Oracle Bloggers playing Tag!

The Oracle blogosphere (universe of Oracle blogs) is an ever growing global community. One of the bloggers, proposed a game of blog tag . The game is quite simple - the blogger who is tagged will reveal eight things about oneself and then tag eight more bloggers. One of our OCP Champions mentioned in the last post, Fadi Hasweh tagged me.

Please find the list below of illustrious bloggers whom the blog editor is tagging now.
Be sure to click on the links and read their interesting posts:
Atul Kumar - Become Apps DBA Blog
Chris Warticki - Oracle Support Blog
Jo Davis - Confessions of an Oracle Apps Consultant Blog
Richard Byron - Oracle Apps Blog
Ameed Taylor - Oracle Customization & Extension SIG Blog
Anil Passi - Oracle Apps Technical Blog
Bas Klaassen - EBS DBA Blog
Sampath Palani - Apps DBA Blog

It's time to reveal eight things that you may not (and need not!) know about the blog editor:

I - Has been attending Oracle conferences since 2001 but has never paid to attend one! (The secret: Attend as presenter and the conference fee is waived!)
II - Part of the fun in traveling around the world for #1 above is the opportunity to see great cities of the world and their architecture. The Great Wall of China, Sydney Opera House and the Tower of London were all places that were part of the sightseeing while attending the Oracle community gatherings.
III - A firm believer in the value of a single voice in the application modules area, founded and chaired the Procurement SIG and later Contracts SIG. Both SIGs went on to win Certificate of Distinction from OAUG during the tenure and today are very popular.
IV - Though born half-way round the world, is often mistaken for a Mexican in California! Many have tried to speak in Spanish but got a curt response - "No hablo español"
V - Became a Bengals fan without ever visiting Cincinnati. Friends say its a subconscious way of remembering one's roots in the land of the Royal Bengal tiger.
VI - A question often asked by folks who see the blog editor online at all hours of the day - "When do you sleep?" (Answer: On Sundays)

VII - Presently works in a cylinder shaped steel building (picture on the left). If one arrives in San Francisco airport and travels on the highway towards Silicon Valley, the cylinder shaped buildings would be on the left. Legend has it that it represents the great database that is in its eleventh edition!
VIII - Hides in the anonymity of the "OCP Advisor" tag and never mentions one's name on the blog. Was thrust in the limelight briefly in 2007 when OAUG presented the Member of the Year award.

Hail the Champions

After the Christmas and New Year holiday hibernation, the blog editor is back online to share such exciting times for the EBS OCP community in 2008. As mentioned in the previous post, Oracle has launched the R12 exams in beta phase. Possibly next week, the list of approved instructor-led online or in-class courses to satisfy the training fulfilment for certification, would be released.

The exam objectives or the list of exam topics have been released for the following exams:
1Z0-204 Oracle EBS R12: E-Business Essentials
1Z0-225 Oracle EBS R12: Inventory and Purchasing Fundamentals
1Z0-226 Oracle EBS R12: Inventory and Order Management Fundamentals
1Z0-238 Oracle EBS R12: Install, Patch and Maintain Applications

The arrival of 2008 also brought good news in the form of OCP credentials achievement from two of our regular blog readers - Fadi H from Jordan and Patrick G from USA. Please read below as Fadi and Patrick share their exam preparation experiences. It is time to hail the champions!


Fadi is an experienced DBA and a very popular blog author himself.
Please read Fadi's posting for the OCP blog:
"I would like to share with 11i beta exam prep experience and my plans for R12 beta exam.
For R11i, I took the beta exams once they were released. The beta exams are not that easy and at the same time not too difficult. One needs to have proper hands-on experience and also prepare by judiciously following the course materials or exam content. I prepared for the exam by referencing the Oracle University student guides. I tried to solve all the questions that were in the tutorials section at the end of each chapter. I also installed a 11i vision instance and a 11i test instance to verify my understanding of the concepts.

The other references that helped in the exam preparation were as follows:
Concepts Guide
Installation Guide
Maintenance procedures guide
Maintenance utilities guide
I passed the 11i OCP exams and am currently certified for two OCP tracks - a 11i Apps DBA and 10g DBA.

My plan for preparing for the R12 beta exam is as follows:
Step 1 - Read the R12 Concepts Guide and R12 Installation Guide
Step 2 - Install a R12 test instance
Step 3 - Read R12 Maintenance Utilities, Maintenance Procedures and Patching Procedure guides.
Step 4 - Try to apply patches on the test instance.
Step 5 - Additionally, read the System Administrator's Documentation Set related to Configuration,
Maintenance and Security.
Step 6 - Finally, try to upgrade a test instance from 11i to R12 using the R11i to R12 Upgrade Guide to complete my preparation for the R12 beta exam".

Our sincerest wishes to Fadi as he embarks on the journey to become one of the first to be R12 certified. As Fadi's intensive exam preparation plan reveals, there are no shortcuts to success. As Fadi's blog mentions - Oracle is not magic, it just takes years of experience. In this case, hours of exam prep!

Patrick writes about his recent OCP certification achievement:
" I am happy to report that I have completed all the exams for 11i Certified Financials Consultant - Receivables track. So there is another new member of the prestigious OCP community!
I have heavily leveraged your blog throughout this journey.
As for the Receivables exam itself, time is of essence. The exam was 76 questions long to be answered in just 90 minutes. Some of the questions were quite long and tricky. My advice to others seeking this track certification is to familiarize oneself with the key features and functionality and use common sense based on one's application experience".

Patrick adds some concluding thoughts for the blog editor in his post:
"Thanks for your efforts and time you devote to maintaining the blog. It is truly appreciated.
One of the most exciting things I looked forward to after completing the certification is sending this e-mail to thank you for your contributions via your blog towards my success!"


As promised by the blog editor, Fadi and Patrick have won the exclusive OCP Blog T-Shirt for sharing their exam prep and test taking experiences.

While their OCP Blog T-Shirts are on their way, you too can win a T-Shirt of your own by contributing to the blog content.

The blog editor also looks forward to your suggestions for enhancing the features and content of the OCP blog. So while you are taking a coffee break, e-mail a few lines to the blog editor at ocp.advisor@gmail.com.
For all suggestions received, one winner will be selected every month to win a OCP Blog surprise gift!