t l a n t a

w w w . a t l o a u g . o r g
Tips and Techniques
O
A
U
G
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003
In this issue
From the Editor
Functional
Oracle Projects and
Inventory
Understanding your
Customer with the eBusiness
Center
Technical
Oracle Internet Expenses
(OIE)
Project Management
iller Projects
General
!ew Project "pplication
Coming #oon$
OAUG Business
"tl%O"U& #tructure
'ar( )*
st
"genda
+ighlights, -une ).
th
"genda
Coordinator/s Corner
From the Editor
Dear Atlanta-OAUG Members,
Welcome to this second newsletter of the year. We have a variety of
articles in this edition, including news about ucoming roduct and
concluding art of the i!"enses series. We hoe that you will #nd
these interesting and useful. We loo$ forward to more contributions
from you.
%incerely,
%atya$anth &satyakanth@bosscorporation.com)
Coordinators Corner
Volunteer Opportunities 2003
%ea$ers to give '(-)* minute main resentations.
+acilitators to lead the informal brea$out sessions.
Remaining 2003 Meeting Dates
Mar ,-, .un ,*, Aug -(, Oct -/ and 0ov ,-.
Deadline for contributions to June newsletter - May 2
1redit is given to all contributors.
%ubmit in a Word document attached to an email.
2ength 3 , 3 ) aragrahs. Ma"imum 3 '** words.
Brenda Carlton0 "tl%O"U& Coordinator0 1carlton2sprynet(com
Functional
Oracle Projects and Inventory
Oracle 4ro5ects and Oracle 6nventory
integration has been in roduction since
7elease -- and can be used in either a
manufacturing or non-manufacturing
environment where inventory is ordered or
issued to ro5ects. 8ene#ts from integrating
inventory with ro5ects includes9
:rac$ inventory costs on ro5ects by the
use of e"enditure tyes
6ssue items to ro5ects as needed and
return unused items bac$ into inventory
Ad5ust inventory transactions as you
ad5ust other transaction tyes ie.
transfers between ro5ects and tas$s
Manage and trac$ costs for both ro5ect
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
related and non-ro5ect related inventory
simultaneously in the same lant or
warehouse
:here are two basic rocess aroaches in
which to use the integration
-. 4urchase items to store in general
inventory and issue to a ro5ect when
consumed
,. 4urchase items for a articular ro5ect,
store in inventory using 4ro5ect
Manufacturing
6n scenario - items are not associated with a
ro5ect at the time of urchase so no ro5ect
number is entered on the urchase order,
invoice or inventory receit. :he cost is
associated with a ro5ect when the items are
issued out of the warehouse to the ro5ect.
:his romotes sharing of inventory and
imroved inventory turnover because the
inventory can be used by whichever ro5ect
needs the items #rst. 6t discourages
;hoarding< inventory for a ro5ect that may or
may not need it.
6n scenario , items are associated with a
seci#c ro5ect at the time of urchase.
When the items are received into inventory,
the cost moves from a commitment to an
actual cost. :he warehouse needs the ability
to identify the inventory by ro5ect uon
receit of the inventory and is bene#cial in an
environment where most ro5ects use
di=erent inventory items or the environment
of the comany ma$es lanning for inventory
across all ro5ects di>cult.
6n either scenario, the tas$s for sending
transactions to 4ro5ects are basically the
same. When an item is received into
inventory, a cost is associated with the item
based on the current average unit cost of the
item. :ransferring costs to Oracle 4ro5ects is a
two ste rocess9
7un the 1ost 1ollection Manager?4ro5ect
1ost :ransfer rocess in 6nventory to
collect the cost and send it to the interface
table
7un the :ransaction 6mort rocess in
4ro5ects to ull transactions from the
interface table into Oracle 4ro5ects.
6nventory?1ost Management 1on#guration
2aunch 1ost Manager 6nterface Manager
!nable ro5ect reference and cost
collection in the organi@ation arameter
setus
De#ne ro5ect-related transaction reasons
and tyes
De#ne ro5ect seci#c stoc$ locators if
inventory is stored by ro5ect
4ro5ects 1on#guration
!nable an inventory e"enditure tye
class for every e"enditure tye that may
be used in an 6nventory to 4ro5ects issue
transaction
De#ne AutoAccounting for inventory
revenue and costing since for ad5ustments
made to inventory transactions in Oracle
4ro5ects
:o bill customers for inventory
transactions, the inventory transaction
must be added to the non-labor bill rate
schedules
2imitations of the 4ro5ects?6nventory
integration9
Average costing of inventory must be used
All Oracle 6nventory to Oracle 4ro5ects
transactions must have a cost associated
with the transaction &e"amle9 minimum .
*-A
Does not suort seriali@ed inventory
transfer
2imited standard data validation between
the two modules, e.g., no validation
tas$?e"enditure tye?asset account
combination
4ro5ects autoaccounting and account
generator are not used in inventory. :he
full account combination must be
manually $eyed or an account alias must
be used. :he account alias list can grow
Buite large. 6nventory sends the
transactions to the G2 and interfaces
transactions to 4ro5ects as already costed
and accounted. 0ote9 although an Oracle
4ro5ects AutoAccounting rule assignment
called C6nventoryC is available, it can only
be used for imorting data from a third-
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page 2 o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
arty system, not from Oracle 6nventory.
2imited reorting on transferred
transactions
:he full version of this aer, 6ntegrating
Oracle 6nventory and 4ro5ects9 :he Good and
the ;Gotchas<, is available by contacting one
of the authors.
Tammy Mackert
Oracle Projects and Financials Expertise
t_mackert@csfconsltin!.com
"#$%&'"%()*"
+arla ,ordon
Oracle -pply +hain and Financials Expertise
cl!@sorcec!.com
##.%(/&%$""$
Understanding your Customer with the
eBusiness Center
Dou can robably list do@ens of ways in which
your customers regularly interact with eole
within your comany. :hese interactions
serve as imortant oortunities to hel
manage the account relationshi, erhas
strengthening an already strong relationshi
or reairing a strained one. :he di>culty is
$nowing how well the customer is doing in
various areas of the business, allowing you to
be more roactive in dealing with the
customer, ma"imi@ing each interaction that
occurs. Eas the customer been delinBuent on
their aymentsF Do they seem to have a
growing number of unresolved service callsF
Are their service contracts about to e"ireF
:here are many factors that come into lay
when considering how we should be
interacting with our customers, if only we
could have a broader view, with access to
user con#gured information, accessible in a
centrali@ed mannerG..
OracleHs e8usiness 1enter &e81A rovides
businesses with the tool to do this. 6t is
designed to integrate directly with OracleHs
sales, service and #nancial modules, roviding
summari@ed information that is tied to a
central source. 6t is designed so that user
con#gured information can be tailored
seci#cally to your organi@ationHs needs
through setus and various con#guration
otions, eliminating the need for comlicated
customi@ations. 6t is designed to rovide you
the ability to obtain that broader view of the
customer, all within a few clic$s of your
mouse.
:he e8usiness 1enter belongs to the :elesales
module within the As, but to consider it as
urely a sales tool would be undermining
much of its caability. :hrough a combination
of radio buttons and folder tabs, you have
Buic$ and easy access to the information that
is closely tied to your business needs. :his
rovides an easy way of toggling customer
and contact information as you interact with
customers and attemt to gain a better ro#le
of them.
+or initial set u, you de#ne a IartyH either as
an organi@ation or erson and otionally
de#ne relationshis between these arties.
+rom here, you build an integrated summary
of $ey related data. +or e"amle, one
available I:A8H in the e81 is the IDashboardH
tab. Eere, $ey business indicators, with drill
down caabilities, can be de#ned. !"amles
of $ey business indicators can be oen order
statistics, level of boo$ed orders and A7
aging. :hese indicators can be set u using
Oracle seeded data elements or by
develoing custom %J2 and loading it using a
standard Oracle setu form. &4rotKgKHs
e"erience shows that most businesses have
such seci#c reBuirements that you may use
only a coule of the Oracle seeded indicators
and de#ne the ma5ority of them yourself.A
:he e81 has roven to be an e=ective tool in
accessing and organi@ing imortant customer
information. 4rotKgK has found that it is a
very valuable tool enabling the understanding
of the relationshis between you, your
customers, and third arty distributors. 4ast
4rotege clients have used the e81 with their
third arty distributors to show the
distributorHs contribution to their comanyHs
business. Our call center clients are now
getting access to customer information easily,
Buic$ly and in a real time manner.
Gathering, organi@ing and resenting all of
this data as useful information in a fast aced
environment can be a daunting tas$. :he
e8usiness 1enter is an e"cellent tool that will
hel your business to successfully comlete it.
-cott Fit0!erald
Prot1!1 -oft2are -er3ices4 5nc.
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page 3 o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page # o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
Technical
Oracle Internet Exenses !OIE"
!ustom"!lient #$tensions
We have seen the functional side of O6! and
comarisons between 1redit 1ard and
4rocurement 1ard in the ast two newsletters.
:he most signi#cant debate 6 notice while
wor$ing with clients is whether what weHre
trying to do is a customi@ation, con#guration
or an e"tensionL According to O6!
6mlementation Guide, ;:he client e"tension
rocedures you write to imlement your
business rules e"tend the functionality of O6!<
and are not customi@ationsL
:o imlement custom e"tensions, you will
identify default rocedures, and modify them
to suit your business rules. Dou do this by
using e"isting rocedure seci#cations and
writing your own code in the rocedure body.
Default %rocedures &'%(D)!)*+%,-.
:his #le contains the default ac$age
A4MW!8M1U%:MD+2!NM4OG. :his ac$age
contains the following #ve default rocedures9
Default 1ost 1enter 4rocedure
&!ustomDefault!ost!enterA9 O6!, by
default, ic$s u 1ost 1enter from
D!+AU2:M1OD!M1OM860A:6O0M6D of E7
!mloyee view. 6nstead, weHve used this
rocedure to ic$ u 1ost 1enter from
4ayroll 1ost 6nformation. Dou should decide
where and how you want to derive this
information, then translate it into 42?%J2
and ut it in this rocedure.
1ost center validation 4rocedure
&!ustsomValidate!ost!enterA9 O6!, by
default, validates that the 1ost 1enter is a
valid value in your 1OA. :his rocedure
allows you to write additional validations
for 1ost 1enter. Dou must return a value
:7U! or +A2%! to indicate whether the
validation has assed or failed. Dou can
otionally ass an error message to
relace the standard error message.
1alculate Amount 4rocedure
&!ustom!alculate'mountA9 De#ne a
conte"t sensitive D++ and assign your D++
to an !"ense :ye. When this !"ense
:ye is selected, the D++ os u. :he
value entered in the D++ forms the basis
for your calculation. WeHve used this to
calculate amount for mileage, based on
miles entered and standard rate used at
the client comany.
+le"#eld Palidation 4rocedure
&!ustomValidateD)le$ValueA9 WeHve
used conte"t sensitive D++ in the ;1ustom
1alculate Amount< rocedure. :his
rocedure allows you to validate values
entered in the D++. :his same rocedure is
called both when validating D++ and
validating !"ense 7eort line. We can
therefore de#ne validations deendant on
other values.
2ine Palidation 4rocedure
&!ustomValidate,ineA9 :his rocedure
allows you to de#ne validations for
!"ense 7eort lines. 6f you need to do
multile chec$s and cross validations, this
is the right rocedure to use. :his
rocedure allows you to enforce comle"
business rules for seci#c !"ense :yes.
:his also mandates #eld entry
reBuirements according to your business
olicies.
(or/0ow #$tensions &'%(1()!*+%,-.
:his #le contains the default ac$age
A4MW!8M!N4!0%!M1U%:MW+. :his ac$age
contains default rocedures for the following
wor$Qow activities9
Management 6nvolvement 4rocedure
&DetermineMgr2n3ol3ementA9 !"ense
7eorts, by default, reBuire Manager
Aroval Dou can customi@e this in several
ways by writing your own code into this
rocedure. :he rocedure has default
rules which are commented, and can be
enabled. Dou can do several other things
yourself9 0o manager aroval, Modify
default rules limitsR 8uilding new manager
aroval rules or Automatic aroval &or
re5ectionA for certain conditions.
Authority Peri#cation 4rocedure
&Verify'ut4orityA9 Perify Authority
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page $ o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
activity, by default, validates managerHs
aroval authority based on the cost
center and the signing limits assigned in
4ayables. Dou can write your own code to
enforce the business rules in your
organi@ation.
Accounts 4ayable 6nvolvement 4rocedure
&!ustomValidate#$penseReportA9
!"ense reorts, by default, reBuire A4
aroval where any of the lines reBuire
5usti#cation or receits. :hese
reBuirements are determined by your
!"ense 7eorts :emlate setu. Write
your own code to enforce the business
rules for your organi@ation.
+ind Arover 4rocedure &)ind'ppro3erA9
+ind Arover activity, by default, loo$s for
the arover &and subseBuent arovers
where necessaryA based on the
;%uervisor< assignment in E7M%
!mloyee records. %ubseBuent arovers
are necessary where the #rst arover
&suervisorA doesnHt have aroval
authority based on signing limits. We
modi#ed the business rules via a osition
hierarchy to drive the arover chain
instead of using emloyee-suervisor
assignment in E7.
-atyakanth
-atyakanth@bosscorporation.com
Project #anagement
$iller Projects
This is the frst of a two-part series on
How to survive a Killer Project. In this
frst part, Lourdes odfre!, and
independent project "ana#e"ent
consultant with over $% !ears &'P
project e(perience, descri)es How to
reco#ni*e a Killer Project. Part Two,
co"in# out in our ne(t newsletter she
discusses how to ta"e the Killer Project.
;Oiller 4ro5ects< - any consultant and some
users have e"erienced one. WeHve all heard
of them. Dou $now, theyHre the ones where no
one is hay, not the vendor, the consultants,
the client, nor the users. !veryone is wor$ing
long hard hours, and nothing seems to ma$e
anyone hay. :he ro5ect is at ris$ of coming
in late and?or over budget, or worse yet, being
cancelled. !veryone as$s himself or herself
;Eow did we get into this messF 6t seemed
li$e such a cool ro5ect when we got started,
where did it go wrongF<
With statistics showing that (*S of !74
imlementation ro5ects being cancelled, and
of those that do get comleted, about T*S do
not meet their stated ob5ectives, it is no
wonder we have all either been involved in
one of these or at least heard about one. 6 too
have had my share of e"erience with ;$iller
ro5ects< and have learned how to recogni@e
the warning signs. More imortantly, 6 have
learned how to address the warning signs and
avert, or at least minimi@e the devastating
imact of them. :he costs of not doing so are
too high9
low emloyee morale &from a comany
and consultant ersectiveA
turnover and the loss of e"erienced
resources
higher ro5ect costs
high ris$ of imlementation errors due to a
number of factors, not the least of which
may be the result of being overwor$ed
missed ro5ect deadlines
if you are a consultant or vendor, loss of a
reference from the client
ine>cient use of the software resulting in
not meeting stated ob5ectives
5ow to recogni6e a 78iller
%ro9ect:
:he #rst thing you need to learn about
surviving a Oiller 4ro5ect is learning how to
recogni@e one from the outset, as well as how
to recogni@e when a good ro5ect is turning
into a Oiller 4ro5ect. Obviously, if you are a
consultant, and you sense a ro5ect is going to
be a Oiller, you always have the otion of
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page % o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
wal$ing away from it. :hat is often easier said
than done. :he need to $ee sta= occuied
and ;billable< often overshadows the ris$s at
the outset. And, if you wor$ for the client, you
may not have the otion of wal$ing away from
itR this ro5ect is being done to youL
6Hve listed below some of the $ey warning
signs or symtoms of Oiller 4ro5ects. Any one
of these in the e"treme has the otential of
ma$ing a ro5ect a $iller. On the other hand,
many successful ro5ects have at least one of
these symtoms resent at one oint or
another and do not turn into Oiller 4ro5ects.
Eowever, the resence of more than , or ' of
these symtoms is the sure-#re ma$ing of a
Oiller 4ro5ect.
2ac$ of uer level e"ecutive suort. 6f,
at the to level of management, there is
no recognition of the imact of the !74
imlementation to the comany, and no
commitment to ensuring the success of
the ro5ect, there is a high robability that
the ro5ect will not get the resources it
needs to succeed. :hose resources may
be eole, time, and?or money.
Unrealistic e"ectations of imlementation
time and?or cost. 6f the business case to
imlement new systems used unrealistic
imlementation timeframes and or costs,
the ro5ect will be hamstrung from the
beginning. +reBuently, client managers
reali@e this after the ro5ect has started or
after the business case has been
aroved, and is afraid of ;going bac$ to
the well< for more time and?or money.
0ot enough dedicated client resources.
1urrent sta= is already stretched thin, and
will be as$ed to wor$ on the !74
imlementation as well. 0o bac$#ll
resources have been budgeted.
7esistance to change. 1lient sta= does
not want to change their rocesses to
adat to a new system, or are afraid of
comuters and comuter systems.
8elieve it or not, there are still some
eole out there li$e thatL
Decision ma$ing delays. 6f ro5ect
resources are not emowered to ma$e $ey
design and imlementation decisions, the
decisions will need to be escalated to
e"ecutive management. :his one is
esecially dangerous if it is also combined
with symtom U-. Eaving to escalate
decisions almost always induces delays. 6f
ro5ect resources A7! emowered, but do
not act Buic$ly enough to ma$e decisions,
it can have the same e=ect.
2ac$ of strong ro5ect management. Any
ro5ect manager can develo a good
ro5ect lan, but the s$ills necessary to
stic$ to the lan and ad5ust the lan as
necessary so it becomes a useful tool is
critical to staying on trac$. DouHve heard
the hrase ;failing to lan is lanning to
fail.< :his is true. Eowever, a lan is a
living and breathing thing. Once the lan
is develoed, it must be maintained with
actual hours, udated estimates, new
tas$s etc. Otherwise, it is di>cult to
identify when imlementation timeframes
may be missed and rioriti@e tas$s and
resources accordingly.
2ac$ of $nowledgeable resources. !ver
tried imlementing a ayroll system
without a ayroll manager or any ayroll
sta=F 6 had a ro5ect where this was the
case. 6t was a sin o= of another
cororation, who had outsourced the
entire ayroll function. 0eedless to say,
we lac$ed $nowledgeable ayroll users
and leadershi. :hese resources had to
be hired, and once they were, they had to
imlement a new system at the same time
they were learning the olicies,
rocedures and becoming familiar with
their data. Another time, 6 was involved in
a ro5ect where the vendor assigned a
;roo$ie< business analyst to wor$ solo to
assist a client with a comle" design
situation on a new comletely redesigned
version of their roduct. &:he vendor was
0O: Oracle.A 8oth of these situations are
high ris$. Eaving resources that are
intimately familiar with the comaniesH
data, rocesses, olicies, rocedures, and
reBuirements are $ey to the success of the
imlementation. Also, having consultant
resources that are intimately familiar with
the functionality of the software that can
hel the client translate their reBuirements
into the aroriate con#guration otions
and associated system design and new
rocedures is 5ust as imortant.
Any of the symtoms above resent a ris$ to
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page 7 o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
a ro5ect, and should be addressed as Buic$ly
as ossible. 4lease 5oin me ne"t month to
read my suggestions on how to :ame the
Oiller 4ro5ectL
6ordes ,odfrey is an independent consltant
2ith o3er &. years of experience 2ith a 2ide
3ariety of applications incldin! Oracle. 7er
specialty is project mana!ement. -he can be
contacted at 8(.() /)&%$""$ or 3ia e%mail at
!od!reyhose@mindsprin!.com
%eneral
&ew Project 'lication Coming (oon)
Many comanies have the need to collaborate
on ro5ects with both internal and e"ternal
arties. Oracle 4ro5ects was designed for
internal use only and really for ower users.
Oracle 4ro5ect 1ollaboration is a new
alication that comlements and integrates
with Oracle 4ro5ects. Oracle 4ro5ect
1ollaboration is lanned to be released very
soon as art of 7elease --.(.V.
Oracle 4ro5ect 1ollaboration addresses the
need for a friendly E:M2 self-service user
interface, wor$ lan management, rogress
trac$ing, wor$Qow driven noti#cation and
aroval rocesses, security down to the
ob5ect level &eole, tas$s, documents, issues,
change reBuests, change ordersA, document
management, tailorable ro5ect status
reorts, issue and change management, etc.
6ncreased seciali@ation, virtual teams, global
mar$eting, and ressure to comlete ro5ects
faster, cheaer and with better Buality have
driven the need for collaborative ro5ect
management. 6tHs about more timely and
accurate communication.
6f you would li$e this toic to be addressed in
more detail at a future meeting, lease let us
$now.
9y: 9ill O;+onnor4 Oracle -ales +onsltant
O'U% Business
'tl*O'U% (tructure
%osition %erson #mail address
1oordinator 8renda 1arlton, 1onsultant bcarltonWsrynet.com
Web %erver X 6nternet %ervices David 7incon, :he D8A
Grou, 221
drinconWdbagrou.net
Web Mistress Mary 2ou Weiss, %olution
8eacon
mweissWsolutionbeacon.com
0ewsletter !ditors %atya$anth Abbara5u, 8O%%
1or
!ri$ %hin, %ageWise Grou
satya$anthWbosscororation.co
m
eshinWsagewisegrou.com
:echnical %ession 1oordinator !ri$ %hin, %ageWise Grou,
6nc
eshinWsagewisegrou.com
Oracle %ales 1onsultant
%uort
1raig Mi$us, Oracle craig.mi$usWoracle.com
#ar+ ,-
st
'genda
8:30 12:00
Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page & o! "
Atl-OAUG, tips and techniues
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'genda
4resentation U- - !onduct #lectronic Re3erse 'uctions"R)?@s (it4 Oracle -ourcing
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4lus four 6nformal 8rea$out %essions. 1hec$ www.atloaug.org for udates.
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Volume 7 -2, Mar-2003, Page " o! "