Oracle Application Testing Suite is an integrated, comprehensive Web application testing solution that provides all the tools you need to ensure the scalability and reliability of your business-critical applications.Typical component of this applications are:

• Oracle OpenScript is an updated scripting platform for creating automated extensible test scripts in Java.
• Oracle Functional Testing for Web Applications for automated functional and regression testing
• Job Scheduler for scheduling functional and regression testing
• Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications for load, scalability and stress testing. Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications also includes tools for server side monitoring and reporting.
• Oracle Test Manager for Web Applications for organizing and managing your overall testing process.

OATS Architectural can be best Understood as:

What comes in Oracle Application Testing Suite

OATS is a comprehensive, integrated testing solution that ensures the quality, scalability, and availability of your Web applications and Web Services.

There are three separately licensed products in the Oracle Application Testing Suite:

• Oracle Test Manager for documenting and managing the overall test process including test requirements, test cases and issues.
• Oracle Functional Testing for automating functional and regression testing of Web applications,packaged applications and Web Services.
• Oracle Load Testing for automated load testing of Web applications, packaged applications and Web Services.

Oracle Application Testing Suite is very comprehensive and includes Load Testing for Applications, Functional Testing for Applications and Test Manager for Applications.

If you are looking for a product that fit for achieving higher quality and performance of their applications then Oracle Application Testing Suite is right tool. This integrated, full life cycle solution enables you to define and manage your application testing process, validate application functionality, and ensure that your applications will perform under load.

Oracle Application Testing Suite

• Comprehensive Pacakge - covers functional testing, load testing and test management
• Maximize application performance for peak loads - Delivers rigorous validation that protocol-based legacy testing tools cannot provide
• Testing effort is greatly enhanced - Ensures functional reliability while reducing your testing effort by 50% or more
• Simplify test process management - Provides integrated test management for functional and load testing but also includes defect and requirements tracking.
• Come with Web-based interface - Enables remote access and multi-user, concurrent, collaboration

Oracle Application Testing Suite's also has Accelerators for Oracle E-Business Suite to provide a comprehensive solution for ensuring the quality and performance of Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The Functional Testing Accelerator for Oracle E-Business Suite extends Oracle Functional Testing to enable automated functional and regression testing of Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The Load Testing Accelerator for Oracle E-Business Suite extends Oracle Load Testing to enable load and performance testing of Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The Testing Accelerators for Oracle E-Business Suite are components of Oracle Application Testing Suite, the centerpiece of the Oracle Enterprise Manager solution for comprehensive testing of packaged, Web and service oriented architecture-based applications. The tool offers following benefits.

• Automates complex Oracle EBusiness Suite transactions for both functional testing and load testing
• Supports automation of both Web and Oracle Forms application interfaces and protocols
• Provides custom test cases to validate application content
• Enables parameterization of test scripts for data-driven testing
• Simulates loads of hundreds to tens of thousands of concurrent users while minimizing hardware requirements
• Gathers critical infrastructure performance metrics to identify bottlenecks under load
• Provides an intuitive Web based console to configure and run load tests and share real-time results with distributed users

Major Components for Oracle Application Testing Suite

1. OpenScript :Easy-to-use solution to create automated test scripts that simulate end-user transactions and execute automated functionaland regression testing. These scripts can also be used in Oracle Load Testing for load and performance testing
2. Oracle Load Testing : This enables to easily test the scalability and performance of your enterprise applications.Uses automated scripts created in OpenScriptcan simulatehundreds or thousands of concurrent usersto test application performance under load and identify bottlenecks.
3. Oracle Test Manager : The are used to Plan, organize, document, and manage the entire application testing process. This document and run both manual and automated test cases, track defectsand manage test requirements
4. Oracle Application Testing Suite Administrator :These are used to manage users, roles, projects, and fields

Comparison Of Oracle Application Testing suite and LoadRunner for Performance Testing?

As you might know Oracle Application Testing suite is a reframed version of e-Test Suite of Empirix (which Oracle bought) and not a well known nor widely used tool compared to HP Loadrunner(earlier Mercury LR). Also it depends on the support that you get when you start the scripting and for Loadrunner you have lot of avaiable resources even if it is for testing Oracle components like Siebel. If you are coming from HP to OAT, can compare the products as

• Oracle Test Manager is what you have HP Quality Center
• Oracle OpenScript is what you have HP Win Runner HP QuickTest Professional
• Oracle Load Testing is what you have HP LoadRunner
  

WHo can use /Whom you can engage with This tool

• Project manager
• Performance test team lead
• Technical analyst
• Database administrator
• Application administrator
• System administrator
• Network administrator
• Business analyst /Business System Analysts
• User representative
• User emulation scripting resource

Oracle Test Starter Kit

• Sample test scripts from Oracle E-Business Suite QA group
• Test scripts against an EBS Vision Demo database
• Previous versions created forHP WinRunner and HP QTP testing tools

Oracle Test Starter Kit for E-Business Suite R12.1.1 for OpenScript Oracle Functional Testing Accelerator for Oracle EBS Test Starter Kits for R12.1.1, you can download from here

• Financial Products:
  • Oracle Payables
  • Oracle Receivables
  • Oracle General Ledger
  • Oracle Assets
  • Oracle Internet Expenses
• Manufacturing Products:
  • Oracle Purchasing
  • Oracle Inventory
  • Oracle Order Management
  • Oracle Cost Management
  • Oracle Materials Requirement Planning
  • Oracle Process Manufacturing Products
• CRM Products:
  • Oracle Contracts
  • Oracle Service
  • Oracle Marketing
• Human Resources Product:
  • Oracle Human Resources
  • Projects Product:
  • Oracle Projects
• Technology Product:
  • Oracle Application Object Library

Oracle Enterprise Repository:

This is metadata repoitory which provides a solid foundation for delivering goverance throughout SOA lifecycle as single source of truth for information about SOA assets and their dependecies.

Oracle service Registry

Oracle Service Registry provides a 'DNS'-like reference for SOA runtime infrastructure to dynamically discover and bind to deployed services and end points. As part of the Oracle SOA Governance solution , Oracle Service Registry bridges the gap between the design time and runtime environments through automated synchronization with Oracle Enterprise Repository, Oracle Service Bus and Oracle SOA Suite. The benefits include:

• UDDI V3 Compliance - Enables standards-based dynamic discovery of services and policies at runtime
• SOA Agility - Keeps SOA infrastructure up-to-date with changes to service end points, ensuring your SOA doesn't break
• Hot-pluggable - Supports heterogeneous services from any vendor

Oracle Web Service Manager

This provides solution for governing the interactions with shared services through security and operations Policy management and enforcement to ensure that service resue remain under control

Oracle enterPrise Manager

This provide rich set of service level and system leval daskboard accessible from a centralized location and includes management packs such as CAMM, AD4J, BTM etc

UPK Pre-built Content

You can take advantage of UPK pre-built content for pre-"go-live” and “post go-live” support training need. Pre Built Content are created by the Applications Development Documentation teams and documenting best practices for system processes within the Oracle applications.

• You can use this tool to educate your project teams, core user, power user, and process owners before installing an instance of the application.
• You can utilize while rolling out a new application
• With this tool you can create system process documentation, user acceptance test scripts, training, and support materials without acquiring any extra skill.
• You can utilize these for your “pre-go-live” training and “post-go-live” support training need.
• You can fit this anywhere in you development/deployment methodology
• With Pre-content you can get some help in project scoping and fit/gap.

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Previous Post:

• Are seeking auditing ability in EBS…use ‘AuditTrail’

Steps by step: Enabling audit trial

As per the below example the 'Define An application user' is a user table name for FND_USER,the same steps you can follow for your own tables.

Read the rest of this entry »

What is an AuditTrail?

An AuditTrail is one of functionality for retaining a history of changes to data. What ,who and when can be identified on a particular table or column if the functionality is enabled.

When you enter or update data in your forms, you change the database tables underlying those forms. An audit trail tracks which row in the database was updated at what time, and which user was logged in using the associated form(s).

If you are seeking auditing ability to track changes on a particular table of Oracle this post might helpful to you.

Enabling the Functionality of AuditTrail

You can turn AuditTrail on or off (Yes or No). Normally the default setting is No (Off). When you enter or update data in your forms, you change the database tables underlying the forms you see and use. AuditTrail tracks which rows in a database table(s) were updated at what time and which user was logged in using the form(s). Also..

• Several updates can be tracked, establishing a trail of audit data that documents the database table changes.
• AuditTrail is a feature enabled on a form-by-form basis by a developer using Oracle's Application Object Library.
• All the forms that support AuditTrail are referred to as an audit set. You should also note not all forms may be enabled to support AuditTrail.
• To enable or disable AuditTrail for a particular form, you need access to Oracle Application Object Library's Application Developer responsibility.
• Users cannot see nor change this profile option.
• This profile option is visible and updatable at the site and application levels.

 

The internal name for this profile option is AUDITTRAIL:ACTIVATE.

Setting Up AuditTrail(>11i )

You can choose to store and retrieve a history of all changes users make on a given table. Auditing is accomplished using audit groups, which functionally group tables to be audited. For a table to be audited, it must be included in an enabled audit group.

The steps for setting up AuditTrail include:

Yuu need to verify Select Privileges on SYS.DBA_TABLES

Have your database administrator grant SELECT privileges on SYS.DBA_TABLES to the APPLSYS account. Normally, this step would Normally taken care during the installation of Oracle.

Define Audit Groups

This is very very important.These are groups of tables and columns, where you do not necessarily need to include all the columns in a given table. You enable auditing for audit groups rather than for individual tables. You would typically group together those tables that belong to the same business process (for example, purchase order tables see at the end).

A given table can belong to more than one audit group. If so, the table is audited according to the highest "state" of enabling for any of its groups, where Enabled is the highest, followed by Disable Dump Data, Disable No Growth, and Disable Purge Table, in that order.

Navigation: Security -> AuditTrail -> Groups

Define Audit Installations

You choose the registered Oracle IDs at your site that you want to audit. This allows you to audit across multiple application installations. When a table is added to an audit group, auditing will automatically be enabled for all installations of the table for which audit is enabled.

Navigation: Security -> AuditTrail -> Install

Run the Audit Trail Update Tables Report to Enable Auditing

Your AuditTrail definitions (and auditing) do not take effect until you run the Audit Trail Update Tables Report. If you change any of your definitions later, you must rerun this program. You run the Audit Trail Update Tables Report from the standard submission (Submit Reports) form.

Audit Trail Update Tables Report

This program creates database triggers on the tables in your audit groups for your installations. It also creates shadow tables, one for each audited table, to contain the audit information. If you have changed your audit definitions or disabled auditing for an audit group, the program drops or modifies the auditing triggers and shadow tables appropriately.

The program also builds special views you can use to retrieve your audit data for reporting.

You can check SQL*Plus to see if the Shadow Tables have been created or not. Shadow Table name is the same 26 Characters of the Table being audited followed by a suffix of "_A" ,suffix of "_AI" for Insert Triggers, "_AU" for Update triggers , "_AD" for Delete Triggers,suffix of "_AIP" for Insert Procedures "_AUP" for Update Procedures and "_ADP" for Delete Procedures.

AuditTrail Limitations

These are limitation of AuditTrail:

• Your table should consist of maximum 240 columns
• You cann't use the column for audit trail whose data type is LONG, RAW, or LONG RAW
• Your audit group must include all columns that make up the primary key for a table; these columns are added to your audit group automatically.
• Once you have added a column to an audit group, you cannot remove it.
• AuditTrail requires two database connections. If your operating platform does not automatically support two database connections
  (e.g., VMS or MPE/XL), then add the environment variable 'FDATDB=<database connect string>' to your environment file.
• Because the structure of the audited table may change between product versions, AuditTrail does NOT support upgrading existing shadow tables or audited data. Before an upgrade, you should archive the shadow tables and perform all necessary reporting on the audited data.
• Oracle recommended Disabling AuditTrail feature Prior to Upgrade to higher version.
• If your plan is to use some auditTrail on table which name is bit longer(> 26 characters), you can't achieve this. As there is Bug(#3872242
  ) reported by Oracle that restrict you from this, as AuditTrail Update Tables Errors out on audited tables that are > 26 characters.

Sometime back we found while enabling this on these tables.

• PO_REQUISITION_HEADERS_ALL
• PO_REQUISITION_LINES_ALL
• PO_REQ_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL

What are the primary Auditing Tables?

• FND_AUDIT_COLUMNS
• FND_AUDIT_GROUPS
• FND_AUDIT_SCHEMAS
• FND_AUDIT_TABLES

Client Dilema : HOW TO ENABLE AUDITING AT "FORMS" AND "USER" LEVEL TOGETHER

Customer has set the profile "Sign-on: Audit Level" to FORMS to collect information about the forms sessions at a particular time .
By default the value for this profile was USER. Since he has set the value to Forms can he collect the User related information

Yes you can ...
If the profile "Sign-on: Audit Level" is set to FORMS then it will collect Form sessions information in addition to user session information.
So you will get information related to User session as well as forms session. There is no harm in setting this profile value to FORMS.

Oracle Workflow routes information to various users based on certain rules.

• Tracks the responses from the users and takes actions accordingly.
• Enables people to receive E-Mail notifications ·
• Allows incorporation of custom packages and procedures ·
• E-Mail integration of choice.
• Internet enabled workflow allows you to view Workflow notifications through any Internet browser.
• One can also monitor the processes through a browser..

The are key Oracle Workflow components are:

1. Workflow Builder : Work Flow builder is a Graphical interface to create and modify a business process with simple drag and drop operations. It has two components - Navigator Window and Process Window . A workflow builder would be used by a person to design and modify a workflow. It is more of a designer's tool rather than an end-user's tool.
2. Workflow Definitions Loader : The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that moves workflow definitions between database and corresponding flat file representations. It allows opening and saving workflow definitions in both a database and file.
3. Workflow Engine : The Workflow Engine embedded in the Oracle server monitors workflow states and coordinates the routing of activities for a process. Changes in workflow state, such as the completion of workflow activities, are signaled to the engine via a PL/SQL API or a Java API. Based on flexibly-defined workflow rules, the engine determines which activities are eligible to run, and then runs them. The Workflow Engine supports sophisticated workflow rules, including looping, branching, parallel flows, and sub-flows.
4. Notification System : Each notification includes a message that contains all the information a user needs to make a decision.
5. Workflow Monitor : The Workflow Monitor displays an annotated view of the process diagram for a particular instance of a workflow process. Users can get a graphical depiction of their work item status. It also displays a separate status summary for the work item, the process, and each activity in the process.

We knows ERP is critical for any company's operation.Once ERP is live , there are n number of transaction happen every hours ,days depending upon how big is your ERP operation. The identification of tool and setting helpdesk is most important task for management and IT .Any deviation from meeting deadlines may hit your operation , thus it is very important to understand the need and evaluate some of tools to cater the need.

Any ERP is meant for three kind of user community some of them purely subject wise user(Super User) also called process owner , end user(Data entry) who enters the data , never bother what is happen inside and third supporting IT group for assisting both of them to best use of tool as they know the process are alien with product processes. Typical characteristic of tools which is required for handling issue management should must these criteria:

• Manage work orders from submission to resolution.
• Create work order tickets and assign to technicians automatically.
• Know where each ticket is in the resolution process and ensure no ticket slips through the cracks.
• Improve responsiveness by enabling your customer to submit work orders and obtain status via standard Web browsers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Track and enforce your Help Desk processes.
• Report and measure the effectiveness of your Help Desk processes.
• Create and maintain search able knowledge base (frequently asked questions) to allow customers to help themselves.
• The result is streamlined Help Desk, increased customer satisfaction, meeting SLA's, and higher productivity and lower cost.
• Merge geographically or organizationally separate help desks into a single point of control
• Identify business services affected by incidents and problems to prioritize resources accordingly

Lets evaluate some of Products options for Issue Management tools

1. Open view

This is one of great tool provided by HP , this will monitor system failures and perform a pre-determined set of actions to resolve the problem. The good things is that it will support for problem management process is unparalleled (root cause analysis, trend analysis and performance reporting capabilities are unmatched).

2. Peregrine Service Center

This is yet another tool provide by vendor Peregrine , it is typically a administrative tool that end users and support personnel use to manage help desk trouble tickets.

3.CA Unicenter Service Plus Service Desk

This is another tool provided by vendor CA, have been observed if the user base is big and operated into different geography, this is one of great product to cater all the need.These are highly scalable across complex IT environments.

4.Microsoft Excel based application

This is typically some sort of excel spreadsheet normally kept on a LAN with columns for SIR, priority, assigned to, status, and resolution.

This good for such kind of this is Simple to create. Everyone has access but the bad is hang problem if someone is updating. Good for small or medium sized company to use such kind of tools.

5.Remedy IT Service Management

This is provide by vendor Remedy which is now part of BMC software.This with Change and Configuration Management this product will provide best practice processes to streamline and automate key activities to identify, respond to, and control changes.This Product also covers ITIL Change Management, Release Management,and Configuration Management like:

• Identify — IT environment related to critical business services
• Respond — to changing business and ITrequirements
• Control — all business critical configurations in the IT environment

Wide variety of reporting requirements varies from environment to environment and business to business.This Article is going to Focus on the some of reporting tools which is normally used in typical 11i environment.

Reporting Tool Functionalities

Data is totally useless until it does come in presentation layer, with proper security . Hence its is important to have such tool with great capability, and tools must have these features:

Reporting Tool overview with respect to EBS Suites

• Brio ONE
  The Brio ONE solution is specifically designed to enable everyone in the extended enterprise to fully realize the promise of e-business by delivering dynamic, reliable, easy access to real-time business information, regardless of where that information is stored or of the user's location. The Brio ONE solution enables your organization to build and deliver business intelligence, enterprise reporting, self-service information exchange, and analytic applications to the broadest possible range of users in client/server, Web-based, and hosted application environments-all with unmatched ease of experience and scalability.
• Business Objects
  Streamlining operations, reducing costs, increasing revenues, improving customer satisfaction… These are just some of the measurable benefits that customers of Business Objects have realized directly by implementing e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions from Business Objects.
  Whether they need to access prepared information via a wireless portal or perform sophisticated analysis on a networked PC, BusinessObjects can help you offer your employees, customers, partners, and suppliers a set of easy-to-use tools to turn information into knowledge into profit.
• NoetixViews
  NoetixViews enables super-users to develop ad hoc reports from Oracle Applications data. NoetixViews takes the information in your Oracle Applications database and repackages it in a set of user-friendly, plug-and-play business views that provide relevant information on a given business topic. With these views, users can query their data using common business terms and client/server query and reporting tools, without dealing with raw tables. With typical installations requiring less than one day of training, NoetixViews dramatically reduces specialized consulting costs and IT involvement.
• Oracle Discoverer
  Oracle Discoverer is an intuitive ad hoc reporting tool. It enables a developer or knowledgeable end user to create reports with impressive formatting and attractive exporting and publishing functionality. Oracle Discoverer empowers your user population by placing business and decision critical data at their fingertips.
• Business Intelligence System (BI)

Oracle BI tools is a set of tools to provide high level information for the managers (decision makers) to run their business. The information this tool provides helps managers to take the right decision with the daily data that is upload on their systems.

• Hyperion

Hyperion is a Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Performance Management (BPM ) Tool. Its a market leader in Financial, Operational and Strategic Planning. It is having applications for Planning, consolidation, scorecarding, reporting, dashboards, Analysis, Workspace, Master Data Management and Foundation.

• GL wand

Gl wand is a formula driven approach to reporting on Oracle General Ledger data using Microsoft productive tool like Excel.GL Wand will be used for monthly Balance Sheet reconciliations and account balance checks,i.e. Trial Balance. This tool is bit popular in UK.

For more information, adviced to look at the product company website for latest updated info.

1. Brio ONE http://www.brio.com
2. Business Objects http://www.businessobjects.com
3. NoetixViews - http://www.noetix.com
4. Information gathered from http://www.oracle.com
5. Hyperion - www.hyperion.com
6. Glwand - http://www.excel4apps.com