Oracle Application Express and Oracle E-Business Suite

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▶  About me

▶  EBS Development Challenges

▶  EBS and APEX

▶  Configuring EBS for APEX

▶  Examples of APEX extension for EBS

▶  Conclusion

Content

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   ▶  CTO and Co-Founder of Insum Solutions ▶  28 Years in IT, 25 with Oracle databases, APEX since

2004. ▶  Presenter:

►  ODTUG Kscope & APEXposed, IOUG Collaborate, Oracle OpenWorld, ORA*GEC

▶  Co-author: Expert Oracle Application Express ▶  Twitter : @Fr4ncis ▶  Member of the APEX Advisory board

Francis Mignault

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▶  Oracle APEX expert practice since 2004 ▶  Oracle APEX Center of Excellence ▶  Comprehensive Consulting Services

►  Training & Coaching ►  Architecture & Analysis ►  Project Management ►  On-site / Off-site Development ►  APEX Best Practices and Methodologies

▶  Offices in Canada and USA ▶  Our Core Values : Respect, Teamwork, Integrity, Innovation, Quality

and Fun !

EBS Development challenges

EBS Development Challenges

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►  Integrate more business processes in EBS ►  Provide lightweight customized solutions to users ►  Reuse internal development expertise and skillsets ►  Improve user productivity (remove manual processes) ►  Facilitate Maintenance and EBS Upgrades ►  Excel / Access replacement for security and data

centralization ►  Mobile

E-Business Suite Extensions

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Interfaces   Mobile  

Reports   Dashboards  

EBS Development Types

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Extension  

Personaliza9on  

Customiza9on  

EBS Development Types - Personalization

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▶  Options for Personalization ►  OA Framework

–  Administrator personalization

–  User personalization

►  Forms Personalization

EBS Development Types - Customizations

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▶  Options for Customizations ►  Adding triggers to Oracle database tables ►  Modifying OAF controllers, Forms code, PL/SQL code, etc.

►  Modifying an existing object and saving it to a new name (forms, reports, etc.)

►  Customizations-in-place will be overwritten by patches and upgrades

EBS Development Types - Extensions

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▶  Options for Extensions ►  Oracle Forms ►  Oracle Reports / BI Publisher

►  Oracle Application Framework (OAF)

►  Application Development Framework (ADF) ►  Oracle Application Express (APEX)

EBS And APEX

Why use APEX ?

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▶  Oracle Application Express ▶  Rapid Application Development (RAD) browser based tool for the

Oracle Database

▶  Leverages full Oracle database capabilities and existing SQL & PL/SQL skills

▶  Fully integrate with E-Business Suite ▶  Can define RESTful services (allowing to act as web service

provider)

▶  Mobile ready

Why use APEX ? cont’d

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▶  Declarative programming framework ▶  Lightweight browser based solution using existing infrastructure for

Development, Deployment & Runtime

▶  Fully supported, “no-cost” standard component with all editions of the Oracle Database

▶  Out of the box declarative Web 2.0 reporting

Why use APEX ? cont’d

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▶  Dramatically enhances end-user capabilities (Ex.: Interactive Reports, Searches on multiple fields, etc.)

▶  Can provide the same look and feel as the E-Business Suite R12

▶  Provides seamless session management (integration) with E-Business Suite R12

▶  APEX Plugins

Recommended Architecture

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▶  Oracle Application Express resides within the Oracle database in its own schema

▶  REST Data Services / Weblogic installed on the application server

Recommended Architecture

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APEX integration with EBS

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1 – APEX application accessing EBS Data externally 2 – APEX application integrated in EBS menu structure

EBS Security Overview

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Func9ons  

Menus  

Responsibili9es  

Users  

EBS Security Overview cont’d

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EBS Security Overview cont’d

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APEX Security Overview cont’d

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Authentication ▶  Oracle Single Sign-On / SSO authentication in APEX

▶  Oracle Access Manager (OAM) authentication in APEX ►  HTTP Header Based, See white paper.

▶  APEX Authentication with EBS Credentials (When outside of EBS) ▶  Custom Authentication (Integrated in EBS Menu)

APEX Security Overview cont’d

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Custom Authentication

Session  ID  

Generate  Password  

Validate  Password  

Shared  Secret  Key  

Validate  Func9on/Menu  

APEX Security Overview cont’d

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Authorization ▶  Validate APEX page authorization against EBS function within

menu and responsibility

▶  Validation can also be against page components just like EBS forms security

Configuring EBS for APEX

Overview of steps for APEX/EBS Integration

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▶  Install APEX as recommended

▶  Create an Oracle Application Express application

▶  Install common PL/SQL procedures and functions (insum)

▶  Configure the Oracle Application Express login process (authentication)

▶  Define Oracle Application Express authorizations

▶  Define EBS functions to link to APEX pages

▶  Define EBS Security (menu and responsibility)

Accessing EBS via APEX

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Custom utilities for APEX Integration

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For any APEX application to integrate with EBS, custom functionalities are required, for example :

▶  Get EBS user session ID

▶  Validate Login

▶  “APPS_INITIALIZE” (EBS Context)

▶  Get FND_GLOBAL values (user_id, resp_id, appl_id, security_group_id, etc.)

▶  Get session language

The common insum package is created in the APPS schema (as per EBS development standards) and granted to the custom APEX schema

APEX Integration / EBS Versions

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▶  Version 11i

▶  Version R12.1 with 12.1.3 integration patch

▶  Version R12.2

Technical Requirements for EBS 12.1

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▶  Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 or above*

▶  Oracle E-Business Suite Patch 12316083*

▶  Fully Licensed Oracle Database, Release 10.2.0.3 or above

▶  Oracle Application Express 4.2 + ▶  Oracle REST Data Services 2.0 + (formerly known as Oracle APEX

Listener)

▶  Oracle Weblogic application server 12C + *Note:  The  requirement  of  having  EBS  R12.1.3  comes  from  the  prerequisite  patches  R12.AD.B.delta.3  and  R12.ATG.B.delta.3  of  the  APEX  support  patch  12316083.    

EBS Integration with APEX White Paper

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 Oracle  EBS  blog  :    hKps://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/entry/updated_whitepaper_extending_e_business        Oracle  White  Paper  –  Extending  EBS  12.1  and  12.2  with  APEX  :    hKp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-­‐tools/apex/learnmore/apex-­‐ebs-­‐extension-­‐white-­‐paper-­‐345780.pdf  

 

   

EBS Integration with APEX White Paper

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Examples of APEX Extensions for EBS

Supplier Trends

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Standard EBS Invoice Entry

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Simplified Invoice Entry

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Concurrent Programs in Error (Mobile)

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Concurrent Programs in Error (Mobile)

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Concurrent Programs in Error (Mobile)

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Oracle Store

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Conclusion

Conclusion There are many advantages for using APEX to build EBS extensions.

From a technical point of view, APEX is easy to install and configure, it’s supported and it simplifies the upgrades.

From a business point of view, changing or adding new functionalities can be done rapidly allowing more flexibility to users at a lower cost.

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QUESTIONS ?