Guest Author: Bill Sawyer

At least once a week I get the question, “How do I train my self or my people in X?” Over the my next few blog articles, I will address this very question. I will give you a roadmap to understanding the options that Oracle provides you for learning more about Oracle E-Business Suite technology.

Before digging into specifics, let’s talk about training in general. Training is a loaded word. It means various things to various people. I want to define it as broadly as possible.  

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Many people consider training under the “event model”. Training is something that you attend on a periodic basis in order to learn some new skills or knowledge.

While this is common, it is flawed. It is far too narrow for my purposes. It does not address what happens in the gaps between events. It does not address the foundation knowledge and abilities that enable deeper learning.

And finally, it does not address the depth to which you expect learning to occur. When I discuss training, I want you to think of it within the totality of the timeline. It includes formal events, informal learning, foundational education, performance support, and multiple modalities.

Oracle provides a full range training products, many are free, to help you learn Oracle E-Business Suite technology. The details for Oracle E-Business Suite technology of each of these will be covered in future blog articles. What follows is a general source listing.

Formal events:

Oracle University is your formal event source. Oracle University provides numerous instructor-led courses (ILTs) in Oracle E-Business Suite technology at Oracle University education centers located around the world.

However, Oracle University is more than ILTs. They also provide online live virtual courses (LVCs) allowing you to participate in most ILTs from anywhere with a computer and broadband Internet access. You even have access to Oracle University’s clients and servers for your lab exercises during your LVC. Oracle University has a number of self-study CD-ROM courses as well.

Performance Support:

Oracle Tutor and User Productivity Kit (UPK) provide a powerful means of developing and extending performance support. Oracle Tutor provides a means of documenting business process, and including those documented process back into your Oracle E-Business Suite Online Help.

UPK is a powerful simulation tool that complements Oracle Tutor, by providing detailed process simulations. There is pre-recorded UPK content for Oracle E-Business Suite tools and technologies, including coverage in iSetup, Personalizations, Applications Management Pack (AMP), and Applications Change Management Pack (ACMP).

Informal Learning:

There is a significant archive of informal learning from Oracle, and most of it is free. I cannot cover all of the sources, but here are some starting points:

  • Oracle Open World: This is the premier source for all kinds of training at virtually every level of need, from awareness of upcoming releases to hands-on labs with Oracle experts from the Oracle E-Business Suite development teams. In many cases, this may be your only chance to meet face-to-face with the developers and other experts in your particular topic.
Finally, you are more than welcome to post a comment here or reach out to me at  
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I am passionate about workplace learning and performance topics, and I am happy to share that passion with anyone I can assist. Having personally trained Oracle E-Business Suite developers for over 10 years, I can get you on the right road to improving your performance.