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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Oracle 11i Test Scripts

I recently uploaded some test scripts for the following modules to the Oracle Apps Forum: 

• TE040 - General Ledger Test Script
• TE040 - Accounts Payable Test Script

If anyone else has some test scripts they would like to share then please feel free to upload them to the documentation section of the forum. 

Friday, February 03, 2006

Oracle Navigation and ADI Tip Sheets

Last year I worked with Nici Aldridge on an IMSCAN document management and scanning solution for an Oracle E-Business Suite implementation. Nici is an Oracle Applications Consultant who does quite a substantial amount of Oracle Training - read her profile here. She shared with me some “tip sheets” she has produced for Oracle Applications Navigation and Oracle’s Application Desktop Integrator (ADI). These tips sheets are very short documents which are aimed at providing users with the basic information they need to get started with.

Other tip sheets are available for:

• Office 2000 - Generic Information for Office 2000
• Word 2000 - For those converting to Word 2000
• Outlook 2000 - For those converting to Outlook 2000
• PowerPoint 2000 - For those converting to PowerPoint 2000
• PowerPoint for Presenters - Suggestions for using PowerPoint effectively in PC-based presentations
• Visual Aids - Suggestions for choosing and using visual aids, including PC slides

Sunday, August 14, 2005

A Better Learning Environment (ABLE) at Harvard University

This post discusses the Harvard University systems support site and the use of Oracle 11i and Peoplesoft at this institution.

A Better Learning Environment (ABLE) is a support site for users of Harvard Universities systems. More specifically, the site provides support for Financial Applications (Oracle), HR Applications (Peoplesoft), Reporting Applications (Financial and HR) and for Harvard’s Central Administration Staff.

The resources available at the site include: -

• Forms
• Policies
• Rates & Schedules
• Work Instructions & Processes

Of particular interest is the section on Chart of Accounts (CoA) which outlines the account structure they implemented at Harvard.

For Financial Applications Harvard runs Oracle eBS and you can read about their upgrade to 11i from 11.0.3 in January 2003 here. According to the newsletter the upgrade introduced a new look and feel, new login techniques, and a new method of navigation for Web Voucher, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Budget Tool, AWS2, HUDINI, and Applications Administration.

In November 2004 the University upgraded from 11.5.5 to 11.5.9 which you can read about here.

The Universities Administrative Systems e-news is an interesting insight into how ERP systems are run and maintained. According to the site:

The Office of Human Resources publishes a semimonthly electronic newsletter for users of University financial, HR, and reporting systems, policies, and procedures. It contains:

• Updates on projects underway to build or improve University administrative systems
• Information about new University financial, HR, and reporting policies, procedures, and forms
• Reminders about upcoming deadlines and cutover dates
• Tips and tricks for working more easily or productively

On the e-news site you will also find back issues of the publication as well as a useful index by topic.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Some interesting IT, ERP and Oracle Job Sites

Over the last two weeks I’ve come across a variety of interesting job sites which I wanted to specifically highlight to readers. It seems that more job sites are getting in to the blogging thing as well as providing RSS support. The concept of job sites having RSS support appeals to me since it means that I can find out about the latest jobs without have to wade through tonnes of e-mail subscriptions. 

Firstly, I wanted to point out that Jobserve now has RSS support for job searches. Monster, another really large job site now has a blog as well as an RSS feed available on their Career advice site. Jobster also has a blog here.

IT Jobs Watch is another interesting site I came across that gives you a good indication of earnings in the UK IT Sector. According to the site:

ITJobsWatch offers you a unique perspective on today’s UK IT jobs market. Our aim is to present you with a concise and accurate map of the prevailing IT jobs market conditions. Our goals include helping you:

• Determine the level of demand for particular IT skills with a guide to the average salary and contractor rates offered.
• Discover how various IT skills interrelate.
• Determine which IT skills are popular in specific locations.
• Determine the level of demand for a certain IT skills required by specific IT Job Titles.

ERPMate.com is a job site which has a forum mainly consisting of SAP job vacancies and advertisements. GeekInterview.com is an open database where you can share interview questions. They have 102 questions for Oracle Apps. Also of note is the site Exforsys.com which has a number of tutorials for Oracle Applications 11i. To mention a few:

• Getting started with Oracle Applications
• Concurrent Processing
• Implementing Key and Descriptive Flexfields
• Overview of Popular ERP Products
• Internet Computing Architecture

From an Oracle perspective you should check out the official Oracle Jobs site as well as this OracleJobSite which has an array of RSS feeds you can subscribe to.

Once again, I wanted to point out that I’m frequently updating my del.icio.us job site listing with new sites I come across such as the ones mentioned above, hence I recommend you subscribe to the OracleAppsBlog jobs RSS feed. You’ll also find a listing of Job sites in the Jobs folder of the OracleAppsBlog Blogroll. If you want to see a job site with an interesting and sometime humorous twist, check out Simply Fired.

Anyone know of any other job sites that have RSS feeds?

Monday, August 01, 2005

Oracle 11i Installation, Architecture, Administration and Maintenance

Recently I was asked by a reader whether I could provide them with a diagram of the architecture of 11i10. Here’s some excellent presentations you can download and take a look at if you want to understand more about the architecture of Oracle Applications E-Business Suite (EBS) R11i.

I’ve always been impressed by the quality and content of information produced in presentations delivered by SolutionBeacon. One of the first presentations I came across that provided a very good look under the hood of 11i was one entitled “Care and Feeding of 11i” by John Stouffer.

The most recent versions of these presentations that I could find were delivered by Randy Giefer at the NorCal OAUG 2005 Training Day. I’ve linked to the presentations and also quoted their abstracts below. You should also check out the NorCalOAUG Presentations Archive where there are many other useful presentations you can download.

Introduction to Release 11i Part 1 of 2: Installation & Architecture

Abstract

In the 1st of a 2 part presentation, get a “real world” perspective as well as tips and techniques to install and understand the architecture of the complex Oracle Applications environment delivered with Release 11i, including Release 11.5.10. Release 11i is the biggest and most complex applications release ever! There have been ten 11i releases with major changes to tools and technology stack. Each release addresses bug fixes and has added new module functionality along with three specific Oracle environments that must be installed for Release 11i – database, applications and web. All environments require differing levels of support but each has to be maintained to fully utilize and make the most of the Release 11i Applications. We will discuss the underlying architectures and approaches to architecture and installation that make ongoing support more manageable for the Apps DBA.

Introduction to Release 11i Part 2 of 2: Administration & Maintenance

Abstract

In the 2nd of a 2 part presentation, get a “real world” perspective as well as tips and techniques to administer and maintain the complex Oracle Applications environment delivered with Release 11i, including Release 11.5.10. Release 11i is the biggest and most complex applications release ever! There have been ten 11i releases with major changes to tools and technology stack. Each release addresses bug fixes and has added new module functionality along with three specific Oracle environments that must be supported for Release 11i – database, applications and web. Administering and maintaining these environments has become a full time job for the Applications DBA. All environments require differing levels of support but each has to be maintained to fully utilize and make the most of the Release 11i applications. We will discuss all of these administration and maintenance processes for the Apps DBA and will share “real world” recommendations for each.