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• To plug in to the ITS system from your computer, you need a modem and a remote communication package with the standard VT series emulations. The other requirements are a 9600 baud rate, CCIT V.32 bit modulation, full duplex, no local echo, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, and a CR at end-of-line.
• Oracle's World Wide Web services: Oracle provides a great deal of information on every aspect of its major divisions and product lines at its Web address: www.oracle.com. You can access many automated tools from the Web site, and you can actually log electronic TARs through the support forms on this site.
• Virtual Support Analyst (VSA): This product gives you e-mail access to the Oracle Customer Support System. Users who are subscribed to this system can ask questions of Oracle and also receive a TAR management report detailing and quantifying problem conception and resolution information throughout a given period.
• Global Solutions Exchange (GSX): This is a knowledge base of all known problem solutions. Users access GSX via OracleMercury, Oracle MetaLink, or fax-on-demand. Along with past problem resolutions , users can obtain technical bulletins , hot tips, and new release information, as well as examples using specific Oracle products.
• Fax-on-demand: Fax-on-demand services from Oracle provide you with copies of any past TARs you need to access and records from Oracle's problem/fix database. You can also receive a slew of useful technical bulletins from this service.
• SupportLink on CompuServe: This is an online community for OracleMetals customers. You can join a variety of forums, download useful information, and send questions to Oracle experts. One day you might solve someone else's problem, and the next day someone else might save your project with a crucial piece of knowledge. These support groups are very useful.
• Oracle SupportNotes CD-ROM: This is a virtual library of support information for different products. The customer using this application can identify, diagnose, and resolve problems. The CD-ROM is a subscription that is updated and sent to you for each version. Each issue includes extracts from Oracle's repository of problems that you can search, fixes and workarounds, technical bulletins, software product availa-bility, selected error messages and codes, online documentation, SupportNews, and so on.
• Oracle MetaLink: Through Oracle's World Wide Web site at www.oracle.com, this online application gives the user the following types of information: product-specific alerts, product articles, critical patches, and installation assistance. Installation assistance includes step-by-step installation instructions, manuals, release notes, and read-me files. Oracle MetaLink comes with a powerful search engine that lets you examine past problem-and-fix cases that might be similar to yours.

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The following Internet newsgroups are also helpful. These are forums where you can post questions or solutions on a variety of Oracle- related issues:

comp.databases.oracle.server

comp.databases.oracle.tools

comp.databases.oracle.market

comp.databases.oracle.misc

The Oracle Developer Programme

If you are fascinated with Oracle technology, you should consider the Oracle Developer Programme. For a low price, 5.00, you can join a program that offers trial versions of the latest software, which you can download from the Internet. For instance, a week after version 8.0 arrived, members of the Developer Programme could download a trial version for free.

Oracle also makes available to people in the Developer Programme a great deal of online technical information and documentation regarding Oracle products. The company wants to encourage development of new products around its core technologies; this was always a strategy to gain more sales by attracting customers who want useful products that run on Oracle. It is also more critical to woo developers once the new network computing wars heat up. To succeed, the network computer will need a great deal of software written in Java that does the same thing as traditional executable software now on the desktop PC.

To find out how to join this group , call Oracle or visit Oracle on the Web at www.oracle.com.

Back to School: Oracle Education

Oracle offers the leading relational database in the world, so obviously you can assume this technology is not trivial. From the high-level executive who simply wants a clear overview of how the Oracle relational database functions to the DBA who wants the nuts and bolts of the complete product, Oracle Education provides the courses they need. Don't assume that just because you are in a management role, there isn't a course offered by Oracle Education. If you take such as class, you will probably end up saving money in the long run.

Oracle training is not held in a little red schoolhouse each morning where you bring an apple. The cost is a little more than an apple, and the methods of teaching go beyond the classroom setting. Oracle offers the types of classes outlined in the following sections.

Traditional Classroom Setting

Oracle does still offer its course structure in a classroom setting at a given location for a fixed number of days. The instructors use computers, manuals, slides, and other tools to guide you through the course material. Of course, they also field questions and recognize that not everyone is at the same level of understanding. These traditional schoolhouse settings are valuable because you get to meet someone from Oracle who understands the product and can point you in the direction of other resources.

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The Oracle Channel

I remember a consulting project I did a few years ago in Los Angeles. In this large, Oracle-based manufacturing company, I saw groups of people around the television sets watching soap operas at lunch . Maybe your employees should watch television for a while, but instead of contemplating the complexities of soap opera plots, they could tune in to the Oracle Channel and watch instructors teaching Oracle. In my experience, Oracle is much simpler to understand than a soap opera.

If any sort of live broadcast is too distracting for your employees, self-paced Media Based Training is also available. This training is available on a PC or through the World Wide Web using the Oracle Learning Architecture (OLA). The beauty of these types of lessons is that you can return to your favorite lectures again and again for reference. Another advantage is that you can avoid the usual cost of flying your employees to the training center in Hawaii. Just have them wear their Aloha shirts in your training room and put a pineapple in the middle on each desk; few will know the difference.

The Oracle Masters Programs

Oracle offers masters certificates, which certify that you are an expert in different areas of the product line. The set of courses, starting off simple and becoming more challenging, provides a strong command of Oracle principles and the area of certification. This pathway might be good for the employee who needs to become a DBA or the Visual Basic guru who needs to learn Developer/2000. Training competent people in new technologies often saves a company a great deal of money.

The pathways that lead the Oracle student to a masters certificate cover the following areas:

Database Administrator

System/Database Administrator

Network Specialist

Web Manager, Oracle Web Server

Applications Developer

Applications Administrator

Designer/2000 System Analyst

Designer/2000 Designer/Developer

Oracle Applications Database Administrator

Oracle Applications Implementation Team Member

Oracle Express/OLAP Administrator, Oracle Express

Oracle7 DBA Certification

The Oracle Channel Certification Program