In today's turbulent markets, financial institutions require a better understanding of their risk-return, while strengthening competitive advantage and enhancing long-term customer value. Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications (OFSAA) enable financial institutions to measure and meet risk-adjusted performance objectives, cultivate a risk management culture through transparency, lower the costs of compliance and regulation, and improve insight into customer behavior.
OFSAA uses industry-leading analytical methods, shared data models, and applications architecture to enable integrated risk management, performance management, customer insight, and compliance management. OFSAA actively incorporates risk into decision making, enables to achieve a consistent view of performance, promote a transparent risk management culture, and provide pervasive intelligence.
Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications delivers a comprehensive, integrated suite of financial services analytical applications for both banking and insurance domains.
Topics:
· Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Infrastructure (OFS AAI)
· About the Oracle Financial Services Data Integration Application Pack
· Installation and Upgrade Scenarios
The following figure depicts the various application packs that are available across the OFSAA Banking and Insurance domains.
Figure 1: Application Packs of OFSAA
Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Infrastructure (OFS AAI) powers the Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications family of products to perform the processing, categorizing, selection and manipulation of data and information required to analyze, understand and report on specific performance, risk, compliance and customer insight issues by providing a strong foundation for the entire family of Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications across the domains of Risk, Performance, Compliance and Customer Insight.
The OFSAA Infrastructure includes frameworks that operate on and with the Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Data Model and forms the array of components within the Infrastructure.
The OFSAA Infrastructure components/frameworks are installed as two layers; primarily, the metadata server and Infrastructure services run on one layer, while the UI and presentation logic run on the other. The UI and presentation layer is deployed on any of the supported J2EE Servers.
The following figure depicts the various frameworks and capabilities that make up the OFSAA Infrastructure.
Figure 2: Components of OFSAAI
The current release of the OFSAA Infrastructure supports only the "Single Instance" installation for the Infrastructure components. However, the High Availability (HA) for the Database Server and/ or the Web application server clustering and deployment is supported in this release.
This release supports the Active-Passive model of implementation for OFSAAI components. For more information, see Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Configuration for High Availability Best Practices Guide.
The following figure illustrates the deployment topology of OFSAA application packs.
Figure 3: Logical Architecture Implemented for OFSAA Application Packs
Oracle Financial Services Data Integration (OFS DI) helps financial services institutions loading data from multiple sources via logical interfaces. OFS DI Application Pack includes the following application:
· Financial Services Data Integration Hub: Data Integration Hub (DIH) enables to load the data from the source systems to the OFSAA staging tables, through logical interfaces, known as Application Data Interfaces (ADI). DIH provides a set of User Interfaces (UI), which is used to define and maintain External Data D (EDD), Application Data Interfaces, and also map the EDDs and ADIs through Connectors. The mappings can be one to one, one to many, many-to-many, and many to one.
· Accounting Hub Cloud Service (AHCS): AHCS is an accounting integration and reporting platform in oracle cloud that includes products, such as sub-ledger Accounting, Ledger, and Financial Reporting Center. AHC is an accounting integration platform. It standardizes the accounting from multiple third-party transactional systems to consistently enforce accounting policies and meet multiple reporting requirements in an automated and controlled fashion. AHC includes a rules repository to centrally define and maintain accounting rules, a rules transformation engine to create, validate and store the accounting journals, and a detailed accounting repository that is used to reconcile to the source system.
· Financial Services Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking (FCUBS) Interface: Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking (FCUBS) supports the changing landscape of retail, corporate, and investment banking needs with strong transaction banking and Islamic banking capabilities. The current FCUBS-OFSAA interfaces transfer all key data elements across various modules within FCUBS to OFSAA Common Staging Area (CSA). The integration between the Oracle FCUBS and the OFSAA enables the financial institutions to:
§ Get insight into customer patterns based on the data captured in core banking.
§ Achieve end-to-end improvement in business delivery.
§ Achieve effective performance and risk-free management using the available customer data.
§ This integration is achieved by handing off FCUBS core banking data with OFSAA through FLEXCUBE Information Server (FIS) and DIH.
· Financial Services Oracle Banking Platform (OBP) Interface:
§ Oracle Business Platform (OBP) is designed to help banks respond strategically to today's business challenges and progressively transform their business models through industrialized business processes, driving productivity improvements across front and back offices, and reducing operating costs.
§ It supports banks' growth agenda through new distribution strategies including multi-brand or white labeling to tap new markets and enterprise product origination supporting multi-product and packages to drive an increased customer-to-product ratio.
· Financial Services Data Relationship Management (DRM) Interface: Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM) helps proactively manage changes in master data across operational, analytical, and enterprise performance management silos. Users may make changes in their departmental perspectives while ensuring conformance to enterprise standards.
· Financial Services Data Integration with Unity: Unity allows its subscribers to combine customer data from online, offline, and third-party sources to create a single, dynamic, real-time view of each customer. Oracle Unity Customer Data Platform also supports application of machine learning to prescribe the best next action within any existing business process. It supports a host of functions including unified customer profile, profile enrichment, smart segmentation, customer analytics and rendering of personalized customer experience. Unity Integration identifies and exchanges data assets for customer or parties, party accounts, products, relationships, and transactions between OFSAA and Unity. This includes customer or party, behavioural intelligence, advertising, marketing and campaign information, alongside quantified financial metrics and related information. Such financial metrics primarily include retail customer performance and related analytics.
To install an OFS DI application pack 8.1.1.0.0 instance, users and administrators must download this installer. The following figure displays the order of procedures you will need to follow to install a new OFS DI Pack 8.1.1.0.0 instance.
NOTE:
This installer supports both upgrade and fresh installation of OFS DI 8.1.1.0.0.
Figure 4: Installation Flow
The Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Infrastructure Extension (OFS AAIE) Pack adds a set of new advanced features for 8.1.1.0.0 Release across OFSAA applications. This pack can be installed on an OFSAA instance having one or more OFSAA application packs.
The Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Infrastructure Extension Pack includes the following advanced features and functionalities:
· Distributed Processing Capabilities
· Analytic Pipeline and Process models
· Attribution Analysis
· Content Management Interoperability Services
NOTE:
The pack is enabled by procurement of an additional license. For more information, see the OFS AAIE Release Notes and Installation Guide on the OHC Documentation Library.
Release v8.1.1.0.0 of OFSDI Application Pack supports various installation and upgrade scenarios. A high-level overview of the possible scenarios is provided in the following table. Detailed procedural steps are provided in the succeeding sections of this document.
Scenario |
Installation and Upgrade Instructions |
|---|---|
|
|
Installing Release 8.1.1.0.0 application pack for the first time (new installation). |
1. Prepare for the Installation. 2. Execute the Schema Creator Utility. |
Install a new product from OFS DI 8.1.1.0.0 application pack where another application from the same application pack is already installed. You have installed some applications from the Release 8.1.1.0.0 pack and in the future, you decide to include other applications from the same pack. Example: You have installed DI applications using the DI Pack. |
If the schema creator output file (OFS_DI_SCHEMA_OUTPUT.xml) EXISTS: 1. Update the OFS_DI_PACK.xml file to disable the existing applications and enable the newly licensed applications. 2. Update the Silent.props file present in the Release 8.1.x pack. 3. Trigger the Release 8.1.1.0.0 installation. If the schema creator output file DOES NOT EXIST: 1. Run the schema creator utility. ATTENTION: While defining the schema details for the applications, provide the same schema details given in the previous installation. The output file (OFS_DI_SCHEMA_OUTPUT.xml) is generated as a result of the schema creation process. 2. Update the OFS_DI_PACK.xml file to disable the existing applications and enable the newly licensed applications. 3. Update the Silent.props file. 4. Trigger the Release 8.1.1.0.0 installation. NOTE: Configuring the OFSAAI_InstallConfig.xml file is not required. |
Install OFS DI Application Pack v8.1.1.0.0 on an Existing OFSAA Instance You have already installed an application pack from release 8.1.x.0.0 and now you want to install another application pack from Release 8.1.1.0.0. Example: OFS ALM Pack is already installed and now you want to install OFS DI Pack. |
1. Run the schema creator utility ONLY for the new pack. 2. Update the OFS_DI_PACK.xml file for the newly licensed pack. 3. Update the Silent.props file of the newly licensed pack. 4. Trigger the Release 8.1.1.0.0 installation. |
|
|
Upgrade from Release v8.0.x of OFSDI or OFSDI on AIX or Solaris x86 Operating System
|
Release v8.1.1.0.0 of OFSDI is not certified for AIX and Solaris x86 Operating Systems. If you are currently running OFSAA v8.0.x on AIX or Solaris x86 Operating Systems and plan to upgrade to Release v8.1.1.0.0, then you must migrate from AIX or Solaris x86 to Linux or Solaris SPARC. See the MOS Doc ID 2700084.1 for details. |
Upgrade an already installed 8.0.6.0.0 or later application and add new applications from the same pack You have two applications from a pack on 8.0.6.0.0 or later. You want two new applications from the same pack on 8.1.1.0.0. Example: You have installed OFSDI from Release 8.0.6.0.0. Now you want to install OFSDI of Release 8.1.1.0.0. |
1. Run the Environment Check Utility tool and ensure that the hardware and software requirements are installed as per the OFS Analytical Applications Technology Matrix. See the OFSAA Environment Check Utility Guide for detailed steps. 2. Clone your existing environment to the 8.1.1.0.0 OFS Analytical Applications Technology Matrix. 3. Run the schema creator utility. IMPORTANT NOTE: While defining the schema details for the newly licensed applications, provide the same schema details given in the previous installation. The output file (OFS_DI_SCHEMA_OUTPUT.xml) is generated as a result of the schema creation process. 4. Update the OFS_DI_PACK.xml file to enable ONLY the newly licensed applications. 5. Update the Silent.props file for the sections related to the newly licensed applications. 6. Trigger the Release 8.1.1.0.0 installer. NOTE: Configuring the OFSAAI_InstallConfig.xml file is not required. 7. This process upgrades the existing applications and installs the newly licensed applications. |
NOTE:
If you are upgrading the OFSAA Application Pack to release v8.1.1.0.0, you must upgrade the other packs installed in the same environment to release v8.1.1.0.0, to ensure successful deployment.