insight2013-q3complimentary

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 101010010101010111001010100010100101001001010101001010010

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE OrACLE APPLICATIONs UsErs GrOUP fall 2013

Implementing Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 on Exadata Secrets of the Master Row Set in Oracle E-Business Suite

Lessons Learned: Overcoming a Failed E-Business Suite Implementation

Pre- and Post-Upgrade Functional Checklists Facilitate Oracle EBS Upgrades

Fall 2013

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

O A U G l E a d E r S h i p

F E a T u r E S

O A U G g E O S & S i g S

30 SIG Update

32 Geo Update

34 Geo Spotlight: Ohio Valley OAUG

18

G L O B A L u S E r S

36 OAUG Member Snapshot: Kevin Brownlie

38 New and Returning Members

O R A c L E d i r E C T i O N S

42 Trends in IT for Financial Services: Increasing Transparency and Accountability – by Maneesh Chhabra

G L O B A L S O l u T i O N S

26 pre- and post-upgrade Functional Checklists Facilitate Oracle EBS upgrades

Where do I start my Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) R12 upgrade, and how do I maximize its efficiency? Having and following a functional checklist that includes pre- and post-upgrade steps will position the application to have the fewest problems. – by Christine Hipp

40 Vendor Corner: Taconic Takes Charge of Oracle r12 reporting with gl Wand from Excel4apps

A year after implementing Oracle in the U.S., Taconic discovered GL Wand, an Excel-based financial reporting tool from Excel4apps. Via a direct link between Oracle and a user-friendly Excel front end, GL Wand provides immediate access to real-time GL data without a data warehouse, as well as instant drill-down functionality for accessing the transactional details managers request. – by Chris Meyer

oaug.org 1

2 OAUG 2013 Star Partners

4 OAUG 2013 Board of Directors

6 President’s Perspective

8 OAUG Viewpoint

10 implementing Oracle E-Business Suite r12.1.2 on Exadata Velcro Industries is currently one of the few customers running the Oracle

E-Business Suite (EBS) database on a certified Exadata machine. Find out how Velcro Industries, in six months, successfully migrated EBS Release 12.1.2 to the Exadata machine. – by Rajesh Hassija and Tejas Raval

18 Secrets of the Master row Set in Oracle E-Business Suite If you spend WAY too much time writing, and rewriting, Financial Statement

Generator (FSG) reports, using the master row set will allow you to reduce that time from days to under an hour. – by Helene Abrams

22 lessons learned: Overcoming a Failed E-Business Suite implementation We’ve all heard the horror stories of implementations gone wrong haven’t we?

Learn about Knape & Vogt’s (KV) experience in implementing the Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), from the initial failed implementation to the revamped successful efforts to date. – by Salli Churchill

O A U G M E M B E R B E N E F i T

28 The OAUG conference Paper Database

22

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010

Master Row Set • Define Rows • Row 1 Title • Row 2 Subtitle • Row 3 • Detail • Row 4 Detail • Balance

Rows • Expenses Rows • Set of Books Name • Cash Assets • Total

Current Assets • New Accounts Receivable • Cash and Short-Term

Notes • Column Set Heading • Sequence Numbers • Row Orders •

Content Sets • Report Sets

10

O A U G L E A D E R S H I P 2

oaug star partners

��

THREE-STAR PARTNERS

FIVE-STAR PARTNERS

TWO-STAR PARTNERS

FOUR-STAR PARTNERS��

��

The OAUG Star Partner program gives Associate members a bundled approach to active, integrated participation in the OAUG community. The program combines membership, advertising and conference benefits into a value-priced package that delivers recognition, premium advertising opportunities and outstanding conference visibility.

For more information on the OAUG Star Partner Program, please contact Christine Hilgert at +1 404.760.4234, or via e-mail at [email protected].

RISING-STAR PARTNERS

• FulcrumWay• oAppsNet Partners, LLC

SPECIAL THANKS• Oracle Validated Integration(list updated as of press time)

TWO-STAR ELITE PARTNERS��

Red River Solutions

• Data Communication• Solutions• interRel Consulting• KAYGEN• KBACE Technologies• Kofax• Leeyo Software• Q Software• Rhapsody Technologies• SoftArt Solutions Inc.

• The Bean Consulting Group• Thomson Reuters

oaug star partners



oaug star partners

��

THREE-STAR PARTNERS

FIVE-STAR PARTNERS

TWO-STAR PARTNERS

FOUR-STAR PARTNERS��

��

The OAUG Star Partner program gives Associate members a bundled approach to active, integrated participation in the OAUG community. The program combines membership, advertising and conference benefits into a value-priced package that delivers recognition, premium advertising opportunities and outstanding conference visibility.

For more information on the OAUG Star Partner Program, please contact Christine Hilgert at +1 404.760.4234, or via e-mail at [email protected].

RISING-STAR PARTNERS

• FulcrumWay• oAppsNet Partners, LLC

SPECIAL THANKS• Oracle Validated Integration(list updated as of press time)

TWO-STAR ELITE PARTNERS��

Red River Solutions

• Data Communication• Solutions• interRel Consulting• KAYGEN• KBACE Technologies• Kofax• Leeyo Software• Q Software• Rhapsody Technologies• SoftArt Solutions Inc.

• The Bean Consulting Group• Thomson Reuters

3 oaug.org

The OAUG Star Partnersare a vital force in supporting the OAUG’s mission of providing Oracle Applications users the tools required to enhance their productivity, maximize their investment, and influence the quality, usability, and support of Oracle Applications. Participants in the OAUG Star

Partner Program represent some of the most experienced and most successful providers

of services and solutions to the Oracle users community.

4 O A U G l E a d E r S h i p

oaug board of directors

oaug.org

2013 Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) Board of Directors. First row (seated): Joe Imbimbo, Margaret Wright, Christine Hipp, Alyssa Johnson, Peter Gee. Second row (standing): Donna Rosentrater, Steven Hughes, Melissa English, Mark Clark, Danica Bartolf, John Bushell, Patricia Dues, Rob Tudor, Tammy Norton, Karl Kirsch, Kaberi Nayak.

Margaret Wright, OAUG PresidentSouthern Company

Alyssa Johnson, OAUG President ElectROLTA

Peter Gee, OAUG TreasurerRyerson University

Christine Hipp, OAUG SecretaryLos Alamos National Laboratory

Steven R. Hughes Executive Director

Karl Kirsch, CAE Chief Operating Officer

Danica BartolfCH2M HILL

John BushellJT&M Bushell

Mark C. ClarkO2Works LLC

Patricia DuesCity of Las Vegas

Melissa English Alticor, parent company of Amway Corp.

Joe ImbimboPPG Industries

Kaberi Nayak MITRE Corp.

Tammy Norton Alvarez Marsal Business Consulting LLC

Donna Rosentrater Cobham PLC

Rob Tudor LifeWay Christian Resources

A Publication of the Oracle Applications Users Group

3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305

phone: +1 404.240.0897, fax: +1 404.240.0998 email: [email protected], oaug.org

Steven R. Hughes, Executive Director

Cindy Force, Director, Marketing Communications

O’Neill Communications, Graphic Design

To contribute to OAUG Insight, send letters to the

editor, or obtain advertising information, contact:

Cindy Force, Director, Marketing Communications

3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five,

Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305

[email protected]

Photographs appearing throughout OAUG Insight

courtesy of Meeting Expectations.

OAUG Insight is designed to provide members of the Oracle Applications Users Group with organizational and other information. The opinions and viewpoints published herein are not necessarily those of OAUG. OAUG, its article writers, directors, officers, employees, agents, and members and Oracle Corp. make no warranty for the accuracy, veracity, or completeness of any information herein, nor do they have any responsibility or liability for any losses or damages incurred as a result of reliance on any information provided herein or from the use of any program or program segment discussed herein. OAUG assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear herein. The information published herein is subject to change without notice. Acceptance of advertising is for the benefit and information of the membership but does not constitute official endorsement of the product or service by OAUG.

Copyright © Oracle Applications Users Group 2013. All rights reserved. OAUG is a registered trademark of the Oracle Applications Users Group. Oracle and Oracle Applications are trademarks of Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif. Any other trademark cited herein is the property of its owner. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without the prior written consent of OAUG.

Recruiting Policy: Contact information (on OAUG’s Web site or elsewhere) is provided to OAUG members for the sole and express purpose of enhancing members’ ability to network with other members. Unauthorized copying or redistribution of this information or use of company or contact names for recruiting or direct marketing purposes is strictly prohibited and could result in suspension of OAUG membership. This restriction applies to information in the Online Membership Database, lists of volunteer coordinators, lists of attendees at OAUG conferences, and any other member contact data. Recruiting in any form during conferences is strictly prohibited.

TUNE INto the OAUG

Visit www.oaug.org/membership orcall +1 404.240.0897 to discoverthe benefits of tuning in to the

OAUG for you and your organization.

The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) broadcasts time-saving and e�ciency-building knowledge to individuals at thousands of member organizations worldwide.

Tune in for Education: get instantaccess to solutions to real problems through conferences, webinars, and an extensive conference paper database.

Tune in for Networking: connectwith other people who are using thesame applications and share ideas andbest practices.

Tune in for Influence: share your thoughtsand suggestions with Oracle through the OAUG. Oracle listens to the collective voice of OAUG members.

of OAUG memberswould recommendOAUG membership

92%

OAUG

Learn more about OAUG membership at Oracle OpenWorld!www.oaug.org/openworld

president’s perspective

oOne of the greatest advantages for members of the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) is being able to meet and learn from other Oracle Applications users. It is these connections between individuals that foster the dynamic interaction we value. As employees of OAUG member

organizations, we have countless opportunities

to connect with other Oracle Applications users.

The OAUG provides the framework for this

interaction and facilitates these connections.

We learn from

each other at face-

to-face events, but

the opportunities

for learning

don’t end when

we get back to our jobs. My colleagues and I

regularly take advantage of a number of year-

round OAUG programs and resources, such as:

The OAUG Conference Paper Database

enables us to continue to learn from other users

every day. We use the database as a way to share

information among the team members who were not

able to attend a particular conference. For example,

we used the Oracle EBS R12 upgrade planning and

lessons learned papers to help us plan and execute our

upgrade. The lessons learned from other members

were extremely valuable to helping us avoid some

of the upgrade pitfalls. Through the OAUG, we

know that the answers we need are available when

we need them. To learn more about the OAUG

Conference Paper Database, please see the article on

page 28 in this issue of OAUG Insight magazine.

My colleagues and I also participate in OAUG

eLearning sessions. These live webinars bring the

experts to us via a computer and telephone. And, if

we can’t participate in a particular session when it is

presented, we can download the recording and listen

in at our convenience. With a wide variety of topics

and impressive depth of expertise literally at your

fingertips, OAUG eLearning is an invaluable resource.

OAUG User Communities offer specialized

opportunities for interaction, either locally through

a Geographic User Group (Geo) or on a particular

topic or industry through a Special Interest Group

(SIG). Thousands of Oracle Applications users

Connecting With Other Users: Learning from Each Other

O A U G l E a d E r S h i p 6

Margaret Wright

OAUG Pres ident

[email protected]

oaug.org

meet face to face or via technology through these

communities. If you’re not engaged with a Geo

or SIG, I encourage you to learn more about

them online at oaug.org/communities/geos-sigs.

The quarterly OAUG Insight magazine

contains information about real-world projects

where other users share their unique stories about

implementing and managing Oracle Applications

in their organizations. Our project team looks

forward to every issue and shares copies of the

magazine with others in our organization.

Connecting others to learn from each other

is one of the primary purposes of the OAUG.

Practical insights gained by learning from others’

experiences with Oracle Applications helps project

teams meet challenges, save time and money,

resolve problems, build in-house capabilities and

achieve goals. I’m so glad that my employer’s

OAUG membership connects me with these great

resources. If your employer isn’t an OAUG member,

I encourage you to learn more about all the benefits

of OAUG membership at oaug.org/membership.

Regards,

Margaret Wright

oaug.org

With experience dating back to one of Oracle's first releases of the Applications, MPL5, O2Works has the knowledge and expertise to be your trusted consulting partner. From installs and upgrades, conversions and rollouts, to end-user training

on Release 12.1, our consultants have the technical proficiency and hands-on industry experience needed to make the E-Business Suite work for your business.

Call, email, or visit out Knowledge Works center where you can download white papers, presentations and more.

972.466.2260

From MPL5 to Release 12.1O2Works Consultants have been there every step of the way.

MPL5MPL6

MPL7

Release 8Release 9

Release 10Release 11

Release 11iRelease 12

Release 12.1

[email protected] www.o2works.com/knowledgeworks

hHere in the U.S., we’re adjusting to our first few weeks back at school, gearing up for football, preparing to rake leaves and looking ahead to the holiday season. The year always seems to go by so quickly.

The OAUG has a busy autumn calendar as well.

Following are some of the important activities, events

and deadlines to add to your autumn checklist.

2014 OAUG Board of Directors Elections

The elections process for the 2014 OAUG

Board of Directors began with the call for candidates

in August.

Voting begins

on September

16 when ballots

will be sent to

the OAUG

Ambassador for each OAUG member organization.

The deadline for ballot submissions is October 1, 2013.

Get the details at oaug.org/about/directors/elections.

Oracle OpenWorld 2013

The OAUG kicks off its participation in the

annual Oracle OpenWorld conference with 15

Geographic (Geo) and 35 Special Interest Groups

(SIGs) hosting meetings during the Oracle Users

Forum on Sunday, September 22. This full day of

focused discussion facilitates networking for users of

specific Oracle Applications products.

Throughout the week, OAUG members will

present 14 educational sessions.

You can also Tune in to the OAUG live with

RadiOAUG at exhibit booth #3416 in Moscone

West to learn why thousands of Oracle Applications

users around the world connect through the OAUG.

Discover the benefits of OAUG membership and have

your badge scanned to qualify to win some great prizes.

Oracle OpenWorld 2013 takes place September

22-26, 2013, in San Francisco, Calif.

The Best of COLLABORATE 13 –

OAUG Forum Recorded Webinar Series

During the month of August, OAUG members

took advantage of more than 30 free OAUG eLearning

sessions featuring stand-out presentations from the

COLLABORATE 13 – OAUG Forum conference.

Recordings will be available free for OAUG members

in September and can be accessed via the OAUG

website at oaug.org/education-events/elearning.

COLLABORATE 14 – OAUG Forum

Call for Presentations

Consider sharing your real-world experience using

Oracle Applications during COLLABORATE 14

next April. This annual conference emphasizes peer-

to-peer learning and networking by inviting Oracle

Applications users to share how they are deploying

Oracle products in their organizations. No matter how

big or small, the challenges you’ve faced along with the

The Autumn Checklist

oaug viewpoint

8

Steven R. Hughes

OAUG Execut ive Director

[email protected]

O A U G l E a d E r S h i p

unique strategies and solutions that you’ve deployed in

your work place are sure to be of interest to others.

Educational presentation proposals will be accepted

through October 4, 2013. Visit collaborate.oaug.org for

guidelines on submissions. COLLABORATE 14 will

be held April 7-11, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nev.

AUSOUG INSYNC 13 National Conference Series

For many years, the OAUG has partnered with

The Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG) to

extend our educational content offerings and networking

connections to our colleagues down under. The

AUSOUG INSYNC 13 National Conference Series

concludes its six-city program in Perth, November 12-13.

DOAG 2013 Applications

Furthering our connections around the world,

the OAUG partners with the German Oracle Users

Group (DOAG) to present the three-day DOAG

2013 Applications conference taking place in Berlin,

Germany, October 9-11, 2013.

OAUG Connection Point® – EPM/BI/EBS 12.X

The call for presentations for OAUG Connection

Point® – EPM/BI/EBS 12.X generated a great selection

of session abstracts focused on best practices, customer

success stories and “how-to” deep-dive instruction for

implementing, supporting and maintaining Oracle

E-Business Suite (EBS), Enterprise Performance

Management (EPM) and Business Intelligence

(BI) systems. A number of experts from Oracle and

third-party vendor companies join the lineup of

knowledgeable presenters.

Plus, three half-day pre-conference workshops offer

additional learning options to make your conference

even more productive and memorable.

OAUG Connection Point® – EPM/BI/EBS 12.X

will be held in Washington, D.C., October 22-23,

2013. The pre-conference workshops take place on

Monday, October 21. The conference website is

connectionpoint.oaug.org/2013/washington.

Visit oaug.org to locate details about the above

items. Or contact us at [email protected] or

+1 404.240.0897, extension 2, for assistance.

Questions and feedback are welcome any time.

Contact me at [email protected].

Regards,

Steven R. Hughes

oaug.org 9

Seeking an Easy R12 Reporting Solution?

Free Trial • excel4apps.com/insight13Easier, faster and more efficient than ever before, GL Wand 5 is now available for free trial download. Designed for finance professionals, our award-winning products easily and securely allow finance departments to quickly build reports and detailed dashboards within Microsoft Excel® using a direct link to live Oracle 11i/R12 data.

Bring new clarity, depth and focus to your financial reports with:

• No client install NEW! • Live Oracle data in Excel • Effective replacement for Client ADI reporting • Accelerate month end processing • No need for data warehousing • Automate sharing and distribution of reports • Leverage existing Oracle security • Ease your upgrade to Oracle R12

Save 2-4 days per user per month due to productivity gains of using an Excel based reporting process!

Join the Fortunate 500 finance teams who love using GL Wand

© 2013 Excel4apps. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Real Time Oracle 11i/R12 Reporting in Excel®.

ATTENTIO

N

E-Bu

siness

Suite

Use

rs

To download your free trial visit: www.excel4apps.com/savetime

email: [email protected]

www.excel4apps.com

Join the Fortunate 500 Finance Teams Who Love Using GL Wand

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010

10 O A U G F E a T u r E

oaug feature

By Rajesh Hassija and Tejas Raval, Velcro Industries

Velcro Industries is currently one of the few customers

running the Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) database

on a certified Exadata machine. This article focuses

on how Velcro Industries, in six months, migrated EBS

Release 12.1.2 to the Exadata machine and covers:

l Velcro Industries’ decision to buy new hardware.l Selecting and acquiring Exadata.l Background on Exadata. l Deciding on the migration path.l The key issue faced during the migration.l Testing the database and EBS.l Performance monitoring tools.l Setting up a standby site and issues

after go-live.l Our approaches to cloning, etc.

Implementing Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 on Exadata

Background on Velcro Industries Velcro Industries is the pioneer in hook and loop fastener technology with more than 50 years of experience. We strive to be the dominant innovator in fastening technology through efficient and creative solutions and are worldwide. We chose Oracle in 1999 and have had many upgrades throughout the years.

Velcro Industries’ Decision to Buy New Hardware Velcro Industries’ hardware consisted of five-year-old HP-UX servers with NetApps SAN for storage and a standby site with 10-year-old servers to run our Oracle physical standby database. Within a couple of years, Velcro Industries’ global growth brought many sister companies to one single instance of Oracle Applications and expanded the demand on Oracle Discoverer for reporting. This load on a single node database was tremendous and caused our old HP-UXRP4440 hardware to reach its limits. We also experienced almost 18-hour database clone times for each new instance. Our DBA spent the majority of his time coordinating processes that could only be performed during off-business hours due to the database load and the need to investigate sources of performance issues. Velcro Industries made the commitment to upgrade its hardware.

Selection/Acquisition of Exadata Velcro Industries’ hardware selection process involved major vendors, including Dell, HP and Oracle. With each vendor, all of the pros and cons were evaluated. Overall, we discovered that Oracle provided all of the features the other vendors offered as well as a single-vendor solution to back the implementation. The other comparable solution that we were looking into had some deficiencies such as: (1) Although the storage had good cloning capability, it lacked flash cache, (2) To match up the I/O performance similar to the Oracle offering, it would then need more storage disks for parallel processing, (3) Not being a single-vendor solution (different vendors to handle the servers issue and

storage issues) was an issue, (4) Lacked plug and play functionality. The Oracle team designed a unique solution for Velcro Industries’ Exadata acquisition. Oracle’s Advisory Committee spent three weeks on-site to study our HP-UX system and produced a report of 40 pages outlining risks and areas of improvement based on I/O on HP-UX system, future growth and existing database CPU licenses. The solution offered was the Exadata quarter-rack machine, including a complete explanation for setup of production and standby sites. In addition, Oracle provided a dedicated customer incident manager from acquisition to go-live, a recommended training program for Velcro Industries’ team to prepare them for Exadata and a site checklist to complete before delivery of the hardware. There is also a separate group within Oracle Support to specifically handle Exadata related issues.

Background on Exadata Exadata is not just box-built with servers, hard drives and switches. The heart of Exadata is the features it provides, including the software it is using: Key areas are illustrated on the next page in Figure 1.

oaug.org 11

oaug insight l fall 2013

Oracle’s Advisory Committee spent three

weeks on-site to study our HP-UX system

and produced a report of 40 pages

outlining risks and areas of improvement

based on I/O on HP-UX system, future

growth and existing database CPU

licenses. The solution offered was the

Exadata quarter-rack machine, including

a complete explanation for setup of

production and standby sites.

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100

O A U G F E a T u r E 12

Velcro Industries’ Decision on the Migration Path First, Velcro Industries decided to move to Linux and then migrate the database from HP-UX to Exadata (Linux). It then changed from non-RAC to RAC, moved from non-ASM to ASM, migrated from 10gR2 to 11gR2 and migrated EBS application server from HP-UX to Linux. The factors in determining what migration options can be used for an Oracle EBS database to Oracle Exadata Database Machine are all related to the source of: (1) Platform operating system, (2) Platform endian format, (3) Database release, and (4) Oracle EBS release. The target system is Oracle Exadata Database Machine with Oracle Database 11g Release 2, Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and the platform is Linux x86-64, little endian. At the time of the implementation, the

Oracle Exadata Database Machine Supported Oracle EBS R11.5.10.2 (11i), R12.0.4 and (3) R12.1. Choose the migration physical or logical method based on your required business service level agreement. For details on each of the migration methods, you can refer to Migrating an Oracle E-Business Suite Database to

Oracle Exadata Database Machine [ID 1133355.1]. Velcro Industries used the logical migration method of Oracle Data Pump because source database endian format and Exadata endian format are different.

SELECT * FROM V$TRANSPORTABLE_PLATFORM order by 3,2;

PLATFORM_ID PLATFORM_NAME ENDIAN_FORMAT

----------- ----------------------------------- --------------

3 HP-UX (64-bit) Big

13 Linux x86 64-bit Little

Figure 1. Key Features of Exadata

Exadata Smart Scan: iDB protocol to transfer database processing to cell nodes using predicate and column filtering

Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression: 10x average storage saving and 10x scan i/o reduction

Exadata Infiniband: two infiniband switches for 40Gbps operation between database nodes

Exadata Smart Flash Cache: high performance cache for frequently accessed objects

Exadata I/O Resource Management: i/o resource based on user specified and priorities

Exadata Storage Index: reduces the amount of physical i/o in Exadata cell

X2-2 Quarter Rack

Photo courtesy of Oracle Corporation.

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100


oaug.org 13

For the EBS database migration, Velcro Industries followed these steps to prepare and export source database:

1. Apply interoperability patches for EBS R12.1 for 11gR2 database as per note [ID 1058763.1].

2. Prepare the source (10gR2) database for migration as per note [ID 1133355.1].

3. Apply the applications consolidated export/import utility patch 13023290.

4. Apply the XLA performance patch 13344804:R12.XLA.B.

5. Generate the target database instance creation script aucrdb.sql.

sqlplus system/welcome1 @$AU_TOP/patch/115/sql/auclondb.sql 11

6. Gather information about advanced queue setting, as we need to enable them after migration.

sqlplus “/ as sysdba” @auque1

7. The source database is 10g. Then create the parameter file for tables with long columns.

$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL> connect system/;

SQL> @aulong.sql

8. Remove Rebuild Index Parameter in Spatial Indexes. The output of the query below varies based on modules companies used in EBS. Velcro Industries changed four indexes:

sqlplus “/ as sysdba”

select * from dba_indexes where index_type=’DOMAIN’ and

upper(parameters) like ‘%REBUILD%’;

alter index HR.PER_ADDRESSES_SPT rebuild parameters (‘sdo_indx_dims=2 sdo_rtr_pctfree=10 tablespace=APPS_TS_TX_IDX’);

alter index HR.HR_LOCATIONS_SPT rebuild parameters (‘sdo_indx_dims=2 sdo_rtr_pctfree=10 tablespace=APPS_TS_TX_IDX’);

alter index MST.MST_MD_ADM_BNDS_N1 rebuild parameters (‘sdo_indx_dims=2 sdo_rtr_pctfree=10 tablespace=APPS_TS_TX_IDX’);

alter index MST.MST_MD_HYDROS_N1 rebuild parameters (‘sdo_indx_dims=2 sdo_rtr_pctfree=10 tablespace=APPS_TS_TX_IDX’);

9. Velcro Industries got an error while importing the database due to sequence. To fix the issue, we recreated the sequence before export:

select last_number from dba_sequences where sequence_name=’AR_PAYMENT_SCHEDULES_S

DROP SEQUENCE AR.AR_PAYMENT_SCHEDULES_S;

CREATE SEQUENCE AR.AR_PAYMENT_SCHEDULES_S

START WITH 2549382

MAXVALUE 2000000000

MINVALUE 1

NOCYCLE

CACHE 20

NOORDER;

Velcro Industries used the logical

migration method of Oracle Data

Pump because source database

endian format and Exadata endian

format are different.

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100


10. Hold the pending concurrent programs.

update fnd_concurrent_requests set hold_flag=’Y’ where phase_code = ‘P’;

11. Shut down the application server process.

$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adstpall.sh

12. Drop large XLA Packages (recommended for an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 source system).

create sql script genDropXLA.sql--add xla in front of table name

set pages 0 head off feedback off lines 170 echo off trim on verify off termout off timing on

spool dropXLA_AAD_Pkgs.sql

select distinct(‘drop package ‘ || db.owner || ‘.’ || db.object_name || ‘;’) from dba_objects db, xla.xla_subledgers xl where

db.object_type=’PACKAGE BODY’ and db.object_name like ‘XLA%AAD%PKG’ and substr(db.object_name,1,9) =’XLA_’||

LPAD(SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(ABS(xl.application_id)), 1, 5), 5, ‘0’) and db.object_name NOT IN (‘XLA_AAD_HDR_ACCT_ATTRS_F_

PKG’,’XLA_AMB_AAD_PKG’) order by 1;

spool off

set timing on

@dropXLA_AAD_Pkgs

13. Export the EBS database. Cat auexpdp.dat

directory=dmpdir

filesize=1948576000

dumpfile=fullexp1_%U.dmp, fullexp2_%U.dmp, fullexp3_%U.dmp,fullexp4_%U.dmp, fullexp5_%U.dmp

full=y

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’MDDATA’”

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’OLAPSYS’”

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’ORDSYS’”

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’DMSYS’”

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’OUTLN’”

exclude=SCHEMA:”=’ORDPLUGINS’”

#transform=oid:n

logfile=expdpapps.log

METRICS=Y

PARALLEL=16

expdp “’/ as sysdba’” parfile=auexpdp.dat

14. Export tables with XML data types.vi auxmlexp.dat

“auxmlexp.dat” 9 lines, 116 characters

file=xmlexp.dmp

grants=y

log=auxmlexp.log

tables=(

“AZ.AZ_REPORTER_DATA”,

“AZ.AZ_REQUESTS”,

“AZ.AZ_DIFF_RESULTS”,

“CSR.CSR_RULES_B”

exp “’/ as sysdba’” parfile=auxmlexp.dat

15. Recreate XML packages. Sqlplus apps/123 @xla6128278.sql xla6128278.lst

Exadata is not just box-built with

servers, hard drives and switches.

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100

Create and import the target database:

1. Login on Exadata commute node using root account and execute/opt/oracle.SupportTools/onecommand/tmp/prd-dbsw.sh script to install database software. The prd.rsp file has configuration information about the database.

2. Apply the latest database bundle as per note 888828.1 and configure listener using netca.

3. Create the database parameter file as per Oracle recommendation, and create the database using aucrdb.sql script.

4. Run post-installation SQL scripts for Exadata and database patches.

5. Set up RAC, and register the newly installed database in grid using srvctl to control startup/shutdown.

6. Define Huge pages on each database node as per note 401749.1.

7. Import source database to Exadata database using parallel clause:

impdp “’/ as sysdba’” parfile=auimpdp.dat

8. Implement Autoconfig and recreate XLA objects.

alter session set optimizer_features_enable=’10.2.0.4’;

@xla6128278.sql xla6128278.lst

9. Edit context_file of each application node to point s_apps_jdbc_connect_descriptor to new database as well as change s_dbhost, s_dbdomain, s_db_serv_sid and s_dbport if database name or port or domain change.

10. Gather statistics for sys schema and re-create custom database links.

15


15 oaug.org

Key Issues Faced During Migration With EBS already being certified for Exadata, all of the reports and forms migrated without any issue. The key issues we faced during our migration were:

l Ensure the password for apps and system users is changed, recreate Oracle password file and change attributes of default database profile e.g., failed_login_attempts, password_life_time, etc.

l Recreate custom and standard database links e.g., EDW_APPS_TO_WH, APPS_TO_APPS, etc.

l Follow note 832459.1 if XML data types objects are not loaded for AZ schema.

l Make sure you gather Schema Statistics that failed due to duplicate records in FND_HISTOGRAM_COLS table.

l Be sure to change profile option Concurrent:TM Transport Type to Queue if you moved from Non-RAC to RAC database.

l Apply 10024524 and 9459708 to fix the issue of ATP Data Pull failed if you get the error “ORA-00980: synonym translation is no longer valid error.”

16

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100

O A U G F E a T u r E

The Testing of Database/EBS During testing, we focused on identifying all of our custom objects on a global scale as well as third-party systems. Velcro Industries followed standard method of testing performing p2p, o2c, month-end processes, etc., for each organization within the global company. In addition, we used Oracle Application Testing Suite for testing of functional, regression and load for our Web applications and services.

Performance Monitoring Tools The monitoring testing tools we used covered a range of areas. We used Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c, which provided a holistic approach to manage the Exadata Database Machine as well as a comprehensive lifecycle management for both monitoring and ongoing maintenance. We checked I/O, physical reads, networks, waits, etc., during load. Real Application Testing allowed us to fine tune changes before we moved them to production

by replaying recorded database queries and transactions from our old production environment on the Exadata machine to see real workloads and performance.

How Velcro Industries Set Up its Standby Site for Go-Live

Our System Design/Architecture - Velcro Industries has two Exadata quarter machines to support our production and standby site. The production Exadata machine has a high performance drive (600GB 15000RPM), and our standby Exadata has (3TB 7200RPM). Our production Exadata machine only holds a couple of databases to provide us high performance drive with less space. However, our standby Exadata machine holds DR, a couple of Development and UAT instances so that it is configured with high-capacity drives with lots of space. Velcro Industries uses ZFS as the storage device for database backups. Figures 2 and 3 show architecture for both the production and standby site:

Concurrent Node Form & Apache Node12c EM, Catalog Database

& Monitoring Server

SunFireX4270 M2RAM 64G

SunFireX4270 M2RAM 64GTape Drive

Exadata Quarter RackHigh Performance ZFS Storage Appliance

End Users

2Gbps

1Gbps

1Gbps 1Gbps

1Gbps40Gbps

40Gbps

1Gbps

Figure 2.

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 with Exadata (Production)

10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 1010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100100101010100101001010101010101010101010100101010101110010101000101001010010010101010010100101010101010101010 10101001010101011100101010001010010100

17 oaug.org


Life After Go-Live, Approaches to Cloning, etc The first task after go-live was to set up a standby site and clone the database for testing. Velcro Industries combined a couple of methods to clone a new EBS instance. We used a RMAN duplicate on the standby database to clone a new Oracle database and then rapid clone to clone the Oracle Application. From there, we applied patch 11715084 on the standby site to clone the database. Velcro Industries uses Enterprise Manager 12c to manage the database and Exadata machine.

Conclusion The commitment Velcro Industries made in the acquisition of Exadata now provides us the structure needed for our projected growth. We feel we had success as Oracle worked with us each step of the implementation. We encourage anyone facing the same challenge to invest in the Oracle Advisory Committee, the installation package and the one-year patching support.

From our experience, we feel the migration of the EBS database to Exadata from any platform is an achievable, straightforward task. Oracle has well documented the migration process with all required patches and examples. We found there was value in the Oracle EM 12c, which has plug-ins to monitor the Exadata machine. Our EBS concurrent programs, Discoverer reports, portlets and RMAN backup now run much faster than on the old hardware. Oracle continues to release Exadata bundle patches each quarter for all components of the Exadata machine covering OS, Exadata software, database software, switches, ilom, etc. One bundle patch is cumulative and it contains both security and bug fixes. Lessons learned from this implementation and past upgrades will be formulated to help us improve our process and prepare for the next major upgrade/migration.

Form, Concurrent Node & Apache Node





Tape Drive

Exadata Quarter RackHigh Capacity ZFS Storage Appliance


2Gbps

1Gbps

1Gbps 1Gbps

1Gbps40Gbps

40Gbps

1Gbps

1Gbps

Figure 3.

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 with Exadata (Standby Site)


Secrets of the Master Row Set in Oracle E-Business Suite

FSG: Rows, Row Sets, Columns and Column Sets A master row set eliminates the requirements of rewriting each report in order to get the particular information you need at a certain time. It gives the business users the capability to generate a variety of reports utilizing the built-in reporting features of Oracle® E-Business Suite (EBS). Within the FSG, each financial statement is built around the fundamental concepts of a row and a column, which you will define and use to build your own financial reports.

If you spend WAY too much time writing, and rewriting,

Financial Statement

Generator (FSG) reports,

find out how using the

master row set will

allow you to reduce

that time from days

to under an hour.

By Helene Abrams, eprentise

oaug feature

The master row set is a super set of all the

rows in your reports and includes the

attributes or characteristics of every row

and row set in a single, super report. You’ll save

time and provide both agility and consistency.

Learn the secrets to keeping FSGs to a minimum,

and be the master of your own reporting destiny.


Rows • Expenses Rows • Set of Books Name • Cash Assets • Total

Current Assets • New Accounts Receivable • Cash and Short-Term

Notes • Column Set Heading • Sequence Numbers • Row Orders •

Content Sets • Report Sets

Master R

ow Set • D

efine Row

s • Row

1 Title • Row

2 Subtitle • Row

3 • Detail • R

ow 4 D

etail • Balance R

ows

• Expenses Row

s • Set of Books N

ame • C

ash Assets • Total C

urrent Assets • N

ew A

ccounts Receivable

• Cash and Short-Term

Notes • C

olumn Set H

eading • Sequence Num

bers • Row

Orders • C

ontent Sets • R

eport Sets Master R

ow Set • D

efine Row

s • Row

1 Title • Row

2 Subtitle • Row

3 • Detail • R

ow 4 D

etail • B

alance Row

s • Expenses Row


ame • C


urrent Assets • N

ew A

ccounts R

eceivable • Cash and Short-Term

Notes • C

olumn Set H


bers • Row

Orders • C

ontent Sets • R

eport Sets

oaug.org 19


The major steps of the process are:

1. Decide which rows and columns you need to display in your report.

2. Define the rows, columns and attributes those rows and columns have.

3. Build a report using those rows and columns.

Generally, accounts are assigned to row definitions, while amount types (or period ranges) are assigned to column definitions. It is important that your chart of accounts has values that are organized in logical ranges for you to get the most out of FSG. Figure 1 shows some examples of row and column definitions for a typical income statement in FSG (column definitions are independent of the row definitions). A powerful feature of FSG is the ability to collect multiple row or column definitions into sets. For

example, suppose that you’ve just defined a report that uses two columns with the attributes Year Ended 12/31/2011 and Year Ended 12/31/2012. If you want to use these columns for multiple reports besides the current report, you can define and save a column set that consists of these two column definitions. Then, whenever you need a new report based on these two columns, you tell FSG to build a report using these column sets. You can do the same thing for row sets – groups of row definitions that you are likely to re-use in the future. Row sets are similar but are collections of accounts types or calculations as opposed to amount types, as in column sets (Figure 2).

Row sets and column sets are the two primary building blocks of FSG reports. For our purposes, we’ll focus on row sets and extend the concept to create a master row set that will fulfill almost all of your potential row definition needs for creating reports, making it virtually unnecessary to create additional row definitions for reports once the master row set has been defined.

The Master Row Set A master row set is a super set of all the rows in all of your reports. Using a master row set enables you to use a top-down approach as opposed to a bottom-up approach when reporting with the FSG. Rather than defining new, customized row sets with the parameters specified for a particular report (bottom-up approach), you can start by creating an inventory of all of the requirements across all of your reports. That means that you will define a row set

that contains the entire range of account values – as well as the entire range of segment values for each segment in your chart of accounts – on the account assignment. For each row, determine all of the possible characteristics of that row. Let’s look at the example on the next page (Figure 3).

In the first report, the “Balance Sheet – Corporate, Row 2 Subtitle” may not be indented, but in the second report, the “Balance Sheet – North America, Row 2 Subtitle” may be indented three spaces. In the first report, the detail under “CURRENT ASSETS” may have a subtotal, while in the second report, only the “ASSETS” are totaled. The master row set would have all of the

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Mas

ter R

ow S

et •

Defi

ne R

ows

• R

ow 1

Titl

e •

Row

2 S

ubtit

le •

Row

3 •

Det

ail

• R

ow 4

Det

ail

• B

alan

ce R

ows

• E

xpen

ses

Row

s •

Set

of B

ooks

Nam

e •

Cas

h A

sset

s •

Tot

al C

urre

nt A

sset

s •

New

Acc

ount

s R

ecei

vabl

e

• C

ash

and

Shor

t-Ter

m N

otes

•

Col

umn

Set H

eadi

ng

• Se

quen

ce N

umbe

rs •

Row

Ord

ers

• C

onte

nt S

ets

•

Rep

ort S

ets

Mas

ter R

ow S

et •

Defi

ne R

ows

• R

ow 1

Titl

e •

Row

2 S

ubtit

le •

Row

3 •

Det

ail

• R

ow 4

Det

ail

• B

alan

ce R

ows

• E

xpen

ses

Row

s •

Set

of B

ooks

Nam

e •

Cas

h A

sset

s •

Tot

al C

urre

nt A

sset

s •

New

Acc

ount

s R

ecei

vabl

e •

Cas

h an

d Sh

ort-T

erm

Not

es

• C

olum

n Se

t Hea

ding

•

Sequ

ence

Num

bers

• R

ow O

rder

s •

Con

tent

Se

ts •

Rep

ort S

ets

different formatting, all of the permutations of totals or other calculations, and the display characteristics from these two reports as well as all of the rest of the reports in a single report. In other words, the attributes or characteristics of every row and every row set are included in a single super report. It represents a complete inventory of all of the row sets in all of your reports. For all other reports, you will just need to copy this master row set and then delete all rows that are not wanted for each new report (top-down approach). Following are detailed instructions and examples of how to use your new master row to quickly create any report you might need:

1. Give each report component a unique name.

2. Assign descriptive names to the row set being copied such as “Balance Rows” or “Expense Rows.”

3. Note that the “Title” field is what shows up on the printed report. There is a single line for the title, and it will print in the center of the page underneath the “Set of Books Name.” The third title line of the report is the “Period” for which the report is run. The date and time of the report and a page number will print on the upper left corner of each page. Additional title lines can be typed into the “Column Set Heading” field.

4. Draw each report on an Excel spreadsheet. Note similar flexfield assignments, calculations and totals for each report. Determine standard characteristics for the rows. For example, always group cash accounts together and report them as one total line, but list expense accounts individually on all reports.

5. Assign sequence numbers for each row to reflect the accounts in that row. Use the same number of digits as the value for the accounts in that row. The account number order is generally the order

in which reporting is usually completed. Examples include:

l Sequence numbers for all asset rows might start with a 1xxxx.

l Rows with cash accounts might have a sequence number of 11xxx.

l Rows with liability accounts might have a sequence number of 3xxxx.

6. Make sure the sequence number reflects the type of row.

l Rows with sequence numbers ending in 0 or 00 should be header rows or subtitles.

l Sequence number 11000 should be a header row with no account assignments or calculations and should be titled “Cash Assets.”

l Rows ending in 99999 or 9999 should be totals or subtotals.

l Sequence 11999 would be a subtotal of all cash asset rows.

l Sequence 19999 would be a net of all asset rows. Parallel the names and numbers in the values for the account segment of the flexfield, and use the 9 as a parent or summary account. Have the value description read “Total Current Assets” or “Net Accounts Receivable.” Enter the value set descriptions in a form that does not require substantial retyping.

7. Autocopy completed row sets, and then make modifications for each of the other reports. Autocopy all report components (column sets, content sets, row orders, reports, and report sets).

20 O A U G F E a T u r E

Figure 3.


Rows • Expenses Rows • Set of Books Name • Cash Assets • Total Current Assets • New Accounts Receivable • Cash and Short-Term Notes • Column Set Heading • Sequence Numbers • Row Orders •

Content Sets • Report Sets Master Row Set • Define Rows • Row 1 Title • Row 2 Subtitle • Row 3 • Detail

• Row 4 Detail • Balance Rows • Expenses Rows • Set of Books Name • Cash Assets • Total Current

By adopting a single chart of

accounts, companies can restructure

transactions to accurately reflect

changes in their businesses.

“

“

21

Master R

ow Set • D

efine Row

s • Row

1 Title • Row

2 Subtitle • Row

3 • Detail • R

ow 4 D

etail • Balance R

ows

• Expenses Row


ame • C


urrent Assets • N

ew A

ccounts Receivable

• Cash and Short-Term

Notes • C

olumn Set H


bers • Row

Orders • C

ontent Sets • R

eport Sets Master R

ow Set • D

efine Row

s • Row

1 Title • Row

2 Subtitle • Row

3 • Detail • R

ow 4 D

etail • B

alance Row

s • Expenses Row


ame • C


urrent Assets • N

ew A

ccounts R

eceivable • Cash and Short-Term

Notes • C

olumn Set H


bers • Row

Orders • C

ontent Sets • R

eport Sets

oaug.org 21

a. Use Autocopy to make a copy of your master row set (Figure 4).

b. Delete rows that are not necessary in the report you are creating.

c. Create or use pre-defined column sets to define the amount types.

That’s it. You have a top-down procedure for creating any type of report in a matter of minutes, reducing the time to information and allowing management to get the enterprise information they need on a real-time basis.

Usability of the Master Row Set In order to streamline the effort required for

developing your master row set, it is essential that your chart of accounts values be organized into logical ranges for each segment. Then, you can put in a range of values for each row, and when you want to display detailed rows, you can display at the detail or summary level. If each segment is not in a logical range, the values that are “out of range” increase the number of rows that are necessary in order for a master row set to capture all account values, opposing the fundamental motivation of the concept of a master row set.

It is common for growing companies to end up with values that are all over the place due to overcrowding of the range of values and when there are no values left in a particular range that a new account (or other segment value) should logically fall in. A workaround is to create the new value anyway, anywhere that it will fit in the chart regardless of whether or not it should be there. Not only does this practice hinder the opportunity for using a master row set for FSG, it cramps previously designed cross-validation and security rules, requiring

data stewardship in the form of frequent, time-consuming rules analysis and reformulation in order to prevent a total implosion of data governance – it’s more work, not less.

As companies grow and change, they frequently create multiple charts of accounts to compensate for an original chart of accounts design they have outgrown. In some cases, current chart of accounts have become obsolete, running out of room to meaningfully track financial transactions. In the worst cases, companies have defined the new charts of accounts with different

segments and values than the original, resulting in the need to rely on spreadsheets and other offline workarounds. This significantly reduces and potentially eliminates the opportunity to leverage the value of a master row set.

By adopting a single chart of accounts, companies can restructure transactions

to accurately reflect changes in their businesses. A single chart of accounts will also improve the accuracy and speed of reporting by reducing the use of spreadsheets and maintenance of cross validation rules, as well as the ability to utilize a master row set to streamline reporting and provide flexibility.

Conclusion Building a master row set for your FSG reports will

save time, provide agility and consistency, and allow business users the ability to quickly create new reports on the fly. With a single chart of accounts and account values in logical ranges for each segment, you will be able to fully utilize this cost saving, built-in feature of Oracle E-Business Suite. Build a master row set and you will become the master of your own reporting destiny.

Helene Abrams is the founder and CEO of eprentise

(www.eprentise.com), a leading provider of Oracle E-Business

Suite transformation solutions. With eprentise software,

companies can change their charts of accounts, consolidate

instances and modify underlying structures of their EBS to

improve agility, adapt to changing regulations and avoid a

costly reimplementation.

Figure 4.


22 O A U G F E a T u r E 1

22

About Knape & Vogt Founded in 1898, KV has long been a leader in the drawer slide market, providing drawer slides to distributors, kitchen cabinet and office furniture manufacturers, and do-it-yourself consumers. KV’s core sliding system products have evolved into automotive usage (sliding center consoles), appliances and other emerging markets. Our product line also includes many other storage, organization and hardware products, such as kitchen organization; waste and recycle products; garage shelving and organization; closet organization; and many different flavors of shelving and bracket hardware.

In this article, you will learn about Knape

& Vogt’s (KV) experience in implementing

the Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), from the

initial failed implementation to the revamped

successful efforts to date. I will share the steps

that Knape & Vogt took to set the project up

for success before the implementation and

how lean process analysis and organizational

change techniques are now used throughout

the project to engage and prepare the user

community for business transformation.

Lessons Learned:

By Salli Churchill, Knape & Vogt

Manufacturing Company

overcoming a Failed e-Business suite Implementation

We’ve all heard the

horror stories of

implementations gone

wrong haven’t we?

oaug feature

23 oaug.orgO A U G F E a T u r E

When it comes to computer systems, we often joke about being a “mid-size company with the complexity of a larger global organization” because of the wide variety of products that we sell, as well as the many different markets and channels we sell to. This variety can often make seemingly simple business processes much more complicated, which results in the need for a robust ERP application.

KV’s Oracle Journey

KV was purchased in 2006 by Windpoint Partners, a private equity company. Since that change in ownership, the company has made several acquisitions and rapidly expanded its global footprint. A decision was made in 2007 to replace the 20-plus-year-old mainframe system with an enterprise-wide business system that could accommodate expected growth and provide more global capabilities. Oracle E-Business Suite was selected, and the initial implementation began in January 2008. After several delays, many issues (explained further in the “What Went Wrong” section below) and a severe economic downturn, the project was stopped. As KV began to recover from the economic downturn, decisions needed to be made about the future of the Oracle Applications. KV was still working on a 20-plus-year-old mainframe system, which was significantly hindering progress when it came to financial reporting, acquisition and global transactions. With significant investment already undertaken and confidence that the Oracle Applications would provide the business capabilities to meet any future requirements, the decision was made to revive the Oracle implementation. Our primary concern was to make sure we didn’t repeat the same mistakes that we made before, so we took a vastly different approach this time, the details of which are described on page 24 in the “What Went Right” section. We are now well on our way to implementing the remaining modules and have a solid roadmap for future efforts. As of this writing in early 2013, we have now implemented the first two phases of Oracle on time and on budget. Our final phase began in November 2012 and is tracking to another on-time/on-budget completion

in the fall of 2013. Future endeavors will include Business Intelligence and/or other reporting solutions, along with continuous exploration of other functionality that we can take advantage of as our business continues to expand and change. While it is never easy to talk about a failed project, we hope that by sharing our story we can help other organizations avoid those same pitfalls. We strive to be a culture in which mistakes are not punished but treated as valuable lessons that only make us stronger.

What Went Wrong Looking back, we can see several areas where we could have done a better job preparing ourselves for and managing the implementation project. We bought the idea of the Oracle business accelerators hook, line and sinker, without really understanding what they did, how they worked or whether they were a good fit for our business.


What Went Wrong (the first time) lLack of understanding of what Accelerators could and

couldn’t do and the complexity of Oracle.

lBig Bang approach … huge scope.

lUnrealistic timelines (lack of due diligence up front).

lNo up-front process analysis.

lMultiple implementers with no “skin in the game.”

lLack of common methodology for implementation.

l Implementers not regarded as strategic partners.

lTeam comprising SMEs that were

very functional / silo oriented.

lNo change management focus.

lConflicting priorities within the

organization.

lEconomic downturn.

A man can get discouraged

many times but he is not a failure until

he begins to blame somebody else and

stops trying.

– John Burroughs


We set up an extremely aggressive implementation schedule, which had us going live on

all modules in six months. That is a huge

scope to undertake,

especially for a company that was using a 20-plus-year-old mainframe system and had many employees using the system for 20 years or longer. Our system and business processes were heavily ingrained in our people, however, very little time and effort went into planning and managing the huge amount of change we were bringing to the organization. From the very beginning, we did not do our homework to fully understand what we were about to undertake. Another key issue we struggled with was our implementation partner(s). We chose to work with two companies who were each very strong implementers in their own right. However, we had one company working on the technical side and a different company working on the business process side. Both companies were contracted on a time-and-material basis with no dedicated project manager. This meant that KV was

expected to manage the effort, even though we had no one in house that had implemented or used Oracle before. That also meant that the implementers really had no “skin in the game” – they were collecting their pay regardless of the outcomes. If that doesn’t sound like a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what does! We also had several issues with our internal processes and project structure. Our internal team comprised the subject matter experts for the various areas. While those team members were very knowledgeable regarding the legacy system and business processes, they struggled to look beyond their functional “silo” and think about different ways of doing things. We were headed down a path of putting the same business processes into a new system without considering improvements and/or needed business change. Our team members were also expected to perform their regular duties along with those required of the implementation project, which meant the implementation efforts often took a back seat to other business issues and/or customer demands. Finally, we had other conflicting priorities internally that strained our resources, even further moving the Oracle efforts to the back burner. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. We can look back now and see what a recipe for failure we were creating, but that doesn’t make it any easier when you are going through it and can’t see that coming. Luckily, we were able to not only recover from that failure, but to go on to successfully implement in smaller phases, on time and on budget. Read on to see what we did differently the next time around!

What Went Right

Our first step after regrouping and restarting the project was to engage in an intense partner selection process. We looked for like-minded companies that had very strong business process acumen, that placed high emphasis on change management as part of the overall effort, and that had solid, proven methodologies and experience in implementing Oracle EBS. We engaged our selected partner on a milestone-based, fixed-fee contract so that they were as motivated as we were to deliver results on time and on budget.

Willingness to change is a

strength, even if it means plunging part

of the company into total confusion

for a while.

– Jack Welch

What Went Right (the next time) l Intense partner selection process to find a strategic

partner, not just an Oracle implementer.

lFixed-fee, milestone-based contract.

lPhased approach.

lPartner provided best-practice processes and willingness

to push back on KV to make the best choices.

lBuilt in change management throughout the project.

lLean process analysis.

l Internal team comprising

process focused change

agents vs. SMEs.

lDedicated team with backfill

of temporary resources.

lSingle executive owner.

Our partner provided best-practice business processes that we utilized as our starting point for building our Oracle implementation and forced our business community to justify anything outside of standard Oracle functionality. From a project planning standpoint, we set up the implementation in three separate phases so that we could start with a very manageable scope and get a success under our belt fairly quickly. Each phase began with a business case analysis so that we understood the cost/benefit of that portion of the implementation and we had key improvement objectives to ensure the investment would provide a payback. We built project and change management into the core of each project phase and dedicated resources to those areas. From an internal standpoint, we have an executive owner for each phase that has overall accountability for completing the project on time and on budget. We selected team members who were process focused and had demonstrated adaptability and

willingness to change. In many cases, these were not

necessarily the people doing those jobs day to day, so they spent time in those areas learning the processes as the first task in the project.

The teams are 100 percent

dedicated to the project, are moved to a project “war room” and their jobs are reassigned or backfilled with temporary resources. We also look for creative ways to reward and motivate our project teams. In many cases, we gave them new opportunities after the project completion so that they could continue to learn and grow. Our key motto with our projects has been: “The main thing, is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” Although this is not always easy to do, we have managed to keep our project teams focused and motivated while the rest of the business handles the day-to-day operations.

Summary of Lessons Learned

The bottom line is that you must fully understand and plan out what you are going to do before you do it! Each aspect of the project needs to be well thought out, from the partner you choose to help you implement, to the internal team, to the prioritization of the project among other activity happening in the business. If you cannot get the organization to put this effort as the top priority or dedicate the star performers to the project, then you should stop right there. Make sure that your project structure, i.e., phases, timeline, etc., is realistic, your internal team is motivated and dedicated to the effort, and the entire company understands the importance of the project. Finally, don’t forget to build in the project and change management efforts as a core part of the project plan. These efforts for KV have paid off with two successful implementations under our belt and a third in progress. Has it been pain free and issue free? Of course not! But for KV, it has certainly helped us overcome a negative situation and turn it around into a success story to be proud of.

25


oaug.org

Summary: Lessons LearnedlExecutive ownership and buy in.

lManageable scope.

lStrategic implementation partner.

lIncentive-based contract.

lBest-practice processes.

lInternal team selection / dedication.

lChange management focus.

The Main

Thing is to Keep

the Main Thing the

Main Thing.

– Our Motto

Remember that failure is an event, not

a person.

– Zig Ziglar

For those just beginning the process, these are the questions we attempt to answer in our planning sessions. Many have been through prior upgrades of Oracle EBS, but the magnitude of the R12 upgrade makes it a vastly different experience, requiring new approaches from those used in the past.

In talking to many companies about their lessons learned, one area always stuck with me: the difficulty in creating that first, usable instance and resolving the errors that some encountered even up to and into their production instance. How can we plan for and mitigate the challenges in creating the upgrade instance?

When you take that first clone of your 11i environment, often the DBAs will be responsible for compiling a checklist and executing the technical upgrade against the checklist to ensure that patches and upgrade steps are completed in the appropriate order. What is important and differs from past upgrades is the significance of also having and following a functional checklist that includes pre- and post-upgrade steps. The checklist will position the application to have the fewest problems.

So, where can you go for information to help you develop a pre- and post-

upgrade functional checklist? There are several places. First, Oracle provides the EBS R12.1 Information Center (ID 806593.1) on My Oracle Support, which contains all current documentation for Release 12.1. If you are moving from 11i to Release 12.1.3, you can review the Oracle E-Business Suite Upgrade Guide Release 11i to 12.1.3, which contains functional pre- and post-upgrade steps by module. Another option is to use the Oracle Maintenance Wizard to help guide you through the steps of an upgrade.

Another option is to hire consultants who know the necessary steps from prior upgrade experiences.

Oracle users groups, such as the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), or one of the many special interest groups related to your industry or specific Oracle Applications can be invaluable in the planning exercise. Participation in these groups offers many avenues to explore while planning and executing the R12 upgrade. Through these sources, I was able to determine the importance of having a pre- and post -upgrade checklist as well as what tools to use to create one.

Here at Los Alamos National Laboratory, we are pursuing a combination

O A U G S O l u T i O N 26

global solutions

Pre- and Post-Upgrade Functional Checklists Facilitate Oracle EBS Upgrades

By Christine Hipp, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Where do I start my Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) R12

upgrade, and how do I maximize its efficiency?

27 oaug.org


27

of all three of these knowledge areas in order to compile the most comprehensive pre- and post-upgrade step checklist. In doing the research, we determined that for our particular footprint, the following areas are critical to ensuring a usable post-upgrade environment:

If you are running Accounts Payable, it is critical that you run the 11i – Payables Accounting Health Check (ID 416699.1) and work to resolve issues with existing 11i data through Service Requests with Oracle Support prior to upgrading the data in R12. In 11i, this is run via SQL PLUS as APAtgHealthCheck.sql. Once in Release 12, it is run from the Oracle Diagnostics responsibility. You can upgrade without running the health check, but doing so can help you identify and eliminate the source of ongoing data corruption issues in your Accounts Payable environment into go live. Cleaning up this data in advance reduces the risk of corrupted AP data in your upgraded R12 environment.

Either before the clone is taken for upgrade, or in the cloned environment but before technical upgrade steps begin, it is key that functional staff ensure that all financial transactions are cleared out of the interface tables by running appropriate jobs and resolving errors.

In line with the above requirement, it is preferable to perform the upgrade at a fiscal period begin so as to be able to

completely close the financial month and clear out all transactions, moving into the new period clean so as not to encounter issues with transactions crossing from 11i to 12.

A functional decision needs to be made in the pre-upgrade steps as to the amount of Subledger Accounting data to be converted. As a default, the upgrade converts the data of the current fiscal year plus any necessary for the prior fiscal year to ensure that there are six periods included in the upgrade. If you want to convert more than this, then the DBAs need to apply patch 233248 to your Release 11i APPL_TOP and submit the SLA Pre-Upgrade program.

Delete custom folders from users and responsibilities to avoid corruption to these in the upgraded environment. It will be necessary to have users re-create any custom folders in the new R12 instance.

If you are running Oracle Enterprise Asset Management, you must have Install Base in your 11i environment before beginning the upgrade. For more information you can see Oracle Note ID 884201.1.

Identify key Oracle reports and queries to run, which will be used for post upgrade validation. For example, the Trial Balance Report and key queries on unpaid invoices, open purchase orders, vendor counts, number of projects, etc., are essential to run

against your 11i environment and then compare to queries run against your R12 instance when the technical upgrade is complete.

These are a few of the key, functional tasks to consider as you prepare your environment for upgrade. There are several ways to build this checklist for your company’s upgrade based on the specific EBS footprint at your site. The key is to create a detailed list of these activities and the appropriate timing for them in the upgrade, which will be reusable for each R12 instance built in the course of the project.

Christine Hipp is an Oracle financials

analyst and the finance lead for the Oracle

EBS R12 upgrade at Los Alamos National

Laboratory. She is on the OAUG board of

directors and has spoken at numerous OAUG

and Oracle conferences.

This article was originally

published by SearchOracle.com,

a TechTarget publication, and

is reprinted with permission.

So, where can you go for information to help you develop a

pre- and post-upgrade functional checklist?

The OAUG Conference Paper

Database is the answer. This

comprehensive resource contains

nearly 5,000 conference papers

and presentations from educational

events including the COLLABORATE

and OAUG Connection Point®

conferences since 2009.

Each paper or presentation

contains real-world information about

the use of Oracle Applications.

So, the next time you’re looking

for answers, check the OAUG

Conference Paper Database.

Simply go to oaug.org, click

on the Education and Events

tab and then choose Conference

Paper Database. The papers and

presentations are searchable in a

number of ways, including keywords,

abstract, conference name, user

community, conference track, and of

course, title, author and company.

Searching the OAUG Conference

Paper Database and browsing results

is free and available to everyone.

However, only employees of OAUG

member companies can download

the papers or presentations.

If your organization is not an

OAUG member, join online at

oaug.org/membership, or call

+1 404.240.0897 today so you

and your colleagues can start

using the OAUG Conference

Paper Database and all the other

benefits of OAUG membership.

28 O A U G M E M B E r B E N E F i T S

MEMBEr BENEFiT ShOWCaSE

MEMBEr BENEFiT ShOWCaSE


l Have you ever wondered how other companies handled their most recent upgrade?

l Have you ever wished you knew exactly how someone else uses a particular Oracle Application?

l Have you ever wanted to attend an OAUG conference but couldn’t get away?


The RighT Tools … aT YouR FingeRTips

oaug.org • +1 [email protected]

Are you searching for tools that can help you better manage your Oracle Apps?

Dial in for one of our free monthly oaug

orientation webinars to learn about educational and

networking opportunities for oracle applications

customers. great tools … at your fingertips.

Visit www.oaug.org/membership/orientation

for details.

$5OO AmEx gift cArd.

Attend an OAUg Orientation before december 31, 2013, and

you’ll be entered to win a

30

Update on Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

SWhat is a Special Interest Group (SIG)?

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are

user groups that bring together members

that share a common interest with specific

Oracle Applications products. SIGs

may also bring together members that

represent a specific industry, such as the

public sector or manufacturing. Additional

SIGs are affiliated in response to the

development and expansion of the family

of Oracle Applications. SIGs are open for

worldwide membership and operate online

communities, with many hosting meetings

at the annual COLLABORATE or Oracle

OpenWorld conferences.

A complete list of SIGs, upcoming

meetings, website addresses and contact

information is available at oaug.org under

the User Communities tab.

ADI SIG

AP SIG*

AR, Credit & Collections SIG

Archive & Purge SIG

Assets SIG*

BI Publisher SIG

Change Management SIG

Channel Revenue SIG

Communications Billing and

Revenue Management

(BRM) SIG

Communications MetaSolv

Solution SIG

Configurator SIG*

Consumer Goods SIG

Contracts SIG

Cost Management SIG*

Customer Experience

Community (CXC)

– CRM On Demand SIG

– Siebel SIG

Customization and Extension SIG

Database SIG*

Demantra SIG

Discrete Manufacturing SIG*

E-Business Applications

Technology SIG*

E-Business Suite SIG

E-Business Suite User

Management SIG*

EDI (e-Commerce Gateway) SIG

Endeca SIG

Energy & Utilities SIG

Engineering & Construction SIG

Enterprise Asset

Management (EAM) SIG*

Enterprise Visualization SIG

Federal SIG

Financial Services Industry SIG

Fusion Middleware SIG

General Ledger (GL) SIG*

Governance, Risk &

Compliance SIG

Government Contractor SIG

Higher Education SIG

Hyperion SIG*

Incentive Compensation SIG

K-12 Education SIG

Logistics SIG

Master Data Management SIG

Migration and Integration SIG

Multi-National/Multi-Org SIG

Oracle Agile/Enterprise PLM SIG

Oracle Business Intelligence

(OBI) SIG*

Oracle Primavera SIG (OPSIG)

Order Management &

Advanced Pricing (QP) SIG

Oracle Tax Management SIG

OTM SIG

Process Manufacturing SIG*

Procurement SIG

Projects SIG*

Property Manager SIG

Public Sector SIG*

Quality SIG

SysAdmin SIG

Treasury & Cash Management SIG

UPK SIG

Upgrade SIG*

Value Chain Planning SIG

Workflow SIG

2013 Special Interest Groups

* Special Acknowledgement 2013 OAUG Geo/SIG

Certificate of Distinction Award recipient

oaug sig update

oaug.orgO A U G g E O S & S i g S 30

31

A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY OAUG associate members have the

opportunity to host educational sessions,

which are held several times each month.

These interactive webcasts provide

information about a variety of products

and services that complement Oracle

Applications. Visit oaug.org and click

on the “Partners” tab for details.

If you are an Associate member of the OAUG and

would like to host a Vendor Awareness session, visit

oaug.org and click on the “Partners” tab, or send an

e-mail to [email protected], or call +1 404.760.8179.

OAUG Vendor Awareness Sessions

Reserve your session today!

appAUGMENTER

New generation data conversion tool for Oracle EBS 11i/R12

CHAIN SYS•

Dynamic Validations and Actions

No programming and no costly OAF pageCustomizations

Power of Custom.pll and Zoom for OAF

Fields: hide, make mandatory, make read only, create list of values, change case, change title, add noti�cation etc.

Rules based on Site, Organization, Responsibility or User

SOX compliance made easy

Upgrade/Patch proof

TM

Dynamic Personalizationfor Oracle E-BusinessSuite OAF Pages

CHAIN SYS•www.chain-sys.com 1-855-appLOAD Option [email protected]

GWhat is a Geographic User Group (Geo)? Geographic user groups (Geos) are independent OAUG affiliated user

groups that bring together a variety of Oracle Applications users within

a defined geographic region. Geos create opportunities for members to

discuss a variety of applications and share ideas. Currently, the OAUG has

Geo affiliates in the continental United States, Canada, AsiaPac, Latin

America and EMEA.

There are many benefits of membership and participation in a user’s

local Geo. These benefits include:

l Communication with OAUG members to learn tips and tricks for

installation, integration, utilization and maintenance of Oracle

Applications.

l Knowledge of best practices from colleagues utilizing Oracle

Applications.

l Local meetings and training sessions featuring Oracle experts.

l Direct access to local Oracle management and much more.

A complete list of Geo groups, upcoming meetings, website

addresses and contact information is available at oaug.org under the

User Communities tab.

Update on Geographic User Groups (Geos)

2013 Geographic User GroupsAtlanta OAUG*AUSOUG (Australia)British Columbia OAUGCalgary OAUGCentral States OAUG*Colorado OAUGDC-OAUGEastern States OAUGFlorida OAUG*German Oracle Users Group (DOAG) Heartland OUGIndia OAUG*Israel Oracle Users Group (ilOUG) Japan-OAUGLatin OAUG*Michigan OAUG*Mid-Atlantic OAUGMiddle East OUGNetherlands OAUGNevada OAUG* New England OAUG*New Jersey OAUGNew South Wales OAUGNorth Central OAUG*Northern California OAUG*Northern Ohio OAUG*Northwest OUGNYC Metro OAUG (New York City)Ohio Valley OAUG*ORAUG-BrazilPittsburgh OAUGQueensland OAUGSan Diego OAUGSouth Central OAUGSouth Texas OAUGSouthern Australia OAUGSouthern Ontario OAUGSouthwest Regional OAUG*Twin Cities Financials OAUGTwin Cities Manufacturing OAUGVictorian OAUGWestern Australia OAUG

* Special Acknowledgement – 2013

OAUG Geo/SIG Certificate of

Distinction Award Recipient

Geos and SIGs serve the grassroots of the Oracle

community and offer additional educational

opportunities and new product enhancements through

their links with Oracle Corporation.

oaug geo update

oaug.orgO A U G g E O S & S i g S 32

2013 Edition

usersapplications

the source for

oracle

Let the OAUG help you find the products and services that can help you improve the use and management of Oracle products in your organization.

Visit oaug.org to access the 2013OAUG Buyer’s Guide. Browse the searchable online listings forup-to-the-minute information.Or download a copy.

Contact [email protected] for details.

34 O A U G g E O S & S i g S

oaug geo spotlight

oaug.org

T The Ohio Valley Oracle

Applications User Group (OVOAUG)

is a group of financial, accounting,

manufacturing and information

systems professionals dedicated

to increasing Oracle customers’

knowledge and understanding of

Oracle Applications. Serving an

audience located primarily in southern

Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, the

OVOAUG addresses topics related

to the installation, implementation,

configuration, support and future

direction of Oracle Applications

and supporting products.

OVOAUG regional conference

events are held three times a year,

typically in February/March, June and

September/October. These full-day

events feature a keynote speaker who

may be an Oracle expert, motivational

speaker, local celebrity or executive.

Following the keynote presentation,

attendees can attend education

sessions in parallel interest

tracks developed for

Oracle E-Business

Suite, Hyperion

and CRM users.

The OVOAUG encourages Oracle

customers/users to present sessions

or lead panel discussions at its

regional conferences to facilitate the

sharing of real-world experiences

and successes among fellow Oracle

Applications users. Dedicated

discussion tables set up during lunch

provide opportunities for attendees

with similar interests or

challenges to network with

like-minded peers.

Experts from

Oracle and the vendor

community also support

OVOAUG events by

working with the

OVOAUG to identify

timely topics of

interest, obtain speakers,

provide sponsorship support

and promote the events.

OVOAUG conference events

take place throughout the Ohio

Valley region. Corporate event hosts

include the Cincinnati Public Schools,

Humana, LexisNexis, Louisville Gas

& Electric, NCR and Papa Johns.

The first-ever event in Indianapolis

is planned for October 2013.

In addition to its own regional

meetings, the OVOAUG and its

members regularly present

at Oracle OpenWorld,

COLLABORATE and OAUG

Connection Point® conferences.

Since its inception in 1998,

the OVOAUG has been an Oracle

Applications Users Group

(OAUG) affiliated Geographic

User Group (Geo) and maintains

an in-compliance good standing. The

OVOAUG earned the distinguished

OAUG Geo/SIG Certificate of

Distinction award in 2012 and 2013.

The OVOAUG is led by a volunteer

board of directors. Elections for

board positions are held twice

each year on a rolling basis.

Visit ohio.oaug.org to review the

meeting calendar for the remainder

of 2013, submit white papers

and proposals for a presentation

at an upcoming meeting, access

presentations from past meetings

Ohio Valley OAUG (OVOAUG)

“ “I’m proud to be associated with an energetic group of fellow

volunteers, supporting an active member base where we continue to

see year-over-year membership growth. There’s excitement and energy

around our newer interest tracks including CRM, and our dynamic

keynote speaker program featuring unique professional development

opportunities. We are excited to host our next event in Indianapolis and

hope to further expand interest in that geography.

– OVOAUG President Jon Riley

”

and find out how to participate with this dynamic

group. Oracle users, IT management, consultants

and sales/marketing professionals connected

to the Oracle marketplace are invited to join.

Contact Jon Riley, [email protected],

if you require

additional

information.

oaug.org

CSS customers accomplish things they never thought they could by using analysis tools and services from CSS.

Understand your upgrade requirements.

Call 800-814-7705 or visit www.cssus.com

Need to pull off something amazing with your technology?

Upgrade to Release 12

Ohio Valley OAUG

Board of Directors: l President, Jon Riley, AXIA Consulting

l Hyperion Speaker Coordinator,

Subrata Debnath, Analysis Express

l Communications Coordinator,

Carole Landgrebe, Intelligrated l Treasurer, Hildy McNulty,

Toyota Boshoku America

l eBusiness Speaker Coordinator,

Dan Patterson, AXIA Consulting l Vendor Coordinator, Jeremy

Raucci, Teradata

l Facilities Coordinator, Diana

Wainscott, GE Appliances

Mission Statement: The general purposes

and objectives of the OVOAUG are

to inform and educate our members

on topics relevant to the installation,

implementation, configuration, support and

future direction of Oracle Applications and

supporting products while providing and

facilitating a regional forum for professional

networking among peers to share their

experience and knowledge.

Website: ohio.oaug.org

36 O A U G M E M B E r S h i p oaug.org 36

global users

FFor this issue of OAUG Insight,

we want to publicly acknowledge

the contributions to the Oracle

community by Kevin Brownlie, a man

who is exceedingly active in every

sense of the word. A kayaker, biker,

hiker, rugby player and traveler, this

man takes the word active to the

next level. But in our minds, the

most obvious way he showcases

his active spirit is in his OAUG

membership, namely serving on the

OAUG Customer Support Council.

As the senior director for business

applications and technology for

Hologic, Inc., Kevin started his active

membership within the OAUG almost

12 years ago just before the company

rolled out Oracle E-Business Suite.

He said that becoming a member of

the OAUG was one of the smartest

decisions the company has made

in terms of making that transition.

As his experience working with

Oracle E-Business Suite grew, Kevin

became more and more interested

in sharing successes and seeking

resolutions to implementation

challenges with other users and with

Oracle. This led him to the OAUG

Customer Support Council, where he

has been an active member during

the last four years. He says the OAUG

Customer Support Council offers a

very effective way for users to work

directly with Oracle Support to voice

their needs and make a difference.

“Oracle not only uses the council

as a sounding board, but takes into

careful consideration our concerns,

big and small, which oftentimes

leads to positive change. One such

example is when Oracle waived the

Extended Support Fees for Oracle

E-Business Suite customers based

on our feedback,” said Kevin. “It

is not one person’s voice; there

are many collectively promoting

ways to constantly improve. And

Oracle listens, which makes this

forum especially powerful.”

Kevin is also an active member

of the Oracle Usability Advisory

Board, an Oracle Customer Advisory

Board (CAB), which is a direct

communications channel to Oracle

for improving the user experience.

By taking advantage of these two

channels, he can share important

updates and topics between groups.

Kevin strongly encourages

members to get the most out

of their OAUG membership and

the inherent benefits it offers.

“The countless educational and

networking opportunities available are

invaluable, and it offers direct access

to influential Oracle executives.

The OAUG represents users in the

real world, with similar challenges

and frustrations, and brings them

together to learn from one another’s

experience. You’re never alone in

the OAUG; there is always someone

else dealing with the same issues.”

OAUG Member Snapshot:Kevin Brownlie

“ It is not one person’s voice;

there are many collectively

promoting ways to constantly

improve. And Oracle listens,

which makes this forum

especially powerful. ”

“ The OAUG represents users

in the real world, with similar

challenges and frustrations,

and brings them together

to learn from one another’s

experience. ”

A Lot Can Happen in Two Days.

Learn more at cp.oaug.org

Register now, and join us for networking, collaboration and education focused onimplementing, supporting and maintaining Oracle E-Business Suite, Enterprise Performance Management,and Business Intelligence systems.

OAUG Connection Point® – EPM/BI/EBS 12.XOctober 21-23, 2013 • Hiltona Alexandria Mark Center • Washington, DC

Educational sessions will be offered in the following tracks:

Business Intelligence:• Oracle Business Intelligence Tools and Technology (OBIEE)• Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA)• Big Data• Endeca Information Discovery (Unstructured Data) Enterprise Performance Management:• Oracle Hyperion Financial Close and Reporting• Oracle Hyperion Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting• Oracle Business Intelligence/Essbase• Emerging Products and Technologies• Infrastructure/Technical Oracle E-Business Suite:• Oracle E-Business Suite Technical• Oracle E-Business Suite Functional• Oracle E-Business Suite Strategy and Roadmap

Presented by: OAUG, DC-OAUG, and the OAUG Hyperion, OBI and Upgrade SIGs

For more information, or to register now:

NEW THIS YEAR:Half-day pre-conference workshops that

dive deeper into the three key learning areas

will be offered on October 21. You can

register for these workshops when

you register for the main event.

global users

O A U G M E M B E r S h i p 38

Returning Associate Members:AccentureCedarCrestoneCentric Consulting

Returning User Members:@HomeAAR Corp.Accellent, Inc.Accenture JapanAccenture NetherlandsAchmea ActiveAchmea ArboAchmea CBACI WorldwideActewAGLActuant Corp.Aegon Nederland N.V.Aker Kvaerner B.V.AKZO Diosynth B.V.Alpha Natural ResourcesAltasenAlysisAmeriCredit Corp.Amerifit Brands, Inc.AMIS Services B.V.APJ, Oracle Competence CentreAppsTec InternationalAPRO Consulting Services B.V.ArboNedArcher Daniels Midland Co.ArvinMeritor B.V.ASCO Controls B.V.Associated Wholesalers,

Inc. (AWI)Atos Origin Nederland B.V.Atos Origin Telco ServicesATOS TSSAVRAVR Afvalverwerking RijnmondAxiomaBahwan CyberTek Inc (BCT)Belonje ConsultingBoral Ltd.Bridging Solutions B.V.Bryant & Stratton CollegeBuma StemraCanon Business SolutionsCanon Europa N.V.Cap Gemini Ernst & Young B.V.Capgemini NetherlandsCarnival Corporation & PLCCasema N.V.Catharina Ziekenhuis

Centraal Boekhuis B.V.Centraal Bureau voor

de StatistiekCentraal Justieel

Incasso BureauCentrum voor Werk en InkomenChellomediaChromalloy Holland B.V.City of LakelandCity of Virginia BeachCochlear Limited – AustraliaColonial Pipeline CompanyCredit Acceptance CorporationCreighton UniversityCTACurtin University of TechnologyCWICXO SolutionsCXtecCZ Actief in GezondheidD.I.S.C.DCMR Milieudienst RijnmondDeloitte Consultancy

– NetherlandsDen Oudsten Bussen B.V.Denso International AmericaDepartment of CommerceDevelopment Alternatives,

Inc. (DAI)Development Dimensions

Int’l (DDI)Diebold EMEA LogisticsDuijvelaar Pompen B.V.Dutch Ministry of Foreign AffairsE-Business Solutions GroupEbsconEetayElcaro ConsultancyEnterprise ProductsEquens Nederland B.V.Erasmus Medical Center

RotterdamErnst & Young EDP Audit

– NetherlandsEssent Kabelcom B.V.FAIR Information Services B.V.Fair Isaac CompanyFairbanks Morse EngineFit for Finance B.V.Fjell International B.V.Fujitsu Services B.V.Gallup (Technology)Geesink Norba Group B.V.Gemeente Rotterdam,

BestuursdienstGemeentewerken RotterdamGeneral Electric (GE)Genpak LLCGEOS IT Professionals B.V.GEOS.nlGetredid

GetronicsGlobal Knowledge .Graco Inc.GrontmijGulf AirHansen CorporationHerff Jones, Inc.Het Nederlandse Rode KruisHitachi Data Systems

Europe B.V.Home B.V.Honeywell B.V.Hoogheemraadschap De

Stichtse RijnlandenHuhtamaki OyjHuxley AssociatesICLICT-OKE BVIFN FinanceilionXILOIncore Solutions B.V.Infotec Nederland B.V.Infratects B.V.ING / OPS&ITInter AccessInteractive Data CorpInterpharm Groep B.V.ISIT B.V.IT LogistiekIT4FinanceJiL Consult B.V.Johnson County KansasKB3KCI Europe Holding B.V.Kema Nederland B.V.koker communicatieKoninklijke Boskalis

Westminster N.V.Koninklijke Mosa B.V.KPMG MeijburgKPMG NetherlandsKPN FISKPN IT4CMKRAMP Groep B.V.KSI International N.V.Kuipers CVKLandcorpLandgateLas Vegas Valley Water DistrictLasaulec B.V.Leiden Univ.Life Fitness Shared

Services Center B.V.LogicaCMGLogicaCMPLVNLManagement Control

& AccountingMark Gurry & AssociatesMarquette University

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

McGrath RentCorpMCX Administration

Services B.V.MediaCompetence B.V.Medical College of WisconsinMedisch Centrum HaaglandenMercury MarineMichael Baker CorporationMinisterie van

Buitenlandse ZakenMKS Instruments, Inc.N.O.S.N.V. OrganonNational Aerospace

Laboratory (NLR)National Federation

of Independent Business (NFIB)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

NCCWNederlands Normalisatie-

instituutNederlandse StaatsloterijNetApp – NetherlandsNYC School Construction

AuthorityO.C.P.Ontraq ICT Solutions B.V.Onze Lieve Vrouwe GasthuisOPEX CorporationOraOne B.V.OraSolutions B.V.Organization for Security and

Co-Operation (OSCE)Orscheln Farm&HomeOverhead Door CorporationPA Consulting Services B.V.Panama Canal AuthorityPanggih UnitedParadigmParamelt B.V.Philips Business

CommunicationsPlantronics B.V.Princess Cruisesprovincie DrentheProvincie Gelderland,

Afd. DS/IT/ASPublic Works RotterdamQualogy ApplicationsQualogy Applications B.V.Qualogy Consultancy B.V.Quest DiagnosticsQuobell B.V.RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland)Regina Public SchoolsRes-Q Consulting Services B.V.Rivas Zorggroep

Royal Boskalis Westminister N.V.

Royal Mosa B.V.San Diego State UniversitySantos Ltd.Scamander SolutionsScanmarSchiphol GroupSchuitemaSchuitema NV, afd. IM-FEZSealed Air CorporationSensata Technologies

Holland B.V.SGS Nederland B.V.Siemens MI-PETNet SolutionsSmit InternationalSodaclub International B.V.Softbank Telecom Co. – JapanSPS GensysSQL Integrator B.V.SRA(Europe) B.V.State Compensation

Insurance FundStichting Artsen zonder

GrenzenStichting Gezondheidszorg

Oostelijk Zuid-LimburgStichting Meander

Medisch CentrumStryker SASunflower Electric Power

CorporationSynventive Molding

Solutions B.V.Teradyne, Inc.Teva Pharmaceuticals USAThales NederlandThe Wendy’s CompanyTiscaliTopConsultToshiba Medical Systems

Europe B.V.Tracklane B.V.Transfer-SolutionsTransport & Logistiek/

FreelanceTriangle GroupTweeSteden ZiekenhuisTyco Valves & Controls EuropeUMC St RadboudziekenhuisUniversity of Bergen/

Uni ResearchUniversity of OsloUniversity of TwenteUnocal Netherlands B.V.UPCUPC NederlandVeenman B.V.Vertis B.V.Videojet Technologies

Europe B.V.

New and Returning Members

oaug.org

The OAUG welcomes the following new and

returning members who joined May 1, 2013,

through June 30, 2013.

VNUVodafoneVU Medisch CentrumVVAA Groep B.V.WE EuropeWeir Minerals Netherlands B.V.Welzorg B.V.Wesco Distribution, Inc.Westpac Banking CorporationZiekenhuis Gelderse ValleiZorggroep Suydevelt

New Associate Members:Alvarez & MarsalFujitsu America, Inc.

New User Members:AAI CorporationAderans Co., Ltd. – JapanAlcoa World Alumina AustraliaAmerican Municipal

Power (AMP)AMICOAurora Public SchoolsAvon Products Co., Ltd. JapanBob Evans Farms, Inc.Calsonickansei

Corporation – JapanCentral Bank of Trinidad

and TobagoCentral Glass Co., Ltd. – Japan

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. – Japan

Citigroup, Inc.City of OaklandCobham Plc.Coloplast K.K. – JapanDepartment of Transport WADJOErnst & Young – JapanFederated Investors Inc.Food and Agriculture

Organization (FAO)Fujifilm ComputerSystem

Co. – JapanGamakatsu Co., Ltd. – JapanGroup Publishing, Inc.Group Voyagers, Inc.HART (Honolulu Authority for

Rapid Transportation)

Hawaiian AirlinesHitachi Solutions – JapanIBM Australia LimitedIHI Compressor and Machinery

Co., Ltd. – JapanIsetan Mitsukoshi Holdings

Ltd. – JapanJEAJupiter Shop Channel

Co., Ltd. – JapanKohl’s Department StoreMisumi Group, Inc. – JapanOIA Global LogisticsPanasonic Electric Works

Information Systems Co.Panaya Inc. Japan OfficePTI Technologies, Inc.Q and A Corporation – JapanQOL. Co., Ltd. – Japan

Realogy Corp.RGISRiken Technols

Corporation – JapanRisingsun Planning Co.,

Ltd. – JapanSchneider NationalSource Interlink companiesSouth African Reserve BankTaiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. – JapanTDK – Lambda

Corporation – Japantheflag – JapanTRINIFY K.KUniversity of Northern IowaValsparVille de Québec – IT Dept.YP LLC

oaug.org 39

oaug strategies

40 V E N D O R C O r N E r

vendor corner

40

Editor’s NotE: the Vendor Corner section of OAUG Insight provides information on products from oAUG vendor members. the oAUG does not specifically endorse any product or service from any of our vendor members. vendor corner

By Chris Meyer, President, Americas, at Excel4apps

LEVEL fiVE

Excel4appsis a 2013 oAUG star Partner

special Advertising section

s a provider of life sciences solutions to researchers

worldwide, Taconic Inc. supports living cell studies and drug discovery through seven breeding facilities and three service labs in the U.S. and Europe. The company has 750 global employees.

A

Taconic Takes Charge of Oracle R12 Reporting with GL Wand from Excel4apps

oaug insight l spring 2008

41

Taconic implemented Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) R12 throughout its U.S. operations during 2009 but soon realized some shortcomings in its reporting capabilities. Taconic’s Finance team at the Hudson, NY, headquarters found that creating standard monthly reports was a challenging multi-step process. It involved use of standard Oracle Financial Statement Generator (FSG) reports to access GL data, which was then published to Excel for further manipulation and formatting. While this process was less than optimal, the company’s even bigger frustration came when creating relevant management reports. “Standard Oracle FSGs were limited and difficult to use in general, and they were often too high level for our managers, who preferred information about underlying transactions to compare actuals vs. budget for individual sites and functions,” said Rodney Tillinghast, corporate controller, Taconic. Even with a cumbersome workaround through Taconic’s old F9 data warehouse software, managers still did not see the level of detailed information they were accustomed to before Oracle was implemented. Finance also tried “cobbling” pivot tables out of FSGs, along with other attempts at extracting data.

Free Trial of Excel-based Tool A year after implementing Oracle in the U.S., Taconic discovered GL Wand, an Excel-based financial reporting tool from Excel4apps. Via a direct link between Oracle and a user-friendly Excel front end, GL Wand provides immediate access to real-time

GL data without a data warehouse, as well as instant drill-down functionality for accessing the transactional details managers were requesting. After a free trial, Taconic recognized GL Wand’s potential for accelerating its month-end and management reporting processes. There was some internal pushback, however. “In addition to concerns that GL Wand might impact general Oracle performance, there were many who felt that Oracle should do everything for us,” Tillinghast described. GL Wand installed quickly, though, and initial concerns were soon put to rest. A user test group of five quickly picked up on using GL Wand, with the help of webinars and training conference calls from Excel4apps. The team realized that GL Wand not only could replace and improve upon FSGs for monthly reporting, it could also delve into GL details for managers. Within hours of basic GL Wand training, Taconic’s financial analysts had access to information that the IT group had struggled to drill into with Oracle Discoverer.

Tool for Auditing, too Taconic also found key audit benefits from the new solution. Because Taconic’s auditors recognized that GL Wand is an Oracle Validated Integration solution, the finance group

can provide the auditors with trial balances for any set of global books directly out of GL Wand by setting up a GL criteria sheet, updating it and sending it back to them. “GL Wand gives auditors the assurance that they have as much mastery over every balance as we do,” Tillinghast said. “Before GL Wand, we were doing Excel pivot tables out of a text report from Oracle. Every refresh took an hour to prepare, including time for quality checks. Now, it’s a five-minute job from beginning to end.”

New Level of Stability GL Wand solved reporting problems for Oracle users at Taconic. “We’ve reached a level of stability in our reporting now where almost all of our reports are standardized and it’s just a matter of refreshing them,” said Tillinghast. “GL Wand allows us to continually improve our monthly reports, as well as the level of information provided.”

Chris Meyer is President, Americas,

at Excel4apps, a provider of Excel-

based reporting, inquiry and budget

uploading solutions for Oracle

E-Business Suite. Contact Chris at

[email protected] or visit

www.excel4apps.com/oracle to access

a free trial of the GL Wand solution

today.

oaug.org 41

special Advertising section

GL Wand provided an immediate

improvement in both quality of information

and efficiency, helping drive at least 4-5

days out of our monthly closing process ...

– Rodney Tillinghast, Corporate Controller, Taconic

42

Trends in IT for Financial Services: Increasing Transparency and Accountability

oracle directions

By Maneesh Chhabra

O A U G C O N N E C T i V i T y

he demands on financial institutions are two-fold: increase

transparency and do more with less. Modernizing IT systems and creating centralized accounting platforms and single sources of truth can help meet both demands. Financial statements of large banks are opaque

and do not provide an accurate, complete picture

of the business; this perception appears to be

growing. Regulators are becoming increasingly

active and demanding more transparency and

disclosures. International Financial Reporting

Standards (IFRS) for United States-based financial

services entities is gaining pace. Externally focused

segment reporting requirements are also likely to

add to the already onerous reporting burden.

As a result, leaders in the finance function

of large financial institutions are being asked to

deliver on major transformation priorities. CFOs

of financial institutions are focused on improving

the scalability of the finance function’s systems and

processes, enhancing data integrity and operational

visibility for the business, and sustaining employee

engagement while reducing overall operating costs.

Heads of shared services and accounting operations

are focusing on reducing the burden of manual and

complex accounting processes, such as reconciliations

and intercompany transactions. IT leaders are also

under pressure to do more with less by reducing system

complexity and sprawl across the finance IT ecosystem.

Many financial institutions are modernizing

critical parts of their financial data supply chain that

originate in the source systems, travel to the corporate

general ledger (GL) and then get transmuted for

financial and management reporting paths. These

institutions are deploying data governance initiatives and

implementing next-generation finance and accounting

platforms to enable their transformation journey.

Finance Function Challenges Accounting operations and the financial data

pathways leading into and out of the GL have grown

over the years to integrate large numbers of source

systems and accounting sub-systems in line-of-business

(LOB) organizations. This ecosystem has evolved

over the years to a point where a high degree of

complexity drives some of the following pain points:

l Finance systems architecture: Multiple

LOB-level accounting systems and source

systems that push data into the GL, multiple data

repositories and extensive custom applications

and integrations drive up the cost of finance IT.

42

T

l Process complexity: Extensive manual

processes, a large number of manual controls and

significant effort on manual reconciliations and

adjustments cause upstream and downstream

users of financial data to spend significant time

collecting data instead of doing analysis.

l Scalability and change management: Accounting rules are

implemented in various source systems,

which makes enforcing corporate accounting

standards difficult and IT change management

costly. This architecture reduces flexibility to

respond to a changing regulatory and business

environment; in addition, new acquisitions

require more effort to be integrated.

l Data granularity: As the financial transaction

data travels from upstream users (LOB source

systems and division-level accounting systems)

to downstream users (corporate general

ledger, management reporting and consolidation

platforms), it loses context and details. This

lack of granularity adds to manual controls

and increases error risks and audit costs.

l Reporting and data credibility: Many

institutions lack a single, credible source of

financial data and have limited self-service

reporting capability, resulting in long lead times

for new operating reports for the business. In

addition, parallel data paths for finance, risk and

management reporting can lead to meaningful

differences in outputs that reduce data confidence

and require additional work to reconcile.

There are a number of steps business and IT

leaders can take to address these challenges.

1. Establish a single source of centralized accounting truth.

Thin ledger architecture at the corporate level

reduces complexity and accelerates closing cycle

times. However, the trade-offs involved in a

thin ledger architecture can reduce flexibility and

operational visibility for LOB and downstream

users, who need to drill into additional details.

Leading financial institutions are streamlining

the data flow of financial data from source

systems into the GL by deploying a single

source of accounting truth that sits between

various source systems and the corporate GL.

Trends in IT for Financial Services: Increasing Transparency and Accountability

oaug.org

Forward-thinking

managers at leading

financial institutions are

creating a single source

of accounting truth for

multiple external and legacy

systems using business-user

defined accounting rules.

43

44

oaug.org

From Oracle’s Profit magazine, reprinted with permission.

oaug.org

2. Reduce data breaks and improve drive transparency.

The centralized accounting platform also

enables drill-back from the GL to details in the

sub-ledger/accounting repository to facilitate

reconciliations. It should deliver enriched

financial transaction with additional attributes and

reference data to support various upstream and

downstream consumers of the GL data.

3. Transform the reporting infrastructure. The detailed sub-ledger and accounting

data repository can be exposed to business

and downstream users through robust data

warehouse and self-service reporting tools.

Forward-thinking managers at leading financial

institutions are creating a single source of accounting

truth for multiple external and legacy systems using

business-user defined accounting rules. These

are based on a centralized accounting platform,

significantly reducing manual effort on reconciliation

and adjustments across the board. This will lead to

improved time to market for operational reporting

and enhanced data integrity, a reduced number of

manual controls and error risk, and reduced IT costs.

Maneesh Chhabra is a director of Industry Strategy

and Insight at Oracle.

45

www.chain-sys.com 1-855-appLOAD Option [email protected]

Copyright © 2013 Chain-Sys Corporation. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

CHAIN SYS•

appLOAD Suite

Save on BudgetMinimize Data RisksShorten Cutover Time


CHAIN SYS

New generation data interface tool for Oracle EBS 11i/R12

TM

CHAIN SYS

New generation data migration tool for Oracle EBS 11i/R12

CHAIN SYS

TM

New generation business intelligence tool for Oracle EBS

CHAIN SYS


CHAIN SYS

appMIGRATE TM

Instant Relief for Data Migration Pain

SolutionMigrationRequirementGathering

MigrationDesignDe�nition

UATCutover andGo-Live

Timeline with Traditional Development

SITSolutionBuild

Timeline with appMIGRATETM

UATCutover andGo-Live

SITAnalysis,Con�g.and UnitTesting

MigrationReq.Gathering

Accelerated Data Migration for Oracle E-Business Suite

400+ Extract/Load Adapters

Master, Transactional & Setup

No Programming Needed

Simple Con�gurations

Intuitive and easy to use

Available in SaaS and Cloud

Java/J2EE Technology

Migration in less than 4 weeks

4 TB + high data volume

Reduce DB size to a tenth

Single shot - million+ records

Easy Scheduling

Extensive Audits

Supports SOX Compliance

Data Pro�ling and Cleansing

Transform and Consolidate

TM

Project driven? Entrust your business systems to usProject Partners is the global leader in optimizing business processes and IT investments within project-driven organizations.

Our business-process experts:

• Understand the challenges your project-centric organization faces

• Can help you improve processes and deploy technology to maximize project life cycle ROI

• Know how to leverage Oracle Primavera, Oracle ERP and NetSuite SRP applications

• Have developed products and solutions to support and augment your off-the-shelf products

• Are recognized as the Experts in Solutions for Project-Driven Organizations™

Partner with the company that knows your world.

www.ProjectP.com 1.650.712.6200

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ProjectPartners2013_OAUG_Ad.indd 1 6/19/13 2:45 PM

Documents

insight2013-q3complimentary