Monday, September 10, 2007

Final Thoughts On The Fusion Roadmap

A few final thoughts to share as we wrap up Roadmap series of articles...
  • Getting to Fusion Applications will require a mastery of Fusion Middleware. Although the apps won't be out until 2008, you may want to get started with the middleware right now. In fact, I can't think of a better way to get started than attending OAUG's Oracle Fusion Middleware Boot Camp.
  • There is a high degree of complexity as well as quite a few interrelated "moving parts" in Oracle Fusion architecture...lots of orchestration and integration required. Customizations will only make things even more complex. Rather than going for a highly complex, highly customized "Mouse Trap" architecture, consider replacing your customizations with vanilla functionality now.
  • Migrating from sunsetting technology is a recurring theme. We're seeing the decommission of some technology we've come to know and rely on: mod_plsql, Oracle Reports, and Oracle Workflow are all examples. Migrating to the replacement technologies without impacting your enterprise operations is a huge concern.
  • Moving to Fusion Applications promises to be a big effort with substantial technical underpinnings: it's a whale sandwich. The best way to eat a whale sandwich is one bite at a time. Ditto for Fusion Applications - take it a little at a time using an incremental and iterative approach rather than attempting to make the entire change at once.
  • Oracle's journey to Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications continues to be an evolutionary journey; as they learn more, things change. The same holds true with what I've written here...everything is likely to change. I've just shared what I think I know right now. Any errors, omissions, poor predictions or misinformation are my fault alone.
  • The journey will be a little different for each enterprise. My roadmap is not necessarily a good roadmap for you. My intent in sharing my roadmap in the hopes that doing so will start a discussion and perhaps prompt others to begin their own planning, which is the reason I shared pictures rather than writing lots of words. Hopefully, you've seen or read something that will help you get started.
  • [UPDATED Sept. 14 2007] The Roadmap closely follows the guidelines laid out by Dr. Nadia Bendjedou in her presentation "10 Things You Can Do Now To Prepare for Fusion Applications". You may want to review her presentation as a starting point for building your own roadmap. You can find that presentation here.
Well, developing this roadmap was an ordeal...what a long, strange trip it's been. Now that I've shared it with all of you, I look forward to hearing your feedback and your own plans for moving ahead.

8 comments:

Noons said...

I'm perturbed by the lack of comments on this, quite frankly.

In the past you know I've been very critical of the whole fusion enchillada, but this roadmap has definitely helped put it in perspective and make some sense out of its targets and how to fit it in.

Certainly more than most of the Oracle marketing stuff.
Thanks for that.

fteter said...

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear that somebody is getting something out of this series of articles. Given the minimal information available on "the whole fusion enchillada" (I like that term, can I use it?), I'm hoping this will at least stir up some discussion on the subject.

Anonymous said...

Floyd - good stuff as always

fteter said...

Thanks for the support John.

Seb said...

I completely share what noons said.

Thanks for sharing !

Anonymous said...

Floyd,

Great series of articles.

You should think of presenting this at OAUG Collaborate 08 next April in Denver.

fteter said...

Seb, thanks for the support.

A. Taylor, thank you for the idea. I'm actually presenting the roadmap at OpenWorld in November. My plan is to submit for an updated presentation at Collaborate 08...we'll see if it's selected.

Anonymous said...

Floyd,

Whenever I get the inevitable "what should we do about Fusion" I just point them to your blog.

An exceptional effort and result.

But, hey, I'm just a DBA so I'm easily impressed. :-)

thx,
John