OracleApps Epicenter

WHAT IS PUNCHOUT (also known as Supplier PunchOut)

Punchout provides the ability to link out from a procurement application (iproc ) to a vendor's eCommerce site to shop, place items into a cart, and return that cart to their own procurement application to continue purchasing within their designated workflow. The resulting purchase order is then sent back to the supplier for order fulfillment.

This is a mechanism by which buyers/requestors can navigate to suppliers website directly from iProcurement.

Punchouts are, typically, for expense items such as office supplies, but are often leveraged by maintenance and IT organizations.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF PUNCH OUT?

Some advantages are:

• The ability to cost effectively re-use suppliers existing transactional websites to provide custom content to individual buyers.
• The flexibility which allows suppliers to control product information to ensure real-time quality content, including price and availability.
• Punch out is a low-cost way to provide easily customised content for many buyers, leading to economies of scale, enhanced customer experience, and reduced customer support costs.
• Buyers no longer need to manage catalogue content.
• Punch out enables requisitioners to access supplier catalogues for products / services that reside within the supplier's website.
• Punch out eliminates the need for the supplier to send electronic catalogues to buying organisations.
• Punch out reduces buyer and supplier error.
• cXML is the most widely adopted Business to Business protocol today.

BASIC FLOW

More or less , these are user steps in punchout process irrespective of any model ( as discussed below) ;

1. The requester in iProcurement or buyer in Exchange clicks a link to the external catalog (punchout) site. Punchout links are available from the Shopping home and
   Search Results pages.
2. The punchout from application (iProcurement or Exchange) sends the login request to the catalog site.
3. The punchout to application (Exchange or the supplier site) authenticates the requester or buyer.
4. The punchout from application redirects the requester’s or buyer’s browser to the catalog site.
5. The requester or buyer browses or searches for items on the external catalog site and completes shopping on the site.
6. Via the requester’s or buyer’s browser, the punchout to application returns the shopping cart with the items to the punchout from application.
7. The requester or buyer completes the checkout process for the items in the shopping cart, and the punchout from application processes the order.

THE PUNCHOUT MODELS

The Punchout Models available are:

• Model 1: Punchout from Oracle iProcurement to Oracle Exchange (XML)
• Model 2a: Punchout from Oracle iProcurement Directly to Supplier-Hosted Catalog (XML)
• Model 2b: Punchout from Oracle iProcurement Directly to Supplier-Hosted Catalog(cXML)
• Model 3a : Punchout from Oracle Exchange to Supplier- Hosted Catalog (XML)
• Model 3b: Punchout from Oracle Exchange to Supplier- Hosted Catalog (cXML)
• Model 4: Punchout from Oracle iProcurement to Supplier- Hosted Catalog via Oracle Exchange (XML)
• Model 5: Punchout from Oracle iProcurement to Supplier- Hosted Catalog via Oracle Exchange (cXML)

Model 1: PUNCHOUT FROM ORACLE IPROCUREMENT TO ORACLE EXCHANGE (XML)

In model 1, the supplier loads catalog items directly to Oracle Exchange.

The catalog administrator then sets up Oracle iProcurement to use Oracle Exchange as the punchout hub.

How this works:

• When the user clicks on a punchout link to Oracle Exchange, Oracle Exchange authenticates the requester and returns a response.
• If the authentication is successful, the user is redirected to the Oracle Exchange site to search for and add items.
• When the requester finishes adding items to the Oracle Exchange shopping cart, Oracle Exchange returns these items to the requisition.
• The requester then submits the requisition.

The illustration below shows Model 1.

If you see above diagram , Oracle Exchange can be setup as an aggregator site, where requesters can have access to items from different suppliers.

In this model benefits for the suppliers include:

• Suppliers only need to load their catalog items once on Oracle Exchange and can reach many Oracle iProcurement customers in addition to the buyers already registered on Oracle Exchange.
• Suppliers can make use of the functionality offered by Oracle Exchange to control pricing.

MODEL 2A and 2B: PUNCHOUT FROM ORACLE iPROCUREMENT TO SUPPLIER HOSTED CATALOG (XML & CXML)

In models 2a and 2b, the supplier hosts the catalog at their own site or web store. The catalog administrator sets up a punchout catalog to use the supplier as a punchout site.

• When the requester clicks on a punchout link to the supplier site, the supplier authenticates the requester and returns a response.
• If the authentication is successful, Oracle iProcurement redirects the requester to the supplier site to search for and add items.
• When the requester completes adding items to the supplier shopping cart, the supplier site returns the shopping cart items to Oracle iProcurement.
• The requester then submits the requisition.

The illustration below shows Models 2a and 2b.

MODEL 3: PUNCHOUT FROM ORACLE iPROCUREMENT TO SUPPLIER HOSTED CATALOG THROUGH ORACLE EXCHANGE (XML)

In this model, the supplier hosts the catalog at their own site or web store.

1. When the user clicks on the punchout link, the requester is taken directly to the supplier site.
   • Although behind the scenes, the access is through Oracle Exchange. Using Oracle Exchange for the punchout simplifies the initial setup process and the authentication and maintenance of the punchout.
2. The supplier must set up a punchout from Oracle Exchange to their site.
   • To setup access to the supplier site through Oracle Exchange, the catalog administrator needs to download the supplier punchout definition from Oracle Exchange.
   • Downloading the supplier punchout definition seeds the punchout definition from Oracle iProcurement to the supplier site through Oracle Exchange, without requiring the catalog administrator to perform manual setup.
3. The requester clicks on the punchout link, Oracle Exchange authenticates the requester, and sends a punchout request to the supplier.
4. The supplier site then responds to Oracle Exchange, and in turn Oracle Exchange forwards the supplier site response to Oracle iProcurement .
   • If successful, the requester is redirected to the supplier site for shopping.
5. When the requester completes adding items to the supplier shopping cart, the supplier site returns the shopping cart items to the requisition. The requester then submits the requisition.

The illustration below shows Model 3.

MODEL 4: PUNCHOUT FROM ORACLE IPROCUREMENT TO SUPPLIER HOSTED CATALOG THROUGH ORACLE EXCHANGE (CXML)

In Model 4, the supplier hosts a cXML catalog at its own site or web store. Similar to Model 3, the requester accesses the supplier site (behind the scenes) through Oracle Exchange.

The supplier must set up a punchout from Oracle Exchange to its site, and the catalog administrator then downloads the supplier punchout definition from Oracle Exchange when setting up the punchout catalog.

• The requester clicks on the punchout link, Oracle Exchange then authenticates the requester, and sends a punchout request to the supplier.
• The supplier site then responds to Oracle Exchange, and in turn Oracle Exchange forwards the supplier site response to Oracle iProcurement .
  • If successful, the requester is redirected to the supplier site for shopping.
• When the requester completes adding items to the supplier shopping cart, the supplier site returns the shopping cart items to Oracle iProcurement .
• Oracle iProcurement then redirects the shopping cart to Oracle Exchange, where Oracle Exchange converts the shopping cart from cXML to XML and returns the items to Oracle iProcurement . The requester then submits the requisition.

The illustration below shows Model 4.

ANALYSIS OF PRESENT AND FUTURE STATE

Before developing a PunchOut, you need to perform an in-depth analysis of your current system and what is needed to support the "new" process. A few things to note:

Take some important note for the current state:

• Do you have an existing e-commerce site deployed?
• Does your site have XML integration enabled?
• Do you currently receive orders electronically through XML or EDI?
• How is integration performed with back-end systems?

For the future state:

• How will the process flow from time of shopping through order placement and fulfillment?
• Will you need to interface with multiple XML-based procurement applications?
• How should your concept of a "shopping cart" be modeled in requisition line items?
• Which model should be best for my company ?

Remember , There is no additional licensing that you need to purchase for using Punchout. Next post will be more focus on setup and troubleshooting.

Oracle offers a broad portfolio of products to help enterprises acquire, manage, and integrate big data with existing information, with the goal of achieving a complete view of business in the fastest, most reliable, and cost effective way .

Oracle's Big Data Appliance, and Oracle Big Data Connectors is one such solution and portfolio of products bundled together to provide an integrated solution. The good about Oracle Big Data Appliance comes with fact that the process of Acquire, Organize and Analyze work quite closely with their proven Oracle RDBMS technology and thus gives Enterprises flexibility to cover SQL and NoSQL (Key-Value store databases for unstructured, semi-structured data) within the horizon of their analytical needs.

The Oracle Big Data Appliance is an engineered system of hardware and software designed to help enterprises derive maximum value from their big data strategies. It combines optimized hardware with a comprehensive software stack featuring specialized solutions developed by Oracle to deliver a complete, easy-to-deploy offering for acquiring, organizing and analyzing big data, with enterprise-class performance, availability, supportability, and security.

The Oracle Big Data Appliance integrated software includes :

• Full distribution of Cloudera's Distribution including Apache Hadoop (CDH)
• Cloudera Manager to administer all aspects of Cloudera CDH
• Open source distribution of the statistical package R for analysis of unfiltered data on Oracle Big Data Appliance
• Oracle NoSQL Database Community Edition3
• And Oracle Enterprise Linux operating system and Oracle Java VM

The Oracle Big Data Appliance offers the following benefits:

• Rapid provisioning of a highly-available and scalable system for managing massive amounts of data
• A high-performance platform for acquiring, organizing, and analyzing big data in Hadoop and using R on raw-data sources
• Control of IT costs by pre-integrating all hardware and software components into a single big data solution that complements enterprise data warehouses

Oracle Big Data Connectors is an optimized software suite to help enterprises integrate data stored in Hadoop or Oracle NoSQL Databases with Oracle Database 11g. It enables very fast data movements between these two environments using Oracle Loader for Hadoop and Oracle Direct Connector for Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), while Oracle Data Integrator Application Adapter for Hadoop and Oracle R Connector for Hadoop provide non-Hadoop experts with easier access to HDFS data and MapReduce functionality.

Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine is purpose-built to deliver the fastest performance for business intelligence (BI) and planning applications. It is designed to provide real-time, speed-of-thought visual analysis, and enable new types of analytic applications so organizations can make decisions faster in the context of rapidly shifting business conditions, while broadening user adoption of BI though introduction of interactive visualization capabilities. Organizations can extend BI initiatives beyond reporting and dashboards to modeling, planning, forecasting, and predictive analytics.

These offerings, along with Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Database 11g, create a complete set of technologies for leveraging and integrating big data, and help enterprises quickly and efficiently turn information into insight.

More Information

Data sheets, white papers and other interesting information can be found here:

• Big Data OverView
• BigData Connector OverView
• Big Data Appliance OTN page
• Big Data Connectors OTN page

Oracle Fusion Applications Documentation Library for links to release notes, guides, licensing information,and more can be found here

You can use this page to learn about Oracle Fusion Applications . You can use the tabs to find user guides, implementation guides, and other documentation resources for each product family.

Other Documentation Links

• Oracle Fusion Applications Technology Library : You can use these library for technical guides such as install, patching,implementation, and extensibility. click here to get .
• Oracle Enterprise Repository : You will get technical information about integrating with other applications,including services, operations, composites, events, and integration tables. click here to get .
• Oracle Fusion Applications Documentation Info Center : To access this you need my Oracle support access. If you have valid access rights , you can get white papers, release notes, What's New and other resources.

What is Digital asset management (DAM)

From Wikipedia ...A digital asset is any form of content and/or media that have been formatted into a binary source which include the right to use it. A digital file without the right to use it is not an asset.

Digital assets are categorised in three major groups which may be defined as textual content (digital assets), images (media assets) and multimedia (media assets)

Not to forgot, DAM as Digital Asset = Digital Content + Usage Rights

That means means, Digital asset management (DAM) is a business process or a software tool for organizing the creation, management, distribution and archiving of a rich media asset. Rich media assets include photos, music, videos, animations, podcasts and other multimedia content.Look the DAM in another Way.

Typical Activities in DAM

Consider these kind of question

• As a marketing Manager I need to find an approved product image to create a new ad campaign…
• As a PR team for the company e-com Site I need to prepare the upcoming summer catalog
• As a content manager I need to manage the “official” repository of “approved” product images…

if you are able to answer above requset then you can easily figure out , what activity is needed for DAM solution.So below is list for Typical activity required in DAM.

 

Manage	Transform	Deliver
Ingest/bulk load source assets Classify & describe assets (cataloging & metadata) Ingestion services (rights, policies, renditions)	Find/Search/Request Collect / Create / Assemble Produce / Review & Approve	Publish / Notify Present the content in the different channels

Oracle Digital asset management

Oracle Digital Asset Management enables organizations to quickly and easily access, manage, share, optimize and re-use corporate digital assets, such as training videos, conference call recordings, movie trailers, commercials, depositions and corporate branding graphics and images.

This is built upon the core Oracle server foundation, providing additional functionality specific to image transformations, formatting and compression, enhanced audio and video streaming, and automatic thumbnail generation.

The Oracle Digital Asset Management bundle includes the following products.

• Digital Asset Manager - Image Manager: Digital Asset Manager adds the ability to create multiple renditions (conversions) for each image. Users can easily access the appropriate size and format for PPT, the Web, or other collateral. Supports input formats such as JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, PSD, and BMP; as well as output formats such as JPG, GIF, PNG, and PSD. Image metadata is extracted and associated with the content item as object metadata.
• Digital Asset Manager - Video Manager: Digital Asset Manager adds the ability to create multiple stream able proxies for each video. Users can easily access the appropriate format and size for their client, network, and viewing needs. Output formats include Real, Windows Media Format, QuickTime, and others. Thumbnails are extracted and presented as a drill down storyboard; closed caption text is extracted and included in the Oracle search index.
• PDF Converter: This enables the automatic publishing of native business content to web viewable PDF. Upon check-in of new business content, a PDF rendition of the native format is generated. This PDF rendition allows web viewing of that business content without the need for the native application.
• TIFF Converter: Tiff Converter automatically converts TIFF images to PDF format upon check-in to the Content Server for easy viewing of legacy content. The conversion of the released TIFF image can occur on the client side or server side and uses the Adobe Acrobat Capture technology. With TIFF Conversion, users can easily view and access managed legacy content (scanned documents) via a browser with the Adobe Reader. Additionally, during the TIFF to PDF conversion, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is performed - enabling users to perform full-text searches of managed TIFF files in the Content Server.
• XML Converter: Oracle XML Converter enables the automatic publishing of native business content to XML format. Upon check-in of new business content, conversion to a XML DTD or user defined DTD, can be configured to occur. This XML file can then be accessed from other Enterprise Applications, as well as dynamically rendered to HTML using the Dynamic Converter.

How it Works

When digital assets such as images and videos are ingested into the Oracle system, a number of additional renditions of varying file formats, resolutions, sizes, etc. are automatically generated allowing users to download and use images without reformatting or requiring the use of native applications such as Photoshop for resizing and perhaps impacting your brand.

The original (native) file is available as well as other additional renditions that were auto-generated into jpg and png formats with varying properties such as size, resolution, color, etc. The number and properties of each rendition are completely configurable. Users can add the graphics they need to utilize and download .

When videos are ingested, renditions along with storyboards are auto-generated .

Catering both all set of Business user

For the business user

Once content is created, the Oracle Digital Asset Management system gives the user multiple options for checking the file into the repository.

All check-in methods (browser-based, WebDAV, integrations with desktop applications, etc.) can automate processes - such as file transformations, multiple renditions of a file being generated, approval requirements, thumbnail generations, etc. - that used to be completed manually.

Oracle Image Converter can quickly reformat an image to the appropriate size, shape, resolution or aspect ratio, alleviating the need to maintain heavy, expensive publishing tools on desktops.

For the IT administrator

Oracle Digital Asset Management provides Web-based administrative functions and a flexible architectural framework to meet the needs of your organization with one solution.

Web-based administrative functions include the ability to easily stop and start servers, edit security permissions, customize metadata, create workflows and view server logs, regardless of your location.

Tech Stack

The Oracle solution is Java-based, easily customizable, rapidly deployable, enterprise scalable and can integrate with other processes and applications, such as portals, CRM and ERP systems.

In Summary, take away

Oracle Digital Asset Management automates routine tasks and provides robust functionality to effectively manage your rich media files.

• Easily view and reuse digital assets: This is done via storyboard tree allows immediate viewing of specific video scenes.
• Create thumbnails automatically to easily search and retrieve files: Increase efficiency by allowing end users to find information quickly via searching for both text and utilizing visual recognition.
• Save storage space and decrease bandwidth usage by compressing files: Save time by significantly compressing large files and utilizing bandwidth more efficiently.
• Convert legacy images to Web-friendly formats: View older files without needing older desktop applications.
• Reduce manual steps in creating multiple renditions: Automatically create multiple formats of a corporate image or video and create additional formats on the fly.
• Control access to corporate brand assets: Easily control security permissions surrounding access to brand assets. Manage only one copy of corporate assets.
• Make corporate audio and video sessions available via the Web: Enable quick and easy browser-based access to presentations, recording presentations, e-learning files, documents, etc.

As mention previouly Fusion Applications follows a modular, standards-based architecture, natively built on Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g components and use the Oracle Database as per fig below.

Fig 1: Oracle Fusion Applications Architecture ( Source www.oracle.com)

Lets do a quick recap of some of the key components.

1. Oracle Fusion Applications includes the following product families, or collections of products that are associated with a functional area:

• Oracle Fusion Financials manages financial flows, including assets, ledgers, cash cycle, invoices and payments, accounts receivable, collections, and setup of subledger accounting and tax configuration.
• Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management provides employee management for an organization.
• Oracle Fusion Procurement manages the procurement process including requisitions, purchase orders, and supplier negotiations.
• Oracle Fusion Project Portfolio Management manages projects, including how to plan, budget, forecast, collect costs, bill customers, and report performance.
• Oracle Fusion Supply Chain Management integrates and automates all key supply chain processes, from design, planning and procurement to manufacturing and fulfillment, providing a complete solution set to enable companies to power information-driven value chains.
• Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management manages customers, contacts, and resources, including data quality configuration.
• Oracle Fusion Governance, Risk, and Compliance integrates business intelligence, process management, and automated controls enforcement to enable sustainable risk and compliance management.
• Oracle Fusion Setup is a special product family for supporting the other product families for
  • setting up functional data, this product family includes applications to assist application users . Read this.
  • Oracle Fusion Home page thats provides a Welcome dashboard with a collection of portlets and task flows for answering common questions.
  • Oracle Fusion Applications Help delivers the content that users require in order to complete their tasks. You can have install a local version of Oracle Fusion Applications Help, enabling you to extend and customize the help.

Similar to OracleApps each product family is based on a common Oracle Fusion Applications data model and services.

Normally each product family contain one or more Java EE applications that are specific to Oracle Fusion Applications and deployed to Oracle WebLogic Server. An application can contain multiple products, and a product can also span multiple applications.

A product typically has a one-to-one correspondence with an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file . Similar to EarSales.ear which is an application and Sales is a product.

2.Oracle Fusion Middleware

Oracle Fusion Middleware, comprising the following:

• Oracle Fusion Middleware infrastructure components : This will have common core framework and infrastructure components as:
  • Oracle Fusion Middleware Extensions for Applications
  • Oracle Enterprise Scheduler
  • Oracle Enterprise Crawl and Search Framework
  • Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager
• Oracle Fusion Middleware components:The applications for a product family are deployed to an Oracle WebLogic Server domain in the Oracle Fusion Middleware technology stack
  • Oracle WebLogic Server
  • Oracle WebLogic Communication Services
  • Oracle Identity Management
  • Oracle WebCenter
  • Oracle Business Intelligence
  • Oracle SOA Suite
  • Oracle Application Development Framework
  • Oracle JDeveloper
  • Oracle HTTP Server
  • Oracle WebGate
  • Oracle Web Services Manager Policy Manager
  • Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite
  • Oracle Data Integrator
  • Oracle Secure Enterprise Search
• Oracle WebLogic Server

Check it out for more details in this post.

3. Oracle Database

Oracle Fusion Applications uses the Oracle Database to store and retrieve all transactional and reference data and to store design time data in repositories.

The transactional database contains both applications and middleware schemas, seed data, the tablespaces, and all other required packages.

Similar Post

• Oracle's Co-Existence Strategy
• BI in Oracle's Fusion Applications : An Quick Overview
• Fusion's Functional Setup Manager
• Oracle Fusion Supply Chain Management - A Brief Overview
• Oracle Fusion Procurement
• Oracle Fusion Project Portfolio Management
• Oracle Fusion Financials Application
• Oracle Fusion and Oracle Fusion Applications : Overview

Oracle Property Manager streamlines and automates lease administration and space management, enabling you to more intelligently manage your real estate portfolio. Whether you are a corporate, commercial, or retail/ franchise operation.

Oracle Property Manager is part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, and is configured out of the box to fully integrate with the Oracle Financials suite.

Oracle Property Manager Functionality automates the full life cycle of a lease as follows:

• Lease Abstraction and Execution:
• Flexibility to capture unique aspects of properties down to room and office level.
• Milestone Management:
• Workflow monitoring of critical dates assures compliance and execution of negotiated terms, conditions, and obligations.
• Transaction Processing and Rent Calculation:
• Calculate, create, and process payable and receivable transactions. (out of box integration with ERP)
• Space Definition and Space Assignment
• Analyze and react to underutilized space. Integration with Computer Aided Design systems (CAD) for virtual space management.

Process Flow

The following list ( Fig 1) is a typical sequence of events that you might follow to abstract a lease in Oracle Property Manager:

• Set up service providers, and define locations, regions and office parks, milestones, and reporting currencies.
• Abstract the lease. (Later, amend and edit it as needed).
• Assign employees to office space. (Later, move and reassign the employees as needed).
• Authorize payment and billing schedules.
• Export payments to Oracle Payables.
• Export bills to Oracle Receivables.
• Review online inquiries and/or produce reports.

Key Benefits:

• Improve Process Controls
• Reduce Capital Spend
• Minimise Occupancy Costs
• Maximise Space Utilisation
• Lower TCO

Integration

Oracle Property Manager is integrated with other Oracle applications, including:

• Oracle General Ledger
• Oracle Subledger Accounting
• Oracle Payables
• Oracle Receivables
• Oracle E-Business Tax
• Oracle Human Resources
• Oracle Enterprise Asset Management
• Oracle Alert
• Oracle Workflow
• Oracle Projects

Oracle Property Manager also interfaces with third party applications, such as CAD and CAFM applications.

Property Management is of interest to any organization that wants to maximize its return on real property.

Companies that own or lease real estate can allocate the cost of ownership to the employees or cost centers that use the space. Companies that lease their property portfolios to tenants can—with minimal administration burden—record their leases, schedule payments for rent and service charges, and recover rent owed.

Next Post , we will take more deep dive on some more topics and Integeration with CAD and CAFM applications.

Oracle Fusion Project Portfolio Management is a modular suite of applications designed to work as a complete enterprise project portfolio management (PPM) solution or as extensions to your existing PPM applications portfolio.

Till date, if you take any project management tools , it's never been complete pacakge in all sense. Some may have excellent accounting and process integration for cost collection and billing, but lacked project management functionality like scheduling. Other’s lacked processing functionalities. Some of them have excellent analytical capablity but have lacking transaction processing capabilities or scheduling functionality.

If you consider PMI Standard for Portfolio Management, "PPM is the centralized management of one or more portfolios, which includes identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling projects, programs, and other related work, to achieve specific strategic business objectives."

Fusion PPM will be promises for a one-stop shop for project managers. It creates an environment where Project Managers can execute the entire project life-cycle without looking for information from other sources. It will establish standardization, improve efficiency and generate competitiveness. Oracle Fusion PPM (aka Project Portfolio Management) is going to be a major step towards creating a best in class PPM solution covering all aspects of

• Project Costing
• Project Billing
• Project Control
• Project Performance Reporting
• Project Integration Gateway
• Project Analytics-KPI
• Integrated project, financial and contract management(the first integration will be Primavera)
• Optimized and streamlined project delivery
• Comprehensive project planning, execution, control and scheduling solution

Some of the Fusion PPM features deferred for future release are:

• Staffing
• Resource Management
• Grants Management
• Project Scheduling
• Portfolio Analysis
• Cross-Charges
• Earned Value Management

Some of the key features of Fusion Apps –PPM which will impress to everyone are:

1. Improved Usability: PPM enhances user productivity and reduces support costs
2. Embedded Business Intelligence: Improves decision making by answering key business questions while users enter transactions
3. PM Operational Dashboard: Provides near real-time project financial information & exception-based management . see the details in next section
4. Cost Collection Center: Reduces integration costs and provides a consistent user interface across products
5. Contract Based Project Billing: Cuts down on billing errors and improves flexibility of internal project execution
6. Social Project management: Improves communication and collaboration by creating a community for the project team
7. Co Existence with Primavera P6: Allows customers to adopt Fusion applications incrementally based on business needs

A note on PM Operational Dashboard

The key features embedded as part of Project Manager's dashboard in Fusion is called "project scorecard", this they can use to Track and review the overall health a project.

• Capability to view performance at project, task, resource level and by time phases
• Easy access to information, no more navigation across modules and spreadsheets to get the data
• Exception based management, pushing of error/exception to Project Manager for corrective action
• Performance Measures to enable viewing the data according to the context
• Cross-project comparison for various performance measures
• Availability of real time project financial data
• A graphical and tabular overview of performance
• Simpler user interfaces with global search and drill down capability

Integration with Other Application

In addition to Core Financial Management applications, the first release of Oracle Fusion Applications includes Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and Procurement.There is two-way synchronization with Microsoft Project .There is integration with Oracle Fusion Applications Enterprise Contract Management for contract-related data.

This integration will bring lot of advantage

1. Integrated with back office finance operation for Project Financial activity
2. Project Manager Dashboard with Cross-project insights gives better drill down capability
3. Billing & Revenue recognition by contract , makes independent
4. Cost collection and there processing will be faster because of timely insight into validated Project cost

Overall its look Fusion PPM has been designed, keeping in mind the needs of a project intensive organization.

Similar Post

• Oracle Fusion Financials Application
• Oracle Fusion and Oracle Fusion Applications : Overview

Oracle Reference for more details

• Oracle Fusion Project Portfolio Management
• Oracle Fusion Center

To undestand this take a example from Individual to Business.

If you want to consider your own financial situation ,then three things you will consider :

• How much is owns
• How much is owes

and, these two makes how much is your net worth.

net worth =owns - owes

or

owns =owes +net worth

So you have two major category, if I ask you what are things which you consider then you might be able to list down few as

• own simply means : cash in bank, some big asset like house, car and any other property like Stock, or may be your PF and CPF or 401(k) account that you are going to claim.
• The "owing" simply means your mortgage, car loan, credit card balance and any other debt.

with this simple equation you can able to find your net worth. Sound good:)

so now move this understanding in business world.

In business world, there is slighly change in the understanding:

1. What the company owns is called it assets
2. What it owes is called it liabilitties
3. What it's worth is called owner's equity or shareholder equity.

combining you will get asset-liabilities= owner's equity

or

asset = liability +owner's equity

if you recall this is what called fundamental of accounting equation.This latter formulation reflects the two sides of the balance sheet: Asset on the one side , liability and owner's equity on the others. The sum on the side has to equal the sum on the other side, that means Balance sheet has to balance.

Do you know the reason of Balance sheet Balance

in above example you have seen company balance sheet just in the same way you'd look a indivual's net worth.

Net worth has to equal what you owns minus what he owes, beacuse why net worth we called as "individual", which is same for a business.

Now take a look at what the balance sheet shows.

Take a example

Lets take a example , a company is being started with initail investment of 50000 to run the business , the investor is consider as owner . So he has 50000 in cash on the assets side of the balance sheet . At this point he does not have any liabilities, therefore he has 50000 in the owner's equity. so this stage balance sheet is balances.

Now , the company buy a vechile for 36000 in cash, if nothing else changes - and if you construct the balance sheet at this stage after the vechicle transaction, then the asset side of balance sheet looks like:

Asset

--------------------------------

• Cash 14000
• Property , Plant and equipment (36000)

it still adds up to 50000 - and the other side of the balance sheet, he still has 50000 worth in owner's equity. What you can see , the balace sheet is still balanced.

now the owners decided he need to expand his business and to do this he need some money , so he approch bank and taken a loan for 10000. This 10000 amt borrowed from bank , raise his total cash to 24000(14000 earlier +10000 bank loan), then One side of Balance sheet looks like

Asset

--------------------------------

• Cash 24000
• Property , Plant and equipment (36000)

thats makes a total of 60000. He has incresed his asset, but the same time he also increase his liabilities as well, this 10000 he need to pay in near future , as this is liablity for him. So the other side of the balance sheet looks like

Liabilties and Owner's Equity

--------------------------------

• Bank Loan 10000
• Owner's equity 50000

Thats also makes the other side 60000,the only thing you noticed is owner's equity remain unchanged throughout all these transactions. Nornally owner's equity only affected when a company takes fund from its owners and pays out the money to owners or record a profit or loss.

Therefore as long as you remember the fundamental fact the balance sheet always balanced.

Balance sheet normally assessing a company's health

It will decide the company is solvent or not ? if asset outweigh its liability, so that owner's equity is a positive number?

Can company pay its bills? This will be decided on current asset, particulaly cash compared with current liabilities.

How owner's equity been growing over time ? a comparision of Balance sheet for a period of time will show whether the company is doing good or not?

If you are doing some investment in company stock, then as investor you need to have much more detail examnination of Balance sheet and some of the foot note that you always find.

• Understanding “Balance Sheet” from Techies Mind

Every person has a gift, or an ability that sets them apart from the crowd. Good managers recognize this and try to use it to their advantage. Great managers try to surround themselves with talent...they recognize that with that much talent in their corner, they can't fail. Bad managers feel threatened and try to discredit the very people that can further their career.

Here is good read ,very well articulated on Ten Signs Your Boss Sees You As A Threat

Most likly you will like the following bit in the article,
'Your flame is going to keep growing, and sometimes its heat may be a little too intense for people around you. That's not your problem -- it's theirs. Keep your flame growing, whether other people like it or not!'

Source: www.forbes.com

This content was originally published by Forbes Magazine.

Oracle Student Cloud’s new Oracle CX for Higher Education uses Oracle’s intuitive mobile technology to help recruiters boost their pipeline by targeting and qualifying best-fit prospects via social, email, and SMS CRM capabilities.

Oracle Student Recruiting Cloud’s embedded analytics also help improve forecasting and monitor and optimize recruiters’ performance in their territories.

Student Engagement broadly encompasses student outreach and engagement with current capabilities for: social listening and engagement, and multi-channel marketing campaigns with automation

Student Management Cloud is Oracle’s first application of student information systems (SIS) in the Cloud. This meet the Demands of the Modern Student like

• Deliver targeted outreach and engagement throughout the student cycle
• Meet enrollment goals
• Give students the seamless experience they expect
• Personalize content and interactions across channels and devices
• Identify at-risk students and intervene in time to make a difference
• Keep students on track to achieving their goals

Student Cloud is the umbrella name for all six pieces of Student Cloud: Student Engagement, Student Recruiting, Student Support, Student Management, Advancement and Financial Aid.

Oracle set the ball rolling with Netsuite acquisition.

Oracle OpenWorld Keynote—Cloud Innovation, Mike Hurd (Oracle CEO) predicted that by year 2025 - "Two software-as-a-service (SaaS) suite providers will have 80 percent of the cloud enterprise application market. I volunteer us to be one of them

Everything came full circle with NetSuite last week, when Oracle announced that it plans to acquire NetSuite for $9.3 billion.

Oracle and NetSuite announced a strategic alliance focused on plans to deliver integrated HCM and ERP Cloud Services for mid-size customers.

With this Oracle now has five competing products:

• Oracle EBS
• JD Edwards
• PeopleSoft
• Oracle Cloud
• NetSuite

You can read more detail about Netsuite acquisition here ..Oracle Acquisition of NetSuite Is a Mixed Bag

Now that you know what Positive Pay is, you need to find out how to start using Positive Pay.

First, we need to start by saying that EVERY bank handles Positive Pay differently.

The steps/outline presented here are just a representation of what the most common implementation procedure could look like.

1. Contact your bank about signing up for Positive Pay.

You can start gathering these info first with Banking Partner

2. Receive bank's requirements.
Once you have signed up for Positive Pay with the bank, they should provide you with a Positive Pay (or Account Reconciliation) Information /details which includes (among other items):

• File layout specifications
• Transmission methods
• Other Procedures and Guidelines

3. Find out what your accounting software package can produce.

• You are trying to produce a file or report that contains a list of all checks issued for a certain date or date range.
• You will either need to export this data or print the data to a text file.

4. Find an alternative method for creating a file that the bank will accept (if the accounting software does not produce something that is compatible with the bank's requirements).

5. Receive transmission and testing instructions from the bank.

• This will explain the method and procedure for transmitting the data file from your location to the bank.
• Submit test file
• The bank will test the file for accuracy and compatibility and provide the results.

7. Start submitting live files

• The bank will provide the official live date as well as any further instruction

Positive Pay can best be described as a fraud prevention program or tool.

Technology has increasingly facilitated the ability of criminals to create counterfeit checks and false identification that can be used to engage in fraudulent check activities. As a result, companies must adopt practices to protect against check fraud.

Positive pay can provide this protection for companies by enabling them to create a file of check information that their banking institutions can use when determining whether to issue payment for checks.

Positive Pay technology allows banks to reconcile company issued checks with bank items presented for payment, and flag the exceptions.

No altered, copied, or counterfeited checks are cashed. This clearly helps banks cut down on check fraud losses.

Following are the advantages of Positive Pay:

• Avoid losses due to check fraud.
• Facilitate the check reconciliation process.
• Enhance overall cash management program.
• Augment risk management measures

When you use positive pay, you create a file for your bank that includes information for each check that you printed during the day, such as check number, date, amount, and account number.

The bank compares the information on the checks that they receive with the information in this file, and if the information for any of the checks does not match the file, the system does not pay the checks.

Why is Positive Pay so Important?

Positive Pay implementation is the principal action in the development of a corporate check fraud strategy.

Originally created by big companies , Positive Pay has proven itself as an effective weapon in the war against check fraud.

Until recently, due to the custom computer programming and data transmission requirements, Positive Pay had been very expensive and difficult to implement, reserved only for very large corporations.

The complexity of Positive Pay implementation had been further compounded by a lack of industry standardization that resulted in each bank individually developing their own unique file transmission specifications and requirements.

Positive Pay has become the most effective tool for fighting check fraud. And the recent enchancement of Payee Positive Pay has made it nearly impossible for a check to be fraudulently produced or modified successfully.

Positive Pay Today

Many bank customers are not really concerned about check fraud because they are still under the impression that the bank must absorb all of the check fraud losses.

But with check fraud expected to exceed $50 billion [ adopted Internet ] annually, the federal government has ruled that bank customers must also be responsible for check fraud losses.

Therefore , not only do banks want their customers to be using Positive Pay, the bank customers are also motivated to prevent fraud.

Banks expect that the number of customers using Positive Pay will multiply many times over in the next few years.

Do you still have these Business Problem

1. POR – Pay on Receipt
2. Global Payment Compliance
3. Periodic Recurring Payments
4. Check Printing
5. Prevention of Check Fraud

In that case , Positive Pay Implementation may be an options to automate . Next Post , we will take deep dive on Positive Pay Implementation Process...Untill Then .:)

This is one of R12.2.5 Enhancement in EBS AR.

The Automatic Cash Application improves accuracy and on-time application of cash receipts with the introduction of two new methods for automatically applying cash receipts.

• The first method generates match scores using the Levenshtein distance algorithm and automatically applies the receipt based on a score threshold.
• The second methods applies receipts by knap sacking the receipt amount and the open transactions of the customer.

Both methods provide suggested matches when a receipt cannot be applied automatically

Background information on the Levenshtein distance algorithm [ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ]

In information theory and computer science, the Levenshtein distance is a metric for measuring the amount of difference between two sequences (i.e., the so called edit distance).

The Levenshtein distance between two strings is given by the minimum number of operations needed to transform one string into the other, where an operation is an insertion, deletion, or substitution of a single character. A generalization of the Levenshtein distance (Damerau–Levenshtein distance) allows the transposition of two characters as an operation. Some Translation Environment Tools, such as translation memory leveraging applications, use the Levenhstein algorithm to measure the edit distance between two fuzzy matching content segments.

The metric is named after Vladimir Levenshtein, who considered this distance in 1965.It is often used in applications that need to determine how similar, or different, two strings are, such as spell checkers.
For example, the Levenshtein distance between "kitten" and "sitting" is 3, since the following three edits change one into the other, and there is no way to do it with fewer than three edits:

1. kitten -> sitten (substitution of 's' for 'k')
2. sitten -> sittin (substitution of 'i' for 'e')
3. sittin -> sitting (insert 'g' at the end).

The following Patch Set Updates have been released Recently for Oracle Data Relationship Management 11.1.2.4.341.

• Patch 23236297 - PATCH SET UPDATE: ORACLE DATA RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT - 11.1.2.4.341
• Patch 23750023 - PATCH SET UPDATE: DATA RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ANALYTICS - 11.1.2.4.341

Oracle Data Relationship Management Analytics is a capstone dashboard and reporting application that draws upon the transactions, requests and actions performed within the suite to provide change and growth analytics for end users, operational intelligence for governance program managers and subject matter experts, as well as operational reports for administrators and access managers to optimize transformation initiatives.

The new DRM Analytics module was a long-awaited tool for monitoring DRG requests, user security and activity.
Several dashboards are available for users:

• Change Management Dashboard - Aggregated views of changes that have occurred in the Data Relationship Management system over time
• Growth Analysis Dashboard - Provides analysis of how versions and hierarchies have changed over time
• Request Monitoring Dashboard - Displays KPIs relating to DRG requests
• Model Analysis Dashboard - Analysis of workflow model design: historical performance
• User Role Assignment Report :Provides a list of users by role or roles by user with counts by licensed user types.
• Access Group Membership Report :Provides a list of users by interactive and workflow user groups.

You know, Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM) is a web-based user-friendly platform for users to manage enterprise dimensions.

The application provides many features such as SOX-compliant auditing, powerful and highly customizable business rule enforcement, versioning capabilities for storing historical views of dimensions, and multiple integration formats.

Within DRM , DRG adds configurable, collaborative workflow to help automate master data change management.

Oracle Data Relationship Governance provides the change management and data quality remediation workflows essential for front-line business users, subject matter experts and signing
authorities.

Oracle Data Relationship Management delivers timely, accurate and consistent master data to drive ongoing operational execution, business intelligence and performance management.

Moreover , Oracle Enterprise Data Governance solutions ensure data quality, policy compliance, repeatable business processes, cross functional collaboration and change awareness throughout the enterprise.

DRG is a fully configurable, out-of-the-box governance workflow. It is very good alternative to BPEL and Third Party workflow tools.

• Native to DRM Platform
• Metadata aware
• Pure configuration, no coding
• Existing DRM Administration skills should suffice
• Lowest TCO
• Email notifications

Unique Features of DRG:

• Provides an easy to use tool to help manage requests and approvals for master data changes.
• Integrated workflow with DRM enhances existing DRM implementations and can re-use DRM (hierarchies, properties, validations, and security).
• Configurable tasks and workflows can be designed and deployed by business users.
• Workflows can be configured to handle simple or complex requests, multi-line items, various actions (Add, Update/Enrich, etc.).
• Email notifications and web interface provide information for tracking activity, history, and other audit needs.

Benefits – What’s in it for you?

• Provides workflow for DRM, enhancing any DRM implementation.
• Compliments any Data Governance Council, providing the tool to achieve master data alignment.
• No coding required: Business users can drive the process and have direct participation in building the solution.
• Flexible: Workflows can be adjusted or modified to suit the needs of the business.
• Fully Integrated: Avoid time consuming efforts to leverage DRM outside of the tool, DRG works with the existing features of DRM.
• Provides fully transparent activity trail compliance and audit, as well as email notifications.

The Core

DRG is a component within Oracle’s Data Relationship Management , act as a tool that allows DRM users to easily make changes to their data hierarchies.

It also allows users to communicate within the DRM system, which means users can view, request, and approve data changes all in the same place.

Those , who need more details, can understand DRG has four main focal points:

1. User Roles
2. Access Levels
3. Workflow Tasks
4. Workflow Stages.

User Role

There are several DRG User Role Permissions that can be assigned to DRM users. The permission with the most freedom is the “Workflow Participant”. This permission allows users to Request and/or Approve changes to the data hierarchies. The next level down in the DRG permissions is “Browse Versions”, which allows DRM users to navigate through different versions within the DRM system, but doesn’t allow them to request and/or approve changes to the data structures. Finally, there are three more permission levels: “Browse Hierarchies”, “Browse Categories”, and “Browse Properties”. These three permissions are the lowest level of permissions and there names describe what the user is able to navigate through.

Access Level:

In Data Relationship Governance, there are six different Access Levels that users can be given. All of these access levels build on each other, so, for example, level 3 includes all of the access rights that level 1 and 2 have. Level 6 has all of the access rights that levels 1 through 5 have. The six Access Levels in DRG are: Read, Limited Insert, Edit, Insert, Inactivate, and Add. Read access only allows users to view the data. Any user with this Access Level cannot make any changes. Limited Insert is allowed to insert a node, but only if that node has Global Properties. The Edit access level allows users to modify property values. The Insert access level grants users the ability to insert, move, and remove nodes. Inactivate allows users to deactivate and reactivate nodes. Lastly, the Add access level allows users to do all of the previous tasks, plus add or delete nodes.

Workflow Tasks

A workflow task represents a change action to be performed along with a set of properties to be displayed, edited, and required during the task.

Workflow tasks are defined outside of workflow models and can be used by multiple models to ensure consistency of common tasks performed in different business processes

Workflow Tasks are made up of an action type, properties that need to be reviewed, and validations.

There are eight different Action Types a Workflow Task can use: Add Leaf, Add Limb, Delete, Inactivate, Insert, Move, Remove, and Update.

These Action Types are self-explanatory and they are named for exactly the action that they perform.

Workflow Tasks must be created in the Administer tab within DRM before any user can Request and/or Approve any data changes.

Workflow Stages

A workflow model consists of multiple workflow stages. When a stage is defined for a workflow model, the stage type defines the level of participation for users in that stage of the workflow. A workflow model has:

• A single Submit stage which is defined by a list of allowable workflow tasks that can be used to submit changes
• An optional series of Approval or Enrichment stages, each consisting of a single workflow task
• A single Commit stage used for final approval and commitment of all workflow tasks performed

There are four stages in total, but only three of them are required.

The Workflow stages include: Submit, Enrich, Approve, and Commit.

The Submit stage is where the requests for any sort of data change take place. All of the Action Types are associated with this stage except for the Update action.

The Enrich stage is used to update requests that have already been submitted. This is the stage that is not always necessary to be included, and includes the Update, Insert, and Move Action Types.

The third stage is the Approve stage, which is where all requests are viewed and managed. The Update Action Type is also a part of this Workflow Stage, which is why the Enrich Workflow Stage does not always need to be included.

Finally, the Commit stage is where requests are approved or rejected. Only a user with the access to approve a request may view the Commit stage.

These four components of Data Relationship Governance, User Roles, Access Levels, Workflow Tasks, and Workflow Stages, are what make DRG so useful in DRM.

Data governance is not a technology or a system but a set of processes and the organizational structure that governs the usage of all data assets of an enterprise.

Data governance represents the convergence of data quality, data management, data policies,business process management, and risk management surrounding the handling of information as an asset within the enterprise. Through data governance, organizations can exercise positive control over the processes and methods used by their data stewards and data custodians to handle
data.

A data governance framework has the following characteristics around the data:

• Includes definitions of term, metrics, items, customers and related elements (Structure)
• Distinguishes dimension values from the analytics of hierarchy definition (Structure)
• Makes/collects/aligns rules (Process)
• Assigns accountabilities to resolve issues (Process)
• Organizes data stewards and governance bodies (People)
• Monitors/enforces compliance while providing ongoing support to and change management for broad stakeholders (Architecture)

A Data Governance program does the following:

• Provide a framework for definition of enterprise business entities that must be shared across various business units.
• Define the process and workflow for identification, reporting, escalation, and resolution of data related issues.
• Providing a forum for all communication related to data across the enterprise