Oracle ERP Functional Consultant interview questions

I've been an Oracle ERP functional consultant for nine years, the last four on Oracle Fusion/Cloud and the earlier years on EBS R12. Implementations include a financials rollout for an Omani trading group (GL, AP, AR, Cash Management), a procurement and inventory implementation for a Sohar-based manufacturer, and most recently I led the Fusion HCM implementation for a 1,200-employee retailer. Oracle Certified Implementation Specialist in Financials Cloud. I'm comfortable across financials, procurement, and HCM, with deeper specialism on the financials side.

Three phases. Discovery: workshops with each function (finance, procurement, HR) to understand current process, pain points, and must-haves vs nice-to-haves. I run these in 90-minute focused sessions, not all-day talks. Solution design: map each requirement to standard Fusion functionality, identify gaps, and document configuration vs customisation decisions. Sign-off: I create a 'configuration workbook' for each module that the customer signs off on before build. This single artefact prevents 80% of scope arguments later. The customer feels heard because they were part of the design; I'm protected because everything's documented.

Start with scope: what to migrate (typically masters, open transactions, historical for reporting). Then approach: use Oracle's FBDI templates for bulk loading, never manual data entry for production. Build the migration in stages with reconciliation at each: customer/supplier masters, then open items, then balances. Test in multiple environments: a clean test instance, a UAT instance with real data subset, and a dress-rehearsal instance with full production data 4 weeks before go-live. Reconciliation reports between legacy and Fusion are non-negotiable. The single biggest cause of go-live trouble is shortcutting data migration testing.

Sub-ledgers first, then GL. Sequence: close AP (accruals run, supplier statements reconciled, AP-to-GL trial balance ties), close AR (invoices reviewed, receipts applied, AR-to-GL ties), close Cash Management (bank statements reconciled), close FA (depreciation run, asset additions/disposals posted), close Inventory (period-end valuation). Then GL: post all sub-ledger journals, run consolidation if multi-entity, run financial reports, review variances, lock the period. Throughout, the close calendar drives accountability: each task has an owner and a due date. I treat the close like a project; daily standups during close week, escalations clear.

Resistance is usually fear or frustration, not opposition. Fear of being measured by a new system, frustration with extra effort during training and parallel running. My approach: identify the influencers in each team early and invest in them; if the senior accountant trusts the new system, the team will follow. Communicate honestly about what will be harder (parallel running is grim) and what will be better (reporting in seconds vs hours). Provide office-hours support for the first month post go-live; nothing erodes confidence like a question with no answer. End-users adopt when they trust the change is real, not just announced.

For an Oracle Fusion functional consultant role in Oman I'd target OMR 1,800 to 2,300 total package depending on the seniority of the role and project mix. Consulting work often has variable bonus on top tied to utilisation and customer feedback; I'd be happy with a 70/30 base-to-bonus structure if the bonus is achievable. I'm on 60 days' notice. Beyond pay I'd value the project portfolio; a great Fusion project with a recognised end-customer adds more to my career than a higher-paid role on legacy EBS support work.