Best of 2025: Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Foundations Training & Certifications

In this episode of the Oracle University Podcast, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham dive into Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications and the new courses and certifications on offer. They are joined by Oracle Fusion Apps experts Patrick McBride and Bill Lawson who introduce the concept of Oracle Modern Best Practice (OMBP), explaining how it helps organizations maximize results by mapping Fusion Application features to daily business processes. They also discuss how the new courses educate learners on OMBP and its role in improving Fusion Cloud Apps implementations.

 

OMBP: https://www.oracle.com/applications/modern-best-practice/

Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/

X: https://x.com/Oracle_Edu

 

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

Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Communications and Adoption with Customer Success Services.  

Lois: Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us for this Best of 2025 series, where we’re playing you four of our most popular episodes of the year.  

Nikita: Today’s episode is #3 of 4 and is a throwback to a conversation with our friends and Oracle Fusion Apps experts Patrick McBride and Bill Lawson. We chatted with them about the latest courses and certifications available for Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, featuring Oracle Modern Best Practice and the Oracle Cloud Success Navigator. 

01:08

Lois: We kicked things off by asking Patrick to help us understand what Oracle Modern Best Practice is, and the reasons behind its creation.

Patrick: So, modern best practices are more than just a business process. They’re really about translating features and technology into actionable capabilities in our product. So, we've created these by curating industry leading best practices we've collected from our customers over the years. And ensure that the most modern technologies that we've built into the Fusion Application stack are represented inside of those business processes. Our goal is really to help you as customers improve your business operations by easily finding and applying those technologies to what you do every day. 

01:53

Nikita: So, by understanding this modern best practice and the technology that enables it, you’re really unlocking the full potential of Fusion Apps. 

Patrick: Absolutely. So, the goal is that modern best practice make it really easy for customers, implementers, partners, to see the opportunity and take action.

02:13

Lois: That’s great. OK, so, let’s talk about implementations, Patrick. How do Oracle Modern Best Practice support customers throughout the lifecycle of an Oracle Fusion Cloud implementation?

Patrick: What we found during many implementers’ journey with taking our solution and trying to apply it with customers is that customers come in with a long list of capabilities that they're asking us to replicate. What they've always done in the past. And what modern best practice is trying to do is help customers to reimage the art of the possible…what's possible with Fusion by taking advantage of innovative features like AI, like IoT, like, you know, all of the other solutions that we built in to help you automate your processes to help you get the most out of the solution using the latest and greatest technology. So, if you're an implementer, there's a number of ways a modern best practice can help during an implementation. First is that reimagine exercise where you can help the customer see what's possible. And how we can do it in a better way. I think more importantly though, as you go through your implementation, many customers aren't able to get everything done by the time they have to go live. They have a list of things they’ve deferred and modern best practices really establishes itself as a road map for success, so you can go back to it at the completion and see what's left for the opportunity to take advantage of and you can use it to track kind of the continuous innovation that Oracle delivers with every release and see what's changed with that business process and how can I get the most out of it.

03:43

Nikita: Thanks, Patrick. That’s a great primer on OMBP that I’m sure everyone will find very helpful.

Patrick: Thanks, Niki. We want our customers to understand the value of modern best practices so they can really maximize their investment in Oracle technology today and in the future as we continue to innovate.

03:59

Lois: Right. And the way we’re doing that is through new training and certifications that are closely aligned with OMBP. Bill, what can you tell us about this?

Bill: Yes, sure. So, the new Oracle Fusion Applications Foundations training program is designed to help partners and customers understand Oracle Modern Best Practice and how they improve the entire implementation journey with Fusion Cloud Applications. As a learner, you will understand how to adhere to these practices and how they promise a greater level of success and customer satisfaction. So, whether you’re designing, or implementing, or going live, you’ll be able to get it right on day one.

So, like Patrick was saying, these OMBPs are reimagined, industry-standard business processes built into Fusion Applications. So, you'll also discover how technologies like AI, Mobile, and Analytics help you automate tasks and make smarter decisions. You’ll see how data flows between processes and get tips for successful go-lives.

So, the training we’re offering includes product demonstrations, key metrics, and design considerations to give you a solid understanding of modern best practice. It also introduces you to Oracle Cloud Success Navigator and how it can be leveraged and relied upon as a trusted source to guide you through every step of your cloud journey, so from planning, designing, and implementation, to user acceptance testing and post-go-live innovations with each quarterly new release of Fusion Applications and those new features.

And then, the training also prepares you for Oracle Cloud Applications Foundations certifications.                  

05:31

Nikita: Which applications does the training focus on, Bill?

Bill: Sure, so the training focuses on four key pillars of Fusion Apps and the associated OMBP with them. For Human Capital Management, we cover Human Resources and Talent Management. For Enterprise Resource Planning, it’s all about Financials, Project Management, and Risk Management. In Supply Chain Management, you’ll look at Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Inventory, Procurement, and more. And for Customer Experience, we’ll focus on Marketing, Sales, and Service.

05:59

Lois: That’s great, Bill. Now, who is the training and certification for? 

Bill: That’s a great question. So, it’s really for anyone who wants to get the most out of Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced professional or someone new to Fusion Apps, this is a great place to start. It’s even recommended for professionals with experience in implementing other applications, like on-premise products.

So, the goal is to give you a solid foundation in Oracle Modern Best Practice and show you how to use them to improve your implementation approach.

We want to make it easy for anyone, whether you’re an implementer, a global process owner, or an IT team employee, to identify every way Fusion Applications can improve your organization.

So, if you’re new to Fusion Apps, you’ll get a comprehensive overview of Oracle Fusion Applications and how to use OMBP to improve business operations.

If you're already certified in Oracle Cloud Applications and have years of experience, you'll still benefit from learning how OMBP fits into your work. 

If you’re an experienced Fusion consultant who is new to Oracle Modern Best Practice processes, this is a good place to begin and learn how to apply them and the latest technology enablers during implementations. 

And, lastly, if you’re an on-premise or you have non-Fusion consultant skills looking to upskill to Fusion, this is a great way to begin acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to transition to Fusion and migrate your existing expertise.

07:29

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07:58

Nikita: Welcome back! Bill, how long is it going to take me to complete this training program?

Bill: So, we wanted to make this program detailed enough so our learners find it valuable, obviously. But at the same time, we didn’t want to make it too long. So, each course is approximately 5 hours or more, and provides folks with all the requisite knowledge they need to get started with Oracle Modern Best Practice and Fusion Applications. 

08:22

Lois: Bill, is there anything that I need to know before I take this course? Are there any prerequisites?

Bill: No, Lois, there are no prerequisites. Like I was saying, whether you’re fresh out of college or a seasoned professional, this is a great place to start your journey into Fusion Apps and Oracle Modern Best Practice.

08:37

Nikita: That’s great, you know, that there are no barriers to starting. Now, Bill, what can you tell us about the certification that goes along with this new program? 

Bill: The best part, Niki, is that it’s free. In fact, the training is also free. We have four courses and corresponding Foundation Associate–level certifications for Human Capital Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Experience. So, completing the training prepares you for an hour-long exam with 25 questions. It’s a pretty straightforward way to validate your expertise in Oracle Modern Best Practice and Fusion Apps implementation considerations.

09:11

Nikita: Ok. Say I take this course and certification. What can I do next? Where should my learning journey take me?

Bill: So, you’re building knowledge and expertise with Fusion Applications, correct? So, once you take this training and certification, I recommend that you identify a product area you want to specialize in. So, if you take the Foundations training for HCM, you can dive deeper into specialized paths focused on implementing Human Resources, Workforce Management, Talent Management, or Payroll applications, for example. 

The same goes for other product areas. If you finish the certification for Foundations in ERP, you may choose to specialize in Finance or Project Management and get your professional certifications there as your next step.

So, once you have this foundational knowledge, moving on to advanced learning in these areas becomes much easier. We offer various learning paths with associated professional-level certifications to deepen your knowledge and expertise in Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications. So, you can learn more about these courses by visiting oracle.com/education/training/ to find out more of what Oracle University has to offer.

10:14

Lois: Right. I love that we have a clear path from foundational-level training to more advanced levels. So, as your skills grow, we’ve got the resources to help you move forward. 

Nikita: That’s right, Lois. Thanks for walking us through all this, Patrick and Bill. We really appreciate you taking the time to join us on the podcast.

Bill: Yeah, it’s always a pleasure to join you on the podcast. Thank you very much.

Patrick: Oh, thanks for having me, Lois. Happy to be here.

Nikita: We hope you enjoyed that conversation. Join us next week for another throwback episode. Until then, this is Nikita Abraham...  
  
Lois: And Lois Houston, signing off!  

10:47

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