Convergence

Convergence (\kən-ˈvər-jən(t)s\)

1  :  the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity; especially :  coordinated movement of the two eyes so that the image of a single point is formed on corresponding retinal areas

2  :  the state or property of being convergent

3  :  independent development of similar characters (as of bodily structure of unrelated organisms or cultural traits) often associated with similarity of habits or environment

4  :  the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole

"Convergence." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

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We're seeing convergence in process, right now, in Oracle's enterprise applications.  Some examples:

Simplified UI:   Take a look at Simplified UI in Fusion Applications Release 8.  Then look again at the Simplified UI recently announced for the E-Business Suite.  And then take another look at the new UI for PeopleSoft 9.2.  They're all looking and working in a similar fashion.  Built on different technologies, to be sure, but providing a similar user experience.  Functional design patterns are driving a convergence in the user experience for Oracle's packaged applications.

Continuous Delivery:  PeopleSoft uses a continuous delivery model - feature packs developed incrementally, then automatically distributed to end users for review and application in an incremental fashion.  Not upgrades, but incremental enhancements of the existing version...which may eventually lead to the end of major upgrade events for PeopleSoft altogether.  With online patching as of release 12.2,  the E-Business Suite seems headed in the same direction.  With Fusion on the cloud as SaaS, moving to a continuous delivery model is not a difficult matter (in fact, short of the branding of new releases and the perception that branding creates, Fusion Applications is already built on a continuous delivery model).

Cloud:  The convergence here seems to be one of industry strategy.  Commercial industries on cloud, public sector industries on cloud, and the recently announced clouds directed at the higher education space.  Oracle is utilizing their basic cloud applications services, then supplementing with additional services built for specific industries.  Again, the higher education market is the best example of this:  Student Cloud, Higher Education Cloud, and new higher education specific functionality for Fusion Applications.

These are simply the most visible examples of the convergence trend taking place within Oracle's enterprise applications.  There are more taking place, and I'm sure the future holds even more.  We're barely at the beginning of this trend.

The real question here:  what does this mean for the customers?  IMHO, it's significant...but each customer will probably come up with different answers.  Just some ideas to get the gears turning:  co-existence between different Oracle applications with a single, consistent user experience; hybrid platforms running transactions on-premise, but with big data processed on the cloud to provide information through a combination of transactional reporting and embedded analytics; moving from teams supporting major upgrade efforts to small teams engaged in continuous delivery, thus freeing up more resources for important, strategically-oriented work.

That's all I can jam into this post without turning it into an epistle.  Hopefully I've left you with your brain cells jiggling about what convergence within Oracle's enterprise applications means to you.  Thoughts?  Comments?  You know what to do.

UX - No Time To Kill

There’s no time to kill between the cradle and the grave

Father Time still takes a toll on every minute that you save

Legal tenders never gonna change the number of your days

The highest cost of livin’s dyin’, that’s one everybody pays

So have it spent before you get the bill, there’s no time to kill

                                        —From Clint Black’s “There’s No Time To Kill”

Ha! A classic country music pull…who’d have thunk it, huh?

There’s no time to kill is an appropriate phrase for the past few weeks in the Oracle UX world.  Lots of cool stuff happening.  To whit:

-  The brilliant and versatile Ultan O’Broin (@ultan) and the Oracle Applications UX team have released a free ebook on Simplified User Experience Design Patterns for the Oracle Applications Cloud Service.  Yup, it’s written for the recent R8 release.

-  In conjunction with the ebook release, Amis(@amis_services) and Oracle recently partnered together in putting on a great Next Generation UX showcase event in the Nederlands (you may need a little help from Google Translate to get the gist of this summary).

-  If you’re a member of the Oracle Partner Network, there is a new Guided Learning Path and Specialization:  Oracle Fusion Applications User Experience Specialist.  Yes, of course I jumped right in and earned mine.  And Steve Bentz (@smb1650) was “johnny-on-the-spot” as well.  It’s a challenging cert, but well worth earning…I learned a few things in the process. And I'm grateful that the test was offered online - no trudging down to a PeasonVUE test center.  Hello, 21st Century!

- In working with Higher Education customers, I’ve found a very cool (and free) prototyping tool for PeopleSoft, including Campus Solutions.  And it’s built in PowerPoint.  You can get a copy yourself here.  Very cool for those of you working with PeopleTools.

Busy, busy, busy time in UX…gotta keep up.  No time to kill.  

A Crazy Game Of Poker, Verse 2

A few months ago, I announced my resignation from EiS Technologies ("A Crazy Game Of Poker").  Another one of those leaps of faith - agreeing to part months ahead of time, not quite knowing where I was going next.  It's a great approach to parting ways with an employer if all parties can step up to behaving like grown-ups.  It gives the employer time to find and train a replacement as well as picking your brain for knowledge transfer, and it gives the employee time to search for the next gig without facing huge financial pressures.  It works well as long as all parties are mature enough to refrain from any vindictive behavior.

Big kudos to the leadership at EiS for stepping up through this time period and making it all work well.  EiS is a special place with a special team...I miss every bit of it.

I started a new adventure with Io Consulting in February.  I like the social value of the company's mission:  100% Oracle, 100% Higher Education, 100% Customer Satisfaction.  Each and every one of those elements are important to me.  My role will be building up Fusion Middleware and Oracle Cloud Applications Services capabilities within the company. So I'll continue to be deeply involved in User Experience, ADF, and the overall Fusion/Cloud Applications architecture.  I'll likely get into some PeopleSoft & Campus Solutions areas as well...it's been awhile since I've been intimately involved in either, so it'll be nice to get back there again.  So I'm very excited to join the Io Consulting team and look forward to what lies ahead.

In some ways, it will be weird: no more Collaborate or KScope, a little less emphasis on EBS, a more narrowly focused customer set.  But I'll get to attend Alliance on a regular basis (rather than the sporadic attendance of the last five years) and I'll still be a regular at OOW.  And the new management team uses the word "cool" on a regular basis, so that's a good indicator.  And I get to work with Ted Simpson - it gets no better than that!

OK, I'm done being self-centered now.  The next post will take us back to our regularly scheduled programming.