More Ways than Ever to Benefit Your Users

Since their introduction in 2012 with tools release 9.1, EnterpriseOne (E1) Pages have offered a graphical and intuitive way to present E1-related content. If you have never looked into E1 Pages, or have not looked at E1 Page technology recently, you owe it to yourself to learn about the latest features of E1 Pages.

Besides E1 Pages, the other current E1 menu option is the Navigator, which is a tree-structured interface. While some improvements to the Navigator have been introduced, such as breadcrumbs, the nature of the Navigator is to display menu choices only until a selection is made, and then the selected tree disappears. E1 Pages, however, are persistent, eliminating the need for repeated navigation through a menu.

In keeping with the idea of the “citizen developer”, Oracle is encouraging configuration of E1 features by non-I.T. personnel. This is a move away from having to customize base E1 software, while at the same time providing tools so that a wider range of contributors is possible. This, in turn, can free up I.T. personnel to work on more strategic initiatives within your organization. To learn more about E1 Pages, let us address several aspects such as:

• How has Oracle empowered “citizen developers?”
• What types of content can be displayed in E1 Pages?
• How can E1 Pages benefit your organization?

How Has Oracle Empowered “Citizen Developers”?

In the past, power users, developers and CNC personnel have been needed to create EnterpriseOne (E1) Pages. Beginning with tools release 9.2.0.2, the Page Composer tool has been added to E1 web client interface; with this tool, business analysts and users can now create E1 Pages. The E1 Page lifecycle can be configured so that after an E1 Page is created, it is routed for approval(s) before being published for general use.

In addition, as part of the 9.2 tools release, E1 Pages are now one of several types of user-defined objects (UDOs) which can be managed by a new Web-based Object Management Workbench (OMW). By moving management of these object to the web client, Oracle has lessened the need for the Windows administrative/development client.

What Types of Content Can Be Displayed in E1 Pages?

Classic E1 Pages have long been able to include icons for E1 apps, E1 batch jobs, tasks, URL’s and Watchlists. With the E1 Page Composer, content can also include ADF apps (such as the Work Center Load Review in tools release 9.1.5.3), OneView Reports, activated E1 app forms and OBIEE content (dashboards from Oracle BI Enterprise Edition).

E1 Pages can automatically launch OneView Reports and Watchlists, putting regularly-needed information directly in front of users and offering visual cues when action is required.

E1 Pages can automatically launch both E1 apps and ADF apps directly in an E1 Page, making it that much easier for users to interact with commonly-used apps.

How Can E1 Pages Benefit Your Organization?

While E1 Page content typically revolves around business processes or functional areas, an E1 Page is also an excellent launch area for common CNC administrative tasks as well as organization-wide common external URL’s. E1 Pages be accessed from Windows PC’s and also from iPads and Android tablets, and much easier to work with than the Navigator in a tablet interface.

In addition to representing business process flows graphically, they can also be used to group commonly-used apps into a single convenient launch area. This aids in training users, and is much easier to use than the E1 Navigator or having to create favorites.

As an example, an E1 Page could be set up for Sales Order processing, and can include links for Sales Order Entry, Sales Order Acknowledgment, Sales Order Pick List, Ship Confirmation, Invoicing and finally Sales Update. This would represent a flow of processing sales orders, and could also have additional links for related information often used in this process, such as Address Book, Item Master and Branch and Item Availability. If you use the menu task ID’s to create the E1 Page, this will automatically bring in the description, security and other options already defined at the task level, making your E1 Page creation that much easier.

An E1 Page could also be defined to include links to an organizations commonly-used external URL’s. These could include links such as medical and dental insurance, retirement planning, travel services, expense reporting, as well as company intranet sites. Users can have one or more E1 Pages, as defined by *PUBLIC, role or user. So while the external URL E1 Page might be published to *PUBLIC, individual departmental or function-based E1 Pages could be published by role (or user), as best meets the needs of your organization.

This information was originally published in Issue 3 2016 of Q&A Magazine. It has been repurposed to suit more updated information.