This chapter covers the following topics:
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator brings Oracle E-Business Suite functionality to the desktop where the familiar Microsoft Excel, Word, and Project applications can be used to complete your Oracle E-Business Suite tasks. This guide provides instructions on using the Microsoft Excel functionality. For further information on using the Word and Project features, see the Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide and the Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
The Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator integration with Microsoft Excel enables you to bring your Oracle E-Business Suite data to a spreadsheet where familiar data entry and modeling techniques can be used to complete Oracle E-Business Suite tasks. You can create formatted spreadsheets on your desktop that allow you to download, view, edit, and create Oracle E-Business Suite data. Use Excel formulas to calculate amounts or use data entry shortcuts such as copying and pasting, or dragging a cell's fill handle to auto fill cell values into the subsequent cells, to save time. You can combine speed and accuracy by invoking lists of values for fields within the spreadsheet.
After editing the spreadsheet, you can use the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator validation functionality to validate the data before uploading it to Oracle E-Business Suite. Validation messages are returned to the spreadsheet, allowing you to identify and correct invalid data.
The fields that appear in the spreadsheet, their positions, and their default values can all be customized through the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator Layout functionality. This allows you to create a more productive work environment by removing unnecessary fields from the spreadsheet, and by organizing the spreadsheet in a way that conforms to your practices.
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator includes the following features:
Works Via Internet
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator uses Internet computing architecture to lower the total cost of ownership by having the product centrally installed and maintained. No installation is required on client machines; you need only a Web browser and Microsoft Excel. This architecture also provides superior performance over a WAN or dialup connection, since the exchange between client and server is simplified through the use of HTML.
Presents Oracle E-Business Suite Data in a Spreadsheet Interface
Spreadsheets provide a familiar interface that is common in the business environment. You can use familiar editing capabilities such as copying and pasting data, and moving ranges of cells to create or edit large amounts of data. Recurring data entry is possible by saving a spreadsheet, and then uploading it at needed intervals, such as every month or every quarter. Spreadsheets offer additional flexibility in the way work is done; they can be sent to others for approval or review, and they can be edited when disconnected from a network.
Validates Data
All data in the spreadsheet can be validated against Oracle E-Business Suite business rules before it is uploaded. This includes validation against key and descriptive flexfields. Data is validated against accounts, segment security rules, and cross validation rules. If any errors are found, messages are returned directly to the spreadsheet, enabling you to correct the errors and successfully upload the data.
Enables Customizations
You can use the layout functionality to determine what fields appear in your spreadsheet, where they appear, and if they contain default values. These definitions can be saved, reused, and modified as needed.
Automatically Imports Data
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator automatically imports data into your Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator spreadsheets whenever you create them. This information can come from the Oracle E-Business Suite or from a text file. Imported information can be quickly modified in Excel, validated, and uploaded to the Oracle E-Business Suite. This feature can be useful when migrating data from a legacy system to the Oracle E-Business Suite.
The Oracle E-Business Suite task you perform on the desktop is determined by the integrator you select in Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator. Each seeded integrator is delivered with the Oracle E-Business Suite product that provides the functionality being integrated with the desktop. Additional information specific to each seeded integrator can be found in the product-specific documentation. For additional information about any custom integrators developed at your site using Oracle E-Business Suite Desktop Integration Framework, consult your system administrator.
You can access Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator functionality through a Self Service link on your personal home page.
Note: Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator occasionally introduces optional new features that are disabled by default in their initial release. You can enable such features through the associated profile options if you want to use them. However, if you encounter issues, it is recommended that you disable the features until they become standard in a release where they are enabled by default.
The following are the prerequisites for Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator:
A client PC with a supported version of Windows installed.
For more information, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1077728.1, Using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office with Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12 and 11i.
A Web browser supported by Oracle E-Business Suite installed on the client PC.
See My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 389422.1, Recommended Browsers for Oracle E-Business Suite, for the list of supported browsers and My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1077728.1, Using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office with Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12 and 11i for specific browser requirements for Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator.
Microsoft Office Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2021, or Microsoft 365 Excel installed on the client PC. For these Microsoft Excel versions, both the 32-bit release and the 64-bit release are supported.
For more information, see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1077728.1, Using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office with Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12 and 11i.
Optional: WinZip or 7Zip installed on the client PC, if you want to use compression to increase the number of records that you can upload to Oracle E-Business Suite at once. See: Compressing Data for Upload.
Beginning in Release 12.2.5, you can choose to create Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator spreadsheets according to the Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, an XML format developed by Microsoft to represent spreadsheets and other types of documents. When using the OOXML format, Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator creates the spreadsheet entirely on the Oracle E-Business Suite server, and the completed spreadsheet is then downloaded to the desktop. Upload processing is also performed on the server. With this option, no macros are used during document creation and limited macros are used during upload. Consequently, the Trust access to the VBA project object model security option is not required to work with OOXML documents. Also, because the processing is performed on the server, document creation and upload use minimal desktop resources.
Use the BNE: Enable OOXML Standard profile option to specify whether to use the OOXML format for your Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator documents. Beginning in Release 12.2.6, this profile option is set to Yes by default.
Note: Spreadsheets exported from Oracle Application Framework tables are always created as OOXML documents, regardless of the format your site uses for other spreadsheets.
In Microsoft Excel, you must select the macro security settings that you want to enable the macros used by Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator.
If you do not use the OOXML format, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator creates an initial document named WebADI.xls on the server. After you download this document, it creates the actual integrator document on the desktop using VBA macros. Macros are also used for lists of values and features in the Oracle ribbon tab, including upload.
If you use the OOXML format, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator create the document on the server without using macros, but limited macros are used for lists of values and features in the Oracle ribbon tab, including upload.
You can choose to set a medium macro security level, in which case you are prompted to enable the macros each time you open an Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator spreadsheet. Alternatively, you can set the BNE Enable Digital Signature profile option in Oracle E-Business Suite to have Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator affix a digital signature to the spreadsheets you create. In this case, you can select a high macro security level in Microsoft Excel. After you initially identify the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator macros as coming from a trusted source, Microsoft Excel automatically allows the macros to run.
Note: If you do not enable macros with the appropriate setting, according to whether you use digital signatures or not, then the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator features that use macros will not work.
If you do not use OOXML and you do not enable macros, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator cannot create spreadsheets.
If you do use OOXML but you do not enable macros, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator can create spreadsheets in the OOXML format on the server, but you cannot use lists of values or the Oracle ribbon tab features, including upload, when you are working with those spreadsheets.
If you do not use digital signatures in Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator, then you must set your Microsoft Excel macro security to let you enable macros on a case by case basis. The steps to do so may vary depending on your version of Microsoft Excel. For example:
For Microsoft Excel 2010, 2013, and 2016:
Choose the File tab, and then choose Options. In the Options dialog box, choose Trust Center and then Trust Center Settings. In the Trust Center, choose Macro Settings.
Select the Disable all macros with notification option.
If you are not using OOXML, then select the Trust access to the VBA project object model option.
Note: If you are using OOXML, then this option is not required.
If you want to use digital signatures in Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator, set the BNE Enable Digital Signature profile option to Yes. When this option is set, Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator affixes a digital signature to the spreadsheets you create. You can then select a macro security level in Microsoft Excel that requires digital signatures. The steps to do so may vary depending on your version of Microsoft Excel. The following sections list example steps for some versions.
For Microsoft Excel 2010, 2013, and 2016:
Choose the File tab, and then choose Options. In the Options dialog box, choose Trust Center and then Trust Center Settings. In the Trust Center, choose Macro Settings.
Select the Disable all macros except digitally signed macros option.
If you are not using OOXML, then select the Trust access to the VBA project object model option.
Note: If you are using OOXML, then this option is not required.
If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer as your Web browser, select the following downloads setting so that you can download the spreadsheets created by Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator to your desktop.
From the Tools menu, select Internet Options and then select the Security tab.
Select the zone in which you are working, such as Trusted Sites, and select the Custom level button.
In the Downloads settings, select Enable for the File download option.
Additionally, select the following scripting setting so that Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator can complete the spreadsheet creation process.
From the Tools menu, select Internet Options and then select the Security tab.
Select the zone in which you are working, such as Trusted Sites, and select the Custom level button.
In the Scripting settings, select Enable for the Allow status bar updates via script option.
If you use the OOXML format to create documents on the server, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator uses the current session language to determine the reading order. If the current session language is a right-to-left language such as Arabic or Hebrew, then the reading order is set to right-to-left in the spreadsheet.
However, if you do not use the OOXML format, then Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator creates the integrator document on the desktop. In this case, the reading order is determined by the language options set in Microsoft Excel. Ensure that you set the language options you want in Microsoft Excel before you create your document. For more information, see your Microsoft Excel documentation.
For consistency, ensure that the number format setting you select in Microsoft Excel matches the number format preference you specified in Oracle E-Business Suite.
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator uses the following process to upload data to Oracle E-Business Suite:
Define a layout that determines what fields appear in your spreadsheet (conditional).
Note: Layouts may already be defined for your spreadsheet. See the product-specific documentation to determine if you are required to define the layout.
Define a mapping to allow data to be imported into the spreadsheet (conditional).
Note: A mapping may already be defined for your spreadsheet. See the product-specific documentation to determine if you are required to define a mapping.
Create the spreadsheet.
If the spreadsheet integration allows upload, you can upload the data to the Oracle E-Business Suite.
Monitor the progress of your upload.
System administrators can access Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator functionality from the seeded Desktop Integration responsibility. Use this responsibility to access the following functionality:
Create Document
Define Layout
Define Mapping
Setup Options
Define Stylesheet
Manage Document Links
You can also add these functions to a custom responsibility.
Note: The Desktop Integration responsibility provides access to the user interfaces for the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator functionality. However, an administrator must log in as a user who has been granted access to a particular integrator in order to work with that integrator, including defining layouts, defining mappings, and creating documents for the integrator. Specific security functions grant access to specific integrators. See the product documentation for the functions that must be added to your menu for you to have access to an integrator.
Because Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator can be integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite applications according to product-specific business flows, end user access depends on individual product implementations.
Generally, the product implementation follows one of two methods:
The product integrates the generate spreadsheet functionality within its own functional page flow. Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator is used in the background to generate the spreadsheet. This is the most common method.
The product provides a self-service menu item that invokes the Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator Create Document user interface. Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator provides two versions of this interface. The default is the Create Document page, which lets users enter all document parameters in a single page. To display the Create Document page flow, which guides users through multiple pages to enter the document parameters, set the BNE: Enable Simplified Create Document profile option to No.
See the product-specific documentation for details on accessing the Desktop Integration functionality.
Additionally, if you enable exporting for tables in Oracle Application Framework pages, then an end user can select the Export Table Data to Excel icon for a table to create the corresponding spreadsheet. To enable exporting for Oracle Application Framework tables, set the FND: Enable BNE Table Integration profile option to True. For more information about this profile option, see Oracle Application Framework Profile Options in the Oracle Application Framework Developer's Guide, available from My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1315485.1.