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10 Tips for a successful R12.2 Upgrade
October 27, 2014
Presented by:
Ravi Madabhushanam
Apps Associates LLC

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About the Presenter
• Ravi Madabhushanam
– Sr. DBA / Architect at Apps Associates LLC
– Over 9 years of experience with multiple Oracle technologies - Oracle Applications,
Oracle Business Intelligence and Data Integration
– Oracle Apps DBA with multiple years of experience across implementations,
upgrades and platform migrations – 11i to 12.2.x
– Solution Architect focused on enabling Oracle products on cloud platforms and
Business intelligence solutions
– Certified Amazon Web Services - Solution Architect
#NEOAUG14F

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Performance. Growth. Excellence.
• Global Reach, Broad Service Profile
• Founded in 2002, 600+ employees
• US, Europe, India, Middle East
• Service Offerings: Applications, CRM, Analytics, EPM, Cloud, Middleware,
Application Development, App & Infrastructure Managed Services
• Significant Investment in R&D
• Cloud (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
• Business Process & System Integration
• Analytics & Big Data
• Strategic Partnerships, Certifications, Credentials
• Oracle Platinum Partner, Oracle Specialized Across Our Portfolio of Services
• AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, Certified Managed Services Provider
• Microsoft Certified
• CMMI Level 3 & SSAE 16

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Session Agenda
• Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 Upgrade – Top 3 reasons
• 10 Tips for Successfully 12.2 Upgrade
• Summary
• Q & A

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Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2.x
Top 3 Reasons for Upgrade

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Top 3 Reasons for 12.2.x Upgrade
• Life time support policy
• Leverage latest technology enhancements
• Future innovation is focused on 12.2.x

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Life Time Support Policy
Oracle E‐Business Suite Technology Stack Overview & Certification Roadmap by Steven Chan, OOW’14

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Technology Enhancements
• Online Patching
– Enabled by Edition Based Redefinition of Oracle Database 11g
– Zero – downtime patching for Oracle E-Business Suite
• Built on Fusion Middleware – Weblogic Platform
– Stable and Scalable middle tier
• In-Memory enhancements to Applications
– Applications built to leverage Database In-Memory capabilities of Database 12c

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Future Innovations
Operational Efficiencies
Oracle VM Templates
Application
Management Suite
Test Automation
Online Patching
Ease of Integration
User Experience
Innovation
EBS Extensions for
Endeca
Smartphone Apps
Tablet Optimizations
Simplified User
Interfaces
Functional Innovations
In-Memory Applications
New Products

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10 Tips for Successful 12.2 Upgrade

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10 Tips for 12.2 Upgrade
1. Gather Key Reference Materials
2. Finalize Your Upgrade Path
3. Identify Impact on Supporting Applications
4. Prepare for Architectural Changes
5. Re-evaluate Application Sizing
6. Plan for Customization Development Impact
7. Prepare to Minimize Upgrade Downtime
8. Understand Your Upgrade Process
9. Online Patching – What Does It Mean To You
10. Understand the Factors affecting Time & Resources

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Reference Materials
• Obvious and most important step of all…
• Start with 12.2 Documentation – Upgrade guide
– Oracle E-Business Suite Upgrade Guide Release 11i to 12.2
– Oracle E-Business Suite Upgrade Guide Release Release 12.0 and 12.1 to 12.2
• Release Content Documents – to know what’s changed (1302189.1)
• Oracle E-Business Suite Product Specific Release Notes, Release 12.2.4 (Doc ID
1903217.1)
• Scenarios for Getting Started With Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 (Doc ID
1587195.1)

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Technical Reference Materials
• Oracle E-Business Suite Technical Planning Guide, First Edition, Release 12.2
(Doc ID 1585857.1)
• Useful 12.2 Documents For Customers And ATG Support Engineers (Doc ID
1585889.1)
• EBS Transfer of Information Online Training, Doc 807319.1 (Recorded Videos)
• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Information Center - Upgrade (Doc ID
1583158.1)
• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Consolidated List of Patches and
Technology Bug Fixes (Doc ID 1594274.1)
• MOS Hot Topics ( …be proactive )

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Upgrade Path
• Multiple upgrade paths are available for earlier versions of Oracle EBS
< 11.5.9 11.5.10.2 + Baseline 12.2
11.5.9 12.1 12.2
11.5.9 11.5.10.2 + Baseline 12.2
11.5.10.2 Baseline 12.2
12.0/12.1 12.2

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Database and Operating System
• Minimum required database version for 12.2 – 11.2.0.3
– Recommended version 11.2.0.4
– Latest certified version for 12.2.4 – Database 12c ( 12.1.0.1)
– Not all features of 12c are certified
• Ex: Advanced Compression, Database Vault, Transportable DB/Table spaces
• Operating systems certified
– 64-bit only
– OEL / RHEL 5 and 6
– Oracle VM – minimum version 3.2

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Upgrade Path Contd…
• Upgrading all components at once requires longer maintenance duration
• 32-bit environments are no longer supported – 64-bit is a must
• Position it with hardware refresh cycle
– Operating system upgrade can be addressed easily
– Enables OS/ Virtualization / Platform changes easily
• Database upgrade can be performed ahead of time ( if certified )
• Balance between the number of downtimes, risk and number of regression
testing cycles required for each change

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Supporting Applications
• Switch from Oracle Single Sign-On to Oracle Access Manager 11gR2
– 12.2 is certified only with Oracle Access Manager 11g
– OAM 11gR2 (11.1.2) is certified for 11i and 12.0/12.1.3
– “Overview of Single Sign-On Integration Options for Oracle E-Business Suite”
(1388152.1)
• Switch from Oracle Portal to Oracle WebCenter Portal
– 12.2 is certified only with Oracle WebCenter Portal
– Oracle WebCenter Portal 11gR2 (11.1.1.6) is certified for 12.0/12.1.3
• Oracle Discoverer 11g
– Minimum version – 11.1.1.6.0 / 11.1.1.7.0
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Supporting Applications
• Business Intelligence Applications
– 7.9.6.4 , 11.1.8.1 are certified with 12.2.4
– 11.1.7.1 certified with 12.2.3 (check latest certification matrix)
– Upgrade of components may be required
• Oracle Enterprise Manager
– Latest Application Management Suite (12.1.0.3.0) with OEM12c - 12.1.0.4.0
• Oracle E-Business Suite Extensions for Oracle Endeca
– Need to reinstall post 12.2.4 upgrade process
• Integrated SOA gateway
– REST services and Asynchronous Web Service support

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Architecture Changes
E-Business Suite 12.2 Architecture

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Architecture Changes
Installation, Cloning and Configuration of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2, Max Arderius , OOW14

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Architecture – Web Logic
WLS Domain Managed Servers
• oacore: Core functionality in EBS middle tier Java
code, including OAF based functionality for EBS
products
• oafm: Web services, Secure Search and Oracle
Transport Agent, etc
• forms: Serves all Oracle forms functionality
• forms-c4ws: Exposes Oracle forms-based
functionality as web services
Installation, Cloning and Configuration of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2, Max Arderius , OOW14

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Architecture – Multi Node
Installation, Cloning and Configuration of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2, Max Arderius , OOW14

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Architectures Changes
• Major changes in application tier with multiple file systems and WebLogic
components
• Changes the way we handle customizations to configuration files, interfaces and
code migrations
• Changes the role of autoconfig
• Cloning and scale out process and needs to be evaluated carefully

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Application Sizing
• Dual File system on application tier requires additional storage
– 2x space requirements across all environments
– PATCH file system is NOT optional.. It is THE only way to apply patches
• Review latest 12.2 sizing document
(Oracle E-Business Suite Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install )
– DB and App Tier Sizing Guidelines
– JVM Parameter Settings for 64-bit Java on WLS Web Tier
– Additional resource requirement due to online patching process
• Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Upgrade Sizing and Best Practices (Doc ID
1597531.1)

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Customization Development Impact
• New logical view of the data model
• New 12.2 coding standards
• Reports to identify coding standards violations
• Preparing custom code for 12.2
• Integrating custom and third-party products
• Ongoing deployment considerations
• New OAF UI standards
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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New Logical View of the Data Model
New Data Model in 12.2
• All code must access the data model via APPS synonyms
• Direct access to underlying tables may result in inconsistent results
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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12.2 Coding Standards
• A minimal set of standards must be followed for custom code
– All code must access the data model through the APPS synonym
– Table names must be unique at 29 bytes
• Additional standards for custom code to itself support Online Patching, e.g.
– Column names must be unique at 28 bytes
• Tools to validate the custom code before and after 12.2 upgrade
– Online Patching Readiness Reports
– Online Patching Standards Checkers
• Third party products and integrations must be validated as well
• See EBS Developer's Guide Release 12.2, Chapter 7 for full standards list
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Upgrade Downtime Reduction
• Iterate on a step-by-step plan of tasks and timings
• Optimize your timing
– Tune performance of core upgrade driver
– Identify long-running jobs & SQLs, check MOS for known issues & workarounds
– Minimize duration of tasks done before & after core upgrade driver runs
– Examples: interim backups, final acceptance testing
• Validate that upgrade fits within your downtime window
• See Best Practices for Minimizing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Upgrade
Downtime (Doc 1581549.1)
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Understand Your Upgrade Process
Pre-requisites
• Migrate to OATM
• Migrate to certified
external services
• Use purge programs
to remove
unnecessary data
DB/OS preparation*
• Upgrade to latest
certified database
patch set
• Upgrade operating
system
Install 12.2 File
system
• Use Rapid install to
lay down 12.2.0 code
• Apply latest
technology patches
as per 1594274.1

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Understand Your Upgrade Process
Upgrade to 12.2.0
• Marge latest upgrade
driver fixes
• Use auto patch to
upgrade to 12.2.0
• Do not bring up
system for testing
Enable Online
Patching
• Apply updates to
custom code as per
recommendations
• Run enablement
process
Upgrade to 12.2.4
• Apply latest AD &
TXK RUP’s patches
• Apply EBS 12.2.4
rollup in downtime
mode
• Bring up system for
testing
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Understand Your Upgrade Process
Deploy Translations
• Deploy non-US
languages
Deploy Custom
code/integrations
• Deploy Apps tier
custom code per new
12.2 process
• Deploy external
integrations
Scale out to multi
node
• Add additional
middle tier nodes -
scale out process
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Online Patching
Installation, Cloning and Configuration of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2, Max Arderius , OOW14

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Online Patching
• Online Patching cycle includes 5 phases
• Application is only offline during the “Cutover” phase
• Online Patching is used to apply all patches in 12.2
• What does it mean to end users
– Less down time – more availability
• What does it mean from administration perspective
– Increased maintenance workload on DBA team
– Patch cycles are longer for even small patches
– Simple OAF deployments now need full patch cycle
– Manual deployment possible but not suggested by Oracle

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Factors affecting Time & Resources
• Don’t Assume Same Time and Resources as for the Prior Upgrade to 12.1
• Up-skilling requirements are different
– Learn about Online Patching and WebLogic Server vs. Global Financials architecture
• Remediation of customizations and integrations is different
– Comply with new Online Patching coding and deployment standards vs. adapt to
Financials functional flows and data model changes
• Testing focus is different
– Validate customizations and integrations work with Online Patching vs.
validate historical accounting data and new Financials processes
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Time and Resources
11.5.10 to 12.1 12.1 to 12.2
Amount of functional and business process change 
Changes to accounting and tax configurations 
Volume and quality of historical accounting data 
Number & complexity of customizations & integrations  
Complexity of topology – e.g., multi-nodes, nodes inside and
outside the firewall, RAC

Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Team Composition
11.5.10 to 12.1
Functional team is key
12.1 to 12.2
Technical team is key
Planning and Preparing for Your Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 , Anne Carlson , OOW14

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Recap
1. Gather Key Reference Materials
2. Finalize Your Upgrade Path
3. Identify Impact on Supporting Applications
4. Prepare for Architectural Changes
5. Re-evaluate Application Sizing
6. Plan for Customization Development Impact
7. Prepare to Minimize Upgrade Downtime
8. Understand Your Upgrade Process
9. Online Patching – What Does It Mean To You
10. Understand the Factors affecting Time & Resources

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Please complete the session evaluation
We appreciate your feedback and insight

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Connect With Us
• Web: www.appsassociates.com
• Email: Ravi.Madabhushanam@appsassociates.com
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