THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE OrACLE APPLICATIONs UsErs GrOUP

fall 2012

Intercompany and Intracompany in Oracle EBS R12: A Deep Dive The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard Helps Users Determine the Impact of Patches Las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business Intelligence Horizons
Address Service Requested OAUG 3525 Piedmont Road Building Five, Suite 300 Atlanta, GA 30305

Fall 2012

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FEaTurES

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Enterprise resource planning vs. product life Cycle Management

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Life cycle Management (PLM) systems are both widely used to help companies achieve product profitability. Understand the functional roles of these two systems and how each is best suited for product and process management. by Herbalife International

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intercompany and intracompany in Oracle EBS r12: a deep dive

Oracle created a robust, flexible, rules-based intercompany accounting program. This accounting program, however, is only useful if you understand how its used and how it should be configured. by Thomas J. Simkiss, Jr., JD, CPA, & Lee Briggs

16

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The Oracle EBS patch Wizard helps users determine the impact of patches and prepare Test Scripts
The EBS Patch Wizard is a useful tool that does not require you to be a DBA. Learn how it can help your analysts determine the impact of patches and better prepare test scripts, thus minimizing surprises. by Kevin Brownlie

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OAUG lEadErShip
2 4 6 8 OAUG 2012 Star Partners OAUG 2012 Board of Directors Presidents Perspective OAUG Viewpoint

GLOBAL SOluTiONS
28 las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business intelligence horizons for Better government Transparency
The city of Las Vegas employed a major Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) project that has pushed key data not only to employees but to citizens as well. by Dr. Patricia Dues

OAUG gEOS & SigS

32 33 34 SIG Update Geo Update SIG Spotlight: The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG & OAUG Process Manufacturing SIG 30

The Oaug around the World

The OAUG participates with affiliated organizations around the world to bring expertise and best practices to users of Oracle Applications and to communicate concerns and enhancements back to Oracle.

GLOBAL uSErS
36 38 OAUG Member Snapshot: Sandra Vucinic New and Returning Members

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Vendor Corner: archiving to the Cloud

The world is drowning in data. Archiving to the cloud offers an on demand alternative that reduces complexity, costs less, offers higher performance and operates within a security best practice framework. by John B. Ottman, Jr.

ORAcLE dirECTiONS
42 Fix It When it Aint Broke

TABLE OF CONTENTS

oaug.org

oaug star partners oaug star partners

FIVE-STAR PARTNERS

FOUR-STAR PARTNERS

The OAUG Star Partner program gives Associate members a bundled approach to active, integrated participation in the OAUG community. The program combines membership, advertising and conference benefits into a value-priced package that delivers recognition, premium advertising opportunities and outstanding conference visibility.
2 2

For more information on the OAUG Star Partner Program, please contact Christine Hilgert at +1 404.760.4234, or via e-mail at chilgert@oaug.com. (list updated as of press time)

O A U G l E A D EERr S h P p OAUG LE ad SHI i

THREE-STAR PARTNERS

TWO-STAR ELITE PARTNERS

Red River Solutions

TWO-STAR PARTNERS
AT&T Image Integration Systems InsightSoftware.com interRel KAYGEN KBACE Technologies, Inc. Kewill Leeyo Software Rhapsody Technologies, Inc. TurnKey Solutions Unitask Vortex Software Consulting Zebra Technologies Corp.

The OAUG Star Partners

RISING-STAR PARTNERS
CXO Solutions FulcrumWay oAppsNet Partners, LLC Softmaster Supply Chain Fusion

SPECIAL THANKS
Oracle Validated Integration

are a vital force in supporting the OAUGs mission of providing Oracle Applications users the tools required to enhance their productivity, maximize their investment, and influence the quality, usability, and support of Oracle Applications. Participants in the OAUG Star Partner Program represent some of the most experienced and most successful providers of services and solutions to the Oracle users community.
oaug.org
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oaug board of directors

A Publication of the Oracle Applications Users Group
3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305 phone: +1 404.240.0897, fax: +1 404.240.0998 email: membership@oaug.com, oaug.org Steven R. Hughes, Executive Director Cindy Force, Director, Marketing Communications ONeill Communications, Graphic Design To contribute to OAUG Insight, send letters to the editor, or obtain advertising information, contact: Cindy Force, Director, Marketing Communications 3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305 cforce@oaug.com Photographs appearing throughout OAUG Insight courtesy of Meeting Expectations. OAUG Insight is designed to provide members of the Oracle Applications Users Group with organizational and other information. The opinions and viewpoints published herein are not necessarily those of OAUG. OAUG, its article writers, directors, officers, employees, agents, and members and Oracle Corp. make no warranty for the accuracy, veracity, or completeness of any information herein, nor do they have any responsibility or liability for any losses or damages incurred as a result of reliance on any information provided herein or from the use of any program or program segment discussed herein. OAUG assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear herein. The information published herein is subject to change without notice. Acceptance of advertising is for the benefit and information of the membership but does not constitute official endorsement of the product or service by OAUG. Copyright Oracle Applications Users Group 2012. All rights reserved. OAUG is a registered trademark of the Oracle Applications Users Group. Oracle and Oracle Applications are trademarks of Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif. Any other trademark cited herein is the property of its owner. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without the prior written consent of OAUG. Recruiting Policy: Contact information (on OAUGs Web site or elsewhere) is provided to OAUG members for the sole and express purpose of enhancing members ability to network with other members. Unauthorized copying or redistribution of this information or use of company or contact names for recruiting or direct marketing purposes is strictly prohibited and could result in suspension of OAUG membership. This restriction applies to information in the Online Membership Database, lists of volunteer coordinators, lists of attendees at OAUG conferences, and any other member contact data. Recruiting in any form during conferences is strictly prohibited.

2012 Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) Board of Directors. First row (seated): Robert Tee, Christine Hipp, Alyssa Johnson, Margaret Wright, Kaberi Nayak. Second row (standing): Steven Hughes, Tammy Norton, Joe Imbimbo, Mark Clark, Patricia Dues, John Bushell, Melissa English, Andrew Farber, Karl Kirsch.

Mark C. Clark, OAUG President O2Works, LLC Margaret Wright, OAUG Executive Vice President Southern Company Alyssa Johnson, OAUG Secretary ROLTA Robert Tee, OAUG Treasurer Ministry of Government Services, Province of Ontario

Steven R. Hughes Executive Director Karl Kirsch, CAE Chief Operating Officer John Bushell JT&M Bushell Patricia Dues City of Las Vegas Melissa English Alticor, parent company of Amway Corp.

Andrew Farber Consumer Reports Christine Hipp Los Alamos National Laboratory Joe Imbimbo PPG Industries Kaberi Nayak MITRE Corp. Tammy Norton Emerging Solutions

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presidents perspective

a
Mark c. clark OAUG President mclark@oaug.com
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Partnerships Enrich OAUG Education

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According to our membership surveys, the OAUG community of Oracle Applications users highly values the abundant educational programs presented each year by the OAUG. Face-to-face conferences, virtual webinar sessions, recorded presentations and an archived collection of white papers and slide presentations offer many opportunities for Oracle Applications users to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform their job duties.
The OAUGs extensive educational content is developed through the contributions of many partnering individuals

Oracle employees regularly participate in OAUG events to discuss Oracles strategies and product roadmaps as well as tactical approaches for products and projects. The contributions of these various groups allow

the OAUG to provide a very rich yet diverse educational curriculum to help meet the needs of our members. Recently, during an on-site brainstorming session with leaders at Oracle University, the training arm of Oracle, we discussed some opportunities where the OAUG and Oracle University could better work together to meet the training needs of our membership. They were excited to show some of their more recent offerings enhancing their delivery capability. While the traditional classroom-based training model requiring students to assemble in a physical training center still has its place, todays global, alwayson, 24/7 business environment demands more flexible, student-focused options. Two approaches that I was previously unaware of were especially impressive:
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Live Virtual Classes bring Oracle University training, facilitated in real time by expert instructors, to students via an interactive, online environment. Attendees have the flexibility to access courses anywhere there is an Internet connection and phone line or Voice Over IP (VOIP). Classes are scheduled around the clock to accommodate students in many different time zones. Hands-on labs that allow practice in a controlled environment along with interactive communication and collaboration tools promote student engagement, exploration and content absorption. According to Oracle, the demand for this type of training is robust, and the results are positive. Early in 2012, Oracle University reported that more than 25,000 students had attended a Live Virtual Class in the past year and that the Live

and organizations. Contributors share their insights and expertise through a variety of delivery channels: OAUG User members generously share knowledge, best practices and advice on overcoming challenges from their real-world, hands-on experiences with Oracle Applications. OAUG Star Partners and Associate members provide unique perspectives from their work with Oracle and with Oracle customers. The OAUG Geographic (Geo) and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) host meetings and educational sessions that target specific regions or focus on particular industries, functions, constituencies or Oracle products or product lines.
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OAUG_2012_ad.ai 1 7/5/2012 1:30:50 PM

Virtual Classes are enjoying approval ratings consistent with those for in-person events.
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On Demand courses to meet the increased demand for Oracle Fusion-related training in the near future. In addition to its standard offerings, Oracle University has partnered with the OAUG to bring targeted training to OAUG conferences and to the OAUGs eLearning program. We are proud of this alliance and are pleased to be able to supplement the OAUGs educational curriculum with high-quality educational programs from Oracle University. Stay tuned for more information about developments in this partnership in the months to come. If you have questions, suggestions or feedback about OAUG resources and programs, feel free to contact me at mclark@oaug.com. Regards,

Training On Demand extends the flexibility of Oracle Universitys delivery model by providing high-quality, self-paced video courses that allow students to log in at their convenience and when their schedules permit to take a couple of chapters at a time. Courses include labs demonstrated by instructors as well as a live, hands-on feature that encourages students to put their skills to the test and practice in a controlled environment. The Training On Demand subscription model makes it easy and affordable to get training when its needed. The Training On Demand curriculum currently contains more than 100 titles across a variety of subjects. The Oracle Applications category includes courses for users of E-Business Suite, Hyperion, PeopleSoft, Fusion Applications, CRM On Demand, Siebel, RightNow and Oracle Transportation Management. The folks at Oracle University are preparing to provide Training

Mark C. Clark

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OAUG Ambassadors Advocate for ROI

When the OAUG Ambassador Program launched on February 1, 2012, the OAUGs leadership hoped it would help organizations realize a higher return on their OAUG membership investment. The program was developed to ensure that each individual in a member organization is aware of and accessing the free resources available through the OAUG website and the discounted education available at OAUG events.
OAUG Ambassadors are helping spread the word that an unlimited number of their organizations employees have access to OAUG resources once membership is set up, rather than each individual paying for benefits. Ambassadors also review their list of employees in the OAUG Member Database to ensure everyone has a member login. Lastly, Ambassadors ensure that their colleagues know how to access all of the free, online education using their member logins. We expect the Ambassador Program to further increase ROI for member organizations and result in a more robust and diverse community of Oracle Applications users and solution providers to enhance user-led networking and education. As a thank you for their participation, OAUG Ambassadors who attended COLLABORATE 12 received an Ambassador flair for their conference badge, a wristband for specialty Rumbassador and Voluntini cocktails at the Wednesday Evening Reception and exclusive OAUG Ambassador temporary tattoos to show off their VIP status. OAUG Ambassadors who fulfill their obligations throughout the year will also be entered into a drawing to win a full conference pass to the OAUG event of their choice. In the meantime, the OAUG continues to provide Ambassadors VIP access at all OAUG events and highlights on the OAUG website and in publications the work they do on behalf of their organizations. To view the name and contact information for your organizations Ambassador, log in to My OAUG Profile at the top right of any page on the OAUG website (oaug.org), follow the prompts to log in and check the top left of your profile administration for your organizations designated OAUG Ambassador. Please contact ambassador@oaug.com or +1 404.240.0897, extension 2, if you have any questions. Thank you to our current OAUG Ambassadors for volunteering! Questions, concerns and feedback are welcome any time. Contact me at shughes@oaug.com. Regards,

As this issue of OAUG Insight magazine was going to print, the OAUG was pleasantly surprised that more than 430 individuals had volunteered to act as their organizations Ambassadors and more than 100 Steven R. Hughes attended the firstever Ambassador OAUG Executive Director Informational shughes@oaug.com Meeting and Webinar on April 23 during COLLABORATE 12. Another 65 had distributed the quarterly Benefits Reminder Email to their colleagues within days of receiving it to ensure they were familiar with the latest-and-greatest free resources available through their organizations OAUG membership. Jim Collison, the OAUG Ambassador for Gallup Technologies, attended the first-ever OAUG Ambassador Meeting during COLLABORATE 12. The OAUG Ambassador Program has an incredible opportunity to change the way individual organizations see the benefits of an OAUG membership as well as enhance the networking and mind sharing that happens inside a company that has a strong ambassador, said Collison. An ambassador can now play the role of user group champion behind the corporate firewall and bring to light training and education sessions, as well as the value of social media offerings, that might have been underutilized in the past.

Steven R. Hughes oaug.org

OAUG lEadErShip

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oaug feature

By Herbalife International

nterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) systems are both widely used. This article looks at the functional roles of these two systems and how each is best suited for product and process management.

A Historical Perspective
One way to think of the roles of ERP and PLM is that PLM determines what the product should be, and ERP helps manage the business of turning vision into real products. ERP and PLM are two systems that can communicate with each other yet play different roles in supporting business needs. PLM is designed to manage a product from initial phase of documentation as it is revised and released for production. ERP uses the product data from PLM to help manage production resources and financials, among other business activities. To organize and manage product, the product data should initially be stored in a PLM system. Once the product design has developed to a point where resources need to be managed to produce the design, an ERP system that integrates with the existing PLM system is
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helpful. By integrating ERP with PLM, the most up-todate product data is available at any time and can be shared with the necessary departments to ensure accurate financial planning. PLM has also evolved to other aspects of the product, such as regulatory or customer compliance, quality and safety, manufacturing planning and costing. But what remains consistent is that PLM focuses on defining the intent of the product both technically and commercially. ERP then helps plan production resources at a high level, accounts for material usage, plans inventory, manages orders and accounts for the physical delivery of the product. Research shows that 70 percent of product costs are decided during the development phase, leaving transaction-based application ERP with only 30 percent of the total costs.

OAUG FEaTurE

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Common Attributes of PLM

PLM technology is innovation centric, focused on creating, innovating and collaborating around new products. PLM software emerged during the design domain of a product to help define and manage information about product designs. It is a system to manage CAD (Product Design Forms) and Bill of Materials (BOM). It connects market requirements with business needs. It provides control of the product record across all development stages from concept to design to production. With this system in place, a company can manage product data including items, bill of materials, approved manufacturer lists and product files. PLM also enables a company to track changes to product information and communicate revisions to the supply chain. With automated change processes built in, PLM can help companies manage key product decisions and changes in real time. Conducting engineering change requests and orders through this system helps to consolidate, organize and track product data in a centralized location that is otherwise dispersed throughout a wide variety of organizational departments. By capturing product information in this system, manufacturers have access to the single and correct version of their product record at any point in time and can efficiently structure a streamlined change process. PLMs strength in collaboration and accelerated innovation is a major cost saver for many manufacturers. As manufacturers struggled to manage, synchronize and share increasingly complex, interdependent CAD files among global teams involving both internal and external members, organizations required software to keep the team collaborating effectively and to serve as a data repository for product designs. PLM helps engineers work and rework products to optimize designs through Internet PLM global collaboration in real time. Vendors want the data processed during product development to be captured, continuously updated and made accessible to all team members in usable formats. Because of the iterative nature of design and the complexity of products incorporating many mechanical, electrical and software components, the product data vaults must be powerful and flexible enough to link multiple layers of data, as well as robust and dynamic enough to support frequent change. In addition, as the nature of product development becomes truly global in response to low-

cost outsourcing and emerging market opportunities, vendors have to accommodate demands for more product configurations and be able to manage the multiple CAD systems used in increasingly complex product structures. In the process of serving global engineering teams, vendors realized that the digital product data being captured throughout the design cycle was of great value to upstream processes and to future design work. PLM acts both as a platform and an engine throughout the entire product development process. PLM also provides management with visibility into product development processes for better informed decision making. PLM helps in making changes when products are in a digital state, which results in huge savings when compared to the cost of making changes once the product is released to manufacturing and in production. PLM has grown into a dynamic and flexible environment, managing both data and product information from a variety of sources while making them accessible across the enterprise. By capturing and synthesizing the complex and diverse volume of data generated throughout the design and engineering process, PLM provides a means for better understanding and better aiding innovation and collaboration and their related functions.

Why Agile PLM?

Recently acquired by Oracle to reinforce the PLM offering for the Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) ERP, Oracles Agile PLM is the industrys most comprehensive enterprise PLM solution and a key building block for managing product value chains. Oracles Agile PLM helps organizations of all types and sizes: l Accelerate innovation through ideation management and collaboration, product portfolio management and analytics, data consolidation and cleansing, and a rich enterprise product record. oaug.org 11

y integrating ERP with PLM, the most up-todate product data is available at any time and can be shared with the necessary departments to ensure accurate financial planning.

In the past, organizations deployed a number of software applications that were not integrated. This resulted in inefficiencies in business operations due l to the lack of integration, particularly in the area of supply chain management, which depends on a smooth and reliable flow of materials data from one functional area to the next. In this scenario, organizations could not plan and schedule resources properly. This lack of integration of various software applications led to the Common Attributes of ERP over- and under-inventory of parts and finished products, An ERP system is a tool to manage the business procurement difficulties, manufacturing scheduling process after the product design stage, managing the issues, order fulfillment and distribution problems, and so logistics of getting a product to market. ERP collects on throughout the supply chain. and collates data processed during the manufacturing ERP filled a big hole in the marketplace by stages of a product redesigns, production runs, providing companies with an enterprise-wide prototypes, etc. It also manages financials solution that spanned and linked all the key Financials and reporting activities such as accounting, operational functions and manufacturing planning, departments. ERP has execution, shipping enabled organizations Analysis logistics and sales Supply to integrate their Chain forecasting. CRM n manufacturing and Mgmt Based on its supply chain processes manufacturing process, to reduce delays and a company may choose increase efficiency. This an ERP system to manage its is ERPs primary source of financials. A comprehensive value. ERP system is required ERP solutions, for companies that which grew out of iti produce complex, Manuaccounting software on Projects d facturing engineered products l Bui products, are primarily to organize finance, focused on physical sales and manufacturing Figure 1 assets and the flow of departments. For a company materials. ERP solutions are great for keeping HRMS that outsources manufacturing, a smaller set of track of recurring transactions and are geared ERP tools is required, which might include just toward planning and accounting for production. the financial, accounts payable, accounts receivable, An ERP system only requires information that inventory and procurement modules without the is necessary for production; it does not need to know manufacturing resource planning module since resources all the details about the individual components that are typically managed by outsourcing partners. comprise the product. For the ERP solutions purposes, ERP systems provide manufacturers their financial the product is a single part. The ERP solution can status. They also enable organizations to plan for orders perform its planning and accounting functions perfectly and profitability. ERP helps companies track inventory well without further detail. levels, delivery lead times and production bottlenecks. These attributes make ERP shine and make it Companies can also track orders from receipt through effective at executing and optimizing manufacturing and production and delivery in order. distribution processes.

Design for supply with product cost management, outsourced manufacturing and product collaboration, product supply risk analytics, and spend consolidation. Rapidly commercialize through integrated portfolio and business planning, enterprise quality management and analytics, and clean product data publishing through a seamless integration with other product value chain management solutions.

How Did ERP Come into Existence?

Produ cti o

Design

n Tra

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ROLES of ERP and PLM

Why Oracle ERP?
Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) is a collection of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) applications (ERP, CRM, SCM Inventory Information and several other product lines) Execution focused Innovation focused integrated together to form one Production Innovation big application (See Figure 1). Linear Iterative The main feature of Oracles Structured Flexible ERP solution is its interaction Quality specifications, quality data Quality plans, FMEA, risk management with legacy systems through Inspection plans Predictive quality easy integration features. The Buy>revise>sell Create>revise>reuse Text based with some static 2D and 3D images Visual, 3D models, simulation, animation communication and integration Only one version is true All history (versions matter) between the various applications Restrict information Share information offer easier implementation and Stability is sought Change is normal flexibility. These applications Managing manufacturing operations Optimizing production model, manufacturing possess the functionality to engineering, simulation serve specific solutions to the Maximize profits Enable design company. Simple BOM hierarchy Complex design relationships, systems view The Oracle EBS has been (mechanical, electrical and software) adopted by many industries in Steady state Manages and promotes change sectors such as manufacturing, Controlled, well-defined business processes Disciplined but flexible design processes financials, healthcare and Repeated transactions Creating, designing, iterating and revising technology. It offers automation BOM to procured part/assembly level Full product structure to component or raw material level of services like sales, marketing, Central theme of control Central themes of speed and managed creativity supply, human resources, Account for cost performance/variances, Optimize as-designed cost financials, etc. ERP from Oracle enterprise-wide cost analytics enables quick decision making. Compliance certification Compliance validation, supplier collaboration, Oracle Fusion Middleware bill of substance, etc. enables the ERP to communicate Routing at operation, work center level for planning Bill of process, work instructions with the third-party applications. Maintenance transactions, contractual Maintenance plans, procedures, resource Oracle EBS is reliable and agreements, materials requirements, as maintained has a low implementation time Inventory/order lifecycles Product lifecycles as compared to other ERP Rigid data model Flexible data structure solution providers. The dayReleased versions Product iterations, revisions and decision history to-day operations, strategic Structured data Documents, structured & unstructured information, metadata operations and financial processes Order/supply/demand focused Design/requirements/configuration/project/program focused Purchasing transactions, orders history Direct material sourcing, supplier selection are combined together in the Oracle ERP software. It allows warehouses across the globe. Through Oracle ERP, an integrated reports to manage organization can determine its performance levels and the value of the shareholders and the shareholders profitability. Thus, ERP from Oracle assists in resource profitability. A company can manage working capital planning for the entire enterprise. effectively and control financial risk. Clients, products and services providing the company with maximum How are PLM and ERP Being Used profits can be identified, and certain strategies can in the Industry? be formed accordingly. ERP from Oracle also assists ERP and PLM play distinct roles in driving product in monitoring the different operation centers and profitability. ERP and PLM both drive manufacturing oaug.org 13 The functional roles of ERP and PLM in the areas of manufacturing, maintenance, direct material sourcing, quality, costing and compliance:

Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Planning Team Compliance Team Sourcing Team CAD Tools

Item Master, BOM, AML, Costing, Compliance

Manufacturer

PLM

ERP

and manufacturing departments needs ERP. ERP systems take care of business financials and help in sales forecasting, manufacturing planning, support, shipping, logistics and customer care.

Supplier

Integrating PLM with ERP

The primary reason for integrating ERP and PLM is productivity. Integration between these systems will support release of product to production and engineering change. Integration between these two systems will result in efficiency and speed and eliminate quality problems. Integration can provide visibility from shop floor to design information and 3D models, provide cost and supplier data back to engineering, and then expand over time. Integration typically involves transferring items and BOMs to ERP. The trend is toward bidirectional integration PLM to ERP, but also ERP to PLM as engineering is now much more interested in access to pricing and vendor information, which is in the ERP system (See Figure 2).

Figure 2 Flows between PLM and ERP.

companies to manage design and production processes. These systems are designed to work together. PLM Item, BOM, ECO Info systems focus on the product record the BOM, AML and revision history. ERP systems focus on the financials. Parts, Revisions, Categories, Attributes, Lifecycle Parts Master PLM, the system of record for your Inventory product, Cost, Lead -Times, On-Hand includes BOM management, item management, APC SOMs, Substitute Comp, change management (ECR, ECO, ECN), document Reference Designators BOMS BOM management and compliance management. Approved Manufacture/ Supplier record for your financials, ERP, the system ofParts AML Purchasing ECO/MCO/SCO Affected Items, includes purchasing, accounting, inventory management, Comp, Eff Dates Change Master Engineering order management and sales forecasting. Knowing which Implementation Dates business system to use for which purpose, and getting Electrical Engineering your systems inItem Master, BOM, the best way to ensure your place Costing,is early, AML, Manufacturer Compliance with minimal setbacks. product Mechanical Engineeringmakes it to market
Operations

Integration: The Technical Perspective

Application programming interfaces (APIs) have eased traditional integration challenges. The adoption of Web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA) has also made integration easier (See Figure 3).

Planning Team

Compliance Team

When Should an Organization Implement a PLM or ERPERP PLM System?

Any organization that designs and produces Sourcingcomplex or engineered-to-order products, manufactures Team in house, uses outside resources like suppliers Supplier or has CAD Tools multiple product lines will benefit from using PLM to manage the product record. Any organization that needs to share information between their finance, sales

Integrating Agile PLM with Oracle ERP through AIA

Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is an open, standards-based platform that unites the worlds best enterprise applications through composite business processes. It is the best-practice processes that optimize business performance leveraging Oracles extensive experience. Process Integration Packs (PIPs) are pre-built, out-of-the-box, integrated Oracle Applications for quick implementation of business processes, without the risk. The Foundation Packs create custom business processes across applications utilizing predefined, application-independent object and service definitions. Powered by Oracle Fusion Middleware, it is a hot pluggable, open, standards-based platform (See Figure 4).

Item, BOM, ECO Info

Parts, Revisions, Categories, Attributes, Lifecycle Cost, Lead -Times, On-Hand

Parts Master

Inventory APC

BOMS AML Change Master

SOMs, Substitute Comp, Reference Designators Approved Manufacture/ Supplier Parts ECO/MCO/SCO Affected Items, Comp, Eff Dates Implementation Dates

BOM Purchasing Engineering

Operations

Advantages of Using AIA

l

Figure 3

The advantages of Oracle AIA include: Respond more quickly to business requirements and competitive pressures.

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Oracle Application Integration Architecture

l

l l l l

Focus on strategic process innovation rather than internal plumbing. Out-of-the-box PIPs for Oracle enterprise applications. Owned, developed and maintained by Oracle. Easily modified and extended. Standard canonical objects and services. Reuse across the enterprise, new and legacy applications. Leverages Oracle Fusion Middlewares SOA Suite. Scalable, available, reliable, high-performance platform. Platform for Oracle Fusion Applications.

Best Practice Processes

Order to Cash Procure to Pay Hire to Exit Concept to Cash And more ...

Prebuilt Process Integration Packs

Opportunity to Quote Order to Cash Banking Account Origination Adverse Event Reporting Trade Promotion Mgmt Comms Order to Bill More Planned ...

Foundation Packs
SOA Reference Architecture SOA Programming Model Enterprise Business Services SOA Governance

Industry Leading

ORACLE FUSION MIDDLEWARE The PLM Process Integration Pack (PIP) is a pre-built enterprise integration solution based on Figure 4 Organizations require people, processes and a service-oriented architecture (SOA). The PIP Oracle Application Integration Architecture intellectual capital to work together, not against each orchestrates enterprise business process flows between Best Practice Processes other, in an effort to accelerate new product development Agile PLM and Oracle ERP. It is not a traditional Order to Cash Procure to Pay Hire to Exit Concept to Cash And more ... while at the same time reducing operational costs. point-to-point integration based on inflexible, fragile and PLM will proprietary third-party code. The PIP is configurable, Prebuilt Process Integration Packs Update Agile PLM digitally map the life cycle used to design, Oracle Create Create Update Costs, Product EBS manufacture, service and improveUpdate Trade offerings. extensible, reliable and scalable SOA integration based Banking Adverse product Comms More Opportunity Part AML Order to Codes, Account Change Event CollaborationOrder integration allowsBOMPromotion Manufacturing to Quote to Cash PLM/ERP Origination Reporting the Mgmt organization to Planned ... on open standards. The PIP runs on Oracles AIA Dates Bill capture all knowledge and improve the efficiency of the and supports new part request (NPR) processes, new Agile PLM Process Integration Pack for Oracle EBS product from start to finish. product introduction (NPI) processes and design change Foundation Packs SOA Reference Architecture The Herbalife team includes Punith Basavaraju and processes. ABM Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite ABM SOA Programming Model Smitha Rao, whose primary work is on the Agile system. Integrating Agile PLM with Oracle EBS Enterprise current Services They support and maintain theBusiness PLM implementation Oracle EBS EBM EBM Agile PLM Enterprise Integration between Agile PLM and Oracle EBS and take care of new requirementsBusiness in the form of that come Governance SOA Connector Connector leverages PLM to manage and update all engineering Service requests and new project implementation. Driving Service Services enhancement content and processes and all of a products BOM states Industry Leading the PLM implementation process is Tara Nawaz, the functional ORACLE FUSION MIDDLEWARE in ERP systems (See Figure 5). consultant gathering requirements from the business and testing the solutions during implementation. Sankar Chinnathambi Conclusion heads the Oracle Order Management and Interfaces Team, ERP and PLM help companies achieve product and Prem Kumar leads the Agile technical team. profitability. ERP plans and manages business while

PLM plays the role in engineering, product innovation and product development. ERP manages orders, centralizing control and accounting. PLM manages product knowledge, enhancing speed to market and collaboration. AIA has promised to make it easier to leverage multiple systems to provide users with the functionality they need. This integration solution between ERP and PLM helps in achieving a better, faster return of investment.

Agile PLM Product Collaboration

Create Part

Create Change

Update BOM

Update Update Costs, AML Codes, Dates

Oracle EBS Manufacturing

Agile PLM Process Integration Pack for Oracle EBS

ABM
Agile PLM Connector Service

Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite EBM

Enterprise Business Services

ABM
Oracle EBS Connector Service

EBM

Figure 5

oaug.org

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oaug feature

Legal entities can play an important role in your company management and business systems structure. They may be used to own and track assets, manage revenue and expenses, record taxes and house human capital for managing other business enterprises.

Intercompany and Intracompany in Oracle EBS R12:

A Deep Dive
Thomas J. Simkiss, Jr., JD, CPA & Lee Briggs, BizTech

In E-Business Suite (EBS) Release 12, Oracle completely changed the way in which intercompany transactions can be accounted by creating a robust, flexible, rules-based intercompany accounting program. This accounting program, however, is only useful if you understand how its used and how it should be configured. This article will give clarity to those configurations, EBS Legal Entities, the purpose they serve and answer the question: When is a legal entity, not a legal entity? A legal entity must be registered with a jurisdiction, which can be a state or province in the United States and Canada, or a country. Wherever the legal entity is located, there will be certain statutory requirements within a jurisdiction that should be supported from a business and systems management perspective. Legal entities may represent a single component of your company or several components unified via a single business purpose.1
1 Oracle Financials Concepts Guide, August 2010, p. 2 4

When is a legal entity, not a legal entity?

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In Oracle EBS 11i, legal entities were required as part of the human resources (HR) configuration and were required to be associated with a set of books. The purpose they served within the applications was not always clear. In EBS R12, a new legal entity structure has been introduced to track intercompany transactions at a very detailed level.

entities for operating units, ledgers and company representation in the chart of accounts:
l l

Account for legal entities separately if needed. Account for a group of legal entities as if they were one. Account for a part of a real-world legal entity as if it were completely standalone when appropriate. 2

oracle legal entities

A companys HR information and structure is accounting owned by the Government Reporting Legal Entity In EBS R12, balancing segments can be assigned to (GRLE), which represents the formal employer in the legal entities to allow for transaction entry identification human capital management system (HCM). Employees and reporting. While Oracle General Ledger (GL) can must belong to a specific GRLE within the employers be configured without using legalIntracompany entities (balancing EBS R12 system. A GRLE can represent a registered segments do not have to be associated with legal entity), company or other registered legal entity. GRLEs areLegal Entity 1 a Legal Entity 2 Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2 if a company plans on using Receivables or Payables, a particular type of system legal entity and serve to connect Balancing the legal entity is required. The main purpose of2000 legal 3500 Balancing 105 Balancing 110 employees with the appropriate company or other entity Segment Segment Segment entity in Payables and Receivables is to serve as the Balancing 2015 in the legal world. 3515 Segment custodian of banking relationships. Using the Legal LegaL entity Balancing 2020 Entity Configurator and Oracle Security Wizard, legal 3520 Segment The legal entity defined in the EBS R12 should entities with Company BS 110. Company BS 105 transactsmust be assigned to a particular2015 transacts with Company 2020. Company responsibility correspond to the legal entity or company in which Intercompany receivable from BS 105. BS 2015 intracompany receivable BS 2000. in order to allow it to have access to configure bank Intercompany payable to BS 110. BS 2020 intracompany payable BS 2000. transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day information and associate them with legal entities. business operations. Information about a registered company or some other entity may be stored in the legal entity; information Transactions between two or more balancing segments Intracompany within a single legal entity. Intracompany accounts are may include the registered address and defined for each balancing segment value. director or officer names. The legal entity administers transaction-level rules in Transactions between two or more legal entities. compliance with national laws.

intercompany and intracompany

Intercompany

system LegaL entity The system legal entity within EBS R12 is the first party on business transactions and is the transaction tax filer and payer. Oracle recognizes that for many groups, particularly in environments where the authorities allow companies to treat many legal entities as one, companies may not need or want to segment data or account separately for each entity that they have incorporated. Therefore, the system legal entity does not automatically account for itself. Oracle facilitates correlation of subledger activity in reporting legal structures by exploiting related system

Accounts are defined at the legal entity level.

Intercompany

In EBS R12, transactions between balancing Figure 1 segments can be defined as either intercompany or intracompany (See Figure 1). Intercompany journals involve balancing segment values that map to different legal entities. These journals are balanced for each legal entity by using their intercompany accounts. The balancing application programming interface (API) uses the intercompany accounts defined for the relevant effective date range. Since multiple accounts may be
2 IBID. pg. 2 7

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defined for the same date range, the balancing API picks the accounts flagged with the Use for Balancing indicator. The offsetting debit to a legal entity goes into its intercompany receivables account. The offsetting credit goes into the legal entitys intercompany payables account. interCompany aCCounts Intercompany accounts may be defined at the legal entity level. That is, each transacting legal entity may have different intercompany accounts defined for different trading partner legal entities, regardless of which specific balancing segment values of those legal entities are used in the journals. The transacting and trading partner balancing segment values can also be set to All Other, and not individually specified for each combination. There are different types of intercompany journals. The balancing API first determines the type of the intercompany journal (one-to-one, one-to-many, manyto-one, or many-to-many) with respect to the legal entities. For intercompany balancing, there is no clearing company usage and all legal entities are balanced by summary net with respect to each other. 3 intraCompany baLanCing Intracompany balancing rules are used to create balancing lines on journals between balancing segment values either within the same legal entity or where there is no legal entity context. Intracompany balancing rules are used when more than one balancing segment value exists on a transaction or journal entry, as long as you have selected the Balance Intracompany Journals option for the ledger. You cannot post a journal in the general ledger when the debit and credit amounts for each balancing segment value do not net to zero. You must define intracompany balancing rules if you want to balance journals automatically. The default balancing rule should be defined for the journal source Other and journal category Other for the ledger and legal entity you want to balance. The default accounting rule on each balancing rule is defined for the debit balancing segment value All Other and credit balancing segment value All Other.
3 Oracle Financials Implementation Guide, August 2010, pg. 5 2, 3

With intracompany accounting, you can define both a debit (due-from) and credit (due-to) balancing segment, which gives you more control over each balancing relationship. You can specify different debit and credit accounts for each different intracompany trading partner, which is represented by a specific balancing segment value. All Other is also available as a balancing segment value if you want the balancing segment value to use the same due-to/due-from accounts for every intracompany trading relationship that has not been specifically defined. If you set up a specific debit and credit balancing segment value, then the assigned debit and credit account combinations are used. If you use All Other, the appropriate trading partner balancing segment value replaces the balancing segment value of the account combination. You can also determine the level the balancing API should use when selecting either Summary Net or Detail. For balancing many-to-many journal entries, there are several balancing segment values with net debits and net credits on a transaction, and it is not possible to determine which balancing segment value is trading with which balancing segment value. You can decide whether to use a clearing balancing segment value or a default rule to handle such transactions.4 NOTE: If you use cash management and the automated sweep feature, R12 uses the intracompany account as a CLEARING account to sweep across legal entities. So even if you are not using intracompany accounting, this setup may be required.

realty co
Realty Co manages approximately 1,200 entities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Each separate property is a distinct legal entity with its own required reports (both internal and external) tax filing requirements, and local and regional reporting and analysis. Realty Co implemented Oracle EBS Financials Release 12.1.3 to manage the back office functions for all the entities. Modules utilized include General Ledger, Payables, Assets, Receivables, Cash Management and E-Business Tax. The chart of accounts was configured with six segments: Company (Balancing Segment), Cost
4 IBID, pg. 5 5

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Center, Natural Account, Intercompany and two future use segments. The main business issue to be addressed was how to account for all of the different intercompany transactions. The requirement was to allow each of 1,200 entities to transact with one another as required. However, Realty Co wanted to use clearing companies as the intermediary channel for running most of the transactions, thus not having to track potentially thousands of intercompany balances and transactions. the business requirement For the approximately 1,200 entities managed by Realty Co, Payables and Receivables invoices can be charged to any single or multiple entities. In addition, Assets can be assigned to any legal entity, and journal entries can be made between any legal entities. Realty Co has 17 disbursement bank accounts. Each entity is assigned one (and only one) disbursement bank account. In addition, Realty Co has seven clearing companies, each associated with a disbursement bank account. Any entity associated with Bank Account 1 will be associated with Clearing Company A; any entity associated with Bank Account 2 will be associated with Clearing Company B. Any journal entry between two (or more) entities with the same clearing company must use the clearing company to ensure the journal is balanced. There is no possibility of any journal entry between two entities with different clearing companies.

Oracles EBS R12 documentation defines the legal entity as legal entity or company in which transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day business operations. A legal entity is a discrete legal personality characterized by the legal environment in which it operates.

Using the definitions outlined above, a single intracompany account would need to be defined. It is unlikely it would be used, since there would only be one balancing segment value in each legal entity, however, it would still need to be defined. In addition, in order to meet Realty Cos intercompany requirements, more than 1.4 million intercompany account combinations would need to be defined. While technically correct, this approach was deemed unacceptable, both from a go-live build out, as well as from an ongoing maintenance perspective. Reconsidering the definition transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day business operations, Realty Co sought an alternative approach: rather than considering the AP invoice (or AR invoice) as the transaction which is recorded or required in day-to-day business, what if the AP payment (or AR receipt) the soLution Intracompany was the transaction? Oracles EBS R12 documentation defines the legal Rather than having Legal Legal Entity 2 Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2 entity as legal entity or company in which transactions Entity 1 legal entities, each 1,200 are recorded or required in day-to-day business Balancing 2000 associated with one 105 (and 3500 Balancing Balancing 110 Segment operations. A legal entity is a discrete legal personality Segment only one)Segment balancing Balancing 2015 3515 characterized by the legal environment in which it Segment segment value, Realty Balancing 2020 operates. As stated previously, legal entities have the right 3520 Co could define 17 legal Segment to own property, the right to trade and the responsibility entities, each associated Company BS 105 transacts with Company BS 110. Company 2015 transacts with Company 2020. Intercompany receivable from BS 105. BS 2015 intracompany receivable BS 2000. to comply with appropriate laws. with to BS 110. balancing multiple Intercompany payable BS 2020 intracompany payable BS 2000. Under this generally accepted definition, each of segment values. Figure 2 Realty Cos 1,200 entities would be defined as a legal Rather than entity since, for example, AP invoices would need to defining 1,200 intracompany accounts in scenario one, be recorded and each of the 1,200 legal entities would we would only Transactions between two or more balancing segments 17 intracompany accounts within single Intracompany need toadefine legal entity. Intracompany accounts are have one (and only one) balancing segment value (See Figure 2). defined for each balancing segment value. assigned to it.

Intercompany

Transactions between two or more legal entities. Accounts are defined at the legal entity level.

oaug.org Intercompany

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Once a legal entity has a balancing segment value (or multiple balancing segment values) assigned to it, at least one intracompany balancing rule must be defined. Separate intracompany balancing rules can be configured based on Journal Source and Journal Category ...
created from a source of Payables, and a different account used by journals from Receivables, intracompany accounting gives you that flexibility. Realty Co used the same account for all intracompany journals, so was able to use a source and category of Other.

source and category Balancing details

Once you have defined the journal source and category to which this intracompany balancing rule applies, you need to specify the debit and credit accounts (intracompany receivables, intracompany payables) account. Within this form, you have the ability to specify intracompany receivables and payables accounts for each combination of balancing segment values. You can also specify intracompany receivables and payables accounts for all combinations of balancing segment values within the legal entity by using the All Other balancing segment values. (See Figure 4).

The legal entity configurations for Realty Co show multiple legal entities defined. However, only two of these legal entities have balancing segments assigned to it. This legal entity, Management LLP (shown in Figure 3) owns one bank account (not shown), and has multiple balancing segment values assigned to it. Payables invoices charged to any of these balancing segment values will only be paid by this bank account.

intracompany Balancing rules

legal entity management
Once a legal entity has a balancing segment value (or multiple balancing segment values) assigned to it, at least one intracompany balancing rule must be defined. Separate intracompany balancing rules can be configured based on Journal Source and Journal Category, so if you need one Intracompany account to be used for journals

Figure 3

source and category options

You also need to specify some options for how the intracompany journal entries should be booked, and these can vary by legal entity. You can specify whether intracompany journal entries are generated at a journal line level or whether the intracompany journal entries should be summarized for the entire journal. You have

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Figure 4

the option to specify whether you should use a clearing company for all journals or just for journals which have many-to-many intracompany journal lines. To meet Realty Cos requirements, any intracompany journal entry was required to go through a clearing balancing segment.

the business requirement Mary Road has 16 legal entities throughout the world, and each legal entity has one (and only one) balancing segment value assigned to it. Mary Road needed to be able to transact between any legal entities and even across ledgers. A journal entry or invoice could be made between any combinations of legal entities. Rather than use an intercompany segment in the chart of accounts, Mary Road wanted to define distinct intercompany receivable and payable natural accounts for each legal entity. In addition, Mary Road required that, for transactions which occurred between legal oaug.org

mary road investments

Mary Road, a trading firm that operates around the clock and around the globe, selected Oracle EBS 12.1.3 to assist them in transitioning from a manual Excelbased, process-driven month-end close and reporting cycle to an integrated, rapid and agile process.

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When is a Legal Entity not a legal entity? As it relates to EBS R12 and intercompany and intracompany configuration, the answer is when that legal entity is only used to record transactions and hold balances but is not required to maintain or conduct banking related transactions. Knowing this distinction and understanding when and how to use EBS Legal Entities can have a dramatic impact on your implementation and ongoing use of EBS.
It is important to note that when creating an intercompany relationship, Oracle EBS R12.1.3 does not generate a reciprocal relationship. For example, when the relationship in legal entity 110 between companies 110 and 105 was created, Oracle did not create the reciprocal relationship in legal entity 105 and 110. This will still need to be defined.

conclusion
Oracle has developed a robust and flexible solution for handling transactions between legal entities in EBS Release 12. Use of the legal entity configurator along with intercompany and intracompany accounting to automatically balance transactions between multiple legal entities can save time and money by streamlining the close process and simplifying month-end intercompany reconciliations. While legal entities now play an important role in EBS R12, it is important to determine if you require to set all of the legal entities that may exist in your organization up in Oracle. At the beginning of this article we asked, When is a Legal Entity not a legal entity? As it relates to EBS R12 and intercompany and intracompany configuration, the answer is when that legal entity is only used to record transactions and hold balances but is not required to maintain or conduct banking related transactions. Knowing this distinction and understanding when and how to use EBS Legal Entities can have a dramatic impact on your implementation and ongoing use of EBS.

entities in Europe or Asia, intercompany invoices to support the transactions had to be generated.

the soLution Mary Road required configuration of Oracle EBS R12.1.3 Intercompany Accounting and Intracompany accounting (defined for each legal entity but not documented below as they are similar to what was done for Realty Co). Mary Road has 16 legal entities, and each legal entity has one (and only one) balancing segment value assigned to it. Within the intercompany account definition for legal entity 110, all other balancing segment values are listed, together with an All Other, and the intercompany accounting for each is defined. Thomas Simkiss is the Chief Operating Officer and In this example, the relationship between balancing Lead Financials Architect at BizTech. Thomas has 15 years segment values 110 and 105 was selected and used to of Oracle Applications experience both as an end-user and define the intercompany implementer across many industries, including Telecom, receivables and payables Intracompany Retail, Membership Organizations, Healthcare, Government, account for this and Social Services. He is a member of the New Jersey State combination (See Figure Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2 Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2 of Certified Public Accountants, and a member of Society 5). These accounts have the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bar Association. Contact Balancing so you effective dates, 2000 are 3500 Balancing 105 Balancing 110 Segment Thomas at tsimkiss@biztech.com or follow @ThomasSimkiss. Segment Segment able to end-date a specific Balancing 2015 3515 Lee Briggs is the Financials Practice Director for Segment intercompany receivables BizTech. Lee has worked with Oracle for over 13 years in Balancing 2020 3520 account as of 31-DecSegment Financials, Supply Chain and Project Accounting. Lee is the 2012 and starttransacts a new Company BS 105 transacts with Company BS 110. Company 2015 using with Company 2020. Chairman of the ADI SIG and presents regularly at local Intercompany receivable from BS 105. BS 2015 intracompany receivable BS 2000. intercompany receivables BS 2000. Intercompany payable to BS 110. BS 2020 intracompany payable and national Oracle User Group conferences. Contact Lee at account on 1-Jan-2013. lbriggs@biztech.com or follow @LeeBriggs. Figure 5

Intercompany

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O A U G F E a T u r Transactions between two or more balancing segments E

Intracompany

oaug.org

within a single legal entity. Intracompany accounts are defined for each balancing segment value.

OAUG Insight Summer Crossword Puzzle

Across 3. Associate members with Star Power. 6. Written details of presentations. 8. Vendor information guide. 10. Reduced price or services from OAUG membership. 12. OAUGs original focus. 14. Users attend COLLABORATE looking for _________. 16. Look here for work. 17. This advocate group represents members to Oracle. 21. Project Management software. Down 1. What everyone should do while attending. 2. Conference attendees make new __________. 3. The original CRM. 4. An OAUG representative for your company. 5. Enterprise ___________. 7. Oracles BI product. 8. Inherently found within Oracle Applications. 9. We make the local and regional connection for OAUG. 11. Groups that explore specific Oracle products. 13. Conference attendees learn new ___________. 15. 2012 will be a big year for ___________. 18. Originally, HRMS only. 19. OAUGs electronic newsletter. 20. Where Oracle Applications minds meet. 24. Oracle products improve ___________. 25. Result of your OAUG membership. 30. OAUGs online training. 22. 23. 26. 27. 28. 29. OAUGs quarterly magazine An Oracle Ace is considered one. www.oaug.org Continuous online learning. The next Oracle Applications generation. OAUG has many opportunities to volunteer for one of these. 31. Presenters share theirs. 32. They make it all happen. 33. OAUGs topic-specific conferences.

Test your knowledge of OAUG and solve our OAUG crossword puzzle. Answers on page 44.
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This puzzle was created by OATC, Inc.

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oaug feature

The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard Helps Users

Hologic, Inc. is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostic products, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women throughout the world. Hologics $1.8 billion in annual revenue and 5,000 employees worldwide support its mission of helping women everywhere to lead longer, stronger and healthier lives.
By Kevin Brownlie, Hologic, Inc.

Determine the Impact of Patches and Prepare Test Scripts

Like many companies running a large footprint of Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), it is necessary for Hologic to apply patches that fix issues or provide new functionality. After upgrading to R12, it appears there are fewer one-off patches and more fixes coming in family packs or other consolidated patch sets. This requires us to do more extensive testing, and it presents us with the challenge of determining what is affected by the patches and what should be tested. The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard, a tool included with the Oracle Applications Manager (OAM), enables a better understanding of what has been affected by patches. One advantage of this tool is that you do not need to be a DBA to use it, although the initial setup will require some DBA assistance. Detailed setup instructions

can be found in My Oracle Support (MOS) note 1267768.1 Required Patches for Patch Wizard. Once the setup steps in the detailed instructions have been completed, each person running the Patch Wizard must complete the following steps: l l l l Start from any responsibility that has access to Oracle Applications Manager. Drill down to the menu item Patching and Utilities. Select Patch Wizard from the Select Feature LOV in the upper right area. Click Go.

The first time you use Patch Wizard, you must enter your MOS logon (Metalink Credentials). Click into

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Figure 1. Enter information in the Recommend/Analyze Patches task screen to analyze a patch.

Figure 2. The Patch Wizard displays results and recommendations.

the Patch Wizard Preferences, then click on the Metalink Credentials link under the Merge Option Defaults and fill in your MOS logon and password. Complete the following steps to submit your first patch (See Figure 1): l l l l Navigate to the Patch Wizard home page. Click into Recommend/Analyze Patches Task. Click the Analyze Specific Patches radio button. Enter one or multiple patches. If you enter more than one patch, you can click the Analyze Aggregate Patch Impact checkbox. Click the OK button. Click the Confirm button

l l

This will kick off numerous concurrent requests that will download patch information from MOS and analyze current patch levels in the instance. To check progress on the requests or to review the results, click Cancel to go back to the Patch Wizard home page, or click on the breadcrumbs at the top of the page. To review progress of the requests, you can click on Recommend/Analyze Patches Job Status on the Patch Wizard home page. You can also monitor from the bottom of the page (click GO under Filter Criteria to refresh the display or enter selection criteria). When the requests are completed, click on Details to see the analysis. Click on Impact to see areas and files affected by the patch (See Figure 2).

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Figure 3. Further drilling down lists detail. Figure 3. Further drilling down lists detail.

Figure 4. Specify which product families to include in a patch filter for your unique system.

You can now see which applications are being affected, and, if you drill further down, what specific files are being updated and/or added. If one of the files is a form, you can see which responsibilities and menu items use that form by clicking on Menu Navigation Trees Affected (See Figure 3).

Patch Wizard FAQ, on the Oracle Support website. For additional training see MOS note 1085668.1 Patch Wizard Training Videos.

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For additional troubleshooting, see MOS Note 976688.1

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To periodically see what patches Oracle is suggesting for your system, set up patch filters by specifying which product families to include within that filter. Setup is easy: l l l l l l l l Navigate to the Patch Wizard home page. Click into Define Patch Filters Task. Click the Create New button. Enter a Name and Description. Choose from the list of product families. I suggest checking both Recommended Patches and New Codelevel. Click the Continue button. Review your selections and click the Submit button. (See Figure 4). Navigate back to the Patch Wizard home page and click into Recommend/Analyze Patches Task. Click the Create Recommendation radio button, and choose either one of the seated filters or a filter you created. It is a good practice to check Analyze Aggregate Patch Impact. For those that have customized Oracle files, you can register and flag those files. If a patch is going to update those files, it will be identified in the Patch Impact Analysis under Flagged Files Changed. Detailed instructions for this can be found in MOS Note 976188.1. I found that the tool is well documented on MOS with an overview (Note 976188.1 Patch Wizard Utility), training videos (Note 1085668.1 Patch Wizard Training Videos) and Troubleshooting Guides (976688.1 Patch Wizard FAQs and Troubleshooting). Also, MOS Note 411327.1 411EBS - EBS INFO: E-Business Suite Conference Highlights & Information Center is a good one-stop shopping note, though the title is a little deceiving. In reality, the note has multiple links to patching, upgrades, OCM and diagnostics notes.

If you have a patch that required a password in order to download it, you will need to download that patch manually from Oracle Support and place it on the middle-tier server, e.g., HOLMT01. Password-protected ad product patches should be placed into the /<staging directory>/ad directory, and password-protected non-ad patches should be placed into the /<staging directory>/nonad directory.

The usefulness of the Patch Wizard could be improved with some enhancements, such as: l Providing the ability to review the impact of applied patches; currently users can only review unapplied patches. Determining whether files are leveraged by multiple modules and providing a list of all modules affected. Identifying which forms are impacted if the file is not a forms file.

In summary, the EBS Patch Wizard is a useful tool that does not require you to be a DBA. You do need to have an understanding of Oracle EBS structure, so I would not consider it an end-user tool. It can tell you which schema is being affected, but it is up to you to translate that to the modules that are affected. Additionally, it will tell you exactly which files are getting added or updated. If you can decipher the file names, it gives you a general idea of what areas to test. Overall, the EBS Patch Wizard can help your analysts determine the impact of patches and better prepare test scripts, thus minimizing any surprises when the patches are applied to production. Kevin Brownlie has worked in IS for over 23 years, 14 years at Hologic, and was a member of the original team that implemented Oracle Applications at Hologic 10 years ago. He is currently Senior Director of Applications Technology. oaug.org 27

global solutions

Las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business Intelligence Horizons for Better Government Transparency
By Dr. Patricia Dues, City of Las Vegas

he City of Las Vegas has embarked on a major Oracle business intelligence (BI) project over the last three years, a move that has pushed key data not only to employees but to citizens as well.

consistently and in real time. This provides improved reporting to senior management, and also to the public.

Develop a Smart BI Strategy

A major part of why our BI project succeeded was that we established a strategy ahead of time and adjusted it as needed along the way. In fact, that was the very first step in our BI project roadmap. Part of our strategy, for example, was establishing a foundation and infrastructure for successive phases. That foundation included acquiring Oracles SOA suite, moving to an Oracle RAC Linux environment and focusing on exposing services on the Oracle Service Bus. These phases were budgeted and implemented over

Government transparency is one of the citys primary strategic goals, and the IT department has been able to help by pushing out Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE+) throughout the organization. One example is our various public safety departments, which previously were never able to report data in a consolidated manner. Each entity had different definitions for similar data fields. But through the Oracle BI project and proper data governance, all data is now displayed
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a three-year period and are now in place to support our BI strategy. We also needed to clarify the value and benefits expected from the project. Some of those benefits included getting data in a more timely manner. For example, various city departments used to have to wait until the end of the quarter to gather purchasingrelated statistics. Thanks to our BI project, we can monitor purchasing trends in real time, so the purchasing department can make decisions and prepare purchase orders more quickly. Another example: A fire dashboard now helps the chiefs monitor battalion and station critical call responses in real time, which directly impacts public safety. They can address changes in response times and quickly make adjustments.

OAUG SOluTiON

oaug insight l spring 2008 oaug insight l fall 2012

Our BI strategy also included managing cross-functional and crossorganizational priorities, which required a pre-determined process for incorporating new data and revising existing data. Through the BI project, we have developed dashboards that actually go outside the city network to pull data from county emergency response systems. This allows city public safety officials to monitor emergency responses from the initial call through completion of the response. Other parts of our BI strategy include:
l

Best Practices and Our Pilot Program

Success relies on learning best practices from others who have gone down the road before. Selecting the right project team, focusing on the most streamlined processes and establishing solid policy management are essential. Other best practices included getting executive commitment, developing a common language for consistent definitions and working to achieve a balance between the usefulness of performance data and the cost of gathering and maintaining the data. We also wanted to provide greater self-sufficiency at each level, allowing employees to be part of the process. So for business users, that meant being able to identify the frequency of data retrieval as well as prioritizing dashboards based on KPIs. For business analysts and operations, it meant identifying electronic sources of data and assisting business users with testing and setup. And for BI, it meant building metadata layers, training users on dashboard changes and supporting the users through the expanding use of BI. For the City of Las Vegas, the success of our BI project was achieved through the completion of a pilot at our Water Pollution Control Facility. This allowed us to test out something small and then expand to other city departments if all went well. A variety of systems at the facility were tapped into, and data was merged with various dashboards. We were able to save as much as four weeks of manual effort by pulling in data for performance measurement reports. Up-to-the-minute data is now available

A fire dashboard now helps the chiefs monitor battalion and station critical call responses in real time, which directly impacts public safety.

Develop a data governance infrastructure as well as support and maintenance to reinforce it. Be ready for changing strategic data needs as well as rapidly evolving BI tools and technology. Make sure that data governance assists with the transition to those new technologies and tools.

In concert with developing a strategy is creating a BI roadmap. The citys roadmap included:
l l

l l

l l

Adopting the enterprise BI strategy. Establishing a data governance foundation. Identifying a focus for the initial use of BI. At the city, the focus was on performance management metrics. Completing key performance indicator (KPI) identification and definition. Releasing initial metrics. Refining management process and measures as necessary. Implementing additional metrics. Rolling out dashboards, reports and analytics. Establishing a Business Intelligence Competency Center.

for monitoring flow rates and chemical analysis for certification with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And the plant no longer tends to over-treat water, which has resulted in saving money on chemicals. With success at the water treatment plant, we were able to roll out BI to other departments within the city. The ability to collect and analyze data in real time has resulted in significant resource savings and improved decision making ability. The project has been successful in that we have not only saved time and resources, but have been able to extract and merge data never before reported on. Dr. Patricia Dues is IT manager for the City of Las Vegas. She is a member of the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) board of directors, chairs the Global Support Committee for the International Oracle Users Council (IOUC), and is an Oracle ACE.

This article was originally published by SearchOracle.com, a TechTarget publication, and is reprinted with permission.

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global solutions

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Japan OAUG

The OAUG Around the World

The OAUG participates with affiliated organizations around the world to bring expertise and best practices to users of Oracle Applications and to communicate concerns and enhancements back to Oracle. No matter where they are across the globe, Oracle Applications users benefit from engaging with peers and with Oracle representatives.

Updates from Recent Events

Attendees mingle during DOAG 2012 Applications.

John Bushell, member of the OAUG Board of Directors, visited Tokyo for Oracle OpenWorld Tokyo 2012 and the OAUG Japan Connection Point 2012 in April. John met with the Japan OAUG board to discuss opportunities for the OAUG to continue working closely with member organizations in Japan.

German Oracle Users Group (DOAG)

OAUG Executive Director Steven Hughes travelled to Berlin, Germany, for DOAG 2012 Applications in May. Steven made several presentations to attendees and explored opportunities to present a collaborative event in the region in the coming year.

OAUG Connection Point Dubai

The successful OAUG Connection Point Dubai conferences in 2010 and 2011 set the stage for future events to bring unique learning and networking to Oracle Applications users in the region. Discussions are taking place regarding the development of future OAUG Connection Point Dubai events. Stay tuned.

Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG)

The OAUG enjoys a longstanding relationship with the Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG). With its two major conferences each year as well as monthly meetings and regular update webinars, AUSOUG makes the most of its international connections to bring practical implementation and management solutions to its users. Events in 2012 (www.ausoug.org.au):
l

Insync12 Conference and Exhibition, 21-22 August 2012, The Sebel Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne, Australia. Oracle with 20:20 Foresight, Perth Conference and Exhibition, 29-30 October 2012, Parmelia Hilton Hotel, Perth, Australia.

The cherry blossom festival was in full swing during Oracle OpenWorld Tokyo 2012 and OAUG Japan Connection Point 2012 in April.

Attendees focus intently during a presentation at an OAUG Connection Point Dubai conference.

The OAUG continues to participate and expands its connections with global users groups across Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Contact the OAUG at info@oaug.com for more information.

30

GLOBAL SOluTiON

oaug.org

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With experience dating back to one of Oracle's first releases of the Applications, MPL5, O2Works has the knowledge and expertise to be your trusted consulting partner. From installs and upgrades, conversions and rollouts, to end-user training on Release 12.1, our consultants have the technical proficiency and hands-on industry experience needed to make the E-Business Suite work for your business. Call, email, or visit out Knowledge Works center where you can download white papers, presentations and more.

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oaug sig update

Update on Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

What is a Special Interest Group (SIG)?

2012 Special Interest Groups

ADI SIG Aerospace & Defense SIG AP SIG AR, Credit & Collections SIG Archive & Purge SIG Assets SIG* BI Publisher SIG (formerly XML Publisher SIG) Change Management SIG Channel Revenue SIG Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) SIG Communications MetaSolv Solution SIG Configurator SIG* Consumer Goods SIG Contracts SIG Cost Management SIG* Customer Data Management SIG Customer Experience Users Group (CXUG) Siebel SIG On Demand SIG Customization and Extension SIG Database SIG* Demantra SIG Discrete Manufacturing SIG* E-Business Applications Technology SIG E-Business Suite SIG E-Business Suite User Management SIG EDI (e-Commerce Gateway) SIG Energy & Utilities SIG* Engineering & Construction SIG Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) SIG* Enterprise Visualization SIG Federal SIG Financial Services Industry SIG Fusion Middleware SIG (formerly Service Oriented Architecture SIG) General Ledger (GL) SIG* Governance, Risk & Compliance SIG (formerly Internal Control and Security SIG) Government Contractor SIG Healthcare Industry User Group Higher Education SIG Hyperion SIG* Incentive Compensation SIG K-12 Education SIG* Logistics SIG Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) SIG Migration and Integration SIG Multi-National/Multi-Org SIG Oracle Agile/Enterprise PLM SIG Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) SIG Oracle Primavera SIG (OPSIG) Oracle Retail User Group (ORUG) Order Management & Advanced Pricing (QP) SIG Oracle Tax Management SIG OTM SIG Outsourcing & Shared Service Centers SIG PeopleSoft AP (PSAP) SIG PeopleSoft Credit & Accounts Receivable Experts (PSCARE) SIG PeopleSoft Financials Modules PeopleSoft Government Contracting SIG* PeopleSoft Technology SIG PeopleSoft Upgrade SIG Process Manufacturing SIG* Procurement SIG* Projects SIG Property Manager SIG* Public Sector SIG* Quality SIG SysAdmin SIG Treasury & Cash Management SIG Tutor SIG Upgrade SIG* Value Chain Planning SIG (formerly Supply Chain Collaboration SIG) Workflow SIG

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are user groups that bring together members that share a common interest with specific Oracle Applications products. SIGs may also bring together members that represent a specific industry, such as the public sector or manufacturing. Additional SIGs are affiliated in response to the development and expansion of the family of Oracle Applications. SIGs are open for worldwide membership and operate online communities, with many hosting meetings at the annual COLLABORATE or Oracle OpenWorld conferences. A complete list of SIGs, upcoming meetings, website addresses and contact information is available at oaug.org under the User Communities tab.

* Special Acknowledgement 2012 OAUG Geo/SIG Certificate of Distinction Award recipient 32

OAUG gEOS & SigS

oaug geo update

Update on Geographic User Groups (Geos)

2012 Geographic User Groups

Atlanta OAUG AUSOUG (Australia) British Columbia OAUG Calgary OAUG Central States OAUG Colorado OAUG DC-OAUG* Eastern States OAUG Florida OAUG* German Oracle Users Group (DOAG) Heartland OUG* India OAUG* Israel Oracle Users Group (ilOUG) Japan-OAUG Kansas City OAUG Latin OAUG* Michigan OAUG* Mid-Atlantic OAUG Middle East OUG Netherlands OAUG Nevada OAUG* New England OAUG* New Jersey OAUG New South Wales OAUG North Central OAUG* Northern California OAUG* Northern Ohio OAUG Northwest OUG NYC Metro OAUG (New York City) Ohio Valley OAUG* Oklahoma OAUG ORAUG-Brazil Pittsburgh OAUG Queensland OAUG San Diego OAUG South Central OAUG South Texas OAUG Southern Australia OAUG Southern Ontario OAUG Southwest Regional OAUG* Twin Cities Financials OAUG* Twin Cities Manufacturing OAUG Victorian OAUG Western Australia OAUG * Special Acknowledgement 2012 OAUG Geo/SIG Certificate of Distinction Award Recipient

G
EMEA. Applications. Applications. Communities tab.

What is a Geographic User Group (Geo)?

Geographic user groups (Geos) are independent OAUG affiliated user groups that bring together a variety of Oracle Applications users within a defined geographic region. Geos create opportunities for members to discuss a variety of applications and share ideas. Currently, the OAUG has Geo affiliates in the continental United States, Canada, AsiaPac, Latin America and There are many benefits of membership and participation in a users

local Geo. These benefits include: l Communication with OAUG members to learn tips and tricks for installation, integration, utilization and maintenance of Oracle

l Knowledge of best practices from colleagues utilizing Oracle l Local meetings and training sessions featuring Oracle experts. l Direct access to local Oracle management and much more. A complete list of Geo groups, upcoming meetings, website addresses and contact information is available at oaug.org under the User

Geos and SIGs serve the grassroots of the Oracle community and offer additional educational opportunities and new product enhancements through their links with Oracle Corporation.

oaug.org 33

oaug sig spotlight

The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG

by Sandie Foster
The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing Special Interest Group (SIG) works to improve processes, documentation and software that will enhance the overall product and create a better user experience for users of Oracle Manufacturing Applications. The SIG was revived in 2002 by the Process Manufacturing SIG Coordinator after she tried to connect with them and discovered that the group was no longer active. The group is modeled after the Process Manufacturing SIG and is currently affiliated with the OAUG while also having the support of Oracle Development for Discrete Manufacturing.

OAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG Coordinator Thiru Yatham (Ansell Healthcare), displays the SIGs Certificate of Distinction awards.

The Discrete SIG has been a great source of information for our company. The monthly presentations are an anticipated event. They help us understand what other companies are doing and the future direction of the applications.

Today the group has 225 active members and meets 10 times a year via conference calls and face-to-face at conferences such as COLLABORATE and Oracle OpenWorld. Thiru Yatham from Ansell Healthcare serves as the membership chair, and Sandie Foster from ABeam Consulting serves as the SIG coordinator.
34 O A U G

The Discrete Manufacturing SIG assists with conference paper selection for both the OAUG and Oracle conferences and works closely with Oracle Development and Strategy to attain updated information for relay to its members. Since its restart in 2002, the SIG has received six OAUG Certificate of Distinction Awards. The group is successful because of excellent member presentations by Thiru Yatham and other board members who also contribute their thoughts as to the ongoing informational needs of the group as a whole, creating a strong group dynamic. Looking toward the future, the group plans to stay up to date on new developments and applications that enhance or interface with the Oracle Discrete Manufacturing Application. I have been a member of the Discrete Manufacturing SIG since 2002 and continue to get beneficial information and exposure to new areas of the Oracle system through our monthly conference/web calls. Of all the SIGs that I participate in,

the Discrete Manufacturing SIG is the most active throughout the entire year with monthly calls on different topics related to manufacturing. Sometimes they consist of member presentations, and in other months, it is a demonstration of functionality from Oracle. I would recommend anyone who is involved with discrete manufacturing at their company to take a look at the Discrete Manufacturing SIG since it covers a broad spectrum of topics and has good user participation, said Brian Gardner, Senior Manager, Applications, AAR Corp. The Discrete SIG has been a great source of information for our company. The monthly presentations are an anticipated event. They help us understand what other companies are doing and the future direction of the applications, said Craig Wilkerson, CIO, M-D Building Materials. If you are interested in joining the Discrete Manufacturing SIG or would like more information, go to discretesig.oaug.org, or under the User Communities tab on oaug.org.

Discrete Manufacturing SIG Officers

Membership Chair (elected position, users only): Thiru Yatham, Ansell Healthcare Directors: Craig Wilkerson, M-D Building Materials Brian Gardner, AAR Corp. Roland Shen, Leviton Coordinator (elected position): Sandie Foster, ABeam Consulting Mission: The Discrete Manufacturing SIG was formed in response to OAUG objectives to promote the formation of special interest groups focused on Oracle Applications for the exchange and dissemination of information.

gEOS & SigS

Web site: discretesig.oaug.org

The OAUG Process Manufacturing SIG

by Sandie Foster

Diane Streubel, Membership Chair (Schreiber Foods) and Sandie Foster, OAUG Process Manufacturing SIG Coordinator (ABeam Consulting), with the Certificate of Distinction for 2011.

After 15 years as an affiliated OAUG Special Interest Group (SIG), the Process Manufacturing SIG still remains strong. The user group, formerly known as the Datalogix User Group, became a part of the OAUG SIG community in 1997 after Oracle acquired Datalogix. Today the Process Manufacturing SIG has 125 active members that meet monthly through 10 conference calls and two face-to-face meetings a year. Through the years, the group has received six OAUG Certificate of Distinction Awards. Being a part of the Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) community, the group also communicates by using a list server that creates a sense of community through real-time interaction. Diane Streubel, manager of cost and systems development at Schreiber Foods, serves as the membership chair, and Sandie Foster, communications director at ABeam Consulting, holds the other elected position of SIG coordinator. Foster also served as the SIG liaison to the OAUG Board of Directors for two years. Streubel has served as the membership chair for the last nine years and in 2009 was named the OAUG Volunteer of the Year at the annual COLLABORATE conference. The Process Manufacturing SIG, sometimes known as OPM SIG, has played a key role in interaction with Oracle Development since its beginning. One of the primary reasons the group formed was to provide Oracle Development with valuable feedback.

Over the years Oracle Development has valued the SIGs input and contributions and has made a point to attend every monthly meeting of the SIG. Oracle Development also asks for input from SIG members in early development stages of new applications modules.

The OPM SIG is the most engaged user group I have participated in during the 12 years of working with Oracle Applications.

The group is open to all users of Oracle OPM and does not charge a membership fee. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, go to procsig.oaug.org or under the User Communities tab on oaug.org. For NCH Corporation and me, the OPM SIG has opened up company-to-company relationships

on manufacturing, quality, inventory and upgrade issues. I know if I need to get a second opinion or bounce an idea, I can rely on the members of the OPM SIG, said Joe Lenard, Director of Application Solutions, NCH Corporation. The OPM SIG is the most engaged user group I have participated in during the 12 years of working with Oracle Applications, said Scott Grossenheider, Senior Manager, IT Supply Applications, Wells Blue Bunny. The OPM SIG group has created a professional network of educated Oracle users across a vast spectrum of manufacturing industries. This group has changed the way companies utilize Oracle technology by joining members who interact on a regular basis to brainstorm solutions for system challenges, learn about new functionality and provide support to new Oracle users. The OPM SIG is a terrific resource for any company! said Joy Miller, Director of Finance and Cost Accounting, Merial.

Process Manufacturing SIG Officers

Membership Chair (elected position, users only): Diane Streubel, Schreiber Foods Directors: Joe Lenard, NCH Corp. Joy Miller, Merial Corp. David Lawrence, Allvac Sherri Hodges, Beckman Coulter, Inc. Scott Grossenheider, Wells Blue Bunny Beth McGarry, Charter Steel Cindy Whaley, Boarshead Coordinator (elected position): Sandie Foster, ABeam Consulting Mission: The Process Manufacturing SIG was formed in response to OAUG Objectives to promote the formation of special interest groups focused on Oracle Applications for the exchange and dissemination of information.

Web site: procsig.oaug.org

oaug.org 35

global users

OAUG Member Snapshot: Sandra Vucinic

can use to make a seemingly impossible task much easier. Along with her active involvement within the OAUG Upgrade SIG, Sandra has also served for the past 10 years on the board of directors for the OAUG Database SIG and the OAUG SysAdmin SIG. In addition, since 2007, she has actively participated in the Geo/SIG Committee, which oversees all the Geos and SIGs within the OAUG. She has participated in more than 100 Oracle presentations and has recently been invited to serve on Oracles Customer Advisory Board for E-Business Suite Applications Technology. said Sandra. You can share your experiences and knowledge as well as help peers with similar interests. My career as an implementer of Oracle Applications would not be the same without the OAUG. Volunteer within the organization: It takes a lot of time and volunteers to make the organization better, said Sandra. People need to step up and volunteer; its the only way to make the organization bigger, better and more successful. If it wasnt for people willing to grow, teach and share, the organization wouldnt be what it is today. If you give back to the organization, in the end, youll get so much more back in return. When asked about the value of being a member of the OAUG, Sandra replied, For me, being able to watch the transformation [of myself] from someone simply sitting in the audience at conferences to being able to help and influence others is astounding. I feel like a character in a movie, where you embrace sharing information and expertise to overcome problems and issues. Perhaps Sandra is the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie character. She has also been dubbed a Martha Stewart chef for the exquisite meals she prepares. A consulting firm chief executive; Oracle implementer and mentor; OAUG leader; salsa dancer Sandra Vucinic seems to do it all and does it well. oaug.org

For some members, the OAUG is a way to connect with other Oracle Applications users, but for Sandra Vucinic it is a way of life. Nicknamed the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Oracle upgrades and Oracle database administration, Sandra wears many hats when it comes to running her consulting firm by day and salsa dancing with her husband by night. For her commitment to the OAUGs Geographic (Geo) and Special Interest Groups (SIG) as well as to the overall betterment of the OAUG, Sandra practically danced her way into the spotlight as our member snapshot for this issue of OAUG Insight. Sandras consulting firm, VLAD Group Inc., has been a member of the OAUG since 2003 and works with clients to help them implement and upgrade Oracle Applications, specifically supporting Oracle E-Business Suite environments. Her dedication and commitment has landed her three awards: OAUG Member of the Year in 2008, the Oracle ACE Award in 2008 and the NCOAUG Distinguished Service Award in 2007. Her true passion lies in serving the OAUG Upgrade SIG, which elected her as chair in 2010. The reality is we will always have to update applications, said Sandra. Technology moves on, and users deal with that challenge constantly. Our goal is to give back to the OAUG by providing information that members MEMBErShip

People need to step up and volunteer; its the only way to make the organization bigger, better and more successful ... If you give back to the organization, in the end, youll get so much more back in return.

Sandra offers a few recommendations to other OAUG members on the benefits of getting involved: Network with others: The best thing that happened to me was becoming a member of the OAUG,

36 O A U G

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global users

New and Returning Members

Returning Associate Members:
Accenture CedarCrestone Centric Consulting Experis The Savola Group Boral Ltd. Bridging Solutions B.V. Browning Buma Stemra Burlington Coat Factory Canon Europa N.V. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young B.V. Capgemini Netherlands Carlson, Inc. Carnival Corporation & PLC Casema N.V. Catharina Ziekenhuis Celgene Corp. Centraal Boekhuis B.V. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek Centraal Justieel Incasso Bureau Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen Chase Brass and Copper Co. LLC Chellomedia Christelijke Hogeschool Windesheim Chromalloy Holland B.V. City of Lakeland Cochlear Limited Corporate Express Europe Credit Acceptance Corp. CTA Curtin University of Technology CWI CXO Solutions CXtec CZ Actief in Gezondheid D.I.S.C. DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond Deloitte Consultancy Den Oudsten Bussen B.V. Department of Water Development Alternatives, Inc. Diebold EMEA Logistics DP Industries Duijvelaar Pompen B.V. Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs E-Business Solutions Group Ebscon Eetay Eindhoven University of Technology Elcaro Consultancy Enterprise Business Systems Solutions Corporation Enterprise Products Equens Nederland B.V. Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam Ernst & Young EDP Audit Essent Kabelcom B.V. FAIR Information Services B.V. Fair Isaac Company Fairbanks Morse Engine Federal Group Fit for Finance B.V. Fjell International B.V. FrontEnd Fujitsu Services B.V. Gallup (Technology) Geesink Norba Group B.V. Gemeente Rotterdam, Bestuursdienst Gemeentewerken Rotterdam General Electric (GE) GEOS IT Professionals B.V. GEOS.nl Getredid Getronics Glatfelter Insurance Co. Global Knowledge Graco Inc. Green ISP B.V. Grontmij H-Facto B.V. Hansen Corporation Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates HCA Healthcare Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis Hitachi Data Systems Europe B.V. Home B.V. Honeywell B.V. Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden Huhtamaki Oyj Huxley Associates I.C.W. Business Solutions IAEA ICL ICT-OKE B.V. IDG Publications IFN Finance ilionX ILO Incore Solutions B.V. InfoRhen Infotec Nederland B.V. Infratects B.V. ING / OPS&IT Inter Access Interactive Data Corp. Interpay Nederland B.V. Interpharm Groep B.V. ISC Meppel ISIT B.V. IT Logistiek IT4Finance JiL Consult B.V. Johnson County Kansas KB3 KCI Europe Holding B.V. Kema Nederland B.V. koker communicatie Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster NV Koninklijke Mosa B.V. KPMG Meijburg KPMG Netherlands KPN ESN KPN FIS KPN IMS MO OP KPN IT4CM KPN Services FIS, BuZa KPN, Financial & Information Services KRAMP Groep B.V. KSI International N.V. Kuipers CVK Kvaerner Process Netherlands B.V. Landcorp Landgate Las Vegas Valley Water District Lasaulec B.V. Leiden Univ. Life Fitness Shared Services Center B.V. LogicaCMG LogicaCMP LVNL Management Control & Accounting Mark Gurry & Associates Marquette University McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. MCX Administration Services B.V. MediaCompetence B.V. Medisch Centrum Haaglanden Mercury Marine Michael Baker Corporation Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken MKS Instruments, Inc. Mosaic B.V. N.O.S. N.V. Holdingmaatschappij De Telegraaf N.V. Organon National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) National Oilwell Varco NCCW Nederlands Normalisatieinstituut Nederlandse Staatsloterij NetApp NFIB NKI/AvL NorthgateArinso NREL Nuon NV Organon NYC School Construction Authority OReilly Media, Inc. O.C.P. OAUG Japan Ontraq ICT Solutions B.V. Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis OPEN Business Applications B.V. OPEX Corporation Oracle Netherlands OraOne B.V. OraSolutions B.V. Ordina DC Oracle Ordina Trade, Transport and Industry B.V. Organization for Security and Co-Operation (OSCE) PA Consulting Services B.V. Pajaro ICT Panama Canal Authority Panggih United Paradigm Param Consult B.V. Paramelt B.V. Philips Business Communications Plantronics B.V. Princess Cruises Provincie Drenthe Provincie Gelderland, Afd. DS/IT/AS

Returning User Members:

@Home A2000 Holding N.V. AAR Corp. Accellent, Inc. Accenture Netherlands Achmea Active Achmea Arbo Achmea CB ActewAGL Actuant Corp. Adetech Consultancy B.V. Aegon Nederland N.V. Aker Kvaerner B.V. AKZO Diosynth B.V. Akzo Nobel Diosynth Alpha Natural Resources Altasen Alysis Amazon.com AmeriCredit Corp. AMIS Services B.V. APJ, Oracle Competence Centre AppsTec International APRO Consulting Services B.V. ArboNed Archer Daniels Midland Co. ArvinMeritor B.V. ASCO Controls B.V. Assai Software Services B.V. Atos Origin Nederland B.V. Atos Origin Telco Services ATOS TSS AVR AVR Afvalverwerking Rijnmond Axioma Bahwan CyberTek Inc. Belonje Consulting BlackRock BM Consultants 38

OAUG MEMBErShip

The OAUG welcomes the following new and returning members who joined May 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012.
Public Works Rotterdam Publicsoft B.V. Qualogy Applications B.V. Qualogy Consultancy B.V. QuayOne Quobell B.V. Raytheon Co. Regina Public Schools Rene Kuss Consultancy Res-Q Consulting Services B.V. Rivas Zorggroep Royal Boskalis Westminister NV Royal Mosa B.V. RSDB Holding B.V. San Diego State University Santos Ltd. Saskatoon Health Region Scamander Solutions Scanmar Schiphol Group Schuitema Schuitema NV, afd. IM-FEZ Sensata Technologies Holland B.V. SGS Nederland B.V. Simac Triangle B.V. SmartApps B.V. Smit International SNS Reaal Groep N.V. Sodaclub International B.V. Softlines SPS Gensys SQL Integrator SQL Integrator B.V. Square SMS SRA (Europe) B.V. St. Elisabeth Ziekenhuis Starry Associates, Inc. State Compensation Insurance Fund Steenwinkel Kruithof Implementatie Stichting Artsen zonder Grenzen Stichting Gezondheidszorg Oostelijk Zuid-Limburg Stichting Meander Medisch Centrum Stryker SA Sunflower Electric Power Corporation Synventive Molding Solutions B.V. Tattersalls Group Teradyne, Inc. Thales Nederland The Zenith Insurance Company Tiscali TopConsult TopConsult Implementation Services B.V. Toshiba Medical Systems Europe B.V. Tracklane B.V. Transfer-Solutions Transport & Logistiek/ Freelance Triangle Group TruEconomy Consulting TweeSteden Ziekenhuis TXI Tyco Valves & Controls Europe U. S. Pharmacopeia UMC St Radboudziekenhuis University of Bergen/UNIFOB University of Oslo University of Twente Unocal Netherlands B.V. UPC UPC Nederland UPC Operations B.V. Veenman B.V. Vertis B.V. Videojet Technologies Europe B.V. VNU Vodafone Vodafone Libertel N.V. VTL VU Medisch Centrum VVAA Groep B.V. VX Company Business Applications Services B.V. WE Europe Weir Minerals Netherlands B.V. Welzorg BV Wesco Distribution, Inc. Westpac Banking Corporation Wind River Systems Witte Computing Consultants Ziekenhuis Gelderse Vallei Zorggroep Suydevelt

New User Members:

Academy Sports Outdoors Accretive Health ACI Worldwide Acorn Paper Products Co. Aderas AEES AK Steel Corporation All Weather Windows Ltd. Allianz Global Assistance Amazigh Amerifit Brands, Inc. APARAA Corporation Associated Wholesalers, Inc. Bank of The West Berger Group Holdings, Inc. Berry Petroleum Company BioMarin Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana BMC Software Inc. BP Oil Company Brand Makers Brookdale Senior Living Bryant & Stratton College Buried Treasures CABLExpress Technologies Canadian Medical Protective Association Canon Business Solutions CDSI, Inc. Centransgroup CES USA Inc. CESA CH2M Hill Corporation Chesapeake Midstream Cianbro Corporation City of Virginia Beach Colonial Pipeline Company Comcentric, Inc. Continuous Learning Group/CBIZ Corsair County of San Diego Covidien Creighton University Daniel Measurement David Evans and Associates, Inc. Development Dimensions Intl. DiCentral, Corp. Dicks Sporting Goods Downer EDI Engineering

New Associate Members:

Heartland IT Consulting

DSA Technologies, Inc. Estuate Inc. Eurofresh Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Gap Inc. GenOn Genpak LLC Genuent Great River Energy GSI Group, Inc. Guggenheim Partners Hallmark Cards, Inc. Hamad Medical Co Hawaiian Airlines Health Fitness Corporation Herff Jones, Inc. Hill International Hyperintel Solutions iFACTORY Intelius Inc. Intercontinental Hotel Group Intersil Interval Holdings, Inc. Jacobs Engineering Janus Capital Group K-Tron Kaiser Permanente KBR KU Technologies Las Vegas Motion Pictures Legalzoom.com LodgeNet Interactive Corp Lounge Lines, Inc. Lucile Packard Children Hospital Luminex Manitoba Hydro Manitowoc Company McLane Company Medical College of Wisconsin Megacognition Meritor metroPCS MoneyGram National Security Agency Natixis Global Asset Management Nevada Department of Transportation Nintendo of America Oakwood Worldwide ON24 Onondaga County, NY

Orscheln Farm&Home Overhead Door Corporation Pacific Crest Securities PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company PeopleComm, Inc. Perrigo Pioneer Natural Resources PPM Global Services, Inc. Priority Health PT Kaltim Prima Coal Purdue University PVH Corp Quest Diagnostics Random House Inc. Red Dot Corporation Royal Dutch Shell SaskPower Sealed Air Corporation Sealing Devices Inc. Silgan Plastics Corp. Silver Spring Networks Simcore LLC Sound Transit Sprocket Media SPX Corporation SSOE Standard Life Ass. Co. SUB3 Management, Inc. Sybrondental Specialties Symcor Inc. Symmetry Resource Group Taylor Made-adidas Golf Company Tesis PLMware USA LLC Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Texas Department of Public Safety The Principal Financial Group The University of Akron The Wendys Company Toshiko LLC Toyota Boshoku America Transcanada TYBRIN Corp Underwriters Laboratories Inc. United HealthCare University of Western Ontario USANA Health Sciences Viad Corp. Warner Bros. Westinghouse HQ

oaug.org 39

oaug strategies vendor corner

special Advertising section

Archiving to the Cloud

By John B. Ottman, Jr., Solix Technologies, Inc.

solix technologies, inc. is a is a 2012 oAUG star Partner

he world is drowning in data. It is estimated that more than 15 petabytes of new information is created every day, or, eight times more than the information in all the libraries in the United States. vendor corner

Editors NotE: the Vendor Corner section of OAUG Insight provides information on products from oAUG vendor members. the oAUG does not specifically endorse any product or service from any of our vendor members.

40

VENDOR COrNEr

special Advertising section oaug insight This year, the amount of digital information generated is expected to reach 988 exabytes, or, the equivalent to the amount of information if books were stacked from the Sun to Pluto and back.1 Experts agree that as much as 80 percent of production data used in mission critical applications may not be in active use. Information must be retained for compliance or business reasons, but this inactive data slows application performance by as much as 50 percent. Faced with no alternatives, organizations are forced to spend scarce capital on larger servers and more storage. According to a recent survey by the Gartner Group, 47 percent ranked data growth as the leading data center infrastructure challenge.2 Business and compliance objectives are requiring access and control over more information, but at the same time current levels of data growth are not sustainable. Entire data centers are being stripped of cooling and power capacity, mission critical application performance is degraded and application availability suffers. Even outages may result as the time required to convert data during upgrade cycles grows from hours to days. The Gartner Group survey also reported that 62 percent responded they will be investing in database archiving or application retirement to address their data growth challenges.2 Backups, data replication, batch processes and query performance all execute faster when data sets are reduced. Outages caused by data conversion during upgrades are minimized. Less data means higher availability, higher performance and lower costs across the entire infrastructure.
Performance Cloud archiving provides an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) framework for small, medium and large enterprises to manage the Hardware complexity and the Capacity risk of storing vital information. For these organizations, archiving to the cloud offers an on demand alternative to reduce the cost and improve archiving performance. Archiving to the cloud offers four essential benefits:
l

spring 2008

How many copies?

with demand. On premise models, by contrast, charge everything upfront. By aligning consumption with demand, pay-as-you-go pricing is more efficient. Security Best Practice: Any security model is vulnerable, but security is no longer a viable cloud knock-off. Best practice security models for physical, operational and system security are routinely in place today at leading cloud providers. One recommendation is to compare these providers with internal capabilities. The gaps you find are less likely than ever to be on the cloud vendor side. Mission critical ERP and CRM applications are the heartbeat of every business, and the data they manage represents the transactional history of the organization. This invaluable business asset must be managed throughout its lifecycle. Archiving to the cloud reduces complexity, costs less, offers higher performance and operates within a security best practice framework. Good luck improving your ILM results! John B. Ottman, Jr., is the Executive Chairman of Solix Technologies, Inc., www.solix.com, twitter.com/johnottman
FOOTNOTES: 1. Enterprise Storage Forum Article titled CIOs Struggling with Data Growth, http://bit.ly/L0iyGL 2. Gartner Survey on data growth in enterprise data centers, http://bit.ly/cjWR32 3. Tech Target Article File sharing in the Cloud, http://bit.ly/L3gaRf

Reduced complexity: Brandon Gage, senior vice president of technology at Newport Beach, California-based United Capital Financial Advisors, LLC opined, We sat back one day and said, Why do we have all this complexity? Every server you have, you have to maintain patches and pay for licensing.3 Every server moved to the cloud is one less server to manage. High Performance: Would Google have achieved such success if it took minutes rather than nanoseconds to return a search result? On premise archiving solutions utilize tier 2 and 3 storage to reduce the cost of storing mass amounts of less frequently accessed information. But cheap mass storage also carries a high cost in terms of poor performance and availability. Cloud storage tiers generally feature tier 1, all the time performance, and some services even augment tier 1 storage with flash based solid state disks deployed at tier 0. Googlelike performance is the result. Reduced Cost: Cloud pricing is elastic so cost travels up or down

oaug.org

Database Size

41

oracle directions

Fix It When It Aint Broke

To maximize benefits, business and IT should collaborate on upgrade decisions. By Dr. Madhavan Veeravalli

t several points in their businesses lifecycles, executives will face the decision of whether or not to upgrade their technology systems be it software, hardware or the overall IT infrastructure. This decision is often cast in a technical context, making it seem like a consideration that lies only within the boundaries of the IT organization.

While if it aint broke, dont fix it may be a common adage, IT managers are only too aware that delaying timely investments can result in technology-capability divergences that can deprive the business of newer functionalities and potentially erode competitive edge. This may have the perverse effect of exposing the business to greater costs and untimely service interruptions. One of the many limitations of making the decision to upgrade an IT-specific consideration is that it casts the players IT and business in a vendor-consumer role, as opposed to that of joint stakeholders in a decision that can define continued business success. Framing it more comprehensively in terms of business value, with joint IT-business ownership, can help define the priority of complex upgrade decisions.

The presumed expectation is that, whatever the decision, the IT organization will continue to serve the business with minimal to no interruption or exposure to continuity risks. As a result, IT decision makers often find it easier to postpone or avoid an upgrade decision as long as possible, to minimize cost outlays and potential business discontinuities.

In order to achieve the best possible outcomes in the upgrade decisionmaking process, organizations should adopt a comprehensive approach that determines the value of the upgrade in terms of three factors: total benefits, total costs and flexibility. TOTAL BENEFITS Credible benefits analysis starts with relevant strategic imperatives and business objectives. These serve as anchor and reference points in ensuring that benefits are relevant to the business. It is

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important to collaboratively articulate the benefits a systems upgrade can deliver in light of these guiding business performance targets including savings from process enhancements, improved regulatory compliance, better performance through the retirement of brittle IT customizations and better business intelligence for improved decision making. TOTAL COSTS Complexity drives cost considerations. A number of factors need to be considered in determining cost, such as cost of implementation, extent of configurations, internal resource costs, level of integration, organizational costs and cost of skipped upgrades. Newer technology options such as software as a service (SaaS) or infrastructure as a service (IaaS) have simplified both upgrade costs and processes. Software and technology upgrades are delivered more frequently and less disruptively as part of the service. FLEXIBILITY Flexibility is the ability for IT solutions to evolve as business needs change. Technology that nimbly adapts to business changes is more valuable over the long term. Processes can be enabled more quickly and at lower cost, compared to older, more complex systems. By embracing a flexible IT solution, management can put their systems on an intelligent upgrade path and further minimize the effort it takes to adopt future releases. This prevents cost spikes and business disruptions. As organizations develop a collaborative approach to upgrade decisions involving business and IT, they can gain a comprehensive view of business value, in effect demystifying upgrade decisions. This allows businesses to focus on their core competencies and truly treat technology as an enabler.
Dr. Madhavan Veeravalli is vice president of Oracles Industry Strategy and Insight team, focused on the manufacturing, retail, and distribution industries.
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