Oracle Apps - A Technician's View

List of All Books on Oracle HCM Cloud written by Ashish Harbhajanka (Oracle ACE)

2018-01-15T03:52:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does not represent the views of any of my previous / current employer.
All Books On Oracle HCM Cloud Application by Oracle ACE Ashish Harbhajanka

Paperback Books on Oracle Fusion Application

2017-07-18T11:56:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous / current employer

Getting Started with Oracle HCM Cloud Application.... check this two paperback books. Contains detailed explanation along with ample screenshots , code samples, worked out examples . Whether you are a newbie or someone well versed with Oracle Application products this would come handy.

Divided into two parts titled
Part1 : " Some Fusion Apps Concepts - Part 1 "

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521858330?ref_=pe_870760_150889320

Part 2: "Some Fusion Apps Concepts - Part 2"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521859531?ref_=pe_870760_150889320

Modifying Date Format of a BIP Report in Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud Application

2017-05-19T20:00:00.002+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous / current employer

Those who are from an EBS background have been accustomed to submitting an XMLP Report from SRS Window which gives us the privilege of using a custom Data Type Value set in a Concurrent Program Parameter where-in we can enforce end users to pass Date values in a specific format. It may be dd/mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy, dd-mm-yyyy, dd-mon-yyyy or any other date format. In a standalone BI Publisher or even the same which is embedded within another application (say Oracle Fusion Application, for example) the default format which is used for any date type parameter is a Java Date Type parameter (MM-dd-yyyy). Business users however are used to using specific date formats applicable as per their regional settings, and as such, there is a genuine need of allowing other date type format too in the parameter. This article is intended to address the same specific issue, here we would try to demonstrate how we can change the default date format from a Java Format (MM-dd-yyyy) to any other format.

Read complete article here

Interested to find out How /Which SQL fetches data generated by HCM Extract.....Check this out

2017-05-12T18:14:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

HCM Extract is the Outbound Integration Tool available in Oracle HCM Cloud Application. While you can find a detailed description of the Tool along with the properties and usage of the same, the prime SQL query which generates the XML data comes from the below query.....(might help you in troubleshooting)

SQL

select source_id payroll_action_id,file_fragment

from pay_file_details

where ((:payrollActionId is not null

and source_id=:payrollActionId)

(:payrollActionId is null

and :flowInstanceName is not null

and source_id in

(select pact.payroll_action_id

from pay_payroll_actions pact,

pay_requests req,

pay_flow_instances flow

where flow.instance_name=:flowInstanceName

and flow.flow_instance_id=req.flow_instance_id

and req.pay_request_id=pact.pay_request_id)))

and source_type='PPA'

and length(file_fragment)<>0

Understanding SaaS,PaaS and IaaS

2017-05-05T23:55:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous or current employers

While some of us are already aware of the terms SaaS,PaaS and IaaS some might still be wondering what these terms means and how does it brings about a change in the way the software industry operates ( role of customers and vendors...). Probably this one slider would give some insights.

Why to use Oracle HCM Cloud Application vis a vis a Legacy ERP System

2017-04-12T12:22:00.002+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

There is a lot of attention currently on Cloud Technologies and Oracle HCM Cloud does draws a fair bit of attention too.

Having worked in HCM Domain (E-Business Suite ) for close to a decade and on having some idea about Oracle Fusion I have to admit the latter has some unique advantages.

Do read the complete article here and share your views.

Seeded Approval Flows in Oracle HCM Cloud Application (Formerly Oracle Fusion Applicaton)

2017-04-12T12:15:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

Oracle HCM Cloud Application follows some pre-built approval path when some of the commonly used transactions are executed.

Get an overview of the same here.

An Insight into Approval Rules In Oracle HCM Cloud Profile Management

2017-03-25T13:51:00.003+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

Profile management provides a framework for developing and managing talent profiles that meet your industry or organizational requirements. Profiles summarize the qualifications and skills of a person or a workforce structure such as a job or position.

Profiles are valuable for tracking workers' skills, competencies, and accomplishments, and for various talent management activities, such as career planning, identifying training needs, performance management, and in the recruitment process for identifying job requirements and suitable applicants.

You can configure Oracle Fusion Profile Management to meet your business requirements using these components: the content library, profiles and profile types, content subscribers, educational establishments, instance qualifier sets, and rating models.

Read the complete article here

An Overview of Workforce Modeling Feature in Oracle ERP Cloud Application

2017-02-13T14:21:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does not represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

Interested in able to perform -

a) "What if Analysis on Your Workforce"
b) Impact Analysis of Promotions , Transfers, Terminations along with Manager Change and Employee's Location Change on your Workforce and the financial benefits and consequences the same may have on your business.

Probably the Modern Day HR could give you an answer.

With Built-In Analytics focusing on Headcount Changes and Predictive Effectiveness which takes place when you perform a Workforce Modelling this is a very unique feature offered in Oracle HCM Cloud.

Get detailed info here

Please have a look and feel free to provide your valuable feedback.

Initiating Self Service Transactions in Oracle Cloud Application

2017-01-25T12:54:00.002+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are my own and does not represent the views of any of my previous and current employers

Need to know how to perform a self-service transaction in Oracle Fusion Cloud. Check out for a worked out example here

Modified Version of the first book ( New Chapters, New Title and a New Look)

2017-01-11T00:24:00.000+05:30

DISCLAIMER : Opinions my own.

In case If you have read through the previous article on " How I wrote my first book" then please go through this e-book too. A slightly better version ( if previous one represents the Black and White Television Days then this one represents the Colour TV one if not Plasma and LCD Ines ... lol)

Fusion Apps Demystified

How did I got started on writing my first book

2017-01-10T20:17:00.001+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

I never thought or planned of writing a book. Actually not everyone has the patience to write a book and I didn't had too. In my case it just happened. I was writing some articles on the web with the intent of helping others ( actually the prime reason was to help myself) , as I have a habit of forgetting too often and cant locate important documents and files, so I thought better keep writing it on internet where I may re-visit at times of need. So with this intent I started writing and then suddenly some of my friends said that you write a lot and it does helps others too but at times some of it seems scattered and probably you are the best person to arrange the same. So thus started a journey where in I tried to collate my writings , group them and present them in a readable format. But book writing is a serious task involves too many individuals starting from author , technical reviewer, book-proofing, editing and publishing. In my case I tried to do all myself and I guess I messed up badly . While in initial phase I managed to write some chapters, I didn't included either a preface, nor a nor a index section. I didn't felt it was required ( but then going through some of the books I understand why they are there and what they are meant for).
But it was too late by the time I realized that. I already had taken printouts and was about to visit the book-binder to make a book. Left with no other option, I added blank pages and then started to rectify the mistakes. However, before we move forward let-me share how the Book Title page appears :

This has to be followed by a 'Author Note' section which I somehow managed to write ( for experts it could be easy, but for myself a novice writer , writing his first book was not sure what should be exact choice of words ) but somehow I did it and the page said:

So coming back to where I left I had to manually number the pages and even create a index too. Wanna see how did the Index page appears. here you go:

Ending this article with one of my first Design Diagram I created (hopefully you all would like it):

And you know one of the first comment I heard from one of my friend when he saw the book, (Man you need to have a E-Book and then I had to scan each of the pages using Cam Scanner and make a E-Book out of it).

Do Let-me know if some of you would like to go through the E-book and I would have to look out for ways to share the same with you.

Adding a New Page in Oracle Fusion Cloud Application

2017-01-08T10:45:00.002+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

A lot of discussions goes around the level of customization supported in Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud Application. While some of the features like creating new custom pages, adding new Database Objects are not supported we can however embed these pages via a link.

Do check for the complete article here

An Overview of Flow Patterns in Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud Application

2016-12-25T23:19:00.002+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

Developers who have spend some of their valuable years working with Oracle EBS (E-Business Suite) might be aware of Task Flows. Some of them may even have designed Custom Task Flows. A Task flow in the simplest terms may be defined as a combination of certain tasks /sub-tasks designed to achieve a specific assignment.

Similar to Task Flows in EBS suite where we can have completely custom processes build with a combination of Reports, Checklists, Sub Tasks, Parameters Flow patterns in Fusion also does the same.

In short a Payroll Flow Pattern may be defined as a sequential process which has certain sub-tasks supposed to be performed one after another.Do read the complete article here and do let-me know if you find it a interesting read.

Have a fun filled X-Mas and a prosperous new year.

Take Care and Enjoy...........

Oracle Fusion HCM Release 12 ( New Features)

2016-12-08T16:21:00.000+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

Although Oracle Fusion HCM Release 12 is not released officially. But I guess the same is available in limited release ( controlled availability) for specific customers.

But still until we have the Release 12 available for general use we may still go through the RCD ( release content document) and understand what are the new features which are going to be available.

Check the link here

Hope this helps....

An How to Article About Creating a Multilingual Report in Oracle Fusion Cloud Application

2016-12-05T11:54:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions my own

In a typical ERP Implementation for a large Multinational Firm it is a very common need to have multilingual reports. Say for example Employee Basic Details Report which holds information like an individual’s First Name, Last Name, Department, Employee Number etc and for the ease of use the need could be to have the flexibility to generate the same report in multiple languages like English, French, Spanish, Chinese.

These multilingual report generation till sometime back were considered to be a complex activity and required multiple RTF layout designs each specific for one language.

So there used to be multiple RTFs. But Oracle Fusion Applications gives the flexibility to have a single template which can get incorporated with multiple language translated files (xlf) which enables us to create reports in multiple languages from a single base one.

Read complete article here

Logical and Relational Data Model Diagrams for Fusion Applications

2016-11-21T17:46:00.001+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

There was a great deal of concern among Technical Consultants regarding the Oracle SaaS based solution ( Fusion Cloud to be specific) where-in worry was to about integration between systems , generating custom reports and other technical areas which requires a detail level of DB information table names, fields, columns data-types, primary key foreign key relationships.

A lot of such questions were answered by OER ( Oracle Enterprise Repository) but the same has bee deprecated and replaced with new site :

http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/docs/HTML/oer-redirect.html

But the site doesnt list the Logical ER Diagram.

However, Fusion Applications Developer Teams have given us the much needed info via their blog post which can be found at:

Data Model Diagrams for Fusion Application

Probably one of the link which needs to be handy with every Fusion Application Technical Consultant.

Hope this helps..........

Setting up User Preferences in Oracle Fusion Application

2016-11-01T12:52:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer : Opinions my own.

Oracle Fusion Application allows users to change preferences like language, currency, date-format etc. Read complete article here

Sangam 16: An opportunity to meet and learn from the best technologists,developers,architects

2016-10-21T18:29:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions my own

Sangam 2016 is round the corner (11th and 12th Nov 2016) and gives an opportunity for all technologists, developers, DBAs, Functional Users and even Business Aanalysts to try and understand not only how an application works but also about the technology, the user experience.

A place where you may ask questions to those who have build oracle applications which some of us might be working on for years. Having said so don't think that this conference is only for those who know about it, but rather also for those who are complete newbies and are trying to learn the tips and tricks of the game.

And above all you meet great leaders , developers and other enthusiasts who share their thoughts and help you with answers to some of your toughest problems encountered in your day to day work

Add to it this year there is a Oracle's Usability and Interface Product Testing Lab who would like to take user feedbacks then and there and would consider to implement the same in future release ( provided you have a logical argument and a strong business case).

Lot of knowledge be it for Database Track, Developer , Solution Architects, Business Users... basically if you are either associated with any of the Oracle's Products or even eager to learn about it , then this is the place to be.

Hope to see you all there.

Creating Master Detail OTBI Analysis in Oracle Fusion Application

2016-10-11T14:29:00.002+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own

Oracle Fusion Application allows you to create a Master Details OTBI analysis. Where the first analysis would give you the most important details in an analysis with a provision of allowing the end user to get further details by a simple click on a specific data column of interest. Interested to find more details. No worries Check here

Modifying the Look and Feel of Oracle Fusion Applications

2016-10-01T11:06:00.002+05:30

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VIEWS PUBLISHED HERE ARE OF THE AUTHOR OWN AND THE RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS MAY VARY DEPENDING UPON THE APPLICATION VERSION.THESE ARE AUTHOR'S PERSON EXPERIENCES WHICH HE HAS SHARED FOR GENERAL AWARENESS. IF YOU FIND ANYTHING WHICH SEEMS INCORRECT/UNAPPROPRIATE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO WRITE AT ASHISH1234U@GMAIL.COM

Fusion Applications allows us to modify the look and feel of the Application to meet organization needs like corporate branding, use of specific color coding, change the appearance of screen and much more. Read complete article here.

Need and Importance of Fusion Dashboard Page

2016-09-07T22:20:00.001+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions my own.

While some if not all of us are aware of the OTBI Reports, Dashboards, Prompts and other components, there must be some curious to know how does a dashboard helps when compared to a traditional report.

A dashboard is a fancy way of displaying data with the help of nice pie-charts, bars, numbers, colors and what not and the best part being you need not do something explicit to reach out to them. They are placed on the Homepage, Welcome Page and gives you a quick answer to your questions whether you are a Team Member, Project Manager and CFO/CTO/CIO.

Read complete article here

Creating a BI Publisher Report from Web Service

2016-08-14T15:02:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions my own

In this example we will take a publicly available Web Service and try to develop a report out of it. This kind of report generation primarily involves 2 steps as below:

Configuring the Web Service as a BI Publisher Data Source

Creating a Data Model from the configured Data Source
Developing a BIP Report from the data model created

Read complete article here

Absence Accrual Entry Details Report

2016-06-11T11:20:00.002+05:30

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed are my own

One of the most common requirements for any Oracle Fusion Application implementation project involving Fusion Absence Management Module is the Absence Accrual Entry Details Report. Simply explained, this may be considered as a medium via which we can have a consolidated view of the different accrual plans under which an individual is enrolled along with the corresponding accrual balance , reasons for absence adjustments ( additions / deductions based upon whether any additional balance were awarded or leaves taken respectively ) and their balance as on a specific date.

This report has multiple parameters including Legal Employer Name, Person Name, Absence Plan Name, Date….to name a few which provides various options to the end user to generate different output as per his/her specific needs.

Read complete article here

Performing Mass Update in Oracle Fusion Applications

2016-05-12T16:30:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are my own

While there are several methods of updating person records some of the most widely known ones being FBL (File Based Loader), HDL (HCM Data Loader) , Web Service Calls (eventually calls either the FBL or HDL loader service), Spreadsheet loaders or UI updates the most simple one is ‘Mass Update’.

This is a feature which is primarily designed to make bulk updates to records and is very easy and can be performed by either a Technical, Techno-Functional, Functional Consultants or for that matter even Business User.

Check complete article at:

Performing Mass Update in Oracle Fusion Applications