Oracle University Course Obsolescence Process

1. Oracle University Course Obsolescence Process Kris Ware and Ken Nicholson

2. On Our Menu Today • The objectives of this presentation are to: • Describe life cycle of a course • Explain terminology used • List benefits of obsolescing courses • Define levels of obsolescence • Identify people involved • Detail steps and criteria involved • Specify timelines

3. Primary Life Cycle of an OU Course Secondary FGT $ Obsolete Planning & Development Time

4. Talking the Talk • Primary • Alive and kicking • Can be offered in OU/Partner Classrooms/On-site • Brings in big time $$$ • The focus of Marketing efforts • Secondary • Old but not dead • HW/Software Cost is high • Was known as ‘archived’ • Obsolete • Dead • Was known as ‘retired’

5. Benefits The benefits of obsolescing a course in a timely manner are: • Customers get only state-of-the-art technology • All attendees go into fewer versions, improving attendance per event and improving margins • Simpler course catalog which is easier for: • Customers when choosing • Delivery Managers to schedule • Instructors to deliver • Global Education Support (GES) to support • OU operations to maintain • OU salespeople to sell

6. Benefits • Better utilization of resources • Hardware • Instructors • Classrooms • Not all is lost: • Older versions still have the partner/onsite option • Limits expenses for supporting low-revenue courses

7. On Our Menu Today • The objectives of this presentation are to: • Describe life cycle of a course • Explain terminology used • List benefits of obsolescing courses • Define levels of obsolescence • Identify people involved • Detail steps and criteria involved • Specify timelines

8. Obsolescence Levels While obsolescing: • The status of the course can be set to: • Secondary • Obsolete • The effective date includes all GCC translations

9. Secondary Courses A course when marked secondary is: • In the catalog but with conditions • Marketed but with low emphasis • Moved down in the search list • No longer offered in OU classrooms • Offered in Partner classrooms / onsites • Removed from GES servers • Removed from hardware and ACES mappings • Marked as ‘Secondary’ in OTA and CAT • Orderable with the print vendors

10. Obsolete Courses A course when marked obsolete is: • No longer marketed • Removed from catalog/web • No longer offered in OU/Partner classrooms/onsite • Removed from hardware and ACES mappings • Marked as ‘Obsolete’ in OTA and CAT • Not orderable through OM (Billable part Number made obsolete too) • Invoice customers before the obsolescence date • Kit is marked obsolete • Kit cannot be assigned as a resource to an activity • Not orderable with the print vendors • Not to be scheduled or sold

11. On Our Menu Today • The objectives of this presentation are to: • Describe life cycle of a course • Explain the terminology used • List benefits of obsolescing courses • Define levels of obsolescence • Identify the people involved • Detail steps and criteria involved • Specify timelines

12. Obsolescence Process Obsolescing any course is a team effort involving the following stakeholders: • OU Delivery Regions • OU Marketing Regions • GES • Partners • OU Curriculum Management • Inventory and Product Release Group (PRG) • Print Vendors

13. The Steps The broad steps involved are: • Develop a proposed list • Check the revenue and business implications • Make the decision • Implement the changes

14. Step 1: Develop a Proposed List • Curriculum Management develops a list of courses proposed for obsolescence • Every quarter • Second month of the fiscal quarter • List goes to OU Regions for review

15. Step 2: Check the Conditions • OU Regions review the list • If region wants to run the course longer the following justification is needed: • Does the course run in your region? • How often does the course run? • How much revenue is generated per quarter (latest two quarters in US$)? • When is the last date the course is scheduled? • Do you have instructors currently able to teach the course?

16. Step 3: Make the Decision Globally, courses are selected for obsolescence using the rubric: • Is the software the course covers de-supported? • Has business demand disappeared? • Is there low return on investment? • Do we need to reclaim hardware resources for more valuable events? • Is a new or better version of this course available? • Are instructors unavailable to teach the course? • Some situations dictate Secondary; others dictate Obsolete

17. New Old Step 4: Implement the Changes • Curriculum Management communicates obsolescence decisions to the regions, GES, partners, marketing, and activity management • Once every quarter • Last month of the quarter • Curriculum Management coordinates efforts to remove selected courses from the delivery channels, web sites, hardware, OTA, Inventory, and print vendors

18. Your input matters! • Curriculum Management proposes courses for obsolescence based on information we have. • We will make decisions and adjust dates of retirement to accommodate your business needs. • If you don’t tell us you have a business need to keep a course, it goes away! • We cannot “bring back” a course that has become Obsolete.

19. On Our Menu Today • The objectives of this presentation are to: • Describe life cycle of a course • Explain terminology used • List benefits of obsolescing courses • Define levels of obsolescence • Identify people involved • Detail steps and criteria involved • Specify timelines

20. Mark Your Calendars Some dates to remember:

21. Places to Visit • For a visual diagram of the obsolescence process and a list of courses recently retired • http://ou.us.oracle.com/html/1currplan.htm • To access CAT • http://ed-aces1.us.oracle.com/guest/essrm.cat_bp_query.show

22. Who do I Contact? Database and SQL courses • Ken Nicholson • Kenneth.Nicholson@oracle.com Development Tools and Application Server courses • Kris Ware • Kristine.Ware@oracle.com

23. Questions