As part of Quest Experience Week JD Edwards Day, Gary Grieshaber and Bob Monahan spoke about the four core investment areas of the JD Edwards product roadmap. The roadmap is shaped by user experience, digital technologies, ERP, and operational simplification. These core investment areas drive the direction of new features that make their way onto the roadmap and eventually into the JD Edwards system.

User Experience

Understandably, there is a desire among customers to personalize their JD Edwards content to better meet the needs of their industry and roles. One way to do that is to utilize User Defined Objects (UDOs) and UX One role-based content. UDOs like Composed Pages, Form Personalization and Extension, Orchestrator, Notifications and more can help users configure and personalize their content without clogging their JD Edwards system with customizations. A system that is filled with customizations can prevent customers from staying updated and utilizing the latest features and technology, so configuring is a better option in comparison to customizing.

UX One role-based content is another easy way to avoid customizations. The Alert, Analyze, Act paradigm design helps users stay proactive and on top of their work. They’ll be alerted about areas that need immediate attention, given useful data through graphs and charts, and launched into action through the springboard of various activity. To learn more about how to utilize UX One within your business, check out this additional resource from Quest: “Tips for Getting the Most Out of UX One.”

Digital Technologies

Digital technologies are transforming ERP technology. New technologies are the gateway to a digital transformation. This transformation would keep the function of EnterpriseOne at the core while continuing to expand and improve JD Edwards. Features like Orchestrator and Notifications have served as big strides for technology within JD Edwards. Click here to learn more about how to put Orchestrator to work in your organization, and check out this additional Quest resource, “JD Edwards Notifications Under the Hood,” to learn more about how to get started with Notifications.

Another new feature in 9.2.3, My Worklist, has also served as a recent advancement in the JD Edwards technology. My Worklist is a single pane for Watchlists, Message Center and Orchestration Health Monitoring. The Digital Finance Chatbot, a chatbot integrated into a UX One page, was another recent development for JD Edwards. It has helped customers automate the voucher approval process. Using digital technology gives customers the chance to automate tedious tasks, reduce errors, and streamline processes.

ERP

The goal of JD Edwards is to put intelligence into the ERP. As JD Edwards moves forward on the path of automation and machine learning, the ERP system will become more intelligent. Current features like Orchestrator and Cloud are steps toward a more intelligent ERP. Eventually, the hope is to include features like robotic process automation, assisted or automated decision making, and adaptive intelligence.

For now, JD Edwards is working on enhancing and automating core functions within the system. Joint Venture Management and Lease Accounting for Property and Non-Property are two areas that JD Edwards has been working on recently. Joint Venture Management is available now in EnterpriseOne 9.2 Financials, and it can help customers build out the solution for managing partners of a joint venture. Customers can use Joint Venture Management to maintain partner division of interest, distribute costs and revenue, bill and pay partners, and provide operational and financial reports. To learn more, check out this Quest article: “What Can You Do with Joint Venture Management?”

Lease Accounting for Property and Non-Property is available now with EnterpriseOne 9.1 and 9.2. It has been enhanced to meet FASB ASC 842 and IFRS 16 standards that went into effect on January 1, 2019. This application can help customers simplify and automate global lease administration through features like lessee and lessor accounting, lease terms change management, simplified lease management, and revenue recognition for lease management companies.

Operational Simplification

Operational simplification is all about making it easier to own and operate your JD Edwards system. Part of that is reducing your cost of ownership. One approach that can help is known as “getting to vanilla.” This means reducing the number of customizations within your system, which will allow you to stay current with future enhancements while reducing your total cost of ownership. Becoming 100 percent vanilla may not be attainable for every organization, but it’s a goal to aim for. Reduce customizations as much as you can. Other forms of tailoring your JD Edwards system are just as effective but much more affordable. It’s best to configure your system instead of customizing. Check out “A Structured Approach to JD Edwards Upgrades and Staying Current” to learn more about getting to vanilla and keeping your JD Edwards current.