Fusion Apps Go Mobile

One of the things that resonated with me about OOW was how the Fusion Applications are driving the development through the stack and no where is as obvious as the middleware. In fact in all my presentations I talk about Fusion Applications being a window on FMW.

At OOW ADF mobile was launched, the ability to code once and deploy across a range of mobile devices. Oracle must have been listening to me as they very cleverly had put ADF developers into the User Experience team to create apps for Fusion ahead of the launch. The team headed by fellow Brit VP Jeremy Ashley understand users and they have the skills to understand what works well as a mobile app. 

But lets step back a minute, Oracle have 3 kinds of mobile delivery for Fusion. 

These are not simply putting Fusion Applications onto mobile, it is NOT a rewrite after just a year as I have heard asked. 

Fusion Tap is Fusion Applications deployed for Tablets; it was demonstrated by Chris Leone SVP for Fusion Applications at OOW, but if you missed it watch this excellent video. Fusion Tap is a single app that recognises all the security and access of your Fusion Applications implementation and most importantly also works offline.

Oracle ADF builds the Cloud Apps for Mobile Web. The new face of Fusion (Project Fuse, is the internal name) are example apps written using ADF. Using ADF means that you can deploy a browser based application on any device, tablet, desktop, netbook etc. These are applications that make life simple for casual or mobile users. They don't replace the professional interface and as explained by Jeremy, think of what you do on your smartphone, you may use an airlines full site for browsing and selecting flights but once booked the mobile apps on the go and in your pocket allow for checking flight status and online check in.

A great pride of mine is being the catalyst for the FXA program run by Misha Vaughan in Jeremy's team, these Fusion User Experience Advocates are all from the ACE program and are experts from across the middleware (plus me ) who have an in depth understanding of not just the product and technology but also the science behind usability.

Me and a 'salesperson'

Last year the training was extended to a group of internal people under the SAMBA (Sales Ambassadors) banner. Working with sales people can be a challenge for me :-) but actually this team is really about sales specialists who are called upon to explain the product rather than the pricing. Not much different from me then (just don't tell them).

We had another day of training on the Wednesday before OOW, before the ACE director briefings (OOW is a bit like Christmas, we start the process earlier and earlier every year).

This time we looked further at the extensibility of the  applications and of course we spent time learning about and how to demo the Fuse applications. Oracle loaded them onto iPads and onto my new Fujitsu android tablet. Initially ADF mobile has iPad and browser support, so on the android I am using a browser version but it behaves identically. 

One of the highlights of my OOW was when Jeremy asked 3 of the FXA team, Basheer Khan, Edward Roske and myself to demo these applications in his general session. What really impressed me was the number of ADF developers who attended the session, backing my theory about Fusion Applications being the window on the technology. One of these developers Wilfred vander Deijl  filmed the demo.

The third category of mobile are specific smartphone apps. I  have the Fusion expenses app loaded on my iPhone which was written in native java and uses OCR to scan receipts and I must of scanned most of the issued receipts in San Francisco during OOW showing people the functionality.


I do love my fellow ACE Directors and it seems I gave them plenty of entertainment:

Note. In an earlier draft of this post I incorrectly stated that Fusion FUSE was ADF Mobile. It is ADF but the project started before ADF Mobile was available. ADF Mobile as a tool makes the process of developing and deploying mobile apps even easier.

Fusion Applications One Year On

Last year we had the Fusion Nation at OOW11 and General Availability was finally announced. 12 months on, how are they doing?

Let me get my annoyances out of the way first:

Steve Miranda updating ACE Program on Fusion

When I or the average Oracle user thinks of Fusion Applications we think of the next generation of ERP written by Oracle. Oracle on the other hand include their recent acquisitions such as Taleo and Right Now. There is nothing wrong in this, they are Java based and next generation, they bring great functionality and are a great adition to the portfolio but are confusing the story. Oracle talked about 400 customers but if we are talking those they have written, which is important for understadnding uptake, then it is closer to 200. That is not a negative, in fact the opposite. The ability to go through a thorough analysis of the offering, the procurement process and implementation for new applications takes time.

Second clarification, the 100 applications, these are modules and again just confuses the audience, however if you think about how we use apps on smart phones it makes sense.

But my most fustrating issue about the Oracle marketing machine is the claim that they have been writting for the Cloud for the last 7 years. Just a few years ago Larry was saying he wasn't interested in the Cloud and yet 2012 was all about he Cloud.

Apps Dev Meg Bear and I

Having had my rant, let me tell you what I loved. There are real customers and they love the product. I did read an article that suggested one customer was unhappy, but if you read it, they like the product they just want faster progress and a clearer definition of strategy. One area they specifically talked about was mobile and I will cover that in a later post about useability.

The Cloud story is getting clearer, much better than the 6th June event, although I was worried that in Larry's 2nd keynote he had not seen the slides before he arrived on stage. His explanation about multi tennancy and 12c database made complete sense. Most compeditors do this at application level, Oracle currently achieve it at virtualization but when 12c is available it will be at datbase level, the most secure and efficient solution. Interestingly many of their competitors use Oracle databases so it will be available to them too.

I gave a private session on Fusion Applications with a group of Fujitsu customers and the conversation was great. People are now seriously thinking about their roadmap for the next few years, and I hope I am able to help with an indepndant viewpoint. 


Warning: This is my opinion and please make sure you discus your needs with your account manager as this is a very complex area and there are many different things to consider for the individual.

Th Only ACE in the Village

I am very open about my love of the ACE program and honest that it funds many of my speaking opportunities.In return for this I agree to engage with Oracle Product Development, attend their briefings and share the knowledge. Not really much of a commitment, I love the sharing and who wouldn't want to have the product management access?

The briefings take place the Thursday and Friday before Open World and are an in depth summary (is that an oxymoron?). People like Thomas Kurian, Steve Miranda, Amit Zavery and Wim Coekaerts give up an hour of what is probably their busiest few days in the run up to the conference and give you their messages. Many are to be told for the first time at OOW so luckily we have Duncan Mills on hand to constantly remind us of our NDAs.

By the end of the two days I have all the big messages, have had the privilege of hearing it from the best people and then having my peers who are experts in those areas ask the clever questions. Even if I had time at OOW to attend all their sessions I would not have had this insight. There is open debate over product direction and sometimes passionate dispute but please Oracle never stop these briefing their value is priceless.


It is also a great time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Again we may not have the chance once the OOW circus starts for real. I particularly liked catching up with Plinio from Peru who I had the privilege to meet in Costa Rica on the Latin America North OTN tour this year. Thank you for the Tequila :-)

There is also an ACE party on the Sunday evening this time at the Yacht Club and I also then got to catch up with Paola from Equador, Pablo from OTN LA and many others I have met over the years. Please don't judge me if I cannot remember everyone's name.

At OOW the ACE leaders, Vikki, Lillian and Todd run the OTN lounge and I did have a couple of very short opportunities to hang out there. A haven with a desk and power amongst the 50,000 attendees and of course free T shirts.

I also got a chance to help Vikki with an OTN Live video talking about the ACE program, and was asked if I was 'the only ACE in the village' but the interviewer talked about where I live. A tiny village in Northern Ireland called Ballynure. 

What I Learnt at Oracle Open World

My thoughts as captured at #OOW, pity it shows my lack of being able to count to 10!
Blogs on the detail to follow.

Union Square from the Cheesecake Factory at Macy's

#1 Fusion Apps use of Mobile ADF is really cool, loved being the demo babe in their presentation #ukoug

#2 Although I am not technical love the #fujitsu athena project and yes that was real gold plating 

#3 Larry certainly believes in the cloud now, to be fair having seen OPN model there is a lot of thought in it

#4 12c looks good and people who know about the database seem to like it

#5 for a no cost option APEX got a lot of airtime, and still don't understand why more people don't use it

#5 Endeca rocks, saw it running with EBS and is a game changer

#6 Cant believe never saw Nadia Benjedou to speak to, sneaked in back of her session which was full but couldn't stay

#7 no downtime EBS patching, love that time to restart servers called 'cutover' but seriously EBR for EBS is excellent

#8 still in shock I presented about OEM and OVM but heh, even us non techies need to know about what it does

#9 love to demo Fusion Expenses, have now scaned most receipts in the city and filled the demo databased :) #FXA

#10 the #OTN #ACE Director program is awesome, thankyou for bringing us to #OOW and all the great opportunities to learn (writeup)

The Power of Networking - Wee Oscar

This posting is about a charitable cause but more about how it relates to the networks we are part of, rather than a request for you to donate.

Every day I open at least one email looking for sponsors. I don't mind and it is much easier than when I was younger, the embarrassment of approaching friends and colleagues. I try and give when the requester is a real friend and I like the cause.

So when I opened the first email about wee Oscar it bought me to tears. On its own it is a sad story but Wee Oscar is the little boy of Leona who is an Oracle developer with Fujitsu in Belfast  ( and if you didn't know that is my official location as well)!

Wee Oscar is just 4, and suffers from high risk Neuroblastoma for which the treatment needed costs £250,000 and is not currently available to them in the UK.

So as any parents would they started the seemingly impossible task of raising money for his treatment. At first it seemed it would take forever, but he got a little local TV time and the folks of Norn Ireland took Oscar to their hearts. Then he hit the big time when some Dublin students with their don't tell angela flag became heros overnight and decided to auction their flag and share the proceeds between two charities, Wee Oscar being one of these.

Leona's colleagues in Fujitsu baked cakes, held collections and did what they could. I asked Oracle Ireland if they could help and they had an ice cream drive at the Dublin campus.

Things needed to step up as despite being so adorable Oscar is very unwell. Leona's manager Angela Woods, not known for her daredevil persona joined others abseiling down the Europa ( Europe's most bombed hotel) and another colleague the old mannered Nick Anderson, himself recently a father has agreed to box for Oscar.

Unbelievably they have almost reached their target, but unfortunatly money alone is not the answer he is still a very sick little boy. 

It is sad when people need medical help and terrible when the people who love them have to find the money, but when it is someone you know it is so personal you want to help. What it shows is that people do care and that same network we use to help us understand and share our technical knowledge, is also a network of friends.

I have experienced this network of friends who have reached out to me when I need emotional support and I hope I never need them like Wee Oscar does.

Still a busy girl

Oracle Open World is almost upon us and as ever I have a full dance card. I was looking back at previous years, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and as Richard Scarry says it is a Busy, Busy (Oracle Open) World.

You would think having stepped down as UKOUG President I would have time on my hands, but no I still have as much to do.

Fujitsu are the Global sponsor which means I am presenting one of our four regional showcase sessions. I am talking about Consolidation and Managed Shared Services in a very large organisation. It is a great case study and one I have really enjoyed working on. If you have any interest in the business benefits of what technology can do, come along to this session.

I have another session on Consolidation of Wednesday, in fact the last session of the day which is ideal and I promise it will not be the full 60 minutes. It is a light hearted look at the concept of Consolidation, the story of how I consolidated my handbag with my smart phone, and how the same principles refer to business. I was given this slot as the presentation was voted in the top 10 EMEA user group submissions. I gave it for the first time at last years OOW and it was my highest scoring session, probably because it is just pictures!

I am also slipping in a quick 20 minutes on Cloud. Fujitsu has a very successful cloud offering and this year we have added Oracle to the technology choice. This is our case study of how we got there. IT isn’t always easy if you don’t start with a blank piece of paper…

Three sessions and I haven’t even mentioned the ‘F’ word yet. This is why I love my job. Fusion Applications woke me up to the fact that there is no business solution without technology, but the reverse is true as well. If you work with technology you need to know the business use for it, after all they make the investment. Consolidation and Cloud are other technologies but the same applies. I don’t teach you how to do something, just why you might.

But Fusion Applications are my sweet spot and I am proud to be kicking off the ODTUG Fusion Symposium on Sunday with John King with a setting the scene session on Fusion Technology.
Then on Wednesday I have been asked to join Jeremy Ashley VP of User Experience in his session, if you still haven’t looked at how Oracle approach user experience then you need to attend this.

Sun	11:00	11:45	UGF10371	Usability and Features of Oracle Fusion Applications, Built upon Oracle Fusion Middleware
Mon	10:30	10:50	SBH4843	How Fujitsu Built Its Oracle Cloud for Its Customers
Wed	11:45	12:45	CON10923	Consolidation: Optimize Your Entire Oracle Investment as a Platform for Growth
Wed	15:30	16:30	CON9467	Oracle's Roadmap to a Simple, Modern User Experience
Wed	17:00	18:00	CON3543	Consolidation for the Cloud

And between these I want to get to as many customers talking about their adoption of Fusion Applications, and talk to some of our customers from around the world who are considering it.

Drop by the Fujitsu booth (1311) and talk to my colleagues, give them feedback on my presentations especially if you like them and tell us what else you would like to hear about. We are proud to be Global sponsors and hope you enjoy the Opening and Appreciation events and will say thank you by attending our keynote (Sunday evening) and executive sessions.

But OOW doesn’t start on Sunday for me it starts the week before at Redwood Shores, where I am training with the Fusion Applications User Experience Advocates group, which is a subset of the ACE Director Program who has their annual briefings on Thursday and Friday.

I also need to fit it various partner, blogger, twitter and ACE events, another Oaktable party, daily Chi Gung and some swim Oraclenerd is arranging during the week and going along to the User Group Pavilion to encourage participation. If you see me running about, stop me, I will always find time to say hallo .

A mum’s pride – stepping down as UKOUG President

In case you missed it I have resigned as UKOUG President.

I have had phenomenal feedback from members and usergroup leaders around the world and their main question is how do I feel?

So if you have ever heard me speak you will know I like analogies and this is one I am really glad to have the opportunity to share with you.

At the time I stepped down the London 2012 Olympics were in full swing and even more touching than the athletes achieving their ambitions was the reactions of their mums. Their tears of pride as National Anthem was played and the memories of all the sacrifices they made forgotten. There was also a series of commercials with the catch phrase ‘proud sponsor of mums’.

I KNOW how they felt. On August 10th my daughter was commissioned as an army officer finally finishing the journey she started at 15 when she came home from a school careers visit and said that was what she wanted. 

But lets wind the clock back 5 years ago to the day she left home for university.As a mum I didn’t want to let her go, I had nurtured her, helped her through good and bad times but she is her own person with a independence I have always admired. I am still here for her and over those 5 years we have grown even closer the relationship changing but the love is the same. And that is how I feel about UKOUG, I have not left, it is still very important to me and I am still an elected Council Member but I stand back and with pride look at how far we have come together and look forward to seeing how much further and how much more UKOUG can achieve.

I didn’t do anything on my own, and the UKOUG press release didn’t thank the other volunteers and the support from the members to achieve what we have, but it did rightly thank Fujitsu who have given me so much support as I carried out my roles within UKOUG.