Introducing the Tidal Automation Adapter for Oracle Applications

The adapter integrates Oracle Applications into TA using a concurrent manager bridge.

The adapter from TA uses Net*8 (SQL*NET) to connect directly to Oracle databases when accessing Oracle Applications.

Oracle databases compile and store procedures and functions in units called packages. The Adapter uses Oracle’s packages and other packages customized by TA in combination with SQL statements to integrate the TA job scheduler with the Concurrent Manager process that monitors and controls the Oracle Applications job. The Concurrent Manager monitors and responds to the data stored within the Oracle database using the packages available to it.

The customized packages supplied by TA must be compiled in Oracle Applications before a connection between TA and Oracle Applications can be established. An error occurs in TA if you try to establish a connection to an Oracle Applications instance before the proper customized packages are installed on the designated Oracle Applications instance.

Any inserting and updating to the standard tables of Oracle Applications is done using standard APIs present in the Oracle Applications database. Nothing is deleted from the standard Oracle Applications database just as no database schema objects are modified.

The adapter is part of the regular Scheduler installation. It can only be used though if the appropriate license is applied to Scheduler. Though no installation is required for the adapter, you must install a Bridge component that links the adapter to the Oracle Applications program. After the Bridge is installed, you must perform some configuration procedures for the adapter.

Monitoring Oracle Applications Jobs

Scheduler uses a different identification system to track jobs than the system used by Oracle Applications. Each application has its own system of tracking a job instance by assigning an identification number. In the Job Activity pane, the Job No. column refers to the number assigned by Scheduler to the job instance. This number is how Scheduler identifies the Oracle Applications job and its associated requests. Scheduler does not track individual requests within a request set comprising a job. It tracks the request set as a whole and thus does not have control over individual requests within a request set. The ID number in Scheduler is assigned to the first request and applies to all of the requests within the request set.

Oracle Applications, on the other hand, does not treat a request set as a whole. It assigns each request within the request set an individual request ID number. The request ID number assigned by Oracle to the first request of a request set is displayed in the Ext ID column (External ID) of the Job Activity pane. The ID numbers of each individual request are listed on the Oracle Apps tab of the Job Detail dialog of the job.

To achieve control over individual requests and to assign dependencies to a single request within a request set, break down the request set into separate requests for each job and organize the single requests into a job group in Scheduler.

Multi-Organization Access (MOAC)

Multi-Org or multiple organization access (MOAC) is the ability to access multiple operating units from a single application responsibility.

In Release 11i, you had to enter or process data for multiple operating units; you had to login to different responsibilities because each responsibility could only access one operating unit. For example, if you were managing Payables for Sweden, Norway, and Finland, you needed to define three different responsibilities. In Release 12, you can create a Security Profile and assign as many operating units as you required. You can tie that security profile to a single responsibility using a profile option called MO: Security Profile. For example, you can assign the security profile to the EMEA Payables responsibility to allow that responsibility to process invoices across all three operating units.

The TA Oracle Applications Adapter supports multiple organization access for Oracle Application Server R12 and later. See Working with Multiple Organization Access (MOAC) the Using the Adapter chapter for how to configure an Oracle Applications job definition for multiple organization access.

Terms to Know

  • Application – Group of modules that perform a particular enterprise func- tion, such as Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, etc.

  • Concurrent Manager – Concurrent processing facility that monitors and runs your requests/processes/reports without tying up the users terminal.

  • Concurrent Process – Task that is in process in the concurrent manager. Each time you submit a task to the concurrent manager, then a concurrent process is created to run that task. Many concurrent processes can be running simultaneously without tying up the users terminal or requiring user intervention.

  • Concurrent Queue – The list of concurrent requests that are in the concurrent manager awaiting processing. The concurrent manager can be set up to have multiple concurrent queues, each queue having its own list of concurrent requests waiting for processing. Each Concurrent Request can be setup to run in specific queues or in any queue, then the Concurrent Manager assigns the request to a Concurrent Queue accordingly.

  • Concurrent Request – A request to run a process/report/job in the Concurrent Manager. Once a Concurrent Request is submitted to the Concurrent Manager, then the Concurrent Manager takes over the processing of the request without any intervention from the user or tying up the users terminal.

  • Internal Concurrent Manager (ICM) – The ICM oversees all of the other worker concurrent managers and assigns requests to the appropriate concurrent manager. The ICM monitors the health of the other concurrent managers, restarting them if necessary, and follows the status of requests that run on the other worker concurrent managers.

  • List of Values – List of valid values available for a particular parameter in Oracle Applications.

  • Module – Programs and procedures that implement a particular business function within an application, such as forms, screens, reports, concurrent programs, and subroutines.

  • Open Interface – A function that lets you import or export data from other systems through open interface tables and processes provided by Oracle.

  • Parameter – Variables used in concurrent processes to restrict information or determine the form of the report.

  • Report Group – List of concurrent programs (reports, processes, etc.) that is grouped together based upon a particular function. Each Oracle Applications Responsibility has at least one Report Group assigned to it, though some responsibilities can have multiple Report Groups. If a responsibility has multiple Report Groups associated with it, then it will have multiple menu entries to launch the Submit Concurrent Request screen, one for each Report Group the responsibility has access to.

  • Report Options – Options for sorting, formatting, selecting and summarizing the information on a report. Not all Oracle reports use report options.

  • Report Set – Group of reports that are always run together.

  • Request Set – One or more sequential stages each of which include one or more concurrent programs that may or may not run in a particular sequence. Links can be maintained between stages for warning, completion and error handling.

  • Responsibility – Security feature that restricts Oracle Application users to a specific set of screens and reports based on their user login name.

  • Stage – Represents the sequence for concurrent programs in a request set (report set). Each stage of a request set has a sequence number, stage name, concurrent program name with On Success, On Error and On Warning links as well as a critical flag that determines whether the stage affects the entire report set.

Minimum Software Requirements

Refer to the TA Compatibility Matrix for a complete list of hardware and software requirements.

The minimum software requirements for the Oracle Applications Adapter for TA are:

  • Oracle Applications software 11.5.8, 11.5.9, 11.5.10, 12 - 12.04, 12.1.1, 12.1.3, 12.2.0.

  • Oracle database 11g, 11g R2, 12c.

  • TA version 6.0 or later.