Siebel CRM has been developed under the assumption that customers will employ their own technicians or hire external consultants to install, configure, and manage the software. Documenting the necessary steps to do so and also providing information about the features of Siebel CRM has evolved into what is known today as the Siebel Bookshelf.
Oracle has made the entire Siebel documentation available on its web servers. We can access the documentation library for each version from Siebel 6 and above online or download it from the following Internet address: http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/siebel.html
As the bookshelf contains hundreds of megabytes of information in more than 100 individual guides, we can use the online search engine of our choice to locate the information we need.
The following screenshot shows search results for "Siebel Installation" on Oracle Technology Network:
Before we start downloading and installing Siebel CRM, we should ensure that we have read and digested the information given to us by the technical writers at Oracle. Below is a list of recommended Bookshelf guides for the ambitious newbie:
Deployment Planning Guide
Developing and Deploying Siebel Business Applications
Fundamentals
Going Live with Siebel Business Applications
Installation Guide (for your operating system)
Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration
System Administration Guide
Not every trick, bug, or workaround can be found in the official Siebel Bookshelf. While you read these lines somebody encounters a problem or explores some functionality within Siebel CRM. Many Siebel professionals use the Oracle Forums to post questions and findings. Experienced consultants pick up the posts and answer them so the community has a great place to search for information outside the official documentation.
We can access the Oracle Forums here: http://forums.oracle.com
Customers, partners, and employees of Oracle have access to the Oracle support system, which not only allows for creating service request but also to search the knowledge base of resolved service requests, bulletins, and other documents.
My Oracle Support is a centralized portal for all Oracle products and can be accessed via the URL http://support.oracle.com.
Various channels exist to share findings and knowledge on the Internet. Over the past few years, many IT professionals decided to create their own websites, weblogs, or twitter channels to distribute information on Siebel CRM.
A good starting point for our research into this vast amount of information might be Google's blog search: http://blogsearch.google.com.
The author's blog on Siebel CRM and Oracle Business Intelligence can be found at http://siebel-essentials.blogspot.com.