Chapter 1

Introduction to Oracle Applications

The Oracle Applications Advantage

Oracle Applications automate your entire enterprise with more than 35 integrated client/server software modules for financial management, supply chain management, manufacturing, project systems, human resources, and market management. Almost 3000 customers in 59 countries use Oracle Applications today. These customers appreciate the support for more than 20 languages and the robust capability for multiple tax and regulatory requirements, currencies, and business practices required for global operations. Todays intense competitive pressures require fast response. Unfortunately, most application software cant keep up. Most systems take too long to install, and once installed take too long to adapt to the ever-changing business processes vital to your competitive success. Oracle is different Oracle Applications enable the continuous improvement of your business processes. You install the software quickly, change it as needed, and always use the latest technology to drive state-of-the-art business processes. Applied Technology is the Key to Business Innovation Why can Oracle achieve the goal of continuous improvement better than other vendors? Because we build our applications, our tools, and our database in a coordinated approach. We build all layers of the technology, so that we can offer application enhancements at each layer for the most flexible and robust application solutions. Can this technology really help you? After all, other vendors offer traditional business systems without any technological advantage. Their general ledger packages, for example, may address your basic accounting needs. But Oracle goes further extending our general ledger with advanced multi-dimensional analytical tools so that you can drill down and better understand any part of your business. Similarly, any system can process invoices or other documents, but only Oracle offers advanced multimedia technology that puts associated documents online and eliminates paperwork with automatic workflow routing. Another key benefit of advanced technology is scalability. Most systems can handle low transaction rates and small numbers of users. But only Oracle processes the highest of transaction rates across many sites, using our unique parallel database capabilities. Oracle is the only applications vendor that builds the full stack of technology: applications, tools and database. This lets us deliver the optimal application solutions. Rich Functionality Oracle Applications family of over 35 tightly integrated applications efficiently manage your entire global enterprise. Oracles extensive use of customizable business rules and workflows lets you exploit the rich functionality to streamline every aspect of your global business operations. You can be confident that whatever new business processes emerge from your re-engineering efforts, Oracle Applications provide the flexibility and control you need to successfully implement them. And Oracles built-in adaptability ensures that your Oracle Applications solution grows with you as you constantly evolve your business to maintain a competitive edge.

Oracle Financials Functional Overview

Flexibility Without Programming Most application systems take too long to install. Once installed, they take too long to adapt to your changing business needs. Oracle Applications have unprecedented flexibility so that our customers typically implement in half the time and at half the cost of competitive systems. You can rapidly reconfigure Oracle Applications as your business needs change with user-defined business rules, workflow rules, screens, reports, and exception conditions to reflect your improved business processes. You can even add user-defined fields without programming. Avoid Version Lock With Upgradable Customizations Not only are the changes easy to make, but they are automatically upgraded as you migrate to new releases. Thats how you avoid the version lock, the exorbitant cost of upgrades, typical of other application suites. Interface Easily with Open Application Program Interfaces Converting data and building interfaces are typically the most complex implementation tasks. Oracle has built and published open interfaces that enable easy coexistence and integration with legacy and third-party systems. We also publish our complete CASE model to our customers as well as make available database gateways to most common data sources. As a result, you can seamlessly integrate Oracle Applications with any application, built using any tool, running on any database. Develop Custom Applications Easily For most customers, our packaged applications provide all the necessary functionality. Some customers, however, have particular needs for which they want additional modules. Build your extensions easily using Developer/2000 and Designer/2000 the industrys most widely used client/ server toolset. We share our development standards so your custom modules will have the same look and feel as the Oracle Applications. The CASE tools are so powerful that often you can automatically generate all the forms, reports, and processing logic you need without programming. Assure Success With Integrated Implementation Method Even with the best of software business systems, implementations are complex and require the involvement of many people. Oracles Application Implementation Method (AIM) is an integrated approach to help you plan and track all the phases of your implementation so you can achieve the results you expect on time and on budget. Implementing quickly isnt enoughyou need to implement a system that will make everyones job more productive. Traditional application systems have poorly handled transactions that span multiple people. Too much paper is involved, too many people touch these transactions, and too much time is wasted. Oracles SmartClient architecture effectively automates transactions involving not only people within your organization, but even those outside your enterprise. The first step is to place all business information online. The second step is to use automated workflows to route business information, such as purchasing approvals, schedule changes, and hiring approvals, to the right people.

Introduction to Oracle Applications

Create a Paperless Office Using Integrated Multimedia Using our media server technology, Oracle is the first applications vendor to let you place online all business information in any format, including text, spreadsheet, image, audio, and even networked video. Use these multimedia attachments to provide purchase order justifications using Excel spreadsheets, train shop floor workers using networked videos, or provide easy reference by keeping scanned invoice images online. Use Workflow To Improve Enterprise-wide Efficiency Once you capture all information online, Oracle Applications route business information via automated workflows throughout your organization. The workflow server efficiently monitors the progress and status of critical workflows using key performance metrics you set. The workflow server uses flexible workflow rules, embedded in the Oracle7 server. So as your business needs change, you can easily refine your workflow rules. Oracle Applications even help you extend workflow automation beyond your enterprise. With full support for electronic notifications, you can include any EDI, email, or Internet-enabled customer, supplier, or business partner in your workflows. Customizable User Interface Aids Learning and Use Oracle provides a unique SmartClient architecture that partitions application logic between client and server computers. By placing appropriate logic on the client computer, Oracles SmartClient architecture provides a next-generation graphical user interface. An interface so customizable that each user can tailor the set of fields and records displayed for a particular business entity, all without programming. So intuitive that it minimizes the need for formal training. So businessflow oriented that it guides you effortlessly through the system with windows mapped to complete business flows instead of discrete business functions. Network Efficiency Enables Global Operation Oracle is the only vendor to combine this quality user interface with low network traffic. The network is typically the bottleneck in any client/server system, but Oracles efficient remote procedure calls between the client and server computers create little network traffic. Thats why you can run these systems across the far-flung offices of your international operations. Scalable Architecture Supports the Largest of Businesses Accompanying the network efficiency is server scalabilityyou can run as many users as you need on an Oracle Applications system. Oracle Parallel Server technology as well as parallelism at other layers of the architecture, including query processing, batch processing and application module processing, ensure good performance even under high loads.

Oracle Financials Functional Overview

Data Warehouse Provides Comprehensive Business Analysis Fast response to changing market conditions requires immediate information for informed decision making. But most operational business systems are designed for transaction processing, not for easy access to information. Thats why traditional reporting tools dont provide the highquality business information people need. Oracle solves the problem of information access by providing an integrated data warehouse. Oracle Applications Data Warehouse allows anyone to perform complete multi-dimensional analysis of critical business information without affecting the performance of your operational systems. Oracles complete multidimensional analysis provides more flexibility and better performance than the traditional drill-down capabilities offered by other application vendors. For example, after viewing sales revenue by region by product line, you can see sales revenue by region over time in order to better understand seasonal fluctuations. You can drill down further to analyze your sales revenue by region, by sales representative, over smaller periods of time. Use Oracle Applications Data Warehouse to easily view just the data you want, exactly how you want, for immediate analysis. Business Agents Respond to Key Events With so much information available, how do you choose the information to which you want to pay attention? After all, everyone in your organization has a different view of which business events require particular attention or action. Oracle Business Agents let everyone set their own criteria for sifting through all this information to assist in rapid response. For example, your salespeople may want priority notification of new leads, your material planners may require low inventory warnings, and your purchasing agents may need immediate notification if any invoices matched to their purchase orders are placed on hold. Oracle Business Agents let you manage your business better as all your people can proactively monitor their business operations and immediately respond to key business events. Transform Business Operations With Applications for the Web How can you change the way you do business to compete more effectively? Oracle Applications for the Web let you exploit the World Wide Web to bring everyone onlineb o t h w i t h i n y o u r o r g a n i z a t i o n a s w e l l a s b e y o n d y o u r o r g a n i z a t i o n . You can automate the business operations that include your customers, suppliers, and business partners. For example, your customers can use dynamically-generated, secure Oracle Applications web pages to browse product catalogs, review price lists, and track the status of sales orders and invoice payments. Oracles web-enabled business applications will dramatically reduce the administrative burden on your finance departments while taking you to new levels of customer responsiveness providing your trading partners with critical business information on demand, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To further automate and improve business processes between you and your trading partners, Oracles EDI Gateway lets you exploit a wide variety of electronic commerce technologies, including electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic funds transfer (EFT), electronic mail, and electronic fax.

Introduction to Oracle Applications

Business Processes
Oracle Applications for Finance
Asset Management Cash Management Financial Planning

Oracle Financials
Billing & Cash Collection Expenditure Management Financial Consolidation & Analysis

Todays finance and administration function faces three major challenges:

s

Increasingly complex global operations Pressures to reduce operational overhead The need to disseminate useful information throughout the organization for better decision making.

Complete Global Systems The corporate world demands sophisticated multi-currency accounting in a distributed global environment. Oracle Applications support the business practices of over 1000 multinational organizations. Financial Planning The heart of financial planning is the ability to analyze budget and actual amounts, yet traditional finance systems have not provided robust budgeting capabilities. With Oracle General Ledger and Oracle Financial Analyzer, you can perform powerful top-down, bottom-up, and distributed budgeting and forecasting at both the corporate and departmental level.

Oracle Financials Functional Overview

Financial Analysis Financial analysis requires information not only for executives, but also for a broader set of people who want to make better decisions on a daily basis. With Oracle Financial Analyzer, all authorized people in your organization can find the data they need, drill down as necessary, and see the results in secondswithout waiting for MIS or even corporate accountings involvement. The analysis can be as sophisticated as you want because our online analytical processing (OLAP) tools support full multi-dimensional analysisfar surpassing conventional reporting tools. Financial Consolidation Oracle Applications are flexible and easily accommodate the frequent changes commonplace in organizations today. You can use the Account Hierarchy Editor, a powerful drag and drop tool, to graphically restructure your organization. Whatever organization you set up, you can automatically consolidate your different business entities, regardless of differences in currencies, calendars, or charts of accounts. Expenditure Management Todays competitive world demands operational efficiency with strong management controls. Tight integration between Oracle Purchasing, Oracle Payables and Oracle Assets eliminates paperwork and redundant data entry, as all related data is automatically routed through the system. Use automatic purchase order creation, automatic tax withholding, and automated invoice and payment processing to improve your operational efficiency. Maintain management controls through multi-level payment holds and 2-, 3-, or 4-way matching. Billing and Cash Collection The global marketplace demands support for multiple currencies, international tax methods, and other global business practices. Oracle Receivables handles your global business requirements including multinational payment methods, recording of local, regional, and federal taxes, and issuing letters of credit. Within this framework, achieve significant automation with your billing and cash collection processes. For example, process receipts automatically using Oracles lockbox transmission, bills of exchange, or direct debit. Cash Management Oracle Cash Management is integrated with Oracle Receivables, Oracle Payables, and Oracle General Ledger to provide a comprehensive solution for multi-national, multi-currency bank reconciliation and cash management. Asset Management Maintain an accurate property and equipment inventory and ensure you always choose the best accounting and tax strategies for your asset base using Oracle Assets. Reduce overall operating expenses with careful administration of equipment leases.

Introduction to Oracle Applications

Oracle Applications for Projects

In todays increasingly service-driven economy, project accounting is the application that defines profitability for many organizations. Many project companies even those that did not previously track costs are using Oracle Projects to track project and business profitability. Timely, accurate cost and revenue information allows managers to avoid costly delays and overruns.

Project Tracking Cross Project Analysis Cost Collection

Oracle Projects
Revenue Accrual and Billing Personal Time and Expense

Capitalization of Project Costs

Project Tracking Project managers need to manage projects from their vantage while financial analysts require the details necessary to track profitability. Your project managers can use Oracle Projects to track detailed costs, manage within budget, and stay on schedule while successfully achieving the projects objectives. Use Oracle Projects to translate project details into financial transactions so your financial analysts have the details they require. With Oracle Projects, you can organize and monitor project activities with an unlimited work breakdown structure independent of your general ledger chart of accounts. Cost Collection Most project systems provide very rigid cost collection methods, but Oracle Project Costing provides a flexible system that lets you decide the amount of cost control appropriate for your needs. You can input charges directly or import them via batch interfaces. Easily record supplier transactions for projects in Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Payables. You can also collect equipment usage and other charges with your existing cost collection mechanisms and interface those to Oracle Project Costing. You have the ability not only to collect expenditures and commitments incurred against project activities, but also to control which charges can be made against a project.

Oracle Financials Functional Overview

Personal Time & Expense Your mobile workforce needs to provide project tracking details while located at project sites. Use Oracle Personal Time and Expense to charge employee time and expenses to projects while on the road or in the office. Using mobile computing technology, employees who travel frequently can enter data from a laptop in a disconnected mode, and later upload the data to the production server. This laptop time and expense entry provides the same flexibility for controlling project costs. To prohibit incorrect or unauthorized charges, time and expense transactions are always validated against criteria you define. Based on your business rules, you can specify whether submitted time and expenses require further review and approval prior to processing. Capitalization of Project Costs You need the ability to easily manage all project related construction-in-process (CIP) costs and expenses for capital projects. Oracle Project Costing integrates with Oracle Assets to eliminate redundant data entry and ensure accuracy. You can easily adjust asset costs, even after capitalization. Revenue Accrual and Billing Revenue recognition and invoicing in a sufficiently flexible manner to meet customers varying needs is a typical challenge of every project business. With Oracle Project Billing, you have the flexibility to accrue revenue according to your company policies based on time and material bill rates, cost plus buildup, percent spent ratio, or any algorithm that you define. As your policies change, you can easily change Oracle Project Billing without programming. You can accrue revenue differently for different types of projects, divisions, and more. You can also bill each project differently, even if the same client has multiple projects. Then easily manage cash collection in Oracle Receivables. Online Inquiries and Reporting To ensure project profitability, you need immediate information for informed decision making. Use Oracle Projects to analyze all project data at any point and make adjustments easily, while maintaining a full audit trail. Drilldown capabilities provide source details of each transaction. Each user can define a personal view of the project data using Oracles folder technology. While many standard reports are available, managers can avoid reviewing pages of reports and instead manage by exception. Managers, as well as all users, can use Oracle Business Agents to automatically receive just the information they need when certain user-defined conditions exist. Cross Project Analysis Oracle goes one step further in solving the problem of information access by providing complete multi-dimensional analysis of critical project information. Oracle Applications Data Warehouse allows authorized users to find and analyze key project data, without assistance from accounting or even MIS. Easily compare numbers across projects and compare actuals, commitments, budgets and other measures across your organization.

Introduction to Oracle Applications

Oracle Applications for Supply Chain Management

Improving efficiency requires timely communications and streamlined operations across your extended enterprisefrom customers to warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing sites, and suppliers. Oracles supply chain management modules include integrated multiple facility planning and execution capabilities that streamline demand and supply management. Sales channels place orders with distribution sites, which in turn can fulfill demand using multiple supply alternatives. The system further automates your internal and outsourced supply functions through complete EDI transaction support. Oracle Applications for Supply Chain Management include:
T T T T T T T T T T T

Oracle Supply Chain Planning Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP Oracle Inventory Oracle Supplier Scheduling Oracle Purchasing Oracle Payables Oracle Order Entry Oracle Product Configurator Oracle Receivables Oracle Service Oracle Quality

Oracle Applications for Manufacturing

Leading companies are using Oracle Manufacturing to reduce cycle times, streamline operations, and optimize their manufacturing processes using innovative methods. Oracle Applications for Manufacturing include:
T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Oracle Engineering Oracle Product Configurator Oracle Bills of Material Oracle Supply Chain Planning Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP Oracle Capacity Oracle Inventory Oracle Supplier Scheduling Oracle Purchasing Oracle Work in Process Oracle Cost Management Oracle Quality Oracle GEMMS

10

Oracle Financials Functional Overview

Oracle Applications for Human Resources

Human resource costs typically represent the largest, single expense an organization faces, with the workforce being the largest asset. To maintain your competitive edge, management of your workforce must be as dynamic as the world in which you competea world with continuous legislative, operational and environmental changes. With Oracle Human Resources, you can maximize the potential of your workforce through effective recruitment, staffing, training, compensation, and planning. Oracle Applications for Human Resources include:
T T T T

Oracle Payroll Oracle Human Resources Oracle Training Administration Oracle Sales Compensation

Oracle Applications for Market Management

An efficient sales and marketing force, accurate and timely market information, and the ability to expand into new markets are key to maximizing market opportunities. Oracle Applications for Market Management include:
T T T T T

Oracle Financial Analyzer Oracle Applications Data Warehouse Oracle Sales and Marketing Oracle Sales Compensation Oracle Applications for the Web

Introduction to Oracle Applications

11

Complete Business Solution

As a provider of global consulting, education, and support services, in addition to applications, tools, and database technology, Oracle provides the most complete business solution available. In addition to being the only application vendor to build the full stack of technology: applications, tools, and databaseOracle also provides global consulting, education, and support services to offer the most complete business solution available. Experienced Consulting With a highly trained staff of 7000 consultants around the world, Oracle Services has built a solid track record for effective deployment of Oracle Applications across a wide range of industries and platforms. Flexible Education Oracle Education is a seasoned training organization with more than 200 education centers around the world. Oracle offers customized training alternatives with classroom, on-site classes and seminars tailored to your unique requirements. Oracle also provides online education to help you reduce your costs. Comprehensive Support Oracle Applications are backed by the round-the-clock resources of Oracles global support organization. Oracle offers the most flexible and comprehensive support programs covering multiple time zones and user environments. As a result, you get fast resolution of problems as they arise and maximum value from your Oracle Applications investment. Strategic Business Partners Oracle Applications unparalleled openness allows many third-party software partners to tightly integrate their products with Oracle Applications. This lets you choose best-of-breed extensions tailored to your unique requirements. Major service partners, including the Big 6 accounting firms and major systems integrators, are trained in Oracle products and methodology. These partners together with Oracle provide the broadest range of services available anywhere.

12

Oracle Financials Functional Overview