Entries from November 2007 ↓

During implementations of packaged software, IT consultants always face the challenge of changing the program logic. Be it an ERP application or a bug tracking solution, each customer insists on its own ways of conducting business and requires that software supports it. In many cases consultants can configure the software to meet customer’s requirements. However, there are situations when consultants have to extend the software.

Software extensions are largely divided into two main categories: extensions and customizations. Extensions are formed by custom code which does not alter any of the standard code shipped with the software or which alters the code allowed to be changed, i.e. extension points. Customizations are formed by custom code which alters the standard code shipped with the software.

In this article I discuss a technique of building extension points into an ADF BC4J application using Mule ESB.

building-oracle-adf-applications-with-mule.pdf

Have you noticed the four OKS XML Publisher Reports which come with Oracle eBS 11.5.10? Have you noticed there is no published data source for it? Have you noticed that in the sample documents tax is hardcoded to 10%? We have. The XML generation mechanism is hardcoded inside ContractInfoAMImpl.java and some other classes with all the bugs which come with it.

We created published data sources for OKS documents so that you can modify them. We rewrote ContractInfoAMImpl.java so that we never had to come back to it. All the data you need comes from the published and tested data sources. If you are interested, please, contact us and we will install this extension for you.

Have you ever worked with offshore developers? Have you noticed that every onsite consultant is personally interviewed by the client or project manager, while offshore developers are just given in bulk? You cannot even request resume of offshore developers, probably, because it is as unimpressive as a new ream of paper. I noticed this practice on all projects with ‘blended’ delivery, (read, software development offshored to India) which I had a chance to be part of.

This inequality creates significant gap in experience between onsite consultants and offshore consultants. On one of the project an offshore ‘resource’ asked me for the meaning of my request to ‘keep the DFF compiled’. Now I am laughing over a mug of beer when I remember that conversation, however, at that time I was about to cry; I had to delivery a very complex project with this type of ‘resources’. Continue reading →