Oracle Corp. today rolled out a new, stand-alone version of its Oracle Warehouse Management application, decoupling the tool from the E-Business Suite (EBS) ERP platform. Oracle Warehouse Management, previously available only as a module within EBS, can now be deployed independently, with links to Oracle and non-Oracle ERP systems.

The move is part of an ongoing strategy to offer best-of-breed applications to customers outside Oracle’s customer base. The company has taken similar steps with its transportation and demand planning applications.

The announcement also signals a plan to more closely bundle Oracle Warehouse Management with the company’s transportation management application, offering them together as a best-of-breed logistics management suite. Recently, with its introduction of EBS 12.1, Oracle announced new integration points between Oracle Warehouse Management and Oracle Transportation Management, including the ability of the warehouse management system to collaborate with Oracle Transportation Management on load sequencing and cross docking.

“Going forward you will see more of those types of integrations,” said Jennifer Sherman, Oracle’s senior director of logistics applications strategy, in an interview. “We are building an integrated logistics platform.”

The decision to decouple Oracle Warehouse Management from EBS, Sherman told Managing Automation, was driven by changing customer requirements. Increasingly, Oracle Warehouse Management is being used in larger, more complex enterprises that may run multiple ERP systems, not just EBS, she said. Those manufacturers require a warehouse management system that can be deployed in a distributed fashion and integrated with a variety of non-EBS systems, including Oracle ERP systems such as PeopleSoft.

The stand-alone version of Oracle Warehouse Management also allows the software to be upgraded or enhanced without requiring a full ERP upgrade.

Many manufacturers need to be able to continue shipping product even when their ERP system is down for maintenance or other reasons, Sherman said. Running Oracle Warehouse Management as a stand-alone application permits that, she added.

In the initial stand-alone version of the product, the company has included a generic integration point that can be used to link Oracle Warehouse Management with the order management modules of non-EBS enterprise systems. Subsequent releases will include pre-written integrations between Oracle Warehouse Management and specific non-EBS ERP systems, Sherman said.

The stand-alone version of Oracle Warehouse Management also features performance enhancements and a stronger wave planning module.

The application can be deployed on-premise or accessed through a hosted model.