Oracle Cloud continues to be a burning topic in the present business environment as businesses are drawn to the advantages offered by Cloud ERP environment, such as reduced IT costs, scalability, business continuity, collaboration efficiency, the flexibility of work practices, and access to automatic updates. However, regarding features and functionality, Oracle cloud is still lagging behind its on-premise E-Business Suite (EBS) counterpart. This is why oracle cloud quarterly updates are released, comprising new functionality, previous bug fixes, and customer enhancement requests. Generally, these updates are compulsory and applied on a planned date that can’t be changed once fixed.
It doesn’t matter if you are in the middle of your implementation or have already switched to the cloud, understanding oracle cloud quarterly updates and their impact on internal business processes is necessary to ensure seamless working. In this article, we are going to mention some recommendations to consider prior to your next release update.
- Allocate dedicated resources to determine the impact of the new release
The most important step while preparing for an update is downloading and reviewing New Feature Summaries from Oracle’s official site. Generally, Oracle follows a quarterly schedule and is named sequentially; for example, the 2020 Q1 release is 20A, the 2020 Q2 release is 20B, the 2021 Q1 release is 21A, etc. Before installing the updates, it is recommended to download the new feature summary for the appropriate release period.
Every summary released from Oracle contains information related to both functional module updates as well as any applicable security role changes. When you visit the official Oracle’s website, you will recognize that there is no shortage of documentation to review.
- Communicate with the consumers
Organizational Change Management is necessary for the success of any implementation, but it should not stop at go-live. As companies recognize oracle cloud quarterly updates functionality that will have an impact on customers, communication regarding the same should be conveyed to the users that may experience application changes. Information can be conveyed company-wise, department-wide, or role-specific, but it should contain a reference point for end-users to refer to once the update has been applied in a live environment.
Along with feature summaries, Oracle also provides readiness training videos and handouts for specific feature updates that can be provided to the end-users.
- Use Updates to Innovate
While it requires some effort to prepare for oracle cloud quarterly updates, organizations should take advantage of the new features offered and continue innovating and enhancing internal business processes. There is a significant chance that a process workaround was implemented during your Cloud implementation because of missing or immature functionality. Organizations should use oracle cloud quarterly updates as an opportunity to review any existing workaround that was implemented and also identify areas where they can apply improvements.
Wrapping Up
With oracle cloud quarterly updates come additional responsibilities and opportunities for your company’s ERP teams to manage. Organizations that allocate time and people to perform a detailed review of the update have a greater chance of enhancing existing business processes and introducing innovation.
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