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Overview
In building materials manufacturing, an ageing ERP stack can affect transaction throughput, increase cyber risk, and delay feature adoption. These issues can become especially challenging when product demand is tightly linked to construction cycles.
Our client, a global manufacturer of building materials and roofing products operating more than 35 plants across North America and Europe, ran older JD Edwards releases requiring heavy custom code and lengthy, high-risk upgrades.
To regain agility, the company partnered with Birlasoft to adopt a continuous upgrade framework. Following this engagement, the client’s organization now runs on a 64-bit code-current and security-hardened platform, armed to exploit the latest functional releases.
Read below how we enabled these outcomes for our client.
The Challenge
#1. Current platform version nearing end of life support
As a multi-plant roofing-materials producer shipping to 96 countries, our client relied on ERP capabilities for order fulfillment, production scheduling, and regulatory reporting.
However, crucial infrastructure components were reaching the end-of-life support, which hindered access to new features. Moreover, recent cyber incidents exposed security vulnerabilities that required rapid remediation, but the legacy stack could not be patched without attracting extensive downtime.
#2. Lack of modern UX and growing volume of customizations
The client’s JDE footprint extended to sales, procurement, transportation and shop-floor modules. However, the absence of latest UX features forced users to navigate dated screens, which typically raises training time and error rates.
Moreover, critical processes in sales and purchasing needed frequent code-level customisations to close functional gaps, which increased maintenance overhead and complicated future upgrades.
#3. Low kernel and database resilience affecting core processes
Even when hardware and networks are stable, the legacy JDE kernel and its database connection layer are known to be susceptible to congestion and session drops. Client JDE system based on legacy platform resulted in significant challenges such as downtime, lack of high availability and business disruptions due to underlaying bugs. Even a single spike in order entry or shop-floor reporting can trigger queue backlogs that force IT to recycle services during production hours.
Hence, our client wanted to shift to a code-current platform running on a continuous upgrade paradigm.
#4. Integration limitations and growing technical debt
Our client leveraged API-driven flows and third-party apps to connect 35 manufacturing facilities with suppliers and logistics partners. However, the current release lacked the latest REST capabilities, forcing teams to maintain older, less reliable connectors prone to disruption.
At the same time, known JDE bugs and missing enhancement packs lowered daily productivity. These issues could only be resolved through bigger version jumps, so the client wanted to modernize its legacy ERP platform.
The Solution
Birlasoft leveraged a five-step process to automate analysis, compress testing, and deliver incremental Electronic / Application Software Update (ESU/ASU) and Tools releases on a rolling schedule to eliminate disruptive upgrades and enable a code-current model.
Our team applied proprietary accelerators with open-source DevOps tooling to ensure that the ERP stack remained compatible, secure, and feature-rich. Below are the key milestones of our methodology.
#1. Streamlining upgrade scoping and planning with automated impact analysis streamlines
Birlasoft began the engagement with a discovery sprint that fed object metadata into the proprietary IMPACTA tool and the ESU Impact Analyzer.
These tools compared the client’s custom footprint against upcoming Oracle updates, producing a holistic view of retrofit effort, integration touchpoints, and test scope.
Following this, a gated release plan was finalised, replacing the manual, error-prone assessments that typically delay upgrade cycles.
#2. Merging new features with custom code through sprint-based retrofits
Using the multi-foundation environment prepared during initiation, Birlasoft ran one-month development sprints that retrofitted impacted objects while selectively enabling new UX components, UDOs, and Orchestrator services.
Automated object tracking and AutoPack package management kept customizations aligned with the vanilla code. This ensured that future ESUs were additive rather than disruptive.
#3. Continuous testing with Jenkins to safeguard business continuity
A dedicated test lane in Jenkins executed regression packs, integration scripts, and security checks every time a retrofit build was promoted.
Parallel environment design enabled production workloads to run untouched during background testing, and proactive monitoring via ProVue flagged performance variances early on.
#4. Setup of parallel environments to enable zero-disruption cutover
Before the rollout, Birlasoft set up a switch-over environment, loaded the final build, and ran mock go-lives while syncing the transactional data.
A parallel cutover strategy was leveraged to reduce downtime to hours, thus enabling the transition without exposing plants or distribution centers to prolonged freezes.
#5. Living release pipeline to sustain code-current posture
Post-go-live, the client’s ERP deployment was transitioned to a continuous upgrade/release mode. Now, quarterly ESU/ASU releases are validated in Birlasoft’s lab environment and then incrementally applied to the client’s landscape via automated scripts.
Rolling deployments, web-based object tracking, and enhanced admin APIs allow IT to patch kernels and keep the ERP environment perpetually on the latest stack.
Impact delivered
The key outcomes that the client realized through this engagement:
- Parallel switch-over environment enabled cutover in hours, allowing 24×7 plants to stay productive during upgrades.
- IMPACTA object analysis reduced manual assessment efforts by 70-80% while providing holistic insight into retrofit scope and risk.
- Jenkins-driven automated regression shortened test cycles by 15%, ensuring new ESU/ASU code met critical integration requirements.
- Release 24 adds Workflow Studio, UX1 pages, and UDOs, enabling user personalization and new flows without custom code.
- Functional gains realized include vendor-managed outbound inventory, safety-stock automation, voucher-match automation, and manufacturing safeguards against negative completions.
Lastly, continuous updates now keep the client’s OS, database, and kernels current, while enabling TLS/SSL hardening for a stronger security posture.
Are you looking to transition to a continuous upgrade paradigm for your ERP platform? Birlasoft experts are ready to help you. Get in touch with us at contactus@birlasoft.com today.
