Where are my readers?

admin
Categories: Light-Weight

Last week was a shaky week for my blog. For no apparent reason, I saw pages
disappearing, getting database errors and all sorts of UI issues. The website
look and feel kept changing. I would set the template and it stayed that way for a while and all of a sudden
it would switch back to a whole new look, this kept repeating as if a ghost was playing pranks!

Since I work on my day job, I get only early morning or late nights to
look after any issues and since this is a third party hosted website I don’t
have much control over it (not that I have the expertise to handle it on my own
if I had owned the server ;-) )

It seemed that I was not even able to ftp any files or update the existing files.
I promptly reported the matter to my web host and the nice guys at Lonex agreed to
move me to a new server. It took few days to get things to normal and I can say
that as of now the website is back on track. Was it really on track?

Then a funny thing happened. I use Google’s web analytics tool to monitor my website.
Knowing that my website is back to normal, I should see my readers coming back, right?
This website, over the period of 4 months has established a small but loyal group of
readers so I expected atleast few of them to return to the website. But it was not the case,
it seemed a week of downtime and the visitors seemed to have abondon me!

“The website Ghost really has some powers” was the thought that kept flashing in my mindspace.

Oh common! How can this be true?? I digged deeper and found out who the culprit was. In order for
Goolge Analytics to work properly, I have to embed some code in each of the web pages.
During the downtime and when I was trying to ftp the files, I had updated the files and missed
this tracking code in the templates. When all the files were copied on to new server obviously
the template was missing the tracking code. I immediately corrected it and the next day was
a big “Sunshine Smile” on my face. Hurraaayyyy! my loyal visitors are back.

Thank you for coming back. Then I keep getting these lovely remarks

”
I just wanted to say how valuable this webiste is. As a new APPS consultant
myself, I turn to this website to learn stuff quickly. Many thanks for doing
this.
–Richard Keeler
”

This just makes my day wonderful!

7 Comments

Oracle EPB vs OFA General Ledger Integration

admin
Categories: EPB
Financial Analyzer Enterprise Planning and Budgeting
Integration Point
Structures and data from OGL can be automatically loaded into OFA.		 Integration Point
Structures and data from OGL can be automatically loaded into EPF and EPB.
Dimension Mapping
Segments within OGL can be mapped to dimensions within OFA, on a one-to-one or many-to-one basis. Filters can be applied to scope the segment values taken across.		 Dimension Mapping
Segments within OGL can be mapped to dimensions within EPF, on a one-to-one or many-to-one basis. Filters can be applied to scope segment values taken across.
Hierarchies
Parent/child segment value relationships can be brought across and stored as hierarchies in OFA for summarization and drill down.		 Hierarchies
Parent/child segment value relationships can be brought across and stored as hierarchies in EPF for summarization and drill down in EPB.
Balance Load
Transfer level: Detail and Summary
Balance type: – Actual balances – Budget balances – Encumbrance balances – Average balances
Currency type: – Functional – Statistical – Foreign translated – Foreign entered		 Balance Load
Transfer level: Detail
Balance type: – Actual balances – Budget balances
Currency type: – Functional – Statistical
Populate Attribute
An attribute that is based on two OGL-sourced OFA dimensions can be populated during the balance load.		 Populate Attribute
There is no equivalent concept in EPB.
Write Budget to OGL
Budget data created in OFA can be written back to an OGL set of books.		 Write Budget to OGL
There is no equivalent concept in EPB.
Drill to OGL
From the OFA Windows client, the user can drill from a report into OGL and the sub-ledgers using the Applications Desktop Integrator. This is only available from the lowest-level data and from a stored FDI populated directly by the OGL balance load.		 Drill to OGL
There is no equivalent concept in EPB.

2 Comments

hilariously serious Matrimonials

admin
Categories: Light-Weight

My brother Kamlesh just sent me this email containing the excerpts of
profile descriptions from Indian Matrimonial sites. The fact that I met my
wife at one of these matrimonial sites and I do recollect some of the funny
stuff that I had to go through, this makes a very interesting reading.

Taken from some matrimony sites ….  just read n enjoy .    :) )

These are actual ads on a matrimony site. Grammar and spell errors have no
place in a profile description as everything is straight from the heart!

NOTE: You may find lot of excerpts un-readable but try to see it from your heart and
everything will be crystal clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Hello To Viewvers My Name is Sowmya , I am single i dont have male, If any
one whant to marrie to me u can visite to my home. I am not a good education
but i working all field in bangalroe.. if u like me u welcome to my heart…
when ever u whant to meet pls viset my resident or send u letter.. Thanks
yours Regards Sowmya ~*~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i want very simple boy. from brahmin educated family from orissa state she
is also know about RAMAYAN, GEETA BHAGABATA, and other homework

(Homework?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wants a man who knows me better and can adjust with me forever. he may never
create any difficulties in my life or his life by which the entire life can
run smoothly. thank you

(The principle of running life smoothly was never so easy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

he should be good looking and should have a service. he Shoulsd have one
brother and one sister. he should be educated.

(ain’t it unique !! 1 brother 1 sister criteria !)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a happy-go-lucky kind of person. Enjoys every moments of life. I love
to make friendship. Becauese friendship is a first step of love. I am
looking for my dreamboy who will love me more than i. Because i love myself
a lot. If u think that is u then why to late come on ……..
hold
my hand forever !!!

(The dilwale dulhaniya effect)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i am simple girl.I have lot ofproblemin mylife because ofmylucknow i
amlooking oneboyhe caremeandloveme lot lot lot

(I don’t know why but this is one of my favorites)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My husband should be as ‘Shiva’ as in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and as Tanwerr as
in KSBKBT……

(Ok I haven’t seen these soaps but I am sure she must be demanding too much,
ain’t he?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i want a boy with no drinks if he wants he can wear jeans in house but while
steping out of house he should give recpect to our cast

(by not wearing his jeans? Wat the hell…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HYE I AM A GOOD LOKING GIRL,WHO HAS THE CAPABILITY TO MAKE ANY BODY TO
LOUGH.I BELIEVE IN GOD AND ACCORDING TO ME FRIENDS ARE THE REAL MESSENGER OF
GOD. THE 3 THINGS I AM LOOKING FROM A BOY ,THEY ARE 1.THEY MUST BELIEVE IN
GOD.2. THEY HAVE TO LIKE MY PROFFESION AND THEY SHOULD NOT GET BORED WITH
ME WHEN I WILL TRY TO MAKE THEM LOUGH.

(all of us are loughing{laughing})

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

whatever he may be but he should feel that he is going to be someone groom
and he must think of the future life if he is toolike this he would bde
called the man of the lamp

(I am clueless, I feel so lost. Can anyone tell me what this girl wants)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i love my pat ner i marriage the pat ner ok i search my pat ner and i love the
pat ner ok thik hai the pat ner has a graduate ok

(I am again clueless but I liked the use of “ok”. The person is suffering
from “Ok-syndrome”)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HI IAM VERY COOL NUATHER OK MY HOBBY IS SEE T.V AND NEWS OK I HAVE 1 CAR AND
1 BONWL OK MY MOTHER ALSO GOOD OK MY FARUET WORLD IS OK

(the “ok syndrome” again)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam pranati my family histoy my two brother two sister and fater&mother
sister complity marred

(somebody please explain in comments section how to get married
‘completely’?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam very simpel and hanest. i have three sister one brother and parent.
i am doing postal sarvice and tailor master my original resdence at kalahandi
diste naw iam staing at rayagada dist.

(actually what is this girl doing? Postal service or tailor.??)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my name is farhanbegum and i am unmarried. pleaes you marrige me pleaes

pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes

(height of desperation! J )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iwant one boy who love me or my mother. he love me heartly or he havea frank
he’s skin colour ‘normal’not a black or not a whitey. IThink the main think
is heart if your heart is beautiful then you are beautiful.
but iam not a handsome girl or not a good looking. but my Mom say that Iam a
good girl. My father already expired . iam ”AEKLAUTA”. THE CHOICE IS YOUR.

bye bye.

(uttama purishinin)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam kanandevi. i do owo businas.one sistar.he was marred.

(No comments)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I AM LITTLE FAIR INDIAN COLOUR. I DON’T HAVE ANY HABIT.

(maybe the poor guy meant BAD habits)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hello i am a good charactarised woman. i want to run my life happily.i
divorced my first husband.his charactor is not good’. i expect the good
minded and clean habits boy who may be in the same caste or other caste
accepted …

(but credit cards not accepted..???)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my colour is black,but my heart is white.i like social service

(Zebra..???)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i’m looking out for who lives in bombay , boy simple who trust me lot should
be roman catholic, LOVE ME ONLY.

(Now that criterion is a must, isn’t it?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to be married on jan-2005. working man perferable

(this girl has fixed the marriage date too! But she is yet to find a groom.
I wish her best luck on behalf of all of us. I am sure she will get one
soon.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i would like a beautyfull boy. and i do not want his any treasure.
because boy is the maharaja.

(Now he is going to be a lucky boy! Any takers?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ssc failed three times and worked with privated ltd company which not paying
salary at present.

(Any takers again?)

3 Comments

How do I start BI (Business Intelligence)?

admin
Categories: Dashboard, Discoverer

Someone at the Oracle Forums asked How to start BI ?

I know it becomes quite difficult to comprehend with all the tons of new stuff that
is introduced on a daily basis.

First it helps to understand the fundamentals between OLTP and BI systems.

Your OLTP could be ERP, CRM or SCM and BI could be a data-warehouse, dashboards etc.

Your CRM, ERP , SCM etc are the true backbone of any company or business. These systems are designed for efficient data entry and storage.

For e.g if a customer calls your company to order something, then the operator on your company side logs into an Order Management system within ERP. After getting the basic information like address,  profile details, validating the customer’s credit history, the operator then takes the order details.

Now you see all the raw transactions are efficiently stored in your ERP but the data that is stored for Online transactions may not be the best for reporting. You need to consider the efficiency of the reporting. Also your manager may not necessarily like to see the information at a very detail level (infact they may not like whatever you present them :) ).

So to ease the reporting of all these CRM, ERP data, companies often go with a BI solution ( I use to think a solution is some kind of viscous liquid that you can fill it in a bottle and sell it to the customer). This BI solution could be a combination of Data-warehouse, dashboards, ad-hoc reporting etc.

In the simplest terms, BI (Business Intelligence) is just a facilitator for reporitng and hence it is the decision making solution for Businesses so that they can cut costs ( e.g. by laying off since this is the easiest thing for managers ;-) ) and hence increase profits.

For any normal business, a need for an ERP, CRM or SCM system  comes first and then they start thinking about using a BI solution (not the liquid!).

Do you know of any company or business going the other way around?

0 Comments

Oracle Inventory (INV) key tables – mtl_demand (4)

admin
Categories: ERP Tables

MTL_DEMAND


This table stores demand and reservation information used in Available
To Promise, Planning and other Manufacturing functions. There are
three major row types stored in the table: Summary Demand rows,
Open Demand Rows, and Reservation Rows.


Summary Demand is direct demand for an item within an organization
on a particular date that originated from a particular source. For hard
reservations there are several columns which further define what the
reservation is for, and where it is being placed. Currently, four sources
of demand are supported, Sales Order, Account, Account Alias, and
User Defined transaction sources.

Five different types of demand, denoted by DEMAND_TYPE column, are used. These five types are Model, Option Class, Option Item, Configuration Item and Derived.
Derived demand rows are inserted by BOM Demand exploder when
demanded item has ATPable components.

Each Summary Demand row may be associated with one or more Reservation rows. Reservation may be placed against a particular inventory control (that is, specific
subinventory, locator, revision and lot) against any sources (that is,
Account Number, Account Alias, Sales Order or even User–Defined
sources).

Each Summary Demand row may be associated with one or
more detailed rows. The detailed rows consist of reservations and open
demand. A reservation row represents a firm promise of a supply
source. Currently, two types of reservation are supported, reservations
to on–hand, and reservations to WIP jobs.

Each summary demand row may be associated with one and only one open demand row. Open Demand rows represent the un–reserved portion of the the Summary
Demand.

0 Comments

Can you use Discoverer BIS views with Business Objects?

admin
Categories: Discoverer

To use the pre-seeded BIS views you need Discoverer Administrator to install the eex files.

All the BIS views have in-built security that leverages Oracle Application Responsibiilties,
security profiles and Business Groups. When you log-into Discoverer using apps mode
(by using your Oracle Apps user/pwd) then it automatically sets all the context
data and hence the BIS views returns only the data that the user is authorized to see.

How is the context set?
Using this PL/SQL FNDSQF API call ,
you can set the context.

I believe, if you use Discoverer in Apps mode it uses this function or similar functionality to set the context for the user who just logged in.

For e.g if you query ra_customer_trx view without setting the context then
it won’t return any data. This view is a multi-org secured view and is based
on the ra_customer_trx_all table. Most of the Oracle apps base tables have
a suffix of _ALL and you are not supposed to query this table directly for
any serious reporting, instead you should always use the more secured views.
But in order to use the secured views you need to use the above mentioned
pl/sql function to set the context.

So you can say BIS views are in a way dependent on Discoverer. The workaround for
this situation would be to remove the security clause from each view but then
it would be too much of work and plus the data would be free for all users,
no restriction on who sees what!

I am not sure if Business Objects can set this context the same way as Discoverer does. If it does not then BIS views cannot work with Business Objects.

Can someone confirm this?

0 Comments

Oracle EPB and OFA architecture comparison

admin
Categories: EPB
Financial Analyzer Enterprise Planning and Budgeting
Tiered Structure
The OFA Super Administrator can create Sub-Administrators with their own shared databases, which form a distributed hierarchy of multiple OFA shared databases. Structures are distributed down to Sub-Administrators and data is submitted back up. Sub-Administrators are free to create their own structures and create further Sub-Administrators.		 Tiered Structure
There is no equivalent concept in EPB. Different Business Process Administrators can own different business processes and users’ access to dimensions can be scoped, but there is no concept of autonomous systems linked by a distributed hierarchy. All data and structures reside in a single Oracle Database.
Financial Data Items (FDIs)
OFA is data-centric: Administrators and end users need to know in which FDIs their data resides, together with the dimensionality of those FDIs.		 Business Process Run Views (BPR Views)
EPB is business process-centric. Business Process Administrators create business processes that include the currency, data model, solve, tasks, and schedule of the business process. Based on the schedule, new runs of the business process are kicked off. Each run generally creates a new Business Process Run View, which is the logical view of the data.
The end users do not need to be aware of the physical model of the data storage. They access Views just as they access any other dimension.
Examples of business processes are: Actuals, Budget, Forecast.
Examples of BPR views are: Actuals, Budget 2006, Budget 2007, Forecast Q2 2005, Forecast Q3 2005.
Personal Databases
Each OFA user has a personal database. Administrators’ and Budget Workstations’ personal databases contain both data and documents. Analyst Workstations’ personal databases only contain documents. The data and structures are synchronized with the shared database through distribute, refresh, and submit options.		 Personal Workspaces
Each EPB user has a personal workspace but all the workspaces reside in a single Oracle Database. In EPB the synchronization of the personal workspace with the shared workspace is handled automatically by the system. The personal workspace contains only data from those Views into which the user is entering worksheet data, and any personal dimension values the user has created.
Task Processor
This manages the updating of the OFA shared database. All changes to the shared database go through the Task Queue, managed by the Task Processor.		 Concurrent Manager
All tasks created by EPB that are not actioned at runtime are managed by the E-Business Suite Concurrent Manager.
Windows and Java Clients
OFA has a Visual Basic client for Windows and a Java client for the web. The Windows client functionality is aimed at the power-user; the Java client functionality is aimed at a light data-entry clerk or analyst. Some features are only available in one of the clients.		 HTML Client
EPB has an HTML client for the web with all the EPB functionality.
Disconnected Use
Administrators’ and Budget Workstations’ personal databases can be located on desktops and used when no connections are available to the shared database server as long as Oracle Personal Express is installed on the desktop.		 Disconnected Use
There is no equivalent architecture for EPB. EPB’s thin client architecture requires that the user be always connected to the database.

0 Comments

Oracle Inventory (INV) key tables – mtl_category_sets_b, mtl_categories_b (3)

admin
Categories: ERP Tables

MTL_CATEGORIES_B is the code combinations table for item
categories. Items are grouped into categories within the context of a
category set to provide flexible grouping schemes.
The item category is a key flexfield with a flex code of MCAT. The
flexfield structure identifier is also stored in this table to support

MTL_CATEGORY_SETS_B contains the entity definition for category
sets. A category set is a categorization scheme for a group of items.
Items may be assigned to different categories in different category sets
to represent the different groupings of items used for different purposes.
An item may be assigned to only one category within a category set,
however.
STRUCTURE_ID identifies the flexfield structure associated with the
category set. Only categories with the same flexfield structure may be
grouped into a category set.
CONTROL_LEVEL defines whether the category set is controlled at the
item or the item/organization level. When an item is assigned to an
item level category set within the item master organization, the category
set assignment is propagated to all other organizations to which the item
is assigned.
VALIDATE_FLAG defines whether a list of valid categories is used to
validate category usage within the set. Validated category sets will not
allow item assignment to the category set in categories that are not in a
predefined list of valid categories.
Category Sets now support multilingual category set name and
description. MLS is implemented with a pair of tables:
MTL_CATEGORY_SETS_B and MTL_CATEGORY_SETS_TL.

1 Comments

Oracle Purchasing (PO) key Vendor tables (5)

admin
Categories: ERP Tables

PO_VENDORS stores information about your suppliers. You need one
row for each supplier you define.

Each row includes the supplier name as well as purchasing, receiving, payment, accounting, tax, classification, and general information.

Oracle Purchasing uses this information to determine active suppliers. VENDOR_ID is the unique system–generated receipt header number invisible to the user.
SEGMENT1 is the system–generated or manually assigned number you
use to identify the supplier in forms and reports.

Oracle Purchasing generates SEGMENT1 using the
PO_UNIQUE_IDENTIFIER_CONTROL table if you choose to let
Oracle Purchasing generate supplier numbers for you. This table is one
of three tables that store supplier information. PO_VENDORS
corresponds to the Suppliers window.

PO_VENDOR_SITES_ALL stores information about your supplier
sites. You need a row for each supplier site you define. Each row
includes the site address, supplier reference, purchasing, payment,
bank, and general information. Oracle Purchasing uses this
information to store supplier address information.
This table is one of three tables that store supplier information.
PO_VENDOR_SITES_ALL corresponds to the Sites region of the
Suppliers window.

0 Comments
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