Oracle E-Business Suite Blog

Okay, so unfortunately, our SRs have not progressed has hoped.

 The SR dealing with Project Name and Task Name not appearing on the timecard has officially come full circle to repeating the white paper doc enhancement and being told that it is fixed in 12.1.1.  Understood - but it is still not working in 12.1.1.  Again, not a show stopper, but a nice to have and an enhancement that many have asked for in the past. 

 **Last update: Thank you for your last update. I think that the post install steps were followed. This issue was not reported till now by any other customers that have upgraded their instances to R12.1.1**

Contingent worker time is still not transferring to Projects.  We have run many diagnostics and scripts, but not much progress yet.  Initially, advised that and OTL Preference was set incorrectly; however, we have verified it is set the exact same as in Production where time transfers effectively.  I have asked to have this SR escalated as this will prevent us from successfully upgrading.

Our last SR refers to closing all projects and recreating with the new Project Type of contingent worker enabled.  This is still 'Awaiting Internal Response'.  I have asked for updates on the status and to have this issue escalated.  Their initial response what this is standard functionality for all Project Enhancements, so we shall see...

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Unfortunately, our Projects SRs are not progressing as hoped.  Oracle has closed one, based on the question of 'what the contingent worker enhancement is' has been answered and the issues with it are being worked in the other SRs.

 The SR that refers to the project and task appearing in OTL as an enhancement has thanked me for my patience as development continues to investigate.  This is not a 'show stopper', but a nice to have and one that was specifically noted as an enhancement, so I will continue to work with Oracle for a resolution.

The SR that requests a work-around has gone around in a circle and I think we are finally at a point where Oracle is understanding the inability to Enable Contingent Worker function at the Project Type and have it propogate to all existing Projects is a problem and the clarification that we do not use POs is now being considered. 

I asked for an update this morning and got the following response: Development has responded as follows:
>> Flipping of this checkbox effects only projects created thereafter.

I responded: Yes, we understand that. We are looking for an alternative to having to close our existing projects and recreate them with the box enable for the project type.  Having to close and recreate all our projects that currently allow contingent workers to bill time in our 12.0.6 instance is not feasiable.  In order for us to upgrade, we need an alternative workaround for this enhancement. We understand all our new projects going forward should be okay, as long as we update the Project Type. Our issue is with existing projects that are being updated.

Oracle responded: Regarding your issue with existing projects, I believe it is being worked on in a separate SR

I responded: That SR is for contingent worker time not transferring to projects at all, regardless of new or old project type.

I have been told by Oracle that inorder for contingent workers to bill to an existing project after upgrading to R12.1, we need to close those projects and recreate them under the new project type with contingent worker enabled. This is what I need a work around for. To close and recreate all our projects that allow contingent workers to bill time is not feasible.

In our current 12.0.6, contingent worker time successfully transfers to projects for many different projects under our existing Project Types. After upgrading, this functionality has been lost and we have been told in order to continue with this functionality we would have to close and recreate. Please let me know if you need any further details.

Bit repetative, but the request has been sent back to development and they are working on it.......and we are 'Awaiting Internal Response'.

The last SR is being actively worked by Oracle.  I have just sent them a bunch of test files, log files, and trace files to review and assist with the issue of Contingent Worker time not transferring to Projects regardless of if the Contingent Worker Enabled function is selected at the project type level or not.  This issue is for upgraded and newly created contingent workers and projects.  I should have some feedback on this one by Wednesday.

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Okay, so unfortunately I do not have great updates yet...2 of the 3 SRs are still "Awaiting Internal Response".  These are the two requesting a different fix to closing all current projects and recreating them under the new Project Type with "contingent worker enabled".

 The third SR has also not made much progress (this is the one referring to Contingent Worker timecards not importing to Projects).  Here is the last correspondance we had:

1. Do you have 'Contingent Worker Enabled' selected for project type?
Yes. I have submitted timecards for existing project that were upgraded and I have submitted timecards for new projects with the contingent worker enabled selected. However, I have another SR opened to see if we can get Project Type to progate to all our projects.

2. In implementation options do you have 'Import Contingent Worker Timecards with Purchase Order Integration' selected?
This is an upgrade. In our current instance contingent workers are able to submit timecards and they upgrade fine. We do not use Purchase Orders, so this is not selected.

I'll keep you posted on any furhter progress.

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Well, unfortunately, my testing is not going as well as anticipated.  The projects enhancements are causing some issues.

So, based on my last update, the idea of having to close out all our current projects and recreate them is not desirable or even feasible - especially, for some of our bigger projects that we deep into.  Reporting and budgeting would be a nightmare for the PMs and our clients, if we have to close out and recreate all these projects.  I have asked Oracle to provide another solution or workaround to alleviate some of this. 

The other issue we have encountered is two-fold.  In our current 12.0.5 instance, contingent workers are able to bill to all projects (once we create a rate for them).  After the upgrade, the PRC: Transaction Import from OTL does not even recognized contingent worker time in projects...it does not transfer, complete in warning or error out.  It does not even mention the contingent worker time on the output.  Oracle had me run the Replicate Seeded Data, but unfortunately, that did not resolve the issue.  This holds true for both current projects and new ones created after the upgrade with the contingent worker enabled on the project type.  Oracle is currently reviewing some log files and data queries.

The last project related SR is project details are not displaying in OTL, as noted by the enhancements.  Oracle is currently investigating this.

I will keep everyone posted on our progress.

Thanks!

Jesica

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Here is the latest on one of the SRs: 

QUESTION
=========
WILL 'CONTINGENT WORKER ENABLED' BOX AT PROJECT TYPE LEVEL PROPAGATE TO ALL PROJECTS?

ANSWER
=======
The changes will only work for projects created going forward ie..Changes propageted to new projects created a
fter the box was checked.
It will not affect previously created projects.

 Not sure if this means we need to go back and update all pre-existing projects or if they will continue to work with contingent works...I let you know what Oracle says!

 They came back rather quickly with the following:

Yes. This is standard functionality for changes made in eg Project types, project templates

So it looks like we may have some updating to do!

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In my first blog, I highlighted some enhancements to the Projects module in R12.1.

• Contingency Worker Clearing Projects - users will now be able to define if contigent workers are allowed to bill to a particular project, by making the Project Type "Contingent Worker Enabled".

This seems to be a great enhancement.  The additional setup requirement is a simple check box in the Project Type Definition:

However, it quite perplexing because contingent workers can currently enter time against projects, without this setup being enabled.  In various test scenarios, contingent workers are allowed to bill to relatively all projects, regardless of Project Type setup.  I will follow up with Oracle on what the expected results should be of this additional setup option. 

• Additional Project Information to OTL - OTL will now display the Project Name and Task description!!!  This was big request when we first upgraded, so it will be greatly appreciated!

This enhancement is not functioning properly or is, at least, not what I expected.  Based on the enhancement note from Oracle, I expected to see the Project and Task description appear on the header information of my timecard, similar to the allocation form in iExpense.  I will investigate this enhancement a little further to determine its true functionality and expected results for end users.

So, all in all, my testing has not produced the anticipated results...I will keep plugging away and update shortly with further explanations from Oracle.

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The upgrade to R12.1 is bringing a few enhancements to the Projects Costing module!

1.  Federal Budgetary Accounting for Project Expenditures - this will allow users to define add'l journal entries in Oracle Subledger Accounting in Federal Budgetary entries req'd for cost accounting.
2. Contingency Worker Clearing Projects - users will now be able to define if contigent workers are allowed to bill to a particular project, by making the Project Type "Contingent Worker Enabled".
3. Additional Project Information to OTL - OTL will now display the Project Name and Task description!!!  This was big request when we first upgraded, so it will be greatly appreciated!
4. Supplier Payment Control - users will be able to track if suppliers submit required documentation on time.

Here at KBACE, I believe, enhancements 2 & 3 are going to be of greatest benefit.  I'll keep ya'll posted as we get into testing out these new features! 

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