What's New

Update 23D

Revision History

This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:

Overview

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Optional Uptake of New Features (Opt In)

Oracle Cloud Applications delivers new updates every quarter. This means every three months you'll receive new functionality to help you efficiently and effectively manage your business. Some features are delivered Enabled meaning they are immediately available to end users. Other features are delivered Disabled meaning you have to take action to make available. Features delivered Disabled can be activated for end users by stepping through the following instructions using the following privileges:

• Review Applications Offering (ASM_REVIEW_APPLICATIONS_OFFERINGS_PRIV)
• Configure Oracle Fusion Applications Offering (ASM_CONFIGURE_OFFERING_PRIV)

Here’s how you opt in to new features:

1. Click Navigator > My Enterprise > New Features.
2. On the Features Overview page, select your offering to review new features specific to it. Or, you can leave the default selection All Enabled Offerings to review new features for all offerings.
3. On the New Features tab, review the new features and check the opt-in status of the feature in the Enabled column. If a feature has already been enabled, you will see a check mark. Otherwise, you will see an icon to enable the feature.
4. Click the icon in the Enabled column and complete the steps to enable the feature.

In some cases, you might want to opt in to a feature that's not listed in the New Features work area. Here's how to opt in:

1. Click Navigator > My Enterprise > Offerings.
2. On the Offerings page, select your offering, and then click Opt In Features.
3. On the Opt In page, click the Edit Features (pencil) icon for the offering, or for the functional area that includes your feature.
4. On the Edit Features page, complete the steps to enable the feature.

For more information and detailed instructions on opting in to new features for your offering, see Configure Offerings.

Opt In Expiration

Occasionally, features delivered Disabled via Opt In may be enabled automatically in a future update. This is known as an Opt In Expiration. If your cloud service has any Opt In Expirations you will see a related tab in this document. Click on that tab to see when the feature was originally delivered Disabled, and when the Opt In will expire, potentially automatically enabling the feature. You can also click here to see features with Opt In Expirations across all Oracle Cloud Applications.

Feature Summary

Project Management

Project Management Common

Service Excellence Continuing Investments

In this update, improvements are available in the following areas:

GRANT MANAGEMENT

• Increased Size of Award Reference Value: The character limit for reference values for awards is increased from 30 characters to 300 characters.

PLANNING, SCHEDULING, AND FORECASTING

• Improved Performance of the Update Action for Rescheduling High-Volume Projects: Updating planning attributes of high-volume projects is now faster, without any page timeout issues. In addition, users can also observe improved performance in the real-time scheduling of projects with high-volume tasks.

• Project Plan Update Resiliency:
  • Update Project Plan Data Without Producing Report scheduled process now provides actual amounts to the project plan when the transaction currency to planning currency conversion rate isn't defined. Instead, it uses the transaction currency to project currency conversion rate and the planning currency to project currency conversion rate.
  • Update Project Plan Data Without Producing Report scheduled process continues to process other projects even if one project experiences an exception.
  • Inception-to-date (ITD) actual amounts are now displayed on the Manage Financial Project Plan page without errors.

• Project REST API Enhancement: WHO information is now available for the REST API, both as a query attribute and in the response.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING

• Enhanced Program Management Navigation and Preferences: Seamlessly switch between active programs and public programs, with personalized period information for Headlines and Analysis pages. Quick data refresh capabilities ensure timely decision-making, while prioritized program reports enhance communication effectiveness.

• Improved Period Selection for Program Performance Insights: Define a preferred default period for viewing performance measures. In the Edit Preferences section of the Program Headlines page, specify whether to focus on the current period, the last period, or select a past period. Your period-related preference is honored across all analysis areas.

Editing Preferences for Program Headlines

• Program Switcher Navigation: Use the program switcher to toggle between active programs, active public programs, and closed programs. My Active Programs is the default selection, focusing on the programs you are actively managing or contributing to.

Toggle Between Active, Public, and Closed Programs

• Instant Data Refresh for Up-to-Date Analysis: In the Analysis Details page, click the Refresh button to execute the Update Program Performance Data summarization process for the program. The selected view, along with the period and currency information, is displayed in the contextual information.

• Tailored Report Prioritization in Communications Pillar: Use the My Program Reports context on the Communications page to prioritize reports for a program. To view reports for public programs, select Public Program Reports from the dropdown menu.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Billing and Revenue Management

Additional Bill and Revenue Plan Analysis Using Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence

Add additional Bill and Revenue plan attributes in Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence when using the Contract Line Billing and Revenue Details dimensions. Users can review the customer information and invoice settings from the current version of the Bill plan or Revenue plan for a project contract in OTBI analysis. Examples of information and settings include: Billing Cycle, Payment Terms, Invoice Grouping Options, Bill Transaction Currency to Invoice and Revenue Currency Conversion settings, Invoice Line Grouping Options, and Schedules Information.

The additional attributes are mentioned below.

Bill Plan Attributes

• Invoice Method Name
• Invoice Method Classification
• On hold
• Bill-to Account Number
• Bill-to Customer
• Bill-to Contact
• Bill-to Contact Email
• Bill-to Site
• Bill-to Address1
• Bill-to Address2
• Bill-to Address3
• Bill-to Address4
• Bill-to State
• Bill-to City
• Bill-to County
• Bill-to Country
• Bill-to Postal Code
• Receiver Legal Entity
• Billing Cycle
• Billing Cycle Description
• Invoice Comment
• Payment Terms
• First Bill Offset Days
• Billing Instructions
• Invoice Revenue Currency
• Bill Transaction Currency to Invoice and Revenue Currency Conversion Rate Type
• Bill Transaction Currency to Invoice and Revenue Currency Conversion Date Type
• Bill Transaction Currency to Invoice and Revenue Currency Conversion Date
• Bill Set
• Invoice Grouping
• Labor Invoice Format
• Non Labor Invoice Format
• Event Invoice Format
• Person Rate Schedule Currency
• Job Rate Schedule Currency
• Labor Fixed Date
• Labor Discount Percentage
• Labor Rate Change Reason
• Nonlabor Rate Schedule Currency
• Nonlabor Fixed Date
• Nonlabor Discount Percentage
• Nonlabor Rate Change Reason
• Burden Schedule Name
• Burden Schedule Fixed Date
• Labor Cost Reimbursable Basis
• Labor Markup Percentage
• Nonlabor Cost Reimbursable Basis
• Nonlabor Markup Percentage
• Labor Transfer Price Schedule
• Labor Transfer Price Schedule Fixed Date
• Nonlabor Transfer Price Schedule
• Nonlabor Transfer Price Schedule Fixed Date

Revenue Plan Attributes

• Revenue Method Name
• Revenue Method Classification
• On Hold
• Person Rate Schedule Currency
• Job Rate Schedule Currency
• Labor Fixed Date
• Labor Discount Percentage
• Labor Rate Change Reason
• Nonlabor Rate Schedule Currency
• Nonlabor Fixed Date
• Nonlabor Discount Percentage
• Nonlabor Rate Change Reason
• Burden Schedule Name
• Burden Schedule Fixed Date
• Labor Cost Reimbursable Basis
• Labor Markup Percentage
• Nonlabor Cost Reimbursable Basis
• Nonlabor Markup Percentage
• Labor Transfer Price Schedule
• Labor Transfer Price Schedule Fixed Date
• Nonlabor Transfer Price Schedule
• Nonlabor Transfer Price Schedule Fixed Date

These additional attributes in the Contract Line Billing Details and Contract Line Revenue Details dimensions are added in the below-mentioned subject areas.

• Project Billing - Event Real Time
• Project Billing - Invoices Real Time
• Project Billing - Revenue Real Time
• Project Billing - Funding Real Time
• Project Billing - Bill Transactions Real Time
• Projects - Billing and Revenue Exceptions Real Time
• Projects - Cross Subject Area Analysis - Real Time

The key business benefit of this feature is improved decision-making, when using the key attributes set up on a bill or revenue plan associated with a contract line from the current version of the project contract, in real-time analysis and reports.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

The existing attribute Contract Bill Plan Bill-to Site in the Contract Line Billing dimension is updated as hidden, and a new attribute Bill-to Site is added to the Contract Line Billing dimension. This change will not impact the existing OTBI reports referring to the Contract Bill Plan Bill-to Site attribute.

Key Resources

• Based on Idea 508366 from the OTBI Reporting Tools Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Attach Documents When Emailing Contract

When you use the Email action to send a contract, you can use the Attachments section to attach other documents and send them along with the contract.

Email Contract

You can add attachments by either dragging files to this window or by browsing for the files you'd like to attach.

Attach Documents to Email

Attachments can be of several different file types such as .DOCX, .PDF, .JPG, .PPT, .CSV, .HTML.

You can preview the contract before you send the email using the Preview button. This opens the PDF of the contract in the same way as the Preview action from the Edit Contract page but doesn't include a preview of the documents you've attached to the email.

Sending everything together in a single email helps the recipient get the full context they need to review the contract plus its associated documents, and respond to your email.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Bill Transaction Creation on Billing Event Creation

In the 23C release, we delivered the Bill Transaction Creation on Cost Import feature to automatically create bill transactions when project costs are imported. In this release, we're extending the previously delivered functionality so that bill transactions are also created when project billing events are created. Full synchronization of project billing events with bill transactions for update and delete scenarios will be delivered in release 24A. Our goal is to ensure that bill transactions provide an accurate, real-time record of work-in-progress, or WIP, without the need to rely on batch processes such as Generate Invoices or Generate Revenue.

Prior to release 24B the Bill Transaction Creation on Cost Import feature is under controlled availability and requires a Service Request to be logged through My Oracle Support. Support will then provide you with a promotion code, enabling you to unlock and opt into the feature using Setup and Maintenance. From release 24B onwards, the feature is generally available and can be opted in without needing to log a Service Request or enter a promotion code.

This feature also enhances the Bill Transaction and Exception Analysis Using Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence feature delivered in 23B. Before this feature, the Generate Invoices or Generate Revenue processes needed to be run to maintain bill transactions. Bill transactions are what the Project Billing - Bill Transactions Real Time Subject Area in OTBI uses to report unbilled amounts.

Example

Consider a project associated with a single contract line, where the bill plan of that contract line has a rate-based bill method. In addition, billing events are used to capture additional charges to the customer.

Opt-in disabled (current application behavior):

To report on unbilled amounts holistically (that is, bill transactions arising from project costs and billing events), you must perform additional processing after costs are imported, or billing events are created. The specific processes which need to be scheduled or run are:

• Run the Generate Invoices process, setting the parameter to only create bill transactions but not invoices or,
• Run the Generate Invoices process, opting to create draft invoices or,
• Run the Generate Revenue process.

Opt-in enabled:

You can report on unbilled amounts holistically as soon as costs are imported (from release 23C), or eligible billing events are created (from release 23D). No additional processing is needed. The following bullets provide a detailed account of the specific changes in the application for 23D:

• The Maintain Bill Transactions process (which was delivered in release 23C) has been extended to manage the automatic creation of bill transactions when billing events are created. You are not expected to schedule or routinely monitor the outputs of this process; the application launches it as and when needed.

• If a contract is in draft status or is under amendment, bill transactions will only be created for eligible billing events when the contract is (re)activated.

• Billing events are considered to be eligible for the creation of bill transactions when they have a completion date.

• If it is not possible for a bill transaction to be created for an eligible billing event, a billing exception will be raised (which can be reported using the Projects - Billing and Revenue Exceptions Real Time subject area in OTBI).

• The Maintain Bill Transactions process is responsible for keeping bill transactions up-to-date (subject to current limitations, see below), calculating or recalculating bill amounts, performing currency conversions, identifying exceptions etc. Once processed, bill transactions are available for reporting in OTBI.

• Bill transactions will be created for billing events created from any source, such as the Fusion UI, REST API, Process Configurators or File-Based Data Import (FBDI).

The business benefits of this feature are:

• A reduced cost of ownership due to fewer processes to schedule and monitor.

• Project teams will always have timely and complete information to make quicker decisions, due to unbilled amounts being calculated as soon as new billing events are created.

This feature is part of a focused investment to automate and accelerate business flows for the professional services industry. Our goal is to deliver a seamless experience across project and resource planning, cost collection, invoicing, and reporting, strengthening operational controls and optimizing cash flow. Additional capabilities under consideration for upcoming updates include:

• Bill transaction synchronization on billing event update or delete
• Analyzing work-in-progress by billing status in OTBI
• Labor billing in multiple units of measure
• Milestone billing
• Prepayment billing
• More flexible grouping onto invoices and lines
• Services for creating and acting on bill transactions

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).

Tips And Considerations

The following bullets summarize the future direction of this feature and related features, as well as any current limitations:

• Prior to this feature, the Generate Invoices process was responsible for both creating bill transactions and creating or recreating invoices. Customer feedback highlighted that in order to report unbilled amounts (consistently, across costs and billing events), users either needed to routinely create/recreate draft invoices (even when invoices were not due), or to recognize revenue on a high-frequency basis (even if said revenue was not required from an accounting standpoint).

• The strategic direction of the product is to therefore separate the creation of bill transactions from the assembly of invoices, enabling users to report unbilled amounts for project costs and billing events in real-time, before invoicing, and independent of revenue recognition. This feature will eventually become the standard behavior of the product, meaning;
  • The sole purpose of the Generate Invoices process will be to assemble bill transactions into invoices; it will not create bill transactions or recalculate bill amounts. There should be no ambiguity as to what amount will be added to the invoice when it is created.
  • The ability to create or maintain bill transactions using the Generate Invoices process will eventually become obsolete.

• However, as of this release with this feature opted in, the Generate Invoices process will still reprocess bill transactions in certain circumstances. This limitation will be addressed in future releases, ensuring that bill transactions always maintain a complete, real-time, single source of truth for unbilled reporting.

• Note that when this feature is opted in, bill transactions will not automatically be created for existing billing events. Bill transactions will only be created for newly created billing events (and in a future release, when existing billing events are updated).

Key Resources

• This feature enhances the Bill Transaction and Exception Analysis Using Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence feature in 23B.
• This feature extends the Bill Transaction Creation on Cost Import feature in 23C.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Configure Contract Approval Notifications

You can configure contract approval notifications to set the content and layout according to your business needs. You can modify the Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher report using RTF templates for layout changes, and the BI data model for content changes. Here's the list of some of the components that can be configured in the default report:

• Logo: Modify the brand logo in the email notification.

• Body: Add or remove existing attributes or add new tables. This includes standard attributes from any table, Descriptive Flexfields and Application Composer attributes.

• Action buttons: Change the text of the buttons.

• Footer Links: Hide link to the transaction page or workflow notification.

• Style: Change the formatting including font size, color, table borders and so on.

Depending on how you choose to configure your approval notification, you may need to make changes to one or more of the following components: the contract approval RTF template, subtemplate and data model.

Email Notification

You can customize the notification to include additional information relevant to your business which will enable better decision making. You can add logo, modify the format, font, style and color of the attributes to be consistent with the notifications in other Fusion applications.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Enterprise Contracts  No Longer Optional From: Update 24D

Tips And Considerations

From 24D onwards the feature is not opt-in controlled and this will be the default functionality available.

Key Resources

• Refer the play book How do I configure contract approval notifications?
• Implementing Enterprise Contracts Guide

Display Approval History from Contract Search

You can check the approval progress of contracts in Pending approval status directly from the contract search results. From the contracts landing page, Search Contracts by Text, or from the Manage Contracts task, any contracts in Pending approval status will contain a link in the status column.

Pending Approval Link from Search Results

Clicking the Pending approval link opens the Review Approvers page where you can see the approval hierarchy for the contract.

Review Approvers from Pending Approval Link

Using this feature, you can enter search criteria to focus on the right contracts and see where they're stuck and help move them forward.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

You can also monitor approval progress from the Review Approvers column on the Pending Approvals tab on the contracts landing page.

Improved Manage Project Invoices User Experience for Project Managers

Project managers can review the additional invoice and payment statuses for a project contract invoice using the Manage Project Invoices page. Moreover, they can drill down to the Invoice Details page for a project contract invoice from the Manage Project Invoices page to view the invoice lines and distributions along with contract limits and financial summary. Project managers can also view the invoice level exceptions on the Manage Project Invoices page reported as part of release, transfer, and tieback processes with Receivables. Overall, the additional information and quick access to details gives project managers the data they need to manage their project contract billing in a single place.

Project managers can navigate to the Invoice Details page to view information on the project contract invoice using the Invoice Number drill-down, as illustrated below. The Invoice Number drill-down is also available in the Table view.

Invoice Details

Project managers can view the invoice-level exceptions reported as part of the Release, Transfer Invoice Details to Receivables, and Confirm Invoice Acceptance Status in Receivables batch processes by clicking the error or warning icon, as illustrated below. The exception drill-down is also available in the Table View.

Invoice Exceptions

Invoice Statuses are displayed on the Manage Project Invoices page for a project contract invoice. The project manager can query project contract invoices in different invoice statuses for a project using the Invoice Status filter. The invoice statuses are:

• Submitted
• Approved
• Rejected
• Released
• Transferred
• Transfer rejected
• Accepted

Payment Statuses are displayed on the Manage Project Invoices page for a project contract invoice. The project manager can query project contract invoices in different payment statuses for a project using the Payment Status filter. The payment statuses are:

• Open: This payment status is displayed from the Receivable Payment Schedules for a Transaction, and the Unpaid Amount is not equal to zero.

• Closed: This payment status is displayed from the Receivable Payment Schedules for a Transaction, and the Unpaid Amount is equal to zero.

• Not applicable: This payment status is displayed if the project contract invoice is not yet available in Receivables.

Invoice and Payment Statuses on List View

The attributes Payment Status, Due Date, and Unpaid Amount are displayed for standard project contract invoices in Accepted status in the List and Table View. Only the attribute Payment Status is displayed for credit project contract invoices in Accepted status in the List and Table View. The Payment Status for the credit invoice transitions from Open to Closed when the credit invoice is applied to an original invoice in Receivables.

The project contract invoices are sorted by default based on Submitted, Rejected, Transfer Rejected, Approved, Released and Transferred Invoice Statuses. These are followed by invoices in Accepted status with Payment Status as Open and Closed. Alternatively, Project managers can sort the invoices based on Invoice Number, Invoice Date, Invoice Amount and Contract Name attributes.

The business benefit of this feature is improved decision making with the accurate display of payment status on a project contract invoice in cases where in Receivables, there is a partial receipt and adjustment transaction, a partial receipt and a partial credit, or a fully credited original invoice. Also, the project managers can filter the project contract invoices based on the invoice and payment statuses.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Project Financial Management  No Longer Optional From: Update 25C

Tips And Considerations

• While on the Invoice Details page, project managers can only view the project contract invoices information. The approval or rejection of project contract invoices is only possible using the Manage Project Invoices page and only when the invoice approval task is configured to send the approval notification to the project managers.

• The project managers can view the invoice lines and distributions for multiple projects on the Invoice Details page if the project contract invoice comprises billed transactions from one or more projects. The project number attribute passed as a parameter to the Invoice Details drill-down using page personalization will ensure that the user can view the invoice lines and distributions for the projects on which he is a project manager.

Key Resources

• Based on Idea 537493 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Optional Exclusion of Grouping Attributes from Invoice Line Description

Project application administrators or billing specialists can optionally configure the labor, nonlabor, and event invoice formats to exclude an invoice line grouping attribute from being added to the invoice line description. With this configurable option available in invoice formats, users can avoid repeating data like quantity, unit price, or item in the invoice line description when they are reported separately on the invoice line.

A new attribute Exclude, is added to the Invoice Line Description Definition, and the existing Start Position, End Position, Text and Right Justify attributes are regrouped under the Invoice Line Description Definition. The existing Field Name attribute in the Invoice Format Details, is renamed to Attribute Name and displayed under the Invoice Line Grouping section.

When the Exclude option is enabled in the Invoice Line Description Definition for an Invoice Line Grouping Attribute, the attributes Start Position, End Position and Right Justify are disabled for update. When the option is disabled, the Start Position and End Position attributes are mandatory to enter, and optionally the user can update the Right Justify flag.

When the Invoice Line Grouping Attribute is Text, and the Exclude option is enabled, the Text value specified in the Invoice Line Description Definition will not be part of the invoice line description on the generated project contract invoice.

The key benefit of this feature is that project billing specialists can optionally configure how an invoice line description is displayed.

Steps to Enable

• In the Manage Invoice Formats setup page, the Exclude option needs to be enabled for the Invoice Line Grouping Attribute, as illustrated below.

The Exclude option is applicable for Labor, Nonlabor, and Events Format Types.

• Run the Generate Invoices process for a project contract with eligible transactions to be invoiced. The excluded invoice line grouping attribute in the invoice formats setup is not displayed on the invoice line description of the project contract invoice.

Tips And Considerations

• The Exclude attribute is supported in Import from CSV File and Export to CSV File options for Manage Invoice Formats task.
• You cannot exclude all the invoice line grouping attributes from the invoice line description definition for an invoice format.
• The Exclude option is updateable on an existing Labor or Nonlabor, or Events invoice format.
• You cannot exclude the same Invoice Line Grouping Attribute multiple times in an invoice format.

Key Resources

• Based on Idea 610138 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Cost Management and Control

Project Role Capture on Time Cards

Project team members can specify the role that they performed while capturing their time cards. The project role can then be used to derive appropriate bill rates and compare to the project plan for more accurate project role-based billing and reporting.

This extends the capabilities introduced in 23B with the Planning to Billing by Project Role feature; refer to this to understand the broader business flow for role-based planning and billing.

A new Project Role time attribute and corresponding Project Role time card field are provided. The Project Role time card field can be added to custom time layout sets for time reporters to use.

Example Classic UI Time Card Layout with Project Role

Example Responsive UI Time Card Layout with Project Role

The business benefit is more accurate project role-based planning, billing, and reporting, particularly when a project team member performs more than one role on the same project or task, and the project role cannot be inferred or derived. The project team member is most aware of the role performed when executing work and can specify this project role along with the effort expended at source when reporting time.

Steps to Enable

To use this feature, you must add the new Project Role time card field to an existing custom time layout set or create a new one using the Time Layout Sets setup and maintenance task in the Time and Labor functional area in the Workforce Deployment offering. The project time layout sets delivered with the application do not include the new Project Role time card field.

Tips And Considerations

The filtered value set used in the delivered Project Role time card field includes all project roles that are active as of any date within the time card period. To further restrict the list of project roles that are available on a time reporter’s time card, you can define a custom value set and custom project role time card field to include in your time layout sets. For example, you can create a custom value set that limits project role values based on the time reporter’s roles used in project resource assignments.

Key Resources

• This feature extends the capabilities introduced in 23B with the Planning to Billing by Project Role feature.

• Based on Idea 644418 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

• Related Help:
  • Configure Time Layout Sets and other relevant sections of the Implementing Time and Labor implementation guide.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Grant Management

Additional Financial Measures in Manage Awards

Display additional financial measures for multiple time dimensions, such as entire award duration and inception to date instead of just period to date amounts, on the Manage Awards page. If the amounts are displayed separately, then grants administrators and principal investigators can precisely differentiate between unbudgeted and unallocated amounts for an award.

The following amounts can be viewed for Inception to date (ITD), Period to date (PTD) and across all budget periods (Total):

• Funding Amount in Project Currency 
• Budget Amount in Project Currency
• Unbudgeted in Project Currency
• Actuals in Project Currency
• Commitment in Project Currency
• Budget in Ledger Currency
• Actuals in Ledger Currency
• Commitment in Ledger Currency

Unallocated and Unbudgeted amount for Award and Funding Amount and Budget Amount for Award Project Across All Budget Periods, ITD and PTD on Manage Awards Page

Actual Amounts for Award Projects Across All Budget Periods, ITD and PTD on Manage Awards Page

The business benefit of this feature is improved decision making capabilities by using the financial measures in any time dimension to precisely differentiate between unbudgeted and unallocated amounts for an award.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

NOTE: The default values shown in the table are across all time periods i.e. Total. You need to select the View option to select additional columns for display.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Funding Pattern Data in OTBI

View and report on funding patterns using Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence, or OTBI. Enhancing the capabilities of distributing project costs to sponsored project award and funding source combinations using funding patterns, a new subject area enables analysis. This data allows for detail and summary or trend analysis as well as analytics that can be used to prevent issues. For example, reporting on projects ending in the next 30, 60, or 90 days that have funding patterns associated will prevent cost distribution errors. The name of the new subject area is Projects - Funding Pattern Analysis Real Time.

Regular review of the funding patterns that will have issues distributing the costs is an efficient way to prevent errors and improve the procurement process. Illustrated in the image below is an example that demonstrates how you can analyze active funding patterns that have projects or awards ending soon. These funding patterns should be updated to prevent failing and requiring procurement staff to contact project personnel to resolve.

Awards or Projects Ending Soon

Analyzing which funding patterns will fail due to a lack of available budget will prevent planned purchases from failing one or more patterns. Proactive review of this potential issue allows for efficient updates to funding patterns to ensure budgets can consume planned expenses. Procurement staff can continue to buy items needed for projects, and the updated funding patterns will distribute effectively.

Available Funds Low on Funding Pattern (BC = Budgetary Control)

The business benefit of this new subject area is to be able to analyze funding patterns to proactively prevent errors in the procurement lifecycle. Changes to funding patterns can be made before errors occur, ensuring buyers and accounts payable clerks can support the project teams instead of contacting them to get distribution percentage details after item purchases fail.

Steps to Enable

Leverage new subject area(s) by adding to existing reports or using in new reports. For details about creating and editing reports, see the Creating and Administering Analytics and Reports book (available from the Oracle Help Center > your apps service area of interest > Books > Administration).

Key Resources

• Related Help:
  • To learn more about the award distribution capabilities, see Project Cost Distribution Using Award Funding Patterns

Access Requirements

To use this feature you need this duty:

• Grants Management Funding Analysis Duty (FBI_GRANTS_MANAGEMENT_FUNDING_ANALYSIS_DUTY)

Planning, Scheduling, and Forecasting

Financial Plan Rate Refresh Excludes Disabled Resources

Refresh rates action and scheduled process skips resources that have been disabled on the resource breakdown structure. Project managers and project administrators can perform version level refresh without having to identify the disabled resources and exclude the same during the refresh rates process. Currently, they need to perform a line-by-line refresh for plan lines with active refresh to avoid the accidental refresh for disabled resources.

Refresh Rates

The business benefit of this feature is reduced risk of unintended rate updates by excluding resources no longer working on the project from the rates refresh process. This offers a streamline way to update financial project plans, budgets, and forecasts and eliminates the need to perform a manual line-by-line refresh.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Project Financial Management  No Longer Optional From: Update 24D

Tips And Considerations

• Refresh rates action using user interface, scheduled process and REST API excludes resources that have been disabled on the resource breakdown structure.

• Refresh conversion rates action will continue to retrieve the conversion rates for resources that have been disabled on the resource breakdown structure.

Key Resources

• Based on Idea 621428 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Project Organization List of Values Using a REST API

View a list of organizations classified for projects using a REST API. The list, unrestricted by business unit or hierarchy, includes organizations with project task owning, project expenditure, and department classifications. Developers can use this API in integration solutions when the organization is needed as input for other REST APIs, including integrations to define programs and use departments to select persons to fulfill resource requests.

The business benefit is the increased value in building or expanding integration solutions by using a simple list of project-related organizations to support program and resource management business processes.

Steps to Enable

Review the REST service definition in the REST API guides to leverage (available from the Oracle Help Center > your apps service area of interest > APIs & Schema). If you are new to Oracle's REST services you may want to begin with the Quick Start section.

Review the REST service definition in the REST API guides to leverage (available from the Oracle Help Center > your apps service area of interest > APIs & Schema). If you are new to Oracle's REST services you may want to begin with the Quick Start section.

Tips And Considerations

• Department classifications are date effective. The API automatically uses your API request date to retrieve only those departments that are currently in effect.

• Predefined finders provide an easy way to search the collection by organization classification without the need for query parameters.

Key Resources

• Related Help:
  • REST API for Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management guide available on the Oracle Help Center.

Access Requirements

To use this feature, you need one of the following privileges.

• Privilege Name and Code:
  • Manage Project Program (PJS_MANAGE_PROJECT_PROGRAM)
  • Fulfill Project Resource Requests (PJR_FULFILL_PROJECT_RESOURCE_REQUESTS)

Public Event Generation for Change Order and Issue Status Changes and Work Plan Baseline Creation

Generate public events on change order status changes and issue status changes. For example, when a project change order moves to approved status, use this business event to initiate change order implementation activities using Oracle Integration Cloud Service. Similarly, when a project issue moves to completed status, use this business event to initiate issue closure activities.

In addition, generate public events on work plan baseline creation. For example, when a work plan baseline is created, use the event and Oracle Integration Cloud to send the baseline details to stakeholders. The application generates public events that provide PaaS support for advanced workflow capabilities.

The Business Event triggers for each of the events are described in detail below.

Change Order

• Change Order Status changes, as the change order's status changes for a given stage.
• Change Order Stage changes, as the change order moves into the next stage of the process.
• Change Order Priority changes, like when a low-priority change order changes to high priority.

Change Order Moving to the Next Step in the Process Changes the Status and Stage of the Change Order

Project Issues

• Issue Status Changes, such as an issue going from new to in progress.
• Issue Priority Changes, like an issue moving from low to high priority.

Issue Status Change Triggering the Creation of a Public Event

Work plan Baseline Creation

• A new baseline is set for a project workplan.

Creation of a New Workplan Baseline That Triggers a Business Event

Setting a New Baseline

The business benefit of this feature is to save time and increase productivity by using events to streamline your end-to-end business processes. For example:

• Workflow Implementation Based on Change Order Status Change: Trigger certain events based on change order status change.
  • For example, a change order with a budget impact has been approved to move to the next stage, which is the implementation stage. The approval creates an event that can trigger the automation of activities such as updates to the project plan and budget. This expedites the change order process by reducing the need to manually update plans.

• Issue Resolution Notification: Trigger certain events based on issue resolution.
  • For example, tasks are paused because of an issue on a task that needs to be resolved before moving further. When the project manager changes the issue status and closes it, the impacted parties can be notified of the issue resolution and resume their tasks.

• Increased Awareness for Internal and External Systems. Trigger work to start as soon as a baseline is created.
  • For example, project managers can create multiple baselines during the project lifecycle, and set one of them as the primary baseline. Set a primary baseline and compare it with current project progress to identify slippages in the project plan for estimating similar projects in the future.

Steps to Enable

1. Use the ERP business events REST API to retrieve the business event and update the business event-enabled indicator. This indicator determines whether to initiate the business event or not.

ERP Business Events REST API Definition - /fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/erpBusinessEvents/

Note that the REST-Framework-Version is set to 9.

• Submit a GET request on the REST resource to retrieve the Business Event ID for the Business Event Code 'ProjectChangeOrderStatusChanged' or ‘ProjectIssueStatusChanged’ or ‘ProjectWorkPlanBaselineCreated’. Example: <hostname>/fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/erpBusinessEvents?q=BusinessEventCode="ProjectChangeOrderStatusChanged"

• Submit a PATCH request on the REST resource to update the enabled indicator: <hostname>/fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/erpBusinessEvents/{{ErpBusinessEventId}

Example of contents of the request body in JSON format

{

"EnabledFlag": true

}

2. Once you enable the feature, you can subscribe to the event in Oracle Integration Cloud to perform additional actions when an unplanned project cost is identified.

Tips And Considerations

This public event initiates whenever the status for a Change Order Status/Stage or Issue Status changes or a new Workplan Baseline is created.

Below is the list of change order statuses with allowable forward and backward statuses:

Below is the list of change order stages with allowable forward and backward stages:

Payload attributes for the events are as follows:

• The initial creation of Change Order or Issue will not raise a public event.
• Setting an existing work plan to Primary will not raise a public event.

Key Resources

• REST API for Oracle Integration guide available on the Oracle Help Center.

• REST API for Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials on the Oracle Help Center, specifically the Enable Business Events REST API under Get Started - Use Cases.

• REST API for Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management guide available on the Oracle Help Center.

• What's new for Update 21C feature: Project Business Events Enablement Using REST API.

Access Requirements

You need the below privilege to use the ERP Business Events REST API:

• Access FSCM Integration Rest Service (FUN_FSCM_REST_SERVICE_ACCESS_INTEGRATION_PRIV)

Public Events for Financial Plan Creation and Status Changes

Track financial project plans, project budgets, award budgets and project forecasts creation using the public events. Also, track the changes to the statuses.

Use this event as signals to initiate activities using Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) to help project stakeholders track the financial plan creation and approvals.

The business benefit of this feature is to save time and increase productivity by using events to streamline your end-to-end business processes. For example:

• Project initiation: Use the public event to initiate project work. For example, a project budget approval automatically changes the project status to a desired approved status.

• Notify stakeholders: Once the project manager or project administrator changes status on a project budget or project forecast, alert stakeholders to initiate subsequent tasks or automatically initiate other actions. For example, a project forecast approval can initiate an event for invoice generation.

Steps to Enable

1. Use the ERP business events REST API to retrieve the business event and update the business event-enabled indicator. This indicator determines whether to initiate the business event or not.

ERP Business Events REST API Definition - /fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/erpBusinessEvents/

Note that the REST-Framework-Version is set to 9.

• Submit a GET request such as <hostname>/fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/erpBusinessEvents?q=BusinessEventCode="PlanStatusChanged" to retrieve the business event handle.

Example of contents of the request body in JSON format

{

<PlanStatusChangedEventInfo xmlsn:ob="http://xmlns.ora.com/apps/projects/control/financialPlan/PlanStatusChanged">

<planVersionId>100100075548718100100075548718</planVersionId>

<projectId>300100152392374</projectId>

<priorplanVersionId>100100075548718100100075547000</priorplanVersionId>

<objectTypeCode>PROJECT_BUDGET</objectTypeCode>

<projectCurrency>USD</projectCurrency>

<eventType>PLAN_STATUS_UPDATE</eventType>

<planStatusCode>

<oldValue>Submitted</oldValue>

<newValue>Approved</newValue>

</planStatusCode>

<totalPcBrdndCost>

<oldValue>100000.00000000</oldValue>

<newValue>120000.00000000</newValue>

</totalPcBrdndCost>

<totalPcRevenue>

<oldValue>200000.00000000</oldValue>

<newValue>240000.00000000</newValue>

</totalPcRevenue>

</PlanStatusChangedEventInfo

}

2. Once you enable the feature, you can subscribe to the event in Oracle Integration Cloud and define additional steps to complete your business process.

Payload Attributes for the respective events are as follows:

Tips And Considerations

• This public event initiates whenever the status of financial project plan, project budget, award budget, or project forecast changes.

• The public event doesn't initiate on deletion of the project budget, award budget, or project forecast version.

• The public event doesn't initiate on selective baseline of tasks on the financial project plan.

Key Resources

• REST API for Oracle Integration guide available on the Oracle Help Center.

• REST API for Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials on the Oracle Help Center, specifically the Enable Business Events REST API under Get Started - Use Cases.

• REST API for Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management guide available on the Oracle Help Center.

• What's new for Update 21C feature: Project Business Events Enablement Using REST API

• Based on Idea 619613 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

You need the below privilege to use the ERP Business Events REST API:

• Access FSCM Integration Rest Service (FUN_FSCM_REST_SERVICE_ACCESS_INTEGRATION_PRIV)

Additional Financial Measures for My Projects

Display additional financial performance metrics in multiple time dimensions on the My Projects page, such as period-to-date budget, cost, commitment, and margin. The project manager is empowered to make key decisions and assess their project's health using a single page.

The following measures from the Project Performance page have been added to the My Projects page:

• ITD Budget Margin
• ITD Actual Margin
• ITD Budget Margin Percentage
• ITD Actual Margin Percentage
• PTD Budget Revenue
• PTD Actual Revenue
• ITD Commitment Cost
• ITD Budget Cost
• Total Unplanned Cost. 

Notes and Attachments have been added to the My Projects page, as shown below. Issues have also been added to the My Projects page. This includes a count of how many open and active issues are present. The issue count can be clicked, which leads to the My Issues page.

ITD Measures, Issues, Notes, and Attachments in My Projects

PTD Measure in My Projects

The business benefit of this feature is improved decision making capabilities by providing relevant information in one location. 

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

• To view additional financial metric columns, first select the View menu on the My Projects page and then select the columns that you want to view. 

• The default period for all PTD metrics is the current accounting period.

Key Resources

• Based on Ideas 653320 and 602302 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect. 

Access Requirements

No new access requirements. 

Resource Management

Maximize Utilization with Additional Resource Information

Resource details indicate whether a resource is an employee or contingent worker. Resource managers maximize employee utilization when evaluating candidates for project resource requests by ensuring qualified and available employees are selected for requests before contingent workers. Review assignments ending up to 4 weeks in the future allows enough time to find suitable assignments as resources become available. Reviewing assignments ending soon for resources across all staffing owners in one view increases the efficiency for assignment maintenance by the resource management team.

The business benefit that this feature provides is improved decision making capabilities as noted below:

• By indicating whether a resource is an employee or a contingent worker, resource managers can prioritize qualified and available employees for project assignments. This maximizes the utilization of internal talent. In addition, when employees are consistently selected for project resource requests, it provides them with valuable development opportunities and exposure to different projects and challenges. This can increase employee satisfaction and retention, as they feel valued and motivated by the organization's investment in their career growth.

• By reviewing assignments ending up to 4 weeks in the future, resource managers can plan ahead and allocate resources more effectively. This advance notice allows them to identify upcoming resource availability and ensures that suitable assignments can be matched with available resources in a timely manner. This proactive approach minimizes the risk of resource shortages or bottlenecks.

• Having a clear view of assignments ending soon for resources across all staffing owners, in one view, allows resource managers to optimize resource utilization. They can identify resources with light workloads and assign them to projects that require additional support. This leads to better workload distribution and ensures resources are fully utilized.

Review Assignments Ending up to Four Weeks in the Future for all Pool Owners

Review Person Type when Evaluating Resources for a Project Resource Request

Resource Details Includes Person Type

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Project Execution Management  No Longer Optional From: Update 24B

Key Resources

• Based on Ideas 632859, 645330 and 661587 from the Project Management Idea Labs on Oracle Customer Connect.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

Visual Resource Planning and Scheduling Enhancements

Edit details about a resource assignment including assignment type, location, rates, and comments in the resource schedule Gantt chart. Edit or delete any resource event. Restrict access to resource schedules to pool owners when pool security is enabled. Review assignment date adjustments pending approval within the context of both the assignment's current dates and the dates awaiting approval.

This builds on the Visual Resource Planning and Scheduling feature that introduced the interactive resource schedule Gantt chart in 23C.

The latest visual resource planning enhancements bring the following business benefits:

• The ability to view and edit details about resource assignments, such as assignment type, location, rates, and comments, allows resource managers to efficiently maintain assignment information within the schedule Gantt chart.

• The capability to edit or delete any resource event provides resource managers with the flexibility to accommodate changes in project requirements, resource availability, or unforeseen circumstances. This adaptability enhances resource planning and allocation efficiency.

• Restricting access to resource schedules to pool owners when pool security is enabled ensures that sensitive resource information is accessed only by authorized personnel. This enhances data security and prevents unauthorized changes to resource schedules, providing better control over the scheduling process.

• The ability to review assignment schedule date adjustments that are pending approval enables resource managers to make informed decisions about new or existing assignments for their resources. This review takes into account both the assignment's current dates and the new dates awaiting approval.

Update Assignment Details such as Location, Assignment Type and Rates

Assignment that is Pending Approval for a Date Change Shows Current Assignment Dates (solid brown) and New Assignment Dates (Brown/White Pattern bar)

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Project Execution Management  No Longer Optional From: Update 24A

Tips And Considerations

• Any manual updates to resource rates for reserved and confirmed assignment won't be considered when managing financial aspects of the project, such as financial plans, budgets, and forecasts. If the project manager selects the Refresh Rates action on the Manage Project Resources page, then it will replace the manual updates with the default standard rates from the rate schedules or overrides from the project settings.

• Only assignments that are pending approval for date changes display two bars: The solid brown bar represents the current assignment dates. The brown and white striped bar represents the new dates that are requested for approval.

• An assignment that is pending approval for cancellation appears as a single solid brown bar.

• An assignment that is pending approval for an assignment schedule change that only involves an update to the assignment hours appears as a single solid brown bar.

• When new assignments are created which overlap existing assignments currently in pending approval status, validations are done using the current dates and hours of the pending approval assignment.

Access Requirements

No new access requirements.

IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

From time to time, Oracle replaces existing Cloud service features with new features or removes existing features. When a feature is replaced, the older version may be removed immediately or at a future time. As a best practice, you should use the newer version of a replaced feature as soon as the newer version is available.

Remember to review all upcoming opt in changes in the Opt In Expiration section.

KNOWN ISSUES / MAINTENANCE PACK SPREADSHEETS

Oracle publishes a Known Issues document for every Update to make customers are aware of potential problems they could run into, and the document provides workarounds if they are available.

Oracle also publishes Maintenance Pack and Statutory Maintenance Pack documentation of bugs that are fixed in the monthly or statutory patching.

To review these documents, you must have access to My Oracle Support:

Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management Known Issues and Maintenance Packs (Doc ID 1545504.1)

DEPRECATION OF OLDER DIGITAL ASSISTANT SKILL VERSIONS

The Digital Assistant and its skills continuously receive updates as they get smarter and provide enhanced conversational experiences. Check for updated versions every release in the Skill Store. Versions stop working when the underlying platform version becomes inactive, at the longest 2 years after release.

We recommend that you stay up to date and use the most current skills.