Oracle Fusion Interview Questions

Interview Questions

Q: Can we create a Bank Account only for a particular legal entity

A: Bank and Bank Branches are Global they are available across legal entities

We can create a bank account to a particular legal entity

Q: What is CM and DM?

A: Credit memo will be created by Supplier

Debit memo will be created by us

Q: I want to create the invoice which was received from supplier on the supplier date is it possible?

A: If the invoice is received at a particular date, we can define that in manage invoice options page in the invoice entry section and the option is term date basis

Q: Supplier is global level

A: Supplier is Global and supplier site is BU specific

Q: Can we automate the Date in Bills payable?

A: yes, we can in manage payment methods task go to bills payable section and give number of days in “Maturity Date override”

Q: Steps required to calculate the interest invoices?

A: Setups

1. Check the flag called “Create Interest invoices” at invoice options

2. Set “Create Interest Rates” at supplier site level

3. Create interest rates

Q: Steps required to calculate withholding tax?

A: Setups

1. Create Supplier as Tax Authority

2. Setup Withholding Tax options

3. Create withholding tax code

4. Create withholding Tax classification/group

5. Assign withholding tax classification/group to supplier

Q: When system will create interest invoices?

A: At the time of payment system will create interest invoice

Q: Main setups to create payables invoices?

A: Enterprise Structure needs to be configured

Configure Common Options for Payables and Procurement (BU specific setup)

Create Reference Data Access Set

Assign Reference Data Set to Business Unit

Create Payment Terms

Assign Payment Terms to Reference Data Set

Setup Invoice Options (BU specific setup)

Setup Payment Options (BU specific setup)

Assign Supplier Manager Role to User

Run LDAP Job

Create Procurement Agent

Create Supplier

Specify Supplier Numbering (Optional)

Create Supplier Profile, Address, Site, Assign Site to Business Unit (BU)

Create Bank

Create Bank Branch

Create Bank Account (Within Bank Account we have to create Payment Documents)

Create Payment Process Profile (PPP)

Assign Accounts Payable (AP) Roles to User

Assign Business Unit Roles to Accounts Payables (AP) Roles

Run LDAP Job

Open AP Periods

Q: Flow of Enterprise Structure?

A: Enterprise

Division

Primary Ledger

Legal Entity

Business Unit

Inventory Organisation

Q: What is Translation in GL, Can we replace Reporting currency with translation?

A: Translation is nothing but when we balances from one currency to a different curreny. Translation is done only for balances and reporting currency is done for the reporting and at journal level.

Q: What is revaluation?

A: Whenever you are doing foreign currency

Q: Stages of Implementation?

A: Stages of an implementation project

v This Documentation is based on AIM Metholodogy

Stage1: Definition of Project Management

Documents to be prepared

1. Project plan

2. Write up about the client and the consultant

Stage2: Operational Analysis

Documents to be prepared

1. RD010: Current Financial and operating structure

2. RD020: Current Business Baseline

3. RD050: Business Requirements Scenerio

Stage3: Solution Design

Documents to be prepared

1. MD050: Application Extension Functional Design

2. MD070: Application Extension Technical Design

3. BP080: Business Process Design

4. BR010: High Level Gap Analysis

5. BR030: Business Requirements Mapping

Stage4: Building Stage

Documents to be prepared

1. BR100: Application Setups

2. TE020: Unit Test Script

3. TE040: System Test Script

4. TE050: System Integration Test Script

5. TE120: System Integration Test Plan

Stage5: Transition Stage

Documents to be prepared

1. TE130: User Acceptance Test Report

Stage6: Production Stage

Documents to be prepared

1. User Manuals

2. Clients sign off on the Acceptance certificate

Q: Implementation Life cycle?

1. Gather the requirements

2. Conference Room Pilot (CRP 3 to 4 Sessions)

3. User Acceptance Test (UAT)

4. Cutoff to the production server

Oracle Cloud Financials Interview Questions

1. How many Balancing Segments can define in the Fusion? (or) How many Balancing Segment Labels are there in Fusion?

Ans: Primary Balancing Segment, Second Balancing Segment and Third Balancing Segment.

2. How many segments are mandatory to create a Chart of Accounts?

Ans:

1. Company as a Primary Balancing Segment

2. Natural Accounts Segment

(Note: Minimum two segments are mandatory, and Maximum 30 Segments we can create)

3. How many ways we can add values in the value set?

Ans: Three Types

1. Manual

2. Spreadsheet

3. Rapid Implementation

4. How many types of calendars available in fusion?

Ans: Three Types

1. Accounting Calendar

2. Transaction Calendar

3. Inventory Calendar

5. How many adjustment periods are available in fusion?

Ans: There are 8 adjustment periods are available, these are;

1. Once at beginning of year and once at end of the year

2. Once mid year and once at year end

3. Once mid year and twice at year end

4. Once at year end

5. Twice at year end

6. None

7. Other

8. Quarterly

6. What are mandatory accounts to use the financial category?

Ans:

1. Accounts Payable

2. Accounts Receivable

3. Asset Clearing

4. Cash Account

(Note: We will call these accounts as Control Accounts)

7. How many sub ledger accounting methods available in the fusion?

Ans:

1. Standard Accrual

2. Standard Accrual with Encumbrances

3. Standard Accrual For China

8. What are prerequisites for Primary Ledger?

Ans: It consists of 4 C’s

1. Chart of Accounts Structure Instance

2. Calendar

3. Currency

4. Convention Accounting Method.

9. Can we override the accounting method at any time after implementation? Ans: Yes, we can override the accounting method at anytime.

10. How many accounts we can assign at the primary ledger level?

Ans: Seven Accounts, These are;

1. Retained Earnings Account

2. Cumulative Translation Adjustment Account

3. Rounding Account

4. Entered Currency Balancing Account

5. Default Suspense Account 6. Net Income Account

7. Reserve for Encumbrance

(Note: 1-6 are relating to Standard Accrual Method. And remaining account is relating to Standard Accrual with Encumbrance means budget based method)

11. What are different concurrent programs will run after submission of Review and Submit Accounting program?

Ans:

1. Complete Accounting Configuration : Create Balances Cubes

2. Complete Accounting Configuration : Load Chart of Account Values

3. Complete Accounting Configuration

12. How many types of ledgers available in the fusion?

Ans: 3 Types of Ledgers available in the fusion, these are;

1. Primary Ledger

2. Reporting Ledger

3. Secondary Ledger

13. What is the main purpose (or) objective of a balance cube?

Ans: It stores financial balances in a multidimensional cube for real time, interactive financial reporting and analysis.

14. How many seeded data sets provided by Oracle?

Ans: Two seeded data sets available.

1. Common Set

2. Enterprise Set

15. Can we customise the reference data set?

Ans: Yes, We can customise the reference data set.

16. How many configuration levels available in the configuration Lookup? Ans: Three Types.

1. System

2. Extensible

3. User.

17. Can we assign more than one Balancing segment value at Legal entity level?

Ans: Yes, We can assign more than one Balancing segment value at Legal entity level.

18. Can we assign one Business Unit to more than one Legal Entity?

Ans: Yes, we can assign one Business Unit to more than one Legal Entity.

19. What are various roles need to add for AP?

Ans:

1. Accounts Payable Manager

2. Accounts Payable Supervisor

3. Accounts Payable Specialist

4. Accounts Payable Invoice Supervisor 5. Accounts Payable Payment Supervisor.

(Note: Last two roles have been added recently)

20. Can we change Legal Entity and Business Unit names at any time?

Ans: Yes, We can change Legal Entity and Business Unit names at any time

21. Do we need to add any steps in the GL, while closing books in the month end? Ans: Yes, We need add financial categories for mandatory accounts.

22. What is the procedure we should follow, when we add new values in the value set values? Ans: We should check with GL Consultant for tree versions and tree structure level changes.

23. What is first setup we have to do in the Accounts Payable?

Ans: we have to setup for the “Manage Common Options for Payables and Procurement”.

24. How many types of Accrual Expenses methods available in the fusion?

Ans: Two methods

1. At Receipt

2. At Period End

25. When we are creating Liability Account, where it will locate as a default account?

Ans: Payables assigns Liability account as a default account at the below levels.

1. Common Options of Payables and Procurement 2. Supplier and site assignments

3. Invoice Header.

26. What are different options of Accounts for Payment?

Ans:

1. At Payment Issue

2. At Payment Clearing

3. At Payment Issue and Clearing

27. How many types of Receipt Routings available in the fusion?

Ans: Three Types.

1. Standard Receipt

2. Direct Delivery

3. Inception Required

28. Can we able to over-ride the Non PO, Non Inventory based Invoices? Ans: Yes, we can override the account facility and redo the accounting.

29. What is the significance of Procurement Agent? What are functionalities he will handle? Ans: Procurement agents will do requisitions, supplier data and supplier qualifications.

30. What are different types of orders?

Ans:

1. Purchase Order

2. Blanket Purchase Agreement

3. Contract Purchase Agreement

31. What is the hierarchy for vendor? Ans:

• Vendor Name – Header

• Site/ Addresses

• Site Assignments

• Contacts

• Bank Accounts

32. What is Purchase Price Variance?

Ans: The difference between standard item cost and PO level Item cost.

33. What is Invoice Price Variance?

Ans: The price variance between PO level item price and the invoice level item price.

34. What is the Account type of Inventory AP Accrual Account?

Ans: The Account type for Inventory AP Accrued account is Liability.

35. What are different types of Matchings available in fusion?

Ans:

1. Two Way Matching

2. Three Way Matching

3. Four Way Matching

36. What are different types of Purchase Orders available in the EBS and Fusion?

Ans:

1. Standard Purchase Order

2. Planned Purchase Order These three types are available in the Fusion

3. Blanket Purchase Agreement

4. Contract Purchase Order

(All 4 types available in the EBS)

37. What are different types of Requisitions available in Oracle Applications?

Ans:

1. Purchase Requisitions

2. Internal Requisitions

3. Imported Requisitions

4. Paper Requisitions

38. How many Types of RFQs available in the Oracle applications? Ans: There are 3 types of RFQ’s

1. Standard RFQ

2. Catalog RFQ

3. Bid RFQ

Bid: Used for a specific, fixed quantity, location, and date. For example, a Bid would be used for a large or expensive piece of equipment that you’ve never ordered before, or for an item that incurs transportation or other special costs. You cannot specify price breaks for a Bid quotation or RFQ.

Standard: Used for items you’ll need only once or not very often, but not necessarily for a specific, fixed quantity, location, and date. For example, you could use a Catalog quotation or RFQ for office supplies, but use a Standard quotation or RFQ for a special type of pen you don’t order very often. A Standard quotation or RFQ also includes price breaks at different quantity levels.

Catalog: Used for high–volume items or items for which your supplier sends you information regularly. A Catalog quotation or RFQ also includes price breaks at different quantity levels.

39. How many Types of Quotations Available in the Oracle Applications?

Ans: Like RFQs, there are three types of Quotations.

1. Standard Quotations

2. Catalog Quotations

3. Bid Quotations

40. What are different levels to control matching approvals?

Ans:

1. Supplier Site Level

2. Item Site Level

3. Receipt Option Level

41. How many accounts will control at PO level?

Ans:Three Accounts,

1. PO Charge Account

2. PO Accrual Account

3. PO Variance Account

42. Can we override Charge Account at PO level?

Ans: We can’t override the Inventory type PO charge account. But we can override the expense type PO.

43. Can we reopen the closed period?

Ans:If it is in closed status we can reopen. And we can’t reopen, if it is in permanently closed status

44. How can we define the PO relates to which class as a financial functional consultant?

Ans: We can define the PO class by “Destination Type”, while creating the purchase order.

45. What are different types of Invoices in AP?

Ans:

1. Standard

2. Prepayment

3. Debit Memo

4. Credit Memo

5. Withholding Tax

6. Interest

7. Payment Request

Below Invoices had been used in EBS, and the same invoices have obsoleted in Fusion.

1. Transportation

2. Mixed

3. Retainage

4. Expense Report

46. How many types of Prepayments available in AP?

Ans:Two types

1. Temporary

2. Permanent

47. What are different types to enter the Invoice?

Ans:

1. Manual

2. Automatic Invoice generation from PO (Self Billing (or) Auto invoice (or) Pay on Receipt )

3. FBDI (File Based Data Import)

4. OCR (Optical Code Reading (or) Optical Character Recognition)

5. ADFDI (or) Spreadsheet

6. Import Invoices from Source Systems

48. What would be the reason, when we are unable to see the vendor details (After creation of vendor) while creating the invoices?

Ans: We need to check the supplier site level pay site has been enabled or not.

49. What are different types of Invoice lines?

Ans:

1. Freight

2. Item

3. Miscellaneous

50. Can we delete the invoice, once we validated?

Ans: We can’t delete the invoice after validation process.

51. What are different types of Payment Methods?

Ans: Mainly we will use below two payment methods for payment purpose

1. Check

2. Electronic Fund Transfer

But we can find some more methods to make a payment, these are;

1. Cash

2. Inter-bank Payment order

3. Postal Order

4. Credit Card

5. Debit Card

6. Direct Debit

52. Can we restrict payment limit, while running the payment batch? Ans: Yes, we can restrict payment limit in the Payment setups level.

53. How many types Banks available in Oracle?

Ans: Two Types;

1. Internal Bank

2. External Bank

54. Can we make the payment of Invoice without accounting?

Ans: Yes, We can pay the invoice before posting to ledger.

55. Is there any option to make the partial payment from invoice page?

Ans: We can’t make the partial payment from the invoice page.

56. Can we do the accounting for payment without doing the invoice accounting? Ans: No, We can’t do the accounting for payment before post into GL.

57. Where can we check the Invoice discount eligibility in the invoice page? Ans: Open the invoice and go to Manage Instalments under Invoice Actions.

Advanced Oracle Fusion Financials Interview Questions

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Q1)What exactly does Oracle mean by ‘Fusion’?

Oracle Fusion Applications is a name of new business software applications which generally came to be available in October 2011. The market started talking about fusion applications many years ago. Oracle also adopted the name fusion which is adopted by every Oracle applications by simplifying all the media server layers for running functionality of varied kinds. The shift in the way people work needed to be reflected in enterprise application solution.

Q2)Why did Oracle decide to build an eproduct from scratch?

Oracle decided to start from zero where the one reason behind it is that Oracle needed to define development roadmap for all of the ERP systems it owns. Well, this might not have been the most important reason; it was far from the only reason. Another that today many organizations are embracing service-oriented applications and they want industry standard applications platform an ERP systems needed to adapt to it. Businesses are evolving into the new, more social network environments the company sees their employees are connected through chat, social networking sites, online communities, and also sort of capabilities that are used for our personal lives on a daily basis.

Q3)WhatisOracleFusionAppsGoals?

It has been significantly observed that it has been used in new standards for innovation, work, and adoption respectively. Building a product on an open standard which allows the organizations to the lower cost by having commonly available skills in the marketplace. Lower the risk of integration with other applications which in turns makes it easier to configure, maintain, and protect all your configurations during the upgrades. Companies have to adapt to the challenges of the market and the configurations of the current systems that are hard to change in the fast environment.

Q4)WhatisOracleFusionMiddleware?

Oracle Fusion Middleware is a foundation for innovation built to improve efficiency by providing agility. This seeks to provide help for carrying out the business on a digital platform significantly. The entire process ensures high performance, agility, longevity with reliability at any scale respectively. This will also eventually help in lowering the cost of the organization to experience more productivity at work respectively. They dynamically provide a cutting-edge solution for the betterment of business growth in a significant way.

Q5)WhatAreChoicesRecommendedAsFarAsAdoptingFusionApplications?

The application helps to run and manage every program irrespective of software and hardware in an efficient way. To configure a business systematically and strategically the middleware act as a key driving component to a large extent considerably. Therefore, the key components include are Business Intelligence, User Interaction, Application Grid, Content Management, and much other in a wider spectrum respectively.

Q6)AreOracleFusionApplicationAvailableforPurchase?

Oracle Fusion Application is highly available for the customer’s purchase in every marketplace respectively. The customers can easily buy and upgrade it on a specific time period according to its choice of preference. The entire process needs to be done under Oracle Authorized Certification for all such migration/purchasing program. The Oracle authority will solely review and study the customer’s preferences in its initial release.

Q7)DidAnyoneDeployedFusion,AndHowExactlyAreTheyDoing?

It has been noted so far only one such successful incident which was solely announced by Oracle Press Release.

Q8)WhatIsEarlyAdopterOfOracleFusionApplications?

There are various services under the early adopter program which include: • The Oracle solely handles service requests.

• They assemble meetings for a required project and also organized special training of system integrator.

• It also looks into the customer’s requirements and tries to figure out to meet their needs responsively.

• They also provide customer support both before and after go-live.

Q9) Are Oracle Fusion Applications A Replacement For The Existing Oracle Applications,

Such As Oracle E-business Suite, Peoplesoft Enterprise, Oracle's Jd Edwards Applications

And Siebel CRM?

It is falsely and wrongly stated as it is a new set of applications in the Oracle Fusion apps. There are widely used in the previous application such as the Oracle E-Business Suite has given the Oracle Fusion concept. Likewise, Siebel has given the CRM concept.

Q10) What Are Different Available Deployment Options Are Available For Fusion?

The varied deployment options are as follows:

1.PrivateCloud

2.On-Premise

3.PublicCloud

4. Hybrid Cloud

Q11)WhatAreTheLicensingRequirementOfOracleFusionApplications?

The official Oracle website contains much of the detailed information about the pricing information as well as the licensing requirements for the buyers. They have covered various areas of the application process such as human capital management, CRM, project portfolio management, and much other in a wider spectrum.

Q12)HowissecurityforOracleFusionApplication?

The application is highly secured with the widely known features such as:

1.DataSecurity

2.RBAC

3.Privacy

4. Function Security

Access provisioning and identity management: Eventually for the initial setup the application creates an initial user which is highly recommended and necessary for the entire setup thing. The Oracle Fusion Middleware is integrated through Oracle Fusion Application to make the Oracle IM available. The various possibilities includes are user account linking, user identities are managed and programmed, user control is managed, OIM workflow is also managed during the entire procedure significantly.

Segregation of duties policies: The program is solely responsible in the activity of processing, approving, recording in identifying or prevents the various programming error over data transformation, tools, technologies to access everything in a free-flowing process respectively.

Q13)HowaboutthedatamodelforFusion?

1. The global organization required flexible enterprise structure with the help of logical stripping data.

2. The various bunnies units look after and manage the transaction data respectively.

3. Sets of codes can be used for various business units.

4. It solely uses a hierarchy model to offer flexibility in carrying out the business process in an organized way.

Q14)DoesFusionApplicationhaveflexfieldfeature?

It is absolutely stated rightly that Fusion Application does have flex field feature which generally features three types:

1KeyFlexfields

2.DescriptiveFlexFields

3. Extensible Flex Fields

These three types of flex field help in the process of configuring the application for the implementers with the sole support of the Oracle Fusion Applications respectively.

Q15)WhatissospecialaboutFusionUserInterface?

The Fusion User Interface is the best of its kind compared to another application in the market. It is widely used by the customers in the most convenient way which eventually gains huge productivity profit significantly.

Some of its good features include:

1. The business needs are significantly fulfilled with a role-based dashboard respectively.

2.Bind to gether the entire work list significantly.

3.Itprovidesreferenceinformationwithcontextualhelp.

4.Thesearchexperienceoptionwithrelevantdata.

5.Associatekeyboardwithtaggingfeature.

6. Person contact information related to your work or task respectively.

Q16)Isthisapplicationisavailablefordownload?

The Oracle E-delivery offers to provide only the Beta Version of the application which can be downloadedingeneralbyallusers.

Checkout Oracle Fusion Tutorials

Q17)What is different about Oracle Fusion Applications?

The application is solely used for usability compared to most other application in the market. It is widely used not for functionality but its key feature is its usability to a large extent significantly. The testing session is done by the great usability team under the Oracle authority. They work as a whole team and emphasis on the design pattern, guideline, and scheduling of the work respectively. Thus, the application could easily carry forward the entire work process with the intelligent user experience.

Q18)How about the approval Management in Fusion Application?

In the Fusion Applications, the human workflow is solely managed by the AMX which acts an assignment manager to model down approval patter based on your work needs and preferences respectively.

Q19)How about audit feature in Fusion Application?

To handle all kind of work-related task the Fusion Application applies the Oracle Fusion Middleware Audit Framework respectively. The accountability of any work process is solely handled by the audit feature significantly.

Q20) What Are The Other Replacement Feature In Fusion That Makes A Difference To EbsUser?

Some of the few optional features include:

1.OICMisreplacedbytheAccessControlGovernor.

2.DateTrackisreplacedbytheDateEffectivity.

3.OperatingUnitisreplacedbytheBusinessUnit.

4. FND User is replaced by the Identity Manager.

Q21)WhatIsReplacementOfProcessingLikeConcurrentProgramOrConcurrentManagerSi milarToEbsInFusion?

The entire process built up for scheduling, defining, and running varied kinds of jobs which are eventually run on high demand or run to schedule them for the future.

Q22)WhataremajorfootprintsinFusionFinancialManagement?

The Oracle Fusion Application suite consists of an element named as the Fusion Financial Management. The application helps to access information with real-time intelligence. There are various features which describe the Fusion Financial Management are:

1.Asset Management

2.Payments and collection

3.Accounts Payable

4.Cash and Expense Management

5.General Ledger

6 Accounts Receivable

Q23)What are Major benefits for Ebs Financials Users?

There are several user benefits for Ebs Financial Users which are highly recommended are:

1.Centralizedinter-unitesetupandprocessing

2.Sharedreferencedata

3.Flexiblecashpositioningwithmulti-levelaccess

4.APmatchingwithrules-basedengine

5.Cashadvancesandtravelauthorization

6.Openitemreconciliationprocessing

7.Comprehensivebudgetarycontrols

8. They can see Graphical hierarchies

Q24)WhataremajorbenefitsforPsftFinancialUsers?

There are several user benefits for Psft Financial Users which are highly recommended are:

1.AdvancedCollection

2.BillPresentmentArchitecture

3.Cashbasisaccounting

4.Creditcardprocessorintegration

5 Advanced Collection

Q25)WhatIsRe-sequencingAndDynamicRoutingInMediator?

It is a process of reordering of messages to prevent it going in a wrong format in the Oracle

Mediator. Therefore, it widely acts as re-sequencing of the jumbled data or message to in a sequential way for the better understanding of the work process respectively. Hence, the entire process requires the re-sequencing of message widely. This entire process is applicable for all operation or a preferable specific operation.

Dynamic Routing act as a running technique to detect the exact routing path to solve the arising problem by re-routing to various other paths or directions.

Q26)WhatisEchoinOracleMediator?

To make it act or respond to a callable service the echo option is used for such purpose. It widely helps in the smooth functioning of the Oracle Mediator without the need of a specific route to run the service. The Oracle Mediator responsible carry out the different functionality such as an assignment, transformation, scheduling, and much other. This will eventually help to echo the Oracle Mediator back to the application.

Q27)WhatisSchematronValidation?

An inbound message can be validated by Schematron Validation. It largely supports the Schematron version 1.5 respectively for validating the messages. To validate the XML the Schema language issued considerably.

Q28)WhatisFileDeBatching?

When multiple messages can be found in a single file the user can select to publish its choice of message in a specified number of batches respectively. This entire process is considerably named as de-batching. The files such as native format and XML are supported for de-batching.

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Q29)WhatistheroleofOracleMediator?

Oracle Mediator carries out the key features which act as a key component to deal with callbacks, returned responses, and faults or error issues respectively. The Oracle Mediator works as an intermediator between various services and events for a significant service invocation. Thus, the Oracle Mediator provides services on validation, evaluating, routing rules, and much other. Therefore, the key features of the Oracle Mediator are:

1.SynchronousandAsynchronousInteractions

2.Transformations

3.Header-BasedRouting

4.Validation

5.ErrorHandling

6.EventHandling

7.DynamicRouting

8.MultiplePartMessageSupport 9.JavaCallouts

10 .Oracle Mediator Echo Support

Q30)WhatisthefoundationforFusionApplication?

The application is basically built on the open standard platform which tends to very strongly powerful for the industrial-leading growth. The application seeks to provide business intelligence, security, searching capability, user interface framework, collaboration, and various others based on the Oracle Fusion Application.

Oracle Financials Interview Questions And Answers

Oracle Financial Interview Questions And Answers How many key flexfields are there in oracle financials?

1. General Ledger

1. Accounting Flexfield

2. Assets

1. Asset Key Flexfield

2. Location Flexfield

3. Category Flexfield

3. Service

1. Service Item Flexfield

4. Receivables

1. Territory Flexfield

2. Sales Tax Location Flexfield

5. Inventory

1. Item Categories

2. System Items

3. Sales Orders

4. Item Catalogs

What is the report used to identify duplicate suppliers?

In order to find out duplicate supplier, SUPPLIER AUDIT REPORT is runned

What are the benefits of flexfields?

• Configure applications to support your own accounting, product and other codes.

• Enable the construction of intelligent keys.

• Configure application to capture additional data.

• Use the application to validate values and value combinations entered by the user.

• Support multiple flexfield structures depending on data context.

What are the types of flexfields?

• Key flexfield

• Descriptive flexfield

What is a key flexfield qualifier?

A qualifier is a label attached to a particular key flexfield segment so it can be located by the application requiring its information. A key flexfield qualifier can be of 2 types:

• Flexfield qualifiers identify a segment in a flexfield.

• Segment qualifiers identify a value set in a segment.

What are the types of FlexfieldQualifier

NATURAL ACCOUNT

Each Accounting Flexfield structure must contain only one natural account segment. When setting up the values, you will indicate the type of account as Asset, Liability, Owner’s Equity, Revenue, or Expense.

BALANCING ACCOUNT

Each Structure must contain only one balancing segment. Oracle GL ensures that all journals balance for each balancing segment.

COST CENTER

This segment is required for Oracle Assets. The Cost center segment is used in many Oracle Assets reports and by Oracle Workflow to generate account numbers. In addition, Oracle apps training Bangalore Projects and Oracle Purchasing also utilize the cost center segment.

INTERCOMPANY

GL automatically uses the intercompany segment in the account code combination to track intercompany transactions within a single set of books. This segment has the same value set and the same values as the balancing segment.

Segment Qualifiers

ACCOUNT TYPE: Asset, Liability, Owner’s Equity, Revenue, Expense, Budgetary Dr, and Budgetary Cr.

Budget entry allowed	(Yes/No)
Posting allowed	(Yes/No)
Control Account Reconciliation Flag	Available for specific countries

What is the implication of dynamic insert?

Dynamic Insertion is a feature which controls whether the user can enter new account code combinations from any form/window. If this feature is disabled, then the user cannot input new account code combinations from any window/form.

Oracle applications use a particular form (called a Combination form) for directly entering the new code combinations. Users can enter new account code combinations only through this form if Dynamic Insertion is disabled.

What are Cross Validating Values

For key flexfields with multiple segments, we can define rules to cross check value combinations entered with in the key flexfield segments. This option is referred as Cross Validation rules. Value Set List Types

List of values	(10 to 200)
Long list of values	(> 200)
Poplist	(> 10)

Value Set Security Type

• No Security: All security is disabled for this value set.

• Hierarchical Security: With Hierarchical security, the features of the value security and value hierarchies are combined. With this feature any security that applies to a parent value also applies to its child values.

• Non-Hierarchical Security: Security is enabled, but the rules of the hierarchical security do not apply. That is, a security rule that applies to a parent value does not “cascade down” to its child values.

What are the types of Value Sets

1. None: A value set of the type None has no list of approved values associated with it. A None value set performs only minimal checking of, for example, data type and length.

2. Independent: Independent type value sets perform basic checking but also check a value entered against the list of approved values you define.

3. Dependent: A dependent value set is associated with an independent value set. Dependent value sets ensure that all dependent value are associated with a value in the related independent value set.

4. Table: Table value sets obtain their lists of approved values from existing applications tables. When defining your table value set, you specify a SQL query to retrieve all the approved values from the table.

5. Special: This specialized value set provides another flexfield as a value set for a single segment.

6. Pair: This specialized value set provides a range flexfield as a value set for a pair of segments.

7. Translated Independent: This works similar to Independent type. However, a Translated Independent value set can contain display values that are translated into different languages.

8. Translated Dependent: This works similar to Dependent type. However, a Translated Dependent value set can contain display values that are translated into different languages.

Oracle Financial Functional Interview Questions

How many segments are there in the key flexfield(s) in oracle general ledger?

Oracle GL Key flexfield can have 15 columns each representing a segment. However, the segments type can be:

• Cost Center segment

• Balancing segment

• Account segment

• Intercompany segment

On which entity is a security rule applicable?

It’s a feature of Key flexfield, applicable on Value Sets.

On which entity is the cross-validation rule applicable?

It’s a feature of Key flexfield, applicable on Value Sets.

Shorthand alias.

An Alias is a label for a particular combination of key flexfield segment value. This allows users to enter data faster and more easily because the user has to just enter the shorthand alias, and the flexfield automatically populates the values for the segment.

What is a period in oracle gl?

A Period corresponds to a time span within which transactions are entered prior to finalizing, otherwise called as close of the period.

What are the period types?

Predefined period types in Oracle GL are:

• Month

• Quarter

• Year

If needed, period types of our own can be defined in addition to the standard periods.

Different statuses of an accounting period.

1. Never Opened - Cannot enter or post journals.

2. Future Enterable - Enter journal, but cannot post. The number of future enterable periods is a fixed number defined in the set of books window. The number of future enterable period can be changed at any time.

3. Open - Enter and port journals to any open period. An unlimited number of periods can be open, but doing so may slow the posting process and can confuse users entering journals.

4. Closed - Cannot post journals in a closed period. Must reopen closed periods before posting journals. Should manually close periods after finishing month/quarter/year-end processing.

5. Permanently Closed - Permanently closed periods cannot be reopened. This status is required to Archive and Purge data.

What is an adjusting period and its implications?

Typically, the last day of the fiscal year is used to perform adjusting and closing journals entries. This period is referred to as Adjusting Period.

Choosing whether to include an adjusting period or not in a calendar is a very important decision. There can be unlimited number of adjusting periods. Once the accounting calendar is used, changes to its structure to remove or add an adjusting period cannot be done.

How many types of conversion rates are there in oracle gl?

There are 5 basic types of conversion rate types predefined in Oracle GL:

Spot: An exchange rate based on the rate for a specific date. It applies to the immediate delivery of a currency.

Corporate: An exchange rate that standardize rates for your company. This rate is generally a standard market rate determined by senior financial management for use throughout the organization.

User: An exchange rate that you enter during foreign currency journal entry.

Emu Fixed: An exchange rate that is used by countries joining the EU during the transition period to the Euro currency.

User Defined: A rate type defined by your company to meet specific needs.

What type of conversion rate is required to be defined for all transactional purposes?

Spot (Not sure). what are the three essential components of a gl set of book?

Chart of Accounts

Your chart of accounts is the account structure you define to fit the specific needs of your organization.

You can choose the number of account segments as well as the length, name, and order of each segment.

Accounting Calendar

An accounting calendar defines an accounting year and the periods it contains.

You can define multiple calendars and assign a different calendar to each set of books.

Currencies

You select the functional currency for your set of books as well as other currencies that you use to transact business and report in.

GL converts monetary amounts entered in a foreign currency to functional currency equivalents using supplied rates.

What is the implication of the ‘future period” field in the set of book definition form?

The value mentioned in the Future Period field represents the number of future enterable periods that users can use to input journal entries (provided those future periods are opened). However, consideration must be given to minimize the number of future enterable periods to prevent users from accidentally entering journal entries in an incorrect period.

How many tabbed regions are there in the set of book definition form? What are the names of these tabbed regions?

There are 5 tabbed regions in the set of books definition form.

1. Closing

2. Journaling

3. Average Balances

4. Budgetary Control

5. Multiple Reporting Currencies

What is retained earnings account?

GL posts the net balance of all income and expenses accounts from the prior year to this account when you open the first period of a fiscal year.

What is the purpose of the translation adjustment account?

If you translate your functional currency balances into another currency for reporting, or if you revalue foreign currency-dominated balances, you must specify a translation adjustment account.

Parent	Do no enable
Budget	Yes
Posting	Yes
Account Type	Ownership/Stock

What is the purpose of/unique feature of the net income account?

GL uses this account to capture the net activity of all revenue and expense accounts when calculating the average balance for retained earnings.

What is the purpose of the transaction calendar?

Transaction calendar is defined for the purpose of enabling average balance processing. Transaction calendar is created optionally with valid business days mentioned.

In order to allow unbalances journal posting what action is required at set of book definition level / what is a suspense account and its purpose?

If you choose to allow posting of out-of-balance/unbalanced journal entries, GL automatically posts the difference to Suspense Account. However, the Suspense Account check box should be checked and an Account # to be provided for this feature to work during the creation of set of books.

If you have multiple companies or balancing entities within a set of books, GL automatically creates a suspense account for each balancing entity.

What is a value set?

A value set defines the boundaries for the attributes that you assign to a key or descriptive flexfield segment. Value sets control what types of values can be used as Accounting Flexfield segment values. Value sets determine the attributes of your segments such as length, zero-fill, and right justify, alphanumeric, and value security. Value sets also control how validation is performed.

Inorder to allow intercompany journals what action is required at set of book definition level?

One of the accounting key flexfield segments should be of the type Intercompany. This segment would have the same value set and the same values as the balancing segment.

Also, enable Balance Intercompany Journals feature. This allows users to post out-of-balance intercompany journal entries and automatically balance those journal entries against a specified intercompany account. Select the Balance Intercompany Journal checkbox and enter the intercompany account(s) in the Intercompany Accounts window. If you do not enable this feature, you can only post intercompany journal entries that balance by balancing segment, (usually the company segment).

What is Account Hierarchy Manager

Account hierarchy manager is a feature provided by Oracle Application which allows to:

• Graphically create, maintain, and review account structure hierarchies.

• Define new parent and child segment values, as well as change parent/child dependencies.

• Create new roll-up groups from the account hierarchy manager and have your changes reflected automatically in both key segment values and rollup groups window.

Also provides an option to control entities such as:

• Read-only

• Read/write security

• Segment Value Security: An oracle applications feature that lets you exclude a segment value or ranges of segment values for a specific user responsibility. Segment Value Security is extended to the Account Hierarchy Manager.

• Chart of Accounts Security

What does balance type “a” indicate?

Not Sure. May be ACTUAL.

How many buttons are there on the manual journal entry form? What are they?

By default, there are 3 buttons on the manual journal entry form:

1. More Details

2. Change Currency

3. More Actions

How many buttons are there under the “more actions” button? What are they?

When we click on the “More Actions” button, another window appears with 4 buttons:

• Reverse Journal

• Post

• Change Period

• CANCEL

What is the status of a newly entered journal?

• Unposted.

• Posting statuses.

• Unposted

• Pending

• Processing

• Selected for posting

• Posted

• Error

What is Journal Reversal Pre-Requisites

• Journal balance type is Actual

• Journal category has AutoReverse enabled

• Journal is posted but not yet reversed

• Journal reversal period is open or future enterable

Oracle Apps Financial Interview Questions

Can you create a journal entry with a parent segment value?

Not sure. Maybe possible with a child value combined. Parent values automatically allow posting and budgeting.

When a journal is created, which all gl tables are impacted?

• GL_JE_BATCHES

• GL_JE_HEADERS

• GL_JE_LINES

When a journal is posted, which gl table is posted?

GL_BALANCES

When journals are interfaced, which gl table is populated?

GL_INTERFACE

What is the name of the concurrent to populate the gl tables from the interface table?

Journal Import.

What is the mechanism to rectify a posted journal?

Reverse the Journal.

What is the purpose of stat journal?

You can associate statistical amounts with monetary amounts by using statistical units of measure.

This enables you to enter both monetary and statistical amounts in a single journal entry line.

For creation of periodically repititive journals what is the gl tool?

Recurring Journal.

What is massallocations?

A single journal entry formula that allocates revenues and expenses across a group of cost centers, departments, or divisions.

What is the formula for creation of allocation journals?

A*B/C

• A is the Cost Pool that will be allocated. It can be amount or account balance.

• B is the numerator of the factor (a number or statistical account) that multiplies the cost pool for the allocation.

• C is the denominator of the factor (a number or statistical account) that divides the cost pool for the allocation.

Note: Parent values can be used in one or more segments.

Account segment types for massallocation.

• Looping

• Summing

• Constant

What are the target and offset accounts in allocation formula?

These are the lines that are the actual journal entry.

Target (T):

Enter an account in the Target line to specify the destination for your allocation.

The parent value used in the target must be the same parent value used in the B and C lines of the formula.

Offset (O):

Enter an account in the Offset line to specify the account to use for offsetting debit or credit from your allocation.

The Offset account is usually the same account as formula line A to reduce the cost pool by the allocated amount.

Can you delete an unposted journal?

Not sure.

Journals from which sub-ledger do not pass through the gl interface table?

Not sure. May be Assets.

When the journals are interfaced and imported, what posting status do they have?

Unposted.

What is the pre-requisite for conversion?

1. Define new currencies

2. Enable seeded currencies

3. Define rate types

4. Enter daily rates

For revaluation, what rate types are available?

1. Daily rates

2. Historical rates

3. Revaluation rate is the inverse of period end rate.

How revaluation journals are created in which currency?

Functional currency

Explain Flexfield Qualifiers InGl?

Need to assign qualifiers to individual accounting key flexfield segments to identify or represent the purpose in COA.

Natural Account Each Accounting Flexfield structure must contain only one natural account segment. When setting up the values, you will indicate the type of account as Asset, Liability, Owner’s Equity, Revenue, or Expense.

Balancing Account Each structure must contain only one balancing segment. Oracle General Ledger ensures that all journals balance for each balancing segment.

Cost Center This segment is required for Oracle Assets. The cost center segment is used in many Oracle Assets reports and by Oracle Workflow to generate account numbers. In addition, Oracle Projects and Oracle Purchasing also utilize the cost center segment.

Intercompany General Ledger automatically uses the intercompany segment in the account code combination to track intercompany transactions within a single ledger. This segment has the same value set and the same values as the balancing segment.

Discuss Primary Ledger Vs Secondary Ledger Vs Reporting Currency.

Primary Ledger Vs Secondary Ledger:

Use secondary ledgers for supplementary purposes, such as consolidation, statutory reporting, or adjustments for one or more legal entities within the same accounting setup.

For example, use a primary ledger for corporate accounting purposes that use the corporate chart of accounts and subledger accounting method, and use a secondary ledger for statutory reporting purposes that use the statutory chart of accounts and subledger accounting method.

This allows you to maintain both a corporate and statutory representation of the same legal entity’s transactions in parallel.

Oracle Fusion Financials Interview Questions and Answers

• 06-05-2018

What’s Oracle Fusion Applications?

Oracle Fusion Applications is that the next generation of applications from Oracle. the whole product relies on experiences nonheritable with previous Oracle Applications offerings such as:

Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle’s Siebel CRM, Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise, and others, this new product was developed from scratch and written victimization the Java . the look and practicality used input from Oracle customers that give input via the client Council for this product. once can Oracle Fusion Applications Be Available?

Earlier Oracle proclaimed that Fusion Apps are obtainable in 4Q2010 (fourth quarter of year 2010) for a restricted set of consumers. this could be a part of the first parent program for this giving. Oracle Fusion Applications area unit finally nearing GA (General Availability), however not confirmed nonetheless.

What area unit selections counselledas so much As Adopting Fusion Applications?

GA date isn’t obtainable for Fusion nonetheless, thus Oracle recommends these 3 choices to customer:

Augmentation: for those existing customers can implement modules from the Oracle Fusion Applications suite to enhance their existing Oracle Applications Unlimited implementations.

Associate in Nursing example of augmentation is Associate in Nursing existing Oracle EBusiness Suite (EBS) financials and HCM user implementing the talent management practicality from Oracle Fusion Applications aboard the prevailing east by south implementation.

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area unit Oracle Fusion Applications A Replacement For the prevailing Oracle Applications, like Oracle E-business Suite, Peoplesoft Enterprise, Oracle’s Jd Edwards Applications And Siebel CRM?

No, Not At all. Oracle Fusion Apps could be a new set of applications. It uses several ideas from previous applications. for instance, the ERP ideas area unit taken from Oracle E-Business Suite. The CRM conception is taken from Siebel. However, the design of Fusion Apps is completely different from previous offerings. By design, there’s an excellent mutuality between Fusion Apps and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Considering the challenges that client could face in following a migration to Fusion Apps, Oracle is well recommending a “coexistence” approach that helps existing customers of a selected Oracle application.

what’s Oracle Fusion Middleware?

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g provides the underlying infrastructure to run and manage all of your package and hardware architectures. Middleware is that the key to driving efficiencies and will be thought-about a business imperative. Fusion Middleware includes Development Tools;

User Interaction; Enterprise Performance Management; Business Intelligence; Content Management; SOA Management, Application Grid, Enterprise Management and Identity Management.

area unit Oracle Fusion Applications obtainable For Purchase?

Yes. Oracle Fusion Applications area unit obtainable. This fusion application came beneath seven product family’s area unit obtainable for purchasers to buy, or to upgrade to if they need a current maintenance agreement. However, Oracle has explicit that organizations getting or upgrading to Oracle Fusion Applications will solely do therefore beneath Associate in Nursing early parent program, which all such purchases/migrations should be approved by Oracle’s govt management. These executives ought to review and approve contracts to create certain customers have business necessities which will be addressed by the merchandise in its initial unleash. Did anybody Deployed Fusion, and the way specifically area unit They Doing?

Till date terribly restricted data. Few month back Oracle press free proclaimed one winning announcement, this could be a part of early parent program. There is only 1 live client that has enforced some Oracle Fusion Applications practicality in Associate in nursing augmentation state of affairs.

What area unit completely different obtainable preparation choices area unit obtainable For Fusion?

Oracle Fusion Applications is obtainable with the subsequent preparation options:

On premise, hosted by the enterprise

Public cloud (available to the final public), hosted over the net by Oracle, package as a service

(SaaS), or Oracle business partners giving business method outsourcing (BPO) solutions

Private cloud (available internally behind a firewall), hosted as a SaaS or BPO giving

Hybrid, Associate in Nursing implementation of each on premise and cloud.

what’s Early parent Of Oracle Fusion Applications?

The Oracle Fusion Applications Early parent client Program (EAP) is by invite solely and permits strategic customers to urge direct active access to the next-generation Fusion Applications package before general accessibility.

Oracle Highlighted the subsequent services as a part of its early parent program:

Oracle development observance of service requests: Users service requests are Monitored by development

Special coaching of system measuring instrument and enterprise resources: Development can hosts a kickoff meeting for the project, and is directly concerned in coaching client and system measuring instrument resources.

Oracle development vetting of client use cases: Oracle development resources are directly concerned in reviewing the customer’s unreal use of Oracle Fusion Applications to make sure that the customer’s necessities will be met.

Customers have direct input to Oracle development – as customers bear the implementation, they will notice some practicality doesn’t meet their specific necessities, and that they area unit able to have direct input back to development to handle these problems. However, this is often additional suited to careful purposeful problems, not major purposeful areas.

Oracle development monitors client system each before and when go-live.

What area unit The Licensing demand Of Oracle Fusion Applications?

Recently Oracle has revealed rating data for its long-awaited Fusion Applications.The official rating is out there at Oracle web site.

The list offers rating data major Fusion Applications modules like financials, procurance, PPM (project portfolio management), HCM (human capital management), SCM (supply chain management), CRM, PRM (partner relationship management) and GRC (governance, risk and compliance).

However Is Security For Oracle Fusion Application?

Oracle Fusion Applications is very secured, is of tightly coordinating the subsequent security considerations and options.

Role-based access management (RBAC)

Function security

Data security

Privacy

Access provisioning associate degreed identity management :The Oracle Fusion Applications installation method creates an initial user and provisions that user with the administration roles necessary for initial setup. Oracle IM is accessible in Oracle Fusion Applications through integration with Oracle Fusion Middleware. Identity management in Oracle Fusion Applications involves making and managing user identities, making and linking user accounts, managing user access management through user role assignment, managing enterprise roles, and managing OIM work flow approvals and delegated administration.

Segregation of duties policies: Segregation of duties (SOD) separates activities like approving, recording, processing, associate degreed accommodative results thus an enterprise will a lot of simply stop or find unintentional errors and willful fraud social control across tools, technologies, information transformations, and access ways social control across the knowledge life cycle.

However concerning the information Model For Fusion?

Oracle Fusion Applications uses a unified information model, that could be a superset of EBusiness Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel entities and attributes. you’ll extend this information model whereas maintaining consistent linguistics.

Logical information marking offers versatile enterprise structures for international organizations.

Reference information sets alter business units to share reference information. Reference information is managed by sets.

Transactional information is managed or patterned by business units.

You can assign sets of codes to every business unit.

Oracle Fusion Applications uses Trees, a hierarchy model that gives versatile hierarchies for cross line of business processes.

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will Fusion Application Have Flex Field Feature?

Yes, like east by south, fusion application have flex field conception. Fusion is supporting primarily 3 sorts of flexfields

Descriptive flexfields

Extensible flexfields

Key flexfields

These flexfield allows alter implementers to assemble application options while not programming and absolutely supported at intervals Oracle Fusion Applications.

What’s thus special For Fusion User Interface?

Comparing to alternative Oracle application, Fusion computer program is fancy to be better of breed. it’s customer-driven have intuitive style of the applications which ends in giant productivity gains.

Is that this obtainable For Download?

Yes, Beta version is accessible for transfer from Oracle E-Delivery.

What concerning the Business method style For Fusion?

Oracle Fusion Applications uses a declarative business method style that leverages Oracle SOA Suite.

That means all SOA connected options embrace approval management flows, human workflows, Oracle Business method Management Worklist (Oracle pace Worklist), business rules, activity guides, and method configuration customization tools (Oracle SOA Composer).

Business method style is finished but significant usage of 2 languages 1) Business method Execution Language (BPEL) and 2) Business method ModellingNotation (BPMN).

However concerning the Approval Management In Fusion Application?

In Fusion, AMX is a complicated assignment manager at intervals human work flow permitting you to model complicated approval patterns supported business rules.

However, concerning Audit Feature In Fusion Application?

Fusion Application implement Oracle Fusion Middleware Audit Framework to handle all .In alternative word as typical audit feature like providing a live of answerability .

This framework cowl many key audit options driven by compliance, monitoring, and analytics necessities.

What square measure the opposite Replacement Feature In Fusion that produces A distinction To east by south User?

Yes there square measure number of them, here square measure few:

Identity Manager in Fusion apps replaces FND User

Business Units is replaced operational Units

Access management Governor replaces OICM Date power replaces DateTrack.

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what’s Replacement Of process Like coincidental Program Or coincidental Manager like east by south In Fusion?

Oracle Enterprise hardware provides the power to outline, schedule, and run differing kinds of jobs. you’ll run jobs on demand, or schedule them to run within the future.

what’s LDG in Oracle Fusion HCM?

LDG in Oracle Fusion HCM suggests that Legislative information cluster. there’s associate association between the statutory Payroll units and LDG. there’s a demand of a minimum of one LDG for every nation wherever the organization operates. you’ll be able to produce these teams for partitioning payroll and connected information. Later, method the payment with LDG code alongside its legislation. you ought to handle the code with the country’s currency and prices that is crucial to the flex field structure.

what’s Oracle Fusion Trees?

The Oracle Fusion trees also are referred to as Oracle Fusion Timber. They represent the geographical illustration of the organization’s hierarchy. Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management provides predefined tree structures for department, structures, organizations and therefore the positions. you’ll be able to produce multiple trees and multiple versions with the assistance of Oracle Fusion HCM.

what’s practical Setup manager?

The Oracle practical setup manager is often referred to as FSM. The FSM is associate application that guides you all throughout the project life cycle the practical implementation.

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what’s absence pattern?

The Absence pattern contains a collection of predefined rules. of these predefined rules create associate absence kind. you ought to link the absence kind with absence pattern.The selected style by the user can confirm the actual fields which is able to seem on absence kind pages. The giving birth, injury/illness, and general absence square measure some popularly used absence patterns.

What square measure the various set up sorts accessible in Fusion Absence Management?

There square measure 3 plans accessible in FAM (Fusion absence management). Accrual, Qualification, No claim.

Accrual: you’ll be able to generate this attempt to produce absence for paid leaves. for instance, vacation set up.

Qualification: you’ll be able to produce this kind of plans for paid leaves, and therefore the workers qualify for paid leave. for instance, maternity leave

No entitlement: you’ll be able to maintain this program to trace paid and unpaid leaves so there’s no accruals balance of leaves and payment. what percentage sections a performance template/model will hold?

A performance model will hold the most of six models. They are:

Competency Section

Goal Section

Worker Final Feedback Section

Manager Final Feedback Section

Questionnaire Section

Overall Review Section

make a case for what a watch list and work list is?

A watchlist provides a collection of shortcuts to trace that needs your attention.

A work list presents a task that works that desires your approval and notifications for you to look at.

What does one perceive by Reference information Sharing?

In Oracle Fusion HCM reference information sharing suggests that sharing of configuration information like jobs, grades, etc. across business units. you’ll be able to share the configuration information in buckets across business units. This information helps to scale back duplication of information.

However is ESC useful?

The ESC could be a tool that’s interview-based that guides through the configuration of enterprise structures. you’ll be able to use this tool to outline organization set-up, organization structure, job, and position structures of the enterprises.

advantages of ESC

Create all the structure structures at only once

Design multiple configurations to check varied situations

Reviews enterprise configuration before loading

Rollback enterprise configuration when loading

However are you able to track the record if you update associate assignment record multiple times a day?

You can produce over one physical record for a few objects like assignments and update over just once. you have got to present a sound sequence variety in every physical file to indicate the order during which you create associate update.

what’s distribution threshold within the Oracle Fusion HCM?

After social control, distribution threshold can see that men ought to be there for the accomplishment of tasks.

what’s social control in Oracle Fusion?

When users produce rating models, they need to outline the rating distribution at constant time.

The rating distribution provides a plan concerning the proportion of the men that’s concerned. The rating distribution provides data concerning the rise and reduction of human resources at varied levels. This procedure is thought as social control.

Name a couple of sets enabled objects within the Oracle Fusion HCM?

Some set enabled objects in Oracle Fusion HCM are

The Departments, Jobs, Grades

What specifically does one fathom The Fusion Trees? however square measure They vital In Fusion HCM?

Dealing with the hierarchical knowledge is usually an enormous issue. it’s not continually attainable for the users to stay up the pace with it merely. These trees square measure nothing however the graphical illustration of a similar. Even the complete structure of a corporation will be depicted with the assistance of it. This makes it straightforward for the users to effectively manage and perceive the tasks that square measure very important. It conjointly permits users to form some necessary choices.

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What does one fathom The Enterprise Structure Configuration?

Configuration of the enterprise structure may be a task that this tool will simply manage and handle. Thus, it’s application for a similar. All the position structures will clearly be outlined with the assistance of this approach.

What sort of Structures will simply Be Managed By Fusion Tree? Is It attainable For The Users to vary These Structures?

Fusion HCM comes with several options. It will merely represent the structures of organizations, geographic tree; entomb departments inside a corporation, still as positions related to a similar. it’s unimaginable for the users to vary the predefined tree structure. However, it’s attainable to form the new ones with the assistance of geographic trees. Even one copy will have multiple versions. This doesn’t really mean that everyone the versions will be utilised at a similar time. Users will think about just one at an immediate.

Name a couple of necessary Sections inside A Performance templet In associate Oracle Fusion HCM?

These square measure Manager Final Feedback Sections, Goal Sections, Review Sections, and Final Feedback Sections by staff and Final Feedback Section by managers and form Section.

What square measure The Common Tasks That square measure oftentimes Used throughout The Implementation?

Managing the legal addresses, grades, business units, legal entity, divisions, departments, locations, lookups, employee goal setups, review periods, documents sorts (performance related) still as managing the roles square measure the tasks that square measure quite common throughout the implementation.

what’s practical Setup Manager Or FSM because it Is additional unremarkably illustrious As?

Oracle Fusion practical Setup Manager (FSM) is Associate in Nursing application that has Associate in Nursing end-to-end target-hunting method for managing your practical implementation comes throughout the complete implementation life cycle.

What’s Oracle Fusion Applications?

Oracle Fusion Applications is that the next generation of applications from Oracle. the whole product relies on experiences nonheritable with previous Oracle Applications offerings such as:

What area unit selections counselledas so much As Adopting Fusion Applications?

GA date isn’t obtainable for Fusion nonetheless, thus Oracle recommends these 3 choices to customer:

Augmentation: for those existing customers can implement modules from the Oracle Fusion Applications suite to enhance their existing Oracle Applications Unlimited implementations.

Are you Looking for Oracle Fusion Financials Training? Please Enroll for Demo Oracle Fusion Financials..!

area unit Oracle Fusion Applications A Replacement For the prevailing Oracle Applications, like Oracle E-business Suite, Peoplesoft Enterprise, Oracle’s Jd Edwards Applications And Siebel CRM?

what’s Oracle Fusion Middleware?

User Interaction; Enterprise Performance Management; Business Intelligence; Content Management; SOA Management, Application Grid, Enterprise Management and Identity Management.

area unit Oracle Fusion Applications obtainable For Purchase?

What area unit completely different obtainable preparation choices area unit obtainable For Fusion?

Oracle Fusion Applications is obtainable with the subsequent preparation options:

On premise, hosted by the enterprise

Public cloud (available to the final public), hosted over the net by Oracle, package as a service

(SaaS), or Oracle business partners giving business method outsourcing (BPO) solutions

Private cloud (available internally behind a firewall), hosted as a SaaS or BPO giving

Hybrid, Associate in Nursing implementation of each on premise and cloud. what’s Early parent Of Oracle Fusion Applications?

Oracle Highlighted the subsequent services as a part of its early parent program:

Oracle development observance of service requests: Users service requests are Monitored by development

Oracle development monitors client system each before and when go-live.

What area unit The Licensing demand Of Oracle Fusion Applications?

Recently Oracle has revealed rating data for its long-awaited Fusion Applications.The official rating is out there at Oracle web site.

However Is Security For Oracle Fusion Application?

Oracle Fusion Applications is very secured, is of tightly coordinating the subsequent security considerations and options.

Role-based access management (RBAC)

Function security

Data security

Privacy

However concerning the information Model For Fusion?

Logical information marking offers versatile enterprise structures for international organizations.

Reference information sets alter business units to share reference information. Reference information is managed by sets.

Transactional information is managed or patterned by business units.

You can assign sets of codes to every business unit.

Oracle Fusion Applications uses Trees, a hierarchy model that gives versatile hierarchies for cross line of business processes.

Are you Interested for Oracle Fusion Financials Training? Please Enroll for Demo Oracle Fusion Financials..!

will Fusion Application Have Flex Field Feature?

Yes, like east by south, fusion application have flex field conception. Fusion is supporting primarily 3 sorts of flexfields

Descriptive flexfields

Extensible flexfields

Key flexfields

These flexfield allows alter implementers to assemble application options while not programming and absolutely supported at intervals Oracle Fusion Applications.

What’s thus special For Fusion User Interface?

Is that this obtainable For Download?

Yes, Beta version is accessible for transfer from Oracle E-Delivery.

What concerning the Business method style For Fusion?

Oracle Fusion Applications uses a declarative business method style that leverages Oracle SOA Suite.

Business method style is finished but significant usage of 2 languages 1) Business method Execution Language (BPEL) and 2) Business method ModellingNotation (BPMN).

However concerning the Approval Management In Fusion Application?

In Fusion, AMX is a complicated assignment manager at intervals human work flowpermitting you to model complicated approval patterns supported business rules.

However, concerning Audit Feature In Fusion Application?

Fusion Application implement Oracle Fusion Middleware Audit Framework to handle all .In alternative word as typical audit feature like providing a live of answerability .

This framework cowl many key audit options driven by compliance, monitoring, and analytics necessities.

What square measure the opposite Replacement Feature In Fusion that produces A distinction To east by south User?

Yes there square measure number of them, here square measure few:

Identity Manager in Fusion apps replaces FND User

Business Units is replaced operational Units

Access management Governor replaces OICM Date power replaces DateTrack.

Are you Looking for Oracle Fusion Financials Online Training? Please Enroll for Demo Oracle Fusion Financials..!

what’s Replacement Of process Like coincidental Program Or coincidental Manager like east by south In Fusion?

Oracle Enterprise hardware provides the power to outline, schedule, and run differing kinds of jobs. you’ll run jobs on demand, or schedule them to run within the future.

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Oracle Fusion General Ledger

• Create Accounting Calendar

• Create/Enable Currencies

• Create Value Sets

• Create Chart of Accounts

Create Chart of Accounts Instance

Create Primary Ledger

Setup Ledger Options

Create Legal Entity

Complete Primary Ledger Definition

• Review General Ledger Role Template

• Assign Data Roles to User

• Run LDAP Job

• Open GL Periods

• Account Hierarchy Creation

Oracle Fusion Accounts Payables

• Create Business Unit Locations

• Create Reference Data Sets

• Create Business Units

• Assign Business Unit Functions to Business Unit

• Create Legislative Data Group

• Assign Legislative Data Group to LE

• Create Employee User

• Assign Implementation Consultant Roles to User • Create Procurement Agents

• Common Options for Payables and Procurement

• Invoice Options Configuration

• Payment Options Configuration

• Create Payment Terms

• Create Distribution Sets

• Setting up Suppliers Number

• Assign Supplier Roles to User

• Create Supplier

• Create Supplier Addresses

• Create Supplier Sites

• Assigning Supplier Sites to Procurement Business Units

• Create Banks

• Create Branches

• Create Bank Accounts

• Create Payables Documents

• Create Payment Method

• Defining Payment Formats

• Create Payment Process Profile

• Introduction to Payables Role Templates

• Assigning Data Roles to User

• Submitting LDAP Job

• Open Payables Periods

Oracle Fusion Accounts Receivables

Receivables System Options Configuration

Define Transaction Types

Define Transaction Sources

Auto Accounting Configuration

Create Payment Terms

• Create Statement Cycles

• Collector Creation

• Create Customer Profile Class

• Create Reference Data Set for Customer Site

• Create Customer

• Create Customer Site/Address

• Create Remit-to-Address

• Memo Lines Creation

• Create Receivable Activities

• Create Receipt Classes & Methods

• Create Receipt Source

• Overview on AR Role Template

• Assign Receivables Data Roles to User

• Submitting LDAP Job

• Open Receivables Periods

Oracle Fusion Cash Management

• Manual Bank Statement Creation

• Manual Reconciliation

• Automatic Reconciliation

• Generate Cash Transactions

• External Cash Transactions

• CM to GL Reconciliation

Oracle Fusion Fixed Assets

• Create Value Sets for Category KF

• Create Value Sets for Location KF

• Create Value Sets for Asset Key KFF

• Create Category KFF Structure

• Create Location KFF Structure

• Create Asset Key KFF Structure

• Create Category KFF Structure Instance

• Create Location KFF Structure Instance

• Create Asset Key KFF Structure Instance

• Create Segment Values to 3 KFF Segments

• Configure System Controls

• Create Fiscal Year Calendar

• Create Asset Calendar

• Define Prorate Convention • Create Prorate Calendar

Create Asset Book

Create Tax Book

Create Asset Categories

Overview on Asset Book Role Template

Assign Data Roles to User

Oracle Fusion Expense

• Setup Expense System Options

• Create Expense Report Templates

• Define Expense Approval Rules

• Assign Data Roles to User

• Run LDAP Job

• Set Default Expense Account for Employee

Oracle Fusion Purchasing

• Purchasing Configuration

• Create Inventory Location

• Assign Business Unit Business Function for Procurement

• Define Facilities for Procurement – Facility Shifts – Facility

• Workday Pattern – Facility Schedules

• Create Item Master Inventory Organization

• Create Actual Inventory Organization

• Configure Procurement Business Function

• Configure Requisitioning Business Function

• Manage Common Options for Payables and Procurement

• Receiving Parameters

• Procurement Agent

• Manage Transaction Account Definitions

• Manage Account Rules

• Transaction Account Definition

• Setting Subledger Accounting Options

• Create Approval Group

• Manage Purchasing Document Approvals – Setup Approvals – • Parallel

• Assign Data Roles to User

• Run LDAP Job for Roles Synchronization

Oracle Fusion Tax

• Create Tax Regime

• Create Tax

• Create Tax Jurisdiction

• Create Tax Status

• Create Tax Rates

• Application Tax Options

Tax Owner Configuration

Assign Tax to Supplier (Profile/Header & Address)

Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager (FSM)

• Introduction to Functional Setup Manager (FSM)

• Understanding Application Implementation Process through FSM

• Understanding Offerings

• Understanding Options

• Enabling Offerings

• Implementation Project Creation

• Task Assignments to Team Members

• Status Tracking

• Understating Task Lists/Tasks

• Overview on Offerings Documentation

• Overview on Rapid Implementation Process

Oracle Identity Manager (OIM)

• Implementation User Creation

• Role Provisioning

• Custom Roles Creatio

Oracle Authorization Policy Manager (APM)

• Role Templates

• Oracle Delivered Roles

• Generating Custom Data Roles

Oracle Business Process Management (BPM)

• Approval Groups Creation

• Approval Rule Definitions

Q1). Create a new GL module in the same machine

I need to create a new set of database Oracle Finance and program in the same machine having the Sun Solaris system.

Can I just copy the volume of program and data?

Or do I need to make a new installation?

If I need to make a copy of the GL module set database, is it possible if I only copy the data, and make a new pointing map from the program?

Ans: In order to create a new set of database Oracle Finance and program in the same machine, you will need to create a new instance. You can create the new instance in the same machine.

Q2). Oracle Receivables – Interface

Can you tell me which tables get hit in the ‘Receivables’ module when the receivables interface is run from Order Entry?

Ans: We have the RA_INTERFACE_LINES_ALL table to be populated. From there, AR picks data for creating an invoice using “autoinvoice”.

While Autoinvoice gets data from ra_interface_lines_all, it also picks data from ra_interface_salescredits_all and ra_interface_distributions_all if it is present.

Q3). Oracle Financial problem

I have installed two instances (test, vision) of Oracle Financial 11i for vision instance and everything seems ok. But in testing an instance after logging using sysadmin/sysadmin ini IE5.0, an error comes after the applet has started.

I find this error:

“APP-FND-01516: invalid username or password or database

The tns80listnerAPP_TEST is not starting.”

How can I solve this?

Ans: You have just found out that database would not start correctly in getting the error in identifying control file;

Go to the COMMON_TOP/admin/install directory /u202/train/d01/oracle/prodcomn/admin/create

To solve this, run “adcrdb.sh”. This created the control file.

Restart the database, and then try connecting to applications which will complete the connection.

Q4). Customer vs. Journal Entries Balances This is the scenario I have:

When an invoice is created in AR AND the user changes to the AR (1070), it debits to something other than 1070.

The customer balance is increased to reflect that he owes us money but the Journal entries for 1070 remains at 0.

I assume the Aged VS and the journal entries for a customer should be equal. I am aware the invoice should have used 1070 but it didn’t, which means a user error.

Do you know how to undo this type of error?

Please note that it is too late to cancel the invoice. There are other types of user mistakes that can throw out the JE VS AGED as well.

Ans: The situation you mentioned is the reasons why you should not change invoices that are accounted for. This can also happen when the J/E is changed since the AR transfer to GL creates unnoted J/E. Changing the said invoices puts GLA and the sub ledger out of sync. You need to set the journal source for receivables so that the update flag is not enabled.

In AR, don’t change invoices that are there. Instead use DM and CM functionality to adjust invoices or create new ones.

Q5). Oracle audit possibilities

I like to know if there are functionalities in Oracle Applications that will allow me to audit the access users to have certain forms.

Are there specific requests that will allow me to look up all the users that can define vendors, or do I have to define queries on the database tables?

Ans: You can select distinct user_id from fnd_user where user_id in (select created_by from po_vendor_sites_all).

Alternatively, you can play with the user and responsibility tables to see who has access to the responsibilities. You need to PO super user and PO user, and other responsibilities that have access to the form to enter vendors. If a user does not have access to a ‘responsibility used’ to enter vendors, he cannot enter vendors using his login.

Note that po_vendors is at a generic level (no_org_id) while po_vendor_sites is at org_id level. created_by and Updated_by are who columns that allow you to see who created or updated the data.

Q6). Asset number generation

In our system, asset numbers are automatic generated one by one. But sometimes, it skips the sequence. For example, we have closed a period with a last asset number 326, and when we open the next period, it is gives an asset number of 329. It means we missed asset number 327 & 328. Sometimes, it also happens even without closing the period.

How do I fix this?

Ans: You will need to check your Fa_distribution_history table to see if you are missing gaps there and then trace it to where assets where created, either in FA or in PA.

Q7). What is Flex field? What are different types of Flex field?

Ans: Flex field is used to capture information of your Organisations.

Q8). Difference between KFF and DFF. Ans:

KFF

• Unique identifier

• Stored in segment Column

DFF

• Is used to capture additional information

• Stored in attribute Column

Q9). How many KFF are in GL. AP , AR. Ans:

• Module KFF

• GL Accounting FF

• AP No KFF

• AR Sales tax Location FF

• Territory Flexfield.

Q10). What is symbol of DFF in the Forms? Ans: Square Bracket [ ].

Q11). What is structure of KFF in the Accounting Flexfields. Ans:

• Company

• Cost center

• Account

• Product

• Future use.

Q12). How many segments are in AFF. Ans: max 30 segments and min two.

Q13). What are flexfield Qualifiers.

Ans:Flexfield Qualifiers is used to identify the segments. Various types of flexfield qualifiers are listed below:

1. a) Balancing Segment Qualifier.

b) Cost Center segment Qualifier.

c) Natural Account Segment Qualifier.

d) Intercompany Segment Qualifier.

Q14). What is Dynamic Insertions?

Ans: You can create Code Combinations at run time.

Q15). In which table Code Cominations id is stored.

Ans: GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS.

Q16). In which table flex values are stored.

Ans: 1. fnd_ flex_Values

2. fnd_ flex_Values_tl

Q17). What is set of Books and in which table set of book is stored.

Ans: Set of Books is a Financial Reporting entity which Consist of three C.

1. a) Chart Of Accounts

b) Currency

c) Calendar.

Set of Books is stored in GL_SETS_OF_BOOKS

Q18). In which table Currency and Period Type Nameare stored.

Ans: Currency – FND_CURRENCIES Period – GL_PERIOD_STATUSES

Q19). In which table Segment Values are stored and concatenated values are stored. Ans:

1. GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

2. GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS_KFV.

Q20). What are different types of Currency. Ans:

• Functional Currency

• Foreign currency.

Q21). What are different types of Calendars.

Ans:

Different types of Calendars are listed below

1. a) Fiscal

b) Accounting

Q22). How will you attach set of Books to the Responsibility? Ans: through Profile. GL SETS OF Books Name.

Q23). What is Profile and what are different types of Profiles.

Ans: Profile: Profile is the changeable option that affects the way your application runs. There are two types of profile.

1. System defined

2. User defined

Q24). What are different Profiles Level available in oracle apps.

Ans:Below are the Profiles Level available in oracle apps

1. Site(Lowest level)

2. Application

3. Responsibility

4. User.

Q25). Write Name of some Profile options. Ans:

1. GL Sets of Books Name

2. GL sets of Books id 3. MO:Operating unit (multi org).

4. HR:User type.

Q26). What is cycle of GL.? Ans:

In simple and layman words-

1. Open the period 2. Create Journal Enteries

3. Post the Journals.

Q27). In Which tables Journal entries created. Ans: Important tables are-

1. Batch: GL_JE_BATCHES

2. Header: GL_JE_HEADERS

3. Lines : GL_JE_LINES

Q28). After Posting data goes in which tables.

Ans: GL_BALANCES.( Column Period_net_cr, period_net_dr).

Q29). What are Important tables in GL. Ans:

• GL_JE_BATCHES

• GL_JE_HEADERS

• GL_JE_LINES

• GL_BALANCES

• GL_SETS_OF_BOOKS

• GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

• GL_PERIOD_STATUES

• GL_INTERFACE

Q30). In which table Supplier information’s is stored.

Ans: Supplier information can be found in following tables

1.PO_VENDORS

2.PO_VENDOR_SITES_ALL

3. PO_VENDOR_CONTACTS

Oracle EBS Financial Modules Consulting:

Oracle’s EBS Financials Modules include General Ledger (GL), Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivable (AR), Cash Management (CM), and Fixed Assets (FA). There are several sub-modules that are also included like iExpense, FSG (Financial Statement Generator), ADI (Desktop Integrator), Workflow, and Oracle Payments. Our work can range from adding new features and functions to making any Standard Oracle Report open in Excel versus as a Text File.

General Ledger

Monument performs both implementation and upgrade services related to these modules. For

GL, we have expertise in designing complex international financial footprints of Ledgers, Legal

Entities, Multiple Currencies, Multiple Organizations, along with Intercompany and

Intracompany transactions. With the new features of R12, complexity can be simplified by using Secondary Ledgers to minimize the number of transactions that are necessary to be entered as reporting can be simplified.

Accounts Payable

With AP, the ability to integrate Invoice Entry and Payments is easier today. Invoices can be entered through ADI uploads, through the standard API with programming, or interfaced with Purchasing by being Matched to a Purchasing Line Item. By performing this streamlining, it reduces manual keying while eliminating the errors that occur from entering data. We also install and integrate iExpense to minimize rekeying of Expense Reports. With Oracle’s Workflow, a completely online approval matrix with the ability to see both the data entered and the receipts are available.

Accounts Receivable

With AR, we integrate Lockbox transactions as well as third party logistic companies transactions.

Cash Management

With Cash Management, we typically integrate it to all your Banks, so that all transactions from your bank are interfaced to Oracle. This can include Lockbox entries, Wires, ACH’s, Swift, cleared checks, and bank fees. By integrating this information from multiple bank accounts with multiple currencies, it is possible to have a daily cash balance available if needed.

Fixed Assets

With Fixed Assets, we help with ADI uploads as well as integrate it to AP for newly invoiced assets that need to be moved to FA. By installing the Federal and State Tax Books, an organization can save thousands of dollars annually by producing all the data needed for their Tax Returns with very little setup and maintenance.

Oracle Applications Financial Module

The Financial module is divided into the following sub-modules:

• Accounts Payable Module .

• Accounts Receivable Module .

• Cash Management Module .

• Fixed Assets Module .

• General Ledger Module .

Accounts Payable Module

The Oracle Accounts Payable module works with other Oracle Financial modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining accounts payable control.

Accounts Payable Module

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o ap_invoices_interface o ap_invoice_lines_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above:

o sb_ap_invoices_interface

o sb_ap_invoice_lines_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_ap_inv_pkg.sql o sb_validate_ap_inv_lines_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_payable_pkg.sql

Accounts Receivable Module

The Oracle Accounts Receivable module works with other Oracle Financial modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining accounts receivable control.

Auto Invoice

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o ra_interface_distributions o ra_interface_lines_all o ra_interface_salescredits_all

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_ra_interface_distributions o sb_ra_interface_lines_all

o sb_ra_interface_salescredits_all

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_ra_dist_pkg.sql o sb_validate_ra_lines_pkg.sql o sb_validate_ra_sales_cr_pkg.sql

This file is controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_auto_inv_pkg.sql

Auto Lock

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions: o ar_payments_interface_all

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_ar_payments_interface_all

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following file:

o sb_validate_ar_payments_pkg.sql

This file is controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_auto_lock_pkg.sql

Customers

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o ra_customers_interface o ra_contact_phones_int_all o ra_cust_pay_method_interface o ra_customer_banks_int_all o ra_customer_profiles_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_ra_customers_interface o sb_ra_contact_phones_int_all o sb_ra_cust_pay_method_interface o sb_ra_customer_banks_int_all

o sb_ra_customer_profiles_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_cust_pkg.sql o sb_validate_contact_phones_pkg.sql o sb_validate_cust_pay_mtd_pkg.sql o sb_validate_cust_banks_pkg.sql o sb_validate_cust_profiles_pkg.sql

This file is controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_customers_pkg.sql

Cash Management Module

The Oracle Cash Management module works with other Oracle Financial modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining cash management control.

Bank Statement

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o ce_statement_headers_int_all o ce_statement_lines_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_ce_statement_headers_int_all o sb_ce_statement_lines_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files:

o sb_validate_stmt_headers_pkg.sql o sb_validate_stmt_lines_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_bank_stmt_pkg.sql

Fixed Assets Module

The Oracle Fixed Assets module works with other Oracle Financial modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining fixed asset control.

General Ledger Module

The Oracle General Ledger module works with other Oracle Financial modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining general ledger control.

Budget

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o gl_budget_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_gl_budget_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_gl_budget_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_budget_pkg.sql

Daily Rates

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o gl_daily_rates_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_gl_daily_rates_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files:

o sb_validate_gl_daily_rates_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_dailyrates_pkg.sql

Journal

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Requisitions:

o gl_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: o sb_gl_interface

• Oracle Applications Adapter — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_gl_int_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_journal_pkg.sql

Oracle Applications Manufacturing Module

The Manufacturing module is divided into the following sub-modules:

• Inventory Module .

• Purchase Order Import Module .

• Oracle Interface Tables .

Inventory Module

The Oracle Inventory module works with other Oracle Manufacturing modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining inventory control.

Customer Items

Oracle Interface Table — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Customer

Items: mtl_ci_interface

Sun Staging Table — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: sb_mtl_ci_interface

• Pre-Validation Script — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following file: sb_validate_cust_items_pkg.sql

Customer Items Cross-Reference

• Oracle Interface Table — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Customer Item Cross-References: _{mtl_ci_xrefs_interface}

• Sun Staging Table — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above:sb_mtl_ci_xrefs_interface

• Pre-Validation Script — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following file: sb_validate_ci_xrefs_pkg.sql

Cycle Count Entries

• Oracle Interface Table — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Cycle

Count Entries: mtl_cc_entries_interface

• Sun Staging Table— The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: sb_mtl_cc_entries_interface

• Pre-Validation Script— The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Table listed above are packaged within the following file: _{sb_validate_cc_entries_pkg.sql}

Items and Item Revisions

• Oracle Interface Tables— Oracle provides the following Interface Tables for items:

mtl_system_items_interface and mtl_item_revisions_interface

• Sun Staging Tables— The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging tables, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: _{sb_mtl_system_items_interface} and

sb_mtl_item_revisions_int

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files:_{sb_validate_items_pkg.sql} and sb_validate_invrev_pkg.sql

Replenishment

Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Tables for Item

Replenishment: mtl_replenish_headers_int and mtl_replenish_lines_int

Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging tables, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: _{sb_mtl_replenish_headers_int} and

sb_mtl_replenish_lines_int

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: _{sb_validate_rep_headers_pkg.sql} and sb_validate_rep_lines_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_rep_pkg.sql

Transactions

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Tables for Transactions:

o mtl_transactions_interface o mtl_transaction_lots_interface o mtl_serial_numbers_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging tables, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: o sb_mtl_transactions_interface o sb_mtl_transaction_lots_inter

o sb_mtl_serial_numbers_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_trans_pkg.sql o sb_validate_trans_lots_pkg.sql o sb_validate_serial_nos_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_tran_all_pkg.sql

Purchase Order Import Module

The Oracle Purchase Order Import module works with other Oracle Manufacturing modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining inventory control.

Purchase Order Import

Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Tables for Purchase Order Import:

o po_headers_interface o po_lines_interface

Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging tables, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: o sb_po_headers_interface

o sb_po_lines_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_poi_hdrs_pkg.sql o sb_validate_poi_lines_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_poi_pkg.sql

Purchase Order Receiving

• Oracle Interface Tables — Oracle provides the following Interface Tables for Receiving:

o rcv_headers_interface o rcv_transactions_interface

• Sun Staging Tables — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging tables, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Tables listed above: o sb_rcv_headers_interface

o sb_rcv_transactions_interface

• Pre-Validation Scripts — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following files: o sb_validate_rcv_hdr_pkg.sql o sb_validate_rcv_trans_pkg.sql

These files are controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_rcv_pkg.sql

Purchase Order Requisitions

• Oracle Interface Table — Oracle provides the following Interface Table for

Requisitions: po_requisitions_interface_all

• Sun Staging Table — The Oracle Applications Adapter sets up the following staging table, corresponding to the Oracle Open Interface Table listed above: sb_po_requisitions_interface_a

• Pre-Validation Script — The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Table listed above are packaged within the following file: sb_validate_por_req_pkg.sql

Order Entry Module

The Oracle Order Entry module works with other Oracle Manufacturing modules to provide a complete set of transactions and reports for maintaining order entry control.

Oracle Interface Tables

Oracle provides the following Interface Table for Order Entry:

• oe_headers_interface

• oe_lines_interface

• oe_actions_interface

• oe_credits_interface

• oe_price_adjs_interface

• oe_lotserials_interface • oe_reservtns_interface

Sun Staging Tables

• sb_oe_headers_interface

• sb_oe_lines_interface

• sb_oe_actions_interface

• sb_oe_credits_interface

• sb_oe_price_adjs_interface

• sb_oe_lotserials_interface • sb_oe_reservtns_interface

Pre-Validation Scripts

The scripts corresponding to the Sun Staging Tables listed above are packaged within the following file:

sb_validate_oe_pkg.sql

This file is controlled by the following master validation file:

sb_validate_oi_pkg.sql

Building an Oracle Applications Custom PreValidation Package

The Sun Oracle Application scripts provided are intended to be used as a template or skeleton. You may need to modify these scripts to satisfy your own environment or requirements. These scripts have been tested successfully in the Sun environment.

This section covers the following information for building a custom Pre-Validation Package:

• Pre -Validation Scripts .

• Pre -Validation Procedures .

• Concurrent Manager Request Function .

• Template DTD .

• Naming Conventions for the Oracle Interface .

To view corresponding tables and scripts used for the Pre-Validation packages, refer to the following modules:

• Oracle Applications Manufacturing Module .

• Oracle Applications Financial Module .

Pre-Validation Scripts

For Open Interfaces for which pre-validation scripts have been supplied, the SQL files shipped with the Adapter are sufficient for you to create a working Project. For Open Interfaces for which pre-validation scripts are not currently available, a template XML file (templateXml.xml) is supplied. Use this file to build your own pre-validation package. The procedure for you to follow is given in To Build a Custom Pre -Validation Package for a Non -Supported Open Interface .

Disclaimer

The pre-validation scripts packaged with the Adapter for the supported modules are rudimentary and do not cover all possible scenarios. Since the requirements from Oracle occasionally change and evolve, you may be required to provide additional data and/or parameters to ensure that the Concurrent Manager request completes successfully and without errors. Pre-validation scripts have been tested in 11.5.3 only.

Pre-Validation Procedures

All pre-validation script packages (*_pkg.sql) contain the following procedures.

Table 1–1 Common Procedures

Procedure	Purpose
Initialize_Profile	Initializes the table for sharing to avoid running multiple instances by different users.
TidyUp	Updates sb_pass_or_fail columns in the staging table from INTERMEDIATE to PASS for records that were not marked as failed by the pre-validation rules.
Validate	The main validation procedure which calls the procedures that perform the pre-validations for the Interface Table.

To Build a Custom Pre-Validation Package for a Non-Supported Open Interface

1. Modify the Oracle Applications master configuration file in the following location to add a new module:

<CAPS_Dir>/appserver/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/ wizard/configs/Applications.xml

2. When adding a new business function, assign the business section a new name and entry for the new open interface. Spaces are acceptable when creating a module name.

3. Notice that the name attribute is an English description which appears in the OTD wizard where the definition attribute locates the open interface XML definition file (this attribute cannot have spaces).

4. Copy and rename the template.xml file from the path to the appropriate directory:

<CAPS_Dir>/appserver/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/ wizard/configs/templateXml.xml

5. Appropriate directory:

<CAPS_Dir>/appserver/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/wizard/ configs/business_function_name/moduleDefinition.xml

6. where _{business_function}_name is the name attribute value (for example, either Manufacturing or Financial).

7. While the template XML file does not have an error package or error table entries, you can look at any existing module to create these entries. If you choose to modify the common sb_install.sql file to append more errors for the new module, the SB_ERRORS table needs to be removed from the database so the wizard can recreate it with new error values the next time the wizard is run.

8. Replace the path with the correct open interface name.

<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME%%>

9. Do not use spaces when creating an ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME.

10. Replace the path with the correct business suite name.

<%%ORACLE_APPLICATION_SUITE NAME%%>

11. Replace the path with the correct module name.

<%%MODULE_NAME%%>

12. Do not use spaces when creating a MODULE_NAME.

13. The initialize and request_status scripts are already specified in the XML file. If you do not need these, simply remove them from the XML file. If you need to customize these scripts:

a. Copy the SQL file to the desired directory.

b. Rename the file—the package name must be the same as the SQL file name (which is true for all entries in this XML file).

c. Modify the scripts as needed for your own implementation.

d. In the XML file, refer to these new customized SQL files instead of the shipped SQL script.

Note –

Do not change either the _{Initialize_Profile} stored procedure name, nor its location as the entry point for the initialization packages.

14. Replace <%%VALIDATION_PACKAGE_SQL_FILE_NAME%%> with the correct

path and file name for the validation package. This validation package file name must be sql/business_function_name/<%%MODULE_NAME%%>/

<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME%%>/sb_validate_interfaceNameAbbreviation_pk g.sql, this path is relative from

<CAPS_Dir>/edesigner/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/wizard/

This package contains the VALIDATE procedure which eventually invokes all the VALIDATE procedures for all the tables.

15. Replace <%%UTILITY_PACKAGE_SQL_FILE_NAME%%> with the correct path and file name for the utility package. This utility package file name must be sql/business_function_name/<%%MODULE_NAME%%>/

<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME%%>/sb_interfaceNameAbbreviation_utils_pkg.s ql, this path is relative from

<CAPS_Dir>/edesigner/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/wizard/

This package contains the procedures to move, delete, and function count all interface tables and the OTD level.

16. Replace <%%CONCURRENT_MANAGER_FUNCTION_SQL_FILE_NAME%%>

with the correct path and file name for the concurrent file. This concurrent manager file name must be sql/business_function_name/<%%MODULE_NAME%%>/

<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME%%>/fn_request_<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE_

NAME%%>.sql relative from

<CAPS_Dir>/edesigner/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/wizard/

This function eventually invokes the concurrent manager.

17. Replace <%%INTERFACE_TABLE_NAME%%> with the correct interface table name.

Create more entries as needed for each interface table, either in the same level or as a child. For example, in manufacturing, order import has two interface tables with childparent relationships, where as item import has two interface tables with sibling relationships.

18. Replace

<%%INTERFACE_TABLE_VALIDATION_PACKAGE_SQL_FILE_NAME%%>

with the correct path and file name for the validation package for this particular interface table. This validation package file name must be

sql/business_function_name/<%%MDULE_NAME%%>/<%%ORACLE_INTERFACE _NAME%%>/sb_validate_interface_TablenameAbbreviation_pkg.sql

This path is relative from

<CAPS_Dir>/edesigner/userdir/modules/ext/oracleappsadapter/wizard/.

This package has the VALIDATE procedure for these interface tables.

19. Restart the Java CAPS IDE so the OTD Wizard can load the new changes.

20. Create and compile the SQL scripts defined in the XML definition files. When creating SQL files, make sure that they begin with CREATE AND REPLACE.

Note –

The new Applications.xml, moduleDefinition.xml, and SQL scripts are stored only in the Java CAPS IDE directory. It is recommended to back them up periodically.

Concurrent Manager Request Function

The default SQL script template for Concurrent Manager Request has 100 identical input parameters for FND_REQUEST.SUBMIT_REQUEST. If you need to customize the input parameters for your generated script, the following tags can be used to specify the input parameters.

<Concurrent_Manager>path/file_name.sql</Concurrent_Manager>

<Request_Param>parameter1</Request_Param>

<Request_Param>parameter2</Request_Param>

<Request_Param>parameter3</Request_Param>

Template DTD

The Data Type Definition (DTD) associated with the template XML file is shown:

<!ELEMENT OPEN_INTERFACE (Initialize_Script?,

Validation_Script?,Utility_Script, Concurrent_Manager,

Request_Param*, Concurrent_Manager_Status?,Interface_Table+,

Error_Handle?,

Pre_Required_Script*)>

<!ATTLIST OPEN_INTERFACE

Name CDATA #REQUIRED

<!ATTLIST OPEN_INTERFACE

Version CDATA #REQUIRED

<!ATTLIST OPEN_INTERFACE

Application-Suite CDATA #REQUIRED

<!ATTLIST OPEN_INTERFACE

Module CDATA #REQUIRED

<!--utiltiy store procedure name at root level, this attribute is optional if this attribute is specified, it overrides the default

name convention, which is derived from Name attribute of OPEN_INTERFACE -->

<!ATTLIST OPEN_INTERFACE

Util_Name CDATA #IMPLIED

<!ELEMENT Initialize_Script (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Validation_Script (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Utility_Script (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Concurrent_Manager (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Request_Param (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Concurrent_Manager_Status (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Interface_Table (Validation_Script?,Interface_Table*)>

<!ATTLIST Interface_Table

Name CDATA #REQUIRED

<!-- name for SB staging table, this attribute is optional if this attribute is set, the program directly uses its value as the SB staging table for this specific interface

-->

<!ATTLIST Interface_Table

SB_Name CDATA #IMPLIED

<!-- utility store procedure name at specific interface level, this attribute is optional

if this attribute is specified, it overrides the default name convention, which is

derived from the specific interface name

-->

<!ATTLIST Interface_Table

Util_Name CDATA #IMPLIED

<!ELEMENT Error_Handle (Error_Table?,Error_PKG?)>

<!ELEMENT Error_Table (#PCDATA)>

<!ELEMENT Error_PKG (#PCDATA)>

<!-- relative path to the sql script that needs to be compiled in order for

other stored procedure to be compiled successfully -->

Naming Conventions for the Oracle Interface

The specific name for the Open Interface, which is specified in the XML file.

Short Table Name

The name used for the generated utility stored procedures, for each interface table. It is derived from the corresponding Oracle Interface Table name as follows:

If the Oracle Interface Table name is longer than 23 characters, replace INTERFACE or IFACE_ALL with INT to form the short table name.

(Since there is a limitation of 30 characters placed on the function/stored procedure name in Oracle, the Open Interface name specified in the XML file must be no more than 23 characters).

Stored Procedures

The utility stored procedure names are derived from the Short Table name, according to the following convention:

Sb_XXX_<SHORT_TABLE_NAME>

Staging Table Node

The name of the staging table node is derived from the corresponding Oracle Interface Table name by adding the prefix SB_ and truncating it to 30 characters, if necessary.

SQL File Name

If the SQL file is used to create a packaged stored procedure, the file name must be the same as the package name. The file name is case sensitive and must be less than or equal to 30 character due to the rules of Oracle procedure/function name.

Concurrent Manager Request Function

The function name is derived from the Open Interface name specified in the XML, and has the form: FN_REQUEST_<ORACLE_INTERFACE_NAME>.

Preface

Intended Audience

Welcome to Release 12.1 of the Oracle E-Business Suite Concepts.

This guide assumes you have a working knowledge of the following:

• The principles and customary practices of your business area.

• Computer desktop application usage and terminology.

If you have never used Oracle E-Business Suite, we suggest you attend one or more of the Oracle E-Business Suite training classes available through Oracle University.

This book is intended for all those planning to deploy Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, or contemplating significant changes to a configuration. It focuses on high-level, strategic topics, to enable system administrators and others to make informed decisions about the various installation and configuration choices open to them.

The book does not attempt to replace or supplant the installation, maintenance, and upgrade manuals. As such, it does not describe procedures in depth, but gives a broad outline of the actions needed to achieve a particular goal. The book is arranged such that it starts with topics that will apply to all installations, then examines areas which, while optional, will be relevant to most sites. Typically, these optional subjects are interrelated, so that a site will most likely be implementing more than one. Finally, several specialized areas are discussed; these are mainly topics that are mentioned primarily for reference.

Note: This book typically uses UNIX nomenclature in specifying files and directories. Windows users should substitute the appropriate Windows terms where applicable. For example, a UNIX .env (environment) file will be a .cmd (command) file on Windows.

See Related Information Sources for more Oracle E-Business Suite product information.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Access to Oracle Support Services

To reach Oracle Support Services, use a telecommunications relay service (TRS) to call Oracle Support at 1.800.223.1711. An Oracle Support Services engineer will handle technical issues and provide customer support according to the Oracle service request process. Information about TRS is available at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trs.html, and a list of phone numbers is available at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trsphonebk.html.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible to all users, including users that are disabled. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other marketleading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

Structure

1 Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture

2 Oracle E-Business Suite File System

3 Oracle E-Business Suite Database Organization

4 Oracle E-Business Suite Database Features

5 AutoConfig

6 Cloning

7 Management Tools

8 Authentication and Integration

9 High Availability

10 Load Balancing

11 Security

12 Network Topologies

13 Globalization Support

14 Multiple Organization Architecture

15 Reporting Currencies

Glossary

Related Information Sources

This book is included on the Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Library, which is supplied in the Release 12.1 Media Pack. You can download soft-copy documentation as PDF files from the Oracle Technology Network at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/. The Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Documentation Library contains the latest information, including any documents that have changed significantly between releases. If substantial changes to this book are necessary, a revised version will be made available on the "virtual" documentation library on My Oracle Support (formerly OracleMetaLink).

If this guide refers you to other Oracle E-Business Suite documentation, use only the latest Release 12.1 versions of those guides.

Online Documentation

All Oracle E-Business Suite documentation is available online (HTML or PDF).

• Online Help - Online help patches (HTML) are available on My Oracle Support.

• PDF Documentation - See the Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Library for current PDF documentation for your product with each release. The Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Library is also available on My Oracle Support and is updated frequently.

• Release Notes - For information about changes in this release, including new features, known issues, and other details, see the release notes for the relevant product, available on My Oracle Support.

• Oracle Electronic Technical Reference Manual - The Oracle Electronic Technical Reference Manual (eTRM) contains database diagrams and a detailed description of database tables, forms, reports, and programs for each Oracle E-Business Suite product. This information helps you convert data from your existing applications and integrate Oracle E-Business Suite data with non-Oracle applications, and write custom reports for

Oracle E-Business Suite products. The Oracle eTRM is available on My Oracle Support.

Related Guides

You should have the following related books on hand. Depending on the requirements of your particular installation, you may also need additional manuals or guides.

Oracle E-Business Suite Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install

This book is intended for use by anyone who is responsible for installing or upgrading Oracle EBusiness Suite. It provides instructions for running Rapid Install either to carry out a fresh installation of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, or as part of an upgrade from Release 11i to Release 12. The book also describes the steps needed to install the technology stack components only, for the special situations where this is applicable.

Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide Documentation Set

This documentation set provides planning and reference information for the Oracle E-Business

Suite System Administrator. Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide -

Configuration contains information on system configuration steps, including defining concurrent programs and managers, enabling Oracle Applications Manager features, and setting up printers and online help. Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Maintenance provides information for frequent tasks such as monitoring your system with Oracle Applications Manager, administering Oracle E-Business Suite Secure Enterprise Search, managing concurrent managers and reports, using diagnostic utilities including logging, managing profile options, and using alerts. Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Security describes User Management, data security, function security, auditing, and security configurations.

Maintaining Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Set

This documentation set provides maintenance and patching information for the Oracle EBusiness Suite DBA. Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Procedures provides a description of the strategies, related tasks, and troubleshooting activities that will help ensure the continued smooth running of an Oracle E-Business Suite system. Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Utilities describes the Oracle E-Business Suite utilities that are supplied with Oracle E-Business Suite and used to maintain the application file system and database. It also provides a detailed description of the numerous options available to meet specific operational requirements. Oracle E-Business Suite Patching Procedures explains how to patch an Oracle E-Business Suite system, covering the key concepts and strategies. Also included are recommendations for optimizing typical patching operations and reducing downtime.

Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide

This guide explains how to navigate, enter data, query, and run reports using the user interface (UI) of Oracle E-Business Suite. This guide also includes information on setting user profiles, as well as running and reviewing concurrent requests.

Oracle XML Publisher Administration and Developer's Guide

Oracle XML Publisher is a template-based reporting solution that merges XML data with templates in RTF or PDF format to produce a variety of outputs to meet a variety of business needs. Outputs include: PDF, HTML, Excel, RTF, and eText (for EDI and EFT transactions). Oracle XML Publisher can be used to generate reports based on existing Oracle E-Business Suite report data, or you can use Oracle XML Publisher's data extraction engine to build your own queries. Oracle XML Publisher also provides a robust set of APIs to manage delivery of your reports via e-mail, fax, secure FTP, printer, WebDav, and more. This guide describes how to set up and administer Oracle XML Publisher as well as how to use the Application Programming Interface to build custom solutions.

This guide is available through the Oracle E-Business Suite online help.

Integration Repository

The Oracle Integration Repository is a compilation of information about the service endpoints exposed by the Oracle E-Business Suite of applications. It provides a complete catalog of Oracle E-Business Suite's business service interfaces. The tool lets users easily discover and deploy the appropriate business service interface for integration with any system, application, or business partner.

The Oracle Integration Repository is shipped as part of the E-Business Suite. As your instance is patched, the repository is automatically updated with content appropriate for the precise revisions of interfaces in your environment.

Do Not Use Database Tools to Modify Oracle E-Business Suite Data

Oracle STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that you never use SQL*Plus, Oracle Data Browser, database triggers, or any other tool to modify Oracle E-Business Suite data unless otherwise instructed.

Oracle provides powerful tools you can use to create, store, change, retrieve, and maintain information in an Oracle database. But if you use Oracle tools such as SQL*Plus to modify Oracle E-Business Suite data, you risk destroying the integrity of your data and you lose the ability to audit changes to your data.

Because Oracle E-Business Suite tables are interrelated, any change you make using an Oracle

E-Business Suite form can update many tables at once. But when you modify Oracle E-Business Suite data using anything other than Oracle E-Business Suite, you may change a row in one table without making corresponding changes in related tables. If your tables get out of synchronization with each other, you risk retrieving erroneous information and you risk unpredictable results throughout Oracle E-Business Suite.

When you use Oracle E-Business Suite to modify your data, Oracle E-Business Suite automatically checks that your changes are valid. Oracle E-Business Suite also keeps track of who changes information. If you enter information into database tables using database tools, you may store invalid information. You also lose the ability to track who has changed your information because SQL*Plus and other database tools do not keep a record of changes.

Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture

Introduction

This chapter describes the Oracle E-Business Suite architecture and the key features the architecture supports, plus some related points. Topics include:

• Overview

• The Desktop Tier

• The Application Tier

• The Database Tier

• The Oracle E-Business Suite Technology Layer

• Oracle Configuration Manager

• Oracle E-Business Suite Patch Nomenclature

The Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture is a framework for multi-tiered, distributed computing that supports Oracle E-Business Suite products. In this model, various serversor servicesare distributed among three levels, or tiers.

A server (or services) is a process or group of processes that runs on a single machine and provides a particular functionality. For example, Web servicesprocess HTTP requests, and Forms services process requests for activities related to Oracle Forms. The Concurrent Processing server supports data-intensive programs that run in the background.

Important: The term server, in the sense of a single process, is less appropriate in the Release 12 architecture. Where applicable, replacement terms such as services are used.

A tier is a logical grouping of services, potentially spread across more than one physical machine. The three-tier architecture that comprises an Oracle E-Business Suite installation is made up of the database tier, which supports and manages the Oracle database; the application tier, which supports and manages the various Oracle E-Business Suite components, and is sometimes known as the middle tier; and the desktop tier, which provides the user interface via an add-on component to a standard web browser.

A machine may be referred to as a node, particularly in the context of a group of computers that work closely together in a cluster. Each tier may consist of one or more nodes, and each node can potentially accommodate more than one tier. For example, the database can reside on the same node as one or more application tier components. Note, however, that a node is also a software concept, referring to a logical grouping of servers.

Centralizing the Oracle E-Business Suite software on the application tier eliminates the need to install and maintain application software on each desktop client PC, and also enables Oracle EBusiness Suite to scale well with an increasing load. Extending this concept further, one of the key benefits of using the Shared Application Tier File Systemmodel (originally Shared APPL_TOP) is the need to maintain only a single copy of the relevant Oracle E-Business Suite code, instead of a copy for every application tier machine.

On the database tier, there is increasing use of Oracle Real Application Clusters(Oracle RAC) , where multiple nodes support a single database instance to give greater availability and scalability.

Figure 1-1 Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture

The connection between the application tier and the desktop tier can operate successfully over a Wide Area Network (WAN). This is because the desktop and application tiers exchange a minimum amount of information, for example only field values that have changed. In a global

operation with users at diverse locations, requiring less network traffic reduces telecommunications costs and improves response times.

The Desktop Tier

The client interface is provided through HTML for HTML-based applications, and via a Java applet in a Web browser for the traditional Forms-based applications.

Figure 1-2 Forms-based Desktop Tier Architecture

You log in via the Oracle E-Business Suite Home Page on a desktop client web browser. The Home Page provides a single point of access to HTML-based applications, Forms-based applications, and Business Intelligence applications.

Once successfully logged in via the E-Business Suite Home Page, you are not prompted for your user name and password again, even if you navigate to other tools and products. Oracle EBusiness Suite also retains preferences as you navigate through the system. For example, if you registered in the Home Page that German is your preferred language, this preference carries over whether you access Forms-based or HTML-based applications. Figure 1-3 Example Oracle E-Business Suite Home Page

Forms Client Applet

The Forms client applet is a general-purpose presentation applet that supports all Oracle EBusiness Suite Forms-based products, including those with customizations and extensions. The Forms client applet is packaged as a collection of Java Archive (JAR) files. The JAR files contain all Java classes required to run the presentation layer of Oracle E-Business Suite forms.

Desktop Java Client

The Forms client applet must run within a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) on the desktop client. The Sun JRE Plug-incomponent allows use of the Oracle JVM on web clients, instead of the browser's own JVM. This component is implemented as a standard browser plug-in.

In the traditional, Forms-based Oracle E-Business Suite environment, the JVM was run as part of the standard Oracle E-Business Suite sign-on process. Now, the JVM (JRE Plug-in in Release 12) is only invoked when a user chooses to access functions that require it, such as running a form. If the JRE Plug-in has not been installed, the browser prompts the user to download the required installation executable.

After you download and install the plug-in, you will be able to run Forms-based applications, for example as shown in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4 Forms-based Oracle E-Business Suite interface

The Forms client applet and commonly used JAR files are downloaded from the Web server at the beginning of the client's first session. Less commonly used JAR files are downloaded as needed. All downloaded JAR files are cached locally on the client, ready for future sessions. This eliminates the network traffic that would be involved in downloading them whenever they were required.

In Release 12, the cache directory path is of the form:

<HOMEDRIVE>\Documents and Settings\<Windows User Name>\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache

For example:

C:\Documents and Settings\jalee\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache

Selecting "Show console" on the "Advanced" tab of the JRE Plug-in control panel will allow you to observe downloading of JAR files, to confirm they are being downloaded when they should be. The Java console is shown in Figure 1-5.

Figure 1-5 Java Console

All updates to JAR files are installed on the application tier and downloaded to the client automatically, via the caching mechanism outlined above.

Note: For further details of using the Sun JRE Native Client with Oracle E-Business Suite, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 393931.1, Upgrading JRE Plugin with Oracle Applications R12.

The Application Tier

The application tier has a dual role: hosting the various servers and service groups that process the business logic, and managing communication between the desktop tier and the database tier. This tier is sometimes referred to as the middle tier.

Three servers or service groups comprise the basic application tier for Oracle E-Business Suite:

• Web services

• Forms services

• Concurrent Processing server

In Release 12, Web and Forms services are provided by Oracle Application Server (OracleAS) 10g. They are no longer servers in the sense of being a single process, as was the case in previous Applications releases.

Note: There is no concept of an Administration server in Release 12. By default, patching can be undertaken from any application tier node.

It is advisable to avoid using a mixture of different platforms on your application tier. This makes maintenance easier, since only one set of patches needs to be downloaded.

Load Balancing

The application tier supports load balancing among many of its servers and services to help provide higher availability, fault tolerance, reliability, and optimal scalability. If you have more than one of any of the following types of server, load balancing can be employed:

• Web services

• Forms services

• Concurrent Processing server

Chapter 10 discusses the various types of load balancing in more detail.

Use of Two Oracle Application Server ORACLE_HOMEs in Release 12

Two different Oracle Application Server (OracleAS) 10g releases, in separate

ORACLE_HOMEs, are used in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. This enables Oracle EBusiness Suite to take advantage of the latest Oracle technologies.

Figure 1-6 illustrates the functional usage of the two Oracle Application Server

ORACLE_HOMEs.

Figure 1-6 Relationship between the two Application Server ORACLE_HOMEs

Notable features of this architecture include:

• The latest version of Oracle Containers for Java (OC4J), the successor to JServ, is included in Oracle Application Server 10.1.3.

• All major services are started out of the OracleAS 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME.

• The Oracle E-Business Suite modules (packaged in the file formsapp.ear) are deployed into the OC4J-Forms instance running out of the OracleAS 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME, while the frmweb executable is invoked out of the OracleAS 10.1.2 ORACLE_HOME.

Figure 1-7 illustrates the relationship of the two Application Server ORACLE_HOMEs and the database ORACLE_HOME.

Figure 1-7 Database and Oracle Application Server ORACLE_HOMEs

Notable features of this high-level architecture include:

• The Oracle Application Server 10.1.2 ORACLE_HOME (sometimes referred to as the Tools, C, or Developer ORACLE_HOME) replaces the 8.0.6 ORACLE_HOME provided by Oracle9i Application Server 1.0.2.2.2 in Release 11i.

• The Oracle Application Server 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME (sometimes referred to as the Web or Java ORACLE_HOME) replaces the 8.1.7-based ORACLE_HOME provided by Oracle9i Application Server 1.0.2.2.2 in Release 11i.

Web Services

The Web services component of Oracle Application Server processes requests received over the network from the desktop clients, and includes the following components:

• Web Listener (Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache)

• Java Servlet Engine (OC4J)

• Oracle Process Manager (OPMN)

The Web listener component of the Oracle HTTP server accepts incoming HTTP requests (for particular URLs) from client browsers, and routes the requests to the appropriate OC4J container.

If possible, the Web server services the requests itself, for example by returning the HTML to construct a simple Web page. If the page referenced by the URL needs advanced processing, the listener passes the request on to the servlet engine, which contacts the database server as needed.

HTML-Based Applications and the Oracle Application Framework

The Oracle HTML-based applications (originally known as Self-Service applications) have the following characteristics:

• Do not use Oracle Forms for the interface

• Are designed in pure HTML and JavaScript

• Dynamically generate HTML pages by executing Java code

• Use a metadata dictionary for flexible layout

• Operate by direct connection to the Web server

The Oracle Application Framework is the development platform for HTML-based applications. It consists of a Java-based application tier framework and associated services, designed to facilitate the rapid deployment of HTML-based applications.

Notable Oracle Application Framework components include:

• Business Components for Java (BC4J), included in Oracle JDeveloper, is used to create Java business components for representing business logic. It also provides a mechanism for mapping relational tables to Java objects, and allows the separation of the application business logic from the user interface.

• AOL/Jsupplies the Oracle Application Framework with underlying security and applications Java services. It provides the Oracle Application Framework with its connection to the database, and with application-specific functionality such as flexfields.

Note: An optional and recommended alternative to AOL/J is the Oracle Universal

Connection Pool(UCP) . For further details, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1077727.1, Using Universal Connection Pool (UCP) in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3.

The Framework-based applications logic is controlled by procedures that execute through the Java servlet engine, which is provided by the Apache JServ module. The servlet engine uses the metadata dictionary in constructing the Framework UI. Figure 1-8 HTML-Based Applications Architecture

Java Servlet Access with HTML-Based Applications

An HTML-based Applications module uses the following access path:

1. The user clicks the hyperlink of a function from a browser.

2. The browser makes a URL request to the Web listener.

3. The Web listener contacts the Servlet engine (OC4J), where it runs a JSP.

4. The JSP obtains the content from the Oracle E-Business Suite tables and uses information from the metadata dictionary to construct the HTML page.

5. The resulting HTML page is passed back to the browser, via the Web server.

Figure 1-9 Oracle Application Framework Architecture

Oracle Application Framework Processing Details

The following is a more detailed explanation of how the JSP obtains the content from the Oracle E-Business Suite tables and uses information from the metadata dictionary to construct the HTML page.

1. AOL/J validates user access to the page.

2. The page definition (metadata UI definition) is loaded from the metadata repository on the database tier into the application tier.

3. The BC4J objects that contain the application logic and access the database are instantiated.

4. The Java Controller programmatically manipulates the page definition as necessary, based on dynamic UI rules.

5. UIX (HTML UI Generator) interprets the page definition, creates the corresponding HTML in accordance with UI standards, and sends the page to the browser.

Forms Services

By default, Forms services in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 are provided by the Forms listener servlet, which, as described further below, facilitates the use of firewalls, load balancing, proxies, and other networking options.

Benefits of using the Forms listener servlet include:

• Ability to re-establish dropped network connections

• Fewer machines and ports need to be exposed at the firewall

• Easier firewall/proxy server configuration

• More robust and secure deployment over the Internet

Forms Listener Servlet Architecture

The Forms listener servlet is a Java servlet that delivers the ability to run Oracle Forms applications over HTTP or HTTPS connections. It hosts the Oracle E-Business Suite forms and associated runtime engine, mediating the communication between the desktop client and the Oracle database server, displaying client screens, and initiating changes in the database according to user actions.

The Forms listener servlet caches data and provides it to the client as needed, for example when scrolling through multiple order lines that exceed the limitations of a single screen.

The Forms listener servlet can communicate with the desktop client using either a standard

HTTP network connection or secure HTTPS network connection. In contrast, Forms services (formerly known as Forms server) communicates with the desktop client using the TCP/IP network protocol, on top of which it layers its own protocol.

The Forms listener servlet communicates with the Oracle database server using the Oracle Net networking infrastructure.

The Forms listener servlet manages the creation of a Forms runtime process for each client, as well as network communications between the client and its associated Forms runtime process. The client sends HTTP requests and receives HTTP responses from the Web services, which acts as the network endpoint for the client.

Note: Although the OC4J-Forms instance runs out of the OracleAS 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME, the frmweb executable is invoked out of the OracleAS 10.1.2 ORACLE_HOME.

Forms Socket Mode Architecture

In the traditional Forms server socket modearchitecture, when a user initiates an action in the

Forms client applet (such as entering data into a field or clicking a button), data is passed to a Forms server on the application tier. The user interface logic runs in the Forms server, and determines the appropriate user interface effect based on the user's action. For example, a window may open, or another field value may be populated. If necessary, the database tier is contacted for any data not already cached on the application tier, or for data-intensive processing.

Figure 1-10 Forms Socket Mode

Once a connection has been made, many operations can be performed with little or no further interaction with the Forms server. For example, when a few field values change in response to a user action, there is no need to update the entire screen. In this scenario, only the changed fields are updated with the new values.

Choice of Mode

As stated, by default Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 utilizes Forms listener servlet mode. However, socket mode is still supported, and may be useful in high-latency, bandwidthconstrained WAN environments.

Note: For more details of utilizing Forms Socket Mode, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 384241.1, Using Forms Socket Mode with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Java APIs for Forms

Building on top of Oracle Fusion Middleware and service-oriented architecture (SOA) technology, Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway(ISG ) provides a robust communication and integration infrastructure between independently managed components and loosely coupled applications. This promotes more effective integration between heterogeneous applications, and facilitates the development and execution of complex business processes into flexible and reusable Web services. With this standardized Web service platform, Oracle EBusiness Suite Integrated SOA Gateway provides a framework that efficiently supports service integration between Web applications.

Within this integration environment, Java APIs for Forms are XML document-based integration points wrapped in Java classes, and used to execute business logic in Oracle Forms. These specialized Java classes are categorized as a subtype of Java interface, and can be serviceenabled through SOA Provider.

Note: For further details of Java APIs and Web services, see Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway User's Guide, Development Guide, and Implementation Guide in the Oracle EBusiness Suite Documentation Library.

A new OC4J container, forms-c4ws, enables business logic contained within Oracle Forms to be exposed as Web services. As this container handles registration, generation, deployment, security and execution of Forms services, clients see the end-point alone, without even having to be aware that Forms is the source.

Note: For further details of deploying the forms-c4ws container, see section Configuring Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway Release 12.1.2 of My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 556540.1, Installing Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway, Release 12.

Concurrent Processing Server

As described previously, user interactions with Oracle E-Business Suite data can be conducted via HTML-based applications or the more traditional Forms-based applications. However, there are also reporting programs and data updating programs that need to run either periodically, or on an ad hoc basis. These programs, which run in the background while users continue to work on other tasks, may require a large number of data-intensive computations, and are run using the Concurrent Processing architecture. Concurrent Processing is an Oracle E-Business Suite feature that allows these non–interactive and potentially long-running functions to be executed efficiently alongside interactive operations. It uses operating system facilities to enable background scheduling of data- or resource-intensive jobs, via a set of programs and forms.To ensure that resource-intensive concurrent processing operations do not interfere with interactive operations, they are run on a specialized server, the Concurrent Processing server.

Processes that run on the Concurrent Processing server are called concurrent requests. When you submit such a request, either through HTML-based or Forms-based applications, a row is inserted into a database table specifying the program to be run. A concurrent manager then reads the applicable requests in the table, and starts the associated concurrent program.

Concurrent Manager Characteristics

Concurrent managers are fundamental to concurrent processing. Acting as a job scheduling and execution system, a concurrent manager:

• Is an executable that is registered as a program library within Oracle E-Business Suite, and which runs in its own operating system process

• Runs operating system processes called target processes (often referred to as workers), each of which can start one concurrent program at a time

• Can optionally run an immediate program that runs as part of the concurrent manager’s own operating system process

• Can be allowed to run any concurrent program, or be specialized to run certain programs

• Operates during the days and times defined by a work shift

Specialist Concurrent ManagersAs well as the general-purpose concurrent managers described in the previous section, there are a number of specialized concurrent managers.

The Internal Concurrent Manager (ICM) controls all other concurrent managers. It administers the startup and shutdown of managers as defined by their work shift, monitors for process failure, and cleans up if a failure occurs. The ICM does not process concurrent requests itself (except for queue control requests, such as ACTIVATE, DEACTIVATE, or ABORT).

While the basic ICM definition should not be changed, you can if required modify the sleep time

(number of seconds the ICM waits between checking for new concurrent requests), PMON (process monitor) cycle time (number of sleep cycles the ICM waits between checking for failed workers), and queue size (duration between checks for number of active workers, measured in PMON cycles). If Parallel Concurrent Processing (described below) is being used, you can also set some options for this.

The Conflict Resolution Manager(CRM) enforces rules designed to ensure that incompatible concurrent requests do not run in the same conflict domain(an abstract representation of the groupings used to partition data). As with the Internal Concurrent Manager, the basic CRM definition should not be changed, but you can modify the sleep time for each work shift, as well as some Parallel Concurrent Processing options.

The Standard Manageras shipped with Oracle E-Business Suite will accept and run any concurrent requests, as it has no specialization rules that would restrict its activities. Consequently, the definition of the Standard Manager should not be altered without careful planning, otherwise some programs might not be able to run at all. Jobs should only be excluded from the Standard Manager after ensuring they can be run by an alternative manager, such as a product-specific manager or user-defined manager.

Transaction Managerssupport synchronous request processing, whereby a pool of server processes responds to requests from client programs. Instead of polling the concurrent requests table to obtain instructions, a transaction manager waits to be signaled by a client. An example is approval of an order, where execution of the request must take place quickly.

The relevant transaction manager program runs on the server, transparently to the client. All transaction programs for a given manager process run in the same database session. Communication between the client and the server is conducted synchronously via Advanced Queueing. At the end of program execution, the client program receives a completion message and a return value, for example denoting approval of the order. This strategy of using nonpersistent connections between the client and Transaction Manager processes enables a small pool of server processes to service a large number of clients with near real-time response.

Setting Up Concurrent Managers

The Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator’s Guide gives full details of the steps and options involved in setting up and monitoring concurrent managers. Some of the key steps include:

• Name and description of the manager

• Assignment of a concurrent program library

• Assignment of work shifts to the manager

• Definition of the maximum number of workers (target processes) the manager can run concurrently

• Optionally specializing the manager to run certain types of requests

Tip: It is easier to identify the optimum number of workers by being conservative initially, and defining additional workers later if needed (subject to availability of system resources).

Multiple managers can be run on multiple nodes using Parallel Concurrent Processing, as described below.

Concurrent Processing Architecture

In Concurrent Processing, programs are run as operating system background processes. These programs may be written using a variety of Oracle tools, programming languages for executables, or the host operating system scripting language.

As noted above, a concurrent program that runs in the concurrent manager's own operating system process is known as an immediate program. Immediate programs run as a function within the concurrent manager’s program library. Examples include PL/SQL programs. In contrast, a concurrent program that runs in a child process of the concurrent manager process is known as a spawned program. Examples include SQL programs, SQL Loader programs, Oracle Reports programs, spawned C programs, and host language programs such as UNIX shell scripts or Windows command files.

All reports are run through the Concurrent Processing server manager via the rwrun executable, which spawns an in-process server. This is in contrast to earlier releases of Oracle E-Business Suite, which used the now-obsolete Reports server.

While C programs can be run as immediate programs, it is advisable to run them as spawned programs. This simplifies maintenance, without introducing any disadvantages.

A concurrent request has a life cycle, which consists of three or possibly four phases:

Table 1-1 Concurrent Request Life Cycle
Phase	Activity
Pending	The request is waiting to be run
Running	The request is running
Completed	The request has finished
Inactive	The request cannot be run

A concurrent program librarycontains concurrent programs that can be called by a concurrent manager. An important example is the Oracle Application Object Library program library (FNDLIBR), which contains Oracle E-Business Suite immediate concurrent programs, and is assigned to the standard concurrent manager. Although each concurrent manager can only run immediate concurrent programs from its own concurrent program library, it can also run spawned or Oracle tool concurrent programs.

Various database tables are employed by the concurrent processing architecture:

Table 1-2 Concurrent Processing Database Tables
Table	Content
FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS	Details of user requests, including status, start date, and completion date
FND_CONCURRENT_PROGRAMS	Details of concurrent programs, including execution method, whether the program is constrained, and whether it must be run alone.
FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES	Cross-references between concurrent requests and queues, and a history of concurrent manager processes
FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUES	Information about each of the concurrent manager queues

Caution: Do not update these tables manually. You can (subject to your organization's archiving requirements) periodically run the "Purge Concurrent Requests and/or manager data" program to prevent these tables growing too large. See the Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide for details.

Concurrent Processing Operations

Because the Internal Concurrent Manager controls all the other managers, it must be running before any other manager can be activated. Once the ICM has been activated, it starts a Service Manager on each node that is enabled for concurrent processing. Acting as an agent of the ICM, the Service Manager starts the concurrent managers on its node, excluding any managers that have been deactivated, or that have no current work shift. The ICM can be activated and deactivated from the operating system prompt, or Oracle Applications Manager. It can also be deactivated (but not activated) from the Administer Concurrent Managers form.

When the ICM is initiated on UNIX, the $FND_TOP/bin/startmgr program is invoked. This calls $FND_TOP/bin/batchmgr, which then:

1. Starts a shell process

2. Starts the ICM process using the command FNDLIBR, with startup parameters FND, CPMGR, and FNDCPMBR 3. Creates log files (std.mgr and wnnn.mgr) in $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG

Normally, startmgr is run by the user account that owns the application software (for example, applmgr). This account must have write privileges to the log and out directories where the log and output files respectively are written.

The ICM starts up a Service Manager on each node that is enabled for concurrent processing, by instructing the node's Applications Listener (which is dedicated to Concurrent Processing) to spawn a process running the Service Manager executable (FNDSM). The Applications Listener must be configured to source the Oracle E-Business Suite environment file before FNDSM is spawned. Following startup, the Service Manager acts as an agent of the ICM to start and stop concurrent managers on that node, according to their defined work shifts.

Note: The Service Manager is a component of the Generic Service Management (GSM) architecture rather than Concurrent Processing, although GSM and Concurrent Processing are closely integrated.

Concurrent manager processes on a specific node can be seen by running the UNIX commands:

ps –ef | grep FNDLIBR ps –ef | grep FNDSM The Service Manager PID seen in the output of the second command can then, if desired, be used to locate all concurrent manager and service processes on the node, since the Service Manager is the parent process for them:

ps –ef | grep <sm_pid>

On Windows, the Task Manager can be used to locate concurrent manager processes. An

FNDLIBR process runs for the Internal Concurrent Manager and each standard manager. The ICM can be distinguished by additional details being displayed, including some of the parameters it was started with.

For every process that was successfully started at operating system level, the ICM inserts a row into FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES. It then updates the RUNNING_PROCESSES column to reflect the actual running processes as shown in FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUES.

Viewing Concurrent Processing Output

The output from a concurrent processing job goes through several stages before being displayed to the user.

1. The Concurrent Processing server communicates with the database server via Oracle Net.

2. The log or output file associated with a concurrent request is passed back to the Report Review Agent, also known as the Web Review Agent.

3. The Report Review Agent passes a file containing the entire report to the Forms services.

4. The Forms services pass the report back to the user's browser one page at a time.

Figure 1-11 Viewing Concurrent Processing Output

You can cater for your network capacity and report volume by using profile options to specify the maximum size of the files and pages that can be passed through the system.

Parallel Concurrent Processing

Parallel Concurrent Processing (PCP) allows concurrent processing activities to be distributed across multiple nodes in an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) environment or similar cluster system. By distributing concurrent processing in this way, hardware resources can be fully utilized, maximizing throughput and providing resilience to node failure, while retaining a central point of control.

Parallel Concurrent Processing enables you to:

• Run concurrent processes on multiple nodes to improve concurrent processing throughput

• Continue running concurrent processes on the remaining nodes when one or more nodes fail

• Administer concurrent managers running on multiple nodes from any node in the cluster

One or more concurrent managers can be specified to run on one or more nodes, to best suit your processing needs and fully utilize available hardware resources.

Parallel Concurrent Processing is enabled by default, so PCP is always available for use in environments where one or more concurrent processing nodes exist.

Note: PCP does not require an Oracle RAC environment. Conversely, you do not have to use PCP in an Oracle RAC environment, although it typically makes sense to do so.

Managing Concurrent Processing

From the command line, two commands can be entered to control the Internal Concurrent Manager: startmgr, which starts the ICM; and concsub, which is used to stop or abort the ICM, or request the ICM to check on the operating system process for each manager. In addition, an AutoConfig-enabled environment provides a number of scripts for starting and stopping application tier services from the command line. The script for concurrent processing startup and shutdown is INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adcmctl.sh.

The various components of the concurrent processing system can be managed from various forms, such as Concurrent Manager: Administer, or from Concurrent Managers or Concurrent Requests under Oracle Applications Manager (OAM).

Note: For details of setting up and managing concurrent processing, see Oracle System Administrator's Guide - Configuration, Chapter 7.

Application Tier Administration

In Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, any application tier node can be used to carry out the following operations:

• Applying database patches to Oracle E-Business Suite

In general, Oracle E-Business Suite patches consist of files and scripts that update the file system and database objects. In Release 12, a single unified (u) driver file combines the features of the older copy (c), database (d), and generate (g) driver files.

You use the AutoPatch utility (adpatch) to perform these updates. AutoPatch may also be used to apply cumulative patches such as mini-packs and maintenance packs.

• Maintaining Oracle E-Business Suite data

Some features require updates to the tables and schemas they use. The AD Administration utility (adadmin) enables you to carry out this and various other file system and database maintenance tasks.

The concept of an Administration serveris a historical one, and does not exist in Oracle EBusiness Suite Release 12.

The Database Tier

The database tier contains the Oracle database server that stores and manages all the data maintained by Oracle E-Business Suite. This includes the various types of file in which the tables, indexes, and other database objects for your system physically reside, as well as the database executables. The database also stores the Oracle E-Business Suite online help information.

The database server communicates with the services and servers on the application tier, which mediate the communications between the database and the clients: there is no direct communication between the database and clients.

Using a Mixed Platform Architecture

The Oracle database server is sometimes available on platforms where Oracle E-Business Suite is not currently certified. In such a case, it may be possible to utilize a mixed platform architecture, where the database is installed on one platform and the application tier on another. (In Release 11i, this was referred to as a split configuration.)

This type of deployment can enable the database to utilize the specific features offered by a particular platform (such as a 64-bit architecture). It can also allow the application tier to be managed in a more cost-effective way.

Note: For up-to-date details of Release 12 support with mixed platform architectures, see Certify on My Oracle Support.

The Oracle E-Business Suite Technology Layer

The Oracle E-Business Suite technology layer lies between the Oracle E-Business Suite technology stack and the Oracle E-Business Suite product-specific modules. It provides features common to all Oracle E-Business Suite products.

Products in the Oracle E-Business Suite technology layer include:

• Oracle Applications DBA (AD)

• Oracle Application Object Library (FND)

• Oracle Applications Utilities (AU)

• Oracle Common Modules (AK)

• Oracle Workflow (WF)

• Oracle Alert (ALR)

• Oracle Application Framework (FWK)

• Oracle XML Publisher (XDO)

Oracle Applications DBA (AD)

The Oracle Applications DBA product provides a set of tools for administration of the Oracle EBusiness Suite file system and database. AD tools are used for installing, upgrading, maintaining, and patching the Oracle E-Business Suite system.

The AD utilities include:

• AD Administration - Performs general maintenance tasks for Oracle E-Business Suite.

• AD Merge Patch - Merges multiple patches into a single, integrated patch.

• AutoConfig - Manages configuration changes in an Oracle E-Business Suite system.

• AutoPatch - Applies patches and adds new languages and products to an Oracle EBusiness Suite system.

• Rapid Clone - Used to copy (clone) an Oracle E-Business Suite system.

• Rapid Install - Sets up a fully configured Oracle E-Business Suite system, including the latest certified technology stack and all patches, mini-packs, and other updates.

Oracle Common Modules (AK)

AK is an active data dictionary that enables you to define Oracle E-Business Suite components for the HTML-based applications, and generate many of the characteristics of Oracle E-Business Suite at runtime.

The Oracle Common Modulescan be used to develop inquiry applications for the HTML-based applications, without the need for any programming. They allow storage of language-translated labels for all the attributes on a transaction page, thus assisting with the provision of support for multiple languages.

For example, the AK Runtime Dictionary may be used to define an attribute or reusable component such as the customer name attribute, which can be reused any time a customer name field is displayed on an HTML page.

Oracle Applications Utilities (AU)

The Applications Utilities (AU) component is used to maintain the Oracle E-Business Suite system.

AU hosts a collection of files copied from other products. This allows generating on-site classes of files such as Forms and reports. Generating forms or reports may require access to shared PL/SQL libraries, so these files are copied to AU_TOP as well.

Oracle Application Object Library (FND)

The Oracle Application Object Library is a key component of the Oracle E-Business Suite technology layer. It consists of a collection of reusable code, programs, and database objects that provides common functionality across all products.

Oracle Application Object Library offers many features to make system administration easier, such as security setup and maintenance, and management of concurrent processing. Using Application Object Library ensures that the processing of flexfields or the procedure for report submission, for example, does not vary from one product to another. Oracle Application Object Library also provides capabilities for developers to extend the operation of Oracle E-Business Suite by allowing the creation of custom programs that interact with the base modules.

End User Features

Oracle Application Object Library includes several features that help provide uniformity of function across the various Oracle E-Business Suite products.

Standard User Interface

Oracle Application Object Library supports the integration of Oracle E-Business Suite by providing standardized functionality and capabilities across all products so that the look and feel remains the same from product to product.

Shared Flexfield value sets

Flexfields allow the entry of certain important information to be standardized across all products. One example is the Accounting Flexfield, which is used by Financials products and Manufacturing products.

Standard Report Submission (SRS)

The procedure to submit a background report to the concurrent manager using SRS is the same, regardless of the product that owns the report. SRS takes advantage of shared flexfield value sets.

Online Help

The presentation of Online Help is also standardized across all Oracle E-Business Suite products

Developer Features

Oracle Application Object Library provides many features for developers creating custom forms, reports, or programs that interface with Oracle E-Business Suite:

• The same coding and Graphical User Interface (GUI) standards used by Oracle EBusiness Suite developers are available for custom development.

• Custom reports can be integrated into Standard Report Submission so that they can be submitted and monitored using the same procedures as other Oracle E-Business Suite reports, and developers can set up certain menus and responsibilities to access custom reports or standard objects.

• Flexfields used on custom forms can take advantage of existing flexfield capabilities such as value sets, validation, and security rules.

• Custom menus and responsibilities can be seamlessly integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite.

Features for System Administrators

Oracle Application Object Library provides many features to simplify administration of Oracle E-Business Suite, enabling the system administrator to carry out routine tasks quickly and easily. These features include:

• Registering new Oracle E-Business Suite users, and giving them access to only those Forms, functions, and reports they need to do their jobs.

• Deciding which users have access to each product, and within a product, which Forms, functions, and reports a user can access.

• Monitoring what users do, and when, via comprehensive auditing capabilities.

• Setting user and system profiles to modify the look and behavior of Oracle E-Business Suite products; profiles can be set at site, application, responsibility, and user levels.

• Monitoring and controlling concurrent processing using interfaces such as Oracle Applications Manager (OAM).

Oracle Application Object Library Security

Oracle Application Object Library controls access to the data in Oracle E-Business Suite via user sign-ons and responsibilities. Each user must have a valid user name and password to gain access to Oracle E-Business Suite.

A responsibility is a level of authority in Oracle E-Business Suite that lets users access only those functions and data appropriate to their roles in the organization. For example, responsibilities may be used to allow access to a specific product, ledger, operating unit, or to a restricted list of windows, functions, reports, and groups of products, or data groups.

Note that the Forms available from the navigation menus vary by responsibility. For example, the Purchasing User navigation menu does not include all the forms that are available to the Purchasing Superuser navigation menu.

When you install Oracle E-Business Suite, a standard user called SYSADMIN is created for you. Several default responsibilities are also created. Since the SYSADMIN sign-on is automatically assigned to the System Administrator responsibility, you can use SYSADMIN to create new user signons and assign them to responsibilities. You can also create any custom responsibilities you need.

Oracle Workflow (WF)

Oracle Workflow delivers a complete workflow management system that supports business process based integration. Its technology enables modeling, automation, and continuous improvement of business processes, routing information of any type according to user-defined business rules. Oracle Workflow also provides an infrastructure for the enterprise-wide communication of data related to defined business events, providing the capabilities needed to:

• Manage enterprise business processes that may span trading partners

• Support standard and personalized business rules

• Streamline and automate transaction flows

• Manage exceptions without manual intervention

Oracle Workflow lets you model and maintain your business processes using a graphical workflow builder. You can model and automate sophisticated business processes, defining processes that can loop, branch into parallel flows and rendezvous, decompose into sub-flows, branch on task results, time out, and more.

Acting as a system integration hub, Oracle Workflow can apply business rules to control objects and route them between applications and systems. It extends the reach of business process automation throughout an enterprise and beyond, to include any email user, web user, or system, enabling people to receive, analyze, and respond to notificationsneeding their attention. Users can respond to a notification via any standard email system or standard Web browser.

Workflow Components

Oracle Workflow Builder provides a graphical drag and drop process designer. You can create and evolve business processes to incorporate existing business practices between your organization and customers or suppliers, without modifying existing business processes and without changing applications code.

The Workflow Engine, embedded in the Oracle database, implements process definitions at runtime. The Workflow Engine monitors workflow states and coordinates the routing of activities for a process. Changes in workflow state, such as the completion of workflow activities, are signaled to the engine via a PL/SQL or Java API.

The Oracle Workflow Business Event System provides a workflow-enabled solution for your enterprise application integration requirements. The Business Event System is an application service delivered with Oracle Workflow that uses Oracle Advanced Queuing technology to communicate business events between systems. The Business Event System supports the following types of integration:

• Message-based point-to-point system integration

• System integration messaging hubs

• Distributed applications messaging

The Business Event System uses Oracle Advanced Queuing to propagate messages between communication points on systems, called agents, using a specified protocol. Events received from external systems are processed by an agent listener that runs on that agent's queue.

The Oracle Workflow Event Managerenables registration of significant business events for selected applications, including functions that generate the XML event messages. Users of those applications can register subscriptionson events that are significant to their systems, to take actions such as triggering custom code.

Features and Usage

A completed application transaction or event can initiate a workflow process by raising a business event or by calling a series of Workflow Engine APIs. The Workflow Engine drives through the process, performing all automated steps and calling the Notification System to deliver notifications for steps that involve human intervention.

You can review and respond to your business process notifications from one central window, known as the worklist, using a standard Web browser. This offers the flexibility to prioritize tasks and to define sort criteria, giving you the flexibility to organize your work the way you wish. For example, you can group notifications by type or subject, to avoid having to jump from one context to another. Alternatively, you can focus on time critical tasks first, sorting by priority or due date. Oracle Workflow is fully integrated with the Oracle E-Business Suite, providing the ability to drill down to any Oracle E-Business Suite or associated URL to view or complete a transaction.

When a business event occurs, the Workflow Event Manager executes any subscriptions registered on the event. For local events, the subscribing code can be executed synchronously, in the same database transaction as the code that raised the event, or asynchronously, deferring costly subscription processing to a later time, and thus allowing control to be returned more quickly to the calling application. Events can also be received asynchronously from external systems. Before producing the XML event message, the Event Manager minimizes processing by checking whether event information is required by subscriptions on the event.

Additional Capabilities

The flexibility of the powerful Workflow Engine event activities enable you to model business events within workflow processes. Event activities can be used to model content-based routing, transformations, error handling, and so on. A workflow process can be started or processed by an inbound message, and can send an outbound message or raise an event to the Event Manager.

XML function activities give you access to event content data within workflow processes. Workflow processes based on business events give the greatest flexibility when implementing an integration solution. However, the Business Event System can also run independently of the Workflow Engine, to enable point-to-point messaging to be utilized.

You can perform complex transformations between different formats required for your business documents. Oracle Workflow allows you to apply a stylesheet to an XML event message. In addition, when queues are defined within the Business Event System, you specify the logic used to enqueue and dequeue messages. This logic, called a queue handler, can include transformations.

Oracle Alert (ALR)

Oracle Alert (ALR) allows you to email system notifications to users when an exception or event has occurred. Some products are delivered with predefined alerts, which can be used to notify users about specified database exceptions as they occur, and perform routine tasks automatically according to a schedule you define.

For example, you can configure Oracle Alert to send an email to key database administrators when a tablespace in the Oracle E-Business Suite database does not have adequate free space.

Oracle XML Publisher (XDO)

Oracle XML Publisher is a Java-based product based on the World Wide Web Consortium

(W3C) Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). Specifically, XML Publisher utilizes the XSLFOstandard to transform XML data into a formatting object (FO). A formatting object contains both data and formatting information, and can be further transformed to an output format such as Portable Document Format (PDF).

XML Publisher uses data definitionsand templatesto produce output reports in the desired format. A data definition is a data source (or a combination of data sources) that either is XML or can produce XML. Examples include output from concurrent programs and Web services. A template is a report definition, which sets out how a report should look. The template layout can be user-specified. Supported templates currently include RTF, PDF Forms, and XSL.

Key features of XML Publisher include:

• Provides a template-based, easy-to-use publishing solution that enables end-users to develop and maintain report formats to suit specific business needs.

• Allows users to employ familiar desktop tools such as Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word to create and maintain reports in their preferred format, and then use XML Publisher to convert these documents to the XSL-FO format.

• Offers a variety of options for published documents, such as multiple output formats, multiple languages, and multiple delivery options.

Core Components

The core components of XML Publisher are a Java-based set of publishing tools accessible via Java APIs from Oracle E-Business Suite or any Java-based application.

• FO Processor - The formatting object that results from the application of the XSL-FO template to the XML data is used by the FO Processor to generate the required output document. Currently the FO Processor only supports PDF as an output format; other formats such as HTML and RTF will be supported in future releases of XML Publisher.

• PDF Document Merger - The PDF Document Merger accepts XML data and a PDF document as input, and uses a mapping between the XML and the fields in the document to merge the data into the PDF document.

• PDF Form Processor - The PDF Form Processor is used to add attributes such as watermarks to a merged document.

• RTF Template Parser - Report templates can be created in the Rich Text Format(RTF) document format, and converted to an XSL-FO format that can be applied to XML data.

Template Manager

The Template Manager enables you to upload and maintain your templates and data sources. Key features include:

• Data Source Registration - Data sources that generate XML data can be registered with XML Publisher. These can be concurrent programs such as Oracle Reports, or BC4J objects that are able to generate XML data.

• Template Registration - Templates used to format report data must be registered with XML Publisher. They can then be applied to the report data to create the final published output. Supported template types include PDF, RTF, and XSL-FO.

• XML Publisher APIs - XML Publisher provides APIs to allow other Oracle E-Business Suite products to communicate directly with the underlying processes.

Oracle Configuration Manager

Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM)is a component that is designed to facilitate support for your Oracle products. Use of Oracle Configuration Manager is optional, but recommended.

A lightweight agent that consumes minimal CPU resources, OCM supports automatic discovery of installed components and configuration information, and provides continuous tracking of key Oracle and system statistics of the machine it is running on.

Data collected is sent via HTTPS (secure HTTP) to Oracle Support, who can thereby maintain an up-to-date view of your Oracle installation, facilitating pro-active problem avoidance and helping to reduce the time needed for resolution of support issues.

To manage Oracle Configuration Manager OCM processes running on an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 instance, refer to the documentation at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/ocm.html . OCM processes are not managed by the standard service management scripts (such as adstrtal.sh and adstpall.sh) that are described in Chapter 5.

Oracle E-Business Suite Patch Nomenclature

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 includes numerous products that are designed to serve a wide variety of needs in a consistent and complementary way. All have abbreviated names or two or more usually three letters. These short names are used in special patch names (see below) and other places. In general, the short names relate to the full product name. Common examples include Applications Technology (ATG), Business Intelligence (BIS), Financials (FIN), Human Resources (HR), and Supply Chain Management (SCM).

You can search a list of product abbreviations and full names within Oracle Applications

Manager, using the License Manager tool. From the License Manager home page, choose Reports > Licensed Products. From the List of Products, you can view details of licensed, shared, or not licensed products, or search for a particular product abbreviation or name.

Note: For more information about the License Manager tool, see Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Procedures.

Patch Terminology

• A release update pack increments the third section of the release number, for example to 12.1.1 or 12.1.2, and consists of a cumulative aggregation of product family release update packs created across Oracle E-Business Suite since the initial (base) release.

• A product family release update packis an aggregation of patches created for a specific product family after the initial release, and designated by the release number followed by the product short name and a letter. For example, in 'R12.ATG_PF.A.DELTA.6', '12' is the major release number, 'ATG_PF.A' means 'Applications Technology Product Family pack A', and 'delta.6' means this is the sixth rollup patch on top of Applications Technology Product Family pack H.

• A codelevelis essentially a rollup patch with a name that looks like a version number. Higher codelevels include more changes, and include all fixes from lower codelevels. For example, R12.AD.A was the initial release of AD in Release 12. R12.AD.A.1 was a higher codelevel, which included all code in R12.AD.A plus additional fixes;

R12.AD.A.2 was a higher codelevel again, which included all code in R12.AD.A.1, plus further fixes.

Oracle E-Business Suite File System

Introduction

An Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 system utilizes components from many Oracle products. These product files are stored below a number of key top-level directories on the database and application server machines.

Note: No Oracle E-Business Suite components are installed on desktop client machines, although JAR files and their supporting utilities are downloaded as required.

Depending on how you chose to install Oracle E-Business Suite, these product directories may be located on a single machine (the simplest case) or on multiple machines (the most common type of deployment). Operating system environment settings indicate the location of the various files in the file systems of the database and application tier machines. This chapter discusses the association between these environment settings and the corresponding files and directories.

Figure 2-1 Top-Level Oracle E-Business Suite Directory Structure

• The db/apps_st/data directory is located on the database node machine, and contains the system tablespaces, redo log files, data tablespaces, index tablespaces, and database files

• The db/tech_st/11.1.0 directory is located on the database node machine, and contains the ORACLE_HOME for the Oracle 11g database

• The apps/apps_st/appl (APPL_TOP) directory contains the product directories and files for Oracle E-Business Suite

• The apps/apps_st/comn (COMMON_TOP) directory contains Java classes, HTML pages, and other files and directories used by multiple products

• The apps/tech_st/10.1.2 directory contains the ORACLE_HOME used for the Oracle EBusiness Suite technology stack tools components

• The apps/tech_st/10.1.3 directory contains the ORACLE_HOME used for the Oracle EBusiness Suite technology stack Java components

Oracle E-Business Suite Environment

Oracle E-Business Suite makes extensive use of environment settings to locate executable programs and other files essential to Oracle E-Business Suite operation. These environment settings are defined when you install Oracle E-Business Suite. Many of the settings are defined by information you provide when running Rapid Install, while others have the same values in all installations.

The environment settings and their associated values are stored in environment files, which have a .env suffix on UNIX (.cmd on Windows). Environment files and settings are discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

Instance Home ($INST_TOP)

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 introduces the concept of a top-level directory for an Oracle E-Business Suite instance. This directory is referred to as the Instance Home, and denoted by the environment variable $INST_TOP.

Using an Instance Home provides the ability to share application and technology stack code among multiple instances, for example a development instance and a test instance. Other benefits include support for read-only file systems and centralization of log files, both of which are discussed further below.

The basic structure of the instance home is: <APPS_BASE>/inst/apps/<context_name>, where APPS_BASE (which does not have or need a corresponding environment variable) is the top level of the Oracle E-Business Suite installation, and <context_name> is the highest level at which the applications context exists. For example, the setting of $INST_TOP might be <diskresource>/applmgr/inst/apps/testsys2, where testsys2 is the context name.

All configuration files created by AutoConfig are stored under the Instance Home. This facilitates use of a shared application tier file system, as described later in this chapter. Figure 2-2 Instance Top

Read-Only File Systems

A key benefit of moving to the new Instance Home model is that as AutoConfig no longer writes to the APPL_TOP or ORACLE_HOME directories, both of these can be made into read-only file systems if required. In previous Oracle E-Business Suite releases, the adpatch utility wrote to $APPL_TOP/admin on an administration (patching) node. Under the new model,

$APPL_CONFIG_HOME/admin is used instead. $APPL_CONFIG_HOME will equate to a value such as /u01/oracle/VIS/apps/apps_st/appl.

Note: In a shared file system environment, Oracle recommends that the INST_TOP should be located on a local disk and not on a shared resource such as NFS, because of possible issues storing log files on shared resources.

Log Files

Another advantage of employing the concept of an Instance Home is that log files can be stored centrally for an instance, and therefore managed more easily.

Important: This is particularly significant from a security perspective, as log files may contain sensitive data that should not be accessible to general users.

The following diagram shows the directory structure used for log files in Release 12, with some of the subdirectories used to categorize the log files:

Figure 2-3 Log Files

The data Directory

The db/apps_st/data directory stores the different types of file used by the Oracle database. Rapid Install places the system, data, and index files in directories below several file system mount points on the database machine. You can specify these mount points during installation.

The db Directory

Oracle E-Business Suite supports employing an Oracle E-Business Suite database running out of one ORACLE_HOME, while running other Oracle E-Business Suite components out of additional ORACLE_HOMEs. This multiple ORACLE_HOMEs configuration allows Oracle EBusiness Suite to utilize new features of the Oracle Database and associated technologies in the most flexible manner.

Release 12 utilizes an Oracle Database 11g ORACLE_HOME, (Oracle E-Business Suite database home) whose files are located under the db directory. These files are needed for running and maintaining the Oracle E-Business Suite database.

Note: Oracle E-Business Suite is always certified with database server patchsets (minor maintenance releases).

The comn Directory

The apps/apps_st/comn (COMMON_TOP) directory contains files used by many different Oracle E-Business Suite products, and which may also be used with third-party products.

Figure 2-4 COMMON_TOP Directory Structure

The admin directory

The admin directory, under the COMMON_TOP directory, is the default location for the concurrent manager log and output directories. When the concurrent managers run Oracle EBusiness Suite reports, they write the log files and temporary files to the log subdirectory of the admin directory, and the output files to the out subdirectory of the admin directory.

You can change the location the concurrent managers write these files to, so that, for example, the log and output files are written to directories in each <PROD>_TOP directory. This may be more desirable in terms of disk space management, or the need to avoid a possible performance bottleneck on a system that has a high concurrent processing throughput.

Note: For further details, see Concurrent Processing Server in Chapter 1 of this book, and Chapters 6, 7 and 8 of Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Configuration.

The install subdirectory of the admin directory contains scripts and log files used by Rapid Install. The scripts subdirectory of admin contains scripts used to start and stop services such as listeners and concurrent managers.

The html directory

The OA_HTML environment setting points to the html directory. The Oracle E-Business Suite HTML-based sign-on screen and Oracle HTML-based Applications HTML files are installed here. The html directory also contains other files used by the HTML-based products, such as JavaServer Page (JSP) files, Java scripts, XML files, and style sheets. Typically, the path will look like: <diskresource>/applmgr/apps/apps_st/comn/webapps/oacore/html.

Note: The META-INF and WEB-INF subdirectories were introduced in Release 12 to meet J2EE specifications.

The java directory

Release 12 introduces some significant changes to the locations in which the various types of

Java files are stored. Rapid Install installs all Oracle E-Business Suite class files in the

COMMON_TOP/classes directory, pointed to by the $JAVA_TOP environment variable. Zip and jar files are installed in the $COMMON_TOP/java/lib directory, pointed to by the $AF_JLIB environment variable (introduced with Release 12). The top-level Java directory,

$COMMON_TOP/java, is pointed to by the $JAVA_BASE environment variable.

The util directory

The util directory contains the third-party utilities licensed to ship with Oracle E-Business Suite. These include, for example, the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), Java Development Kit (JDK), and the Zip utility.

The appl Directory

Oracle E-Business Suite files are stored in the <dbname>APPL directory, which is generally known as the APPL_TOP directory.

Figure 2-5 APPL_TOP Directory Structure

The APPL_TOP directory contains:

• The core technology files and directories.

• The product files and directories (for all products).

• The main Oracle E-Business Suite environment file, called <CONTEXT_NAME>.env on UNIX, and <CONTEXT_NAME>.cmdon Windows.

• The consolidated environment file, called APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.env on UNIX, and APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd on Windows.

Note: CONTEXT_NAME is the Oracle Applications context, described further in Chapter 5. Its default value is <SID>_<hostname>.

Rapid Install creates a directory tree for every Oracle E-Business Suite product in this APPL_TOP directory, whether licensed or not.

Warning: Regardless of registration status, all Oracle E-Business Suite products are installed in the database and the file system. Do not attempt to remove files for any unregistered products.

Rapid Install installs a new APPL_TOP directory when you upgrade. Rapid Install does not delete any existing product files from earlier releases, but unloads new product files into a new apps/apps_st/appl directory tree.

Each APPL_TOP directory is associated with a single Oracle E-Business Suite database. If you install both a Vision Demo system and a test system, Rapid Install will lay down two file systems, one for each of these Oracle E-Business Suite systems.

Product Directories

Each product has its own subdirectory under APPL_TOP. The subdirectories are named in accordance with the product's standard abbreviation, such as gl for Oracle General Ledger. Within each product directory is a subdirectory that is named using the base Oracle E-Business Suite release number, such as 12.0.0 for the initial Release 12. This directory contains the various subdirectories for the product files.

<PROD>_TOP Directory

The <APPL_TOP>/<prod>/<version> path is known as the product top directory(<PROD>_TOP), and its value is stored in the <PROD>_TOP environment variable.

For example, if APPL_TOP=/d01/oracle/prodapps, then the value contained in the AD_TOP environment variable is /d01/oracle/prodapps/ad/12.0.0, and the AD_TOP environment variable points to the <APPL_TOP>/ad/12.0.0 directory.

For the same APPL_TOP, the value of AU_TOP is /d01/oracle/prodapps/au/12.0.0, and the AU_TOP environment variable points to the <APPL_TOP>/au/12.0.0 directory. The same principle applies to all directories, apart for the admin directory.

Product Files

Each <PROD>_TOP directory, such as <APPL_TOP>/gl/12.0.0, contains subdirectories for product files. Product files include forms files, reports files, and files used to upgrade the database. To display data entry forms for Oracle General Ledger, for example, Oracle EBusiness Suite accesses files in the forms subdirectory under the 12.0.0 directory.

Figure 2-6 APPL_TOP Directory Structure

Within each <PROD>_TOP directory, the product's files are grouped into subdirectories according to file type and function. The next figure expands the inset to show the full directory structure for gl.

Figure 2-7 Detail of gl Directory Structure

The following table summarizes product subdirectories and the types of files each one may contain.

Note: Not all products use all the subdirectories listed in this table.

Table 2-1 Applications Product Subdirectories and File Typesfile types
Subdirectory Name	Description
admin	The <PROD>_TOP/admin directory contains product-specific files used to upgrade each product. This is in distinction to the <APPL_TOP>/admin directory, which contains upgrade-related files for all products.
driver	Contains driver files (.drv files) used in upgrading.
import	Contains DataMerge files used to upgrade seed data.
odf	Contains object description files (.odf files) used to create tables and other database objects.
sql	Contains SQL*Plus scripts used to upgrade data, and .pkh, .pkb, and .pls scripts to create PL/SQL stored procedures.
bin	Contains concurrent programs, other C language programs and shell scripts for each product.
forms	Contains Oracle Forms generated runtime (.fmx) files (Oracle Forms form files).
help	Contains the online help source files. Within this directory are subdirectories for each language installed.
html	Contains HTML, JavaScript, and JavaServer Page (JSP) files, primarily for HTML-based Applications products.
include	Contains C language header (.h) files that my be linked with files in the lib directory. Not all products require this directory.
java	Contains JAR files (Java Archive files) and Java dependency files. Copies of JAR files are also located in the $AF_JLIB directory.
lib	Contains files used to relink concurrent programs with the Oracle server libraries. These files include: • object files (.o on UNIX, .OBJ on Windows), with compiled code specific to one of the product's programs. • library files (.a on UNIX, various including .DLL on Windows), with compiled code common to the product's programs. • make files (.mk) that specify how to create executables from object files and library files.
log and out	Contains output files for concurrent programs: • .mgr (master log file for concurrent manager) • .req (log file for a concurrent process) Note that log and out subdirectories under a product directory are not used if you choose to set up a common directory for log and output files (FND_TOP is the only exception to this).
media	Contains .gif files used in the display of text and graphics on the desktop client.
mesg	Concurrent programs also print messages in the log and output files. This directory contains the .msb files (binary message files used at runtime), and language-specific message files (such as a US.msb file for American English and a D.msb file for German). The files contain the forms messages that are displayed at the bottom of the screen or in popup windows.
patch	Updates to the data or data model utilize this directory to store the patch files.
reports	Contains Oracle Reports platform-specific rdf binary report files for each product. Reports for each language are stored in subdirectories of the reports directory.
resource	Contains .pll files (PL/SQL library files for Oracle Forms), which, like the plsql directory files, are later copied to AU_TOP.
sql	Contains .sql files (SQL*Plus scripts) for concurrent processing.

Language Files

When you install Oracle E-Business Suite in a language other than American English, each product tree includes directories that use the relevant NLS language code. These directories hold translated data, forms, and message files. For example, the language directory named D designates German. The data loader files in the D subdirectory of the admin directory contain the German translation of the product seed data.

The US subdirectory in the forms directory contains Oracle Forms forms in American English.

The D directory in the forms directory contains the same forms, translated into German.

However, the mesg directory contains message files in both American English and German.

Note: For further details, see the Oracle Globalization Support Guide.

Core Technology Directories

The admin, ad, au, and fnd directories are the core technology directories.

The admin directory

This directory and its subdirectories contain files and scripts used by the AD utilities during upgrade and maintenance processes.

These files and scripts include:

• The adovars.env environment file, which defines certain file and directory locations

• Scripts run during the upgrade

• <SID>/log and <SID>/out directories for upgrade, log, and output files respectively

• A <SID>/restart directory where AD programs create restart files

The ad (Applications DBA) directory

This directory and its subdirectories contain installation and maintenance utilities, including:

• AD Administration (adadmin)

• AutoConfig (adconfig.sh)

The au (Applications Utilities) directory

This directory and its subdirectories contain product files that are consolidated in a single location for optimal processing. These files include:

• PL/SQL libraries used by Oracle Forms, in the resource subdirectory

• Oracle Forms source files, in the forms subdirectory

• A copy of all Java files used when regenerating the desktop client JAR files, in the java subdirectory

• Certain reports needed by products such as Discoverer, in the reports subdirectory

The fnd (Application Object Library) directory

This directory and its subdirectories contain the scripts and programs that are used as the foundation for all Oracle E-Business Suite products to build data dictionaries, forms and C object libraries.

Sharing the Application Tier File System

A traditional multi-node installation of Release 11i required each application tier to maintain its own file system, consisting of the APPL_TOP file system (APPL_TOP, COMMON_TOP, and a few related directories) and the application tier technology stack file system (8.0.6

ORACLE_HOME and iAS ORACLE_HOME). Subsequently, this was modified to allow the APPL_TOP to be shared across machines, and later to enable sharing of the entire application tier file system.

Continuing this strategy, Rapid Install for Release 12 creates a system that shares not only the APPL_TOP and COMMON_TOP file systems, but the application node technology stack file system as well. Rapid Install sets up this configuration as the default for nodes that are running the same operating system. These files make up the application tier file system, and can be shared across multiple application tier nodes (provided they are running the same operating system).

Note: A shared file system configuration is currently not supported on application tier server nodes running Windows.

With a shared application tier file system, all application tier files are installed on a single shared disk resource that is mounted from each application tier node. Any application tier node can then be used to provide standard services, such a serving forms or Web pages, or concurrent processing.

Figure 2-8 Shared Application Tier File System

As well as reducing disk space needed, there are several other benefits of a shared application tier configuration:

• Most administration, patching, and maintenance tasks need be performed only once, on a single application tier node

• Changes made to the shared file system are immediately accessible on all application tier nodes

• Distributes processing tasks to run in parallel on multiple nodes (Distributed AD)

• Reduces overall disk requirements

• Makes adding additional application tier nodes easier

Sharing the Application Tier File System Between Instances

Capabilities for sharing the application tier file system were extended further in Release 12.0.4, which introduced the option of sharing an existing Oracle E-Business Release 12 file system with another database instance. An application tier file system installed and configured in this way can be used to access two (or more) database instances.

Restrictions on this are:

• All database instances must be patched to the same level.

• Only the application tier file system can be shared, not the database tier file system.

Note: For further details of features, options, and implementation steps, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 384248.1, Sharing the Application Tier File System in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

For details of shared application tier file system usage in the context of high availability, see Chapter 9.

Environment Settings

Rapid Install creates several environment files that set up the Oracle database, the Oracle technology stack, the Oracle HTTP server, and the Oracle E-Business Suite environments.

The location of these environment files is shown in the following table:

Table 2-2 Locations of Applications Environment Files
Filename	Location	Path	Environment
<CONTEXT_NAME>.env or CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd	10.2.0.2 ORACLE_HOME	db/tech_st/10.2.0	Oracle Server Enterprise Edition
<CONTEXT_NAME>.env or <CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd	OracleAS 10.1.2 ORACLE_HOME	inst/apps/<context>/ora/10.1.2	Oracle tools technology stack
<CONTEXT_NAME>.env or <CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd	OracleAS 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME	inst/apps/<context>/ora/10.1.3	Java technology stack
<CONTEXT_NAME>.env or <CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd	APPL_TOP	apps/apps_st/appl	Applications
APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.env or APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd	APPL_TOP	apps/apps_st/appl	Consolidated setup file

On UNIX, Oracle E-Business Suite includes a consolidated environment file called

APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.env, which sets up both the Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle technology stack environments. When you install Oracle E-Business Suite , Rapid Install creates this script in the APPL_TOP directory. Many of the parameters are specified during the install process.

On Windows, the equivalent consolidated environment file is called

%APPL_TOP%\envshell<CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd. Running it creates a command window

with the required environment settings for Oracle E-Business Suite. All subsequent operations on the APPL_TOP (for example, running adadmin or adpatch) must be carried out from this window.

The following table lists the key environment settings in APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.env.

Table 2-3 Key Environment Settings
Parameter	Description
APPLFENV	The name of the environment file, <CONTEXT_NAME>.env. If you rename the environment file, this parameter setting must be updated.
PLATFORM	The operating system in use. The value (for example, LINUX) should match the value in the APPL_TOP/admin/adpltfrm.txt file.
APPL_TOP	The top-level directory for this Oracle E-Business Suite installation.
ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME	Directory under $INST_TOP that Identifies the location of scripts such as adautocfg.sh, adpreclone.sh, adstrtal.sh, and adstpall.sh.
FNDNAM	The name of the ORACLE schema to which the System Administration responsibility connects. The default is APPS.
GWYUID	The public ORACLE username and password that grants access to the Oracle E-Business Suite initial sign-on form. The default is APPLSYSPUB/PUB.
FND_TOP	The path to the Application Object Library directory. For example, apps/apps_st/appl/fnd/12.0.0.
AU_TOP	The path to the Applications Utilities directory. For example, apps/apps_st/appl/au/12.0.0.
<PROD>_TOP	The path to a product's top directory. There is one entry for each Oracle E-Business Suite product.
PATH	Sets the directory search path, for example for FND_TOP and AD_TOP.
APPLDCP	Specifies whether distributed concurrent processing is being used. Distributed concurrent processing distributes processing load across multiple concurrent processing nodes.
APPCPNAM	Indicates whether the format of the concurrent manager log and output files follow 8.3 file name conventions (maximum of 8 characters to the left of the dot and 3 to the right; for example, alogfile.log). If this parameter is set to "REQID" (required), the concurrent manager uses file names that meet 8.3 naming requirements.
APPLCSF	Identifies the top level directory for concurrent manager log and output files if they are consolidated into a single directory across all products. For example, /inst/apps/<context>/logs/appl/conc.
APPLLOG	The subdirectory for concurrent manager log files. The default is log.
APPLOUT	The subdirectory for concurrent manager output files. The default is out.
APPLTMP	Identifies the directory for Oracle E-Business Suite temporary files. The default is $INST_TOP/tmp on UNIX.
APPLPTMP	Identifies the directory for temporary PL/SQL output files. The possible directory options must be listed in the init.ora parameter utl_file_dir.
INST_TOP	Identifies the top-level directory for this instance. For example, inst/apps/<context>. Introduced with Release 12.
NLS_LANG	The language, territory, and character set installed in the database. The default for a fresh install is "AMERICAN_AMERICA.US7ASCII".
NLS_DATE_FORMAT	The National Language Support date format. The default is "DD-MONRR", for example 14-JUL-08.
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS	The National Language Support numeric separators. The default is ".," (period and comma).

Most temporary files are written to the location specified by the APPLTMP environment setting, which is set by Rapid Install.

Oracle E-Business Suite products also create temporary PL/SQL output files used in concurrent processing. These files are written to a location on the database server node specified by the APPLPTMP environment setting. The APPLPTMP directory must be the same directory as specified by the utl_file_dir parameter in your database initialization file.

Rapid Install sets both APPLPTMP and the utl_file_dirparameter to the same default directory.

Some Oracle E-Business Suite utilities use your operating system's default temporary directory even if you define the environment settings listed in the previous paragraph. You should

therefore ensure there is adequate free disk space in this directory, as well as in those denoted by APPLTMP and APPLPTMP. On a multi-node system, the directory defined by APPLPTMP does not need to exist on the application tier servers.

Note: The temporary files placed in the utl_file_dir directory can be secured against unauthorized access by ensuring that this directory has read and write access for the Oracle database account only.

Other Environment Files

Several other key environment files are used in an Oracle E-Business Suite system.

The adovars.env file

The adovars.env file, located in $APPL_TOP/admin, specifies the location of various files such as Java files, HTML files, and JRE (Java Runtime Environment) files. It is called from the main applications environment file, <CONTEXT_NAME>.env. The adovars.env file includes comments on the purpose and recommended setting of each variable. In a Release 12 environment, adovars.env is maintained by AutoConfig, and should not be edited manually.

The adovars.env file includes the following parameters:

	Table 2-4 Parameters Specified in the adovars.env File
Parameter	Description
AF_JLIB	Indicates the directory to which all Java archive files are copied. For example, apps/apps_st/comn/java/lib. Introduced with Release 12.
JAVA_BASE	Indicates the top-level Java directory . For example, apps/apps_st/comn/java. Introduced with Release 12.
JAVA_TOP	Indicates the directory to which all Java class files are copied. For example, apps/apps_st/comn/java/classes. Definition has changed with Release 12.
OA_JAVA	Indicates the directory to which all Java archive files are copied. For example, apps/apps_st/comn/java/classes.
OA_JRE_TOP	Indicates the location where the JRE is installed. For example, /local/java/jdk1.5.0_08.
OAH_TOP	Defines the location to which HTML files are copied. For example, apps/apps_st/comn/webapps/oacore.
OAD_TOP	Defines the locations to which context-sensitive documentation files are copied. For example, apps/apps_st/comn.
LD_LIBRARY_PATH	Path used on many UNIX platforms to list the directories that are to be scanned for dynamic library files needed at runtime.
CLASSPATH	Lists the directories and zip files scanned for Java class files needed at runtime.

The adconfig.txt file

AD utility programs perform a variety of database and file management tasks. These utilities need to know certain configuration information to run successfully. This configuration information is specified when Oracle E-Business Suite is installed, and subsequently stored in the adconfig.txt file in the <APPL_TOP>/admin directory. Once it has been created, this file is used by other Oracle E-Business Suite utilities.

Note: adconfig.txt is created with the APPL_TOP file system, and it shows the tiers that have been configured on a particular node. It is distinct from the config.txt file employed by Rapid Install.

The fndenv.env file

This file sets additional environment variables used by the Application Object Library. For example, it sets APPLBIN as the name of the subdirectory where product executable programs and shell scripts are stored (bin). This file should not be modified: the default values are applicable for all customers. The file is located in the FND_TOP directory.

The devenv.env file

This file sets variables that let you link third-party software and your own custom-developed applications with Oracle E-Business Suite. In Release 12, this script is located in

FND_TOP/usrxit, and is automatically called by fndenv.env. This allows you to compile and link custom Oracle Forms user exits and concurrent programs with Oracle E-Business Suite.

Oracle E-Business Suite Database Organization

Introduction

This chapter describes the Oracle E-Business Suite data model, including schemas, Oracle user IDs, and related database server features.

Schemas

A given Oracle database can store the objects associated with a single installation of Oracle EBusiness Suite. In general, product code objects are stored in the APPS schema, whereas product data objects are stored in the relevant base product schemas. These schemas are described further below.

The APPS Schema

The APPS schema has access to the complete Oracle E-Business Suite data model. It is analogous to the SYSTEM schema, which has access to the entire database. Oracle E-Business Suite responsibilities connect to an APPS schema, and the environment variable FNDNAM is set to the name of the APPS schema. The APPS schema owns all the code objects for the Oracle EBusiness Suite, and has access to all data objects. There is one APPS schema for every product installation group.

Utilizing a single schema that has access to all objects avoids cross-product dependencies, and creates a hub-and-spoke access model rather than the spider web model that would otherwise be needed. The APPS schema also improves the reliability of and reduces the time needed for installation, upgrading, and patching, by eliminating the need for cross-product grants and synonyms.

The following code objects are installed in the APPS schema:

• Packages

• Procedures

• Functions

• Triggers

• Views

• Materialized views

• Java classes

• Queues

Base Product Schemas

All data objects for a product are owned by a specific schema for that product, known as the base product schema.

The following objects are installed in the base product schemas:

• Tables

• Sequences

• Indexes

• Constraints

• Queues

Relationship Between APPS Schema and Base Product Schemas

The base product schemas also contain grants from various tables and sequences to the APPS schema, as well as synonyms from the APPS schema to the same objects.

Figure 3-1 APPS Schema and Base Product Schemas

Custom Schema Access

In some circumstances, you may wish to create a schema that has limited or read-only access to Oracle E-Business Suite data.

Warning: Since the APPS schema has all privileges to all Oracle E-Business Suite objects, you should never give users direct access to this schema.

You will need to grant access on objects to the user schema from the base product schema.

Note: You may need to re-grant access if the underlying object is dropped and recreated.

Schemas and Data Access

Some views access packages or functions, where the value returned by the package or function may depend on the environment having been set up properly. The environment is initialized automatically when accessing Oracle E-Business Suite through the Sign-On screen, or when using concurrent processing with Oracle Reports or SQL scripts.

Consequently, if you connect directly to a schema, the rows returned by the view may be different from those returned when you are running in an Oracle E-Business Suite environment. For example, a view may reference a profile option: when accessed from SQL*Plus, the site value of the profile option will be used, rather than the setting for a particular Oracle E-Business Suite user.

Oracle User IDs

Each Oracle E-Business Suite product has a default Oracle user ID, with the product abbreviation used as both the schema name and password. For example, the default Oracle user ID/password combination for Oracle General Ledger is GL/GL.

Important: For security, you should change the default passwords immediately after installation. However, Oracle recommends that you do not change the default user IDs.

A product's schema determines the ownership of the product's data objects, such as sequences, tables, and indexes. If two products are installed under the same schema, that schema owns the data objects for both products.

Since a product's data objects are created in their own schema (such as the GL schema), but the user accesses all data objects through the APPS schema, appropriate grants and synonyms are required between the APPS schema and the base product schemas (see Figure 3-1 above).

Space Management

This section discusses how the Oracle database is set up to meet the space management needs of Oracle E-Business Suite. It provides information on tablespaces, firstly outlining the basic tablespaces required, then discussing the traditional tablespace structure used to support Oracle E-Business Suite products, and finally describing the tablespace model that is used as standard with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Important: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 requires an Oracle database block size of 8K. No other block size may be used.

Introduction to Tablespaces

An Oracle 11g database always requires the following tablespaces to be available:

• System Tablespace - This tablespace holds data dictionary tables owned by the SYS account, and is created when the database is installed.

• Undo Tablespace - This tablespace holds undo (rollback) information that is used to track database changes until they are either committed or undone (rolled back).

• Temporary Tablespace - Temporary tablespaces are used to sort data while it is being processed. It is possible to use a single temporary tablespace, typically called TEMP, for all Oracle E-Business Suite products. Alternatively, separate temporary tablespaces can, if desired, be created for individual products. Since users access Oracle E-Business Suite objects through the APPS schema, the temporary tablespace for that schema (initially the same as that for the Oracle Application Object Library) is used by all products.

The traditional Oracle E-Business Suite tablespace model employed separate tablespaces for a product's tables and indexes. The resulting tablespaces were named by appending 'D' for data or 'X' for an index to the product's short name or Oracle schema name. For example, APD was the tablespace for Oracle Payables data, and APX was the tablespaces for Oracle Payables indexes.

Note: For further information about tablespaces, see the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide 11g.

Employing separate table and index tablespaces for each product made it easier maintain products, and helped to improve database performance. However, with an increasing number of products, this model could easily require several hundred product tablespaces, plus a system tablespace, undo (rollback) tablespace, and temporary tablespace.

In addition, the traditional tablespace model used a database sizing factor to set the extent sizes for an Oracle E-Business Suite product's tables and indexes. The value of this factor was a percentage of the typical estimated growth rate for Oracle E-Business Suite database objects. The sizing factor affected only the size of subsequent extents, as determined by the NEXT database object creation parameter. Most objects were defined with small first extents and larger additional extents.

During installation, Rapid Install provides the option of distributing tablespaces across different disks, to reduce disk head contention and improve overall system performance. In addition to this, many production systems utilize sophisticated disk and volume management technologies at operating system level to further enhance performance.

Oracle Applications Tablespace Model

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 utilizes as standard a modern infrastructure for tablespace management, the Oracle Applications Tablespace Model(OATM). The Oracle Applications Tablespace Model is similar to the traditional model in retaining the system, undo, and temporary tablespaces. The key difference is that Oracle E-Business Suite products in an OATM environment share a much smaller number of tablespaces, rather than having their own dedicated tablespaces.

Oracle E-Business Suite schema objects are allocated to the shared tablespaces based on two main factors: the type of data they contain, and I/O characteristics such as size, life span, access methods, and locking granularity. For example, tables that contain seed dataare allocated to a different tablespace from the tables that contain transactional data. In addition, while most indexes are held in the same tablespace as the base table, indexes on transaction tables are held in a single tablespace dedicated to such indexes.

The Oracle Applications Tablespace Model provides a variety of benefits, summarized in the list below and discussed in more detail later:

• Simplifies maintenance and recovery by using far fewer tablespaces than the older model.

• Makes best use of the restricted number of raw devices available in Oracle Real Applications Cluster (Oracle RAC) and other environments, where every tablespace requires its own raw device.

• Utilizes locally managed tablespaces, enabling more precise control over unused space and hence reducing fragmentation.

• Takes advantage of automatic segment space management, eliminating the need for manual space management tasks.

• Increases block-packing compared to the older model, reducing the overall number of buffer gets and improving runtime performance.

• Maximizes usefulness of wide disk stripe configurations.

The Oracle Applications Tablespace Model uses locally managed tablespaces, which enables extent sizes either to be determined automatically (autoallocate), or for all extents to be made the same, user-specified size (uniform). This choice of extent management types means that locally managed tablespaces offer greater flexibility than the dictionary-managed tablespacesused in the traditional tablespace model. However, when using uniform extents with locally managed tablespaces, the extent size must be chosen with care: too small a size can have an adverse effect on space management and performance.

A further benefit of locally managed tablespaces, and hence use of OATM, is the introduction of automatic segment space management, a simpler and more efficient way of managing space within a segment. It can require more space, but eliminates the need for traditional manual segment space management tasks such as specifying and tuning schema object storage parameters such as PCTUSED. This and related storage parameters are only used to determine space allocation for objects in dictionary-managed tablespaces, and have no meaning in the context of locally managed tablespaces.

Automatic segment space management is self-tuning, so can take into account an increase in the number of users. A further benefit in Oracle Real Applications Cluster (Oracle RAC) environments is dynamic affinity of space to instances, which avoids the hard partitioning of space inherent with the traditional use of free list groups.

Table 3-1 OATM Tablespace Types and Contents
Tablespace Type	Tablespace Contents
Transaction Tables	Tables that contain transactional data.
Transaction Indexes	Indexes on transaction tables.
Reference	Reference and setup data and indexes.
Interface	Interface and temporary data and indexes.
Summary	Summary management objects, such as materialized views, and other objects that record summary information.
Nologging	Materialized views that are not used for summary management and temporary objects.
Advanced Queueing	Advanced Queuing (AQ) tables and indexes.
Media	Multimedia objects, such as text, video, sound, graphics, and spatial data.
Archive	Tables that contain archived purge-related data.
Undo	Automatic Undo Management (AUM) tablespace. Undo segments are equivalent to rollback segments when AUM is enabled. See note below.
Temp	Temporary tablespace for global temporary table, sorts, and hash joins.
System	System tablespace used by the Oracle database.

In Oracle database server releases prior to Oracle9i, undo space management was performed using rollback segments. For clarity, this method is now referred to as manual undo management. Its successor, automatic undo managementis based on the use of a small number of undo tablespaces, in contrast to the larger number of variously-sized rollback segments typically used in manual undo management.

Oracle E-Business Suite Database Features

Introduction

Many features in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 are built on the advanced capabilities of the underlying Oracle database technology. Release 12 utilizes various Oracle database features to optimize performance and scalability.

Monitoring Features

Oracle Database 11g, which is used by Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1, includes a number of sophisticated features that enable you to track the performance of your database, and if necessary take the appropriate corrective action.

Note: For further details of the capabilities and usage of the tools described, see Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide.

Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)

The Automatic Workload Repositoryis a repository of database performance statistics built in to every Oracle 11g database. AWR automatically generates snapshots of performance data at regular intervals (typically, once an hour) and collects the statistics for use in problem detection and tuning. The gathered data can be displayed in both reports and views.

You can access AWR through Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control, managing snapshots or modifying settings in order to create baselines that capture typical performance periods. The baselines can be used for comparisons with similar workload periods where performance problems have been reported.

Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)

The Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitoris a tool that allows an Oracle database to diagnose its performance, and determine how identified problems could be resolved. ADDM analyzes the AWR data on a regular basis, locating the root causes of performance problems and providing recommendations for correcting them. Because AWR is a repository of historical performance data, ADDM can be used to analyze performance issues after the event, saving time and resources in reproducing a problem (which may not even be possible).

Automatic database diagnostic monitoring is enabled by default, and its primary interface is Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control.

Active Session History (ASH)

Active Session Historyis a means by which a detailed history of database activity is captured and stored. Only active sessions are captured, so the amount of data recorded is directly related to the work being performed. The V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view records current sampled session activity.

Unlike the instance-level statistics gathered by AWR, ASH gathers data at the session level. You can run ASH reports to analyze transient performance problems with the database that may only occur during specific times. For example, ASH can often be used to identify short-duration problems (perhaps lasting only a couple of minutes) that would represent too small a proportion of an ADDM analysis period to show up.

Performance Features

Database performance features include optimization, resource usage, space management, and access rights.

Query Optimization

The SQL used in Release 12 has been extensively tuned for cost-based optimization. In calculating the lowest cost (most efficient) method of executing an SQL statement, the Oracle query optimizer evaluates many factors to calculate the most efficient way to execute a SQL statement. For example, the optimizer considers the available access paths, factoring in statistical information for the tables and indexes that the SQL statement will access. The optimizer also considers hints, which are optimization suggestions placed in a comment of the SQL statement.

As part of its operation, the optimizer creates a set of potential execution plans for the SQL statement, based on the available access paths and any hints. It then estimates the cost of each execution plan, based on data dictionary statistics for the data distribution and storage characteristics of the tables, indexes, and partitions. Finally, the optimizer compares the costs of the execution plans and chooses the one with the smallest cost, which means optimum execution characteristics.

For some operations, such as batch processing, Release 12 uses cost-based optimization to achieve the most efficient means of processing all rows that are accessed by the statement. For other operations, such as accessing forms or communication with the desktop client, Release 12 uses cost-based optimization to achieve the best response time for processing the first rows that are accessed by the statement.

Several other Oracle database performance features in Release 12 also require use of the costbased query optimizer.

Note: For further details of optimization, see: Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide.

Database Resource Manager

The gives the system administrator extensive control over processing resources on the database node. The administrator can distribute server CPU based on business rules, ensuring that the highest priority activities always have sufficient CPU resources. The administrator could, for example, guarantee Order Entry users 40% of CPU resources during business hours, regardless of the load or number of users in other groups on the system.

System administrators can also use the Database Resource Manager to limit the impact of any inefficient ad hoc queries. For example, a limit of 5% of CPU resources could be placed on ad hoc queries against the database.

Note: For further details, see Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

Partitioned Tables

Partitioning helps support very large tables and indexes by dividing them into smaller, more manageable pieces called partitions. Once the desired partitions have been defined, SQL statements containing the partition key can access them instead of the original tables or indexes and thereby reduce the I/O needed.

Partitioning can significantly enhance performance and manageability. For example, the speed of operations that involve copying or deleting data may be greatly improved by the use of partitioned tables. Operations that might have taken hours might now be completed in minutes. This can be useful in data warehouse applications.

Important: Custom partitioning of standard Oracle E-Business Suite tables in Release 12 is fully supported for objects that are not already partitioned.

Partitioning should always be planned and tested carefully before being implemented on a critical system. After implementation, you should check that the desired performance benefits have been achieved.

Scalability Features

As well as providing more computing power, multi-node systems facilitate the addition of machines to meet increases in demand. They also provide resilience in the event of failures of individual components.

Oracle Real Application Clusters

Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) harness the processing power of multiple interconnected computers. Oracle RAC software called Oracle Clusterwareand a collection of computers (known as a cluster) harness the processing power of each component to create a robust and powerful computing environment. A large task divided into subtasks and distributed among multiple nodes is completed more quickly and efficiently than if the entire task was processed on one node. Cluster processing also facilitates deployment of additional hardware resources for larger workloads and rapidly growing user populations.

In Oracle RAC environments, all active instances can concurrently execute transactions against a shared database. Oracle RAC coordinates each instance's access to the shared data, to provide data consistency and data integrity. From a developer's point of view, Oracle RAC enables applications to be scaled to meet increasing data processing demands, without the need to change the application code.

All Oracle E-Business Suite modules can be successfully deployed against a Oracle RACenabled database. Using Parallel Concurrent Processing (see Chapter 1), concurrent managers on separate application tier machines can be configured to direct requests to different database servers in an Oracle RAC cluster.

Automatic Storage Management

Automatic Storage Management (ASM) provides a file system and volume manager dedicated to the storage of Oracle database files. It extends the concepts of disk striping and mirroring, to optimize performance and remove the need for manual I/O tuning.

Business Intelligence Features

To meet the increasing demand for up-to-date details of business activities, Oracle E-Business Suite utilizes Oracle database features that help to optimize the types of query typically required in such environments.

Materialized Views

Materialized views are schema objects that can be used to summarize, precompute, replicate, and distribute data. They can markedly increase the speed of queries on very large databases when used to precompute and store aggregated data such as sums and averages. Materialized views can therefore improve performance of Oracle E-Business Suite products that perform many queries on summary data.

Query optimization can use materialized views to improve query performance by automatically recognizing when one can be used to satisfy a request. The optimizer transparently rewrites the request to use the materialized view. Queries are then directed to the materialized view, and not to the underlying detail tables or views.

In distributed environments, materialized views can be used to replicate data at remote sites, providing local access to data that would otherwise have to be accessed from the main site, with any network delays this might introduce.

Security Features

The Oracle database has always included mechanisms to protect its contents from unauthorized access, without hindering access by legitimate users. Details of these can be found in the standard database documentation.

Additional features provide application monitoring capabilities; for example, Database Connection Taggingenables recording in V$SESSION of the current use to which a database connection is being put.

Note: For further details of Database Connection Tagging, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1100653.1, Using Database Connection Tagging With Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3.

Various strategies and optional components can be used to enhance and customize security to meet the specific needs of a site. Chapter 11 discusses optional database features that can be used to enhance and customize security further.

AutoConfig

Introduction

Configuring a new installation of Oracle E-Business Suite includes a number of stages:

• Collection of information required to create the desired configuration

• Storage of configuration information in the correct locations on the relevant machines

• Creation of technology stack configuration files with the appropriate details

• Creation of Applications configuration files with the appropriate details

• Starting of all required processes in the correct order

AutoConfig is a tool that simplifies and standardizes configuration management tasks in an Oracle E-Business Suite environment. A fresh install of Release 12 includes AutoConfig as a standard (and required) configuration management tool. AutoConfig can also be used with earlier releases of Oracle E-Business Suite.

The Applications Context

Where the System Identifier(SID) was traditionally used to identify a file as belonging to a particular Oracle E-Business Suite environment, an Applications contextis used in an AutoConfig-managed environment such as Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. The default context name, also referred to in this chapter as <CONTEXT_NAME>, is <SID>_<hostname>.

Using an Applications context has a number of advantages:

• Simplifies overall management of an Oracle E-Business Suite system

• Allows easier startup and shutdown of applications services

• Permits services to be installed or deinstalled independently of others

• Integrates seamlessly with a shared application tier file system (see Chapter 9)

• Enables use of Oracle Applications Manager for configuration management (see Chapter 7)

• Facilitates support for Oracle Real Application Clusters (see Chapter 4)

Before AutoConfig and the Applications context were introduced, configuration management tasks could be time-consuming and prone to error, in some cases requiring manual changes to be made to several configuration files. While individual configuration files are still used in an AutoConfig-enabled environment, they play a secondary role to an XML-based repository of Oracle E-Business Suite environment information, called the context file.

By centralizing the configuration information, AutoConfig simplifies procedures for activities that range from upgrading a technology stack component to starting and stopping applications services. Another benefit is that the various files AutoConfig employs can be updated via standard Oracle E-Business Suite patches.

There are separate context files for the application and database tiers of an Oracle E-Business Suite system.

Applications Context File - The Applications context file,<INST_TOP>/appl/admin/<CONTEXT_NAME>.xml, is a repository for environmentspecific details used by AutoConfig to configure the application tier. Information from this file is used to generate Oracle E-Business Suite configuration files and update relevant database profiles.

Information stored includes:

• Name and location of the database

• Port numbers for Forms and Web services

• Product-specific port numbers

• Information about application tier services controlled by AutoConfig

The values of the context variables that make up the context file are in part determined by the choices you make when you run Rapid Install. For example, when you specify that a particular application tier node is to be used as a concurrent processing server, the relevant variable will be set to execute the scripts that start the service.

Database Context File - The database context file,

<RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/<CONTEXT_NAME>.xml, performs an equivalent role

on the database tier. Information from this file is used to generate configuration files used on the database tier when AutoConfig is next run.

AutoConfig Scripts and Directories

A number of key configuration and control scripts are employed in an AutoConfig environment. AutoConfig creates several directories for these scripts and their associated files.

AutoConfig Scripts

Key AutoConfig configuration scripts on UNIX (command files on Windows) include:

• adautocfg.sh - Wrapper script that passes the name of the specific environment context file to adconfig.sh. Located in <INST_TOP>/admin/scripts on the application tier, and <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/scripts/<CONTEXT_NAME> on the database tier.

• adconfig.sh - Invoked by adautocfg.sh, this script is a wrapper for adconfig.pl. Located in <AD_TOP>/bin on the application tier, and

<RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/bin on the database tier.

• adconfig.pl - Invoked by adconfig.sh, this Perl script calls the Java API to carry out the actual configuration tasks. Located in <AD_TOP>/bin on the application tier, and <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/bin on the databccase tier.

In addition to these configuration scripts, several additional AutoConfig scripts are used to help manage the Oracle E-Business Suite system. These are described later in this chapcter, under Management Tasks.

AutoConfig Directories

Several directories are created by AutoConfig, as shown in the following table.

Table 5-1 AutoConfig Directories
Directory Name	Directory Contents
<INST_TOP>/admin/install	Install scripts
<INST_TOP>/admin/scripts	Control scripts
<INST_TOP>/admin/log	Log files

AutoConfig Operation

As AutoConfig is used for a wide range of system configuration activities, from installation to maintenance, the following discussion of its operations is divided into several sections.

Context Value Management

Context Value Management (CVM) is an AutoConfig component that is used to manage the values of variables in the context file, and automate required updates to it. CVM supports updates to both the application tier and database tier context files.

CVM actions include:

• Adding new variables to a context file

• Updating values of variables in an existing context file

• Applying new versions of context file templates

• Executing scripts or configuration tools that must complete before the AutoConfig engine starts, for example when generating the tnsnames.ora file

CVM is activated when the Applications context file is updated, but before the AutoConfig engine itself starts. This enables CVM to execute scripts or other tools to manipulate any required file on the file system, and allow the appropriate settings to be propagated as needed to both the file system and database. For example, it is possible to update values in the context file which will then be propagated to the file system.

Note: AutoConfig does not undertake all aspects of configuration management, such as operations at operating system level that may have implications outside the context of Oracle EBusiness Suite.

Like the core AutoConfig components, CVM utilizes configuration files on both the application and database tiers, as shown in the following tables.

Table 5-2 Application Tier CVM Files
File Location	Description
<AD_TOP>/bin/adcvm.sh	Main CVM script
<AD_TcOP>/admin/template/adcvmat.xml	Stores CVM-related data for the application tier
Table 5-3 Database Tier CVM Files
File Location		Description
<RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/bin/adcvm.sh		Main CVM script
<RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/template/adcvmdb.xml		Stores CVM-related data for the database tier

AutoConfig Files

As well as the context files and configuration scripts that have already been described, AutoConfig uses several other types of file in its configuration management activities. These may themselves be divided into different categories.

Template Files

AutoConfig template files are used as the starting point for creating site-specific configuration files. AutoConfig evaluates the context variables in a template file, determines the actual values required, and creates a configuration file with these values substituted. This process, described in more detail later in this chapter, is called instantiation. There is one template file for each configuration file. Template files are located in the various <PROD_TOP>/admin/template directories on the application tier, and in the <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/template directory on the database tier.

Template files used by AutoConfig can be divided into the following categories:

Templates for APPL_TOP Configuration Files - These are either files requiring configuration-specific information in the APPL_TOP, or files used to load configuration profiles into the Oracle E-Business Suite database.

Templates for Management Scripts - To run all the standard processes required by Oracle EBusiness Suite, Rapid Install creates scripts to start and stop each of these required processes. These scripts need configuration information in order to:

• Create the correct environments for each process

• Start the processes with the correct parameters

• Point the processes at the correct database instance (if applicable)

Driver Files

AutoConfig driver files are used to list the corresponding template files and locations, and specify the commands to be executed. For example, the commands might update profile options.

Driver files are located in each <PROD>_TOP/admin/driver directory on the application tier, and in the <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/template directory on the database tier.

Configuration Files

AutoConfig configuration files, such as httpd.conf, are created as a result of AutoConfig instantiating the corresponding template files. Configuration files contain values corresponding to the settings specified for a particular site. After AutoConfig has been run, numerous configuration files will have been created in various directories.

Figure 5-1 illustrates the relationship between the different types of file AutoConfig uses.

Figure 5-1 Relationship Between AutoConfig Files

Instantiation

As mentioned earlier, instantiation is the process whereby AutoConfig creates a configuration file with contents tailored for a specific environment. AutoConfig can be used to instantiate files or scripts, and then execute them for installation and configuration.

Examples of instantiation include:

• Instantiation of a configuration file to be used at runtime

• Instantiation of an SQL script to set profile options

• Instantiation of a shell script or Windows command file to run an SQL script in SQL*Plus

• Instantiation of scripts to start up and shut down application tier services

The adautocfg.sh script updates configuration files and profile options in the following way:

1. Instantiates template files with instance-specific values derived from the relevant context file

2. Copies in any customizations

3. Overwrites existing configuration files with newly instantiated ones

4. Runs SQL scripts to update database profile options

Role of the template and driver files

AutoConfig uses the various template files to determine the basic settings needed. There is one template file for each configuration file. Different versions of the template files exist for UNIX (for example httpd_ux.conf), and Windows (for example httpd_nt.conf).

The driver files list the names and locations of the files that need to have context variables replaced. They also define the phases into which instantiation is divided, and specify the commands that are to be executed for specific products. When AutoConfig runs, it cycles through the various <PROD>_TOP/admin/driver directories looking for driver files such as adtmpl.drv, fndtmpl.drv, and icxtmpl.drv.

Figure 5-2 illustrates the instantiation mechanism used by AutoConfig to create the various configuration files.

Figure 5-2 AutoConfig Instantiation Mechanism

Note: For further details of AutoConfig operation, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 387859.1, Using AutoConfig to Manage System Configurations with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Execution of Scripts

As well as its instantiation activities, AutoConfig may execute other scripts, depending on the requirements of the specific Oracle E-Business Suite system.

Phases of Operation

As AutoConfig parses the driver files, it carries out a series of actions, grouped into several distinct phases:

• INSTE8 - Instantiates AutoConfig template files to the AutoConfig configuration files specified in the relevant template driver files.

• INSTE8_SETUP - Executes setup scripts that carry out activities not involving connection to the database.

• INSTE8_PRF - Executes setup scripts that update profile options.

• INSTE8_APPLY - Executes setup scripts that carry out activities involving updates to the database.

• BINCPY - Copies the file mentioned from the source file to the configuration file, creating parent directories for the latter if necessary. AutoConfig will report an error if the source file cannot be found.

• BINCPY_IGERR - Copies the file mentioned from the source file to the configuration file, creating parent directories for the latter if necessary. AutoConfig will not report an error if the source file cannot be found.

AutoConfig carries out these actions in the following order:

1. All INSTE8 and BINCPY actions - Carries out all file instantiations called for during INSTE8, INSTE8_SETUP, INSTE8_PRF and INSTE8_APPLY, and all copying from source files to target configuration files.

2. INSTE8_SETUP actions - For the files that were instantiated in Step 1, AutoConfig runs all SETUP scripts.

3. INSTE8_PRF actions - For the files that were instantiated in Step 1, AutoConfig runs all PRF scripts.

4. INSTE8_APPLY actions - For the files that were instantiated in Step 1, AutoConfig runs all APPLY scripts.

At the end of this process, the required configuration files and profile options have been created for the E-Business Suite installation.

Management Tasks

There are several areas in which an administrator can use AutoConfig to update, control, and monitor an Oracle E-Business Suite system. While many tasks will normally be undertaken from Oracle Applications Manager, you may on occasion need to run a script (command file on Windows) from the command line.

Managing the Context

Oracle Applications Manager (see Chapter 7) enables you to edit the Applications context as required. From the Administration tab, choose AutoConfig and click on Edit Parameters for the relevant context file. After making a change to the context, you must run AutoConfig to update the relevant configuration files. Before doing so, you should examine the proposed changes by running the adchkcfg.sh configuration check script (described below under Checking the System).

Warning: Do not edit E-Business Suite configuration files manually. Any changes will be lost when AutoConfig is next run.

An AutoConfig-managed environment such as Release 12.1.1 will also be updated by applying an Oracle E-Business Suite patch that adds or modifies variables in the Applications context file, AutoConfig template files, or AutoConfig driver files.

On occasion, you may need to undo configuration changes that have been made. The previous configuration can be restored by running the restore.sh utility, which enables you to roll back the changes made by an AutoConfig run. This is achieved by utilizing the backup copies of the configuration files that are created when AutoConfig is run.

The backup files are located in <INST_TOP>/admin/out/<MMDDhhmm> on the application tier, and <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/out/<CONTEXT_NAME><MMDDhhmm> on

the database tier, where the <MMDDhhmm> directory name indicates the month, day, hour and minute of the AutoConfig run.

You can restore the configuration that existed immediately before the current one by navigating to the appropriate backup directory and running the restore.sh script. To restore an earlier configuration, you must use the Context File History feature of Oracle Applications Manager.

Build Context Utility

The adblxml utility, introduced in Release 12.1, can be used to create a new context file on the database tier. The new file acts as a central repository for database configuration information, and is essential in enabling AutoConfig on the database tier of an Oracle E-Business Suite instance.

A new context file on the database tier can be created using the following command:

perl $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin/adbldxml.pl \ [template=<contextfile_template>][out=<contextfile_name>

Where <contextfile_template> is the location of the context template (default is

$ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/template/adxdbctx.tmp), and <contextfile_name> is the absolute path of the context file to be generated (the default is $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/<context_name>.xml).

Note: The adblxml utility is only supported on the database tier, not on the application tier.

Controlling the System

AutoConfig utilizes a number of application tier control scripts, located in <INST_TOP>/admin/scripts.

Table 5-4 Key Application Tier Control Scripts
Script Name	Function
adstrtal.sh	Starts all application tier server processes
adstpall.sh	Stops all application tier server processes
adautocfg.sh	Runs AutoConfig

The corresponding directory on the database tier is

<RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/scripts/<CONTEXT_NAME>, where control scripts

allow the database and database listener processes to be started and stopped, and AutoConfig to be run.

Checking the System

Several other scripts facilitate system management in an AutoConfig-managed environment such as Release 12. For example, you can identify the effects of proposed changes before you make them.

Configuration Check Utility

adchkcfg.sh is located in <AD_TOP>/bin on the application tier, and in <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/bin on the database tier.

This utility generates a report that highlights differences between existing configuration files and the new ones that AutoConfig will generate. The report is called cfgcheck.html.

Running adchkcfg.sh is useful both in carrying out a test run before a planned environment change is made, and when investigating problems. In Release 12.1, the tool was enhanced to report important database updates, generate a report for database changes, and improve readability of reports.

Note: For further details on managing system configuration parameters, see Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Procedures.

AutoConfig Search Utility

Originally known as the Context Variable Information utility, the AutoConfig Search Utility, GenCtxinfRep, is used to obtain detailed information about context variables and the templates that use them. It is run from the command line and accepts all or part of a context variable name, and generates an HTML or text report that includes descriptions, default values, and current values of matched context variables. The variables description contains recommended settings, range of allowed values, and links to documents that give detailed usage information. Additionally, GenCtxinfRep lists the configuration templates where specific context variables are used.

AutoConfig Profiler

Introduced in Release 12.1, the profiling feature provides a consolidated HTML report of an AutoConfig run. The top level of the report displays a summarized view that lists all the product tops, along with the total instantiation and execution time of the templates within each product top. You can drill down into the report to view additional details, including the source and target location of each template, the time taken to instantiate and execute individual template scripts, and the execution report for each template script.

AutoConfig can be run in profile mode on the application tier using the following command:

$AD_TOP/bin/adconfig.pl contextfile=<CtxFile> \ [product=<product_top>] –profile

Where <CtxFile> is the absolute path to the application tier context file, and <product_top> is the short name of the product to configure.

AutoConfig can be run in profile mode on the database tier using the following command:

perl $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin/adconfig.pl \ contextfile=<CtxFile> -profile

Where <CtxFile> is the absolute path to the database tier context file.

Enhanced Service Dependency Management

In addition to the above utilities, AutoConfig's service management infrastructure has been enhanced with dependency information between service groups and services. This dependency information is stored as metadata in the context file. The following XML attributes were added in Release 12.1:

• services: contains a comma-separated list of the services that belong to a particular service group.

• incompatible_with (optional): contains a comma-separated list of service groups and services that are mutually exclusive with the service group or service for which they are defined. For example, Forms Socket mode and Forms Servlet mode are mutually incompatible.

• requires (optional): contains a comma-separated list of the required service groups and services. For example, to start and run successfully, all the OC4J containers require the TNS listener to be running.

Running AutoConfig in Parallel

Introduced in Release 12.1, the parallel mode feature enables AutoConfig to be run simultaneously across multiple nodes of an Oracle E-Business Suite system. When running in parallel mode, AutoConfig uses the dbms_locks PL/SQL package to ensure that configuration of one node does not interfere with configuration of other nodes: this is required because certain AutoConfig configurations of one node depend on the configurations of other nodes.

Note: During the instantiation phase, locking is done at script level. During the execution phase, locking is done at product_top level.

AutoConfig can be run in parallel mode on the application tier using the following command: perl $AD_TOP/bin/adconfig.pl contextfile=<CtxFile> \ [product=<product_top>] –parallel

Where <CtxFile> is the absolute path of the application tier context file and <product_top> is the short name of the product to be configured.

AutoConfig can be run in parallel mode on the database tier using the following command:

perl $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin/adconfig.pl \ contextfile=<CtxFile> -parallel

Where <CtxFile> is the full path to the database tier context file.

Note: When using parallel mode, AutoConfig must be invoked with the –parallel option on all nodes of the relevant tier.

Cloning

Introduction

Cloning is the act of creating an identical copy of an existing Oracle E-Business Suite system. The system to be cloned is referred to as the source system, and the newly created system is referred to as the target system.

Cloning has various uses, such as:

• Creating a copy of a production system for patch testing

• Creating a staging area to reduce the downtime required for patching

• Refreshing a test system from a production system

• Moving an existing system to a different machine or platform

Simply copying the existing components to a new location will not provide a working Oracle EBusiness Suite installation. For example, there are numerous configuration files in the file system that must be modified, depending on the physical configuration of the target environment. In addition, the Oracle E-Business Suite installation process utilizes the Oracle Universal Installer, which maintains key information about the installation. Copying the installation to a new location would invalidate this information, preventing the application of patches to components maintained by the Installer.

Cloning Tools

Cloning an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 system can be accomplished by running the Rapid Clone tool. This tool can be employed with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, or any AutoConfig-enabled earlier releases.

Alternatively, you can license Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business

Suite, which extends Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control to help monitor and manage an Oracle E-Business Suite system. The pack integrates Oracle Applications Manager with Grid Control to provide a consolidated E-Business Suite management solution.

Note: See Chapter 7 for further details of cloning features and options.

Cloning Across Platforms

When cloning from one machine to another, the simplest case is where the two machines are running the same version of the same operating system.

A slightly more complex case occurs where the two operating systems are binary compatible, and the source system is running an earlier version of the same operating system that is being used on the target system. While Rapid Clone can often be used successfully in such cases, you should generally aim to clone between machines that are running identical versions of an operating system. This minimizes the risk of problems arising because of differences between the versions.

Warning: It is not supported to clone from a later version of an operating system to an earlier one.

Cloning Options

The following list summarizes the cloning options currently available with Rapid Clone.

Note: In this context, node refers to a logical collection of Oracle E-Business Suite processes, and not necessarily a physical machine.

• Single node to Single node

• Recloning (of database only)1

• Clone existing Clone2

• Multi-node to Multi-node

• Single node to Multi-node3

• Multi-node to Single node 4

Footnotes on List

1. Recloning of the database only can be useful if the source system has changed, and the target system needs to be updated with these changes. However, if any Oracle E-Business Suite patches have been applied to the source system, the rest of the components

(APPL_TOP, COMMON_TOP and ORACLE_HOMEs) must also be cloned, in order to keep the file system and database synchronized.

2. A cloned system created with Rapid Clone can be used as the source system for another round of cloning.

3. If moving to a multi-node system, it is preferable to implement a shared APPL_TOP rather than clone from a single node to multiple nodes. See Chapter 9 for details.

4. This procedure is often referred to as merging APPL_TOPs.

Note: For further details of cloning options and strategies, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 406982.1, Cloning Oracle Applications Release 12 with Rapid Clone.

Rapid Clone Operation

Rapid Clone does not modify the source system. The adpreclone.pl script prepares the source system to be cloned by collecting information about the database, and creating generic templates from existing files that contain source-specific hard-coded values. The template files are located in <RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME>/appsutil/template on the database tier.

Important: Rapid Clone requires all the expected binary files to be in place on the source system, and may fail to operate correctly if any are missing.

After running adpreclone.pl, you copy the relevant files and directories from the source system files to the target system, and then run the adcfgclone.pl configuration script. The values for various parameters are required to create the context file that will be used to configure the target system. A few of these values are calculated from the current target system, and adcfgclone.pl will prompt for the others.

For example, you will be prompted to specify a port pool, to use a particular range of predefined server ports. There are 100 port pools, so if, for example, you select pool port 3, the default database port number (1521) is replaced by 1524.

Note: If you are cloning to the same machine, you must specify a different port pool from the source system.

If desired, it is possible to set a specific port to a value other than the one assigned from the port pool. This requires editing the context file on the target system after adcfgclone.pl completes, then running AutoConfig to update the system with the new value.

Rapid Clone and Oracle Universal Installer

The Oracle Universal Installer's global inventoryis simply a list of pointers to each local inventorylocation. There is one local inventory per ORACLE_HOME, located in <ORACLE_HOME>/inventory, which contains all the patch information for the ORACLE_HOME in question.

Rapid Clone first ensures that the source system local inventory is in XML format, converting it from the older binary format if necessary. The local inventory (inside the ORACLE_HOME to be cloned) is then copied to the target system and reconfigured with the new values for the target system. Rapid Clone subsequently attaches the reconfigured local inventory to the target system global inventory. If the target system does not have a global inventory, a new global inventory is created when Rapid Clone goes to attach the local inventory.

Additional Cloning Features

Several features are designed to make cloning more straightforward, and give greater flexibility in response to issues such as:

• Whether cloning is being used to add a node to an existing installation, or to create an entirely new installation. In the former case, there will be fewer ancillary changes.

• Types of table modification that need to take place. For example, when using Rapid Clone to add a node, a new row is inserted into FND_NODES, whereas when creating a new installation, FND_NODES is purged and a completely new set of rows inserted.

• Whether services should be set to start automatically after cloning is complete.

• Whether any data alteration is needed after cloning.

Summary

In essence, Rapid Clone does the following on the target system.

Database tier:

• Creates the Database context file

• Registers the ORACLE_HOME in the Global Inventory

• Relinks the ORACLE_HOME

• Configures the ORACLE_HOME

• Recreates the database control files

• Starts the database

• Configures the database

• Starts the database listener

Application tier:

• Creates the Applications context file

• Registers the OracleAS 10.1.2 and OracleAS 10.1.3 ORACLE_HOMEs in the Global Inventory

• Relinks the OracleAS ORACLE_HOMEs

• Configures the OracleAS ORACLE_HOMEs

• Configures the APPL_TOP

• Creates the INST_TOP

• Starts application tier server processes

In addition, there are a number of associated actions relating to the database.

Note: For further details of Rapid Clone capabilities and operation, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 406982.1, Cloning Oracle Applications Release 12 with Rapid Clone. For details of cloning options in general , see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 783188.1, Certified RAC Scenarios for E-Business Suite Cloning.

Management Tools

Introduction

Oracle Applications Manager(OAM) is a powerful, easy to use tool that enables you to manage and monitor an Oracle E-Business Suite system from an HTML-based central control console.

Among other Oracle E-Business Suite system management tasks, Oracle Applications Manager can help you to:

• Configure and administer your system

• Diagnose and correct problems

• Manage patches

• Monitor and tune performance

• Monitor system security

Oracle Applications Manager is built into Oracle E-Business Suite, and can be used in conjunction with a a number of optional tools and features described later in this chapter: these include Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suiteand Oracle Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite.

Oracle Applications Manager Features

The Applications Dashboardprovides an overview of the key features of an Oracle E-Business Suite installation, including summaries of current status, performance, critical activities, diagnostics, business flows, and security. You can then view additional information on any of these areas.

Figure 7-1 Oracle Applications Manager Dashboard

A more detailed view of the Oracle E-Business Suite system is offered by the Site Map, which provides easy access to the numerous features and options that exist in the areas of administration, monitoring, maintenance, and diagnostics and repair.

Administration

Oracle Applications Manager provides a comprehensive system configuration editor, for use in conjunction with the AutoConfig configuration management tool (see Chapter 5). Previous configuration settings can easily be compared with the current settings, allowing changed settings to be identified and rolled back as necessary.

Figure 7-2 Site Map - Administration

Additionally, Oracle Applications Manager helps you track configuration changes, such as recently altered site-level profile option settings. It can also helps you detect potential configuration problems, such as database initialization parameters that do not meet Oracle requirements or recommendations. Oracle Applications Manager can be used to configure and control critical application tier services such as concurrent processing, Forms listeners, and Web servers. For example, you can monitor and administer concurrent requests, and easily analyze the concurrent request workload to make informed configuration changes for concurrent processing.

Oracle Applications Manager can also be used to control Oracle Workflow system services, such as background engines, notification mailers, agent listeners, and queue propagation. You can monitor and analyze Oracle Workflow system activity, suspend and resume processes, retry activities that end in error, and purge obsolete Workflow data.

The License Managercomponent of Oracle Applications Manager enables you to manage all aspects of licensing your products and related features. For example, you can obtain reports of currently licensed products, country-specific functionalities, and languages, as well as an overall licensing summary for your system You can also license additional products, country-specific functionalities, and languages.

You can extend Oracle Applications Manager using your own custom SQL scripts. Not only can SQL scripts be organized and accessed from within the OAM console, but drilldowns can be enabled from script output to standard Oracle Applications Manager interfaces. For example, if you obtain concurrent request IDs from an SQL script, you can then drill down into the standard Oracle Applications Manager interface to obtain details of the concurrent requests.

Monitoring

Oracle Applications Manager provides extensive monitoring features for Oracle E-Business Suite. Charts and graphs provide high-level summaries, and you can drill down for more detailed information as required.

The Monitoring tab provides key performance metrics related to online, batch, and workflow activity. Additionally, system administrators can now subscribe to receive automated alerts when concurrent requests run longer or wait longer than specified thresholds.

Figure 7-3 Site Map - Monitoring

Monitoring support is provided for application tier services such as concurrent managers and

Web services. For currently running processes such as forms or concurrent requests, you can examine both application tier and database session details, right down to the currently executing SQL.

OAM can alert you when certain errors occur within the E-Business Suite system, and will provide detailed context information to help in diagnosing those errors. Information from system components, including performance details, availability, configuration, diagnostic data, and security concerns can all be presented in the context of affected business flows, so that you can better understand any impact on your business.

Maintenance

You can easily determine which patches have been applied to a system, including the individual patches included in mini-packs, maintenance packs, and merged patches. Oracle Applications Manager also enables you to examine the patched files on a system, and identify all the patches that altered a given file. For each patch applied, you can see the actions taken by each patch driver.

Figure 7-4 Site Map - Maintenance

The Patch Wizardtool built into Oracle Applications Manager can recommend patches for your Oracle E-Business Suite system. The wizard takes patch data downloaded from Oracle, analyzes that data against the Oracle E-Business Suite system, and recommends patches based on criteria you specify. The wizard can also analyze individual patches, identify any prerequisites missing on the system, and show the impact that the patches would have on the system in terms of affected applications, files, and other areas. Additionally, the wizard can download multiple patches from Oracle and merge them into a single patch.

Administrators can use the Manage Downtimefeature to schedule downtimes. When a downtime is scheduled, a message on the Home Page notifies users of the period when the system will not be available. The user has to log in, or return to the Home Page to see this message. If the downtime is in progress, an appropriate warning page will replace the login page.

During the scheduled downtime period, administrators with suitable database privileges are able to log into OAM to monitor the progress of AutoPatch and other Applications DBA (AD) utilities: access to other parts of Oracle E-Business Suite is not allowed.

Diagnostics and Repair

Oracle Applications Manager for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 provides troubleshooting wizards that automate complex recovery steps. Tools such as Concurrent Manager Recovery help you diagnose problems and take corrective action from the same screen. The Service Infrastructure Troubleshooting Wizard ensures that the Generic Service Management (GSM) infrastructure is running normally, and if not, guides the administrator through the steps needed to bring GSM back up.

Figure 7-5 Site Map - Diagnostics and Repair

The Applications Dashboard provides a gateway into Oracle Diagnostics for Oracle E-Business Suite, offering graphical views of diagnostic test executions and failures, summarizing test results, and providing access to detailed test reports. Keyword searches can be performed on the test repository to locate relevant tests, which can then be grouped and executed directly from the same interface.

Additionally, system administrators can schedule and run diagnostics tests as batch programs, and output from all diagnostic interfaces can be captured and packaged for shipment to Oracle Support quickly and easily. Other features include provision for customers to download the latest diagnostics pack supplied by Oracle Support, and create their own diagnostic tests as required.

Finally, the system alerting infrastructure has been enhanced with a new flood control mechanism to prevent multiple instances of a given alert from overwhelming the alert system. Additionally, alerts have been enhanced to allow summary and context information to be retrieved in XML format via standard business event integration mechanisms.

Support Cart

The OAM Support Cartautomates the collection of detailed node-specific information that can be sent to Oracle Support to assist with problem diagnosis.

Figure 7-6 Oracle Applications Manager Support Cart

The information collected includes details of products installed, patches applied, database version, current database parameters, and system topology. Other pages from OAM can be added to the Support Cart if desired.

Extending Oracle Applications Manager Functionality

Oracle Applications Manager can be used in conjunction with Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control via the supporting Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite, to create a comprehensive, top-down approach to system monitoring and administration.

Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite extends Enterprise Manager Grid Control to help monitor and manage Oracle E-Business Suite systems. Features include simplified administration, hot cloning (where the database does not need to be shut down), and management of advanced topologies.

Another tool that can be used to extend Oracle Applications Manager functionality is Oracle Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite. This tool provides a centralized view of multiple Oracle E-Business Suite systems, helping to to monitor and implement functional and technical changes. Oracle Application Change Management Pack consists of three components: Customization Manager, Patch Manager, and Setup Manager.

Note: For further details of these optional tools, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 812315.1, Getting Started with Oracle Application Management Pack and Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite Version 3.0.

Generic Service Management

Traditionally, application tier processes such as Forms listeners, HTTP servers, and concurrent managers had to be started and monitored individually by system administrators, a timeconsuming and potentially error-prone exercise. With the transition to web-based applications, the number of application tier processes required for Oracle E-Business Suite products has increased significantly, with many Oracle E-Business Suite products making use of multiple application tier services to support one or more processes.

Service processes are similar to concurrent manager and transaction manager processes, and must be kept running on an application tier for the proper functioning of their associated products. Management of the services is complicated by the fact that they may be distributed across multiple host machines.

The Generic Service Management(GSM) feature simplifies management of these generic service processes, by providing a fault-tolerant framework with a central management console built into Oracle Applications Manager. With Generic Service Management, the Internal Concurrent

Manager (ICM) manages the various service processes across multiple hosts. On each host, a Service Manager acts on behalf of the ICM, allowing the ICM to monitor and control service processes on that host.

System administrators can configure, monitor, and control services though Oracle Applications Manager, which communicates with the ICM. Generic Service Management provides a faulttolerant system: if a service process exits unexpectedly, the ICM will automatically attempt to restart the process. If a host fails, the ICM may start the relevant service processes on a secondary host. The ICM itself is monitored and kept alive by Internal Monitor processes located on various hosts.

This new application tier service management infrastructure has several benefits: • The service processes no longer need to be manually and individually started and monitored by Oracle E-Business Suite system administrators

• Administrators can configure and control the services through Oracle Applications Manager

• As with concurrent manager processes, system administrators can use work shifts to determine the number of processes that will be active for a service on a given node for a given time period

• Services can take advantage of the process distribution and fault tolerance capabilities that have been developed for concurrent processing

Generic Service Management is available out of the box with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, and can also be used with other AutoConfig-enabled releases.

Authentication and Integration

Introduction

The subject of authentication is a broad one, which covers a variety of technologies and components. This chapter provides a survey of the key architectural concepts and decisions involved in setting up the required level of authentication for an organization.

Note: For a complete list of the relevant authentication and authorization documentation, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 380482.1, Oracle Application Server with Oracle EBusiness Suite Release 12 Documentation Roadmap.

Authentication of Oracle E-Business Suite users can be configured to be straightforward and out of the box, using the traditional FND_USER mechanism, or it can involve various additional features and levels of sophistication, such as single sign-on and use of optional products such as Oracle Portal and Oracle Discoverer. The system administrator can choose the optimal solution for an installation, taking into account factors such as simplicity of setup and maintenance, the possible need for a single point of access to enterprise-wide applications, and the ability to integrate with third-party user directories, as well as the overall security requirements of the organization.

Advanced features that are discussed briefly include the tasks involved in keeping user profile information automatically synchronized across an enterprise, and the steps needed to link an account in Oracle Internet Directory to multiple application accounts in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Important: Use of the advanced authentication features described in this chapter, such as Single Sign-On, are optional with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. If you wish to use them, you must carry out the requisite additional setup procedures as noted later.

The solutions described here do not address the issue of authorization. After a user has been authenticated, Oracle E-Business Suite retrieves the authorization information associated with the application account the user is logged into. Authorization information for application accounts is managed through application responsibilities. Oracle E-Business Suite applies authorization checks as and when required during the user’s session.

Oracle Application Server 10g Optional Components

Benefits of utilizing Oracle Application Server 10g optional components with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 include: • Performance, scalability and high-availability via distributed architectures.

• The ability to connect a single Enterprise Portal to web providers running on multiple Release 12 instances.

• Uniform Single Sign-On support for all Oracle E-Business Suite products.

• Bidirectional Oracle Internet Directory-to-FND_USER synchronization.

• Link-on-the-fly support for environments where the Single Sign-On userids in Oracle Internet Directory differ from the Oracle E-Business Suite userids.

• One-to-many support for environments where a Single Sign-On userid may be associated with one or more Release 12 userids.

• Bookmarkable URLs, where Applications Navigator Portlet will produce links that authenticate users and create Oracle E-Business Suite sessions as needed.

• Integration with third-party single sign-on services (e.g. Netegrity, Tivoli, Entrust) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)V.3 directories such as SunONE/iPlanetand Microsoft Active Directory.

Support for more advanced deployment topologies is also available, including multi-node load balancing configurations, Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), and other distributed architectures.

Note: For further details of additional options, see Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Security, Chapter 6.

Oracle Portal

Oracle Portal (part of Oracle Application Server 10g) is a complete, browser-based environment for the development, deployment, administration, and configuration of enterprise class portals. Oracle Portal incorporates a complete portal building framework, with self-service publishing features to facilitate creation and management of the information accessed within your portal. A wide variety of portal interfaces and configurations are possible, from a simple departmentallevel publishing portal to an Internet-accessible portal that serves both customers and employees. Tight integration with other components of the Oracle Application Server and with the Oracle database ensures that the solution can scale to an enterprise class audience.

Note: For further details of integrating Oracle Portal with E-Business Suite Release 12, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 380484.1, Using Oracle Portal 10g with Oracle EBusiness Suite Release 12.

Oracle Discoverer

Business users at all levels of an organization can use Discoverer 10.1.2 to gain immediate access to information from data marts, data warehouses, and online transaction processing (OLTP) systems. Discoverer 10.1.2 enables business analysts to create, modify, and execute ad hoc queries and reports. Casual users can utilize a range of predefined reports and graphs that enable them to obtain business views while hiding the complexity of the underlying data structures being reported upon.

Discoverer 10.1.2 is tightly integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. Release 12 users can use Discoverer to analyze data from selected business areas in Financials, Operations, Human Resources, Purchasing, Process Manufacturing, Activity Based Management, and others.

You can integrate Discoverer into an existing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environment by installing Discoverer 10.1.2 with Oracle Business Intelligence Server 10g Release 2 on a standalone application tier server node, or in a separate Oracle Business Intelligence Server 10g Release 2 ORACLE_HOME, on an existing application tier server node.

Note: For further details of using Oracle Discoverer with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 373634.1, Using Discoverer 10.1.2 with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Enterprise-Wide Single Sign-On

Single sign-on functionality enables users to access Oracle E-Business Suite and other applications through a single user ID, without having to log in to each application separately. Oracle E-Business Suite supports the use of single sign-on functionality via Oracle Single SignOn, Oracle Internet Directory (OID), and Oracle Portal.

Implementing an enterprise-wide single sign-on solution involves significant changes to the mechanism by which Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 users are authenticated. Instead of authentication being performed natively, via the FND_USER table, this functionality is delegated to Oracle Single Sign-On, which can either:

• Perform user validation itself, against information stored in Oracle Internet Directory.

• Delegate validation to a third-party single sign-on server.

With either of these solutions, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 accepts identities vouched for by the single sign-on mechanism. Oracle Internet Directory complements this by acting as an integration point that enables Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 to participate in enterprise level user management.

Note: Note that where a third-party single sign-on server is in use, Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory are still required, to provide a bridge between E-Business Suite Release 12 and the third-party single sign-on solution.

Each E-Business Suite instance must still maintain a record of registered users, in the form of the traditional application accounts. However, the level of abstraction needed for an enterprise level user requires a mechanism that can uniquely identify a user across the enterprise. This is accomplished via a globally unique identifier (GUID). Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle EBusiness Suite store GUID information for each enterprise level user. The GUID can be considered as an identity badge that is recognized by both Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle E-Business Suite.

Another requirement in such an environment is for user enrollment to be done only once, at well defined places, with the user subsequently being known to the rest of the enterprise. Two additional features enable this:

• Support for automatic propagation of application information across an enterprise, via a synchronizationprocess between Oracle Internet Directory and a third-party LDAP server.

• Support for automatic propagation of user information across an enterprise, via a provisioningprocess between Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

User information in external, third-party user directories can be synchronized with Oracle Internet Directory using the LDAP protocol. With Oracle Internet Directory, customers can manage and publish user information in a central location that various application systems, including the Oracle E-Business Suite, can reference.

Much of the complexity involved with integrating Oracle E-Business Suite into a single sign-on environment arises because of the need to consolidate fragmented or duplicated user data in the single sign-on environment, as a legacy of integrating previously-isolated systems.

The solution described in this chapter provides mechanisms to link the existing data together using the GUID. In addition, bulk migration tools can be used to move a large number of users between Oracle Internet Directory and E-Business Suite during the transition to an integrated single sign-on environment.

Note that full synchronization of user credentials between Oracle Internet Directory and EBusiness Suite Release 12 requires deployment of the relevant Oracle Application Server 10g components.

Note: For more information on implementing single sign-on with Oracle Single Sign-On and

Oracle Internet Directory, see Chapter 6 of Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Security, andMy Oracle Support Knowledge Document Note 376811.1, Using Oracle Application Server 10g with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Application Server Integration Options

Application Server 10g can act as an integration hubthat enables the Oracle E-Business Suite to work in conjunction with other enterprise software, including software from third-party vendors.

Figure 8-1 Application Server Integration Architecture

By default, Release 12 continues to use the local E-Business Suite user directory, FND_USER, for user authentication. Optionally, Release 12 user authentication can be delegated to Single Sign-On 10g and Oracle Internet Directory 10g running externally.

It is possible to integrate Release 12 with a third-party LDAP (such as Microsoft Active

Directory or SunONE/iPlanet) or a third-party single sign-on solution (such as Microsoft Windows Kerberos or Netegrity SiteMinder). This requires integration of the chosen third-party solutions via an external Oracle Application Server 10g instance, as shown in the diagram above. Release 12 delegates user authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On, and Oracle Single Sign-On delegates authentication to the third-party single sign-on solution.

Conversely, user information from the third-party LDAP must be synchronized with Oracle Internet Directory 10g, which synchronizes its users with E-Business Suite's FND_USER directory. Synchronization is handled by the Oracle Directory Integration Platform.

Basic Single Sign-On Deployment Scenario

This section outlines a simple deployment scenario where an existing Oracle E-Business Suite instance is integrated with a new Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory infrastructure. A subsequent discussion considers additional factors, such as the existence of a third-party single sign-on solution, or the presence of multiple user repositories.

Note: This section provides a high-level overview of the common tasks that will apply to all installations. The exact steps needed for the requirements of a particular site will be more detailed.

The starting point of this scenario is an existing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 installation, plus a new Oracle Application Server 10g installation (including Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory) on a different machine.

Oracle Internet Directory has no currently existing users apart from pre-seeded users, and Oracle Portal is not implemented. The requirement is to integrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory.

Key Goals

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 will delegate user sign-on and authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On

• Oracle Single Sign-On will authenticate user credentials against user entries in Oracle Internet Directory

• Oracle Internet Directory will store every user’s single sign-on account id and password

Figure 8-2 Deploying E-Business Suite with Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory

User Management Options

Existing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 application accounts are migrated to single sign-on accounts in Oracle Internet Directory using the Bulk Migration Tool. After the migration, a system administrator has a number of user management options, related to the location(s) where user information is created, and where it is provisioned (sent) to.

Option 1

All user information is created in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, then provisioned into Oracle Internet Directory.

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is configured as a provisioning integrated applicationwith Oracle Internet Directory

• System administrators configure the provisioning integration via provisioning profiles

Figure 8-3 Provisioning User Information from E-Business Suite to Oracle Internet Directory

The creation of a new application account in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 will automatically trigger the creation of a new single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory. Some of the user attributes from the application account may be provisioned in the single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory during account creation.

Option 2

All user information is created in Oracle Internet Directory, then provisioned into Oracle EBusiness Suite Release 12:

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is configured as a provisioning integrated application with Oracle Internet Directory

• System administrators configure the provisioning integration via provisioning profiles

Figure 8-4 Provisioning User Information from Oracle Internet Directory to E-Business Suite

The creation of a new single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory will automatically trigger the creation of a new application account in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. Some of the user attributes from the single sign-on account may be provisioned in the application account in Oracle Internet Directory during account creation.

Option 3

All user information is created in either Oracle Internet Directory or Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, then provisioned into the other system:

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is configured as a provisioning integrated application with Oracle Internet Directory

• System administrators configure the provisioning integration via provisioning profiles

Figure 8-5 Provisioning User Information Between E-Business Suite and Oracle Internet Directory

The creation of a new application account in Release 12 will automatically trigger the creation of a new single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory, and the creation of a new single signon account in Oracle Internet Directory will automatically trigger the creation of a new application account in Release 12.

During account creation, some of the user attributes from the application account may be provisioned in the single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory during account creation, and some of the user attributes from the single sign-on account may be provisioned in the application account in Oracle Internet Directory.

Synchronizing User Attributes

For all three of the above options, a set of user attributes can, on being updated from either system, optionally be synchronized between Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and Oracle Internet Directory. This is accomplished by configuring the provisioning profile.

Signing On

Attempting to gain access to an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environment, a user who has not yet been authenticated with Oracle Single Sign-On is directed to a Single Sign-On login page, which can be customized to suit an individual site.

After authentication via Oracle Single Sign-On (or if authentication has previously been carried out) the user is redirected to the requested page or the user’s home page in the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Signing Out

When a user logs out of an Oracle E-Business Suite instance, the user is also logged out of

Oracle Single Sign-On, as well as any partner applicationsthat have been integrated with Oracle Single Sign-On. The user will see a logout page that lists all the applications the user has been successfully logged out of.

Session Timeout

It is important to understand the timeout behavior of the different sessions in a single sign-on environment, to ensure the appropriate level of security is maintained.

• If a user's application session has timed out, but not his single sign-on session, he will be directed to Oracle Single Sign-On, and then back to Oracle E-Business Suite, without being prompted to re-authenticate.

• If a user's application session and single sign-on session have both timed out, he will be directed to the single sign-on login page to re-authenticate, and then redirected back to Oracle E-Business Suite.

Until a user's application session times out (or he explicitly logs out), he can continue to access the partner application even if his Oracle Single Sign-On security cookie has expired. Since the application session timeout value takes precedence over the Single Sign-On timeout setting, Oracle recommends setting the application session timeout value to be equal to or less than that of Oracle Single Sign-On.

Advanced Single Sign-On Deployment Scenarios

This section outlines four more deployment scenarios. The guidelines given should be regarded as providing a high-level strategy rather than definitive instructions, as all real world deployments will be unique, and require detailed planning. The outline solutions build upon the basic scenario discussed above.

Scenario 1

Requirement - Need to enable Oracle Single Sign-On with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12

Starting Environment

• Multiple new Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environments have been installed

• Other than the default administrative accounts, no user accounts have been registered yet

• Oracle Portal is not implemented

• No Single Sign-On infrastructure in place

Solution

• Oracle Application Server 10g with Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory are needed for the integration required

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 will delegate user sign-on and authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On

• Oracle Single Sign-On authenticates user credentials against user entries in Oracle Internet Directory

• Oracle Internet Directory contains every user’s single sign-on account ID and password

Either Oracle Internet Directory or one Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 instance can be designated as the source of user enrollment, with the following implications:

• If Oracle Internet Directory is the source, details of user accounts can be propagated to each Oracle E-Business Suite instance via the provisioning process.

• If an Oracle E-Business Suite instance is the source, the provisioning process will propagate user accounts from that instance to Oracle Internet Directory, and then to the other Oracle E-Business Suite instances.

Optionally, user profile information in an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 instance can be kept synchronized with the information in Oracle Internet Directory.

Scenario 2

Requirement - Need to integrate new installation of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with existing third-party single sign-on and user directory infrastructure

Starting Environment

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 has been newly installed using the Rapid Install Wizard.

• Other than the default administrative accounts, no user accounts have been registered yet.

• Oracle Portal is not implemented.

• A third-party single sign-on solution such as Netegrity SiteMinder is in use as a corporate single sign-on solution.

• A third-party LDAP directory such as SunONE/iPlanet is in use as a corporate user directory.

Solution

• Oracle Application Server 10g (including Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory) is needed for the integration.

• Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Single Sign-On must be set up so that Oracle EBusiness Suite delegates authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On, which in turn delegates the functionality to the third-party single sign-on server in use.

• Oracle Internet Directory needs to be set up to synchronize a minimal set of information from the third-party LDAP directory for all users who will access Oracle E-Business Suite via single sign-on.

• Oracle Internet Directory also needs to be set up to provision users in Oracle Internet Directory to Oracle E-Business Suite.

Figure 8-6 Integrating E-Business Suite with Third-Party Single Sign-On and User Directory

Existing users in the third-party LDAP directory can be bulk migrated into Oracle Internet Directory, and then bulk migrated into Oracle E-Business Suite.

Optionally, user profile information in Oracle E-Business Suite can be kept synchronized with the information in the third-party LDAP directory.

Scenario 3

Requirement - Need to integrate existing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with existing thirdparty single sign-on and user directory infrastructure

Starting Environment

• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is in use, and has an up to date user repository.

• Oracle Portal is not implemented.

• A third-party corporate single sign-on solution such as Netegrity SiteMinder is in use and is to be retained.

• A third-party LDAP directory such as SunONE/iPlanet is in place as a corporate user directory and is to be retained.

• At the start of the implementation, a given user may exist in both Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and the third-party LDAP directory, with either the same user name in both or a different user name in each.

Solution

• Oracle Application Server 10g (including Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory) is needed for the integration.

• Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Single Sign-On need to be set up so that Oracle EBusiness Suite delegates authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On, which in turn delegates the functionality to the third-party single sign-on server.

• Oracle Internet Directory must be configured to synchronize a minimal set of information from the third-party LDAP directory for users who will access Oracle E-Business suite via single sign-on.

• Existing users in the third-party LDAP directory can be bulk migrated into Oracle Internet Directory.

• Existing accounts in both Oracle E-Business Suite and the third-party LDAP directory can be linked.

• With proper planning, new users can be synchronized from the third-party LDAP directory into Oracle Internet Directory, and then into Oracle E-Business Suite.

• Optionally, user profile information in Oracle E-Business Suite can be kept synchronized with the information in the third-party LDAP directory.

A simpler variant of this scenario arises when no third-party single sign-on/LDAP directory is involved. There is only an existing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 installation plus an Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory infrastructure. In such a case, all steps relating to third-party (non-Oracle) software can be ignored.

Scenario 4

Requirement - Need to enable Oracle Single Sign-On with multiple Oracle E-Business Suite

Release 12 installations where no Oracle Single Sign-On infrastructure is currently in place

Starting Environment

• Multiple Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 instances are implemented, and each has an existing user population.

• Oracle Portal is not implemented.

• No existing Oracle Single Sign-On infrastructure is in place.

Solution

• Oracle Application Server 10g (including Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory) is needed for the integration.

• Each Oracle E-Business Suite instance delegates user sign-on and authentication to Oracle Single Sign-On.

• Oracle Single Sign-On authenticates user credentials against user entries in Oracle Internet Directory.

• Oracle Internet Directory contains every user’s single sign-on account id and password.

• A single sign-on account needs to be created for every user in Oracle Internet Directory.

• Existing applications accounts in Oracle E-Business Suite instances need to be linked to the single sign-on account.

• Optionally, user profile information in Oracle E-Business Suite can be kept synchronized with the information in Oracle Internet Directory.

Advanced Single Sign-On Options

There are a number of advanced options that may be employed in specialized circumstances; one example is described here.

Linking Multiple Application Accounts to a Single Oracle Single Sign-On Account

Normally, a single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory will correspond to a single application account in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. However, in special cases a user may need to have a single sign-on account in Oracle Internet Directory and multiple application accounts in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Figure 8-7 Single Sign-On Account with Multiple Application Accounts

If required, this feature can be enabled by system administrators via the profile option ‘Applications SSO Allow Multiple Accounts’

High Availability

Introduction

The subject of High Availability covers a range of features and options that can help to minimize planned and unplanned downtime, or facilitate recovery after a period of downtime. They include:

• Patching Hints and Tips

• Maintenance Mode

• Shared Application Tier File System

• Distributed AD

• Staged Applications System

• Nologging Operations

• Disaster Recovery

This section will provide a high-level guide to the key features that can help make an Oracle EBusiness Suite highly available, with the emphasis on guidelines for making the correct decisions when planning a new installation or upgrade.

Patching Hints and Tips

Patch application is a key activity undertaken by Oracle E-Business Suite DBAs. If you need to apply a large number of patches, the required downtime can be significant. However, there are several simple ways of minimizing this downtime. These strategies include:

• Keep AD up-to-date - Running at the latest AD mini-pack level allows you to take full advantage of new features designed to reduce downtime and simplify maintenance.

• Use a shared application tier file system - By default, Release 12 will configure multiple application tier nodes to use a shared application tier file system.

• Consolidate multiple patches with AD Merge Patch - Merging multiple Oracle EBusiness Suite patches into a single patch not only reduces overall downtime by eliminating duplicate tasks, but minimizes the scope for error that would arise in applying a number of separate patches.

• Use Distributed AD - The Distributed AD feature allows workers of the same AD session to be started across multiple application tier nodes, making full use of available hardware resources and thereby minimizing patching downtime.

• Employ a staged Applications system - A staged Applications system is an exact copy of a production system, and is used as a patching intermediary. Patches are applied to the staged system while the production system remains in use, reducing the time the production system is unavailable.

• Keep your test system current with your production system - When you test the application of a patch, the test must be realistic in terms of current patch level and transaction data: you can employ either Oracle Applications Manager or the Rapid Clone tool to create a copy of your production system for tests.

• Perform maintenance during normal operation where possible - For example, you can gather schema statistics or patch online help while the system is in use.

• Schedule periodic downtime for application of the latest software updates - The more up-to-date your system, the less likely you are to experience known problems, and the easier it will be to resolve any new issues that may arise.

Where applicable, these strategies are described further below.

Note: For full details of carrying out patching and maintenance operations, see Oracle EBusiness Suite Maintenance Procedures, Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Utilities, and Oracle E-Business Suite Patching Procedures.

Maintenance Mode

Maintenance Mode is a mode of operation in which the Oracle E-Business Suite system is made accessible only for patching activities. This provides optimal performance for AutoPatch sessions, and minimizes downtime needed.

Note: Maintenance Mode is only needed for AutoPatch sessions. Other AD utilities do not require Maintenance mode to be enabled.

Administrators can schedule system downtime using Oracle Applications Manager, and send alert messages to users about the impending downtime. When Maintenance Mode is entered, users attempting to log on to Oracle E-Business Suite are redirected to a system downtime URL.

There are several practical points relating to the use of Maintenance Mode:

• You can toggle Maintenance Mode between Enabled and Disabled using the new Change Maintenance Mode menu in AD Administration, or the equivalent function in Oracle Applications Manager.

• Although you can run AutoPatch with Maintenance Mode disabled, there will be a significant degradation in performance.

• There is a separate logon page for Restricted Modeaccess while the system is in Maintenance Mode. Restricted Mode allows administrators access to specific privileged functionality, for example to view the timing report that shows the progress of a patching session.

Shared Application Tier File System

A traditional multi-node installation of Oracle E-Business Suite required each application tier node to maintain its own file system. Installation and migration options were subsequently introduced to enable a single APPL_TOP to be shared between all the application tier nodes of a multi-node system. This was referred to as a Shared APPL_TOP File System, usually abbreviated to Shared APPL_TOP.

A further capability that was introduced was the option to merge the APPL_TOPs of multiple nodes, each with its own set of application tier services, to give a single APPL_TOP that could then be shared between them all.

These concepts were subsequently extended to enable sharing of the application tier technology stack file system as well, the result being known as a Shared Application Tier File System.

This section describes the benefits of using a shared application tier file system in an Oracle EBusiness Suite Release 12 environment. Current restrictions are also noted where applicable.

Shared Application Tier File System Features

In a shared application tier file system, all application tier files are installed on a single shared disk resource that is mounted on each application tier node. Any application tier node can be configured to perform any of the standard application tier services, such as serving forms or web pages, and all changes made to the shared file system are immediately visible on all the application tier nodes.

Benefits of using a shared application tier file system include:

• Overall disk space requirements are greatly reduced, as there is only a single copy of the relevant Oracle E-Business Suite code.

• Since there is only one physical application tier file system, administrative tasks need only be carried out once, on any node, and take effect immediately on all nodes.

Current restrictions on using a shared application tier file system include:

• An application tier file system can only be shared across machines running either identical or binary compatible operating systems.

• Sharing file systems between internal and external application tiers is not supported. This is true even for external application tiers that have reverse proxies in the DMZ.

• Shared application tier file system functionality is not currently available on Windows.

Shared Disk Resources

A shared application tier file system can reside on any standard type of shared disk resource, such as a remote NFS-mounted disk or part of a RAID array. However, you should ensure that performance of the chosen disk resource is adequate to meet peak demand. For example, NFSmounted disks may give inadequate read or write performance when there is a large amount of network traffic, and RAID arrays must be implemented carefully to strike the appropriate balance between high availability, performance and cost.

Creating a Shared Application Tier File System

By default, the Release 12 Rapid Install will configure a multi-node application tier environment to use a shared application tier file system.

Note: For further details of using a shared application tier file system, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 384248.1, Sharing the Application Tier File System in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

High Availability Features of Shared Application Tier File System

Utilizing a shared application tier file system improves high availability in the following ways:

• It is straightforward to add nodes to an existing installation, to provide greater resilience to node failure or to cater for additional users. This is particularly cost-effective with inexpensive Linux nodes.

• A patch only needs to be applied to one application tier node for its effects to be visible on all other nodes that share the file system. Such a single installation also helps to minimize the duration of planned maintenance downtimes, and reduces the scope for errors during installation.

Distributed AD

Many deployments utilize large database servers and multiple, smaller application (middle) tier systems. With the increasing deployment of low cost Linux-based systems, this configuration is becoming more common.

AD has always utilized a job system, where multiple workers are assigned jobs. Information for the job system is stored in the database, and workers receive their assignments based on the contents of the relevant tables. The Distributed ADfeature offers improved scalability, performance, and resource utilization, by allowing workers of the same AD session to be started on multiple application tier nodes, utilizing available resources to complete their assigned jobs more efficiently.

Requirements for Distributed AD

Because the AD workers create and update file system objects as well as database objects, a shared application tier file system (shared APPL_TOP in earlier releases) must be employed to ensure the files are created in a single, centralized location.

Using Distributed AD

On one of your shared application tier nodes, you start your AutoPatch or AD Administration session, specifying the number of local workers and the total number of workers.

While using AutoPatch or AD Administration, you can start a normal AD Controller session from any of the nodes in the shared APPL_TOP environment to perform any standard AD Controller operations, using both local and non-local workers. This is possible because the job system can be invoked multiple times during AutoPatch and AD Administration runs. Each time an individual invocation of the job system completes, distributed AD Controller sessions will wait until either the job system is invoked again (at which point it will once again start the local workers) or until the AD utility session ends (at which point distributed AD Controller will exit).

Note: See Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Utilities for further details of Distributed AD and AD Controller.

AD Controller Log Files

The log file created by AD Controller is created wherever the AD Controller session is started.

This is to prevent file locking issues on certain platforms. It is therefore recommended that the AD Controller log file should include the node name from which the AD Controller session is invoked.

Staged Applications System

A staged Applications systemrepresents an exact copy (clone) of your production system, including all APPL_TOPs as well as a copy of the production database. You can apply patches to a staged system while the production system remains in operation. Then you connect the staged system to the production system, update the database, and synchronize the APPL_TOPs. The downtime for the production system begins only after all patches have been successfully applied to the staged system, and you have tested the newly patched environment.

Important: A staged Applications system must duplicate the topology of your production system. For example, each physical APPL_TOP of your production system must exist in the staged system.

After the patches are applied to the staged system, and the production system is updated, you must export applied patches information from the staged system and import it to the production system. This ensures that the OAM patch history database in the production system is up-to-date and that you can continue to use patch-related features.

Note: For more information, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 734025.1, Using a Staged Applications System to Reduce Patching Downtime in Oracle Applications Release 12.

Nologging Operations

The nologgingOracle database feature is used to enhance performance in certain areas of Oracle E-Business Suite. For example, it may be used during patch installation, and when building summary data for Business Intelligence.

Use of nologging in an operation means that the database redo logs will contain incomplete information about the changes made, with any data blocks that have been updated during the nologging operation being marked as invalid. As a result, a database restoration to a point in time (whether from a hot backup or a cold backup) may require additional steps in order to bring the affected data blocks up-to-date, and make the restored database usable. These additional steps may involve taking new backups of the associated datafiles, or by dropping and rebuilding the affected objects. The same applies to activation of a standby database.

Note: Oracle Database 11g also allows logging to be forced to take place, ensuring all data changes are written to the database redo logs in a way that can be recreated in a restored backup, or propagated to a standby database. See Oracle Data Guard Concepts and Administration 11g for details of the force logging clause for database and tablespace commands.

Nologging Principles

At certain times, Oracle E-Business Suite uses the database nologging feature to perform resource-intensive work more efficiently. When an operation uses nologging, blocks of data are written directly to their data file, rather than going through the buffer cache in the System Global Area (SGA).

Instance recoveryuses the online redo logs to reconstruct the SGA after a crash, rolling forward through any committed changes in order to ensure the data blocks are valid. Use of nologging does not affect instance recovery.

Database recoveryrequires rolling forward through the redo logs to recreate the requisite changes, and hence restore the database to the desired point in time. Since nologging operations write directly to the data files, bypassing the redo logs, the redo logs will not contain enough data to roll forward to perform media recovery. Instead, they will only contain enough information to mark the new blocks as invalid. Rolling forward through a nologging operation would therefore result in invalid blocks in the restored database. The same problems will potentially occur upon activating a standby database.

To make the restored backup or activated standby database usable after a nologging operation is carried out, a mechanism other than database recovery must be used to get or create current copies of the affected blocks.

There are two options, either of which may be appropriate depending on the specific circumstances:

• Create a new copy of the data files after the nologging operation is complete, either by backing up the tablespace again, or by refreshing the specific data files in the standby database.

• Drop and recreate the object with the invalidated blocks, using the program that maintains the object.

Nologging Usage

Nologging is used in the following situations in the Oracle E-Business Suite:

• Building new objects during patch application, where use of nologging makes the initial build faster, and the downtime required for patching shorter.

• Changing the physical structure of existing objects during patch application (such as partitioning a table), where use of nologging reduces the time needed for the operation itself, and consequently the overall downtime.

• Certain specialized tasks where logging is not required, such as manipulating data for data warehousing applications, or maintaining summary data for business intelligence queries.

• Certain concurrent manager jobs. In most such cases, the object affected by nologging will be dropped at the end of the job, and the invalidated blocks cleaned up. If a recovery is needed while concurrent jobs are in progress, re-running the affected jobs will clean up any invalidated blocks that may exist.

Actions Needed

To monitor nologging activity in your environment, you should periodically query your production database to identify any datafiles that have experienced nologging operations. You should also run the query before and after applying an Oracle E-Business Suite patch, to determine whether any nologging activity was carried out.

A suitable query can be run via monitoring software such as Oracle Enterprise Manager. Alternatively, you can construct a query based on the unrecoverable_change# and unrecoverable_time columns of the data dictionary viewv$datafile. These are updated every time an unrecoverable or nologging operation marks blocks as invalid in the datafile.

The results of a query can be saved as a snapshot and compared to the last snapshot. You can then identify each occasion when nologging operations have been carried out in the database, and hence when you need to refresh backup datafiles with new copies that will be usable in the event of restoration being needed.

Disaster Recovery

A significant problem that strikes an Oracle E-Business Suite installation could put the viability of the organization at risk. Such a problem could be:

• An external disaster, such as a fire at a company's data center, resulting in a loss of service that severely hampers the organization's ability to do business.

• An internal disaster, such as a serious error by a privileged user, resulting in major loss or corruption of data.

• A hardware or system failure or malfunction, such as a media failure, or operating system problem that corrupts the actual data in the database

This section gives an overview of the area of disaster recovery, which can be considered as the final component of a high availability strategy. Disaster recovery involves taking steps to protect the database and its environment to ensure that they can still operate in the face of major problems. Oracle provides features such as Oracle Data Guardand Flashback Database. • Data Guard is used to set up and maintain a secondary copy of a database, typically referred to as a standby database. Such a standby database is brought into use after a failover from the primary database when the primary becomes unavailable following a significant problem, or via a switchover operation that is executed to allow service to continue during planned maintenance of the environment’s platform or building services. • Flashback Database is used to “rewind” a database to a prior point in time, making it possible to recover from major logical corruptions of a database without requiring a complete restore.

You must also install any other hardware and software required to run your standby environment as a production environment after a failover, ensuring that any changes on the primary are matched on the standby. Examples include tape backup equipment and software, system management and monitoring software, and other applications.

Data Guard and Release 12

Oracle Data Guard provides mechanisms for propagating changes from one database to another,

to avoid possible loss of data if one site fails. The two main variants of a Data Guard configuration are Redo Apply(often referred to as Physical Standby) and SQL Apply(often referred to as Logical Standby). . Both of these use the primary database’s redo information to propagate changes to the standby database.

• Physical standby uses the normal database recovery mechanism to apply the primary database’s redo to the standby database, resulting in an identical copy of the production database.

• Logical standby employs the Oracle LogMiner utility to build SQL statements that recreate changes made to the data. The logical standby mechanism is not currently utilized with Oracle E-Business Suite.

The secondary environment should be physically separate from the primary environment, to protect against disasters that affect the entire primary site. This necessitates having a reliable network connection between the two data centers, with sufficient bandwidth (capacity) for peak redo traffic. The other requirement is that the servers at the secondary site are the same type as at the primary site, in sufficient numbers to provide the required level of service; depending on your organization’s needs, this could either be a minimal level of service (supporting fewer users), or exactly the same level of service as you normally provide.

Data Guard’s reliance on redo generated from the production database has significant implications for operations in which Oracle E-Business Suite uses the nologging feature (described previously) to perform some resource-intensive tasks with faster throughput. Oracle recommends turning on the force loggingfeature at the database level to simplify your backup and recovery, and standby database maintenance procedures. In cases where the nologging feature is used in Release 12, and you have chosen not to use force logging, insufficient redo information will be generated to make the corresponding changes on the standby database. You may then be required to take manual steps to refresh the standby (or recreate the relevant objects) to ensure it will remain usable.

Finally, based on your organization’s business requirements, choose one of the following protection modes:

• Maximum protection: This protection mode ensures that no data loss will occur if the primary database fails. To provide this level of protection, the redo data needed to recover each transaction must be written to both the local online redo log and to the standby redo log on at least one standby database before the transaction commits. To ensure data loss cannot occur, the primary database shuts down if a fault prevents it from writing its redo stream to the standby redo log of at least one transactionally-consistent standby database.

• Maximum availability: This protection mode provides the highest level of data protection that is possible without compromising the availability of the primary database. Like maximum protection mode, a transaction will not commit until the redo needed to recover that transaction is written to the local online redo log, and to the standby redo log of at least one transactionally-consistent standby database. However, unlike maximum protection mode, the primary database does not shut down if a fault prevents it from writing its redo stream to a remote standby redo log. Instead, the primary database switches to maximum performance mode until the fault is corrected, and all gaps in redo log files are resolved. When all gaps have been resolved, the primary database automatically resumes operating in maximum availability mode. This strategy ensures that no data loss will occur if the primary database fails, unless a second fault prevents a complete set of redo data from being sent from the primary database to at least one standby database.

• Maximum performance: This protection mode (the default) provides the highest level of data protection that is possible without affecting the performance of the primary database. This is accomplished by allowing a transaction to commit as soon as the redo data needed to recover that transaction is written to the local online redo log. The primary database's redo data stream is also written to at least one standby database, but that redo stream is written asynchronously with respect to the transactions that create the redo data. When network links with sufficient bandwidth are employed, this mode provides a level of data protection that approaches that of maximum availability mode, with minimal impact on primary database performance.

Flashback Database

Oracle recommends you enable the Flashback Database feature, to:

• Help protect against logical data corruption

• Allow you to reinstantiate the production database as a standby after a failover to your secondary site

• Create database restore points to which you can flash back in case an upgrade or major application change encounters a serious problem

Flashback Database enables you to rewind the database to a previous point in time without restoring backup copies of the data files. This is accomplished during normal operation by Flashback Database buffering and writing before images of data blocks into the flashback logs, which reside in the flash recovery area.

Flashback Database can also flashback a primary or standby database to a point in time prior to a Data Guard role transition. In addition, a Flashback Database operation can be performed to a point in time prior to a resetlogs operation, which allows administrators more flexibility to detect and correct human errors.

Load Balancing

Introduction

Oracle E-Business Suite provides numerous options for building and tailoring an installation to meet specific business and technical requirements. At a simple level, this includes the capability to utilize varying numbers of machines to distribute the various Oracle E-Business Suite technology layers according to desired expenditure and required performance. There are also more specific factors, such as physical site organization and expected growth rate. Other aspects are the possible need to provide extra capability to cope with fluctuations in demand, and the possible need for resilience in the event of problems affecting some of the hardware components.

A final (and very important) consideration in planning a system is the need for the appropriate level of security to be put in place.

Many of these subjects are described in other chapters of this book. This section concentrates on how to make the decisions needed to balance the load on various components or layers, which is of particular importance for two reasons:

• Load balancing can involve the entire infrastructure of an Oracle E-Business Suite installation, with a change in one area potentially having significant effects elsewhere.

• Making informed decisions about load balancing can often enable a higher level of performance to be obtained without expenditure on additional hardware.

Load balancing areas include:

• Domain Name Server (DNS)

• Web (HTTP) Services

• Forms Services

• OC4J Layer

• Concurrent Processing Layer

• Database Layer

The emphasis here is on describing load balancing strategies and their key features, to allow an informed decision to be made regarding the applicability and usefulness of a particular area of load balancing in achieving the desired technical and business requirements.

Load Balancing Definitions

Load balancing is the means by which network traffic directed to a particular Web site is divided between one or more machines in a cluster of servers. Typically, the servers will all be running the same application, and use of load balancing presents the outside world with the appearance of a single server rather than a cluster. The relevant hardware device, often called a server load balancer, receives the relevant network traffic for the site, and distributes it to the various servers in the cluster based on the load balancing methodology that it supports. By sending requests to different nodes within the server cluster, system performance is optimized, scalability is simplified, and application availability (a key requirement of Web-based applications) is greatly enhanced.

Additional features of load balancing include monitoring server availability and context-based load distribution.

Monitoring server availability maintains a watch on the server pool, and periodically checking that all machines are responding to the traffic; if one is not (perhaps because of a network problem) it is taken out of the pool of servers, so that traffic can be routed to the servers that remain available.

Context-based load distribution is required for applications such as Oracle E-Business Suite that need to maintain session persistent-connections, whereby cookies are created when the session is initially established. To support this requirement, the load balancer reads and updates the network packet header information sent with each request made by the client, and routes the request to the node in the cluster with which the corresponding session was originally established and is subsequently being maintained.

Categories of Load Balancer

Load balancers are not installed as part of Oracle E-Business Suite. However, Oracle E-Business Suite can be configured for use with them as required.

The main categories of load balancer are:

Session Persistent Load Balancers - After a client's HTTP connection is established with a particular server, subsequent HTTP requests from that client are directed to the same server, for the duration of the session. This persistency is also referred to as stickiness.

Non-Session Persistent Load Balancers - These load balancers use a round-robin strategy for balancing incoming HTTP requests, and do not maintain session persistent client connections. After a client's initial HTTP connection is directed to a given server, subsequent HTTP requests from that client will be not necessarily be directed to the same server.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Accelerators - Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) accelerators can be used to reduce the SSL traffic and workload of the Web servers.

Usually, an SSL accelerator is the target for HTTPS browser requests, and thus the target for all client communication. It is responsible for converting HTTPS SSL requests to non-SSL HTTP requests, directing the subsequent request to the HTTP server (running in non-SSL mode). Before sending the response back to the client browser, the SSL accelerator converts the nonSSL requests back to SSL requests, in a reverse of the initial process.

Load Balancing Options

Different types of load balancing can be employed with Oracle E-Business Suite. The most suitable choice will depend on the specific needs and existing infrastructure of the site where deployment is to take place.

Domain Name Server (DNS) Round Robin Load Balancing

This load balancing strategy distributes end-user requests across multiple server nodes, based on dynamic assignments of IP addresses to a given hostname and associated domain name. Utilizing a feature known as DNS round robin allows the association of more than one IP address with a given hostname, thereby facilitating distribution of the traffic across the list of IP addresses associated with that hostname.

Figure 10-1 shows an example of a configuration that uses DNS layer load balancing.

Figure 10-1 DNS Layer Load Balancing

Although DNS round robin load-balancing is a simple and effective way to distribute traffic among several servers, it has several limitations. These include unpredictable load distribution across servers (depending on user activities) and DNS caching issues with browsers.

HTTP Layer Hardware Load Balancing

This type of load balancing can be used if you have a hardware load balancer that accepts HTTP communication and forwards it to a group of server nodes, sometimes referred to as a farm.

Figure 10-2 shows an example of a configuration where an HTTP load balancer distributes the load across a farm consisting of two Web server nodes.

Figure 10-2 HTTP Layer Load Balancing

Hardware-based HTTP load balancers must be configured for persistent session connections for all traffic through all ports for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environments. This is required as various modules shipped with Oracle E-Business Suite need to maintain session state. If this is not set, users may experience transaction state loss errors while using E-Business Suite.

OC4J Load Balancing

OC4J load balancing (clustering) utilizes Oracle Application Server 10g's built-in load-balancing capability at the JVM level to balance OC4J requests among multiple application tier nodes, thereby providing fault tolerance. A prerequisite for this strategy is a hardware load balancer that implements single or multiple entry points.

Note: For additional information on load balancing configurations, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 380489.1, Using Load-Balancers with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Security

Introduction

The foundation of security is access control, which refers to how the system is being accessed and by whom. User security consists of three principal components: authentication, authorization and an audit trail. Authentication validates the user's identity, authorization controls the user's access based on responsibilities assigned, and the audit trail keeps track of the user's transactions to ensure that the user's privileges are not being misused.

Security Strategies

The Oracle E-Business Suite tables are no different from any other Oracle database tables, as far as a DBA is concerned, and the same security issues that apply to Oracle database installations also apply to Oracle E-Business Suite installations. While the Oracle database provides multiple mechanisms to ensure security, recovery, and high availability of databases, no amount of technology can completely protect against human problems (error or sabotage), or poor disaster recovery and corporate security policies. This section describes a number of factors that should be taken into account when designing and implementing a security policy.

Note: For further details of recommended security practices and strategies, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 403537.1, Best Practices For Securing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Basic Strategies

There are several basic steps that can be taken to enhance the security of an Oracle E-Business Suite database, as outlined below.

Simply restricting the availability of the passwords for accounts with DBA privileges is an important first step in implementing security-oriented DBA access policies. This can then be extended by setting up procedures for auditingDBA actions, as described later in this section.

DBAs should generally use named accounts at the OS level, and the use of privileged operating system accounts such as root, oracle, applmgr should be tightly regulated. Where named accounts are not feasible, limited access accounts should be used.

Common tasks that require elevated privileges should wherever possible be performed via delegation mechanisms such as Oracle Enterprise Manager or sudo. Where this is not feasible, auditing should be used to track performance of privileged tasks.

For example, Oracle E-Business Suite requires the APPS password and access to the applmgr operating system account to start and stop application tier services such as the Concurrent Processing server. An Oracle Enterprise Manager script or sudo script can be used to start and stop the Concurrent Processing server without requiring the user to know the APPS password or have direct access to the applmgr account.

Note: For further details, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 950018.1, Using Database Vault with Oracle E-Business Suite.

Patching

Applying patches to Oracle E-Business Suite requires the person performing the patching (normally, the DBA) to provide the passwords for both the SYSTEM and the APPS accounts. Both of these accounts are highly privileged. It is possible to keep the passwords to these accounts secret until just before the patching process begins, at which point the passwords are changed to temporary values that are communicated to the DBA. When patching is complete, the passwords are set back to their previous, secret values. This procedure adds only a few minutes to the patching process, and can help improve security in cases where the DBA is, for example, located in a different country, but it should not be relied on for complete protection of data: the DBA could still carry out unauthorized actions, immediately before or after the patching operation. Therefore, additional safeguards such as auditing and keystroke logging may be advisable during patching operations.

Auditing DBA Activity

Oracle Database 11g includes features that can be used to track DBA actions. The audit trail, mentioned earlier, should not be used in place of procedures for hiring trustworthy DBAs, but can be a useful adjunct to them.

Oracle recommends that you strongly protect your audit trail records wherever they are stored. The most secure location for the audit trail, in terms of keeping the content from DBAs, is the operating system’s own audit trail or operating system files. Oracle recommends that the database server should write audit records to the operating system, and the file to which Oracle writes audit records should have suitable operating system file protection.

Using an operating system audit trail requires a simple change of the AUDIT_TRAIL database initialization parameter from "DB" to "OS", and prevents privileged database users from reading, modifying or deleting audit records. However, this strategy is ineffective for users who have extensive operating system privileges. Also, the query advantage that SQL brings to audit analysis is lost, unless you have an operating system audit analysis tool that can read Oraclegenerated operating system audit records.

The Human Aspect

While technical measures such as those already mentioned can and should be used to restrict DBA actions and selectively audit DBA activity, it is important to remember that DBAs serve in positions of trust. Organizations must therefore take appropriate steps to ensure that persons assigned to such positions are worthy of trust. A company’s data is just as sensitive and valuable as trade secrets; indeed, data should often be treated as the most closely-guarded secret. Therefore, the same checks should be made on DBAs as are made on staff given access to corporate secrets.

DBAs need to have extensive privileges to do their jobs; this also means that they can carry out destructive actions on a database, either by accident or intentionally. Such actions can directly and seriously impair an organization’s ability to carry on with its business. For example, if your customer database is accidentally corrupted, and no backups have been made, you may lose vital customer information and not be able to fulfil orders.

If regulatory compliance or other reasons require DBA access to be restricted, optional features such as Oracle Database Vault and Transparent Data Encryption (both described elsewhere in this chapter) may be employed as part of a comprehensive approach to security that includes policies and practices to meet auditing, segregation of duties, and other business requirements.

Authentication

Identifying and verifying who is allowed to access the system is the first line of defense. The most common approach is password-based authentication: if the legitimate user is the only one who knows the password, then whoever just entered the correct password is very likely to be the person authorized to use the account.

A number of practical problems can arise with passwords. These include:

• Passwords that are allowed to be too short, and thus vulnerable to being observed on entry

• Passwords that are forced to be too long, and which the user might decide to write down

• Easy-to-guess passwords, chosen as being easy to remember

• Rarely changed passwords

• Passwords that are used for multiple accounts

In a single-sign on environment (see Chapter 8), a single password allows access to more than one application, so the consequences of it being discovered or divulged are proportionately much more serious.

An attacker will generally focus on identifying the password of a powerful user such as a system administrator. Such users are generally more aware of security risks, and can be persuaded to take more care in their choice of password and to change it regularly. The Oracle E-Business Suite features various password management policies that can be enabled to secure key user accounts.

Authorization

On entering the system, the user should only be granted access to the features and specific data needed to perform his job. Routine access to highly sensitive data should only be given to trusted users who need that level of access. The Function Securityfeature allows the System

Administrator to manage the access privileges of individual users. By enforcing tighter security policies for more sensitive accounts, Function Security can mitigate the risk of unauthorized users' access to highly sensitive information.

Audit Trail

Even the most carefully planned user authentication and authorization policies cannot eliminate the risk of exploitation when the attacker is an authorized user. An audit trailcan be used to keep track of a user's transactions to verify that the user is not misusing his access privileges. Oracle E-Business Suite can record details of every user's login, including time stamp, session ID, and information about the Function Security rules applying to that session. Information about the identity of the user is also attached to all transactions. This provides a method for detecting the party responsible for any transaction, or determining which users viewed sensitive data in a given time period.

If a valid user password has been compromised, and becomes known to an unauthorized person, it can be difficult to trace the intrusion back to the attacker. However, knowing the particular account that was used can help to identify other people who may have learned that user's password.

Note: For further details of Audit Trail, see Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Security.

Network Security

An organization may or may not have physical control over the network infrastructure in use. The Internet is the best example of a network where it will not have control, and where extra steps must be taken to ensure security is not compromised.

A common concern regarding use of a public network such as the Internet is the possibility of someone eavesdropping on password transmissions by using a network sniffer. In such a case, though, the concern should be wider, and reflect the possibility of someone eavesdropping on sensitive information in general. In such cases, HTTPS (Secure HTTP) connection to Oracle EBusiness Suite is recommended. All current browser-based password login screens send the password as a parameter in the HTTP form submission. Using an HTTPS connection will encrypt this information. The best practice is therefore to use HTTPS for all web-based access. On the other hand, if you have control over your network to the point where you can rule out eavesdropping, then password interception should not be an issue.

Network Traffic Encryption

The following Oracle E-Business Suite communication channels between Oracle HTTP Server (OHS), Oracle Process Manager (OPMN), and OC4J instances (oacore) can optionally be secured using SSL:

• OHS => OC4J instance (oacore)

• OHS => OC4J instance (forms)

• OHS => OC4J instance (oafm)

• OPMN => OC4J instance (oacore)

• OPMN => OC4J instance (forms)

• OPMN => OC4J instance (oafm)

• OPMN => OHS

• OPMN => OPMN (in a multi-node environment)

The following communication channels between Oracle E-Business Suite application tiers and database tiers can optionally be secured using Oracle Net encryption:

• OC4J instances => Database (JDBC connections)

• Forms runtime => Database

• Concurrent processes => Database

Securing these paths can be enabled or disabled by following the instructions in My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 376700.1, Enabling SSL in Oracle Applications Release 12.

Oracle User Management

Oracle User Management (UMX) is a secure and scalable system that enables organizations to define administrative functions and manage users based on specific requirements such as job role or geographic location.

With Oracle User Management, instead of exclusively relying on a centralized administrator to manage all its users, an organization can, if desired, create functional administratorsand grant them sufficient privileges to manage a specific subset of the organization’s users. This provides the organization with a more granular level of security, and the ability to make the most effective use of its administrative capabilities.

A new feature in Release 12 provides a login assistance mechanism that is easily accessed from the Oracle E-Business Suite Login Page. A user simply clicks on the "Login Assistance" link located below the Login and Cancel buttons, and can then go to a Forgot Password section or Forgot User Name section to have the necessary action taken automatically, without the need for an administrator to become involved.

Another new feature in Release 12 allows users with the relevant privileges to enable other users to act on their behalf, as delegates, without having to share the account password. For example, managers may need to grant peers or subordinates limited authority to act on their behalf while they are out of the office. This Proxy Userfeature allows control over the pages, functions, and data security policies that can be granted, and includes an on-screen display that indicates when a user is acting on behalf of another user.

Role Based Access Control

Oracle User Management implements several different layers of security, requiring organizations to specify:

• The set of users that will be granted access to specific areas of Oracle E-Business Suite • The information these users will require to do their jobs

• The extent to which the users can use this information

Oracle’s function and data security models constitute the base layers of this system, and contain the traditional system administrative capabilities.

Organizations can optionally add more layers to the system depending on the degree of flexibility they require. Role Based Access Control(RBAC) enables organizations to create roles based on specific job functions, and to assign these roles the appropriate permissions. With RBAC, administrative privileges and user access are determined by assigning individuals the appropriate roles.

Key features of RBAC include:

• Delegated Administration - Enables system administrators to delegate some of their administrative privileges to individuals that manage a subset of the organization’s users.

• Registration Processes - Enable organizations to provide end-users with a method for requesting various levels of access to the system, based on their eligibility.

• Self-Service Requests and Approvals - Enable end users to request initial access or additional access to the system by clicking on links embedded in a Web application.

Oracle Database Vault

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0.4 and higher support Oracle Database Vault, a feature that can be used to help address security issues such as insider threats, regulatory compliance requirements, and enforced separation of duties. A number of flexible options enable you to apply fine-grained access control to sensitive data. In particular, Oracle Database Vault can be employed to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access by privileged users, while still allowing them to maintain your Oracle databases.

Oracle Database Vault uses realms (groupings of Oracle objects) to provide an internal firewall that prevents unauthorized access to specific application data. These realms can be supplemented with command rules - for example, classes of commands (such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP) can be prohibited. The command rules can, in the form of rule sets, help ensure that DBAs do not perform DML within the realm.

Effective use of Oracle Database Vault requires an initial evaluation of the privileges required for the various roles involved in administering the database and applications. These roles should be chosen to minimize the requirement to use generic database users (APPS, APPLSYS, SYSTEM, and the product schema accounts). Use of Oracle Database Vault should be combined with organization-specific processes to provide a more complete security solution. For example, DBAs should use specific named accounts wherever possible, which assists with the provison of realms and simplifies the ability to audit activities.

Some DBAs will require little or no access to applications data.These include roles that focus on administration of third-party software, or database administration and tuning. The default realms shipped with Oracle E-Business Suite prevent DBAs from viewing any applications objects.

Oracle E-Business Suite DBAs who need access to a defined subset of applications data (for example, the FND tables) can be given access to a realm that provides access to this subset of tables. The are two strategies for accomplishing this. The most controlled way to do this is by defining specific objects in the Oracle E-Business Suite application to which DBAs are allowed access so they can perform particular roles. The named DBA accounts should be granted access to a realm that provides access to that data specifically.

An alternative approach, which is easier to maintain if the DBAs need access to a large number of applications tables, involves modification of the shipped realms to create a list of tables that contain sensitive information to which DBAs are not permitted to have access. However, this strategy is less rigorous as by default it allows rather than denies access to objects.

Note: For further details, see My Oracle Support knowledge documents 950018.1, Using

Database Vault with Oracle E-Business Suite; 859397.1, Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database Vault 11.1.0.7; and 566841.1, Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database Vault 10.2.0.4.

Transparent Data Encryption

For fields containing sensitive information (such as credit card numbers), it may be desirable to encrypt the data stored.

Currently, Oracle E-Business Suite does not automatically encrypt data. Optionally, Transparent Data Encryption(TDE) functionality can be used to encrypt selected areas of the database. As the encryption is transparent to the application, code does not have to be rewritten to provide the encryption, and existing SQL statements should work without modification.

Two encryption strategies are available:

• TDE Tablespace Encryption is used to encrypt all content stored in a particular tablespace.

• TDE Column Encryption is used to encrypt only specific database columns, typically those that contain sensitive data.

Note: For further details, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Documents 828229.1, Using TDE Tablespace Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, and 732764.1, Using TDE Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Q: Differences between EBS and Fusion

1. BPM Approvals

2. Infolets and infotiles

3. Dashboards

4. Month end reconciliation

5. Cross currency BU functionality

6. Cross currency Payments

7. OTBI & BI reports

8. Business Process Management (BPM)

9. Data migration Activities (Major one)

Q: Implementation project stages and Oracle Unified Methodology (OUM) method

1. Inspection

2. Elaboration

3. Construction

4. Custom Objects

5. UAT

6. Go live

7. Post Go live Activities

Q: Have you done tie out balances

A: Tie out we done we have given presentation in excel

1. How to verify stage by stage report

2. Account wise

3. Volume wise

4. Report wise

5. Verification wise

We have done the tie up balances in the verification sheet and updated them

Q: What have you done on PPM

A: AP to PPM

1. Invoice creation

2. Project information

3. Distribution cost sending to them

4. Importing AR Draft invoices for billing

Q: What have to done If the trial balances are not matching?

A: Check

1. Account analysis report

2. Source wise check if there are any activity

3. We need to check whether someone has booked manual JE’s in my experience I have seen some clients and I suggested to go them with control account

Q: Have you done AP Data Migration?

A: We will migrate AP open invoices and suppliers data as well

AP Receipts we can migrate through procurement

1^st we will upload PO and later they will do code because we cannot do it manually and same PO and GRN numbers will be kept in unpaid invoices and we can upload them.

We will take invoice date same and we will take GL date in latest open period to upload and to reconcile

Erpzen

Oracle Fusion Interview Questions

Advanced Oracle Fusion Financials Interview Questions

Oracle Financials Interview Questions And Answers

Oracle Financial Functional Interview Questions

Oracle Apps Financial Interview Questions

Oracle Applications Financial Module

Accounts Payable Module

Accounts Receivable Module

Cash Management Module

Fixed Assets Module

General Ledger Module

Oracle Applications Manufacturing Module

Inventory Module

Purchase Order Import Module

Order Entry Module

Building an Oracle Applications Custom PreValidation Package

Pre-Validation Scripts

Pre-Validation Procedures

To Build a Custom Pre-Validation Package for a Non-Supported Open Interface

Concurrent Manager Request Function

Template DTD

Naming Conventions for the Oracle Interface

Preface

Intended Audience

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Access to Oracle Support Services

Documentation Accessibility

Structure

Related Information Sources

Do Not Use Database Tools to Modify Oracle E-Business Suite Data

Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture

Introduction

The Desktop Tier

Forms Client Applet

Desktop Java Client

The Application Tier

Web Services

Forms Services

Concurrent Processing Server

Application Tier Administration

The Database Tier

The Oracle E-Business Suite Technology Layer

Oracle Applications DBA (AD)

Oracle Common Modules (AK)

Oracle Applications Utilities (AU)

Oracle Application Object Library (FND)

Oracle Workflow (WF)

Oracle Alert (ALR)

Oracle XML Publisher (XDO)

Oracle Configuration Manager

Oracle E-Business Suite Patch Nomenclature

Oracle E-Business Suite File System

Introduction

Instance Home ($INST_TOP)

The data Directory

The db Directory

The comn Directory

The appl Directory

Product Directories

Language Files

Core Technology Directories

Sharing the Application Tier File System

Environment Settings

Oracle E-Business Suite Database Organization

Introduction

Schemas

Custom Schema Access

Schemas and Data Access

Oracle User IDs

Space Management

Oracle E-Business Suite Database Features

Introduction

Monitoring Features

Performance Features

Scalability Features

Business Intelligence Features

Security Features

AutoConfig

Introduction

The Applications Context