ERP and Oracle E-Business Suite Concepts

ERP Definition ERP stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning” ERP is a comprehensive software package ERP systems typically include the following characteristics: – An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on periodic updates. – A common database, which supports all applications. – A consistent look and feel throughout each module. – Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department

ERP Functional/Technical Components Finance/Accounting Human Resources Manufacturing Supply Chain Management (SCM) Project Management Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Data Services Access Control (User and Role Management)

Generic ERP Tools User Interface (Forms) Reports Database Web Server/ Applications Server (for Web Enabled/based ERP’s)

ERP Features Independent of Operating System Independent of Database System Process End-to-End business Information Modularity Integration between modules Interfacing capabilities with external file and business applications Integration with Online Analytical process systems (OLAP) Web based Support Multi-Currency transactions Open to Customization and Localization (Native country implementation

Commercial Full Fledged ERP’s Oracle E-Business Suite (from Oracle Corp) Peoplesoft (from Oracle Corp) JD Edwards (from Oracle Corp) SAP (from SAP Labs) Ramco Marshall (from Ramco Systems)

Industry/Vertical ERP’s Siebel CRM Reatek Hyperion Flex-Cube Tally Accounting Package Sage Accounting Package

Benefits of Oracle E-Business Suite Available in 30 languages Supports multiple currencies Supports flexible management of business processes Has single database model for entire business data Supports statutory and customary local requirements Is built on open standards Collaborates with trading partners (customer, suppliers, dealers, wholesalers etc..)

Oracle E-business Suite Product Families

Important Modules in Product Families Financials General Ledger Receivables Cash Management Fixed Assets Payables Sub Ledger Accounting HRMS HR Payroll Time and Labor Oracle Learning Management Advanced Benefits Manufacturing – Process Manufacturing OPM Costing Process Execution Product Development E-Records OPM Quality – Discrete Manufacturing Bills of Material Costing Quality Work in process Engineering

Important Modules in Product Families Projects Project Costing Project Billing Project Manufacturing Project Resource Management Project Management CRM iStore Service Requests Contracts Teleservice Depot repair Field Service Administration System Administration Application Object Library Alerts Workflow

Important Modules in Product Families Sales and Marketing Order Management Pricing Shipping Release management Procurement Purchasing iProcurement Sourcing iSupplier

Oracle E-business Architecture

Oracle E-Business Architecture Desktop/Client tier: This tier provides the user interface. This tier could consist of a desktop computer, laptop or mobile devices like PDAs, and so on. This tier is mainly involved in capturing and displaying information to the user. Application tier: This tier is responsible for holding all the application logic. It supports and manages various Applications components, and is sometimes known as the middle tier. Database tier: This tier is responsible for storing and retrieving the application data. It supports and manages the Oracle database.

Shared Entities Shared entities in R12 E-Business Suite enable one time definition of an object, and the use of that object across several modules/products/applications. Shared entities are owned by one module from the definition standpoint, but can be referenced where ever needed.

E-business Suite Shared Entities

AOL Shared Entities

Shared Entities Ownership Set of Books - General ledger Units of Measure-Inventory Items-Inventory Suppliers- TCA Customers-TCA Organizations-HR Locations-HR Sales Force-Sales and Marketing Employees-HR

Major Business Processes

Procure to Pay (P2P)

Procure to Pay This business flow outlines how a company raises purchase orders for procurement of goods or service and then processes associated invoices for payment, transfer to GL and reconciliation with bank statements.

Order to Cash (O2C)

Order to Cash This business flow encompasses activities starting from order entry, checking/booking of the items in the inventory, shipping of goods, raising invoices, reconciling bank statements and transferring accounting entries to General Ledger.

People to Paycheck

This business process encompasses activities related to calculation and generation of payroll payments to employees. This flow enables users to set up necessary payroll elements and methods for particular employees, perform payroll processing (standard periodic, supplementary, and “one-offs” for a single employee), pay employees by check or direct deposit, request various related reports, and perform costing and transfer of completed payroll data to the general ledger.

Multi-Org What Is Multi-Org? Multi-Org is a server-side (applications and database) enhancement that enables multiple business units in an enterprise to use a single installation of Oracle Applications products while keeping transaction data separate and secure. The Multi-Org enhancement uses native database views to build a security layer on top of a single installation of Oracle Applications. In Oracle Applications Release 12, the following products support Multi- Org capabilities: Cash Management Order Management, Shipping Execution and Release Management Payables Property Manager Projects Purchasing Receivables Sales Compensation Sales and Marketing Service

E-business Suite Multi-org Structure Business Group Legal Entity1 Operating Unit1 Operating Unit2 Legal Entity2 Operating Unit3

E-business Suite Multi-org Structure Legal Entity1 Operating Unit1 Inventory Org1 WIP Org1 Operating Unit2 Inventory Org2

E-Business Suite Modules Implementation by Modules

Multi-org Data Security Model

HR Organization Types Business Group Legal Entity Operating Unit Inventory organization WIP organization

Organization Naming Conventions Organization Naming Considerations Multi-Org naming conventions should be used to identify the Oracle Organizations Classification (for example, Set of Books, Operating Unit, Inventory Organization) and it’s unique characteristics like country or currency, location name, and usage. The following are general guidelines for creating Organization Names: Sets of Books where: SOB_; is an operational book that obtains journal entries directly from a subledger system (for example, accounts payable, inventory). COB_; is a consolidation set of books. ROB_; is a reporting set of books when using the Multiple Reporting Currency (MRC) feature. Business Group: BG_ Human Resources Organization: HR_ Legal Entity: LE_ Operating Unit: OU_

Fundamentals of System Administration

Define New Application Login User

Assigning Responsibilities to Users

Tables for User and Responsibility Assignment User – FND_USER Responsibility Assignments to User – FND_USER_RESP_GROUPS Where FND stands for foundation. All the database tables of System Administration, Application object library, Alerts and Workflow modules start with “FND_” prefix…

Importance of Responsibilities

Components of Responsibility

Components of Responsibility (Defined) Datagroup : Data group: A data group specifies the Oracle Application Menu : A menu specifies the forms that a responsibility can display and the functions it can access. Request Group : Collection of reports and programs that can be submitted thru a responsibility.

Define a New Responsibility

Function and Menu security

Use exclusion rules to configure a responsibility. You can exclude functions at any level. When you exclude a menu item from a responsibility, all menus and functions that are nested in that menu are also excluded. When you exclude a function from a responsibility, all occurrences of that function throughout the responsibility’s menu structure are excluded. A “full access” responsibility with a menu that includes all the functions in an application is predefined for each Oracle Applications product. Some applications may provide additional predefined responsibilities that include a smaller set of functions (that is, fewer forms and subfunctions). As a System Administrator, you can restrict the functionality a responsibility provides by defining rules to exclude specific functions or menus of functions. In fact, we recommend that you use exclusion rules to customize a responsibility in preference to constructing a new menu hierarchy for that responsibility. For example, suppose you want to customize a responsibility to restrict the functionality of a form included in that responsibility.

Profile Options Profile options control the behavior/access levels for the different features and functionalities available from the Oracle E- business suite.

Profile option setting levels Site Application Responsibility User

Profile Option Execution Hierarchy

Profile Option Tables Profile option definitions : FND_PROFILE_OPTIONS Profile Option values : FND_PROFILE_OPTION_VALUES

Request processing in Oracle E- business Suite Tasks in Oracle E-business suite are broadly categorized as online/immediate and offline/background processing tasks. For all the Report and program requests submitted thru the “Standard Request Submission”, the execution is handled by the background processing engine called “Concurrent Manager” Concurrent manager handles/executes multiple report/program processing requests by default in a first come-first serve basis.

R12 Oracle Database Model Every Product/Module/Application uses a different schema. (GL for General ledger, AR for Receivables, AP for Payables) Tables, Views and Sequences in the product specific schema. All code objects (triggers, packages, procedures, functions) owned by Apps Schema. Public synonyms of tables, views and sequences of all the products owned by Apps schema All the Front end responsibilities access the R12 database thru Apps schema. Applsys schema holds the tables of Sysadmin, AOL, Alerts and Workflow modules. Applsyspub schema tracks the Application user sessions from the login time to the logout time. Every module/product has a two corresponding tablespaces one user tablespace and another index tablespace. The password of Applsys and Apps schema must always be same, else the important services/processes like Concurrent Managers etc will not function.

Flexfields A flexfield is a “Flexible Field” which can capture varying length of information depending on the Organizations requirement. Types of Flexfields – Key Flexfield – Descriptive Flexfield – Range Flexfield

Descriptive Flexfield Appears as short, unnamed text item in majority of forms in Oracle EBS responsibilities. By default, all the DFF items/fields would be disabled. DFF is used to capture additional business information that is unique to a business. All DFF’s are enabled in the AOL Module/Application developer responsibility. All DFF’s are owned by AOL module. DFF are accessed as Pop-up windows.

Descriptive Flexfield DFF information is captured in ATTRIBUTE Prefixed columns. Oracle EBS provides from a minimum of 7 to a max of 45 attribute columns in majority of tables. DFF Implementation is optional. DFF data is not reported on the Standard reports of Oracle EBS reports. Reports must be customized to publish the output of DFF information. New/Additional DFF’s can be registered with AOL module. DFF information cannot be shared across forms or modules.

Type of DFF Data Global Data Elements Context Sensitive Data

Enabling DFF Identify DFF to be enabled from any of the functional responsibilities. Switch responsibility to Application developer responsibility. Navigate to the Descriptive Segments form. Configure the required attributes. Freeze and compile the DFF Access the DFF from functional responsibilities.

Tables for DFF FND_DESCRIPTIVE_FLEXS FND_DESCR_FLEX_COLUMN_USAGES FND_DESCR_FLEX_CONTEXTS

Registration of New DFF Create table “XX_ ” in any application schema with Attribute category and Attribute 1-n columns. Create public synonym for the “XX_ ” table in APPS schema. Register the table with AOL using AD_DD package and its procedures from the APPS schema. Verify whether the table has been successfully registered in AOL module. Register the DFF in AOL module.

Key Flexfields Key Flexfield appear as normal text items with Labels/boilerplates in Oracle EBS forms. KFF implementation is mandatory. If a KFF is not implemented, certain processes, features, functionalities or set of integrations will not function properly. KFF’s are also accessed as pop-up windows in the Oracle EBS forms. KFF’s information is stored in SEGMENT prefixed columns. All standard reports by default supports the reporting of KFF data. New/Additional KFF’s can be registered with the AOL module. KFF information is shared across Forms/Modules and thru reports.

Important Key Flexfields by Module General Ledger - Accounting, Reporting Attributes, GL Ledger Receivables – Sales tax, Territory etc.. Inventory – System Item, Item Catalog, Item Category, Service Item, Stock Locators etc… HR – Job, Position, Grade, Competency etc… Assets – Category, Location, Asset Key In total 35 KFF’s are provided by the Oracle EBS in R12.

Steps for KFF configuration Define value sets Define flexfield structure – Define segments – Assign value sets – Freeze flexfield structure – Compile the flexfield structure Define values for the value sets.

Tables for the KFF processing KFF def :FND_ID_FLEXS KFF Structure:fnd_id_flex_structures KFF segments:fnd_id_flex_segments

Registration of New KFF Create table “XX_ ” in any application schema with structure_id and segment 1-n columns. Create public synonym for the “XX_ ” table in APPS schema. Register the table with AOL using AD_DD package and its procedures from the APPS schema. Verify whether the table has been successfully registered in AOL module. Register the KFF in AOL module.

Range Flexfield Range Flexfield is automatically implemented once the corresponding KFF is implemented. Range based operations can be performed in the reports and forms using the Range flexfield, with the validation that higher range values must be equal to or greater than lower range of values.

Value Set Value set is “set of values”. A value set can be associated with DFF attribute, KFF segment or a concurrent program parameter. Components of a value set: – Value set name – Length/ Maximum Size – Format/Data type – Validation type – Values

Value Set – Format/Data Types Char Date Number Date Time Time Standard Date time Standard Date

Supported Values for the Data/Format types CHAR -Numeric, Alphabetic, Alpha Numeric values NUMBER-Numeric DATE/TIME-Date and Time values

Value Set Validation Types Independent Dependent Table Special Pair None Translatable Independent Translatable Dependent

Tables for Value sets FND_FLEX_VALUE_SETS (for value set definitions) FND_FLEX_VALUES (stores the values for the value sets)

Form Registration Process Design or Copy a.fmx file and rename it to 8 character filename. Register form executable with Application Developer responsibility. Create/define form function based on the form executable in Application developer responsibility. Assign form function to a menu. Assign menu to a responsibility. Assign responsibility to a user.

Type of Functions Form Function The complete form with all its items. Sub-Function Every item in the form (button, field, check box, radio options) can be separately registered as Sub functions. Subfunctions can be secured thru the function security feature in Oracle EBS.

Tables for the Forms Registration Process FORM Executable Registration – FND_FORM FORM Function – FND_FORM_FUNCTIONS MENU – FND_MENUS – FND_MENU_ENTRIES

Forms Access in Oracle EBS USER  Responsibility  Menu  Form Function  Form  Form Executable (.fmx FILE)

Oracle EBS Table Registration Process Create table “XX_ ” in any application schema Create public synonym for the “XX_ ” table in APPS schema. Register the table with AOL using AD_DD package and its procedures from the APPS schema. Verify whether the table has been successfully registered in AOL module.

Using AD_DD package Following tasks can be performed using AD_DD package: -Register table -Register column -Register primary key - Delete column - Delete table - Update Primary key -Delete primary key Only Tables and columns can be registered using AD_DD package.

Database Objects to registered with AOL Tables Views Sequences Indexes