ERPTechNews

The R12.ATG_PF.B.Delta.3 patch (8919491) recently got released to Oracle Metalink. This patch contains a quick new feature in Applications Object Library, which could be interesting to you. In most E-Business Suite install base, customers also need to access one or more edge applications e.g. BI Dashboards etc., which are typically rendered as function links on the E-Business Suite Home Page. Some of these applications may require the E-Business Suite security context to render themselves correctly. Until now customers would have to wait for  a E-Business Suite certified way of creating links to such edge applications e.g. Discoverer, OBIEE etc.

With this patch, customers will now have the flexibility of creating function links to any such applications of their choice, with or without the E-Business Suite security context. Let me take the example of OBIEE Dashboard or Report to explain the feature.

OBIEE reports are generally organized in a folder like hierarchy so that a report can be referenced as “/”. Let’s assume we are trying to create a link for the “New Hire Retention by Source” report, which is in “/shared/Human Resources” folder. In order to create a link on the navigator, we must create a “Function”, attach it to a “Menu” and attach the menu to desired “Responsibilities”. The function definition for this example would look like the one shown below.

Note that the Function Type has to be “SSWA jsp function”. Continue to the next page and complete the rest of the function definition.

Note the HTML Call, which says “GWY.jsp?targetAppType=OBIEE&Path=/shared/Human Resources/Recruitment/Hires/New Hire Retention by Source&Action=Navigate”. You may substitute appropriate value for the “Path” parameter, if you want to create link for another OBIEE Report. Additionally, you may also pass OBIEE specific parameters in the URL. The details are published in Oracle Metalink Note 974422.1.

Once the function is created, you may attach it to appropriate menu and then attach the menu to appropriate responsibilities. This will ensure that the function link for the OBIEE report is rendered on the applications navigator, when such responsibilities are accessed.

I shall post more updates shortly on this feature, where I shall discuss how customers can extend this feature to render links for custom and/or 3rd party applications.