Blue Bell Creameries is one of the top three best-selling ice cream brands in the US and has been an Oracle user since 1997. They decided to outsource their Oracle hosting and DBA responsibilities to Emtec. When upgrading from EBS 11i to R12, Emtec provided resources and support to help with the complex upgrade process involving changes to inventory management. The project was successful with no disruption, and Emtec continues to provide reliable hosting and application support services.

1. FIRM PROFILE
Blue Bell Creameries is ranked in the top three best-selling ice cream
brands in the United States with the majority of sales in 22 states.
Founded in 1907, Blue Bell’s Headquarters is in Brenham, Texas and
operates manufacturing facilities in Brenham, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma,
and Sylacauga, Alabama.
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Blue Bell has been an Oracle user since 1997.
Years ago, Blue Bell decided to outsource their
Oracle DBA responsibilities and the hosting
of their Oracle environments to a third party
provider. They pursued a partner who could
provide comprehensive hosting, database and
application support services. By engaging
Oracle On-Demand, Blue Bell selected Emtec
to provide hosting and DBA managed services.
THE SOLUTION
When Blue Bell began to assess the feasibility
of upgrading their EBS 11i to R12, the decision
was not an easy one due to the changes
taking place in OPM inventory. However,
the upgrade was necessary because of
requirements around HR/Payroll support
levels. Blue Bell had concerns on the OPM
side because they knew the upgrade was
going to be complex with numerous table
changes and the merging of OPM Inventory
with Discrete Inventory. To complicate
matters even more, OPM Manufacturing
Planning was not supported in R12. The
project also included the implementation of
the Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP)
module to enable unconstrained planning
models, third party interfaces, Discoverer,
and Oracle reports. Custom interfaces for the
automation of transfers between manufacturing
facilities, distribution centers and OPM batch
transactions had to be developed. A new third
party ‘mobile supply chain’ implementation
was also part of the plan. Blue Bell had
qualified, in-house resources that would drive
the upgrade project, but needed Emtec’s
ClearCARE team to offset missing skill sets
and serve as an extension of their existing
team.
RESULTS
Blue Bell has utilized Emtec’s hosting and
database administration services for over six
years. Blue Bell has also expanded its use of
ClearCARE for additional application functional
and development support as needed.
Emtec has employed a unique, predominantly
remote delivery model, supporting Blue Bell’s
core internal team with highly experienced
project management, OPM, ASCP, and DBA
resources. Key project milestones were
achieved and user training was performed with
both teams onsite. It was beneficial that Blue
Bell already had experience with the upgrade
process.
• Emtec assisted with report remediation of 60
legacy Oracle reports.
• Several data conversion processes were
performed in 11i in areas where the standard
upgrade process did not convert data to
work properly within the R12 environment.
• The payment process was created for
payables based on the new procedures in
R12.
BLUE BELL CREAMERIES
Leading Ice Cream Brand
Hosting & Managed Services
ABOUT EMTEC®
Emtec is the right size provider
of technology-empowered
business solutions for world class
organizations. Our local offices,
highly-skilled associates, and
global delivery capabilities ensure
the accessibility and scale to align
technology solutions with your
business needs. Our collective focus
is to continue to build clients for life:
long-term enterprise relationships
that deliver rapid, meaningful, and
lasting business value.
APPLICATION SERVICES
Emtec provides support and
expertise throughout the entire
application lifecycle.
We help clients reduce costs,
streamline processes and gain
efficiencies through better utilization
of their applications.
Our application expertise includes:
• ERP
• HCM
• CRM
• EPM
• BI
• Planning
• Collaboration
• Financial Management
• Application Development &
Testing
• ClearCARE Managed Services

2. ©2015 Emtec Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.emtecinc.com
PEACE OF MIND
“Several years ago, we researched the idea of outsourcing DBA responsibilities for our Oracle EBS
system. When evaluating the pros and cons of outsourcing, it became very clear that hosting was the
way to go for Blue Bell. We started with Oracle On-Demand, but then started looking at third party
providers as a cost effective alternative. We knew what to look for and what we needed in a hosting
partner and decided Emtec could best meet that need. We were mainly looking at DBA and hardware
hosting solutions, but the fact that Emtec had a strong application support model was also a benefit
to us.
We have been with Emtec for over six years and are very satisfied with their team and service
capabilities. We are not a 24x7 operation, but they are. We do not have to worry about application
availability or critical support, which allows our Oracle team to focus on what’s important - making
ice cream. We have been utilizing Emtec more and more on the application and functional side
of Oracle with positive results. In addition, we engaged the ClearCARE team to conduct training
courses on BI Publisher and EBTax onsite at our offices. As a result, I can attest that my team has a
better understanding of and comfort level with those tools/modules and our team’s productivity was
enhanced.”
– Vickie Monk, Systems Manager, Blue Bell Creameries
• Several unique forms personalizations were
developed in the inventory module including
the ability to display item supply demand for
OPM batches and blanket purchase order
releases.
• Additional forms personalizations were created
for payables and receivables.
Once Emtec performed several iterations of the
upgrade process and conducted substantial
testing, a ‘go live’ date was determined. Blue
Bell selected a three day weekend that did
not include a holiday and payroll would not be
due the following week. Blue Bell successfully
went live with no business disruption and the
ClearCARE team continues to provide them with
reliable, worry free hosting and managed services
support.
ClearCARE SERVICES
• Application & Database Hosting
• DBA & Infrastructure Managed
Services
• Application Functional &
Technical Support
• Application Enhancements
• Client Specific Application
Training
BLUE BELL CREAMERIES
Leading Ice Cream Brand
Hosting & Managed Services
An Emtec Company