SAOUG 2005 Conference - call for papers now open

I recently stumbled across the announcement that the call for papers at the South African Oracle User Group (SAOUG) Conference is now open. This post contains details of the conference and paper submission guidelines and advice.

I was interested to see that this year the South African Oracle User Group Conference is being held at Caesars in Johannesburg. In all the years I’ve been implementing Oracle the conferences have always been held at Sun City so it’s nice that they’ve changed to a different venue this year.

According to the conference page on the SAOUG site, this years conference theme is ‘Mind The Gap’, which is much more than just a warning about the ‘gap’ between a carriage and the platform that you will hear at the London underground, in this case it also refers to the ‘gap’ where failure to integrate IT systems into the organisation’s culture is proven to be extremely dangerous.

The site also states: -

The theme and focus of this year’s event will be on:

Aligning business strategies with IT

How to bridge the gap from strategy to implementation

Closing the gap between Business & IT

Closing the gap between Oracle functionality and application in the business environment

Paper Submission Guidelines, Advice and Examples

The call for papers closes on the 6th of May 2005. You will find that the SAOUG requires more detailed abstracts than other conferences, like the UKOUG. This year, the paper submission requirements are as follows: -

An abstract of 200 - 300 words to fit on one page (For use in selecting presentation)
A précis of approximately 40- 50 words. If selected, the information will be used in conference promotional literature and the conference brochure
Speaker biographical information 40 - 50 words
Concise details of previous speaking experience
Signed and completed application form
If selected, a colour photograph of the presenter(s) will be required
Your presentation must be of benefit to the Oracle user and not used for marketing purposes
Presentations on site should be in PowerPoint format or similar. No presentations based on Overhead projector slides will be accepted

I spoke at the SAOUG Conference in 2003 on Designing an effective Chart of Accounts Structure with Oracle Applications and below I’ve given below an example of 2 of the 7 abstracts that I submitted to the conference organiser’s. You can also download my full listing of abstracts for this conference on my personal site. If you’ve ever spoken at an Oracle conference and are reading this post I would certainly be interested in posting your abstracts on this blog so that other readers can benefit by seeing a variety of examples.

Designing an effective Chart of Accounts Structure with Oracle Applications

An abstract of 100 – 250 words to fit on one page

This session will cover why an effective chart of accounts should be designed and then looks at how the unique capabilities of the Oracle Applications system enable the organisation to achieve an effective chart of accounts design.

The speaker will propose that a 3-step process be used to design your chart of accounts. Firstly generic design issues should be considered. These are issues that would normally be considered when designing charts of account irrespective of the system type. The main idea presented here will be that the reporting requirements of the organisation should drive the design of the chart of accounts design and not the other way around.

Secondly specific organisation, industry and country factors should be considered when designing the chart of accounts. Different types of organisations will all use different chart of account structures as a result of varying reporting requirements. There may also be within certain industries standards that are generally accepted and practised. Government regulations within certain countries can also dictate how accounts are to be structured.

Lastly, a large portion of the discussion will focus on the functionality that Oracle Applications offers to users and how this meets the business requirements. Topics of discussion will be the set of books and segment structure, security rules and cross validation. Advice and examples will be disseminated to attendees’ throughout the presentation based on implementation experiences.

A précis of approximately 40 words

An effective chart of accounts design can have a significant impact on the success of any applications implementation. This presentation covers why an effective chart of accounts should be designed and looks at how the unique capabilities of the Oracle Applications system can enable organisations to achieve an effective chart of accounts design.

Implementation Guidelines and Best Practises for Oracle Public Sector Budgeting

An abstract of 100 – 250 words to fit on one page

Oracle Public Sector Budgeting is a proactive management application designed to support the unique requirements of public sector entities. In this first part of this session the speaker will present a conceptual framework and set of best practises for budgeting in the Public Sector Organisations. This will entail a presentation to the attendees of the processes for each “business” area and the relevant people who should be involved at each stage.

The second half of this presentation will identify how the unique capabilities of the Oracle system should be utilised so as to achieve implementation success. Here a high level overview of the Oracle processes for each module will be mapped against the set of best practices outlined in the first part of the presentation. At each stage of the presentation new product features will be outlined and implementation examples and experiences will be related.

A précis of approximately 40 words

The first part of this session will present a conceptual framework and set of best practises for budgeting in Public Sector Organisations. The speaker will then highlight how these practises can be attained using the unique capabilities of the Oracle Public Sector Budgeting System.

Speaker Biographical Information

An example of the biography I submitted is as follows: -

Richard Byrom is an Oracle Applications Consultant with RPC Data Ltd., an Oracle Certified Advantage Partner located in Botswana. He has seven years of experience consulting for various professional firms within the Southern Africa Region. Richard has designed E-Business Strategies as well as performed Executive Information Systems, Business Intelligence and ERP implementations within a number of different industries using several different software products and platforms.

An accounting background has enabled him to understand the complexities involved in implementing financial systems. Richard has also presented papers at numerous national and international conferences and contributes to leading journals. He can be contacted at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Concise details of previous speaking experience

This is an example of how I specified what my speaking experience was: -

Organisation: Oracle

Presented the following papers in January 2003 to Appsworld San Diego, California: -

Get More Out Of 11i With Oracle ADI
Designing An Effective Chart Of Accounts Structure Using Oracle Applications
It’s Month End, Now Comes The Reconciliation Crunch!

Organisation: UK Oracle User Group

Published Article in March 2003 issue of Oracle Scene “Enhance your project documentation process with AIM.”
Paper in 2002 – “Designing an Effective Chart of Accounts Structure with Oracle Applications.”
Published Article in December 2002 issue of Oracle Scene “It’s Month End, Now Comes The Reconciliation Crunch!”

Organisation: RPC Data (Oracle Certified Advantage Partner)

Pre-Sales Presentations for Oracle Discover, Applications Desktop Integrator, Oracle Financial Analyzer and E-business Suite
Paper in 2002 at the 13th check seminar in Botswana – “Oracle General Ledger Interface with Human Resources”
Paper in 2002 to the members of the Botswana Institute of Accountants – “How ERP systems add value to the Procurement Process”
Training Courses for Oracle E-Business Suite

Organisation: PricewaterhouseCoopers

Presentation of Financial Consolidation system to the Management of TA Holdings Zimbabwe
BaaN Financials presentation to the management of Anglo American Head Office Zimbabwe
BaaN Cash Management and Financial Statements presentation to the management of Mazoe Citrus Estates Zimbabwe.
BaaN Financials presentation to the management of Zimbabwe Newspapers
Training Courses for BaaN Financials in all Financials Modules

Organisation: Deloitte and Touche – Business Development Services

Executive Information Systems presentation to the Divisions of Delta Corporation in Zimbabwe
Executive Information Systems presentation at the Delta Management Development programme in Zimbabwe
Training Courses for Executive Information System