Part 5 – Rebuild vs. Migration Utility: Pros and Cons

Since the release of the FDM Migration Utility in September 2015, we’ve worked on several FDM Classic to FDMEE upgrade projects. We’ve elected to use the Utility for a handful of those implementations. Why? Rebuild Experience Oracle debuted FDMEE Release 11.1.2.3.0 in Spring 2013. The FDM Migration Utility was delivered more than 2 years later. During this time, you can say, we’ve become pretty good at rebuilding FDM Classic artifacts in FDMEE. We know the success factors for FDMEE upgrade projects. We’ve developed our own methods and home-grown utilities to accelerate the rebuild process. Most importantly, we know the benefits of rebuilding FDM in FDMEE from the ground up. There’s additional justification for manually re-creating all FDM content from scratch. Spring Cleaning and Simple Application Enhancements Remember the last time you moved from one place to another?  Maybe it was a local move to a bigger place or maybe you moved to a different state for a new job.  Either way, one of the major tasks when moving is determining what stays and what goes.  If an item is useful – it gets packed.  If it isn’t, it gets purged.  Think of your upgrade from FDM Classic to FDMEE in the same way. Most Legacy FDM applications can benefit from some spring cleaning.  Spending the time to examine your existing FDM Classic application(s) and associated processes can yield some worthwhile benefits. The main objectives of the application evaluation phase of your project is: Purge Outdated Content – Minimize application clutter by omitting outdated artifacts. Enhance Existing Integration Processes – Look for opportunities where FDMEE can offer a more efficient or effective way...

Part 4 – FDM to FDMEE: Artifacts and Migration Options

The FDM Migration Guide contains several FDM Artifacts and their Equivalents tables.  The tables display a listing of the main FDM Classic artifacts and their counterparts in FDMEE.  The tables also indicates if the Utility can convert each particular artifact to FDMEE. The information tables are a quick and easy way to understand old world to new world components and the migration options for each Legacy FDM component that you currently use. Right away, you can see the Migration Utility cannot migrate some artifacts, such as scripts, report objects, and security (User Maintenance and Object Maintenance) to FDMEE.  Here’s a listing of some of the artifacts you will have to rebuild from scratch in FDMEE. Scripts Reports Security Batch Processing Task Flows For most upgrade projects, the most time-consuming effort is re-developing scripts for FDMEE.  FDMEE uses Jython as its primary scripting language.  For more information on re-writing scripts for FDMEE, see Your Top 6 FDMEE Scripting Questions, Answered. Next: Part 5 – Rebuild vs. Migration Utility: Pros and Cons Blog Series: Choose the Best Way to Migrate FDM Classic to...

Part 3 – Does the Migration Utility Turn Classic to EE with a Push of a Button?

So, you’re probably wondering, Will the FDM Migration Utility convert one of our FDM Classic applications into a FDMEE application with a push of a button?   Spoiler alert: No. Not really. While FDMEE replicates most of the functionality found in Legacy FDM, it is not feature-by-feature rewrite of FDM Classic. Import formats, locations, mappings, and the guided workflow – the most utilized features are there.  However, some equivalent features slightly differ (e.g. batch processing), some objects are altogether new to the FDM world (for example, data load rules), and a few, seldom used FDM Classic features don’t exist in FDMEE (e.g., Financial Controls). Also, FDM Classic was built using Visual Basic for Microsoft Windows.  FDMEE is built on the Oracle Fusion Middleware platform. Same But Different Keep in mind, saying FDMEE is the successor to FDM Classic is little like saying your new 2016 BMW 6 Series is the successor to your 1996 Honda Prelude. Sure, both cars are sedans and both can exceed 100 Mph, but there are differences.  Your Prelude has a turn-knob stereo, pop-up headlights, 190 horsepower and has an outdated paper map in the glove compartment. Your 2016 BMW, on the other hand, has a Bluetooth stereo, LED headlights, over 400 horsepower, and an in-dash Navigation system. You get it.  Both cars accomplish the same goal – getting you from point A to point B – but the features aren’t exactly the same. And, let’s face it, you’d rather take out your date in the latest BMW vs. the old-school Prelude with your Hootie & the Blowfish CD. Given the differences, t’s reasonable to expect that a conversion utility can’t transform...

Part 2 – FDM Migration Utility: The Secret Sauce

The FDM Migration Utility is implemented using Oracle Data Integrator (ODI). For those new to FDM Enterprise Edition, if you get under the hood of FDMEE, you will find ODI. ODI is the Extract Transform Load (ETL) engine of FDMEE. See the Oracle Data Integrator homepage for Oracle’s pitch on why ODI is a best-in-class ETL tool. The Utility consists of two (2) ODI Scenarios. The FDMC_EXTRACT_SETUP Scenario is used to migrate FDM Classic metadata objects, such as import formats and locations. The FDMC_EXTRACT_DATA Scenario is used to migrate historical data from Legacy FDM to FDMEE. (This scenario also creates data load rules.)   FDMEE comes with its own limited use license to ODI.  So, when setting up the Utility, you can use the instance of ODI installed with FDMEE.  There’s no need to license and download full-blown ODI. Next: Part 3 – FDM Migration Utility: Turn Classic to EE with a Push of a Button? Blog Series: Choose the Best Way to Migrate FDM Classic to...

Part 1 – FDM Migration Utility: System Requirements

Okay, so this is an easy one to get out of the way. Considering your Legacy FDM application version and setup, are you eligible to use Oracle’s FDM Migration Utility.  Here are the source system requirements for the Utility: FDM Classic Only – Source Version must be 11.1.1.x and 11.1.2.x. FDM Classic with ERPi: Source Version – If you’re using FDM Classic with the Enterprise Resource Planning Integrator (ERPi) module, only 11.1.2.x is supported.  (Note: The Utility will only update ERPi content via an in-place upgrade.) FDMEE: Target Version – FDMEE release 11.1.2.4 or higher. If you’re FDM Classic application system doesn’t meet the above criteria, or you’re going to FDMEE 11.1.2.3, re-building your application is your only route to FDMEE.  If you do meet the above criteria, both the rebuild and Migration Utility are viable options for your upgrade. Next: Part 2 – FDM Migration Utility: The Secret Sauce Blog Series: Choose the Best Way to Migrate FDM Classic to...