The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), the world's largest user knowledgebase for Oracle Applications users, has elected Raymond Payne as the 2009 president of the OAUG and the OAUG executive committee for 2009. Payne is employed as a principal systems architect with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and has been a member of the OAUG since 1992. He is a frequent presenter and publisher on topics of interest to the Oracle community, and has more than 20 years of experience using Oracle databases, development tools, and application suites.
Founded in 1990, the OAUG serves as an advocate to Oracle for companies worldwide, including more than 35 percent of the companies on the Fortune 100 list. The OAUG also serves users of more than 65 Oracle Applications products including Fusion, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, Agile, Hyperion, Oracle Retail, Oracle Communications, Siebel and others.
One of the key challenges Payne sees in 2009 is the integration of other product user groups into OAUG as Oracle continues to make new acquisitions. "We are working hard to provide services to new user groups merging into OAUG and to ensure that there are no gaps between what they are used to and what OAUG offers," he tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Payne indicates that he believes the primary services which OAUG provides its members are conferences (with sufficient quality content and networking opportunities), the Oracle Knowledge Factory (a web 2.0-based collaborative community and content repository including publications and prior conference presentations), and the expansion of services to a grass roots level to provide a more personalized touch for regional areas or specific product areas of focus. One example of this grass roots activity is the introduction of "Connection Point" events to meet the needs of specific Oracle application users in specific cities or regions. The first ever such event will be held April 1-2 in Dubai, UAE, and will be tailored to meet the educational needs of Oracle's E-Business Suite in that region.
As the OAUG's elected president, Payne chairs the 2009 OAUG executive committee, a group chosen by the OAUG board of directors that is responsible for the organization's strategic planning process and direction. Members of the executive committee for 2009 are: John Bushell, JT&M Bushell, executive vice president; Mark Clark, O2Works, vice president; Betsy Rothwell, Ontario Ministry of Government Services, treasurer; Karen Brownfield, Solution Beacon, LLC, secretary; and Jan Wagner, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), immediate past president.
For more information, go to the OAUG website.