Oracle HCM World 2017

Oracle HCM World 2017

I've just returned from Oracle HCM World 2017 in Boston, MA.   This year, we saw many customer stories about their journeys to the cloud.   This is a real sign of the scale of adoption of Oracle's Cloud applications.

Many of the customers were global, with implementations spanning over 100 countries.

Another indication of the way in which Oracle Cloud applications are moving was the increasing number of multi-pillar implementations (e.g. ERP+HCM).

Another theme, dear to my heart, was how many times we heard that it was really important to use a partner who understood the product in depth.  I couldn't agree more!   We at Certus Solutions pride ourselves on being such a partner.

I'll write a fuller account later, but for the short term just wanted to share some initial highlights.

Oracle Cloud HCM/ERP Release 11

Oracle Cloud HCM/ERP Release 11

It's been a busy few months recently.  Hence the lack of blog posts from me.

We were part of the Early Updaters programme for Release 11, and now that R11 is generally available, I think it's time for a brief review of the new release.  This post is solely about the look and feel.   I will post more information later about functionality.

The main enhancement, which is noticeable immediately, is that all screens are now in what we used to refer to as the "SUI" format (or Simplified User Interface).  Originally this format was designed for the 'casual' user, such as employees or line managers.  But its success seems to have prompted Oracle to redesign all screens in this format.

Here's an example of a frequently used screen in HCM - the Person Management screen.







As you can see, it's very similar to a pre-R11 employee SUI screen.  Clean, simple.

However, sometimes these innovations are spoiled by small details.   Users familiar with the older 'classic UI' screens will know that the tasks that can be performed on each workarea were shown on the left hand side of the screen.   It was immediately obvious what you could do in any given workarea.

On the SUI screens, the tasks are hidden (initially) in the 'panel draw' on the right hand side of the screen.  To see them, you must open the drawer.   Take a look at the screen when the panel draw is opened.





Now you can see the tasks!   I also find that some work areas default to a different landing page to the one displayed in R10.   Again, a simple point, but such issues can be annoying to a user.

On the ERP side of the product, before R11 many screens were in the 'classic UI' format.  Now, they are all SUI.   I think it's a great improvement and we are seeing good feedback from our R11 customers.

One final point.   The ERP and HCM development teams appear to have diverged in their use of certain new functionality.  For example, in ERP we see many screens using 'InfoTiles'.   An InfoTile is located (usually) at the top of the screen and can be used to show headine information and to filter the search results data.  It works very well and user feedback is extremely positive.  But, in HCM, this technique is not used.   Maybe it will come later.  But, consistency in a product is always a good thing, so I hope it does.