Beginner's Guide: System Administration in Oracle HRMS*

The tasks in System Administration responsibility can be grouped under following activities:

1. DBA Activity – Installation and System Maintenance
2. Security – User Account Administration
3. Implementation – Functional Setups

DBA Related Activity includes (This is not handled by Oracle HRMS Consultant)

1. installation of the Oracle Application on server
2. monitoring the instance by running alerts and reports
3. providing access
4. applying oracle specified patches
5. configuring system profiles
6. Enabling audit trails

Security Related Activities includes

- Creating users, menu’s and responsibilities
- Attaching security profiles to the user, responsibility, organization or at site level.

Before creating users, responsibility and security profiles it is important to understand the following
o Understanding the hierarchy of the organization
o User grouping depending on the access level and role played that needs to be provided.
o Creating the access of functions, menu’s, data based on organization and role.
o Co-relating responsibilities with the application users
o Appling restrictions to data based on organization, payroll, position, supervisor.

Functional Activities includes designing and implementing the business requirements into the application. Some functional users also do the mapping for the technical reports and interfaces to be developed.

1. Creating Value Sets
2. Defining Flexfields – Key as well as Descriptive
3. Attaching Validations to the flexfields
4. Printer Management
5. Workflow Administration

Once the installation is done and system is in place and DBA has created a user id with access to System Administration Responsibility, then the job of HRMS functional consultant starts. Of course before even touching the application it is important to understand the requirements from the user and have the documents in place as much as possible. To have some draft ready to start with is really helpful. Also have a roadmap ready for organization and flexfield definition especially the ones which will be used by other modules too, like cost allocation flexfield is mapped with financials chart of accounts.

*user is expected to know and understand the basic navigation and terminologies of Oracle. Also please use Oracle Implementation Guides for complete reference.

Beginner’s Guide: Key Concepts in Oracle HRMS

Prior to development efforts it is important to understand the key concepts in Oracle HRMS as well as customers organization, based on the two requirements should be gathered as well as analyzed for completeness.

1. System Administration Activities

 User Groups
 Security Access
 Flexfield Structures after analysis of data and requirement

2. Organization Structure

 Financial Structure
 HR Structure
 Reporting Structure
 Division or Department Wise Segregation

3. Hierarchy

 Organization Hierarchy
 Reporting Hierarchy
 Approval Hierarchy

4. Integration

 Other modules in Oracle Application like Purchasing, Cash Management, General Ledger
 External Vendors like Payroll, Benefits, Leave Management, Recruitment Systems
 External Application – Custom Built applications

5. Strategy for Data Management – Reporting and Interfaces

Beginners Guide: Understanding Project Requirements

Gathering Requirements and planning for a project is the most important task and decides the success or failure of a project. A survey from Rock Ford Consulting* tells that over inadequate definition of functional requirement gathering accounts for 60% of ERP implementation Failures.




Requirements are building blocks to the future phases of the projects, these are not just plain statements about what the application should do but also what its not expected to do. It is not just gathering sentences of each users expectations but collaboration and fitting the pieces like a jig saw puzzle to complete a picture.



During Requirement Gathering Techniques -

- Meet the users frequently

- Ask questions and get confirmation

- Documents should be maintained on daily basis

- The pieces that do not fit in should be given higher attention as they may lead to bigger problems in future.

- Be honest with the client about expectations and analysis

- If in doubt ask more questions



Critical Points to be understood in Oracle Application Project Requirement Gathering

1. Applications involved in the legacy system.

2. Functionality and distinction of process in each application.

3. Organization Structure – Usually HRMS Org Structure conflicts with Financial Structure if both the functional consultants do not sit together and formulate a common Org Structure to achieve the objectives of both.

4. Hierarchies – Organization and Position hierarchy are both important to be understood from security, approval and strategy formulation perspective.

5. Significance of each Data item in terms of reporting and user group requirements.

6. Processes needed and not needed in the system.

7. Organization Policies and alignment with the IT objectives

8. Integration with external applications and vendors.

9. Thorough analysis of the information provided.

10. Viability of custom solutions if offered.

11. User Accountability for data gathering and acceptance testing.

12. Documentation of the gathered facts and information.



*http://rockfordconsulting.com/the-12-cardinal-sins-of-erp-implementation.htm

Beginner's Guide: Understanding the Oracle Project Cycle

Understanding the Oracle Project Cycle and Oracle Best Practices

For any functional consultant it is very important to understand the complete project cycle, its phases and documentation related to the same. The phases in any project are listed below -

1. Project Initiation:

-          Team is selected and project group is formed. Roles and Responsibilities are finalized

-          Project Plan is made and Project Strategy is defined.

-          Initial Introductions with Client are made and terms of contract are agreed upon.

-          Success Parameters are defined along with Risk Management Plan and other Project Management initiatives are taken.

2. Requirement Gathering:

-          Team members start the requirement gathering sessions with the concerned user groups.

-          Questionnaires are made

-          Deep Understanding of Organization, Business, Module is gained in the knowledge transfer sessions.

-          Documentation like BRD100 etc are updated on regular basis.

-          Instances are setup for development work.

-          Strategies for Integration with Financials, External applications or vendors are defined.

-          Application Architecture is defined

3. GAP Analysis

-          Requirements gathered are analyzed

-          Work Effort Estimates are made

-          GAP between the requirements and application are documented

-          Discussions held with the client over the gap

-          Work-arounds or Solutions formulated to cover the GAP.

-          After the completion of GAP analysis 1^st milestone of a project is achieved and requirements are moved for development after signoff.

4. Conference Room Piloting

-          Initial Look and Feel of the application to the client

-          Discussion on final features

-          Work Ability Analysis of workarounds and custom forms

-          Sign off for next stage. After completion of GAP analysis the 2 ^nd milestone of project is achieved.

5. User Acceptance Testing

-          User introduction to the application

-          User Testing for all the functionalities

-          User Sign off after review of complete application.

-          User Training and resolving of other issues in the application.

-          3^rd minor milestone achieved.

6. Go-Live

-          Cloning of instance for Production

-          Production Setups audits and confirmation

-          Moving of all the custom objects into Production Environment like interfaces, Reports and Forms.

-          Final Data Entry in Oracle Applications.

-          Major milestone of project is achieved after successful go live.

7. Post Go-Live Support
8. Project Hand Over Activities

Oracle being an advanced and developed product offers AIM Methodology for documentation as well as RICE methodology for estimation. These are used widely and are considered as standards in any Oracle Project. Also note that before starting a project its best to understand the Oracle Best Practices for coding, naming conventions etc. Here is the list of Oracle Standards for Projects as defined by Oracle Corporation itself

-          AIM Methodology for Documentation

-          RICE Methodology for Estimations

-          PL/SQL Coding Standards

-          Naming Conventions in Oracle

These are defined for each phase of a project like BR100 is AIM Document used in Requirement Gathering and during development phase we use RICE estimation of work effort for Interfaces and Reports.

Refer to oracle.com for Oracle Best Practices Documents and Guidelines.

Beginners Guide : Understanding the Structure

In today's scenario there are many ERP Players - SAP and Oracle being the market leaders with global presence.

Oracle HRMS is an ERP application of Oracle E Business Suite. It falls under vertical HCM or Human Capital Management. It covers following modules :

1. Core HRMS
2. Payroll
3. Advanced Benefits
4. Self Service
5. Recruitment
6. Talent Management
7. Performance Management
8. Time and Labor
9. Learning Management
10. Business Intelligence
11. Compensation Workbench
12. Incentive Compensation

Oracle HRMS is integrated with Financials, Purchasing, Projects, Sales etc modules of Oracle E-Business Suite.

The Oracle E-Business Suite

The Oracle E-Business Suite is a packaged application with integration of financials, supply chain, inventory, projects, sales, human resources and many other business modules. This helps in automation of organization processes at global level. And it is well integrated with Business Intelligence for corporate reporting.

The structure of applications is modules and organizations are free to choose the modules they wish to implement as well as flexile enough for adding modules after implementation of initial ones. Like Supply Chain can be added after an organization has implemented Financials. The flexibility and the robust model makes the E-Business Suite highly rated ERP. The methodologies or the best practices are well defined and tested over many years on variety of organization and projects models. This makes the success of implementation of Oracle E-Business suite products very high.

The Oracle E-Business Suite sits on a multi-layer platform which includes:

■ Oracle Database

■ Oracle Application Server

■ Common Services and Components

■ Oracle Internet Business Intelligence

Oracle Database

All applications reside on the Oracle Database. The Oracle database drives

enterprise E-Business applications, online transaction processing applications

(OLTP), query-intensive data warehouses, and high capacity Web sites. Because the

Oracle database is available on many different platforms, applications can scale

from handheld to laptop to desktop to enterprise providing consistent information

over multiple channels.

Oracle Application Server

The Oracle Application Server (Oracle 9iAS) is a middle-tier server which

independently delivers the technology needed to build Web sites and applications,

create personalized portals, extract business intelligence, and manage a secure Web

site infrastructure. Oracle Self Service , iRecruitment, iExpenses are some of the Oracle modules using the same.

Common Services and Components

All the applications can leverage the common infrastructure and services

components. Functionality includes Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, Oracle

Application Object Library (AOL), the Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Discoverer

development tools, the coding and UI standards, and other functionality used by

the applications.

For example, you can extend the applications according to your business needs

using flexfields. You can create and assign responsibilities using the system

administrator responsibility. Also, you can use Oracle Workflow to configure

background processes and set up notifications so that all the appropriate managers

and groups are notified.

Oracle Internet Business Intelligence

Above the E-Business Suite sits the Internet Business Intelligence application. This

application integrate data from all of the E-Business Suite applications to provide

key performance measurements, operating alerts, and management reports to every

decision maker across the enterprise.

The ERP applications include following and more:

■ Oracle Order Management

■ Oracle Supply Chain Planning

■ Oracle Manufacturing

■ Oracle Financials

■ Oracle Human Resources Management System

Companies use the ERP applications to control their back-office operations. For

example:

■ Oracle Order Management applications feature advanced configurator

functionality, global available to promise, flexible pricing support, efficient

delivery, high volume transactions and flexibility to adapt to changing business

conditions.

■ Oracle Supply Chain Planning applications provide the tools required to

optimize flow of material, cash, and information across the extended supply

chain.

■ Oracle Manufacturing applications support all styles of manufacturing -

engineer-to-order, discrete, process, flow, lot based, and project based

manufacturing.

■ Oracle Financials provide solutions for strategic planning, accounting, treasury,

project management, and travel management.

■ Oracle Human Resources Management System is a comprehensive solution for managing a company's human resources, allowing organizations to attract, retain and develop critical skills and knowledge on a global basis.

Common Application Architecture

The Common Application Architecture includes functionality that supports both

CRM and ERP applications. For example, TCA, Oracle's Trading Community

Architecture, consists of a database schema and Application Programming

Interfaces (APIs) where you can model the complex relationships that occur within

a business community and enter that data consistently throughout the enterprise.

Because the model is not hierarchical, Oracle applications can model complex

B2B2C relationships and not to be limited to either a B2B or B2C implementation.

TCA delivers a 360-degree view of the customer.

* Some of the data has been taken from www.oracle.com so as not the change the context, for more information on oracle products please visit Oracle site.

*ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning

*SCM – Supply Chain Management

*CRM – Customer Relationship Management