Written by Ayush Ganeriwal, Oracle Data Integrator Product Management



Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) is the bulk data transformation
platform for Fusion Applications (FA). ODI is used by Fusion Customer
Relationship Management (CRM), Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM), Fusion
Supply Chain Management (SCM), Fusion Incentive Compensation (IC) and Fusion
Financials family products and many other Fusion Application teams are following
suit. Among all these product families CRM is the biggest consumer of ODI
leveraging a breadth of ODI features and functionality, out of which some features
were developed specifically for Fusion Applications use. Some ODI features they
utilize include: ODI SDK, high
availability, external authentication, various out of the box and customized Knowledge
Modules, ODI-ESS bridge, callbacks to ESS EJBs, auditing, open tools, etc. In this post we will first talk about the
different Fusion Application use cases at higher level and then take a closer
look at different integration points.

Figure 1
shows data integration need of a typical on-premise Fusion Applications deployment.

  1. Bulk Import: Fusion Applications exposes a set
    of interface tables as the entry point for data load from any outside source.
    The bulk import process validates this data and loads it in the internal table
    which can then be used by the fusion application.
  2. Data Migration: Extracting data from external
    applications, legacy applications or any other data source and loading it into
    Fusion Application’s interface table. ODI can be used for such data load.
  3. Preparing Data Files: Converting data into Comma
    Separated Values (CSV) files that can be imported through Fusion Application’s
    files import wizard. ODI can be used to extract data into such CSV file.

Figure 1: Data
Integration Needs in On-Premise Fusion Application

Figure 2
shows the on-demand or cloud environment requirements, which are slightly
different as there is no direct connectivity available to the interface tables.

  1. Bulk Import: Fusion Application exposes a set of
    interface tables as the entry point for any data load from any outside source.
    The bulk import process validates this data and then loads it in the internal
    table which can then be used by the application.
  2. Preparing Data Files: Converting data into CSV
    files that can be imported through Fusion Application’s files import wizard.
    ODI can be used for creation on such CSV files.
  3. Uploading data files: The data files are
    uploaded to the Tenant File repository through either Fusion Application’s File
    import page or Oracle WebCenter Content Document Transfer Utility. The
    WebCenter Utility is built using ODI open tool framework allowing orchestrating
    entire process through ODI package.
  4. Loading Interface Table: Data files to be loaded
    in the interface tables so that it can be consumed by the Bulk Import process.
    ODI is used for loading these interface tables.

Figure 2: Data
Integration Needs for On-Demand Fusion Application

Stay tuned for more blog posts on this topic coming next week. This was part one in a series of three posts.