The Oracle

Opportunity
A Blueprint For Success As
An Oracle Consultant

Aidan Duffy

Second edition 2014

Copyright Aidan Duffy 2012
ISBN 978-0-957-62060-5 (Paperback edition)
First published in 2012 by Oracle
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

The Oracle

Opportunity
A Blueprint For Success As
An Oracle Consultant

Contents
Aidan Duffy Biography 6 Functional consultant common 33
Chapter 1
Know what you know
What do you know
Project Skills
People Skills
Oracle Consultant skills
Consultant Skills
Technical Skills

11
12
14
16
16
19

Chapter 2
Know what you dont know
Identify Your Resources
Identify Missing skills
Oracle Consultant Attributes
Functional Consultant Attributes
Technical Consultant Attributes

21
24
25
26
28

Chapter 3
Build your skills and professional
profile
Assess and build upon your skills 30
Oracle consultant knowledge
32

The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

Knowledge areas
Technical consultant common
35
knowledge areas
Create or expand your
36
LinkedIn profile

Chapter 4
Identify opportunities
Find Opportunities in Your Area
Develop a Relationship with
Recruitment Agencies

38
40

Chapter 5
Know the project life cycle
Project Initiation Phase
Requirements Gathering Phase
Design Phase
Development Phase
Testing Phase
Cutover Phase
Post Go-Live Phase
Project Handover Phase

47
47
47
48
48
48
49
49

CONTENTS

Chapter 6

Chapter 11

Prepare and conduct a winning

interview
Preparing for the Interview
52
During the Interview
54

The art of communication

Offering Your Opinion
Communicating your ideas
When to assert yourself and
when to back down

Chapter 7
Consider and accept an offer
Consider the offer carefully
58
Accepting the offer
62

Chapter 8
Prepare for transition into your
new role
Preparing to leave your current
63
job
Preparing to start your new job 64

Chapter 9
What to expect and how to get
started
Get comfortable in your new role 66
Know your project team
68

Chapter 10
Prove your worth and build
relationships
Prove yourself and put your
manager at ease
Build the Right Relationships
Interacting with Client Staff

76
78
79

Chapter 12
Document your work and get
paid
Project Administration
82
Invoicing 84

Chapter 13
Build on your success:
Moving on
Negotiate for an Extension of
86
your contract
Negotiate for an Increase
86
Preparing for Your Next Contract 87

Conclusion
Resources
Index

88
89
90

70
72
75

www.ILoveOracle.com

Aidan Duffy
Biography
For almost 20 years, Aidan Duffy has navigated
through the world of Oracle business
computing, mastering Oracle technologies
and applications like a maestro of the
algorithmic underworld, orchestrating business
processes for Pfizer, General Electric, Canon,
Alcatel-Lucent, Diageo and other global
companies with aplomb and finesse. His very
first consulting role was working for Oracle
themselves, at their European HQ in London.
From intricate code development to leading
functional project teams, Duffy has seen it
all and fixed just about every issue known to
plague Oracle projects. He parlayed his talents
into a successful consulting career and has
since helped multi-national corporations thrive
in an ever-demanding business climate.
Aidan Duffy shares his insights and experience
in his debut manuscript, The Oracle
Opportunity, illustrating the glamorous world
of the Oracle consulting to help other wouldbe consultants achieve the same level of
independent success. Duffy shares a step-bystep approach to making the cross-over in a
way that is not only achievable, but helps Oracle

The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

BIOGRAPHY

professionals realize and project their true value

within the business world. Duffy understands
the intangible attributes that are the mark of
confident, successful business professionals
and he presents these insights as a battle tested
career coach with the proven results to back it up.
Aidan Duffy is a veteran consultant, specializing
in Oracle E-Business implementation projects
across Europe for much of his career. Duffy
has transformed his career through continually
seeking more demanding roles, setting rigorous
self-improvement goals and taking new
approaches to problem-solving challenges. His
communication style comes from an expertise in
managing clients and diverse Oracle teams while
also mentoring other IT professionals throughout
his long career.
He is also a writer, having authored business
white papers on the subject of implementing
business policies using Oracle technologies.
Aidan Duffy holds a Bachelor of Science degree
(Honours) from University of Ulster. He is currently
assisting for a global Fortune 500 pharmaceutical
company, serving as a project manager. n

www.ILoveOracle.com

Introduction
The hours tick down towards Go-Live. Tomorrow morning
the new system will be switched on. Billions of dollars of
transactions will start to flow through the framework I
have created.
This is where it all begins. My program is the gateway to Oracle. The rest
of the processes and the success of the project depend on me.
This Client has implemented Oracle in multiple European markets, but nothing
as difficult as this before. They chose to work on this market last. It was
expected to be the most challenging; they were right about that.
I have been stretched far beyond what I expected. I have managed a team of
inexperienced people. I completed tasks I didnt think I could do. I have made
many personal sacrifices. Ive put way too much of myself into this, for it to go
wrong.
I have learned a lot about myself. I can execute tasks and perform well under
pressure, even in the white heat of a large Oracle project. At the end of
tomorrow, I will present the metrics at the Go-Live meeting. I need to be able
to say We had a good first day. Nothing less will be accepted. Dare I hope
to say, everything got through successfully, 100%?
Despite all this though, I feel calm. I have double and triple checked
everything, and tested from every possible angle. Ive used the experience
gained over ten years as a consultant. I have leveraged the relationships Ive
built up over the life span of the project. I am happy this will be enough.

The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

INTRODUCTION

My reputation with this Client is at stake. If tomorrow goes well I will have
successfully switched roles within the same Client. I have operated at a new
level, way out of my comfort zone. I have proved that I can deliver any task
assigned to me.
I cant wait for tomorrow.
I have been an Oracle consultant since 1999. Many Clients have paid me
thousands of dollars to help them with Oracle. I have worked with the largest
multinational Clients including Accenture, General Electric & Pfizer. I have
worked in the hottest locations in the world, such as London, Prague, New
York and Amsterdam.
This book will tell you how to position yourself intelligently, package
your experience, promote yourself to the Oracle market, and partner
with the right people.

Position Yourself
When I say position yourself, I mean, exactly what do you know about
Oracle? Can other people understand exactly what you do? Can you explain
it in a single sentence? If you are short on skills, what are you missing? How
can you get those missing skills?

Package Your Experience

You have some experience in Oracle, but can you communicate that in your
resume or profile? Have you really thought hard about what you can do, and
where you might fit in a project team?

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INTRODUCTION

Promote Yourself
A lot of consultants think promoting yourself stops when you start a new role
and starts again when you finish up. They couldnt be more wrong. Promoting
yourself is an everyday activity both with your current and potential new
employers.

Partner with the Right People

As a consultant you need to partner with your client, with other consultancies
and with end client staff, in order to succeed. This book will tell you how
to interact with these people. It will also tell you what is expected of a
consultant, and how to be retained by a client. One of my managers said the
most memorable thing about me was that it was obvious that I really cared
about what I was doing. I think weve gotten too far away from that in the
consulting world. Some consultants have one aim in life, to maximize their
billable time. I will talk about how to act with integrity, respect the Clients you
are working for, and the people you are working with.

More About Me
I am a career-consultant, having worked with Oracle since 1997. I have
worked for major multinational companies such as Pfizer, General Electric
and Canon, across the U.K. and Europe. I have been re-hired by Clients
several times, having worked for one client four times, and have an excellent
reputation in the European Oracle Consulting industry. n

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

Know what you know

Know what you know means being able to clearly define
and communicate exactly what your skills and talents are
in non-technical terms, and being able to communicate
how youll apply those skills to complete the project
objectives. You also need to communicate honestly about
necessary or useful skills you may not yet have mastered.
Though it sounds simple, this process can be challenging and many
consultants miss opportunities because they fail to express what they know
and why their knowledge is important. If youve ever found that you have a
hard time describing what you do in a personal or professional conversation,
youve experienced how difficult it can be to explain what you knowthe
language you use will depend on your audience.
When preparing for an interview, its helpful to create a list of both Oraclespecific (Project) skills and soft (People) skills, and be sure you can state how
and why they are relevant in appropriate, understandable language.

What Do You Know?

A skill can be broadly defined as the capacity to carry out tasks often with
the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. In other words, skill is the ability
to use your knowledge to achieve maximum efficiency in producing a product
or result.
Your fundamental abilities as an Oracle consultant include both hard skills
(project skills) directly related to Oracle projects as well as the soft skills
(people skills) vital to successful projects, such as effective communication,
team building, active listening, and negotiation. Soft skills in particular can set
you apart as an effective consultant, so be sure to highlight this skill set when
interviewing.

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11

CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Project Skills
Its important to highlight both functional and technical knowledge when
defining your Oracle-specific skills in language your audience can understand
clearly. Below are a few examples of essential Oracle project skills youll want
to bring up in interviews:

Oracle skill

Definition in lay terms

Gather business
requirements

Ability to learn and assess business needs and

modify or develop applications (forms, scripts,
reports) to meet those needs

Understanding of
business processes

Know basics of Order-to-cash, Procure-to-Pay

and Record-to-Report

Basic understanding
of accounting

Awareness of accounting entries behind basic

sub-ledger transactions

Downstream impacts
of changes

Knowing how modules link together.

Configuration in Order Management will affect
Receivables. A change in purchasing will affect
Payables.

SQL Coding

Ability to extract data, update and modify

system reports, and perform various data
analyses

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Oracle skill

Definition in lay terms

PL/SQL programming

Ability to import and export data into and out of

Oracle systems.

Write test scripts

Ability to incorporate business requirements

into applications and anticipate test scenarios
accurately; create scripts to test systems,
diagnose and rectify issues as they occur
during test phases.

Design Oracle reports

Ability to extend and enhance standard

reports to meet specific business needs;
design custom reporting solutions if necessary
including report development in Oracle
Discoverer.

Interface data from

external systems

Ability to seamlessly integrate Oracle data with

other organizational business data; includes
interpreting and converting data in multiple
formats and writing import/export scripts.

Create documentation

Ability to use AIM (Applications Implementation

Methodology) or other standard methodology
to create clear, concise user instructions as
well as accurately documenting processes and
applications development.

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CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

People Skills
While most consultants are comfortable discussing their technical and
functional knowledge, many fail to highlight their soft skills as they apply to
project tasks. However, often it is exactly these interpersonal skills, which
make or break a projects success, and pointing out your project abilities
can give you an advantage. The ability to express these skills is vital to
differentiating yourself from the other candidates. Below are a few examples
of talents you may want to highlight:

Project skill

Definition

Business Analysis

Ability to communicate clearly, ask relevant

questions, and actively listen to gain a thorough
understanding of client-specific business
processes and requirements; includes ability to
accurately define As-Is system and identify all
key stakeholders to determine requirements of
To-Be system.

Communication

Having enough knowledge to talk with

other teams in the project, understand their
concerns, and avoid actions that adversely
impact them. Ability to work with non-project
team members; ability to marry the project and
non-project team objectives.

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Project skill

Definition

Team Building

Ability to build solid working relationships,

foster trust and cooperation, diffuse tension,
and effectively negotiate when working with
multiple business units and across teams.

Support Consulting

Ability to anticipate and meet ongoing business

needs through building flexible, dynamic
applications; ability to ask relevant questions
and actively listen in diagnosing issues and
provide ongoing support.

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CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Oracle Consultant Skills

Project teams hire consultants of two types
1. Functional consultants/Business Analysts (B.A.s)
2. Technical Consultants
Functional Consultants or B.A.s are the liason between the project
team and the business. They gather and analyze the requirements, design,
configure and test the solution, and support the business once the project
has gone live.
Technical Consultants allow the project to implement customized
functionality; to adjust Oracle standard features to suit the business
requirement.
There is a third type of consultant, who has a combination of functional
and technical skills. The Hybrid consultant is becoming more valuable
to projects, as there is a significant gap between a pure technical and
functional consultant. Hybrid consultants bridge this gap increasing effective
communication between the teams. The diagrams below displays the typical
Oracle EBusiness Consultant Skillsets. Its useful to review the next diagrams
to see where your skill set could place you on a project team.

Consultant skills
The following diagrams illustrate the common skill-sets of functional and
technical consultants. Over time a consultant may pick up skills in both
areas, but the project team will generally hire a person for a Functional or
Technical role.

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Oracle
Functional Skills

GATHER
REQUIREMENTS
SOLUTION
DESIGN

ANALYSIS
DESIGN
COMMUNICATE
DELIVER
SUPPORT/
CHANGE MGT

CONFIGURE

TESTING

Functional skills include:

Solution Design
Solution Design is the role of the Solution Architect. This is a critical skill
in delivering successful Oracle projects. A solution architect should be an
experienced consultant who can recommend a project high-level approach
and design. Once the approach is agreed, the solution architect keeps the
project team aligned with the overall solution, from the start of the project to
the finish.
Gathering Business Requirements
Ability to discover and assess business project needs. Once a requirements
list has been created, is it decided if each requirement can be met by
standard functionality, or a customising is required.

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CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Functional skills include:

Analysis
The ability to analyze a problem or issue, and create a solution that is
acceptable to project and business teams.
Support/Change Management
Supporting a system is important to ensure the customer can operate the
new system, in the way intended by the project team. The Support phase
happens directly after go-live, and is managed by the project team initially.
Once the solution is stable, the Business as Usual support team takes over.
Testing
Testing is required to be sure your solution is robust. Testing should be carried
out on standard processes and customizations, and should provide a comfort
factor that the solution will operate as it should.
Configure
Configuration of the Oracle application is setting up the system so that it
meets the business requirements. Configuration should control access to the
system and prevent incorrect data flows.

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Oracle
Technical Skills
REPORTS
BUSINESS
INT. TOOLS

INTERFACES
SQL
PL/SQL
WORKFLOW

CONVERSION

XML

Technical skills include:

Reports
The application is delivered with a number of standard reports, which will
meet most business requirements. Once an additional requirement has been
agreed, the Technical consultant decides if an existing report can be modified,
or if a new report is required.
Interfaces
An interface transmits data from one system to another. The technical
consultant builds the architecture so that the required data can be
successfully transmitted and understood by both the sending and receiving
systems.

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CHAPTER 1 | KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Functional skills include:

Workflow
Many of the Oracle EBusiness suite transaction flows are now controlled
by a Workflow. Oracle standard workflows are designed to implement most
common business flows. If a new requirement in this area is identified, the
technical consultant modifies the workflow to manage the new requirement,
and ensures no impact on standard transaction flow.
XML
XML is used in Oracle Ebusiness suite to create reports & to transmit data
according to document standards. These standards specify a message
architecture to describing an object, and allow more efficient communication
between systems. For instance the Open Applications Group Integration
Specification(OAGIS) specifies message architectures called Business
Object Documents(BODs) that define the fields contained in a sales order,
for example. Once an XML message meeting this sales order message
architecture is created, it can be transmitted and understood by different
systems in an Oracle supply chain.
Conversion
When a business is migrated to Oracle, historical data is required in the new
Oracle application. This data can be defined as master data (customers,
vendors etc), or transactional data (historical invoices, purchase orders).
Import of these data types into the new system allows the system users to
leave the old system behind. Conversion specifies what data types need to
be imported, what range of each data type will be imported, how the import
will be achieved, and how the results will be validated.
Business Intelligence Tools
BI tools allow the collection and display of correct information to a business
audience. Data is typically reported, summarized, analyzed and distributed
to various business users. The information provided is then used to enable
business decision-making. Technical consultants provide the architecture and
design the reports to meet the business requirements. n

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

In Conclusion
Build and Maintain Your Reputation
Building and maintaining your reputation is the most crucial element in your
future success as an Oracle consultant, so you need to think about this every
day. As a beginning Oracle consultant, you need to start building a solid
reputation from the very first day you start your first contract. Youll build
your reputation by performing well at what you do and making a meaningful
contribution to the project.
Your sound reputation is valuable equity you will draw upon when seeking
future employment. The world of Oracle consultants is smaller than you might
think, so you should consider the decisions you make every day, and the
impact they might have on your future career.
The popularity of social networking sites such as Linked-In make the Oracle
consulting community even smaller and more interconnected than its ever
been; this increases the likelihood in any given situation that someone will
know you or someone who has worked with you on a previous project.
Independent consultants are frequently asked for references, and someone
youve had a problem with will not recommend you.
So, your future success as an Oracle consultant is really in your own hands.
If you take care to follow the recommendations laid out in this guide, act with
integrity, and apply your knowledge and skills effectively, you should find your
reputation grows in strength with each contract. Once youve established a
solid reputation, you will reap the benefits of a thriving career for many years
to come. n

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

Resources
Make sure you stay in touch with me using one, or all, of
the following methods.
Website
www.ILoveOracle.com
My website is the place to find more information on
Consulting and Advice on all things Oracle
Oracle EBusiness training courses & materials
Information on the latest Oracle EBusiness topics
Free reports on Oracle consulting topics

LinkedIn Page
www.linkedin.com/in/aidanduffy
Connect with my extensive network of Oracle Consultants & Recruiters using
LinkedIn, the worlds best networking tool.

Twitter
http://twitter.com/aidanjduffy
Stay up to date with my growing Twitter community to join in real-time Oracle
discussions

Facebook
www.facebook.com/ILoveOracle
Become a fan of the I Love Oracle page to stay in touch with my network of
Oracle EBusiness consultants.

www.ILoveOracle.com

89

Index
administration 82
agencies 38, 40
Agents 38, 40, 41, 53, 84
business processes 12, 14, 27, 33,
34, 75
Certification 31
client pipeline 37
communicate 11, 14, 27, 29, 33, 34,
51, 73, 76, 78
communication 11, 14, 16, 20, 24, 27,
29, 33, 76
compensation 59
consultant 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21,
22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 47,
52, 54, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67,
68, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89
contract 21, 30, 37, 52, 58, 59, 62, 66,
68, 72, 75, 79, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88
documentation 13, 22, 61, 66, 83, 87
extension 75, 83, 86
format 13, 20, 36, 54, 67, 87
independent contractors 68, 79

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The Oracle Opportunity | Aidan Duffy

interview 11, 12, 24, 36, 52, 51, 54, 55,

58, 59, 63, 70, 87
invoice 20, 34, 84, 85
key players 70, 73, 86, 87
keywords 64
layoffs 75
LinkedIn 36, 41, 57, 89
manager 21, 24, 37, 47, 54, 63, 64, 70,
71, 72, 75, 76, 82, 83, 86, 87
market conditions 59
market trends 37
modules 12, 33, 77
Monster.com 38
negotiate 15, 58, 59, 62, 86, 87
network 37, 38, 39, 41, 88
networking 36, 41, 88
notice 62, 63, 64, 68
Offer 30, 33, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 71
outsourcing 75
pay 31, 62, 82, 84
permanent staffers 68
personalities 81
PL/SQL 13, 30, 79
politics 75

INDEX

Project Management 29, 67, 72, 77

project team 16, 18, 24, 25, 27, 32, 36,
53, 54, 58, 67, 71, 72, 71, 75, 77, 80
recruiters 37, 41, 89
Relationships 15, 37, 40, 63, 64, 70, 71,
72, 73, 75
reputation 23, 38, 58, 62, 63, 64, 87, 88
requirements 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 24, 25, 29, 32, 47, 48, 58,
59, 60, 78
Resources 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 39, 47,
52, 89
salary 59
skills 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
33, 34, 38, 40, 53, 58, 59, 63, 70,
76, 87, 88
social media 30, 36
Soft Skills 11, 14, 53
SQL 12, 13, 30, 33, 36, 79
stakeholders 14, 24
tax return 82, 83
terminology 47
verbal agreement 58

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91

The Oracle Opportunity

The Oracle Opportunity reveals the blueprint for success as an Oracle Consultant.
If you want to enter or dominate the Oracle consulting market this is your guide.
Author Aidan Duffy, an Oracle Consultant since 1999, reveals a twelve-step plan
for creating a successful career in Oracle consulting. Aidan tells you how to build
your consulting career using the four pillars of his own consulting career: Position
Yourself, Package Your Experience, Promote Yourself & Partner with the Right
People.
With Insider Knowledge, Oracle consulting secrets, case studies, and stories from
his long consulting career, this book will transform your career in Oracle Consulting.
Author Aidan Duffy, himself a very successful and internationally respected
Consultant, pulls back the curtains on this sometime secretive industry and shows
you how to become an influential and highly paid Oracle Consultant through
following his own career built working for international blue-chip clients such as
Pfizer, General Electric, Canon, Diageo and Motorola. Aidan has taken Oracle
consulting roles in the hottest locations and coolest cities in the world such as
London, New York, Amsterdam & Prague.
If you have ever wondered Could I work in Consulting? or How can I improve
my Oracle Consulting Career? then this is the book for you!

The Oracle Opportunity

www.ILoveOracle.com | Twitter: http://twitter.com/aidanjduffy
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ILoveOracle
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aidanduffy