The other day I was asked about a package that a big huge consulting firm (not from the US or UK) built that is now being recommended by the PIM data hub product managers at Redwood Shores.

If I didn’t know how badly they provide information to their sales force, I would have been shocked.

I have never seen and I would probably bet a lot of money against any claim of “off the shelf integration” to and from the PIM Data Hub.  Of course, the disclaimers from both sides come later after this unrealistic boast.

It is amazing how they would try to sell this product that is supposed to integrate “off the shelf” from one enterprise level suite owned by Oracle and another enterprise level MDM product.  Even worse, they were recommending the consulting firm that was not the firm who helped on the project in the first place.

There is hardly anything but horrible design in the product that this big “Info” consulting firm is trying to sell.  In fact, what I really think they are selling is consulting services and customization services that you will need once you have found out the hard way that I was right.

Since the nature of the PIMDH is to be dynamic, you would have to build something that would be able to predict what the other application would configure in any combination with no changes to standard functionality.  And, only data could transfer from one hub to another.  When being confronted regarding this, the big consulting firm does not deny that you will need to engage development resources to successfully install and implement.  They will tell you that you can hire your own but they won’t know the product like their consultants do.

They claim that this product will speed up the integration.  (As long as you agree to their restrictions in design).  These restrictions are based on two or more projects that the technical people who developed the product and implemented PIMDH were on.  Unfortunately for the customer, if you are not in the same industry as these developers have experienced then you will be working around a very restrictive design model that will inhibit your use of both the transactional distribution models on one side and the product hierarchies, change management workflows, and other PIMDH features.

I would prefer to see that someone built a product that is according to some industry specific standards or a structure that is very common to multiple users.  But its not.  It is built to the business requirements of the first client then customized for other clients by their developers.

I wouldn’t mind if they said that upfront and showed the time it took to be successful.

But I know it is not true.  I cannot mention the names of the firm nor can I mention the other enterprise suite (not EBS).  So I will give you the warning.

Get all the facts or run a serious trial integration before you buy.

Monitor, monitor, and monitor the success of the integration.  Make sure there is minimal change in data structure and translation between the two systems.  Changes and governance should be done in the product MDM package (that would be Oracle PIMDH).

When you receive recommendations from Oracle, try to get some type of assurance.  There are a lot of good small expert firms out there who have to compete with big undercutting firms who don’t have the expertise they claim.  Check with real clients who have been successful and try to find the real clients who have been unsuccessful as well.

Hope you are having a good day!

I am sure that OPN (Oracle Partner Network) won’t miss me since they have their favorite partners and demonstrate that.  Too bad the customer doesn’t get the best referral from this network.  I cannot believe I paid for this service just to watch incompetent consulting firms get referred because of personal relationships.  I hope my friends get big promotions and powerful positions someday so that they fire your friends..  (Hisssssss….)

I had some fun over the summer.  Didn’t talk about Oracle PIM on blog very much at all.(you can tell by my blog submissions).  I troubleshooted several clients who had a mixture of issues.

Well, who can we blame for the apparent lack of information on metalink about Fusion PIM?

I need to tell my readers some information on FA (fusion application) PIM.

I need information on FUSION PIM or I am going to become an obsolete consultant….

I hope that I can rely on some great people within the Great Wall of Oracle to help clear the air on starting an Oracle FUSION PIM implementation.  As I learn, I will try to help.

Please try to understand that I will provide what I can via the blog. But there are some things that are confidential to my clients with regards to design.  There are also methods that I cannot share on the blog because they give me and my companions a competitive advantage in the market.

Typically, our advantage is that we have experience and won’t tell you to do something that we haven’t personally experienced.  Everything is a recommendation though sometimes I passionately advise you that you have no choice.

Fusion PIM is a mystery that is being kept well hid from the general implementation population.  Too bad for Oracle!

The competition is trying very hard to beat us and they are accomplishing this with unexpected success.

Release the hounds and tell us how to implement this peice of software.

https://updates.oracle.com/Orion/Services/download?type=readme&aru=14282711

Basic patch prerequisites:

a. ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE 12.1.3 RELEASE UPDATE PACK
b. Patch 11819064:R12.FND.B: 10636669 FORWARD PORT: 10130806
c. Patch 10254013:R12.BNE.B: 1OFF:9090447:12.1.2:12.1.2

I wish this was the only patch that I had to blog and rant about.  If you are on 12.1.3 then see the read me on the patch mentioned above.  DO IT NOW!!

I feel so discouraged sometimes when DBAs advise clients not to apply patches.  I have heard some pretty ridiculous reasoning from it.

“Patches will destroy the entire database and bring a plague upon your house, argghh”

“Patches will make things worse”

“Patches will interfere with our undocumented and unmonitored customizations …..” DUH!

DBA says: “I am not putting the patch on the PATCH instance because nobody will test it so I can propagate it.”

DBA says: “I don’t have time and consultants don’t know what they are talking about”

“I can’t put 12.1 patches into a 12.1.2 or 12.1.3 instance.”

“I can’t go to 11G database because we are not certified on 11G.  We are going against Oracle recommendations for database version compatibility because we know more than Oracle about the RDBMS.”

“Language patches mess up other parts of the application”

These comments were literally said to me by clients and DBAs.  (except for the plague upon your house part…)

Unofficially, some very respected members and employees of Oracle and some experienced clients of mine will tell you to “toughen up” (nice way to put it) and apply the patches.

I cannot believe what some consulting firms are doing to clients lately.  This should be the easiest way to help your client survive in the “off the shelf” application world.

I would be happy to smear my competition into the ground but I got to play nice.  You would be amazed

I have proven over and over that applying the Oracle provided recommended patches resolve issues.

I understand when clients are fearful.  Bottom line:  If your consulting firm doesn’t recommend PIM patches prior to your go – live (beyond what came on the install disks), then fire them!  These people are hurting your infrastructure and must be stopped.  This is insane and demonstrates a lack of serious implementation experience.  You are paying for a service that is more expensive than an actual expert.

I dare you to send your installed patch list to Oracle Support and the dates of installation along with the app diagnostics and/or a current RDA.  Let the consultant tell you why they couldn’t enter an SR with Oracle Support asking for patch updates and assistance from Oracle.  You are paying for this service.

However, I feel your pain….

补丁13385260的Oracle 12.1.3.1 PIM合并

https://updates.oracle.com/Orion/Services/download?type=readme&aru=14282711

基本补丁的先决条件：

一。 Oracle电子商务套件12.1.3版本更新包
二。 11819064补丁：R12.FND.B：10636669转发端口：10130806
C。补丁10254013：R12.BNE.B：1OFF：9090447:12.1.2:12.1.2

，我想这是唯一的补丁，我必须强调的是博客和。如果你是12.1.3，然后读我上面提到的修补程序。 DO IT NOW！

我感到很气馁，有时DBA的建议时，客户不适用的补丁。我听说过一些非常荒谬的推理。

“修补程序会破坏整个数据库，并带来了瘟疫后，你的房子，argghh”

“修补程序将会使事情变得更糟”

“修补程序会干扰我们的无证和不受监督的自定义……”真不错！

DBA说：“我没有把补丁的PATCH例如，因为没有人会测试，所以我可以传播它。”

DBA说：“我没有时间和顾问不知道他们在谈论什么”

“我不能把12.1的补丁成12.1.2或12.1.3的实例。”

“我不能去，因为我们没有认证的11G到11G数据库。我们将针对Oracle数据库版本的兼容性的建议，因为我们知道比Oracle的RDBMS。”

“语言补丁惹的应用程序的其他部分”

从字面上说，这些意见对我的客户端和DBA。 （除了你的房子的一部分时的瘟疫…）

私下里，一些非常受尊敬的成员和员工的甲骨文和一些有经验的客户，我会告诉你“锻炼”（很好的方式，把它），并打上补丁。

我简直不敢相信自己正在做一些咨询公司最近的客户。这应该是最简单的方式来帮助您的客户端在“关现成的”应用程序世界中生存。

我会很乐意到地面涂抹我的比赛，但我发挥好。你会惊讶

我已经证明了一遍又一遍，运用Oracle提供的建议的修补程序解决问题。

据我了解，当客户端是可怕的。底线：如果您的咨询公司不建议PIM修补程序之前，你走 – 现场的安装盘上超出了，那么火！这些人伤害你的基础设施，必须加以制止。这是疯狂的，并演示了一个严重缺乏实施经验。您支付的一种服务，是更昂贵的比实际的专家。

我够胆你就来安装的补丁列表发送到Oracle支持和日期的安装以及与应用程序的诊断和/或电流RDA的。让顾问告诉你为什么他们不能进入SR与Oracle支持要求从Oracle的补丁更新和援助。你为这项服务付费。

不过，我觉得你的痛苦……

I certainly didn’t win at the tables but I did win at the Collaborate 12 conference.

Old friends, new friends, new contacts, hopefully future customers.

MDM is on the rise and it is apparent at the conference.

Thank you to all the Oracle users that had questions this week.

One thing I did observe yesterday was a lot of people had full support from the CIO but…..

The CEO, COO, and the CFO didn’t feel the same passion.

MDM is going to save those people a lot of money and prevent a lot of headaches but they just don’t understand how important it is for them to figure out “what the heck MDM means”.

MDM doesn’t work without great defined business driven data governance coming from those people.

What doesn’t happen is the realization of how important MDM data is to an enterprise.

I saw many industries asking common questions this week.

Oracle Product Data Quality (formerly SilverCreek) was compared to Informatica a lot.  I don’t really know how the Informatica product compares to the Oracle product.  I do know that the Oracle product has had years of building universal product cleansing rules that would work for all product data.  I am assuming the same for Informatica.

Product data cleansing is different than customer data cleansing.   I can go into detail but you need to inquire about the differences yourself.  But at the highest level, you should take a look at the fact that customer relationships and data structures are far more static than product data.  Customer data content is typically the same basic core structure.  Product data can depend completely on the industry, the development processes, the definition of the product, the market channels, regional and global details, etc.  Product data can actually be defined as a result of a good MDM initiative where the customer data is typically cleansed and related in a good MDM initiative.

Experts will agree, disagree, elaborate, or admonish my opinions above.  Either customer or product MDM initiatives are not harder or easier than the other as a general rule.

As a consultant I would advise my client to run any data cleansing and data governance tool through a real test with actual product data.  Whether you pay for this test or whether you get it done during product selection is on you.  But, I would run my data through the tool and see which one gives you the desired results.  The one the does the best job wins.  Ensure that there is no real development effort in this endeavor so that the tool provides a means for business product expert to adjust without code.

Don’t buy a tool that is not easy to setup and use with your data.  It is not the software vendor’s responsibility to extract your data from your legacy system.  Once you have the data extracted into a modern file format like txt, csv, etc, then the tool should be able to pull the data in and analyze.  The tool should suggest changes and accept your feedback.

What is fantastic is if the tool will then deliver the product data cleansed into your PIM Data Hub instance without more code to be written.  Then it can be distributed in a manner that is according to the intense data governance policies that business has instilled into the entire organization.

这是我的最后一天在拉斯维加斯的合作12

我肯定没有赢得在桌子上，但我没有赢得合作12间会议。

老朋友，新朋友，新的联系，希望未来的客户。

MDM是在上升，很明显在这次会议。

谢谢所有的Oracle用户，本周有问题。

有一件事我确实观察到昨天很多人从CIO的全力支持，但…..

（行政总裁）CEO（首席营运官），COO，和（首席财务总监）CFO并没有感到同样的热情。

MDM是要救这些人大量的金钱和避免很多麻烦，但他们只是不明白，他们“究竟发生了什么MDM”是多么的重要。

MDM不工作，没有伟大的定义的业务驱动的数据来自那些人的治理。

什么不会发生的，是实现MDM数据是多么的重要企业。

我看到了许多行业要求的常见问题这个星期。

Oracle产品数据质量（原SilverCreek）的Informatica了很多。我真的不知道该怎么Informatica产品相比，Oracle产品。我知道，有多年的Oracle产品构建通用产品的所有产品数据清洗规则，将工作。我假设相同的Informatica的。

产品数据清洗客户数据清洗是不同的。我可以进入的细节，但你需要查询自己的差异。但在最高的水平，你应该看一看的客户关系和数据结构的事实，更多的静态产品数据。客户数据内容通常是基本相同的核心结构。产品数据完全可以依靠对行业的发展过程，定义产品，市场渠道，区域和全球的细节等。产品数据实际上可以被定义为结果的客户数据通常是一个良好的MDM主动清洗，在一个良好的MDM主动有关。

专家们都同意，不同意，阐述或以上告诫我的意见。无论是客户或产品MDM举措是不是更难或更容易比其他的作为一般规则。

作为一名顾问，我会建议我的客户机上运行的任何数据清洗和数据治理工具通过真实的测试与实际产品数据。无论你支付本次测试，无论你把它做在产品的选择是你的。但是，我跑我的数据，通过该工具，看看哪一个给你所期望的结果。一个是做的最好胜。确保在这方面，有没有真正的开发工作，使刀具企业的产品专家提供了一种手段，没有代码的情况下调整。

不要买工具，这是不容易的设置和使用与您的数据。从旧系统中提取数据，这不是软件供应商的责任。一旦你的数据提取到一个现代的文件格式，如TXT，CSV等，则该工具应该能够拉中的数据和分析。该工具应该提出修改建议，并接受您的意见。

什么是奇妙的是，如果该工具将提供洁净的产品数据没有更多的代码被写入到您的PIM数据平台实例。然后，它可以分配的方式，根据激烈，企业的数据治理策略灌输到整个组织。

Related articles

• Chicken or the Egg? MDM first then BI (smartmdm.com)
• Collaborate 2012 Las Vegas (smartmdm.com)
• One or Two instances (with or without you EBS) (mckinleyalexandra.wordpress.com)

The presentation was the best high level representation with specific instructions to organisations on how to conduct data governance.  Get this presentation at OAUG Collaborate 12 proceedings.

http://collaborate.oaug.org/education/search

#10471 – Data Governance: Start From Where You Are

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA9C9.

Before you call anyone to come and help you get your MDM intiatives started and organized, read this presentation!

The speakers were eloquent and accurate in presentation.  They answered the questions quickly and accurately (and realistically).

As a delivery practicioner, I was very impressed with the assembly of the content of this presentation from many different sources.  I have met Dan Power in the past.  I consider him to be a guru level advisor regarding all things MDM.

This presentation is the best “light” reading for executives and project initiative sponsors to date as far as I am concerned.  I believe my presentation on Sunday was part 2 or 3 to Dan’s and Haidong’s presentation on Monday.

I have already ask for my copy of the presentation because I am going to read and memorize the presentation.  I would always refer people to Dan for seeking expertise.  But in addition, I would recommend obtaining this presentation from OAUG, reading it, and seeking Dan and Haidong for questions afterwards.  Since Dan makes a living helping organizations with MDM planning and initiatives, I would advise not to try to dominate a lot of time before simply engaging his services.

For more product specific presentations, I would recommend my presentations as well as a few others:

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18AECEC5

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18AFCCC7

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA8CA

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA1CF

Other speakers: If I didn’t include your presentation in my list above, my apologies.  I am directing people into the content that I have personally reviewed and enjoyed.  It is no reflection on the quality of writing by the other presenters at Collaborate 12.

The title to this article is because of one important quote that I will probably misquote.  I really liked the statement that I will approximately repeat and reiterate from Dan Power, “You should probably put in your MDM initiatives first before you start your BI (business intelligence) initiatives. ” That is the rough end of the quote.  I will continue with my own opinionated elaboration.

This is not to say that BI is not also relevant to other areas and data not covered by MDM hubs.  But, to be fair, instilling great data governance practices into your organization will lead to far more focused and decision driven business intelligence.  The details of master data management will enable business intelligence reporting versus hinder the BI.  The success of an MDM initiative from top down will lead to successful BI not the other way around.

Dan Power writes for several publications including his own.  You can find him at www.hubdesigns.com or the online magazine hubdesignsmagazine.com.

I should be selling my services on the blog.  But technically by leading you towards services like Dan Power offers, I am preparing you for a successful Oracle based MDM technical solution for your purely business driven intiative.

I hope this helps.  I am now going to go have fun at Collaborate which happens to be in the sleepy little town of Las Vegas.

Cheers!

Bob

本文很大程度上依赖于总统的轮毂设计和海东宋，MDM在甲骨文产品战略总监丹电源，非常翔实的介绍了。

这次报告是具体的指示，组织上如何进行数据治理的最佳高层表示。获取这的介绍在OAUG合作12诉讼。

http://collaborate.oaug.org/education/search

＃10471  – 数据管理：从你身在何处

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA9C9。

你叫任何人来帮助您得到您的MDM intiatives启动并组织之前，请阅读此演示文稿！

发言者口才，准确的介绍。他们回答问题迅速，准确，实事求是。

作为的交付practicioner，我留下了非常深刻的印象与此演示文稿的内容来自许多不同来源的装配。在过去，我遇到了丹电源。我认为他是一个专家级的顾问，所有的东西MDM。

此演示文稿是最好的“光”的读解为主动管理人员和项目赞助商至今据我所知。我相信我的演讲上周日是2或3丹和海东的演讲（星期一）。

我已经要求我的副本介绍，因为我要诵读和背诵的演示文稿。我总是人丹，寻求专业知识。但除此之外，我会建议获得此演示文稿的OAUG，阅读它，并寻求丹和海东的问题之后。由于丹的生活，帮助组织与的MDM规划和举措，我会建议不要简单地从事他的服务之前，试图主宰了大量的时间。

欲了解更多产品具体的介绍，我想我的演讲，以及其他一些建议：

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18AECEC5

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18AFCCC7

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA8CA

http://coll12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1CA1CF

其他发言者：如果我没有包括您的演示文稿在我的名单上面，我的道歉。我引导人们到内容，我亲自审阅和享受。这是没有反映的质量编写的其他主持人在合作12。

这篇文章的标题，是因为一个重要的报价，我可能会错误引用。我真的很喜欢，我会约重复丹电源，并重申，“你应该把你的MDM措施之前，必须先启动您的BI（商业智能）倡议的声明。”这是粗糙的报价。我会继续用我自己的自以为是的阐述。

这并不是说，BI是不是也与此有关的其他区域和数据不包括MDM集线器。不过，公平地说，灌输伟大的数据治理到您的组织的做法将导致更集中驱动的商业智能和决策。主数据管理的细节，使商业智能报告与阻碍了BI。 MDM主动从上而下的成功会导致成功的BI而不是其他方式。

丹电源写道多种出版物，包括他自己的。你可以找到他在www.hubdesigns.com或在线杂志hubdesignsmagazine.com的。

我应该卖我的博客服务。但在技术上，我准备带领你走向丹Power提供的服务，如您一个成功的基于Oracle的MDM技术解决方案，为纯粹的商业驱动的倡仪。

我希望这会有所帮助。我现在去有合作，而这恰好是在沉睡的小城镇拉斯维加斯的乐趣。

干杯！

短发

Related articles

• A New Editor for Hub Designs Magazine (hubdesignsmagazine.com)
• Business Priorities Point the Way for MDM, by Julie Hunt (hubdesignsmagazine.com)
• Hub Designs Sponsoring Gartner MDM Summit for 4th Year (hubdesignsmagazine.com)
• The MDM Conference in LA is Jumping (blogs.gartner.com)

I divide them into two different schools. Although both should have the same outcome, they don’t currently.

Technical waterfall style implementation projects fail or appear to be successful but are truly failures.

Business driven iterative implementation projects take longer typically but are far higher chances of success and long term benefit for organizations.

PIM initiatives are the business’s way to taking technology and making it work for them.  Not the other way around.  If your PIM Data Hub project starts with technical resources versus pushed from the top down as a required initiative then you are certain for failure.

How can a term defined by wikipedia as stated in a previous article show predominately managed by IT?

“processes and technologies focused on centrally managing information about products, with a focus on the data required to market and sell the products through one or more distribution channels. A central set of product data can be used to feed consistent, accurate and up-to-date information to multiple output media such as web sites, print catalogs, ERP systems, and electronic data feeds to trading partners.”

Who in your organization sets policy for your product data?

You need to answer that question honestly.

Oracle PIM Data Hub is not a development project primarily.  It is a tool to satisfy a very serious business initiative.

I’ve been on some projects where business pushed it off to the IT people to implement.  Bad business people!! shame on you!

I know it is overwhelming and intimidating to take on such a big project but in your own personal lives you have done more complex tasks.

You have to start controlling and governing your product data.  You are somehow doing this today even if it is with multiple systems.  Somewhere in the past you have given business policy to IT and told them to build a program to do that work.

You need to start the process of establishing true uniform product data.  The best place to start is at the beginning of the PIM project, not at the end.  If you need help, ask for it.  Acting like you know what you are doing or overplanning a fairly less complicated implementation can get you into trouble or your boss into trouble.

Functional processes on an implementation are business driven, not technology driven.  You should be able to identify the work that you need done technically.  Any gaps in the Oracle PIM Data Hub functionality that you as a business have identified through the thorough process of knowing the functionality meets your business requirements in detail will be much more accurate than gaps that are “guessed” in advance of this effort.

Don’t leave it up to your IT staff nor contractors to decide your product data policies and processes.  You need to understand them and how they will exist in the new Product Hub environment in detail yourselves.  That doesn’t mean that you are learning how to write code or other technology skills.

You need to learn as a business how to configure off the shelf systems like you know how to build spreadsheets and documents.  Configuration of “off the shelf” systems are not that complicated anymore.  They are uniform skills and are not different across other organizations.  Oracle PIM Data Hub is the same peice of software for everyone with the same set of configuration steps available to use.  There are exceptions with some of the verticals but the methods are all identical and practically important to all.

A functional specification for a solution to resolving a gap in Oracle PIM Data Hub functionality written by the client with strong support for the PIM Data Hub functional experts will produce faster development and better unit testing than one written without deep basic configuration knowledge from the client themselves.

It takes at least three to four months on average for an organization to gain PIM Data Hub design knowledge in relation to their own product data for a high quality functional specification to be written by business.

Exception: If you know you are going to build interfaces, then it is possible to start solutioning a technical architecture early in the project.   But the data mapping comes from the business gradually so you must plan to evolve these types of specifications.

Thanks for the reading of the article!

Bob

有几所学校的思维方法，以实施适当的产品MDM解决方案与Oracle PIM数据平台。

我把它们分成两个不同的学校。虽然都应该有相同的结果，他们目前不。

技术瀑布式的项目实施失败或出现是成功的，但真正的失败。

业务驱动的迭代执行的项目需要更长的时间通常都远远高于成功的机会和长远利益的组织。

PIM举措的业务技术和工作的方式。而不是其他方式。如果您的PIM数据平台项目的技术资源与开始从自上而下所需的主动推动，那么你一定失败。

如何才能维基百科定义的术语说在前面的文章中展示为主的IT管理？

“流程和技术集中在对有关产品的信息，需要通过一个或更多的分销渠道推广和销售的产品为重点的数据集中管理的一个核心的产品数据可以用来喂一致，准确和及时的到最新信息到多个输出媒体，如网站，打印目录，ERP系统和电子数据饲料的贸易伙伴。“

谁在您的组织中的设置为您的产品数据的政策？

你需要诚实地回答这个问题。

Oracle PIM数据平台的不是一个开发项目为主。它是一个工具，以满足一个非常严肃的倡议。

我已经在一些项目业务的IT人把它实现。生意不好的人！可耻的是你！

我知道这是巨大的和恐吓承担这么大的项目，但在自己的个人生活，你做了更复杂的任务。

你必须开始控制和管理您的产品数据。您这样做在某种程度上今天，即使是多个系统。在过去的某个地方，您已经给定的业务策略，以IT和告诉他们要建立一个程序做的工作。

您需要启动的过程中，建立真正统一的产品数据。最好的地方，开始是在PIM项目的开始，而不是结束。如果您需要帮助，要求它。像你知道你在做什么或overplanning一个相当复杂的实现可以让你陷入困境陷入困境或你的老板。

功能上的实现过程是业务驱动的，而不是技术驱动。你应该能够识别你需要做技术上的工作。 Oracle PIM数据平台的功能，你作为一个企业通过深入的过程中知道的功能已经确定的任何空白，满足您的业务需求的详细比的差距，“猜”在这方面的努力将更加准确。

不要把它留给你的IT技术人员和承包商，以决定您的产品数据策略和流程。您需要了解他们，他们怎么会存在细节自己在新产品集线器环境中。这并不意味着你正在学习如何编写代码或其他技术技能。

您需要了解作为一个企业如何配置现成的系统，如你知道如何建立电子表格和文档。 “现成的”系统配置不那么复杂了。他们是一致的技能和其他组织之间是不一样的。 Oracle PIM数据平台的是一样的peice，软件的每个人都可以使用一组相同的配置步骤。有一些的垂直，但有例外，均相同，并实际上重要的所有的方法。

Oracle PIM数据平台的大力支持PIM数据平台功能专家编写的功能由客户端的解决方案，以解决差距的功能规范会产生更快的发展和更好的单元测试，而不是一个没有深刻的基本配置知识编写自己的客户端。

它需要至少3至4个月，平均为组织获得PIM数据中心设计知识，在自己的产品数据由商务的高品质的功能规格。

例外：如果你知道你所要建立的接口，那么它是可以溶解的技术架构在项目的早期开始。但是，数据映射来自业务逐步所以，你必须计划发展这些类型的规格。

感谢您的阅读的文章！

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April 22-26, 2012
Mandalay Bay
Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

I am here and enjoying a nice room service breakfast.

I am in Las Vegas Nevada USA for the Collaborate 12 Oracle Application User Group Conference.

Why buy the software?

It usually takes twice the amount of money minimum to implement PIM as to buy the software.  Is it worth it?

It can be worth it.  It depends upon whether you’ve used the right criteria to make your decision.  There are lots of nice graphic arts out there showing what PIM as a process will do for your organization.  However, I believe the PIM Data Hub solution is a business driven process with a technical solution.  Therefore, it is more expensive within than on the surface.

Wikipedia does a good high level job in defining “Product Information Management” and the principle consumers.  I am going to copy and paste the definition and support it within this article to attempt to help you purpose a PIM Data Hub initiative if you find you need one.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_information_management

Wikipedia link above states: “Product information management or PIM refers to processes and technologies focused on centrally managing information about products, with a focus on the data required to market and sell the products through one or more distribution channels. A central set of product data can be used to feed consistent, accurate and up-to-date information to multiple output media such as web sites, print catalogs, ERP systems, and electronic data feeds to trading partners. PIM systems generally need to support multiple geographic locations, multi-lingual data, and maintenance and modification of product information within a centralized catalog to provide consistently accurate information to multiple channels in a cost-effective manner.”  The definition continues into another paragraph that states different channels of product data to the last sentences which state: “PIM in this example represents a solution for centralized, media-independent data maintenance for providing purchasing, production and communications data for repeated use on/in multiple IT systems, languages, output media and publications. It also provides a solution for efficient data collection, management, refinement and output.”

On a high level I can break down the above paragraph.

1) Business process driven implementation using a technology solution.  More business involvement with less IT solutioning (off the shelf hub software).

2) Centralized system focusing on the information for marketing and selling products, but not forgetting the rest of the product data.  It is a centralized set of product data.

3) Sending this product information to other distribution channels.

4) Supports multi languages and multiple geographical areas

5) Product data collection, maintenance, and management.

6) The system is feasible to use, maintain, implement, understand, integrate, and other mission critical cost basis.  It should be technically feasible to implement.  It should be proven to be possible by other clients who are using it (not always from the same industry).

All of these points describe business processes and standards versus technology.  If your organization is not ready to take these points to the literal, then no hub product will be successful in your future.  You should be doing these things to the best of your ability now.

Product Hub doesn’t have to replace the other systems if they do a great job at product definition for your organization.  However, if the legacy system is too hard to get data in and out of, then consider the basic design of that system to be at fault and give replacement a serious consideration.

Is it worth it?  If you cannot dedicate more internal product experts to learning how to use the system software to meet your product MDM needs,  then you probably should consider cancelling or delaying the project until you can afford to use those resources.

It is worth it if you are losing customers because you can’t keep consistent on your product data to the point where you are producing invalid orders/quotes.

It is worth it if you have very complex products that require lots of rules in relationship to product feature and combinations of features.

It is worth it if you have very complex rules relating to who can buy your product by geographical, language, size of customer, customer type,  or other product obligations like royalties.

It is worth it if you have many front end product creation systems that need synchronized often to eliminate redundancy.

It is worth it if you have to secure your product data in many different aspects of the same product data file.

It is worth it if you have to deliver a lot of web content data to multiple web based ordering or marketing systems depending on how many and how often.

It is worth it if you are tired of building and managing your own software applications to produce the same functionality that Oracle provides.  This would also need to be measured by the cost of maintaining the software every year and still getting new functionality at the same rate Oracle delivers it.

It is worth it if you are looking to integrate a lot of product change management into the lifecycle of a sellable product.

It is NOT worth it if you need a complex pricing system for your product.  It is worth it if you are integrating to a complex pricing system.

It is NOT worth it if you need it to be a complex design system like Agile/Oracle PLM.  But it is worth it if you want to integrate to Agile.

It is NOT worth it if you have very limited tight budgets and no internal business resources to heavily contribute to the design of the project (hands ON!).  This is not something to throw at the consultants and expect to receive something back useful.

I don’t believe I was “complete” in all the facts stated above by any sense of the word.  But what I have mentioned above including the references to the wikipedia definition, I believe to be true.

I hope this helps you plan a better product MDM project.

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Project Management: All activities great and small should be on the project plan.

Wikipedia search: In project management, a project task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within a defined period of time.

When I make proposals, they typically require a detailed project plan so that the client can either receive a fixed price or get an accurate estimate of resource requirements (time, money, and people).

More Wikipedia definitions:  A project in business is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams within or across organizations to accomplish particular tasks under time constraints

Though you try very hard to predict what things might occur with time, money, and resources, it is not always possible.  You should be able to compare the “not planned” to the “planned” activities (or tasks).

Ad Hoc meetings are a project task that consumes project resources.  They should be project tasks on the project plan even if they are in the past.  They have taken project time, money, and resources.

Project Management is responsible for comparing planned and unplanned activities.  Very small back to back ad hoc meetings consume precious time and people.   Company cultures are made up of several fatal flaws that creates inefficiency and lack of accurate reporting with project plans leading to project failures:

1) Plan doesn’t show what actually happened.

What was reported?

Project manager tells the project champions what tasks are completed on the project plan.

What actually happened:

Project resources worked on other higher priority tasks and only worked on the documented tasks to avoid trouble.  There was higher quality attention paid to the ad hoc activities than to the tasks on the project plan.

Some symptoms and author comments:

Every week the project manager reports that the project is either a green or red light.  The project is behind or the project is ontime.  It is good or it is bad or it is almost good or it is almost bad.  blah blah blah

And you executives don’t want to hear any bad news…You beat up the messenger if they report bad news or “rock the boat”.  Are you listening to me?  Do you want to succeed?  Or perhaps, do you want to fail?

The project tasks are completed according to the dates and the tasks given in the project plan.  I am not gonna tell  you about the rest.  Time allotted doesn’t allow it.  Or the project champion doesn’t want to hear the details.

The team has completed the tasks or has them 80% complete….Unfortunately, it has been 80% complete for six weeks but we have absorbed more resource costs trying to work on the other 20%.

All of these reporting statements tell this author that the project could be in trouble.  And unfortunately, these items are usually organizational versus actual software issues.

2) Progress is reported on only tasks put into the plan at the beginning of the project or tasks that were “approved”.

Some of the same as number one but a lack of reporting occurred on resource consumption for other tasks not on the project plan.

Status reports showing other tasks should be produced in detail for work actually accomplished or meetings actually attended regardless of whether it was on the project plan.  NO GENERIC CATEGORY CATCH ALLS please.

We “project planners” that have never done a Product Hub implementation before combined with MDM Product Generalist consultants designed a project plan that should work perfectly for an off the shelf PIM Data Hub implementation and integration, right?  WRONG!  You are dead wrong and you are allowing a text book author to practice theory on a very specific task.  You’ve proven the need for product MDM and you’ve already selected the software solution.  Now, please let the practicioners help you build a project plan that is realistic and adjustable.

3) Ad Hoc project tasks happened.

What happened and sometimes Why?

You didn’t put tasks into the project plan that were necessary OR you didn’t put tasks into the project plan because you used people to help you that have never implemented.

You changed your business requirements as you understood the MDM purposes and methodologies.  You clarified your scope after you launch your project.

You didn’t pull your internal resources into the project at full committment and now they are balancing priorities chaotically.  You didn’t reserve them appropriately.

You haven’t empowered the right internal resources to the project so the ones you are using have to schedule an appointment/meating to get permission to do everything.  Uhhggg!!

You spent all your time and money finding a solution but no time estimating the level of committment internally that it is going to take to finish the job.

You let your generalists run the project with no oversight from MDM software specialists.

Business analysts should know the software before they are qualified to gather lower level design requirements.  Therefore, you should start gathering them when you start the implementation.

4) Project plan is so unrealistic that project resources redirect to what they think should be done.

Do you think that this won’t happen?

You have really good internal resources that know you like a book.  They know what you reward and what you punish.

They know what they think or what they have been exposed to.  They believe that they need to change the plan to make it better for the organization.

Buuuutttt, you punish changes and you punish learning organizational behavior.

Therefore, your very smart internal resources will report what you want to hear but will try their very best to make it successful without telling you what they had to do.  Because if they do, you might offer advice that is perceived as an order.  Or you will get angry or upset at them actually telling you that they are going to erase and start all over.  Don’t get me wrong.  I believe that you need to get the job done ontime and on budget.  That is why I am stating all of these harsh realities up front.  However, leadership can make it harder to change that it needs to be.

Great Project managers are heroes to me.  I salute them.  They do a job that no one else will do for less reward.  Wow… We pay our program and project managers less than we pay the product experts and MDM generalists.  This is as absurd as how we pay our public school teachers.  An experience project manager who hasn’t checked in for psychiatric care or switched occupations is worth their weight in gold.  It takes courage and very thick skin to do their jobs.  Let them have some leeway with you on reporting their observations.  Don’t kill the messenger!

5) Project plan doesn’t fit the company or consulting firm’s culture.

If you didn’t get the memo, then I feel for you.  When you were growing up, did your parents ever tell you the “right tool for the right job”?

There is a heavy amount of change management required within most firms in most industries (including very big mega software companies..hint hint) to conduct a successful product MDM initiative.   The enterprise must allow it to occur but also get into the design.  This is NOT an IT project.  This is a business driven project with heavy technical solutioning.  Business must drive the design and keep it off the shelf at the same time.  It extends the amount of learning required by important business process experts in your organization.  See my 16weeks blog article for more.

A mechanic is not expected to be able to redesign an automobile’s engine.  A painter is not supposed to create new paint formulas.  An airline pilot doesn’t redesign the air traffic control system.

There are big contracting firms.  There are big consulting firms.  There are big MDM consulting firms.  There are big Product MDM firms (maybe).  There are small ones too (pick me…).   You need to have someone other than a buyer to help you distinguish the difference.  You are paying too much for implementation or too little if you pick the wrong implementation partner.  I have got a lot of other articles on this topic alone because I have to compete with dishonest representation lately.

Choose your methodology well.  You or your firm will design your project plan according to their priorities and their knowledge in the area.  I have seen some firms actually take my project plan (not honestly take) and fail.  Why?  Because they didn’t know what to do within the tasks that I put into the project plan.  They simply and blatantly copied it and sold their services as PIM implementation experts.  When they typically were either generalists or developers, not anywhere in between.  That is where implementors and project managers are, somewhere between theory and creation.

I can boast.  I can design PIM Data Hub configurations off the shelf for any industry better than any other PIM implementation expert on the market today.  I can design the PIM data hub better than you even if I don’t know your industry.  What?  Did I just say that?  What I mean is, you cannot find someone with experience at your company doing PIM Implementation if you’ve never done it before.  What you need is someone who has intense Oracle PIM experience that will guide you into being able to design it yourselves.

My PIM Developers get a higher market rate because they have been taught and exposed to some common technical and functional knowledge to compliment their years of Oracle Applications development.  However, I would never risk moving them to functional roles without their committment to making the change.  You can’t do both.  Sorry, I don’t even want to speak to the exceptions to this rule.  You are taking short cuts, my friend.  Claim one or the other.  Technofunctional is another word for a developer who is desiring a higher rate than someone who has no experience in the PIM Data Hub.

6) Any other reason that things should not be listed as tasks on a project plan that consume project resources that are already allocated.

Put all the tasks on the project plan.  Even the ones that are now in the past.  You need to see what you actually did on the project to better plan the future.

Rule of thumb:  If the meeting has more than two people or lasts more than two hours, it is a project task.  If it is a general purpose meeting scheduled weekly or daily, it is a project task.  If you don’t like recording these tasks then why do you like having them?

These factors can lead to expensive project delays, reportable successes but unreported failures, and complete project failure.

I am thinking about creating a poll to see if any of this is true in the other current projects.  This is a very controversial subject in the industry today.  There are big firms offering to implement free as long as you keep them as your “one throat to choke”.

I will usually back off of bidding against these “unqualified” firms because the client has never taken a purchasing class in college/university.   They don’t realize what selecting the “lowest cost provider” has in implications.

Have a good day and I hope you get some good information out of this very opinionated article.

This note is especially appropriate if you are using any type of item import process with PIM Data Hub even WebADI use.

There is sql scripts to run to improve performance as well as patches to apply that are reported to produce greater performance.

If you are currently in your implementation then I am going to direct you to another of my articles where one of my good buddies at Oracle Support has shown me how to look for PIM patches.

thanks

Bob

FYI: apologies if you were directed to this article yesterday but there was no content.  I published instead of simply saving my draft.

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