Info : Release 12.2 Overview

Infomration Sharing from one of my Colleague who Mailed this information to our Team. Thanks to SatyaKrishna.....

Upcoming new E-Business Suite of Applications Release 12.2 and the next generation Fusion Applications.

Release 12.1.3 is the terminal (final) release for 12.1. Premier Support for Release 12.1.3 will end May 31, 2014

Release 12.2 has a completely new technology stack based on WebLogic components. The old web tier, Apache and OC4J, will be replaced by WebLogic. This will be a major technology change and learning challenge for Applications DBAs - even those with years of experience managing and maintaining the E-Business Suite. Release 12.2 is expected to be out very soon which, as we all know, could be anywhere from six months to over a year away :-) .

And, finally, the Fusion Applications will be GA (generally available) in the next two months according to Steve Miranda, Senior Vice President of Oracle Applications Development. The Fusion Applications for this release will consist of the Financials, Procurement and Project Portfolio Management pillars and will not include the other four Fusion Applications pillars. Please see http://www.oracle.com/us/products/consulting/018716.htm for more details on the Fusion Application Pillars.

Release 12.2 is the first release of the E-Business Suite running with WebLogic components and is probably not something a stable customer would uptake especially as the first release.

Release 12.2 Overview

The technology stack for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 takes advantage of the latest Oracle and third-party technologies for the database, application tiers, and Java.

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 is certified with the latest Oracle Enterprise Edition 11g Release 2 (11.2) database release. On the application middle tier, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 is certified with Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.4), as well as Java SE Development Kit (JDK) 6.0. On the client, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 uses Version 6.0 of the Java Plug-in.

1. Installation

The Release 12.2 installation process has been significantly enhanced compared to prior releases. These enhancements include the provision of application tier node services, the use of native Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware installation tools to install and configure these technology stack components, and support for integrating Oracle E-Business Suite with existing Oracle Database 11g Release 2 and Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 homes.

2. Online Patching

One of the key features of Release 12.2 is the switch to online patching (OLP). This utilizes the Oracle Database 11g Release 11.2.0.2 feature of edition-based redefinition to reduce significantly the downtime traditionally needed for patching and related maintenance activities.

An edition is a private environment in which you can redefine database objects. With online patching, patches are applied to a separate edition while users are working with the original edition. Subsequently, the system is cutover to make the patch edition the new production edition. After the upgrade to Release 12.2, all future patches and maintenance packs can be applied online, requiring only a short cutover period to make the new functionality active.

3. Cloning

Release 12.2 simplifies and enhances the cloning process, for example when scaling systems up by increasing the number of nodes. Also, support is now provided for cloning the Fusion Middleware components of Oracle E-Business Suite.

4. Application Tier

A key change to the Oracle E-Business Suite technology stack is the adoption of the Oracle WebLogic Server component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, in association with the Oracle HTTP Server component. Corresponding changes have been made to the various application tier services. A further difference is that the application tier file system is now always shared.

5. External Integrations

Release 12.2 includes enhancements to support integration with Oracle WebCenter and Oracle BPEL Process Manager using the new application tier.

Additionally, Oracle Application Framework now integrates with AutoVue Document Print Services. For more information, see section

6. Diagnostics for Secure Configuration

Release 12.2 enhances the tests that are provided to help ensure an Oracle E-Business Suite system is secured appropriately. Successful execution of these tests verifies that various accounts, profiles, parameters and configuration settings are set up in accordance with Oracle’s best practices recommendations for security.

7. Character Date International Calendar Support Enhancements

International calendar support in dates of type character is improved in Release 12.2. International calendar support in the character date routines FND_DATE and APP_DATE packages is enabled.

8. Serbian and Albanian Language Support

The Serbian and Albanian languages are supported across the Oracle E-Business Suite in Release 12.2.

9. Forms UI Export Functionality Enhancements

The Oracle Forms UI Export feature is enhanced to include Comma-Separated-Value (CSV) file format support and improved Unicode character set support capabilities.

10. Oracle Diagnostics Internationalization Enhancements

The Oracle Diagnostics product has been improved in several areas affecting internationalization capabilities, including string conversion to byte streams, end-user-visible strings, and the parsing of date strings.

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11. Internationalization Library Display Support

This feature provides the ability to identify which version of internationalization library is being used at a site. With this enhancement, it is no longer necessary to check the version of each file individually. This feature is especially useful for Oracle Support.

12. Oracle Workflow E-mail Character Encoding Configuration

A workflow administrator can now optionally specify the character encoding to use for each language in workflow notifications. This feature lets you override the character encoding specified by the notification recipient’s NLS preferences as well as the database character encoding, if another character encoding is required to display the notification content correctly. Use the Administration tab in the Oracle Workflow administrator Web pages to configure your character encoding specifications.

13. Native Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Caching for Profiles

Profile caching now uses the native Oracle Database 11g Release 2 PL/SQL Function Result Cache feature for improved performance in fetching profile option values.

14. Uptake of AUTO Sampling Statistics Gathering Feature in Oracle Database 11g

Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Database 11g uses its improved DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE feature by default in the FND_STATS package for gathering statistics in query optimization

15. Oracle Applications Manager and Oracle Enterprise Manager Integration

This enhancement extends the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control console to discover Oracle E-Business Suite instances and to include a navigation link to the Oracle Applications Manager. Oracle Applications Manager itself is updated to work with Fusion Middleware Control

16. Change Base Language Script

Oracle E-Business Suite includes single-language tables that must be updated when changing an existing Installed language to be the Base language of the application system. The Change Base Language script, adchgbase.pl, is a new utility being delivered in RUP2 that will update these tables and corresponding seed data to the new base language. This utility is not required when installing a new language as the Base language.

Use Oracle License Manager to change an existing Installed language to be the Base language. Run the Perl script adchgbase.pl; this script will generate a patch driver, u_ChangeBase.drv, based on seed data in your environment. Apply the driver to your application system using Autopatch. Review log files for any issues.

17. Change Base Language Script

Oracle E-Business Suite includes single-language tables that must be updated when changing an existing Installed language to be the Base language of the application system. The Change Base Language script, adchgbase.pl, is a new utility being delivered in RUP2 that will update these tables and corresponding seed data to the new base language. This utility is not required when installing a new language as the Base language.

Use Oracle License Manager to change an existing Installed language to be the Base language. Run the Perl script adchgbase.pl; this script will generate a patch driver, u_ChangeBase.drv, based on seed data in your environment. Apply the driver to your application system using Autopatch. Review log files for any issues.

18. Oracle WebLogic Server 11g with Oracle SOA Suite 11g Integration

Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway now uses Oracle SOA Suite 11g running on Oracle WebLogic Server 11g to provide greater capabilities and best-in-class SOA infrastructure for Oracle E-Business Suite. In this integration, Oracle SOA Suite provides the most current SOA technology such as Web services standards support, protocols, and binding, while Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway provides the integration content, such as the integration interfaces, security model, and guidelines for best practices.

• Service Provider – In this release, Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway continues to generate and deploy Oracle E-Business Suite Web services into Oracle SOA Suite. However, at run time the SOAP requests and responses from Web service clients and consumers will be executed by Oracle SOA Suite.

• Service Invocation Framework - Previously, the Service Invocation Framework (SIF) was based on the Web Services Invocation Framework (WSIF) provided in Oracle Application Server 10g. In Release 12.2, SIF instead leverages the Java API for XML-based Web Services (JAX-WS) dispatcher from Oracle WebLogic Server 11g.

• Service Monitor – The component known as SOA Monitor in earlier releases is now called the Service Monitor and is based on Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g. The Service Monitor fetches data and statistics for each instance of a Web service request and response from the underlying Oracle SOA Suite infrastructure to let you monitor Oracle E-Business Suite Web services. You can use the Service Monitor user interface in Oracle E-Business Suite to view

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the runtime SOAP request and response data received and sent from Oracle SOA Suite.

19. Asynchronous Web Service Support

Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway now supports asynchronous request/response Web services. Unlike synchronous Web services, which return a response from the Provider immediately, asynchronous Web services may require a significant amount of time to process a request. However, the client that invoked the Oracle E-Business Suite Web service can continue with other processing in the meantime rather than wait for the response. Later, when the Web service request processing completes, Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway sends the response back to the client that sent the request. The Service Provider in Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway provides the infrastructure to support these asynchronous Web service transactions.

Additionally, the Oracle Integration Repository user interface now lets you specify interaction pattern options for a service before generating the service. You can choose synchronous interaction, asynchronous interaction, or both.

20. Advanced Scheduling Options

When submitting a report, you can now choose a simple schedule such as, as soon as possible, a specific date and time, or recurring intervals; or you can choose a more advanced schedule such as specific days of the week or specific dates in a month. You can also choose a previously saved schedule.

21. E-mail Character Encoding Configuration

A workflow administrator can now optionally specify the character encoding to use for each language in workflow notifications. This feature lets you override the character encoding specified by the notification recipient’s NLS preferences as well as the database character encoding, if another character encoding is required to display the notification content correctly. Use the Administration tab in the Oracle Workflow administrator Web pages to configure your character encoding specifications.

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22. Deferring Worklist Response Processing

To increase performance, a workflow administrator can optionally configure Oracle Workflow to defer the processing of notification responses submitted through the worklist. In this case, control is returned to a user immediately after the user submits a response, while the subsequent activities in the workflow are executed at a later time. You can choose to defer notification response processing for all item types or only for specified item types. Use the Administration tab in the Oracle Workflow administrator Web pages to configure the item types for which you want to defer response processing.

23. Workflow RAC Affinity

To increase scalability and performance on Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) databases, Oracle Workflow now supports RAC affinity for some high-volume batch processing item types. As part of the RAC configuration, the workflow runtime tables are partitioned based on a fixed number of RAC instance IDs. Then, when a RAC-enabled workflow process is launched in a particular RAC instance, the Workflow Engine and background engine concurrent requests set a VPD policy that allows them to access and manipulate workflow runtime records only from that specific instance ID. This policy helps to avoid contention by confining each engine request to processing workflows specific to a given RAC instance ID.

Oracle Workflow supports RAC affinity only for certain item types whose processes are either launched and completed in one online session, or deferred once and completed later by a background engine. Use the FND lookup type WF_RAC_ENABLED_TYPES to specify which of the supported item types you want to execute using RAC affinity.

And so on .....

Good luck!!

Thanks,
Srisatyakrishna