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Starting Point to Learn Oracle Fusion Middleware |
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Written by Brent Martin
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Saturday, 04 October 2008 |
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2000 was an interesting year to be a PeopleSoft consultant. That was the year that PeopleSoft released their 8.0 product line. 8.0 was a special release because PeopleSoft had moved their entire architecture from a client-server application to a no-code-on-the-client HTML-based web application. PeopleSoft had managed to convince their customers that their implementation partners wouldn't be effective if their consultants didn't have web development experience - which at the time only PeopleSoft's consultants had. So without 8.0 experience, there was a good chance you'd be on the bench until you were able to get some type of experience in a web-based version. In reality the platform change wasn't that big of a leap for developers because App Designer essentially worked the same way and the learning curve wasn't all that steep. So after a few months both PeopleSoft customers and consultants had made the transition to 8.0 and the rest is history. But unlike PeopleSoft release 8.0, the Oracle Fusion applications are going to require drastically different skills to maintain and support. There's not going to be an "Application Designer" in the new world. There won't be any PeopleCode. SQR will disappear. App Engine? Forget about it! So where does a PeopleSoft developer start in learning about the development tools that Oracle Fusion will be built on? Well, one place is Oracle's PeopleSoft and Oracle Fusion Middleware Best Practice Center. Right now the Fusion information is slightly out of date and it seems like a half-hearted effort. But the contributers to the Oracle Fusion Middleware for PeopleSoft blog seem strong so I'm hopeful some good results will come out of this. Start with the PS to Fusion Quick Reference Guide, then check out the Tutorials and you'll be on your way. As you start learning about Fusion technologies, take every opportunity to build and deploy Fusion-based applications in your current environment. That'll not only give you the experience you'll need after the Fusion upgrade,you may be able to develop bolt-on solutions that will survive the Fusion Apps upgrade unlike your PeopleTools-based bolt-ons which will have to be re-written. As slow as the Fusion applications are progressing, us old school PeopleSoft developers still have time to retool and get ready. From what I heard at the conference, I wouldn't expect Fusion applications to be generally available before 2010.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 05 October 2008 )
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Oracle Fusion HCM Demo |
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Written by Brent Martin
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
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I took a video of the HCM portion of the Oracle Fusion demo Steve Miranda and Chris Leone presented on September 24. I apologize for the poor quality, but it does show some of the cool stuff that Fusion HCM has. The Org Chart functionality is nice. You can find the video here.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 September 2008 )
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A Preview of Fusion Applications |
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Written by Brent Martin
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Thursday, 25 September 2008 |
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Steve Miranda, SVP of Fusion Application Development along with Chris Leone, Group Vice President, ERP Application Product Strategy walked through the Fusion Application features that will be in place for version 1, and gave a live demo of functionality within Financials, HCM and CRM. As much as I liked the PeopleTools 8.5 and the PeopleSoft 9.1 preview I saw, they can’t quite match the elegance and efficiency of the Fusion UI. Relevant business intelligence is pervasive at every level. Dashboards are used not only to present an intuitive view of your data, they also serve a functional role to drive navigation throughout the application. Collaboration functionality is so integrated and intuitive that you quickly take it for granted. Graphics slide across the screen as intuitively as a power-point slide. The work Oracle did in their usability studies has paid off substantially. But the UI is just the surface. Fusion is packed with new features to drive productivity. The navigation model is still there, but it’s de-emphasized as the dashboards present users a role-based view of what needs attention, and navigation from the dashboards is easy and intuitive. A single, role-based universal worklist is accessible from the app, and it is accessible from outside of the application via RSS. Configurable “activity guides” walk you through the steps to complete semi-structured processes like on-boarding or period closes.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 25 September 2008 )
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Fusion Applications Update |
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Written by Brent Martin
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Wednesday, 24 September 2008 |
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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.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 September 2008 )
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First Impressions of Oracle's Enterprise Linux |
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Saturday, 11 November 2006 |
I guess Oracle Open World had a few surprises this year. Probably the biggest were Oracle's Linux announcements. Off the top of my head, they were:
1) Oracle would start supporting Red Hat Linux at rates cheaper than Red Hat, and provide fixes for current and prior releases.
2) Oracle would start distributing their own Enterprise Linux
3) Oracle would provide legal indemnification for Linux users
All of these things seemed to put Redhat in Oracle's crosshairs, who would have had a bad week anyway with the new Microsoft/Novell agreement and all. My hat is off to Redhat who made Linux successful enough for the world's biggest software companies to target their business. Well done! To see Redhat's responses to these new threats, check out Redhat's home page.
So what is Enterprise Linux? According to Oracle,
Enterprise Linux is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. Enterprise Linux conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (Enterprise Linux mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.)
You can download Enterprise Linux from http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux. You have to agree to some things that aren't necessarily in the GNU Public License before you even get to the download. Here are some of the things you'll have to accept:
We are willing to provide a copy of the Enterprise Linux programs to you only upon the condition that you accept all of the terms contained in this Agreement.
In case you're wondering who owns Enterprise Linux, this should clear it up (or not):
Ownership. The Enterprise Linux programs and their components and the Additional Enterprise Linux programs are owned by Oracle or the relevant third party. Subject to the licenses granted and/or referenced herein, title to the Enterprise Linux programs and their components and the Additional Enterprise Linux programs remains with Oracle and/or the third party, as appropriate.
Can you distribute this thing according to the terms in the GNU General Public License? Maybe, but first read this:
No Trademark License. This agreement does not permit you to distribute the Enterprise Linux programs or Additional Enterprise Linux programs using Oracle's or its affiliates' trademarks.
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Certain files ... include such trademarks; therefore, in order to avoid infringement, you will need to modify those files to remove the relevant marks before distribution. Do not delete these files, as deletion may corrupt the Enterprise Linux programs or Additional Enterprise Linux programs.
OK, but you should be able to use it on as many servers in your enterprise as you like as long as you don't redistribute it. But don't expect me to seed a torrent download from my web site any time soon because I don't want to get sued by Oracle -- and because it's completely unnecessary.
Once nice thing about Enterprise Linux is that you can download it quickly from a Oracle's dedicated eDelivery servers free of charge -- no torrents necessary. This alone would be enough to make me switch from most other distributions. Once you download all of the files and unzip them to their iso files, you can burn them to CD and boot from the CD's you created.
I didn't have a spare machine and I hate dual boot, so I decided to install it to a virtual machine running under Windows Virtual Server 2005 R2. I know VMWare is better for Linux and all that, but my VMWare server license expired and I've been too lazy to get a new one.
Overall the install process was much improved since I last installed Mandrake Linux on my 64-bit AMD processor a couple of years back. I especially liked the automatic disk partitioning and more intuitive interface to select packages. I did find a reference to RedHat in one install screen, but maybe the RedHat lawyers won't notice.
Anyway, the install process went off without a hitch. The system rebooted, and I completed the final configuration steps. It rebooted again, and when it came back the display was so wacked out that I couldn't read a friggin thing. Turns out I should have selected thousands of colors instead of millions of colors. But I can't complain too much -- what do you expect when you're creating the unholy combination of Linux running under Microsoft Virtual Server?
After installing Microsoft's Virtual Machine Additions for Linux, my new Virtual Machine was looking like a million bucks. I fired up Firefox, browsed to a few web sites, etc.
I can't wait to install an Oracle DB, OAS, Tuxedo, and PeopleSoft Enterprise it. I'll let you know how it goes.
If you're interested in a few pictures, check out the screenshot slideshow, which works great with FireFox but may not work with IE7.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 November 2006 )
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