E-Business Suite Lifecycle Management (LCM)

As I mentioned in the introductory article, one of the marquee features of ACP is the Customization Manager.

Customization Manager provides a solution to the age-old question of how to manage files associated with custom applications, custom reports, and custom extensions. The result is a dramatic reduction in the amount of time and energy associated with moving, building, and managing these artifacts through the instances in your environment.

The way it works is that we take the files that comprise the custom report or applications, and then we bundle them up into what is, for all intents and purposes, and Oracle patch. We can then utilize the standard EBS tools (i.e, AD Utilities, to be specific) to propagate and apply that patch into downstream instances.

Some of the other key features of Customization Manager are:

- Support for over 200 file types (e.g., forms, bi publisher, OAF, etc.)
- The "Custom Patches" can be applied using Patch Manager (i.e., another component of ACP)
- Central console for all custom patches
- Build or compile Java or Form libraries
- Validate custom files to ensure adherence to a set of standards
- Native support for prominent Source Control systems (e.g., CVS, Subversion)
- Built-in standard and comparison reports

We're in the process of finalizing some Customer Advisory webcasts on Customization Manager, as well as the other components of ACP. These webcasts should give you a better idea on the look, feel, and functionality of Customization Manager. Stay tuned!

Here are some documents that might be of interest to you:

ACP 3.0 Datasheet

We are extremely pleased to announce the release of the Oracle Application Change Management Pack (ACP) for Oracle E-Business Suite. The product became Generally Available on April 30th, 2009.

ACP facilitates many of the currently manual tasks associated with managing customizations, applying patches, and managing configuration data. There are three components to the pack, as follows:

Customization Manager provides a toolset and methodology to manage files associated with custom applications, reports, and extensions. In short, the product will bundle individual, custom files and create an "AD-compliant" patch, which can then be applied to any other instance, just like an Oracle patch.

Patch Manager automates many of the current manual tasks associated with applying patches, and also eliminates many redundant practices. Basically, we have eliminated the need to apply patches from the command line. The result is a dramatic reduction in the amount of operator time (and expertise!) required to apply patches.

Setup Manager is the next generation of an existing tool (iSetup) for managing configuration data. Setup Manager introduces important new capabilities, such as projects and dependency enforcement, into the process of migrating configuration data across instances. The result is a more efficient, predictable, and reusable methodology for managing configuration data.

As I noted in the introduction, one of the primary objectives of this blog is to publicize the capabilities of AMP and ACP. Over the coming weeks and months, I will continue to update the blog with further details on product features and functionality.

The purpose of this blog is to highlight the tools, technologies, and techniques needed to manage the Oracle E-Business Suite.

Special attention will be given to two of our latest products - the Application Management Pack (AMP) and the Application Change Management Pack (ACP).