Oracle OpenWorld 2010 - What Looks Good To Me

Oracle OpenWorld is staring us in the face. With the combination of iDevelop, JavaOne and OpenWorld, San Francisco will be an overflowing mass of humanity determined to attend sessions, network, and socialize. And what would OpenWorld be without another "What Looks Good To Me" blog post?

The idea behind the "What Looks Good To Me" post is to tell you the sessions that look good to me, because I really don't think I'm all that unique…some of the stuff that looks good to me may be interesting to you too.

As you consider what looks good to me in building your own schedule for OpenWorld, you should keep in mind my focus areas (yours could be different). Because I know I can't possibly take it all in, I tend to focus on specific areas of interest when I go to any software conference, including OpenWorld.

My areas of focus for this OpenWorld are Fusion Applications (finally, we're really lifting the curtain and sharing detailed information…I can't wait to hear the customer reaction), E-Business R12.1.3, latest developments in Oracle's User Experience efforts, and exploring proactive approaches to Oracle Support. While I normally like to explore the PeopleSoft and JD Edwards spaces as well, I don't think I'll have much chance to do so because of my focus on Fusion Apps and EBS 12.1.3…wish I could clone myself to cover it all.

I should also point out a pretty significant leaning toward Project Portfolio Management, Financials, and Human Capital Management in anything involving Oracle Applications (because implementing and upgrading those suites is how I make my living).

So I've broken my listing this year into four categories:

1. My Stuff: These are the sessions in which I'll be presenting. Hey, why write a blog if you can't plug your own sessions? Besides, I'm my own favorite speaker and I'm sure you agree…right? Right? Hey, what's that look about? Rolling your eyes and all? Just nod your head to make me feel good and read on, OK?

2. Fusion Applications: Yes, we're going to see detailed sessions on Fusion Applications at this year's OpenWorld. We'll even be able to use the "F" word ("Fusion") and everything. I'm really looking forward to seeing customer reactions…this will probably be the high point of the conference for me this year (especially the User Experience aspect of Fusion Applications, which is probably the biggest benefit of the new applications suite).

3. E-Business Suite: Release 12.1.3 recently rolled out, providing new functionality. 11.5.10.2 transitions to Extended Support this November. Many customers have started planning their upgrades. OpenWorld marks the beginning of a hugely important 12 month period for existing E-Business customers…I'm looking forward to hearing the message in this area.

4. Support: These sessions always seem to be the poor step-children of the conference - lightly attended, usually stuck off in some remote corner of the conference building. And I just don't get it. As much money as customers spend on support, you'd think they'd want to learn how to get the maximum value for their dollars. Anyway, over the past year, I've seen the beginning of a ground-swell with Oracle customers in taking a more proactive approach to support - working to reduce maintenance costs and concurrently working just as hard to address issues before they arise. It'll be interesting to see how Oracle Support addresses this building concern…I plan to spend some time on this area by attending at least three very interesting sessions.

OK, plus a 5th - Special Attention Sessions: These are sessions worth attending above and beyond everything else.

Format and Caveats

I've formatted all of the listings here to include titles and session numbers. I figure that, if something sounds intriguing to you, you'll look it up on the OpenWorld Schedule Builder, read the abstract, and review the logistics - why repeat that here? The exception is for My Stuff, where I provide day, time and location…hey, of course I'm going to provide all the info if I'm plugging my presentations.

I should also point out that, if you attempt to check out all the sessions I recommend here, you'll discover that there are scheduling conflicts. Unfortunately, you can't have it all in this situation. The sign of a good conference is the need to make difficult choices about how you spend your time. You'll certainly have to do some of that at OpenWorld.

And I should make an important disclosure: I have taken "the King's shilling" this year. Oracle is covering the cost of my attendance at OpenWorld. Feel free to take my opinions with a grain of salt if you see the need.

My Stuff

• Altimeter's Oracle Open World Preview at The Four Seasons from 3 - 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. I'll be a panelist on the Oracle Users Panel - The End User's Point of View from 3:30 - 4:00.

• OAUG Fusion Council Panel Discussion at Moscone West L3, Room 3016 - S318429. I'll be running over for the second half of this just as soon as my prior panel session concludes. I put this under "My Stuff" because I have a strong attachment to the Fusion Council, and I'll likely share my opinions more than once during this session.

• Oracle Fusion Architecture: Choices, Choices, Choices - S316409, Monday, 5 - 6 p.m. in the Marriott Marquis Golden Gate B (I'm betting this will be a very intimate gathering considering the time slot and location - I'm thinking a combo presentation and piano bar may be just the ticket). I'll be talking about Fusion Applications, Applications Unlimited products, and how to figure out the way forward.

• The Oracle Fusion Applications User Experience: Transforming Work into Insight - S318427, Thursday, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m, Moscone West L2, Room 2001. I'll only be presenting for a small chunk of this time slot, but I'll be telling a few good stories…should be worth your time.

• I may also throw in a few Unconference sessions (love the OOW Unconference), so be sure keep an eye out for that.

• UPDATE: I'll also be speaking several times during the week at the 20 x 20 Innowave Booth in the Exhibit Hall. I'll keep you posted as times are locked in.

Fusion Applications

• Overview of Embedded Analytics in Oracle Fusion Applications - S318251
• General Session: Oracle Fusion Applications Overview - S318276
• Inside Oracle Fusion Applications: Understanding the Foundation - S318744
• Oracle Fusion PPM: Next Generation Portfolio Management Applications - S318244
• Oracle Fusion PPM: Next Generation Project Financial Management - S318425
• Oracle Fusion Applications: Adoption and Deployment Overview - S318137
• Oracle Fusion Applications: An Intro to Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager
• Oracle Fusion ERP Applications: Answers to the Top 10 Questions - S318302
• User Experience Innovations: Oracle's End-to-End User Experience Platform - S318250
• Oracle Fusion Applications DNA: Functional Architecture Overview - S318138
• Oracle Fusion Middleware Extensions and Patterns for Oracle Fusion Applications - S315584
• Oracle Fusion Applications and Primavera: Next-Generation PPM Your Way - S318246
• Understand Fusion Applications for E-Business Customers - S318303
• Understanding Fusion Applications for PeopleSoft Customers - S318304
• 10 Things You Can Do Today to Prepare for Fusion Applications - S316898
• Introduction to Fusion Applications Architecture - S316941
• Oracle Fusion Applications: Technical Architecture Overview - S318135
• Oracle Fusion Principles: Lessons for Oracle's Applications Unlimited Customers - S317566

E-Business Suite

• Oracle EBS SIG - S318582
• OAUG Upgrade SIG - S318420
• Quick-Start Session: Realizing Value with SOA
• General Session: Oracle EBS Vision, Strategy and Roadmap - S318106
• Oracle Project Analytics for Oracle E-Business Suite - S318187
• 10 Steps to Success: Your Oracle Certification Advisor - S313368
• Replacing Oracle E-Business Suite mod_plsql Apps with Oracle APEX - S315649
• Upgrading to Oracle EBS Release 12.1: Technical/Functional Panel - S317115
• Oracle E-Business Suite Technology Certification Primer and Roadmap - S318119
• The Value of Upgrading to Release 12.1 for Projects - S318147
• Top 10 Recipes From Oracle E-Business Release 12 Financials Cookbook - S316415
• Migrating to Oracle Subledger Accounting in Oracle E-Business Suite 12 - S315480
• Building Mobile Solutions for Oracle Applications: Technical Insight - S317110
• What's Next for Applications Unlimited User Experiences - S318252
• Faster, Better, Cheaper Deployment with Oracle Business Accelerators - S318096
• Oracle E-Business Suite 12 Applications DBA 101 - S316240
• Oracle Database 11g Upgrade Essentials for Oracle E-Business Suite Environments - S314886
• Get Ready for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1: Tasks to Complete Now

Support

• Herbalife Case Study: Oracle Proactive Support Best Practices - S315890
• Oracle Support: Unlocking Its Full Value - S317259
• Best Practices for Patching and Maintaining Oracle E-Business Suite 12 - S317555

Special Attention Session

• General Session: Oracle Applications Strategy and Roadmap - S318344. This session should be packed to the point of irritating the local Fire Marshal. Every Oracle apps customer should be here to learn about the strategies for the various Oracle apps product lines and how those strategies will play off each other.
• Web 2.0 Versus Enterprise 2.0: Lost In Translation - S313346. The guys from the Oracle Apps Lab are pretty smart cookies. When they talk, I tend to listen...and even take a few notes.

So, there you have it...these are the sessions that look good to me at Oracle OpenWorld 2010. As always, comments are welcome.

EBS Extended Support - Minimum Patching Requirements

The transition to extended support for EBS 11.5.10.2 is right around the corner - November. Some of ya'all are obviously going to stay with 11i and take advantage of the one year of free extended support. Fair enough…I've said before it would make sense for some customers to wait.

For those of you waiting to upgrade, I'd like to bring one really important point to your attention: Oracle's Extended Support policy for 11.5.10.2 requires a minimum baseline patch level. You can read about that minimum baseline in the following Metalink documents:

• 883202.1: Minimum Baseline Patch Requirements for Extended Support on Oracle E-Business 11.5.10

• 1116887.1: Critical E-Business Suite 11i (11.5.10) Extended Support Information on Minimum Baseline Patch Requirements

You will need to meet the minimum baseline patch requirements if you intend to receive Extended Support from Oracle for EBS 11.5.10.2. You may want to start reading now...

NOTE: Thanks to the OAUG Customer Support Council for bringing this issue to everyone's attention.

EBS 12.1.3

Just a quick note: did ya'all catch the release of E-Business Release 12.1.3 over the weekend?

R12.1.3 is a maintenance patch, which means it can only be installed on an existing R12.1.x installation.

You can read about the details at Steven's blog: http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/2010/08/ebs_1213_available.html.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Razor Blade Strategy

I was talking today with a friend about the razor blade strategy: give away the razor itself and make money on the refill cartridges. It's a play to reduce up-front purchasing costs for customers in order to generate revenue (usually at phenomenally high margins) on the recurring sales required to keep the originally purchased goods useable. Check out the price of a Gillette razor, the check out the price of the refill blade packs and do a little math...any guesses as to where Gillette makes their profit on the deal?

Although todays' discussion had nothing to do with ERP software, I'm always struck by how effectively the razor blade strategy works in the ERP market. Talk to the applications sales reps from any of the major players: Oracle, SAP, whoever...doesn't really matter. All those sales reps will negotiate discounts on the purchase price of software (potentially huge discounts, even to the point of giving the stuff away, if you're talking in the fourth quarter of their fiscal year). But they won't budge an inch on the recurring maintenance/support fees...it's a percentage of list price. Not the price you paid for the software, but the price at which it was listed. Why? Because they're leveraging the razor blade strategy: anything made on the original purchase price is nice, but the real value of the deal for these sellers comes in the very-high margin recurring maintenance fees.

There's nothing unethical or dishonest about the razor blade strategy. I'm just fascinated by the way it plays out in different markets...razor blades, ERP software, and many others. Nothing like building up a massive annuity. And everybody has to shave, right?

Thoughts on OBA

I've been busier than an ant at a sugar convention lately, working with lots of clients and potential clients in the various stages of implementing Oracle E-Business R12 (actually 12.1.2, but I was never any good with numbers; that's why I went to law school). Most of the companies I meet these days are small or medium size enterprises, which means they're very interested in Oracle Business Accelerators ("OBA").

I like the idea behind OBA - reduce the cost of application implementation by adhering to basic "best practices" and sticking with to the basics: minimal configuration, no data conversions or interfaces. OBA is a solution-driven implementation - here's the solution, make it work for your business. It's a powerful value proposition in the SME marketplace where every day and every dollar counts. OBA promises a less expensive implementation and a quicker transition from legacy systems to Oracle Apps.

How quick and how fast? Most of my work over the past decade has been for large companies implementing the E-Business Suite: implementations that run 12 months or more, with implementation costs running anywhere from $500,000 up, depending on the scope of the implementation, the level of customization, and the organization's ability to absorb change. With OBA implementations, we're looking at schedules of 8 weeks and up with costs running as low as 20 - 25 percent of what I've seen for requirements-driven implementations.

Of course, OBA has it's own limitations. SMEs often try to squeeze even more out of the cost and the schedule, which usually leads to a low-quality solution (haste makes waste…even an OBA implementation can only go so fast). Other SMEs plan for an OBA implementation, then want to tailor "just a few things" - which opens the flood gates to scope creep, which in turn leads to longer schedules and higher costs.

The trick with an OBA implementation seems to be managing client expectations and keeping a tight control on the project scope. The big benefit - it scales the cost and schedule of an apps implementation down to the point that SMEs can get into the game.

I've had pretty good luck taking the OBA approach recently at a couple of client sites; seems to work well when it's done right. Something for the SMEs out there to think about.

I wonder if we'll see an OBA approach for Fusion Applications?

Apple: It Just Works...Except When It Doesn't

For those who follow this blog, you know that I sometimes digress from Oracle subjects. This is one of those digressions. You also know that I've been fiddling over the past year with Apple products…that's what this post is about.

I recently ordered a MacBook. It showed up via FedEx today. Happy day…or so I thought. See, I've got this great iMac sitting on my desk in my home office. Gosh, setting up this MacBook will be a snap…I'll just migrate my iMac setups to my MacBook using the highly-touted Migration Assistant.

So I tried the Migration Assistant. Tried it over wireless. MacBook locked up…reboot. Tried again…failed to make a connection…MacBook locked up…reboot. Hmm…maybe I'll try it over an Ethernet cable…failed to make a connection…failed to make a connection…MacBook locked up…reboot. Maybe it's my preferences settings on the iMac or something. I'll call Apple Support…but it turns out that nobody ever has problems with Apple after 6 p.m, so they've all gone home. OK, so Google is my friend…research…internet sharing settings look good…research…double-check settings…try again…failed to make a connection…MacBook locked up…reboot.

For those of you counting, you now realize that I've had to reboot my MacBook four times even before completing the initial install. So I completed the initial install without moving my iMac info over. After the install, I tried the Migration Assistant again. Wanna guess what happened? Yup…failed to make a connection…MacBook locked up…reboot.

So now I'm more than a little perturbed…I can get this same user experience by installing Linux on my old HP laptop and save a ton of money doing it. So I call the Apple 24 Hour Customer Service Hotline to work out a return (keep that 24 Hour label close at hand - it's important for what comes next). I'm informed by a 24 hour automated attendant that everyone on the 24 hour customer service staff has gone home…please call back tomorrow…click…buzz.

Now, let's be straight here: I buy Apple products because they just work. And I pay a premium over a Windows or Linux system specifically because the Apple products work great out of the box. But I guess the motto now is that they just work…except when they don't. And I'm thinking about my experience with this MacBook as I hear the software gremlins laughing hysterically in the background…and the AntennaGate Scandal with the iPhone 4…and how the new iOS is bricking the iPhone 3G…and WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON UP IN CUPERTINO??? I'm suddenly feeling the urge to log onto Metalink, just for the relatively higher personal touch.

Wow…just wow. Maybe I'll keep this MacBook if I can get it to work over the next few days (I've got 14 days to return it) just for the fun of working through the problem on my own or maybe I won't. But I do know that, after tonight's experience, the Steve Jobs distortion reality bubble in my house has popped.

How Is The New Gig?

I have lots of people asking me how my new gig is going, so I thought I'd take a little self-indulgent departure to provide an update here.

I've admittedly had to adjust a bit in leaving JPL to join Innowave Technology. I've been out of the consulting game for 8 years and things have changed. I'm learning to be more flexible in the face of rapidly-changing circumstances; it can be a little bumpy teaching an old dog new tricks, but I'm getting there. My day is full of variety and rarely goes the way I think it will over breakfast.

It's a pretty interesting time to be at Innowave. Lots of concurrent projects, expansion into new niches, and a rapidly-growing business backlog are driving us to change our delivery model a bit (changing to support expansion is a nice challenge to have). it's been exciting to have the opportunity to test some of my own ideas in the SME (Small and Medium size Enterprise) market, including some of the ideas I've written about here. What makes it even more interesting is that Innowave is an SME itself, so I see the impact of my decisions and actions right away. I think I've been a positive influence so far, but there's still much to do.

The downside? I see so much I can do, but I've learned very quickly that I just don't have the bandwidth to do it all. Busy, busy, busy. I've had to prioritize, which is something I detest doing. Some things of my contributions to the Oracle user community are falling through the cracks, and I have to figure out how to strike a better balance with that.

The bottom line is that it's really nice to be doing what I like doing the most: helping people learn to apply Oracle products to meet their business needs.

Now we'll get back to our regular programming...

More Cowbell

For the younger folks in the crowd, "More Cowbell" is a classic Saturday Night Live skit that deals with the theme of emphasizing the details until they overwhelm the product (in the case of the skit, a musical product from Blue Oyster Cult). You can see the entire classic skit, in all it's low-res glory, here.

I see quite a bit of "More Cowbell" syndrome in enterprise apps; big emphasis on small functionality details that tend to overwhelm otherwise solid products. As I see more and more of this, my appreciation grows for clean and simple design.

Enterprise apps could take a page from web apps here. Rather than trying to be all things to all people (and ultimately satisfying none), stick to a basic functionality set and deliver that functionality set really, really well. Apps that attempt to cover 100 percent of the needs for 100 percent of the potential users wind up overwhelming, disjointed and ugly to use. I think apps that attempt to provide a 60 percent solution tend to see higher rates of adoption.

So, to all you enterprise apps developers out there, think twice before answering the next call for more cowbell. I'd rather have a nice little box of Junior Mints than a 12 pound chocolate bar that includes almonds, avocados, peanut butter, peach slices, and corn kernels made with Nutrasweet. Please, dial back on the freaking' cowbell already!