Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow. Part 2: Validating e-mail addresses

This paper is the second of a two (2) part series. Part 2 covers e-mail address validation using a 12 point PLSQL e-mail addresses validation function.

Using the PLSQL function we cover e-mail validation of addresses in both the wf_local_roles and wf_local_users objects and in a number of base application objects that populate the workflow roles and users objects.

The paper and the PLSQL function can be viewed or downloaded at the following addresses

PDF document, 500 Kb
http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/papers/email_validation_part_two.pdf

PLSQL, 8 Kb
http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/papers/piper_rx_email_validation.sql

-Gary

Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow. Part 1: Missing e-mail addresses

This paper is part one (1) of a two (2) part series. Part 1 covers null e-mail addresses in your workflow roles objects and in part 2 we covers e-mail address validation including a free 12 point PLSQL function for validating e-mail addresses.

 In this paper we cover the issue of missing (null) workflow e-mail addresses:

     v  The importance of a SYSADMIN e-mail address

v  What happens when an invalid e-mail address is encountered?

v  Assessing the damage in your instance ( Free SQL )

v  And how to rectify the issue

The paper can be viewed or downloaded at the following address:
Part 1: Missing e-mail addresses
PDF document, 300 Kb

In part 2 of the “Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow” series we will cover email address validation. Part 2 also includes an 12 point email address validation function.

-Gary

Did you know you can change an apps user’s account name?

First and foremost this is done via the normal apps Security > User > Define screen.

Whilst the account name (user_name) has to be unique which is enforced by the fnd_user_u2 index, the internal application key is based on the account ID (user_id) not the name

So why would you change an account name?

• A name change by deed poll or marriage
• A new employee has the same name as an ex-employee
• The user name was entered incorrectly
• You want to implement a user naming standard

Scenario: Once a user is no longer with the company, end date the account and change the account name adding an Z_ to the beginning of the user name e.g. The account GPIPER becomes Z_GPIPER. Now the account name GPIPER can be used by a new employee. This has the added benefit of allowing you to filter reports excluding ex-employees, or getting them to sort last in your reports.

Of course you will need to get this approach signed off by Oracle support and internal audit first. Usually, as long as there is consistent documented evidence of the change audit are generally ok

You are not doing anything dodgy here, this is all done via the standard Oracle application screens (Security > User > Define) just select the user, change the users name and commit.

Note: If you change the name of an active account, you will need to reset that user's password and let them know the password you have set and that they will be required to change their password on first connecting with the new name.

Of course you wouldn’t even attempt to do this without checking with Oracle support and you’re your audit team before changing application user names and then testing, testing etc…..

Rebuilding indexes in an OEBS environment

Index maintenance is all too often overlooked and can, over time, have a serious impact on performance. Ever growing indexes account for large amounts of wasted space and failing to perform regular index rebuilds on dynamic application tables is just throwing away performance.

When APPLSYS has over a thousand indexes the OEBS application has over 60,000 indexes (version and module dependant) it often gets too hard to identify what indexes require rebuilding and they simply don’t get rebuilt. Believe it or not, most sites I visit have not rebuilt indexes on even the basic regularly purged objects such as concurrent requests and sign-on audit tables in years.

Example:

A site I recently reviewed generates approximately 35,900 fnd_concurrent _requests records per day which are being purged nightly holding 7 days history on-line. The indexes had not been rebuilt for over 4 years. Thus in this instance the base table should be holding approximately 251,000 records whereas the primary key index fnd_concurrent_requests_u1 would be holding approximately 52 million rows. 99.9% deleted rows. This is an interesting one when you calculate the space the index is holding, I estimate over 1.4 Gb for fnd_concurrent_requests_u1 alone.

In this paper we will provide a simple list of indexes to start with, and a method of identifying if any of these indexes should be rebuilt.

We also cover why you should exercise caution when using an auto index rebuild script you find on the web, some do not readily translate to an OEBS environment

The full paper can be found at http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/tips.html - Look for "Rebuilding indexes in an OEBS environment" in the tips section