Data Conversion,Migration and interface ..

Why important
Do you know how many ways; we can enter the data into oracle application. Most of us can guess three different ways as:

The Data can be entered using the application Screens. The data can be entered using Oracle's Open System nterface. The data can be stored in the database table directly

!ut those who works in some comple" business en#ironment may figure out some of more like:

$rd %arty Software &for the third options' Ta#i( &formerly SmartD!' which is )* tool. +rossroads See !eyond &formerly ST+' ,itria Data -oader: They ha#e macro enabled spreadsheet kind of tool More.apps

*nd there are many more/ but most of these are used for master data/ and few cases for transaction data #ia Open interface if a#ailable. mportance of data con#ersion0migration and interfaces within any )1% implementation pro2ect can't be ignored. Since )1% mostly deals with data which finally leads into nformation / thus it is e3ually important to understand the aspect how 4data4 is important in any )1% system specailly in implementation phase/ no matter how simple and unified operation is. Since been in#ol#ed in some big transformation oracle apps pro2ect thus t is a absolute a good cause to share some information about integration touch point/ con#ersion0migration and interface de#elopment to someone who is #ery new to )1% world as well as Oracle application. -et's start with some common situation/ we ha#e three cases/ 5. The +ustomer is running there some home grown T application which cater most of the company need. 6ow management has decided to go for any )1% solutions/ then the 3uestion what will happen for data which is already in the e"isting application7 8. *nother situation is already using )1% a. They want to upgrade to higher #ersion9:;presuming the structure of some table get changed7 -ets say 5<.= to 55i b. The company is ac3uired or merged with some other company/ and the whole data need to mo#e into the parent or child company . c. They want to enable some additional modules within e"isting application.

$. There are few data interacting with both the cases irrespecti#e of database technology for where data is coming and going based out of need. The answer of the 5 is data migration and 8 is more pronounced as data con#ersion where as thirds is popularly known as nterface. The ways these are working ha#en't much difference but it is more important to understand definition and need. ne#er found any big difference between migration0con#ersion unless there is huge transformation of data/ the only things figure out is con#ersion might re3uired some less steps to perform/ as assumption is that set up related stuff been already been taken care before e"ecution of acti#ity. -et's understand like this: Data Migration as a process of moving required (and most often very large) volumes of data from our clients' existing systems to new systems. Existing systems can be anything from custom built !" infrastructures to spreadsheets and standalone databases. Data conversion can be defined as a process of converting data from one structural form to another to suit the requirements of the system to which it is migrated. -ets take a deep dri#e to understand better: #hy conversion$Migration is more important in E%&' !efore >o?-i#e in the production en#ironment the re3uired master data/ the open transaction data and the historical transaction data need to be imported from the old legacy applications to Oracle *pplications. Since data structure and data design in legacy systems are different from those of Oracle *pplications/ data need to be messaged0 con#erted satisfying the business rules to suite the Oracle re3uirement. nitial data can be migrated by any other means as discussed abo#e depending upon cetain paramater like ,olumn/ usage/ comple"ity / business rule etc.. (ow we Define Data )onversion

%rocess where e"isting data from the client's old system is e"tracted/ cleansed/ formatted/ and installed into a new system. These can be manual or automated. The big difference is that these are One?time only process that re3uires e"tensi#e testing and preparation. They must be e"ecuted and performed before a system goes into production.

#hat !s *n !nterface then

These are programs for connection between Two Systems n Order To Synchroni(e the Data. They can be Manual/ !atch or 1eal?Time. @sed 1epeatedly and Should Therefore !e Designed and +onstructed n the Most )fficient Manner %ossible.

These can !e Triggered by an )#ent &Such *s 1unning * +oncurrent %rogram' Or t +an !e Scheduled To 1un *t * +ertain Time. +an !e ,ery +ostly To +onstruct *nd Maintain.

Does the conversion$migration$interface have +ife )ycle Aes/ they ha#e/ because they ha#e a significant efforts re3uired in de#elopment and design and implementation

Bunctional Designer works with business owners to determine the data mapping and complete the functional design using the Design Templates. f the interface0con#ersion is automated/ the Technical Designer con#erts functional re3uirements into technical specs for the construction of the interface programs. The de#eloper uses the functional and technical designs to build and test the interface0con#ersion programs. More rounds of testing are done until the interface0con#ersion is migrated to the production en#ironment for deployment.

)onversion is assumed as one time activity but never loo,s li,e small activity which can be performed with couple of days.

(ow conversion and interface differ' There are good numbers of parameter on which they can be categori(e. Take few of them:

Bre3uency o con#ersions are a one time e#ent

interfaces are ongoing Occurrence in the pro2ect timeline o con#ersions e"ecuted before production o interfaces e"ecuted during production Manner of e"ecution o con#ersions are batch o interfaces may be batch or real time +omple"ity o +on#ersion does ha#e #ery comple"/ its totally depends upon the data mapping acti#ity. o coordinating with other systems make interfaces more comple" Maintenance o Maintence of interface is bit cost intensi#e task.
o

!nterface "ype Aou ha#e learned how interface is differ from +on#ersion0Migration. 6ow lets take few types of interfaces: 6ormally in any system / there are two kinds of interface as: !nbound !nterfaces

*n inbound interface recei#es data from one system &legacy' and inserts into Oracle open interface tables. * typical inbound interface would follow these steps: 5. )"tract data from legacy system into a flat file. 8. @se SC-D-oader or e3ui#alent tool to upload information into a temporary table. $. Erite a %-0SC- program to take data from the temp table and insert into the Open nterface Tables. .. Through the concurrent manager in Oracle *pplications/ run the standard Oracle nterface program to transform interface tables into Oracle data.

-utbound !nterfaces o *n outbound interface takes data from Oracle tables and inserts it into an e"ternal system &#ia tables or flat file'. o * typical outbound interface would follow these steps: ? Erite a %-0SC- program to e"tract data from Oracle base tables into a flat file. ? @se a custom program to read that data and post it into the legacy system

Do we have some other standard way to do interface'

Open nterface is a table based interface registered as a concurrent program o process records in batches. o spawned&%ro?+' or %-0SC- based programs. *% &*pplication %rogram nterface' is a parameter based stored procedure o directly impacts base database tables. o may be called from Oracle open interfaces/Borms/ 1eports. )D &)lectronic Data nterchange' uses industry standard data definitions&@S0*6S 0F.58' for transmission of documents such as %O's/ n#oices/ Sales Order/ etc.Oracle pro#ides some )D transactions through )D >ateway.& )nterprise *pplication ntegration &)* ' solutions are often used when comple" integration re3uirements e"ist.

#hat !s *n -pen !nterface "able (-!")'

Bor inbound interfaces/ the interface table is the intermediary table where data from the source application temporarily resides until it is #alidated and processed into an Oracle base table through a standard import concurrent program. Open nterface Tables are standard Oracle tables. o Oracle uses O Ts to pro#ide a simple interface to Oracle base tables. o Oracle has list of all the open interface that oracle offered in there product.

-racle !nterface &rogram

Most Oracle modules ha#e standard import programs &concurrent processes' to facilitate custom inbound interfaces. The specific processing performed #aries by application. These programs pull data from the open interface tables/ #alidate the data/ and then insert into one or more Oracle base tables. @pon successful completion of processing/ the program deletes the processed rows from the interface table or marks them as completed. Depending on the import/ errors can be #iewed in #arious ways &e"ception reports/ error tables/ forms/ etc9:;'.

)"amples of standard import programs:

>-: Gournal mport *%: %ayables Open nterface *1: +ustomer nterface 6, : tem mport

*1 ? *utoin#oice

Ok/ thats is all about +on#ersion and nterfaces briefing. will write some more for Tools used for +on#ersion0 nterface and will discuss some granular details about a con#ersion0migration pro2ect and share some information about how and where * M's documents fits into con#ersion and Migration pro2ects. So watch out this space for some more stuff for con#ersions.. Till than..your comment and re3uset you to share some informatio