The Oracle Fusion Applications suite provides a comprehensive suite of SaaS solutions designed to optimize business operations across industries. With best-in-class tools for ERP, supply chain, HCM, and customer experience, they offer a unified platform with embedded AI for consistent processes and a single source of truth. Built on a modern, standards-based infrastructure, these applications enable seamless personalization, integration, and extension, helping businesses enhance customer engagement, improve agility, and adapt quickly to change.
Oracle APEX is the world's most popular enterprise low-code application platform that enables you to build scalable, secure web and mobile apps with world-class features that can be deployed anywhere – cloud or on-premises.
Extending Oracle Fusion Applications with Oracle APEX lets you tailor the system to meet unique business needs not covered by the standard suite. APEX leverages the Oracle database, making it a quick, cost-effective way to add custom functionality while seamlessly integrating with Fusion data.
Key benefits of using APEX include its low-code development environment, which simplifies building applications with minimal coding, and its tight database integration for easy data access and manipulation. You can create custom user interfaces, streamline workflows, and rapidly prototype features to refine them before implementation. Additionally, APEX is included with your Oracle Database license, minimizing costs.
Common APEX use cases include creating tailored reports and dashboards, adding custom workflows, enforcing specific data validation rules, integrating third-party systems, and building industry-specific features. APEX enables businesses to extend Fusion Applications effectively, enhancing usability and aligning the system with their unique processes.
With APEX 24.2, the Fusion Integrated Starter App Wizard is introduced, making it easy to connect your Fusion instance with your database where APEX is hosted. Oracle manages complex security configurations in the backend, leveraging the preconfigured Fusion Integrated Starter app for secure connectivity. With the Database Tools Fusion Integration option, you can quickly establish this connection.
Requirements:
Important Note: To integrate Oracle APEX with Fusion Applications, you will need the DBTools plugin version 1.100.0 or higher. This version will soon be available on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Stay tuned!
Note: Oracle APEX Application Development (APEX Service) does not support Fusion Application integrations since APEX workloads do not include SQLNet connections.
Integration Process:
Integrating Oracle APEX with Fusion Applications follows a simple three-step Process.
Database Tools is a managed service in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) that enables you to create connections to any Oracle or MySQL Database service in OCI that can be reused by multiple users, resources, and services. The database connections can then be used to create a connection between the Oracle Fusion Applications instance and the Oracle Database where APEX resides.
The Database Tools service allows you to create connections to Oracle Database systems running in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Connections work with Autonomous Database (ADB) Shared, ADB Dedicated, Oracle Base Database (VM, BM, and Exadata DB Systems), and customer-managed Oracle Databases running on OCI compute instances.
To Create a Database Connection and Integrate APEX with Fusion Applications, perform the following steps:
Ensure Users Are Added to the Fusion Application's Associated Identity Domain
The steps outlined in the previous section using the Database Tools Fusion Integration Wizard create database credentials in the database where APEX is hosted. This process enables the establishment of Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication, which both Fusion and APEX utilize.
Before creating a Fusion Integration Application in APEX, ensure that your target users are added to the Fusion Application’s associated identity domain. Follow these steps to validate or add users:
By completing these steps, you ensure that all required users are ready for the integration process.
To enable database credentials for all workspaces in APEX, the APEX_NNNNNN
schema must have execute permissions on the credentials, and a public synonym prefixed with SYS
must be created. The DBTools Fusion application wizard handles this setup by configuring credentials, granting privileges, and creating the required synonyms.
The DB tools Fusion Application Wizard will automatically enable database credentials for all workspaces in APEX. To verify this, navigate to the APEX Administration Services, navigate to Manage Instance > Instance Settings > Security, and check whether to Allow DBMS Credentials Usage to "Yes".
Before creating the Fusion Integrated Application in APEX, ensure that the Database Tools wizard has been successfully completed. If the integration between Oracle APEX and Fusion Applications is successful, the message "This APEX instance is integrated with Oracle Fusion Applications" will appear on the right side of the Workspace homepage in APEX.
Create Fusion Integrated Application
To create a Fusion Integration application in APEX, follow these steps:
What Happens When You Create a Fusion Integration Application in APEX?
When you use the Create Application Wizard and select the Create Fusion Integration option, APEX sets up a starter application and performs several essential database configuration tasks to streamline integration with Fusion Applications:
By automating these steps, APEX simplifies the process of integrating Fusion Applications and provides you with a solid foundation for further customization.
Conclusion
This blog explains how Oracle APEX can be used to extend Oracle Fusion Applications to meet unique business requirements. Oracle Fusion provides a comprehensive suite of tools for ERP, HCM, supply chain, and customer experience, while APEX offers a low-code platform to create scalable, secure applications. With features like the Fusion Integrated Starter App Wizard, the integration process is simplified, automating tasks such as secure database connections, Single Sign-On (SSO) configuration, and REST API setup. This allows businesses to quickly build custom workflows, reports, and features, enhancing Fusion Applications and aligning them with specific needs.
This blog post provides a High-level overview of how to enhance Oracle Fusion Applications with Oracle APEX. Stay tuned for a more detailed Technical Paper coming soon.
Roopesh Thokala, a Senior Product Manager at Oracle APEX. He is responsible for Product Management activities for APEX, including APEX on Autonomous Databases and APEX Services, with a primary focus on the JAPAC Region. He excels in customer evangelism and takes pride in promptly resolving customer issues. Prior to his role in the APEX Team, Roopesh served as an APEX Developer, Solution Engineer, and Solution Architect. He also actively supports various Oracle APEX user groups across the JAPAC region.
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