The Evolution of Oracle Forms Survey: Results are In!

Back in January, we conducted an “Evolution of Oracle Forms” customer survey. The aim of this poll was to determine the current needs and trends of  the Forms community in terms of features, content, and how you’re looking to move forward. The survey also asked about what technologies you have begun to integrate with or new platforms you are deploying to. Especially exciting was having Oracle Forms Product Manager, Michael Ferrante, on board to help us conduct the survey.

With almost 400 responses, the results of the survey helped give us great insight into how Forms’ users are evolving. The responses inspired me to get more involved by conducting a webinar with Michael Ferrante at the end of April to further discuss how Forms is changing and where it’s going. Together he and I examined the survey results and gave a sneak peak into the new Forms features that will be offered in the future version. If you would like to watch the full Evolution Webinar please email us at info@old.auraplayer.com for a copy.

The Results

What Version of Forms are You Running?

Client Server 4.5 – 2.56%

Client Server 6 – 17.61%

Web Oracle Forms 6i – 14.49%

Web Oracle Forms 9i – 5.40%

Oracle Forms 10g – 49.72%

Oracle Forms 11g – 54.83%

To begin our survey we started with the basics, what versions are our community running. What was interesting to see was the statistic that almost 50% of respondents are running Oracle Forms 10g. This was surprising because upgrading from 10g to 11g is such a relatively simple migration as it is usually just a quick recompile. The main issue with this migration is the appearance of a new infrastructure based on Weblogic. The fact is we consider it a huge benefit because you get better performance and stability as a result. This statistic was very upsetting to Michael because if people don’t upgrade to the newer versions it’s will be very hard for him to justify continuing to create them.  If anyone needs guidance to start the upgrade process we would be happy to help, feel free to contact me a support@old.auraplayer.com or comment below. Also if anyone can think of any reason why so many customers have not yet made the jump to 11g yet let us know by commenting below.

What Other Technologies are You Using?

APEX – 37.50%

ADF – 26.42%

.Net – 26.99%

Java/J2EE/Eclipse – 49.15%

Webservices – 40.91%

Mobile Development – 25.28%

Something that was interesting to learn about the other technologies being used by Forms shops is how many people are using Java and Webservices. Often when I speak to Forms customers I hear that APEX is their future development environment of choice. But I was pleasantly surprised to see Java and Webservices making their mark. I was also saddened to see how low a percent are using ADF from Forms, this was a bit upsetting to see that users do not seem to be adopting the newest Oracle development technology so quickly. Again if anyone has any ideas as to why I’d be happy to hear them in your comments below.

What is the Future of Your Oracle Forms System?

Don’t Have One – 16.76%

Upgrading/Modernizing the UI – 46.31%

Integration with New Systems Developed – 32.39%

Migration to APEX – 16.19%

Migration to ADF/Java – 30.40%

Migration to .Net – 5.68%

Mobile/Cloud – 10.80%

The most interesting thing about the responses to this question was that 17% of respondents don’t have a modernization strategy for their Forms system yet. I feel like Michael and I have been talking your ears off about modernizing Forms, but I guess many of you are still undecided. We would be happy to hear topics you feel we should cover in our future presentations/Webinars that would be helpful to make your decisions easier. Or I f anyone feels they’d like to have a personal discussion about their Oracle Forms challenges we’d be happy to help, just let us know.  

Also surprising was that it doesn’t seem like a lot of people are doing migrations. What we are seeing is quite a large percentage of people upgrading and modernizing their existing systems by integrating with newer systems. I was happy to see users are really following the strategy of protecting their existing investments by updating.

Oracle Forms New Feature Wish List

New Features in the Builder – 59.66%

Mobile Support – 55.68%

Webservice Deployment – 46.02%

New Runtime Features – 45.74%

Cloning – 11.36%

Improved Diagnostics/Monitoring Features – 37.78%

New Installation Options – 23.58%

Cloud Support – 27.84%

What was great to see with this question is that so many respondents would like to see Mobility as a new feature for Oracle Forms, almost 66%! It’s exciting to us at AuraPlayer to see that so many people looking for Mobile and Cloud support since this is the solution we have created. We were happy to see validation for our strategy and to hear that there is a demand for our offering. 

Another great thing to see was how high the demand is for new features in the builder. It really shows that users want a future with Forms including furthering developing the tool. This gives us hope that the Forms product will continue to be used as it is developed and that people won’t be migrating away any time soon. Or is it wishful thinking? 

We’d be really happy to hear your thoughts on the results share with us below