How to know ‘Web ADI’ Version in EBS?

You have two options to find the version of WebADI , if you do not want to get any help from DBA.

Option 1(a) Release 12

1. You need to logon in EBS
2. Once you get the Homepage, you need to paste the url in the same browser window.
   http://hostname:portnumber/OA_HTML/BneAdminServlet
3. You replace the hostname,domain and port number
4. Once you enter these details, An html/xml return page list out the ‘Web ADI’ versions.
5. Look for the attribute named “Bne Release Label”.

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What is Report Manager?

In Oracle EBS “report manager” is a product that has been offered to manage your reporting needs.

Report Manager is basically a secure point-in-time report repository offering centralized management and distribution of reports.

There are different levels of access that you can assign to reports that are generated by the Report Manager.

You can tie these access rights to your department assignments, to employees, or can build your own.

The report manager reports are stored in the database and can be published to a wider audience. The good is that you can manage access/availability to multiple groups of people. This is run as a menu option from the main menu of a specific application (AP, AR, etc.).

Report Manager benefits

• You can access business information from a central site using a standard browser
• You can provide that reports are with proper access
• You can store and distribute ANY type of report or file
• Preview reports prior to mass distribution

R12 Report Manager

The Report Manager seeded functions need to be assigned manually by the System administrators to appropriate responsibilities based on the types of reports a user submits and publishes in their job. For example, a system administrator might assign the Financial Report Template Editor and Financial Report Submission functions to an existing General Ledger responsibility already used for submitting Financial Reports by General Ledger users.

The seeded Report Manager functions are:

• Standard Report Submission
• Security Workbench
• Repository Management
• Financial Report Submission
• Upload File
• Variable Report Submission
• Financial Report Template Editor
• Ad Hoc FSG Submission
• Define Report Set Publishing Options
• Report Set Presentation Options
• Define Request Set Publishing Options
• Request Set Presentation Options

Release 12, ADI & Report Manager

In Applications Release 12, WebADI and Report Manager must be used instead of ADI, as client/server ADI is not supported for that release. Also in Release 12 the WebADI functionality for GL is integrated into the standard GL menu structures. These functions are ‘Launch Journal Wizard’, ‘Launch Budget Wizard’, and the spreadsheet upload of Currency Rates, via ‘Currency Rates Manager’.

When To Use Report Manager(Implementation consideration)

This is very important to understand when offering to customer for this product. Oracle Report Manager you need to:

• Provide a centralized report distribution system for point-in-time reports.
• Submit and publish Financial Statement Generator (FSG), Ad Hoc FSG, Variable Format, and Standard reports to a central repository.
• Present reports in the repository to information consumers via menu items on the Oracle E-Business Suite Home page or portal.
• Approve reports before making them available for general viewing.
• Permit report availability in a future time frame.
• View spreadsheets or PDF files for further analysis.
• Secure reports by utilizing three security paradigms: User to Value, custom, and flex field segment.
• Archive reports for future reference that no longer need to be displayed to report consumers.
• Publish reports that have been submitted as part of request sets or report sets.
• Upload any type of file and publish it to a central repository.
• Reports in the repository can then distributed to the Oracle E-Business Suite home page.

This is yet another extension of previous post, will discuss how to manage and define layout of the WebADI integrator.

Managing/Defining Layout

You can also manage /Define layouts, means you can build the spreadsheet by modifying the Layouts.

You must be in responsibility with access to the integrator to define the layout.

• Responsibility: Desk Integration
• Menu Options : Define Layout

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As mention in earlier post (#1,#2,#3 ) , WebAdi is tool that can be used to load many different types of data from spreadsheet based excel application into various application of Oracle APPS. There are number of Seeded Integrator comes with Oracle, but still Oracle provides the capability to its expandability. Various Integrators to load different types of information. However, you can do setups new, custom spreadsheet can be created to load different types of information into Oracle.

Basic User Procedure we have seen for a webADI is

1. Use the webADI page Consist of creating spreadsheet by
   1. Specific to data type which we called as integrator
   2. Specific to Layout which is for controlling purpose of the spreadsheet.
2. Adding Data to the excel Spreadsheet.
3. In spreadsheet, you need to select the Oracle/Upload menu option.This is menu option that you can use from WebAdi added from Excel menu.
4. Than the data get uploaded to Oracle target table, which might be custom, or base. Any error will be flagged and the error reason will be placed on corresponding row in the spreadsheet.

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In last two post we have seen , Web ADI is a Browser based application, which enables users to log into the Oracle database and upload ADI spreadsheets, without having the ADI application installed onto the users machine.We have already seen step by step setup in 11i , now this post is extension of previous post with a case of R12.

1. Responsibility: As mention earlier WebADI User linked to the correct Set of Books for your business. In R12 , the starting point would be responsibility called Desktop Integration

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This post will briefly Let you take quick step by step guide for uploading Journal through WebADI in 11i .

Uploading a Journal using Web ADI

The Web ADI screens are viewed in sequence, each one selecting an aspect of Journal to be uploaded.

• It start with selection of the ‘Viewer’ the Excel version to be used to view the sheets into which the Journal data will be entered.
• Then followed by selection of the Integrator, which is the type of form to use to upload.
• After that the selection of Layout.. this is the type of type of Enter the Content, of the Journal
• The end of process consist of reviewing the details that you have entered prior to submitting the upload.
• and Finally uploading the Journal

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Lets take about one of the great office productive tool based application which is called “Web ADI” that being used within the E-Business Suite to provide end-users with a familiar user interface.Key end users are highly accepted this productive tool , because of there own advantages and great office capability.

ADI & Web ADI…

ADI stands for Applications Desktop Integrator, and is an Excel based interface through which users can upload and view data in the Oracle system.To access the database, users must use their standard Oracle User name, and password.

Web ADI is a Browser based application, which enables users to log in to the Oracle Database, and upload ADI spreadsheets, without having to have the ADI application loaded locally on the users machine, or having it set up on a central server and users accessing it through Citrix.

For Web ADI to work, interfaces are set up. These interfaces are Macro driven spreadsheets, in which specific cells are linked to database table columns, and match to fields in the Standard Oracle Forms. Through them data is fed into the database, which can subsequently be viewed in the Core Oracle Forms.

• The leveraging of Desktop Application functionality for performing E-business Suite tasks.
• Web ADI is a java based tool used to load many different types of data from Excel into varied application modules.
• This tool resembles the client-server ADI in name only. It has no concurrent manager or publication functionality. It also requires no client code to be loaded on the PC.

The difference between ADI and WebADI

The main big between ADI and Web ADI, is that Web ADI is now based out of framework for building Desktop Integration applications in the EBS.That means we can designed and extend with a combination of meta-data and java. There is no requirement for these teams to know Visual Basic for Applications or the techstack requirements to get Office to interact with the Oracle Middle Tier or any of a hundred different nuances in the desktop environment.

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Do you know, there is on feature called “Cross Instance Data Transfer” in GL which enables you to transfer subsidiary data to your remote parent instance over your corporate intranet. How it sounds..

Normally big enterprises manage their business operations in different database instances which need an automated way to transfer data from remote subsidiary database instances to a central consolidation database instance.Therefore this feature can be utilized for transferring Instance data.

Lets understand what you can do with this:

• You can do automatic transfer of consolidation data from one instance to another using db links
• This will import and post consolidation journals in one step process.

Therefore, the Global Consolidation System(GCS) facilitates the consolidation of data from remote subsidiary ledger database instances to a central consolidation database instance. Using db links, Global Consolidation System allows you to automatically transfer consolidation data from one instance to another, as well as optionally import and post the data automatically in the consolidation database instance.

• You can also use the feature of notifying users of the transfer status using Workflow Notifications.

This feature automates the entire process and also includes workflow notifications providing notification of the cross instance consolidation status. Global companies with operations on multiple database instances can use this feature to consolidate their subsidiaries in a more efficient and automated manner.

the next question in mind is what about security of this feature?

• You create a specific user name for the central consolidation database instance with limited access to specific objects in the database
• Subsidiaries use this user name to define database links for cross instance data transfers

Therefore using this security, there is no need to re-enter your username and password every time you transfer consolidation data, saving time and redundancy. And, the username/password is now validated at the time you sign on to the EBS.

Reference Notes

• 186235.1 :About Oracle General Ledger Mini-pack 11i.GL.G
• Chapter 7, Global Consolidation System, Oracle General Ledger User Guide

While researching more on XBRL, I came across a nice site had extended list of question about XBRL, thought to bring this to everyone in Oracle Community.

1. Why should I care about XBRL?
2. What is XBRL?
3. Why should I learn about XBRL?
4. What is different about my financial reports now and using XBRL?
5. Why is the SEC involved with XBRL?
6. Is the SEC going to require my financial statements (and other filings) in XBRL format?
7. If so, when do you anticipate the SEC mandating XBRL?
8. Who is using XBRL today?
9. Why are they using this technology?
10. What is a taxonomy?
11. Are taxonomies country specific? Industry specific? Company specific?
12. Does my company need to develop its own taxonomy? If so, is this proprietary information?
13. What skills are required to create an XBRL filing?
14. It seems like the costs and burden of using XBRL are on the shoulders of financial report preparers, while all the benefits go to regulators and investors, which seems unfair. Is this the case?
15. What will it cost me to implement XBRL?
16. Does XBRL work? How do you know?
17. It seems like XBRL will be just another boon for consultants whom we have to hire to help us get the financial information into XBRL. Is that the case?
18. Is XBRL the only thing I will have to file, or will I continue to submit the current EDGAR type filings?
19. Clearly, XBRL is new and certain things will likely need to change with regard to financial reporting. What will need to change relating to financial reporting?
20. Are private companies going to have to use XBRL?
21. How will XBRL be audited?
22. What are the risks of moving to required filings to the SEC in XBRL and how are those risks being mitigated?
23. What are the benefits of adopting XBRL before the SEC requires it? What are the reasons not to adopt XBRL before the SEC requires it?
24. Is the public accounting profession ready for XBRL if it is mandated?
25. The adoption of XBRL will be a move from a “paper-based” reporting scheme, which is unstructured for the most part, to an “XBRL-based” reporting scheme, which uses structured information. That has got to cause some sort of impact on financial reporting, it seems. What will the impact be?
26. What impact will XBRL have on BI (Business Intelligence)?
27. How do I get started? How do I try XBRL?

Charlie co-author of the site , nicely answered these 27 questions in his 17 page documents.

Read this

• What CFOs need to Know about XBRL

If you are planning to rely on system Data for XBRL reporting…I would say ..test..test …test….if you are planning to do it first time..

Early next month Finance Controller and Auditors will be quite busy in arranging XBRL reporting ,specially if they are from Singapore based registrated company.

Here is link for details for “Preparing and Filing of Financial Statements (XBRL) for ACRA ” the local Govt body.

• http://www.acra.gov.sg/services/company/filing_of_financial_statement_in_xbrl_old.htm#xbrl6

Oracle E Business and Taxomony

The good is that ACRA have already made a Oracle qualified vendor for XBRL reporting, though there are very few reports which is compatible with ACRA taxonomy as reported.

Here are list of the some of Features that makes part of compatibility of ACRA.

Source : http://www.acra.gov.sg/Services/Company/Oracle_E_Business_Suite.htm

Suggested Reading

• XBRL & Reporting