EBS R12

The OAUG Database SIG held a lively meeting at Collaborate 10 in Las Vegas. Steven Chan, Senior Director in Oracle's Applications Technology Group, spoke at length about the nuances of Oracle's Lifetime Support policy. You can (and should!) read the details about Lifetime Support at http://www.oracle.com/support/lifetime-support-policy.html.

Understanding just what is included with Extended Support and Sustaining Support, and at what price, is important for customers to understand. You can also sign up for My Oracle Support notifications to receive automatic emails when the LSDs (Lifetime Support Documents) change.

Steven explained that E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10 Premier Support lasts six years from November 2004. That means that at the end of November, 2010 - that's right, this year - Premium Support ends. To stay supported on Release 11.5.10 after that, you'll have to pay a premium on support costs to run in "Extended Support". Steven strongly recommended not running in production in Extended Support unless you really need to. He described Extended Support as a dangerous place to be.

And here's where the nuances come in. With Extended Support, you can still log a P1 problem - but there's no guarantee that the resolution will come quickly - it might take months. Even within Premium Support, Oracle supports only the current and previous database releases for 12 months after the current database has been released. That's a subtle point that could cause big issues for customers - if you are running RDBMS 10.2.0.4, you're supported for only 1 year now that 11gR2 is available. If you are running RDBMS 10.2.0.3, thinking you are supported based on what you read on the support page, you aren't - that support stopped in February, 2009. These policies override the E-Business Suite support agreements.

One technical issue brought up at the meeting concerned Sun JRE. Sun JRE is required on Windows desktops for users to access the Applications. Up until JRE 1.6.0_17, the software worked fine. However, Sun introduced changes that broke session management and ordering with JRE 1.6.0_18. The recommendation at the meeting was that if you were still on JRE 1.6.0_17, you should not apply versions 18, 19 or 20, because they all have significant issues for E-Business Suite users. With automatic updates on PCs, you can imagine the issues that this might cause. Also, certain customers, particularly government customers, are required to stay current, so those customers had no choice but to upgrade to the latest version of JRE, even though it had these two major bugs.

Now add one more point - JRE 1.6.0_20 was released to correct a significant security issue that occurred between JRE 1.6.0_17 and JRE 1.6.0_20, which means that if you're on JRE 1.6.0_17, you're ok, but if you are on JRE 1.6.0_18 or JRE 1.6.0_19, you need JRE 1.6.0_21. For military organizations that are required to stay within a certain number of releases of the most current, they may have no choice but to upgrade. Steven commented that while this issue was going on, there really was no reassuring place for an E-Business Suite administrator to be right now.

Mark Farnham suggested that if you're a non-DOD compliant organization with pretty good campus-wide security, and you're a low enough target value, then you can wait for JRE 1.6.0_21, which is expected shortly. The PCI (credit card) industry has a similar issue to military organizations. They have to apply all vendor security patches within 30 days of their release. The good news, according to Mark, is that the really mercenary hackers aren't interested in most organizations.

The recommendation, therefore, is that as soon as a release becomes available that doesn't have the functionality issues, all E-Business Suite users should seriously consider moving to that release. You can read more about this issue on Steven Chan's blog at:

http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/2010/04/warning_e-business_suite_issues_with_sun_jre_160_20.html

Another issue with versions comes with third party vendors. If third party vendors don't stay current on JRE versions, then users may find themselves working with releases that have bugs or security issues. Agile and Siebel were two examples of vendors with this issue. Steven said that the only thing customers can do in this case is apply pressure on the third party vendors. The advantage of staying current with JRE, for example, is that each new release brings new memory management capabilities, better security, and bug fixes, so, with the exception of the temporary issues with JRE 1.6.0_18 - 1.6.0_20, staying current is the way to go.

Yet another example of the need to understand the nuances of Oracle support agreements lies with the 9i Application Server used with Release 11i and the 10g Application Server used with Release 12 applications. The double edge to that sword is that Application Server 10g has its own application lifecycle, and the Application Server 10g obsolescence life cycle overrides the E-Business Suite life cycle.

One of the questions from the group was what Oracle is doing to make this situation better. Steven said that Oracle is testing better and more, taking more time to test and running more tests. Now that Sun is integrated with Oracle, there's a better chance of working better together. The Oracle team now gets early shipments of Application 10g Patchset 3, and similarly will get early builds of JRE releases at some point.

One very strong point that Steven highlighted is that Oracle can only go so far in their testing. He strongly recommended that if you are testing a combination of software that isn't documented by Oracle, then it is your job to test heavily, as there are too many possible combinations for Oracle to test.

Randy Giefer, from Solution Beacon, asked if Sun Java might merge into Oracle's CPU cycle. Steven said that while this was a nice idea, he wasn't sure it would ever happen, as we can't really afford to wait for up to 3 months for new changes. He also said that the JRE crowd marches to a different beat because of military requirements.

Also covered in this meeting was the need to stay current with Oracle's quarterly CPUs (Critical Patch Updates). Oracle has improved their CPU process by making the CPUs cumulative as of January 2010 for the Applications users. Where in the past, if you wanted to patch current you would have had to apply each CPU, now when you apply the latest CPU - currently the April 2010 CPU - you're set and don't need to apply any others until the next cumulative quarterly CPU comes out in July 2010.

One additional recommendation discussed was the need to periodically review your company's Master License Agreement. Customers need to be aware that the Oracle Account Manager can't authorize anything that flies contrary to the Master License Agreement. An example - implementing custom objects can eliminate a customer's ability to run using a runtime license. One subtlety, however, is that if Oracle directions say that you have to create an object (there are instructions, for example, that tell you to create custom indices for some of your GL objects), then you are ok and are not violating your E-Business Suite license.

Customers have run into similar issues with partitioning. If you are a licensed EBS customer and Oracle introduces a new product requirement, they can't force you to buy a new license. This caveat is driven by mandatory upgrades of the E-Business Suite that would otherwise have forced you to upgrade the technology. On a new license, for example, customers have to buy the partitioning option when licensing the database, because the E-Business Suite uses partitioning. Customers that upgrade, however, don't have to buy the partitioning software as long as they don't partition any data themselves.

Steven mentioned one area with exciting upcoming changes - for those customers who have considered Active Data Guard to create a mirror of an E-Business Suite database for hardware or software failure, it would be really valuable to be able to use that database for reporting. Currently, the database simply sits, unused, unless a failure occurs.

For Active Data Guard to work, you would have to break the mirror to query against the database, but Steven said that Oracle is working on a series of patches that would allow you to run reads against the real-time copy of the database. This functionality will be included with Version 11gR2, and there may be a port for 11gR1. The one catch is that not all reports will work in this environment. Steven asked that if anyone had E-Business Suite reports (provided by Oracle, not custom reports written by customers!) that they would especially like to be able to run on Active Data Guard, that they should send Steven a note with a list of those reports so that he could ensure that they were tested.

That said, we leave you with two pieces of valuable information - first, Steven's blog, http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html, and second, his email, steven dot chan at oracle dot com.

Oracle iProcurement is the self-service requisitioning application that controls employee spending. Oracle iProcurement provides a Web-based shopping system that allows employees to create, manage, and track their own orders while the Purchasing department retains central control. This helps to ensure that policies and preferred pricing agreements are reflected in every transaction. Easy ordering and seamless workflow provide better service, while non-sourced or off-catalog spending gets the attention it needs from buying professionals.

Oracle iProcurement is among the better known and most widely used tools within the Oracle Advanced Procurement suite. R 12 includes ongoing improvements – some of which improve the cosmetics, while others represent major architectural advances. Major enhancements include:

• New approval types
  
• New user-interface options
  
• New options for creating and maintaining favorites lists
  
• Unified Catalog Architecture
  
• Better Catalog Authoring Capability for Buyers, Suppliers and Catalog Administrators
  
• Tolerance Based Change Request Routing and Approval
  
• Content security enhancements that provide precise controls over which content is available to users

Benefits

• Streamline Employee Ordering: Eliminate error-prone paper processes with self-service ordering, while improving productivity and control


• Enforce Purchasing Policy: Enforce policies with unprecedented control and governance support.


• Slash Procurement Costs: Lower your procurement costs by cutting transaction overhead, controlling maverick spending, and realizing the full value of your preferred supplier agreements

Implement Sourcing

Oracle Sourcing is the enterprise application that drives more and better sourcing through online collaboration and negotiation. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that can dramatically cut all supply management costs.

Because strategic sourcing is typically time-consuming and complex, few organizations are able to exploit all available sourcing opportunities. Oracle Sourcing increases the sourcing bandwidth of procurement professionals, so they can exploit many more savings opportunities and capture more value from each. Online collaboration and negotiation makes it easy for experts from multiple organizations to exchange information, define requirements, conduct negotiation, and create new contracts. Buying professionals, business experts, and suppliers can all collaborate to create agreements that provide the best terms.

• Manage more sourcing events in less time and bring them to conclusion faster, so you can exploit additional savings opportunities


• Make more best-value award decisions based on total cost, not just on unit price


• Create immediate savings and faster ROI with rapid deployment; then gain additional savings with consistent execution through the Oracle Advanced Procurement suite

Implement Services Procurement

Oracle Services Procurement R 12 includes advancements that will propel its use beyond its traditional role of automating simple services and contingent labor. From service specification, through contracting, and payment, R 12 has been designed to tame complexity and drive visibility. Note that in some cases other modules (e.g. Procurement Contracts) are required to fully leverage enhancements. With R 12 procurement organizations can:

• Negotiate progress schedules and complex payment terms


• Incorporate payment terms & progress payment schedule into contracts


• Track & report progress based on schedule


• Track commitment costs against Projects


• Automated retainage and recoupment


• Control advances and contract financing all the way through final invoicing and payment


• Maximize Preferred Supplier Savings: Create and enforce better agreements, enforce preferred supplier use in every requisition, and set policies for services spend approval


• Eliminate Over-Billing and Overruns: Eliminate over-billing with comprehensive invoice matching and reconciliation, lower processing costs through supplier collaboration, and ensure service delivery and compliance with deliverable tracking


• Create Visibility into Services Spending: Oversee the entire services procurement cycle, measure supplier and contingent labor performance, and achieve a complete view of services and goods spending

Implement Oracle Procurement Contracts

Negations don't save money. Procurement organizations save money when they hold suppliers to negotiated terms and conditions. That's the premise behind Oracle Procurement Contracts, namely to equip procurement professionals to close the gap between forecasted savings and realized savings. Major enhancements to R12 include:

• Two-way MS Word synchronization


• Access FAR Content via Management Concepts Inc


• Electronic Signatures


• Contract policy deviation reports


• Professional Buyers Work Center integration for creating contracts, negotiating contracts, managing deliverables, and supplier performance


• Negotiation of contract financing and progress payments


• Standardize Contract Processes: Create quality contracts faster and reduce risk by implementing enterprise standards, policies that govern their use, and tools to allow flexible administration


• Reduce Time-to-Contract: Cut negotiation-cycle time with a flexible workflow and revision process that makes legal and commercial terms immediately visible to selected parties


• Drive Contract Compliance: Track compliance and review the contract details throughout the entire contract lifecycle

Implement Oracle Procurement & Spend Analytics

Gain Visibility into the Complete Procure-to-Pay Process

Implement Oracle Procurement & Spend Analytics, part of the Oracle BI Applications product line, enables you to optimize supply side performance by integrating data from across the enterprise value chain—enabling executives, managers, and frontline employees to make more informed decisions. Oracle Procurement & Spend Analytics increases visibility into the complete procure-to-pay process, including comprehensive spend and procurement analysis, supplier performance analysis, supplier payables analysis, and employee expense analysis. Through complete end-to-end insight into the factors that impact company performance, you can significantly reduce costs, enhance profitability, increase customer satisfaction, and gain competitive advantage

• Gain a Holistic View of Procurement and Spend—Gain detailed visibility into direct and indirect spending, and identify opportunities for consolidation and reduction of costs.


• Improve Procurement Performance—Reduce corporate spending through stronger strategic sourcing initiatives. Identify procurement bottlenecks and proactively take corrective action before they become major issues.


• Enhance Insight into Supplier Performance—Monitor price, delivery, and product quality to determine best - and worst - performing suppliers. Improve contract usage and compliance.


• Control Employee Spend —Understand how the money related to travel and expenses is being spent by gaining a complete picture of Employee Expenses

Implement iSupplier

Oracle iSupplier Portal is the enterprise application that structures all supplier communication through a secure internet-based portal.

Phone calls, faxes, and e-mails with suppliers waste time, introduce errors, and create latency in your supply chain. Oracle iSupplier Portal, with its powerful platform for online collaboration, enables you and your suppliers to become more efficient. Suppliers access the latest information, including purchase orders, delivery information, and payment status. The rich two-way collaboration enables suppliers to submit change requests, ship notices, payments, and profile data. Now you can gain better service, reduce processing costs, and get relief from costly supplier inquiries. The bottom line is that your buying organization has time to focus on what really matters-getting more savings.

Oracle iSupplier Portal was built with the recognition that suppliers' active participation in the procurement process improves efficiency. In many ways it will increase the value of R 12 as a whole by providing a 'supplier facing' view of new capabilities. Major enhancements include:

• Better Supplier Change Order, Performance, and Status Tracking


• Improved Supplier Profile Management and Registration


• Expanded Collaboration and Usability Enhancements


• New Supplier Catalog Authoring


• Invoicing Enhancements


• Create Closed-Loop Purchase Order Collaboration: Get improved service, eliminate routine inquiries, and even offload inventory management by sharing information with suppliers online


• Simplify Fulfillment and Payment: Reduce receiving problems with advance shipment notices, capture savings with online invoicing, and improve service from suppliers by sharing delivery and quality data


• Efficiently Ramp and Maintain Suppliers: Bring suppliers onboard quickly with Web portal access and online registration. Maintain them easily with self-service profile updates

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Steven Chan, Oracle's Senior Director of Oracle Applications Technology, says that Oracle has not yet certified IE8 for the E-Business Suite. Steven says there are issues with launching forms, and further states that "it is imperative that your Apps users stay on IE7 until we complete our certification of IE 8". Fortunately, Microsoft has been kind enough to come out with an IE8 Blocker Toolkit, so check that out.

And while you're at it, Steven says, don't expect JInitiator to run on Vista desktops. Steven recommends moving off of JInitiator for this reason, and because JInitiator will be desupported on July 31, 2009. So if you haven't made the leap to Native Sun JRE, now's the time to get going.