Oracle User Productivity Kit

Quick Tip: PowerPoint in the UPK Player

2009-09-04T19:30:31Z

If you're reading this, I'm sure you know that Oracle UPK allows you to leverage existing content (created in other applications) by attaching the content to the concept pane, bubble hyperlinks, web page hyperlinks, etc. One file type which is often attached to UPK content is Microsoft PowerPoint. Since the UPK Player is launched in a web browser, these PowerPoint attachments are also being launched through the web browser, which can lead to a different user experiences based on the way the user's browser is configured.

Launching Microsoft PowerPoint files in a web browser has inspired a lot of discussions on the internet. These discussions are valuable to those of you who have decided to include Microsoft PowetPoint files in UPK content, so I'd like to share with you a web page which offers a lot of information about this topic:

http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00189.htm -- this web page has a good overview of the various challenges with deploying PowerPoint files through the web browser and the options available to address these challenges.

If you cannot find a viable solution for delivering Microsoft PowerPoint files as UPK attachments, you can always save your presentations as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. While PDF files can also behave differently depending on the user's software and configuration, there seem to be less variables to worry about.

What types of content do you attach in UPK? What challenges have you encountered and how have you resolved them? Let us know in the comments.

UPK 3.5.1 and Enablement Service Pack 2 are Available!

2009-08-07T14:16:52Z

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.

Tip: Topic Editor Secrets, Shortcuts, and Forgotten Features

2009-07-31T14:32:54Z

Having used UPK for so long, I often take for granted some of the habits (both good and bad) I've picked up over the years. I recently remembered a few shortcuts that I wanted to share with other UPK authors who work in the Topic Editor, which I've documented here.

Move Around Faster

Alt + Left Arrow (<--) = Navigates to the previous frame
Alt + Right Arrow (-->) = navigates to the next frame
Alt + Home = navigates to the Introduction frame
Alt + End = navigates to the End frame

Get a Better View of your Screenshots

Right click drag the screenshot to pan the screenshot.
You can show and hide all property windows using the icon which looks like an empty window. This option can also be found in the View menu. This allows you to see more of the captured screenshot, which is very useful when editing content developed in a screen size equal to or larger than the screen size used for editing.

More Control of Action Areas

Left double-click the screenshot to define the upper-left corner of the action area
Shift + Left double-click the screenshot to define the lower-right corner of the action area
Control + Left click drag to draw the action area

Tame Bubble Snapping

When moving a bubble, you can hold down the Control key to avoid "snapping" to the action area in predefined location, allowing you to determine where the bubble connects to the action area.

Other Cool Stuff

Right double-click the screenshot to bring up a context menu with the options to: Create Action Area or Edit Screenshot

I plan to update this post with a video in the future. There are others which we may cover in future posts. I hope this allows you to further reduce the time you spend editing content. And, if you know of any Topic Editor tips you'd like to share, let us know in the comments.

Feature Overview: Print

2009-05-14T01:46:00Z

UPK 3.1 introduced a new feature named Print Outline. This feature allowed authors to export the current view of the active outline to a number of formats: pdf, html, Excel, and various image types. Print Outline was great for sharing information about the content in UPK with users who did not normally use UPK--executive sponsors, for example. However, since this feature was only available in the Outline Editor, this meant the desired data needed to be in an outline (module or section) before it could be exported using Print Outline. If the author wanted to export data from multiple outlines, they would need to create a new outline which contained all the documents they wanted to export.

The more versatile Print feature, introduced in UPK 3.5, can be used in the Outline Editor and the Library. This is an important improvement considering the additional control of Views also introduced in UPK 3.5. Below is an example of how this feature can be used to create reports for UPK:

UPK 3.5 Feature Overview: Print.

Feature Overview: Views

2009-04-07T22:27:52Z

Have you used the new views introduced in UPK 3.5? Have you edited any of the existing views? Or have you created your own unique views? Here's a very short video describing one example of why you might want to create a new view.

UPK 3.5 Feature Overview: Views.

Do you have other ideas for views? Let us know in the comments.

Tip: Folder Permissions and the System Folder

2009-03-11T17:33:44Z

If you've been waiting for folder security in the UPK Library, I know exactly what some of you are thinking, "It's time to lock down the System folder once and for all!" But wait--there are some important things to consider.

Many of the documents in the System folder are used by other features in the Developer. To help you decide how you would like to lock down the System folder without causing any problems for your authors, we've described some of the permissions required by various folders in the System folder below:

Templates (Suggested permission: READ)
If authors do not have permission to READ the Templates folder, they will not be able to open topics in the Topic Editor, because the author will be unable to read the text generated using the templates. It is possible to set permission on the language folders beneath the Templates folder individually. For example, giving an author LIST permission to the Templates/en ("en" for English), would prevent this author from opening topics using the English template, but if the same author had READ permission to Templates/de ("de" for German), they could still open topics which use the German template.

Publishing/Styles (Suggested permission: READ)
If authors do not have permission to READ the Publishing Styles folder, they will not be able to publish or preview content.

Publishing/Help Menu Integration (Suggested permission: READ)
When an author publishes a Player, these files will be needed to integrate the Player into the help menu of various applications.

Icons/Custom (Suggested permission: MODIFY)
If authors are allowed to add icons for frame links, they will need the ability to MODIFY this folder. If authors do not need this capability, READ permissions should suffice.

Icons/Standard (Suggested permission: READ)
Authors will need READ to this folder to open topics in the Topic Editor, even if there are no attachments using these icons.

Roles (Suggested permission: READ)
Authors who need to add roles to modules, sections, or topics will need READ permissions to this folder. Authors who need to add roles to the Master Role List, will need MODIFY permission to this folder.

In summary, most, if not all, authors should have READ permission to the entire System folder, with a few exceptions. You'll notice that there are no default cases where LIST permission is recommended, which illustrates that LIST should be used with careful consideration.

Please share your thoughts on Library permissions in the comments.

Oracle User Productivity Kit 3.5 Available on E-Delivery!

2009-02-13T14:08:01Z

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!

The UPK Development Teams

2009-01-21T15:19:21Z

Back when there was a Global Knowledge Software, we grouped development into two teams we called Core and Target Apps. Roughly, the division of responsibilities were core developed the content editing, publishing, and management features; and target apps developed content capture, recognition, and application integration.

For those familiar with how our group works, this division of responsibilities still exists, but the teams have gained new names. It's an organic transition, so I expect both will be used for a while. The Core team is now also called Platform and the Target Apps team is now also called Enablement.

The UPK Content Development team is still called the Content team, as far as I know!

UPK Installation: The REAL Deal

2009-01-09T23:29:05Z

From time to time, I hear questions about the installation process for UPK. For example: "What's the difference between a client install and a single-user install?" "Is IIS required?" "Does UPK use an Oracle database?"

To try and help you out, here's a few tips to remember.

UPK can be installed as a single-user,stand alone developer on your machine. The Developer will have all the capability to create, store and publish your content from that single location without the need to connect to an enterprise database. However, it can also be installed for a multi-developer environment. This requires a back-end database to store the content data.

Beginning with UPK 3.1.6, the Oracle Database is supported for UPK content development.

Microsoft's web server, IIS, is also required as part of the development server...but NOT for the deployment of the browser based player package. So you don't have IIS available for a multi-user development environment? Well..here's what you can do....

A key benefit to having the multi-developer environment is the ability to view content being developed by others. Content can also be shared by using the import/export feature from within the Developer. From the menu bar, click Tools>Export to create an archive file (.odarc) of the selected topic(s). This file can be emailed or placed on a central server to be imported (Tools>Import) into a different developer's machine.

Remember that a published player package can run on ANY web server that accepts the http protocol.

Community Update

2008-12-17T21:10:06Z

Thanks for all the feedback about the UPK community links! I have some updated information to share.

The Oracle Application Users' Group has a special interest group dedicated to Tutor and User Productivity Kit.

Check out the UPK feature article in Profit Online.

It seems the myforums.oracle.com site is for Oracle employees only. So, the link I provided in the Welcome post is no good. The Metalink community forum should be used instead. After logging in to Metalink, follow these directions to get to the forum.

1. Select the Community tab.
2. Click the Enter Here button.
3. Click the User Productivity Kit link on the left.

Best wishes and happy holidays!

Context-Sensitive Help with UPK

2008-11-18T21:08:39Z

The topics of context sensitivity and in-application performance support with UPK don't get enough attention. Many people I run into aren't aware of the capabilities built into UPK (and ODPN). There's a lot to talk about! I'll try to break it up into logical parts. Here's the groundwork.

UPK provides several options for providing context-sensitive help out of the box.

Help Menu Integration for supported applications
SmartHelp for supported web applications
Application-provided context
Hardcoded context

UPK can provide context-sensitive help for nearly any application. However, the necessary level of control over the application and the complexity of the solution can vary. Understanding these options will allow you to choose the best solution. You may even learn how to add context-sensitive help to applications which you thought could not support it!

Let’s define what context and context-sensitive help are, and examine how UPK implements them. In general, context is the environment in and the activity which a worker is performing. Context-sensitive help is exactly the information the worker needs to accomplish the activity in the environment. From the UPK perspective, the environment is one or more applications and the worker is the user. The activity is often a transaction or some other step in a business process.

In UPK, context is a set of values computed or passed from the application at the time of help launch that has some relationship to the activity the user is performing. The player package is the UPK output that supports context-sensitivity. It does this in two ways. First, it supports context by filtering the content outline and showing only applicable topics—that is, topics which contain the context passed from the application. Second, when an applicable topic is viewed, the topic advances to the first frame which matches the context passed from the application.

Ideally, context values are unique for every application and activity the user performs. But in practice, it may not be necessary or even desirable to have such detailed context information. We use the term granularity to describe the difference between the number of application states and the uniqueness of context values. The correct granularity for context depends on the number of different activities the user performs and the number of topics covering those activities.

In the next installments, I'll dig into the different methods of providing context-sensitive help with UPK. I promise more pictures and fewer words. ;)

Welcome!

2008-11-14T16:35:21Z

Welcome to the Oracle User Productivity Kit blog!

Bill and I are very excited to have this new way of reaching out to our customers, partners, industry analysts, and everyone interested in Oracle UPK. We hope more UPK and Tutor insiders and community leaders will join us in delivering interesting and informative posts.

We are committed to supporting the UPK and Tutor community. As Oracle's acquisition of Global Knowledge Software continues, there may be changes and will be new opportunities for how the community interacts and grows. We will do our best to keep you informed of any changes and new opportunities here and everywhere we can!

What community resources are out there now?

Oracle Resources

UPK Forum: MyForums at Oracle.com hosts the official UPK forum moderated by Ania Gutierrez, Brian Haynes and Lisa Kawahara. Browse there for tips-n-tricks and wisdom from UPK users and Oracle employees. Register to ask your questions and offer your own perspective!
Oracle Metalink Knowledge Base entries for UPK: Oracle Metalink, and MySupport at Oracle.com, hosts the official Knowledge Base for UPK and is a great place to check for solutions to known problems. If you experience a problem installing or using Oracle UPK products, look here first! Dazzle forum users with your ability to quote from articles here! You'll need to register to access the site. (Update: I'm told the link only works if you are using the non-flash version of Metalink.)
Oracle UPK Community Site: From Metalink, choose the Community Tab. Click Enter Now, then click the User Productivity Kit link on the left. Oracle communities help you leverage professional connections through forum discussions, shared knowledge and documentation, web conferences and more.
GKS User Community*: The GKS User Community
is an interactive where you can communicate and exchange ideas on best practices and experiences with Oracle User Productivity Kit.
Within each secure forum, participants are provided access to a suite of powerful tools that enable a group of users to effectively get organized, share knowledge and communicate. Join today and discover how you can get the most out of your Global Knowledge Software!

You'll need to register to access the site.
* See the the Global Knowledge Software - Support page.

Unaffiliated resources

While surfing this series of tubes, we've stumbled across some other noteworthy blogs. These are external and we take no responsibility for their content or accuracy. But, they were kind enough to talk about UPK, so we'll be kind enough to mention them.

ebusinessuite UPK category: A collection of UPK-related posts
oracleappsblog: A lengthy article on UPK

If we missed your UPK contribution to the blogosphere, it's only because they don't let us browse the internet all day. Send us a note or leave a comment here and we'll check it out.

We're still doing some setup and housekeeping, so you may notice changes to some areas over the next weeks, thanks for turning a blind eye for a bit.

We hope you'll continue to follow and enjoy the UPK blog. Subscribe to the RSS feed today!