Oracle Application Express and Oracle E-Business Suite Love and Mariage!
Content 1 2 3 4 5 About me EBS Development Challenges EBS and APEX Examples of APEX extension for EBS Conclusion 2
Sylvain Martel Oracle E-Business Suite-APEX Practice Director Over 14 years Oracle EBS technical / functional consultant Developed EBS application integration and customizations Involved with numerous EBS implementations and upgrades starting with release 10.7 up to R12 Oracle SOA integration APEX developer since 2007 3
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, Methodologies and Toolkit Offices in Canada and USA Our Core Values : Respect, Teamwork, Integrity, Innovation, Quality and Fun! 4
EBS Development challenges
EBS Development Challenges Integrate more business processes in EBS Provide lightweight customized solutions to users Improve user productivity (remove manual processes) Excel / Access replacement improving data security and centralization of the information Mobile applications 6
EBS Development Types Personalization Customization Extension 7
EBS Development Types - Personalizations Options for Personalizations OA Framework Forms Personalization 8
EBS Development Types - Customizations 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 9
EBS Development Types - Extensions Options for Extensions Oracle Forms Oracle Reports / BI Publisher Oracle Application Framework (OAF) Application Development Framework (ADF) Oracle Application Express (APEX) 10
E-Business Suite Extensions Interfaces Mobile Reports Dashboards 11
EBS And APEX
Why use APEX? Oracle Application Express Rapid Application Development (RAD) browser based tool for the Oracle Database (Cloud Ready) Leverages full Oracle database capabilities Reuse your existing SQL & PL/SQL resources skillsets Fully supported, no-cost standard component with all editions of the Oracle Database 13
Why use APEX? cont d Fully integrate with E-Business Suite (from 11i to R12.x) Can provide the same look and feel as E-Business Suite Out of the box reporting functionalities enhancing end-user productivity: On screen Interactive Reports Searches on multiple fields User defined report format Etc. 14
Why use APEX? cont d Can define RESTful services (allowing to act as web service provider) Mobile Ready (Mobile or Responsive) Insum integration package for EBS Insum APIs for Descriptive Flexfields (DFF) support 15
Recommended Architecture Oracle Application Express resides within the Oracle database in its own schema REST Data Services / Weblogic installed on the application server 16
Recommended Architecture 17
APEX integration with EBS 1 APEX application accessing EBS Data externally 2 APEX application integrated in EBS menu structure 18
EBS Security Overview Users Responsibilities Menus Functions 19
EBS Security Overview cont d 20
EBS Security Overview cont d 21
APEX Security Overview 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 (standalone) Custom authentication (integrated in EBS menu) 22
APEX Security Overview cont d Custom Authentication Validate Function/Menu Session ID Generate Token Validate Token Secured Token 23
APEX Security Overview cont d Authorization Validate APEX page authorization against EBS function within menu and responsibility Validation can also be against page components just like EBS forms security 24
Recap : Steps for EBS/APEX Integration Install APEX as recommended Install the Insum integration package 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) Create Oracle Application Express applications 25
Accessing EBS data from APEX 26
Insum Integration Package for EBS The Insum Integration Package for EBS allows any APEX application to recognize the EBS context: Current EBS Session Data Profile Values Organisation Security (Operating Units and multi-org) User Security The Insum Integration Package is created in the APPS schema (as per EBS development standards) and granted to the custom APEX schema 27
APEX Integration / EBS Versions Version 11i Version R12.1 with 12.1.3 integration patch Version R12.2 28
Technical Requirements Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 or above * (custom config for 11i / 12.1) Oracle E-Business Suite Patch 12316083 * Fully Licensed Oracle Database Oracle Application Express (Free Download at APEX.ORACLE.COM) Oracle REST Data Services (Free Download) * 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. 29
EBS Integration with APEX White Paper 30
EBS and APEX 5.0 100% Compatible with EBS New Functionalities / Rapid Development (Page Designer) Upgrade APEX with ZERO impact on the EBS Installation apex.oracle.com 31
Examples of APEX Extensions
Examples Demo 1 : System Administrator Workbench Demo 2 : Supplier Trends Dashboard Demo 3 : Simplified Invoice Entry Demo 4 : APEX integration in Oracle Forms 34
Oracle Store 35
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 Reuses your organization skillsets Supported by Oracle Simplifies patches and 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. 37
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