Oracle has been hardening its strategy and amplifying its message big time with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in the Cloud, most recently with a strong push at Collaborate 2019 for the 9.2 upgrade. You know, that update Oracle keeps reminding you about? What you might not know is that less than half of JDE users have taken full advantage of 9.2 — so statistically, you might just be one of them. Oracle has some big plans for upcoming 9.2 system upgrades including JDE Orchestrator, UX One, mobile, and more.

With respect to JD Edwards, taking an entire ERP system that was architected as an on-premise ERP system (and multi-platform, no less—Windows, iSeries, UNIX, Linux; and Oracle, SQL Server, or DB2 databases), and putting it in the cloud is not an overnight feat. That is why Oracle has been releasing new features, tools, and cloud features little by little.  

It’s great to see the progress but, at the same time, it can get a bit confusing. We are understandably getting lots of questions about JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in the Cloud — the good news is we can comfortably say that there are many compelling options offered by Oracle for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in the Oracle Cloud. To help you through this JDE cloud transition, we put together a list of the most frequently asked questions about JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in the Cloud, as released to the market by Oracle:

What exactly is Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne on Oracle Cloud?

A: This refers to running Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne on Oracle's Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings, specifically the Oracle Compute Cloud Service and the Oracle Database Cloud Service. Oracle also offers an all-in-one JD Edwards EnterpriseOne “sandbox” or trial edition to evaluate its latest features.

What capabilities are available at the moment?

A: An Oracle Compute Cloud subscription and the tools in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace like JD Edwards One-Click Provisioning  let you easily provision new instances of Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, deploy development tools on the cloud, and also clone your existing Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne instances from on-premises to Oracle Cloud. Your on-premise and cloud instances can also be managed simultaneously from the Oracle Application Management Suite.

What are the benefits of using Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne on Oracle Cloud?

A: The biggest benefits are the support for business growth, greater business agility, and lower costs and risks. Organizations need to be agile to respond to business changes like acquisitions, globalization, and regulatory or process changes and adopt new technologies or applications. Teams can provision new development and test environments quickly with Oracle Cloud in response to such changes while ensuring the continuity of day-to-day operations. Oracle's IaaS is elastic and allows IT teams to scale the infrastructure up or down on demand. This elasticity and the flexibility to pay as you go, minimize the need for upfront capital and decrease wait times for hardware and other tools, reducing overall project risk. Oracle Cloud provides a complete integrated cloud platform with best-in-class IaaS and PaaS suite offerings, which allows for hybrid deployment choices across private and public cloud options.

What are some of the ways we can use JD Edwards EnterpriseOne with Oracle Cloud?

A: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne lowers the total cost of ownership with simple provisioning of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in Oracle IaaS. The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Trial Edition all-in-one image with demo data allows users to explore new functionality in JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Application Release 9.2, like the new industry modules, One View Financial Statements, EnterpriseOne Orchestrator, as well as mobile and user experience, without having to install JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in their data centers. This solution in combination with the Server Manager component and the Migration Toolkit provided by Oracle allows customers to easily transfer their development and test data, customizations, and patch level from their on-premise instances to Oracle IaaS. Customers can also leverage Oracle Database Cloud Service (DBCS) for the JD Edwards database layer. The combination of IaaS and DBCS allows customers to easily provision new instances of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, resulting in reduced administration cost and increased agility.

Can we customize JD Edwards EnterpriseOne when we use Oracle Cloud?

A: Yes, the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne software architecture lets customers modify their systems, whether the systems are deployed on Oracle Cloud or within an on-premise data center.

How do we migrate JD Edwards EnterpriseOne customizations and data from on-premises production system to the cloud?

A: A cloud migration utility is available that enables this migration.

Can we upgrade JD Edwards EnterpriseOne by using the cloud migration utility as part of migrating to the cloud?

A: No. The cloud migration utility currently only allows for the same EnterpriseOne release migration from on-premise to the cloud.

Is it possible to migrate JD Edwards EnterpriseOne test instances currently running on a non-Linux platform to Oracle Cloud?

A: Oracle Cloud currently runs Oracle Linux or Windows. You have to migrate non-Linux instances (such as Solaris, and AIX) to Linux on-premises.

Are there differences in patching of the apps, database, and middleware in the cloud versus on-premises?

A: The same tools and utilities are used to patch components in Oracle Cloud and on-premises. You can use Server Manager to update the Tools Release and Deployment Server instance provided in Cloud to update your JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Apps.

Can we use the same certified third-party products we currently use on-premise with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne on Oracle Cloud?

A: Yes, the entire JD Edwards EnterpriseOne architecture is the same, whether deployed on-premise or on Oracle Cloud. All the third-party components that make up a JD Edwards EnterpriseOne application will be deployed in the cloud. Oracle’s Cloud strategy also allows customers to use Oracle Cloud to host instances of other applications that may be used to integrate with their JD Edwards EnterpriseOne systems.

What tools are needed for managing JD Edwards environments on Oracle Cloud?

A: The Oracle Application Management Suite allows you to monitor and manage Oracle Cloud and on-premises instances with a unified interface.

Can we use the Database Cloud Service and Exadata Cloud Service with Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne?

A: Yes, customers can use the Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Development with the database hosted on the Oracle Database Cloud Service and the application tier hosted on the Oracle Compute Cloud Service.

What does hybrid cloud mean for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne?

A: As customers and partners evaluate their choice of platform and deployment options for their JD Edwards EnterpriseOne installations, one of the most common configurations that might make business sense is a hybrid deployment model. Depending on the business needs, the development and testing environments can be deployed on the cloud platform while the production instance can continue to be run on-premise. The EnterpriseOne instance can be deployed on the cloud platform while some of the integrations will run on-premise or vice versa. JD Edwards cloud platform strategy supports these scenarios and allows for a hybrid deployment model, based on the choice and control of our customers and partners.

Have more questions? We have more answers. Download our complimentary eBook to help  transform your JDE strategy with the cloud and 9.2 upgrade.

If you’re ready to improve your JDE cloud strategy, let us know. We’re 9.2 pros who are more than happy to guide you along the way. Give us a call to get started.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in June 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.