Jul 29, 2025
In this episode, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham welcome
back Cloud Delivery Lead Sarah Mahalik for a detailed tour of the
four pillars of Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications: ERP, HCM, SCM,
and CX.
Discover how Oracle weaves AI, analytics, and automation into
every layer of enterprise operations. Plus, learn how Oracle Modern
Best Practice is redefining digital workflows.
Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications: Process Essentials
Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community
Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen,
Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this
episode.
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Episode Transcript:
00:00
Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on
your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts,
we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle
technologies. Let’s get started!
00:25
Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m
Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle
University, and joining me is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead: Editorial
Services.
Nikita: Hi everyone! Last week, we spoke about Oracle Cloud
Apps and the Redwood design system. Today, we’ll take a closer look
at the four key pillars of Oracle Cloud Apps.
Lois: And we’re so excited to have Sarah Mahalik back with us.
Sarah is a Cloud Delivery Lead here at Oracle. Hi Sarah! In the
last episode, we briefly spoke about the various Oracle Cloud Apps
offerings and their capabilities. For anyone who missed that
episode, can you give us a quick introduction?
01:06
Sarah: Oracle Cloud Applications is an incredibly broad suite
that covers many of the most important business functions, from
Human Capital Management, Supply Chain Management, to Enterprise
Resource Planning and Customer Experience. The products in the
Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications suite are organized by functional
groups or pillars. All of these applications sit on Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure, a foundation built from scratch to support
mission-critical applications.
Oracle Fusion Applications deliver a single source of truth,
enabling quick responses to disruptions and market opportunities.
With unified data and consistent business rules, teams can build
streamlined end-to-end processes, access real time analytics, and
make faster data-driven decisions for improved outcomes.
01:52
Nikita: Ok, let’s actually get into each of these areas. I
think we can start with Human Capital Management.
Sarah: Oracle Human Capital Management is an end-to-end
solution that allows you to manage all aspects of people data from
hire to retire. It all starts with recruiting, or requisitions are
used to advertise vacant positions, and candidates are managed
through the hiring process. After recruitment, successful
candidates are transferred to the human resources module.
You can configure the organization structure to mirror that of
your business. And this allows for easy reorganization whenever the
structure changes. People data is a staple element of HCM.
Therefore, as part of this product, an HR specialist can manage
everything about the employee life cycle, including promotions,
transfers, general assignment changes, and terminations.
A robust self-service offering allows employees and managers
to take ownership and responsibility for the data pertaining to
themselves and their teams. By removing the burden of simple data
processing from the HR specialists, it not only eases the pressure
on the HR department but allows them to concentrate on more
specialized tasks.
03:00
Lois: And how are the core products of HCM categorized?
Sarah: The core products of Human Capital Management are
categorized into four main groupings according to their logical
purpose. First up, we have our human resources. This grouping
includes the elements for implementing and maintaining the
enterprise and workforce structure and employee life cycle data.
This is where you would configure the organization structure as
well as manage an employee's data from the HR specialist point of
view. In addition, modules such as benefits, work life, workforce
modeling and planning, and advanced HCM controls also sit within
this category.
This brings us to talent management. This category is one of
the largest because it includes recruiting, learning, goals and
performance management, career development, succession planning,
talent reviews, and compensation. In addition to that, dynamic
skills and opportunity marketplace are also included in this
grouping. Within workforce management, you'll find absence
management and time and labor.
These naturally sit together because most organizations that
implement both configure it so that an employee can enter both work
time and absences on a time card, instead of having to visit two
different entry points. You'll also find workforce health and
safety here. And finally, payroll. All aspects of payroll are
included here, whether you're simply using global payroll or
localizations, such as UK, Canada, and Mexico.
It also encompasses payroll interface for those organizations
that run their payroll from another system, and just need to
extract and migrate the relevant data from Fusion HCM Cloud. When
talking about HCM systems, we cannot forget the employee
self-service aspect of the product. For this, there's an employee
experience module called Oracle Me. Here you'll find options, such
as HCM communicate, touchpoints, journeys, HR help desk, and Oracle
digital assistant.
All of these combined enable an employee to take control and
ownership of their own data, and use the many self-help options to
get the information they need quickly and efficiently. In order to
control how the system behaves and how users interact with it and
perform the various processes, there are configuration options.
These options allow organizations to define such things as the user
experience, workflows, and approval policies based on their
business requirements. And to meet the constant need for reporting,
there's analytics, planning, and data modeling.
And in addition to all of that, you can use configuration
options, such as extensibility, integration, or import and
extracts, security, and adaptive intelligence to help enhance the
system and have it working and looking the way you need. Of course,
much of these latter configuration items are not exclusive to HCM
but are available for the Oracle Fusion Cloud as a whole.
05:47
Lois: That’s great. Ok, let’s move on to Oracle Enterprise
Resource Planning, or ERP.
Sarah: This is a complete modern Cloud ERP suite that provides
your teams with advanced capabilities, such as AI, to automate the
manual processes that slow them down, analytics to react to market
shifts in real time, and automatic updates to stay current and gain
a competitive advantage.
Oracle Cloud ERP automates the entire Record to Report process
and provides a common repository of information for global
financial reporting and compliance. Within ERP, we have the
broadest and deepest suite offering everything you need, from
financials, project management, enterprise performance management,
risk management and compliance, and analytics.
06:34
Nikita: Sarah, could you break down the different modules
within ERP?
Sarah: First, we have Financials, which is a global financial
platform that connects and automates your financial management
processes, including payables, receivables, fixed assets, expenses,
and reporting for a clear view into your total financial health.
Oracle Project Management offers a single project cloud solution
designed to help you gain a complete picture of your organization's
project finances and operations. It's seamlessly integrated across
the enterprise with the Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, HCM, and SCM
applications.
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management, or EPM,
helps you model and plan across finance, HR, supply chain and
sales, streamline the financial close process, and drive better
decisions. Oracle Fusion Cloud Risk Management and Compliance is a
security and audit solution that controls user access to your
Oracle Cloud ERP financial data, monitors user activity, and makes
it easier to meet compliance regulations through automation.
Oracle Risk Management Compliance uses AI and ML to strengthen
financial controls to help prevent cash leaks, enforce audit, and
protect against emerging risks, saving you hours of manual work.
Oracle Analytics for Cloud ERP complements the embedded analytics
in Cloud ERP to provide pre-packaged use cases, predictive
analysis, and KPIs based on variance analysis and historical
trends.
08:06
Lois: And what about Supply Chain Management?
Sarah: Oracle Supply Chain Management empowers organizations
to plan, source, make, deliver, and service goods with agility and
resilience. It offers a solution that integrates advanced
capabilities, such as AI/ML and blockchain, to optimize the supply
chain life cycle from start to finish.
08:31
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08:58
Nikita: Welcome back! Sarah, what makes Oracle Fusion SCM so
powerful?
Sarah: When it comes to planning, you can leverage strategic,
tactical, and operational processes for accurate forecasting and
resource alignment. Sourcing and manufacturing help you streamline
procurement and production to meet supply and demand efficiently.
Inventory and warehousing processes ensure the right goods are
available, stored, and managed effectively.
Fulfillment is also known as the pick, pack, and ship part of
the supply chain and delivery entails order tracking and receipt.
Having connected processes in place ensures that billing and
revenue recognition are applied correctly on the goods and
services. Great customer service models provide accurate tracking
of customer orders and deliveries. And this can provide insight for
an accurate picture of future planning, manufacturing, and
inventory forecasts. This is a constant cycle because information
and analytics feed into the planning process.
Oracle Supply Chain Management is designed to seamlessly
integrate and optimize every step of the supply chain process,
ensuring businesses can adapt to dynamic market conditions and
customer expectations. The solution supports end-to-end supply
chain processes and leverages cutting-edge technologies to
transform how organizations manage their operations.
In planning, Oracle SCM empowers businesses with advanced
planning tools to align supply and demand effectively. Sourcing and
manufacturing assists in streamlining procurement and manufacturing
workflows to drive efficiency. Inventory and warehousing optimizes
inventory and warehouse management processes with intelligent
capabilities.
Fulfillment delivery helps to accelerate order fulfillment and
delivery operations to meet customer needs. And servicing allows
you to maintain strong customer relationships through seamless
post-sale servicing. Oracle SCM ensures an agile and resilient
supply chain with the help of technologies like AI, ML, and
blockchain. These tools empower organizations to stay competitive
in a fast-paced environment while exceeding customer
expectations.
11:03
Lois: To round out our discussion, let’s talk about Oracle
Customer Experience.
Sarah: Customer Experience, or CX, provides the platform and
products necessary to capture all customer touch points and
interactions. This platform also automates the business process
from interest and lead generation to the sale and provision of
products and services. The major product areas are marketing,
sales, service, and CX platform.
11:32
Nikita: Could you dive a bit deeper into its key areas?
Sarah: Oracle Marketing solutions allow you to create targeted
cross-channel marketing campaigns, optimize lead generation
activities, personalize customer and prospect communication, and
automate marketing activities. Use real-time data-driven insights
to engage, convert, and nurture buyer relationships to increase
sales. Featured products include Eloqua Marketing Automation,
Responsys Campaign Management, CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement,
Infinity Behavioral Intelligence, Unity Customer Data Platform, and
more.
With Oracle Sales, you can deliver responsive selling across
all touchpoints. Oracle Sales guides sellers with intelligent
recommendations and gives them a faster path to critical records to
help them focus on the right prospects at the right time. The
modern, unified selling and buying approach of Oracle CX connects
sales and commerce to service, marketing, and the entire customer
experience. Featured products include Salesforce Automation, Sales
Planning, Sales Performance Management, Configure, Price, and
Quote, Subscription Management, Partner Relationship Management,
and Customer Data Management.
Oracle Service enables you to help customers when and where
they need you with automated workflows for customer self-service,
agent-assisted service, and Field Service engagements. You can
accelerate the resolution of service issues with AI-driven
recommendations, unified data visibility, and cross-organization
and cross-channel collaboration tools.
At Oracle, we make every customer interaction matter by using
a suite of CX Cloud applications that connect marketing, sales,
customer service, Field Service, and e-commerce. Oracle connects
our customer experience systems with finance, supply chain, and HR
on a unified cloud platform for a single, dynamic 360-degree view
of the customer.
13:31
Lois: Before we wrap up, how does Oracle Modern Best Practice,
or OMBP, fit into Oracle Cloud Apps?
Sarah: OMBP illustrates common business processes optimized to
leverage the latest applications and technologies in Oracle Fusion
Applications.
Oracle Modern Best Practice comprises reimagined industry
standard business processes powered by Oracle technology.
Engineered into Fusion Applications, OMBP simplifies and
streamlines workflows, enabling organizations to leverage modern,
efficient, and scalable practices. As we align more assets with
OMBP, there will be a stronger connection between global process
owners and business process innovation within a customer's
organization.
OMBP was derived from over 10,000 successful delivery
projects. To publish an OMBP, past Oracle projects were analyzed
for successful and unsuccessful processes. Successful processes
were reviewed and optimized by product experts, engineers,
customers, and key users. Optimized processes were published to
OMBP to make them available to other customers.
14:40
Lois: Well, that’s it for this episode. Thank you, Sarah, for
all of your incredible insights.
Nikita: If you want to learn more about what we discussed
today, head over to mylearn.oracle.com and take a look at the
Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Process Essentials courses. Until
next time, this is Nikita Abraham…
Lois: And Lois Houston, signing off!
15:01
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