XML and Oracle 11.5.

10 CU2
Getting more out of your applications (without that much more work)

Erik Ives
Utility Financials Consulting

Erik Ives Background

 

Working with Oracle applications since 10.5 in 1994 Functional and Technical with experience in both Finance and Supply Chain Applications Based in Indianapolis, the Crossroads of America

XML in Oracle Applications

 

Its not just for techies anymore What can XML do for me?

Customized Reports with XML Publisher (BI Publisher?)

  

Purchase Orders, emailed via PDF Check Printing Numerous Other Reports

Automatic Document transmission or processing

XML Publisher Easy PO Example



Simplest case, takes fifteen minutes to perform, involves utilizing the delivered XML PO PDF Template and adding a logo and signature Can meet basic PO requirements out of the box

Easy PO Example


Load gif files of logo image and signatures to $OA_MEDIA directory Copy existing Standard Purchase Order Stylesheet in XML Publisher Download XSL file

Easy PO Example

Easy PO Example


Modify XSL code to reference logo:

- <!--

Code for displaying the image at top left corner in the first page. For displaying the company logo, uncomment the fo:inline tag and specify the image location. --> - <fo:inline> <fo:external-graphic content-width="310pt" content-height="115pt" src="url('http://miofay.midwestiso.org:8000/OA_MEDIA/miso.gif')" /> </fo:inline>

Easy PO Example


Modify XSL code to reference signature

- <fo:table-row> -<fo:table-cell number-columns-spanned="8" xsl:use-attribute-sets="table.cell2"> -<fo:block xsl:use-attribute-sets="form_data"> -<fo:inline> <!-- Added by Erik Ives to include signature line --> <fo:external-graphic content-width="180pt" content-height="30pt" src="url('http://miofay.midwestiso.org:8000/OA_MEDIA/MSmithsign.gif')" /> </fo:inline> </fo:block> </fo:table-cell> </fo:table-row>

Easy PO Example
 

Upload XSL Stylesheet to new template Change Standard Purchase Order document type to reference new template

Easy PO Example Finished Product

Caveats Lessons Learned

 

Can very quickly create a PDF PO Utilizes Oracle default format, which is not very graphically appealing, may differ from preferred current format Most flexible, accounts for various permutations of POs (split distributions, shipments, etc.)

XML Publisher More Challenging Example

 

Creating an entirely custom PO Necessary when default template isnt acceptable Utilize XML Publisher Desktop (formerly XML Template Builder) patch 5887917

Get Ready


 

Download sample XML Output from XML Publisher Data Definition Create a new MS Word Document Load Sample XML Data into Template Builder Begin Construction Purchase Order

Add Fields to Layout by Dragging

Develop Full Purchase Order

Save and Upload to Oracle

  

 

Save Template as RTF file Create new XML Publisher Template Change Document Type Layout on Purchasing Document Type definition to newly created Template Change default PO Output Format to PDF Set a Vendor to utilize PDF Output

Create XML Publisher Template

Modify Purchase Order Document Type

Change Default PO Output Format

Enable Vendor to Use PDF via Email

Caveats Lessons Learned



Text Attachments are included in the delivered sample output only for the header level. I had to modify the sample output to include line attachments in order to use them. You may find other fields missing as well. Default date outputs included time and I could not see how to modify a date format within the Template Builder tool. To correct this, I saved the document not as an RTF but as an XSL-FO Stylesheet (Template Builder/Tools/Export/XSL-FO Stylesheet) and modified the XSL code, e.g

<xsl:value-of select=" .//CREATION_DATE" xdofo:fieldname="CREATION_DATE"/> Changed to <xsl:value-of select="substring(.//CREATION_DATE,1,11)" xdofo:fieldname="CREATION_DATE"/>

Same principles can be used to modify many concurrent request Outputs



See metalink note 364547.1 for more information on modifying report output. See metalink note 312353.1 for information on generating PDF check image files out of Oracle Payables (MICR-encoding included!)

XML PO Transmission
 

Automated means of transmitting a PO Can be used in combination with autosourcing and a Contract PO to automatically transmit punchout purchases

XML Gateway Document Transmission



XML Gateway comes with the E-Business Suite unlike EDI, there is no additional licensing impact Many XML Documents are provided for Input and Output, but some may require customization

Setting up XML Gateway



Add Training Partner in XML Gateway

Add Training Partner in XML Gateway



Trading Partner (Staples, Officemax, etc) will provide connection details

Configure Code Conversion

No Setup Required for Vendor

Monitor Transaction


Transaction Monitor in Oracle Applications Manager

Review Transaction Details

Additional Transaction Details



Click on View XML to see XML Document

View XML Document

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1' standalone = 'no'?> <!-- Oracle eXtensible Markup Language Gateway Server --> <!DOCTYPE cXML SYSTEM "cXML.dtd"> <cXML version="1.2.007" payloadID="1" timestamp="sysdate" xml:lang="en"> <Header> <From> <Credential domain="NetworkID"> <Identity>midwestpunch</Identity> </Credential> </From> <To> <Credential domain="DUNS"> <Identity>606788404</Identity> </Credential> </To> <Sender> <Credential domain="NetworkID"> <Identity>midwestpunch</Identity> <SharedSecret>#WF_DECRYPT#_!08696+(!60)90!486!(448#+0+)4!!!)068409`|$9B&}&+}$+@%|}+#WF_DECRYPT#</SharedSecret> </Credential> <UserAgent>Oracle E-Business Suite Oracle Purchasing 11.5.9</UserAgent> </Sender> </Header> <Request deploymentMode="production"> <OrderRequest> <OrderRequestHeader orderID="3502" orderDate="2007-09-04T01:13:02-05:00" orderType="regular" type="new"> <Total> <Money currency="USD">94.37</Money> </Total> <BillTo> <Address isoCountryCode="US"> <Name xml:lang="en">MISO Organization Unit</Name> <PostalAddress> <DeliverTo/> <Street>Midwest ISO701 City Center Drive</Street> <City>Carmel</City> <State>IN</State> <PostalCode>46032</PostalCode> <Country isoCountryCode="US">US</Country

Caveats Lessons Learned



cXML is more popular than OAG XML, though less flexible for Oracle (i.e. DFFs are not included in cXML documents) Standard Documents arent so standard Vendor may have to customize to import your data

Other XML Gateway Docs Available

   

Payments Outbound Payment Advice Outbound AP Invoice Inbound AR Invoice Outbound

Most docs will likely involve some customization or enhancement Oracle Message Designer can be used to develop maps and translations

Summary


XML Can be used in various ways

PDF Output Document Transmission Custom format report development

Some benefits of XML can be seen very quickly

Thank You For Listening

Erik Ives Utility Financials Consulting Erik.Ives@UFConsulting.com 617-510-2731