UTOUG Training Days 2025: Full Schedule

9:30am MDT

What You Missed at CloudWorld 2024 & Leveraging AI

Monday March 24, 2025 9:30am - 10:15am MDT

A keynote by Larry Ellison highlighted why four clouds are key to Multi-Cloud Databases, while Safra Catz emphasized Oracle's commitment to customers. Andy Mendelsohn unveiled new 23ai features and AI-enhanced SQL, Juan Loaza introduced the Oracle Vector Database and the new Oracle GenDev environment for AI development, and Steve Miranda discussed over 100 AI features in Oracle Applications. My session will integrate key insights from these discussions, focusing on practical AI applications.

Speakers

Rich Niemiec

Chief Innovation Officer, Viscosity North America

Rich Niemiec is the current chief innovation officer of Viscosity North America. A world-renowned IT and data expert, he co-founded and served as CEO of TUSC, a Chicago-based systems integrator of business solutions founded in 1988. Rich is inducted into both the Chicago and E&Y National... Read More →

Monday March 24, 2025 9:30am - 10:15am MDT
Room 209

Development, Data (not database)

10:30am MDT

The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Database Changes Using Oracle SQLcl & Liquibase

Monday March 24, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am MDT

Room 209

Almost all developers and DBAs are familiar with Oracle's SQL Developer and SQL Command Line (SQLcl) tools—but did you know SQLcl includes an Oracle-customized version of Liquibase?
What is Liquibase, and why should you use it for schema changes? How should it fit into a developer's or DBA's daily work? Is it only required as part of a CI/CD pipeline? And how do you get started with this Oracle-specific version of Liquibase?
This session serves as the ultimate beginner's guide to managing database schema changes with SQLcl and Liquibase. It features conceptual explanations in simple, easy-to-understand terms, along with live demos.

Speakers

Simon Pane

Principal Consultant, Pythian

Simon is an Oracle ACE Pro and Oracle Certified Professional with extensive experience presenting at major Oracle and PostgreSQL conferences, including Oracle CloudWorld. He has won multiple speaking and writing awards, including the UKOUG Best New Overseas Speaker in 2016. A former... Read More →

Monday March 24, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am MDT
Room 209

Development, Infrastructure (including database)

1:15pm MDT

Developing Your First AI Chatbot with GenAI

Monday March 24, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm MDT

Room 209

With the rapid growth of generative AI tools over the past two years, creating an AI chatbot has become easier than ever. This presentation explores how AI chatbots differ from rule-based and intent-based models, highlighting their benefits, effectiveness, and emerging risks. It also includes a live, step-by-step demo on developing an AI chatbot and comparing backend services such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and OCI Generative AI.

Speakers

Ahmed Aboulnaga

Director, REI Systems

Ahmed Aboulnaga specializes in technical management, architecture, and consulting, with a focus on Oracle, Java, and cloud technologies. Over the course of his 20-year career, he has delivered enterprise solutions for commercial, government, and global clients. An Oracle ACE and published... Read More →

Monday March 24, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm MDT
Room 209

Development, Beyond Oracle

2:15pm MDT

PLSQL Hidden Features for Devs & DBAs

Monday March 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm MDT

Room 209

"Every problem is a database problem until the DBA proves otherwise."
Learn how to use PL/SQL's lesser-known or rarely used features to understand, debug, trace, log, document, and speed up your code. Discover how DBAs can guide and assist developers in mastering these techniques.

Speakers

Matheus Boesing

Database Consultant, Aggrandize

A frequent speaker in the Oracle community across Latin America and Europe, Matheus is a computer scientist from PUCRS with 15 years of experience as an Oracle DBA. He is an Oracle Instructor and serves as a professor for the databases in cloud postgraduate program in Brazil. Matheus... Read More →

Monday March 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm MDT
Room 209

Development, Infrastructure (including database)

3:15pm MDT

A Fishy Business, Secured: A Real Implementation of RAS in APEX

Monday March 24, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm MDT

Room 209

"How much time and resources could you save by implementing security rules just once?

Learn about the challenges faced and lessons learned from a real-world implementation of Real Application Security (RAS) in APEX at a large, multi-government fisheries agency. While RAS often gets a bad rap for being too complex or tricky, it effectively addressed the costly problem of enforcing complex security rules across multiple schemas, roles, applications, and connection methods.

In this session, we’ll share our experience with a complex instance involving hundreds of end users, each governed by intricate rules and access rights. You’ll learn how to:
- Deploy RAS security policies to restrict access to sensitive data
- Differentiate users connecting indirectly via APEX or directly via SQLcl or SQL Developer
- Properly enable RAS in APEX

Join us to explore whether RAS is the right solution to secure your business."

Speakers

Karen Cannell

CTHO, TH Technology

Karen Cannell is the CTHO of TH Technology, a U.S.-based consulting firm specializing in Oracle technology solutions, particularly APEX. With more than 30 years of IT experience, she has served the government, engineering, healthcare, and fisheries industries. Karen is an Oracle ACE... Read More →

Monday March 24, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm MDT
Room 209

Development, Infrastructure (including database)

9:15am MDT

Application Performance Tuning Forum

Tuesday March 25, 2025 9:15am - 10:00am MDT

Room 209

Have you ever wished you could bring together four or five experts from different disciplines in one room to hear their top tips for application performance tuning and ask them questions? Since application performance depends on the collaboration of roles like DBA, developer, designer, and architect, you'd want to hear from representatives of each. You’d also want insights into techniques applicable to various technologies, as well as those specific to one technology.

You’ve found the right session to fulfill that wish. This session combines a series of lightning talks from well-known experts with a Q&A, where you can ask questions or share a tip you’ve found useful. Check out the panelists' biographies to get a sense of their expertise.

See you there!

Speakers

Peter Koletzke

Technical Director and Principal Instructor, Independent

Peter Koletzke is an Oracle ACE Director with over 39 years of experience in the IT industry. He has presented at more than 410 Oracle technology conferences worldwide and received over a dozen user group awards from ODTUG, NYOUG, UTOUG, and ECO/SEOUC. Koletzke is an Oracle Certified... Read More →

Tuesday March 25, 2025 9:15am - 10:00am MDT
Room 209

Development

10:15am MDT

How to Get Rid of Materialized Views Using Hashing in ELT/ETL

Tuesday March 25, 2025 10:15am - 11:00am MDT

Room 209

Materialized views are a robust Oracle Database feature, but they have some drawbacks. When we refresh the data and an incremental refresh (force refresh) doesn’t work, we need to fully reload the materialized view. While it’s refreshing, the data is inaccessible to business users. If it fails, we must rerun it, leaving the data inaccessible. Sometimes, the process simply takes longer than expected.

What if we need to refresh the data several times a day? What if the materialized view sources data from OLTP tables, and we can’t create additional load on the OLTP system?

Two main aspects must be considered: the source of the materialized view and the data refresh method.
We assume a staging area exists where all necessary tables are replicated, providing near real-time data.
We plan to demonstrate how a materialized view can be refactored into a combination of a view, table, and procedure (or mapping). By using a hash function, we can update data incrementally instead of performing a full load. This approach makes the process faster and ensures business users have continuous access to the data. It also enables more frequent refreshes, even approaching real-time updates.

Additionally, if this materialized view serves as a source for third-party systems, it can include attributes for further change data capture (CDC).

This approach reduces data outage time, protects against incidents, and enables close-to-real-time data for end users.

Speakers

Konstantin Zhernevskiy

Senior DWH Architect, Data Intensity

Konstantin is a senior DWH architect at Data Intensity with over 20 years of experience in the Oracle technology stack. For the past 10 years, he has focused on delivering data marts, data warehouses, and analytical reporting applications. His expertise includes AI, machine learning... Read More →

Tuesday March 25, 2025 10:15am - 11:00am MDT
Room 209

Development, Infrastructure (including database)

11:15am MDT

Oracle Generative AI & Vector Database with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

Tuesday March 25, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm MDT

Room 209

Learn how to leverage AI and machine learning (ML) by understanding their potential in your applications and products. This session will cover algorithms and their uses with Oracle’s Vector Database and Vector Search, along with Large Language Models (LLMs) like Cohere, Llama, and ChatGPT. We’ll explore how these models can help drive success through Oracle’s products and teach you how to integrate AI/ML into your company’s tech plan for innovation or security. This session is accessible for non-experts.

Speakers

Rich Niemiec

Chief Innovation Officer, Viscosity North America

Tuesday March 25, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm MDT
Room 209

Development, Data (not database)

1:30pm MDT

SQL Puzzles

Tuesday March 25, 2025 1:30pm - 2:15pm MDT

Room 209

Join me on a journey to explore the SQL challenges I’ve faced over the years. We’ll walk through real-world technical problems and write SQL together to solve them. Takeaways will include:
- A deeper understanding of core SQL concepts
- Improved query optimization skills
- Creative problem-solving (training your brain to approach data problems from different angles)

Speakers

Brandon Mason

Manager of Database Administration, America First Credit Union

Like many DBAs, Brandon graduated in human resource management and started his career in an HR office. While that work didn’t enhance his technical skills, it helped him develop the ability to work effectively with the people who manage systems. Brandon has been an Oracle DBA for... Read More →

Tuesday March 25, 2025 1:30pm - 2:15pm MDT
Room 209

Development, Intrastructure (including database)

UTOUG Training Days 2025

From $50.00