The purpose of the E-Business Suite Forum is to provide an environment to exchange ideas and share experiences using the Oracle Applications. The Forum is open to anyone who is a member of DOUG and is intended to represent the interests of Oracle Applications professionals in the DFW area.
Three areas of interest
The original idea of the groups is that it would consist of three areas of interest:
- Functional level: These would include the business analysts, the accounting managers, the AP clerks, or any of the other business end users who use the Applications for their day to day jobs. One of the major complaints about the DOUG meetings is that they are too technically focused and appeal more to DBAs than to the business end users. This has been the primary focus of the Apps Forum for 2004 – to appeal to this audience. That’s why we’ve had guest speakers discussing Oracle Projects, Financials, iProcurement, etc. The emphasis has been more on the business problems solved and benefits gained by using the Applications.
- Technical level: These would be the developers, the Apps DBAs and others who specialize in the technology used in the Applications. With each version, the technology stack becomes more and more complex. Java, XML, web services, PL/SQL, Forms, Reports, Unix, JSP, Application Servers, Apache web server, and of course the database, are just a few of the major technologies. While these are used in a variety of different applications, there are specific nuances for how they are used in the Oracle world. Several people have asked for a forum to discuss these technologies. While some of these topics are covered in the DOUG meetings, there is a wide range of topics out there that we can now address.
- Management level: These would be the Applications Manager, IT managers and ERP project managers who deal with the Applications at a much higher level than the previous two groups. They’re looking at issues such as business strategy and ROI metrics. Specifically their role is to translate or match the 100+ Application modules readiness to business problems and justify investments and maintenance costs to their executive board.