SMJ Solutions

First Quarter as Oracle Business Analyst

February 9th, 2006

I have recently accepted a job as an Oracle Business Analyst at a small, but quickly growing company. As an Oracle Business Analyst I am heavily involved with many aspects of the company’s business software, centered on the Oracle e-Business suite. Here are a few of my lessons learned during my first three months on the job:

I still have a lot to learn. Even though I’ve been a user of large systems, and even spent a couple years as a project manager for several complicated web-based systems, I haven’t ever seen anything as vast as Oracle Applications. Oracle is a whole new world. Our installation includes modules for inventory, accounting, purchasing, distribution, and planning all together, and we’re constantly adding more modules.

I have been tasked with heading up a project configuring Oracle Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) (also known as Advanced Product Catalog). PLM ties into inventory, product setup and change management, adds features for our marketing group to move product ideas into actual products, and adds change management features to move products gracefully from womb to tomb. Sounds easy, right? Nope. I’ve been looking at this module for a couple months now, and I don’t even have a semi-working prototype up and running yet.

User interface matters. Oracle has reinforced my belief that the user interface matters in a software application. I’ve always been one of those IT guys who firmly believes the UI actually is an important piece of the puzzle. Some Oracle Applications have bad reputations strictly because of the user interface. The forms that most users see are java-based and pretty clunky looking, so therefore the perception is that Oracle is clunky as a general rule. Some of the more recent applications have been entirely web-based and feature a more familiar UI. These modules don’t get the same complaints — they are perceived differently by users.

Documentation, documentation, documentation. The Oracle supplied documentation is less than adequate for implementing most modules. Oracle does a good job of providing documentation, but it usually lacks the amount of detailed steps to follow to get the software up and running properly. The questions I have had while implementing PLM and Oracle User Management have not been answered by the supplied documentation.

Because the Oracle documentation doesn’t provide adequate instruction, it is imperative to document any changes made to the system in order to retrace those steps. Usually an implementation will be first done in a development instance, and then eventually moved into production by following those same steps. If you haven’t recorded everything you have done in development, you will spend too much time trying to recreate those same steps in production. Having properly documented those steps will save a great deal of time and trouble.

Entry Filed under: Oracle