Oracle Applications Consultant Solutions Architect
Oracle Applications Consultant Solutions Architect
Oracle Applications Consultant Solutions Architect
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
My ambition is to deploy cutting edge IT solutions for leading organisations as I believe I am highly skilled
and have much to offer potential employers and their stakeholders. Presently I am an independent Oracle
Applications Consultant and Solutions Architect for Richard Byrom Consulting. Prior to this I have
consulted with numerous professional consulting firms and IT Companies
I have been working with Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems for two decades and have
experience in implementing multi-currency, multi-org/country solutions within Shared Services
environments in numerous types of industries. Most of my implementation work has been carried out in the
United Kingdom, however, I have also worked on implementations that involved the following countries –
Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. Earlier
implementations within Africa covered Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In addition to my experience implementing and project managing Oracle ERP solutions I have also gained
a broader level of expertise by developing Architecture Solutions and IT strategies for a number of
organisations across a variety of platforms and systems. My expertise in these areas can broadly be
categorised as follows:
Prior to working with Oracle products I was implementing BaaN, another ERP system. In total I have been
implementing IT systems for 25 years and have been involved in more than 30 implementations. Most of
my implementation experience is in the private sector although I have also consulted for the public sector
and am capable of adapting to both types of environment.
I have presented papers at numerous local, regional and international conferences and contribute to
leading publications around the globe. In both 2003 and 2004 I spoke at Oracle Appsworld in San Diego,
California - Oracle's flagship Applications conference. I have also presented papers to the Oracle
Applications User Group (OAUG) and Atlanta Oracle Applications User Group (ATLOAUG) in America, the
European Oracle User Group (EOUG), the UK Oracle User Group (UKOUG) and Financials Special
Interest Group (SIG) and the South African Oracle User Group (SAOUG). My white papers have been
published in Oracle journals in the United States and United Kingdom. I also served as Deputy Editor of
the UK Oracle User Group Magazine (known as Oracle Scene) for a period of two years from December
2003-2005. Copies of my presentations and white papers can be downloaded at
http://www.richardbyrom.com/index.php/forum
Professional credentials
I completed my Articles of Clerkship with Deloitte and Touche and also have a Bachelor of Accounting
Science (B.Compt) Degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA). In 2003, I completed my
postgraduate degree, a Master’s in Business Leadership (equivalent to MBA) with University of South
Africa (UNISA). Here I majored in Project Planning, Scheduling and Control, Management of Technology
and Managing Electronic Commerce.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Wood Group
Oracle Cloud implementation for Southern Europe (July 2022 – Present Day)
Roles – Oracle Cloud Solution Architect
Wood Group is a multinational engineering and consulting business that delivers solutions in the energy
and materials markets. This project involved implementing Oracle Cloud for their Southern Europe
Entities using a Global design model as a baseline. My role was largely within the Procurement domain
spanning the Source to Receipt and Expense to Pay streams. Responsibilities included: -
• Working within a team of Solution Architects to develop a solution which spanned the Finance,
Procurement, Projects, and Human Resources domains
• Working with functional, technical, and business leads to design a solution for the entities
within Southern Europe
• Conducting design workshops with key stakeholders
• Building a Southern European Requirements Traceability Matrix
Aldermore Bank
General Ledger Replacement (GLR) with Oracle ERP Cloud (November 2020 – June 2022)
Roles – Accounting Hub (AHCS) Lead, Record to Report (R2R) Lead
Aldermore Bank is a retail bank which provides financial services to small and medium-sized
businesses. This project entailed replacing Oracle E-Business Suite with the Oracle Cloud solution and
integrating MotoNovo Finance by moving them off their legacy platforms to the same cloud system.
Responsibilities included: -
Standard Life Aberdeen is a global investment company. Here I was initially leading the Acquire to
Retire workstream as well as being P2P Workflow Lead advising on approval design. During the Sprint
stages of the project I then transitioned into leading the Order to Cash domain for the remainder of the
project. Responsibilities included: -
Schroders
Finance Reporting and Costs Strategy (FRCS) Programme (January 2019 – February 2020)
Role – Oracle Fusion Functional Consultant
Schroders is a multinational asset management company. Here, I worked in the Cost Work Stream of
the Finance Reporting and Costs Strategy (FRCS) Programme which was upgrading from Oracle E-
Business Suite to Oracle Fusion. Responsibilities included: -
❑ Providing functional expertise for Requisition to Pay (R2P), Record to Report (R2R) and
Invoice to Cash (I2C) processes configuration and testing in Oracle Fusion
❑ Performing functional analysis as an input into integration specifications
❑ Supporting data migration activities that include data cleansing and data mappings
❑ Target Operating Model development
❑ Production of test plans and use cases
❑ Supporting development of reports and training materials
TIME Inc.
Project Phoenix (June 2018 – December 2018)
Role – Oracle Fusion Financials Consultant
TIME Inc is one of the largest branded media companies in the UK reaching more than 130 million
people each month across multiple platforms. This project involved the implementation of Core Finance
and Human Capital Management to replace the legacy Peoplesoft platform. Here I was responsible for
the rapid implementation of the following modules as well as migrating two years of historical data
Fidelity International
Core Finance Programme (February 2018 – May 2018)
Role – Oracle Functional P2P Consultant
Fidelity International is a company that provides investment management services including mutual
funds, pension management and fund platforms to private and institutional investors. Here I was
engaged by Deloitte. to work within the Fidelity Procure to Pay (P2P) stream and undertake the
implementation of Oracle’s Fusion Procurement Cloud Service replacing JD Edwards (JDE) and
Oracle’s E-Business Suite. Responsibilities included: -
Ashfield Healthcare
Future Fit Finance Programme (July 2016 – January 2018)
Role – Oracle Fusion P2P Consultant
Ashfield is one of the leading US-based healthcare services organizations and is part of the sales,
marketing and medical services division of United Drug PLC. Here I was part of the Procure to Pay team
performing a global rollout and green field implementation of the Oracle Fusion Procurement Cloud
Service. Responsibilities included: -
The Royal Bank of Scotland is a retail bank that together with NatWest and Ulster Bank provides
banking facilities throughout the UK and Ireland. Here I worked in the UK Design and Configuration
team as part of their Ledger Transformation Programme. This involved migrating the bank from their
legacy platform to a core set of Oracle technologies comprised of: -
❑ Working with a multiplicity of teams both on and offshore to ensure the solution met the user
requirements whilst complying with RBS standards
❑ Business Process Analysis and Design
❑ Production Review and Communication of Use Cases that satisfied Business Requirements
❑ Gap Analysis
❑ Functional Requirement Specification preparation
❑ Data Migration and Cutover
Technip
Oracle R12 Upgrade (September 2014 – January 2015)
Role – Data Migration Technical Solutions Architect for Inoapps
Technip is a world leader in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry.
Technip UK, Norway and Offshore Marine services performed an upgrade from Oracle R12.1.3 to
Oracle R12.2.4, as part of this upgrade data had to be migrated between these two environments
across the Projects, Supply Chain, Financials and HR Streams
Responsibilities included: -
Avery Dennison
Oracle R12 Finance ONE (F1) Transformation Project (October 2013 – July 2014)
Role – Oracle Financials Functional Consultant
Avery Dennison is a global leader in labeling and packaging materials and solutions. The F1 programme
aims to rollout a new suite of Oracle based technologies to support key finance functions in 14
European countries following an implementation in North America. Here I worked in the Record to
Report (R2R) tower as the business lead for Fixed Assets and Project Costing during the Product Test
and Integration Test Cycles of the implementation. Responsibilities included: -
❑ Design – working with business subject matter experts (SME’s) and the Accenture
implementation consultants to ensure the system was designed in accordance with business
requirements and was closely aligned to the initial North American implementation.
❑ Configuration – environment configuration and documentation
❑ Testing – preparation and execution of test scripts as well as defect management
❑ Training – preparation of training material and training Key Users
❑ Data Migration – ensuring data was appropriately extracted from legacy systems and then
translated, loaded and reconciled in the associated Oracle modules.
After the integration test cycles I transitioned to the Change Management team to become Training
Lead for the User Acceptance (UAT), Transition, Production and Post Go Live support phases of the
project. Here I was responsible for delivering training using a variety mediums to the Core Finance,
iExpense and Ariba user community of +1,000 users. Responsibilities included:
❑ Design – designing training materials for the Invoice to Cash (I2C), Procure to Pay (P2P) and
Record to Report (R2R) Organisation “Towers” in accordance with the solution being delivered
across the Organisation
❑ Build – building training materials using a variety of mediums, in particular User Productivity Kit
(UPK)
❑ Delivery – delivery of training material using a variety of mediums such as classroom training,
Web Conferencing, and online portals
❑ Reporting – reporting on training attendance and assessments at Board level by producing
metrics using various Google technologies
References: Huib van Gijn (Director and Record to Report Tower Leader – Finance Transformation),
Katherina Greene (Change Management Lead), Saine O’Doherty (Senior Director)
Doosan is a leading provider of cleaner, greener technology, products and services for power
generation: from turnkey steam power-plant projects to boilers, turbines, nuclear and wind power. A
strategic initiative to rationalise and improve the efficiency of global operations led to the Process
Improvement (PI) ERP programme which largely entailed the implementation of Oracle R12 E-Business
suite and various supporting systems. Here I was the business Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the
Oracle E-Business Tax, Treasury and Cash Management Modules having joined the project at
Conference Room Pilot (CRP) Stage. I also worked closely with other SME’s to help implement a
custom set of forms and reports as part of a Project Forecasting module which integrated with Project
Costing and Billing.
Responsibilities included: -
❑ Liaising directly with stakeholders across a diverse range of business and technology functions
❑ Reviewing and approving detailed Solution Design Documents, and verifying that they provide
the required clarity and explanation of the solutions to requirements
❑ Reviewing and approving functional specifications for data migrations, reporting & analyses,
systems integrations, and customisations to standard packaged software and verifying that
they provide the required clarity and explanation of the solutions to requirements
❑ Working with the Infosys team (Implementing Partner) to translate the Business Requirement
documents into Functional and System documentation and ensure most efficient use is made
of standard Oracle functionality
❑ Working with Infosys to ensuring the most efficient solution was identified where bespoke
functionality was required
❑ Acting as a bridge between the Doosan business team and the Infosys team
❑ Assisting with the development and execution of testing scenarios for Conference Room Pilot
(CRP), System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
❑ Reviewing and approving e-learning and classroom based training material
❑ Working with the data migration team to ensure that Project Costing and Billing data was
appropriately validated and migrated for Go Live
❑ Post Go Live Support
Leading the analysis, design and build of Procure to Pay (P2P) and Data Migration solutions for Cost
Management. This involved: -
❑ Working with the onshore functional design teams and business users to understand
requirements and ensure solutions were designed and built within tight time scales
❑ Preparation and planning for System Testing, System Integration Testing (SIT) and User
Acceptance Testing (UAT)
❑ Managing offshore development and subsequent deployments of code to environments
❑ Structuring Roles and Responsibilities around the solution design
❑ Documenting the solution design and build using Oracle Unified Methodology (OUM) and
Internal Banking Methodologies
❑ Providing technical expertise to the Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration Team as part of the
delivery of an Enterprise 2.0 Portal for Balfour Beatty Workplace using Oracle Fusion
Middleware (SOA Suite).
❑ Working with the Front Office Process Lead to establish the requirements and business case
for the implementation of a Group Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system which
included the assessment of potential software vendors and platform hosting options - this role
also included sitting on the Group CRM Design Council to provide technical expertise for
divisions implementing CRM on Demand.
❑ Reporting into the Group Enterprise Architect and advising on the technical aspects of an
Oracle Fusion Middleware implementation which encompassed a number of projects, namely:
o Group People Finder – developed using Oracle Universal Content Manager and the
Oracle Identity Management Suite
o Development of Group Technical Standards
o Utilisation of The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) for architectural
model and design.
o Designing and implementing an Enterprise Technology Framework and Roadmap for
all Operating Companies within the Balfour Beatty Group
❑ Reporting into the Group ERP Director and developing various business cases related to the
rollout of Oracle E-Business Suite R12 within the group.
References: Michael Austin (Head of Strategy and Architecture), Tim Waldram (Knowledge Sharing &
Collaboration Transition Manager), Mike Fox (Programme Director – Applications and Technology).
EarthTech – Oracle E-Business Suite Financials, Project and HR Implementation (May 2008 –
April 2009)
Role – Lead Financials and Purchasing Consultant
EarthTech, a member of the TYCO group of companies, is a leading provider of environmental, earth
sciences, waste management and geotechnical engineering services. They commenced the
implementation of Oracle E-Business suite for 500 users in 2007 and went live in April 2008. I joined the
implementation team shortly after go live and was responsible for undertaking the following activities: -
References: David Withers (Finance Director), Martin Crowe (Oracle Project Manager), Dave
Solesbury (European IT Director).
Thales is a world leader in Mission-critical information systems for the Aerospace, Defence and Security
markets. Here I was a Principal Consultant with the Thales Enterprise Services Oracle Applications
Consulting Practice in the UK. I was in charge of the Financial Systems and Projects Group of
consultants, with responsibility for design, build and continuous improvement of processes within the
Thales Group and implementation of mission critical systems, including a Shared Services environment
for Procure to Pay (P2P). My responsibility included looking after the Continuing Professional
Development Programme for UK Financials staff and the maintenance of the quality of professional
input to the Support Group who provide support services to customers in all market segments.
Thales Enterprise Services Solutions Architecture Team – (July 2007 – November 2007)
Role – Solutions Architect
In addition to my Oracle role of leading the Oracle Financials team and implementing and project
managing Oracle implementations I also worked extensively with the Solutions Architecture team to
develop bid responses to a number of internal and external Requests for Proposal (RFP) as well as
develop organisational IT strategies.
Here I was responsible for developing an IT strategy for Working Links, a company that helps long term
unemployed and disadvantaged people back to work. My strategy was designed to meet the following
requirements outlined by working links management
❑ Provide tactical and strategic input under the direction of Working Links IT Director towards
Working Links current and future business applications.
❑ Identify how to exploit the current systems and more importantly given the forward agenda
determine what is needed to support the business for the future.
Military Training Services (MTS) - Upgrade from 10.7 to 11i (November 2006 – March 2007)
Role – Project Manager
As project manager for this upgrade I oversaw the upgrade of the existing R10.7 of Oracle to release
11i. Key activities included planning the project, managing the communications between functional,
technical consultants and business users, tracking and reporting on each phase of the project.
This project involved performing a Gap Analysis for Thales Communications against the Thales CORE
model to determine the businesses suitability and readiness for rollout. Key deliverables I produced for
this activity were a formal gap analysis document providing a comprehensive applications architecture
covering all business requirements, including a process flow diagram explaining the future enterprise
information model. I also developed a high level implementation plan and rollout strategy based on the
findings of the Gap Analysis study.
Thales Airborne Systems – First implementation of the Thales Oracle E-Business Suite CORE model
(October 2005 – April 2006)
Role – Lead Financials Consultant
This was the first implementation of the Thales CORE model, designed to be rolled out throughout the
Thales Group. Here I was Lead Financials Consultant responsible for managing a team of consultants
implementing the financials modules of Oracle E-Business suite. Apart from managing the consultants I
was also involved in hands on work within the General Ledger module, particularly in the area of
designing and building management reports. I was also responsible for liaising with management and
the various consultants to establish how the project was planned and coordinated.
Thales Information Services – Migration from Sun Accounts to Oracle E-Business Suite (April 2005 –
July 2005)
Role – Lead Financials Consultant
This was a fast track implementation which involved migrating the Thales Services organisation from
Sun Accounts onto an already existing environment. This meant a very short design phase and a quick
build. I was responsible for the configuration, testing and build of all the financials modules (AP, AR, CE,
and GL) and assisted in the Oracle Projects setup.
Thales Naval – AorTHA Oracle E-Business Suite Projects and Financials Implementation (November
2004 – March 2005)
Role – Lead Financials Consultant
Thales in the Netherlands designs and builds Naval Defence Systems. On this project I was the lead
Financials Consultant responsible for the implementation of the core financials modules alongside a
complex Oracle Projects implementation. I was involved during the Build, Transition, Production and
post implementation support phases of the project. My skills were used to meet the client’s requirements
for complex tax, intercompany and multi-currency transactions as well as enhanced reporting
requirements as a result of newly introduced International Financials Reporting Standards (IFRS).
RPC Data Limited (An Oracle Certified Advantage partner located in Botswana)
(April 2001 – August 2004)
Position: Senior Oracle Applications Consultant
RPC Data Limited is an Oracle Certified Advantage partner located in Botswana. My role was primarily
project managing and implementing Oracle Financials as well as the implementation and support of
Oracle Financial Analyzer and Oracle Public Sector Budgeting. A summary of clients, modules
implemented and work carried out is contained below: -
The Government of Botswana has embarked on the implementation of a Government Accounting and
Budgeting System (GABS). My role on this project was to design and build the Oracle Public Sector
Budgeting module for the Government of Botswana. This involved identifying user requirements,
mapping the Oracle solution to these requirements and then finally building the system. The core
modules used in performing the activities mentioned were Oracle Public Sector Budgeting, Oracle
Public Sector Financials (International) and Oracle General Ledger.
The Government of Uganda was implementing Oracle Public Sector Budgeting for 6 ministries and 4
local governments as part of an initiative to implement an Integrated Financial Management System
(IFMS). My role on the project was to configure a training system that aligned to the customers business
and functional requirements, prepare training materials and subsequently train super users on the
following modules: -
Botswana Meat Commission Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA) Implementation (September 2002)
Role – Functional Expert for OFA implementation
Botswana Meat Corporation is involved in the slaughter of cattle and processing of the meat which is
then sold both locally and internationally. Here I was involved in the setup and implementation of Oracle
Financial Analyzer for the production of analytical reports for management. The setup was performed on
top of an instance of Oracle 11 and the information was extracted using the OFA GL Link.
National Development Bank Oracle Financials Implementation (October 2001 – November 2002)
Role – Team Leader / Project Manager
National Development Bank is a local bank which provides loans to the business Community in
Botswana. The project involved the implementation of Oracle Financials and it’s interfacing to the
Bankmaster system which housed all the loans. I lead the implementation team and setup a number of
financials modules as well as the property manager module. I also used Oracle Discoverer and
implemented Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI) and Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA) with the web
interface. I gained an intimate knowledge of how to set up the OFA GL Link as the client used OFA for
financial statements, management reports and budgeting. My use of Oracle Applications Implementation
Methodology (AIM) significantly enhanced the project management and documentation process.
Vista is one of the two cellular operators in Botswana and at the time was a subsidiary of France
Telecom which eventually became Orange. The project involved the implementation of Oracle
Financials and it’s interfacing to the BSCS billing system. I project managed the implementation and set
up most of the financials modules. I was also involved in the setup of Oracle Financial Analyzer for
providing management reports. During the implementation I also became familiar with the use of Oracle
Discoverer and Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI). Oracle Applications Implementation Methodology
(AIM) was also used to manage the project through the different phases.
In February 1998 I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Senior Consultant. Here I was trained in BaaN
financials and Hyperion and subsequently implemented for a number of blue chip companies. A
summary of clients, modules implemented and work carried out is contained below: -
Here I was involved in the analysis and design phases of an E-Procurement Initiative for the Anglo
American Group worldwide. The analysis phase involved designing a questionnaire which would provide
appropriate information on the technology infrastructure. Once the questionnaire was received this
information was then consolidated and reported on. The design phase involved making various
recommendations as to which hardware, software and network infrastructure needed to be set up as
well as costing the various implementation options available to the client.
Zimbabwe Newspapers is responsible for the manufacture and distribution of one of the local
newspapers in Zimbabwe. I was involved in implementing and providing support for the Financial
Statements and Dynamic Enterprise Modelling modules. I performed various Technical Functions (e.g.
uploading of master data into the BaaN system) and also assisted in analysing and rectifying integration
problems with sales and purchasing.
Here I was involved in fixing a number of problems that had occurred during the initial implementation
performed by a different consulting group. I was involved in checking and correcting integration
problems with purchasing and sales and the preparation of financial statements. I also implemented
electronic banking and the cash management module. Lastly, I performed various reconciliations and
fixed problems which were pointed out by these reconciliations.
Here I was involved in auditing the BaaN system after it had been implemented by a separate group of
consultants. This involved analysing various balances, checking the integration and reconciliations and
reporting back to management on my findings.
Anglo American is a large conglomerate with interests in agriculture and mining. I was responsible for
implementing the financials modules of Baan as well as Dynamic Enterprise Modelling (Process Flows).
Target Enterprise, BaaN’s project management tool was also used to manage the project. I also setup
the Hyperion interface with BaaN using Ledger Link and developed a number of management reports
using Hyperion. As financials project manager I was responsible for liasing with senior management and
reporting back to management in regular project meetings.
TA Holdings is a large conglomerate with interests in Hotels (Cresta Group), Insurance (Zimnat) and
Baking (Aroma Bakeries). I was responsible for implementing BaaN financials as well as Dynamic
Enterprise Modelling (Process Flows) at the groups’ Head Office. Of particular interest was the
consolidation of monthly results for 26 companies. I used my previous experience in designing
consolidation solutions to help develop a template in Excel which was loaded up into BaaN to
amalgamate the results of these companies.
In July 1995 I moved to the Business Development Services division of Deloitte and Touche, where I
was involved in a joint project with Deloitte and Touche and Delta Corporation Limited (a large
conglomerate in Zimbabwe). The project involved the development of an Executive information system
(EIS) for Delta Head Office and its thirteen divisions. The EIS was primarily used for consolidation and
reporting on the group results. The project required extensive training in Microsoft products, which were
being used in the design of the EIS. The position also involved liasing with senior management and
executives at Head Office and at divisional level, as well as regular formal project management team
meetings.
Whilst at Deloitte and Touche I was involved in a wide range audits from a variety of industries. The
accounting and auditing experience gained during these years has provided me with the business skills
needed to implement enterprise systems.
EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS
Tertiary
Other