Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2 And Enterprise Command Centers

Claremont recently hosted a webinar on Unleashing The Power of Oracle EBS 12.2. As well as Oracle experts from Claremont and Fudgelearn, we were also joined by Nadia Bendjedou, Oracle - Vice President of Product Strategy for Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS).

As one of the world’s primary communicators for Oracle users about E-Business Suite development, Nadia shared the strategic Oracle E-Business suite roadmap, outlining Oracle's commitment to the longevity and continual innovation of the Oracle EBS product.

Combatting the idea that Oracle EBS has had its day, Nadia reminded the many attendees at the event, that some of the world's largest organisations were using Oracle EBS, including Dell, Starbucks, GE, City Group, as well as public sector clients such as the US Federal Government, US Airforce, and the US Postal Service. And in the UK, the NHS, Ministry of Defense, and the UK government all rely on Oracle’s E-Business Suite. Globally, new organisations are adopting and rolling out EBS all the time.

Did you know that you can update EBS 12.2 different product families at your own pace?

EBS Support Timeline

EBS Support Timeline.jpg

EBS Oracle Premier Support will continue until at least 2032, with a statement from Oracle expected imminently that it will be extended until 2033 with annual reviews. EBS R12.2 is the last Oracle EBS upgrade with continuous innovation being outlined for at least the next ten years.

Oracle EBS R12.1 Premier Support ended in December 2021, and Oracle has no plans to extend it further. As well as Market Driven Support (MDS) being offered by Oracle for organisations that have yet to upgrade to Oracle R12.2, Claremont’s Extended Managed Services (EMS) also provides support for customers who are no longer receiving Oracle’s Premier software maintenance and support services.

E-Business Suite R12.2 gives users a whole new look and feel with new enhancements focusing on user experience, functional innovation and operational efficiency, all driven by regulation, business trends, and client input. As such, Oracle has received more than 7000 suggestions for Innovation from their EBS customers since 2014, and have delivered over 600 enhancements based on customers’ ideas.

New enhancements for Oracle EBS 12.2

Key Takeaways For E-Busines Suite R12.2 Users

Modern user experience, including Enterprise Command Centers (ECC)
Functional innovation, including 10 years of functional advancements beyond EBS R12.1
Oracle EBS enhancements to focus on user experience, functional innovation and operational efficiency
Long-term Premier Support until at least 2032/33

We asked our webinar attendees what Oracle EBS version they were currently using.

EBS R12.2 was currently being used by 43% of attendees
32% were intending or in the process of upgrading to EBS 12.2
16% were still on EBS 12.1

Oracle Enterprise Command Centers

Oracle Enterprise Command Centers (ECC) were a key subject during the webinar. In 2018, Oracle introduced ECCs, which are available on EBS 12.2.4 and above. ECCs are a valuable tool for users and consist of a series of out the box dashboards that provide an intuitive graphical display of the data held within the E-Business Suite (EBS) modules, enabling the user to quickly see a high-level overview as to what is happening currently or did happen in the business. Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2 currently offers 32 ECCs with 121 dashboards.

ECCs are free if you have the Oracle license for the specific module, you are using the ECC for, but it is necessary to allow additional infrastructure for the ECC and it is recommended that additional virtual or separate physical architecture for the ECC to be deployed.

Being fully configurable, ECCs allow customers to define their own data sets and build dashboards on top of them. And from the feedback received already, ECCs are overwhelmingly positive, as they have provided organisations with custom reporting allowing employees to generate their own reports via the ECC dashboard.

The user interface (UI) is simple and straightforward to use, with little or no training required and dashboards visually display the data, utilising most chart types including pie charts, histograms, heat maps, and line graphs to name a few. The dashboards come with a standardised view, but one can move things around with drop and drag movement.

New Features In Framework v7

Payroll Command Center
Discrete Manufacturing Command Center: Genealogy & Trace (enhancements on the v6 version)
New ‘themes’ one of which will make your ECCs look like a SaaS application
8 new dashboards – more than half in manufacturing and supply chain
Further enhancements:
APEX integration (this is a big plus)
Pop-ups in dashboards – make the dashboard a bit more ‘action-able’ (more on this later)
Export to PDF

ECCs Available

What Do ECCs Look Like?

Installing An ECC

To install, patch, and configure the ECC, you'll need to utilise DBA support to install a patch as well as establish a data refresh. The Claremont team suggests 3 days to install, patch, and complete the data configuration. There are a number of initial customisations and settings that need to be applied at the point of installation, and although the installation can be completed in-house with DBA support, Claremont provides a cost-effective service to ensure that installation goes smoothly and without incident.

Memory Required For The ECC

The memory required by an ECC is shown in the slide below, but it is dependent on the dashboard you are using. Our team discovered that the procurement dashboard needs twice as much memory as recommended in order to achieve acceptable performance.

ECC Memory.jpg

Key Takeaways For Enterprise Command Centers

Intuitive graphic display of EBS data
32 ECCs and 121 dashboards currently available with more being added all the time
Free to install with the appropriate module licence
Fully configurable and customiseable
Simple and straightforward interface
Can be installed in-house with DBA support

The ECC Poll:

49% of webinar attendees were unaware of ECCs
15% of the webinar attendees were already deploying ECCs
34% evaluating ECCs
2% currently live with ECCs.

Oracle EBS Database Online Patching

The final element of this virtual event included the practicalities of online patching. The adop (AD Online Patching) utility is used to apply patches to the Oracle E-Business Suite file system or database.
The positives and challenges of Online patching are:

Positives

All Oracle E-Business Suite Release R12.2 patches are applied online.
Application and Tech stack.
Multi-node patching is automatically managed by adop.
Logging and status are held within the database.
Increased system availability.
Downtime is consistent/predictable regardless of the patch size.
Downtime is measured in minutes NOT hours i.e. the time to stop and restart the application tier.
Cutover can be pre-determined to a time to suit user requirements.

Challenges

Database patches still require downtime.
The end-to-end patch cycle is longer.
Clones have to be done outside of an active patch cycle.
Hot patching restricted.
DR configuration is more complex.

Further changes with online pathing include:

To view further insights from this virtual event, you can watch the replay HERE.

Claremont runs virtual and physical events throughout the year, providing valuable knowledge of Oracle products and associated technology. If you would like to attend one of these future events, please contact us on + 44 (0) 1483 549004 or write to us at marketing@claremont.co.uk