Oracle JD Edwards recently announced EnterpriseOne Tools Release 9.2.4.3 with enhancements that drive digital process transformation and significant improvements in user experience, along with updated platform certifications. Oracle has also announced the delivery of high-value customer-driven enhancements that can be easily implemented. These enhancements are focused on improving user productivity, extending business processes, and supporting new business processes in many applications across JD Edwards including Capital Asset Management, Financials, Grower Management, HCM, Inventory, Manufacturing, Order Management, Procurement, Project Costing, Quality Management, Real Estate, Service Management, and Warehouse Management along with legislative, regulatory, and localization updates.
Enhancements in EnterpriseOne Tools Release 9.2.4.3
Digital Transformation
Orchestration Debugger
The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Orchestrator now provides a way to debug your orchestrations faster and more easily. A Debug button on the Run Orchestrations page launches an interactive tool that enables you to advance through orchestrations step by step, see the data values and output at each step, and manipulate the data for “what if” scenarios at any point during execution. By ensuring that each step runs without error and that the data is correct, you can develop and test orchestrations more quickly and more thoroughly, and get “hardened” orchestrations into production sooner.
Call a Business Function as an Orchestration Step
For more direct access to business logic, you can now invoke a business function as a step in an orchestration. In addition to Groovy and Java, you can select business function as the type for a custom request. You can pass inputs into the business function and receive outputs. This feature broadens the scope of the business logic available to orchestrations to the entire library of standard and custom EnterpriseOne business functions. For use cases that require specific, targeted business logic, invoking business functions will generally be more efficient and faster than invoking the same logic through a form or data request.
Embed Orchestrations and Notifications without a Connector
You can now add orchestrations or notifications directly as a step in another orchestration without the need to create a connector service request. This functionality greatly reduces the number of clicks necessary to call one orchestration from another, as well as eliminates the need to maintain an extra user-defined object for the connector.
See the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Product Catalog and the Orchestrator Enhancements infographic on LearnJDE for a complete list of enhancements to the Orchestrator.
User Experience
Navigation and Page Composer Improvements
JD Edwards has delivered the following enhancements to the EnterpriseOne Page Composer:
- Customers can now add Tasks Folders to an E1 Page. This capability enables them to leverage existing task folder structures to simplify navigation, especially on the iPad container. Prior to this enhancement, users on the iPad container could not navigate the task folders. With this enhancement, iPad container users will have the same navigation experience as browser-based users.
- Users can define which E1 Pages are displayed when they sign in to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. For example, if a user has access to fifteen E1 Pages but only uses five of these pages on a regular basis, the user can define only these five E1 Pages to be displayed. The user can still access all the authorized E1 Pages. Additionally, a new search functionality has been added that enables the user to search for a specific E1 Page. These enhancements improve the user’s navigation and productivity by giving them easy access to their most commonly used Pages.
- In the Menu Pane, the EnterpriseOne Page designer can now define a Personal Form and a Query to be executed for an application. Likewise, the designer can define a version for a batch job. These enhancements enable the designer to tailor pages for specific roles or users to improve the overall user experience.
Learn more about E1 Pages and Page Composer on the EnterpriseOne Pages page on LearnJDE.
Form Extensibility Improvements
Form Extensibility has been enhanced to include:
- Hide and unhide form controls
- Option to rename the labels on form controls, static labels, and the form name
As these capabilities are delivered as part of Form Extensibility, these changes are available for all the versions of the application. These enhancements simplify the process of tailoring an application without customizations or managing multiple Form Personalizations. For example, suppose a company uses Inventory Management but does not use the lot grade and lot potency fields. To simplify the forms for users, a business analyst may want to remove these fields for all the users. Using a form extension, they could remove (hide) the lot grade and lot potency fields, and the change would appear in all versions of the application.
This capability reduces the time, effort, and cost to modify forms across multiple versions. It also simplifies the maintenance of the modifications throughout the continuous adoption lifecycle.
Learn more about Form Extensibility on the User Defined Objects page on LearnJDE.
Mobile Applications
The requirements of a mobile application development platform continue to evolve. Today, customers seek low-code no-code options to empower domain experts such as business analysts with limited programming background to build line of business or departmental mobile apps. Customers can now use Oracle or other industry low-code no-code design tools to create their own mobile applications user interface based on their specifications that connect to JD Edwards through orchestrations. This approach provides flexibility and choice, ensuring that customers can deliver the right user interface for their specific use cases.
To ensure customer success, JD Edwards now provides a learning path that includes an Oracle By Example showing in detail how to create mobile applications. The learning path follows a use case focused on purchase order approvals and shows how customers can leverage JD Edwards Orchestrator Studio along with Oracle’s Visual Builder Cloud Service (VBCS) to develop their own mobile applications. Developers and non-developers alike can leverage the learning path to gain ideas on how best to meet their needs.
Learn more about Mobile application development on the Mobile Platform and Solutions page on LearnJDE.
Platform Certifications
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne deployments depend on a matrix of interdependent platform components from Oracle and third-party vendors. The product support lifecycle of these components is driven by their vendors, creating a continuous need to certify the latest versions of these products to give customers a complete technology stack that is functional, well-performing, and supported by the vendors. This tools release includes the following platform certifications:
- Oracle Database 19c
- IBM AIX (32-bit)
- HP-UX (32-bit)
- Oracle Weblogic 12.2.1.4
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne certifications are posted on the Certifications tab in My Oracle Support.
JD Edwards Applications Enhancements
ERP Optimization
ERP enhancements are focused on delivering high-value customer-driven improvements in user productivity, extending existing business processes, and delivering enhancements to support new business processes. Productivity enhancements focus on user experience and business process simplification while our applications continue to benefit from the ongoing JD Edwards Tools investment in page, personalization, watchlist, and notification frameworks to deliver a superior user experience.
Oracle continues to extend existing business processes to support evolving or more complex use case requirements as well as focus on supporting new business processes through the creation of new applications and functionality.
Project Costing
Project Status Inquiry
The Project Status Inquiry application provides real-time manager and executive-level assessment of the financial status of projects including budgets, actuals, and forecasts. Previously, customers had access to job-level financials but did not have a solution to interactively view their business at a single or multiple project level. Project Status Inquiry addresses that business process gap by providing interactive access to financials at a single or multiple project level. This new application reduces the time to review detailed and summarized information about projects, enabling project managers to identify issues and opportunities before they become problems.
Job Master Tax Rate
Within Job Master, if Vertex Sales Tax Q Series is activated, when you use the search capability for the Tax Explanation Code-Tax Rate/Area field, the system retrieves the values from the Retrieve GeoCode application (P73GEO) rather than from the Tax Area X-Reference application (P06TAR).
Advanced Job Forecasting
The Add/Copy function will now include prior period forecasts with the copy.
Manufacturing
Work Order Ledger
Work Order Activity rules were previously added giving system administrators the ability to establish an allowed process flow for manufacturing work orders and rate schedules that is enforced by the system to prevent erroneous status updates and transactions. In this update, Work Order Ledger fields have been added to the activity rules to trigger entries into ledger tables at selected statuses when a permitted activity updates header, parts list, or routing records of production orders. This ledger enables users to track changes and provides activity history to satisfy internal, auditing, and regulatory requirements.
Fixed Time Basis for Routing
For some production operations such as heat treating or plating, the work center runtime might not vary based on the quantity being processed. To simplify fixed-time operations, a new time basis code value has been added to enable users to specify the fixed hours for scheduling, planning, costing, and accounting.
Comprehensive Shortage Report
The Work Order Component Shortage Report now includes an option to consider inventory quantities from all locations to calculate shortages. Prior to this enhancement, the report was always based only on quantities hard-committed from specific locations defined on the parts lists to the moment of parts list attachment. Planners and buyers can now select this option to generate a shortage report based on current inventory conditions providing a more accurate representation of production shortages.
Consolidation of Parts List Component Quantities when Copying by Work Order
The Work With Manufacturing Work Order program now consolidates parts list quantities by item, operation sequence, and component branch when copying a previous work order’s parts list. This enhancement results in a single consolidated line for each of the items that were issued from several locations or lots, eliminating the need to edit the new parts list.
Quality Management
Enhanced Certificate of Analysis
The Certificate of Analysis report has been enhanced to include Lot Expiration Date and additional lot information such as Country of Origin and Tester ID that can optionally be printed. The ability to include all relevant information on the report eliminates the time spent manually gathering quality data.
Inventory Management
Default Display Options for Item Availability
Default display options are now available for Work with Item Availability. This enhancement enables users to personalize their view by specifying whether the Summary Only and Omit Zero Quantities options are selected on the Work with Item Availability form.
Generate a Single Invoice Per Month
The Outbound Inventory billing process has been enhanced so that you can choose to generate a single invoice for all sales to a customer for a month. Previously, an invoice for each shipment was generated resulting in multiple invoices for customers you frequently ship to. This flexibility ensures increased customer satisfaction and improves billing process efficiency.
Warehouse Management
License Plate Picking Optimization
License Plate Picking Optimization enables organizations using the license plates functionality to further maximize warehouse location utilization. Picking optimization provides customers the option to enable or disable breakdown of license plates and the ability to identify a license plate as a partial plate. Furthermore, the system performs optimized picking sequencing logic based on largest Unit of Measure, expiration date, and ascending or descending quantity. With license plate picking optimization, warehouse operators have the flexibility to specify how the system directs license plate picking, maximizing overall warehouse productivity.
Procurement
Configuration Simplifies Purchase Order Approvals
Purchase Order Approvals can now be configured with a specific version when included as an email link. Approvers automatically launch the appropriate version of the application from the email to approve orders. This change eliminates clicks and improves user productivity.
Order Management
Flexible Currency Exchange Rate Date Source
The Sales Order Batch Price/Cost Update program has been enhanced to include an option to choose the exchange rate based on the current system date or the invoice date when the price is recalculated for a sales order line, enabling businesses to align currency processing to their unique business requirements.
Real Estate
Unit Attributes
The Unit Master Revisions form has been simplified by including the associated descriptions for Unit Status, Expense Participation Unit Type, State, and Country, making it easier for property managers to more clearly understand unit attributes.
Lease Attachments
Lease attachments can now be accessed and managed from the Lease Master, Sales Information, and Security Deposit applications as well as the Sales Overage Listing and Security Deposit Critical Date reports, providing lease administrators easier access to important lease-related information.
Flexibility to Run Sales Overage Generation in Proof Mode
The Sales Overage Generation program can now be executed in proof mode enabling property managers to validate results prior to update, improving accuracy and reducing rework.
Grower Management
Planned and Current Estimate Unit of Measure Flexibility
The Unit of Measure for both planned and current estimates can now be overridden to match the primary Unit of Measure of the item for the block or harvest. This override enables harvesters to use a crop-relevant Unit of Measure when receiving weigh tags, eliminating the need for manual Unit of Measure conversions.
Capital Asset and Service Management
Work Order Credit Simplification
When a credit is made to an equipment or service work order, parts quantities must be credited as well. A configuration has been added to the Capital Asset Management and Service Management systems to automatically credit the part’s quantities. Automating this step reduces errors and simplifies the processing of credit transactions.
Warning on Use of Obsolete Items
The Capital Asset Management and Service Management systems have been enhanced to warn users when they add an obsolete part number to a work order. This real-time warning reduces rework and increases adherence to parts use policies.
Warning on Use of Obsolete Items
Service Management now prevents the creation of work orders or contracts against inactive equipment. This real-time edit prevents errors at the source, improving data quality and eliminating rework.
Human Capital Management
Configurable Annual Hours Limit by Pay Type
The payroll application can now be configured to define the annual hour limits by pay type, which are validated at time entry. This configuration along with the real-time editing option simplifies the process of managing the annual hour limits for accruals such as sick time and vacation time.
Automatic Population of Who’s Who for New Employees
The process of adding a new employee through Employee Master has been simplified now that the Given Name, Middle Name, and Surname fields are automatically populated in Who’s Who.
Financials
G/L Batch Status History
G/L Batch Status History maintains an audit trail of all additions, deletions, and updates to the batch status in the Batch Header table. This enhancement provides the required information (who, what, when) and enables auditors and accountants to audit actions taken against all batches of general ledger transactions, resulting in improved financial controls and strengthening Segregation of Duties compliance.
Simplification of Multi-Voucher Entry
The “multi” voucher entry applications have been enhanced to enable users to enter the business unit and asset on each line during voucher creation. This functionality improves the usability of the application by eliminating additional manual updates after entry.
Control over Discounts on Partial Payments
The automatic receipt processes now include a configuration to determine whether discounts can be taken on partial payments of invoices. This enhancement provides accounts receivable specialists simplified controls to enforce corporate discount policies.
Flexible G/L Bank Account Assignments
Manual Payment with Match now includes an option to choose the source of the bank account. The bank account can be retrieved from the selected vouchers or from the automatic accounting instructions. This enhancement provides A/P departments the flexibility to optimize their use of bank accounts.
Detailed Accounting by Leased Asset
Lessee accounting can now be configured to include subledger detail containing the leased asset ID in all Lessee Accounting entries including recurring billing, manual billing, lease commencement, monthly journals, remeasurement, and early termination. This functionality enables accountants to more easily track and reconcile lessee accounting journal entries by leased asset.
Detailed Error Messaging Enables Faster Resolution
The general ledger cash basis report performs edits for many conditions such as missing AAIs, invalid account numbers, invalid posting edit codes, and invalid document types. The report has been enhanced to provide accounting specialists with detailed error messages, greatly reducing the time required to clear cash basis errors.
Simplified Removal of Employee-Specific Master Data
Employee expense administrators often remove an employee’s profile and related credit card information when the employee leaves the organization. The Expense Management system has been simplified so that when an employee profile is deleted, any associated credit card master data is automatically removed as well, thereby eliminating an extra step and improving data quality.
Improved Data Quality for Invoices, Receipts, and Drafts
Accounts Receivable applications have been enhanced to ensure improved data quality for invoices, receipts, and drafts. This enhancement eliminates data conflict by ensuring that transactions cannot be updated by a user or an application when they are already in the process of being updated by another user or application.
Legislative, Regulatory, and Localizations
- EnterpriseOne Financial Year End for 2019
- World Financial Year End for 2019
- EnterpriseOne Payroll Year End for US and Canada 2019
- EnterpriseOne 2020 Changes for Form W4 (9.2,9.1,9.0)
- World Payroll Year End for US and Canada 2019
- World 2020 Changes for Form W4 (A9.4, A9.3.1)
- Argentina – General Resolution 4523 (SIRE and SICORE VAT Withholding and VAT Perception Changes)
- India – Central Goods and Service Tax (GST) Amendment Rules 2019
- Taiwan – e-GUI (Government Uniform Invoice) 2020 Reporting
Check out the Localization MOS document for more information.