Some of the key enhancements in R12.2.x EBS Order Management
- Order Management Command Center:
Order Management Command Center provides actionable insights on a single page that contains metrics, charts, graphs and other data to help the Customer Service Representative manage customer relationships and to ensure that every order is a perfect order. It allows Customer Service Representatives to identify and expedite delayed orders, to view and validate pricing information on new orders prior to booking them. The CSR can also review orders that are projected to be late and act on them.
The Oracle Order Management Command Center feature is available at no additional cost to licensed users of Oracle Order Management. It can be applied to Release 12.2.4 and above.
2. New HTML UIs: Increase productivity with configurable HTML UI
In Release 12.2.4, Order Management will have an HTML user interface for creating, updating and managing orders. The new HTML user interface is in addition to and co-exists with the existing sales order screens and Order Information Portal (OIP). It is an an additional option for customers who desire a modern, easily configurable, tablet friendly user interface. It shares a common foundation with the existing sales order screens, Process Order API and Order Import.
3. Enhanced Subscription and Service Ordering:
Flexible ordering and billing for combination of products, services, subscriptions and warranties and it is introduced in R12.2.5. This feature lets you order subscription using Oracle Order Management and have the application create the subscription contracts automatically. The value of the OKS: Category for Order Management Originated Contracts profile option is not considered during subscription contracts creation
4. Advanced Billing – Recurring Billing:
Currently, recurring billing is supported in the Order Management and Service Contracts flow for services i.e. Extended Warranties and Subscription Contracts (Tangible & Intangible). In R12.2.6 release, recurring billing for standard items has been added to Order Management. This gives customers the option to model rental equipment contracts as standard, shippable items and intangible, subscription contracts as standard, non-shippable items. Recurring billing for rental and subscription contracts can be processed directly through Order Management. For recurring billing, a “Billing Plan” can be attached to each sales order line with billing parameters such as frequency, start date, end date, amount etc.,
5. Advanced Billing – Milestone Billing:
In 12.2.7 Release, Milestone Billing has been added as an additional flavor to the Recurring Billing. This feature is for customers who have long lead times for custom designed equipment and bill at typical milestones like Booking, Fulfillment, Customer Acceptance and custom defined milestones. This feature provides the capability to select milestones in the billing plan and specify the amount/percentage that should be billed for each milestone.
6. Enhanced Order Efficiencies and Performance – Flexible and Faster Processing for Sales Orders:
Function Efficiencies:
i. Item substitution on internal orders
ii. Enable Configurator for RMAs
iii. Enhanced gross margin calculations
iv. System driven split of internal orders: By default it allows to split when the line is partially shipped. The processing constraint has been modified to be a non-system constraint. Users can split the internal sales order line to choose more effective scheduling/ship methods.
v. PO date changes on drop ship orders: Changes to the earlier promised date can be initiated by Suppliers. Once such changes are accepted and approved in Purchasing, they are communicated to OM on real time basis and are visible as “Schedule Ship Date” on drop ship sales order line.
vi. Manual item substitution after booking: In R12.2.7, user can do manual item substitution on booked orders through all sales order creation screens utilizing the Related Items window/page.”OM: Enable Related Items and Manual Substitutions” should be set to Yes to enable this functionality.
vii. Item orderability framework enhancements: It allows to define which customers are allowed to order which products, and the ability to apply the business logic when the order is created.
Performance Improvements:
Process improvements for workflow items, ATP and Schedule orders bulk processing, schedule orders bulk scheduling, Process Order API, Order Import Program and Order purge enhancements.
7. Enhanced Quoting Creation, Validation and approval:
Faster validation and approval using Quote validation framework and parallel approvals. Creating Quotes using spreadsheet upload.
I will write separate blog posting(s) for Recurring Billing and Milestone billing features in detail.