Oracle E-Business Suite Blog

Adding the Company Logo

Companies can choose to incorporate their company logo in player deployments, LMS packages, and various document output formats such as Training Guides, Job Aids, and Test Scripts.

This can be globally done using the Customize Logo option available starting in UPK 3.5 and UPK Professional 6.2.  This is especially useful as company logos evolve.

The Oracle recommended logo size is 230X44.  In our experience, the recommended size is not optimal and as a best practice the logo is tweaked where needed after reviewing the deployment and document output format options.

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The Training Guide template may be customized by adding, for example, a cover page image, deleting the publishing date, or changing the header/footer.  To customize the student guide, locate the original student guide template found in the System folder and make a duplicate copy.  Open the copy of the training guide and drill down to the appropriate file depending on which version of UPK is being used.  This file cannot be opened in the UPK Developer so copy it to the desktop for editing.  Once the template is open in Word, make the appropriate edits and save the newly revised Student Guide template.  Copy the document back to the UPK Developer, close the package and check in all templates.  The new Student Guide template will be displayed for selection in the UPK publishing wizard.

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UPK (User Productivity Kit) is a tool that can be used to create content for training. After the training content is captured, there are many output options available, as well as attachment options that are useful across the organization.

For example, UPK can work in conjunction with Oracle Tutor documents.  Tutor is used to document the business process.  The business process document can be linked within a UPK topic. The benefits of this include enhanced end user training and knowledge transfer from the top down to the end user.

UPK topics can be linked to tutor documents at the module, section, topic, or frame level.

In the example below, tutor is linked at the topic level.

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If you've worked with Oracle Tutor, you know that you can enhance the content by adding attachments within Tutor processes, sub-processes and procedures.  To enhance the experience for the end-user, links can be created to learning content created using the User Productivity Kit (UPK).  Linking UPK content within Tutor procedures allows the end-user to review the business process from a high level down to the precise system steps.

For example, within a Tutor procedure, decide where the user touches the system and would benefit by viewing a UPK topic simulating the system steps.  Add a refer to statement to link to the UPK topic playback mode(s) of your choice.  Once you add the link and convert the Tutor documents to HTML, the end-user has the ability to launch the simulation.

Below are three screenshots to show the end to end process. 

1.  The Tutor procedure flow where the end-user has the ability to click on the Update Personal Information image to;

2.  access the refer to statement within the procedure where two playback modes to a UPK topic are linked; and after selecting a playback mode (in this example Try It)

3.  to the UPK Try It mode of that topic.

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In very general terms, Know It mode aims to quiz users on their knowledge of a topic (ideally, the users have reviewed the topic several times in See It and Try It modes). 

We want to give users clues and information in order to complete a topic, and the key is to prompt users--not stump them or give the answer outright.  Adding a scenario in the concept pane works as an introduction, but we have found that providing the information as appropriate for each frame works best.  As you might imagine, this is time intensive, so we have developed standard verbiage to accompany many of the actions.

This is a brief introduction to Know It mode, so please email us with any questions.

Happy UPK'ing!

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 UPK Topics can be enhanced with sound. Sound can be recorded by clicking the name of the file that you wish to record, clicking the Record/Edit Sound button, recording the sound, and then saving or by importing sound recorded by a professional. In 3.5.1 the supported file formats include .aif, .aiff, .au, .mp3, .snd, .wav or .wma for UPK 3.5.1.

The sound can also be played for the selected file to verify that the sound matches the associated text by selecting the name of the desired sound file then clicking the Play icon. You can stop the sound file playback by clicking the stop icon. Doing this sets the sound file back to its starting point; it does not pause the sound file at the point at which you stopped playback. The sound file can also be deleted by clicking on the file and selecting the Delete icon.

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When editing UPK content, keep in mind the different playback modes.  Depending on the modes being published, you must edit bubble properties to display appropriate instructions in each mode. 

In Do It mode, text needs to be specific to the step, but general enough for a person to be able to follow the instructions and complete the task using their specific, real data. 

When users select a gender from a drop down list or LOV, they may choose from one or more options.  In Try It mode, users might select the "Male" value to complete the simulation, but in real-life (using Do It mode), they may not select "Male", so we instruct users to select the appropriate gender instead.

Next time, I'll cover Know It mode, in the meantime, Happy UPK'ing!

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After recording a lengthy UPK topic, upon review some of the actions are recorded in the wrong sequence. For example, one must click the checkbox and then click on the XYZfield on a form. However, it was recorded as clicking on the XYZfield first and then clicking the checkbox.

Prior to v3.5.x, one would need to re-record the actions in the correct sequence by inserting missing frames (Insert menu-> Missing Frame(s) option).

However, in v3.5.x, one can copy and paste a frame or frames and tweak as needed right in the UPK Developer without the need to re-record.

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The KBACE Education team provides a Player to attach to the Oracle Help menu once a week during content development, but attaching the player requires that the instance be bounced.  This process can pose problems when maintaining a current Player during content development.  

We've discovered that publishing a new player and replacing certain smaller files within the PlayerPackage instead of the entire package can resolve this issue.  This will save hours over a full upload, and does not require the instance to be bounced.

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UPK context IDs are provided by applications as unique identifiers for individual forms.  They can be used in conjunction with the Oracle Applications Help Menu to provide context sensitive help.   Context IDs are captured automatically during UPK recording. 

Note: There is a custom PLL script that must be run prior to recording topics.    

In this scenario, when a user is working within a particular form and launches the Online help, there is the option to activate the UPK player, and any corresponding UPK topics are displayed.

To view a recorded context ID for the frame:

• Open the topic editor and go to the specific frame needing to be viewed, entered or modified
• Click the Context ID button from the menu bar

A Context ID Report that can be used to identify missing context ids can be published to generate a list of the Context IDs.  

Below is an example of a frame in the Context ID Report:

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