Understanding Integration Cloud and how to get the most out of your implementation

Tag: SOA

May 20 – New OIC Articles

Plenty of good articles published in the last month …

Article / LinkAuthorSubject MatterConnecting
Automate ERP Purchase Order creation using Oracle IntegrationAnkur JainOICERP
HCM Data Extract Processing PatternNiall Commiskey (Oracle Product Mgmt)OICHCM
OIC for Netsuite –> mapping Custom FieldsNiall Commiskey (Oracle Product Mgmt)OICNetsuite
OIC May 2020 release – New FeaturesNiall Commiskey (Oracle Product Mgmt)OIC 
Integration, Process & Insight – Netsuite Data Sync Use CaseNiall Commiskey (Oracle Product Mgmt)OIC, InsightsNetsuite
Basic Error Handling in OIC & Testing of Basic Error Handling in OICAmit Kumar SumanOIC 
Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway (ISG) In Oracle Cloud (OIC)Atul KumarOICEBS & SOA
Use REST Adapter With Multiple Resources & Verbs In Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC)Atul KumarOIC 
How To Export Business Data & Visual Builder Cloud Service (VBCS) & How To Import Business Data In Visual Builder Cloud Service (VBCS)Atul KumarVBCS 
Slack Adapter for OICDaniel Martins Teixeira (Oracle)OICSlack
Conditional Mappings in Oracle IntegrationThomas Hora (Oracle)OIC 
https://blogs.oracle.com/integration/4-ways-to-innovate-your-connected-erp-and-hcm-initiatives-with-accenture-and-oracleDaryl Eicher (Oracle)OICHCM, ERP
Triggering an OIC integration via OCI Events – the Oracle Functions ApproachStan TanevOICOCI
How to configure REST adaptor to extract bulk leads from MarketoShalindra SinghOICMarketo
How to Find Human Task by Correlation and How to Abort a Parallel TaskJan KettenisPCS 
OIC May 2020 release – New FeaturesNiall Commiskey (Oracle Product Mgmt)OIC 

OIC has support for EDI now

A couple of days ago the updates for OIC included a new feature B2B (April 2020 new). Specifically, support for EDI X12. Whilst this doesn’t mean SOA Suite B2B is redundant yet (as that still offers a broad range of other complex exchange protocols HL7, EDIFACT, SAP iDoc – complete list here). I wouldn’t be surprised if Oracle considers leaving behind support for one or two of the more complex file formats such as EDIEL. But with X12 cracked, I wouldn’t be surprised to see EDIFACT follow soon.

SOA CS

SOA CS future?

So where does the leave SOA CS given one of the differentiators to OIC was the existence of the B2B and MFT elements? OIC has not yet fully displaced SOA and SOA CS, there are use cases that OIC can not yet fully address. For example in the MFT space OIC has caps on filesize (whilst MFT does not). MFT also supports Applicability Statement (AS) standards (IETF specification for AS2). Unlike some of the payload formats, particularly the metadata-driven ones we may see fall away more quickly, the AS standards provide the means for communications to be responded with a ‘Message Disposition Notification‘ (MDN) which means the receiver will tell the sender the receiver has safely and fully received the communicated payload – non-repudiation. We have seen banks and other data-sensitive organizations continue to use such standards (after all you want your employer saying they told their bank to pay your salary, and the bank say, nope not got anything or transfers between the bank and the tax man).

How quickly these gaps will be addressed in OIC is not clear, or whether these cases will be addressed, or whether SOA will continue to answer these edge cases until superseding standards and techniques make them redundant.

The bottom line is there are too many customers with legacy estates on-prem for SOA CS to be retired any time soon. However, I would not be surprised if SOA follows the route of ODI when it comes to Oracle Cloud. Oracle has developed ODI on Oracle Cloud Marketplace, which provides an on-prem style deployment configured (and presumably tuned) to run on Oracle Cloud as an IaaS Virtual Machine. This potentially simplifies the BYOL license model leaving the customer responsible for a level of patch maintenance (be that take a new ODI Marketplace instance spin it up and apply the configuration, then drop the old one, or run the traditional patch processes).

We will see SOA continue to be patched and maintained for a long time to come. But I wouldn’t surprised if Oracle makes it more and more attractive for SOA customers to use OIC – possibly combining OIC and their SOA Suite instances with a view that when customers need to update migrations, they consider the port.

Whilst this may sound like Oracle are potentially leaving customers without the infamous paddle. However, our experience in the partner space is that Oracle seeks to enable them and recognize that most partners are very capable. Not to mention, when the heat is on, partners with middleware Aces can usually find their way through the Oracle organization to get what is needed.

I think we’ll continue to see a number of Oracle’s specialist partners file the gap with tooling adapted from on-premise solutions. It is these partners that also have the wealth of expertise on knowing to get the most out of SOA Suite and keep it secure.

Finally …

So OIC will continue to absorb capabilities that had separated it from SOA suite cementing it as the mainstream offering. But the old warhorse will be around for a long time (remember many older companies still use Cobol successfully) yet. To use a car analogy, those sticking with their trusty vintage Mark 1 Golf that has done 500,000 miles will have to stop looking to the manufacture for service and parts and enlist the support of a passionate specialist.

To be clear, this is only our opinion, and not informed or confirmed by Oracle.

Integration Cloud Service, SOA Cloud Service or Integration Cloud, are you confused?

Oracle have announced Oracle Integration Cloud, the next evolution in their cloud integration capabilities. So how does it relate to the existing Cloud based integration products and what is the future of different products?

Selecting which iPaaS Product(s) to use – ICS Definitive Tip #4

In the last few years Oracle’s iPaaS offerings have progressed significantly from one or two solutions such as Mobile Cloud Service to in excess of 35 offerings. This makes it challenging to decide which product(s) to use. The means for selection depends upon a range of factors including:

  • Most suitable licensing model (ICS provides a lower cost of entry than SOA CS as you’re paying by message volumes)
  • Development skills and desire to resilience or invest in people (SOA on-premises to SOA CS is easier than a technology change such as ICS)
  • The amount of control you have in an environment – JCS offers more control than ACCS for example

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