Professional Buyer Work Center
Thursday, 28 January 2010 00:15
Puneet Kakkar
Professional Buyer Work Center is an interactive web based interface added in Release 12. It brings Requisitions, Orders, Sourcing, Procurement Contracts, Deliverables and Suppliers together in one stop shop for buyers and now users need not to shell out to different forms to access these functional areas. Additionally, Oracle has provided a powerful search mechanism (along with seeded search queries) to query as well as save result sets as per individual's own requirements like Column totaling, sorting, renaming etc. This new tool provides increased throughput derived from a higher degree of functional integration and information availability.
The pdf in link as shown below explains this functionality in detail
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Calling webservice from PL/SQL
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 23:59
Sonia Kamra
In this article, you will find a powerpoint presentation that depicts the step by step approach to call a webservice from pl/sql The presentation can be downloaded using the link as shown below Calling webservice from PL/SQL
Converting string with varying formats to a Date value
Monday, 23 November 2009 22:53
Anil Passi
There is a beauty of an FND API that resides in the apps schema to convert a string into DATE. This API can take a string value in various formats and convert them into Oracle Date. Many times we have to parse a piece of plain text and convert that to date. This is very true when it comes to converting date values from flat file into a proper date column. In this article we will convert a date value from various possible string formats into a "Date Value". Why use the FND API ? For example, if you run these SQLs, you can get the following error if you do not explicitly specify the format of the date in to_date SQL> select to_date( '21-12-2009') as date_value from dual ; ORA-01843: not a valid month
For example, if you run this SQL, you can get the following error SQL> select to_date( '21-12-09') as date_value from dual ; ORA-01843: not a valid month SQL> select to_date( '2009/12/21') as date_value from dual ; ORA-01861: literal does not match format string Now lets try these with fnd_conc_date.string_to_date
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Calling an API at specific point in time in future
Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:18
Anil Passi
Oracle Apps professionals that are experienced are called "experienced" because they usually have a variety of ideas up their sleeves when it comes to troubleshooting an issue or when designing a solution/extension. Some of their ideas are self invented and some are inspired from others. In my case, a substantial part of experience that I gained is by inspiration from the ideas that are perhaps not mine. The source of those ideas is not a single individual but the Oracle eBusiness suite product code base itself.
Many times we reverse engineer the code in Oracle Apps when troubleshooting an issue or in an attempt to gain in-depth knowledge of the inner working of a module/functionality. In the event of doing so, we unearth the design methodologies implemented by the specific programmer in Oracle product development team. With time we learn that each product development team in Oracle Apps has their own unique style and mindset that is reflected in the design approach of respective module. Being consultant, we are able to grasp the ideas from various design/methodologies of thousands of Oracle product development team members. These tricks/ideas then inspire us when it comes to developing our own extensions. Of course the beauty of being a consultant is that we are able to cherry pick the ideas from the product, those ideas which are elegant from our perspective.
Anyways, coming back to the point, this article is about another one of those ideas that was inspired by Oracle product itself. Let us say your requirement is that when certain event occurs, you then wish to raise yet another event that executes at a specific point in time/hour/minute in future.
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Learning from failed ERP Implementations
Monday, 09 November 2009 23:55
Ranu Srivastava
Learning from failed ERP Implementations While Enterprise Systems have the potential to offer benefits beyond Traditional legacy systems, many organizations report that these have been less successful than originally anticipated. The difficulties of successfully implplementing Enterprise system implementation & it’s dependence on critical success factors is what we are attempting to find out in this paper.
At the outset it’s apparent that Enterprise Systems are perceived as more effective and efficient ways of business processes by means of pre-engineered packaged software application, the stated goals of adopting Enterprise Systems are to obtain organizational benefits such as lower inventory costs and shorter cycle times Thus, Enterprise Systems tend to impose a specific logic of doing business, which is particularly shaped by the "best practices" By adopting a process orientation and consequently integrating it with the system Business ‘Hope’ that it would work. Too often, project managers focus on the technical and Financial aspects of a project and neglect to take into account the non-technical issues the ‘Critical Success factors’ & also the interrelationships leading to project success or failure. Overall problem is to understand why even best of breed ERP implementations fail, despite of best minds & best planners spending years to implement the state of the art systems at various businesses. So the question remains…..
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Integration testing of Part 1-8 in SSHR AME - Part 9
Tuesday, 10 November 2009 00:19
Anil Passi
In this article, you will find an audio video demo that shows the integration testing of Self Service HRMS Part 1 to Part 7. Effectively in this demonstration you will see the end result of the solution that we designed in Part 1 of this series.
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Test workbench in AME - Testing SSHR AME - Part 8
Saturday, 24 October 2009 12:27
Anil Passi
Oracle provides a wonderful utility for testing your AME. This is called AME Test Workbench. What is AME Test Workbench? This is a screen using which you can simulate the calls to AME engine by passing some parameters. For example, Self Service HRMS passes transaction_id from hr_api_transactions to the AME. In this article, you will see an audio video demo that explains how you can use the test workbench in AME for testing and debugging your AME customizations. For this specific example, we will be using transaction_id of Self Service HRMS to simulate an AME call from the AME test workbench.
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Oracle Apps Book is shipping now
Thursday, 22 October 2009 00:10
Anil Passi
Finally the book is shipping from amazon.com website priced at USD 37/- This book is the result of an effort from me and Vladimir Ajvaz to condense the Oracle Applications development concepts and best practices in an organized manner.
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Creating the AME Rule in Self Service HRMS - Part 7
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 23:51
Anil Passi
Thanks for your patience while I explained the basics behind AME's integration in Self Service HRMS. In this article, you will find a video demo that brings the knowledge from Part 1 to Part 6 together, to create an AME Rule in Self Services Human Resources.
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Self Service HRMS - Design and Unit test AME - Part 6
Sunday, 18 October 2009 23:56
Anil Passi
In this article, we will see the steps for implementing the AME solution, so that the data changes made from "Holiday Rejection Complaint Screen" will be sent for approval to your manager's manager. Before reading this article, you must read the following articles 2. Understanding AME Concepts
This article also contains a video demo to demonstrate integration of AME,HRSSA Workflow, Screen and HR_API_TRANSACTIONS.
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Self Service HRMS and AME Part 5 - Understanding HR_API_TRANSACTIONS
Saturday, 17 October 2009 11:42
Anil Passi
When a Self Service HRMS user creates any data from the screens, such data goes and resides in some temporary tables. This data is retained within the temporary tables until the transaction is Completed. A transaction in this example gets completed when Holiday Rejection complaint is either Rejected or Approved. These temporary table names begin with name HR_API%. In reality, the data entered by the user is either stored within just one table i.e. HR_API_TRANSACTIONS or within HR_API_TRANSACTION_VALUES. When the data is stored in just the HR_API_TRANSACTIONS then the entire data entered by the user is captured in a CLOB column. This feature was introduced couple of years ago, whereby for performance reasons the temporary data is captured in a clob column named HR_API_TRANSACTIONS within HR_API_TRANSACTIONS. This CLOB column contains XML contents. By now, you might have the following questions 1. What exactly is captured in CLOB column hr_api_transactions.transaction_document 2. How does Self Service HRMS decide whether the transaction data which is in-transit goes into CLOB or HR_API_TRANSACTION_VALUES. 3. How is this temporary data used by AME 4. How is the data transferred from temporary tables to base tables in HRMS.
In this article I will answer these questions, so that you can proceed with the AME bits that depends upon this information. In addition to this, you will also learn how the "SAVE FOR LATTER" feature works in HRMS.
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BPEL Scheduling Processes
Sunday, 11 October 2009 22:10
Veeresh Hawalkhod
BPEL: Scheduling Processes  Introduction All we know that, Oracle BPEL process instance can be initiate in number of ways. Like Passive: BPEL engine receives a call (BPEL console or some other web service) Active: BPEL engine looks for events to be occur that should trigger new instance of process.( Polling for file in particular folder and polling for new record in database table) There is intermediate option where BPEL engine will start process instance at specific time (schedule). This document talks more about scheduling BPEL process using various methods like Quartz scheduler and Wait activity.
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Self Service HRMS Workflow Explained - Part 4
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 23:05
Anil Passi
In this article, we will continue with the HRSSA workflow, and see how it integrates with the AME. You will also see the best practices steps to customize this workflow in an upgrade safe manner. In all the HRSSA processes, there is a Workflow activity named "Review Page..." as shown below. If you double click to open the properties of this WF Activity, you will find that Node Attributes tab contains a two Attributes i.e. HR_DYNAMIC_APPROVAL_LEVEL and HR_APPROVAL_FLAG. In the context of our example, the Special Information Type WF process has AME Approvals switched off, because HR_APPROVAL_FLAG is set to NO. However as per our requirements we need to enable AME for our Holiday Rejection Complaint screen. Effectively, we are trying to achieve a result whereby our custom workflow process is kicked off from the screen we created, and this custom workflow process will ensure that AME is invoked. In order to enable AME approval for our custom screen, you must not modify the standard HRSSA workflow process. Instead you should adhere to some best practices as detailed in this article.
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OA Framework Screen in SSHR - HRSSA Workflow - Part 3
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:28
Anil Passi
In this article you will learn about the Oracle Self Service HRMS workflow, and how this Workflow fits into Self Service Human Resource architecture. This knowledge is required for any technical or functional HRMS person to troubleshoot the common issues that might get reported during Self Service HRMS implementation. First and foremost thing to remember is that a Workflow with item type named HRSSA is instantiated whenever a screen in Self Service HRMS is invoked. If you open this workflow in workflow builder, you will notice that there exists one single "Runnable Workflow Process" for each Employee Self Service HRMS AOL Function. Therefore, there is a direct connection between the AOL Function and HRSSA workflow. Given that the AOL Function is attached to a menu item in SSHR, therefore it is safe to say that there exists a relationship between SSHR menu item and a process within this workflow. Effectively whenever an employee opens a screen in Self Service HRMS it then creates a new instance of the workflow process. Infact the name/path of the OA Framework page that gets opened is configured within the HRSSA workflow itself. By reading this article, you will be able to understand these relationships. However you must read the preceding article linked here, to understand the context of this article.
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OAF Screen in Self Service HRMS - Without Programming - Part 2
Monday, 28 September 2009 23:25
Anil Passi
This article is the followup of previous article in this link
In this article, you will see the detailed step by step instruction for creating a new Self Service Human Resource data entry screen using configuration and personalizations.
To summarize, we need to create a Flexfield structure for data entry with four segments. Thereafter a custom function and a custom menu will be created to invoke the Special Information Type page. Our custom function will thereafter be personalized so that a dedicated screen is made available to the self service HRMS Users for this data entry. The custom AOL function will also be registered against the HRMS Global menu, so that it can be accessible from SSHR [Self Service HRMS]. First and foremost, identify the Key Flexfield to be configured
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OAF Screen in Self Service HRMS - Without Programming - Part 1
Sunday, 27 September 2009 22:25
Anil Passi
Imagine you have a new requirement for rectifying a gap in "Oracle Self Service HRMS", i.e. SSHR. The client requirement is described as below Requirement a. Give a facility to the employee to complaint when their leave/holiday gets rejected Requirement b. If an employee's holiday request has been rejected by their manager, they can complaint to their Manager's manager. Requirement c. In a new OA Framework page, employee will enter the complaint as follow Holiday Start Date Number of days Brief description of their complaint Is Holiday Health related? Requirement d. This information is captured in database tables and then sent to employees Manager's Manager for approval.
Effectively you will learn how to develop a complaining mechanism to the boss of your boss, in the event the holiday request has been unfairly rejected. If the employee's boss's boss approves the holidays, then Central Human resource team is notified.
In this article you will see how to create a Web Based Data Entry screen for this requirement in OAF Self Service HRMS without writing any line of code. In this first article on this topic, we will simply see the brief steps for creating one such screen. This will be followed by detailed screenshots based steps. In followup articles, you will also see how this can be integrated with AME. Requirement (c) and Requirement (d) as above can be implemented without writing any code barring some simple Workflow and SQL.
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