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OIT Home > OIT Newsletter > April, 2006 Contents > Whitepaper, Fusion Technology April, 2006 | Information Technology Newsletter |
Fusion TechnologyOIT Contributes to Nationally-Recognized WhitepaperPeopleSoft, OracleOn March 9, 2006 the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) within the Higher Education Users Group (HEUG) published a whitepaper on Oracle's new Fusion technology. Chris Rigsby, Systems Architect within OIT at the University of Minnesota, was one of the authors of the paper, which has been well-received and praised nationally over the past few weeks. HEUG (pronounced 'hug') has historically been a body of higher education institutions using PeopleSoft products. The HEUG currently has over 400 higher education member institutions. With the recent merger of Oracle and PeopleSoft, the HEUG has been expanding to represent the interests of similar organizations, such as users of Oracle's own student systems products, as well as federal government users of Oracle and PeopleSoft products. The HEUG has worked directly with PeopleSoft for many years to improve their products, mostly by way of Product Advisory Groups (PAGs) appointed by the HEUG Board. The PAGs provide feedback on product areas such as HRMS, Reporting, Student Records, and Technology. The HEUG Board appointed Chris Rigsby to the Technical Advisory Group, which has worked with PeopleSoft, and now Oracle, to continuously improve the PeopleTools technology platform. All of Oracle's customers are faced with the rapid evolution of their current product families into something that Oracle has labeled "Project Fusion." The name is derived from the fact that, prior to the merger, Oracle and PeopleSoft were independently pursuing approaches to their next generation applications and platforms that were startlingly similar. The spirit of Project Fusion is to take the best of everything that the Oracle, PeopleSoft, and JD Edwards products offered to create a new technology platform and subsequent ERP products. The fusion technology platform represents a dramatic shift in the underlying technical architecture for nearly all of Oracle's customer base. The TAG was privileged to visit Oracle's headquarters in California earlier this year for a preview of the fusion platform and approach to building the next generation of applications. The visit resulted in a strong desire by the TAG and the HEUG Board to share information obtained on that visit and to advise HEUG member institutions how to prepare for the coming changes. The white paper, entitled "Assessment of Fusion for HEUG Institutions," attempts to compare and contrast current PeopleSoft technologies with those proposed by Oracle in their new fusion architecture. The paper also presents a framework for institutions to assess the impact that moving to the fusion platform will have on an institution. The paper is currently available for download by registered members of the HEUG website. Broader distribution is still being considered, but anyone from the University of Minnesota can obtain a copy by e-mailing Chris Rigsby at rigsb007@umn.edu. Chris Rigsby, OIT, Enterprise Management Systems |
Page: http://www.umn.edu/oit/newsletter/06/0406_itn/fusion.html |