Installing Oracle Applications Release 12 On Windows 2003

Installing Oracle Applications Release 12 On Windows 2003


Preface: There are many changes in the installation process of Release 12 compared to 11i. I will illustrate here in detail its installation on Windows 2003 environment.

Step I: Partitioning and OS Installation

Pre-requisites:

As before a Good Computer :-)  oops…not just a good computer.. A Very Good Computer :-) The recommended (Minimum) pre-requisites are:

Hardware

Processor : Pentium 4

Memory : 4 GB RAM

HDD : 250 GB or higher

Optical Drive : CD/DVD-ROM (For copying installation files from CDS/DVDS)

Software

OS: Windows 2003

Release maintenance tools: (a) VC2005 (b) MKS Toolkit or Cygwin (c) Dotnet

We can install VC98 also for testing purposes as the system will not stop if VC98 is available, but absence of VC98 or VC2005 will result in installation error.

MKT Toolkit or Cygwin is mandatory, without which installation will result in error.

Dotnet is also mandatory, though I didn’t find mention of it in the installation manuals. The same can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en

Once we have all the above, make the following partitions at the time of installing the OS:

C:\ >: 20GB (For installing Windows 2003)

D:\ >: 180GB or more (For installing Oracle Applications)

F :\>: 50GB (For Staging Area/Installation Files)


Note: Drive letters are optional except for C:\.

• Install Windows 2003 on drive C.

•  Once the OS is installed, right-click on My Computer and Select Properties.

•  Select the tab Computer Name and Click button Change…

• Give the name of the computer (For Example anything, if it’s not already given during the installation and click Button More…

• Give the primary DNS suffix for the computer (For Example everything.com and Click Button OK (3 times to save the changes)

•  Create ‘Oracle’ User Account and make it a member of ‘Administrators’ groups

•  Restart the computer.

Step II: Creating Staging Area for Apps 12 Installation

Create a folder named Stage12 in F:\ Drive and copy the installation files in it.

•  The top level directory i.e., Stage12

• The sub-folders in the main Stage12 directory.

Step III: Install Other Required Softwares

Install other required software like VC98/VC2005, MKS Toolkit or CYGWIN and Dotnet. The installations of these programs are like any normal windows program installation and I assume, you have the knowledge to do so.

Step IV : Install Applications

For installing the applications, go to the drive where you have copied the installation files and go to the following folder (Example only as the drive on your system may differ.):

F:\ Stage12\startCD\Disk1\rapidwiz

Double click rapidwiz.cmd icon to launch Rapid Installer.

• Click Next after review the details.

• The option to install or upgrade has to be selected. Also we have the option to use ‘Use Express Install’ for vision instance wherein the most commonly used Oracle Apps modules are installed with default settings. 

• If you have Oracle Support credentials you can enter the same as these are useful for Oracle Configuration Management and for support from Oracle. For testing purposes, you can leave these fields blank.

• By default the option ‘Create a new configuration’ is selected for new installations. When a installation is restarted then the second option i.e., ‘Load the following saved configuration’ will be selected by default. As we are going to do a new installation, we can click on Next button while the default option is selected. 

•  For new installations, most of the settings are default and just need to click Next.

• The default ports are selected by default.

• Select the Database type as Vision Demo Database as we are installing this for testing purposes and we will get a pre-configured application database for the imaginary organization ‘Vision Corporation’. This is very helpful while designing similar solutions. Also select the host name, OS, installation directory etc.

• Give the path of Release maintenance tools, Host, Domain, Base directory etc and click on Next.

• Click on Next as most of the settings are default for installation on a single PC. These options will be useful when the applications and database are on two or more different servers.

• The system will perform a pre-installation test whether all the prerequisites exists or not.

• The rapidwiz installer will check the prerequisites like port availability, disk availability, release maintenance tools etc.

• Upon successful completion of test, the system will show the test results. If all the tests are passed, we can proceed with the installation by clicking on Next.

• Review the Component installation and click on Next.

• Before installation, the rapidwiz will alert about the installation as the installation will take 4-5 hours or more.

• Installation in progress!

• Rapidwiz is unzipping and installing the application files.

 

• Once the unzip completes, the rapidwiz will install the database. At this point of time, if the Dotnet application is not installed previously, then the installation will fail. The system will populate a command window and automatically some commands are executed in this window as shown below:

• Installation goes into next phase.

• Stage 2 of installation completed.

•  Installation progress in the Command window.

• Pure techie messages :-)

• Phase 4 of installation in progress.

•  Installation successful :-) . The system gives a report for the same.

• Last step of installation. We can connect to application from this step by clicking on the button ‘Connect to Oracle Applications Release 12.1.1’ or click on finish to connect later.

• Upon connecting to the Applications URL, we are presented with the Microsoft Phishing Filter message. (This varies based on the browser settings). Select as per your security requirements.

• The login page is displayed. For vision instance, we can use the default username and passwords i.e., sysadmin/sysadmin.

•  The default responsibilities for the username SYSADMIN are displayed.

• Click on the desired responsibility and then on the function. Based on browser settings, a message will be displayed for installing the Sun Java Addin.

• Install the Java Addin. This is mandatory for accessing the Oracle Applications.

• Click on Accept button to install the addin.

• After installation click on any function again and a security warning message will come. Select Run to start Oracle Applications.

• Based on browser settings, the pop-up blocker will stop Oracle Applications from launching the applet. Set the pop-up blocker property as per your security requirements and also to allow Oracle Applications to launch the applet.

• Oracle Applications 12 Up And Running :-)

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Custom.pll example to make DFF read only

Custom.pll can be used for a wide range of customizations. For example, it can be used to make the DFF read only based on a condition(s). In this example, I will do a customization wherein the Additional Absence Details DFF will be read only for the responsibilities ‘Vision HR Manager' and 'XYZ HR Manager' and for others it will be editable.

Before the customization, the DFF was editable for the above mentioned responsibilities.

Open custom.pll and add the following code:

/* *************************** Code to make DFF Read Only ****************** */

IF (event_name = 'WHEN-NEW-BLOCK-INSTANCE' AND form_name = 'PERWSEAD' AND block_name = 'ABA') THEN
IF (FND_PROFILE.VALUE('RESP_NAME')IN ('Vision HR Manager' ,'XYZ HR Manager')) THEN
fnd_descr_flex.update_definition
(
BLOCK => 'ABA'
,FIELD => 'DF'
,READ_ONLY => 'Y' );
END IF;
END IF;
/* *************************** End of The Code ************************* */

Compile and generate the .plx file.

As custom.pll is loaded every time we login to the applications, we need to logout to see the changes. This is mandatory. Once it’s compiled successfully and the .plx file is generated, the DFF will be read only for the above mentioned responsibilities.

This is only a small example of custom.pll. It can perform much more complex requirements :-)

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Oracle Top Ten List or Top Ten Frequently Used Functions List

One useful feature in Oracle Applications from user’s perspective is the Top Ten List. This is nothing but short cuts to the frequently used functions. A particular function may be available under a menu under a sub menu. Every time the user has to go to that particular function through a series of navigations. When some functions are used frequently, this can be annoying.

The users can overcome this by creating their own frequently used functions list under the Top Ten list. This list is number so a user has to just press the number to activate the function. The creation of Top Ten List is a fairly straightforward and simple.

Select the required function and click on the Right Arrow key as shown below:

Entry 1 for Top Ten List is created!

Similarly we can add other entries also:

To access the functions, users don’t have to select the same everytime. Once this window is active, they can press the number or double click the entries and access the functions.

This feature is available in all or most of the Oracle Applications modules.

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Place Cursor in a particular field using Form Personalization

By default the cursor position may not be place in a desired field or at times in a field which we don’t use or rarely use. Having the cursor in unwanted field can have problems with data entry or it may slow the data entry field because every time, the users will have to place the cursor in the desired field.


We can personalize the behavior of forms by using forms personalization. As an example, we will take the assignment form in the People Enter and Maintain Screen. By default, the organization will be the first field when we open this form and also this field will be highlighted. (This may not be always the case depending on other form personalization, forms version etc. But the basic fundamentals of personalization as discussed in this example will remain unchanged.)

To personalize this form, go to Personalize screen as per the following screenshot:

Define the Personalization by giving a sequence and a meaningful name for the Personalization. As Assignment is a block in the People Enter and Maintain Form select the trigger event as WHEN_NEW_BLOCK_INSTANCE , block as ASSGT and also processing mode as Both.

Click on Actions tab and define the action. Give a sequence number for Action and select the type as Builtin. On the right hand side, select the Builtin type as GO_ITEM and argument as ASSGT.AGREEEMENT_NAME (Field name for Collective Agreement)

Save the changes and click on Apply.

Now the cursor will be placed in the Collective Agreement Field.

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Batch Element Entry (BEE) in Oracle HRMS / Oracle HCM

One of my friend Kadiresan had a requirement in which he wanted to mass upload the element entry data without using any API or Dataloader. He was exploring the possibility of using Assignment Sets as per one of my previous post. He explored this and found a solution. And as a matter of coincidence, I used the same feature yesterday. Thanks Kadhir :-)

 I will illustrate this feature with the help of an example.

Business Requirement: To upload Paid Leave Adjustment element for 500 employees without using any API or database tools. Paid Leave adjustment will be 10 days for all employees. The Paid Leave Adjustment element will have two input values viz. No Of Days and Effective Date. The BEE should update this element with 10 days and an effective date of 01-JAN-2010 for a group of employees of 500.

I completed this in 15 minutes without any coding. The same is illustrated below. This will give a very good example of how to do this and with minor changes this can be applied for any relevant situation.

1. Navigate to the Assignment Set Screen to create an assignment set for the 500 employees.

2. Type the name of the Assignment Set and select the payroll if the assignments belongs to same payroll and save the changes.

3. Type the full name of the employee or the assignment number who are to be included in this assignment set and save the changes.

4. Navigate to the Batch Element Screen to create a batch to upload. The navigation for the same is:

5. Type the batch name , save the work and click on Assignment Set button.

6. In this screen select the Assignment Set, the element to be uploaded, the effective date of the uploaded element, the pay values i.e., No Of Days and Effective Date in our example and click on Process button.

7. A Confirmation message window will popup asking for confirmation to create batch lines or not. Click Yes.

8. A message window will popup confirming that the process is submitted successfully.

9. Once these batch lines are created, we need to make sure that these entries are valid before transferring them to the element tables. For example, we should not process element entries for terminated employees. The Validate BEE process will check whether the batch lines are valid or not. To do this click on Process button. A new window will open with 3 options viz. Transfer, Validate and Purge. Transfer is for transfering the batch lines. This can be done without Validating also (Not Recommended). Validate is to validate the batch lines and Purge is to permanently remove the batch lines if these are not required.

10. Select the Validate radio button (Untransferred batch lines will have this option by default) and click the Start button. A confimation window will popup when the process is submitted successfully.

11. If there are no errors in the batch lines, the batch status will be valid and we can transfer the same. If not the status will be in error and then we have to click on element lines again. Here, the batch lines having errors are shown in red. We can check for error message, rectify the same and submit again for validation.

12. After making sure that the batch lines are all valid, we have to process the transfer. Only then the batch lines will go into element entries. To do this click on Process button and select Transfer radio button. For batch lines already validated, this option will be selected by default.

13. Click the Start button, a confirmation window will popup confirming that the process is submitted successfully.

14. After few minutes, once the batch lines are transferred, the status will be Transferred.

15. Once the process completes succesfully and the status is Transferred, the batch lines will be transferred to the element entries. The same can be confirmed in the element entries screen.

This method can be useful when we don't have idea about APIs or there are time constraints for developing the API. Also as there will be many restrictions on the usage of database directly due to security, this method can be used where there will not be any interference from the DBA team as this is a purely functional method of uploading data. 

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