E-Business Suite 2 | Jeannie Dobney | R12.1.3 - The business case.pdf

Upgrading to
Oracle eBusiness Suite 12.1.3:
the Value Proposition
Jeannie Dobney and
Loretta Bayliss - Prescience Technology
(Updated slides from jdobney.com)

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Agenda
• Should you consider an upgrade?
(Paper presented from the perspective of R12.0
users, but also largely applicable to 11.5).
• What’s on offer in 12.1.3?
• Upgrade experiences


E-Business Suite Support Timelines
5 Yrs of Premier and 3 Yrs of Extended Support

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Nov 2010
11.5.10 Premier Extended Sustaining
Nov ‘13
Uplift Fee waived until Nov ’11* instead of starting on Nov 10

R12 Premier Extended Sustaining
GA Jan ‘12 Jan ‘15
Apr 2009

R12.1 Premier Extended Sustaining
GA May ‘14 May ‘17
* More info: http://www.oracle.com/support/library/extended-support-faq.pdf

R12.0 Premier Support Ends in Jan 2012….
This slide is adapted from an Oracle presentation at Collaborate 2010


What does Extended Support mean?
Has the following differences to Premier Support:
• Instead of "Certification with most new third-party
products/versions", it's "Certification with most existing
third-party products“
• Instead of "Certification with most new Oracle
Products", it's "Certification with most existing Oracle
products"
• Extended Support costs 10% extra in year 1 and 20%
extra in year 2 and year 3 (Note: Oracle has waived first
year fees for E-Business Suite)
• You do not have to purchase Extended Support. You can
choose to move straight to Sustaining Support from
Premier Support
From Solution Beacon Newsletter, April 2011 (solutionbeacon.com)


Sustaining Support
Sounds OK but does not include:
• New updates, fixes, security alerts, data fixes,
and critical patch updates
• New tax, legal, and regulatory updates
• New upgrade scripts
• Certification with new third-party products /
versions
• Certification with new Oracle products

From Solution Beacon Newsletter, April 2011 (solutionbeacon.com)


Oracle’s Roadmap
To better understand Oracle’s technology
roadmap, download the presentation from
Steven Chan’s blog (link in notes)


Is There an Alternative?
• Rimini Street webinar (with Forrester input):
“Do you need another costly ERP upgrade?”
(http://info.riministreet.com/UpgradeWebinar.html)
• Rimini Street claim TCO savings of up to 90%
over 10 years, they compare it to retaining
your car after the warranty expires.


Forrester’s Upgrade Pros and Cons


Consider the Options
Forrester’s alternative strategies for your Apps:
1. Get on the latest release and stay current
2. Outsource upgrades and support via cloud
based services
3. Stop upgrading and stabilise cost of
ownership via 3rd party support
4. Transition to SaaS Applications


Upgrades: Additional Perspectives
• John Stouffer’s OAUG paper R12 Apps DBA 101:
– ATG integrated technology underlies all other Apps
– Points towards a semi-annual patching strategy.
– John’s blog (justadba.com) also indicates 12.2 is in
the pipeline
• Stephen Kost: Upgrade Security in … R12
– Security is a major driver for staying current
• Kent Gabriel’s: Oracle R12 Upgrade vs. Reimpl.
– Business benefits of ‘transformational upgrades’,
although they require more resources


Reproduced from Kent Gabriel’s paper
“Oracle R12 upgrade vs. re-implementation”

From John Stouffer’s Papers:
• R12 is constantly changing – it is the DBA’s job
to monitor (!)
• The biggest risk of not upgrading is security
(i.e. using older, more vulnerable technology)
• New point releases of R12 packaged as RUPs
(Release Update Pack)
• RUPs include bug fixes and new functionality
• MOS # 363827.1 CPU’s only support RUP N-1
• Use the Patch wizard to help (ref’s in notes)


And the Learning Curve…
• Consider regular upgrades as a way of
breaking the technology learning curve into
bite size junks for your internal support team
• Even if you plan to
re-implement
when Fusion App’s
are mature….


Preparing…
• Move to the Latest Applications Releases
• Prepare a Roadmap to Evolve to Fusion App’s
• Inventory your Enterprise Assets
• Rethink your “Customization” Strategy
• Consolidate your Master Data
• Embrace SOA-Based Integration
• Extend your BI Applications
• Adopt Enterprise Reporting & Publishing
• Secure your Global Enterprise
• Centralize your Applications Lifecycle Management
Reprised from Nadia Bendjedou’s “10 Things You Can Do
Today to Prepare for Oracle Fusion Applications”

Upgrade to R12
For those who aren’t already on R12.0:
• Involves major changes for Finance
Applications: not just a technical upgrade
– SubLedger Accounting
– eBusiness Tax Engine
– Oracle Payments
– MOAC (Access across OU’s)
– Suppliers & Banks now in OAF (HTML) and TCA
• Not to be underestimated…


So What’s on Offer in R12.1.3
• Less functional change 12.0 → 12.1
than 11i → 12.0
• However….
Probably enough user interface change to require
change management and training
• Don’t underestimate the impact of memories of
previous upgrade experiences
• Technology: more complete leverage of Fusion
Middleware


User Interface
Enhancements

Homepage
navigation menu tree


Configurable HomePage


User Interface Enhancements


In Line Look-Ahead LoV’s

As you type,
the system pops
open LoV options
- click to select.

Attachments also
have in-line add,
delete and view
functionality


Secure Search Functionality


Reporting
• Most reports now migrated to BI-publisher
• FSG reports published natively as Excel files
• FSG’s with page expand option now published
to individual spread-sheet tabs
• SOX Compliance RBAC Reports
“Who, What, Why, How” system serves as an
auditing and querying tool providing a 360-
degree view of the Security system for
auditors and system administrators


Other Features
• Context sensitive flexfield support in OAF pages
• Personalise any OAF page by adding a Print
button to publish application data (tables) as BI
Publisher reports
• Undo for Personalization now supported
• Support for richer custom UI content types,
including: OBIEE Analytics, Flash, Yahoo widgets


Record History in OAF Pages
• Row Who / Record History for OAF pages
• Set Profile FND: Record History Enabled to Yes
• May also require change to a new
personalization option that controls display of
Record history information. This is set to False
by default; set it to True to see the Record
History Link in the header section of the page.


Financials
• Budget wizard now supports selection of
account ranges using low and high segment
values (rather than account code
combinations)
• Expense report export can now also import
attachments to the invoice workbench.
• Optionally override country specific bank
account validation (back-ported to 12.0.4)
• Return of staged Dunning (Adv’d Collections)


Financials
• Payroll now posts through SLA
• Subcontractor management for E&C
holds applied in AP unless released in
Purchasing or Projects
• Third party payments
• Replace Supplier Bank Accounts on Invoices
• Accounting Rules Detail Report (SLA)
• Support for IAS 36 Asset Impairment


Procurement
• iSupplier Portal user visibility of AP/AR netting
• Oracle Procurement Contracts (new App)
including Deliverable holds
• Oracle Services Procurement (new App), incl.
payment against progress from Oracle Projects
• Oracle Spend Classification (new BI App)
• Oracle Supplier Hub (new MDM App)
• Mass Close of Purchase Documents program


Projects
• Self Service Expenditure Inquiry
• Supplier Cost Dashboard
• Reporting Pack for BI-Publisher Reports, incl.
– Committed Cost Report
– Project Cost Summary Report
• Subcontractor Payment Controls


iSetUp
• Configuration management tool that is built
and maintained specifically for Oracle EBS
• Manual configurations can be migrated to
other environments
• Standard and Comparison Reports may be
used to increase accuracy of configurations
and as supporting documentation


Oracle Application Testing Suite
(OATS)
1. Oracle Load Testing – scalability,
performance & load testing
2. Oracle Functional Testing –
functional and regression testing
3. Oracle Test Manager – test
process management, test
execution & defect tracking

12.1.1 Test Starter Kit
•Instruction guide
•Sample QA test scripts
•See Oracle Application Testing
Suite Downloads > Application
Testing Suite
From an OpenWorld 2010 presentation: “Upgrading your
Customizations to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12”.

Key My Oracle Support Docs
• MOS # 806593.1 - R12.1 Info Center
• MOS # 1080606. 1 – List of Helpful R12 Upgrade Notes
• MOS # 561580.1 – R12.1+ Release Content Documents
• MOS # 807319.1 - R12.1 Transfer of Information (Training)
• MOS # 398877.1 - R12.1 Live Advisor Webcasts
• MOS # 1290886.1 - EBS Data Model Comparison Report
Overview Document
• MOS # 804373.1 - R12.1 Release Value Propositions
• MOS # 342459.1 - Diagnostics Overview


Upgrading to
Oracle eBusiness Suite 12.1.3:
The Value Proposition
Loretta Bayliss
Managing Director, Prescience Technology
Vice-President, AUSOUG (Qld)
www.prescience.com.au


Agenda
• Driving the change
• A typical upgrade
• Planning is paramount
• Tips for a successful upgrade
• Areas of known complexity


Driving the Change
Why bother?

• Loss of support for current platform;
• Expanding Oracle footprint and required
functionality;
• Compliance requirement;
• Preference to upgrade rather than re-
implement.


A better known quantity
And better the devil we know …

A number of Many others are mid-
organisations have now way through or readying
upgraded to R12 themselves for
• Barrick Gold commencement
• Boral • Santos
• Origin • Cochlear
• Wesfarmers • BAE Systems
• Australian Hearing Australia


A Typical Upgrade
Process Flow


A Typical Upgrade
Critical Steps


Planning your Upgrade
Business + Technical
The planning process needs to be comprehensive and must address
both business and technical aspects of the upgrade:
Areas to evaluate include:
• Upgrade extent and Business Alignment
• Infrastructure – capacity and versions of hardware, supporting
software & network
• Team availability
• Training capacity and tools
• Application support – both during & after the upgrade
• Testing strategy & experience
• Oracle product strategy
• Project planning and management experience & capacity


Ensuring Success
Build a Repeatable Process …

• Secure – active executive sponsorship & support
• Communicate – transparent reporting on progress
• Gather – proper materials
• Recruit – the right team members
• Organise – Create & update critical documents
• Analyse & plan – use an iterative method (3 rounds)
• Execute – a serious & dedicated testing process
• Experience – have a leader, bring back the vets
TOP TIP – Archive work from prior iterations & reuse


Ensuring Success
… and learn from Lessons Learned!
R12 is not your standard upgrade process,
especially if you are moving from 11i.

Changes include:
• Finance - GL, Sub-ledger Accounting, Tax, MOAC, critical reports
• Accounts Payable – Invoice workbench, iPayment functionality,
iSupplier portal integration
• Project Accounting – projects distribution no longer requires
dynamic insertion to be enabled; SLA still requires configuration
of projects auto-accounting; tax code defaults now handled by
tax module
• OBIEE
• Web ADI


Areas of known complexity
Payments Engine
The revised payments engine, with its close integration with both
procurement and the general ledger, is one of the most common
areas of concern that has been noted by some of the early
adopters of the R12 Upgrade.
Issues that have been identified include:
• Invoice validation performance degradation;
• Tax lines unable to be edited;
• Previously valid invoices required re-validation under R12;
• Inability to process payment file;
• Complexity of patches provided by Oracle Support requires
significant regression testing to isolate both core issue and best
resolution path.


Sub-Ledgers
The GL has been subjected to a significant architectural change
under R12, with the introduction of sub-ledger accounting.

• Poor population of data fields in previously complete standard
reports;
• Difficulty in reconciling reports and data where the process was
previously simpler and clearer.


Tax
The tax module is new under R12 and due to its core nature and
integration with a number of other financial modules, the impact
of issues is high in terms of the complexity of issues requiring
resolution.

• Incorrect withholding tax calculations;
• Inability to correct minor tax calculation discrepancies on
invoices;
• Integration with payments creates both reconciliation and
payment issues.


Historical Data Conversion
• Although the data “conversion” is executed by the technical
upgrade process, and therefore not a project deliverable from a
development perspective, a number of the early adopters of the
R12 upgrade were unaware of the significance of some of the
core data model changes that were introduced in R12.

• The past and future state comparative is not clearly
documented, which in some cases increases the mean time to
resolution quite dramatically.

• The “black box” upgrade process requires understanding in
order to mitigate known risks.


Historical Data Conversion
• A common observation has been made by all organisations
Prescience is aware of, that have upgraded to R12:

• There is a clear distinction between data that has been
“upgraded” through the technical upgrade process and data
which is “new” or has been created after the technical upgrade
process has completed.

• Transactions which originate and complete in R12 have been
noted by multiple organisations to be cleaner and less prone to
error, when compared with transactions which originate in 11i
and complete in R12.


Performance
• Evidence from upgrades performed by other Oracle customers
suggests that the R12 release is more memory intensive than
that current 11.5.10 version.

• Infrastructure considerations will need to allow for this.
Extensive performance testing will be required in order to
determine whether the existing production server will be
adequate for the R12 requirements.

• Concurrent manager performance will also require careful
monitoring during UAT and load testing scenarios, particularly
those scenarios which mimic month and year end processing
periods.


Post upgrade processing
Evidence from upgrades performed by other Oracle customers
suggests that R12 is “less tolerant” of poor process than some of its
predecessor versions, which in some cases has manifested itself in
symptoms similar to those listed below:
• Higher than normal number of invoices on hold;
• Higher than normal number of invoices paid after their due date;
• Longer processing time required to complete period-end processes;
• Errors in depreciation calculations taken the first year-end after the
upgrade completed;
• Double payment of some invoices, due to potential level of manual
intervention required at times to ensure timely completion of
payment processes.


Wrapping it up
Comprehensive planning is mandatory


Wrapping it up
Determine why …
• Define the key objective or outcome for your
organisation that is driving the upgrade
process.
• Determine what type of upgrade is most
appropriate.
• “Begin with the end in mind” and make these
goals clear to your entire upgrade team &
stakeholder group.


Wrapping it up
And then execute with discipline …
• Tailor the “typical” upgrade process to address
this and create:
• Library of upgrade scripts
• Master upgrade list
• Master impact list – use to drive testing,
training & post-upgrade support
• Review all available documentation
• Iterate, iterate, iterate
• LEARN from others’ Lessons Learned!


Questions & Comments


From the coal face
Hein Bouman, Information Systems Manager, Tourism Australia

Prescience Technology is on our Oracle E-Business services supplier panel. They are a
niche player who know the area in which they operate. They have a good
knowledge of the product and the market; access to skilled resources;
and a good understanding of the requirements, especially if a problem is a bit more
difficult. They apply their expertise and do the analysis, without trying to run too
fast.

My experience with Prescience Technology over the past four years gives me the
absolute confidence to recommend them for Oracle related projects and support.
Prescience demonstrates professionalism and maturity and is committed to
working closely with us to deliver clear value for money and outcomes that either
meet or exceed Tourism Australia’s expectations, every time.


E-Business Suite 2 | Jeannie Dobney | R12.1.3 - The business case.pdf

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