Oracle User Productivity Kit

Oracle User Productivity Kit 3.5 (UPK 3.5) is now available on E-Delivery! This release includes a lot of great features that make using UPK even easier than before. Here is a very quick list of some of the new features included in this release:

Copy and Paste Frames
Copy one or more frames to a new location in the same topic, or to a completely different topic altogether. This provides an excellent way to reuse content or recompose existing topics.

Customizable Document Outputs
Word bookmarks allow you to customize existing document publishing styles in a very WYSIWYG environment.

Library Security
Control which users or usergroups can open or modify content in the UPK Library. This allows much more flexibility in managing one or more authoring groups with different responsibilities in a single Library.

Customizable Library Views
Do you need to find out which documents are checked out to you? Perhaps you'd like to see a list of all Modules in the Final state? The new customizable views feature will make this information one click away.

Automatically Record Screenshots
Enable novice authors or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to be productive more quickly by eliminating the need to press any additional keys during recording.

Re-recorder Enhancements
The Re-recorder now has the ability to move forward and backward through the topic allowing authors to more easily re-record only the steps that need to be re-recorded.

Compressed Sound and Improved Sound Import
Import compressed sound directly into the Topic Editor one frame at a time or for an entire outline using the improved sound import feature.

Player Table of Contents Redesigned
Redesigned the Player Table of Contents to be more usable and efficient.

Print It! mode
The new Player mode Print It! allows authors to include either a Job Aid or System Process document with any topic.

Add Keywords, Roles, and Context to Modules and Sections
Modules and sections with attached content can have keywords, roles, and context information. Keywords will be available to the Player search, roles will allow the modules and section to appear in a role-filtered Player, and context allows modules and sections to be included in Applicable launches of the Player.

More detailed information can be found in the Upgrade.pdf document found within the installation media, or on the UPK web site. Enjoy!

Oracle User Productivity Kit 3.5.1 has been available on E-Delivery for a while and I neglected to mention it. While the number of enhancements introduced in UPK 3.5.1 is rather small, the significance of these enhancements is huge. I really should have mentioned it sooner. In addition, there have been two Enablement Service Packs for UPK 3.5.1, so I have included them here as well.

ORACLE USER PRODUCTIVITY PACK 3.5.1
SQLite Database for Client and Single User configurations (replaces the Firebird database)
Installing Client and Single User configurations will be much simpler now that the manual installation of the Firebird database has been removed and replaced with an embedded installation of SQLite database.

Internet Explorer 8 support for Player
The UPK Player can be deployed to end users using Internet Explorer 8. Recording applications in Internet Explorer 8 using SmartMatch and deploying the SmartHelp browser add-in is added in Enablement Service Pack 1 and included in Enablement Service Pack2, as noted below.

Configurable Cache location for Client and Single User configurations
The location of the UPK Developer cache (profile) can be selected during profile creation and subsequently changed while editing a profile. This is helpful for users who have limited space available in their User folder. This adds profiles to Single User configurations and affords customers using Single User configurations to create more than one Library of content.

Recording Support Additions and Updates
- Java 6 Update 12 support added
- Improved recognition for JDE E1 8.98 and 9.0
- Added support for Siebel 8.1.1; context recognition of eModules; and context-sensitivity via SmartHelp for CRM OnDemand (details)

ENABLEMENT SERVICE PACK 1 for UPK 3.5.1
- Support for specific Hyperion products with context-sensitivity via SmartHelp (details)
- Support for Oracle Transportation Management with context-sensitivity via SmartHelp (details)
- Internet Explorer 8 support for recording SmartMatch content and SmartHelp deployment

ENABLEMENT SERVICE PACK 2 for UPK 3.5.1 (includes all items from Enablement Service Pack 1)
- Support for JDE World 4.1C10
- Support for Siebel versions 7.7.2.10, 7.7.2.11, 7.8.2.10, 7.8.2.11, 7.8.2.12, 8.0.0.5, 8.0.0.6, and 8.0.0.7
- Support for SAP 7.10 patch 014 and 6.20 patch 077
(The UPK 3.5.1 What's New document will soon be updated to include the details of Enablement Service Pack 2.)

A few things to note about Enablement Service Packs: The Enablement Service Packs are incremental updates to UPK 3.5.1 and will not install for previous versions. However, Enablement Service Packs include all the features of previously released Enablement Service Packs for that version of UPK. This means that you only need to download and install the latest--in this case, Enablement Service Pack 2. Information on installing Service Packs is included in the product documentation. (Installation & Administration.pdf, p.17; and Content Development.pdf, p.91)

UPK 3.5.1 is now available on E-Delivery while Enablement Service Pack 2 can be found in Metalink. We welcome your comments.