There are a number of applications within Oracle EBS that have deviated from utilizing the standard BI Publisher EBS integration.  These applications are not misguided in their implementation, they just utilize BI Publisher differently for their own needs.  Here we will discuss one such deviation, Advanced Collections, in an effort to assist others in the setup and the use of BI Publisher.

Advanced Collections

Prior to 11.5.10 patch 11iEX.H rollup 4, the One-To-One Fulfillment server was used to deliver collections-related correspondence to customers.  Commencing with 11.5.10 patch 11iEX.H rollup 4 and continuing into R12, the Oracle One-To-One Fulfillment server has been phased out in favor of BI Publisher.

Layout Templates and XML Data

Layout Templates for Advanced Collections are managed with standard XML Publisher Administrator functionality, however XML data is not generated with Oracle Reports or Data Templates.  XML generation is done with individual queries that are setup in Advanced Collections and then associated with a template.  To add or edit a seeded query, as Collections Administrator, navigate to Administration->Manage Templates Query.  This form will allow you to query and then add new queries to be associated with a template.

 
Figure 23: Manage Templates Query

Figure 24: Update Query Template

To associate a Collections Document type with a template/query pair, as Collections Administrator, navigate to Setup Checklist->Set Up Correspondence->Confirmation Letter Template.  This screen sets the template that will be used when generating the specific document type.

Figure 25: Assign Template to Document Type

Because Advanced Collections does not utilize Data Templates or Oracle Reports to generate XML, a dummy Data Definition is seeded with the product for all Collections Templates as a Data Definition is a required field when adding a new template.

Figure 26: Collections Data Definition

Generation of Final Output and Delivery

Collection notices in general are meant to be delivered, either by printing and stuffing into an envelope or by email or fax.  This delivery is accomplished in Advanced Collections using the Collections form (logged in as the Collections Agent responsibility).  Query the collections information by customer or contact name and then navigate to the Transaction tab.

Figure 27: Collections -> Transaction Details

Click on the Transaction Detail button and a new screen will be invoked that has a ‘Send Copy’ button included.

Figure 28: Collections -> Send Copy Button

Depending on configuration the following form that allows for the entry of a print, fax and email destination will be displayed and the user can address the document.

 
Figure 29: Send Copy Form

Upon clicking Send, a Java based concurrent program is run to execute the appropriate query for the document type to generate the XML and then apply the layout template associated with the query.  This process bypasses the normal XML generation and Layout Template application processes of the standard BI Publisher integration.

In order to deliver the documents to the user defined recipients, the BI Publisher Delivery Manager is invoked by the aforementioned Java program.  The delivery server parameters are determined in one of two ways.

The first and most straightforward method is via the definition Collections Administrator -> Setup Checklist -> Correspondence page where there is a form to fill in the Email Host, Email From Address, Fax Host and Printer and Printing information.

Figure 30: Delivery Options

 These configuration options can also be set using the profile options:

• IEX: Fax IPP  Host
• IEX: Fax IPP Port
• IEX: Fax IPP printer name
• IEX: SMTP Host
• IEX: SMTP From
• IEX: Default Fulfillment Subject
• IEX: Print IPP Port
• IEX: Print IPP Host
• IEX: IPP Printer name

The second method allows for the use of the xdodelivery.cfg file.  Regardless of the values set in the configuration mentioned above, if this file exists in $XDO_TOP/resource/ it will be used to determine how to deliver the Collections Correspondence.  This is an important note as you may not realize that the file is out there and being used for another application.  Use of this file requires the following by delivery channel:

Email – The server name MUST be “mysmtp1”
Print – The server name must be the value specified in the profile value IEX: IPP Printer name
Fax – The server name must be the value specified in the profile value IEX: Fax IPP Printer name

Delivery Status

Advanced Collections with patch 8435600 allows for the update of fax status within Collections.  After delivering a fax via Advanced Collections, the document goes into an ‘Open’ state and prior to this patch had no way to get out of this state.  This obviously causes confusion for users as the final outcome of the document is never reported on.

Figure 31: Collections Status of Delivery

With this patch the status can be updated to display the status that the IPP client has for the job.  It is important to be clear about what the status really means.  If you are using the standard IPP functionality, it will only be the status of the ‘print job’, indicating whether or not CUPS was able to print the document to the fax printer.  This status is not the final status of the fax job, therefore it does not indicate whether or not the fax was successfully delivered to its final destination.

For more information:

• Introduction to BI Publisher: Advanced Procurement
• BI Publisher’s Delivery Engine – 5 Methods Exposed
• 8 Ways AventX Extends Native Delivery Manager Functionality
• BI Publisher University: A Collection of Free Resources To Help You Master BI Publisher (BIP)

For more information:

• AventX Attachment Printer product page
• AventX Attachment Printer demo video

As an introduction to Excel Templates in EBS, here are some things to keep in mind and a quick list of resources to get you started.

Things to Keep in Mind

• As of this writing, True Excel templates are NOT supported in 11i10.  This is contrary to some information FROM Oracle that is out there (even in the resources I mention below).  Turns out that information was wrong and has been recanted.  Oracle’s stance is to use BIP Enterprise to run Excel based templates under this scenario.  Unknown as to whether this will ever be backported.
• Even though Excel Templates are implemented in R12, there are some limitations.  For example, bursting control files are unable to make use of Excel based templates.
• Oracle provides a plug-in for MS Excel as part of the BI Publisher Desktop package.  Caveat here is that you must use the latest BI Publisher Desktop version INSTEAD of the version specific for EBS (10.1.3.2.1 Patch – 12395372).  Both versions cannot be installed at the same time, so if you have one developer creating both RTF and Excel based templates, they will need to install/uninstall the correct BI Publisher Desktop package depending on what they are working on.
• The plug-in for MS Excel is not as robust as the plug-in for MS Word and RTF templates.  The Excel plug-in only allows you to ‘Preview’ the finished output.
• Excel 2007 not yet supported in EBS.  Must save file using MS Excel 97-2003 format (no .xlsx extension).

Resources:

• Start here: Great webcast put on by the ATG folks about how to create and use an Excel template: MOS 740964.1 (Search for ‘True Excel Templates’ within this note).
• The actual Patches for Excel based templates in R12.0 and R12.1 are documented on MOS 1343225.1
• Reference: BI Publisher 11g Report Developer’s Guide - Creating Excel Templates chapter.  Note this is NOT the EBS specific documentation.
• Latest BI Publisher Desktop (11.1.1.5.0) for Excel Template building.
• After you install this version of BIP Desktop, there are examples of Excel templates in the “Samples\Excel templates” folder under the installation directory.

5 Places to Get Help with BI Publisher

1) Go to the Documentation:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-publisher/documentation/index.html

2) Ask a blogger.

Here are some blogs we recommend:

• Tim Dexter/BIP Official Blog: http://blogs.oracle.com/xmlpublisher
• A BI Publisher developer’s diary: http://blogs.oracle.com/BIDeveloper/
• Oracle BI Publisher Consulting: http://bipconsulting.blogspot.com/
• BI Publisher Blog – Ike Wiggins: http://bipublisher.blogspot.com/
• In Depth Apps – eBusiness Suite – Gareth Roberts: http://garethroberts.blogspot.com/
• The STR Software Blog (Oracle Apps, BIP, and document delivery from ERPs blog) – http://www.strsoftware.com/blog

3) Use the Oracle Forums:

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=245

Forums are monitored by Oracle Support folks a well as tons of users so it’s often a great place to get help quickly. Here are some tips for using the forums:

1. Search First, Ask Second
2.  Be someone (not user8840234)
3.  Be Specific – version, OS, patch #, etc
4.  Reward others for their assistance
5.  Contribute! It is better to give than receive

4) Utilize the Oracle community: Search within “My Oracle Support” for BI Publisher

5) After exhausting all other channels open an official Service Request with Oracle

Following these tips and links should give you a wealth of resources from which to chose when faced with a BI Publisher question. Good luck!

For more information:

• 7 Best Practices Implementing BI Publisher with EBS R12
• Quick Reference Guide: Email and Fax Delivery Options in R12
• BI Publisher University: A Collection of Free Resources To Help You Master BI Publisher (BIP)
• Eight Ways AventX Extends Native Oracle Delivery Functionality

That being said, I came across this blog post written by a UK Oracle consultancy, Rocela, which gives a high-level look at some considerations to be mindful of when thinking about licensing BI Publisher. It may be a good head start on how to think about what it is you want to accomplish with BI Publisher in Oracle EBS. Just remember, this should be used as a starting place! Read the post and then go talk to your sales rep!

• BI Publisher Licensing Considerations via The Official Rocela Blog

For more information:

• Four Fundamentals of BI Publisher in Oracle EBS
• How to Email from Oracle EBS R12
• Eight Ways AventX Extends Native Oracle EBS Delivery Manager Functionality
• BI Publisher University – A Collection of BIP Resources for EBS Users

The paper reviews the four stages of automated email and fax delivery from SAP and options to maximize efficiency at each stage:

• Document Submission
• Document Transmission
• Document Acknowledgement
• Document Management

Click the image below to download the 12-page white paper.

Barrick Gold Australia located in Perth, West Australia, is a regional business unit of Barrick Gold Corporation and is comprised of nine operating mines in the Australia Pacific Region.  Its parent company, Barrick Gold Corporation of Toronto, Canada, is the gold industry leader with a portfolio of 26 operating mines, advanced exploration and development projects located across five continents, and large land positions on some of the world’s most prolific and prospective mineral trends.

At the heart of Barrick Gold Australia’s operation are countless heavy and light duty machines and vehicles that must remain in good operating condition to ensure mining and production runs smoothly.  To manage the maintenance of these assets, Barrick relies on Oracle EBS R12 Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) application.  One of Oracle EBS eAM’s key functions is the tracking of assets and scheduling of maintenance through the use of work orders.

The Problem:

Each day, Barrick Gold Australia generates 300-400 work order packages across six sites within the region to repair and maintain their assets.  Included within each work order package is the work order report and up to 12 document attachments in the form of MS Office documents (.xls, .doc, and .ppt), formatted output (.pdf, .pcl, .ps) and image files (.jpg, .gif). Typically these attachments reside in the Oracle EBS database and include important details on past maintenance activities, safety warnings, step-by-step instructions, equipment diagrams, etc.

Once a work order is assigned to the maintenance department, the planners and supervisors manually print a work order report, open each attachment in its native application, print the required attachments, and then manually collate and staple the documents together.  Given the volume of 300 to 400 work order reports created daily, each including six to 12 attachments, the printing process is an extremely inefficient, 40 hour-a-week task and very costly to Barrick Gold.

The Solution

The only acceptable solution for Barrick Gold Australia was to fully automate the work order package printing process, eliminating all manual intervention.  Inquiring with their parent, Barrick Gold Corporation, Chris Abbott, System Administrator at Barrick Gold Australia, learned that STR Software’s AventX Attachment Printer was in the process of being procured.  As soon as Chris set eyes on AventX, he knew the software product would solve his work order package printing problem.

Tightly integrated with EBS, AventX allows Barrick Gold Australia’s more than 600 users to submit print requests as they always have.  From there AventX takes over and automatically prints the work order and all associated attachments, collates the documents together, and finishes the package with a staple.  According to Chris, “AventX is transparent in the Oracle experience and works so well that we forget it’s there.”  He continued, “The print function is easy, straightforward and simply put, it works!”

Unexpectedly, Chris has seen a 30% to 40% improvement on EBS printer utilization as a result of implementing AventX.  This is because with AventX, each concurrent request is closed as soon as the data is generated.  From there document translation and printing take place in the background.  Previously, Barrick would process the data generation, translation and printing within the concurrent request which tended to hang-up the Concurrent Manager with volume from each of their six other sites submitting requests at the same time.

AventX has also been able to help with Barrick Gold’s EBS database growth problem, which was seeing increases of 30 GB each month.  With the AventX Attachment Printer, Barrick Gold references and prints work order attachments stored in Microsoft SharePoint, eliminating the need to upload volumes of large work order attachment files to the EBS database.

STR Software’s AventX Product Suite is designed to streamline, manage and automate document delivery processes from Oracle E-Business Suite, allowing companies to reduce operating costs, lessen demand on administrative resources and realize greater value from existing and future IT investments.

1. Bursting Control Files and
2. Delivery Options Form (in R12.1.3+)

To learn more about BI Publisher’s Bursting Control Files check out this resource:

•  Understanding Bursting Control Files in Oracle EBS R12

To learn about the 5 delivery options available via the delivery options form, review this document:

•  Quick Reference Guide: Email and Fax Delivery Options in R12

If you’re looking for direct integration with Oracle EBS such as the ability to email from any form in EBS, ability to pull recipient information, provide delivery confirmations, send web or network attachments with your reports, report on true document status, create document delivery schedules, resend or retry documents on failure, etc. then you may be interested in advanced document delivery features provided by the AventX Oracle Connector. Read more here: Eight Ways AventX Extends Native Oracle EBS Delivery Manager Functionality

For even more information:

• Advanced Document Delivery from Oracle EBS R12 (Presentation)
• 7 Best Practices for Implementing BI Publisher with EBS in R12
• Making Delivery Options More Accessible to Users
• BI Publisher University: A Collection of Free Resources To Help You Master BI Publisher (BIP)

This resource answers the following questions:

• What is a bursting control file?
• How are bursting control files used?
• What delivery options are available with bursting?
• What are the pros and cons of native bursting functionality?

For more information:

• 12 Questions To Ask When Building a Fax and Email Delivery Solution for Oracle EBS
• Introduction to Oracle BI Publisher (BIP) in R12: Getting Started
• BI Publisher Glossary: 18 Common Terms
• BI Publisher University: A Collection of Free Resources To Help You Master BI Publisher (BIP)

Click the image to automatically download the .pdf version of the data sheet.

For more information:

• AventX Attachment Printer product page
• AventX Attachment Printer demo video
• Understanding Oracle eAM Work Order Package Printing 11i vs. R12