Announcing JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools Release 9.2.5.3 and Application Enhancements that Drive Business Transformation
What are we Announcing?
Today we are announcing the availability of EnterpriseOne Tools Release 9.2.5.3, which supports EnterpriseOne Applications 9.2. Oracle JD Edwards continues to invest in digital transformation, user experience, system automation, security, and open platforms by delivering Tools Release 9.2.5.3.
We are also announcing the availability of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Applications enhancements that make JD Edwards applications easier to use, more powerful, and more comprehensive in their support of our customers’ business processes. These customer-driven product improvements focus on eliminating pain points by providing more flexible business process configuration and by simplifying the user experience. In addition, legislative, regulatory, and localization enhancements are available that help customers maintain compliance in all the countries they operate in across the globe.
Combined, these JD Edwards Tools and Applications enhancements empower companies on their business transformation journey.
Tools Release 9.2.5.3
Select Multiple Rows in a Form Request
This feature expands the options for the orchestration designer when selecting and operating on grid rows in a form request.
Form requests are a fundamental element of orchestrations, enabling the orchestration designer to automate interactions with EnterpriseOne application forms, including forms with grids. Prior to this enhancement, the only options for working with grid rows were to select the first row or to select all rows. This feature enables the orchestration designer to pass in a specific list of grid rows for the orchestration to operate upon or to specify filtering criteria for the rows that the orchestration will act upon. Particularly in cases where the rows to be acted upon are not consecutive or cannot be filtered in the query-by-example row, this feature gives the orchestration designer more control over selecting grid rows.
Pass a Version to a Report Service Request
A report service request enables an orchestration to submit a report to the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Universal Batch Engine (UBE). The orchestration designer can create the report service request and specify certain attributes of the report such as data selection criteria, processing options, and report output options. When the orchestration runs, the report is submitted just as a user would have done manually.
This feature now enables the orchestration designer to dynamically pass a report version into the report step as a variable. For example, for a report that has many versions, an orchestration designer can build a single report request and pass a version into that step from an orchestration input, or even from a value that is derived in a previous orchestration step. In this way, a single report step can serve to run any version of a report, giving orchestrations even more flexibility and intelligence.
Array Variables for External REST Calls
The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Orchestrator includes the powerful capability of making outbound calls to external REST-based services and returning data from those services. Sometimes the external service returns the data as simple variables, such as strings or numbers; other times the service returns an array of data, for example, a list of customer names, account numbers, and addresses. With this enhancement, those returned arrays can be mapped to orchestration variables, which can then be acted upon and iterated over by subsequent orchestration steps.
Return REST Header Parameters as Orchestration Variables
A powerful feature of Orchestrator is the ability to integrate with external REST services. Orchestration designers can identify values in the response from those REST services, which are often carried in the body of the response, and pass those values to subsequent orchestration steps. This feature extends that capability to parameters that are passed through the response header instead of the body. For example, after successful authentication, a REST service may return an authentication token in the response header. With this enhancement, that token can be passed as a variable to subsequent orchestration steps to maintain an authenticated session.
Pass OAuth 2.0 Client ID and Client Secret in the Request Body of an Orchestration
Orchestrations can securely invoke REST APIs from external systems by using industry-standard authentication protocols such as OAuth 2.0. The OAuth 2.0 protocol requires that a client ID and a client secret be exchanged between the two systems.
This enhancement gives the orchestration designer the choice of sending the client ID and client secret in the request header or in the request body, as is required by some third-party systems. With this added flexibility, Orchestrator can interact securely with a broader range of third-party systems.
Secure Session Balancing Across AIS Servers
This enhancement improves the scalability and fault-tolerance of the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne architecture by distributing the load of session requests among multiple AIS servers.
The AIS server is the entry point of orchestrations and AIS REST APIs. For scalability and fault-tolerance, a common architecture is to place a group of AIS servers behind a load balancer to distribute the incoming traffic. However, in implementations in which a single user account, such as a service account, is used to run many orchestrations, the user is authenticated to only one AIS server in the group, thereby causing requests to other AIS servers to fail. This enhancement provides a secure mechanism for a set of AIS servers to share authenticated tokens, thus providing a secure scale-out and a fault-tolerant architecture for high-volume requests.
Health Check for Basic Auth Configuration for the AIS Server
Basic Auth is the most common and fundamental method of authenticating to the AIS server; however, the steps to configure Basic Auth in Server Manager are often overlooked.
This Health Check provides a quick and easy way to validate that Basic Auth has been configured properly, thereby simplifying the initial configuration, server restart, and troubleshooting processes.
User Defined Object Dependencies with Orchestrator Components
This feature enables users to discover the User Defined Object (UDO) dependencies among orchestrations and orchestration components without having to navigate to Orchestrator Studio.
Orchestrations and the various orchestration components, such as form requests, data requests, rules, and so on, are managed as part of the EnterpriseOne UDO framework. When these objects are created in Orchestrator Studio, dependencies are established. For example, a rule might be used in multiple orchestrations, and one orchestration might embed another orchestration. In some cases these dependencies might become quite complex, making the UDO management tasks of sharing, approving, and promoting these objects tedious and error-prone.
Prior to this enhancement, the individual UDOs for orchestrations could be listed and managed using the UDO Admin application; however, the View Dependencies feature was not enabled in this application. Users had to return to Orchestrator Studio and open each orchestration component to discover the orchestrations in which the component was used.
This enhancement enables the View Dependencies feature in the UDO Admin application for orchestrations and orchestration components, thereby simplifying the former tedious process to view the chain of UDO dependencies for orchestrations.
Learn more about User Defined Objects, on the User Defined Objects (UDOs) page on LearnJDE.
Learn more about Orchestrator on the Orchestrator Overview page on LearnJDE
Digital Transformation
Digital transformation platform enables you to participate in the digital economy, transform business processes, and adopt new technologies. It greatly simplifies how you integrate with third-party systems and cloud services, receive real-time accurate data from Internet of Things devices, and build alternative user interfaces such as mobile applications. JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools features that drive digital transformation ultimately transform how you use your EnterpriseOne system and enhances its value to your business.
The following enhancements support customers on their continuous path to digital transformation:
User Experience
User experience enhancements enable you to optimize the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne user interface and align it with the requirements of your user community and their business processes-without further technical development and future debt associated with traditional application customizations. Empowered with a platform for extending and personalizing the application forms and the data they act upon, your technical staff, business analysts, and end users can collaborate to streamline the user interface for simple and optimized business processes.
Form Extension - Add Associated Description to Edit Control on a Form
This feature enables a business analyst to add an associated description to an edit control on a form as a form extension without needing to create a custom modification in the Form Design Aid (FDA) development tool. For example, if a business analyst creates a form extension and adds Item Number to the form, they can now also include the item’s associated description. Having the associated description available on the form eliminates the need for the end user to know specific codes in the system, creating a better user experience. Traditionally, if a business analyst wanted to add an associated description to an edit field on a form, they would have to work with a developer and make custom modifications in Form Design Aid (FDA)-a process that involves a complicated and tedious development, deployment, and management lifecycle.
With this feature, the business analyst or developer can now add the associated description for an item “on-the-glass” as a form extension, without having to create, build, and deploy a custom modification in FDA. This feature significantly reduces the dependency on FDA and the need to create custom modifications, thereby decreasing the time, effort, and cost involved in making this simple improvement to the end user experience.
Learn more about Form Extensions on the Extensibility page, and other User Defined Objects, on the User Defined Objects (UDOs) page on LearnJDE.
Enhanced Browser Support for Media Objects
Media objects are often critical components of customers’ business processes, perhaps as important as the transactions and business data to which they are associated. To create and edit media objects, some customers have historically relied on Microsoft’s ActiveX technology, which enabled users to interact with content using the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser.
This feature, while ensuring continuity of the ability to create, edit, and manage media objects, provides a similar user experience when customers perform these tasks using any of the JD Edwards certified browsers. In addition to the rich user experience, this feature enables customers to use certified browsers to access the same capabilities that ActiveX historically provided, including support for Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Google Docs.
Improved Business Continuity with Native Oracle Database Connection Management
This feature introduces the Oracle Database native connection management for Oracle Database customers, which provides more control over the state of the Oracle Database connections compared to the JD Edwards database connection pool. Oracle Database native connection management significantly accelerates the process of obtaining database connections, promotes efficient connection reuse, minimizes the number of stale connections, and ensures efficient connection management. Customers can use the Oracle Database native connection management for an efficient and graceful connection management capability and improved business continuity. This feature is currently available only for customers using Oracle Database 19c on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or Oracle Autonomous Database 19c on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure and Exadata Cloud@Customer.
Default Browser for Web Development Client
This feature enables JD Edwards EnterpriseOne developers to use any JD Edwards EnterpriseOne certified web browser for the web development client; previously the browser option was limited to Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). With this feature, developers are able to develop and test their solutions on the development client with a browser that matches the browsers used by the users. Additionally, administrators no longer need to provision and support IE just for the development client if IE is not part of their corporate strategy.
System Automation
System automation provides your technical team with the tools they need to automate manual and repetitive administrative processes such as object management, troubleshooting, and batch management. This frees up your IT resources to partner with other departments of your organization to improve processes and drive innovation.
Security is ensured through secure authentication, access, and monitoring at every layer of the architecture while adhering to ever-changing industry security standards.
Open platform offers you choice and control over the underlying computing architecture on which you run your EnterpriseOne system. General industry trends are constantly changing and specific releases of hardware, operating systems, databases, middleware, and browsers are frequently updated. JD Edwards continually certifies the latest platforms to ensure that customers have a stable, modern platform for adopting future innovation.
Platform Certifications
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne deployments depend on a matrix of interdependent platform components from Oracle and third-party vendors. The product support lifecycle of these components is driven by their vendors, creating a continuous need to certify the latest versions of these products to give customers a complete technology stack that is functional, well-performing, and supported by the vendors. Tools Release 9.2.5.3 includes the following platform certifications:
- Oracle Enterprise Manager 13.4
- Oracle Linux KVM
- ODBC Driver 17.6 for Microsoft SQL Server
- IBM DB2 LUW 11.5.4.0 on IBM AIX 7.2 TL3 SP3 with 64-bit JDE
- Apple iOS 14
- Safari 14 for Mac OS
- Google Chrome 88
- Microsoft Edge Chromium 88
Support for the following platforms is withdrawn with Tools Release 9.2.5.3:
- Apple iOS 12
- Google Chrome 76
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne certifications are posted on the Certifications tab in My Oracle Support.
The updated version of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Platform Statement of Direction is published on My Oracle Support (Document ID 749393.1). See this document for a summary of recent and planned certifications as well as important information about withdrawn certifications.
Important Note on Platforms:
Beginning with EnterpriseOne Tools Release 9.2.5, JD Edwards is transitioning the Tools Foundation compatibility for 32-bit into the Sustaining Support lifecycle phase. Please refer to the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 64-bit Statement of Direction published on My Oracle Support (Document ID 2724367.1) for more details.
Applications Enhancements
Application Optimization
JD Edwards application enhancements are focused on delivering high-value customer-driven improvements that prioritize configuration over customization, enhance user productivity, and extend business processes. Configuration improvements focus on delivering flexibility in support of business processes, thereby eliminating the need for customizations. Productivity enhancements, supported by applications that continue to benefit from our ongoing JD Edwards Tools investment in the extensibility framework, focus on user experience improvements and business process simplification. We also continue to extend existing business processes to support evolving and more complex use case requirements as well as focus on supporting new business processes through the creation of new applications and functionality.
Procurement
Cancel Date Flexibility for Canceled Purchase Orders
Procurement personnel can now set a processing option to either use the system date as the cancel date or retain the pre-populated cancel date in the purchase order header and detail fields. Download Feature
Requested Date Based on Work day Calendar
The Purchase Order Generator application now automatically moves the requested date to the next working date if the calculated date is a non-working day. This enhancement eliminates the need for procurement personnel to manually move the requested date in such situations. Download Feature
Lot Control for Purchase Transfer Order During Shipment Confirmation
When performing a shipment confirmation, if the Inventory Lot Creation flag for the receiving branch plant is turned off in Branch/Plant Constants, lot numbers are now automatically cleared for the purchase transfer order, enabling receiving personnel to seamlessly receive the purchase transfer order. Previously, an error, based on the existence of lot numbers, prevented the purchase transfer order from being received. Download Feature
Simplified Posting of G/L Batch
The posting of G/L batches from Purchase Order Receipts has been simplified such that users no longer have to confirm the posting of the batch in the Printer Selection form if the Automatic G/L Batch processing option is enabled. This improvement has the added benefit of reducing the risk of users accidentally clicking the Cancel button in the Printer Selection form causing data problems with PA commitments. Download Feature
Requirements Planning
Item Safety Stock Displayed in the Times Series Header
Safety stock quantities are now displayed in the Time Series header. Therefore, the potential effect of safety stock on requirements planning outputs is immediately visible to planners and buyers without the need to exit to the quantities table. Download Feature
Manufacturing
Work Order Bill of Material and Routing Type Default Selection
New processing options have been added to enable the default selection of bill of material and routing types, other than the standard “M’ type, when a manufacturing work order is entered. Prior to this enhancement, users had to manually overwrite the bill of material and routing type if they wanted to use something other than the standard type. This enhancement benefits organizations that need to routinely adjust the bills of material and routings used for production work orders but do not want to update the standard types that are used as often for product costing. Download Feature
Option to Exclude Scrap When Determining Work Order Status
Make-to-order manufacturers often need the work order status to be based only on completed quantities, without considering scrap. A new processing option has been added to the Work Order Completions program to specify whether scrap quantities are included when determining if a work order is complete. Prior to this enhancement, work orders were always updated to the specified complete status code when the quantity completed plus the quantity scrapped was greater than or equal to the quantity ordered. Download Feature
Prevent Obsolete Item Entry on Bills of Material and ECO Parts Lists
An error message is now displayed when an attempt is made in a bill of material or an ECO parts list to enter items that are coded as obsolete (Stocking Type O or U). Prior to this enhancement, an item could be entered despite being coded as obsolete. Download Feature
Inbound Work Order Interoperability
To facilitate integration with external systems, the standard JD Edwards inbound interoperability functionality has been added to support the import of work order information. Prior to this enhancement, the transfer of only outbound information was supported. Download Feature
Quality Management
Serial Number Selection for Test Results Entry
When users exit from the Hours and Quantities program or the Super Backflush program to the Test Results Entry application, the system displays serial numbers for selection if the numbers have already been assigned to the work order. Prior to this update, for items with Lot Process Type 5 or 6, a new serial number was automatically generated for Test Results Entry even if serial numbers were already assigned. Download Feature
Inventory Management
Quantity On-Hand Field Made Visible on the Item Availability by Location Form
The Work with Item Availability by Location form has been enhanced to display the On-Hand Quantity field. This enhancement enables users to quickly see if there is stock on hand and eliminates a common customization. Download Feature
Support for Non-Blank Approved Lot Statuses
System administrators can now set up non-blank approved lot statuses and enable all applications that validate lot status to recognize these statuses. Batch programs have also been delivered to update existing lot statuses to support adoption of this feature. Prior to this enhancement, only a blank lot status was considered as approved which could lead to confusion as users could not tell if the blank value was intentional or not
Warehouse Management
Improved Item Availability Calculations for Move Requests
The Location Selection Driver program and the Manual Planner application within the Request Inquiry program now include an option to exclude inbound quantities from the item availability calculation and to create suggestions only for locations that have on-hand quantities. Benefits include increased productivity and warehouse utilization as well as improved labor efficiency because pickers can now make only productive trips in the warehouse. Download Feature
License Plate Batch Print
The Warehouse Management System has been enhanced to include a new License Plate Print Batch report. This report includes processing options that enable you to print the report as a ready-to-use PDF document or to specify a version of a customized report and create an XML label output that contains user-defined license plate information. Additionally, the new report can be launched from the License Plate Workbench. Download Feature
License Plate Attachments
The License Plate Workbench, License Plate Cross-Reference, and License Plate History programs have been modified to provide the option to add attachments enabling users to update license plates with key information and retain attachments history. This capability eliminates the need to store this information in external documents. Download Feature
Grower Management
Allow Harvest Dates to Overlap
The Grower Management system has been enhanced to allow the start and end dates of a harvest record to overlap with the dates of another harvest record for the same block. This flexibility enables operations to begin in preparation for the next harvest for a given block of land while current harvest operations are winding down for that block. Download Feature
Ability to Edit Planted Area
The Block and Harvest programs have been modified to enable you to edit the Planted Area field after a grower operation has been created. This capability eliminates the need to create new block and harvest records because of unforeseen changes in the planted area such as an unexpected change in demand, floods, drought, and so on. Download Feature
Ability to Change Contract Header and Block End Dates to an Earlier Date
The Grower Contract Header and Contract Block programs have been modified to enable the user to change contract end dates to an earlier date. This capability provides the flexibility to update the contract end dates when conditions of the contract are met sooner than expected. Download Feature
Contract and Service Billing
Ability to Process Zero Dollar Invoices in Contract and Service Billing
Configuration options have been added in Contract and Service Billing to allow zero-dollar invoices to be created in the Accounts Receivable system for zero-dollar billable contracts and service work orders. These processing options in the Journal Generation and Create AR Entries reports help to eliminate gaps in invoice numbers for VAT reporting and ensures compliance with regulatory requirements. Download Feature
Homebuilder Management
Eliminate Customization with Improved Supplier Determination Process for Takeoff Contracts
The Supplier To-Be-Determined process for takeoff contracts is improved to closely mimic the Supplier To-Be-Determined process for bid contracts. Underlying functionality changes have been made to simplify the assignment process by providing the option to dynamically select eligible suppliers for takeoff contracts. This change can eliminate a customization that many customers have added to manually restrict the assignment of non-eligible suppliers to the takeoff contract. Download Feature
Improved Framework for Closing Entries of a Home Sale at the Community Level
The framework for completing the closing entries for a home sale has been improved.
These multifaceted changes boost the accuracy of the lot allocation process involving indirect or land costs, refines pro-forma forecasting to determine the true profit for a community, and aids in drawing up the project projections based on the actual or estimated cost per square footage. These changes also help to generate the budget for a statistical account maintained for the plan's square footage data. Download Feature
Order Management
Summation of Extended Amount in Sales Order Entry
Sales Order Entry now includes the ability to summarize the Extended Amount column. With this enhancement, customers can quickly see the total of the sales order at the bottom of the grid when inquiring on a sales order. Download Feature
Human Capital Management
New IRS 1099-NEC (Nonemployee Compensation) Tax Form
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released a new 1099 Nonemployee Compensation (NEC) form for the tax year 2020. The nonemployee compensation amounts and information move from the 1099-MISC form to the new form 1099-NEC. This form will be required when taxes are filed for the tax year 2020, due in 2021. The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Payroll System has been enhanced to provide the new form and adjustments have been made to the 1099 process for 2020 in accordance with the IRS requirements. This feature enables our customers to adopt the new form and abide by the new regulations mandated by the IRS. Download Feature
Financials
Credit Bureau Submissions Terminology
JD Edwards has updated the terminology used in the programs and objects that create data files for submission to these credit rating service providers supported by JD Edwards: Experian, Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), and CREDITEL. Download Feature
Improved Data Quality for Invoices, Receipts, and Drafts
The JD Edwards Accounts Receivable applications have been enhanced to improve data quality and transaction integrity for invoices, receipts, and drafts. This enhancement ensures that invoices, receipts, and drafts cannot be updated by an application when they are being updated by another application. Download Feature
Joint Venture Management Parent Number for Hierarchy
The Joint Venture Management hierarchy structure has been modified to ensure that distribution and manufacturing accounting processes are accurately performed at the business unit or branch plant level. Download Feature
Cloud Integration
Learning Path: Extending JD Edwards with Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is a best-in-class product providing enterprise-level Planning, Financial Close, and Narrative Reporting solutions. By using EPM, JD Edwards customers can derive many benefits such as rolling forecasts, driver-based planning, and a faster financial close. This learning path provides guidance on how to create a simple integration that can be used as a starting point for connecting JD Edwards to EPM. Learning Path
Legislative, Regulatory and Localizations
Brazil
CI and FCI from SEFAZ updates Sales transaction tables
Hungary
e-Invoice Version 2.0
Netherlands
Intrastat declaration for ICL 2021
Poland
VAT Registers and Declarations modifications 2020
Taiwan
GUI Format Code 35 for Taiwan GUI report
United Kingdom
Support for Customer EORI number
Italy
e-Filing of Payables Invoices
Nature of Transactions for e-Invoice 2021
Support for Declaration of Intent Protocol number for e-Invoice
India
Support for GST on freight charges created within Transportation Management
Support for new data fields for India e-Invoice
Ability to add services for sales transactions under India GST
United States
EnterpriseOne: Financial Year End for 2020
EnterpriseOne: Payroll Year End for 2020
World: Financial Year End for 2020
World: Payroll Year End for 2020
EMEA
Prevent Tax ID validation for individuals when EMEA localizations exist.
Canada
EnterpriseOne: Payroll Year End for 2020
World: Payroll Year End for 2020
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Localization updates are posted on My Oracle Support under EnterpriseOne Globalizations: Localizations, Translations, Certifications / Registrations (Doc ID 752291.1).