Oracle Fusion

Oracle Fusion..?

Life of a Oracle Fusion Developer? As a Fusion Developer role we would be playing a very important role in the next generation Applications that customers will be embarking on. Its a paradigm shift from current approach to a process centric approach. Typically in a Fusion project there will be necessity to extend or integrate the functionality with a process centric approach with existing applications (Oracle, Siebel, PeopleSoft , or otherwise) via J2EE/ADF and Oracle SOAor building new components on the Oracle Fusion Middleware stack. As a Fusion Developer we would building those components on Fusion Stack and Deploy them in Fusion Middleware.

Fusion Architecture, Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications. Fusion Architecture is a reference architecture or blueprint for building applications. It can be referred to as the Enterprise Architecture Platform of Oracle

Fusion Middleware - Middleware infrastructure services that can be used to build and deploy applications.

Fusion Applications - Oracles next generation applications suite, built on top of Fusion Middleware using Fusion Architecture as blueprint

Impact of Fusion on Oracle E-Business Suite. Oracle eBS R12 is a step closer to the Fusion Apps the tech stack has been upgraded to include the ability to invoke web services and business components along with XML publisher. Although R12 is not based entirely on Fusion Architecture it is slowly getting into the Oracle E-Business Suite. R12 is having more Web services and SOA support out of box which customers can leverage via Oracle Application Adapter or Fusion Middleware. The service interface, service tester, Swan user interface changes, and uptake of Oracle JDeveloper 10 g Release 3 (10.1.3) are new for Release 12.

Some of the Fusion Technology which is part of R12 is:OracleAS 10 g Portal, OracleAS 10 g Single Sign-On/Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle Collaboration Suite5 10 g and Oracle Enterprise Manager6 10 g.

Going forward Oracle will include more and more of Fusion Middleware in E-Business suite.

Oracle Forms is being eliminated in favor of WebCenter technology/ADF Faces.

Internal Workflow will use the BPEL Manager technology that will completely change workflow. All the existing Workflow functionality will be migrated to BPEL based workflows in Fusion Apps.

While PL/SQL will always be part of the mix, our technical teams skills will require a substantial upgrade. Java, WebCenter, and BPEL will become more important. Since these tools are already appearing in Fusion Middleware and are at the center of AIA and E-Business Suite R12, existing E-Business Suite customers can and should gain familiarity with them.

With such a change in underlying technology, performance characteristics are likely to be much different. Oracle and other enterprise applications vendors are already seeing the use of Java increasing hardware requirements. Anyone converting to Fusion Applications will need to perform extensive performance and scalability testing before going live, as the bottlenecks and tuning requirements are likely to be completely different than they used to be.

What about Forms, Reports and OAFOracles development tools like Forms/Reports/Workflow will continue to exist as a part of support their existing applications and other customers who would like to use them as a part of expanding their current investments in these tools.

Oracle themselves are building their next generation Fusion Applications on a new infrastructure which is more driven by the objective of breaking the large monolithic applications into small business services and then configuring the business processes of the customer specific requirements using these business services

WorkflowsOracles Workflow as a product will exist for some more time to support their existing applications and customers. But in Fusion applications they are building all the process flows in Oracle BPEL. Also workflow is one product where Oracle seems to clearly heading towards retiring as no further investments are being planned on this product. Whereas Oracle Forms and Reports still attract investments for further enhancements and product roadmap exists for another couple of years

Oracles E-Business Suite Release 12 is Oracles latest version of their business applications with an upgrade path to Oracle Fusion Application. The technology stack is upgraded to Fusion Middleware, the backbone of Fusion Applications.It is about 60% Java based, compared to its predecessor, Release 11i, which is only 40% Java based. Release 12 already has incorporated some of the Fusion Middleware products that are available today. Unlike Release 11i, Release 12 makes extensive use of XML.Oracles strategy is to slowly incorporate the new generation technology in to their Applications and hence there would not be a big bang major release of Fusion ApplicationsAlso the functionality of ERP would be released in phases and in terms of pillars like CRM pillar, SCM pillar, etc. so with these kind of functionality being rolled out we should assume that the stabilized version of complete fusion applications is 4-5 years from now.Recommendations for R12 upgrade and preparing for FusionR12 upgrades can be approached in many ways, each with its own set of opportunities and benefits. A typical technology upgrade of ERP Application require for Upgrade of the Infrastructure. The R12 upgrade process involves replacing 11i Tech stack (9iAS & 806) to Fusion Middleware (10g Application Server) Upgrade the integration strategy from Point-to-point to Service Oriented Architecture Upgrade the Reporting Strategy by bringing together stovepipe applications by ERP revitalization and creating a virtual composite application. Make better business decisions with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications and create Executive dashboard for Real time Business Activity monitoring.Upgrade to R12 as the point from where you want to Jump to Fusion Applications.1. Evaluate and document the customizations.2. Convert customizations to Fusion technology-based solutions where decommission is not possible. As an example, since we know that Workflow will be replaced by BPEL for the Fusion Applications, now is the time to learn BPEL. Any existing workflow customizations or new ones should be written using BPEL.3. Start Leveraging available Fusion Tools. Fusion is already here! Fusion tools that can be used with the E-Business Suite include XML (BI) Publisher, the SOA Suite and Web Center, and Business Intelligence tools like OBIEE or DBI and Discoverer 10g.

Let me define SOA in my way :

Oracle SOA Service Oriented Artitecture OR (S)calable, (O)pen and (A)daptable

Service Oriented Architecture is a win-win solution for organizations today.They have an utmost need for modernizing their legacy IT assets to sustain in a competitive world.At the same time the indispensible entire range of applications needs to be retained.

A SOA solution lays down a strongly founded bridge between the old and the new world.It introduces the flexibility of replacing the old systems in future by new systems with much lesser costs to be spent in integration.

Oracle SOA is the most comprehensive suite of products for organizations that are in the process ofimplementing any enterprise application for integrating the new solution with their heterogeneous environment having legacy applications.

ScalabilityIT today relies heavily on scalable solutions that can provide a high performance throughput.Oracle Service Bus, the backbone of Oracle SOA Suite, offers a platform for high volume and mission critical integrations.

OpenOracle SOA is fundamentally based on interoperability and open standards like SOAP, WSDL, BPEL and XML.It utilizes web services that are published by an application so that other applications can subscribeto and use that service, and vice versa. This enables technology and vendor independence.

AdaptableThe applications integrating together in service oriented architecture can work together withoutrelying on custom-coded point to point connections. This enables decoupling and enhances flexibility.The applications can be replaced much faster as compared to an environment which is tightly coupled.Business becomes adaptable to rapid changes and can respond more effectively with lower costs to spend.