Some people are never happy

As we move forward with our 'adoption' of BI / XML Publisher here, I've been thinking more about what we really need to get up and running quickly.

It is simple really ;-) At the top of our 'wish list' is:

- A comprehensive library of reusable templates

Forget about those pesky XSL-FO ones, we need easily customizable RTF / MS Word templates for EVERY standard AP, PO, GL, AR and FA Oracle e-business suite report and we need them FAST. Translations would be nice as well :-)

I’m not asking for too much, am I? :-)

I demo'ed some BPA functionality to the project team here yesterday.

They loved:

- The simplicity of the template editor:
-- Adding and deleting items, images and messages
-- Moving regions and contents around
-- Changing item properties




- The Integration with the AR Transactions form.



- The Ease of integrating additional data sources with the standard AR data.



The problem was that the demo was a little too successful! It started a discussion on why some other customer facing documents didn't have similar applications integrated with the core functionality.


As they say 'Some people are never happy' ;-)

Cowboy Coding

I had to smile when I read this on Wikipedia. I'm sure that we have all met somebody who is an expert in this art:

Cowboy Coding is a software development methodology without an actual defined method – team members do whatever they feel is right. Typical cowboy coding will involve no initial definition of the purpose or scope of the project, no formal description of the project, and will often involve one programmer. It is characterized by a single programmer jumping into the writing of the software often working from his own idea of what the software should do. It is often characterized by a lack of any documentation for either the requirements of the project or the design of the software overall.

Read the rest on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_coding

Sleeping easy with 11.5.10 Bill Presentment Architecture - Part 1

I am currently reviewing a customer's existing AR invoice printing and bill presentation process.

As part of their original implementation, they had customised the standard Reports 6i invoice print program (RAXINV) for invoice printing. This had proved to be a very difficult solution to maintain. Now they were upgrading their Oracle technology stack, they were keen to review different solutions for invoice printing.

Like POXPRPOP, the name RAXINV can strike terror into the heart of many a poor unsuspecting appstechie. I can still recall sleepless nights:
- sweating over all those frames and repeating groups
- counting out the character cells
and plucking up the courage to turn flex or confine mode off :-)

When Oracle released Bill Presentment Architecture or BPA, I am sure that someone in Development was trying to apologise!

Now built upon Oracle XML Publisher technology, BPA is actually quite a simple solution to implement. After only an hour or so, we had developed a very neat prototype for the customer and they are very excited to implement this solution.

In my next post, I'll outline the steps to get started with BPA.

My old friend 'Workflow'

I read today that Error correction support ended for Oracle Workflow last week. (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/workflow/workflow_sod.html)

I've been on a number of projects that attempted to use workflow technology in unique ways.

I remember 7 or 8 years ago and before the Oracle Teleservice application was available, I was the Workflow Lead on a project for a large Health Insurance company in California. We were integrating their Customer service application with the Oracle Advance Benefits module using Oracle Workflow and Advanced Queuing.

Today, the SOA suite and BPEL are perfect fits for this requirement but at that time, Oracle Workflow was all we had!

We were lucky that there was a Cheesecake Factory very close to the office in Woodland Hills. I remember fondly the long nights spent there discussing the solution design, intricate workflow processes and of course, eating cheesecake.

So tonight, I'll raise my glass for the end of my old friend 'Workflow'. Now, if only we could get a Cheesecake Factory franchise in London...