Monday 10 December 2012

UKOUG 2012 Conference

I've just returned from the UKOUG 2012 conference in Birmingham where I managed to combine three different roles: Exhibitor, Presenter and SIG Chairman.

My company, Certus Solutions (UK) LLP, was exhibiting and showing the world that we are an experienced Fusion HCM implementation consultancy.  There was a lot of interest in Fusion and I'd like to think we have demonstrated the application's capabilities to a number of potential customers.  Oracle, please note!

As the Oracle HCM SIG Chairman, I volunteered to chair a number of sessions during the conference.  Being interested in Fusion Applications, I chose my sessions carefully and included sessions from Debra Lilley on Fusion Middleware, Richard Bingham and Laurie Pattison on Fusion Applications Support and Jevgenijs Reuts from Attido who spoke about how they had installed a bare metal instance of Fusion Applications.

Because I concentrate on Fusion Applications and attend many of the international conferences, I don't always expect to find out new information but there is always something to learn.  This year one of the hot topics was Fuse.  Fuse is the internal name for the 'new face of Fusion', but appears to be rapidly being adopted as the working name.  I have written about it before.  But at UKOUG, not only was the simplified interface available for demonstartion, but also a number of the presentations covered the subject in some detail.  I attended a session given by Jeremy Ashley (VP, UX Team) at which the user interface was demonstrated and explained.  For 'casual' users, this will certainly simplify their experience of Fusion Applications.

Mobile is fast becoming the 'next big thing'.  Watch out for a rationalisation of screen layouts making a desktop, iPhone, iPad etc. all have a common interface whilst utilising the built-in features that have made those products so successful.

Now back to work, where the end of the year looms rapidly.  Already looking forward to 2013 which is definitely going to be an exciting year for those of us working in the Fusion Applications ecosystem.  I've booked my trips to Collaborate (Denver), OHUG (Dallas) and OpenWorld (San Francisco) and have two Fusion Applications presentations accepted already for Collaborate.

In case I don't find time for another post before the year-end, have a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Friday 16 November 2012

Oracle European HCM Summit Paris 15/11/12

Saturday 3 November 2012

A New Look for Fusion Applications

While I was at OpenWorld last month, Oracle unveiled what they called 'The New Face of Fusion'.

I saw this when it was announced and also had a demo from the UX Team while I was on a visit to the UX Labs at Redwood Shores. The general idea is to have a quick and intuitive way to access the underlying Fusion Application. This can be useful for the casual user, but also for professional users who still need a quick way to get to their more common tasks. 

Fuse Home
Courtesy of Oracle UX Team

This simple User Interface does not replace Fusion Apps, it is simply a very straighforward portal into the underlying applications and it is designed to be used across all the access channels (i.e. Desktop, Mobile, Tablet etc.)

Many of you will have seen some of the blog articles and forum posts about the UX team. Well, this is a shining example of their work! If you want to see more from the UX team, and are going to the UKOUG conference in December, look them up.


For more details on the 'New Face of Fusion', take a look at the UX Team's own blog: https://blogs.oracle.com/VOX/entry/introducing_the_new_face_of

There are two other blogs I know of with useful insights into 'Fuse' as it was called internally at Oracle.  So, if you want a second or third opinion, take a look at my esteemed Oracle ACE Director colleagues blogs:

Floyd Teter : http://orclville.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/oow-2012-not-so-brief-recap.html
Debra Lilley : http://debrasoracle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/fusion-apps-go-mobile.html



Wednesday 3 October 2012

Oracle OpenWorld 2012 - Tuesday Report

The Cloud

I'm finding out more about how the Cloud will work for customers.  I've heard many concerns about the perceived limitations of using SaaS because customers won't be able to 'customise' their applications.  I'm not a great supporter of this idea, because SaaS is a Service you are buying, not an application you install yourself and then can do what you like with it.  After all, if you buy a car on a contract hire basis you wouldn't expect to be allowed to add custom components because you don't own the car it's just provided to you as a service - so why should software be any different?

But, Oracle have come up with an intriguing idea - 'Java in the Cloud' or 'Platform as a Service'.  Here you can create your own 'custom' applications in Java which you can then integrate with Fusion Apps which is also in the same cloud.

Mobility

Mobility is a big theme here this week. Fusion Tap is now available from the Apple iStore.  Download it and be surprised by the functionality and user experience.  It's really good, and is going to be extended as new functionality comes on stream in Fusion Apps.

Oracle's approach to mobility is to use ADF and to write 'native' apps, using HTML 5 and consuming iPad device side components like GPS, FaceTime etc. to enhance the user experience. Anything available in the desktop version of the application, will be inherited by the Cloud app. So, if you make a change using the Page Composer in the application, your iPad app will inherit it. 

The 4 composers will all affect the cloud based apps:

The Application Composer: To add objects, fields, filters
The Reports Composer: To add or amend seeded BI
The Process Composer: To tailor the seeded process to reflect your own versions
The Page Composer: To change the way your screen looks

UI Changes

There are also signigficant user interface changes being made to Fusion HCM to make the 'casual user' have abetter and simplifed self service experience. Cleaner, neater, simpler screens with 'just enough' information for the user to do the ad-hoc transaction.


There are also signigficant user interface changes being made to Fusion HCM to make the 'casual user' have abetter and simplifed self service experience.  Cleaner, neater, simpler screens with 'just enough' information for the user to do the ad-hoc transaction.



Tuesday 2 October 2012

Oracle OpenWorld 2012 - Monday Report

Here's a brief round-up of the news I've got from some of the Fusion Apps sessions I've been attending here at OOW 12.

Acquisitions

Recent acquisitions have increased the Fusion footprint.  Taleo recruiting is going to be the Fusion recriuitment module and Taleo Learning will become the Learning Management module.  It will take some time to assimilate these into the prodcut set, and in particular into the user interface, but this is now definitely the strategy.

Social Awareness

Social Awareness is being built in to Fusion Apps.  Objects are being made socially aware and exposed to RSS feeds, chats, activity streams etc. This will become apparent in a further article I will publish on Workforce Reputation Management.

Adoption

Most customers are opting for a SaaS model, and within those customers most are doing some sort of co-existence.

We all know (or I hope you do by now if you've been reading my posts) that Fusion HCM as SaaS means you can't 'customise' the application, particularly from the back-end.  But now Oracle are promoting Platform as a Service whereby you can develop in the cloud.  Now, you will be able to develop extensions in your Platform as a Service cloud and integrate them with your SaaS service.

Fusion Tap

Oracle has announced that you can download Fusion Tap from the Apple App Store.  I can't find it, buit I'm sure it's there somewhere!  It can be operated in two modes, a) demo mode whereby you can use if with some seeded data or b) connected to your Fsuion Apps system (if you have one).  So, get downloading now!

Release Strategy

Now that Oracle has real live customers on Fusion Apps, it needs to ensure some stability for them.  So, in future, new releases of Fusion are likely to occur 3 times a year rather than every quarter as now.

Friday 28 September 2012

OpenWorld 2012 T-2

So, there are 2 days to go before Oracle OpenWorld 2012 begins!  I'm making my final preparations and have built my schedule for the week. 

I'm focuesed on Fusion HCM and Taleo, so highlights for me will include:
  • Fusion Human Capital Management: Overview, Strategy, Customer Experiences, and Roadmap presented by Gretchen Alarcon
  • Talent Management in an Oracle E-Business Suite Coexistence Model 
  • Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager Deep Dive - presented by Mandar and Chitra
  • An Introduction to Oracle Taleo Talent Management Solutions for Small Businesses
  • An Introduction to Oracle Taleo Recruiting Solutions
.... and of course all the new announcements that are bound to come out during the week.

I'll also be attending the Oracle EMEA Partner Appreciation Reception as part of the Oracle Partner Network Exchange @ Openworld

Not forgetting, of course, the Annual Oracle ACE Dinner at the St. Francis Yacht Club!

I will be posting daily update.

Sunday 23 September 2012

A Learning Experience

Last week, I gave two presentations on Fusion HCM.  One at the UKOUG Public Sector HCM Customer Forum - the subject was Fusion HCM - Preparing for the Future, the other at the Criminal Justice Forum in London where the subject matter was 'Cloud computing for Shared Services - a new way of thinking'.  Here's a brief synopsis of the talks:

We've been involved with Fusion HCM on a daily basis now for the last 8 months, mainly doing training and teaching people about Functional Setup Manager, Fusion HCM Implementation, Fusion Compensation Management and Fusion Talent Management.  We've also been showcasing the application to potential customers and proposing Fusion based solutions to them.

What's become apparent is that Fusion Applications provides a learning experience for us all.  By that I include customers, implementation consultants and Oracle themselves.  This is a new product, it's not the next version of EBS or PeopleSoft, incidentally a fact that a lot of people are only just waking up to.

The real challenge is to have a new mindset  when approaching Fusion Applications.  Most customers will probably opt for a SaaS model (see previous posts) and this will mean thinking more about the service your SaaS provider offers rather than 'can I customise the application?'.

Fusion HCM has some fantastic functionality.  Don't be blinkered and just think it is a shiny new version of EBS.  Be prepared to explore it and find out what the product can do.  You may be very surprised!

Ove the next few weeks, I will post some articles based on what I learn from the Oracle OpenWorld 2012 conference.  Keep watching...


Monday 10 September 2012

SaaS - A New Way of Thinking

As Fusion Applications evolves, it is becoming apparent that the vast majority of customers are likely to adopt a SaaS model.  There may be many reasons for this, the complexity of an on-premises implementation versus the simplicity of deploying SaaS, cost, or using a co-existence model.

Whichever reason it is, I find myself being asked a lot of similar questions by potential customers:

  • "What will I be able to change in my SaaS environment?"
  • "How can I change the system to meet my requirements?"
  • "Why can't I write bespoke code in my SaaS environment?"
We need to be thinking about SaaS in a different way to how we viewed our 'traditional' ERP implementations of the past.  Traditionally, an ERP implementation began with a requirements definition phase and then a 'gap analysis' to identify where the 'out of the box' system could not be configured to meet the requirements.  Typically, 'gaps' would end up being addressed by customisations rather than workrounds.  This often led to lengthy and costly implementations, with the system being significantly changed to meet customer requirements.  Public Sector projects are particularly challenging, where maybe 80% of an implementation is taken up with complex requirements.

With SaaS, the key is is the 'S' at the end of the word. 

S stands for Service.

Nowadays, nearly everyone uses the Internet for commerce, be it banking, ordering theatre tickets, buying a seat on a train or a plane or buying books.  We don't log on to Amazon refuse to use it just because we expect it to provide us with a detailed breakdown of every time the author has used the word 'widget', even if we think that would be very useful. 

We don't expect the screens to be displayed in a different order or colour scheme just because we have certain preferences.  We simply accept the 'service' the system is providing us and make the best use of the functionality it delivers.

When we use Microsoft Office tools like Excel and Word, we don't refuse to use it because Word don't allow us to type in a complex algebraic equation and then solve it for us, nor do we complain about Excel because we want it to operate like a word processor.  We make use of the functionality each provides us within its limitations.  If necessary, we other tools to make up any deficiencies.

So, why don't we have this attitude with ERP systems which are delivered as SaaS?

We must start to have a new way of thinking, and of implementing.  We must start to deploy the SaaS package and help customers work with it, rather than radically change it.  Fusion Applications, and specifically HCM, come with a range of tools which allow us to 'tailor' the application.  The composers allow us to adapt out of the box User Interfaces, Processes, Data and Reports, without altering or 'customising' the underlying software.   Fusion Applications provides a much richer functionality than it's predecessor applications (EBS / PeopleSoft etc.), so the need to customise should be vastly reduced.

Our new way of thinking leads to a new way of implementing.  Now, we should be looking at getting the application out of the box, configuring it (functionally) to represent the customers enterprise and then deploying, maybe in a phased approach.   Keep it simple at first and then build on the system later.

Result?  Quicker, simpler and cheaper implementations.  Makes you think doesn't it.....?




Friday 7 September 2012

FSM in Fusion Version 4

I've just finished delivering a training course on Fusion Functional Setup Manager.  We've been doing these courses for some time now, but this week we used a version 4 (RUP3) environment.

FSM is a fundamental component in Fusion Applications, and as such it hasn't changed much since the original releases of Fusion.  There are a few subtle changes in Version 4, and sometimes, it is the little things that matter....

Take for example the assignment of tasks to implementation consultants.  This is something that the project manager does via FSM.  It was always a pain that the project manager could assign a task to a person, but that person didn't have the correct Role Based Access permissions to execute the task!  Thankfully, the developers have taken this on board, and now there are 2 new columns in the task assignment pages.  1 shows whether the assignee has the correct permissions and the other shows the roles which do have the permissions and therefore helps if you need to assign a new role.

Nice work, Oracle!

Monday 3 September 2012

Upcoming Conferences

I think it's really important for consultants to share their insights with the community in which they work.  From a purely commercial viewpoint, it's good publicity, but from an altruistic viewpoint it's sharing knowledge for the good of us all. 

There are two conferences I will be speaking at in the next few weeks.  First up is the Criminal Justice Management forum on 19/09/12.  This event takes place at the QE2 Conference Centre in London and brings together leading thinkers from across the sector.

The next day I will be presenting at the UKOUG Public Sector Customer Forum.  Both presentations are on Fusion HCM and the impact SaaS may have on Shared Service Operations.

A busy few weeks.... and after that, it's off to San Francisco for Openworld.  Lots more posts around that time!

Sunday 26 August 2012

Role Based Access - Useful Info

As part of my job, I need to keep abreast of developments in Fusion Applications.  Consequently, I do a lot of research into articles published by consultants, users and Oracle. 

I recently came across a couple of useful articles published in Oracle's 'My Oracle Support' (the support site previously known as MetaLink).  They relate to Role Based Access Control (RBAC), which underpins the security of all Fusion Applications.

Fusion Applications 'out of the box ' includes a reference implementation of RBAC consisting of  hundreds of Job Roles across its product families. Every Job Role comprises a series of privileges called Duty Roles.  These Duty Roles grant access to Applications functionality. 

At the beginning of any Fusion Applications implementation, there will be a task to analyse the predefined Job Roles and map them to roles which are relevant to their own enterprise.  Whilst Oracle recommends that the out of the box Roles are sufficient for most scenarios, as implementation consultants and customers become more familiar with the product, there will increasingly be a case for creating your own Roles and Privileges.

Oracle has recently released two spreadsheets showing the relationships between Roles, Duty Roles and Privileges; and a cross reference of top-level menus (on the navigator) to Duty Roles.

For in formation on these spreadsheets, see MOS articles 1460486.1 and 1459828.1

Back to the research.....

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Fusion Talent Management (Part 2)

I left the last post hanging half way through the Fusion Talent Management course I was delivering for Oracle University last week.  So, what happened in the remainder of the course?

We left the fun bits to the end.  By the 'fun' bits, I mean the Talent Review process.  For anyone who hasn't seen the process, or the screens, it's a fantastic tool for managing meetings between HR professionals and senior managers at which an in depth analysis of the organization's talent is undertaken.

Talent Review
The screen is divided into regions.  

The main region contains the 9-Box grid (or custom size if you want different).  The population being reviewed is placed into the appropriate box.  

There is a region for filters so you can dynamically alter the data on the screen according to selected subsets of the data.  

There's also a neat 'holding area'.  This is used to store people who have not yet been rated (and therefore can't be placed in the grid), or you can move people in and out of the grid to the holding area if you want to temporarily remove them from the review.

You can colour code the graphics, so for example you could select all male employees and colour them blue.

There is a drill down facility which allows you to see more data about the selected employee.  The data you see if controlled by configuration.

The Talent Review page is simple to configure, but first you need to ask yourself (or your customer) some questions.

Do you use a standard set of rating models for performance, potential, risk of loss, impact of loss, and talent score?  If you do,  a single template will be OK. 

If you have different box chart requirements, or if you have different rules for the analysys of equal opportunity information (e.g. age, gender, etc.), or if you use different rating models then you may need more than one template.  Either way, the configuration is straightforward.

The basic setup is as follows:

Create a template and select the basic design and layout.  

Choose the rating scales you want to use.  Pick the Rating Models, Rating Categories and Talent Scores.

Configure the way the box chart will be organised (e.g. determine what the boxes will mean and how the rating scales will place people into those boxes).

Select the data population.  Choose the filters that can be applied to the data, select the actions and analytics that can be made available in the review.

Now you are ready to create a specific version of the Template for the Talent Review meeting.  You select the manager you are going to conduct the review with and then select the population for the review.

It's as simple as that!   Obviously, there's a lot more behind the whole process, which uses the underlying Fusion HCM setup too.  If you want to find out more, ask for details about our training courses.





Tuesday 7 August 2012

Fusion Talent Management (Part 1)

This week, I've been delivering a training course on Fusion Talent Management for Oracle University.  It's the first time the course has been run outside the US, so it was a fairly daunting task!

The good thing about training people in Fusion Apps is the way the system itself is greeted.  Invariably, people find the User Interface so much more appealing than the rather old fashioned EBS they were probably used to, and the new functionality and scope of the application is exciting to explore.

This course has been no exception.  Lots of discussion on how the new application works, what's good and what's not so good, and an eagerness from the students to test drive the new toy.

Tomorrow is the last day, and we've saved the best bits until last... Talent Reviews.  More on this later.

Saturday 23 June 2012

OHUG 2012

I am a regular visitor to the OHUG Conferences.  This year, OHUG was back in Las Vegas again.  So, reluctantly, I packed my bags and set off for the desert.

This year, I followed the Fusion Applications tracks.

Oracle University

Oracle University laid on a series of 'hands-on' sessions' using UPK as a means of trying out the applications.  I've worked closely with OU on Fusion Applications training as a partner an OAEC, so I was pleased to see these sessions on the agenda - they were a good way of showing people what the application looks like and what it can do.

Fusion Payroll

I covered sessions on Fusion Payroll.  Payroll is a core part of the application and these sessions were useful as they helped explain the capabilities of the international version, something you will need to use if there isn't a localisation for your country yet.

Fusion Compensation

Fusion Compensation was a topic which interested many people.  If you've used or seen Compensation Workbench in EBS, then much of the Fusion Compensation Management module will be familiar.  It's a really well thought through module which will cater for all but the most complex of compensation activities.  Even then, a good systems integrator who knows the module should be able to use their experience of the product and the toolset to come up with a good solution.  Yes, these people will initially be few and far between, but you know where to find us! Certus Solutions (UK) LLP

Co-Existence

If you're looking at 'dipping you toe in the water' and going for one of the Fusion modules in a co-existence mode, you will need to find out more about the HR2HR process.  This enables data to be transferred between the 'legacy' systems and the Fusion co-existence module.  But, beware of some of the 'gotchas' of this process.  Whilst it allows data to be exchanged and mapped between the systems, it has a limited subset of data that can be transferred.  For example, it doesn't understand the concept of pay scales and spine points.

Time and Labour

Gretchen Alarcon,  Vice President of Fusion Human Capital Management Strategy at Oracle, gave a keynote presentation which included news of Time and Labour which will be released sometime soon.  Although the initial offering will cover the basic time and labour functionality, the integration between Time and Labour, Absences and Payroll is very important, not to mention the neat way the timecard is displayed in the Fusion HCM Calendar page!

Finally, it was the end of conference 'event'.  This year it took place at Margaritaville, famous for (yes, you've guessed it!) its Margaritas.  I stuck to the beer, which in hindsight was a good idea once I had seen the scantily clad girl come out through the top of a volcano and silde down a chute into a large vat of Margarita which I'm sure they served at the bar!

Looking forward to OHUG 2013 in Dallas.


Sunday 13 May 2012

Collaborate 2012 - Pretenders and Usability

Between trips to Paris (see previous blog), I managed to fit in a visit to the Collaborate 2012 conference in Las Vegas.

Because I focus on Fusion Applications, I made it my mission to attend as many Fusion Applications presentations as I could.  I was disappointed by the large number of presentations at which the speakers talked about the subject without having real experience or hands-on knowledge of the product.  I call them the 'pretenders'.  This type of presentation simply serves to disseminate misinformation and helps none of us.   Notable exceptions to this were (of course) presentations by Oracle and one or two companies who had actually done an implementation.

Check out Floyd Teter's blog - http://orclville.blogspot.co.uk/ - for an example of real life experience of Fusion Apps.  Floyd gave a highly interesting talk entitled "18 months with Fusion Applications - Stories from the trenches" which pretty much said it all!  If you're considering a Fusion Applications implementation, read this first.

Then there was the User Experience Team.  This team is one of the unsung heroes of the Fusion Applications story.  The team analyses how people really use systems and feeds requirements based on its findings to development teams.  That's how you get to see a consistent and very efficient user interface in Fusion Applications.  They use a lot of techniques, including:
  • Eye-tracking - where a user’s visual attention is focused during online tasks
  • Feedback sessions - including structured interviews, focus groups and prototype reviews
When you see Fusion Applications for the first time, spare a thought for the unsung heroes of the Usability Team (UX) and take a look at their website - Oracle Usable Apps http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/ux/applications/index.html.  Better still, get involved and take one of their usability feedback sessions!

I'm now looking forward to OHUG, where Oracle University will be running some sessions demonstrating Fusion Applications.  Look in if you're there!
 


Saturday 12 May 2012

April in Paris

April was a busy month.  First, I was in Paris to run a series of Fusion HCM courses.  Then Las Vegas for the Collaborate 12 conference (more in a separate post), then back to Paris for part 2 of the Fusion HCM courses.

Lots of preparation for the courses, as this was the first time we had delivered these courses outside of the US.  The courses were well received and everyone learnt a lot, including the trainer!

Functional Setup Manager [FSM]

We covered Functional Setup Manager first.  This is the key to starting the functional setup for all Fusion Applications.  It provides a consistent user interface and process for the full implementation lifecycle, including post-implementation maintenance.

Gone are the days when you created a BR100 setup document and then hoped all your functional consultants remembered the correct order to setup the system and did all the pre-requisite steps first.  Now the Implementation Project Manager (IPM) can select the scope of the implementation by choosing "Offerings", "Options" and "Features" and then the system will produce a structured "Tasklist" called the Implementation Project [IP].  The IPM then allocates various tasks to team members and sits back to manage the progress with the help of the built in analytics.

Once the setup is complete, the IPM creates a Configuration Package [CP] and can export the setup to other environments - and I mean all the setup not just bits of it as we have seen in previous products.  This is a real productivity gain.

It's not a replacement for a tool such as Microsoft Project, but it is definitely an excellent tool to manage the functional implementation stages of any Fusion Applications project.

Functional Setup Manager is a "must-learn" feature of Fusion Applications.

Fusion HCM Implementation

Our next topic was Fusion HCM implementation.  This course covered the use of the Enterprise Structure Generator [ESG], Work Structures, HCM Security (we did an overview as this is a complex subject in its own right!), approval management, business processes and events.

Of course, we used FSM as the tool for configuration.

Then there the features we can use for 'Tailoring' our application - the "Composers".  Don't get me started on them just yet - that's the subject of a future blog!

There's far more to FSM and HCM Implementation than can be outlined in a short blog.  Check out the Oracle University courses that are coming on stream now or ask us directly (we're an OAEC).