Seven Tech Wonders of

the Oracle e-Business

Suite World
Leon Barkley
Roman Havrylyak

About company
Industry leader in pet training, containment, safety and lifestyle
product solutions
Introduced the first do-it-yourself electronic fence to the pet
market in 1991 and the first wireless fence in 1998
Global company headquartered in Knoxville, TN with total of 12
locations in United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and China

Mission: To build the most trusted pet brands

Containment Products
Training Products
Collars and Leashes
Doors
Fountains
Feeders
Waste Management
Toys
Treats
Fashion Products

Containment Products
Pet Proofing
Doors

Containment Products
Training Products
Tracking Products
Nutrition

Agenda

1. Alerts on Steroids (AOS)

2. Universal Export to Excel (UEE)
3. Self-service reporting (SSR)

Oracle Applications Framework (OAF)

Application Express (APEX)

4. Data Templates for XML Publisher (DT)

5. Asynchronous Triggers (AT)
6. Spread Tables (ST)
7. For The Win (FTW)

Promised crown jewel followed by beer session

We will be moving fast, so hang on until we get here!

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Alerts on Steroids

Protect
Transactions and business process data integrity

Teach
Business users to know and own their data

Love
Continuous drive to create more alerts to have
better insights into process exceptions

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Alerts SWOT
Strength
Extremely fast development (day)
Easy bursting

Weakness
Access control (all or none)
text/plain content-type
64Kb cutoff for emails

Opportunities
Include in Concurrent request sets
Allow stand-alone SRS
Support text/html content-type

Threats
TMI, white noise
Performance impact
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Steroids for Alerts

1. Enable SRS
2. Support HTML tags

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Universal Export to Excel

Protect
Liberty and Justice for all business users to use
convenient and common software (Excel)

Teach
Self-service and data empowerment

Love
Pivot reports built by end-users
Grassroots grown subject matter experts (SME)
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Universal Export to Excel - Example

Interface

Data sources over 500+ across 4 operating units

and 3 distinct functional areas (GL, HR, and
others)
Library to use from PL/SQL program after seeded
API call populates temp tables (MRP, ASCP, DEM,
etc.)
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

Universal Export to Excel - SWOT

Strength
Extremely fast development (hours)
Immediate adoption by business users
Run export on schedule with email delivery

Weakness
No native refresh from Excel
No support for email bursting

Opportunities
Support HTML templates (like in Alert)
Web portal to access data grids and slice&dice

Threats
PowerPivot within SharePoint portal
Cloud based reporting solutions

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

10

Self-Service Reporting OAF

Protect
Investment in Alerts, UEE, and OAF skillset

Teach
Appreciation
without pain there is no appreciation of gain

Love
1Click export to Excel
Natural description of data
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Self-Service Reporting OAF examples

Responsibility
Interface
Output

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Self-Service Reporting Excel examples

Interactive Excel dashboard with data from OeBS BUILT by Business User (TinkerBell)

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

13

Self-Service Web Reporting SWOT

Strength

Extremely fast development (minutes)

Immediate adoption by business users
1-Click Export to Excel
Embeddable into Workflow notifications

Weakness
No click-through (drill-through) for data cells
No support for visualizations
No export to Word, PDF, Printer WISIWIG

Opportunities
Built Paper Presentation Architecture (PPA)
Decommission Oracle Reports

Threats
PowerPivot within SharePoint portal
Cloud based reporting solutions

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Self-Service Web Reporting APEX

SmartDog Services APEX reporting framework
Interactive reports

Export / Import to Excel

Filtering / Dynamic Search
Sorting
Highlighting
Charting
Aggregation
Grouping
Control Breaks
Emailing
Ability to save versions of the report

Wizard Driven Report Development

OeBS authentication
Native support of responsibility menu
Inherit data access security from accessed-via responsibility
Leverage RESTful webservices, like Google Maps / Charts or integrate with 3rd
Party Applications like SalesForce

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

15

SmartDog APEX examples

APEX is a robust and powerful tool that is
included in the Enterprise version of
Oracle Database.
Using APEX, SmartDog Services has packaged
analytical tools for EBS customers to implement
and support end-user reporting for your
business.
What It Does
Fully Secure, Browser-based Access
Slick, Easy-to-Use Interface
Utilizes Existing EBS Responsibilities
Can be viewed on PC, Tablet, and Smart Phone
Enables Access to all EBS Transaction
Information
Allows for End-User ad-hoc Manipulation
Enables you to Quickly Build New Reports
No License Fees Required

How SmartDog Can Help

SmartDog Services provides a turnkey solution to get
you up and running with APEX in less than two weeks.
Installation
Configuration
Seeded reports included
Training
Ongoing Incident-based Support

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Data Templates

Protect
Investment in UEE data sources by accessing them
via Data Templates for XML Publisher

Teach
Business users to build their own presentation
layer (RTF/layout templates)

Love
Email bursting
Space from uninstalled Oracle Reports
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Data Templates - Basics

From a very simple test

to as complex as
you need it to be!

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Data Templates Basic Setup

Just write your SQL query, and wrap it in XML

Register your Concurrent Request, using XDODTEXE
(instead of an RDF!) as its Executable
Create a new XMLP Data Definition for the Request
using normal steps, except
Attach your XML file as a Data Template before you
leave the page
Create your XMLP Template like you always have
Optional Step: Uninstall Reports Builder!
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Data Templates Still saving your Alert Outputs?

Great!
Register just one
more XMLP Report
Derive your Check ID
for the Alert that you
are interested in
Pass it into this query
as a parameter
Use an XMLP
Template to easily
generate Workflowquality emails
without all the hassle
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Data Templates - SWOT

Strength
Native support from Oracle
Output in various formats (Excel, Word, PDF, HTML)
Native support of languages

Weakness
Longer than minutes development
No support for custom PL/SQL packages in report

Opportunities
Full transition from Data Sources to Data Templates
Reporting ecosystem: Alert, UEE, Data Publisher, Workflow integration

Threats
Retention of ERP team members
NoSQL

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

21

Asynchronous Triggers

Protect
Integrate event based Oracle Alerts with Workflow
processes

Teach
Model complex and sequential steps of business
process via Oracle workflow

Love
text/html content type in email notification
Approve/Reject action via email reply
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Asynchronous Triggers - Examples

Asynchronous behavior
Event is processed separately from completion of
trigger
Oracle standard PL/SQL packages DBMS_PIPE,
DBMS_JOB, DBMS_CHANGE_NOTIFICATION
Oracle e-Business Suite
Concurrent requests via FND_REQUEST
set_mode TRUE
Workflows via WF_ENGINE
set threshold negative to enforce background
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

23

Asynchronous Triggers - SWOT

Strength
Native support from Oracle
Leverage Alert, Concurrent processing, and Workflow
capabilities

Weakness
No real-time processing
Complexity

Opportunities
Audit at transactional level
Pivot into GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) domain

Threats
Monitor from agent at JVM level
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

24

Spread Tables

Protect
Leverage read-only Oracle Forms to create quick
grid based dashboard

Teach
Rapid prototype before engaging forms developer
Test driven development

Love
Speed & Agility
Fail fast, fail forward
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

25

Spread Tables - Steps

Define grid in Oracle CRM

CRM Administration > Spreadtable
Open the JTFSTAND.fmb and move object "JTF_GRID into target form
Add trigger to initialize GRID
jtf_grid.init(<form name>.GRID', <grid name>');
jtf_grid.populate('<form name>.GRID');
Compile form, create function, add to menu

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

26

Spread Tables - Examples

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

27

Spread Tables - SWOT

Strength
Native support from Oracle
Rapid form prototyping

Weakness
Read-only
Offshore development model (Ukraine)

Opportunities
Form based GUI to any custom SQL view
Pivot into actionable API calls via CUSTOM.PLL

Threats
APEX forms
AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

28

Recap of Abstract
Support of Oracle e-Business Suite environment can be very challenging, but
with help of 7 simple do-it-yourself "Tech Wonders" this job can be even
enjoyable!

Principles of Lean manufacturing applied to Support of e-Business Suite.

Save 2x-3x the industry average cost on supporting your ERP environment by building
highly re-usable architecture and pushing self-service.

Reduce rapid prototyping of reports to 3-4 hours in average compare to 30-40 hours.

Empower Business Users to self-service their alerting requirements on Business

Exceptions.

Embed ApEx into Oracle e-Business Suite environment.

Bring together into single oracle form data sources from multiple SpreadTables.

Deliver HTML formatted emails from Oracle Alerts.

Have workflows started automatically from triggered events.

Export Data to Excel by End User from any SQL view.

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Hidden Gems

BEM Business Exception Management

Transition of principles from IT Infrastructure Library to Business

Service Catalog (happy path, or SOP)

Incident Management (firefighting)

Problem Management (fire prevention)

Principles of Lean manufacturing applied to Support of e-Business Suite

Unexpected ASAP projects

Bubba Gump

Air freight

Ideation Management System (IMS)

New products, product variations, business process improvements, outreach

Developed by SWAT approach from OPUS

Fabio (5B) = BARK, BEM, BAM, BPM, and BAMBI

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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FTW = BAMBI

So, what do we mean by BAMBI?

1. Is it a Disney Deer?
Too easy! Try again.
2. Is it a Born Again Middle-age BIker?
No, but you are on the right track with the acronym
3. Is it Bay Area Macroinvertebrate Bioassessment Information?

No, but you can apparently find out more about that in Sunnyvale!
3. It is our Business Activity Monitor with Built-in Intelligence

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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BAMBI
Business Activity Monitor with Built-in Intelligence

Think Twitter logic

Alligator is more lengthy than green! Why? Because he is same

length on top and bottom, but green only on top.

Hashtag support via:

Implicit (prepopulated by rules)

Customer class, account name, item SKU, item categories,

cross-references, etc.

Explicit (short text attachment)

Ability to subscribe to any hashtag

And receive daily/weekly/monthly emails with data facts

Leverage templates, schedules, workflow mailer from Oracle Alerts

Clickable hashtag cloud with drill down to data facts

AOS >>> UEE >>> SSR >>> DT >>> AT >>> ST >>> FTW

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Q&A ( - Beer in Ukrainian)

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