1. APPLICATIONS UNLIMITED new i ns i ghtsfo ro racleap p li cati onsu ser sKeeping IT ShipshapeJD EDwarDs upgraDE calms watErs for royal caribbEan cruisEs.he global recession has meant any- stand out above the competition due toBefore, we had the opt-out model that thing but smooth sailing for the cruise our specialization in JD Edwards, our required putting in a lot of manual con-industry over the last few years, butglobal delivery model, and our reputation trols, but now the system does most ofRoyal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (RCCL) for keeping our customers competitive the work, and that is extremely helpful,has managed to thrive and grow due toand agile, says Vishal Grover, president says Pujol.an increasing focus on the international and CEO at SYSTIME. Furthermore, the systems employee-market. Along with acquiring companies RCCL Manager of IT Mark Musial says profile functionality was redesignedand opening offices around the world,SYSTIME helped the cruise line overcome to be managed shipboard, trimmingincluding locations in Australia,boarding times and preventingGermany, Norway, Spain, and thedelays. The hiring process alsoUnited Kingdom, company leaderssaw improvements with applicantdecided that it was imperative totracking, which hiring partnersmodernize IT operations. around the globe can now accessA recent survey from the Cruiseto streamline the recruitmentLines International Associationprocess. And the entire RCCLpredicted that 14.3 million pas- fleet can access JD Edwardssengers will cruise in 2010, nearlyshoreside and shipboard applica-1 million more than in 2009. tions via satellite connections.Additionally, international pas- The new system offers criti-sengers make up 14 percent morecal stability. Prior to the upgrade,of the cruise market than in 2000. Pujol recalls frequent downtimeIndeed, RCCL management rode that required support from in-the wave of that international house and outside IT. Once weexpansion by implementing Oracles JDsome global systemic and functional chal- went live, we measured how many com-Edwards applications in 2001. But over lenges by working closely with the cus- plaints popped up. It was very successful,time, a highly customized IT infrastruc- tomers team to configure and adapt the and the issues were very minimaleventure started to inhibit growth.JD Edwards system to meet core projectin the first couple of days, says Pujol.RCCL grew up as a North Americanrequirements. They leveraged past expe-The upgrade was delivered in perfectcompany. Our general ledger systemsrience and offered new ideas throughout timing. We havent experienced any sta-were set up focused on accounting in the project efforts, he says.bility or performance issues.North America, says Henry Pujol, vice The projects Big Bang approach RCCL managers continue to look atpresident, corporate controller at RCCL. involved rolling out the system inadditional functionalities within the JDThe biggest reason for going into the Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Edwards EnterpriseOne system, furtherupgrade project was system stability and Spain, and the U.S. So SYSTIMEsimproving human resources managementsupport for the system. There was no ifproven global delivery model played anand currency management. JD Edwardsas far as upgradingit was when.important role in the projects positiveEnterpriseOne is a flexible solution thatOracle Platinum Partner SYSTIMEoutcome. This meant migrating older JDallows us to conduct business efficientlywas tapped to lead the upgrade project,Edwards applications onto a unified JDand effectively in global markets withdue to the partners 15-year focus onEdwards EnterpriseOne infrastructure appropriate local flavor, says JasonJD Edwards and its strong global pres- supporting 5,500 users and interactions Liberty, vice president of strategy, corpo-ence (30 offices worldwide). SYSTIME with 30 internal applications and 6 rate planning, and insurance at RCCL.needed to complete the globalization external systems. SYSTIME did very well. They did a goodand upgrade project in just 11 months, The new system features 16 newjob managing through the organizationsrequiring close monitoring and strongfunctionalities, including Sarbanes-Oxley to make good tactical decisions. Andproject management under the auspicescompliance, global currency conversions,the decisions that had to be made on a I-Hua CHenof its SYS-on-TIME methodology. Wesimplified regional accounting, and globalfunctional area level were always resolvedwere confident that SYSTIME wouldalignment with RCCLs growth strategy.very quickly. pro f i t j d e d w a rd s s p e c ia l ed it ion 7