Announcements
UCF & Oracle: A Partnership in Educational Innovation
On Thursday and Friday, March 15 and 16, 2007, Oracle PeopleSoft users and prospective customers gathered at the Partnership II building in the Central Florida Research Park for a first of its kind showcase event, UCF & Oracle: A Partnership in Educational Innovation. The event brought together product strategy and marketing executives from Oracle Corporation, key UCF executives, the university’s PeopleSoft functional and technical experts, and existing users and prospective customers of Oracle PeopleSoft applications from 16 different institutions around the world.
Thursday’s keynote presentations were very well received by the nearly 90 guests in attendance.
First, UCF’s Vice President for Administration and Finance, Mr. William F. Merck II provided the audience with an informative first-hand look at the current state of our university and the developments in store for the future.
Next, Oracle’s Vice President of Higher Education, Mr. Jim McGlothlin spoke on Oracle’s industry-specific strategies, initiatives and programs, as well as his commitment to increasing the benefit and value of the company’s PeopleSoft products for its customers.
A third keynote was delivered by UCF’s Vice Provost for Information Technologies and Resources, Dr. Joel Hartman. Dr. Hartman examined UCF’s transition from legacy systems in the 1980’s and ‘90s to our current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment. He also reflected on the recent changes that have occurred in systems, business processes, and organizational structure within our university.
Finally, Oracle’s Vice President and General Manager of PeopleSoft Enterprise, Ms. Doris Wong, gave an overview of the latest 9.0 release and examined how the company’s recently announced Applications Unlimited program will protect and extend the value of its customer’s investments in current PeopleSoft applications, without forcing a migration to next generation, Oracle Fusion products.
In addition to the keynotes, attendees had the opportunity to ask specific questions about UCF’s Oracle PeopleSoft applications and technology during a panel discussion moderated by Oracle’s Senior Director of Higher Education Solutions, Theo Bosnak. The panel consisted of Rebecca Vilsack, Associate Controller for Financials Support Services (FSS), Bob Yanckello, Director of Computer Services and Telecommunications (CS&T) and Tim Larson, Associate Director of Administrative Support for CS&T.
On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, UCF functional and technical experts delivered 18 breakout sessions, showcasing the many ways UCF is using Oracle/PeopleSoft technology to manage the university’s business and serve its students and employees. Every PeopleSoft functional area was represented during the breakout sessions, including Computer Services and Telecommunications, Student Administration, Human Resources and Financials.
On Friday, UCF experts staffed a live demonstration pod area to show how Oracle Peoplesoft products are used at UCF. Also on Friday, event participants were offered a narrated bus tour of the UCF campus, and were encouraged to engage with both UCF presenters and Oracle executives in private, reserved meeting rooms.
The event was successful for all involved. Oracle representatives promoted the company’s Higher Education product lines, while engaging their customers and prospects face to face, event attendees walked away with valuable knowledge and a first-hand look at Oracle’s latest software, and UCF gained additional visibility among our Higher-Education peers while strengthening its partnership with Oracle.
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