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August 14 – September 11, 2019
2020 Director Elections:
September 18 – October 16, 2019
For more info visit:
oatug.org/ELECTION
President’s Perspective
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
Douglas Manning
OATUG President
We are in an industry that is continually transforming. In fact, between my first and final draft of this column, Oracle announced a Continuous Innovation model for Hyperion EPM, as well.
For a lot of us, Continuous Innovation was and has been music to our ears. We have an application platform version in 12.2 that allows us to more quickly take advantage of product enhancements, through the adoption and consumption of enhanced functionality through smaller point versions (typically happening on a yearly basis) where the base code does not change, thus negating in most instances the herculean task of re-writing custom components.
3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five,
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phone: +1 404.240.0897, fax: +1 404.240.0998
email: membership@oatug.com
Ragan Cohn, Executive Director
Cindy Force, Managing Editor
Dimitri Papadimitriou, Creative Director
To contribute to OATUG Insight, send letters to the editor, or obtain advertising information, contact:
Cindy Force, Director, Marketing Communications
3525 Piedmont Road, Building Five,
Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305
cforce@oatug.com
Photographs appearing throughout OATUG Insight courtesy of Meeting Expectations.
OATUG Insight is designed to provide members of the Oracle Applications & Technology Users Group with organizational and other information. The opinions and viewpoints published herein are not necessarily those of OATUG. OATUG, its article writers, directors, officers, employees, agents, and members and Oracle Corp. make no warranty for the accuracy, veracity, or completeness of any information herein, nor do they have any responsibility or liability for any losses or damages incurred as a result of reliance on any information provided herein or from the use of any program or program segment discussed herein. OATUG assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear herein. The information published herein is subject to change without notice. Acceptance of advertising is for the benefit and information of the membership but does not constitute official endorsement of the product or service by OATUG.
Copyright © Oracle Applications & Technology Users Group 2019. All rights reserved. OATUG is a registered trademark of the Oracle Applications & Technology Users Group. Oracle and Oracle Applications are trademarks of Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif. Any other trademark cited herein is the property of its owner. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without the prior written consent of OATUG.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
The electronic version of OATUG Insight magazine is available to all members. Contact membership@oatug.org or +1 404.240.0897 with questions about your subscription options.
First row, seated: Andrew Farber, Sharhonda Rush, Karen Brownfield, Douglas Manning, Beth McLaughlin, Felecia Alston-Green, Donna Rosentrater.
Second row, standing: Ragan Cohn, Alyssa Johnson, Troy Haan, Kathleen Fauerbach, Joseph Imbimbo, Jason Watkins, Dianne DeNezza, Tamicka Camp.
Douglas Manning
President
Johns Hopkins University –
Applied Physics Laboratory
Kathleen Fauerbach
President-Elect
City of Las Vegas
Andrew Farber
Treasurer
Consumer Reports
Beth McLaughlin
Secretary
Dunkin’ Brands, Inc.
Ragan Cohn
Executive Director
Felecia Alston-Green
DeKalb County Government
Karen Brownfield
Infosemantics, Inc.
Tamicka Camp
Southern Company Services, Inc.
Dianne DeNezza
University of Pittsburgh
Troy Haan
Boise State University
Joseph Imbimbo
PPG Industries
Alyssa Johnson
Keste
Donna Rosentrater
PAREXEL International Corp.
Sharhonda Rush
Jacksonville Transportation Authority
Jason Watkins
Hillsborough County Aviation Authority
12
Using ORAchk and DBSAT on EBS Environments
Lightweight and non-intrusive Oracle Stack health checks are designed for automated risk identification and proactive notification.
By BIJU THOMAS, ONENECK
16
Journey to Cloud – Important Considerations for Oracle EPM Reporting
COMPLIMENTARY FULL ARTICLE
When moving from on-prem to cloud, there are some gotchas along the way. The author provides tips to help you avoid those stumbling blocks.
By OPAL ALAPAT, INTERREL
23
Robotic Process Automation for Cash Reconciliation in General Ledger and Cash Management
Users in accounting, customer service and shipping departments perform repetitive tasks every day that showed potential for greater efficiency through Robotic Process Automation.
By ASHWIN BODALIA, ELKAY MANUFACTURING
28
Saving Time and Money – A Common Problem Solved by Spreadsheet Integration
Using an Excel-based tool improved the user experience, reduced errors and costs, and expedited a process.
By TONY MASHINOT, TOYOTA BOSHOKU AMERICA
Oatug Star
Partners (List updated as of press time.)
Oatug Star
Partners
(List updated as of press time.)
Five-Star
Four-Star
FEATURES Fall 2019
FEATURES – TECH TALK Fall 2019
FEATURES Fall 2019
Oracle EPM Reporting
FEATURES Fall 2019
Oracle EPM Reporting
FEATURES Fall 2019
Oracle EPM Reporting
For those of you unfamiliar with EPM, to put it simply, EPM focuses on the ecosphere of processes and technologies that relate to enterprise-wide strategies, budgeting, and forecasting to support those strategies, the financial health of the organization overall, managing the financials, and monitoring operational effectiveness.
Are Your Spreadsheets Creating Risky Business?
INSIGHTSOFTWARE
Spreadsheets are probably the most ubiquitous business tool, due largely in part to their simplicity and universality. Microsoft Excel retains its popularity because it offers users the features they want in an interface they understand.
But as spreadsheets increase in use for critical business applications, they also create bigger risks and consequences due to those risks. General consensus is that up to 90 percent of all spreadsheets contain errors. These mistakes could be as small as a single mis-keyed number, but could bear expensive consequences: JPMorgan, for example, lost $6B due to a simple cut-and-paste mistake.
Compliance is another area of concern. With spreadsheets now regulated by the EU’s 2018 GDPR rule, users must monitor how documents are shared in order to maintain confidentiality and minimize the risk of a data breach.
Experts agree that spreadsheets are too useful and too entrenched to be replaced anytime soon. They also agree that as spreadsheet usage increases, risk proportionally increases as well. Ensuring that this mission-critical business tool remains an asset requires a stringent process for development and usage.
FEATURES Fall 2019
FEATURES Fall 2019
Elkay was started by visionary Leopold Katz and his son Louis on the north side of Chicago, with the goal of manufacturing the highest-quality sinks while providing exceptional service to customers. Today, Elkay is a leader in the development of stainless-steel sinks and water delivery products, like the company’s award winning ezH2O Bottle Filling station, with new, innovative products coming to market every year.
Independent Software Vendors Can Bring Oracle ERPs to Life
David Wright, Global Pre-Sales Manager, More4Apps
Oracle EBS is a great piece of software; it supports many business functions and is easy to tweak and change. Over the years, Oracle has provided multiple updates to the EBS user interface. From the original character-based telnet forms, GUI client/server forms through to using Java and HTML forms. They’ve even provided some nice ways to personalize the user interface to help build a more personalized user experience. But these only go so far.
ERP systems can be augmented further with integration solutions by independent software vendors (ISVs), bringing accelerated performance to these large and sometimes cumbersome business tools. ISVs are a key to any software ecosystem. There are a number of major benefits provided by ISVs.
FEATURES Fall 2019
CONFERENCES & EVENTS Fall 2019
OATUG members will be leading educational and networking sessions to represent the areas of interest and success stories of Oracle Applications and Technology users during Oracle OpenWorld 2019. Browse the Session Catalog and enter the Session ID numbers from the list below in the keyword search to locate specific sessions.
Monday, September 16, 09:00 AM – 09:45 AM
Kirby Lunger, Partner, Performance Architects, Inc.
Doug Ross, Manager, Performance Architects, Inc.
Dianne DeNezza, Director, University of Pittsburgh
Tuesday, September 17, 12:30 PM – 01:15 PM
Tejas Patel, Technical Architect, Applications Software Technology Llc
Harsh Dave, Principal Consultant, Applications Software Technology Llc
Monday, September 16, 09:00 AM – 09:45 AM
Kirby Lunger, Partner, Performance Architects, Inc.
Doug Ross, Manager, Performance Architects, Inc.
Dianne DeNezza, Director, University of Pittsburgh
Tuesday, September 17, 12:30 PM – 01:15 PM
Tejas Patel, Technical Architect, Applications Software Technology Llc
Harsh Dave, Principal Consultant, Applications Software Technology Llc
MEMBERS’ CORNER Fall 2019
It’s official, the OAUG is now the OATUG. We are extremely excited about this change and the new opportunities this creates for the User Community. We’ve highlighted a couple of changes below that you will soon see in the User Community.
Have you checked out the new OATUG website? It houses a plethora of information that will help you quickly access answers to your burning questions. We highly encourage you to join a virtual community and get involved in current discussions in The Hub or start a new discussion. Members can connect in The Hub online, anytime. Additional communities will be created in the coming months!
MEMBERS’ CORNER Summer 2019
Our New Online Community.
New online communities in The Hub make it easier than ever to connect year-round with experts and peers. Join conversations in these communities:
- Applications
- BI & Analytics
- DB & DevOps
- COLLABORATE 19
Ask questions. Find answers.
Share your knowledge and experience.
Connect in The Hub at
www.oatug.org/TheHub