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Oracle EBS is a great piece of software; it supports many business functions and is easy to tweak and change.

Over the years, Oracle has provided multiple updates to the EBS user interface, from the original character-based telnet forms, GUI client / server forms then through to using Java and HTML forms. They've even provided some nice ways to personalize the user interface to help build a more personalized user experience.

But these only go so far.

For example, let's take a hospital that hit resistance when taking the Bill of Materials (BOM) and Work in Process modules from Supply Chain into the surgical operations area. They needed to be able to provide data entry and dashboards in a user-friendly format that the users understand, as well as have ways to easily create and maintain data.

How did they go about this?

To start with, they used BI Publisher to create reports in a format the users could understand. An example of this was the picking list for the patient operations (Work Order Pick List). They made the format look similar to what the medical staff were used to seeing, reducing the anxiety of using a 'new' system.

They also consulted with the staff on the user screens and what they needed to see, using terminology that they used.

A key requirement was being able to display the user screens on a multitude of devices. They needed data entry and dashboards for tablets and PCs as well as dashboards to display on large TVs within the surgical areas.

Along with the medical staff user interfaces, they needed to make sure key Oracle users could easily import, modify and load Item, BOM and Material transaction information with a user-friendly spreadsheet interface. The requirement here was to provide medical staff with up-to-date and accurate inventory and surgical operation data.

For the key medical staff, they reskinned the Inventory, BOM and Work In Process by developing a user interface with Oracle APEX. This allowed users to securely log in, view and maintain data on any device, in a format designed around their needs.

They empowered their key Oracle Supply Chain staff with pre-built, purchased Excel-based loaders to mass load and control data quickly and easily.

With this combination of development and products, they've re-skinned Oracle EBS to make it a true end-user product, complementing modern customer-based surgical operations facilities. Maybe providing a similar, true end-user experience could help an organization like yours?