r12 inter-intra company

Address Service RequestedOAUG3525 Piedmont RoadBuilding Five, Suite 300Atlanta, GA 30305

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE OrACLE APPLICATIONs UsErs GrOUP fall 2012

Intercompany and Intracompany in Oracle EBS R12: A Deep Dive

The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard Helps Users Determine the Impact of Patches

Las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business Intelligence Horizons

Fall 2012

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

32 SIG Update

33 Geo Update

34 SIG Spotlight: The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG & OAUG Process Manufacturing SIG

16

G L O B A L u S E r S

36 OAUG Member Snapshot: Sandra Vucinic

38 New and Returning Members

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

42 Fix It When it Ain’t Broke

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

28 las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business intelligence horizons for Better government Transparency

The city of Las Vegas employed a major Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) project that has pushed key data not only to employees but to citizens as well. – by Dr. Patricia Dues

30 The Oaug around the WorldThe OAUG participates with affiliated organizations around the world to bring expertise and best practices to users of Oracle Applications and to communicate concerns and enhancements back to Oracle.

40 Vendor Corner: archiving to the CloudThe world is drowning in data. Archiving to the cloud offers an on demand alternative that reduces complexity, costs less, offers higher performance and operates within a security best practice framework. – by John B. Ottman, Jr.

oaug.org 1

2 OAUG 2012 Star Partners

4 OAUG 2012 Board of Directors

6 President’s Perspective

8 OAUG Viewpoint

10 Enterprise resource planning vs. product life Cycle Management Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Life cycle Management (PLM) systems

are both widely used to help companies achieve product profitability. Understand the

functional roles of these two systems and how each is best suited for product and

process management. – by Herbalife International

16 intercompany and intracompany in Oracle EBS r12: a deep dive

Oracle created a robust, flexible, rules-based intercompany accounting program.

This accounting program, however, is only useful if you understand how it’s used and

how it should be configured. – by Thomas J. Simkiss, Jr., JD, CPA, & Lee Briggs

24 The Oracle EBS patch Wizard helps users determine the impact of patches and prepare Test Scripts

The EBS Patch Wizard is a useful tool that does not require you to be a DBA.

Learn how it can help your analysts determine the impact of patches and better

prepare test scripts, thus minimizing surprises. – by Kevin Brownlie

24

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

CXO SolutionsFulcrumWayoAppsNet Partners, LLCSoftmasterSupply Chain Fusion

SPECIAL THANKSOracle Validated Integration

(list updated as of press time)

TWO-STAR ELITE PARTNERS★★

AT&TImage Integration SystemsInsightSoftware.cominterRelKAYGENKBACE Technologies, Inc.KewillLeeyo SoftwareRhapsody Technologies, Inc.TurnKey SolutionsUnitask

Vortex Software ConsultingZebra Technologies Corp.

oaug star partners

O A U G l E a d E r S h i p 2

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

CXO SolutionsFulcrumWayoAppsNet Partners, LLCSoftmasterSupply Chain Fusion

SPECIAL THANKSOracle Validated Integration

(list updated as of press time)

TWO-STAR ELITE PARTNERS★★

AT&TImage Integration SystemsInsightSoftware.cominterRelKAYGENKBACE Technologies, Inc.KewillLeeyo SoftwareRhapsody Technologies, Inc.TurnKey SolutionsUnitask

Vortex Software ConsultingZebra Technologies Corp.

3 oaug.org

Red River Solutions

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

oaug board of directors

2012 Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) Board of Directors. First row (seated): Robert Tee, Christine Hipp, Alyssa Johnson, Margaret Wright, Kaberi Nayak. Second row (standing): Steven Hughes, Tammy Norton, Joe Imbimbo, Mark Clark, Patricia Dues, John Bushell, Melissa English, Andrew Farber, Karl Kirsch.

Mark C. Clark, OAUG PresidentO2Works, LLC

Margaret Wright, OAUG Executive Vice PresidentSouthern Company

Alyssa Johnson, OAUG SecretaryROLTA

Robert Tee, OAUG TreasurerMinistry of Government Services, Province of Ontario

Steven R. Hughes Executive Director

Karl Kirsch, CAE Chief Operating Officer

John BushellJT&M Bushell

Patricia DuesCity of Las Vegas

Melissa English Alticor, parent company of Amway Corp.

Andrew FarberConsumer Reports

Christine HippLos Alamos National Laboratory

Joe ImbimboPPG Industries

Kaberi Nayak MITRE Corp.

Tammy Norton Emerging Solutions

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 2012. 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.

oaug.org

president’s perspective

aAccording to our membership surveys, the OAUG community of Oracle Applications users highly values the abundant educational programs presented each year by the OAUG. Face-to-face conferences, virtual webinar sessions, recorded presentations and an archived collection of white papers and slide presentations offer many opportunities for Oracle Applications users to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform their job duties.

The OAUG’s

extensive educational

content is developed

through the

contributions of many

partnering individuals

and organizations. Contributors share their insights

and expertise through a variety of delivery channels:

l OAUG User members generously share

knowledge, best practices and advice on overcoming

challenges from their real-world, hands-on

experiences with Oracle Applications.

l OAUG Star Partners and Associate members

provide unique perspectives from their work

with Oracle and with Oracle customers.

l The OAUG Geographic (Geo) and Special Interest

Groups (SIGs) host meetings and educational

sessions that target specific regions or focus on

particular industries, functions, constituencies

or Oracle products or product lines.

l Oracle employees regularly participate in OAUG events

to discuss Oracle’s strategies and product roadmaps as

well as tactical approaches for products and projects.

The contributions of these various groups allow

the OAUG to provide a very rich yet diverse educational

curriculum to help meet the needs of our members.

Recently, during an on-site brainstorming session

with leaders at Oracle University, the training arm

of Oracle, we discussed some opportunities where

the OAUG and Oracle University could better work

together to meet the training needs of our membership.

They were excited to show some of their more recent

offerings enhancing their delivery capability.

While the traditional classroom-based training

model requiring students to assemble in a physical

training center still has its place, today’s global, always-

on, 24/7 business environment demands more flexible,

student-focused options. Two approaches that I was

previously unaware of were especially impressive:

l Live Virtual Classes bring Oracle University training,

facilitated in real time by expert instructors, to students

via an interactive, online environment. Attendees

have the flexibility to access courses anywhere there

is an Internet connection and phone line or Voice

Over IP (VOIP). Classes are scheduled around the

clock to accommodate students in many different

time zones. Hands-on labs that allow practice in

a controlled environment along with interactive

communication and collaboration tools promote student

engagement, exploration and content absorption.

According to Oracle, the demand for this type

of training is robust, and the results are positive.

Early in 2012, Oracle University reported that

more than 25,000 students had attended a Live

Virtual Class in the past year and that the Live

Partnerships Enrich OAUG Education

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

Mark c. clark

OAUG Pres ident

[email protected]

Virtual Classes are enjoying approval ratings

consistent with those for in-person events.

l Training On Demand extends the flexibility of Oracle

University’s delivery model by providing high-quality,

self-paced video courses that allow students to log in at

their convenience and when their schedules permit to

take a couple of chapters at a time. Courses include labs

demonstrated by instructors as well as a live, hands-on

feature that encourages students to put their skills to

the test and practice in a controlled environment. The

Training On Demand subscription model makes it

easy and affordable to get training when it’s needed.

The Training On Demand curriculum currently contains

more than 100 titles across a variety of subjects. The

Oracle Applications category includes courses for users

of E-Business Suite, Hyperion, PeopleSoft, Fusion

Applications, CRM On Demand, Siebel, RightNow

and Oracle Transportation Management. The folks at

Oracle University are preparing to provide Training

On Demand courses to meet the increased demand

for Oracle Fusion-related training in the near future.

In addition to its standard offerings, Oracle University

has partnered with the OAUG to bring targeted training

to OAUG conferences and to the OAUG’s eLearning

program. We are proud of this alliance and are pleased

to be able to supplement the OAUG’s educational

curriculum with high-quality educational programs from

Oracle University. Stay tuned for more information about

developments in this partnership in the months to come.

If you have questions, suggestions or feedback

about OAUG resources and programs, feel

free to contact me at [email protected].

Regards,

Mark C. Clark

OAUG_2012_ad.ai 1 7/5/2012 1:30:50 PM

oaug.org 7

wWhen the OAUG Ambassador Program launched on February 1, 2012, the OAUG’s leadership hoped it would help organizations realize a higher return on their OAUG membership investment. The program was developed to ensure that each individual in a member organization is aware of and accessing the free resources available through the OAUG website and the discounted education available at OAUG events. As this issue of OAUG Insight magazine was going to print, the OAUG was pleasantly surprised that more than 430 individuals had volunteered to act as their organization’s

Ambassadors and more than 100 attended the first-ever Ambassador Informational Meeting and Webinar on April 23 during

COLLABORATE 12. Another 65 had distributed the quarterly Benefits Reminder Email to their colleagues within days of receiving it to ensure they were familiar with the latest-and-greatest free resources available through their organization’s OAUG membership. Jim Collison, the OAUG Ambassador for Gallup Technologies, attended the first-ever OAUG Ambassador Meeting during COLLABORATE 12. “The OAUG Ambassador Program has an incredible opportunity to change the way individual organizations see the benefits of an OAUG membership as well as enhance the networking and mind sharing that happens inside a company that has a strong ambassador,” said Collison. An ambassador can now play the role of user group champion behind the corporate firewall and bring to light training and education sessions, as well as the value of social media offerings, that might have been underutilized in the past.”

OAUG Ambassadors are helping spread the word that an unlimited number of their organization’s employees have access to OAUG resources once membership is set up, rather than each individual paying for benefits. Ambassadors also review their list of employees in the OAUG Member Database to ensure everyone has a member login. Lastly, Ambassadors ensure that their colleagues know how to access all of the free, online education using their member logins. We expect the Ambassador Program to further increase ROI for member organizations and result in a more robust and diverse community of Oracle Applications users and solution providers to enhance user-led networking and education. As a thank you for their participation, OAUG Ambassadors who attended COLLABORATE 12 received an Ambassador flair for their conference badge, a wristband for specialty “Rumbassador” and “Voluntini” cocktails at the Wednesday Evening Reception and exclusive OAUG Ambassador temporary tattoos to show off their VIP status. OAUG Ambassadors who fulfill their obligations throughout the year will also be entered into a drawing to win a full conference pass to the OAUG event of their choice. In the meantime, the OAUG continues to provide Ambassadors VIP access at all OAUG events and highlights on the OAUG website and in publications the work they do on behalf of their organizations. To view the name and contact information for your organization’s Ambassador, log in to “My OAUG Profile” at the top right of any page on the OAUG website (oaug.org), follow the prompts to log in and check the top left of your profile administration for your organization’s designated OAUG Ambassador. Please contact [email protected] or +1 404.240.0897, extension 2, if you have any questions. Thank you to our current OAUG Ambassadors for volunteering! Questions, concerns and feedback are welcome any time. Contact me at [email protected].

Regards,

Steven R. Hughes

OAUG Ambassadors Advocate for ROI

oaug viewpoint

O A U G l E a d E r S h i p 8 oaug.org

Steven R. Hughes

OAUG Execut ive Director

[email protected]

CSS customers avoided the complexities an R12 upgrade can bring with analysis tools and services from CSS International. Understand your upgrade requirements with help from CSS and get to the next level.

Call 800-814-7705 or visit us at www.cssus.com to schedule your free 2-day assessment.

Thoughts of an R12 UPGRADE

leaving your stomach tied

in knots?

TECHNOLOGY IQ.BUSINESS SENSE.

A Historical Perspective One way to think of the roles of ERP and PLM is that PLM determines what the product should be, and ERP helps manage the business of turning vision into real products. ERP and PLM are two systems that can communicate with each other yet play different roles in supporting business needs. PLM is designed to manage a product from initial phase of documentation as it is revised and released for production. ERP uses the product data from PLM to help manage production resources and financials, among other business activities. To organize and manage product, the product data should initially be stored in a PLM system. Once the product design has developed to a point where resources need to be managed to produce the design, an ERP system that integrates with the existing PLM system is

helpful. By integrating ERP with PLM, the most up-to-date product data is available at any time and can be shared with the necessary departments to ensure accurate financial planning. PLM has also evolved to other aspects of the product, such as regulatory or customer compliance, quality and safety, manufacturing planning and costing. But what remains consistent is that PLM focuses on defining the intent of the product – both technically and commercially. ERP then helps plan production resources at a high level, accounts for material usage, plans inventory, manages orders and accounts for the physical delivery of the product. Research shows that 70 percent of product costs are decided during the development phase, leaving transaction-based application ERP with only 30 percent of the total costs.

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

oaug feature

By Herbalife International

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) systems are both widely used. This article looks at the functional roles of these two systems and how each is best suited for product and process management.

Common Attributes of PLM PLM technology is innovation centric, focused on creating, innovating and collaborating around new products. PLM software emerged during the design domain of a product to help define and manage information about product designs. It is a system to manage CAD (Product Design Forms) and Bill of Materials (BOM). It connects market requirements with business needs. It provides control of the product record across all development stages from concept to design to production. With this system in place, a company can manage product data including items, bill of materials, approved manufacturer lists and product files. PLM also enables a company to track changes to product information and communicate revisions to the supply chain. With automated change processes built in, PLM can help companies manage key product decisions and changes in real time. Conducting engineering change requests and orders through this system helps to consolidate, organize and track product data in a centralized location that is otherwise dispersed throughout a wide variety of organizational departments. By capturing product information in this system, manufacturers have access to the single and correct version of their product record at any point in time and can efficiently structure a streamlined change process. PLM’s strength in collaboration and accelerated innovation is a major cost saver for many manufacturers. As manufacturers struggled to manage, synchronize and share increasingly complex, interdependent CAD files among global teams involving both internal and external members, organizations required software to keep the team collaborating effectively and to serve as a “data repository” for product designs. PLM helps engineers work and rework products to optimize designs through Internet PLM global collaboration in real time. Vendors want the data processed during product development to be captured, continuously updated and made accessible to all team members in usable formats. Because of the iterative nature of design and the complexity of products incorporating many mechanical, electrical and software components, the product data vaults must be powerful and flexible enough to link multiple layers of data, as well as robust and dynamic enough to support frequent change. In addition, as the nature of product development becomes truly global in response to low-

cost outsourcing and emerging market opportunities, vendors have to accommodate demands for more product configurations and be able to manage the multiple CAD systems used in increasingly complex product structures. In the process of serving global engineering teams, vendors realized that the digital product data being captured throughout the design cycle was of great value to upstream processes and to future design work. PLM acts both as a platform and an engine throughout the entire product development process. PLM also provides management with visibility into product development processes for better informed decision making. PLM helps in making changes when products are in a digital state, which results in huge savings when compared to the cost of making changes once the product is released to manufacturing and in production. PLM has grown into a dynamic and flexible environment, managing both data and product information from a variety of sources while making them accessible across the enterprise. By capturing and synthesizing the complex and diverse volume of data generated throughout the design and engineering process, PLM provides a means for better understanding – and better aiding – innovation and collaboration and their related functions.

Why Agile PLM? Recently acquired by Oracle to reinforce the PLM offering for the Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) ERP, Oracle’s Agile PLM is the industry’s most comprehensive enterprise PLM solution and a key building block for managing product value chains. Oracle’s Agile PLM helps organizations of all types and sizes: l Accelerate innovation through ideation management

and collaboration, product portfolio management and analytics, data consolidation and cleansing, and a rich enterprise product record.

oaug.org 11

oaug insight l fall 2012

By Herbalife International

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) systems are both widely used. This article looks at the functional roles of these two systems and how each is best suited for product and process management.

y integrating ERP with PLM, the most up-to-date product data is available at any time and can be shared with the necessary

departments to ensure accurate financial planning.

“

“B

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

l Design for supply with product cost management, outsourced manufacturing and product collaboration, product supply risk analytics, and spend consolidation.

l Rapidly commercialize through integrated portfolio and business planning, enterprise quality management and analytics, and clean product data publishing through a seamless integration with other product value chain management solutions.

Common Attributes of ERP An ERP system is a tool to manage the business process after the product design stage, managing the logistics of getting a product to market. ERP collects and collates data processed during the manufacturing stages of a product – redesigns, production runs, prototypes, etc. It also manages financials and reporting activities such as accounting, manufacturing planning, execution, shipping logistics and sales forecasting. Based on its manufacturing process, a company may choose an ERP system to manage its financials. A comprehensive ERP system is required for companies that produce complex, engineered products to organize finance, sales and manufacturing departments. For a company that outsources manufacturing, a smaller set of ERP tools is required, which might include just the financial, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory and procurement modules without the manufacturing resource planning module since resources are typically managed by outsourcing partners. ERP systems provide manufacturers their financial status. They also enable organizations to plan for orders and profitability. ERP helps companies track inventory levels, delivery lead times and production bottlenecks. Companies can also track orders from receipt through production and delivery in order.

How Did ERP Come into Existence? In the past, organizations deployed a number of software applications that were not integrated. This resulted in inefficiencies in business operations due to the lack of integration, particularly in the area of supply chain management, which depends on a smooth and reliable flow of materials data from one functional area to the next. In this scenario, organizations could not plan and schedule resources properly. This lack of integration of various software applications led to the over- and under-inventory of parts and finished products, procurement difficulties, manufacturing scheduling issues, order fulfillment and distribution problems, and so on throughout the supply chain.

ERP filled a big hole in the marketplace by providing companies with an enterprise-wide solution that spanned and linked all the key

operational functions and departments. ERP has

enabled organizations to integrate their manufacturing and supply chain processes

to reduce delays and increase efficiency. This

is ERP’s primary source of value.

ERP solutions, which grew out of accounting software products, are primarily

focused on physical assets and the flow of

materials. ERP solutions are great for keeping track of recurring transactions and are geared

toward planning and accounting for production. An ERP system only requires information that

is necessary for production; it does not need to know all the details about the individual components that comprise the product. For the ERP solution’s purposes, the product is a single part. The ERP solution can perform its planning and accounting functions perfectly well without further detail. These attributes make ERP shine and make it effective at executing and optimizing manufacturing and distribution processes.

Financials

CRMSupply Chain

Mgmt

Manu-facturing

HRMS

Projects

Prod

uctio

n Analysis Design

Transition Build

Figure 1


oaug.org 13

Why Oracle ERP? Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) is a collection of applications (ERP, CRM, SCM and several other product lines) integrated together to form one big application (See Figure 1). The main feature of Oracle’s ERP solution is its interaction with legacy systems through easy integration features. The communication and integration between the various applications offer easier implementation and flexibility. These applications possess the functionality to serve specific solutions to the company. The Oracle EBS has been adopted by many industries in sectors such as manufacturing, financials, healthcare and technology. It offers automation of services like sales, marketing, supply, human resources, financials, etc. ERP from Oracle enables quick decision making. Oracle Fusion Middleware enables the ERP to communicate with the third-party applications. Oracle EBS is reliable and has a low implementation time as compared to other ERP solution providers. The day-to-day operations, strategic operations and financial processes are combined together in the Oracle ERP software. It allows integrated reports to manage the value of the shareholders and the shareholder’s profitability. A company can manage working capital effectively and control financial risk. Clients, products and services providing the company with maximum profits can be identified, and certain strategies can be formed accordingly. ERP from Oracle also assists in monitoring the different operation centers and

warehouses across the globe. Through Oracle ERP, an organization can determine its performance levels and profitability. Thus, ERP from Oracle assists in resource planning for the entire enterprise. How are PLM and ERP Being Used in the Industry? ERP and PLM play distinct roles in driving product profitability. ERP and PLM both drive manufacturing

ROLES of ERP and PLM The functional roles of ERP and PLM in the areas of manufacturing, maintenance, direct material sourcing, quality, costing and compliance:

Information

Innovation focused

Innovation

Iterative

Flexible

Quality plans, FMEA, risk management

Predictive quality

Create>revise>reuse

Visual, 3D models, simulation, animation

All history (versions matter)

Share information

Change is normal

Optimizing production model, manufacturing engineering, simulation

Enable design

Complex design relationships, systems view (mechanical, electrical and software)

Manages and promotes change

Disciplined but flexible design processes

Creating, designing, iterating and revising

Full product structure to component or raw material level

Central themes of speed and managed creativity

Optimize as-designed cost

Compliance validation, supplier collaboration, bill of substance, etc.

Bill of process, work instructions

Maintenance plans, procedures, resource requirements, as maintained

Product lifecycles

Flexible data structure

Product iterations, revisions and decision history

Documents, structured & unstructured information, metadata

Design/requirements/configuration/project/program focused

Direct material sourcing, supplier selection

Inventory

Execution focused

Production

Linear

Structured

Quality specifications, quality data

Inspection plans

Buy>revise>sell

Text based with some static 2D and 3D images

Only one version is true

Restrict information

Stability is sought

Managing manufacturing operations

Maximize profits

Simple BOM hierarchy

Steady state

Controlled, well-defined business processes

Repeated transactions

BOM to procured part/assembly level

Central theme of control

Account for cost performance/variances, enterprise-wide cost analytics

Compliance certification

Routing at operation, work center level for planning

Maintenance transactions, contractual agreements, materials

Inventory/order lifecycles

Rigid data model

Released versions

Structured data

Order/supply/demand focused

Purchasing transactions, orders history

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)

companies to manage design and production processes. These systems are designed to work together. PLM systems focus on the product record – the BOM, AML and revision history. ERP systems focus on the financials. PLM, the system of record for your product, includes BOM management, item management, change management (ECR, ECO, ECN), document management and compliance management. ERP, the system of record for your financials, includes purchasing, accounting, inventory management, order management and sales forecasting. Knowing which business system to use for which purpose, and getting your systems in place early, is the best way to ensure your product makes it to market with minimal setbacks. When Should an Organization Implement a PLM or ERP System? Any organization that designs and produces complex or engineered-to-order products, manufactures in house, uses outside resources like suppliers or has multiple product lines will benefit from using PLM to manage the product record. Any organization that needs to share information between their finance, sales

and manufacturing departments needs ERP. ERP systems take care of business financials and help in sales forecasting, manufacturing planning, support, shipping, logistics and customer care. Integrating PLM with ERP The primary reason for integrating ERP and PLM is productivity. Integration between these systems will support release of product to production and engineering change. Integration between these two systems will result in efficiency and speed and eliminate quality problems. Integration can provide visibility from shop floor to design information and 3D models, provide cost and supplier data back to engineering, and then expand over time. Integration typically involves transferring items and BOMs to ERP. The trend is toward bidirectional integration – PLM to ERP, but also ERP to PLM – as engineering is now much more interested in access to pricing and vendor information, which is in the ERP system (See Figure 2). Integration: The Technical Perspective Application programming interfaces (APIs) have eased traditional integration challenges. The adoption of Web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA) has also made integration easier (See Figure 3). Integrating Agile PLM with Oracle ERP through AIA Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is an open, standards-based platform that unites the world’s best enterprise applications through composite business processes. It is the best-practice processes that optimize business performance leveraging Oracle’s extensive experience. Process Integration Packs (PIPs) are pre-built, out-of-the-box, integrated Oracle Applications for quick implementation of business processes, without the risk. The Foundation Packs create custom business processes across applications utilizing predefined, application-independent object and service definitions. Powered by Oracle Fusion Middleware, it is a hot pluggable, open, standards-based platform (See Figure 4). Advantages of Using AIA The advantages of Oracle AIA include:l Respond more quickly to business requirements and

competitive pressures.


Electrical Engineering

Planning Team

Compliance Team

Sourcing Team

CAD Tools

Mechanical EngineeringManufacturer

Supplier

Item Master, BOM, AML, Costing, Compliance

Item, BOM, ECO Info

ERPPLM

Inventory

APC

BOM

Purchasing

Engineering

Parts Master

BOMS

AML

Change Master

Parts, Revisions, Categories, Attributes, Lifecycle

Cost, Lead -Times, On-Hand

SOMs, Substitute Comp, Reference Designators

Approved Manufacture/ Supplier Parts

ECO/MCO/SCO Affected Items, Comp, Eff Dates

Implementation Dates

Op

erat

ion

s

Electrical Engineering

Planning Team

Compliance Team

Sourcing Team

CAD Tools

Mechanical EngineeringManufacturer

Supplier

Item Master, BOM, AML, Costing, Compliance

Item, BOM, ECO Info

ERPPLM

Inventory

APC

BOM

Purchasing

Engineering

Parts Master

BOMS

AML

Change Master

Parts, Revisions, Categories, Attributes, Lifecycle

Cost, Lead -Times, On-Hand

SOMs, Substitute Comp, Reference Designators

Approved Manufacture/ Supplier Parts

ECO/MCO/SCO Affected Items, Comp, Eff Dates

Implementation Dates

Op

erat

ion

s

Figure 2 – Flows between PLM and ERP.

Figure 3

l Focus on strategic process innovation rather than internal plumbing.

l Out-of-the-box PIPs for Oracle enterprise applications.

l Owned, developed and maintained by Oracle. l Easily modified and extended.l Standard canonical objects and services.l Reuse across the enterprise, new and legacy

applications. l Leverages Oracle Fusion Middleware’s SOA

Suite.l Scalable, available, reliable, high-performance

platform. l Platform for Oracle Fusion Applications.

The PLM Process Integration Pack (PIP) is a pre-built enterprise integration solution based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA). The PIP orchestrates enterprise business process flows between Agile PLM and Oracle ERP. It is not a traditional point-to-point integration based on inflexible, fragile and proprietary third-party code. The PIP is configurable, extensible, reliable and scalable SOA integration based on open standards. The PIP runs on Oracle’s AIA and supports new part request (NPR) processes, new product introduction (NPI) processes and design change processes. Integrating Agile PLM with Oracle EBS Integration between Agile PLM and Oracle EBS leverages PLM to manage and update all engineering content and processes and all of a product’s BOM states in ERP systems (See Figure 5). Conclusion ERP and PLM help companies achieve product profitability. ERP plans and manages business while PLM plays the role in engineering, product innovation and product development. ERP manages orders, centralizing control and accounting. PLM manages product knowledge, enhancing speed to market and collaboration. AIA has promised to make it easier to leverage multiple systems to provide users with the functionality they need. This integration solution between ERP and PLM helps in achieving a better, faster return of investment.

Organizations require people, processes and intellectual capital to work together, not against each other, in an effort to accelerate new product development while at the same time reducing operational costs. PLM will digitally map the life cycle used to design, manufacture, service and improve product offerings. PLM/ERP integration allows the organization to capture all knowledge and improve the efficiency of the product from start to finish. The Herbalife team includes Punith Basavaraju and Smitha Rao, whose primary work is on the Agile system. They support and maintain the current PLM implementation and take care of new requirements that come in the form of enhancement requests and new project implementation. Driving the PLM implementation process is Tara Nawaz, the functional consultant gathering requirements from the business and testing the solutions during implementation. Sankar Chinnathambi heads the Oracle Order Management and Interfaces Team, and Prem Kumar leads the Agile technical team.

Agile PLMConnector

Service

EnterpriseBusinessServices

Oracle EBSConnector

Service

Opportunity to Quote

Order to Cash

Banking Account

Origination

AdverseEvent

Reporting

Trade Promotion

Mgmt

CommsOrder to

Bill

MorePlanned ...

Order to Cash Procure to Pay Hire to Exit Concept to Cash And more ...

Best Practice Processes

Prebuilt Process Integration Packs

Foundation Packs

Industry LeadingORACLE FUSION MIDDLEWARE

Oracle Application Integration Architecture

Enterprise Business Services

SOA Programming Model

SOA Reference Architecture

SOA Governance

CreatePart

CreateChange

Update BOM

Update AML

Update Costs,Codes,Dates

ABM Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite ABM

EBM EBM

Agile PLMProduct

Collaboration

OracleEBS

Manufacturing

Agile PLM Process Integration Pack for Oracle EBS


15 oaug.org

Agile PLMConnector

Service

EnterpriseBusinessServices

Oracle EBSConnector

Service

Opportunity to Quote

Order to Cash

Banking Account

Origination

AdverseEvent

Reporting

Trade Promotion

Mgmt

CommsOrder to

Bill

MorePlanned ...

Order to Cash Procure to Pay Hire to Exit Concept to Cash And more ...

Best Practice Processes

Prebuilt Process Integration Packs

Foundation Packs

Industry LeadingORACLE FUSION MIDDLEWARE

Oracle Application Integration Architecture

Enterprise Business Services

SOA Programming Model

SOA Reference Architecture

SOA Governance

CreatePart

CreateChange

Update BOM

Update AML

Update Costs,Codes,Dates

ABM Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite ABM

EBM EBM

Agile PLMProduct

Collaboration

OracleEBS

Manufacturing

Agile PLM Process Integration Pack for Oracle EBS

Figure 4

Figure 5

In E-Business Suite (EBS) Release 12, Oracle completely changed the way in which intercompany transactions can be accounted by creating a robust, flexible, rules-based intercompany accounting program. This accounting program, however, is only useful if you understand how it’s used and how it should be configured. This article will give clarity to those configurations, EBS Legal Entities, the purpose they serve and answer the question: “When is a legal entity, not a legal entity?”

A legal entity must be registered with a jurisdiction, which can be a state or province in the United States and Canada, or a country. Wherever the legal entity is located, there will be certain statutory requirements within a jurisdiction that should be supported from a business and systems management perspective. Legal entities may represent a single component of your company or several components unified via a single business purpose.1


oaug feature

Legal entities can play an important role in your company management and business systems structure. They may be used to own and track assets, manage revenue and expenses, record taxes and house human capital for managing other business enterprises.

Intercompany and Intracompany in Oracle EBS R12:

A Deep Dive

Thomas J. Simkiss, Jr., JD, CPA & Lee Briggs, BizTech

When is a legal entity, not a legal entity?

1 Oracle Financials Concepts Guide, August 2010, p. 2 – 4

In Oracle EBS 11i, legal entities were required as part of the human resources (HR) configuration and were required to be associated with a set of books. The purpose they served within the applications was not always clear. In EBS R12, a new legal entity structure has been introduced to track intercompany transactions at a very detailed level.

oracle legal entities A company’s HR information and structure is owned by the Government Reporting Legal Entity (GRLE), which represents the formal employer in the human capital management system (HCM). Employees must belong to a specific GRLE within the employer’s EBS R12 system. A GRLE can represent a registered company or other registered legal entity. GRLEs are a particular type of system legal entity and serve to connect employees with the appropriate company or other entity in the legal world.

LegaL entity

The legal entity defined in the EBS R12 should correspond to the “legal entity” or “company” in which transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day business operations. Information about a registered company or some other entity may be stored in the “legal entity;” information may include the registered address and director or officer names. The legal entity administers transaction-level rules in compliance with national laws.

system LegaL entity

The system legal entity within EBS R12 is the first party on business transactions and is the transaction tax filer and payer. Oracle recognizes that for many groups, particularly in environments where the authorities allow companies to treat many legal entities as one, companies may not need or want to segment data or account separately for each entity that they have incorporated. Therefore, the system legal entity does not automatically account for itself. Oracle facilitates correlation of subledger activity in reporting legal structures by exploiting related system

entities for operating units, ledgers and company representation in the chart of accounts:

l Account for legal entities separately if needed.

l Account for a group of legal entities as if they were one.

l Account for a part of a real-world legal entity as if it were completely standalone when appropriate. 2

intercompany and intracompany accounting In EBS R12, balancing segments can be assigned to legal entities to allow for transaction entry identification and reporting. While Oracle General Ledger (GL) can be configured without using legal entities (balancing segments do not have to be associated with legal entity), if a company plans on using Receivables or Payables, a legal entity is required. The main purpose of the legal entity in Payables and Receivables is to serve as the custodian of banking relationships. Using the Legal Entity Configurator and Oracle Security Wizard, legal entities must be assigned to a particular responsibility in order to allow it to have access to configure bank information and associate them with legal entities.

In EBS R12, transactions between balancing segments can be defined as either intercompany or intracompany (See Figure 1). Intercompany journals involve balancing segment values that map to different legal entities. These journals are balanced for each legal entity by using their intercompany accounts. The balancing application programming interface (API) uses the intercompany accounts defined for the relevant effective date range. Since multiple accounts may be

17


oaug.org

IntracompanyIntercompany

Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2 Legal Entity 1 Legal Entity 2

Company BS 105 transacts with Company BS 110.Intercompany receivable from BS 105.Intercompany payable to BS 110.

Company 2015 transacts with Company 2020.BS 2015 intracompany receivable BS 2000.BS 2020 intracompany payable BS 2000.

Balancing 110 Segment


Balancing 2000Segment



3500

3515

3520

Intracompany

Intercompany

Transactions between two or more balancing segments within a single legal entity. Intracompany accounts are defined for each balancing segment value.

Transactions between two or more legal entities.Accounts are defined at the legal entity level.

2 IBID. pg. 2 – 7

Figure 1

defined for the same date range, the balancing API picks the accounts flagged with the Use for Balancing indicator. The offsetting debit to a legal entity goes into its intercompany receivables account. The offsetting credit goes into the legal entity’s intercompany payables account.

interCompany aCCounts

Intercompany accounts may be defined at the legal entity level. That is, each transacting legal entity may have different intercompany accounts defined for different trading partner legal entities, regardless of which specific balancing segment values of those legal entities are used in the journals. The transacting and trading partner balancing segment values can also be set to “All Other,” and not individually specified for each combination. There are different types of intercompany journals. The balancing API first determines the type of the intercompany journal (one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many) with respect to the legal entities. For intercompany balancing, there is no clearing company usage and all legal entities are balanced by summary net with respect to each other. 3

intraCompany baLanCing

Intracompany balancing rules are used to create balancing lines on journals between balancing segment values either within the same legal entity or where there is no legal entity context. Intracompany balancing rules are used when more than one balancing segment value exists on a transaction or journal entry, as long as you have selected the “Balance Intracompany Journals” option for the ledger. You cannot post a journal in the general ledger when the debit and credit amounts for each balancing segment value do not net to zero. You must define intracompany balancing rules if you want to balance journals automatically. The default balancing rule should be defined for the journal source “Other” and journal category “Other” for the ledger and legal entity you want to balance. The default accounting rule on each balancing rule is defined for the debit balancing segment value “All Other” and credit balancing segment value “All Other.”

With intracompany accounting, you can define both a debit (due-from) and credit (due-to) balancing segment, which gives you more control over each balancing relationship. You can specify different debit and credit accounts for each different intracompany trading partner, which is represented by a specific balancing segment value. “All Other” is also available as a balancing segment value if you want the balancing segment value to use the same due-to/due-from accounts for every intracompany trading relationship that has not been specifically defined. If you set up a specific debit and credit balancing segment value, then the assigned debit and credit account combinations are used. If you use “All Other,” the appropriate trading partner balancing segment value replaces the balancing segment value of the account combination. You can also determine the level the balancing API should use when selecting either “Summary Net” or “Detail.” For balancing many-to-many journal entries, there are several balancing segment values with net debits and net credits on a transaction, and it is not possible to determine which balancing segment value is trading with which balancing segment value. You can decide whether to use a clearing balancing segment value or a default rule to handle such transactions.4 NOTE: If you use cash management and the automated sweep feature, R12 uses the intracompany account as a CLEARING account to sweep across legal entities. So even if you are not using intracompany accounting, this setup may be required.

realty co Realty Co manages approximately 1,200 entities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Each separate property is a distinct legal entity with its own required reports (both internal and external) tax filing requirements, and local and regional reporting and analysis. Realty Co implemented Oracle EBS Financials Release 12.1.3 to manage the back office functions for all the entities. Modules utilized include General Ledger, Payables, Assets, Receivables, Cash Management and E-Business Tax. The chart of accounts was configured with six segments: Company (Balancing Segment), Cost


3 Oracle Financials Implementation Guide, August 2010, pg. 5 – 2, 3 4 IBID, pg. 5 – 5

Center, Natural Account, Intercompany and two future use segments. The main business issue to be addressed was how to account for all of the different intercompany transactions. The requirement was to allow each of 1,200 entities to transact with one another as required. However, Realty Co wanted to use clearing companies as the intermediary channel for running most of the transactions, thus not having to track potentially thousands of intercompany balances and transactions.

the business requirement For the approximately 1,200 entities managed by Realty Co, Payables and Receivables invoices can be charged to any single or multiple entities. In addition, Assets can be assigned to any legal entity, and journal entries can be made between any legal entities. Realty Co has 17 disbursement bank accounts. Each entity is assigned one (and only one) disbursement bank account. In addition, Realty Co has seven clearing companies, each associated with a disbursement bank account. Any entity associated with Bank Account 1 will be associated with Clearing Company A; any entity associated with Bank Account 2 will be associated with Clearing Company B. Any journal entry between two (or more) entities with the same clearing company must use the clearing company to ensure the journal is balanced. There is no possibility of any journal entry between two entities with different clearing companies.

the soLution

Oracle’s EBS R12 documentation defines the legal entity as “legal entity” or “company” in which transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day business operations. A legal entity is a discrete legal personality characterized by the legal environment in which it operates. As stated previously, legal entities have the right to own property, the right to trade and the responsibility to comply with appropriate laws. Under this generally accepted definition, each of Realty Co’s 1,200 entities would be defined as a “legal entity” since, for example, AP invoices would need to be recorded and each of the 1,200 legal entities would have one (and only one) balancing segment value assigned to it.

Using the definitions outlined above, a single intracompany account would need to be defined. It is unlikely it would be used, since there would only be one balancing segment value in each legal entity, however, it would still need to be defined. In addition, in order to meet Realty Co’s intercompany requirements, more than 1.4 million intercompany account combinations would need to be defined. While technically correct, this approach was deemed unacceptable, both from a go-live build out, as well as from an ongoing maintenance perspective. Reconsidering the definition “transactions are recorded or required in day-to-day business operations,” Realty Co sought an alternative approach: rather than considering the AP invoice (or AR invoice) as the transaction which is recorded or required in day-to-day business, what if the AP payment (or AR receipt) was the transaction? Rather than having 1,200 legal entities, each associated with one (and only one) balancing segment value, Realty Co could define 17 legal entities, each associated with multiple balancing segment values. Rather than defining 1,200 intracompany accounts in scenario one, we would only need to define 17 intracompany accounts (See Figure 2).

19 oaug.org


Oracle’s EBS R12 documentation defines

the legal entity as “legal entity” or

“company” in which transactions are

recorded or required in day-to-day business

operations. A legal entity is a discrete legal

personality characterized by the legal

environment in which it operates.

Figure 2










3500

3515

3520

Intracompany

Intercompany



The legal entity configurations for Realty Co show multiple legal entities defined. However, only two of these legal entities have balancing segments assigned to it. This legal entity, “Management LLP” (shown in Figure 3) owns one bank account (not shown), and has multiple balancing segment values assigned to it. Payables invoices charged to any of these balancing segment values will only be paid by this bank account.

intracompany Balancing ruleslegal entity management Once a legal entity has a balancing segment value (or multiple balancing segment values) assigned to it, at least one intracompany balancing rule must be defined. Separate intracompany balancing rules can be configured based on Journal Source and Journal Category, so if you need one Intracompany account to be used for journals

created from a source of Payables, and a different account used by journals from Receivables, intracompany accounting gives you that flexibility. Realty Co used the same account for all intracompany journals, so was able to use a source and category of “Other.”

source and category Balancing details Once you have defined the journal source and category to which this intracompany balancing rule applies, you need to specify the debit and credit accounts (intracompany receivables, intracompany payables) account. Within this form, you have the ability to specify intracompany receivables and payables accounts for each combination of balancing segment values. You can also specify intracompany receivables and payables accounts for all combinations of balancing segment values within the legal entity by using the “All Other” balancing segment values. (See Figure 4).

source and category options You also need to specify some options for how the intracompany journal entries should be booked, and these can vary by legal entity. You can specify whether intracompany journal entries are generated at a journal line level or whether the intracompany journal entries should be summarized for the entire journal. You have


Once a legal entity has a balancing

segment value (or multiple balancing

segment values) assigned to it, at least

one intracompany balancing rule must be

defined. Separate intracompany balancing

rules can be configured based on Journal

Source and Journal Category ...

Figure 3

21 oaug.org

the option to specify whether you should use a clearing company for all journals or just for journals which have “many-to-many” intracompany journal lines. To meet Realty Co’s requirements, any intracompany journal entry was required to go through a clearing balancing segment.

mary road investments Mary Road, a trading firm that operates around the clock and around the globe, selected Oracle EBS 12.1.3 to assist them in transitioning from a manual Excel-based, process-driven month-end close and reporting cycle to an integrated, rapid and agile process.

the business requirement Mary Road has 16 legal entities throughout the world, and each legal entity has one (and only one) balancing segment value assigned to it. Mary Road needed to be able to transact between any legal entities and even across ledgers. A journal entry or invoice could be made between any combinations of legal entities. Rather than use an intercompany segment in the chart of accounts, Mary Road wanted to define distinct intercompany receivable and payable natural accounts for each legal entity. In addition, Mary Road required that, for transactions which occurred between legal


Figure 4

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

entities in Europe or Asia, intercompany invoices to support the transactions had to be generated.

the soLution Mary Road required configuration of Oracle EBS R12.1.3 Intercompany Accounting and Intracompany accounting (defined for each legal entity but not documented below as they are similar to what was done for Realty Co). Mary Road has 16 legal entities, and each legal entity has one (and only one) balancing segment value assigned to it. Within the intercompany account definition for legal entity 110, all other balancing segment values are listed, together with an “All Other,” and the intercompany accounting for each is defined. In this example, the relationship between balancing segment values 110 and 105 was selected and used to

define the intercompany receivables and payables account for this combination (See Figure 5). These accounts have effective dates, so you are able to end-date a specific intercompany receivables account as of 31-Dec-2012 and start using a new intercompany receivables account on 1-Jan-2013.

It is important to note that when creating an intercompany relationship, Oracle EBS R12.1.3 does not generate a reciprocal relationship. For example, when the relationship in legal entity 110 between companies 110 and 105 was created, Oracle did not create the reciprocal relationship in legal entity 105 and 110. This will still need to be defined.

conclusion Oracle has developed a robust and flexible solution for handling transactions between legal entities in EBS Release 12. Use of the legal entity configurator along with intercompany and intracompany accounting to automatically balance transactions between multiple legal entities can save time and money by streamlining the close process and simplifying month-end intercompany reconciliations. While legal entities now play an important role in EBS R12, it is important to determine if you require to set all of the legal entities that may exist in your organization up in Oracle. At the beginning of this article we asked, When is a Legal Entity not a legal entity? As it relates to EBS R12 and intercompany and intracompany configuration, the answer is when that legal entity is only used to record transactions and hold balances but is not required to maintain or conduct banking related transactions. Knowing this distinction and understanding when and how to use EBS Legal Entities can have a dramatic impact on your implementation and ongoing use of EBS.

Thomas Simkiss is the Chief Operating Officer and

Lead Financials Architect at BizTech. Thomas has 15 years

of Oracle Applications experience both as an end-user and

implementer across many industries, including Telecom,

Retail, Membership Organizations, Healthcare, Government,

and Social Services. He is a member of the New Jersey State

Society of Certified Public Accountants, and a member of

the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bar Association. Contact

Thomas at [email protected] or follow @ThomasSimkiss.

Lee Briggs is the Financials Practice Director for

BizTech. Lee has worked with Oracle for over 13 years in

Financials, Supply Chain and Project Accounting. Lee is the

Chairman of the ADI SIG and presents regularly at local

and national Oracle User Group conferences. Contact Lee at

[email protected] or follow @LeeBriggs.

When is a Legal Entity not a legal entity? As

it relates to EBS R12 and intercompany and

intracompany configuration, the answer is

when that legal entity is only used to record

transactions and hold balances but is not

required to maintain or conduct banking related

transactions. Knowing this distinction and

understanding when and how to use EBS Legal

Entities can have a dramatic impact on your

implementation and ongoing use of EBS.

Figure 5










3500

3515

3520

Intracompany

Intercompany



oaug.org

23

OAUG Insight Summer Crossword PuzzleAcross

3. Associate members with Star Power.

6. Written details of presentations.

8. Vendor information guide.

10. Reduced price or services from OAUG membership.

12. OAUG’s original focus.

14. Users attend COLLABORATE looking for _________.

16. Look here for work.

17. This advocate group represents members to Oracle.

21. Project Management software.

22. OAUG’s quarterly magazine

23. An Oracle Ace is considered one.

26. www.oaug.org

27. Continuous online learning.

28. The next Oracle Applications generation.

29. OAUG has many opportunities to volunteer

for one of these.

31. Presenters share theirs.

32. They make it all happen.

33. OAUG’s topic-specific conferences.

Down

1. What everyone should do

while attending.

2. Conference attendees

make new __________.

3. The original CRM.

4. An OAUG representative

for your company.

5. Enterprise ___________.

7. Oracle’s BI product.

8. Inherently found within

Oracle Applications.

9. We make the local and

regional connection for

OAUG.

11. Groups that explore

specific Oracle products.

13. Conference attendees

learn new ___________.

15. 2012 will be a big year for

___________.

18. Originally, HRMS only.

19. OAUG’s electronic

newsletter.

20. Where Oracle Applications

minds meet.

24. Oracle products improve

___________.

25. Result of your OAUG

membership.

30. OAUG’s online training.

1

2

3 4

5 6

7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14

15 16

17 18 19 20

21 22

23 24 25 26

27

28 29 30

31

32

33

This puzzle was created by

OATC, Inc. Test your knowledge of OAUG and solve our OAUG crossword puzzle. Answers on page 44.

www.oatcinc.com

24 O A U G F E a T u r E 24

oaug feature

Like many companies running a large footprint of Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), it is necessary for Hologic to apply patches that fix issues or provide new functionality. After upgrading to R12, it appears there are fewer one-off patches and more fixes coming in family packs or other consolidated patch sets. This requires us to do more extensive testing, and it presents us with the challenge of determining what is affected by the patches and what should be tested. The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard, a tool included with the Oracle Applications Manager (OAM), enables a better understanding of what has been affected by patches. One advantage of this tool is that you do not need to be a DBA to use it, although the initial setup will require some DBA assistance. Detailed setup instructions

can be found in My Oracle Support (MOS) note 1267768.1 – “Required Patches for Patch Wizard.” Once the setup steps in the detailed instructions have been completed, each person running the Patch Wizard must complete the following steps: l Start from any responsibility that has access

to Oracle Applications Manager.

l Drill down to the menu item Patching and

Utilities.

l Select Patch Wizard from the Select Feature

LOV in the upper right area.

l Click Go. The first time you use Patch Wizard, you must enter your MOS logon (Metalink Credentials). Click into

The Oracle EBS Patch Wizard Helps Users Determine the Impact of Patches and Prepare Test Scripts

By Kevin Brownlie, Hologic, Inc.

Hologic, Inc. is a leading

developer, manufacturer and

supplier of premium diagnostic

products, medical imaging

systems and surgical products

dedicated to serving the

healthcare needs of women

throughout the world. Hologic’s

$1.8 billion in annual revenue

and 5,000 employees worldwide

support its mission of helping

women everywhere to lead longer,

stronger and healthier lives.

25 oaug.org


O A U G F E a T u r E

the Patch Wizard Preferences, then click on the Metalink Credentials link under the Merge Option Defaults and fill in your MOS logon and password. Complete the following steps to submit your first patch (See Figure 1): l Navigate to the Patch Wizard home page.

l Click into Recommend/Analyze Patches Task.

l Click the Analyze Specific Patches radio button.

l Enter one or multiple patches. If you enter

more than one patch, you can click the Analyze

Aggregate Patch Impact checkbox.

l Click the OK button.

l Click the Confirm button

Figure 1. Enter information in the Recommend/Analyze Patches task screen to analyze a patch.

Figure 2. The Patch Wizard displays results and recommendations.

This will kick off numerous concurrent requests that will download patch information from MOS and analyze current patch levels in the instance. To check progress on the requests or to review the results, click Cancel to go back to the Patch Wizard home page, or click on the breadcrumbs at the top of the page. To review progress of the requests, you can click on Recommend/Analyze Patches Job Status on the Patch Wizard home page. You can also monitor from the bottom of the page (click GO under Filter Criteria to refresh the display or enter selection criteria). When the requests are completed, click on Details to see the analysis. Click on Impact to see areas and files affected by the patch (See Figure 2).


You can now see which applications are being affected, and, if you drill further down, what specific files are being updated and/or added. If one of the files is a form, you can see which responsibilities and menu items use that form by clicking on Menu Navigation Trees Affected (See Figure 3).

“

Figure 3. Further drilling down lists detail.

Figure 4. Specify which product families to include in a patch filter for your unique system.

Figure 3. Further drilling down lists detail.

For additional

troubleshooting, see

MOS Note 976688.1

– “Patch Wizard FAQ, on the Oracle

Support website. For additional training

see MOS note 1085668.1 – “Patch Wizard

Training Videos.”

To periodically see what patches Oracle is suggesting for your system, set up patch filters by specifying which product families to include within that filter. Setup is easy:

l Navigate to the Patch Wizard home page.

l Click into Define Patch Filters Task.

l Click the Create New button.

l Enter a Name and Description.

l Choose from the list of product families.

l I suggest checking both Recommended

Patches and New Codelevel.

l Click the Continue button.

l Review your selections and click the

Submit button.

(See Figure 4).

Navigate back to the Patch Wizard home page and click into Recommend/Analyze Patches Task. Click the Create Recommendation radio button, and choose either one of the seated filters or a filter you created. It is a good practice to check Analyze Aggregate Patch Impact. For those that have customized Oracle files, you can register and flag those files. If a patch is going to update those files, it will be identified in the Patch Impact Analysis under Flagged Files Changed. Detailed instructions for this can be found in MOS Note 976188.1. I found that the tool is well documented on MOS with an overview (Note 976188.1 – “Patch Wizard Utility”), training videos (Note 1085668.1 – “Patch Wizard Training Videos”) and Troubleshooting Guides (976688.1 – “Patch Wizard FAQs and Troubleshooting”). Also, MOS Note 411327.1 – “411EBS - EBS INFO: E-Business Suite Conference Highlights & Information Center” is a good one-stop shopping note, though the title is a little deceiving. In reality, the note has multiple links to patching, upgrades, OCM and diagnostics notes.

The usefulness of the Patch Wizard could be improved with some enhancements, such as:

l Providing the ability to review the impact of

applied patches; currently users can only

review unapplied patches.

l Determining whether files are leveraged by

multiple modules and providing a list of all

modules affected.

l Identifying which forms are impacted if the file

is not a forms file.

In summary, the EBS Patch Wizard is a useful tool that does not require you to be a DBA. You do need to have an understanding of Oracle EBS structure, so I would not consider it an end-user tool. It can tell you which schema is being affected, but it is up to you to translate that to the modules that are affected. Additionally, it will tell you exactly which files are getting added or updated. If you can decipher the file names, it gives you a general idea of what areas to test. Overall, the EBS Patch Wizard can help your analysts determine the impact of patches and better prepare test scripts, thus minimizing any surprises when the patches are applied to production.

Kevin Brownlie has worked in IS for over 23 years, 14

years at Hologic, and was a member of the original team that

implemented Oracle Applications at Hologic 10 years ago. He is

currently Senior Director of Applications Technology.

27


oaug.org

If you have a patch that

required a password in order

to download it, you will need

to download that patch manually from Oracle

Support and place it on the middle-tier server,

e.g., HOLMT01. Password-protected “ad” product

patches should be placed into the /<staging

directory>/ad directory, and password-protected

“non-ad” patches should be placed into the

/<staging directory>/nonad directory.

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

The City of Las Vegas has embarked on a major Oracle business intelligence

(BI) project over the last three years, a move that has pushed key data not only to employees but to citizens as well.

Government transparency is one of the city’s primary strategic goals, and the IT department has been able to help by pushing out Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE+) throughout the organization. One example is our various public safety departments, which previously were never able to report data in a consolidated manner. Each entity had different definitions for similar data fields. But through the Oracle BI project and proper data governance, all data is now displayed

consistently and in real time. This provides improved reporting to senior management, and also to the public.

Develop a Smart BI StrategyA major part of why our BI

project succeeded was that we established a strategy ahead of time and adjusted it as needed along the way. In fact, that was the very first step in our BI project roadmap.

Part of our strategy, for example, was establishing a foundation and infrastructure for successive phases. That foundation included acquiring Oracle’s SOA suite, moving to an Oracle RAC Linux environment and focusing on exposing services on the Oracle Service Bus. These phases were budgeted and implemented over

a three-year period and are now in place to support our BI strategy.

We also needed to clarify the value and benefits expected from the project. Some of those benefits included getting data in a more timely manner. For example, various city departments used to have to wait until the end of the quarter to gather purchasing-related statistics. Thanks to our BI project, we can monitor purchasing trends in real time, so the purchasing department can make decisions and prepare purchase orders more quickly.

Another example: A fire dashboard now helps the chiefs monitor battalion and station critical call responses in real time, which directly impacts public safety. They can address changes in response times and quickly make adjustments.

global solutions

Las Vegas Expands its Oracle Business Intelligence Horizons for Better Government Transparency

By Dr. Patricia Dues, City of Las Vegas

T

oaug insight l spring 2008

29 oaug.org 29

Our BI strategy also included managing cross-functional and cross-organizational priorities, which required a pre-determined process for incorporating new data and revising existing data. Through the BI project, we have developed dashboards that actually go outside the city network to pull data from county emergency response systems. This allows city public safety officials to monitor emergency responses from the initial call through completion of the response.

Other parts of our BI strategy include:

l Develop a data governance infrastructure as well as support and maintenance to reinforce it.

l Be ready for changing strategic data needs as well as rapidly evolving BI tools and technology.

l Make sure that data governance assists with the transition to those new technologies and tools.

In concert with developing a strategy is creating a BI roadmap. The city’s roadmap included:

l Adopting the enterprise BI strategy.l Establishing a data governance

foundation.l Identifying a focus for the initial use

of BI. At the city, the focus was on performance management metrics.

l Completing key performance indicator (KPI) identification and definition.

l Releasing initial metrics.l Refining management process and

measures as necessary.l Implementing additional metrics.l Rolling out dashboards, reports and

analytics.l Establishing a Business Intelligence

Competency Center.

Best Practices and Our Pilot Program Success relies on learning best practices from others who have gone down the road before. Selecting the right project team, focusing on the most streamlined processes and establishing solid policy management are essential. Other best practices included getting executive commitment, developing a common language for consistent definitions and working to achieve a balance between the usefulness of performance data and the cost of gathering and maintaining the data. We also wanted to provide greater self-sufficiency at each level, allowing employees to be part of the process. So for business users, that meant being able to identify the frequency of data retrieval as well as prioritizing dashboards based on KPIs. For business analysts and operations, it meant identifying electronic sources of data and assisting business users with testing and setup. And for BI, it meant building metadata layers, training users on dashboard changes and supporting the users through the expanding use of BI. For the City of Las Vegas, the success of our BI project was achieved through the completion of a pilot at our Water Pollution Control Facility. This allowed us to test out something small and then expand to other city departments if all went well. A variety of systems at the facility were tapped into, and data was merged with various dashboards. We were able to save as much as four weeks of manual effort by pulling in data for performance measurement reports. Up-to-the-minute data is now available

for monitoring flow rates and chemical analysis for certification with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And the plant no longer tends to over-treat water, which has resulted in saving money on chemicals. With success at the water treatment plant, we were able to roll out BI to other departments within the city. The ability to collect and analyze data in real time has resulted in significant resource savings and improved decision making ability. The project has been successful in that we have not only saved time and resources, but have been able to extract and merge data never before reported on.

Dr. Patricia Dues is IT manager for

the City of Las Vegas. She is a member

of the Oracle Applications Users Group

(OAUG) board of directors, chairs

the Global Support Committee for the

International Oracle Users Council

(IOUC), and is an Oracle ACE.

This article was originally published by SearchOracle.com, a TechTarget publication, and is reprinted with permission.

A fire dashboard now

helps the chiefs monitor battalion and station critical call responses in real time,

which directly impacts public

safety.


oaug.org

oaug.orgG L O B A L S O l u T i O N 30

T The OAUG participates with affiliated organizations around the world to bring expertise and best practices to users of Oracle Applications and to communicate concerns and enhancements back to Oracle. No matter where they are across the globe, Oracle Applications users benefit from engaging with peers and with Oracle representatives.

Updates from Recent EventsJapan OAUG John Bushell, member of the OAUG Board of Directors, visited Tokyo for Oracle OpenWorld Tokyo 2012 and the OAUG Japan Connection Point 2012 in April. John met with the Japan OAUG board to discuss opportunities for the OAUG to continue working closely with member organizations in Japan.

German Oracle Users Group (DOAG) OAUG Executive Director Steven Hughes travelled to Berlin, Germany, for DOAG 2012 Applications in May. Steven made several presentations to attendees and explored opportunities to present a collaborative event in the region in the coming year.

Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG) The OAUG enjoys a longstanding relationship with the Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG). With its two major conferences each year as well as monthly meetings and regular update webinars, AUSOUG makes the most of its international connections to bring practical implementation and management solutions to its users. Events in 2012 (www.ausoug.org.au):

l Insync12 Conference and Exhibition, 21-22 August 2012, The Sebel Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.

l Oracle with 20:20 Foresight, Perth Conference and Exhibition, 29-30 October 2012, Parmelia Hilton Hotel, Perth, Australia.

OAUG Connection Point®– Dubai The successful OAUG Connection Point® – Dubai conferences in 2010 and 2011 set the stage for future events to bring unique learning and networking to Oracle Applications users in the region. Discussions are taking place regarding the development of future OAUG Connection Point® – Dubai events. Stay tuned.

The OAUG continues to participate and expands its connections with global users groups across Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Contact the OAUG at [email protected] for more information.

The OAUG Around the World

Attendees mingle during DOAG 2012 Applications.

global solutions

The cherry blossom festival was in full swing during Oracle OpenWorld Tokyo 2012 and OAUG Japan Connection Point 2012 in April.

Attendees focus intently during a presentation at an OAUG Connection Point® — Dubai conference.

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

ThE Oaug JOB BOard

Providing OAUG Members with a Fast, Efficient and Inexpensive Way to Find the Best Oracle Talent!

The OAUG Job Board attracts both OAUG Member and Non-Member job seekers who have the Oracle-based skills you desire.

EMplOyErS, find great talent to fill your Oracle positions.Job candidates, new jobs are posted every week! log in today to create your candidate profile and upload your resume.

Visit jobs.oaug.org.

oaug sig update

O A U G g E O S & S i g S 32

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 SIGAerospace & Defense SIGAP SIGAR, Credit & Collections SIGArchive & Purge SIGAssets SIG*BI Publisher SIG (formerly

XML Publisher SIG)Change Management SIGChannel Revenue SIGCommunications Billing and Revenue

Management (BRM) SIGCommunications MetaSolv

Solution SIGConfigurator SIG*Consumer Goods SIGContracts SIGCost Management SIG*Customer Data Management SIGCustomer Experience

Users Group (CXUG) – Siebel SIG – On Demand SIGCustomization and Extension SIGDatabase SIG*Demantra SIGDiscrete Manufacturing SIG*E-Business Applications

Technology SIGE-Business Suite SIGE-Business Suite User

Management SIG EDI (e-Commerce Gateway) SIGEnergy & Utilities SIG*Engineering & Construction SIGEnterprise Asset

Management (EAM) SIG*Enterprise Visualization SIGFederal SIGFinancial Services Industry SIGFusion Middleware SIG (formerly

Service Oriented Architecture SIG)General Ledger (GL) SIG*

Governance, Risk & Compliance SIG (formerly Internal Control and Security SIG)

Government Contractor SIG Healthcare Industry User GroupHigher Education SIGHyperion SIG*Incentive Compensation SIGK-12 Education SIG*Logistics SIGMergers & Acquisitions (M&A) SIGMigration and Integration SIGMulti-National/Multi-Org SIGOracle Agile/Enterprise PLM SIG Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) SIGOracle Primavera SIG (OPSIG)Oracle Retail User Group (ORUG)Order Management &

Advanced Pricing (QP) SIGOracle Tax Management SIGOTM SIGOutsourcing & Shared

Service Centers SIGPeopleSoft AP (PSAP) SIGPeopleSoft Credit & Accounts

Receivable Experts (PSCARE) SIGPeopleSoft Financials ModulesPeopleSoft Government

Contracting SIG*PeopleSoft Technology SIGPeopleSoft Upgrade SIGProcess Manufacturing SIG*Procurement SIG*Projects SIGProperty Manager SIG*Public Sector SIG*Quality SIGSysAdmin SIGTreasury & Cash Management SIGTutor SIGUpgrade SIG*Value Chain Planning SIG (formerly

Supply Chain Collaboration SIG) Workflow SIG

2012 Special Interest Groups

* Special Acknowledgement 2012 OAUG Geo/SIG

Certificate of Distinction Award recipient

oaug geo update

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)

2012 Geographic User GroupsAtlanta OAUGAUSOUG (Australia)British Columbia OAUGCalgary OAUGCentral States OAUGColorado OAUGDC-OAUG*Eastern States OAUGFlorida OAUG*German Oracle Users Group (DOAG) Heartland OUG*India OAUG*Israel Oracle Users Group (ilOUG) Japan-OAUGKansas City 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 OAUGNorthwest OUGNYC Metro OAUG (New York City)Ohio Valley OAUG*Oklahoma OAUGORAUG-BrazilPittsburgh OAUGQueensland OAUGSan Diego OAUGSouth Central OAUGSouth Texas OAUGSouthern Australia OAUGSouthern Ontario OAUGSouthwest Regional OAUG*Twin Cities Financials OAUG*Twin Cities Manufacturing OAUGVictorian OAUGWestern Australia OAUG

* Special Acknowledgement – 2012

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.org 33

34

T The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing Special Interest Group (SIG) works to improve processes, documentation and software that will enhance the overall product and create a better user experience for users of Oracle Manufacturing Applications. The SIG was revived in 2002 by the Process Manufacturing SIG Coordinator after she tried to connect with them and discovered that the group was no longer active. The group is modeled after the Process Manufacturing SIG and is currently affiliated with the OAUG while also having the support of Oracle Development for Discrete Manufacturing.

Today the group has 225 active members and meets 10 times a year via conference calls and face-to-face at conferences such as COLLABORATE and Oracle OpenWorld. Thiru Yatham from Ansell Healthcare serves as the membership chair, and Sandie Foster from ABeam Consulting serves as the SIG coordinator.

The Discrete Manufacturing SIG assists with conference paper selection for both the OAUG and Oracle conferences and works closely with Oracle Development and Strategy to attain updated information for relay to its members. Since its restart in 2002, the SIG has received six OAUG Certificate of Distinction Awards. The group is successful because of excellent member presentations by Thiru Yatham and other board members who also contribute their thoughts as to the ongoing informational needs of the group as a whole, creating a strong group dynamic. Looking toward the future, the group plans to stay up to date on new developments and applications that enhance or interface with the Oracle Discrete Manufacturing Application. “I have been a member of the Discrete Manufacturing SIG since 2002 and continue to get beneficial information and exposure to new areas of the Oracle system through our monthly conference/web calls. Of all the SIGs that I participate in,

the Discrete Manufacturing SIG is the most active throughout the entire year with monthly calls on different topics related to manufacturing. Sometimes they consist of member presentations, and in other months, it is a demonstration of functionality from Oracle. I would recommend anyone who is involved with discrete manufacturing at their company to take a look at the Discrete Manufacturing SIG since it covers a broad spectrum of topics and has good user participation,” said Brian Gardner, Senior Manager, Applications, AAR Corp. “The Discrete SIG has been a great source of information for our company. The monthly presentations are an anticipated event. They help us understand what other companies are doing and the future direction of the applications,” said Craig Wilkerson, CIO, M-D Building Materials. If you are interested in joining the Discrete Manufacturing SIG or would like more information, go to

discretesig.oaug.org, or under the User Communities tab on oaug.org.

oaug sig spotlight

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

The OAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG

“ The Discrete SIG has been a great

source of information for our

company. The monthly presentations

are an anticipated event. They

help us understand what other

companies are doing and the future

direction of the applications.

” Discrete Manufacturing SIG OfficersMembership Chair (elected position, users only): Thiru Yatham, Ansell Healthcare • Directors: Craig Wilkerson, M-D Building Materials • Brian Gardner, AAR Corp. • Roland Shen, Leviton• Coordinator (elected position): Sandie Foster, ABeam Consulting

Mission: The Discrete Manufacturing SIG was formed in response to OAUG objectives to promote the formation of special interest groups focused on Oracle Applications for the exchange and dissemination of information.

Web site: discretesig.oaug.org

by Sandie FosterOAUG Discrete Manufacturing SIG Coordinator Thiru Yatham (Ansell Healthcare), displays the SIG’s Certificate of Distinction awards. by Sandie Foster

A After 15 years as an affiliated OAUG Special Interest Group (SIG), the Process Manufacturing SIG still remains strong. The user group, formerly known as the Datalogix User Group, became a part of the OAUG SIG community in 1997 after Oracle acquired Datalogix. Today the Process Manufacturing SIG has 125 active members that meet monthly through 10 conference calls and two face-to-face meetings a year. Through the years, the group has received six OAUG Certificate of Distinction Awards. Being a part of the Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) community, the group also communicates by using a list server that creates a sense of community through real-time interaction. Diane Streubel, manager of cost and systems development at Schreiber Foods, serves as the membership chair, and Sandie Foster, communications director at ABeam Consulting, holds the other elected position of SIG coordinator. Foster also served as the SIG liaison to the OAUG Board of Directors for two years. Streubel has served as the membership chair for the last nine years and in 2009 was named the OAUG Volunteer of the Year at the annual COLLABORATE conference. The Process Manufacturing SIG, sometimes known as OPM SIG, has played a key role in interaction with Oracle Development since its beginning. One of the primary reasons the group formed was to provide Oracle Development with valuable feedback.

Over the years Oracle Development has valued the SIG’s input and contributions and has made a point to attend every monthly meeting of the SIG. Oracle Development also asks for input from SIG members in early development stages of new applications modules.

The group is open to all users of Oracle OPM and does not charge a membership fee. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, go to procsig.oaug.org or under the User

Communities tab on oaug.org. “For NCH Corporation and me, the OPM SIG has opened up company-to-company relationships

on manufacturing, quality, inventory and upgrade issues. I know if I need to get a second opinion or bounce an idea, I can rely on the members of the OPM SIG,” said Joe Lenard, Director of Application Solutions, NCH Corporation. “The OPM SIG is the most engaged user group I have participated in during the 12 years of working with Oracle Applications,” said Scott Grossenheider, Senior Manager, IT Supply Applications, Wells Blue Bunny. “The OPM SIG group has created a professional network of educated Oracle users across a vast spectrum of manufacturing industries. This group has changed the way companies utilize Oracle technology by joining members who interact on a regular basis to brainstorm solutions for system challenges, learn about new functionality and provide support to new Oracle users. The OPM SIG is a terrific resource for any company!” said Joy Miller, Director of Finance and Cost Accounting, Merial.

 

Process Manufacturing SIG OfficersMembership Chair (elected position, users only): Diane Streubel, Schreiber Foods • Directors: Joe Lenard, NCH Corp. • Joy Miller, Merial Corp. • David Lawrence, Allvac • Sherri Hodges, Beckman Coulter, Inc. • Scott Grossenheider, Wells Blue Bunny • Beth McGarry, Charter Steel • Cindy Whaley, Boarshead • Coordinator (elected position): Sandie Foster, ABeam Consulting

Mission: The Process Manufacturing SIG was formed in response to OAUG Objectives to promote the formation of special interest groups focused on Oracle Applications for the exchange and dissemination of information.

Web site: procsig.oaug.org

Diane Streubel, Membership Chair (Schreiber Foods) and Sandie Foster, OAUG Process Manufacturing SIG Coordinator (ABeam Consulting), with the Certificate of Distinction for 2011.

The OAUG Process Manufacturing SIGby Sandie Foster

“ The OPM SIG is the most engaged

user group I have participated in

during the 12 years of working

with Oracle Applications.

”

oaug.org 35

36 oaug.org

global users

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

FFor some members, the OAUG is

a way to connect with other Oracle Applications users, but for Sandra Vucinic it is a way of life. Nicknamed the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Oracle upgrades and Oracle database administration, Sandra wears many hats when it comes to running her consulting firm by day and salsa dancing with her husband by night. For her commitment to the OAUG’s Geographic (Geo) and Special Interest Groups (SIG) as well as to the overall betterment of the OAUG, Sandra practically danced her way into the spotlight as our member snapshot for this issue of OAUG Insight.

Sandra’s consulting firm, VLAD Group Inc., has been a member of the OAUG since 2003 and works with clients to help them implement and upgrade Oracle Applications, specifically supporting Oracle E-Business Suite environments. Her dedication and commitment has landed her three awards: OAUG Member of the Year in 2008, the Oracle ACE Award in 2008 and the NCOAUG Distinguished Service Award in 2007. Her true passion lies in serving the OAUG Upgrade SIG, which elected her as chair in 2010.

“The reality is we will always have to update applications,” said Sandra. “Technology moves on, and users deal with that challenge constantly. Our goal is to give back to the OAUG by providing information that members

can use to make a seemingly impossible task much easier.”

Along with her active involvement within the OAUG Upgrade SIG, Sandra has also served for the past 10 years on the board of directors for the OAUG Database SIG and the OAUG SysAdmin SIG. In addition, since 2007, she has actively participated in the Geo/SIG Committee, which oversees all the Geos and SIGs within the OAUG. She has participated in more than 100 Oracle presentations and has recently been invited to serve on Oracle’s Customer Advisory Board for E-Business Suite Applications Technology.

Sandra offers a few recommendations to other OAUG members on the benefits of getting involved:

Network with others: “The best thing that happened to me was becoming a member of the OAUG,”

said Sandra. “You can share your experiences and knowledge as well as help peers with similar interests. My career as an implementer of Oracle Applications would not be the same without the OAUG.”

Volunteer within the

organization: “It takes a lot of time and volunteers to make the organization better,” said Sandra. “People need to step up and volunteer; it’s the only way to make the organization bigger, better and more successful. If it wasn’t for people willing to grow, teach and share, the organization wouldn’t be what it is today. If you give back to the organization, in the end, you’ll get so much more back in return.”

When asked about the value of being a member of the OAUG, Sandra replied, “For me, being able to watch the transformation [of myself] from someone simply sitting in the audience at conferences to being able to help and influence others is astounding. I feel like a character in a movie, where you embrace sharing information and expertise to overcome problems and issues.”

Perhaps Sandra is the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie character. She has also been dubbed a Martha Stewart chef for the exquisite meals she prepares. A consulting firm chief executive; Oracle implementer and mentor; OAUG leader; salsa dancer … Sandra Vucinic seems to do it all – and does it well.

OAUG Member Snapshot:Sandra Vucinic

“ People need to step up and

volunteer; it’s the only way to

make the organization bigger,

better and more successful ...

If you give back to the

organization, in the end, you’ll get

so much more back in return. ”

As you upgrade to Oracle® R12, make the smart move to CorpSystem® Sales Tax Office — the most accurate Oracle® R12 validated solution. Along with the most up-to-date sales and use tax rates and taxability coverage, our innovative software delivers:

n Flexible calculationn Detailed address validation for precise county and city determinationn State-of-the-art geocoding for locating special tax jurisdictionsn �Access to our expert professional services group for best practices

and technical knowledge So reliable the IRS uses it!

2011-0698-4

Scan the QR code or visit us online at CCHGroup.com/SalesTaxOracle to learn more about CorpSystem® Sales Tax solutions for Oracle®.

Seize this opportunity to upgrade your sales tax compliance.

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining.

CCH is

with Best in Process™ SolutionsDelivering Faster Answers

and Better Results.

Sales and Use Tax Solutions Oracle® R12 Validated

STO_OAUG_Insight-2011-0698-4.indd 1 7/6/12 8:20 AM

global users

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

Returning Associate Members:AccentureCedarCrestoneCentric ConsultingExperisThe Savola Group

Returning User Members:@HomeA2000 Holding N.V.AAR Corp.Accellent, Inc.Accenture NetherlandsAchmea ActiveAchmea ArboAchmea CBActewAGLActuant Corp.Adetech Consultancy B.V.Aegon Nederland N.V.Aker Kvaerner B.V.AKZO Diosynth B.V.Akzo Nobel DiosynthAlpha Natural ResourcesAltasenAlysisAmazon.comAmeriCredit Corp.AMIS Services B.V.APJ, Oracle Competence

CentreAppsTec InternationalAPRO Consulting

Services B.V.ArboNedArcher Daniels Midland Co.ArvinMeritor B.V.ASCO Controls B.V.Assai Software Services B.V.Atos Origin Nederland B.V.Atos Origin Telco ServicesATOS TSSAVRAVR Afvalverwerking

RijnmondAxiomaBahwan CyberTek Inc.Belonje ConsultingBlackRockBM Consultants

Boral Ltd.Bridging Solutions B.V.BrowningBuma StemraBurlington Coat FactoryCanon Europa N.V.Cap Gemini Ernst &

Young B.V.Capgemini NetherlandsCarlson, Inc.Carnival Corporation & PLCCasema N.V.Catharina ZiekenhuisCelgene Corp.Centraal Boekhuis B.V.Centraal Bureau voor

de StatistiekCentraal Justieel

Incasso BureauCentrum voor Werk

en InkomenChase Brass and

Copper Co. LLCChellomediaChristelijke Hogeschool

WindesheimChromalloy Holland B.V.City of LakelandCochlear LimitedCorporate Express EuropeCredit Acceptance Corp.CTACurtin University of

TechnologyCWICXO SolutionsCXtecCZ Actief in GezondheidD.I.S.C.DCMR Milieudienst RijnmondDeloitte ConsultancyDen Oudsten Bussen B.V.Department of WaterDevelopment

Alternatives, Inc.Diebold EMEA LogisticsDP IndustriesDuijvelaar Pompen B.V.Dutch Ministry of

Foreign AffairsE-Business Solutions GroupEbsconEetayEindhoven University

of TechnologyElcaro Consultancy

Enterprise Business Systems Solutions Corporation

Enterprise ProductsEquens Nederland B.V.Erasmus Medical

Center RotterdamErnst & Young EDP AuditEssent Kabelcom B.V.FAIR Information

Services B.V.Fair Isaac CompanyFairbanks Morse EngineFederal GroupFit for Finance B.V.Fjell International B.V.FrontEndFujitsu Services B.V.Gallup (Technology)Geesink Norba Group B.V.Gemeente Rotterdam,

BestuursdienstGemeentewerken RotterdamGeneral Electric (GE)GEOS IT Professionals B.V.GEOS.nlGetredidGetronicsGlatfelter Insurance Co.Global KnowledgeGraco Inc.Green ISP B.V.GrontmijH-Facto B.V.Hansen CorporationHarvard Vanguard

Medical AssociatesHCA HealthcareHet Nederlandse Rode KruisHitachi Data Systems

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

Stichtse RijnlandenHuhtamaki OyjHuxley AssociatesI.C.W. Business SolutionsIAEAICLICT-OKE B.V.IDG PublicationsIFN FinanceilionXILOIncore Solutions B.V.InfoRhen

Infotec Nederland B.V.Infratects B.V.ING / OPS&ITInter AccessInteractive Data Corp.Interpay Nederland B.V.Interpharm Groep B.V.ISC MeppelISIT B.V.IT LogistiekIT4FinanceJiL Consult B.V.Johnson County KansasKB3KCI Europe Holding B.V.Kema Nederland B.V.koker communicatieKoninklijke Boskalis

Westminster NVKoninklijke Mosa B.V.KPMG MeijburgKPMG NetherlandsKPN ESNKPN FISKPN IMS MO OPKPN IT4CMKPN Services FIS, BuZaKPN, Financial &

Information ServicesKRAMP Groep B.V.KSI International N.V.Kuipers CVKKvaerner Process

Netherlands B.V.LandcorpLandgateLas Vegas Valley

Water DistrictLasaulec B.V.Leiden Univ.Life Fitness Shared

Services Center B.V.LogicaCMGLogicaCMPLVNLManagement Control

& AccountingMark Gurry & AssociatesMarquette UniversityMcCarthy Building

Companies, Inc.MCX Administration

Services B.V.MediaCompetence B.V.Medisch Centrum

Haaglanden

Mercury MarineMichael Baker CorporationMinisterie van

Buitenlandse ZakenMKS Instruments, Inc.Mosaic B.V.N.O.S.N.V. Holdingmaatschappij

De TelegraafN.V. OrganonNational Aerospace

Laboratory (NLR)National Oilwell VarcoNCCWNederlands Normalisatie-

instituutNederlandse StaatsloterijNetAppNFIBNKI/AvLNorthgateArinsoNRELNuonNV OrganonNYC School Construction

AuthorityO’Reilly Media, Inc.O.C.P.OAUG JapanOntraq ICT Solutions B.V.Onze Lieve Vrouwe GasthuisOPEN Business

Applications B.V.OPEX CorporationOracle NetherlandsOraOne B.V.OraSolutions B.V.Ordina DC OracleOrdina Trade, Transport

and Industry B.V.Organization for Security

and Co-Operation (OSCE)PA Consulting Services B.V.Pajaro ICTPanama Canal AuthorityPanggih UnitedParadigmParam Consult B.V.Paramelt B.V.Philips Business

CommunicationsPlantronics B.V.Princess CruisesProvincie DrentheProvincie Gelderland,

Afd. DS/IT/AS

New and Returning Members

Public Works RotterdamPublicsoft B.V.Qualogy Applications B.V.Qualogy Consultancy B.V.QuayOneQuobell B.V.Raytheon Co.Regina Public SchoolsRene Kuss ConsultancyRes-Q Consulting

Services B.V.Rivas ZorggroepRoyal Boskalis

Westminister NVRoyal Mosa B.V.RSDB Holding B.V.San Diego State UniversitySantos Ltd.Saskatoon Health RegionScamander SolutionsScanmarSchiphol GroupSchuitemaSchuitema NV, afd. IM-FEZSensata Technologies

Holland B.V.SGS Nederland B.V.Simac Triangle B.V.SmartApps B.V.Smit InternationalSNS Reaal Groep N.V.Sodaclub International B.V.SoftlinesSPS GensysSQL IntegratorSQL Integrator B.V.Square SMSSRA (Europe) B.V.St. Elisabeth ZiekenhuisStarry Associates, Inc.State Compensation

Insurance FundSteenwinkel Kruithof

ImplementatieStichting Artsen

zonder GrenzenStichting Gezondheidszorg

Oostelijk Zuid-LimburgStichting Meander

Medisch CentrumStryker SASunflower Electric

Power CorporationSynventive Molding

Solutions B.V.Tattersall’s GroupTeradyne, Inc.

Thales NederlandThe Zenith Insurance

CompanyTiscaliTopConsultTopConsult Implementation

Services B.V.Toshiba Medical Systems

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

FreelanceTriangle GroupTruEconomy ConsultingTweeSteden ZiekenhuisTXITyco Valves & Controls

EuropeU. S. PharmacopeiaUMC St RadboudziekenhuisUniversity of Bergen/UNIFOBUniversity of OsloUniversity of TwenteUnocal Netherlands B.V.UPCUPC NederlandUPC Operations B.V.Veenman B.V.Vertis B.V.Videojet Technologies

Europe B.V.VNUVodafoneVodafone Libertel N.V.VTLVU Medisch CentrumVVAA Groep B.V.VX Company Business

Applications Services B.V.WE EuropeWeir Minerals

Netherlands B.V.Welzorg BVWesco Distribution, Inc.Westpac Banking

CorporationWind River SystemsWitte Computing ConsultantsZiekenhuis Gelderse ValleiZorggroep Suydevelt

New Associate Members:

Heartland IT Consulting

New User Members:Academy Sports OutdoorsAccretive HealthACI WorldwideAcorn Paper Products Co.AderasAEESAK Steel CorporationAll Weather Windows Ltd.Allianz Global AssistanceAmazighAmerifit Brands, Inc.APARAA CorporationAssociated Wholesalers, Inc.Bank of The WestBerger Group Holdings, Inc.Berry Petroleum CompanyBioMarinBlue Cross and Blue

Shield of LouisianaBMC Software Inc.BP Oil CompanyBrand MakersBrookdale Senior LivingBryant & Stratton CollegeBuried TreasuresCABLExpress TechnologiesCanadian Medical

Protective AssociationCanon Business SolutionsCDSI, Inc.CentransgroupCES USA Inc.CESACH2M Hill CorporationChesapeake MidstreamCianbro CorporationCity of Virginia BeachColonial Pipeline CompanyComcentric, Inc.Continuous Learning

Group/CBIZCorsairCounty of San DiegoCovidienCreighton UniversityDaniel MeasurementDavid Evans and

Associates, Inc.Development

Dimensions Int’l.DiCentral, Corp.Dick’s Sporting GoodsDowner EDI Engineering

DSA Technologies, Inc.Estuate Inc.EurofreshFederal Aviation

Administration (FAA)Federal Reserve Bank

of MinneapolisGap Inc.GenOnGenpak LLCGenuentGreat River EnergyGSI Group, Inc.Guggenheim PartnersHallmark Cards, Inc.Hamad Medical CoHawaiian AirlinesHealth Fitness CorporationHerff Jones, Inc.Hill InternationalHyperintel SolutionsiFACTORYIntelius Inc.Intercontinental Hotel GroupIntersilInterval Holdings, Inc.Jacobs EngineeringJanus Capital GroupK-TronKaiser PermanenteKBRKU TechnologiesLas Vegas Motion PicturesLegalzoom.comLodgeNet Interactive CorpLounge Lines, Inc.Lucile Packard Children

HospitalLuminexManitoba HydroManitowoc CompanyMcLane CompanyMedical College of WisconsinMegacognitionMeritormetroPCSMoneyGramNational Security AgencyNatixis Global Asset

ManagementNevada Department

of TransportationNintendo of AmericaOakwood WorldwideON24Onondaga County, NY

Orscheln Farm&HomeOverhead Door CorporationPacific Crest SecuritiesPEMCO Mutual Insurance

CompanyPeopleComm, Inc.PerrigoPioneer Natural ResourcesPPM Global Services, Inc.Priority HealthPT Kaltim Prima CoalPurdue UniversityPVH CorpQuest DiagnosticsRandom House Inc.Red Dot CorporationRoyal Dutch ShellSaskPowerSealed Air CorporationSealing Devices Inc.Silgan Plastics Corp.Silver Spring NetworksSimcore LLCSound TransitSprocket MediaSPX CorporationSSOEStandard Life Ass. Co.SUB3 Management, Inc.Sybrondental SpecialtiesSymcor Inc.Symmetry Resource GroupTaylor Made-adidas

Golf CompanyTesis PLMware USA LLCTeva Pharmaceuticals USATexas Department of

Public SafetyThe Principal Financial GroupThe University of AkronThe Wendy’s CompanyToshiko LLCToyota Boshoku AmericaTranscanadaTYBRIN CorpUnderwriters

Laboratories Inc.United HealthCareUniversity of Western OntarioUSANA Health SciencesViad Corp.Warner Bros.Westinghouse HQ

The OAUG welcomes the following new and

returning members who joined May 1, 2012

through June 30, 2012.

oaug.org 39

oaug strategies

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

he world is drowning in data. It is estimated

that more than 15 petabytes of new information is created every day, or, eight times more than the information in all the libraries in the United States.

solix technologies, inc. is a is a 2012 oAUG star Partner

special Advertising section

T

vendor corner

Archiving to the Cloud

By John B. Ottman, Jr., Solix Technologies, Inc.


41 oaug.org

This year, the amount of digital information generated is expected to reach 988 exabytes, or, the equivalent to the amount of information if books were stacked from the Sun to Pluto and back.1

Experts agree that as much as 80 percent of production data used in mission critical applications may not be in active use. Information must be retained for compliance or business reasons, but this inactive data slows application performance by as much as 50 percent. Faced with no alternatives, organizations are forced to spend scarce capital on larger servers and more storage. According to a recent survey by the Gartner Group, 47 percent ranked data growth as the leading data center infrastructure challenge.2 Business and compliance objectives are requiring access and control over more information, but at the same time current levels of data growth are not sustainable. Entire data centers are being stripped of cooling and power capacity, mission critical application performance is degraded and application availability suffers. Even outages may result as the time required to convert data during upgrade cycles grows from hours to days. The Gartner Group survey also reported that 62 percent responded they will be investing in database archiving or application retirement to address their data growth challenges.2 Backups, data replication, batch processes and query performance all execute faster when data sets are reduced. Outages caused by data conversion during upgrades are minimized. Less data means higher availability, higher performance and lower costs across the entire infrastructure.

Cloud archiving provides an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) framework for small, medium and large enterprises to manage the complexity and the risk of storing vital information. For these organizations, archiving to the cloud offers an on demand alternative to reduce the cost and improve archiving performance. Archiving to the cloud offers four essential benefits:

Reduced complexity: Brandon Gage, senior vice president of technology at Newport Beach, California-based United Capital Financial Advisors, LLC opined, “We sat back one day and said, ‘Why do we have all this complexity?’ Every server you have, you have to maintain patches and pay for licensing.”3 Every server moved to the cloud is one less server to manage.

High Performance: Would Google have achieved such success if it took minutes rather than nanoseconds to return a search result? On premise archiving solutions utilize tier 2 and 3 storage to reduce the cost of storing mass amounts of less frequently accessed information. But cheap mass storage also carries a high cost in terms of poor performance and availability. Cloud storage tiers generally feature “tier 1, all the time” performance, and some services even augment tier 1 storage with flash based solid state disks deployed at tier 0. “Google-like” performance is the result.

Reduced Cost: Cloud pricing is elastic so cost travels up or down

with demand. On premise models, by contrast, charge everything upfront. By aligning consumption with demand, pay-as-you-go pricing is more efficient.

Security Best Practice: Any security model is vulnerable, but security is no longer a viable cloud knock-off. Best practice security models for physical, operational and system security are routinely in place today at leading cloud providers. One recommendation is to compare these providers with internal capabilities. The gaps you find are less likely than ever to be on the cloud vendor side. Mission critical ERP and CRM applications are the heartbeat of every business, and the data they manage represents the transactional history of the organization. This invaluable business asset must be managed throughout its lifecycle. Archiving to the cloud reduces complexity, costs less, offers higher performance and operates within a security best practice framework. Good luck improving your ILM results!

John B. Ottman, Jr., is the Executive Chairman of Solix Technologies, Inc., www.solix.com, twitter.com/johnottman

41

special Advertising section

FOOTNOTES:1. Enterprise Storage Forum Article titled CIOs

Struggling with Data Growth, http://bit.ly/L0iyGL2. Gartner Survey on data growth in enterprise data

centers, http://bit.ly/cjWR323. Tech Target Article – File sharing in the Cloud,

http://bit.ly/L3gaRf

How many copies?

Dat

abas

e Si

ze

HardwareCapacity

Performance

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

Fix It When It Ain’t BrokeTo maximize benefits, business and IT should collaborate on upgrade decisions.

oracle directions

oaug.org

t several points in their businesses’ lifecycles, executives will face

the decision of whether or not to upgrade their technology systems – be it software, hardware or the overall IT infrastructure. This decision is often cast in a technical context, making it seem like a consideration that lies only within the boundaries of the IT organization.

The presumed expectation is that, whatever the decision, the

IT organization will continue to serve the business with minimal to no interruption or exposure to continuity risks. As a result, IT decision makers often find it easier to postpone or avoid an upgrade decision as long as possible, to minimize cost outlays and potential business discontinuities.

While “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may be a common adage, IT managers are only too aware that delaying timely investments can result in technology-capability divergences that can deprive the business of newer functionalities and potentially erode competitive edge. This may have the perverse effect of exposing the business to greater costs and untimely service interruptions. One of the many limitations of making the decision to upgrade an IT-specific consideration is that it casts the players – IT and business – in a vendor-consumer role, as opposed to that of joint stakeholders in a decision that can define continued business success. Framing it more comprehensively in terms of business value, with joint IT-business ownership, can help define the priority of complex upgrade decisions.

In order to achieve the best possible outcomes in the upgrade decision-making process, organizations should adopt a comprehensive approach that determines the value of the upgrade in terms of three factors: total benefits, total costs and flexibility.

TOTAL BENEFITS Credible benefits analysis starts with relevant strategic imperatives and business objectives. These serve as anchor and reference points in ensuring that benefits are relevant to the business. It is

ABy Dr. Madhavan Veeravalli

Fix It When It Ain’t BrokeTo maximize benefits, business and IT should collaborate on upgrade decisions.

Steve Woodward Oracle Financial Business Analyst Burns & McDonnell

“

Simply put, Insight is the best product we have at Burns & McDonnell.“• Gain time: Close the books 50% faster

• Eliminate ad hoc requests: Help the business be self-sufficient, without distracting finance

• Free up the finance team: Transform finance from "score keepers" to business catalysts

www.oracle.insightsoftware.com

Oracle FinancialsHassle Free Reporting for

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 +1 404.467.6936.

OAUG Vendor Awareness Sessions

Reserve your session today!

OAUG_AdVendorPA10.indd 1 6/13/10 2:25:47 PM

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

important to collaboratively articulate the benefits a systems upgrade can deliver in light of these guiding business performance targets – including savings from process enhancements, improved regulatory compliance, better performance through the retirement of brittle IT customizations and better business intelligence for improved decision making.

TOTAL COSTS Complexity drives cost considerations. A number of factors need to be considered in determining cost, such as cost of implementation, extent of configurations, internal resource costs, level of integration, organizational costs and cost of skipped upgrades. Newer technology options such as software as a service (SaaS) or infrastructure as a service (IaaS) have simplified both upgrade costs and processes. Software and technology upgrades are delivered more frequently and less disruptively as part of the service.

FLEXIBILITY Flexibility is the ability for IT solutions to evolve as business needs change. Technology that nimbly adapts to business changes is more valuable over the long term. Processes can be enabled more quickly and at lower cost, compared to older, more complex systems. By embracing a flexible IT solution, management can put their systems on an intelligent upgrade path and further minimize the effort it takes to adopt future releases. This prevents cost spikes and business disruptions. As organizations develop a collaborative approach to upgrade decisions involving business and IT, they can gain a comprehensive view of business value, in effect demystifying upgrade decisions. This allows businesses to focus on their core competencies and truly treat technology as an enabler. Dr. Madhavan Veeravalli is vice president of

Oracle’s Industry Strategy and Insight team, focused on

the manufacturing, retail, and distribution industries.

Be sure to ask your software vendors with integration to Oracle

Applications if they have Oracle Validated Integration.

With Oracle Validated Integration, Oracle Applications

customers can be confident that a partner’s integration has

been tested and validated by Oracle as functionally and

technically sound, that the partner solution is integrated with

Oracle Applications in a reliable, standards-based way, and

that the integration operates and performs as documented.

For the most current list of Oracle Validated Integrations,

please visit http://www.oracle.com/us/partnerships/

solutions/index.html.

OAUG Insight Summer Crossword

C

O

L

L

A

B C

O O

S T A R P A R T N E R S

I M A N

E B T E

A B A E C

W H I T E P A P E R S T

P L S I

H L A O

B U Y E R S G U I D E D I S C O U N T S

E P E C O S I

S E B S O A N S W E R S G

T R K S T S

P I I I

R R O L J O B B O A R D

1 A N L N

2 C S S U P P O R T C O U N C I L

U T E A O

P R I M A V E R A O A U G I N S I G H T

G C P G F

R E X P E R T L E W E B S I T E

A S R O E N R

D O I S E W E B I N A R S

E D O W N

S F U S I O N F S C O M M I T T E E S

C T E L

T S K N O W L E D G E

I A

V O L U N T E E R S R

I N

C O N N E C T I O N P O I N T I

Y N

G

OAUG Insight Summer Crossword Puzzle Answers

oaug.org


45 oaug.org

Please visitconnectionpoint.oaug.org

for dates, locationsand agendas.

For more information,contact James [email protected].

These focused, two-day events provide an educational forumfor networking with your peers, industry leaders, and Oracleexecutives. You will gain the insight and information youneed to fully optimize your product investments.

connectionpoint.oaug.org

2012 EVENTS

Coming soon in theConnection Point® series:

OAUG Connection Point® —

Enterprise Performance Management/

Business Intelligence

Orlando, FL | November 5-6

The Peabody Orlando

OAUG Connection Point® —

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1+/

Fusion Coexistence

San Diego, CA | November 15-16

Hilton San Diego Bayfront

The Experts in Oracle Solutions for Project-Driven Organizations™

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Partner with the company that knows your project-driven worldWe’re the world’s foremost experts in providing Oracle-based systems and solutions for project-driven companies. We understand Oracle from the code up, in a way no other company can.

• We helped design and deliver Oracle project management software.

• We offer integrated products that extend the functionality of Oracle Applications, make them easier to use, and make them smartphone accessible.

• Our expert consultants implement Oracle Applications to best fit your specific business processes. We help you simplify operations, reduce costs, and minimize risk across all your Oracle Applications.

Let our experts evaluate how you’re using Oracle Applications today — and make improvements that will be reflected in your operations and your bottom line.

www.ProjectP.com 1.650.712.6200