Placing / Selling Oracle Service Procurement

Most of the time when you go for a pre-sale / sales meeting and lets say you are try to position oracle Service procurement . First question come from Client will be, why I need to Implement / use Oracle Service Procurement when I have iProcurement and I can procure services using Oracle iProcurement.

Answer is very simple and most of the time I found it convincing client,

Yes using Purchase basis feature you can buy services using Oracle Core Purchasing or Oracle iProcurement without Service procurement e.g. User Can enter requisition to buy 5000 AED worth of services and flow will go something like  Quantity 5000 and the Price will be 1 AED so total value of services will be 5000 AED.

True Value Addition by Oracle Services Procurement in this area is more organized and streamlined buying of Services. Real advantage comes once you talk about Contingent Workers (very common in GCC region, everything other Person is contingent worked  J ).  User can buy contingent Labor using Service Procurement in a very structured way. Oracle Service procurement has Standard interface with Oracle Time Labor. Using this Time sheet entries get imported and automatically create the receipts against the Purchase Order and it works even more streamlined if you are in an organization who is using or intended to use Oracle Project Suite.

Bottom Line Service Procurement is primarily about managing contingent labor. It is also a key component of Complex  Procurement.

TIP:- Don’t waste your words in talking about Complex Service Procurement if client business has nothing to do with Complex procurement mean if there is no progress based payment, no Recoupment etc. then Sell service Procurement simply using Contingent Worker Example

Path To Understand Oracle Fusion Application

Path To Fusion

OER for Fusion Application

Replacement of ETRM/IREP for Fusion Application is Oracle Enterprise Repository. You can access this using following link.
https://fusionappsoer.oracle.com/

What Is OER?

Very simply this is a standalone catalog of technical information about Oracle’s Application products.  For E-Business Suite users it equates to the iRepository tool (http://irep.oracle.com/index.html), or for PeopleSoft its similar to the PeopleSoft Interactive Services Repository.

It contains a wealth of information, with the primary purpose of facilitating the creation of Application to Application integrations, and creating extensions and customizations. With this detailed technical knowledge of the inner workings and API’s available for Oracle Applications a better level of code reuse and overall accuracy can be achieved.

Accessing OER

Access is available either from Oracle’s globally shared public OER instance, or as part of your local Fusion Application instance deployment. Detail on creating a local OER installation is found in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Enterprise Repository (E15745-07). The URL’s for OER will be:

• Your local instance URL: http://%5BFusionInstance%5D:%5Bport%5D/oer
• Oracle’s public instance URL: https://fusionappsoer.oracle.com

An OER login may be required, although Oracle’s public instance also supports guest access at this time.

OER catalogs technical components by various attributes, with the key ones being Name, Type, and Logical Business Area (LBA).  LBA is the lower level of the Fusion Applications Taxonomy and is used to tag each technical object with the feature and product that it is owned by and associated with.

The general keyword search actually uses indexes of all the fields/attributes associated with a entry.

Whilst the basic Asset Search should suffice in most cases, and is a simpler UI, the Browse feature (IE required) provides many powerful features and graphical views, including an object hierarchy and the Navigator to display objects related to each other

.

Oracle Enterprise Repository

How To Get The Most From Oracle Enterprise Repository For Troubleshooting Fusion Applications [ID 1399910.1]

Approvals in Fusion Procurement

Key features exist in Fusion Procurement approvals

There are many useful features that can be used with Fusion Procurement. Here are just some of the more significant examples:

• Both Serial and Parallel Approval for all document types.
• Various ways to configure responses, including features like first responder wins to help avoid lengthy processing times.
• Notification by email as well as several rich dashboard components (e.g. worklist) to show items currently awaiting action.
• Expiration, reminder and escalation features on pending actions.
• Delegation and vacation rules to forward actions to dedicated proxies as needed
• Rich notification content including clickable links to go directly to document details.
• Wide range of attribute values to use in the creation of custom approval processing rules.

What hierarchies can be used to generate approval lists?

Fusion Applications provides standard support for the following methods to derive the list of approvers

• Supervisor Hierarchy. This uses the HCM employee definition, leveraging the specific assignment of a supervisor person to each employee. AMX engine calls HCM to request the users that are in the hierarchy and passes in a starting position (normally the person submitting the purchasing document) and the maximum number of levels in the hierarchy to climb up.
• Position Hierarchy. This uses the Job definitions in HCM and selects all employees tied to the position that gets included in the selected hierarchy. Again this accepts the starting position (person) and the top job level to climb to before completing.
• Approval Group is simple a group of predefined people. This can be a static list or may be custom to generate at run-time based on approval document attribute data.
• Job Level. This works very similarly to the Position Hierarchy whereby it uses start and end Job definitions to traverse the hierarchy and select approvers.

What is Approvals Management (AMX)

Approvals Management (AMX) is an independent product that comes from the Fusion Middleware SOA Server, and provides general approval services to any product in Fusion Applications. AMX can be considered the meeting point between the powerful and flexible Oracle Business Rules capability and the advanced process control capabilities of Oracle Human Workflow.
The BPEL process that controls approvals has points at which it invokes the AMX services to initiate the approval process. The BPEL process controls the procurement process around approvals, however AMX and Human Workflow are responsible for the entire approval process.

AMX features include:

• The execution of rules that govern the selection and generation of approver lists.
• The sending of notifications to the participants on the generated list.
• The processing of responses from those approvers, and selection of appropriate next approval action.
• The return of the completion status back to the Procurement BPEL process for actioning.

Still eRecords and eSignatures are not supported by AMX in version 1.0.

For Complete Details Please refer to Document Approval in Fusion Procurement Products [ID 1319614.1]

How to Find Software Versions and Patches in an Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Environment

This MOS Note will help consultants to find the exact Version and Patch level for installed components. This is very useful when you are logging an Oracle Service Request.  

 

OBIA: How to Find Software Versions and Patches in an Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Environment? [ID 1519745.1]

Oracle BI Applications (OBIA) 7.9.6.4 released

Good News Oracle Business Intelligence Application new version 7.9.6.4 is available to download.

Highlights of the Oracle BI Applications 7.9.6.4 Release:

• New Application – Oracle Manufacturing Analytics with pre-built adapters for EBS Process Manufacturing R12.x and EBS Discrete Manufacturing R12.x and 11.5.10
• New Application – Oracle Enterprise Asset Management Analytics with pre-built adapters for EBS R12.x, EBS 11.5.10 and IBM Maximo 7.5
• Universal Adapter to extend the capability to other source systems
• Certified for OBIEE 11g
• Certified for Exalytics
• Certified for DAC 11g including support for Exalytics / Times Ten, Patching Framework, Dual ETL Support and many other performance enhancements
• Native support for mobile and tablet devices
• Localized in 28 languages
• Supported on Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and Teradata DB
• Rollup patch resolving 122 BI Applications bugs

Good thing so many bugs are fixed. To get solution / work around,  me and my team spent days on Severity 1 Service Requests with Oracle.

OBIA 7.9.6.4: Bugs Fixed in 7.9.6.4 [ID 1528774.1]

Link to Download Software and Documentations

https://blogs.oracle.com/proactivesupportEPM/entry/oracle_bi_applications_obia_7

TASK_GROUP_Load_PartyDimension “Duplicate Keys Found”

While Running Full load on Oracle Business Intelligence Applications 7.9.6.3, when using Source system R12 TASK_GROUP_Load_PartyDimension failed with error Log says the issue is because “duplicate keys found”

Extract from the Log

**********************************************************************************************************************

CREATE INDEX:W_PARTY_D:W_PARTY_D_U1 has started.

ANOMALY INFO::: Error while executing : CREATE INDEX:W_PARTY_D:W_PARTY_D_U1
MESSAGE:::java.lang.Exception: Error while execution : CREATE UNIQUE INDEX
W_PARTY_D_U1
ON
W_PARTY_D
(
INTEGRATION_ID Asc
,DATASOURCE_NUM_ID Asc
,EFFECTIVE_FROM_DT Asc
)
NOLOGGING
with error DataWarehouse:CREATE UNIQUE INDEX
W_PARTY_D_U1
ON
W_PARTY_D
(
INTEGRATION_ID Asc
,DATASOURCE_NUM_ID Asc
,EFFECTIVE_FROM_DT Asc
)
NOLOGGING
ORA-01452: cannot CREATE UNIQUE INDEX; duplicate keys found
EXCEPTION CLASS::: java.lang.Exception

**********************************************************************************************************************

For Resolution:- Download and review the readme and pre-requisites for Patch.14085106.

Fusion Applications Transactional Business Intelligance (OTBI) and Descriptive Flexfield

Fusion Applications OTBI and Descriptive Flexfield

In Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence for Oracle Fusion applications a very good feature is to use DFF to make any analysis. It used to be very painful for any organization to make analysis based on DFF using BIAPPS. Now it’s just matter of few clicks and you are done.

What Oracle says “If a descriptive Flexfield is enabled for Oracle Business Intelligence, the Manage Descriptive Flexfields task displays a BI Enabled checkbox for each global, context, and context-sensitive segment. Select a segment’s BI Enabled checkbox to specify that the segment is available for use in Oracle Business Intelligence.”

a list of all the predefined “BI Enabled”  DFFs available in Oracle Metalink Note Fusion Applications Business Intelligence – List of Descriptive Flex Field Mappings [ID 1509316.1]

Oracle BI Apps – What are customers interested in?

A very informative Post by Rajesh Dhanapal from Infosys.

In the current era the customers are not interested to wait for months and years for BI project implementation. The customers are keen on quick wins rather than implementing the BI solution from scratch by following traditional BI approach. The Oracle BI Apps solution provides head start for the organisation to reach the to-be state quicker with reduced time and effort, and reduced risk.Read Details

The Future of Project Management is Social

Rapid Ascent. Breakneck Speed. Lightning Fast. Perhaps even overwhelming. No matter which set of adjectives we use to describe it, social media’s rise into the enterprise mainstream has been unprecedented. Indeed, the big 4 social media powerhouses (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter), have nearly 2 Billion users between them.

You may be asking (as you should really) “That’s all well and good for the consumer, but for me at my company, what’s your point? Beyond the fact that I can check and post updates, that is.”

Good question, kind sir.

Read Details on

https://blogs.oracle.com/applications/entry/the_future_of_project_management

Live Console in Oracle Sourcing (Explanation about Graphs)

Live Console allows user to graphically view and compare responses to a negotiation.

The Live Console gives user a single location from which he/she can generate many in-depth graphic displays. user can use these graphs to assist in analyzing  negotiation responses during and after a negotiation.

Live Console is not available for:

1. RFIs
2. Contract Purchase Agreement negotiations that do not have lines.
3. Sealed negotiation (once the negotiation is unsealed, Live Console is available).
4. Draft negotiations (since the negotiation has no responses).
5. Additionally, line-level information and displays are not available for large or very large negotiations.
6. Also, information is not available for Two-Stage RFQs until the technical evaluation is completed and the commercial stage is unlocked.

Graphs Area

The Graph Area can display four types of graphs.

Best Bids by Time (XY Chart)

1. The graph shows bids for the top five suppliers. If the supplier has multiple bids, all bids for that supplier are shown.
2. The Y axis shows the best bid offered for the negotiation. This is calculated as the sum of (price * quantity) for all lines on the negotiation. The X axis shows the time range over which the bids have been submitted.
3. The vertical line indicates the close date

All Bids By Time (XY chart)

1. This chart graphs all the bids for the negotiation.
2. The Y axis shows the best bid offered for the negotiation. This is calculated as the sum of (price * quantity) for all lines on the negotiation. The X axis shows the time range over which the bids have been submitted.
3. The vertical line indicates the close date.

Savings by Supplier (Bar chart)

1. The graph shows bids for the top five suppliers. If the supplier has multiple bids, all bids for that supplier are shown.
2. The Y axis shows the best bid offered for the negotiation. This is calculated as the sum of (quantity * (bid price – current price)) for all lines on the negotiation. The X axis shows the bid number.

Best Bids by Supplier (Bar chart)

1. The graph shows bids for the top five suppliers. If the supplier has multiple bids, all bids for that supplier are shown.

Graphs are not available for

1. Contract Purchase Agreement negotiations that have no lines.
2. Blanket Purchase Agreements or Contract Purchase Agreement negotiations that have lines but no Estimated Quantity value.
3. Negotiations for which there are no responses (for example, a negotiation that is in Preview status.
4. Quotes that are not shortlisted from the technical evaluation stage of a Two-Stage RFQ.

 

How to Fix Issue “One or More Transformations Used by the Matching Rule Have Not Been Staged“ in iSupplier

Issue:-

Supplier submitted request to register himself with organization. Once approver goes to approve the registration request and click on review button. Application is giving following error

“One or more transformations used by the match rule have not been staged. Please confirm that all required transformations have been staged”

 

Solution :-

Assign responsibility “Trading Community Manager”

Submit Request “DQM Staging Program” with Staging Command Parameter as “STAGE_ALL_DATA”

After completion of “DQM Staging Program” submit another request “DQM Compile All Rules” without any parameter (no parameters are applicable)

Quick comparison: AIM Vs OUM

If you already practiced AIM’s methodology you will not find a very big difference, majority of task and deliverable remain same, but they reclassified under different Process.Here is Sanjit Anand Post (http://www.oracleappshub.com/methodology/quick-comparison-aim-vs-oum/) comparing Oracle AIM & OUM

Disable JRE Auto-Update for All E-Business Suite End-Users

All desktop administrators must IMMEDIATELY disable the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Auto-Update option for all Windows end-user desktops connecting to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, 12.0, and 12.1

Read Detail

Oracle Unified Method 5 Essentials

Oracle Unified Method 5 Essentials (1Z0-568) exam tests partners who are skilled in Oracle’s all inclusive methodology. The certification covers the core features the Oracle Unified Method suite, including but not limited to, Focus Areas, Use Cases, and Requirements Gathering. The certification proves a baseline of the consultant’s knowledge and allows the implementation team to work as a cohesive team from day 1. The exam targets the intermediate-level implementation team member. Up to date training and field experience are recommended.

Oracle Unified Method 5 Certified Implementation Specialist, The Oracle Unified Method Certified Implementation Specialist Certification identifies professionals who are skilled in Oracle’s all inclusive methodology. The certification covers the core features the Oracle Unified Method suite, including but not limited to, Focus Areas, Uses Cases, and Requirements Gathering. The certification proves a baseline of the consultant’s knowledge and allows the implementation team to work as a cohesive team from day 1. Up-to-date training and field experience are highly recommended.

This certification is available to all candidates but is geared toward members of the Oracle Partner Network who are focused on selling and implementing this technology. OPN Members earning this certification will be recognized as OPN Certified Specialists, which helps their companies qualify for the Oracle Unified Method Specialization.

http://www.oracle.com/partners/en/knowledge-zone/applications/oum-exam-426119.html

Potential Supplier Registration and Bank Definition

While potential Supplier Registration in R12.1.x, when supplier wants to create a new Bank, Branch or Bank Account system gives error “Bank Does not exist”.

This problem will happen if Supplier selects “Account is used for Foreign Payments”

This issue can be resolved by Applying Patch “11058802:R12.IBY.B”. This is not documented on metalink in any published note

Supplier Search results in ‘No results found’

While Searching Supplier using Payable Manager or any other responsibility in R12.1.X results into ‘No Results Found’ though supplier is already defined in system.

This is because “POS: SM: Enable Data Security for Supplier” profile option value. Value should be NO at site level. In case if  you wish to use this feature the refer to Oracle Supplier Management Implementation and Administration Guide

Something about Supply Chain Management Operations Strategy

Following are Supply chain Management operations Strategies

Make to stock is the best strategy for standardized products that sell in high volume. Larger production batches keep manufacturing costs down, and having these products in inventory means that customer demand can be met quickly.

Make to order is the preferred strategy for customized products or products with infrequent demand. Companies following this strategy produce a shippable product only with a customer order in hand. This keeps inventory levels low while allowing for a wide range of product options.

Configure to order is a hybrid strategy in which a product is partially completed to a generic level and then finished when an order is received. This is the preferred strategy when there are many variations of the end product and you want to achieve low finished-goods inventory and shorter customer lead times than make to order can deliver.

Engineer to order, which shares many of the characteristics of make to order, is used in industries where complex products and services are created to unique customer specifications

Strategy	When to Choose This Strategy	Benefits
Make to stock	For standardized products selling in high volume	Low manufacturing costs; meeting customer demands quickly
Configure to order	For products requiring many variations	Customization; reduced inventory; improved service levels
Make to order	For customized products or products with infrequent demand	Low inventory levels; wide range of product options; simplified planning
Engineer to order	For complex products that meet unique customer needs	Enables response to specific customer requirements

Now days I am reading a book “STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT “ written by SHOSHANAH COHEN & JOSEPH ROUSSEL above is extract from that

Oracle Sourcing Configuration and Functionality

This document contains complete steps to setup Oracle Sourcing along with major functionality This document can be used to setup oracle sourcing where purchasing setup is already in place
Download

IBM Maximo and BIAPPS (Oracle BI Applications)

Few days back i was in a meeting with Client, Where client is using Maximo for EAM operations and Oracle eBusiness for Financial. Client was considering BI APPS (Oracle BI Applications) as a central reporting tool where they can monitor KPI’s based on data Oracle eBusiness and MAXIMO and have single window view of complete reporting.

Oracle launches two new applications, which are both based on Oracle’s Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, are designed for the manufacturing sector, and for enterprise asset management (EAM), and are the first in-memory analytic applications for that sector.

Oracle Manufacturing Analytics is intended to help operations managers, manufacturing analysts, manufacturing and
supply chain executives and production cost accountants to have a better view into manufacturing processes, inventory and product quality, to enable them to reduce production costs, improve product quality, minimize inventory levels and respond faster to customer demands.

Oracle Enterprise Asset Management Analytics has been designed to give more effective management and analysis of assets, in areas such as projecting expected asset life, planning strategies to reduce maintenance costs and increase uptime, and realize operational efficiencies. The application is pre-integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) module, as well as IBM Maximo.

Detail Reading on