Oracle® Fusion Applications Procurement Implementation Guide 11g Release 7 (11.1.7) Part Number E37378-02

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21 Common Setup: Importing and Exporting Setup Data

This chapter contains the following:

Configuration Packages: Explained

Exporting and Importing Setup Data: Explained

Moving Common Reference Objects

Configuration Packages: Explained

Almost all Oracle Fusion application implementations require moving functional setup data from one instance into another at various points in the lifecycle of the applications. For example, one of the typical cases in any enterprise application implementation is to first implement in a development or test application instance and then deploy to a production application instance after thorough testing. You can move functional setup configurations of applications from one application instance into another by exporting and importing Configuration packages from the Manage Configuration Packages page.

A Configuration Package contains the setup import and export definition. The setup import and export definition is the list of setup tasks and their associated business objects that identifies the setup data for export as well as the data itself. When you create a configuration package only the setup export and import definition exists. Once you export the configuration package appropriate setup data is added to the configuration package using the definition. Once a configuration package is exported, the setup export and import definition is locked and cannot be changed.

You generate the setup export and import definition by selecting an implementation project and creating a configuration package. The tasks and their associated business objects in the selected implementation project define the setup export and import definition for the configuration package. In addition, the sequence of the tasks in the implementation project determine the export and import sequence.

Exporting and Importing Setup Data: Explained

A configuration package is required to export setup data. You can export a configuration package once you create it, or at any time in the future. During export, appropriate setup data will be identified based on the setup export definition and added to the configuration package. The setup data in the configuration package is a snapshot of the data in the source application instance at the time of export. After the export completes, you can download the configuration package as a zipped archive of multiple XML files, move it to the target application instance, and upload and import it.

Export

You can export a configuration package multiple times by creating multiple versions. While the export definition remains the same in each version, the setup data can be different if you modified the data in the time period between the different runs of the export process. Since each version of the configuration package has a snapshot of the data in the source instance, you can compare and analyze various versions of the configuration package to see how the setup data changed.

Import

In the target application instance, the setup import process will insert all new data from the source configuration package that does not already exist and update any existing data with changes from the source. Setup data that exists in the target instance but not in source will remain unchanged.

Export and Import Reports

You can review the results of the export and import processes using reports. The results appear ordered by business objects and include information on any errors encountered during the export or import process. If a setup export or import process paused due to errors encountered or for a manual task to be performed outside of the application, then you can resume the paused process.

These reports show what setup data was exported or imported and by which specific process. You can change the reports to validate the setup data as well as to compare or analyze it. A report is generated for each business object. These reports show the same information as the export and import results seen directly in the application.

Process status details are available as text files showing the status of an export or import process including the errors encountered during the process.

Moving Common Reference Objects

Moving Common Reference Objects: Overview

The common reference objects in Oracle Fusion Middleware Extensions for Applications are used by several setup tasks in the Setup and Maintenance work area. The common reference objects become a part of the configuration package that is created for an implementation project. While moving the application content, for example, from the test phase to the production phase of an implementation, you must pay special attention to the nuances of these common reference objects.

Parameters

The common reference objects are represented as business objects. A single object can be referenced in multiple setup tasks with different parameters. In the configuration package that is created for the implementation project, parameters passed to a setup task are also passed to the business objects being moved. As a result, the scope of the setup tasks is maintained intact during the movement.

Dependencies

Common reference objects may have internal references or dependencies among other common reference objects. Therefore, it is necessary that all the dependencies are noted before the movement of objects so that there are no broken references among the objects.

Business Objects for Moving Common Reference Objects: Points to Consider

Common reference objects in Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager are represented by business objects. These business objects are the agents that contain the application content and carry them across whenever the application setup is moved from one environment to another, for example, test environment to production environment.

Choice of Parameters

The following table lists the business objects, the corresponding movement details, and the effect of the setup task parameter on the scope of the movement.

Moving Related Common Reference Objects: Points to Consider

Certain common reference objects may use other common reference objects creating dependencies among the objects. During the movement of common reference objects, these dependencies or references need to be taken care of.

Dependencies

The dependencies among the common reference objects may be caused by any of the following conditions.

• Flexfield segments use value sets

• Value sets may make use of standard, common, or set-enabled lookups

• Key flexfields may have an associated tree structure and key flexfield segments may have an associated tree code

• Tree codes and versions may be defined over values of a value set

• Data security policies may be defined for value sets that have been enabled for data security

You may choose to move one, some, or all of the business objects by including the ones you want to move in your configuration package. For example, you may choose to move only value sets and not lookups, or you may choose to move both value sets and their lookups as part of the same package. Whatever be the combination, it is recommended that during the movement of objects, you follow an order that maintains the dependencies among the objects.

While moving the business objects, adhere to the guidelines and exactly follow the order as listed below.

1. Move created taxonomy modules before moving any objects that reference them, such as flexfields, lookups, profiles, attachments, reference data sets, document sequences, messages, and data security.

2. Move created currencies before moving any objects that reference them, such as territories.

3. Move created territories before moving any objects that reference them, such as languages and natural languages.

4. Move created ISO languages before moving any objects that reference them, such as languages, natural languages, and industries.

5. Move created tree structures before moving any objects that reference them, such as trees or tree labels.

6. Move created profile options before moving any objects that reference them, such as profile categories or profile values.

7. Move created attachment entities before moving any objects that reference them, such as attachment categories that reference them.

Using Seed Data Framework to Move Common Reference Objects: Points to Consider

To move the common reference objects, you can use the Seed Data Framework (SDF). You can also use the command line interface of SDF to move the object setup data. For more information about seed data loaders including common reference object loaders, see Oracle Fusion Applications Developer's Guide.

Movement Dependencies

The seed data interface moves only the setup metadata. For example, if you use SDF to import flexfield metadata, the flexfield setup metadata is imported into your database. However, you must invoke the flexfield deployment process separately after seed data import to regenerate the runtime flexfield artifacts in the target environment. Similarly, if you use SDF to import data security metadata, you must first move any new referenced roles and then manually run the GUID reconciliation where required.

To ensure that the reference data is not lost during the movement, certain guidelines are prescribed. It is recommended that you perform the movement of object data exactly in the order given below.

1. Move created taxonomy modules before moving any objects that reference them, such as flexfields, lookups, profiles, attachments, reference data sets, document sequences, messages, and data security.

2. Move created currencies before moving any objects that reference them, such as territories.

3. Move created territories before moving any objects that reference them, such as languages and natural languages.

4. Move created ISO languages before moving any objects that reference them, such as languages, natural languages, and industries.

5. Move created tree structures before moving any objects that reference them, such as trees or tree labels.

6. Move created profile options before moving any objects that reference them, such as profile categories or profile values.

7. Move created attachment entities before moving any objects that reference them, such as attachment categories that reference them.

8. Move created reference data sets before moving any objects that reference them, such as reference data set assignments and set-enabled lookups.

9. Move created document sequence categories before moving any objects that reference them, such as document sequences.

10. Move created tree labels before moving any objects that reference them, such as trees.

11. Move created data security objects and policies before moving any objects that reference them, such as value sets.

12. Move created value sets before moving any objects that reference them, such as flexfields.

13. Move created trees before moving any objects that reference them, such as key flexfields.

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