Copyright 2009 Rolta International, Inc.

, All Rights Reserved

Release 12 Upgrade
Best Practices
Presentation Overview
Objectives
Upgrade Advantages
Project Approach
Upgrade Challenges Upgrade Challenges
Project Management Perspective
Application Considerations
Technical Considerations
Summary
Questions
Objectives
Provide useful information to R12 upgrade
teams for planning and staffing purposes
Indirectly educate users about new R12
functionality and features functionality and features
Help you avoid potential pitfalls using
actual experiences from R12 upgrade
projects
Upgrade Advantages
Eliminates de-support risk
Potentially lower support cost
New or enhanced functionality, improved
reporting capability
Increased integration; potential to reduce Increased integration; potential to reduce
customizations
Opportunity to migrate to new hardware and
operating system
Compared to re-implementation, an upgrade
manages the migration of data and setups
Project Approach
Functional Assessment Goals
Understand As Is Processes
Perform R12 Impact Assessment
Define To Be Processes
Develop Training Plan Develop Training Plan
Define Migration Path
Perform a Migration Risk Analysis
Refine Upgrade Timeline and Cost Estimates
Project Approach: Functional
Assessment
Understand current application As Is processes
Schedule business process reviews with key
end users to understand the current As Is
processes
Review all current Oracle-based business Review all current Oracle-based business
processes and evaluate impact of R12
functionality
Focus on functions with new features or
modules in R12
Review existing issues and pain points
Project Approach: Functional
Assessment
Understand current application As Is processes
(cont)
Identify desired improvements
Review all integration points and
customizations and compare to R12 customizations and compare to R12
functionality
Review existing documentation and test
scripts
Project Approach: Functional
Assessment
Perform R12 Impact Assessment
What current functionality will be impacted by
R12 features? (things that have to change)
What current functionality could be
improved/simplified by R12 new features improved/simplified by R12 new features
(things that are possible due to R12)
What new functionality/process
improvements can be made as part of the R12
Upgrade (low hanging fruit)
Project Approach: Functional
Assessment
Define recommended/required To Be
processes
Customizations that can be eliminated or
simplified due to R12 functionality and/or
business process change business process change
New functionality that can be leveraged as
part of the upgrade
Evaluate business requirements for potential
new functionality in the target modules
Project Approach: Functional
Assessment
Provide key training considerations and training
plan
Define recommended phased migration/upgrade
path to achieve the To Be environment
Provide a migration path risk analysis from As Is Provide a migration path risk analysis from As Is
to To Be for both technical and functional areas
Refine future production upgrade project
timelines and resource cost estimates
Project Approach
Multiple Test Upgrades
Test Upgrade 1
Identify and document all required technical
activities; patches, scripts, etc to create a useable
instance
Identify and document all pre and post upgrade Identify and document all pre and post upgrade
functional activities; data preparation, set ups for
existing modules and set ups for new modules
All information is collected and consolidated into
the upgrade playbook which is used for
subsequent upgrade iterations
Project Approach
Multiple Test Upgrades
Additional Test Upgrades
Used to continue refining the technical and
functional upgrade activities
Includes resolutions to SRs, scripts created, patches
identified, etc identified, etc
Used to create instances for functional testing,
development activities and integration testing
Timing of all tasks to assist with planning the
production upgrade timeline and required
blackout period
Project Approach
Testing
Test Script Creation
Use scripts from prior implementation or
upgrade activities as baseline scripts
Update scripts for new or updated functionality
introduced in R12 introduced in R12
Update scripts for business process changes
Solicit end user participation to develop and
enumerate the script scenarios
Make sure all customizations are
addressed and thoroughly tested
Project Approach
Training
Lead off with navigation training; R12
introduces look and feel differences across
all applications using OA Framework
Consider delta training approach;
address changes introduced by R12 versus address changes introduced by R12 versus
the version being upgraded from
Highlight and address business process
changes
Upgrade Challenges
Application changes may result in
business process changes, some
significant
Migration of existing customizations
Changes in technology may not allow Changes in technology may not allow
upgrade in a straightforward manner;
migration path may not exist causing a re-
write
Changes to the Oracle Application
architecture, table structure changes
Current staff may not be versed in the new
technologies; training or augmentation
may be required
Upgrade Challenges
3
rd
party-supplied programs or
extensions may not be compatible or
certified with R12
Technology changes; XML (BI) Publisher,
migration away from Oracle Forms to migration away from Oracle Forms to
OA Framework
User re-training
Project Management
Perspective
Project Planning
Pre-11i upgrades to R12 require a two-step
upgrade process; allow more time for the
upgrade, testing and SR resolution than for
an 11i to R12 upgrade an 11i to R12 upgrade
Allow sufficient time for multiple test
upgrades
Provide adequate resources to identify,
review, remediate and test reports,
interfaces, customizations, extensions and
3
rd
party applications
Project Management
Perspective
Project Planning
Plan for additional time for new module
configuration, testing and SR resolution
Ensure your team has knowledge and
experience in key new areas (G/L, experience in key new areas (G/L,
Subledger Accounting, E-Biz Tax,
Payments, XML Publisher, etc...)
Validate Assumptions make sure you can
still do what you used to do in the
applications!
Project Management
Perspective
SR Management Considerations
Allocate additional time for SR Management
Start with the latest stable release
Actively monitor Metalink for new Critical
Patch Updates Patch Updates
Critical Accounts Manager
Customer Support Engagement
Weekly status calls near critical milestones
Escalation assistance
Application Considerations
General Ledger
Additional setup considerations with legal
entities, ledger sets, etc
Thorough testing of journals recommended
(especially with Intercompany)
Thorough testing of Report Manager Thorough testing of Report Manager
Bring users up to speed on new terminology
and functionality
Web ADI journal templates will need to be
re-created
Web ADI journal upload spreadsheets do
NOT support multiple tabs
Application Considerations
Payables
Supplier Setup Conversion to TCA and OA
Framework (possible Change Management
implications)
Sites created through Supplier Address Book
entry, then selectable from Create Site entry, then selectable from Create Site
button
Payment processing moved to Payments
module user interface changes
Quick payments, manual payments, and
voiding payments still available in Forms-
based workbench
Application Considerations
Payables
Positive Pay Report two versions (w/voids
and w/o voids)
Inquiry/Viewing voided checks from
Payments Workbench (must use the
Payments tab on the Payments Manager
Dashboard) Dashboard)
Additional Invoice Line hierarchy causes
problems during upgrades to R12
(Header/Line/Distribution)
Expense Reports within Payables: add
Expenses: Export Results function and
Create/Update Employee/Supplier details
sub-function
Application Considerations
Payments
Essentially replaces iPayment
Check format output in XML Publisher/pdf
3rd Party Check Output processors may have
challenges with pdf output
E-Business Tax E-Business Tax
Sales/Use Tax Is your 3
rd
Party tax software
certified with R12?
Be sure to patch up to the latest release (several
issues addressed)
Be sure to apply any recent critical tax patches
Withholding tax still handled in Payables
Application Considerations
Cash Management
All OA Framework
Owns all bank, bank branch, and bank account
setups!
Consider change management implications around
bank maintenance bank maintenance
Application Considerations
Fixed Assets
Asset conversion process took significantly
longer than normal but has improved with
recent releases
When implementing tax books, allow When implementing tax books, allow
additional time
Several patches were required early on to
make Tax Book Depreciation work properly
Application Considerations
Fixed Assets
Tax Book depreciation adjustments calculate
differently than previous versions
Catch-up depreciation happens at point of
addition, not in depreciation run addition, not in depreciation run
Rollback depreciation is no longer a separate
process
11i Bonus Depreciation not carried through to
R12 (patches needed: Metalink 383033.1)
Application Considerations
Service Contracts
There are currently no published and supported APIs
available for performing bulk or transactional contract
import!
Refer to Metalink Note 307446.1
Workaround using OM APIs successfully converted Workaround using OM APIs successfully converted
several thousand service contracts using this approach
Quoting
All OA Framework
End Customer Data included
Sales Credit easier to manage
Application Considerations
Sales/Field Sales
New Account Planning and Strategic Plans at customer
and contact levels (equivalent to Sales Coach at
opportunity level)
Still no visibility into opportunities with future close
dates dates
Application Considerations
Marketing
Fully updated OA Framework user interface,
much cleaner than previous versions
Territory Manager
All OA Framework user interface, All OA Framework user interface,
utilizes/requires RBAC
New concurrent requests allow more
administrative control over what is evaluated
for assignment, better performance
Technical Considerations
Help > Record History not yet available in OA
Framework applications
XML Publisher
Used to create business documents like Customer
Invoices and AP Checks that were often created using Invoices and AP Checks that were often created using
a 3
rd
Party software (e.g. Evergreen, Optio) in the past.
Standard extractions can be leveraged to produce
custom documents
Early in the project cycle, identify the need for
inclusion of any data elements in your custom
documents that are not part of the standard data set
Technical Considerations
Make sure your DBAs do their homework!
New components:
RDBMS is 10gR2
Oracle Developer Home is 10.1.2
Oracle AS Home is 10.1.3
If you use BI Discoverer, Oracle SSO, Portal, or Oracle ID, If you use BI Discoverer, Oracle SSO, Portal, or Oracle ID,
you will need an additional stand-alone 10g/AS
Jinitiator replaced by JVM
Cumulative rollup patches replace one-off and mini-packs
Cumulative security patches on a quarterly basis
Multi-Org is mandatory now
Technical Considerations
Custom Apps must be registered with Multi-Org tables
not automatically done (Metalink 420787.1 reference)
Cloning can only be done by Rapid Clone
Must use Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) for editing
context files (SID_hostname.xml)
New INST_TOP directory
All info related to a particular host (log files, output files, etc.)
Facilitates deployment of multiple nodes in the middle-tier
Simplifies backup and cleanup of log and output files
Technical Considerations
RBAC (Role-based Access Control)
Complicates Responsibility creation and assignment
Responsibilities are not sufficient to gain access in certain areas
(User Management, Territory Mgr, etc.)
OA Framework
Delayed display due to caching (clear all cache function within Delayed display due to caching (clear all cache function within
Functional Administrator)
Login Assistant
Users can re-set their own passwords
Passwords are case-sensitive!
Summary
Allow enough time to complete multiple test
upgrades
Provide enough time in the plan for
identification, modification and testing of identification, modification and testing of
customizations
Ensure your team has the right skills and
experience
Summary
Test the upgraded applications and
customizations thoroughly
Plan to spend more time than usual with SR
Management Management
Validate all assumptions based on prior
implementation and upgrade experience!
Q U E S T I O N S Q U E S T I O N S
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