In 1996, Edgen Corporation was a single-location domestic distribution business in Baton Rouge with a limited product line. The company’s goal was to grow by acquisition and to become a global supplier of specialty pipe and components with a diverse product offering. From 1996–2001, Edgen successfully acquired six companies. Rapid acquisitions meant supporting multiple software systems so in 2001, Edgen decided to consolidate and identified the Oracle eBusiness Suite as its standard. By 2004, all Edgen companies were running Oracle, which provided tremendous gain in the ability to create a single policy and procedure. Edgen no longer had to manage five different application packages and could close the books for the month in five days instead of two weeks.
With the Oracle E-Business Suite in place and running smoothly, Edgen now had to focus on a new issue—change management control—and began to address eventual compliance relative to Sarbanes-Oxley.
The Challenge
Even before Sarbanes-Oxley, Edgen had considered implementing a change management solution. However, prior to their Oracle E-Business Suite system, they never had access to source code and could not make changes. For several years, Edgen’s auditors had recommended that the company implement change management or change control procedures and/or software to support it. When the company decided to participate in a private debt offering that will eventually require it to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley reporting and control requirements, it was the final push for Edgen to reassess its change management practices and start looking for a solution to help it with compliance.
Edgen began to address the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission will require documentation for Edgen’s disclosure control and internal control over financial reporting processes and procedures. As the backbone of modern business, ERP applications undergo constant change—companies configure and customize the applications to model their internal practices and for competitive advantage; application updates and upgrades are required to stay current on support; and business law changes, such as tax updates, are produced on a regular schedule.
Randy Harless, vice president and CIO at Edgen says, “Sarbanes-Oxley caught our attention. The mandate, coupled with recommendations from our auditors, prompted us to look at our controls in a different way and to start looking at change management software. It’s essential to have the ability to document what you do, when you did it and why.”
The Quest Solution
Already a Toad® user (Toad is Quest’s database development and administration tool), and happy with their existing Quest relationship, Edgen turned to Quest Software for a change management solution. After a thorough evaluation, Edgen selected Stat® ACM for Oracle E-Business Suite. Stat provides a complete change management and version control solution for ERP applications, helps organizations become more responsive to change and increases visibility into, and control over, the change process. Stat dramatically reduces the time required to deploy patches and critical changes throughout the Oracle E-Business Suite, resulting in lower total cost of ownership.
Stat enables Edgen to go back to their Oracle environment at any time and show anyone when, where and why changes were made, that the changes were tested and approved by the appropriate manager and that the manager authorized placement into production. Harless says, “The ability to report and confirm to outside auditors that we are following process is immeasurable. You can’t quantify the ability to comply—it’s like trying to quantify the ability to stay in business.”

The Bottom Line
Harless is upfront about his feelings on Stat, the implementation experience, training and the Quest Support team. “Our experience to date with respect to installation and training has been extremely positive. The Quest Support team is always helpful and supportive.”
As Edgen continues to expand, Stat will play an important role in the company’s ISO certification process by providing the ability to version control their policy and procedure document changes and approvals. This is critical for expansion into international business. In terms of future acquisitions, Harless says, “Stat allows us to inform our vendors and people involved in our acquisitions that we can support a much larger organization. The scalability of Stat will allow us to grow—we won’t have to go find another package.”
About Edgen
Edgen Corporation has roots in Thomas Pipe & Steel (TP&S), a company founded in 1983. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, TP&S became one of the largest stocking distributors of large diameter prime domestic and foreign carbon steel pipe in the U.S. Subsequent acquisitions included Bartow Steel in 1998, Radnor Alloys Inc. in 1999, Resource Pipe Co. in 2000, ProMetals in 2001 and Service Industrial Supply Co. in 2002. Today, Edgen is a leading global distributor of specialty steel pipe, fittings and flanges for use in niche applications, primarily in the oil and gas, processing and power generation industries.
About Quest Software, Inc.
Quest Software, Inc. delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and productivity from their databases, applications and Windows infrastructure. Through a deep expertise in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps more than 18,000 customers worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quest Software can be found in offices around the globe and at: www.quest.com