OracleAppsBlog

A day in the life of an Oracle Applications Consultant

Version or Release

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Documentation

This post directs you to where some good documentation can be found on the new version of Oracle E-Business Suite which is to be released shortly, namely 11i10.

I have over the last week been involved in preparing a proposal for a customer who is planning to implement the new version of Oracle E-Business Suite, namely 11.5.10. I came across some really useful documentation which can be found on Metalink. To find the documentation, log on to the Metalink site, click on the E-Business 11i button then select Release Content Documents, ‘About’ Documents and Features Summary Matrices

and choose to download 11.5.10 Release Content Documentation (18.56MB).

The documentation pack that you will download contains the information on the following modules: -

• Healthcare
• Advanced Planning
 
• Contracts
• Procurement
• Projects
• Sales
• Service
• Discrete Manufacturing
• Complex Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul
• Configure to Order
• Cost Management
• Enterprise Asset Management
• Flow Manufacturing
• Item Master and Manufacturing BOM management
• Project Manufacturing
• Quality
• Shop Floor Management
• Work in Process
• Financials
• HRMS
• Intelligence
• Balance Scorecard
• Business Intelligence System (BIS) Purchasing
• Business Intelligence System (BIS) Service
• Business Intelligence System (BIS) Service Contracts
• Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW) Financials
• Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW) Purchasing
• Intelligence
• Daily Business Intelligence (DBI) 6.0
• Daily Business Intelligence (DBI) 7.0
• Interaction
• Logistics
• Inventory
• Mobile Supply Chain Applications
• Transportation Execution
• Transportation Planning
• Warehouse Management
• Marketing and Sales
• iStore
• Marketing
• Sales Contracts
• Sales
• Order Management
• Advanced Pricing
• Configurator
• iStore
• Order Management
• Release Management
• Shipping Execution
• Process Manufacturing
• e-records
• Cost Management
• Execution
• Inventory Control
• Logistics
• Planning
• Product Development
• Quality Management
• System Administration
• Regulatory Management
• Procurement
• iProcurement
• iSupplier Portal
• Contracts
• Purchasing
• Services
• Sourcing
• Product Lifecycle Management
• Projects
• Grants Accounting
• Project Contracts
• Projects
• Service
• Advanced Scheduler
• Depot Repair
• Field Service
• Install Base, Enterprise Install Base, Counters
• Mobile Field Service
• Mobile Field Service: Wireless and Voice
• Service Contracts
• Service
• Spares Management
• Student System
• Technical
• Applications DBA
• Oracle Applications Technology

Friday, August 20, 2004

Oracle ERP implementation - the Douglas Omaha Enterprise Resource System 〈DOERS〉

This post contains a review of the Douglas Omaha Enterprise Resource System (DOERS) site and highlights useful documentation which can be downloaded. 

Last week I came across a really good site documenting an Oracle ERP implementation at the City of Omaha which has been named the Douglas Omaha Enterprise Resource Systems (DOERS). According to their site and related documentation: -

The City of Omaha, Douglas County, and the Omaha Douglas Public Building Commission are participants in a joint implementation of Oracle HRMS application suite, a project called DOERS (Douglas Omaha Enterprise Resource System). The DOERS project is a phased implementation and Oracle HRMS is Phase 3 of the total project.Phase 2, which includes Inventory, Grants Management, Projects and Public Sector Budgeting, began in early 2002. Phase 1, involving the Oracle Core Financials, began in early 2001 and includes General Ledger, Receivables, Payables, Fixed Assets, Cash Management, Purchasing and iProcurement.

Following is a summary and analysis of key areas of the site: -

HRMS

According to this section of the site: -

The City/County DOERS project continues building an Oracle Solution to integrate HR, Payroll, and Benefit functions with the new Oracle Financial modules. This initiative falls under the DOERS project umbrella specifically called Phase 3. This Phase of the Oracle implementation also named HRMS for Oracle’s Human Resource Management System has been made significant progress. Douglas County and the Omaha Building Commission went live on version 11.5.5 in January of 2004. Due to the complexity of this phase and limited resource availability the Go Live date for the City has been pushed back.

Here you will find two very good documents to download, namely the RD.020 documents for Human Resources and Benefits. The RD.020 Current Business Requirements is an Oracle AIM (Applications Implementation Methodology) document which is designed to identify and document current business processes and requirements. This document often incorporates a questionairre and is completed during the Definition phase of a project.

Inquiry and Reports

Contains business forms, chart of accounts and end user documentation and training material for Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and General Ledger.

Chart of Accounts

Here you can download the latest Chart of Accounts which is structured according to the following segments: -

• Funds
• Orgs
• Activities
• Assets
• Liabilities
• Fund Balance
• Expense
• Revenues

Current Practices

Here you will find the RD.020 documents for the various modules implemented in each phase of the project.

Future Processes

Contains the RD.030 documents for the following future processes: -

• Payables
• Purchasing
• General Ledger
• Fixed Assets
• Accounts Receivable
• Grants and Projects

The RD.030 document is an Oracle AIM document which is used to establish a process and mapping summary for your organisation. It is normally completed within the Operations Analysis phase of the project lifecycle. In this task, you create the repository for key project findings and decisions that occur during the process and functional requirements gathering activities.

Monday, August 16, 2004

11i Upgrade Project - a move from 11.0.3 to 11.5.9

This post contains a link to the Financial Information Systems Upgrade site at University College London (UCT) and also gives an overview of the upgrade documentation prepared for this organisation.

In a previous post I discussed the Financials Systems Project site at the University College London (UCT). One portion of this site that I think is particularly useful is the section that talks about Upgrading to Version 11i. It provides the following documentation relating to upgrades: -

Business Case

I’m a personal advocate of making sure that a value proposition is prepared for any major IT projects you are going to perfom in your business. This business case contains a summary according to the following points: -

• Fit with UCL Strategy
• Demand for change
• Alternative Options
• Reasons for the Upgrade
• Costs
• Expected Benefits
• Investment Appraisal

It then provides more detail for the business case and then outlines what Functional and Other improvements will be made. Lastly it speculates as to when Future Upgrades will need to take place.

11i Communications Plan

According to this document: -

The aim of this plan is to identify the stakeholders of the 11i upgrade project, to identify the information needs they have, and to provide a plan to provide up to date and accurate information in the most effective format and medium and in the most timely way.

Clear, timely and effective communications will enable the project team to:

• Ensure that all principal stakeholders are aware of and in support of the reasons for undertaking the project, have realistic expectations of it and are prepared for it.
• Communicate information needed by other departments or organisations who are affected by or need to know about the project’s progress towards its outcomes, enable them to prepare (e.g. with appropriate training and equipment) and enlist their support.
• Communicate to users the direct requirements for using the system.
• Keep up to date at all times with users’ requirements and make sure the project aims continue to meet these right from the beginning and continue to do so in the light both changes to users’ needs and new information apparent as the project develops.
• Inform advisors and consultants of the project of all progress and developments so that the best available help can be received when required.
• Enable appropriate action to be taken on an informed basis by those responsible for managing the project so that appropriate decisions can be made and the best level of support can be offered to the project at the right time and in the right way.

11i Project Initiation Document

This is a fairly comprehensive document and according to the site, it’s purpose is to: -

Define the 11i Upgrade project, to form the basis for its management and to help with the assessment of the project’s overall success. The two primary uses of the PID are:

• To provide a baseline document against which the Project Board and Project Manager can assess progress, project issues and on-going viability
• To ensure that the project has a sound basis before asking the Project Board to make any major commitment to this project

The document is structured as follows: -

1. Background
2. Business Case
• Business Case Summary
• Budget
3. Project Definition
• Objectives
• Scope and Exclusions
• Project Deliverables
• Approach
• Constraints
• Dependencies
• Assumptions
4. Project Plan
• Project Plan Summary
5. Project Structure
• Project Organisation
• Outline of Roles
• Project Meeting Structure
6. Communication Plan
7. Issue and Risk Logs
8. Change Control

PC Specification for Version 11i

This document lists the hardware and software requirements for PC’s being used to access Oracle 11i.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Oracle E-Business Suite R11.5.10 (11i.10)

This post contains a short description of what is expected to be released in the next version of Oracle Applications and speculates as to when it might be released.

The Oracle Applications community eagerly awaits the release of 11i10 which was rumoured to be scheduled for release in June 2004. However, it now looks more likely that it will be released closer to November 2004. Don’t expect any official confirmation from Oracle though, I’ve looked for release information on their site and there’s hardly any. Apparently this new release will have dozens of new functions for industries such as manufacturing, health care, aerospace and utilities. It will also include support for transportation planning and transactions based on radio frequency identification tags in manufacturing.

The Fall 2004 Issue of the OAUG Insight Magazine has a short article by John Wookey (Senior Vice President, Applications Development, Oracle) entitled “Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Powers Revenue Driven Enterprise: New release builds on Oracle Applications foundation to propel higher revenues”. In the article, John talks about how organizations have for several years been focusing on controlling costs and argues that improving economic indicators have now shifted attention towards revenue growth. He states that in 11.5.10, Oracle has oriented their CRM applications capabilities to measurements that reveal what drives revenue and profitability. This helps companies create an information based selling environment with clear visibility into the sales process. The intention of this new release is to create a solution for E-Business Suite Customers that clears the way to building a revenue driven infrastructure, something that is essential for an organizations success.

I would be interested in receiving comments from any readers who have additional information on this release.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

The Oracle Financial Information Systems (FIS) Project at University College London (UCT)

This post contains a link to the Oracle Financial Information Systems (FIS) website at University College London (UCT) and also mentions the key features of the site.

The Financials Systems Project site at the University College London (UCT) provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to implement an Oracle Applications System. The site gives readers a holistic view of all the aspects of Enterprise Systems Implementations. UCT initially implemented the following modules of Oracle Application 11.0.3 and later upgraded to 11i : -

• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Purchase Ordering
• Accounts Receivable
• Grants ( including Project Costing and Project Billing)
• Fixed Assets
• Inventory

Following is a review of the key areas of the site:

FIS Project

This section of the site provides an overview of what the FIS project and has related information categorised as follows: -

• Information on the use of the site
• What is the FIS Project?
• FIS Team Members
• Useful Contact Information
• Migration Plan
• FIS Service Times
• FIS Users Group
• 11.0.3 Enhancement Stage Plan
• FIS Technical and Business Consultancy 2003
• Upgrade to Version 11i
• FIS Newsletters
• FIS Training Dates

Procedures, User Guides and General Reference

This particular section of the site is probably one of the most useful areas as it contains project documentation which has been categorised in to the following areas: -

• General Reference and Procedural Notes
• User Guides for the following modules: -
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Fixed Assets
• General Ledger
• Grants
• Inventory
• Purchase Ordering
• Other User Guides
• Technical Guidance
• How To…?