Recently Oracle JD Edwards announced a new release strategy for the current Enterprise One 9.2 version.
Although this announcement is great news for Oracle JD Edwards users, however it is sometimes misunderstood. In this blog, we will clarify this major change which is easily misunderstood.
1. The Past.
In recent years, Oracle JD Edwards issued a new major release of the product more or less every three years. So after 9.0 update 2, 9.1 it was followed by 9.2 in 2015. Every release had its own support horizon: 5 years for premier support and 3 years for extended support. Therefore release 9.2 was supported till 2020 on premier support, and until 2023 on extended support.
In parallel, Oracle JD Edwards practiced an agile working model resulting in a number of functionality and tools releases in between the main releases . In fact, releases 9.1 and 9.2 were more a roll-up of everything already delivered in previous years, primarily for the sake of the existing support model.
2. The Future.
Now a major change materializes: Oracle JD Edwards announced it will stop delivering point releases purely for the benefit of the support model. So while everyone was expecting a release of 9.3 in 2018, Oracle JD Edwards extended the support of 9.2 till 2025 for premier support and to 2028 for extended support. In addition to this (and this is the strong part of the message): every year it will be decided if support for release 9.2 will be extended within another year.
So the fact there won’t be a 9.3 release is definitely not the end of the product roadmap, but the start of a new and better release strategy, one which exists already for years in cloud products.
Most of the more recent enhancements have been focused on things like an improved user interface, streamlined processes, and other incremental changes.
Now, how will it benefit you?
- you have a longer support horizon.
- you get continuous product improvements.
- you can decide to apply new features and functions.
Bellurbis helps a large number of JDE and Oracle customers to navigate all your decisions. It is important to objectively assess and define your path forward in order to be successful.
Please feel free to contact us to brainstorm ideas and discuss your options and path forward. We’re happy to be a sounding board as you continue your digital transformation journey!