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Oracle® Fusion Applications Product Information Management Implementation Guide
11g Release 1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Part Number E20387-01
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13 Define Help Configuration

This chapter contains the following:

Define Help Configuration: Overview

Set Help Options

FAQs for Assign Help Text Administration Duty

Manage Help Security Groups

Help File Customization

Embedded Help Customization

Define Help Configuration: Overview

The Define Help Configuration task list contains tasks that let you set up and maintain Oracle Fusion Applications Help for all users, if you have a local installation of help. Use the Set Help Options task to determine if certain aspects of Oracle Fusion Applications Help are available to users and to control how aspects of the help site work. Use the Assign Help Text Administration Duty and Manage Help Security Groups tasks to set up customization of help content.

After performing the help configuration tasks, you can review the predefined help and consider whether to add or customize any content. You can also customize help that is embedded in the application, for example hints and help windows, using other tools such as Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Composer.

Use the Setup and Maintenance work area to access the tasks in the Define Help Configuration task list.

Set Help Options

Help Feature Choices and Help Options: Points to Consider

Help feature choices on the Configure Offerings page in the Setup and Maintenance work area control the look and behavior of Oracle Fusion Applications Help, and also determine which help options are available. Help options are setup options on the Set Help Options page, and they pertain only to local installations of help.

Local Installation of Help

Select the Local Installation of Help feature choice if you want to customize help, or if you do not want users to go outside your firewall to access the public help site on the Internet. If you have Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK), then you can also incorporate custom UPK content into a local help system. Announcements and discussions would be available only to users of the local installation of help. Make sure that maintaining a server for local help is not an issue.

Note

If you have a local installation of help, then make sure that you apply all relevant help patches in addition to the base installation of help. You have only the base installation if you do not find content under Guides - Functional Setup and User or Guides - Business Process Models in Oracle Fusion Applications Help.

Do not install help locally if you do not need to customize help, or do not want to or cannot maintain and monitor resources for help on your own. If you also have a fast connection to the Web, then consider using the public help site instead. Users of the public site would see announcements from Oracle, and all discussions are public and moderated by Oracle.

If you select the Local Installation of Help feature choice, then the Define Help Configuration task list appears in your implementation project, and you can select two additional features (Access to Internet-Based Help Features and Help Customization) to control the fields available on the Set Help Options page.

Access to Internet-Based Help Features

Select this feature choice to provide users of a local help installation access to features that involve integration with the public help site or navigation to other sites on the Web. Consider if users would benefit from, for example, seeing help file ratings from the public help site. Do not select this feature if you do not want users going outside your firewall for any reason.

Important

Some help includes links to the Oracle Fusion Applications Technology Library. If you select this feature, then these links open the library on the Oracle Technology Network Web site. If you do not select this feature, then you must apply the Technology Library patch from My Oracle Support so that users can access the library locally.

If you select this feature choice, then these help options are available:

Help Customization

Select the Help Customization feature choice if you intend to customize predefined help or add your own files to your local installation of help. For example, you can add internal policies or procedures as help, and Oracle User Productivity Kit content, if any. Not selecting this feature choice only hides the relevant setup options; help customization is not disabled for users with customization access. To disable help customization, remove the Oracle Fusion Help Text Administration duty from the job roles where it is predefined.

If you select this feature choice, then the Custom Help Security feature choice is available, as well as all these sections on the Set Help Options page:

Custom Help Security

Select this feature choice if you want certain help files to be available only to a restricted set of users. You can define the user groups allowed to view corresponding help files. Do not select this feature choice if you do not have this requirement, because the feature can have an impact on performance.

If you select the Custom Help Security feature choice, then the Manage Help Security Groups task is available in the Define Help Configuration task list in your implementation project. There are no help options associated with this feature choice.

Administering Collaboration Features and Announcements in Help: Points to Consider

Announcements and collaboration features (discussions, ratings and comments) allow users to share information regarding help and the subjects that particular help files cover. These collaboration features are also used elsewhere in Oracle Fusion Applications. If you have a local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help, then you can use the Set Help Options page in the Setup and Maintenance work area to enable the announcements and discussions features and to set options about ratings. When administering these features, consider the purpose of each feature and points that are specific to Oracle Fusion Applications Help.

Announcements

Use announcements to broadcast information to all users of your locally installed help site. You can provide information about help, for example new custom help that was recently added, or about anything that users should take note of, for example a change in company policy. Announcements can appear on any of the tabs on the home page of Oracle Fusion Applications Help. You can target specific user groups by posting announcements to specific tabs, for example, posting information related to implementation to the Functional Setup tab.

Only administrators for discussions can post announcements to the help site. For more information on granting administrator roles for discussions, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebCenter. The public help site on the Internet contains announcements from Oracle.

Discussions

Users can use discussions to post questions or comments about subjects covered in specific help files. For example, after reading help on expense reports, users might have questions or comments about company policies or processes for expenses. Other users who later access this help file would benefit from the information in the discussion.

If you have a local installation of help, then you can set a help option to enable discussions, and assign specific users to moderate discussions. Each help file would contain a Discuss link that all users across your site can use to read discussions about that file. They can also start a discussion topic or post to existing topics. These discussions are visible only to users of your locally installed help site.

Important

Do not enable discussions until servers for discussions are up and running.

The public help site always has discussions enabled and available to any user. These discussions are visible to the general public and moderated by Oracle.

Ratings and Comments

Users can rate any help file on a five star system and provide feedback about the content. This information is helpful to other users in deciding which help file to open. Help files with a higher average rating are listed first in help windows, and in the help listings you see as you browse using the help navigators.

In local installations of help, you can set help options to share ratings with the public help site or display ratings from the public site. Otherwise, the scope of ratings and reviews is limited to your local installation.

FAQs for Set Help Options

Can I determine which users have access to collaboration features that involve interaction with the public help site?

No, you cannot determine access for select users, but you can disable access for all users of your local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help. Use the Set Help Options page to disable sharing ratings and comments with the public help site on the Internet, and disable displaying ratings from the public site. You should also deselect the Access to Internet-Based Help Features feature choice.

If you are using the public instead of a local installation, then all collaboration features are always available to any user with access to the Web.

When do I link to the Oracle User Productivity Kit library from the help site?

Provide a link to your Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK) library if you have UPK licensed and custom UPK content to share with your users. You give them access to a library of custom UPK content in addition to any custom UPK demos that you added to the help site itself. UPK demos that you add as custom help are available only in the See It mode, so the library can include the same demo in other modes. If you have UPK versions earlier than 3.6.1, then you cannot add UPK demos as custom help, so the link is the only way for users to access custom UPK content from the help site.

How can I find the URL to the Oracle User Productivity Kit library?

The URL to enter on the Set Help Options page should be the full path from the Web server where you are hosting your Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK) content to the index.html file that opens the table of contents for the library, for example, http://<your domain>.com/UPKcontent/PlayerPackage/index.html. In this example, you or your UPK administrator would publish one UPK player package that contains all the content to be linked to from Oracle Fusion Applications Help, as well as the index.html file, and place the PlayerPackage folder in a manually created folder called UPKcontent on the Web server.

FAQs for Assign Help Text Administration Duty

Who can add and manage custom help?

Users with the Oracle Fusion Help Text Administration duty have access to customize help in a local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help. This duty is assigned by default to various job roles, in particular the administrators for product families. Assign the role to other users who need access to customize help.

Manage Help Security Groups

Creating Help Security Groups: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to create a help security group to define a set of job roles that have access to help. The help security group can then be assigned to particular help files so that only users with any of the defined roles have access to the help.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.


Decisions to Consider

In This Example

What type of users do you need to limit help access to?

Human resources (HR) specialists

Is there a specific time period for which this access is needed?

No, the help files should always be viewed only by the HR specialists

Where do you want this group to appear in the list of values for help security groups?

First

Define a help security group and assign a duty role to the group.

  1. From the Setup and Maintenance work area, find the Manage Help Security Groups task and click Go to Task.
  2. On the Manage Help Security Groups page, add a new row.
  3. Complete the fields, as shown in this table. Leave the start and end dates blank.

    Field

    Value

    Help Security Group

    HR

    Meaning

    HR Only

    Description

    Viewing by HR specialists only

    Display Sequence

    1


  4. Click Save.
  5. With your new help security group selected, go to the Associated Roles section and add a new row.
  6. Select PER_HUMAN_RESOURCE_SPECIALIST as the role name.
  7. Click Save and Close.

    You have created a new lookup code for the Help Security Groups lookup type, which is a standard lookup. The lookup code has the name, meaning, and description that you defined for the help security group.

    You have also created a data security policy for the help database resource, specifying that the Human Resource Specialist role can view help that is defined with the HR security group. If you go to the Manage Database Resources and Policies page and find the database resource, or object, ATK_KR_TOPICS, then you can see the policy for the Human Resource Specialist role, with the condition that the column name, SECURITY_CODE, is equal to the value HR.

Help File Customization

Help File Customization: Overview

If you have a local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help and the appropriate job roles, then you can customize the help files in the help site. Use the Manage Custom Help page to maintain both predefined and custom help files. You can create, duplicate, edit, and delete custom files, or set their status to Active or Inactive. For predefined files, you can only duplicate them or set their status. For each help file, predefined or custom, use help locations to determine where the help file appears in the application and in the help site. You have various options in how you add custom help, for example by uploading a file or specifying a URL.

Many help files can be accessed from help windows in the application. If you want to customize help in the context of a help window, for example create a custom help file and add a link to it from a specific help window, then start by opening that help window. When you click the Manage Custom Help link, you go to the Manage Custom Help page, and the help location fields are automatically populated with values that correspond to the help window. This way you can easily select existing files to add to the same help location, and when you create a new file, the same help location appears by default.

You can also open the Manage Custom Help page directly from the home page of Oracle Fusion Applications Help. To edit a specific file, you can either find it in the Manage Custom Help page, or open the file itself and click the Edit link.

Note

When you search in the Manage Custom Help page, make sure that the Custom Help Only check box is not selected if you are looking for predefined help.

Help Locations: Explained

Help locations determine where users can find help files, custom or not, from either the application or the help site.

Help locations include:

Page or Section Values

The value in the Page or Section field on the help customization pages represents where users can click a help icon to open a help window that contains a link to the help file. In most cases, this value represents a page or region header in the application. Help windows are also available on specific tabs or windows, and in the Setup and Maintenance work area for specific task lists or tasks. You can associate a help file with multiple page or section values, or with none at all.

The page or section value reflects the logical navigation to the help window. For example, Edit Opportunity page, Revenue tab, Recommendations window does not mean that the help file is available in three different places. The help icon is in the Recommendations window, which is accessed from the Revenue tab on the Edit Opportunity page.

If the value suggests multiple locations, for example Create and Edit Opportunity pages, then the help file is available from the page header of both the Create Opportunity and Edit Opportunity pages. If the page or section value is, for example, a dashboard region that appears in multiple dashboards, then the value does not specify the page name but just the region. The help file is available from that region in multiple dashboards.

Help Hierarchies

Help files are associated with help hierarchies, which are used to categorize help files and aid users in finding help. Each help file can have multiple hierarchies, with at least one of type Business Processes. The business process hierarchy is based on the Business Process Management model. Every page or section value is predefined with a specific business process hierarchy. If you select a page or section without entering a business process hierarchy, the predefined hierarchy appears by default.

The Search by Business Process navigator in the help site is based on the business process hierarchy. For example, if you assign two business process hierarchies to a help file, users can find the file in both locations in the navigator. When the user clicks More Help from a help window, all help files assigned to the same business process hierarchy as the page or section value are returned as search results.

Similarly, the Search by Product navigator is based on the Product hierarchy type, in which level 1 is the product family, level 2 is the product, and level 3 is the business activity owned by that product.

The Search by Functional Setup navigator is based on the Functional Setup hierarchy type. The level 1 nodes for this hierarchy are:

The Search by Common Tasks navigator is based on the Welcome hierarchy type. The level 1 nodes represent categories of functional areas common to all users.

Primary Locations

The primary location of a help file designates the hierarchy that is displayed for the help file in search results and within the help content as breadcrumbs. You cannot change the primary location of a help file that came with your help installation. Primary locations of predefined help are based on the business process hierarchy, while custom help files can have primary locations based on hierarchies of any type.

Editing Predefined Help: Points to Consider

When you open any predefined help file that came with your local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help, you can see an edit option if you have roles allowing edit access. To edit predefined help, consider:

What Happens to the Original Files

When you edit predefined help, you are actually creating a new custom help file based on the original file, with the same help locations. The customized version replaces the original, which becomes inactive and hidden from users. You can display both versions by reactivating the original in the Manage Custom Help page.

Note

In the Search Results: Existing Help region on the Manage Custom Help page, there is no option to edit predefined help. You can duplicate a predefined help file, edit the copy, and optionally inactivate the original.

Where Predefined Help Appears

All predefined help comes with preassigned help locations, including at least one based on the hierarchy of type Business Processes. Many also have predefined page or section values that indicate where the help can be accessed from help windows in the application.

To change where predefined help appears, either in the help site navigators or in the application, create a duplicate in the Manage Custom Help page. Change or add help locations to your custom copy, and inactivate the original.

Customizing PDF Guides: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to customize a PDF guide that came with your local installation of Oracle Fusion Applications Help. This guide is currently not available from any help window in the application.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.


Decisions to Consider

In This Example

What changes do you need to make to the guide?

Change the title of a chapter and remove a section in that chapter, to hide content about a particular subject

Which help window should the customized guide appear in?

The help window for the entire Welcome dashboard of Oracle Fusion Applications

Which help navigators should the customized guide appear in, and on which node?

Same as the original guide, plus the path associated with the help window

Do you want to limit access to the customized guide?

No, same as the original guide

Edit a copy of the original PDF guide, and use the Manage Custom Help page to replace the original PDF guide with your new file.

Copying and Editing the PDF Guide

  1. Open the original PDF guide from the help site and save a copy to your desktop. Leave open the help file for the guide.
  2. Using a PDF editor application, change the title of the chapter wherever the chapter title appears. Delete the content you want to hide from users.
  3. Make sure that your new PDF guide is less than 6 MB.

Replacing the Original PDF Guide

  1. In the help file that you still have open for the original PDF guide, click the Edit link.
  2. On the Create Help page, use the default values except where indicated.
  3. Update the title to the name that you want to display to users.
  4. In the File Name field, browse for and select your customized guide.
  5. Delete any keywords or parts of the description relevant to the content you removed from the PDF guide.
  6. Add a help location with the Business Processes hierarchy type and select Information Technology Management as the level 1 node, Manage Enterprise Application Software as the level 2 node, and Use Applications as the level 3 node.
  7. Select Welcome page in the Page or Section column.
  8. Click Save and Close. The help file for the original PDF guide is automatically set to inactive.

Adding Custom UPK Content to Help: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to add custom Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK) topics as demo help files. These help files function like any predefined help file for demos. You can search and include these files in help windows and navigators as you would other help.

In this scenario, you are adding two demos about social networking, to appear in help windows on the Welcome dashboard.

Note

Your demo must be made with UPK 3.6.1 or later to be added as help.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.


Decisions to Consider

In This Example

What UPK content do you want to add to help?

From a UPK module containing five topics, add two as custom demos on the help site

Which help navigators should each demo appear in, and on which node?

Because the two demos are about social networking:

  • Search by Common Tasks navigator, under the Collaboration node

  • Search by Business Process navigator, under Information Technology Management - Manage Networking and Communications - Manage Social Networking Capabilities

Which help window should each demo appear in?

On the Welcome dashboard of Oracle Fusion Applications, one demo goes in the help window in the Activity Stream region, and the other in the People Connection region

Do you want to limit access to the help files for the demos?

No

Generate a report of UPK document IDs, which you will use when creating custom help, to identify the UPK topics that you want to add. Publish the UPK module as a player package, then create custom help for the UPK topics that you want to use as help demos.

Generating a UPK Document ID Report

  1. In the UPK Developer, select Details View.
  2. Right-click any column header, for example Name, and select Column Chooser.
  3. In the Column Chooser dialog box, click and drag the Document ID column header and drop it after the Name column. Close the Column Chooser dialog box.
  4. From the File menu, select to print, and save the output as a Microsoft Excel file to your desktop.

Creating the Player Package

  1. From the UPK Developer, make sure that the topics that you want to add as demos have the See It play mode. The topics can also have other modes, but only the See It mode is included in the custom help file.
  2. Publish the module, specifying any location for the output and selecting to publish the selection only.
  3. In the Formats section of the Publish Content window, select the Player check box under the Deployment check box group.
  4. In the Player section, select the Include HTML Web Site check box, to ensure that the custom help file includes a text-only version of the UPK topic.
  5. Finish the publishing process, after optionally setting other options.
  6. Navigate to the location where you specified the output to be generated.
  7. In the Publishing Content folder, copy the PlayerPackage folder and add it to the web server where you store UPK content.

Creating Custom Help for Demos

  1. Open the help window in the Activity Stream region on the Welcome dashboard of Oracle Fusion Applications, and click Manage Custom Help.
  2. On the Manage Custom Help page, the page or section and hierarchy values are populated with the values for the Activity Stream region.
  3. Click Create.
  4. On the Create Help page, complete the fields in the General Information section, as shown in this table. Use the default values except where indicated.

    Field

    Value

    Title

    The name of the UPK topic.

    Source Type

    Oracle User Productivity Kit

    File Location

    The full URL of the player package folder on the Web server, for example, http://<your domain>.com/UPKcontent/PlayerPackage.

    Document ID

    The document ID of the UPK topic to add to the help window in the Activity Stream region. You can copy and paste this ID from the Microsoft Excel file that you generated earlier.

    Help Type

    Demo

    Help Security Group

    Unsecured

    Keywords

    Terms relevant to the demo.

    Description

    Summary of the demo.


    The Help Location section contains values for the help window in the Activity Stream region. This help file will also appear in the Search by Business Process navigator under this predefined hierarchy.

  5. Click Save and Close.
  6. On the Manage Custom Help page, open the help locations for the help file that you just created.
  7. Add a help location with the Welcome hierarchy type and select Collaboration Features as the level 1 node.
  8. Add another help location with the Business Processes hierarchy type and select Information Technology Management as the level 1 node, Manage Networking and Communications as the level 2 node, and Manage Social Networking Capabilities as the level 3 node.
  9. Click Save and Close.
  10. Starting at the Connections region, repeat steps 1 to 9 for the other UPK topic that you want to add.

FAQs for Help File Customization

How can I restrict help content to specific user roles?

When you create or edit help, select a help security group that represents the set of roles that you want to have access to the help. If you do not see the Security Group field, then your administrator has not selected the Custom Help Security feature choice. The Unsecured group has no associated roles, so anyone can view the help. The predefined Secured group includes all internal employees and contingent workers, unless this group has been edited. You can create security groups and associate roles using the Manage Help Security Groups page, which you can access by starting in the Setup and Maintenance Overview page and searching for the Manage Help Security Groups task. Your new security groups are immediately available for use to secure new or edited help files.

Why can't I select and add help to a location?

You must specify a page or section to add the existing help to. To ensure that help is added to the correct help window, go to the page or section in the application, click the Help icon, and click the Manage Custom Help link in the help window. Alternatively, in the Manage Custom Help page, search for at least a page or section and a level 1 value for the Business Processes hierarchy type before selecting the Select and Add option.

You cannot select and add help to a particular hierarchy, on the Manage Custom Help page, without a page or section. To add just a hierarchy, search for the help file, add a new help location, and specify only the hierarchy information.

What happens to custom help when a help patch is applied?

Oracle Fusion Applications Help patches update all help files, both active and inactive, except custom help. Custom help files are not affected by patches. Consider reviewing inactive files to see if you want to activate the updated version, or to make similar edits to the custom versions of those files, if any.

Embedded Help Customization

Customizing Embedded Help: Highlights

You can customize help that is embedded in the application, for example hints and help windows, for all users of Oracle Fusion Applications.

Embedded help customization is fully described in the Oracle Fusion Applications Extensibility Guide.