HCM/ERP Cloud Release 12 - Security Console

Oracle Cloud Applications Release 12 included many new areas of functionality.  One in particular has had a major impact (positive) on those of us who implement the product for our customers.   This feature is called the  "Security Console".

Since the earliest releases of Oracle Cloud, the security has been managed by the Fusion Middleware products Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) and Oracle Authorization Policy Manager (APM).  Whilst extremely powerful tools for managing user accounts and role based access, the tools required a level of knowledge beyond standard application configuration.  They were also displayed through a separate UI to the main applications and configuration of security rules involved using multiple screens and UIs.

Leading up to Release 12, Oracle have done a lot of work to transition onto a tool called the "Security Console".  This tool is embedded in the application and is intended as a "one-stop shop" for security configuration.   By Release 12, this transition is virtually complete.

Now, the Security Console allows us to see the holistic view of all aspects of functional and data security using a visual tool.   We can focus on parts of the security configuration and drill down towards detailed privileges or up towards users.  The Security Console includes functionality to copy roles and create custom versions, to add/remove functional data data privileges and to view detailed analytics about roles and role usage.

This image shows a typical view of roles in the Security Console, complete with colour coding to indicate what type of role each role is (seeded or custom), and to distinguish between roles, privileges and users.



It has simplified the management of users and roles into a single UI and is a great advance for implementors and system administrators alike.

Oracle Cloud HCM/ERP Release 11

Oracle Cloud HCM/ERP Release 11

It's been a busy few months recently.  Hence the lack of blog posts from me.

We were part of the Early Updaters programme for Release 11, and now that R11 is generally available, I think it's time for a brief review of the new release.  This post is solely about the look and feel.   I will post more information later about functionality.

The main enhancement, which is noticeable immediately, is that all screens are now in what we used to refer to as the "SUI" format (or Simplified User Interface).  Originally this format was designed for the 'casual' user, such as employees or line managers.  But its success seems to have prompted Oracle to redesign all screens in this format.

Here's an example of a frequently used screen in HCM - the Person Management screen.







As you can see, it's very similar to a pre-R11 employee SUI screen.  Clean, simple.

However, sometimes these innovations are spoiled by small details.   Users familiar with the older 'classic UI' screens will know that the tasks that can be performed on each workarea were shown on the left hand side of the screen.   It was immediately obvious what you could do in any given workarea.

On the SUI screens, the tasks are hidden (initially) in the 'panel draw' on the right hand side of the screen.  To see them, you must open the drawer.   Take a look at the screen when the panel draw is opened.





Now you can see the tasks!   I also find that some work areas default to a different landing page to the one displayed in R10.   Again, a simple point, but such issues can be annoying to a user.

On the ERP side of the product, before R11 many screens were in the 'classic UI' format.  Now, they are all SUI.   I think it's a great improvement and we are seeing good feedback from our R11 customers.

One final point.   The ERP and HCM development teams appear to have diverged in their use of certain new functionality.  For example, in ERP we see many screens using 'InfoTiles'.   An InfoTile is located (usually) at the top of the screen and can be used to show headine information and to filter the search results data.  It works very well and user feedback is extremely positive.  But, in HCM, this technique is not used.   Maybe it will come later.  But, consistency in a product is always a good thing, so I hope it does.