Safe Harbor June 2010 Final

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In This Issue Collaborate ‟10 Wrap Up 1 Karen Brownfield Receives OAUG Lifetime

Achievement Award 2 Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits 3 How Do I Add DFF to an HTML Form? 13 Solution Beacon Upcoming Events 19

The contents of this newsletter were contributed by Solution Beacon consultants who have accumulated extensive experience during the numerous installations, implementations, and upgrades of the various releases of the Oracle E-Business Suite of Applications that we have performed for our clients. We welcome your participation in this newsletter. To contribute on any E-Business Suite of Applications topic, please send your contact information, topic, and a short abstract to [email protected]. We also appreciate feedback from our readers if you have successfully or unsuccessfully implemented one of the suggestions from any of the newsletters. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated. Please send them via email to [email protected]. Prior editions of the Solution Beacon Newsletters are available for review at :http://www.solutionbeacon.com/tool_news.htm Special thanks to contributors Alyssa Johnson, Saray Rodriquez, Lisa Laine, Randy Giefer, and Susan Behn. Editors: Alysha Behn and Mary Lou Weiss. For the embedded links to work properly, this newsletter is best viewed using Adobe Reader Version 7 or higher.

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Collaborate ’10 Wrap Up

By Alyssa Johnson

COLLABORATE 10, held April 18-22 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center West in Las Vegas delivered on its promise of education, networking, and global community. With this year‟s attendance up more than 15 percent from last year, more members were present and took advantage of all that Collaborate had to offer. The conference began on Sunday, April 18, and Solution Beacon kicking off with one its hot topics, “Release 12 E-Business Tax Engine”. Next on our agenda was, Randy Giefer, who led the SysAdmin SIG meeting. Other Sunday highlights included the well-attended OAUG & IT Convergence Boot Camp Primer Workshops, and the Oracle Fusion Architecture: “Soup to Nuts” full-day symposium. The first day ended with OAUG‟s 20th Anniversary Celebration where our own Karen Brownfield received a Lifetime OAUG Service Award for 20 years of outstanding service and devotion to the OAUG. Congratulations Karen! Monday was a full day for Solution Beacon with 5 presentations ranging from “XML Publisher and FSG for Beginners” to “You vs The Bad Guys - The Top 10 List For Securing R12”, as well as Alyssa Johnson participating in the R12 Upgrade vs. Re-Implementation panel. The opening keynote was delivered by Oracle‟s President Charles Phillips (via satellite) and Oracle Executive Vice President, Product Development, Thomas Kurian on topics including improved functionality for existing applications, and vertically integrated technology from storage to applications. Monday evening, attendees got their first look at over 250 exhibitors in the Exhibitor Showcase. The Solution Beacon Relaxation Booth was hit with attendees as it helped relieve some of the stress from a full-week of classes, walking, and fun. Lisa Laine presented “How to Implement R11 and R12 Goodies: Documents of Record and Checklists”. Continued on Next Page

Solution Beacon, LLC 14419 Greenwood Ave N #332

Seattle, WA 98133 206-366-6606

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.solutionbeacon.com/tool_news.htm

http://www.solutionbeacon.com/

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Collaborate ’10, Continued from Page 1

This provided one of many aha moments attendees experienced throughout the conference. Many attendees at this session were not aware that documents of record functionality was available in R11.5.10 and was so easy to configure. Traffic continued to flow past the Solution Beacon booth with many attendees taking advantage of our FREE scorecard offering. Through a series of questions, attendees were able to take home with them an analysis of next steps for their organizations in areas such as Competitive Optimization, Functional and Process Issues, Customization Reduction, and System Optimization. Wednesday, we wrapped up our educational offerings with 4 presentations and 1 panel with titles ranging from “Planning for Release 12” to “Release 12 – A Technical Introduction”. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet many of you face-to-face and to discuss your E-Business Suite challenges and successes. For those that were unable to join us at Collaborate 10, all of our presentations are available on our website at http://solutionbeacon.com/ind_pres.htm. Our free scorecard offering is also still available via WebEx by contacting [email protected].

Karen Brownfield Receives OAUG Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Karen Brownfield on her recent Lifetime OAUG Service Award which was presented at Collaborate 2010. This award recognizes people who have provided 20 or more years of outstanding service and devotion to the membership of the Oracle Applications Users Group. OAUG commented, “Since 1990, Karen Brownfield has served as a volunteer in one capacity or another without interruption. She is a past president and board member and was so committed to the OAUG, she got married at the Hawaii conference as opposed to missing the event for her wedding!” Karen Brownfield has been with Solution Beacon since 2001 and has been recognized a number of times by Oracle and OAUG (including receiving the Oracle ACE award in 2009). Karen has made significant contributions at Solution Beacon in a multitude of projects. In fact, at the time of this award, Karen was currently in England on a project and unable to get to Collaborate because of airline delays with the volcano. No worries though! Solution Beacon was cheering you from across the world!

GREAT JOB Karen!! We’re very proud of you!!

http://solutionbeacon.com/ind_pres.htm


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By Lisa Laine

Making the transition from Oracle screens to Oracle tables can challenging. Beginners often spend hours with trial and error trying to relate the „front end‟ to the „back end.‟ This should help make that transition easier and highlights the items that I‟ve spent figuring out. In addition, although I‟m focusing on Benefits, the same concepts can be applied to Compensation Workbench plans and performance plans. Benefits can be broken down into 5 areas:

Date tracking

Understanding Benefits Terminology

Compensation objects

Enrollment information

Life events Date Tracking It isn‟t long until Oracle HR users understand that date tracking is a key component of the eBusiness suite HR module. This concept carries through to the underlying tables. Analysts and developers unfamiliar with the HR module are initially usually thrown off by the table structure of date tracked tables. Date tracked tables have three columns that serve as the primary key. Date tracked tables usually end in an „_F‟ and consist of a primary key, an effective start date and an effective end date. Queries need to use all three columns in order to ensure a unique records are retrieved. When creating queries in HR module, this is pretty manageable, but the large number of tables in the benefits application makes pulling queries pretty confusing. Let‟s look at an example of a date-tracked table. An employee has a person id, but then gets‟ married. We don‟t change the person id in HR, we annotate the date the change occurred and a new record is created. The „single‟ record is end dated the day before they got married and a new, „married‟ record is created using the date they did get married. So a person‟s date tracked record resembles the following:

Person_id Effective_start_date Effective_end_date Last Name Status

1234 1-Jun-05 7-Jul-05 Smith Single

1234 8-Jul-05 31-Dec-4712 Smith-Cox Married

Understanding Benefits Terminology The benefits tables are located in the BEN schema and have a lot of abbreviations that are not intuitive to the first time viewer. Understanding the abbreviations helps identify the purpose of the tables. Below is a list of terms that I found helpful to understand when I first started working with the benefits module.

Abbreviation Meaning Example

Opt Option EE Only, EE + 1

PL Plan Kaiser HMO

PL_type Plan Type Medical, Dental

PTIP Plan Type in Program Kaiser HMO in Healthy Benefits Program

OIPL Option in Plan EE Only in Kaiser HMO

OIPLIP Option in plan in program EE Only in Kaiser HMO in Healthy Benefits Program

Continued on next Page

Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits

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Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits, continued

Abbreviation Meaning Example

PRTT Participant A person in a program

LER Life Event Reason Married, New Hire

PER_IN_LER Person in Life Event Reason Jane Doe, Married Life event

ENRT Enrollment Kaiser Medical EE Only

ELIG, ELIGY Eligibility Full-time EE

PTNL_LER Potential Life event reason Married, New Hire

PRTT_ENRT_RSLT Participant Enrollment Result Jane elects Kaiser Medical EE Only

RT Rate Kaiser EE Only EE - $100/mo

CVRD Covered (usually dependent) Insurance covers Spouse, etc..

DPNT Dependent Spouse, child, etc

BNF Beneficiary

Compensation Objects In my experience in working with Oracle Benefits, I‟ve found that most of my time looking at tables is for one of three purposes/reports: participant enrollment and costs, process related reports, and setup documentation. We‟ve created queries to create & maintain our setup documentation (BR100) in Discoverer or Excel. If an organization has over 50 plans, it is easier to run queries rather than trying to maintain a single document. To simplify Oracle‟s data model I like to think of the organization in functional terms. I usually prepare a Visio diagram of the entire benefits program with eligibility profiles attached.

Underlying each one of these compensation objects are tables. Continued on Next Page

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Although I‟ve listed the base tables here, I prefer using the views because they already handle the complexity associated with the joining various comp objects. The eligibility profile screen has a lot of tabs on it and each tab and alternate region (drop down) has a table associated with it. This makes it very difficult to build queries. Here are a few tables. So I think of is almost a parent child relationship. The eligibility profile table is ben_eligy_prfl_f. Some of the tables that hold the details are:

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELCTBL_CHC_CTFN

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_AGE_CVG_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_AGE_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_ANTHR_PL_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_ASNT_SET_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_BENFTS_GRP_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_BRGNG_UNIT_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_CBR_QUALD_BNF_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_CMBN_AGE_LOS_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_COMP_LVL_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_COMPTNCY_PRTE_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_CVRD_DPNT_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_DPNT

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_DPNT_CVRD_OTHR_OIPL_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_DPNT_CVRD_OTHR_PGM_F

Copyright © 2007 by People ROA, Inc

Plan

Type

Enrollment

Options/

Premium/

CompanyPortion/

AssociateContribution

Plan /

Eligibility

Coverage

Part of Initial

waveOut of ScopeExploring options

To

Medical

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Medical

BC HMO BC

PPO

Benefits Program

Eligibility

Full-time 32 hrs, Non-union

-benefits eligibility override

group

Start: First of the month on or after event

following completion of waiting period

exception Birth of child

End: End of the month

To

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Start: First of the month on or after LE

following completion of waiting period

exception Birth of child

End: End of the month

Recommendation

Associate Only

Associate +

One

Family

Associate Only

Associate +

One

Family

Pacific Care

HMO CO

Associate Only

Associate +

One

Family

PacifiCare

HMO AZ

(may roll in elsewhere)

Eligibility

Plan Eligibility

PacifiCare

HMO CA

Associate Only

Associate +

One

Family

Associate Only

Associate +

One

Family

Waived

Eligibility

HMO CO

Eligibility

HMO CA

Ben_pgm_fBen_eligy_prfl_f

Ben_opt_f

Ben_oipl_f

(Ben_acty_base_rt_f)

Ben_pl_type_f

Ben_pl_f,

ben_plip_f

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TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIG_DPNT_CVRD_OTHR_PL_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIGY_PRFL_F

TABLE - BEN.BEN_ELIGY_PRFL_RL_F

Some of the tables hold the specific details such as ben_elig_enrld_anthr_pgm_f. While other serve as an intersection between the eligibility factors and the derived factors, such as age, length of service and compensation. An example of this is BEN.BEN_ELIG_LOS_PRTE_F, which connected the length of service derived factor to the table.

Enrollment information The enrollment results are the most important tables to become familiar with. This is where the coverage and rates are stored for a person. The entity relationship diagram is located below.

Continued on Next Page

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Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits, continued The tables critical to tracking to look out for are

1. BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F – Stores enrollment results for a person - Oracle definition - BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F identifies the plans or option in plans in which a participant is enrolled, either through explicit election or due to system default/automatic enrollments. It always identifies a plan and the life event reason, which, in this context may be an open enrollment that caused the enrollment. Also, where applicable, the elected program and option are identified.

2. BEN_PER_IN_LER – Person in life event reason (Voided)

3. BEN_PTNL_LER_FOR_PER – Potential life events for a person

4. BEN_PRTT_RT_VAL – Rate person enrolled in compensation object ** not date tracked and can result in overlapping rates ** 1. Rate Name stored in BEN_ACTY_BASE_RT_F

The participant enrollment result table BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F has 3 important pieces of information. First, it connects the person to the life event, the comp object, and the compensation level. Second it contains the coverage start, coverage end date and the benefit amount. Third, critical enrollment information can be found in the table as well. Some information that is critical to note for reports are the suspended enrollment flag, no longer eligible, override information (key for open enrollment), and the enrollment method. Regarding the rates table, a couple of things to look out for are: When rates and eligibility are defined, the user has the option of determining whether these are at the plan level, plan in program, option in plan, or option in plan in program. These are all different columns in the table. So a query for rates your query has to pull all of these factors if you want to replace the id numbers with more user friendly names. Here is one a basic troubleshooting query for enrollment information. SELECT bnft_amt , perf.person_id, perf.* FROM BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F perf ,PER_ALL_ASSIGNMENTS_F paaf WHERE perf.business_group_id = 101 and paaf.ASSIGNMENT_ID = 31809 and paaf.PERSON_ID = perf.PERSON_ID and sysdate between paaf.EFFECTIVE_START_DATE and paaf.EFFECTIVE_END_DATE and pl_typ_id = 2 and sysdate between perf.effective_start_date and perf.EFFECTIVE_END_DATE and sysdate between perf.ENRT_CVG_STRT_DT and perf.ENRT_CVG_THRU_DT ORDER BY perf.person_id, prtt_enrt_rslt_id This query gets to a more complex view of the data, but provides much more detail. Some interesting things to note are the use of CASE and the hr_bis.bis_decode lookup function. SELECT prv.rt_strt_dt prtt_rate_start_date, prv.rt_end_dt, prv.rt_ovridn_thru_dt,


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Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits, continued prv.elctns_made_dt, prv.rt_val mo_rate, prv.ann_rt_val, prv.cmcd_rt_val ppd_rate, prv.pp_in_yr_used_num, --prv.ordr_num,

--prv.pk_id_table_name, --hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_STAT', prv.prtt_rt_val_stat_cd) prtt_rt_val_stat_cd, --hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_RT_TYP', prv.rt_typ_cd) rt_typ_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_TX_TYP', prv.tx_typ_cd) tx_typ_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_ACTY_TYP', prv.acty_typ_cd) acty_typ_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_MLT', prv.mlt_cd) mlt_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_ACTY_REF_PERD', prv.acty_ref_perd_cd) acty_ref_perd_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_ENRT_INFO_RT_FREQ', prv.cmcd_ref_perd_cd) cmcd_ref_perd_cd, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', prv.dsply_on_enrt_flag) dsply_on_enrt_flag, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', prv.rt_ovridn_flag) rt_ovridn_flag_m, /* id columns */ prv.prtt_rt_val_id, prv.business_group_id, prv.prtt_enrt_rslt_id, prv.element_entry_value_id, prv.cvg_amt_calc_mthd_id, prv.actl_prem_id, prv.comp_lvl_fctr_id, prv.acty_base_rt_id, prv.per_in_ler_id, prv.ended_per_in_ler_id, pen.PTIP_ID, pen.PER_IN_LER_ID, PL_TYP_ID, ecd.DPNT_PERSON_ID, RPLCS_SSPNDD_RSLT_ID, /* who columns */ prv.last_update_date prtt_rt_update_date, prv.last_updated_by prtt_rt_update_by, pen.LAST_UPDATE_DATE enrt_update_date, pen.LAST_UPDATED_BY enrt_rt_update_by, /* datetrack columns */ pen.EFFECTIVE_START_DATE Enrollment_start_date, pen.EFFECTIVE_END_DATE enrollment_end_date, paf.effective_start_date assignment_start_date, paf.effective_end_date assignment_end_date, ppf.effective_start_date person_start_date, ppf.effective_end_date person_end_date, ppf2.effective_start_date contact_start_date, ppf2.effective_end_date contact_end_date, abr.effective_start_date rate_start_date, abr.effective_end_date rate_end_date, ecd.effective_start_date elig_dpnd_start_date, ecd.effective_end_date elig_dpnd_end_date, ENRT_CVG_STRT_DT, ENRT_CVG_THRU_DT, pen.PROGRAM_UPDATE_DATE, BNFT_AMT, ORGNL_ENRT_DT, ENRT_OVRID_THRU_DT, BNFT_ORDR_NUM, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_BNFT_TYP', pen.bnft_typ_cd) BNFT_TYP_CD_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_OVRID_RSN', pen.enrt_ovrid_rsn_cd) ENRT_OVRID_RSN_CD_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_STAT', Continued on Next Page

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“The participant enrollment result table BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F

has 3 important pieces of information. First, it connects the person to the life event, the comp

object, and the compensation level. Second it contains the coverage start, coverage end date and the

benefit amount. Third, critical enrollment information can be found

in the table as well.”

Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits, continued pen.prtt_enrt_rslt_stat_cd ) PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_STAT_CD_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('BEN_COMP_LVL', pen.comp_lvl_cd) COMP_LVL_CD_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', pen.sspndd_flag) SSPNDD_FLAG_M,

hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', pen.prtt_is_cvrd_flag) PRTT_IS_CVRD_FLAG_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', pen.enrt_ovridn_flag ) ENRT_OVRIDN_FLAG_M, hr_bis.bis_decode_lookup ('YES_NO', pen.no_lngr_elig_flag) no_lngr_elig_flag_M, pen.PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_ID, pen.PERSON_ID, ppf.last_name, ppf.first_name, ppf.employee_number, CASE WHEN (pen.pl_id IS NOT NULL) THEN ben_bis_utils.get_pl_name (pen.pl_id, 0, pen.effective_start_date ) ELSE NULL END PL_Name, CASE WHEN (pen.pgm_id IS NOT NULL) THEN ben_bis_utils.get_pgm_name (pen.pgm_id, 0, pen.effective_start_date ) ELSE 'Not In Program' END program_name, CASE WHEN (pen.oipl_id IS NOT NULL) THEN ben_bis_utils.get_oipl_name (pen.oipl_id, 0, pen.effective_start_date ) ELSE NULL END Option_Name, CASE WHEN (pen.ptip_id IS NOT NULL) THEN ben_bis_utils.get_ptip_name (pen.ptip_id, 0, pen.effective_start_date )

ELSE NULL END Plan_type_Name, Continued on Next Page

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abr.name, paf.organization_Id, hou.name org_name, ppf2.FULL_NAME contact_name FROM ben_prtt_enrt_rslt_f pen ,per_all_people_f ppf

,per_all_assignments_f paf ,hr_all_organization_units hou ,ben_prtt_rt_val prv ,ben_acty_base_rt_f abr ,ben_elig_cvrd_dpnt_x ecd ,per_all_people_f ppf2 Where ppf.person_id = pen.person_id AND ppf.person_id = paf.person_id AND paf.organization_id = hou.organization_id AND SYSDATE between paf.effective_start_date and paf.effective_end_date AND prv.PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_ID = pen.PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_ID AND SYSDATE between ppf.effective_start_date and ppf.effective_end_date --AND ppf.PERSON_ID = 5093 --and pen.ptip_id =2 AND abr.ACTY_BASE_RT_ID = prv.ACTY_BASE_RT_ID AND ppf2.PERSON_ID (+) = ecd.DPNT_PERSON_ID AND ecd.prtt_enrt_rslt_id (+) = pen.prtt_enrt_rslt_id --and pen.prtt_enrt_rslt_id = 8506 AND nvl(PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_STAT_CD, 'x') <> 'VOIDD' AND pen.ler_id=17

Life Events When working with benefits or compensation workbench life events information is being populated. With Standard Benefits and compensation workbench, I‟ve not found it critical to report on the life event tables, but they sometimes are helpful. Below is the ERD for the life events model. (Continued on Page 11)

“It’s not critical to report on life event tables but they are

sometimes helpful.”

Solution Beacon Wins Best Traffic Stopper 2nd year in a Row

OAUG continued it‟s tradition for the “OAUG Best of Show” award for COLLABORATE 10 exhibit booths and for the second year in a row, Solution Beacon was selected as Best Traffic Stopper for booths less than 200 SF. At the booth we received numerous compliments about the quality of our presentations. Our cohesive marketing message focused on updated service offerings that address today‟s business challenges. And if this wasn‟t enough, there was the relaxation room, which was quite popular and added to booth traffic!

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The core tables in the life event model are:

1. BEN_PER_IN_LER – (Oracle definition) - identifies all life events for a person, including identifying which life event, if any, is currently in progress for the specified person. This table differs from BEN_PTNL_LER_FOR_PER in that it identifies persons whose detected life events have been scrubbed by the manage life event processes and classified as legitimate or, through user input, have been created.

2. BEN_LER_F – Life event reason setup

3. BEN_LER_RQRS_ENRT_CTFN_F – Identifies those certifications required if a person experiences a life event.

4. BEN_LER_ENRT_CRTFN_F - identifies the types of certifications that may be required in order to enroll in a plan as a result of a specified life event.



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E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 Consolidated Upgrade Patch 1 Now Available

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 Consolidated Upgrade Patch (CUP1) is now available in My Oracle Support. This patch is now mandatory for customers who are upgrading to Release 12.1.1 from the following releases:

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i version 11.5.9 (base, CU1, CU2) Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i version 11.5.10 (base, CU1, CU2)

You can download it here:

Oracle E-Business Suite Consolidated Upgrade Patch 1 (CUP1) for R12.1.1 (Patch

7303029:12.1.0)

Sharath Viswanath was recent guest author on Oracles‟ blog's panel of guest authors and wrote a great article on this patch. Click here for the full article

Technical Foundation for Oracle Benefits, continued The life event triggers can be based off of any of the following tables:

Court Orders (BEN_CRT_ORDR) Covered Dependents (BEN_ELIG_CVRD_DEP_F) Eligible Dependents (BEN_ELIG_DEP) Benefit Balances (BEN_PER_BENFT_BAL_F) Enrollment Results (BEN_PRTT_ENRT_RSLT_F) Participant Rate (Enrolled) (BEN_PRTT_RT_VAL) Participant Leave of Absences (PER_ABSENCE_ATTENDENCES Participant Address (PER_ADDRESSES) Participant Assignment (PER_ALL_ASSIGNMENTS_F) Participant General Information (PER_ALL_PEOPLE_F) PER_ASSIGNMENT_BUDGET_VALUES_F Participant Contact Information (PER_CONTACT_RELATIONSHIPS) Participant Period of Service (PER_PERIODS_OF_SERVICE) Participant Person Type (PER_PERSON_TYPE_USAGES_F)

Conclusion There is a lot to consider when querying benefits information. Some key tips to remember are just about every enrollment table is date tracked or dated, so your reports need to narrow this information down. Watch out for the enrollment results that have been overridden or voided. There are views that take out the complexity of joining tables, but those come with a price. Bytes of information to help make Oracle easier

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleE-BusinessSuiteTechnology/~3/tbjdHA0-lcY/ebs_1211_cup1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

http://updates.oracle.com/download/7303029.html

http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/2010/03/ebs_1211_cup1.html

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By Saray Rodriguez

A recent project taught us that the simplest of solutions are often hard to find. We came across the need to add DFF (Descriptive Flex Field) to an internally used HTML OAF form. We spoke with Oracle, DB Managers and numerous levels of technical staff with no results. Solution Beacon consultant Kymberli Johnson provided a tip that the resolution probably involved something in the back end. Ultimately, it was Solution Beacon Consultant Jeff Holt who saved the day.

Jeff advised to turn off Personalizations (Profile Option: Disable Self-Service Personal), bounced the DB, and turn ON Personalizations. The DFF was there as if it was a no-brainer! Most likely, in the end, bouncing the DB was not required but the profile option was the final step in making the darn thing actually show up! The following shows a step by step process.

1. Sign on as ARC-Payables Navigator: Suppliers > Entry

2. Select Open (Button)


How Do I Add DFF to an HTML Form?

“…the simplest of solutions are

often the hardest

to find!”

Page 14

Adding DFF to HTML Form, continued:

3. Query Suppliers > Select Go (Button)

4. Select the Update icon for the specific Supplier

5. To Personalize select the link Personalize “Key Purchasing Setups”


Page 15

6. Select Create Item (to correspond to where DFF should be located – in this case, select first one (Default Single Column: Key Purchasing Setups)

7. Choose Item Style of Flex (to add Key or Descriptive Flexfields)


Page 16

8. Enter required fields

a. ID – Field Name (The name you want the field to be called – Site DFF in this case)

b. Appl Short Name – PO

c. Name – PO_VENDOR_SITES [THIS IS THE REGISTERED NAME FOR THE DFF] Navigator: Setup > Flexfield > Descriptive > Register

d. View Instance – SitesVO Navigator: Suppliers > Entry > Go > Update Supplier > About This Page [Link is at the bottom of the page] > Open Business Component References Details (expand) > View Objects


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NOTE: Only copy and paste: SitesVO (see red arrows above) DO NOT paste the complete value (i.e. oracle.apps.pos.supplier.server.SitesVO) – this complete value will cause the page/form to not publish and the form will no longer be available at all. If this occurs in error, do the following:

Login as System Administrator

Navigator: Profile > System

Enter the profile: Disable%Per%

9. Select Find (Button)


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Change at the Site Level

1. No – Personalization is turned on

2. Yes – Personalization is turned off

Once turned off, Navigate back to the page/form – the original page/form should now be published

Make the change(s) required

Turn personalization back on

10. Select Apply (Button) 11. Select Return to Application [Link]

DFF Fields should now be visible on form.

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SCOUG - Summer Training Day When: Monday June 7, 2010 8:30-3:45pm Where: Houston, TX – Marriott Houston North at Greenspoint Alyssa Johnson will be presenting “Release 12 Payments”, at this event, so don‟t miss it. Solution Beacon will also have a booth/table – please stop by.

OHUG – Oracle HCM Users Group Booth #106 & #108 When: June 13 – 16, 2010 Where: The Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas Nevada Lisa Laine will be co-presenting with Tetra Tech, Inc. - OAB Lessons Learned – How to Improve an Existing Set Up and Increase the Efficiency. This presentation will take place on Monday June 14

th from

2:15 – 3:15pm. Don‟t miss it!

NCOAUG When: June 14, 2010 Where: Worcester, MA http://www.neoaug.org/s2010/NEOAUG/NEOAUG_Home.html

Oracle Open World – Booth #3108 When: September 19 – 23, 2010 Where: Moscone Center – West Exhibition Hall Level 1 More to come….. Check the Solution Beacon (www.solutionbeacon.com) website for more information

Webinar – Oracle E-Business Learning When: Dates and Time vary- please check the Solution Beacon Website for the most up to date details Where: Via Oracle E- Business Learning http://archive.oaug.org/communications/publications/ednet/2010/2010-06.htm

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Presentation Title Presenter Time/Location

Release 12 Payments - The Centralization of Payment Processing This presentation will highlight the Oracle Release module. This new module supports both funds disbursement and funds capture. The discussion will focus not only on the benefits of centralization, but will illustrate the new payment factory model and the out-of-the-box support for funds capture. Several new user dashboards that will facilitate more efficient processing will be shown and discussed, as will the new setup form.

Alyssa Johnson

11:00-12:00pm PST Webinar Link https://meetingexpectations.webex.com/meetingexpectations/k2/j.php?ED=134251007&UID=927461632&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D&FM=1

Solution Beacon Upcoming Events

http://www.neoaug.org/s2010/NEOAUG/NEOAUG_Home.html

http://www.solutionbeacon.com/

http://archive.oaug.org/communications/publications/ednet/2010/2010-06.htm

https://meetingexpectations.webex.com/meetingexpectations/k2/j.php?ED=134251007&UID=927461632&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D&FM=1




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Webinar – Oracle E-Business Learning, continued

Thursday, June 10, 2010

BI Publisher Quick Start Guide Reports provided with E-Business are not often in the ideal format. The data is available but the users need different sorting or need to add logos, grafts and/or other data not included in the seeded report. Modifying the underlying Oracle Report code is difficult and time consuming. This presentation will focus on using a standard report from Oracle EBS and using BI Publisher to tailor the look of the report without customizing Oracle’s code. Bursting functionality will also be covered.

Susan Behn



Performance Management Trifecta! (Performance Appraisals, Compensation Workbench, and Total Compensation Statements) Are you leveraging you’re your Oracle E-Business suite investment by using the "Performance Management Trifecta" which consists of Performance Appraisals, Compensation Workbench, and Total Compensation Statements? The “Performance Management Trifecta” helps companies align, review, reward performance and then communicate the compensation results to their employees. This session will demonstrate how Oracle’s three 3 pieces of functionality: performance management plans and appraisals, compensation workbench and total compensation statements work together to help companies align, review, reward and retain employees.

Lisa Laine


Thursday, June 24, 2010

Competitive Optimization Get fresh ideas for optimizing Oracle E-Business Suite to help you increase your competitive advantage, improve sales, and cut costs with increased efficiencies. Join us and learn how to make a smaller yet smarter investment in your Oracle applications for a bigger return. Topics include improving cycle time such as quote to order, manufacturing and supply chain. Enhance cash flow management by converting quotes to sales faster, reducing accounts receivable outstanding by expediting billing and collections, and negotiating better terms by enhancing the payables and collections process. Provide expedited promise dates to customers with more accuracy, and gain greater visibility to order status and customer history. These are just a few of the scenarios that will be covered in the presentation.

Alyssa Johnson














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Customization Reduction with Forms and OA Framework Personalizations – R11i/R12 Learn how to reduce customizations by utilizing personalizations. Form Personalizations and OA Framework Personalizations allow E-Business Suite users to tailor the applications to meet specific business needs such as protecting sensitive data, validations, modified value lists and more. Specific examples and recommendations implemented at multiple client sites will be presented for both types of personalizations.

Susan Behn


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Planning for Release 12 Join us for this session as we explore what companies can do NOW to plan for a Release 12 upgrade or re-implementation. With 11i10 Premier Support ending November 2010, it is not too early to be drawing your company's roadmap to Release 12. Practical tips will be given to help you stay current, stay competitive, and stay connected.

Alyssa Johnson


Thursday, July 8, 2010

Maximize Efficiency of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i/R12 through Diagnostics The Diagnostic Tool includes tests to for users in virtually every area of the organization - functional (setups, processes, month end close), technical (analyze data integrity issues, data validation, purge opportunities), DBAs (security best practices, setup.) There is much more. Since troubleshooting scripts previously available only through SQL scripts are now part of the Diagnostic Tool, they can be run without technical assistance.

Susan Behn



You vs. The Bad Guys – The Top 10 List For Securing R12 There are many, many things to consider when securing your organization’s crown jewels (your data) within the E-Business Suite R12, but which ones do you focus on first? From architecture and technology controls, to policies, processes and procedures, this presentation is based on the author's ten most important things you can do to protect your R12 environment given the type of attacks that are most common and prevalent in today’s world.

Randy Giefer

11:00-12:00 PST Webinar Link https://meetingexpectations.webex.com/meetingexpectations/k2/j.php?ED=134499647&UID=927842877&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D&FM=1

















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Release 12 Technical Introduction – Intermediate This presentation will cover the different technical components and tiers included in the Release 12 Application technology stack. We will outline the technology features that comprise the underlying technology stack along with the layout of the application file system. AutoConfig, cloning, the Oracle Applications Manager (OAM), as well as E-Business Diagnostics will also be covered. Finally, we will cover the iRepository functionality that outlines all inbound and outbound interfaces available in Release 12.

Kevin Dahl

11:00-12:00 PST Webinar Link https://meetingexpectations.webex.com/meetingexpectations/k2/j.php?ED=134501542&UID=927847787&rid=1&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D


Oracle Approvals Management (AME) Case Studies for AP, PO and HR AME is a self-service web application that allows users to define rules for administering approvals of various types of transactions. Learn how easy it is to use this powerful functionality to create complex approval scenarios that meet your unique business requirements. Case studies of recent

successful implementations will be presented for PO, AP, HR and AR.

Susan Behn

11:00-12:00 PST Webinar Link Click here to find link: http://archive.oaug.org/communications/publications/ednet/2010/2010-06.htm


R12 Function and Data Security - UMX and Role Based Access Control Release 12 includes stronger controls across the application modules for limiting access to both functions and data. This presentation will discuss these controls and focus on how Oracle User Management (UMX) and the Role Based Access Control (RBAC) standard work to mitigate security risks.

Susan Behn


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

What's New in Workflow: 11i RUP5, RUP6 and R12 Oracle has already released 6 major patches on top of Release 11.5.10 that have added to the capabilities of administering workflow and the 7th is in the development stage. This presentation will focus on new administration functionality added by these patches in 11i and R12 such as Junior Administrator and programs for retrying errored activities or notifications

Susan Behn


Thursday, August 5, 2010

You vs. The Bad Guys – The Top 10 List For Securing R12 There are many, many things to consider when securing your organization’s crown jewels (your data) within the E-Business Suite R12, but which ones do you focus on first? From architecture and technology controls, to policies, processes and procedures, this presentation is based on the author's ten most important things you can do to protect your R12 environment given the type of attacks that are most common and prevalent in today’s world.

Randy Giefer


https://meetingexpectations.webex.com/meetingexpectations/k2/j.php?ED=134501542&UID=927847787&rid=1&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D













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Release 12 Best Practices for Financials - MOAC and Subledger Processing Grab a front row seat for a look at the Best Practices when utilizing your R12 Financials Subledgers. Find out how to utilize the new Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC) functionality to improve processing efficiencies. Also discover how your organization can best leverage new R12 Subledger features and functionalities to optimize your business processes. Topics will also include E-Business Tax implications.

Alyssa Johnson



Creating your HR Business Case for Implementing Performance Management Functionality Do you feel that Performance Management is for you but aren't sure how to get the project approved? This session is for those planning to incorporate additional HR functionaltiy but aren't sure how to prove the value to the rest of the organization. We will discuss the fundamentals of creating the business case, the typical assumptions, ROI calculations, and a couple of other tricks to get improve the value.

Lisa Laine



Release 12 Best Practices for Financials - Subledger Accounting and the General Ledger Grab a front row seat for a look at the Best Practices when structuring your R12 Financials Subledgers. Discover how your organization can best leverage new R12 Subledger Accounting features and functionalities to meet your accounting needs. Also find out the new R12 features in the General Ledger your organization could leverage. Topics will also include highlights of the Advance Global Intercompany System.

Alyssa Johnson



Transitioning from Account Generators to the R12 Subledger Accounting Engine Join us for a step-by-step workshop on moving your customized Account Generation Rules from the Account Generators to the new R12 Subledger Accounting Engine. Discussion will focus on deriving accounts using the Accounting Methods Builder. Moving account generation rules to SLA enables users to maintain their rules through the forms and preserves those rules during future upgrades.

Alyssa Johnson














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Workflow Troubleshooting in Release 12 Oracle provides multiple ways to troubleshoot workflow errors in the latest 11i releases and Release 12 including Oracle Applications Manager, Workflow Administration and Diagnostic Reports. Learn the most effective way for both the functional and technical users to resolve workflow issues and keep the applications running smoothly.

Susan Behn


Please check our website for more upcoming sessions, dates and times

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