As you may of noticed, the blog has not been updated as regularly as it used to. Oracle is moving its blog platform soon to a new platform and during that process the number of blog changes has been limited to aid in the migration.

So here are the proposed plans for this blog:

• This blog will be retired long term and replaced with a new Oracle Utilities Application Framework blog centered around technology and tips/techniques.
• More people will be involved in creating new content with special guests coming into publishing content on the blog.
• We are preparing new content for our next release 4.3.0.4.0 which is going to be exciting with new features and updated features. The new blog will house that content.

We are still preparing for the migration and I will keep you posted on this site when it will all happen. I will also post a final post to this blog pointing to the new exciting platform.

The next release of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework (4.3.0.4.0) is in its final implementation across our product lines over the next few months. This release improves the existing Oracle Utilities Application Framework with exciting new features and enhanced existing features for our cloud and non-cloud implementations. Here is a summary of the key features of the new Oracle Utilities Application Framework.

Main Features

CMA Improvements

The following highlights some improvements to CMA processing.

Ad-hoc Migration Requests

A new migration request BO has been provided to allow for building ‘ad-hoc’ migration requests using a list of specific objects.  It’s called the “entity list” migration request.

A special zone is included to find records to include in the migration request.  This zone allows you to choose a maintenance object that is configured for CMA and enter search criteria to get a list of objects to choose.  The zone supports linking one or more objects for the same MO en masse.

Migration requests may now be grouped so that you can maintain more granular migration requests that get grouped together to orchestrate a single export of data for a ‘wholesale’ migration.  The framework supplies a new ‘group’ migration request that includes other migration requests that logically group migration plans.  Edge products or implementations may include this migration request into their own migration request.

Mass Actions During Migration Import Approval

When importing data sets, a user may now perform mass actions on migration objects to approve or reject or mark as ‘needs review’.

Groovy Library Support

Implementers may now define a Groovy library script for common functionality that may be included in other Groovy scripts.

There’s a new script type:

Scripts of this type define a Groovy Library Interface step type to list the Groovy methods defined within the script that are available for use by other scripts.

Additional script steps using the Groovy Member step type are used to define the Groovy code that the script implements.

Groovy scripts that choose to reference the Groovy Library Script can use the createLibraryScript method provided by the system to instantiate the library interface.

Search Menu Capability

A new option in the toolbar allows a user to search for a page rather than using the menu to find the desired page.

All menu items whose label matches what the user types are shown (as you type):

Additional Features

The following is a subset of additional features that are included.   Refer to the published release notes for more details.

• URI validation / substitution. Any place where a URI is configured can now use substitution variables to support transparency across environment. The fully substituted value can also be validated against a whitelist for added security.
• Minimizing the dashboard suppresses refresh. This allows a user to improve response when navigating throughout the system by delaying the refresh of zones in the dashboard while it is minimized.
• New support for UI design. Input maps may now support half width sections.  Both display and input maps may support “floating” half width sections that fill in available space on the UI based on what is displayed.
• Individual batch controls may now be secured independently.
• Ad-hoc batch parameters are supplied to all batch related plug-in spots. Additionally, plug-in driven batch programs may now support ad-hoc parameters.
• Elements in a schema that include the private=true attribute will no longer appear in the WSDL of any Inbound Web Service based upon that schema.
  

The first part of implementing an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) solution for your Oracle Utilities products using the ILM functionality provided is to decide the business retention periods for your data.

Before discussing the first steps a couple of concepts need to be understood:

• Active Period - This is the period/data group where the business needs fast update access to the data. This is the period the data is actively used in the product by the business.
• Data Groups - These are the various stages the data is managed after the Active period and before archival. In these groups the ILM solution will use a combination of tiered storage solutions, partitioning and/or compression to realize cost savings.
  
• Archival - This is typically the final state of the data where it is either placed on non-disk related archival media (such as tape) or simply removed.
  

The goal of the first steps is to decide two major requirements for each ILM enabled object:

• How long the active period should be? In other words, how long the business needs access to update the data?
• How long the data needs to remain accessible to the business? In other words, how long to keep the data in the database, overall? Remember the data is still accessible by the business whilst it is in the database.
  

The decisions here are affected by a number of key considerations:

• How long for the business processes the data needs to be available for update - This can be how long the business needs to rebill or how long the update activity is allowed on a historical record. Remember this is the requirement for the BUSINESS to get update access.
• How long legally you need to be able to access the records - In each jurisdiction there will be legal and government requirements on how long data should be updated for? For example, there may be a government regulation around rebilling or how long a meter read can be available for change.
• The overall data retention periods are dictated by how long the business and legal requirements are for access to the data. This can be tricky as tax requirements vary from country to country. For example, in most countries the data needs to be available to tax authorities for say 7 years, in machine readable format. This does not mean it needs to be in the system for 7 years, it just needs to be available when requested. I have seen customers use tape storage, off site storage or even the old microfiche storage (that is showing my age!).
• Retention means that the data is available on the system even after update is no longer required. This means read only access is needed and the data can even be compressed to save storage and money. This is where the crossover to the technical aspects of the solution start to happen. Oracle calls these Data Groups where each group of data, based usually on date range, has different storage/compression/access characteristics. This can be expressed as a partition per data group to allow for physical separation of the data. You should remember that the data is still accessible but it is not on the same physical storage and location as the more active data.

Now the best way of starting this process is working with the business to decide the retention and active periods for the data. It is not as simple as a single conversation and may require some flexibility in designing the business part of the solution.

Once agreement has been reached the first part of the configuration in ILM is to update the Master Configuration for ILM with the retention periods agreed to for the active period. This will enable the business part of the process to be initiated. The ILM configuration will be on each object, in some cases subsets of objects, to set the retention period in days. This is used by the ILM batch jobs to decide when to assess the records for the next data groups.

There will be additional articles in this series which walk you through the ILM process.

One of the features we support in Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.3.x and above is the Oracle WebLogic Overload Protection feature. By default, Oracle WebLogic is setup with a global Work Manager which gives you unlimited connections to the server. Whilst this is reasonable for non-production systems, Oracle generally encourages people to limit connections in Production to avoid overloading the server with connections.

In production, it is generally accepted that the Oracle WebLogic servers will either be clustered or a set of managed servers, as this is the typical setup for the high availability requirements for that environment. Using these configurations,it is recommended to set limits on individual servers to enforce capacity requirements across your cluster/managed servers.

There are a number of recommendations when using Overload Protection:

• The Oracle Utilities Application Framework automatically sets the panic action to system-exit. This is the recommended setting so that the server will stop and restart if it is overloaded. In a clustered or managed server environment, end users are routed to other servers in the configuration while the server is restarted by Node Manager. This is set at the ENVIRON.INI level as part of the install in the WLS_OVERRIDE_PROTECT variable. This variable is set using the WebLogic Overload Protection setting using the configureEnv utility.
• Ensure you have setup a high availability environment either using Clustering or multiple managed servers with a proxy (like Oracle HTTP Server or Oracle Traffic Director). Oracle has Maximum Availability Guidelines that can help you plan your HA solution.
• By default, the product ships with a single global Work manager within the domain (this is the default domain from Oracle WebLogic). It is possible to create custom Work Manager definitions with Capacity Constraint and/or Maximum Threads Constraint which is allocated to product servers to provide additional capacity controls.

The ILM features of the Oracle Database are used in the Oracle Utilities ILM capability to implement the technical side of the solution. In Oracle 12, two new facilities were added to the already available ILM features to make the implementation of ILM easier. These features are Automatic Data Optimization (ADO) and Heat Map.

The Heat Map feature allows Oracle itself to track the use of blocks and segments in your database. Everytime a program or user touches a row in the database, such as using SELECT, UPDATE or DELETE SQL statements, Heat Map records that it was touched. This information is important as it actually helps profiles the actual usage of the data in your database. This information can be used by Automatic Data Optimization. The Heat Map is disabled by default and requires a database initialization parameter to be changed.

Automatic Data Optimization is a facility where DBA's can set ILM rules, known as Policies, to perform certain ILM actions on the data. For example: If the data is not touched, using Heat Map data, within X months then COMPRESS it to save space. If the ILM_ARCH_SW is set to Y, move the data to partition X. There are a lot of combinations and facilities in the ADO rules to allow the DBA's flexibility in their rules. ADO allows DBA's to specify the rules and then supplies a procedure that can be scheduled, at the convenience of the site, to implement the rules.

ADO and Heat Map are powerful data management tools that DBA's should get use to. They allow simple specification of rules and use features in the database to allow you to manage your data.

For more information about Heat Map and ADO refer to the following information:

• Heat Map, Automatic Data Optimization and ILM with Oracle Database
• Automatic Data Optimization whitepaper
• Oracle VLDB Guide - Includes advice on Partitioning and Time Based Data Management (ADO/HeatMap).
• Enabling and Disabling Heat Map
• Using Oracle Enterprise Manager for Managing ADO and Heat Map
• Limitations and Restrictions with ADO and Heat Map (Note: In Oracle Database 12.1, you cannot use ADO/HeatMap on a multi-tenant database. This is supported in Oracle 12.2).
• Video: Exploring Oracle 12c ADO Features
• Video: Manage ADO from Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
• Video: Manage Compression from Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
• ILM Planning Guide (Doc Id: 1682436.1)
• Oracle Training Course: Oracle Database 12c R1: New Features for Administrators Ed 2 (covers ADO and Heat Map)
• Oracle Training Course: Oracle Database 12c: Implement Partitioning Ed 1

Customers using the Application Management Pack for Oracle Utilities within Oracle Enterprise Manager can prepare our service packs for installation within the pack by converting the pack to Enterprise Managers format. The utilities are supplied with the service pack and allow customers flexibility of either manually installing the pack (the default) or automating the installation via Oracle Enterprise Manager.

A whitepaper outlining the process and utilities provided is now available from My Oracle Support under Enterprise Manager for Oracle Utilities Whitepaper: Service Pack Compliance (Doc ID 2211363.1).

In Oracle Utilities Application Framework, the user identification is actually divided into two parts:

• Authentication Identifier (aka Login Id) -  This the identifier used for authentication (challenge/response) for the product. This identifier is up to 256 characters in length and must be matched by the configured security repository for it to be checked against. By default, if you are using Oracle WebLogic, there is an internal LDAP based security system that can be used for this purpose. It is possible to link to external security repositories using the wide range of Oracle WebLogic security providers included in the installation. This applies to Single Sign On solutions as well.
  
• Authorization Identifier (aka UserId) - This is the short user identifier (up to 8 characters in length) used for all service and action authorization as well as low level access. 
  

The two identifiers are separated for a couple of key reasons:

• Authentication Identifiers can be changed. Use cases like changing your name, business changes etc mean that the authentication identifier needs to be able to be changed. As long as the security repository is also changed then this identifier will be in synchronization for correct login.
  
• Authentication Identifiers are typically email addresses which can vary and are subject to change. For example, if the company is acquired then the user domain most probably will change.
• Changes to Authentication Identifiers do not affect any existing audit or authorization records. As the authorization user is used for internal processing, after login the authentication identifier, while tracked, is not used for security internally once you have be successfully authenticated.
  
• Authorization Identifiers are not changeable and can be related to the Authentication Identifier, such as using first initial and first 7 characters of the surname or be randomly generated by an external Identity Management solution.
  
• One of the main reasons the Authorization Identifier is limited in size is to allow a wide range of security solutions to be hooked into the architecture and provide an efficient means of tracking. For example, the identifier is propagated in the connection across the architecture to allow for end to end tracking of transactions.

Security has been augmented in the last few releases of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework to allow various flexible levels of control and tracking. Each implementation can decide to track what aspects of security they want to track using tools available or using third party tools (if they want that).

The Oracle Utilities Application Framework uses connection pooling to manage the number of connections in the architecture. The advantage of the pools is to be able to share the number of connections across concurrent users rather than just allocating connections to individual users, which may be stay allocated whilst they are not active. This ensures that the connections allocated are being used therefore the number of connections can be less than the number of users using the product at any time.

The configuration of the pool has a number of configuration settings:

• Minimum Size - This is the initial size of the connection pool at startup. For non-production this is typically set to 1 but in production this is set to a size that represents the minimum number of concurrent users at anytime. The number of connections in the pool will not fall below this setting.
• Maximum Size - The maximum number of connections to support in the pool. This number typically represents the expected pack concurrent connections available in the pool. If this number is too small, connections will queue causing delays and eventually connections will be refused against the pool.
• Growth rate - This is the number of new connections to add to the pool when the pool is busy and new connections are required up to the Maximum Size. Some pool technologies allow you to configure the number of connections to add each time.
• Inactive detection - Pools will have a collection of settings to define when a connection in the pool can be shutdown due to inactivity. This allows the pool to dynamically shrink when traffic becomes off peak.

There are typically two main connection pools that are used in the product:

• Client Connection Pool - These are the number of connections between the client machines (browser, web services client, etc) and the server. This connection pool can be direct or via proxies (if you are using a proxy generally or as part of a high availability solution). Now, if you are using Oracle WebLogic this is managed by default by a Global Work Manager, which has unlimited connections. While that sounds ideal, this means you will run into a possible out of memory issue as the number of connections increases before you hit the connection limit. It is possible to use configuration to specify Work Managers to restrict the number of connections to prevent out of memory conditions. Most customers use the Global Work Manager with no issues but it may be worth investigating Work Managers to see if you want to use the Capacity Constraint or Max Threads Constraint capabilities to restrict connection numbers.
• Database Connection Pool -  These are the number of connections between the product and the database. The connection pools can use UCP or JDBC datasources. The latter uses Oracle WebLogic JNDI to define the attributes of the connection pools as well as advanced connection properties such as FCF and GridLink. The choice to use UCP or JDBC data sources will depends on your site standards and how often you want to be able to change the connections to the database. Using JDBC datasources is more flexible in terms of maintenance of pool information whereas UCP is more desirable where fixed configurations are typical.
  

Additionally if you are using a proxy to get to the product, most proxies have connection number restrictions to consider when determining pool sizes.

So when deciding the size of the pools and its attributes there are a number of configurations:

• The goal is to have enough connections in a pool to satisfy the number of concurrent users at any time. This includes peak and non-peak periods.
• When designing pool sizes and other attributes, remember wasted connections are a burden on resources. Having the pool be dynamic will ensure the resources used are optimally used as traffic fluctuates.
• Conversely, the establishment of new connections is an overhead when traffic grows. In terms of overall performance the establishment of new connections is minimal.
• The connections in the pool are only needed for users actively using the server resources. They are not used when they are idle or using the client aspects of the product (for example, moving their mouse across the screen, interacting with non-dynamic fields etc).
  
• Set the minimum number of connections to the absolute minimum you want to start with or the number you want to always have available at all times. It is not recommended to use the non-production default of one (1) as that would get the pool to create lots of new connections as traffic ramps up during the business day.
• Set the maximum number to the expected peak concurrent connections at any time with some headroom for growth. Pool connections that are active take resources (CPU, memory etc) so making sure this number if reasonable for your business. Some customers use test figures as a starting point, talk to their management to determine number of peak user connections or use performance testing to decide the figure. I have heard implementation partners talk about rules of thumb where they estimate based upon total users.
• Set the inactivity to destroy connections when they become idle for a period of time. This value for the period of time can vary but generally a low value is not recommended due to the nature of typical traffic seen onsites. For example, generally partners will look at between 30-60 seconds inactivity time and maybe more. The idea is to gradually remove inactive connections as traffic drops in non-peak.
• If the pool, allows for specification of the number of new connections to create, consider using a number other than one (1) for online channels. Whilst this low value seems logical, it will result in a slower ramp up rate.
• Monitor the connection pools for the connection queuing as that may indicate your maximum is too low for your site.

One other piece of advice from my troubleshooting days, do not assume the figures you use today will be valid in a years time. I have found that as the product implementation ages, end users will use the product very differently over time. I have chatted to consultants about the fact I have personally seen traffic double in the first 18 months of an implementation. Now, that is not a hard and fast rule, just an observation that when a product is initially implemented end users are conservative in its use, but over time, as they get more accustomed to the product, their usage and therefore traffic volume increases. This must be reflected in the pool sizing and attributes.

Over the last few release new web services capabilities have been added to the Oracle Utilities Application Framework. A wide range of new and updated facilities are now available for integration capabilities for inbound and outbound communications.

A new whitepaper has been released outlining the best practices for using the new and updated web services capabilities including:

The whitepaper is available from My Oracle Support at Web Services Best Practices for Oracle Utilities Application Framework (Doc Id: 2214375.1)

Customers using XAI can refer to the XAI Best Practices (Doc Id: 942074.1) available from My Oracle Support. The Web Services Best Practices whitepaper replaces the XAI whitepaper for newer releases.

The following Oracle Utilities Application Framework technicalwhitepapers are available from MyOracle Support at the Doc Id's mentioned below. Some have beenupdated in the last few months to reflect new advice and new features.

Refer to Whitepaper Strategy Now and In the Future for direction of the documentation.

Note: If a link on this page does not work, this means the whitepaper may have been retired. In that case refer to the online documentation provided with your product for more information.

Unless otherwise marked the technical whitepapers in the table beloware applicable for the following products (with versions):

• OracleUtilities Customer Care And Billing (V2 and above)
• OracleUtilities Meter Data Management (V2 and above)
• OracleUtilities Mobile Workforce Management (V2 and above)
• OracleUtilities Smart Grid Gateway (V2 and above) – All Adapters
• OracleUtilities Operational Device Management (V2 and above)
• Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management (V2 and above)
  
• OraclePublic Service Revenue Management (all versions)
• OracleRevenue Management and Billing (all versions)
• Oracle Real Time Scheduler (V2 and above)
  

• OracleUtilities Customer Care And Billing
• OracleEnterprise Taxation Management
• OraclePublic Service Revenue Management
• OracleRevenue Management and Billing

Note: ConfigLab is no longer supported in OUAF 4.3.x, Use Configuration Migration Assistant instead.

• Concepts - General Conceptsand Performance Troublehooting processes
• Client Troubleshooting -General troubleshooting of the browser client with common issues andresolutions.
• Network Troubleshooting -General troubleshooting of the network with common issues andresolutions.
• Web Application Server Troubleshooting- General troubleshooting of the Web Application Server with commonissues and resolutions.
• Server Troubleshooting -General troubleshooting of the Operating system with common issues andresolutions.
• Database Troubleshooting -General troubleshooting of the database with common issues andresolutions.
• Batch Troubleshooting -General troubleshooting of the background processing component of theproduct with common issues and resolutions.

• Concepts - General conceptsand introduction.
• Environment Management -Principles and techniques for creating and managing environments.
• Version Management -Integration of Version control and version management of configurationitems.
• Release Management -Packaging configuration items into a release.
• Distribution - Distributionand installation of releases across environments
• Change Management - Genericchange management processes for product implementations.
• Status Accounting - Statusreporting techniques using product facilities.
• Defect Management - Genericdefect management processes for product implementations.
• Implementing Single Fixes -Discussion on the single fix architecture and how to use it in animplementation.
• Implementing Service Packs -Discussion on the service packs and how to use them in animplementation.
• Implementing Upgrades -Discussion on the the upgrade process and common techniques forminimizing the impact of upgrades.

• OracleUtilities Customer Care And Billing
• OracleEnterprise Taxation Management
• OraclePublic Service Revenue Management
• OracleRevenue Management and Billing

Note: MPL has been deprecated in OUAF 4.3.x. Please use Oracle Service Bus as an alternative

The Technical Best Practices whitepaper available from My Oracle Support has been updated and published.

The new version has the following changes:

• The format has been changed to make it more readable for both screen and printing use.
• Old and outdated information has been removed.
• Advice for versions of the products not on premier support has been removed. This streamlines the advice.
• Duplicate advice already included in the online or documentation provided with the product has been removed. it is recommended to use the online or documentation provided with the product, before using advice in this whitepaper. This advice applies to all whitepapers.
  
• IBM WebSphere specific advice has been removed as it already is covered by product documentation or IBM documentation already.
• New and updated advice has been added to the document for new versions (including the latest releases).

Over the next month or two, additional whitepapers will be overhauled and re-released.

The whitepaper is available as Technical Best Practices (Doc Id: 560367.1) from My Oracle Support.

I wish you all a happy holidays and see you in 2017.

I will  be attending the USA and APAC Oracle Utilities 2017 Edge Customer Conference Product Forum this year, conducting a number of technical sessions. This year, to make the sessions more relevant, the content of the sessions has been tweaked to cover a number of aspects for the subject are chosen. The sessions are a combination of information, future plans, best practices and tips/techniques for getting the most out of your products. The information is based upon feedback from implementations across the world as well as information on how Oracle itself is implementing the products in the cloud.

The sessions this year are as follows:

 If you are attending the forum, feel free to attend and catch up with me at the sessions or the various other avenues during the conference.

In the last release of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework, we released an integration to the DBMS_SCHEDULER to manage and execute our batch processes. We supply a pl/sql based interface to our batch process.

DBMS_SCHEDULER is part of the database and therefore there are lots of advice on the internet to help use the scheduler effectively. I have compiled a list of some of the resources on the internet that may be useful when using this scheduler:

• Oracle Scheduler Concepts
• Scheduling Jobs with Oracle Scheduler
• Administrating Oracle Scheduler
• Overview of the Oracle Scheduler
• Troubleshooting Assistant for Oracle Scheduler
• Handling DST and timezones in Oracle Scheduler
• 25 Ways of using the Oracle Scheduler
• How to use the evaluation functionality to check your calendar
• Switching to Winter Time

This list is not exhaustive so take a look at other resources you might find useful (look for DBMS_SCHEDULER in the search engine of your choice). Those coming to the Oracle Utilities Edge Conference should note that I am conducting a session on the scheduler and the integration on Feb 14 at the conference if you want more information.

I will be attending the EMEA Edge Conference in Reading UK which will be conducted on April 25-26th 2017. I am planning to hold the same technical sessions as I did at the AMER conference earlier this year. As with that conference the sessions are a combination of what we have achieved, what we are planning and some tips and techniques to take back to your implementations of the products.

I would like to thank the participants of my AMER and JAPAC sessions who provided me with valuable insight into the market which we can factor into our ongoing roadmaps.

The sessions we are planning at outlined in my previous blog entry on the edge technical stream.

We are currently putting the final touches on the next service pack (SP4) for the latest Oracle Utilities Application Framework release (4.3). This is a very exciting release for us with a lot of functionality that we are using for the cloud implementations of our products being made available to customers on cloud as well as customers on non-cloud implementations.

Over the next few weeks I will be releasing a series of articles, highlighting some of  the major changes we have introduced into the service pack that will be of interest to people in the field for their non-cloud implementations.

The release adds new functionality, updates existing functionality and retires functionality that we have previously announced as deprecated. You will start seeing products released based upon this new service pack in the upcoming months.

It is a very exciting time for Oracle Utilities and this release will be a foundation for even more exciting functionality we have planned going forward.

As you may of noticed, the blog has not been updated as regularly as it used to. Oracle is moving its blog platform soon to a new platform and during that process the number of blog changes has been limited to aid in the migration.

So here are the proposed plans for this blog:

• This blog will be retired long term and replaced with a new Oracle Utilities Application Framework blog centered around technology and tips/techniques.
• More people will be involved in creating new content with special guests coming into publishing content on the blog.
• We are preparing new content for our next release 4.3.0.4.0 which is going to be exciting with new features and updated features. The new blog will house that content.

We are still preparing for the migration and I will keep you posted on this site when it will all happen. I will also post a final post to this blog pointing to the new exciting platform.

The next release of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework (4.3.0.4.0) is in its final implementation across our product lines over the next few months. This release improves the existing Oracle Utilities Application Framework with exciting new features and enhanced existing features for our cloud and non-cloud implementations. Here is a summary of the key features of the new Oracle Utilities Application Framework.

The following highlights some improvements to CMA processing.

A new migration request BO has been provided to allow for building ‘ad-hoc’ migration requests using a list of specific objects.  It’s called the “entity list” migration request.

A special zone is included to find records to include in the migration request.  This zone allows you to choose a maintenance object that is configured for CMA and enter search criteria to get a list of objects to choose.  The zone supports linking one or more objects for the same MO en masse.

Migration requests may now be grouped so that you can maintain more granular migration requests that get grouped together to orchestrate a single export of data for a ‘wholesale’ migration.  The framework supplies a new ‘group’ migration request that includes other migration requests that logically group migration plans.  Edge products or implementations may include this migration request into their own
migration request.

When importing data sets, a user may now perform mass actions on migration objects to approve or reject or mark as ‘needs review’.

Implementers may now define a Groovy library script for common functionality that may be included in other Groovy scripts.

There’s a new script type:

Scripts of this type define a Groovy Library Interface step type to list the Groovy methods defined within the script that are available for use by other scripts.

Additional script steps using the Groovy Member step type are used to define the Groovy code that the script implements.

Groovy scripts that choose to reference the Groovy Library Script can use the createLibraryScript method provided by the system to instantiate the library interface.

A new option in the toolbar allows a user to search for a page rather than using the menu to find the desired page.

All menu items whose label matches what the user types are shown (as you type):

The following is a subset of additional features that are included.   Refer to the published release notes for more details.

• URI validation / substitution. Any place where a URI is configured can now use substitution variables to support transparency across environment. The fully substituted value can also be validated against a whitelist for added security.
• Minimizing the dashboard suppresses refresh. This allows a user to improve response when navigating throughout the system by delaying the refresh of zones in the dashboard while it is minimized.New support for UI design.
• Input maps may now support half width sections.  Both display and input maps may support “floating” half width sections that fill in available space on the UI based on what is displayed.
• Individual batch controls may now be secured independently.
• Ad-hoc batch parameters are supplied to all batch related plug-in spots. Additionally, plug-in driven batch programs may now support ad-hoc parameters.
• Elements in a schema that include the private=true attribute will no longer appear in the WSDL of any Inbound Web Service based upon that schema.

Oracle Utilities Customer Care And Billing V2.6.0.0.0 is now available for download and installation from Oracle's Delivery Cloud. This is the first Oracle Utilities product to release on the Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.3.0.4.0, also know and 4.3 SP4.

The latest Oracle Utilities Application Framework includes the latest updates, new functionality, content we have delivered from our cloud offerings and new versions of platforms. The release media includes a new set of updated documentation:

• Updated versions of the online documentation which are available using the Oracle Help engine online and in offline format as well.
• New technical documentation about installation, operations and security.
• We have released a new API Guide for the management API's now included in the release documentation. These API's are used by our new management interfaces and our next release of the OEM Management Pack for Oracle Utilities.
• As in my last posts OUAF 4.3.0.4.0 Release Summary you can see the Framework features that are now available for Oracle Utilities Customer Care And Billing customers that can be utilized.

With the general availability of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.3.0.4.0 a series of articles and new versions of whitepapers will be released over the coming months to highlight new features available for the use on the cloud and on-premise implementations of these products.

Oracle Utilities Work And Asset Management (WAM) V2.2.0.0.0 has been released and is available from Oracle Delivery Cloud. This version is also based upon Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.3.0.4.0 (also known as 4.3 SP4).

Included in this release are usability enhancements, an update to the Esri GIS Integration, Preventive Maintenance Event processing, and Construction Work Management.  

With these new additions we are now able to support the full asset lifecycle, from design and construction to retirement, opening up the gas and electric distribution market.  Construction Work Management adds the final piece to the Asset Lifecycle process.

• Asset Performance Management - The Asset Performance Management features have been enhanced to offer new ways to calculate Asset Health Index scores and to set up Preventive Maintenance triggers based on the Asset Health Index.   We also offer integration points for third party predictive maintenance products to affect the Asset Health Index.
• Compatible Units - Compatible Units are job standards that can be used to provide consistency and assistance when creating work designs.  Compatible Units can be created for either internal resources or for contractors.
• Construction Work Design - Work Designs are critical to utility distribution companies.  The work design process leverages the compatible units to quickly scope and estimate the costs of work.  You are able to create multiple versions to designs to compare various construction options such as overhead or underground work.  You can also create design versions to compare contractor work.  When you pick a design to execute, you are able to easily transition the work design into a work package without having to create new work orders from scratch.
• Construction Work Orders - Construction work orders differ from regular work orders because we are creating new assets rather than maintaining existing assets.  A construction work order also manages Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) accounting to ensure the work in progress is accounted for correctly.  The closeout process allows you to create new WAM assets to start their lifecycle in WAM and also creates the fixed asset property unit data to feed the corporate accounting system.
• "As Built" Reconciliation - One of the big challenges for organizations is the reconciliation of the work design to the actual construction.  The actual construction work often diverges from the estimate due to the wide variety of variables that occur on a project.  WAM v2.2 offers a full reconciliation process to allow you to revise the values of assets, move costs between construction and maintenance accounts, review and adjust property unit valuation, and provides support for mass asset valuations.

• PM Event Processing -  You can now package up a group of work templates into a PM Event and trigger that event as a group rather than one work template at a time.  This can be used for outage work or any repetitive work that requires multiple work orders to be created.

• Esri GIS Integration - The user experience of the Esri GIS Integration was completely revised to provide a more intuitive experience.  Esri mapviewer components are directly integrated into the Work and Asset Management product.  Customers can publish any map component as an Esri Web Map and enroll that Web Map into WAM.  This includes feature layer maps as well as any thematic maps or metrics that customers choose to publish.

Recently I attended the customer forums in London, to discuss the future of our product lines and also outline the work we have done over the last year. One of the questions that came up was the a discussion of the major advantages of using the Oracle Functional Testing Advanced Pack for Oracle Utilities which is part of the Oracle Testing solution.

In the industry, functional testing, in an initial implementation and the subsequent upgrades of any product, is a major part of the implementation. Typically to reduce risk, implementations commonly decide to reduce the scope of testing, to meet deadlines, which increases the overall risk.

One way of addressing this is to adopt automated testing. While this sounds logical it can have hidden costs:

• Traditional tools use user interface based scripting which basically records the screen and the interaction of the screen. In the old days in my career, I used to call this screen scraping. I am sure it is more than that, effectively it is using the screen recording, including the data entered, as a rerunnable test.
• Typically, data that is entered in the recording is embedded in the script used for recording. This means if you wanted to reuse the script you would probably need to record it again or have some programming resource to change the script. Effectively you need a specialist script programmer to maintain the testing assets for you.
• If the user experience changes, even due to a patch, the script may or may not work as originally intended which may return inconsistent results or you will need to re-record the asset again. This is more likely when you upgrade as new modern user experiences are introduced over time.
• Testing assets are really programmable objects that are typically maintained by a programmer rather than a testing resource. Whilst, these programming languages are made easier and easier to use they are still programming.

Now, whilst it is possible to use the Oracle Application Testing Suite in the traditional sense as outlined above, when it is coupled with the Oracle Functional Testing Advanced Pack for Oracle Utilities it is much different and addresses the issues seen in a traditional automated testing approach.

• Oracle Functional Testing Advanced Pack for Oracle Utilities includes a full set of reusable components that are the SAME components used by the QA teams at Oracle on a day to day basis. The fact they are used on a daily basis by the product QA, reduces the risk of them actually executing and being able to be used against the product versions.
• The solution is based upon Oracle Application Testing Suite which is used by hundreds of Oracle customers across many Oracle products such as eBusiness Suite, Peoplesoft, Fusion, JD Edwards etc. Oracle Utilities is just one of the latest products to use the Oracle Application Testing Suite. In fact, some of the products have licensed packs as well that can be used with in conjunction with the Oracle Utilities pack.
• The components represent the full functions of the main functionality of the product they are supplied for. The only components we do not provide are the components that cover the administration objects. These objects are typically not cost effective to automate in an implementation, due to their very low usage after implementation.
• The supplied components are customization aware where algorithms, change handlers, etc are handled by the component automatically.
• The Oracle Functional Testing Advanced Pack for Oracle Utilities supplies a number of utilities to allow partners and implementations to add custom components to the solution for any customization not handled by the base components (this should be relatively rare).
• The process to use the pack with the Oracle Application Testing suite is more assembly (orchestration) rather than programming. Oracle Flow Builder, which is included in the solution, is a simple browser based too that allows business processes to be modeled with simple drag and drop of the components in the order they represent the business process. This allows a lower skilled person to build the flows rather than a programmer.
• The testing flows becomes a test script through a generator. The resulting script does not need to be altered or maintained by a developer after it is generated.
• Data for the flow is independent of the flow which encourages reuse. For example, it is possible to attach different data to represent different scenarios to a single flow. Flows can also contain multiple scenarios if desired. This extends even after the flow is expressed a test script where the physical data is separated out so it can be replaced at runtime rather than design time.
• The whole solution is designed for reuse so that the number of assets you need is actually far less than traditional methods. This reduces costs and risk.
• It is possible to reuse your flows across product versions. For example, it is possible to test multiple releases of products to reduce your upgrade risk by aligning the same flows to different versions of the supplied components.

The testing solution from Oracle Utilities is far more cost effective than traditional methods with the content allowing implementations to quickly adopt automated testing with a lower implementation risk. Customers who have used the solution have found they have tested more, reduced their testing costs and increased accuracy of their solutions.