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Technology Stocks : Siebel Systems (SEBL) - strong buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (1271)	3/16/1998 11:03:00 PM
From: Lee L.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6974

I should go to Siebel's web site more often. I hadn't seen this white paper. I think that merging any two systems like this is a lot of work, although Siebel's architecture may allow them to do it as quickly as it can be done. I believe that this paper is authored by David Schaemier (sp)... it's supposed to be technical, but it's still more marketing than substance. However, not to be too critical, it does say a few things. Preface "... the integration of the two product families can be seamlessly achieved today". This is not quite right. They later describe the first steps of the integration on page 7 -- 1. data synchronization through batch interfaces, 2. program API's that take advantage of each other's data models, and 3. workflow managers. So for the time being, two different products would be installed with two entirely different datamodels, user interfaces and configuration approaches. It sounds like Siebel will develop batch interfaces to keep some data in sync (or maybe customers are supposed to do this). For example, each product family will have its own unique customer 'master' database. Some data will be redundant (customer number, addresses, etc.). Some data will be unique by product. I assume that Siebel will do some of the data mapping to keep the common stuff in synch. I'm not sure how the exposure of the various APIs to one another's data model will have an immediate impact, but I'm sure that could be done at 'minimal development' cost -- same goes for integrating workflow managers. Introduction. Basically, since both products are based on a relational model and developed with objects, the integration should be simpler. On page 4 they reference "Siebel's one-button upgrade process". I can't believe that they still try to market 'the one button'. Although Siebel's approach is a helluva lot better than SAP's or others, it ain't one button! Once you 'press the button', you have to review every single configuration and make lots of changes with lots of testing to confirm the upgrade. ... fingers cramping... Clearly from this document, the Siebel 98 user interface will be 'evolved' into both product families. To achieve complete integration, I don't see how they'll do this without re-writing every single Scopus UI object. A 'single tool set' for configuration will be developed. Again, I think this requires a complete re-write of Scope. Last page "we will provide existing customers a straightforward path to future versions of the product". With extensive data model changes, this is still a tough challenge. All in all, this document is pretty fluffy. I didn't find a magic integration bullet in here. Don't get me wrong about Siebel's product, I think that it's superb. Siebel delivers a very high quality enterprise product. William, are you still in the stock? Do you believe that the stock is fairly valued at current prices?