Release 12 Tales from the Front

1. Release 12Tales from the Front “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

2. Presentation Overview • Objectives • R12 “Expert Panel” • Project Profiles • Project Management Perspective • Application Considerations • Technical Considerations • Summary • Questions

3. Objectives • Provide useful information for R12 implementation teams for planning & staffing purposes • Indirectly “educate” users about new R12 functionality & features • Help you avoid potential pitfalls using actual experiences from multiple R12 implementation and upgrade projects

4. Project Profiles • Auto Salvage Company • New implementation of R12 • Started April, 2007 • General Ledger, Payables, Fixed Assets, Purchasing • 120+ Legal Entities • Six regional accounting centers • Significant intercompany activity • Software & Services Company • New implementation of R12 • Started February, 2008 • Financials, Supply Chain, CRM • Insurance Company • R12 upgrade from 10.7 Character • Started January, 2008 • General Ledger & Payables • Significant legacy system integration

5. Project Management • Project Planning • Plan for additional time for configuration, testing, SR resolution, and data conversion • Push CRP #1 out farther in the plan • Possibly need to add a CRP #3 in some areas • Ensure your team has knowledge & experience in key new areas (G/L, E-Biz Tax, Payments, XML Publisher, etc.) • Validate Assumptions… make sure you can still do what you used to do in the applications! • SR Management Considerations • Allocate additional time for SR Management • Actively monitor Metalink for Critical Patch Updates over and above the Financials RUP5 • Critical Accounts Manager • Customer Support Engagement • Weekly status calls near critical milestones • Escalation assistance

6. Application Considerations • General Ledger • Additional setup considerations with legal entities, ledger sets, etc. • Thorough testing of journals recommended (especially with Intercompany) • Thorough testing of Report Manager (possible open bugs with performance & drilldown) • Payables • Supplier Setup – Conversion to TCA & OA Framework • Payment processing moved to Payments module • Quick payments, manual payments, and voiding payments still available in Forms-based workbench • Sites created through Supplier Address Book entry, then selectable from “Create Site” button • Positive Pay Report – two versions (w/voids & w/o voids) • Inquiry/Viewing “voided checks” from Payments Workbench (must use the Payments tab on the Payments Manager Dashboard) • Additional “Invoice Line” hierarchy causes problems during upgrades to R12 (Header/Line/Distribution) • Expense Reports within Payables: add “Expenses: Export Results” function and “Create/Update Employee/Supplier details” sub-function

7. Application Considerations • Payments • Essentially replaces iPayment • Check format output in XML Publisher/pdf • 3rd Party Check Output processors may have challenges with pdf output • E-Business Tax • Sales/Use Tax – Is your 3rd Party provider certified? • Be sure to patch up to RUP5 (several issues addressed) • Withholding tax still handled in Payables • Cash Management • All OA Framework • Owns all bank, bank branch, and bank account setups!

8. Application Considerations • Fixed Assets • Asset conversion process took significantly longer than normal • Tax Book Interface: have yet to complete successfully! • Several patches required to make Tax Book Depreciation work properly • Tax Book depreciation adjustments calculate differently than previous versions • Catch-up depreciation happens at point of addition, not in depreciation run • Rollback depreciation is no longer a separate process • 11i Bonus Depreciation not carried through to R12 (patches needed: Metalink 383033.1)

9. Application Considerations • Service Contracts • There are currently no published & supported APIs available for performing bulk or transactional contract import! • Refer to Metalink Note 307446.1 • Potential Workaround using OM APIs • Quoting • All OA Framework • End Customer Data included • Sales Credit easier to manage • Sales/Field Sales • New Account Planning & Strategic Plans at customer & contact levels (equivalent to Sales Coach at opportunity level) • Still no visibility into opportunities with future close dates

10. Application Considerations • Marketing • Fully updated OA Framework user interface, much cleaner than previous versions • Territory Manager • All OA Framework user interface, utilizes/requires RBAC • New concurrent requests allow more administrative control over what is evaluated for assignment, better performance

11. Technical Considerations • Help > Record History not available in OA Framework applications • XML Publisher • SQL Statements (query) included in output file, to cut & paste into templates for modifications • Payments • Adding additional data elements into a check • Supplier Conversion • Transparent integration to TCA • Interface Rejection Code no longer managed in-line with the interface data • Interface Summary Report utilizes significant sort space, and crashes frequently (impossible to validate interface events)

12. Technical Considerations • Supplier Open Interface Import • Provides inaccurate feedback (0 records success, 0 records rejected) • However, “status” column on interface table shows rejected status • No “reason code” in REJECT_CODE column • No records in AP_SUPPLIER_INT_REJECTIONS table • To Correct: • Must enable statement-level debugging (system profile values form or Applications Dashboard Log Setup) • Reset/recreate the records (set status to NEW) • Re-run the process • Search system logs for the problem (using Advanced Search on Applications Dashboard System Logs) • Or, run this query: (problem should be near the end of the listing) • select log.* • from fnd_log_messages log, • fnd_log_transaction_context con • where con.transaction_id = &concurrent_request_id • and con.transaction_type = 'REQUEST' • and con.transaction_context_id = log.transaction_context_id • order by log.log_sequence;

13. Technical Considerations • Supplier Open Interface & TCA Conflict • Supplier data now stored in both AP tables and TCA tables • TCA data is inserted and committed prior to Supplier table validation • You can end up with data in TCA, and not in AP Suppliers! • Error shows “Supplier name already exists…” • But, there is no Supplier found in Supplier Inquiry! • The TCA record must be removed in order to load the record successfully, once the validation error is corrected. • This query will help you find these “disconnected” records: • select hz.* • from hz_parties hz • where created_by_module = 'AP_SUPPLIERS_API' • and party_type in ('ORGANIZATION', 'PERSON') • and not exists (select 1 • from ap_suppliers x • where x.party_id = hz.party_id);

14. Technical Considerations • Make sure your DBAs do their homework! • New components: • RDBMS is 10gR2 • Oracle Developer Home is 10.1.2 • Oracle AS Home is 10.1.3 • If you use BI Discoverer, Oracle SSO, Portal, or Oracle ID, you will need an additional stand-alone 10g/AS • Jinitiator replaced by JVM • Cumulative rollup patches replace one-off & mini-packs • Cumulative security patches on a quarterly basis • Multi-Org is mandatory now • Custom Apps must be registered with Multi-Org tables… not automatically done (Metalink 420787.1 reference) • Cloning can only be done by Rapid Clone

15. Technical Considerations • Must use Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) for editing context files (SID_hostname.xml) • New INST_TOP directory • All info related to a particular host (log files, output files, etc.) • Facilitates deployment of multiple nodes in the middle-tier • Simplifies backup & cleanup of log & output files • RBAC (Role-based Access Control) • Complicates Responsibility creation & assignment • Responsibilities are not sufficient to gain access in certain areas (User Management, Territory Mgr, etc.) • OA Framework • Delayed display due to caching (“clear all cache” function within Functional Administrator) • Login Assistant • Users can re-set their own passwords • Passwords are case-sensitive!

16. Summary • Give yourself more time in the plan for key events & activities • Data conversions will likely take much longer in some areas • Ensure your team has the right skill & experience • Plan to spend more time than usual with SR Management • Validate all assumptions based on prior implementation experience!

17. Q & Q U E S T I O N S A N S W E R S A