Tuesday, July 18, 2006

You Can Be Involved in Fusion

Are you frustrated over your inability to provide suggestions on Fusion Applications to Oracle? Do you wish you had more information on the progress and future of Fusion? Do you need more technical info on Fusion middleware? If your answer to any of these questions is a resounding "Yes!", may I suggest that the best remedy is to get up from your chair, get out in the Oracle user community, and get involved?

Oracle has established several channels for two-way communication with customers about Fusion Applications. Some of these communications channels include:

1. Customer Advisory Boards – Oracle is working with the International Oracle User Council ("IOUC") to establish Customer Advisory Boards for various business process areas (i.e., HR, Projects, Financials, etc.). You can discover more about this and other IOUC Fusion-related initiatives by checking the IOUC’s Fusion Channel here.

2. OAUG’s Enhancement Request System – If you’re an Oracle Applications User Group (“OAUG”) member, you should know that OAUG is currently utilizing their Enhancement Request System to determine a set of features that Oracle customers would like to see in Fusion Applications. That feature set will be submitted to Oracle. You can learn more here, but hurry – voting ends on July 31, 2006.

3. OAUG Fusion Council – OAUG sponsors a Fusion Council in partnership with Quest (the JD Edwards User Group) and the PeopleSoft Users Group. The purpose of the Council is, among other things, to “…represent users of Oracle, former J.D. Edwards and PeopleSoft applications and customers to Oracle development in the design, usability and business functionality features of Fusion…” I’m personally a member of both the Council and the Steering Committee, and have found this communications channel to be an outstanding means of both voicing my concerns with Oracle and learning about the latest Fusion developments. You can read about the Fusion Council here.

4. IOUG and OAUG Middleware SIGs – Both the Independent Oracle Users Group (“IOUG”) and OAUG sponsor middleware Special Interest Groups (“SIGs”), both of which convey significant information on Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications. You can access the IOUG Middleware SIG here and the OAUG Middleware SIG here.

Now that I’ve listed several (but by no means all) of these communications channels for Fusion, have you noticed a pattern? All these channels are collaborations between Oracle and Oracle user groups. Actively engaging with user groups is the very best way to for Oracle to hear your input on Fusion. You’ll also be on the leading edge in learning about the latest Fusion developments.

The combination of Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications will likely be a monumental change in the Oracle E-Business realm. You can partcipate in shaping that change, or stand back and watch it happen. The choice is yours.

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