Oracle Unified Method (OUM) Statement of Direction

November 2009

Oracle Unified Method (OUM) Statement of Direction

PROVIDING METHOD SUPPORT FOR ORACLES COMPLETE SUITE OF PRODUCTS

The Oracle Unified Method (OUM) is evolving into a single, integrated method to support the entire Enterprise IT lifecycle, including support for the successful implementation of every Oracle product - applications, middleware, and database. The development approach parallels the product development approach in that, existing methods will continue to be supported while OUM is being developed and fielded. Legacy methods will be decommissioned as OUM grows to include support for each technology and application area and as Oracle Consulting, the Global Business Units (GBU), and our partners transition to OUM.
APPROACH OUM is standards based. OUM leverages one of the de facto industry standards, Unified Software Development Process (UP). UP is an iterative and incremental approach to developing and implementing software systems. Project managers use UPs four-step approach (inception, elaboration, construction, and transition) to make sure they and their stakeholders develop a shared understanding of what is needed, choose an appropriate architecture, and transfer the ownership of the end-product to the stakeholders. OUM tailors and extends the Unified Process to support the full scope of Oracle-related projects by incorporating field experience and intellectual capital contributed by Oracle practitioners. OUM is iterative and incremental. OUM recognizes the advantages of an iterative and incremental approach to development and deployment of information systems. Any of the tasks within OUM may be iterated. Whether or not to iterate, as well as the number of iterations, varies. Tasks may be iterated to increase quality of the work products to a desired level, to add sufficient level of detail, or to refine and expand the work products on the basis of user feedback. OUM is scalable and adaptable and supports both Agility and Discipline. OUM is designed to support a broad range of project types. As such, it must be scalable and adaptable. The appropriate point of balance for a given project will vary based on a number of project risk and scale factors. The method has been developed with the intent that the approach for a given project be built

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up from a core set of activities to implement an appropriate level of discipline, rather than tailored down.
VALUE-ADD

More Focused Effort OUM enables projects to clearly define business scope and needs to create enterprise business process models. This planning results in tighter scope control, more accurate business understanding, and a firm foundation for client acceptance. Built-in Flexibility By combining activities and tasks in different ways, OUM can be applied to many types of information technology software development and implementation projects. Saves Time Seasoned information technology practitioners representing years of experience have contributed their knowledge to OUM. Project teams can take advantage of this experience by leveraging these leading practices along with industry standards. Higher Quality OUM subscribes to an iterative approach that incorporates testing and validation throughout the lifecycle, rather than testing for quality only at the end of the project. More Cost Effective OUM facilitates improved control of project expenses by using a flexible work breakdown structure that allows you to perform only necessary tasks. Reduced Project Risk Implementing an iterative, broadly applicable method mitigates requirements mismatch. A key focus of each iteration in OUM is to identify and reduce the most significant project risks. This ensures that the most critical risks are addressed as early as possible in the project lifecycle, which results in a measurable reduction of schedule and budget risks.
OUM FOCUS AREAS

OUM includes three Focus Areas Manage, Envision, and Implement.

Manage Focus Area

The Manage Focus Area provides a framework in which all types of projects can be planned, estimated, controlled, and completed in a consistent manner. OUM Manage includes Oracle's Project Management Method (PJM) and Oracle's Program Management Method (PGM) and should considered Oracle's single, global project management method.
Envision Focus Area

The Envision Focus Area deals with development and maintenance of enterprise level IT strategy, architecture, and governance. Envision also assists in the

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transition from enterprise-level planning and strategy activities to the identification and initiation of specific projects.
Implement Focus Area

The Implement Focus Area provides a framework to develop and implement Oracle-based business solutions and will ultimately replace all of Oracle's legacy implementation methods like AIM Foundation, AIM for Business Flows, Compass, Results Roadmap, etc.
OUM RELEASE 5.3

The current release, OUM 5.3, supports Application Implementation, Software Upgrade, and the complete range of Technology projects including initial support for Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and deep support for Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Enterprise Integration, and Custom Software development. Supplemental guidance is provided for Enterprise 2.0.
OUM RELEASE 5.4 AND BEYOND

Upcoming releases of OUM will provide expanded support for Oracle's full complement of Enterprise Application suites including: product-suite specific materials and guidance for tailoring OUM to support various engagement types. The best of the best of Oracles complete, expanded portfolio of methods, coupled with new techniques and tools support as appropriate, will be incorporated into OUM. This evolution will produce a single, integrated method to support the entire Oracle economy across the complete suite of Oracle products.
CONTACT

ominfo_us@oracle.com

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Oracle Unified Method (OUM) Statement of Direction November 2009 Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Fax: +1.650.506.7200 oracle.com Copyright 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.