Jeffrey Lewis, Manager of ERP and Integrations at Batesville Casket Company, discussed with Quest their straightforward journey of integrating JD Edwards updates. Jeff oversees JD Edwards and the integration processes that work with the software.

Key Takeaways

About Batesville Casket Company

The company, established in 1884 and located in Batesville, Indiana, is dedicated to providing the best burial services to their clients’ beloved friends and family. With a large employee base and over 100 locations — modern, customized software tools proved vital in ensuring Batesville’s success. They upgraded to 9.2 about a year ago and have seen tremendous results thus far.
According to the president of Batesville, Chris Trainor, upgrading was easy with JD Edwards. He said: “The JD Edwards upgrade was a non-event for Batesville. The result is a more modern environment with the advanced capabilities that will allow us to manage our business more effectively.” Find out more about how a more modernized JD Edwards shaped Batesville’s business model in this customer story.

What tools are you using to keep Batesville running at optimal speed?

In addition to a user interface upgrade and reduction in base code modifications, the JDE upgrade has allowed our business to take advantage of Application Interface Services (AIS). This functionality has provided our business the ability to build Android mobile applications that connect directly to JD Edwards.

Would you mind providing an example or two?

A couple examples of our four walls are inventory applications and Supply Chain fulfillment applications for warehouses. An example of this outside our four walls is a Point-of-Delivery confirmation with electronic customer signature application; think of the experience FedEx provides when they deliver a package.

Can you share your JD Edwards release history? How long were you on 9.1? 9.0, etc.?

We implemented JD Edwards XE in 2000, then upgraded to 8.10 in 2006. 2010 was the year we upgraded to 9.0, and six years later, in November of 2016, we upgraded to 9.2.

Overall, what was your objective for the update?

We first wanted to simplify and standardize processes that we considered the low-hanging fruit. We also needed to provide a more modern user experience by restructuring menus and implementing E1 pages, Watchlists, and CafeOne.

Which specific JDE tools are you using?

We’re using the Financial Management, Asset Lifecycle Management, Order management and Procurement and Manufacturing Management modules.

What are a few ways your business has benefited from upgrading to 9.2?

Flawless execution results in minimal disruption to the business, delivering a modern user experience with added functionality. Not to mention, it has been exciting to push more software onto mobile applications.

What are some integrations (included in this upgrade) that you’re especially excited about?

We’re excited to use DSI, Oracle Sales Cloud, Ortec Delivery Routing, mobile applications, Oracle Hyperion Planning, ERP2WEB, XRS Telematics, Archivist, Transform, Kronos and Vertex to solidify business processes.