Oracle GL: Jack of E-Business Suite!!

Transcription

1 Oracle GL: Jack of E-Business Suite!! Ajaya Kumar Rath - Associate Consultant Capgemini

2 1. Abstract Introduction and Scope: - Oracle E-Business Suite is the most comprehensive suite of integrated, global business applications that enable organizations to make better decisions, reduce costs, and increase performance. Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) version 12 is an internet enabled product that can be managed from a single site. A company can operate a single data center with a single database, like other ERP products. This release was launched in February 2007 and contains several product lines which users can implement for their business. Oracle EBS includes the company s enterprise resource planning (ERP) product as well as supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Each application is licensed separately so companies can select the combination that is suitable for their business processes. The applications found in the Oracle EBS include: Oracle CRM Oracle Financials Oracle Human Resource Management System (HRMS) Oracle Logistics Oracle Supply Chain Applications Oracle Order Management Oracle Transportation Management Oracle Warehouse Management System As per global practices and criticality of the business and volume any implementation of a Banking application or enhancements should be systematically tested and confirmed by Independent Testing before deploying the same in production. This paper attempts to highlight the critical aspects of Oracle Financial Application General Ledger Module and key testing, best practices for a successful testing delivery in terms of approach, tools & accelerators. Research/study content: This paper is created to address the below areas: 1. Testing Complex ETL Transformation Rules for all accounting entries on day to day basis is challenging. 2. As part of System Integration Testing, Large volume of Accounting Entries in GL system interface to downstream which requires thorough testing

3 2. Introduction to Oracle General Ledger: Oracle General Ledger is one of the important financial applications in Oracle EBS. The Oracle General Ledger is the central repository of accounting information. The main purpose of a General ledger system is to record financial activity of a company and to produce financial and management reports to help people inside and outside the organization make decisions. 2.1 Have these Accounting Pills 2.2 Key Components: Ledger: The ledger is a permanent summary of all amounts entered in supporting journals which list individual transactions by date. Every transaction flows from a journal to one or more ledgers. A company's financial statements are generated from summary totals in the ledgers. Chart of Account: Detailed list of accounts that make up the financial statement elements & line items presented in financial statements General ledger: Sorting of Journal Entries by account wise. It represents the 5 main account types: assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and equity. Trial Balance: A trial balance is a list and total of all the debit and credit accounts for an entity for a given period usually a month Income Statement: An income statement is a financial statement that reports a company's financial performance over a specific accounting period Statement of cash Flows: Statement of cash flows is a summary of all the cash receipts and cash payments of a business, for a specific period, such as a month or a year Balance Sheet: A balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time.

4 2.3 General Ledger: Accounting Cycle 2.4 Oracle GL Data Flow and data Model Below is a diagram of Oracle General Ledger s data flow and some of the key tables in the data model.

5 3. Testing Methodology/Strategy of Oracle GL 3.1 Typical Oracle GL Testing Process 1. Receive Transaction files from several source systems, convert them to standard format and feed to ETL. 2. Receive output files from ETL Tables, once the transformation is completed. 3. Compare ETL Table Extracts against the source files as per the mapping rules defined. 4. Similarly the corresponding files from ETL to Core Banking System and then to Oracle GL Module need to be tested to ensure the Total Record count, Total Debit Amount, Total Credit Amount and other balance information populated correctly. 5. Perform Functional Testing within Oracle GL to enter new Journals, Journal Posting, Journal Approval, Journal reversal and generating standard Oracle Financial reports. 6. Downstream to Oracle GL Module are critical and should be tested for various Report generation functionality. 3.2 GL Interface Testing 1. Oracle GL being a key financial module processes day-to-day s accounting entry for all transactions from several source systems and reports to downstream. 2. Rigorous testing for all upstream and downstream accounting files received to Oracle GL should be tested for the accuracy of data populated in the files. 3. This involves field level mapping and transformation logic for columns/data between source files, ETL Staging Table, Core Banking System Files, Oracle FAH Tables, and Oracle GL Transaction Files. 4. To overcome all the above problems, there is a need of specified tool which can accelerate the testing process. A Typical Oracle GL Testing from source to target can be achieved as below Source Systems ETL Table Core Banking System ETL Table Oracle FAH Tables Oracle GL OBIEE/OFSAA

6 3.2.1 GL Interface Validator One Solution for many problems!! PROBLEM STATEMENTS Converting all the Interface Files to Standard Format is tedious Ensuring that all files are populated with correct data irrespective of volume of data in the files Ensuring that ETL Transformation rules are applied as per the mapping rules defined Verifying source and target tables in Oracle are reflected with accurate data SOLUTION An excel based tool can be designed to convert all Interface files to Standard Format as per the requirements The tool should interpret every files to validate each record irrespective of volume of data Script should be capable to validate ETL Transformation rules and should function in cases of change in the mapping rules Any mismatch in source and target table need to be highlighted and displayed to the user 3.3 Testing GL Financial Reports 1. At the End of day Oracle GL sends more than 100 key financial reports to OBIEE/OFSAA and Other Financial Reporting Tools for Trial Balance, Income statements, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet etc. 2. Testing for these financial reports involve report layout, format, content, and structure for daily, monthly, and Yearly reports which is critical to business for every financial year. 3. Looking at the complexity and Importance of these financial reports for business, there is a need to enhance the process of testing these financial reports Financial Reports Validator It s never easy!! PROBLEM STATEMENTS SOLUTION Ensuring that Net Balance amount and Net PL amount is correct in the Report Verifying Balance information against every account is captured correctly from the source file Ensuring that GL Reports are customized and rely to the need of business requirements Verifying that there is no discrepancy of information in the report against the source data An Excel based utility should be designed to calculate the Net Balance and Net PL amount as per the business rule and validate against Report data Utility should be able verify balance amount is captured correctly in the report or not Validation of Format and Layout in GL report should be automated and flexible to the changes in the business requirements Any discrepancy observed during validation should be highlighted and displayed in the error summary

7 3.4 A Sample Case Study Here is a sample case study for a critical long term project which defines various phases across the entire testing process with 30 Resources, duration as 1.5 Years, Each resource working 8.5 Hrs. per day for 24 working days in a month. Type Planning (Hr.) Design (Hr.) Execution (Hr.) Reporting (Hr.) Manual Automation Tools Tools Used NA QC ALM Tool to upload Test cases GL Interface Validator, Downstream Report Validator Defect Reporting, Execution Reporting Manual Automation Tools Planning Design Execution Reporting Benefits in Terms of using Automation Tools:- 1. Productivity 2. Reliability 3. Agility 4. Reusability 5. Scalability 6. Efficiency

8 3.4.2 Benefits in Terms of Testing Approach:- 1. Test Execution accelerated 2. Accuracy in the Test Result 3. On time delivery 4. Meeting the Timeline 4. Testing Best Practices: Minimize testing challenges by adopting the best practices stated below: 1. Frequent meetings scheduled to understand the business requirements clearly. 2. Coordination with development Team and business team to update the QA Team with latest Mapping Documents. 3. Preparing KM Documents and understanding documents to be familiar with the domain and application. 4. Automation Tools created for up/downstream interfaces covering areas like GL Validator, Financial report Validator, AP Interface File Validator etc. 5. Test Data Management: Challenges:- 1. Testing of an Oracle GL application requires complex and huge volume of test data in terms of Interface Files, Transactions on a Daily, Monthly and Yearly basis. 2. Coordinating for batch files from multiple Interfaces/Source Systems is a tedious process. Solution:- 1. Request SMEs for each source system in advance to get necessary Batch files 2. Creating Test Data Tracker and enhancing self-learning skill to understand complex ETL Mapping rules and GL Transaction files 6. Test Environment: 1. Pitch for alternative testing environment in case of application unavailability or connectivity issues 2. Restricted environment accessibility 3. Limited or no access to the application in development environment

9 7. Conclusion and Recommendations Oracle General Ledger System Integration Testing is unique in terms of skill set and mind set required to handle the extremely complex technical and coordination needs as well as volumes of data. A thorough and systematic approach is the only answer to achieve the quality as well as time to market 8. References & Appendix: Author Biography I started my journey with Capgemini focusing majorly into Core Banking, Accounting and Oracle Finance module. I have completed 3.7 Years of Experience in Banking & Financial Domain in working with Testing, Quality Control, and Quality Management. I hope this paper will bring value to the readers in the context of testing Oracle General Ledger and Finance Module.

10 THANK YOU!