The end of this turbulent year is coming soon. The year where Oracle delivered new versions of their business applications. PeopleTools 8.50 and PeopleSoft 9.1 have been released. On this year’s Oracle Open World Larry Ellison announced the first version of Fusion Applications. What can we expect in 2010 from Oracle Applications?

Gartner published a report in July of this year about the strategy of PeopleSoft Upgrades. The report gives a couple of recommendations. The most important, in my opinion are:

• PeopleSoft customers with long-term commitments to Oracle Applications should upgrade to version 9.0 or 9.1 (9.1 available in H2Y09)
• PeopleSoft customers should minimize customizations and extentions to their existing PeopleSoft application

When customers are planning a new installation of PeopleSoft, Gartner suggest to implement version 9.0. “Gartner believes that v.9.1 will be released during 2H09, but most customers will not want to be the first to take on a new release. If you need the newest functionality right away (such as compensation management or succession management in HCM), then implement v.9.1 as soon as is practical for your organization. If you don’t need the new functionality, then implement v.9.0 until v.9.1 has more market traction and proof points, which Gartner expects within 12 to 18 months of release.”

Read the full article.

Source: Gartner (July 2009)

Regularly I write about the developments in the field of Oracle Applications. One of the changes that I foresee in the coming years is that the traditional activities of a functional or technical consultant will change dramatically.

Oracle Fusion Middleware is now a accepted product and is increasingly being used by our customers. It forms the technical basis for the next generation application: Fusion Applications. In my view this means a whole new playing field for the traditional ERP consultant. Fusion Applications consists of processes (with BPM and BPA Suite), services developed with Java and integrated with Fusion Middleware, service bus and BPEL. To keep it simple I leave IDM/SSO, BI, MDM out of the equation. Striking is that on the playing field for instance PeopleTools or Siebel tools are not mentioned. The focus is no longer on the ERP application but more on processes and services. Integration is the key word.

General OpenWorld News

Ellison touts new products at Oracle OpenWorld

Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison fired up the crowd at Oracle’s OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on Wednesday by showing off new business software and a new data-storage system that he dubbed “the fastest business computer in the world.” Read more …

Schwarzenegger praises Oracle’s deal for Sun

Adding a little star power to Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took the stage at the Moscone Center on Wednesday and congratulated CEO Larry Ellison on the deal even though it’s been stalled by a European antitrust investigation. Read more …

Oracle’s Larry Ellison to IBM: “make our day”

… Ellison fought back Wednesday in a speech in San Francisco, promoting a $10 million prize Oracle is offering to any organization that finds Oracle’s database software doesn’t run at least twice as fast on Sun servers as it does on IBM’s fastest computers. Read more …

Thanks to this year’s crew

Bob, Frank and Ellen, a big thanks for your contribution.

General OpenWorld News

Keynote Thomas Kurian “More of the same”
 

During Thomas Kurian’s keynote yesterday, he was presenting new versions of the current applications, integration between those applications and funny movies to support the issues customers have and can be solved by Oracle products. More on BI Applications, BPM Applications and Enterprise Manager. No word on Fusion Applications… let’s see what Larry Ellison will tell us during his keynote tonight.

Today’s Keynotes
Larry Ellison “Larry Ellison discusses the state of technology.”