A.J. Schifano presents this clear, informative overview of JD Edwards tools and what to expect in coming years. Regarding updates to digital experience, Schifano adds: “We’ve never been having more fun … [We’ve] never been in a more prolific time for delivering enhancements.”

Redefining tools:

Let’s think about how we use the term “tools” before we jump in. According to Schifano, “[Tools] is an interesting term for what we really want to talk about today. We use this term to represent pretty much everything that isn’t a JD Edwards module.” He also describes them as a sort of “magic layer” that catalyzes digital transformation.

Naturally, transforming business means revamping JD Edwards too. For JD Edwards, digital transformation involves several updates that change the scope of how business operates.

Here are some of the key areas in which JD Edwards will develop their modules for the digital economy:

• Mobile
• IoT
• UX One
• Personalization
• No-code integrations
• Citizen developer
• Cloud

The presentation focused on these four predominant themes. The bolded concepts are covered in this blog, and we’ll discuss the final two later.

• Digital Transformation
• Operational Simplification
• ERP Modernization
• User Experience

New standards for digital transformation

Creating a new standard across modules within JD Edwards EnterpriseOne promotes progress in digital transformation. Through this standardization, Oracle hopes that JD Edwards tools will become the definitive software for business analysts.

Business analysts, in turn, can use JD Edwards tools to build microservices that standardize how applications and orchestrations interact. The tools’ ability to communicate both internally and to third parties through REST servers (using JSON data) remains key in producing relevant tools for the digital era.

Orchestrator Studio

Oracle has created a resource for business analysts that, in Schifano’s words, will “blow the doors off how you use your JD Edwards system.” Orchestrator Studio is a single tool built to design, test and deploy with ease. Orchestrator Studio builds microservices within the JD Edwards Platform as a Service (PaaS) with relative ease for the user.

New features included in Orchestrator include the following:

• Access to data in JD Edwards tables
• Access to data in non-JD Edwards tables
• Access to data in One View reports
• Inbound/outbound REST
• Orchestrators that can integrate with other orchestrations
• Advanced scripting with Groovy
• Enhanced email capabilities

Operational simplification

On-service deployments used to take weeks on end, until the cloud stepped up to the challenge with a complete Apps-to-Cloud stack. These enhancements enabled easier deployments with fewer bugs upon implementation.

Here are the upgrades involved with this new cloud update:

• Automated provisioning
• Patch-current deployment
• Specialized cloud tools
• Streamlined patching
• Reference architectures
• Identical functionalities, both on premise and in the cloud
• Utilities to migrate data and customization
• End-to-end testing
• PaaS and IaaS services
• Single support path

If you need a great example of JD Edwards operating as an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), look no further than One Click Provisioning, which offers easier, faster deployments while decreasing need for IT expertise. On-premise deployments used to involve days or even weeks, but now you can fully deploy within hours.

Here’s how it works:

• Run JD Edwards on the Oracle Cloud
• Move data to the cloud with easy, self-service provisioning
• You’ll receive Continuous Adoption with optimized value.

“We’re always delivering continuous product to you, so there’s less to upgrade,” says Schifano. A tools set dedicated to continuous adoption means that you’ll have to deal with less retrofitting because opportunities will appear automatically.

When we get back for Part Two, we’ll talk about Object Tracking, Automated System Administration, User Experience, Notifications and Search.

In the meantime, check out Oracle’s JD Edwards Tools presentation with A.J. Schifano, and learn more about the momentum behind JD Edwards tools and the exciting future ahead for Oracle users. We look forward to learning more about JD Edwards upgrades and technologies with you at COLLABORATE 18, April 22-26, 2018. Follow COLLABORATE 2018 updates on Twitter using the hashtag #C18LV.