Eastern Software Systems

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Introduction

Eastern Software Systems (ESS), one of the leading software services company in Delhi, was incorporated in 1990. ESS's flagship Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product "Makess" was commercially launched in 1998, with possibility of extending it to customers and vendors. “Makess” was subsequently redesigned and renamed as “ebizframe” in the year 2000. Makess on the Net was the first ERP in India to be offered on rental – what is now called SaaS model, in the year 2000

ESS received its first venture funding in 1998 from FMO,Intel and Citi. It is assessed at CMM level 5 and follows ISO 9001:2000 standards.

ESS was the first Indian company to get into highly competitive branded ERP market and it has been mentioned as one of the successful Indian software products by various independent agencies. At the fundamental level ESS was focused on Indian SME market but gradually made its way into international arena in the year 2002-2003 through variegated business alliances. ESS now has a wide presence in 26 different countries across the globe and is a leading player in ERP space.

Consecutively for two years ebizframe has been rated as one of the top 6 ERP vendors in India by Frost & Sullivan. It is one of the rare Indian ERP companies to have grown consistently and continually since its birth and had recorded profits unfailingly since 2002-2003.

History of ebizframe ERP

The precursor to ebizframe, called Makess was launched in 1998 in India on client-server technology on Oracle platform (11). First customer for Makess was Sterling Tools Ltd. in Faridabad and is now using the latest version of ebizframe ERP. ESS was the first Indian ERP company to introduce WAP enabled ERP. A generational jump was taken in the year 2000 by launching a web based version of Makess, named “Makess on Net” in collaboration with Oracle and Sun Systems. It was an ahead of the times SaaS (‘pay as you use’) model and it attracted a good number of customers. This was appreciated well by critics and industry people alike for its visionary use of technology and future road map for users.

The new version on a new technology platform of Oracle with e-commerce and extranet collaboration possibilities was launched in the year 2000 and was named as ebizframe. Since then ebizframe upgrades have been released regularly and version 7.4 on Oracle 11g is slated to be released in May 2009 . Ebizframe came up with the concept of ‘bolt-ons’ i.e. functional upgrade granules that are released every quarter and can be added at a customer site without much pain. This concept takes care of major disruptions in customer usage when a new version is sought to be upgraded irrespective of what functionality a customer may be interested in. Now some other global ERPs are also finding merit in this approach.

During its last 10 years of existence, ebizframe has come up with many flavours for different industry verticals. Major segments apart from engineering, chemicals and pharma being retail dairy, food processing agro-industries like Sugar, Breweries and Distilleries, Paper & Packaging , Jewelry , Retail Textiles & Apparel etc. ebizframe is running currently in 26 countries in different industry segments. Ebizframe is also being offered in four more international languages across the globe. ESS has come up with its web portal for customers who can sit on the top of the ERP, tightly integrated with the ERP that provides access to employees, vendors and buyers, and also facilitates its extension to e-commerce.

Technology

ebizframe is based on Oracle technology, middle-tier being provided by Java technology. It is currently on Oracle 11g platform and is fully web enabled. Interestingly, it does not require a middle ware like Citrix Server for running on browser. It can run on Windows, Sun, Solaris, Unix and Linux platform and is certified for Redhat Linux.

ESS has recently introduced state of art Management Dash Board with latest web based light technologies like PHP and Flex. ESS has recently introduced excel based reporting capabilities in ebizframe, giving its users virtually unlimited capabilities to generate their own reports and graphic based MIS, Dash board etc. ebizframe supports integrated interface within its menu for Oracle Discoverer. It can run on LAN, WAN, Internet – in-house hosting as well as ISP hosting.

Implementation possibilities

  • ERP web-hosted on static IP address in-house with global access. Hosting by ISP – with server hosted remotely at ISP data centre. It has tied up with Datacentres like Netmagic India for this purpose.
  • SaaS model and MSP model
  • Hybrid connectivity through VSAT, broadband, leased and ISDN lines. ESS has tied up with many leading service providers to provide customers rich options.
  • Ready to use low cost standard implementation with core functions and fast implementation - ebizframeCORE

Implementation methodology

ESS implements its ERP through its own project teams and doesn’t depend on third party consultants. This is a very different methodology but it is highly successful, resulting in very high success rate. ESS believes in incremental ERP implementation. It is more successful and leads to least disruption in regular business of the customer. This model is being slowly adopted by other ERP players in the industry as well.

Product features

Business functions – CRM, Sales, Procurement, Manufacturing, Licensed (sub-contracted mfg.), Finance, Asset maintenance, Statutory Compliance, Customer Service, Administration.

Modules –

  • Sales – pre-sales activities (SFA), Sales & Distribution, Export sales, sales returns, inter-location transfers, a separate optional module for Point of Sales, Marketing schemes, incentives for sales & distribution
  • Purchase - normal purchases (local and imports), job work, services and service contract management
  • Inventory management – raw material, bought-outs, finished goods, multi-location warehouses etc.
  • Production and PPC – shop floor activities as well as back-office activities, Process based level2 Bill of Material, MRP, production planning, Job cards, WIP etc.
  • Fixed Assets – Management of Fixed Asset register with user defined parameters for depreciation calculation
  • EQM – preventive and break-down maintenance, both in-house and third party, tracking spare part consumption, stock ledger and machine history
  • Customer Care – post sales complaints management, warranty and out of warranty repairs and billing, tracking support activity for customers
  • EIS – Management Dash Board, macro-drill down reporting
  • In-built report writing capabilities and user defined dashboard for managers and directors
  • Integration of Oracle BI tool Discoverer within ERP
  • Extension to Extra-net – web portal integration, e-commerce, EDI,
  • Possible to interface with other ERPs.

Partnerships

ESS prefers Business Partnership model outside India and is represented by well known IT companies in various countries. ESS also provides marketing support by providing training to the partners’ marketing team, and where required, deputes trained personnel to help the partners in marketing the software.