Challenges Companies Face When Upgrading to Oracle EBS 12.2
Tags: oracle, ebs
Published: 2023-09-19 06:04:03

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Customers often face challenges during their EBS upgrade process due to insufficient preparation for testing and the absence of an Oracle automation tool. The main difficulties involve:

**Existing customizations**:

The critical technical aspect of upgrading to R12.2 involves ensuring the compatibility of existing customizations with Oracle EBS 12.2 by fulfilling the required criteria. Architectural changes introduce the possibility that your current customizations may not retain the same functionality as in version 12.1. It is important to identify and determine which customizations are affected and consider replacing them with the standard functionalities available in R12.2.

**Existing integrations**:

Validating third-party products and integrations is essential during an R12.2 upgrade. Neglecting this step can result in the disruption of complex end-to-end business processes during the upgrade.

Implementing a comprehensive testing strategy is the most effective approach to reducing risks during an upgrade. With this in mind, here are the steps for an efficient Oracle EBS 12.2 upgrade.

**Functional evaluation**:

Upgrading to EBS 12.2 involves significant changes in data models and functionality. It is important to thoroughly evaluate your existing Oracle e-business suite EBS R12.1, including assessing application usage, key processes, workflows, and issues. Additionally, review manual process steps, third-party components, and existing customizations to ensure they are unaffected by the upgrade.

**Configurations, extensions, modifications, localizations and internationalization (CEMLI) evaluation**:

An initial assessment of existing CEMLIs (Configurations, Extensions, Modifications, Localizations, and Internationalization) identifies areas needing extra attention during upgrade testing. Minor changes introduced during the upgrade can affect customizations and local system settings, potentially impacting end-to-end business processes beyond the EBS application.

**Technical upgrade & regression testing**:

Before upgrading, it’s vital to fully comprehend the impact on critical business processes. Consider conducting a practice upgrade on a cloned or shadow instance of your production environment. This allows you to gain valuable experience and identify potential issues through initial regression testing. Thorough documentation of the practice upgrade, including encountered issues and their resolutions, is important.

**Modify test scripts**:

After upgrading to Oracle EBS 12.2, adjustments will probably be required for your existing test scripts. Following the upgrade, you may discover obsolete objects in certain processes or newly added fields in forms. To ensure proper functionality, these changes must be incorporated into your test scripts. Failing to retrofit the test scripts with the necessary modifications can lead to incorrect functionality. It is crucial to document all changes that affect your business processes and update your test scripts accordingly.

**User acceptance testing**:

The last stage of the upgrade’s quality assurance process involves conducting User Acceptance Testing. UAT is the ultimate verification of an Oracle application’s functionality, business processes, and data. This step is of utmost importance as it serves as the final verification to ensure that all aspects of the upgrade are functioning as intended.

**Conclusion** 

When executed properly, an Oracle EBS 12.2 upgrade can yield numerous advantages. Opkey’s no-code and end-to-end test automation for the enterprise expedites your migrations, implementations, and upgrades, reducing costs by 75% and risks by 90%.