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While PL/SQL will always be part of the mix, our technical teams skills will require a
substantial upgrade. Java, WebCenter, and BPEL will become more important. Since
these tools are already appearing in Fusion Middleware and are at the center of AIA and
E-Business Suite R12, existing E-Business Suite customers can and should gain
familiarity with them.
With such a change in underlying technology, performance characteristics are likely to
be much different. Oracle and other enterprise applications vendors are already seeing the
use of Java increasing hardware requirements. Anyone converting to Fusion Applications
will need to perform extensive performance and scalability testing before going live, as
the bottlenecks and tuning requirements are likely to be completely different than they
used to be.
What about Forms, Reports and OAF
Oracles development tools like Forms/Reports/Workflow will continue to exist as a part
of support their existing applications and other customers who would like to use them as
a part of expanding their current investments in these tools.
Oracle themselves are building their next generation Fusion Applications on a new
infrastructure which is more driven by the objective of breaking the large monolithic
applications into small business services and then configuring the business processes of
the customer specific requirements using these business services
Workflows
Oracles Workflow as a product will exist for some more time to support their existing
applications and customers. But in Fusion applications they are building all the process
flows in Oracle BPEL. Also workflow is one product where Oracle seems to clearly
heading towards retiring as no further investments are being planned on this product.
Whereas Oracle Forms and Reports still attract investments for further enhancements and
product roadmap exists for another couple of years
Oracles E-Business Suite Release 12 is Oracles latest version of their business
applications with an upgrade path to Oracle Fusion Application. The technology stack is
upgraded to Fusion Middleware, the backbone of Fusion Applications.
It is about 60% Java based, compared to its predecessor, Release 11i, which is only 40%
Java based. Release 12 already has incorporated some of the Fusion Middleware products
that are available today. Unlike Release 11i, Release 12 makes extensive use of XML.
Oracles strategy is to slowly incorporate the new generation technology in to their
Applications and hence there would not be a big bang major release of Fusion
Applications
Also the functionality of ERP would be released in phases and in terms of pillars like
CRM pillar, SCM pillar, etc. so with these kind of functionality being rolled out we
should assume that the stabilized version of complete fusion applications is 4-5 years
from now.
Recommendations for R12 upgrade and preparing for Fusion
R12 upgrades can be approached in many ways, each with its own set of opportunities
and benefits. A typical technology upgrade of ERP Application require for
Upgrade of the Infrastructure. The R12 upgrade process involves replacing 11i Tech
stack (9iAS & 806) to Fusion Middleware (10g Application Server)
Upgrade the integration strategy from Point-to-point to Service Oriented Architecture
Upgrade the Reporting Strategy by bringing together stovepipe applications by ERP
revitalization and creating a virtual composite application.
Make better business decisions with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications and
create Executive dashboard for Real time Business Activity monitoring.
Upgrade to R12 as the point from where you want to Jump to Fusion Applications.
1. Evaluate and document the customizations.
2. Convert customizations to Fusion technology-based solutions where decommission is
not possible. As an example, since we know that Workflow will be replaced by BPEL for
the Fusion Applications, now is the time to learn BPEL. Any existing workflow
customizations or new ones should be written using BPEL.
3. Start Leveraging available Fusion Tools. Fusion is already here! Fusion tools that can
be used with the E-Business Suite include XML (BI) Publisher, the SOA Suite and Web
Center, and Business Intelligence tools like OBIEE or DBI and Discoverer 10g.
Open
Oracle SOA is fundamentally based on interoperability and open standards like SOAP,
WSDL, BPEL and XML.
It utilizes web services that are published by an application so that other applications
can subscribe
to and use that service, and vice versa. This enables technology and vendor
independence.
Adaptable
The applications integrating together in service oriented architecture can work together
without
relying on custom-coded point to point connections. This enables decoupling and
enhances flexibility.
The applications can be replaced much faster as compared to an environment which is
tightly coupled.
Business becomes adaptable to rapid changes and can respond more effectively with
lower costs to spend.