Meet The Experts: Oracle ACE Patrick Gresham

Your OCP Blog Editor met several Oracle experts and "Who's Who" of the Oracle universe at Oracle Openworld 2008. This week's featured expert is Issac Patrick Gresham of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Thanks to Oracle Mix, one could get connected with Patrick during the conference. This interview was conducted at the crowded OCP Lounge on a warm Wednesday morning.

OCP Blog Editor (OCP BE): Good Morning Patrick! It's great to meet one of our regular blog readers and feature you as our Oracle Expert of the Week! Let's start by asking you about your professional background and Oracle experience.

Isaac Patrick Gresham (IPG): It's great to meet you at Oracle Openworld'08 (OOW'08). I have more than 10 years of Oracle Applications experience. I started in a consulting role and over the years worked in various lead roles. I am the Financial Applications Manager at Chick-fil-A, Inc. My team supports both standard and custom applications in the financials track. We upgraded to R11.5.10.2 and planning for R12 upgrade in the future. At OOW'08, I am interested in knowing about R12 features, functionalities and upgrade stories. I am an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) of EBS R11i and also a featured authored on MyOracle Support (formerly Metalink). I have presented at Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Conferences and other events. Last year, I was awarded the Oracle ACE Award. This year, Chick-fil-A, Inc was presented the 2008 Oracle Excellence Award at the OOW'08 conference. I am very passionate about learning ERP systems and actively working on increasing the Applications knowledge base on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Please visit my Oracle Financial Applications Blog at http://applicationsblog.blogspot.com/

(Editor's Note: Chick-fil-A, Inc is one of the largest privately-held restaurant chains in the US with more than 1400 locations in 37 states. Chick-fil-A, Inc pioneered the concept of fast food at shopping malls and was the first to introduce the boneless breast chicken sandwich. A must visit for the food connoisseur)

OCP BE: Thanks for the insight about your illustrious career. It is intriguing why someone like you would seek Oracle certification?

IPG: Over the years, I have attended several Oracle University courses. Oracle certification provides a framework for me to formally learn the application. I look forward not only to know the new features but also the functionality and the intent for introducing them. Since the Oracle certification exams cover the complete spectrum for the module or business flow (e.g. Record to Report or Procure to Pay), the certification validates my learning and understanding. It is an universal yardstick to measure one's Oracle competency.

OCP BE: Please walk us through your exam preparation approach for R11i certification exams.

IPG: The first step is to check out the exam content on the Oracle certification website. Use the module user guides, implementation guides and Oracle Tutor documents to review each topic. To confirm your understanding of the topics and review navigation on the system, log in to your Oracle Applications instance and practice on it. In case some of the topics in the exam cover features not available on your test instance, use the various hosted EBS R11i (or R12) instances available for free, courtesy Oracle's premier partners. Once again, my advice is "Don't just read the topic but practice on the system".

OCP BE: Have you used any of the offerings from the Oracle Certification Program team at Oracle Openworld conferences?

IPG: I have been a regular attendee at Oracle Openworld conferences. This is my fifth conference visit in six years. I have made good use of the Oracle Certification Program offerings. I have attended 'Oracle 11i E-Business Essentials Exam Cram' session. I also wrote the R11i E-Business Essentials and R11i General Ledger Fundamentals exams at the conference. So I had to just schedule one more regular exam outside the conference and obtain my certification credentials!

OCP BE: Any parting advice for OCP Blog readers who are thinking of writing the Oracle Certification exams?

IPG: Schedule the exam date. This would create a self-pressure model where you can build an exam preparation schedule based on the countdown leading to the exam. My best wishes to all OCP blog readers for their certification!

OCP BE: Thanks Patrick!