As expected, there’s just not a lot of new information about Fusion Applications coming out of the conference this year.   But here’s what I’ve found so far:

What is Fusion?

Fusion is a strategy for a new enterprise software line called Oracle Fusion Applications based on Oracle Fusion Architecture.

There are basically 8 points that define an Oracle Fusion application.

1)    It is written and runs on an open modern middleware.
2)    It provides a new modern user interface so that the user experience is more productive, interesting and easier to navigate.
3)    It exposes business intelligence to end users
4)    (okay, I didn’t actually attend this session, I’ll have to look the other points up and get back to you)

EPM 11g was delivered this summer and meets the qualifications for a Fusion application.  As do the CRM applications that were announced at the last OOW and delivered earlier in the year.

Moving forward, Oracle will go through their complete stack of products and bring them into the Fusion fold.  Oracle has ordered these based on customer feedback.

Made it to the hotel last night.  The flights were on-time and my luggage even made it -- no complains there!

I'm staying at the Mosser hotel, it's just down the street from the Moscone.  I forgot how SMALL the room was!  Glad I pad extra for the room with the private shower.  There are several conference attendees staying here, so it's all good.

This conference is going to be BIG!  I certainly miss the intimate 12,000 person PeopleSoft conferences.  At least everyone you met in those were there for the same thing.

I met some folks this morning in the Global Payroll Users Group.  I always enjoy hearing what real customers think about the different products.   The conversation crossed many items like Multi-Lingual, Single Sign-on, Enabling PeopleSoft outside of the Firewall, and others.  But I was surprised how we kept coming back to the Self-Service functionality.  It seems like a pretty common thing to custom-write your own self-service front-end because the as delivered the SSO functionality is so fragmented, and you have to go to multiple places to do simple things.

It was also interesting to hear about workflow.  That's why I love to come to the conference, I always pick up things I wouldn't have known otherwise.  Apparently in 9.0 workflow has been revamped in all of the applications, and it follows the more robost Supply Chain workflow.  But the for most HR needs the folks in the room thought it was an overkill, and one company is still using the old-style "worklist" workflow which is still available.

I also went to an XML Publisher session sponsored by the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG).  Like many sessions, it was like drinking from a firehose but no worries - the presentation will be online in a few weeks.  I was happy to report Duncan Davies of PeopleSoft Tipster fame had his code featured in the presentation.   Thanks Duncan!

I'm updatingTwitter with things that stick out as they happen.  You can follow me at http://twitter.com/brentmartin100.

Got to run -- my next session starts in 15 minutes!