The Feature

7 Guaranteed Questions from New Oracle Users

March 14, 2006 on 7:26 pm | by Marian Crkon | In Ideas and Opinions | 2 Comments |  Print |  Email

I love novice Oracle Applications users. They help me keep my perspective fresh and remind me that things are not always seen by others the way I see them. Like anyone else involved in this business for a long time, I have developed an “operational blindness” where I avoid certain pitfalls by memorizing the ways around them. Here are few sample questions you are guaranteed to hear when introducing new users to the applications. Go ahead to add your fun user experiences as comments below.

• How do I get in the system? You are thinking that’s silly but you’d be amazed in how many different ways users get to Oracle Applications: desktop icons, instance maps, links on company intranets, links sent via email, bookmarks saved in browsers, and even browser’s recent addresses…
• How do I change the date format? Once a new user gets in the system, that’s the guaranteed next question. I realize Oracle sells applications in a hundred or so countries, so it is impossible to have a common format that fits everybody.
• How do I get to my stuff? Thank goodness for those menus. They make those who can navigate them look like geniuses. I understand there are some major UI improvements coming up in Release 12. All I can say is: keep it simple!
• Why do I see things I don’t need? That’s the price you pay for out-of-the-box applications. There is some flexibility to remove menus and functions, and when available, use folders to customize the forms any way you want. But in general, there will always be fields that others use and you don’t.
• Where is my report? This is my favorite. There may be a 100+ standard reports in each Oracle module, but it always comes down to this question and you have to produce that one report that users are familiar with.
• How do I get my data into Excel? Whether we like it or not, Excel is THE tool of our times. We can argue that the data is available online or on the web, but somehow, it always ends up in Excel. It is good to see that Oracle acknowledged the fact and keeps providing easier integration with Excel (WebADI, Folders, XML Publisher).
• Is this an entry mode or query mode? We have all seen the “%” records people entered assuming they were in a search mode. It takes some time before that CTRL-F11 becomes second nature. A related question: How do I stop that run away query submitted by accident…?