the General Ledger product.  Sometimes you'll hear "in GL" which more than likely means "not some other product" like payables, receivables, subledger accounting, or intercompany.
• SLA - subledger accounting (architecture).  In Release 12, we introduced subledger accounting, the centralized rule-based accounting engine for all subledgers.  Oddly enough, the product prefix for SLA is XLA, so you if you see references to tables and forms that are prefixed with XLA - it's SLA related.
• SOB - Set of Books, grouping of journals.  In Release 12, SOB has been renamed "Ledger", luckily it's only one word, so there's no need for an acronym.  You'll typically see SOB written, but not spoken - saying SOB makes people giggle.
• JE - typically, "journal entry"  in GL.   However, JE is the also the product prefix for the EMEA localizations, so it's helpful to know if you're talking Europe or accounting.
• COA - Chart of Accounts.  Technically speaking, COA is the set of valid combinations of values that make up your accounting flexfield.  Frequently, we hear customers speak of "a single COA" when they really mean "a single COA structure".  The difference is slight and can greatly impact a conversation.  "A single COA" implies that there is one set of valid combinations that is uses by all SOBs or ledgers.  "A single COA structure" says that all of SOBs have the same segment names, but there may be multiple valuesets for a given segment (ie- the Cost Center segment in  the US is made up of "ABC","DEF", "GHI"; whereas the Cost Center segment in the UK contains "E11","E12","E13")
• BSV - Balancing Segment Value.  The value part of this is frequently misused.  Accurately use, the BSV is the value of the segment of the combination that is qualified as the balancing segment (in the Vision instance, "01", "03","99", etc.)  However, it's often used in conversation to mean the segment name (in the Vision instance, the balancing segment name is usually "Company").
• CCID - Code Combination ID.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people use this acronym because it's a technical term, but it's usually used in a functional way. The CCID is technically, the ID of the record in the GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS table that represents a combination of values in the accounting flexfield.  For example, the account combination of "01.2500.36.C12" could be stored in the table with the ID of 384569.  Typically, people are referring to "01.2500.36.C12" not 384569 when speaking of the CCID.
• LE - Legal Entity.  This is relatively new term in Release 12 because legal entities play a more prominent role  Legal Entities are used to determine tax as well as the difference between intercompany (between LEs) and intracompany (within LE) trading and accounting. In R12, BSVs can be mapped to LE as part of the accounting setup.
• Account - depends on whom you ask.  On most of our user interfaces, "account" refers to the complete accounting flexfield ("01.2500.36.C12").  However, when defining your COA structure, one of the segments must be qualified as the Natural Account segment (possibly segment 2), and sometimes people refer to just this segment value when referring to "account" (if segment 2 is the natural account segment, then in the context of the combination "01.2500.36.C12", the term "account" would refer to just "2500").

I keep hearing from customers about having the ability to enter invoices through Excel. Whenever I hear that, I used to wonder why they would need that as the current system (EBS R12) already has quick invoice entry and the regular invoice workbench for invoice data entry. Also if the customer really wanted to go electronic they could go with the XML approach of loading invoices. In my personal opinion going the XML way makes more sense as it eliminates the need to enter invoices manually into the system. But I guess we are still living in the paper dominated world where all the documents are still sent through paper.
   Coming back to the excel interface I am not really sure about the true benefits of this approach. This is not to say that there is none, as there are a few that I can think of. Ease of data entry, ability to enter invoices faster and no need to train users as most of the computer users are already familiar with the excel tool. But if I were to go a step further then I see some issues here. Notably that there could be errors during data entry as the excel template might not have all the online validations that are normally found if the user were to enter these invoices using the quick invoice/invoice workbench pages that is currently available in EBS R12. Because of data entry issues, the user might be forced to go back into the ERP system to fix the data entry errors. To me, this looks like doing double work.
    Currently in EBS R12, we have the quick invoice entry (which also has very minimal validations) where the user can enter both PO matched invoices as well as non-PO invoice. Following this the user has to run the invoice import program which will create the actual invoice. If the user does not like this approach they can always enter the invoice directly using the invoice workbench.
    Since customers are looking for the excel based invoice entry, I have a few questions that I would like to ask.

     1. Is this primarily used by internal AP dept? Or is the excel template given to the suppliers asking them to enter their invoices in excel?
    2. If this is used by AP dept, then are they using it for entering non-PO invoices or are they using it to enter PO invoices.
    3. Currently on the quick invoice page there are very minimal validations. Since excel is going to have very minimal validations, what is the advantage here? Why can't the user use the quick invoice page and why do they need excel?
    4. If the AP dept is using this for entering PO matched invoices, then wouldn't it be helpful if they can enter it in quick invoice page or the regular invoice entry. Using the online pages gives you lot of flexibility in the sense that the user can pick and choose select PO's schedules etc. Given this, why would the user want to enter data in excel which does not have any validations.
    5. Also if users were to enter the data in excel and if there were some mistakes, then they would have to go back to the online component to fix the data errors. This is doing double duty as the user has to first enter the data in excel and then have to go back to the online component to fix the data errors. Wouldn't they be better off if they enter this data in the online component directly?
    6. What kind of benefit does the customer have (AP dept) if they use excel. Is it cut and paste? If so, since the invoices are not the same, how can they cut and paste? Are they doing cut and paste only under the scenario where there are multiple invoices coming from the same supplier?

   I would like to hear from users about their comments on using excel upload. Let me know.

I think I should point out the disclaimer on the right about veering off topic occasionally....

I've been tagged by Joe (even though it is the post below this one, you get a link anyway) as part of some kind of online pyramid scheme.... I hope it makes Jake his fortune since he is at the top of the pyramid!

8 things you may not know about me.

(1) Once upon a time, I used to have some technical skills. My first job in Oracle consulting was installing an Oracle 6 database and Financials (GL) at a health authority in Dorset.

(2) Although I am not that IT literate compared to most of the Web 2.0-enabled people I work with, I maintain the website for my kids' school. The people of Teddington obviously have simpler expectations from that there interweb thing...

(3) I have a thing for music. I have just bought a restored 1920s piano and I perform on keyboards and vocals in a folk band. I also play bass guitar very badly. I had to sell my drum kit a few years ago but I am now thinking of getting one of those electronic ones where you can practise quietly.

(4) I am also currenly obsessed with Guitar Hero 3 and Singstar, although I think the gadget euphoria of my new PS3 will wear off fairly soon.

(5) This one's not really a secret... I am a terrible driver. I crashed a car into a wall the day after I passed my driving test. I also crashed a sports car at 60mph in the rain (not on the same day). When I was working temporarily at Oracle HQ I even crashed a hire car during a particularly demanding parking manoeuvre.

(6) I was born in Romford, Essex and have endured many Essex Girl jokes in my time.

(7) I am scared of chickens. As a child on a farm camping holiday I was chased by one in the dark, and it has gone downhill from there. I might have been a vegetarian but for the death-to-all-chickens thing.

(8) I've seen David Beckham topless in the home team changing rooms at Old Trafford (the home ground for Manchester United, one of his former teams). I wasn't that impressed at the time to be honest, I was really hoping to bump into Eric Cantona.

When you read this message please send me $5 and pass the message on to 8 of your friends. Within 1 month you will make $47billion! Hmmm no, that wasn't it. But now Elise, Linda, Suzanne, Diana, Maria, Neil, Balaji and Brian - you're tagged too!

1. I was raised on a real farm in West Virginia - and yes, I have milked a cow, albeit it not very well.
2. We have 21 legs in our household - me, 3-dogs, a cat, and due to an unfortunate recent accident, one three-legged dog.
3. I have an X-box 360, and my favorite game is whimpy tennis - kinda reminds me of pong.
4. I moved to Portland the same day as the fool that started this game of tag.
5. I just finished reading Shirley MacLaine's new book, "Sage-ing while Age-ing" and if you have a VERY OPEN mind and are interested in UFO's, it's an interesting read.
6. I was very lazy in high school, and that laziness didn't really change during my college years, so I went to grad school because I didn't want to work.  However, being a poor college student quickly lost its appeal, and I finished grad school in just one year.
7. I started my career at Circuit City as a programmer in RPG on the AS/400 - working on distribution and payroll/HR systems.  Glad to have dumped that Circuit City stock long ago!
   
8. I recently declared my aspirancy to become a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence - it's a lifetime commitment and takes at least a year to become a fully-professed sister, but they do great work.