1 Feature Summary

This chapter describes the feature enhancements in this release.

Noteworthy Enhancements

This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in the Oracle Retail Brand Compliance Management Cloud Service update and describes any tasks you might need to perform for the update. Each section includes a brief description of the feature, the steps you need to take to enable or begin using the feature, any tips or considerations that you should keep in mind, and the resources available to help you.

Note:

Where new fields, User Interface (UI) changes, or glossary entries are introduced as part of a change, the portal owner may need to apply their own translations of the core system text.

Column Definitions

  • Feature: Provides a description of the feature being delivered.

  • Module Impacted: Identifies the module impacted associated with the feature, if any.

  • Scale: Identifies the size of the feature. Options are:

    • Small: These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.

    • Medium: These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is moderate.

    • Large: These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.

  • Delivered: Is the new feature available for use immediately after upgrade or must the feature be enabled or configured? If no, the feature is non-disruptive to end users and action is required (detailed steps below) to make the feature ready to use.

  • Customer Action Required: You must take action before these features can be used. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them.

Table 1-1 Noteworthy Enhancements

Feature Module Impacted Scale Delivered Customer Action Required?
Assessment Request Brief Notification Supplier Small No Enable email notification and modify the email Body text if required.
Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications Product Small Yes No
Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates

Supplier

 Small Yes Set new Audit and Visit Template configuration settings as required.
Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result Product Small Yes Populate the glossary.
Packaging Weight Scale Product Small Yes No
Data Warehouse Rebuild Strategy All Small Yes No
Oracle Digital Assistant All Small Yes Enable system parameters.
Reset System Delivered Views in New User Interface All Medium Yes Where system views have been updated, these updates will need to be made again.

Assessment Request Brief Notification

This is an enhancement to the Assessment Request Wizard so suppliers can be notified that they have been invited to participate in a sourcing exercise and provide instructions and supporting documentation.

The wizard modification introduces an additional step, Supplier Message & Briefs, which includes the following:

  • A supplier message field which can be sent to suppliers using an email notification.
  • Facility to upload documents that are associated with the Assessment Request.
  • A selection list of supplier and site contact roles available to be notified.
  • Options regarding whether an email notification is sent based on whether the Assessment Request is new or amended.

On finishing the Assessment Request:

  • The new information provided in the wizard is stored against the Assessment Request folder and available for view on the list view Info Panel.

  • An email notification is generated and sent to the selected Supplier and/or Site contacts identified for each Supplier with Sites that were included in the Assessment Request. In addition, the email notification is also be sent to the contact email on the Supplier records.

    The email notification includes:

    • The supplier message, if populated.
    • A link list of any documents associated with the request.
    • The Response Due Date.
    • An assessment link list.

Note:

This enhancement applies to environments that have the JET UI enabled.

Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications

The Certificates table in the OLC section of Food and BWS Specifications has two additional columns, pulled from the Site References, for quick reference. These are:

  • Expiry Date
  • Country

Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates

This feature introduces configuration to control the user type that can edit the Due Date of an Audit Issue at Awaiting Corrective Action or Awaiting Amendment status and if a Reason Required comment is required.

There are two new parameters available on Audit and Visit templates:

  • Retailer Controls Issue Due Date

    This controls whether a Supplier or Retailer users can edit the Due Date field of an issue when the Audit or Visit is at a status of Awaiting Corrective Action or Awaiting Amendment.

    The default is No in existing and new templates which will allow only a Supplier User to edit the field. When set to Yes, only a Retailer can edit the field.

  • Reason Required for Issue Due Date Change

    This controls whether a mandatory field is available on amending the Due Date field when the Audit or Visit is at a status of Awaiting Corrective Action or Awaiting Amendment.

    A Reason for Due Date Change field is now available in the Audit & Visit list views, held under the Issue category.

Note:

The list view change requires JET UI to be enabled.

Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result

New fields are introduced in the Packaging Attributes tab within the Advanced Packaging section of a specification, allowing you to record information about the recyclability of household waste packaging for reporting purposes:

  • Classified as Household Packaging

    This field is used to identify whether the packaging is classified as household packaging.

  • Household Packaging Recyclability Rating

    This is a selection field based on a new glossary of the same name. The glossary is available in the Products > Spec Glossaries Admin area, for the Advanced Packaging section for each of the following Specification types:

    • Food
    • BWS
    • FNF
    • CNF
    • Produce

    The mandatory status of these fields can be managed under the Specification Mandatory Rules configuration.

Packaging Weight Scale

An enhancement has been made to weight fields in the specifications to accommodate larger values. The scale of the weight fields now allows at least six digits before the decimal place, instead of five. This enhancement is applicable to the Component Weight and Rigid Component Weight fields on the Packaging and Advanced Packaging section.

Data Warehouse Rebuild Strategy

To ensure there is always a built Data Warehouse schema for DW reports to run against, there will be two sets of Data Warehouse tables, one with a prefix of “W_” and the other “W2_”. This allows the schema to be updated on one DW set and DW reports to run against the other DW set, thereby improving reporting availability. The following new system parameters in the admin area show the status of this rebuild strategy:

  • Data Warehouse Active Prefix - This displays the current active set of Data Warehouse tables.
  • Data Warehouse Successfully Built On - This displays the date and time of the last successful rebuild.
  • Data Warehouse Last Successful Build Duration (mins) - The duration, in minutes, of the last successful rebuild.
  • Data Warehouse Next Build - Date and time of the next rebuild.

Oracle Digital Assistant

This release introduces the Oracle Digital Assistant. The Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA) is an AI-powered platform that enables users to interact with various business applications and services through natural conversations using chat interfaces.

Note:

The ODA is only available in customer production environments where Retail Home is enabled. Non-production environments do not have this feature enabled.

With ODA, end users can:

  • Get Answers Quickly: Ask questions and receive timely, accurate responses to common queries about applications, policies, or business processes.
  • Personalized Experience: Receive tailored information and notifications based on your role, preferences, and recent activity.
  • Simple Interaction: Use natural language (typing or speaking) to communicate. ODA is designed to understand common phrases and conversational requests.

If the ODA widget is enabled within an environment, it will be available to users who have been assigned a new AI Chatbot Authority Profile. The AI Chatbot will use the language locale specific to the logged in user.

For the best experience, access the ODA window by clicking the conversation icon at the bottom of the screen, state your request or question clearly, and follow prompts or suggestions as they appear. If ODA cannot resolve your request, consult the documentation or log a service request to get additional support.

If there is an issue accessing ODA, customers are advised to log a service request (SR), so that Oracle can provide a resolution.

Note:

This enhancement applies to environments that have the JET UI enabled.

Reset System Delivered Views in New User Interface

As part of this upgrade, System Delivered Views in the new User Interface are reset back to their default position. If amendments have been made, in a portal, to these system-delivered views, then these changes need to be made again after the upgrade has taken place. A full list of system-delivered views is available in Appendix, B: System List Views in the Oracle Retail Brand Compliance Management Cloud Service Workspace User Guide.

Privately created user views will not be impacted by this reset.

Post Release Tasks & Impact on Existing Installation

The following post release tasks and impact on an existing installation must be taken into account as part of this release.

Note:

See the Noteworthy Resolved Issues document for 26.1.101.0 for additional post release tasks.

Database Update Scripts

The following features include a database upgrade script:

  • Packaging Weight Scale

    In upgraded portals, the scale of each of the packaging weight fields Component Weight and Rigid Component Weight will be automatically increased from N5.N8 to N6.N8. These fields are available on the Packaging and Advanced Packaging sections.

  • Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications

    In upgraded portals, this updates the OLC sections based on the references held on the Site records. This ensures that the Expiry Date and the Country fields are made available on the OLC sections.

  • Reset System Delivered Views in New User Interface

    In upgraded portals, the System Delivered Views in the new User Interface will be reset back to their default position. Any customization of these views will need to be reapplied after the upgrade.

Permissions

The Oracle Digital Assistant feature introduces a new authority profile, the AI Chatbot (CHATBOT). Assign the new authority profile to user roles and users, as appropriate.

The Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result feature requires new Permissions configuration to be made by the retailer administrator per the table below. Assign the new authority profiles to user roles and users, as appropriate:

  • Add the entries below to the bottom of the Specification page of the Permissions spreadsheet.
Record (A) Authority Profile (B) Menu Option (C) Sub Menu Option (D) Action (E) Data Record (F) User Mode (L) Access Level (M)
Admin Product Administrator Admin Advanced Packaging Household Recycle Rating NORMAL Y
Admin Product Administrator ADVANCED PACKAGING HOUSEHOLD RECYCLE RATING NORMAL F

The instructions for downloading and uploading the amended Permissions spreadsheet are as follows:

  1. Log in as an Oracle Authorized Administrator user and go to Company > Admin > Roles & Permissions.

  2. Open the Permissions page.

  3. Download the active spreadsheet by selecting the row with true in the Active Permissions column, click Download Selected, and save locally.

  4. Edit the downloaded spreadsheet, make the changes described above, then save the spreadsheet.

  5. Upload the edited spreadsheet by clicking Upload Permissions, select the spreadsheet, and click Ok.

  6. Apply the changes by selecting the uploaded spreadsheet row, click Process Selected, and then click Ok to confirm.

System Text

The following features include new system text:

  • Assessment Request Brief Notification
  • Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications
  • Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates
  • Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result
  • Data Warehouse Rebuild Strategy

System text records are added automatically during the release process, however any translation overrides must be added manually, by the retailer administrator.

Post Release Configuration and Testing

The following feature has post release configuration and testing requirements:

  • Assessment Request Brief Notification
  • Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications
  • Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates
  • Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result
  • Packaging Weight Scale
  • Data Warehouse Rebuild Strategy
  • Oracle Digital Assistant
Assessment Request Brief Notification
  • If this feature is required, enable and review the new email template ASSESSMENT_REQUEST for any custom override requirements.

  • Reports

    The Assessment Request query has been updated to include the Supplier Message and Notify Contact Roles to allow reporting on this new information.

  • RDS

    The RDS tables which include Assessment Request data, have been updated to include the fields Supplier Message, Notify Contact Roles, Notify Suppliers, and Re-send Briefs.

Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications

  • Reports

    The Expiry Date and Country columns have been added to the OLC Certificate Report Query, which covers the OLC Certificates table.

  • Specification Extract and RDS

    The Specification Extract and RDS tables includes the new Expiry Date and Country columns from the OLC Certificates table.

Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates
  • The initial default settings, conform to current behaviour. To change the behaviour, update the new configuration settings on the Audit and Visit Templates to manage the user type that can edit the Due Date field, and whether documenting a reason, for changing the date is required.

  • Reports

    The Reason for Due Date Change field has been added to the report queries:

    • Audit
    • Audit Status History
    • Audit/Visit Scores Latest/Completed

  • Global Network Bus and RDS

    The Reason for Due Date Change field is available in the Global Network Bus and has been added to the RDS tables.

Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result
  • Clients who utilize the Advanced Packaging section should populate the Household Packaging Recyclability Rating glossary with appropriate values.

  • Reports

    The Classified as Household Packaging and Household Packaging Recyclability Rating fields have been added to the report query Advance Packaging Component.

  • Specification Extract and RDS

    The Specification Extract and RDS tables includes the new fields from the Advanced Packaging section.

Packaging Weight Scale

Clients who utilize the Packaging Section or the Advanced Packaging section should review the updated fields to evaluate that they retain their existing values as expected.

Data Warehouse Rebuild Strategy

Verify that the data warehouse table is rebuilt and that reports run successfully before, during, and after a rebuild.

Oracle Digital Assistant

A new AI Chatbot Enabled system parameter on the Global page must be enabled.

Retail Home must also be enabled.

To access the ODA, the AI Chatbot Authority Profile is required.

Sample Questions:

Question Expected Response Document for Reference
Where in the system do I create new suppliers? The New Supplier action is available in the Suppliers tab. Brand Compliance Cloud Service Supplier User Guide
What status can I set my specification to, if the product is not currently being sold but may be sold again in future? If the specification is currently either Active or Delisted, it can be set to off-range to show that the product is temporarily taken off sale. Brand Compliance Cloud Service Product User Guide
What is the difference between News Items and Resources? Resources are for the more static items, such as links to external bodies or training resources Brand Compliance Cloud Service Workspace User Guide
What is the Runtime Value field used for, when setting up report filters? Using the Runtime Value allows the user to enter a value when they schedule the report. Otherwise, enter a fixed value in the Value field when you set up the report filter. Brand Compliance Cloud Service Reports User Guide
Application Program Interfaces (APIs)

The following APIs are affected by this release. Consider if changes need to be made to any external systems that call the APIs.

  • Product REST API: The Certificate Expiry Visible in Specifications feature adds Expiry Date and Country from the OLC Certificates table.
  • Specification REST API: The Packaging EPR Recycling Assessment Result feature adds the Classified as Household Packaging and Household Packaging Recyclability Rating fields from the packaging section.
  • Audit REST API: The Manage Extension to Audit Issue Due Dates feature adds Reason for Due Date Change from the Issue record.

For further information on the data content, see the associated Data Dictionary documents.

Enabling Identity Management Notifications

As an IDCS or OCI IAM Administrator, verify that Notifications are enabled in the corresponding Stage / Production tenant.

Enabling User Roles

If they do not already exist, configure the Power User, Account Administrator, Assistant Technologist, and Site Inspector user roles, and assign to the appropriate users.

The instructions for downloading and uploading the amended Permissions spreadsheet are as follows:

  1. Log in as an Oracle Authorized Administrator user and go to Company > Admin > Roles & Permissions.

  2. Open the Permissions page.

  3. Download the active spreadsheet by selecting the row with true in the Active Permissions column, click Download Selected, and save locally.

  4. Edit the downloaded spreadsheet, make the changes described above, then save the spreadsheet.

  5. Upload the edited spreadsheet by clicking Upload Permissions, select the spreadsheet, and click Ok.

  6. Apply the changes by selecting the uploaded spreadsheet row, click Process Selected, and then click Ok to confirm.

Enabling Artwork with SSO

Artwork is not a core Brand Compliance module, but a third-party add-on application. This process enables the integration with the third-party Artwork application, where it is used.

For existing installations that use the Artwork module, in order to configure single sign on (SSO) between Brand Compliance and the Artwork solution (using IDCS or OCI IAM authentication), the following steps must be taken by the Customer or their Partner:

  1. Ensure the MYARTWORK external system has been created in Brand Compliance PROD and STAGE.

  2. Raise an SR service requesting for creation of the Artwork Application for PROD and STAGE. The call back URLs and IDCS or OCI IAM URLs must be provided in the SR.

  3. Once created, you will be able to gather the Client ID and Client Secret from IDCS or OCI IAM.

IDCS Changes

As part of the updates from release 20.0 onwards, there are a few changes into various records within the IDCS configuration. These changes should be considered in instances where you have adopted your own changes and configuration within IDCS.

Oracle Cloud Service Records

This section within IDCS is only accessible to Admin users of the IDCS tenancy. A new Cloud Service record is created for the release 20+ instance and is now named using the following naming structure:

  • STAGE: RGBU_BCCS_STG1_BC (from RGBU_BCCS_UAT_PROD_BC)
  • PROD: RGBU_BCCS_PRD1_BC (from RGBU_BCCS_PRD_PROD_BC)
  • DEV: RGBU_BCCS_DEV1_BC (from RGBU_BCCS_DEV_PROD_BC)

Where the OPAL Artwork is utilized, a new Cloud Service record is created for the release 20+ instance and is now using the following naming structure:

  • STAGE: RGBU_BCCS_STG1_ARTWORK (from RGBU_BCCS_UAT_PROD_ARTWORK)
  • PROD: RGBU_BCCS_PRD1_ARTWORK (from RGBU_BCCS_PRD_PROD_ARTWORK)

IDCS Group Records

These are created automatically by the Brand Compliance application and the naming of the groups is updated to be aligned with the Oracle Cloud Service record. Standard groups are created for . . . Artwork, . . . BC_User, . . . Reports_Admin, . . . Retailer, and . . . Supplier. For example, RGBU_BCCS_PRD1_BC_User is the new release 20+ group naming structure, RGBU_BCCS_PRD_PROD_BC_User being the previous naming structure.

Note:

When creating new groups within an IDCS tenant, avoid using the RGBU_BCCS_PRD1_ or RGBU_BCCS_STG1_ prefix for the name of groups. Any groups created with either prefix may have their users removed from the group as part of the hourly IDCS sync process.