Implementing Oracle Applications i Modules
Implementing Oracle Applications i Modules
The latest release of Oracle Applications 11i and the current Release 12 include a number of i modules which have been included. These of course may require separate licenses before you can implement them.In my current post today i will talk about implementing these imodules from an APPS DBA view point.
imodules are de abbreviated as internet modules. As the name suggests these modules are internet enabled out of the box. They are mostly developed on the in line with the Oracle Self Service Web Applications. These modules are essentially targeted at the external customers of the organization who use the Oracle ebusiness suite, though at times we do have internal users
also accessing these imodules.
Each of these imodules belong to a family of Oracle Applications product for example isupplier belongs to the purchasing family.
The various imodules that release 12 offers are
- iStore (Order Management)
- iSupplier (Purchasing)
- iProcurement (Purchasing)
- iReceivables (Financials)
- iExpenses (Financials)
- iAssets (Financials)
- iRecruitment (Human Resources)
- iLearning (Learning Management)
- iSupport (Service)
DMZ Configuration
DMZ stands for a De Militarized Zone. It is that portion of an organizations network that is outside the internal firewall or outside the Secure or Militarized Zone. Since the main users of your imodules would be the external users. you would require to implement a DMZ configuration with Oracle Applications so that your external users can access your E Business Suite. There various methods and architectures which can be used to implement at DMZ within Oracle Applications. You could also have multiple URLs for your internal and external users in a DMZ configuration. For more details you can refer to the metalink Note Oracle E-Business Suite 11i Configuration in a DMZ Note ID (287176.1).
Security
A major and immediate risk of exposing your applications to the external users is of security. Once you have setup up your applications to be internet enabled, you must take immediate steps to secure your applications before going live. There are various certified methods of implementing security in a DMZ environment. like Implementing SSL, Implementing an external
firewall, implementing a reverse proxy between the external users and the external web server. To know more about securing your Oracle Applications environment you could refer to the metalink note Best Practices for Securing Oracle E-Business Suite - v2.1 (Doc ID: 189367.1).
Pre requisites
If you are on the latest release of Oracle Applications then generally the only pre requisite you have before you can implement the imodules is that you must have the corresponding family fully installed and setup. For example to implement iSupplier in Oracle Application 11.5.10.2 is that you must have first installed and implemented Oracle Purchasing. In previous releases of Oracle Applications you might have to apply additional patches using adpatch or splice in new products through adsplicer.
User Administration
Since the imodules will also be accessed by external users the administration for the external users can be setup differently. Generally you can have a customized self service user registration screen for registering your external users. An example of an iSupplier Self Service registration is shown below.
Users Access
You must set up responsibilities for your External and Internal users explicitly. You must flag the external users responsibility. In this case only these set of responsibilities would be accessible to the external users thereby enhancing your application security. The imodules also comes with seeded responsibilities for the internal users like the iSupplier Portal Internal View. In case you want to give your internal users access to these imodules you must assign them these
responsibilities manually.
