Leverage Your SQL Server Skills with Third Party Tools
I decided to take a look in Google to see what tools have the ability to utilize SQL Server database engine for persistence. Most likely, each of these tools benefit from the skills of a savvy DBA for performance, maintenance, and security. I restricted myself to 10 minutes to see what I could find on Google, and here is what I was able to retrieve.
The majority of the products target medium business customers. I think that trend will be changing as the SQL Platform continues to grow in performance.Still, there is a great job market in the small and mid size business requiring your skills as a DBA.
From Microsoft’s own product offerings I am listing a few:
SharePoint
SQL Server Analysis Services
Dynamics AX
- General Ledger, composed of ledger, sales tax, currency and fixed assets features
- Bank Management, where cash is received and paid out
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM), where Business Relations (customers, vendors, and leads) are contacted and maintained
- Accounts Receivable, where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced
- Accounts Payable, where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory
- Inventory Management, where Inventory is valued and managed
- Master Planning, where purchase and production planning takes place
- Production, where bill of materials is defined and manufacturing is tracked
- Product Builder, where product models are created and maintained
- Human Resources, where employee information is kept
- Project Accounting, where projects are created and tracked primarily from an accounting perspective
- Shop Floor Control
- Cost Accounting
- Questionnaire
- Balanced Scorecards
- Service Management
- Expense Management
- Payroll Management[9]
- Environmental Management
Dynamics GP – Accounting
Dynamics NAV
- Accounting
- Healthcare
- Brewery
- Financial Services
Dynamics SOL
- Project Management
- Finance
- Project Accounting
- Manufacturing
- Field Services
- Supply Chain Management
- Analytics
- Electronic Commerce.
I found a couple of Suites for SAP that you may host yourself. They also had products as web based services, which won’t necessarily allow you to leverage your skills in Database Management.
SAP Business Suite
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)
- SCM (Supply Chain Management)
- SRM (Supplier Relationship Management)
SAP Business One
- Financials Module, where various accounting and financial activities are conducted.
- Sales Opportunities Module, where existing customers and potential accounts are maintained.
- Sales Module, where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced.
- Purchasing Module, where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory.
- Business Partners Module, where Business Partners (customers, vendors, and leads) are maintained.
- Banking Module, where cash is received and paid out.
- Inventory Module, where Inventory is valued and managed.
- Production Module, where bill of materials are defined and manufacturing is tracked.
- MRP Module, where purchase and production planning takes place.
- Service Module, where after-service products are managed.
- Human Resources Module, where employee information is maintained.
From Oracle we have a number of suites as well…Many acquired.
PeopleSoft Enterprise applications
- Sales Opportunities Module, where existing customers and potential accounts are maintained.
- Sales Module, where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced.
- Purchasing Module, where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory.
- Business Partners Module, where Business Partners (customers, vendors, and leads) are maintained.
- Banking Module, where cash is received and paid out.
- Inventory Module, where Inventory is valued and managed.
- Production Module, where bill of materials are defined and manufacturing is tracked.
- MRP Module, where purchase and production planning takes place.
- Service Module, where after-service products are managed.
- Human Resources Module, where employee information is maintained.
PeopleSoft Enterprise Tools and Technology
- Asset Lifecycle Management
- Campus Solutions
- Customer Relationship Management
- Enterprise Performance Management
- Applications Portal
- Enterprise Service Automation (Project Management)
- Financial Management
- Human Capital Management
- Supplier Relationship Management (Procurement)
- Supply Chain Management
Siebel
- Sales Force Automation
- Customer Relationship Management
JD Edwards – EnterpriseOne, Enterprise World
JD Edwards has a large list of ERP applications and customer specific implementations. One of the unique assets in the JD Edwards suite it the data storage implementation allowing heterogeneous storage across multiple data stores from multiple manufacturers.
In short, if your custom software development opportunities are drying up for database systems, consider integrating with the hundreds of systems that utilize the engine where you have expertise.
For those of you starting out a new year looking for ways to enhance your career, here are some ideas.
Do you have other areas where you use your DBA Skills you would like to share with our readers? Send your tips to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben