Normally people start their journey from a software engineer in Information Technology. We all are aware of few fields of IT like testing engineer, data analyst, software engineer, web designer, coder etc. But in information-technology, we have an ocean of different kind of professions.  In IT sectors administration plays an important role in business. without an administrator, IT projects can not reach to its peak point. “DBA stands for the Database Administrator”. DBA is a backbone of the entire project of any business. When we talk about DBA profile all kind of the center of attraction goes about lots of responsibilities. DBA works 24/7 for the organization to manage the world’s hustle-bustle. Previous cyber attack(Ransomware) on the world destroyed the whole systems for one-second and word became an impediment. With the help of DBA’s team business become ready for run-of-the-mill. We have a different kind of DBA in our technology world like Core DBA, RAC DBA, Oracle Apps DBA, System DBA, Database architect etc.

The importance of DBA in an Organization.

The position requires a broad spectrum of knowledge ranging from development to system administration and even management. Not only must a DBA know about backup, recovery, internal operations, memory, and security, but also how to communicate with both developers and management. A DBA could be giving a high-level presentation to management, helping a developer tune a query, provisioning disk space for a new system and restoring data from backup all within the same hour. These responsibilities require a wealth of knowledge with little overlap.

The consequences of failure are usually greater for a DBA than a developer. DBAs often support dozens, even hundreds of different applications and systems most of which are vital to the success of the company. A security breach, recovery failure, or performance problem could have far reached and devastating ramifications. This requires a level of knowledge and experience that can’t be gained in a short amount of time.

The better a DBA does their job the less visibility they have. A DBA with a database that is secure, recoverable, available, and performing well will lack recognition. DBAs get noticed when there are problems. Not only do they get noticed when their problems are self-inflicted, they also get blamed when the database has problems due to poor coding, improper network setup, or incorrectly configured storage.

 Oracle Apps DBA

Today we can not perform the business operation without ERP. ERP stands for “Enterprise resource planning”. Small scale or large scale business is incomplete without using ERP. There are over 130 Oracle Applications Modules offered with Oracle Applications and the Oracle Applications DBA must have an understanding of the functional and internal machinations of the Oracle Applications software.  For example, Oracle EBusiness Suite (Oracle Financials) applications DBA staff must understand the basic cost and financial accounting, especially in cases where they create reporting databases and assist in expanding the functionality for specialized accounting.  Many of these Oracle Financials DBA’s are certified public accountants (CPA).

An Oracle Applications DBA is peculiar from a regular Oracle database administrator and requires specialized skills in business administration and Oracle application server architectures.  The Oracle Applications DBA job role is less compartmentalized than a traditional Oracle DBA and the Oracle Applications DBA must also have skills in these areas:

• Database Design – Many shops require customized functional extensions and reporting data marts and the Oracle Applications DBA must have outstanding Database design skills.
• Oracle Application Server – The Oracle Applications DBA must understand the internals of the Oracle concurrent manager and understand how to monitor and tune Oracle Applications.
• Functional Expertise – Many shops require a business degree and a general understanding of the Oracle Applications module.  For example, accountants are widely used to support Oracle e-business Suite (Oracle Financials), and accountants with an IT background are easily trained in Oracle Applications DBA support.

Oracle Applications DBA background

Because most Oracle Applications databases support mission critical systems, a successful Oracle Applications DBA must have these skills:

• Marvelous conveyance Skills – Oracle Applications DBA’s must interface with the end-user community and they must have college-level communications skills, being able to communicate clearly, both orally and in written communications.
• Business Degree – Most successful Oracle Applications DBA staff have advanced degrees in business administration, almost all of AACSB accredited collegiate business schools.  Graduates of sub-optimal business schools will have very difficult time obtaining a job in Oracle Applications administration, and a firm understanding of business processes is essential to perform many of the duties of the Oracle Applications DBA job role.
• DBA skills – Most Oracle Applications DBA staff have at least five years of full-time progressive DBA experience, and they sometimes have Oracle certifications such as OCP and OCM. The Oracle Applications DBA must also have a good understanding of related technologies, especially Java (JDeveloper, J2EE, Apache) and Oracle Application Server.

Daily activities are performed by the “Oracle Apps DBA” is mention below:-

There are mainly 4 types of roles an Oracle Apps DBA have:

Type 1:  L1 Apps DBAs

L1 Apps DBAs mainly involve in help desk activities such as:

• Answering calls
• Logging/updating tickets
• Interacting with L2 Apps DBAs on tasks to be completed
• Monitoring alerts

Type 2:  L2 Apps DBAs

L2 Apps DBAs mainly work on daily/scheduled/ad-hoc activities such as:

• Code Migration Support to Functional Consultants
• Handling tickets raised by functional/technical/business users
• Handling Alerts raised by alert monitoring system from Database and applications
• Tablespace Reorg Activities to improve the performance/to reclaim the unused space
• Schema Reorg Activities to improve the performance
• Patch Analysis where there is a patch needs to be applied
• Patch Application as per schedule
• Cloning as per schedules
• Backups and issues related to them
• Query response time and other Performance Issues
• Work with Oracle Support by raising SRs on several issues
• Monitoring Standby Databases and resolve respective issues
• Regular database maintenance activities (tablespace management, datapump, purging logfiles……)
• Training L1 Apps DBAs to make them L2 Candidates.

L1 and L2 Apps DBAs are the main teams who will impact SLAs of a client

Type 3:  L3 Apps DBAs

L3 Apps DBAs mainly work on installation/setup related tasks such as:

• Work on issues which L2 couldn’t fix
• New Environments Build/Setups
• Designing Backup/Recovery policies
• Installing new Application environments
• Post-Installation Tasks of New environments
• Integrating E-Business Suite with other environments such as (SOA, OSB, OBIEE, OTM, IPM …)
• Work on integration issues
• Work on Cluster setups for both applications and databases
• Work on DMZ setups to E-Business Suite
• Work on Standby site setups for both applications and databases
• Interact with Network/OS teams on network setups and load balancer setups.
• Work on Parallel Concurrent Processing (PCP) Setups
• Failover capabilities testing of E-Business Suite and database
• Design Cloning strategies.
• Work on design related issues.
• Setting up E-Business Suite with Oracle Access Manager/OID to achieve Single Sign-On (SSO) Capabilities
• Training L2 team to make them L3 Candidates

Type 4:  Architects

Architects are the ones who design systems from scratch.  They mainly involve in:

• Attend Client Meetings to understand their expectations.
• Involve in Business User Meetings to understand their expectations.
• Design E-Business Suite Architecture with failover/failback capabilities.
• Design Clustering capabilities of E-Business Suite and databases.
• Design High availability of E-Business Suite and databases.
• Design hardware/capacity sizing.
• Helping L3 Team to achieve their targets and in understanding technologies.
• Conduct training sessions to the L3 team to get an understanding of system design.
• Fix any architectural related issues.
• Work on integration options of E-Business Suite with other environments such as (SOA, OSB, OBIEE, OTM, IPM …)

I hope this article is fruitful for you. Thank you for reading.