Over 600 top managers of the leading enterprises of Russia and other CIS countries were invited by Oracle to multi-industry Oracle AppsForum in Moscow. The majority of modern companies are now implementing or intend to implement Oracle E-Business Suite, an enterprise resources management system. Therefore, all subjects and issues dealt with at the forum centered on the practical questions: how can the system be quickly implemented at a concrete enterprise, what are the results of its use.

Reports were delivered by the leading industrial companies, such as RAO UES of Russia, Bank of Moscow, Alfa-Insurance, the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant, Metafraks. One of such companies was Uralkali, the leader of the potassium industry and an active partner of Oracle.

Alexei Chibisov, Director for Economics and Finances, and Elena Samsonova, Deputy Director for Human Resources, told the forum about the implementation and operation of the enterprise resources management system at Uralkali.

"The new enterprise management system allowed Uralkali to enhance its competitiveness," says Alexei Chibisov. "This is costs management, optimization of business processes, transparency of the business and HR management. We have organized efficient record-keeping, raised the quality and efficiency of planning and prognostication, simplified document processing, improved information exchange between local services. Uralkali has spent over 4 million rubles on the implementation of the system, i.e., about one percent of its annual turnover. The effect obtained by the company from streamlining its cash flows, cutting down expenses, tightening the control is several percent of this turnover. Here is one particular example of optimization carried out with the help of Oracle. Every year, Uralkali spends about two million rubles on repairs and construction. The control over the flow of these funds using conventional paper record-keeping is inefficient. The use of the new system for repairs alone saves five to ten percent of this sum and increases the information processing speed 10 - 15 times. We spoke about this at the forum as Oracle's customers."

Elena Samoilova's report was devoted to the personnel management training in the course of implementation of the new system. This problem is highly topical for many enterprises which are implementing the Oracle software. The forum participants put numerous questions to Elena Samsonova about the work of the project team which was implementing the system, how understanding was reached with the division heads and how the personnel was informed about the project.

The project presented by the top managers of Uralkali was characterized by Oracle as one of the largest and most successful. Uralkali has allocated all necessary resources for the implementation of the project, all project managers and participants were fully aware of its importance for the enterprise. The Oracle representatives in the CIS stressed high professionalism of the Uralkali management and the project team, owing to which the Oracle E-Business Suite has been put into service within the shortest possible time and is already producing results.