How does JD Edwards work?

Answer 1

JD Edwards is an "enterprise resource planning" or ERP system. This means that it goes WAY beyond a normal accounting system - way beyond just the typical financial modules such as general ledger, Accounts Payable and receivable to include almost EVERYthing that has to do with handling people, things and money that a business would do. So it handles, manufacturing, sales, shipping, purchasing, distribution and the entire "supply chain" from beginning to end. This company was founded by 3 ex-IBM employees to provide a complete "money, people and stuff" system running on the AS/400 and originally to mining companys in the Denver, USA region but expanded all over the world. Now it runs a fancy internet Browser Web front end that talks back to its large family of modules or sub-systems. When you buy JDE you buy whatever modules you need. Some companies ONLY use it for financials, while others use almost every module and since it is completely customizable and has an entire programmer or developer and customization system, they can actually roll out new modules. In fact, that's how the modules have grown. Sometimes JDE, now owned by the World's largest database company, Oracle has developed an entirely new module, such as real estate management or fixed assets management for a client business and then has gone on to simply add that module to its general list of modules. In JDE there are 3 types of professionals that run the system. They are the business analysts who decide how to use and modify the system. These are called functional people. These business-side people then send their requirements to JDE programmers or developers who can customize and add those changes into progamming modifications. Finally there are the JDE system administrators who are called CNCs because they use what JDE calls its "Configurable Network Computing" system which handles compiling and deploying all those programmer changes into the system and also handling the security and underlying system architecture or design of JDE. So that's the basic picture of JD Edwards. Go to wikipedia where you can find several related articles including the one on JDE CNC that I started.