What Happens in an Upgrade?

The basic tasks for an upgrade are as follows:

1) the DBA lays down a Release 11i filesystem (the programs),

2) the upgrade team performa a series of pre-upgrade steps to prepare the data for upgrade,

3) the DBA runs the AutoUpgrade program to transform the database into the Release 11i structure (the tables and other database objects),

4) the upgrade team perform a series of post-upgrade steps and set up new functionality

For comparison, a re-implementation follows a slightly different process:

1) the DBA performs an install of the Release 11i software (programs and database)

2) the re-implementation team set up each of the applications as per the previous setup with any required modifications including new features

3) the re-implementation team convert required data from the old database and pull it in to the new.

The key advantages of the upgrade approach are that it is often cheaper as involves significantly less work from the functional team for setting up the applications, and in general all the data comes across as part of the upgrade so there is no data conversion effort. An upgrade does, however, require significant effort from an experienced DBA and is more technically challenging, being susceptible to more technical problems.

The re-implementation involves significant effort both in applications configuration and in data migration. If business process re-engineering and/or significant setup changes are also being implemented then the effort from the business in increased. Technically, however, the risk is lower which can be a mitigating factor for very high-risk upgrades.Several factors can tilt the scales towards one or the other alternative when planning your move to Release 11i. These include:

Multiple Set of Books Architecture (MSOBA)

Multiple Set of Books Architecture (MSOBA) refers to multiple installs of subsidiary ledger products such as AP, AR & PO, rather than to multiple sets of books defined in General Ledger. If you currently use MSOBA there are three main ways to get to release 11i:

• Upgrade as is. Whilst MSOBA is still technically supported in Release 11i, the upgrade scripts (AutoUpgrade) were not written with MSOBA in mind and as such will need to be altered by a very experienced DBA with guidance from OWWS.

• Convert to Multi-Org prior to upgrading to release 11i. This involves picking one ‘primary’ set of books and disabling all the others. This means that no history will be available for any of the other subsidiary ledgers (eg. AP2, PO2, AP3, AR2, etc) unless a conversion effort is undertaken. All history will still be available in General Ledger as it is not affected by the MSOBA architecture.

• Re-Implement in Release 11i. Since most companies prefer to keep at least some history from the subsidiary ledgers (open invoices, for example), depending on the volume of data it is often more straightforward to re-implement on Release 11i. The additional work involved can often be reduced to conversion of GL and FA data – when your project team has done this before they already have the scripts available to convert the data, significantly reducing conversion development time.

Dual Currency conversion to Multiple Reporting Currencies (MRC)

Dual Currency in General Ledger is functionality which enables businesses to translate your account balances from your functional currency to a reporting currency using weighted-average rates as well as standard translation rates (period-end, average and historical rates). Using Dual Currency under both the Journal Method and Reporting Method results in a reporting set of books. This set of books structure can be adapted to service the Multiple Reporting Currencies (MRC) setup if required.

The big differences between Dual Currency and MRC for those considering the move are:

• Dual currency uses a weighted average rate, MRC uses the daily rates

• With MRC the reporting set of books contains current balances at any time during the month since conversion to the reporting currency is done at the time journals are posted. With Dual Currency conversion occurs at the end of month so reporting currency balances are not representative on a ‘live’ basis.

• Dual currency occurs only within the General Ledger, MRC extends to subsidiary ledgers. For example with MRC Payables transfers to General Ledger twice – once in the primary set of books and once in the reporting set of books.

Restructuring your Chart of Accounts

Often where the business has changed significantly since implementation or where several different businesses are being amalgamated into one Oracle Applications database the business need arises to restructure the Oracle Chart of Accounts. Depending on the degree of change this may be best handled within your current Oracle environment or by re-implementing into a new one.