Enterprise Command Center Framework
The power of the ECC dashboards is down to the ECC Framework that it sits on top of. This middleware technology is a powerful and scalable piece of architecture and consists of three layers:
Oracle Enterprise Command Centers
What is an Enterprise Command Center?
An ECC is an information layer which sits above your transactional Oracle E-Business Suite data. An ECC is deployed as dashboards containing various methods of displaying your data. Essentially the purpose of an ECC is threefold:
- Help you answer questions, such as why my UK ledgers take so long to close.
- Help the decision-making process, by providing varied views of your data and the performance of your organisation
- Help you to spot patterns, via rich visual data displays
Fully Configurable Dashboards
ECCs are a significant benefit of EBS R12.2. Out-of-the-box ECCs allow customers to identify and respond to key business transactions without needing a custom reporting solution. They provide dashboard-style reporting and intelligence and the ability to drill into specific areas to see a more detailed view of transactional data.
Available since 2018, ECCs can be installed on any EBS instance at version 12.2.4 or above. There is no separate license or additional cost for installing and running the ECCs. However, there may be additional infrastructure requirements to run the ECC dashboards. To ensure a successful deployment of the ECC, it is recommended to use either additional virtual or separate physical architecture.
These dashboards allow users to access interactive visual components to effortlessly locate and retrieve any transactions requiring attention. With this simplified process, there is no need to use custom or standard operational reports, scripts, or conventional search screens. Transaction screens are pre-populated with the drill-down data from your information discovery with no re-querying of data necessary.
Dashboards can be used by a range of users, from departmental managers to operational resources and are fully configurable and can be tailored to meet your organisation’s and personnel’s specific needs.
The latest release of the ECC Framework, offers 36 command centres and 145 dashboards.
Features of Enterprise Command Centers
- Browse and drill on actionable indicators
- Use consumer-like search and filters
- Drill down with all indicators and search choices recalculated
- Through “conversation with the data”, narrow in on the most important priorities
- Navigate to selected transactions to take action
- Interactive User Interface layer: This development framework allows code-free creation of dashboards using a drag-and-drop layout design.
- Service Layer: This allows the client to define a dataset and perform advanced functions, for example: aggregation and rollups, against the data.
- Core Engine: This is the main engine that absorbs the data from its source EBS module. This process analyses the data to allow fast and advanced data access.
The ECC framework enables Oracle EBS users to modify the dashboards’ design easily. It provides the capability to access additional data from within E-Business Suite, including advanced data retrieval functionality such as aggregations, rollups, etc.
User Interface
One of the ECC's main strengths is the range of tools available for displaying data. This document cannot do justice to the full range, but here is a flavour of the components available out of the box:
Summarisation bar (appears at the top of most standard dashboards)
Tag Cloud
Tag Cloud configured to show invoice hold reasons based on the number of invoices on hold.
Charts
The available chart types are many and varied, but a few examples are shown here:
Available ECCs
The following list is not exhaustive but illustrates the breadth of content available.
- Oracle Financials: Receivables, IReceivables, Payables, Assets, Lease Contracts (Financials), Lease, Finance Management and General Ledger (new in ECC v9)
- Oracle Manufacturing: Discrete Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Outsourced Manufacturing, Project Manufacturing, Cost Management, Quality
- Oracle Procurement & Projects: Iprocurement, Consumer-like shopping, Procurement, Projects, Project Procurement, Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector
- Order Management & Logistics - Order Management: Inventory Management, Advanced Pricing, istore, Modern Shopping Experience, Landed Cost Management, Channel Revenue Management, Incentive Compensation
- Asset Lifecycle and Service: Enterprise Asset Management, Asset Tracking, ServiceContracts, Service (TeleService), Field Service, Depot Repair
- Oracle Human Capital Management: Human Resources and Payroll
What do ECCs look like?
Here is an example of of ECC from Oracle EBS Asset Management
Installing An ECC
ECC Framework requires a new Web Logic server installation. The recommended approach is that it runs on a separate server from E-Business Suite Applications. To install, patch, and configure the ECC, you’ll need to utilise DBA support to install a patch and establish a data refresh.
There are a number of initial customisations and settings that need to be applied at the point of installation and can be completed in-house with DBA support, however, Claremont provides a cost-effective service to ensure that installation goes smoothly and without incident.
It takes approximately three days to install, patch, and complete the data configuration.
Memory Required For An ECC
The memory required by an ECC is shown in the following image, but it is dependent on the dashboard you are using. These are the minimum specifications from Oracle.
In Claremont’s experience with ECCs, we have discovered these recommendations to be the bare minimum, and increasing them is required in some cases.
Summary
ECCs cover a wide range of data in your EBS database and have a wide range of visualisation tools and drill-down reporting features. They can support your analysis and decision-making by honing in on problem areas.
Careful thought needs to go into areas such as, server architecture and data refresh frequency to create the optimum balance between performance and usefulness.
What Claremont Offers
- Initial architectural analysis on the best way to run an ECC on a separate server.
- Functional areas available that benefit the organisation and how to implement them.
- Setting up the initial data gathering and periodic data refreshes required to operate an ECC.
Choosing the Right Managed Services Provider
If you want more from Oracle E-Business Suite, then using an Enterprise Command Center can help identify and respond to key business transactions without the need for a custom reporting solution.
If you are looking for an Oracle partner who can help you with your Oracle ECC Deployment, goes about it the right way, and can back up the talk, then you can email us at info@claremont.co.uk or phone us on +44 (0) 1483 549004.