Oracle iProcurement Handbook

Here's a little something for your reading pleasure...
The Oracle iProcurement Handbook, written by ex-Oracle iProc guru Kalyana Muthyala, covers both technical and functional aspects of iProcurement.

Hyperion, R12 and BIP, EBS, ADF, 11g Clusterware, External Table Preprocessor, Public Grants, Carl Backstrom

Hyperion

An announcement from the Look Smarter Than You Are blog that the new EPM 11.1.1.1 release is out, and it swats bugs left and right. Read about it here.

R12 and BI Publisher Patch

A new patch is out for changing the default layout format between RTF/PDF/Excel when submitting XML / BI Publisher Concurrent Request in R12. Read about it at the In Depth Apps - Oracle eBusiness Suite.

EBS

Steven Chan is continuing a series of Open World recaps with this posting on Advanced Deployment Architectures for Oracle E-Business Suite.

ADF

Raghu Yadav's weblog brings us some good links on How to deploy ADF Application on Oracle WebLogic 10.3.

11g Clusterware

11g allows you to use ASM to protect a single instance, not just a multinode system. Alejandro Vargas has a good posting on the steps involved.

External Table Preprocessor 

The Structured Data blog has a very useful posting on usage of a feature introduced in 11g (and being backported to 10.2.0.5), an external table preprocessor. 

Public Grants

It seems simple enough: Revoke public grants to improve security, yes? Well, not quite so fast! Good posting over at Pete Finnigan's blog on the subject, with some valuable material in the comments as well.

Carl Backstrom

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, we lost Carl Backstrom, one of our most popular Oracle bloggers, to a car accident. There is a memorial entry at his blog and a memorial fund open to benefit his daughter. 

Editors' Choice Awards

Contributions by Angela Golla

From all corners of the globe, from all industries, and all areas of technology—the winners of the seventh annual Editors' Choice Awards reflect outstanding leadership, innovation, and commitment. The editors of Oracle Magazine are pleased to honor the achievements of these talented professionals.

Read "Editors' Choice Awards 2008"
Read "Editors' Choice Awards 2007"

Most Recent AppCasts

Legend Valve Relies on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne to Stay Competitive in a Challenging Business Environment (10 min.)
November 18, 2008
Hear Walter Jan, Executive Vice President and Owner of Legend Hydronics, a division of Legend Valve, tell how JD Edwards EnterpriseOne gave Legend Valve the ability to model the application to work the way they want their business to operate. Learn what it's like to look into the future of a growing company and plan for new and changing business processes knowing your software will scale to your needs.

Oracle's Visual CRM Solution (8 min.)
November 17, 2008
Visual CRM adds the powerful visualization and document centric collaboration capabilities of Oracle's AutoVue to Oracle's best-in-class CRM solutions. By introducing a visual aspect to call center, field service, and ordering processes, Visual CRM helps teams provide faster responses to customer issues, optimize field service performance, and shorten ordering cycles while minimizing order errors.With Visual CRM, organizations can achieve improved customer service levels and field service operations which help drive margin, top line revenue, and customer retention.

Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (11 min.)
November 13, 2008
Get an understanding of Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) from Joe Thomas, Senior Director, Oracle BI Applications. Learn about Oracle's BI strategy, offerings and how customers are getting the information they need to make better decisions today with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications.

JD Edwards Delivers Once Again with Significant Announcements (8 min.)
November 11, 2008
Listen to Lenley Hensarling, JD Edwards Group Vice President, talk about the significant JD Edwards announcements made during Oracle OpenWorld 2008. Lenley will highlight how JD Edwards' customers can benefit from the latest product releases from EnterpriseOne and World, discuss the wave of companies who are upgrading to the most recent JD Edwards releases to take advantage of an array of industry specific enhancements, and elaborate on JD Edwards' strategy about integrating to other Oracle solutions, bringing continuous value to customers.

Enterprise Performance Management: Driving Management Excellence (13 min.)
November 10, 2008
Extending operational excellence to management excellence is the new strategic imperative for organizations large and small, all around the world. Management Excellence is a strategy for organizations to differentiate from their competition, by being smarter, more agile and more aligned. Tune into this conversation with John Kopcke, Senior Vice President of Oracle's Enterprise Performance Management Global Business Unit to learn how leading companies are integrating their management processes and using Oracle's EPM System to achieve management excellence.

Latest on Oracle Governance, Risk and Compliance (13 min.)
November 2, 2008
With the widespread uncertainty afflicting economies across the globe, regulatory mandates are expected to rise as investors and citizens worldwide demand increasing transparency and accountability from corporations and public agencies alike. Tune into this conversation with Chris Leone, Group Vice-President of Oracle Applications Product Strategy, to hear the latest on Oracle's Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Applications Suite. You will learn how companies today are ensuring a sustainable and cost-effective risk and compliance management regimen with the help of Oracle GRC applications.

ALERT! Mandatory Patch R12.1 SCP_PF.B CU1 (12.1.01) Released

• Patch 7422116 is required for all customers who have installed base release of SCP_PF.B - 12.1 Supply Chain Planning Feature Pack - Patch 6659487
• This Patch includes release of Integration between R12.1 and EBS 11.5.10
• This Patch includes release of Integration between R12 for Demantra to 11.5.10
• This release is first release that allows a customer on R12.x to integrate Demantra with EBS 11.5.10
• This is a Controlled Release, which means that customers must contact their Oracle Sales Representative to engage APS Product Development and be approved to install this release.
• See Note 746824.1 for details

Indexing, Hotsos, Optimizer, JavaScript, PeopleSoft, EBS, RPM

Indexing

As is often the case, Richard Foote has a posting at his Oracle blog that gives some great insights on indexing, specifically fragmentation and duplicate entries.

Speaking of indexing, Mark Rittman at the Rittman Mead Consulting blog has a great article on bitmap indexes with some links to further reading.

Hotsos

The Striving for Optimal Performance blog reminds us that March of 2009 is on the horizon, that time of the year when all the performance gurus converge on Dallas for the Hotsos symposium. That's why that week is known as 'slow DB week'.

Optimizer Modes

First_rows_n for an OLTP system or all_rows? Which do we use for our Oracle optimizer? It's one of those great ontological questions like dry rubbed ribs or sauce (or both)? Well, Jonathan Lewis has some incite at his Oracle Scratchpad blog. I haven't linked to his blog in a while, so you may want to read down through some of the other postings, which are always top quality (like this posting on PX Buffer, with lots of grotty internal details).

JavaScript

A good tip on saving lots of time when working on a JavaScript local file over at Tyler Muth's blog.

PeopleSoft

The PeopleSoft Tipster blog gives us a glance at what the PeopleTools 8.5 future holds for us: Features!

And if you have some time to fill and really yearn to virtually install PeopleSoft the PSST0101 blog has the series for you.

EBS

Gareth Roberts over at the In Depth Apps - Oracle eBusiness Suite blog shows us how to turn loose Greasemonkey on your EBS homepage. He has a video, but I couldn't see any monkeys at all.

RPM

Alejandro Vargas brings us the good news that the Oracle validated RPM for Linux is available. Just add water and it will puff up like one of those little sponge dinosaurs, rearing up into a ferocious RAC-ready server.

Siebel CRM 8.1.1

Oracle has announced the next version of Oracle’s Siebel CRM 8.1.1, providing industry-specific solutions for Self Service and robust customer loyalty management enabling cost savings through use of open standards technology.

As the second major release of Siebel CRM in the last two years under the “Applications Unlimited” Program, Oracle has updated Siebel Self-Service, including Siebel eSupport and Siebel eCommerce applications, with Java-based J2EE applications built on Oracle Fusion Middleware that extends Siebel’s CRM product to the Web channel enabling a more compelling user experience and improved total cost of ownership.

Siebel CRM 8.1.1 now provides industry-specific customer self-service for communications and the public sector, as well as enhanced use of multi-channel applications with Siebel Chat and deeper, more comprehensive search capability.

New features in Siebel Loyalty for version 8.1.1 support the entire customer loyalty program lifecycle by providing membership enrollment and management, including loyalty points accrual and redemption, member services, partner management and promotion management.

New features in Siebel Marketing for version 8.1.1 provide a closed-loop solution that uniquely empowers all members of the marketing organization with actionable insight by automating processes across the marketing function, from strategy and planning to multi-channel response and lead management execution.

For more information please visit:

• Siebel CRM site on www.oracle.com
• CRM Product Marketing Blog
  

New Downloads

Free Oracle Application Express Resource Kit
Learn how Oracle Application Express can help you address the manageability, security and scalability challenges associated with using spreadsheets and personal databases to store mission-critical data. Request your free Oracle Application Express Resource Kit containing the latest release of Oracle Application Express and a link to related free packaged applications, as well as analyst reports, white papers, and customer testimonials. Download.

Download Oracle Toplink 11g
Oracle TopLink 11g (11.1.1.0.0) is now available for download; it introduces seamless integration with Oracle Coherence, flexible Object-XML binding, and provides out-of-the-box compatibility with Oracle WebLogic Server and Java frameworks including Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) 11g. Download.

New Hands-On Tutorials from Oracle By Example

Check out these new additions to the Oracle by Example (OBE) library:

• 12 tutorials: Oracle WebLogic Server 10g Release 3 (10.3)
• 1 tutorial: Converting Relational Data into RDF Format
• 3 tutorials: Oracle Secure Backup 10.2
• 4 tutorials: Oracle Role Manager 10.1.4
• 1 tutorial: Oracle Data Integrator

Lifetime Support policy updates - Technology and Applications

Lifetime Support Policy Brochures - October: New Ikan Release and 19 Application Updates (11 November 2008)

The October editions of the Lifetime Support Policy brochures is now available for Oracle customers. In the Technology brochure we have added the Oracle Ikan release.
In the Applications brochure we included Support Policy updates for Oracle Crystal Ball, Oracle Health Science releases and made other updates.
No changes have been made to the Retail brochure. The next edition will be available November 30.

Highlights:
In the Technology Brochure, the October edition includes Support Policies for this New Acquisition:

• Oracle Ikan Release

In the Applications Brochure, the October edition includes Support Policy Updates for these Product Releases:

• Oracle Hyperion Releases:
• Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System 11.1 – New Release
• Oracle Crystal Ball Releases
  

• Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Releases:
  
• 9.0 – New Release

• Oracle Health Science Releases:

• Clinical 4.5.1
• Clinical 4.5.2
• Clinical 4.5.3
• Thesaurus Management System 4.5.2
• Thesaurus Management System 4.6
• Adverse Event Reporting System 4.6.1
• Oracle Healthcare Transaction Base v4.4
  

• Oracle Utilities (Formerly Lodestar) Releases:
• Billing Component 1.5.x - New Release
• Quotations Management 1.5.x - New Release
• Rate Management 1.5.x - New Release
• Meter Data Management 1.5.x - New Release
• Portfolio Management 1.5.x - New Release
• Load Profiling and Settlement 1.5.x - New Release
• Transaction Management 1.5.x - New Release
  

• Oracle Utilities (Formerly SPL WorldGroup) Releases:
• Business Intelligence 2.2.x - New Release
• Work and Asset Management 1.8.x – New Release
  

Click here for additional Resource Information. If you have questions regarding this article, please contact Jennifer Descheneau

Firefox and EBS, ADI, Constraints, JDE, PeopleSoft, DBA's, Library for DBAs

EBS and Firefox

Tired of IE? I was, long ago, and moved to Firefox. I've had problems since the 3.0 release, but it's still a better browser than IE by far (though I must admit to an affection for the new, bare-bones Chrome browser from Google). In any case, there can be some challenges getting Firefox to make its peace with Oracle EBS. Gareth Roberts has some wisdom to share on this at his In Depth Apps - Oracle EBusiness Suite blog.

ADI on 10gR2

The ADI is now certified on 10gR2, as you can read about here on Steven Chen's Oracle E-Business Suite Technology blog. He has another good posting on R12 from Openworld: Maximum Availability Architecture: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.

Constraints

The database, like society, is always somewhere on the continuous line that runs from locked down, buttoned up restriction on one end to carefree code it as you like looseness on the other. A lengthy post over at the Tahiti View blog gives one Oracle employee's perspective on some of the pluses and minuses of constraints. I'm sorry to tell developers that he still seems to like constraints, overall. Read all about it here. 

JDE

If JD Edwards training is what you seek, have a look at the links from this posting at the JD Edwards Advisor blog.

PeopleSoft

The PeopleSoft tipster has some good hands on postings of late, like this one on Migrating Navigation Collections and Pagelets. 

Javier's PeopleSoft blog has some good information on the pros/cons/howto of avoiding password expiration in PeopleSoft here.

The DBA

Application developers and DBAs are often at odds. I'm an ex-DBA, so I smiled when reading this item at I'm Just a Simple DBA recounting the rebellion of the developers...and its sad conclusion.

And on the subject of DBAs, Tanel Poder has a link to a great library of syntax here.

R12 Advisor Webcasts

Please note upcoming R12 Advisor Webcasts that will include the following topics:
12-Nov-2008: R12 Payables
19-Nov-2008: R12 Close Process & Reconciliation
10-Dec-2008: R12 Payments

For details on the schedule, please access Metalink Note: 744894.1

To see what other Advisor Webcasts are planned, access the Advisor Webcast Homepage, Note: 398877.1 Metalink > MyOracle Support UI > Dashboard > News, Events & Training > Product Related

For an archive list of past Advisor Webcasts, see Note: 398884.1

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

Oracle Launches New Best Practice Center for JD Edwards Users

Check out the new JD Edwards Best Practice Center to start creating service-oriented architecture (SOA) with your JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications today. The JD Edwards Best Practice Center is the newest member of the Oracle Fusion Middleware for Applications Best Practice Centers, providing you with self-paced, hands-on information for getting started.

JD Edwards World Training Update Podcast
Listen to a discussion of World customer training options.

PeopleSoft Enterprise

North American Payroll Tax Updates for PeopleSoft Enterprise
Advanced Customer Services will be extending North American Payroll Tax Updates (NAPTU) service for PeopleSoft HCM 8.0 for a third year, through May 2010! Please note that PeopleSoft HCM 8.8 is still covered by Extended Support through December 2010, thus ACS won't offer the updates before 2011. Send any updates on customer demand for an 8.8 NAPTU service to Marc Inclan, Product Management.

Advisor Webcasts
November 13 - PeopleSoft Enterprise 1099 Update for 2008 - Get your Copy B's Out on Time

PeopleSoft Podcast
Listen to a discussion of PeopleSoft strategy and the value of your user group participation.