OracleAppsBlog

A day in the life of an Oracle Applications Consultant

Documentation

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Oracle Applications Upgrade - new functionality added since 10.7 and 11

This post contains a link to the Oracle page which will provide you with a functionality comparison between the different releases of Oracle Applications.

If you are still on Oracle Applications R10.7 or R11 and are considering an upgrade to R11i, this Oracle Appsnet page will provide you with an understanding of what new features and capabilities have been added to Oracle E-Business Suite since R10.7 and R11. The site lists the changes by major release and by module and is very useful in understanding the differences between each major release of Oracle Applications.

Friday, July 23, 2004

Oracle Financials R11.5.9 at Stanford University

Recently I came across the Oracle Financials site at Stanford University. This post contains a review of the various sections of the site.

The Oracle Financials Site at Stanford University is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning and reading about Oracle Financials implementations. Being a University, the site gives you a good idea of how Oracle E-Business Suite can be implemented in a Higher Education Institute. It’s also interesting to note that Stanford has recently upgraded to the latest version of Oracle E-Business Suite, namely R11.5.9. You can read about Stanfords Upgrade from 11.5.8 to 11.5.9 here. The Oracle Financials System site is categorised in to the following sections: -

• Learning Centre
• Chart of Accounts
According to this page: -

The Chart of Accounts is the underlying structure for organizing financial information at Stanford. Stanford adopted a new Chart of Accounts along with the new Oracle Financials system in 2003. News and general information about the Chart of Accounts and associated issues may be found here.

In the news item "What is the Chart of Accounts" the University explains: -

The Chart of Accounts is the set of codes used to classify and record financial transactions in meaningful ways. These codes enable Stanford to: -

• identify specific “pots” of money; 
• specify what that money may be used for; and 
• record the transactions related to that money

By fulfilling the above functions, the Chart of Accounts also: -

• facilitates financial reporting;
• provides a framework for understanding the financial results of Stanford’s operations; and
• controls how financial transactions and balances are collected and stored in the Oracle system

Under this news item you will also find the Universities Chart of Accounts Segment Structure as well as mapping tables and spreadsheets which outline how the legacy Chart of Accounts translates to the new structure.

 

• Authority
• Reporting
• iJournals
• Purchasing
• Reimbursements
• Labor Distribution
• PCards
• Sunflower

Friday, July 16, 2004

Online Business Office Environment at Yale University

This post takes a look at the Online Business Office Environment at Yale University, an ideal place for implementors of ERP systems to take a look at what types of documentation should be prepared when undertaking an implementation.

Recently I discovered the Online Business Office Environment (OBOE) Site at Yale University. I felt it’s the type of site that would give implementors of ERP Systems an idea of what types of documentation would need to be prepared. The thing I’ve always believed with ERP systems is that clients, implementors or consultants do not make enough effort to document the processes. Even if the processes are documented, the knowledge of how the new process is executed is not adequately transferred to those making use of them. Placing this information online and updating it frequently is one way of resolving these issues. It also ensures that continuous learning and education on systems and processes within the organisation is undertaken. Below I have highlighted the two major sub-sections of the Online Business Office Environment and provided a brief summary of what’s available in these particular areas. I am sure the information contained on this site will prove useful to implementors of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and in particular Oracle Applications.

Learning Modules

This section contains user guides, training scenarios, tutorials and presentations for each of the following functional areas.

• Procurement
 
• i-procurement
• VIP - Contract Purchases
• WIP - Web Invoice Payment
• SWAP - Simple Web Allocation Process
• General Procurement
• General Accounting
• Journal Staging Area (JSA)
• Custom Commitments
• Receipt Identification Form (RIF)
• Labor Distribution (LD)
• FPM - Financial Planning and Management
• Data Warehousing Portal
• Budgeting - with Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA)
• HR/LD/Payroll Reporting Using DataWarehouse Portal and Brio BUG
• Other Training
• System & Technology Access Request Tool (START)
• Training Management System (TMS)
• Human Resources and Payroll
• KRONOS Time Keeping System
• C & T Payroll (Casual and Temps)
• Casual and Student Payroll
• Casual Hiring

Policies, Procedures, Forms and Guides

This section of the site contains policies, procedures, forms and guides for the following functional areas: -

• Accounts Payable
• Purchasing
• Internal Services
• Information Technology Services (ITS)
• HR Services
• Payroll
• General Accounting
• Financial Management

There’s plenty of good reading material on this site - enjoy browsing it!

Thursday, July 08, 2004

The Financial Systems Project (FSP) - an Oracle Implementation and Upgrade

This post contains details of a Financials Systems Implementation and Upgrade that was undertaken at the University of Waterloo and contains links to the associated documentation.

The University of Waterloo undertook an Oracle Applications R10.5 Implementation in 1996 and Upgraded to R10.7 in1998. Although the implementation and upgrade was carried out some time ago I thought that the documentation provided on their site would still be useful to any potential implementors of Oracle Applications. According to their site: -

The May 1996 implementation of the Financial Systems Project (FSP) was motivated by the realization that UW’s Computer-based central accounting systems had many limitations and inefficiencies. Its mission has been: “To conduct a comprehensive review of financial processes leading to the development of an integrated, effective and efficient system for managing the financial affairs of the University”.

The December 1998 upgrade of the Financial System was motivated by the need to achieve year 2000 compliance within the application software.

The Financial System Project consists of the implementation of Oracle Government Financials (General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Purchasing modules) from ORACLE Corporation plus the custom extensions written to accomodate interfaces with other systems used on campus.

The Financial Systems Project site contains the following types of documentation: -

• Upgrade Project Summary
• Project Team Structure and Membership
• Architectural Diagram
• Information Security Policy and Standards
• ORACLE Government Financials Security
• Technical and Functional Documentation

Of particular interest to those involved in Chart of Accounts design will be the Accounting Flexfield Values portion of the site. Here the Chart of Accounts segments structure and associated values that populate the structure is outlined.

The Applications Technology “department” of the University should also be looked at. According to the site: -

“Applications Technology is responsible for the application software supporting the University’s information systems. This responsibility encompasses all aspects of the System Development Life Cycle; including business process and system analysis, design, acquisition, development, implementation, documentation, and ongoing maintenance. In particular, this includes responsibility for designing and evolving the corporate database. As systems move into production, this group cooperates with Client Services and Electronic Workplace to train users and provide them with access to systems, and with Production Support to commission systems and provide second-level support to ongoing production”.

On the Applications Technology site you will find details of ongoing projects at the University in the areas of Co-operative Education & Career Services (CECS), Financial Systems, Human Resources, Strategic Consulting and Student Information Systems.

I’m interested to know whether the University has upgraded to 11i. I’ve fired a mail their way to find this out and will update this post with any further information or documentation I obtain.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Oracle Apps Implementation Documentation for a University

This post contains details of implementation documentation for an Oracle Applications Implementation at the Queensland University of Technology. In particular, I will discuss the Chart of Accounts documentation available at the Universities web site.

The Queensland University of Technology has some very useful Business Forms, Procedure Manuals and Training Documentation at the Division of Finance and Resource Plannings site. In particular the Chart of Accounts documentation clearly illustrates the accounting flexfield structure and associated values that should be used in such types of organization as a University.

Another sample Chart of Accounts can also be downloaded from my personal site.