Introduction

Client/Server ADI is not compatible with R12. Migration of R12 ADI functionality to the Internet Computing Architecture (ICA) has made the earlier client/server version of ADI obsolete. The centrally deployed R12 version reduces total cost of ownership and increases performance over slow network connections. Rather than releasing all desktop functionality within its own separate product, ADI functionality in R12 and in 11i exists within the relevant parent applications. So web enabled Report Wizard, Analysis Wizard, Journal Wizard and Budget Wizard functionally are found in General Ledger; Asset Wizard and Physical Inventory Wizard are found in the Assets Application.

Report Manager contains the Web enabled versions of “Publish to Database” and “Report Manager Tools” functionality formerly found in Request Center.

WebADI vs. Client/Server ADI

Features	WebADI	Client ADI
Installation	Deployed centrally through ICA (Internet Computing Architecture)	Deployed individually on all Client PCs or network through Windows Terminal Server or Citrix
Web Enabled	Yes	No
Specification	Framework	Solution
Supported	R 11, R 11i, R12	R 10.7, R 11 and R 11i
Architecture	Three Tier	Client Server
Number of Desktop Integrations	More than 200 (R12)	Only 4
Supports	Excel 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010	Excel 97, 2000, XP
Language Support	Multi language support and UTF 8	Need to install separately with the Language Option and UTF 8 is not supported.
Desktop Application	Excel , Word, Project	Excel
Security	SSO compliant, supports document and function security	User security verified in database
Spread Sheet Layout	Limited Themes	Customizable Layouts and Style Sheets
Advantages	- Low cost deployment - Improved performance on Upload - Improved performance through WAN or other similar network	Supports all versions of Oracle Application Release (Except R12) but not web enabled and has a high deployment cost.

Client/Server ADI has been around for years. It is a traditional Client/Server application in every way. The desktop software connects Microsoft Excel directly to the Oracle Applications database. ADI also allows for Microsoft Word to generate Microsoft Word documents for mail merges.

Web Application Desktop Integrator (WebADI) is a Self-Service Oracle Application that provides the same functionality as Client/Server ADI. In addition to the WebADI Integrators supplied with Oracle Applications, one can create their own integrators to allow download and upload from Oracle windows or direct from WebADI. One particular advantage of WebADI over Client/Server ADI is that no installation is required on client machines; one needs only a Web browser and Microsoft Excel.

Please note WebADI is not the only replacement for Client ADI, several features of Client ADI has been redressed by Oracle Report Manager in R12.

Current Version of WebADI (R12) Functionality

One can use WebADI and Report Manager for all of the functionality that client/server ADI was previously used for. (With the exception of FSG Report definition - BUG: 7526087 exists for this). Both WebADI and Report Manager are part of the e-Business Suite. See the references at the end of this note for complete information on patches required.

Report Manager features as of patch set FRM.H (for 11.5 and 12):
- Publish Report and Request Sets
- Report Archiving
- Deletion of Reports
- Submit and publish FSG reports
- Submit and publish ad-hoc FSG reports
- Drilldown from FSGs
- Submit and publish standard and variable format reports

WebADI features for General Ledger include:
- Upload journals
- Upload budgets (with controlled Patch 6011123 for Release 11.5 - see Note 471044.1)

The Report Manager seeded functions need to be assigned manually by the System administrators to appropriate responsibilities based on the types of reports a user submits and publishes in their job. For example, a system administrator might assign the Financial Report Template Editor and Financial Report Submission functions to an existing General Ledger responsibility already used for submitting Financial Reports by General Ledger users.

The seeded Report Manager functions are:
- Standard Report Submission
- Security Workbench
- Repository Management
- Financial Report Submission
- Upload File
- Variable Report Submission
- Financial Report Template Editor
- Ad Hoc FSG Submission
- Define Report Set Publishing Options
- Report Set Presentation Options
- Define Request Set Publishing Options
- Request Set Presentation Options

In Applications Release 12, WebADI and Report Manager must be used instead of ADI, as client/server ADI is not supported for this release. Also in Release 12 the WebADI functionality for GL is integrated into the standard GL menu structures. These functions are 'Launch Journal Wizard', 'Launch Budget Wizard', and the spreadsheet upload of Currency Rates, via 'Currency Rates Manager' etc.

Earlier Versions of WebADI and Report Manager

WebADI initially was a Journals (Actual and Budgets) only solution but contained some features that did not exist in ADI such as Currency Rates Upload in 11.5.9 and Report Manager.

With Report Manager Patch set FRM.G (web based like WebADI) functionality for Report submission and formatting was included.

Client/server ADI functionality includes:
a. Journals
b. Budgeting
c. Report Definition **
d. Report Publishing **
e. Formatting Reports **
f. Report Drilldown **
g. Create Assets
h. Physical Inventory
i. Import Text
j. Diagnostics

** Are the functionality that has been bridged up by Report Manager.

Mapping of Client ADI, WebADI & Report Manager Features

In this document one can preponderantly find, how the Report Manager features have been playing a significant role in the replacement of Client ADI?

Report Manager Features

Report Manager is an integral part of Oracle EBS. This tool assumes implementation of Oracle General Ledger incorporating Financial Statement Generator (FSG). Report Manager provides an online repository to store and access financial reports. It has a personalized look and feel on financial reports. Reports can be submitted and accessed through Web browser. Hence j-initiator need not be installed if user accesses Report Manager only. Report Manager incorporates security rules to restrict access to published content.

Custom Menu and Responsibility

The pre-defined menus for Report Manager are not complete. The “FRM_SECURITY_MENU” menu is pre-defined but not adequate. Hence there is a need to define/assign additional functions to custom menu:

- Financial Report Template Editor

- Financial Report Submission

- Standard Report Submission

- Repository Management

These menus will be helpful in leveraging the Report Manager Functionality to bridge the functionality gap between Client ADI and WebADI.

Alternatively, one may add these functions to the “GL_SUPERUSER” menu.

To create a custom menu for Report Manager, use the System Administrator responsibility and navigate to Application > Menu.

The added menu to Report Manager surely helps in mitigating the bug in WebADI as of now. One can use the

- Financial Report Template Editor

- Financial Report Submission

- Standard Report Submission

- Repository Management to have an access to the existing features of Client ADI application.

Template Editing Features

When a new template is created and opened in Excel, all the report elements from the

report definition is presented in the spreadsheet. This section describes the layout

features that is available to customize the report presentation.

Adding, Deleting, and Moving Report Objects

Use the Oracle menu to perform the following edits to the generated template:

- Move line items right

- Move line items left

- Delete current line item

- Delete current column

- Insert report fields defined in data

- Insert row elements defined in data

- Insert column elements defined in data

The following image shows the options available from the Oracle Menu in Excel.

Note that the Insert submenu displays available report objects and data fields that one can insert into the template. If one is creating a new template, Report Manager builds the default template with all the available report objects and data fields. If one is modifying an existing template, then report objects and data fields may be in the submenu list that is not present in the template. One can add these objects to his / her report.

Additionally one can:

- Changing Row and Column Sizes

- Changing Font Style, Size, Color, Underline and Alignment

- Cell Formatting

- Formatting Negative Numbers

- Changing General Page Settings

- Inserting Images

- Page Settings (Orientation (Portrait / Landscape), Paper Size, Width of Page)

perform these above functions using Report Manager Template Editing feature.

Repository Management

The feature of Repository Management exceeds the functionality of Client ADI by providing access to already published reports from any system. One can easily have access to already published reports if assigned with appropriate security privilege. This is not system dependent like Client ADI.

The menu item Repository Management takes one to the workbench. A hierarchical grid structure provides an easy means of locating reports. Reports are added to the repository only when a report is published.

This helps in publishing the report to a repository in the database which can be viewed directly at any time from the repository.

One can additionally

- Add a new Repository

- Archive / Restore / Delete an existing Repository, based upon the security access they are having.

Submitting Financial Reports

One will only be able to submit / publish those FSG reports that have been defined earlier. One can’t define a FSG report using Report Manager Functionality.Select parameters and submit financial reports as concurrent requests.

One need to provide the Primary Parameters marked (*)

- Report Name

- Period

- Date

- Ledger as this is mandatory to run a financial report. Additionally one can provide Currency, Column Set, Display Set, Row Order, Rounding Option, Flag Exception, and Segment Override & Scheduling Options to run existing financial reports those have been defined using FSG.

One can also use Ad Hoc FSG Submission to run a financial report.

In addition to Standard Primary Parameters & Additional Parameters one can enter the Control Values to submit the Ad Hoc FSG Report.

Submitting Standard Reports

One will only be able to submit those reports that have been assigned to the corresponding responsibility. Each standard report that will be published using Report Manager will need to be configured to provide XML output. Again the standard reports those need to be published using Report Manager will also need to be registered as Data Definition in XML Publisher’s Template Manager.

One can select parameters and submit reports as concurrent program requests. The parameters depend upon the type of report and its definition. When one selects the name of the report the parameters defined for that report appear on the page.

Once the Report Name is selected, the parameters will be enabled based upon the Report Name as shown below.

One can note in Standard Report Submission process there is a 1:1 relation between the Report and Template and hence, one report can’t be published using a different template.

Submission Parameters Region Notes

Scheduling Options One can either select a date or time for the report to be submitted to the concurrent manager or choose to submit it now.

Output format

Report Manager supports three formats of output for standard & financial reports. These are:

- HTML

- PDF

- Excel

that exceeds the earlier feature of Client ADI to view the report only in Excel.

Drill-Down Feature

Report manager provides standard drill down feature to drill down from report level to transaction level using the Account Analysis and Drill Down feature. This can be done by enabling the drill feature in Report Template, while uploading the report template to Oracle Application.

This drill down feature is only available for account ranges and not for the calculation ones.

Setup Consideration

The patch set level for Oracle Report Manager is listed in Metalink note 820653.1 (9 Jul 2009). It is advisable to check for the latest patch set level before implementation.

- For 11.5.10.2 apply FRM.H over and above FRM.G

- For R12 Report Manager is Auto-installed. Apply FRM.A, FRM.B

Report Manager uses Self Service Workflow Applications. Report Manager requires the BNE platform used by WebADI.

There are a number of functional dependencies for Report Manager. FSGs should have been defined in GL for standard reports; they should be assigned to Request Group assigned to the Report Manager. Report Manager requires a custom menu and responsibility. Also, the Browser and Excel settings may require updates. A Report Manager implementation will also need to determine whether to use Seeded templates or Custom templates.

What Report Manager does not do

One cannot create FSG components (Row Sets, Column Sets etc) in Report Manager. FSG reports need to be defined first in General Ledger and then only it can be used in Report Manager Responsibility. Excel outputs from Report Manager will not incorporate Excel formulas. Excel templates do not save all formatting options. Report Manager works well with FSG reports. However Standard reports in Oracle will have formatting issues.

Conclusion

1. Oracle Report Manager is a very simple helping tool for publishing FSG reports in HTML, PDF and Excel formats without needing a great deal of technical expertise.

2. Report Template Editor, Financial Report Submission, Standard Report Submission, Repository Management & Drill Down feature of Report Manager has helped the Apps user to bridge the gap of Client ADI and WebADI.

3. Report Manager provided the flexibility of publishing the reports in HTML, Excel & PDF format which exceeds the feature of Client ADI.

4. Remember WebADI only is not a replacement for Client ADI.

5. Certainly the WebADI in collaboration with Report Manager provides the user in getting better functionality as compared to earlier client/server ADI (7.2).

6. Finally one can notice Oracle is working day by day in improving the functionality of Report Manager and working on the WebADI bug to provide the missing feature of Client ADI (7.2).

Summary

Below table depicts a high level summary of Client ADI and its replacement path with reference to Report Manager.

Features	R11	R12
Features	Client ADI	Web ADI	Report Manager
Journals	Yes	Yes
Budget	Yes	Yes
Report Definition	Yes	No	Yes
Report Publishing	Yes	No	Yes
Formatting Report	Yes	No	Yes
Report Drill Down	Yes	No	Yes
Create Asset	Yes	Yes
Physical Inventory	Yes	Yes
Import Text	Yes	Yes

Road Ahead

Upgrading from Client ADI

- Customers on 11.5.10 can optionally move from Client ADI to Report Manager.

- Customers upgrading from 11.5.10 to R12 must move to Report Manager.

- Report Manager Rollups on top of Release 12.0 and 12.1 have re-introduced perceived Client ADI parity functionality

- Migration of Client ADI report to Repository

– Transfer of Client ADI reports.

– Transfer of User to Value metadata.

- Custom Templates

– Define Excel templates through Financial Report Template Editor

– Define RTF templates using XML Publisher

- Submission and Publishing

– New reports submitted through Report Manger functions and custom templates.

Web Application Desktop Integration

Web ADI in Release Post – 12.1.3

- Support for corporate branding

– Corporate logo support on downloaded spreadsheet

– Page branding on all Web ADI pages

- Configurable upload

– Menu based ability to switch responsibility

– User based commit/rollback of uploaded data

- Enhanced Diagnostics

– Diagnostic page to verify desktop integrator setup

Pages

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Oracle Web ADI Features