OHUG Solutions Central - Come See The Experts

Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it
Don't ever forget that you just may wind up being wrong
                                     -  From Mañana by Jimmy Buffet

Having been in the enterprise software business for longer than I really care to admit, I've witnessed an awful lot of smoke blown up an awful lot of skirts.  Lots of people can talk the talk, but it's the rare few that can walk the walk.  So when I see an event where people in that latter class are gathering together, I tend to get pretty enthusiastic about it.

At the Oracle HR User Group ("OHUG") conference this year, Oracle and a select group of partners are getting together in a single location - Solutions Central.  Product experts from across Oracle HCM development to answer your questions.  Round-table discussion with Oracle experts and other customers.  The ever-popular Report Jam - bring your reporting needs and walk out with the report you need.  A demo theater focused on specific features and solutions.  1-to-1 discussions with the experts.

Now you can always drop into Solutions Central while you're attending the OHUG conference.  But the smart people, especially those wanting 1-to-1 discussions, will book a reservation ahead of time.  You can book yours anytime up to June 10th here.

The people in Solutions Central...we've seen the ocean:  whitecaps, hurricanes, the doldrums, the whole thing.  And we're itching to share what we've learned.

OHUG 2018.  Come join us.  And do come into Solutions Central.

Notes From Orlando

I thought y'all would appreciate some notes from last week's OHUG conference in Orlando Florida.  So, in no particular order, my observations...

• The sessions were pretty evenly divided between Oracle E-Business, PeopleSoft and HCM Cloud.  Right around 1/3 of total sessions for each track.
• The mix of attendees, from what I could tell, were about half HCM Cloud users and half on either EBS or PeopleSoft.  And out of those on EBS or Peoplesoft, about half of them were exploring the transformation of moving to HCM Cloud.
• Attendance for this year's conference seems a little light; maybe down 10 or 15 percent from prior years.  I'm guessing that was caused by a combination of following so closely on the heels of Oracle HCM Cloud World and the fact that it's always tough for a user group conference to get a big draw in Orlando (I don't know why, just know from experience that it's generally true).
• I did not run into many decision makers this year...very few upper management executives.  But tons of influencers: people who implement and use the products.  I suspect most decision makers are going to Oracle HCM Cloud World while most of those responsible for executing those decisions attend OHUG.
• A follow on to the prior point.  Attendees were focused on the fundamentals of implementation and use; "how do I do...".  Not many strategic discussions.
• You couldn't  walk more than 10 feet without encountering a Taleo session or a hallway discussion about Taleo.  Maybe the top topic of the conference.
• I tried several times to catch Oracle's Justin Challenger, who ran the conference Report Jam this year.  But every time I tried, he was heads down with a group of users designing reports. So I have to thin that the Report Jam was a big hit.
• Likewise, the UX Lab was abuzz with activity whenever I stopped by there.
• When the folks in Orlando say they're going to get rain, they're not messing around.  It rained hard...and usually more than once...every day I was there.
• There may not be anyone who understands global implementations of HCM Cloud better than Oracle's Jon McGoy.  The breadth and depth of the material he presented, plus his off-the-cuff answers to questions, was pretty amazing.

So, overall, I think the OHUG conference is in the midst of a transition.  First, it's becoming more cloud-centric.  You can see it in both the session tracks and the focus of the attendees.  Second, it's become a "how to" type of conference.  More emphasis on using, integrating, and extending the applications.  Less emphasis on strategic decisions.   Third, the type of attendee is changing.  More influencers and users, fewer decision makers (hot tip:  some folks think that's a good thing).

I'm already looking forward to next year's OHUG conference.  Can't wait to see how the transition continues to shake out.

OHUG 2017 - What Looks Good To Me

So I’m headed to the OHUG 2017 conference next week.  As it is one of the few conferences I attend anymore, I’m pretty excited about going.  I’m particularly interested in information related to the implementation of Oracle HCM Cloud.  So, in  preparation for the conference, I thought I’d share some events and sessions that look good to me.

First, a few caveats about the following list.   I’m presenting twice myself, so I’m breaking my sessions out as a blatant plug rather than including them on the list:

• Oracle Human Capital Management Cloud User Experience Extensibility: From Mystery To Magic, Wednesday, 1:45 pm, Salon 1
• An Update: The Oracle HCM Cloud Solution Library, Friday, 10:15 am, Salon 8

It's worth stating here that, although I'm an Oracle employee, the opinions here and mine and mine alone - this should not be interpreted in any way as official Oracle information or direction.  Nor am I speaking for OHUG in any way.  In addition, keep in mind that I’m focused on Oracle HCM Cloud Applications.  OHUG tracks cover HCM Cloud, PeopleSoft, and E-Business.  As I make my living these days by working on HCM Cloud Applications, I can’t render any opinions on PeopleSoft or EBS sessions…so you will only see HCM Cloud entries on my list.  Also keep in mind that I won’t list SIG sessions:  you know better than I the SIGs you should attend.  But I will say that the SIG sessions are often the best part of a user conference…be sure you don’t miss out.  And finally, some of the sessions I list will have schedule conflicts with other sessions I list.  But that’s an indicator of a great conference…making difficult choices about where to burn your calories. 

 

So, with all that said, let’s get to the list.  Sessions are listed in no particular order.  And, for the presenters that did not make this list…it’s not that your presentation did not look interesting (almost all of the sessions have something that I’d love to check out), it’s just that I’m digging into other subject areas this year and my own focus had definitely driven this list.

Digital HR Transformation  First and Foremost Managing The Challenge of Change	Tuesday	4:45 pm	Salon 12
Product Vision and Roadmap:  Oracle HCM Cloud	Tuesday	3:30 pm	Ballroom
The Current State of Human Capital Management	Tuesday	1:30 pm	Executive Ballroom
User Experience: Best Practices to Ensure a Positive Experience for Candidates and Users	Wednesday	9:00 am	Salon 15
Oracle HCM Cloud Leading Practice - Cloud Rapid Start Implementation with Tools	Wednesday	10:30 am	Salon 12
Meet The Experts:  HCM Cloud Center of Excellence	Wednesday	3:15 pm	Salon 19
How To Get The Best Out of OTBI	Thursday	9:00 am	Salon 12
Cloud Global Deployments - Leading Practices and Things That Make You Go Hmmm	Thursday	11:00 am	Salon 3
Cloud Payroll:  What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You or At Least Your Project	Thursday	2:30 pm	Salon 3
Adopting A Testing Strategy Fit For The Latest Oracle HCM Cloud	Friday	11:30 am	Salon 3
HCM Cloud Extracts Made Easy!	Wednesday	3:15 pm	Salon 9
Decision Is Made:  Going To HCM Cloud. Now, What’s The Best Strategy For Data Conversion?	Friday	10:15 am	Salon 13
Patching - Where’s The Beef?	Thursday	9:00 am	Salon 4
Best Practices in Attracting Top Talent Through Oracle Taleo Cloud Suite	Thursday	9:00 am	Salon 2
Cloud Portal:  Self-Service Management For The HCM Cloud	Wednesday	9:00 am	Salon 3

Note that this information is current as of May 31st.  Dates, times and locations could change at anytime leading up to or during the conference.  Your best bet for staying current is the OHUG application for your phone.

In addition to the sessions, there are a few conference events you may want to consider:

• Meet The Experts:  a place to meet and chat with the people who build and deliver Oracle HCM products.  Watch the schedule for the times and locations of those you’d care to meet.  I have listed one Meet The Experts session in the above list - the session for the HCM Cloud Center of Excellence.  Oracle’s John Cafolla will be the expert at this particular session.  John has his fingers on the pulse of HCM Cloud implementations around the globe.  If you want to talk implementation, John is your guy.  You can find the full schedule for Meet The Experts here.
• Report Jam:  Oracle’s Julian Challenger conducts a series of pretty cool workshops focused on building reports using OTBI.  If you have reports you’d like to build or report-related questions, you’ll get a hands-on opportunity to collaborate with Oracle’s best OTBI gurus here.  Sign up for a time slot in advance at the Empire foyer.
• Usability Lab: you’ll have the opportunity to see and provide feedback on HCM-related features and applications still in development.  Great for getting a sneak peek and influencing future direction of Oracle products.  The Lab only happens on Wednesday and requires signing up in advance by sending an email to jeannette.chadwick@oracle.com.
• Oracle Support Central:  Bring your toughest HCM-related questions here. Whether it’s HR, Payroll, Benefits, Compensation, Taleo or whatever, this is the place to get answers.

Let’s wrap this up with an invitation from me to you:  if you’d like to get together with me at the conference to talk or ask questions about anything related to HCM Cloud (or if you’d just like to hang out), hit me up on Twitter @fteter.  I'm happy to talk to customers, partners, old friends and potential new friends.  Hope to see you there!