Collaborate 2011 was a fantastic conference put on by Quest, OAUG and IOUG, three users groups all related to Oracle products.  New this year is OPSIG, sponsored by both Quest and OAUG.  This is the Oracle Primavera Special Interest Group.  They significantly helped the Primavera community have a presence at Collaborate.

There were many great sessions throughout the conference.  One of these sessions was presented by the Oracle development team for Primavera Contract Management. They provided a glimpse of the future for PCM and some of the changes abound. 

Contract Management v14 should be released in calendar year 2011. With it comes one major and fantastic change. InfoMaker is planned to be replaced by Oracle’s BI Publisher. This decision will allow for graphic reporting, and the inclusion of P6 data in one report. They will be providing a stock library of forms and reports, but at this point there is no direct path from InfoMaker to BI Publisher if you have customized forms and reports.   More to come in future postings on this dilemma…

Highlights of version 14 include at this time:
* Web Services
* Development of BPM work flows
* BI Publisher
* Redesign to look more like P6 R8
* User Productivity Kit
* Technical enhancements

Not in the initial release, but still planned, seem to be:
* Enhanced document control
* Notifications (YES!)
* Cost Worksheet Calculations (Yes!)
* more BPM work flows (Yay!)
* Security enhancements
* Mobile support (Super Yay!)
* Expansion of PCM functionality in P6 (single platform?)

Stay tuned for more updates!

Of course the standard ‘safe harbor’ statement applies…
The preceding is intended to outline the general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decision. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

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