The Oracle E-Business Suite has a layered architecture, where each layer encapsulates the maximum reusable set of features without creating dependencies on higher layers. Such architecture enhances reusability of functionality and makes possible global customizations. The task of customizing an Oracle application can fall into one of a few categories:
Configuration: using pre-built features to fine-tune the application to match the business and deployment practices of a particular customer. Configuration examples:
Setup of a chart of accounts.
Setup of business groups or organizations.
Setup of logging and auditing profiles.
Personalization: declaratively tailoring the user interface (UI) look-and-feel, layout or visibility of page content to suite a business need or a user preference. Personalization examples:
Tailor the color scheme of the UI.
Tailor the order in which table columns are displayed.
Tailor a query result.
Extensibility: extending the functionality of an application, beyond what can be done through personalization. Extensibility examples:
Add new functional flows.
Extend or override existing functional flows.
Extend or override existing business logic.
Interoperability: interfacing the Oracle E-Business Suite with third party applications and service providers. Interoperability examples:
Interface with a single sign on server.
Interface with a credit rating service.
Interface with a legacy application.
These customization categories aren't always clear cut. Certainly, in some cases, customization tasks can even span a couple of categories. This book is designed to give a high level perspective of the various customization categories, and discusses only those categories that OA Framework facilitates. References to other resources are provided, where other customization categories are discussed in more detail.