Podcasts about payables

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 24:58

The next generation of front-end user interfaces for Oracle Fusion Applications is being built using Visual Builder Studio and Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit. However, many of the terms associated with these tools can be confusing. In this episode, Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham are joined by Senior Principal OCI Instructor Joe Greenwald. Together, they take you through the different terminologies, how they relate to each other, and how they can be used to deliver the new Oracle Fusion Applications as well as stand-alone, bespoke visual web applications. Survey: https://customersurveys.oracle.com/ords/surveys/t/oracle-university-gtm/survey?k=focus-group-2-link-share-5 Develop Fusion Applications Using Visual Builder Studio: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/develop-fusion-applications-using-visual-builder-studio/138392/ Build Visual Applications Using Oracle Visual Builder Studio: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/build-visual-applications-using-oracle-visual-builder-studio/137749/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I'm Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi there! If you've been following along with us, you'll know that we've had some really interesting seasons this year. We covered Autonomous Database, Artificial Intelligence, Visual Builder Studio and Redwood, OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes, and Oracle Database 23ai New Features. Nikita: And we've had some pretty awesome special guests. Do go back and check out those episodes if any of those topics interest you. 01:04 Lois: As we close out the year, we thought this would be a good time to revisit some of our best episodes. Over the next few weeks, you'll be able to listen to four of our most popular episodes of the year. Nikita: Right, this is the best of the best–according to you–our listeners. Lois: Today's episode is #1 of 4 and is a throwback to a discussion with Senior Principal OCI Instructor Joe Greenwald on Visual Builder Studio. Nikita: We asked Joe about Visual Builder Studio and Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit, also known as JET. Together, they form the basis of the technology for the next generation of front-end user interfaces for Oracle Fusion Applications, as well as many other Oracle applications, including most Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) interfaces. 01:48 Lois: We looked at the different terminologies and technologies, how they relate to each other, and how they deliver the new Oracle Fusion Applications and stand-alone, bespoke visual web applications. So, let's dive right in. Nikita: Joe, I'm somewhat thrown by the terminology around Visual Builder, Visual Studio, and JET. Can you help streamline that for us? Lois: Yeah, things that are named the same sometimes refer to different things, and sometimes things with a different name refer to the same thing. 02:18 Joe: Yeah, I know where you're coming from. So, let's start with Visual Builder Studio. It's abbreviated as VBS and can go by a number of different names. Some of the most well-known ones are Visual Builder Studio, VBS, Visual Builder, Visual Builder Stand-Alone, and Visual Builder Cloud Service. Clearly, this can be very confusing. For the purposes of these episodes as well as the training courses I create, I use certain definitions. 02:42 Lois: Can you take us through those? Joe: Absolutely, Lois. Visual Builder Studio refers to a product that comes free with an OCI account and allows you to manage your project-related assets. This includes the project itself, which is a container for all of its assets. You can assign teams to your projects, as well as secure the project and declare roles for the different team members. You manage GIT repositories with full graphical and command-line GIT support, define package, build, and deploy jobs, and create and run continuous integration/continuous deployment graphical and code-managed pipelines for your applications. These can be visual applications, created using the Visual Builder Integrated Development Environment, the IDE, or non-visual apps, such as Java microservices, docker builds, NPM apps, and things like that. And you can define environments, which determine where your build jobs can be deployed. You can also define issues, which allow you to identify, track, and manage things like bugs, defects, and enhancements. And these can be tracked in code review merge requests and build jobs, and be mapped to agile sprints and scrum boards. There's also support for wikis for team collaboration, code snippets, and the management of the repository and the project itself. So, VBS supports code reviews before code is merged into GIT branches for package, build, and deploy jobs using merge requests. 04:00 Nikita: OK, what exactly do you mean by that? Joe: Great. So, for example, you could have developers working in one GIT branch and when they're done, they would push their private code changes into that remote branch. Then, they'd submit a merge request and their changes would be reviewed. Once the changes are approved, their code branch is merged into the main branch and then automatically runs a CI/CD package (continuous integration/continuous deployment) package, build, and deploy job on the code. Also, the CI/CD package, build, and deploy jobs can run against any branches, not just the main branch. So Visual Builder Studio is intended for managing the project and all of its assets. 04:37 Lois: So Joe, what are the different tools used in developing web applications? Joe: Well, Visual Builder, Visual Builder Studio Designer, Visual Builder Designer, Visual Builder Design-Time, Visual Builder Cloud Service, Visual Builder Stand-Alone all kind of get lumped together. You can kinda see why. What I'm referring to here are the tools that we use to build a visual web application composed of HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for metadata. I call this Visual Builder Designer. This is an Integrated Development Environment, it's the “IDE” which runs in your browser. You use a combination of drag and drop, setting properties, and writing and modifying custom and generated code to develop your web applications. You work within a workspace, which is your own private copy of a remote Git branch. When you're ready to start development work, you open an existing workspace or create a new one based on a clone of the remote branch you want to work on. Typically, a new branch would be created for the development work or you would join an existing branch. 05:38 Nikita: What's a workspace, Joe? Is it like my personal laptop and drive? Joe: A workspace is your own private code area that stores any changes you make on the Oracle servers, so your code changes are never lost—even when working in a browser-based, network-based tool. A good analogy is, say I was working at home on my own machine. And I would make a copy of a remote GIT branch and then copy that code down to my local machine, make my code changes, do my testing, etc. and then commit my work—create a logical save point periodically—and then when I'm ready, I'd push that code up into the remote branch so it can be reviewed and merged with the main branch. My local machine is my workspace. However, since this code is hosted up by Oracle on our servers, and the code and the IDE are all running in your browser, the workspace is a simulation of a local work area on your own computer. So, the workspace is a hosted allocation of resources for you that's private. Other people can't see what's going on in your workspace. Your workspace has a clone of the remote branch that you're working with and the changes you make are isolated to your cloned code in your workspace. 06:41 Lois: Ok… the code is actually hosted on the server, so each time you make a change in the browser, the change is written back to the server? Is it possible that you might lose your edits if there's a networking interruption? Joe: I want to emphasize that while I started out not personally being a fan of web-based integrated development environments, I have been using these tools for over three years and in all that time, while I have lost a connection at times—networks are still subject to interruptions—I've never lost any changes that I've made. Ever. 07:11 Nikita: Is there a way to save where you are in your work so that you could go back to it later if you need to? Joe: Yes, Niki, you're asking about commits and savepoints, like in a Git repository or a Git branch. When you reach a logical stopping or development point in your work, you would create a commit or a savepoint. And when you're ready, you would push that committed code in your workspace up to the remote branch where it can be reviewed and then eventually merged, usually with the main Git branch, and then continuous integration/continuous package and deployment build jobs are run. Now, I'm only giving you a high-level overview, but we cover all this and much more in detail with hands-on practices in our Visual Builder developer courses. Right now, I'm just trying to give you a sense of how these different tools are used. 07:52 Lois: Yeah, that makes sense, Joe. It's a lot to cover in a short amount of time. Now, we've discussed the Visual Builder Designer IDE and workspace. But can you tell us more about Visual Builder Cloud Service and stand-alone environments? What are they used for? What features do they provide? Are they the same or different things? Joe: Visual Builder Cloud Service or Visual Builder Stand-Alone, as it's sometimes called, is a service that Oracle hosts on its servers. It provides hosting for the deployed web application source code as well as database tables for business objects that we build and maintain to store your customer data. This data can come from XLS or CSV files, or even your own Oracle database customer table data. A custom REST proxy makes calls to external third-party REST services on your behalf and supports several popular authentication mechanisms. There is also integration with the Identity Cloud Service (IDCS) to manage users and their access to your web apps. Visual Builder Cloud Service is a for-fee product. You pay licensing fees for how much you use because it's a hosted service. Visual Builder Studio, the project asset management aspect I discussed earlier, is free with a standard OCI license. Now, keep in mind these are separate from something like Visual Builder Design Time and the service that's running in Fusion application environments. What I'm talking about now is creating stand-alone, bespoke, custom visual applications. These are applications that are built using industry-standard HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and JSON for metadata and are hosted on the Oracle servers. 09:30 Are you looking for practical use cases to help you plan and apply configurations that solve real-world challenges? With the new Applied Learning courses for Cloud Applications, you'll be able to practically apply the concepts learned in our implementation courses and work through case studies featuring key decisions and configurations encountered during a typical Oracle Cloud Applications implementation. Applied learning scenarios are currently available for General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Accounting Hub, Global Human Resources, Talent Management, Inventory, and Procurement, with many more to come! Visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. 10:12 Nikita: Welcome back! Joe, you said Visual Builder Cloud Service or Stand-Alone is a for-fee service. Is there a way I can learn about using Visual Builder Designer to build bespoke visual applications without a fee? Joe: Yes. Actually, we've added an option where you can run the Visual Builder Designer and learn how to create web apps without using the app hosting or the business object database that stores your customer data or the REST proxy for authentication or the Identity Cloud Service. So you don't get those features, but you can still learn the fundamentals of developing with Visual Builder Designer. You can call third-party APIs, you can download the source, and run it locally, for example, in a Tomcat server. This is a great and free way to learn how to develop with the Visual Builder Designer. 10:55 Lois: Joe, I want to know more about the kinds of apps you can build in VB Designer and the capabilities that VB Cloud Service provides. Joe: Visual Builder Designer allows you to build custom, bespoke web applications made of interactive webpages; flows of pages for navigation; events that respond when things happen in the app, for example, GUI events like a button is clicked or values are entered into a text field; variables to store the state of the application and the ability to make REST calls, all from your browser. These applications have full access to the Oracle Fusion Applications APIs, given that you have the right security permissions and credentials of course. They can access your customer business data as business objects in our internally hosted database tables or your own customer database tables. They can access third-party APIs, and all these different data sources can appear in the same visual application, on the same page, at the same time. They use the Identity Cloud Service to identify which users can log in and authenticate against the application. And they all use the new Redwood graphical user interface components and page templates, so they have the same look and feel of all Oracle applications. 12:02 Nikita: But what if you're building or extending Oracle Fusion Applications? Don't things change a little bit? Joe: Good point, Niki. Yes. While you still work within Visual Builder Studio, that doesn't change, VBS maintains your project and all your project-related assets, that is still the same. However, in this case, there is no separate hosted Visual Builder Cloud Service or Stand-Alone instance. In this case, Visual Builder is hosted inside of Fusion apps itself as part of the installation. I won't go into the details of how the architecture works, but the Visual Builder instance that you're running your code against is part of Fusion applications and is included in the architecture as well as the billing. All your code changes are maintained and stored within a single container called an extension. And this extension is a Git repository that is created for you, or you can create it yourself, depending on how you choose to work within Visual Builder Studio. You create an extension to hold the source code changes that provide a customization or configuration. This means making a change to an existing page or a set of pages or even adding new pages and flows to your Oracle Fusion Applications. You use Visual Builder Studio and Visual Builder Designer in a similar way as to how you would use them for bespoke stand-alone visual applications. 13:12 Lois: I'm trying to envision how this workflow is used. How is it different from bespoke VB app development? Or is it different at all? Joe: So, recall that the Visual Builder Designer is effectively the Integrated Development Environment, the IDE, where you make your code changes by working with both the raw HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code, if need be, or the Page Designer for drag and drop, and setting properties and then Live mode to test your work. You use a version of VB Designer to view and modify your customizations, and the code is stored in a Git repository called an extension. So, in that sense, the work of developing pages and flows and such is the same. You still start by creating or, more typically, joining a project and then either create a new extension from scratch or base it on an existing application, or go directly to the page that you want to edit and, on that page, select from your profile menu to edit in Visual Builder Studio. Now, this is a different lifecycle path from bespoke visual applications. With them, you're not extending an app or modifying individual pages in the same way. You get a choice of which project you want to add your extension to when you're working with Fusion apps and potentially which repository to store your customizations, unless one already exists and then it's assigned automatically to hold your code changes. So you make your changes and edits to the portions of the application that have been opened for extensibility by the development team. This is another difference. Once you make your code changes, the workflow is pretty much the same as for a bespoke visual application: do your development work, commit your changes, push your changes to the remote branch. And then typically, your code is reviewed and if the code passes and is approved, it's merged with the main branch. Then, the package and deploy jobs run to deploy the main code to the production environment or whatever environment you're targeting. And once the package and deploy jobs complete, the code base is updated and users who log in see the changes that you've made. 15:03 Nikita: You mentioned creating apps that combine data from Fusion cloud, applications, customer data, and third-party APIs into one page. Why is it necessary? Why can't you just do all that in one Fusion Applications extension? Joe: When you create extensions, you are working within the Oracle Fusion Applications ecosystem, that's what they actually call it, which includes a defined a set of users who have been predefined and are, therefore, known to Fusion Applications. So, if you're a user and you're not part of that Fusion Apps ecosystem, you can't access the pages. Period. That's how Fusion Apps works to maintain its security and integrity. Secondly, you're working pretty much solely with the Fusion Applications APIs data sources coming directly from Fusion Applications, which are also available to you when you're creating bespoke visual apps. When you're working with Fusion Applications in Visual Builder, you don't have access to these business objects that give you access to your own customer database data through Visual Builder-generated REST APIs. Business objects are available only to bespoke visual applications in the hosted VB Cloud Service instance. So, your data sources are restricted to the Oracle Fusion Applications APIs and some third-party APIs that work within a narrow set of authentication mechanisms currently, although there are plans to expand this in the future. A mashup app that allows you now to access all these data sources while creating apps that leverage the Redwood Component System, so they look and work like Fusion Apps. They're a highly popular option for our partners and customers. 16:28 Lois: So, to review, we have two different approaches. You can create a visual application using the for-fee, hosted Visual Builder Cloud Service/Stand-Alone or the one that comes with Oracle Integration Cloud, or you can use the extension architecture for Fusion applications, where you use the designer and create your extensions, and the code is delivered and deployed to Fusion applications code. You haven't talked about JET yet though, Joe. What is that? Joe: So, JET is an abbreviation. It stands for Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit and JET is the underlying technology that makes Visual Builder, visual applications, and Visual Builder Extensions for Fusion Applications possible. Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit provides a module-based, open-source toolkit that leverages modern JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS3, and HTML5 to deliver web applications. It's targeted at JavaScript developers working on client-side applications. It is not for backend development. It's a collection of popular, powerful JavaScript libraries and a set of Oracle-contributed JavaScript libraries that make it very simple, easy, and efficient to build front-end applications that can consume and interact with Oracle products and services, especially Oracle Cloud services, but of course it can work with any type of third-party API. 17:44 Nikita: How are JET applications architected, Joe, and how does that relate to Visual Builder pages and flows? Joe: The architecture of JET applications is what's called a single page architecture. We've all seen these. These are where you have a single webpage—think of your index page that provides the header and footer for your webpage—and then the middle portion or the middle content of the page, represented by modules, allow you to navigate from one page or module to another. It also provides the data mapping so that the data elements in the variables and the state of the application, as well as the graphical user interface elements that provide the fields and functionality for the interface for the application, these are all maintained on the client side. If you're working in pure JET, then you work with these modules at the raw JavaScript code level. And there are a lot of JavaScript developers who want to work like this and create their custom applications from the code up, so to speak. However, it also provides the basis for Visual Builder visual applications and Fusion Apps visual extensions in Visual Builder. 18:41 Lois: How does JET support VB Apps? You didn't talk much about having to write a bunch of JavaScript and HTML5, so I got the impression that this is all done for you by VB Designer? Joe: Visual Builder applications are composed of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code that is usually generated by the developer when she drags and drops components on to the page designer canvas or sets properties or creates action chains to respond to events. But there's also a lot of JavaScript object notation (JSON) metadata created at the time that describes the pages, the flows, the navigation, the REST services, the variables, their data types, and other assets needed for the app to function. This JSON metadata is translated at runtime using a large JavaScript extension toolkit library called the Visual Builder Runtime that runs in the browser and real time translates the metadata and other assets in the Visual Builder source code into JET code and assets, which are actually executed at runtime. And it's very quick, very fast, very efficient, and provides a layer of abstraction between the raw JET code and the Visual Builder architecture of pages, flows, action chains for executing code and events to handle things that occur in the user interface, including saving the state in variables that are mapped to GUI components. For example, if you have an Input text component, you need to have a variable to store the value that was entered into that Input text component between page refreshes. The data can move from the Input text component to the variable, and from the variable to that Input text component if it's changed programmatically, for example. So, JET manages binding these data values to variables and the UI components on the page. So, a change to a variable value or a change to the contents of the component causes the others to change automatically. Now, this is only a small part of what JET and the frameworks and libraries it uses do for the applications. JET also provides more complex GUI components like lists and tables, and selection lists, and check boxes, and all the sorts of things you would expect in a modern GUI application. 20:37 Nikita: You mentioned a layer of abstraction between Visual Builder Studio Designer and JET. What's the benefit of working in Visual Builder Designer versus JET itself? Joe: The benefit of Visual Builder is that you work at a higher level of abstraction than having to get down into the more detailed levels of deep JavaScript code, working with modules, data mappings, HTML code, single page architecture navigation, and the related functionalities. You can work at a higher level, a graphical level, where you can drag and drop things onto a design canvas and set properties. The VB architecture insulates you from the more technical bits of JET. Now, this frees the developer to concentrate more on application and page design, implementing logic and business rules, and creating a pleasing workflow and look and feel for the user. This keeps them from having to get caught up in the details of getting this working at the code level. Now if needed, you can write custom JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 code, though much less than in a JET app, and all that is part of the VB application source, which becomes part of the code used by JET to execute the application itself. And yet it all works seamlessly together. 21:38 Lois: Joe, I know we have courses in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. But does a developer getting ready to work in Visual Builder Designer have to go take those courses first or can they start working in VB Designer right away? Joe: Yeah, that question does often comes up: Do I need to learn JET to work with Visual Builder? No, you don't. That's all taken care for you in the products themselves. I don't really think it helps that much to learn JET if you are going to be a VB developer. In some ways, it could even be a bit distracting since some of things you learn to do in JET, you would have to unlearn or not do so much because of what VB does it for you. The things you would have to do manually in code in JET are done for you. This is why we call VB a low code development tool. I mean, you certainly can if you want to, but I would spend more time learning about the different GUI components, page templates, the Visual Builder architecture — events, action chains, and the data provider variables and types. Now, I know JET myself. I started with that before learning Visual Builder, but I use very little of my JET knowledge as a VB developer. Visual Builder Designer provides a nice, abstracted, clean layer of modern visual development on top of JET, while leveraging the power and flexibility of JET and keeping the lower-level details out of my way. 22:49 Nikita: Joe, where can I go to get started with Visual Builder? Joe: Well, for more information, I recommend you take a look at our Develop Fusion Applications course if you're working with Fusion Applications and Visual Builder Studio. The other course is Develop Visual Applications with Visual Builder Studio and that's if you're creating stand-alone bespoke applications. Both these courses are free. We also have a comprehensive course that covers JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3, and while it's not required that you take that to be successful, it can be helpful down the road. I would also say that some basic knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript will certainly support you and serve you well when working with Visual Builder. You learn more as you go along and you find that you need to create more sophisticated applications. I would also mention that a lot of the look and feel of the applications in Visual Builder visual applications and Fusion apps extensions and customizations come through JET components, JET styles, and JET variables, and CSS variables, so that's something that you would want to pursue at some point. There's a JET cookbook out there. You can search for Oracle JET and look for the JET cookbook and that's a good introduction to all of that. 23:50 Nikita: We hope you enjoyed that conversation. To learn about some of the courses Joe mentioned, visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. Lois: Before we wrap up, we've got a favor to ask. We've created a short survey to capture your thoughts on the podcast. It'll only take a few minutes of your time. Just click the link in the show notes and share your feedback. We want to make sure we're delivering the best experience possible so don't hesitate to let us know what's on your mind! Thanks for your support. Join us next week for another throwback episode. Until then, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 24:30 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

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Oracle Database 23ai: Backup and Recovery - Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 15:45

Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham continue their deep dive into Oracle Database 23ai backup and recovery strategies with Senior Principal Database & MySQL Instructor Bill Millar. Picking up from Part 1, they explore critical concepts such as instance recovery, checkpoint processes, and the role of redo log files. Bill shares insights into complete and incomplete recovery, flashback technologies, and lots more. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oracle-database-23ai-backup-and-recovery/141127/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started!  00:26 Nikita: Welcome back to the Oracle University Podcast! I'm Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi everyone! Last week, we had a fantastic chat with Bill Millar, our Senior Principal Database & MySQL Instructor. We dug into the basics of backup and recovery. We touched on everything from a DBA's role in preventing data loss to handling different types of failures, and even some common mistakes that tend to pop up when managing a database. Nikita: Yeah, if you missed that episode, definitely go back and check it out. It's packed with useful info, especially if you're in charge of keeping databases safe. 01:10 Lois: Today, we're picking up where we left off. We're going to ask Bill about instance recovery and recovery strategies. Bill, can you kick things off by explaining what instance recovery is? Bill: You can understand instant recovery by becoming familiar with the checkpoint process, the redo log files, and the role of the log writer with the redo log files. Automatically instance or crash recovery. What is it doing? What are the phases of instance recovery? How we possibly can tune that instance recovery. We can use the mean time to recovery advisor that can help us determine how we might tune the instance recovery. 01:51 Nikita: OK, so let's go through some of these concepts and procedures you mentioned. What is the checkpoint process responsible for exactly? Bill: The checkpoint process itself, it's responsible for updating the data file headers with checkpoint information. When a checkpoint is taken, it is going to write into the controlfiles. It tells the DB writer to write. DB writer writes to the data files, and the checkpoint is also annotated in the data files. So updating controlfiles with that checkpoint information also, controlfiles and database files. It signals that DB writer at full check points again, hey, it's time to write. So that way, it has the latest data written to the data files. The controlfile and datafiles, those are in sync with that. 02:40 Lois: Bill, what about the log writer process and the redo log files? Bill: With the log writer process and the redo log files, the redo log files record the changes to the database himself. It should be multiplexed. 02:53 Nikita: What do you mean by that? Bill: More than one redo log group. Now, the redo log groups, it is recommended that they should be multiplexed. Each group member should be on a different disk or in a different disk group if you're using ASM. 03:10 Nikita: And why is that, Bill? Bill: Because if I lose one, if I lose one redo log group, one member, I can continue to operate with just the one. If I only have one redo log group member and the system comes around and tries to write to it, then my system is going to come to a halt. So the log writer is going to write to those redo logs whenever somebody does a commit. When that redo log buffer is 1/3 full or every three seconds and before DB writer writes. So those are the four mechanism that tells log writer to write from that log buffer to the redo log files. And it'll also write, when we do a shut down, all the buffers will be flushed. And so that way, everything will be in sync when the system is shut down. 04:01 Lois: What are the different modes of operation for a database, Bill? And how do these modes impact the recovery capabilities of the database? Bill: So we have two different modes we can operate in. One is called NOARCHIVELOG mode. It is the default. ARCHIVELOG mode, highly encouraged. But not every environment has to be in ARCHIVELOG mode. 04:21 Nikita: So with ARCHIVELOG mode… Bill: Closed database. You have to close it, recover to the last backup. That's as far as I can go. Actually, I could, depending on what happens, I might be able to apply some redo. Suitable for training and test environments or for data warehouses, we don't have a lot of frequent changes. It's mainly bulk loading data at night and querying during the day. So it might be appropriate for that. Because ARCHIVELOG mode, it is a little overhead. Yes. So with that database, it goes down while it's open. The system, when it comes up, it can recover to the last committed transaction. And this is usually the mode we want to operate in for production environments. So we have that data in the buffer cache. We have that redo being buffered. We have the undo tablespace, keeping track of what the data was before a change. The redo keeps track of what was the change. And if we're in ARCHIVELOG mode, as we switch from one redo log to another, we will generate what's referred to as archived log files, and that's what allows us to do a complete recovery. 05:33 Lois: What happens in the case of automatic instance recovery? Bill: For an automatic instance recovery or crash recovery, our system went down unexpectedly. Because it did not do a clean shutdown, the buffers were not flushed. Everything was not synchronized. So the datafile, controlfile, everything is out of sync. 05:53 Nikita: So, how do the files get synchronized then? Bill: It uses the redo log groups to synchronize the files. It's going to roll forward. It rolls forward the changes that were made. So due to different distinct operations. Roll forward applies committed and uncommitted data. And the redo does not keep track of what was committed and uncommitted. It'll keep track of, hey, I had this transaction, hey, here's a commit for that transaction. But hey, I have a transaction. That was never uncommitted. That's the job of the undo. But rolls forward all those changes. And then anything that did not actually receive a commit, it will roll back the uncommitted data, return to the original state. And that is the job of the undo tablespace. 06:37 Lois: Bill, is it possible to tune instance recovery for better performance? Bill: You can try to tune this instance recovery. Tuning it is touchy. Be careful because you can cause more harm than what you think you might be doing good. The instance recovery, what we're doing, we're trying to-- the transactions between checkpoints. When was the last checkpoint? Because the items between the checkpoints, that's what has to be reapplied. So the last checkpoint to the last redo log, what is that time frame there between those? Well, what we're going to do, we're going to try to control that. We're going to try to control the difference between the checkpoint and the end of the redo log. There is a mean-time recovery advisor. You specify the desired times in seconds or minutes that how often you want that checkpoint to occur. There is a parameter, FAST_START_MTTR parameter that you can set. The default value is zero saying, hey, I'm going to let the system take care of it. And the maximum you can set it is to one hour. 07:46 Nikita: And why 1 hour?  Bill: The reason being, if I set that to one hour and I have a lot of activity, how long is it going to take? How many transactions can happen within that hour? Yeah, I'm not doing a checkpoint as often, so I'm eliminating that workload. But if it has to recover, how long is it going to take? If I set it too small, the system says, hey, right now, it's going to take me 19 seconds based off statistics. If I said, OK, I want it in five seconds. So what does that mean? Every five seconds, I'm saying do a checkpoint. So what is it doing? OK, time to do a checkpoint. OK, time to go ahead and OK, DB writer write. OK, log writer write. OK, let me update the datafiles and the controlfiles. So you're just thrashing your system. So be careful if you decide to try to manually tune it. And when you go out and look at this mean time to recover, and even if you do it through the command line, you'll see that, that value is most likely going to change throughout the day, depending on the workload that you have. 08:46 Lois: How does the process of restoring and recovering data typically work? Bill: So when we restore, we're restoring our datafiles. All the datafiles, tablespace, controlfiles, archived redo log, server parameter file. Then when we recover, it involves depending on the backup that we use and other factors in there, it is going to apply the redo. So automatically done by RMAN. So I tell it, this is what I want to do. Hey, I want to restore a database. OK, RMAN says, all right, what backup are you going to use? What is it I need to restore? And then we tell it to recover. OK, I know what I need to use to recover. So RMAN can do the work for you. So when we restore and recover due to a manual process and there's different methods that we can use, and depending on the failure, we'll drive what type of restore and recovery we might perform. 09:40 Are you looking for practical use cases to help you plan and apply configurations that solve real-world challenges? With the new Applied Learning courses for Cloud Applications, you'll be able to practically apply the concepts learned in our implementation courses and work through case studies featuring key decisions and configurations encountered during a typical Oracle Cloud Applications implementation. Applied learning scenarios are currently available in General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Accounting Hub, Global Human Resources, Talent Management, Inventory, and Procurement, with many more to come! Visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. 10:22 Nikita: Welcome back! Can you talk about the different types of recovery scopes, Bill? How do they compare? Bill: Recovery can have two kinds of scope. All right. One is the complete recovery. We are getting the database back to the current time of the crash with no loss of data. We're going to again bring everything back to the present. Incomplete or point-in-time recovery. We're going to take a database or maybe a tablespace or even a table back to a point-in-time in the past. So from the time that we select to take it to recover, everything that was done after that is null and void, is gone missing. That's why it's called incomplete recovery, because it's not complete. 11:09 Lois: What are the steps that take place during complete recovery? Bill: We restore the datafiles. Changes are applied. We're applying the redo. The datafiles contained committed and uncommitted transactions. The undo is applied. Anything that did not receive an actual commit will take back to the original value. And we have our datafiles recovered. 11:33 Nikita: And what about point-in-time recovery? Bill: Point-in-time recovery, very similar. We're going to restore the datafiles from as far back as necessary. Changes are applied. So the data files are going to contain the committed and uncommitted up to that point-in-time. Database is open, that redo, that undo, anything that did not actually receive a commit. The undo is applied. The point-in-time recovered is complete. We're not applying all the redo, all the changes, only up to the time that we specify. 12:08 Lois: Are there any features that can make point-in-time recovery quicker? Bill: We also have the ability to use flashback database. It is an optional feature. And it can be a quick way to do that point-in-time recovery. It is an alternative to that database point-in-time recovery we just looked at. Faster. No restore is required. It's going to rewind the database. It does require some configuration in the environment. We do have to set up in order to use flashback database. 12:41 Nikita: I want to talk about Oracle's data protection solutions, particularly when it comes to backup and recovery or disaster recovery. Bill: So for physical data protection-- backup and recovery objective. Yep, that works for both physical and logical. My recovery time, hours to days. Possibly minutes to hours for the logical. And Oracle solution, we have the Recovery Manager that's out of the box, RMAN. Oracle Secure Backup, that is Oracle's media management library system backing up to tape. The logical protection, yes, flashback technologies can help me take care of that very easily. For disaster recovery, physical data protection, recovery time objective, seconds to minutes. We're not going to accomplish that with RMAN. You're going to want to use our Data Guard with the Active Data Guard feature to be able to switch over to a standby database within seconds of a failure. 13:41 Lois: Why would someone choose to use flashback technologies for recovery, Bill? Bill: With the flashback technologies, we can use it for viewing data as past dates. What did it look like? We can wind the database back and forth in time. Assist users in an error analysis and recovery, because we have different technologies. This flashback query, version query, transaction query, those allow me to view what was the value of a row at a time. I can even see what were the changes to a row over a period of time? I can also view the query that caused that change. For error recovery, I can back out a transaction. I can take a table back to a non-current time. I can also flashback a table that was dropped. And I can also take an entire database by using flashback. So the different recovery options I might have with the flashback technology. 14:44 Lois: Thank you so much, Bill. These last two episodes have been so insightful, right Niki? Nikita: I couldn't agree more, Lois! If you want to know more about backup and recovery configuration and other concepts, visit mylearn.oracle.com and search for the Oracle Database 23ai: Backup and Recovery course. Our upcoming episode is a very special one, where we'll be discussing Oracle AI in Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management. So, watch out for that! Until next week, this is Nikita Abraham… Lois: And Lois Houston, signing off!  15:16 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

director recovery picking oracle backup tuning inventory applied databases assist db procurement incomplete talent management suitable automatically team lead dba disaster recovery david wright asm receivables global human resources oracle database applied learning cloud applications general ledger oracle university payables bill it bill you innovation programs oracle cloud applications

Enhancements in SQL Plan Management, SecureFiles LOB Write Performance, and Column Width

IBS Intelligence Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2024 17:56

Join Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Senior Principal Database & Security Instructor Ron Soltani, as they discuss how the new Automatic SQL Plan Management feature in Oracle Database 23ai improves performance consistency and simplifies management. Then, Senior Principal Database & MySQL Instructor Bill Millar shares insights into two new features: one that enhances SecureFiles LOB Write Performance, improving read and write speeds, and another that increases the column limit in a table to 4,096, making it easier to handle complex data. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oracle-database-23ai-new-features-for-administrators/137192/207062 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started! 00:26 Nikita: Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I'm Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor with Oracle University, and joining me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi there! Last week, we looked at the Oracle Database 23ai enhancements that have been made to Hybrid Columnar Compression and Fast Ingest. In today's episode, we'll talk about the 23ai new feature for Automatic SQL Plan Management with Ron Soltani, a Senior Principal Database & Security Instructor with Oracle University. 01:01 Nikita: And later on, we'll be joined by Bill Millar, another Senior Principal Database & MySQL Instructor, who will tell us about the 23ai automatic feature that enhances SecureFiles LOB Write Performance. We'll also get him to talk about the Wide Columns update. So, let's get started. Hi Ron! What have been the common challenges with SQL plans and database performance? Ron: One of the problems that we have always had, if you remember, was when data changes, database setting configuration, parameter changes, SQL that were operating very well could now behave badly using the SQL plan that were associated to them. And remember, the same SQL plan generally Oracle likes to continuously reuse. So the SQL plans were put in the baseline in the past, and we could have those SQL plan baseline, which are a set of approved plans to be used for a SQL from the SQL history stored in AWR, then could be used for the optimizer to choose from. However, which plan to choose and which one would be the best one to use, this is what the problem has been in managing the SQL plan baselines, and a lot of the operation would have been done manually. 02:22 Lois: And what have we done to overcome this? Ron: So now this new system will going to perform all of those operations automatically for us. Now it can search the Automatic Workload Repository. It can find SQL plans for a particular SQL statement, then look for any alternative plans that may available in alternate sources like SQL tuning sets. And then validate those plans and see if those plans are going to be good and to be used as SQL plan baseline for executing SQL statement by the optimizer. 03:00 Nikita: So we now have the Automatic SQL Plan Management Evolve Advisor to help manage operations automatically, right? Can you tell us a little more about it? How does it ensure optimal performance? Ron: This is an automatic advisor that is created that can go look for different plans and validate the plans by examining them, making sure that they are not causing any regression compared to the previous operation, and then evolve that plan into a good baseline. This simplifies management of the baseline repository for a SQL statement. So as data changes, as parameters changes, optimizer could come up with different type of plans that are set within this baseline that has been validated to be good baseline for each situational operation. So this way you reduce a lot of hard parsing operations. 04:00 Lois: And how does the SQL Evolve Advisor work, Ron? Ron: First, it will check the AWR to find what are the top SQLs that has been found. Then it will look to see if these top SQLs who did not perform well with the plan that they have, that's why they're top SQL, have other alternative plans that are stored in the SQL plan history, in AWR, or available in any other sources. Then if it finds any additional plans, it will go ahead and add all of those plans into the plan history. So in the plan history, now you have accumulation of all the plans available in AWR and anything that has been brought from other sources. Then it will test every one of those plans and validate that by use of the plan, the SQL statement will not deprivate and get slower. The performance is either similar or actually better. So normally, there is a percentage that the SQL should improve. So we will then validate these baselines. And finally, once the baselines or those plans have been validated, they will be accepted, and then they will be added as SQL plan baselines. They will remain in the statement history, in the AWR, and will be available for optimizer for the future use. 05:28 Nikita: What are the benefits of this? Ron: Number one is Autonomous Database. As you know, they want to automate all management, including management of the SQL execution due to changes that are happening for the application, for the data, or the database and its environment. It totally eliminates any manual intervention for management of the statement, and it can transparently repair any statement that had been affected by a major change. 06:00 Lois: What sort of problems does this feature solve for us? Ron: Of course, this is a performance consistency. We want to make sure that every statement performed to its best performance and any specific changes that may impact those SQL statements would be taken into an account, and a better plan, if available, would then be available for use. It also improves the application performance level, therefore database service level will get much improvement. And the SQL execution plans will be automatically managed behind the scene by expanding these baselines, by managing all of these baseline history and all of that that is managed by this automatic SQL plan management environment automatically. 06:50 Nikita: And when do we use this? Ron: If there is a change in a database environment, like you add SGA, the change into the shared pool, change in the size of the buffer cache or any type of storage effects. So all of those can actually affect the SQL execution. Now all of those changes, including data changes, can cause a SQL plan to not behave very well or behave as well as it was doing before. Therefore, if particular plans do not perform as well as they did before, that affects the performance of the application. This also affects the performance of the database and the instance. 07:35 Lois: So, how do we use this environment? Ron: Well, best news that I have for you in that is that there is nothing manual needs to be done. All we need to do is, number one, make sure that we enable foreground automatic SQL plan management that we done through the package for the DBMS SPM for SQL plan management. You will use the package with the configure option, and you enable the auto SPM evolve task, and you set it to auto. Once this is done, now the SQL evolve plan management and advisor are enabled, and they will then monitor your statements, review all of the top SQLs as they are found with all of the ADDM operation, and then do their work in looking for better plans and being able to maintain the SQL plan baselines we talked about. Now for you to be able to view, monitor, and see how these operations are going, if it is enabled, you can take a look at the DBA SQL plan baseline's view. There are many, many columns in that particular baseline, and there are also columns that has been added that tell you where is the plan generated from, if a plan is approved, and any other user interaction with the plan or settings can then be verified using that DBA SQL plan baseline view. 09:13 Are you looking for practical use cases to help you plan and apply configurations that solve real-world challenges? With the new Applied Learning courses for Cloud Applications, you'll be able to practically apply the concepts learned in our implementation courses and work through case studies featuring key decisions and configurations encountered during a typical Oracle Cloud Applications implementation. Applied learning scenarios are currently available for General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Accounting Hub, Global Human Resources, Talent Management, Inventory, and Procurement, with many more to come! Visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. 09:54 Nikita: Welcome back! Let's bring Bill into the conversation. Hi Bill! Can you tell us about the 23ai automatic feature that enhances SecureFiles LOB Write Performance? Bill: The key here is that it is automatic and transparent. There's no parameters set. Nothing to configure in table, no hints, and nothing that you have to do with these improvements. It is tightly integrated with SecureFiles LOB infrastructure. So now, multiple LOBs can be handled in a single transaction and can be buffered simultaneously. This will help with mixed workloads, switching between the LOBs that are writing in a single transaction. The PGA will adaptively resize based off the size for these large writes for the LOBs if you're using the No Cache option. Remember, no cache is going to bypass the buffer cache and does direct reads and writes from the PGA. JSON type will be transformed into the OSON Oracle data type. It is an optimized native binary storage format for JSON data. 11:15 Lois: Ok. So, going forward, there will be better read and write performance for LOBs. Bill: Multiple LOBs in a single transaction can be buffered simultaneously, improving mixed workloads. We just talked about the PGA. Automatically, the buffer is automatically resized. And the improved JSON support. The reason it will recognize, hey, this is a JSON data type. But traditionally, JSON data types were small. So they were small to medium size. So the range from 32k to 32 meg was considered small to medium whereas LOBs were designed for data types larger than 100 meg. So by recognizing this a JSON data type, it can take advantage of the LOB architecture. Other enhancements will also include the acceleration of compressed LOBs, the pen and compression caching, and improves the poor performance of your reads and writes to compressed LOBs. It's faster than previously. 12:24 Nikita: Bill, what do you think about the recent increase in the column limit? Previously, the limit was 1000 columns per table, which sometimes posed issues when migrating from other systems that allowed more than 1,000 columns, right? Bill: Maybe because of workload requirements, the whole machine learning, the internet of things workloads, IOTs can have hundreds of thousands of attributes, dimensional attribute columns for that. And even our very own blockchain tables reserves up to 40 hidden virtual columns, so that takes away from the total amount. Virtual columns count towards the column limits and some applications as they drop columns, what it does, it just converts them to unused, and it still applies towards the limit the number of columns that you can have to that limit. There were workarounds. However, they were most likely not the best way to do it, like column switching, table splitting for that. But big data really use cases, really saw where files have or required more than 1,000 columns. 13:42 Lois: So, now that we can have 4,096 columns in a table, I'm sure it's made handling complex data a lot easier. Bill: So by increasing this, since other systems do support higher column limits, it can-- the increase can make migration from other systems easier and possibly even a little bit more attractive while it can make applications a little bit simpler because the 1,000 column limit was not always optimal for analytics. Where 1,000 might have been plenty for OLTP type environments, but not for the analytics, especially when it comes to machine learning and those internet of things that we talked about, where the previous workarounds, like splitting the tables, really caused more performance issue than anything else. So we want to avoid those suboptimal workarounds. And the nice thing is there's no change to the SQL. So once you have that-- well, if we were doing SQL, if we had tables that were split and we're trying to do things that is actually going to help improve that SQL, now, we don't have multiple objects that we're dealing with. 14:57 Nikita: How do we actually go about increasing the column limit to 4,096? Bill: You do have to have the compatibility set to 23c. Why? Because it's a new feature. There is a new initialization parameter called Max columns, and you do set that. There's two different ways, two different values. We can set it to standard or we can set it to extended. It is dynamic. When it's set to standard, it's only 1,000. When we set it to extended, it's going to allow the 4,096. It is modifiable at the PDB level. However, it will inherit what's at the root level, if it's not explicitly set at a PDB. It can't alter it in a session for that. And multiple instances of the RAC environment must use the same value. Now one thing, notice that it cannot be set to standard if I created a table that had more than 1,000 columns. One thing that might get you, when you drop a table that has more 1,000 columns and you try to set it back to standard, it might tell you, hey, you have tables that have more than 1,000 columns. Don't forget your recycle bin unless you did a drop table purge. 16:09 Lois: Are there any performance considerations to keep in mind, Bill? Bill: There's really no DML or query performance degradation for the tables. However, it might require, as you would expect, the increase in memory when we have the new column limits. It might require additional shared pool, additional SGA with the additional columns, more buffer cache as we're bringing blocks in. So that's shared pool along with the PGA. And also we can add in buffer cache in there, because that increased column count is going to be increase in the total PGA memory usage. And those are kind of expected for that. But the big advantage is it gives us the ability to eliminate some of these suboptimal workarounds that we had in the past. 17:02 Nikita: Ok! We covered a lot today so thank you Bill and Ron. Lois: To learn more about what we discussed today, visit mylearn.oracle.com and search for the Oracle Database 23ai New Features for Administrators course. Join us next week for a discussion on some more Oracle Database 23ai new features. Until then, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham signing off! 17:27 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

director performance management write virtual oracle pga internet of things inventory administrators applied databases lob enhancements procurement column talent management sql automatically sga json david wright rac width spm new features awr l'obs receivables pdb sqls global human resources oracle database dml applied learning cloud applications oltp iots general ledger oracle university payables innovation programs bill you oracle cloud applications

EP708: How to manage your cashflow more efficiently

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2024 14:11

Vishal Gupta, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HylobizProfits alone won't keep you in business! What you need to stay on top of, is your cashflow. Vishal Gupta, Founder and CEO of Hylobiz discusses the cashflow challenge with Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence, and explains how the firm's solution allows you to accept instant payments and pay to your vendors, automate account receivables, payables, reconciliations, and more…

Introduction to Visual Builder Studio, Visual Builder Cloud Service, Stand-Alone, and JET

Contractor Success Map with Randal DeHart | Contractor Bookkeeping And Accounting Services

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2024 24:38

The next generation of front-end user interfaces for Oracle Fusion Applications is being built using Visual Builder Studio and Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit. However, many of the terms associated with these tools can be confusing. In this episode, Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham are joined by Senior Principal OCI Instructor Joe Greenwald. Together, they take you through the different terminologies, how they relate to each other, and how they can be used to deliver the new Oracle Fusion Applications as well as stand-alone, bespoke visual web applications. Develop Fusion Applications Using Visual Builder Studio: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/develop-fusion-applications-using-visual-builder-studio/122614/ Build Visual Applications Using Visual Builder Studio: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/build-visual-applications-using-oracle-visual-builder-studio/110035/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. --------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor. Nikita: Hi everyone! Today, we're starting a new season on building the next generation of Oracle Cloud Apps with Visual Builder Studio. 00:45 Lois: And I'm so excited that we have someone really special to take us through the next few episodes. Joe Greenwald is joining us. Joe is a Senior Principal OCI Instructor with Oracle University. He joined Oracle in 1992 with an extensive background in CASE tools. Since then, he has used and taught all of Oracle's software development tools, including Oracle Forms, APEX, JDeveloper ADF, as well as all the Fusion Middleware courses. Currently, Joe is responsible for the Visual Builder Studio and Redwood development courses, including extending Fusion Applications with Visual Builder. 01:22 Nikita: In today's episode, we're going to ask Joe about Visual Builder Studio and Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit, also known as JET. Together, they form the basis of the technology for the next generation of front-end user interfaces for Oracle Fusion Applications, as well as many other Oracle applications, including most Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) interfaces. Lois: We'll look at the different terminologies and technologies, how they relate to each other, and how they deliver the new Oracle Fusion applications and stand-alone, bespoke visual web applications. Hi Joe! Thanks for being with us today. 01:57 Joe: Hi Lois! Hi Niki! I'm glad to be here. Nikita: Joe, I'm somewhat thrown by the terminology around Visual Builder, Visual Studio, and JET. Can you help streamline that for us? Lois: Yeah, things that are named the same sometimes refer to different things, and sometimes things with a different name refer to the same thing. 02:15 Joe: Yeah, I know where you're coming from. So, let's start with Visual Builder Studio. It's abbreviated as VBS and can go by a number of different names. Some of the most well-known ones are Visual Builder Studio, VBS, Visual Builder, Visual Builder Stand-Alone, and Visual Builder Cloud Service. Clearly, this can be very confusing. For the purposes of these episodes as well as the training courses I create, I use certain definitions. 02:39 Lois: Can you take us through those? Joe: Absolutely, Lois. Visual Builder Studio refers to a product that comes free with an OCI account and allows you to manage your project-related assets. This includes the project itself, which is a container for all of its assets. You can assign teams to your projects, as well as secure the project and declare roles for the different team members. You manage GIT repositories with full graphical and command-line GIT support, define package, build, and deploy jobs, and create and run continuous integration/continuous deployment graphical and code-managed pipelines for your applications. These can be visual applications, created using the Visual Builder Integrated Development Environment, the IDE, or non-visual apps, such as Java microservices, docker builds, NPM apps, and things like that. And you can define environments, which determine where your build jobs can be deployed. You can also define issues, which allow you to identify, track, and manage things like bugs, defects, and enhancements. And these can be tracked in code review merge requests and build jobs, and be mapped to agile sprints and scrum boards. There's also support for wikis for team collaboration, code snippets, and the management of the repository and the project itself. So, VBS supports code reviews before code is merged into GIT branches for package, build, and deploy jobs using merge requests. 03:57 Nikita: OK, what exactly do you mean by that? Joe: Great. So, for example, you could have developers working in one GIT branch and when they're done, they would push their private code changes into that remote branch. Then, they'd submit a merge request and their changes would be reviewed. Once the changes are approved, their code branch is merged into the main branch and then automatically runs a CI/CD package (continuous integration/continuous deployment) package, build, and deploy job on the code. Also, the CI/CD package, build, and deploy jobs can run against any branches, not just the main branch. So Visual Builder Studio is intended for managing the project and all of its assets. 04:37 Lois: So Joe, what are the different tools used in developing web applications? Joe: Well, Visual Builder, Visual Builder Studio Designer, Visual Builder Designer, Visual Builder Design-Time, Visual Builder Cloud Service, Visual Builder Stand-Alone all kind of get lumped together. You can kinda see why. What I'm referring to here are the tools that we use to build a visual web application composed of HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for metadata. I call this Visual Builder Designer. This is an Integrated Development Environment, it's the “IDE” which runs in your browser. You use a combination of drag and drop, setting properties, and writing and modifying custom and generated code to develop your web applications. You work within a workspace, which is your own private copy of a remote Git branch. When you're ready to start development work, you open an existing workspace or create a new one based on a clone of the remote branch you want to work on. Typically, a new branch would be created for the development work or you would join an existing branch. 05:35 Nikita: What's a workspace, Joe? Is it like my personal laptop and drive? Joe: A workspace is your own private code area that stores any changes you make on the Oracle servers, so your code changes are never lost—even when working in a browser-based, network-based tool. A good analogy is, say I was working at home on my own machine. And I would make a copy of a remote GIT branch and then copy that code down to my local machine, make my code changes, do my testing, etc. and then commit my work—create a logical save point periodically—and then when I'm ready, I'd push that code up into the remote branch so it can be reviewed and merged with the main branch. My local machine is my workspace. However, since this code is hosted up by Oracle on our servers, and the code and the IDE are all running in your browser, the workspace is a simulation of a local work area on your own computer. So, the workspace is a hosted allocation of resources for you that's private. Other people can't see what's going on in your workspace. Your workspace has a clone of the remote branch that you're working with and the changes you make are isolated to your cloned code in your workspace. 06:38 Lois: Ok… the code is actually hosted on the server, so each time you make a change in the browser, the change is written back to the server? Is it possible that you might lose your edits if there's a networking interruption? Joe: I want to emphasize that while I started out not personally being a fan of web-based integrated development environments, I have been using these tools for over three years and in all that time, while I have lost a connection at times—networks are still subject to interruptions—I've never lost any changes that I've made. Ever. 07:08 Nikita: Is there a way to save where you are in your work so that you could go back to it later if you need to? Joe: Yes, Niki, you're asking about commits and savepoints, like in a Git repository or a Git branch. When you reach a logical stopping or development point in your work, you would create a commit or a savepoint. And when you're ready, you would push that committed code in your workspace up to the remote branch where it can be reviewed and then eventually merged, usually with the main Git branch, and then continuous integration/continuous package and deployment build jobs are run. Now, I'm only giving you a high-level overview, but we cover all this and much more in detail with hands-on practices in our Visual Builder developer courses. Right now, I'm just trying to give you a sense of how these different tools are used. 07:49 Lois: Yes, that makes sense, Joe. It's a lot to cover in a short amount of time. Now, we've discussed the Visual Builder Designer IDE and workspace. But can you tell us more about Visual Builder Cloud Service and stand-alone environments? What are they used for? What features do they provide? Are they the same or different things? Joe: Visual Builder Cloud Service or Visual Builder Stand-Alone, as it's sometimes called, is a service that Oracle hosts on its servers. It provides hosting for the deployed web application source code as well as database tables for business objects that we build and maintain to store your customer data. This data can come from XLS or CSV files, or even your own Oracle database customer table data. A custom REST proxy makes calls to external third-party REST services on your behalf and supports several popular authentication mechanisms. There is also integration with the Identity Cloud Service (IDCS) to manage users and their access to your web apps. 08:47 Joe: Visual Builder Cloud Service is a for-fee product. You pay licensing fees for how much you use because it's a hosted service. Visual Builder Studio, the project asset management aspect I discussed earlier, is free with a standard OCI license. Now, keep in mind these are separate from something like Visual Builder Design Time and the service that's running in Fusion application environments. What I'm talking about now is creating standalone, bespoke, custom visual applications. These are applications that are built using industry-standard HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and JSON for metadata and are hosted on the Oracle servers. 09:27 Are you looking for practical use cases to help you plan and apply configurations that solve real-world challenges? With the new Applied Learning courses for Cloud Applications, you'll be able to practically apply the concepts learned in our implementation courses and work through case studies featuring key decisions and configurations encountered during a typical Oracle Cloud Applications implementation. Applied learning scenarios are currently available for General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Accounting Hub, Global Human Resources, Talent Management, Inventory, and Procurement, with many more to come! Visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. 10:09 Nikita: Welcome back! Joe, you said Visual Builder Cloud Service or Stand-Alone is a for-fee service. Is there a way I can learn about using Visual Builder Designer to build bespoke visual applications without a fee? Joe: Yes. Actually, we've added an option where you can run the Visual Builder Designer and learn how to create web apps without using the app hosting or the business object database that stores your customer data or the REST proxy for authentication or the Identity Cloud Service. So you don't get those features, but you can still learn the fundamentals of developing with Visual Builder Designer. You can call third-party APIs, you can download the source, and run it locally, for example, in a Tomcat server. This is a great and free way to learn how to develop with the Visual Builder Designer. 10:52 Lois: Joe, I want to know more about the kinds of apps you can build in VB Designer and the capabilities that VB Cloud Service provides. Joe: Visual Builder Designer allows you to build custom, bespoke web applications made of interactive webpages; flows of pages for navigation; events that respond when things happen in the app, for example, GUI events like a button is clicked or values are entered into a text field; variables to store state and the ability to make REST calls, all from your browser. These applications have full access to the Oracle Fusion Applications APIs, given that you have the right security permissions and credentials of course. They can access your customer business data as business objects in our internally hosted database tables or your own customer database tables. They can access third-party APIs, and all these different data sources can appear in the same visual application, on the same page, at the same time. They use the identity cloud service to identify which users can log in and authenticate against the application. And they all use the new Redwood graphical user interface components and page templates, so they have the same look and feel of all Oracle applications. 11:59 Nikita: But what if you're building or extending Oracle Fusion Applications? Don't things change a little bit? Joe: Good point, Niki. Yes. While you still work within Visual Builder Studio, that doesn't change, VBS maintains your project and all your project-related assets, that is still the same. However, in this case, there is no separate hosted Visual Builder Cloud Service or Stand-Alone instance. In this case, Visual Builder is hosted inside of Fusion apps itself as part of the installation. I won't go into the details of how the architecture works, but the Visual Builder instance that you're running your code against is part of Fusion applications and is included in the architecture as well as the billing. All your code changes are maintained and stored within a single container called an extension. And this extension is a Git repository that is created for you, or you can create it yourself, depending on how you choose to work within Visual Builder Studio. You create an extension to hold the source code changes that provide a customization or configuration. This means making a change to an existing page or a set of pages or even adding new pages and flows to your Oracle Fusion Applications. You use Visual Builder Studio and Visual Builder Designer in a similar way as to how you would use them for bespoke stand-alone visual applications. 13:10 Lois: I'm trying to envision how this workflow is used. How is it different from bespoke VB app development? Or is it different at all? Joe: So, recall that the Visual Builder Designer is effectively the Integrated Development Environment, the IDE, where you make your code changes by working with both the raw HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code, if need be, or the Page Designer for drag and drop, and setting properties and then Live mode to test your work. You use a version of VB Designer to view and modify your customizations, and the code is stored in a Git repository called an extension. So, in that sense, the work of developing pages and flows and such is the same. You still start by creating or, more typically, joining a project and then either create a new extension from scratch or base it on an existing application, or go directly to the page that you want to edit and, on that page, select from your profile menu to edit in Visual Builder Studio. Now, this is a different lifecycle path from bespoke visual applications. With them, you're not extending an app or modifying individual pages in the same way. 14:11 Joe: You get a choice of which project you want to add your extension to when you're working with Fusion apps and potentially which repository to store your customizations, unless one already exists and then it's assigned automatically to hold your code changes. So you make your changes and edits to the portions of the application that have been opened for extensibility by the development team. This is another difference. Once you make your code changes, the workflow is pretty much the same as for a bespoke visual application: do your development work, commit your changes, push your changes to the remote branch. And then typically, your code is reviewed and if the code passes and is approved, it's merged with the main branch. Then, the package and deploy jobs run to deploy the main code to the production environment or whatever environment you're targeting. And once the package and deploy jobs complete, the code base is updated and users who log in see the changes that you've made. 15:00 Nikita: You mentioned creating apps that combine data from Fusion cloud, applications, customer data, and third-party APIs into one page. Why is it necessary? Why can't you just do all that in one Fusion Applications extension? Joe: When you create extensions, you are working within the Oracle Fusion Applications ecosystem, that's what they actually call it, which includes a defined a set of users who have been predefined and are, therefore, known to Fusion Applications. So, if you're a user and you're not part of that Fusion Apps ecosystem, you can't access the pages. Period. That's how Fusion Apps works to maintain its security and integrity. Secondly, you're working pretty much solely with the Fusion Applications APIs data sources coming directly from Fusion Applications, which are also available to you when you're creating bespoke visual apps. When you're working with Fusion Applications in Visual Builder, you don't have access to these business objects that give you access to your own customer database data through Visual Builder-generated REST APIs. Business objects are available only to bespoke visual applications in the hosted VB Cloud Service instance. So, your data sources are restricted to the Oracle Fusion Applications APIs and some third-party APIs that work within a narrow set of authentication mechanisms currently, although there are plans to expand this in the future. A mashup app that allows you now to access all these data sources while creating apps that leverage the Redwood Component System, so they look and work like Fusion Apps. They're a highly popular option for our partners and customers. 16:25 Lois: So, to review, we have two different approaches. You can create a visual application using the for-fee, hosted Visual Builder Cloud Service/Stand-Alone or the one that comes with Oracle Integration Cloud, or you can use the extension architecture for Fusion applications, where you use the designer and create your extensions, and the code is delivered and deployed to Fusion applications code. You haven't talked about JET yet though, Joe. What is that? Joe: So, JET is an abbreviation. It stands for Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit and JET is the underlying technology that makes Visual Builder, visual applications, and Visual Builder Extensions for Fusion Applications possible. Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit provides a module-based, open-source toolkit that leverages modern JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS3, and HTML5 to deliver web applications. It's targeted at JavaScript developers working on client-side applications. It is not for backend development. It's a collection of popular, powerful JavaScript libraries and a set of Oracle-contributed JavaScript libraries that make it very simple, easy, and efficient to build front-end applications that can consume and interact with Oracle products and services, especially Oracle Cloud services, but of course it can work with any type of third-party API. 17:42 Nikita: How are JET applications architected, Joe, and how does that relate to Visual Builder pages and flows? Joe: The architecture of JET applications is what's called a single page architecture. We've all seen these. These are where you have a single web page—think of your index page that provides the header and footer for your web page—and then the middle portion or the middle content of the page, represented by modules, allow you to navigate from one page or module to another. It also provides the data mapping so that the data elements in the variables and the state of the application, as well as the graphical user interface elements that provide the fields and functionality for the interface for the application, these are all maintained on the client side. If you're working in pure JET, then you work with these modules at the raw JavaScript code level. And there are a lot of JavaScript developers who want to work like this and create their custom applications from the code up, so to speak. However, it also provides the basis for Visual Builder visual applications and Fusion Apps visual extensions in Visual Builder. 18:38 Lois: How does JET support VB Apps? You didn't talk much about having to write a bunch of JavaScript and HTML5 so I got the impression that this is all done for you by VB Designer? Joe: Visual Builder applications are composed of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code that is usually generated by the developer when she drags and drops components on to the page designer canvas or sets properties or creates action chains to respond to events. But there's also a lot of JavaScript object notation (JSON) metadata created at the time that describes the pages, the flows, the navigation, the REST services, the variables, their data types, and other assets needed for the app to function. This JSON metadata is translated at runtime using a large JavaScript extension toolkit library called the Visual Builder Runtime that runs in the browser and real time translates the metadata and other assets in the Visual Builder source code into JET code and assets, which are actually executed at runtime. And it's very quick, very fast, very efficient, and provides a layer of abstraction between the raw JET code and the Visual Builder architecture of pages, flows, action chains for executing code and events to handle things that occur in the user interface, including saving the state in variables that are mapped to GUI components. For example, if you have an Input text component, you need to have a variable to store the value that was entered into that Input text component between page refreshes. The data can move from the Input text component to the variable, and from the variable to that Input text component if it's changed programmatically, for example. So, JET manages binding these data values to variables and the UI components on the page. So, a change to a variable value or a change to the contents of the component causes the others to change automatically. Now, this is only a small part of what JET and the frameworks and libraries it uses do for the applications. JET also provides more complex GUI components like lists and tables, and selection lists, and check boxes, and all the sorts of things you would expect in a modern GUI application. 20:34 Nikita: You mentioned a layer of abstraction between Visual Builder Studio Designer and JET. What's the benefit of working in Visual Builder Designer versus JET itself? Joe: The benefit of Visual Builder is that you work at a higher level of abstraction than having to get down into the more detailed levels of deep JavaScript code, working with modules, data mappings, HTML code, single page architecture navigation, and the related functionalities. You can work at a higher level, a graphical level, where you can drag and drop things onto a design canvas and set properties. The VB architecture insulates you from the more technical bits of JET. Now, this frees the developer to concentrate more on application and page design, implementing logic and business rules, and creating a pleasing workflow and look and feel for the user. This keeps them from having to get caught up in the details of getting this working at the code level. Now if needed, you can write custom JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 code, though much less than in a JET app, and all that is part of the VB application source, which becomes part of the code used by JET to execute the application itself. And yet it all works seamlessly together. 21:35 Lois: Joe, I know we have courses in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. But does a developer getting ready to work in Visual Builder Designer have to go take those courses first or can they start working in VB Designer right away? Joe: Yeah, that question does often comes up: Do I need to learn JET to work with Visual Builder? No, you don't. That's all taken care for you in the products themselves. I don't really think it helps that much to learn JET if you are going to be a VB developer. In some ways, it could even be a bit distracting since some of things you learn to do in JET, you would have to unlearn or not do so much because of what VB does it for you. The things you would have to do manually in code in JET are done for you. This is why we call VB a low code development tool. I mean, you certainly can if you want to, but I would spend more time learning about the different GUI components, page templates, the Visual Builder architecture — events, action chains, and the data provider variables and types. Now, I know JET myself. I started with that before learning Visual Builder, but I use very little of my JET knowledge as a VB developer. Visual Builder Designer provides a nice, abstracted, clean layer of modern visual development on top of JET, while leveraging the power and flexibility of JET and keeping the lower-level details out of my way. 22:46 Nikita: Joe, where can I go to get started with Visual Builder? Joe: Well, for more information, I recommend you take a look at our Develop Fusion Applications course if you're working with Fusion Applications and Visual Builder Studio. The other course is Develop Visual Applications with Visual Builder Studio and that's if you're creating stand-alone bespoke applications. Both these courses are free. We also have a comprehensive course that covers JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3, and while it's not required that you take that to be successful, it can be helpful down the road. I would say that some basic knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript will certainly support you and serve you well when working with Visual Builder. You learn more as you go along and you find that you need to create more sophisticated applications. I would also mention that a lot of the look and feel of the applications in Visual Builder visual applications and Fusion apps extensions and customizations come through JET components, JET styles, and JET variables, and CSS variables, so that's something that you would want to pursue at some point. There's a JET cookbook out there. You can search for Oracle JET and look for the JET cookbook and that's a good introduction to all of that. 23:47 Lois: Joe, thank you so much for joining us today. We're really looking forward to having you back next week to discuss extending Oracle Fusion Applications with Visual Builder Studio. Joe: Thanks for having me. Nikita: And if you want to learn about some of the courses Joe mentioned, visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started. Until next time, this is Nikita Abraham… Lois: And Lois Houston signing off! 24:09 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

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565: DIY Construction Accounting Errors And Ways To Improve Your Practices

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2024 12:30

This Podcast Is Episode 565, And It's About DIY Construction Accounting Errors And Ways To Improve Your Practices Many small construction business owners tend to handle their accounting and bookkeeping, especially when they've just started. However, keeping track of the finance side of the business– everything from income to expenses to tax compliance– can be overwhelming. Mistakes can happen quite quickly and can have costly consequences for your business. Below are five of the most common Do-It-Yourself accounting errors you should avoid. 1. Unorganized Records It takes excellent organizational skills to do your bookkeeping and accounting right. You must record every transaction, keep receipts or digitize them for future reference, calculate taxes accurately, and more. If your records are not kept organized and updated, you'll likely miss something, which could get you into trouble during the tax season. 2. No Accounting Schedule As a construction business owner, there are many other things you need to attend to, and accounting can easily be pushed to the bottom of your seemingly endless To-Do list. Yet, setting an accounting schedule to add your recent income and expenses into your records is extremely important. If daily updating is not possible, at least dedicate some time once a week to do your accounting. 3. Unreconciled Accounts Regularly check if your bank account reflects the same balance as you record your cash flow and other financial data in your books. If you find a gap, there is likely a mistake somewhere that you need to find or even a fraudulent transaction. Taking immediate action will help you prevent worse problems further down the line. 4. Failing to Take Into Account Small Transactions It can be easy to forget about minor transactions, such as the office supplies you picked up on your way to the office or the freebie you sent a loyal customer. However, no matter how small you think the transaction is, keeping a record and getting a receipt is essential. In case of a tax audit, you will need to be able to present records of ALL business expenses, even these small ones. 5. Not Backing Up Data and Using Accounting Software Imagine if the laptop where you store all your financial data was stolen, lost, or broken beyond repair, and you don't have a backup. You need to redo everything from scratch, which could be a massive waste of time. If you're still using a spreadsheet or paper ledger to keep track of your business finances, you might consider upgrading to a cloud-based accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks. By migrating to the cloud, you can easily back up your accounting data and access them wherever and whenever necessary. These cloud-based accounting systems integrate well with your bank account and other valuable construction business apps. The results are streamlined processes, less manual work, enhanced efficiencies, and better overall business performance. Spend Less Time on Your Books and More Time on Your Business While being aware of these common accounting mistakes could help you avoid them, the most convenient and efficient way to stay on top of your business finances is to entrust your accounting to the experts. Our team of experienced accountants can integrate the most suitable cloud accounting software for your business and even train your in-house staff on its proper implementation. I admit that small business owners - like myself have learned to make the most of our resources. As an entrepreneur, I tend to take on the challenge of wearing multiple hats, managing your business, answering phone calls, responding to emails, and scheduling appointments. However, I am reminding you now that being a construction company owner and doing your accounting and bookkeeping requires a different skill set from being a construction expert in your field. When it comes to your financials, it would be wise to take a step back and let someone specializing in bookkeeping do it for you. Ensure that they are not just accountants or bookkeepers; they are construction bookkeeping and accounting professionals. Still contemplating whether to outsource or do it yourself? Here are the questions to determine which one is right for you: Do I have experience in bookkeeping and accounting? Outsource: Working with a knowledgeable and experienced bookkeeper specializing in your industry will save you time setting up your system and processes, making it easier to get started. DIY: You may have a bit of a learning curve. Start by familiarizing yourself with construction bookkeeping and accounting processes. Create a system and an everyday routine for managing your paperwork. What kind of software and applications should I use? Outsource: Your construction bookkeeper will be able to help you determine which accounting software will work best for your business, provide you with extensive training and support, and share tips and tricks on optimizing it. Fast Easy Accounting supports several different software and applications. In particular, QuickBooks or Xero for construction depends on how you get paid, the work your company does, and if you need Job Costing. DIY: This is where it gets tricky. As I have mentioned, using a particular software depends on your contracting business, what you need out of it, and how much time you are willing to devote to learning and using it. Remember that using more popular and in-demand software and applications has a significant advantage in case of issues. Tech support should be readily available; if not, a quick Google search can lead to video tutorials and community answers. How do I generate Financial Reports? Outsource: Contractor Financial Reports such as Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash, Receivables, Payables, Job Costing Reports, and Job Profitability Reports all depend on proper bookkeeping set up from Day 1. It's easy to pull a report based on the entries and use it whether you want to understand when and where you are making money or you need to present your financials to the bank or CPA. DIY: It is easily accessed and generated from your accounting software. The real question here is, how reliable are your reports? For instance, a generic chart of accounts with your QuickBooks software is not customized to your construction business needs; thus, transactions are often assigned to improper categories, resulting in inaccurate reports. Final thoughts We offer construction bookkeeping and accounting solutions at our online store. We have QuickBooks and Xero setup templates for those who would like to do their own bookkeeping; we have packages available to choose from when you need to outsource it to us or opt to have an in-depth review of your current bookkeeping setup. Let us take charge of your books while you focus on growing your business. We help a little or a lot, depending on your needs. I look forward to being able to assist you with any option that best fits your construction company. PS We offer free resources to help you save time and money that you can download and print now. About The Author: Sharie DeHart, QPA, co-founded Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood, Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on managing the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. Call 1-800-361-1770 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

The Accounting Transformation and Budget to Report Process Flows

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2023 14:32

In the final episode of this season, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, dive into the Accounting Transformation process flow, which covers how financial transactions are converted into journal entries and how subledger journal entries are processed through subledger accounting. They also explore the Budget to Report process flow, which focuses on planning, accounting for transactions, and reporting financial information to the appropriate stakeholder. Budget reporting goes a long way in helping businesses take corrective actions and improve their financial performance. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi there! Last week, we had David “Barney” Barnacle, Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist, with us, who spoke about Procure to Pay and Asset Acquisition to Retirement, which are two major business processes within the Oracle Financials Business Process Model. Barney is here with us for one last time this season to take us through the last two business processes, Accounting Transformation and Budget to Report. 01:02 Nikita: Welcome back, Barney! Barney: Hi Niki! Hi Lois! Nikita: So Barney, what can you tell us about Accounting Transformation? Barney: Accounting Transformation is one of the most important business processes in the Oracle Cloud Financials Business Process Model. All our enterprises are required to record their financial transactions, and the Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP application supports businesses in recording these transactions with the help of best practice life cycles like Invoice to Cash, Procure to Pay, and Asset Acquisition to Retirement. 01:32 Nikita: Everything we've discussed in our previous episodes. Barney: Right. Now, Accounting Transformation refers to the process of converting business transactions from Oracle subledgers, or transactions from external source systems, into detailed, auditable journal entries. Source systems are typically industry-specific applications that are either purchased from third parties or built internally within the customer organization. Examples of such systems include core banking applications, insurance policy administration applications, billing applications, and point of sales applications. And to do this transformation, we have a very powerful tool called the Accounting Engine. If the accounting engine is only used in Oracle Cloud Subledgers (for example, Assets, Payables, etc.), then this engine is referred to as the Subledger Accounting Engine. 02:24 Lois: And what does this Subledger Accounting Engine do? Barney: The Subledger Accounting Engine, also known as SLA, is loaded with predefined event models and accounting methods, i.e. the accounting rules. And within this engine, users can also create user-defined accounting methods, i.e. new rules, to achieve multiple financial reporting requirements. The accounting engine's job is to convert business transactions into auditable and balanced accounting journal entries. 02:55 Lois: Is SLA a separate product? Barney: SLA is not a separate product itself but is Oracle's common engine, which caters to the accounting needs of all the Oracle subledgers. Subledger Accounting is a rules-based accounting engine that is centralized for use by all the Oracle Cloud subledgers. 03:13 Nikita: So how does Subledger Accounting work? Barney: When using Oracle Cloud Financials, financial transactions such as invoices or payments are recorded in the Oracle Cloud subledger products, whereas transactions from legacy systems are recorded in Oracle Fusion Cloud Accounting Hub. Each financial transaction has some accounting event type associated with it. For example, creating a customer invoice, adjusting a payment, validating a supplier invoice, and so on. As I was saying earlier, Subledger Accounting has predefined accounting rule sets, also known as accounting methods. And these accounting methods follow industry practices (for example, Standard accruals). 03:53 Nikita: And how do accounting rules work? Barney: The accounting rules pick the accounting event type associated with the business transaction. It uses relevant transaction attributes like Amounts, Currencies, Dates, Customers, or Suppliers. Then, it converts the transactional attributes into balanced and auditable Subledger and ultimately General Ledger journal entries, which may also require the copying or complete creation of account code combinations. 04:19 Lois: Can all the accounting requirements of a business be met with the help of standard accounting methods? Barney: No, Lois. Sometimes, standard accrual accounting methods don't meet all the accounting or business requirements. But then subledger accounting can support user-defined accounting methods to generate different accounting entries to support these different regulatory or business requirements. For example, by using a local GAAP. 04:44 Nikita: Barney, can you tell us in more detail the various steps involved in the accounting transformation process? Barney: So, the first step is to record business transactions using modern business life cycles. As the user processes these transactions, with such actions as create, validate, adjust, delete etc., these actions are recorded as event types. The accounting engine uses these types and the accounting method rules to create detailed subledger journals. It is the accounting rules that take the transaction source attributes, such as amount, date, customer supplier, etc., and converts them into a balanced detailed subledger journal that can be audited. If there are insufficient or incorrect account or no account values within the source transactions, then the account rules, mapping sets, and user-defined formula that can be configured to create the correct account combinations. 05:39 Barney: To create these journals, the create accounting process can be automated to run on a regular basis, typically at least once a day. The Create Accounting process first generates detailed subledger journals in draft or final mode within the SLA data repository. If these SLA journals are in final mode, then they can also be transferred to create summarized or detailed general ledger journals. Once posted, these GL journals update the account balances of all dimensions stored within the GL Essbase cubes. From these account balances, you can create flexible financial reports to meet the requirements of all stakeholders. And the best part is any role that's assigned SLA privileges can carry out these tasks. 06:30 Have an idea for a new course or learning opportunity? We'd love to hear it! Visit the Oracle University Learning Community and share your thoughts with us. Your suggestion could find a place in future development projects. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to join the community. You will need to log in first. If you've not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started. 06:59 Nikita: Welcome back. So, transactions are created, accounting is generated using the powerful SLA engine, and then when that's done, organizations can publish their financial reports and submit them to government authorities and their stakeholders, right? So, how do they administer control over their financial planning and spending? And how do organizations create these different reports? 07:23 Barney: Financial reports/statements are key to assessing the financial efficiency and determining the key performance indicators of any organization or enterprise. In Oracle Fusion Cloud, we talk of producing reports across three key axes, the legal, the management, and the functional axis, to match the varying requirements of stakeholders. Some organizations, to drive good financial control, plan and generate budgets and/or forecasts. This is so that they can estimate their revenue and expenses for a specific future period. In fact, some enterprises go much further and use budgetary control and encumbrance accounting to ensure expenditure remains within budgeted control levels per period and they can block further expenditure on items that have spent over planned budgeted amounts. 08:15 Barney: Other enterprises may have a rolling 12-month budget that can be updated at the end of each financial period. Simple to complex budgets or forecasts can be loaded into the GL Essbase cubes and the planned budgeted account balances over a period can easily be compared with actual performance using a variety of financial reporting tools provided by Oracle Cloud. Any budget variance can be used to drive financial control and analysis, while contributing to effective, strategic decision-making. The Oracle Fusion Cloud Budget to Report process focuses on planning, accounting for transactions, and reporting financial information to the appropriate stakeholder. 08:59 Lois: Why is this process so important for organizations? What are the benefits of budget reporting? Barney: It is a great way to drive financial control by efficiently tracking the company's performance versus the budget or forecast plan. Budget reporting allows an organization to perform frequent comparisons of forecasted and actual results with the purpose of fixing the key deviations. It allows organizations to allocate cash to assets worth the investment, make acquisitions, or create disposals or disinvestment strategies. 09:32 Lois: Barney, what are the key processes within Budget to Report? Barney: Within the Budget to Report processes life cycle, there are three key subprocesses: managing budgets and forecasts, capturing transactions (i.e. account balances), and period close to financial reporting. Accountants will cycle through these three processes on a regular basis, which is typically monthly. Let's start with the Manage Budgets and Forecasts process. This process refers to the entire cycle of events that start with planning and formulating and ultimately ends with creating budgets and forecasts in the application. Oracle General Ledger simplifies budget and forecast uploads into the system by the use of Excel spreadsheets. 10:15 Barney: Next is the Capture Transactions and Journal Entry process. Financial transactions captured in the subledgers are accounted for via the SLA accounting engine and are converted into detailed subledger and summarized general ledger journals (i.e. the accounting process we have just discussed under SLA). Manual journals can also be created with the use of the user interface or via spreadsheet uploads. The account combinations on these journal lines, once posted, that record the actual account balances, which detail organization revenue, expenditure, taxation, and so on over a period. 10:52 Barney: The Period Close to Financial Reporting process starts with the period closure for each subledger application, ensuring all financial transactions are captured and reported in the correct period. It includes the reconciliation of all key suspense accounts or key accounts (for example, cash balances, tax debtors, liabilities, etc.), special period-end processing, such as foreign currency requirements for revaluation and translations or allocation journals to spread the account distribution of central costs or revenue pools, and the use of consolidation ledgers, with requirements to move currency account balances between ledgers. Finally, from these consolidated, reconciled account balances, a variety of reporting tools can be used to generate the required financial reports/statements for both internal and external stakeholders. 11:42 Barney: Some of these reports will include the comparison of actual versus budgeted values, and any key variances will be used to revise or amend the budgets/forecast plans. We return to where we started with a review or modification of our strategic financial plans. 11:59 Nikita: Barney, what are the key job roles associated with the Budget to Report process? Barney: There are three job roles associated with this process that are predefined as standard by Oracle: General Accountant, Financial Analyst, and General Accounting Manager. The General Accountant manages all financial transactions and revenue, expenses, assets, liability, and equity accounts, and is responsible for recording accounting adjustments, such as accruals, allocations, currency revaluations, and translations. The Financial Analyst analyzes the financial performance of an enterprise or an organization. The General Accounting Manager manages the general accounting functions of an enterprise, including general ledger, subsidiary ledgers. They also manage period close activities. 12:49 Lois: Any final words, Barney, as we conclude this series on ERP Financials business processes? Barney: So, in these last couple of episodes, we discussed the five financial business process life cycles. These processes are collectively known as Record to Report. The Record to Report process includes data extraction, collection, and processing to deliver accurate and timely financial information and enhance decision-making within the organization or enterprise. Using embedded analytics to drive an error-free financial close process, Oracle Fusion Cloud can not only automate and transform the R2R process, but also enable timely, real-time financial performance reporting. 13:37 Nikita: Thank you so much, Barney, for being our guide and taking us through the Oracle Financials Business Process Model. Barney: Thank you. It's been great being here with both of you. Lois: If you missed any of our earlier episodes with Barney, you should go back and check them out. And if you're interested in learning more about Oracle's business process training and getting certified, visit mylearn.oracle.com. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 14:03 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

director simple transformation financial record budget retirement customers sr oracle dates accounting excel manual assets barney flows erp financials forecasts suppliers accountants currencies sla procure amounts invoices david wright financial analysts gaap financial reporting journal entry oracle cloud r2r general ledger oracle university payables innovation programs accounting transformation

The Procure to Pay and Asset Acquisition to Retirement Process Flows

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2023 16:42

Time to unlock your finance team's digital potential! Join Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, as they discuss the Procure to Pay process flow, an integral financial process that integrates purchasing with accounts payable activities. They also talk about the Asset Acquisition to Retirement process flow, which includes all the main activities that occur during the life of an asset, right from acquiring it all the way to disposing it at the end of its life. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor. Nikita: Hi everyone. In our last episode, we looked at Invoice to Cash, which is the first business process within the Oracle Cloud Financials Business Process Model. Invoice to Cash refers to everything from the moment a receivable invoice is created until the customer's receipt is settled and reconciled with the bank statement. If you missed that episode, do go back and give it a listen. 01:01 Lois: Today, David “Barney” Barnacle, our Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist is back on the podcast to tell us about the next two business processes, Procure to Pay and Asset Acquisition to Retirement. Nikita: Hi Barney! Thanks for being back with us. So, what is the Procure to Pay process? 01:20 Barney: Hi Niki. Hi Lois. Good to be here. Let's focus on Procure to Pay or P2P for short, which is an integral financial process within any organization. It integrates purchasing with accounts payables activities and involves a series of tasks. These could include placing a purchase requisition or a purchase order, receiving and inspecting the delivered goods or services, capturing the supplier invoices, which is the company's liability to the supplier, matching the unit quantity and price to the original PO, calculating the relevant taxes or withholding taxes, approving the charges for final payment by the company, and finally, recording the bank statement lines with all payments made to suppliers or employees. 02:04 Barney: Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP's capacity to use cutting-edge technologies for effective operations is what distinguishes it from the competition. The true value is in the automation, which helps enterprises improve processes, increase efficiency, and get the latest insights and alerts. Let me give you some examples within P2P. We have something called Intelligent Document Recognition or IDR for short, which is a fully integrated invoice recognition solution. As you know, many suppliers send payables invoices electronically via email. With Oracle's cloud solution, IDR extracts invoice information from the emailed documents to create invoices and then imports them directly into Payables. Another interesting feature is the ability to calculate the trip distance in mileage expense entry by using the Oracle Maps Cloud service. For mileage expense types, on the Oracle Maps page, you can enter the start location, subsequent stops, and the end location. It's that easy. 03:09 Lois: Oh wow, that's pretty cool. I remember having to track my miles manually many years ago. What a nice feature. So, is creating an invoice the beginning of the P2P process? Barney: No, Lois. Invoicing is not the beginning but just one part of the larger parent P2P process. The P2P process can be broken into three key phases. These phases are set in a repeating loop and fine-tuned and improved with every cycle. The three phases are the Purchasing process, the Receiving process, and finally, the Payment process. 03:46 Barney: During the Purchasing process, purchase requisitions for goods and services are created and approved. Suppliers are evaluated and selected. And then, purchase orders are issued for the required goods and/or services. Next is the Receiving process, where goods and services are received. Receiving documents are then reviewed and logged for the goods. In the final Payment process, which includes the Invoice, Payment, and Reconciliation sub-processes, invoices are received and invoice processing is completed, recording the supplier's liability. Invoices are reconciled and cross-checked with the original purchase orders and goods receipts or receiving documents. This is called purchase order or receipt matching, and it ensures that the enterprises only pay for goods and services it has ordered and received. Errors are recorded and corrected, and approved invoices are paid, reducing the supplier's liability. Payments are then reconciled with bank statement lines. 04:47 Nikita: OK. So, there are multiple activities, like purchasing, receiving, and invoicing, which are part of the P2P process. But how do these activities flow with regard to the Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP application? Barney: The Procure to Pay process spans multiple departments within an organization. And in the Oracle application, it covers different modules like purchasing, payables, cash management, and general ledger. Demand generation for goods or services can originate in the Manufacturing departments based on planned or actual orders, or by internal employee orders for goods or services that the business requires. 05:23 Barney: This demand gets converted into requisitions within the Purchasing department. Everything from the creation all the way to the authorization of these requisitions is performed within the Purchasing department. Once the requests have been authorized, the buyers or procurement agents consolidate the requests and convert them into a purchasing document, like a purchase order. Next, the process of receiving goods or services against the purchasing document is typically carried out by the employees requesting those goods or services or by the staff at the receiving location. 05:54 Nikita: And a receiving location could be a warehouse, for example, right? So there is a purchasing department processing purchased orders and another receiving department recording the receipt of goods. Barney: Exactly, Niki. And once the goods are received and recorded, the transaction flows into the Payables department within the finance business function. Supplier Invoice to Payment, which comes within the finance business function, touches internal as well as external parties involved with an organization. 06:23 Barney: For example, when talking about the process of expense reimbursement, employees are considered internal parties. In this process, employees record and submit expenses incurred on behalf of the organization and are reimbursed for the authorized items. For an external party, the process of recording invoices against goods or services used by the organization and the subsequent process of making payment to clear these invoices is also a key part of the Procure to Pay process. For example, organizations purchase assets like printers or furniture, which are recorded as part of the purchasing process. Oracle Assets is a fully integrated solution to track internal products and assets at internal or external sites, while providing the ability to capture financial transactions with back-office automation. 07:10 Barney: And then there is the Treasury department that some companies may call the Cash department, which, at periodic intervals, receives bank statements and reconciles the statement lines with payments made to suppliers. The key focus of the Treasury department is to determine the cash position and to assist in managing the cash forecasting process. These are just some activities of the Procure to Pay process that touch multiple departments within the business. 07:35 Lois: You mentioned expense reimbursement and making payments to external suppliers for goods received. How does this fit into the Oracle Financials Business Process Model? Barney: As we discussed, P2P involves multiple processes spanning procurement to cash, specifically payables invoice to cash. Let me list out the processes that are aligned with Oracle Financials business processes as part of the P2P process. First, we have the Expense Report to Reimbursement process that deals with getting business expenses reimbursed for employees and contract workers, also known as contingency workers. 08:13 Barney: The Supplier Invoice to Payment process deals with recording liability for purchases made by the organization directly from external parties and paying for those purchases. The Capture Tax process deals with applying transactional tax or withholding taxes based on the information entered in an invoice and invoice line level, and legislative requirements. The Bank Transaction to Cash Position process deals with matching bank statement lines to payments made to suppliers. Accountants working in the Treasury department can prepare the expected cash position based on the expected receipts and payments within that specific period. 08:51 Lois: Each of the Oracle business processes you mentioned seem to be aligned with the general flow of activities in a typical organization. What are the advantages of having such a streamlined P2P process? Barney: A streamlined and automated Procure to Pay process helps organizations remain compliant with supplier-related contractual terms and legislative tax requirements. It also helps them reduce the risk of fraud with risk migration controls in place and automation within the process. 09:18 Barney: It results in better supplier management in terms of sourcing and evaluating suppliers, and monitoring and controlling supplier invoice aging, resulting in timely payments being made to suppliers. The ability to capture supplier invoices from multiple channels, including scanning and online submission by suppliers to enable batch processing of payments, results in cost reduction for an organization and saves hours that would have been spent manually processing invoices and payments. Most importantly, a streamlined Procure to Pay process provides the ability to capture data at each stage, which helps with future decision-making. 09:56 Nikita: What are the job roles associated with the Procure to Pay business process? Barney: There are a few key job roles in the P2P business process. There's the employee job role, which identifies the person as an employee who can create a requisition and an expense report. The Procurement Agent job role is responsible for transactional aspects of procurement processing. The Expense Audit job role reviews and audits expense reports daily to ensure compliance with the company's reimbursement policy. The Accounts Payable Specialist job role enters invoices, ensuring accuracy, uniqueness, and completeness, and matches invoices to the correct purchase orders or receipts, all while making sure that the invoices comply with company policy. The Accounts Payables Supervisor job role oversees the activities of Accounts Payable Specialists, initiates and manages payment runs, and resolves non-data entry holds. And finally, the Cash Manager job role protects and develops the company's liquid assets, maximizing their use and return to the organization. 10:58 Lois: For an organization to have an optimized Procure to Pay process, I'm sure they need to track certain key performance indicators, right? Barney: Yes, and they do. Some of the KPIs that are tracked for the P2P process are Expenses vs. Budget, Invoice Payment Days, % Discount Taken, Time to Settlement, Time to Reconcile, and Payables Overdue Invoices. 11:20 Lois: Barney, earlier you spoke about how easy it is to raise expenses and use the Maps functionality. Are there other emerging technologies used by the ERP application in the Procure to Pay process? Barney: Yes Lois, Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP uses the latest emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, digital assistants, and image scanning in different areas of the Procure to Pay process. Adaptive Intelligence models are used in the Payables module to calculate and recommend discounts for single payments. Intelligent Document Recognition is used to scan and automate the invoice creation process in Payables, incorporating the required reviews and approvals. Within the Expenses module, Digital Assistants are used to punch in expenses and submit them automatically. You can also click photos of receipts and process them to input the required expenses. 12:16 Working towards an Oracle Certification this year? Grab all the help you can get. Attend a cert prep live event in the Oracle University Learning Community. And once certified, don't forget to join our exclusive forum for Oracle certified users. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to join the community. You will need to log in first. If you've not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started. 12:47 Nikita: Welcome back. Barney, you mentioned that Payables is one of the starting points to capture or track assets in the application. Can you help us understand how this is built in to Oracle Fusion Cloud? Barney: In the Oracle Financials Business Process Model, Asset Acquisition to Retirement is a key process that covers all the main activities that occur during the life of an asset, anything from acquiring it to disposing it at the end of its useful life. There are many things a business will need to do with assets. Capture asset acquisition, record financial transactions, track asset movement for reporting and regulatory purposes, and so on. We can manage these assets and simplify fixed asset accounting tasks with the help of Oracle Fusion Assets. It has the ability to record leased assets in line with the requirements of the two new accounting standards. 13:37 Barney: Oracle Assets integrates with other modules like Payables, Subledger Accounting, and Projects. You can add assets and cost adjustments directly into Assets from invoice information in Payables. The Create Mass Additions for Assets process sends valid invoice line distributions and associated discounts from Payables to the Mass Additions interface table in Assets. You can then review the mass addition lines in Assets and determine whether to create assets from them. 14:03 Nikita: So, what are the different stages in the Asset Acquisition to Retirement life cycle? I'm sure the first one has to be acquiring the asset. Barney: You're absolutely right there, Niki. The Asset Acquisition to Retirement life cycle starts with the Asset Acquisition stage. A business can acquire an asset through the Procure to Pay life cycle and record the asset in the asset register. An asset can be acquired by purchasing it, leasing it, constructing/developing it (i.e. by the use of Oracle Fusion Projects), or by mergers or acquisitions. And by acquiring assets, we mean capturing and recording the purchase of assets from all business locations. 14:42 Barney: The next stage is Monitoring and Tracking. Once an asset has been created and added to the asset register, you can perform various activities during the asset's life cycle. These activities could be changing its category or financial details, transferring assets, i.e. from locations, or running or changing depreciation. Any finally, we have Retirement. When you sell an asset, or an asset is lost, or the asset reaches the end of its useful life, you must remove it from the asset register. 15:14 Lois: And before we let you go for today, remind us – what job roles perform the functions related to this life cycle, Barney? Barney: There are two main job roles involved in this process. One is the Asset Accountant, the basic user who performs all functions in the asset management module. Then there's also the Asset Accounting Manager who has much of the same access as the asset accountant, along with extra access in terms of reporting and running accounting processes. 15:40 Nikita: I think we've discussed these two important Oracle business processes quite thoroughly. Thank you so much, Barney, for taking us through them. Barney: Thanks for having me! Lois: Yes, thanks, Barney. This is a great introduction. Next week will be our final episode on the Oracle Financials Business Process Model, where we'll cover the Accounting Transformation and Budget to Report business processes. And don't forget to head over to mylearn.oracle.com to learn more about these processes and get certified. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 16:13 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

director time budget retirement projects sr tracking receiving reconciliation oracle payments assets manufacturing maps asset acquisition monitoring capture treasury kpis barney settlement errors purchasing expenses flows erp financials reconcile p2p suppliers accountants reimbursement procure invoices david wright idr invoicing digital assistants oracle university payables innovation programs accounting transformation

An Overview of ERP Business Processes

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2023 20:55

Inside every successful corporation is a well-oiled financial team working to do what is in the best interest of the company. From the CFO to the finance intern, having a system of modern best practices and a comprehensive suite of financial solutions, properly utilized, is more important than ever before. Join hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, as they introduce you to the Oracle Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning suite and the key business processes within it. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. --------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor. Nikita: Hi everyone! A few weeks ago, we concluded our spotlight on HCM business processes. And today, we're going to move on to ERP business processes. ERP, as you may already know, is Enterprise Resource Planning. And to take us through this, we have David “Barney” Barnacle, our Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist. For over 20 years, Barney has successfully trained customers in the rapid configuration and effective use of Oracle Applications. Welcome Barney! We're so glad to have you here today. 01:10 Barney: Thank you! Happy to be here. Lois: In previous episodes this season, we've spoken about the business process training that Oracle has. But from an ERP point of view, can you briefly tell us what it is and why we have it? Barney: Sure, Lois. Inside every successful corporation is a well-oiled financial team working to do what is in the best interest of the company. From the CFO to the financial trainee, everybody within an agile, innovative enterprise will be using modern best practice processes within a complete and fully integrated suite of SaaS applications. That's why we have Oracle Business Process Training for Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP. It's a powerful training solution that gives users and companies a solid understanding of how Oracle ERP solutions work together to ensure effective and efficient transaction processing. 02:06 Nikita: Now that we know why we have this training, let's get down to it. Barney, what is ERP? Barney: Enterprise Resource Planning or for short as it's known, ERP, is a system or a collection of systems that companies use to manage day-to-day business activities efficiently. The ERP system brings together different dimensions of businesses from financials, procurement, risk and compliance, to enterprise performance management, and Oracle Fusion ERP analytics. ERP systems tie together several business processes and seamlessly allow data to flow between them. By collecting an organization's shared transactional data from multiple sources, ERP systems eliminate data duplication and provide data integrity with a single source of truth. 03:00 Barney: Today, ERP systems are critical for managing thousands of businesses of all sizes and across all industries. For these companies, ERP is as indispensable as the electricity that keeps the lights on. Remember, simply, ERP is the vehicle for integrating people, processes, and technologies across a modern enterprise. 03:27 Lois: Barney, in the world of various ERP systems, how is the Oracle Cloud ERP application suite unique? And how is it structured? Barney: Thanks, Lois. Oracle Cloud ERP is a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) application, or group of applications, that provides end-to-end business solutions. These solutions, in turn, enable businesses to significantly cut down costs, improve their process efficiencies, and enhance collaboration. Oracle Cloud ERP is classified into six different product families. We have Financial Management, Procurement, Project Management, Risk and Compliance, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and finally Enterprise Resource Planning Analytics. 04:14 Lois: So as I understand it, we have Oracle Cloud ERP, a modern cloud-based software application, and then have Oracle Financials, Procurement, EPM, and so on within the Oracle Cloud ERP suite, right? Barney: Correct. That's right, Lois. Nikita: That's quite an interesting mix of product families. Can you tell us about each of these products, Barney? 04:35 Barney: Sure can. Let's start with Financials. Oracle Cloud Financials is a global financial platform that connects and automates your financial management processes, including payables, receivables, fixed assets, expenses, GL, and reporting, for a clear view into your total financial health. 04:56 Barney: Next is Oracle Cloud Procurement, an integrated source-to-settle suite that automates business processes, enables strategic sourcing, improves supplier relationship management, and simplifies buying. Then we have Project Management. Oracle Project Management helps you plan and track your projects, assign the right talent, balance capacity against demand, and scale resources up or down quickly as needs change. 05:27 Barney: Then there's Risk and Compliance. Oracle Cloud Risk and Compliance Management is a security and audit solution. It controls user access to your Oracle Cloud ERP financial data, monitors users' activity, and makes it easy to meet compliance regulations through automation. 05:45 Nikita: Interesting. And these pillars are connected to one another? Barney: Yes, Niki. One of the biggest advantages of choosing the Oracle Cloud ERP solution is its ability to integrate all the product offerings that come under it. Now, getting back to the product pillars in the ERP suite, we have Enterprise Performance Management. With this, you can model and plan across Finance, HR, Supply Chain, and Sales. You can streamline the financial close process and drive better decisions. 06:18 Barney: And closing out the list, we have ERP Analytics. Oracle Fusion ERP Analytics is a prebuilt cloud-native solution for Oracle Cloud ERP. It helps financial and procurement professionals uncover underlying drivers of profitability, improve the use of working capital, and control business expenditures. Oracle's unique application capabilities enable organizations to unify financial analytics across different departments. So those are the six product families that make up the Oracle Cloud ERP. 06:56 Lois: I think that's what all organizations want, right? A comprehensive solution to help them meet their business needs. But how do organizations that have legacy ERP systems and processes move to the Oracle Cloud ERP systems? Do they need to completely switch over? And what happens to the existing processes they've been following? Barney: Yes Lois, they can co-exist. But you can implement just one cloud product, such as expenses or revenue management, to enhance the existing or current business processes. You can then have several step-by-step projects to move different business processes to the cloud – until you are 100% cloud. 07:37 Nikita: So, within the ERP suite, we'd like to learn more about Oracle Cloud Financials. Can you tell us about the types of organizations that would benefit from using Oracle Cloud Financials? Barney: Sure, Niki. So like I was saying before, Oracle Cloud Financials gives you a complete view of the overall financial health of your organization by connecting data and process automation in payables, receivables, fixed assets, expenses, GL, and reporting. It also helps organizations respond quickly to an everchanging environment and deliver decisive insights as needed. It is a comprehensive global solution designed for organizations of every size and industry. 08:20 Lois: Barney, a typical organization will have various transactions and processes that have a direct impact on their financial balance, right? Everything from financial accounting, transaction processing, payment delivery, and cash reconciliation, to employee expense processing, and even asset management. How does Oracle Cloud Financials process all these activities or functions? 08:41 Barney: Good question, Lois. Oracle Cloud Financials has several modules to help businesses handle all the processes you've just mentioned. Let's say procuring items, creating invoices, and making payments to suppliers are the typical day-to-day activities of a manufacturing organization. In Oracle Cloud Financials, the process of invoice to payment is handled by Oracle Payables and Payment tasks, which provide streamlined and user-friendly interfaces for Payables professionals to efficiently manage the Supplier Invoice to Payment process. 09:18 Barney: Let me give you another example. Every organization will have employees submitting their expenses for approval and payout. These expense-related activities are handled by Oracle Expenses. Oracle Expenses gives your organization the tools it needs to effectively manage the travel and expenses process. You can simply start the whole process by uploading a copy of your expense receipt using the expenses mobile app. 09:46 Lois: So, it looks like every financial end-to-end process in an organization is represented in Oracle Financials. Barney: Yes. Let's take Oracle Receivables. It provides streamlined and user-friendly interfaces for Receivables professionals to efficiently manage the credit-to-cash process. You can use it to proactively manage the entire cycle of billing customers and processing customer payments. 10:11 Barney: When you deal with cash that needs to be received from customers in a very large organization, it's important that you understand these customers well and build a good relationship with them. And to do this, many organizations hire specialists called collection agents. Oracle Advanced Collections is designed for these collection agents. For anyone who doesn't know, collection agents are basically those responsible for working with late or nonpaying customers to resolve payment issues and remove non-payments. 10:43 Nikita: That can be quite problematic, right? I'm sure any delays in payment from customers would cause cash flow problems for a company. Barney: Exactly. And so Advanced Collections is the critical final step in the credit/billing-to-collections business process, where the aim is to reduce delinquent customers, encourage prompt customer payment, and minimize the company Days Sales Outstanding. For those who don't know, Days Sales Outstanding is the average number of days it takes a company to receive payments for a sale. 11:19 Did you know that Oracle University offers free courses on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure? You'll find training on everything from cloud computing, database, and security to artificial intelligence and machine learning, all of which is available free to subscribers. So, get going! Pick a course of your choice, get certified, join the Oracle University Learning Community, and network with your peers. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to begin your journey. If you have not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started. 11:58 Nikita: Welcome back. We were just going through the various modules within Oracle Financials. So far, we've covered Payables and Payments, Expenses, Receivables, and Advanced Collections. What other modules are there, Barney? Barney: We have Oracle Assets, which is a complete asset management solution. Nikita: So assets like property… equipment… Barney: Exactly. Yes, and Oracle Assets helps you maintain your assets accurately. It supports the end-to-end asset life cycle from asset acquisition to retirement, i.e. from capture to retire. Also, if you do not directly acquire or buy the assets outright, we have a product called Lease Accounting, which covers all the accounting entries for leased assets. 12:45 Nikita: Ok. And what else? Barney: We also have Oracle Cash Management, tax engines, subledger accounting, intercompany engines, and general ledger. Nikita: Can you quickly run us through these modules? Barney: Sure. Oracle Cash Management is a comprehensive business solution that helps you optimize enterprise-wide liquidity and control cash. Tax engine is used to calculate transactional taxes based on business, products, places, and country rules. For example, when to use sales tax as opposed to when to use value added tax or VAT. 13:19 Barney: Oracle Subledger Accounting is a powerful, rules-based accounting solution that provides consistent accounting treatment for financial transactions created across Oracle Cloud applications. The intercompany engine is used to automatically balance journals that are between different organizations. For example, a central management fee charged annually between the organization's headquarters and each of its subsidiaries. In the cloud, with intercompany, you can have up to three balancing segments. However, the primary balancing segment is still used to identify the company or fund holder. 13:59 Barney: Then we have Oracle General Ledger. Oracle General Ledger is the central repository of accounting information. It provides highly automated financial processing, effective management control, and real-time visibility into financial results. 14:16 Lois: Before you continue, Barney, can you tell us what a general ledger system does? How is it different from subledger accounting? Barney: Sure, Lois. The main purpose of a general ledger system is to record the financial activities of a whole company and produce financial and management reports to help people inside and outside the organization make decisions. 14:38 Barney: Subledger journals can provide the detail and a fully auditable path back to the source transaction that created the accounting entry. This single source of subledger accounting detailed data is often summarized into account balances when transferred across to general ledger. It is these summarized GL account balances that will drive real-time financial reporting using the various cloud reporting tools. 15:04 Lois: Ok. So, you've told us about the modules within the Oracle Cloud Financials suite that capture different types of transactions. For Oracle Fusion Cloud users, what's the quickest way to uncover business insights and deliver financial improvements to their enterprise? Barney: To identify underlying drivers of profitability, improve the use of working capital, and control business expenditures, we have Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP Analytics. This is an analytics-based, state-of-the-art, technology-driven tool that provides you with the organization's financial status at any given point. Financial Reporting and Analytics helps you speed up your decision-making process with graphical insights, configurable analytics dashboards, and event-based delivery of information so you can take targeted actions. 15:56 Lois: That's interesting. Thanks for that, Barney. That was a lot for me to take in, but it's very insightful. Nikita: Yes, it was. Getting back to some of the processes you mentioned, like the Expense Report process or the Supplier Invoice to Payment process, can you give us an overall picture of how these processes are fulfilled within the Oracle Cloud Financials function? 16:17 Barney: Absolutely. At Oracle, we can map these different processes to the Oracle Financials Business Process Model. This model refers to the end-to-end business processes enabled by Oracle applications to record financial data and derive reports for efficient and successful business performance. There are key business processes in this model. 16:42 Nikita: I know you're going to be joining us in upcoming episodes to talk about each of these business processes, but can you briefly tell us about them? Barney: Sure, Niki. Let's start with the process that records cash inflow into an enterprise. Invoice to Cash refers to the cycle of events captured in the system, starting with recording customer invoices for goods and services provided, processing customer receipts based on the terms of payment, and reconciling receipts with bank statements and customer account balances with the Account Receivables ledger balances. 17:15 Barney: Then, we have the major processes that cause an outflow of cash from the enterprise. Procure to Pay involves recording the journey of transactions, from requisitioning and procuring goods and services from the supplier to receiving them at their destination and the ultimate entering of supplier invoices and payments. Asset to Retirement empowers organizations to manage the entire financial cycle of assets, including acquisition, capitalization, depreciation, and the ultimate retirement. 17:46 Barney: Accounting Transformation is the process of converting transactions or activities from subledgers to journal entries to meet corporate needs and statutory or legal reporting. And finally, Budget to Report covers the entire process of creating budgets, capturing actuals, and conducting budget reporting and variance analysis. 18:08 Lois: Each of these business processes has users with various job roles working on the application, right? They'll be taking action… providing input… So how does Oracle Cloud Financials define these job roles in the application? Barney: Well, in small or medium-sized companies, the financial functions may be the responsibility of a single accountant. But in large organizations, there is going to be a financial team, where the job roles are specialized, often focused on a particular business task or function. 18:43 Barney: The responsibility for these roles are often grouped into three main categories. We have the Specialist or Clerk, who is responsible for a specific group of tasks. For example, creating payments or reconciling bank statements. Then we have the Supervisor, who is responsible for managing the specialist executing the specific business tasks. And finally, we have the Managers or Manager, who is responsible for managing the team to meet company objectives. 19:15 Barney: When we're talking about the business processes I mentioned earlier, each of them are performed by different job roles. For example, for the Invoice to Cash business process, we have the Billing Specialist and Billing Managers, Collection Agents, and Cash Manager. For Procure to Pay, we have the Accounts Payable Specialist and Supervisor. Asset to Retirement, there's the Asset Accountant and Asset Accounting Manager. The Accounting Transformation business process is usually managed by any role assigned SLA privileges. And finally, for Budget to Reporting, we have the General Accountant and General Accounting Manager. 19:55 Nikita: Thank you so much, Barney, for giving us this thorough introduction to Oracle ERP, and particularly Oracle Financials Cloud. Barney: Thanks, Niki. It was a pleasure to be here. 20:05 Lois: We're looking forward to having you back on the podcast next week to talk about the first of the five main Financials business processes, the Invoice to Cash process flow. And to learn more about these business processes and get certified, visit mylearn.oracle.com. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 20:27 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

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Applied Learning for Oracle Cloud Applications

Les chroniques d'Arnaud Demanche

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2023 8:44

Wouldn't it be great if you could practice your Oracle Cloud Apps implementation in a safe, controlled lab environment? Well, now you can! Join Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Bill Lawson, as they discuss the new Applied Learning for Fusion Cloud Applications Implementation projects, which provide practical use cases and business scenarios that you can work through to apply the concepts you've learned and expand your skills. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen, Radhika Banka, Sujatha Kalahasthi Raju, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hello everyone! In our last episode, we spoke about HCM business processes and learned about the Talent Life Cycle. Today, we're going to take a look at some related training that's just launched in our Cloud Learning Subscriptions. This new training was developed based on requests from our customers and partners. You asked, and we listened. 00:58 Nikita: We're joined by Senior Director of Cloud Applications Product Management, Bill Lawson, who you've heard from before, and he will be telling us all about this exciting new program. Lois: Bill, we're so happy you're back with us today. So, as I mentioned, this new program was a direct result of customer and partner feedback. Can you tell us a little bit more about how that happened and what this new training is all about? 01:20 Bill: I'm happy to be back as well, Lois. And very excited to share details about the Applied Learning for Fusion Cloud Application Implementation projects that are now available. And you're correct. This was in direct response to requests we received from our customers and partners. As you're aware, we hold quarterly feedback sessions with some of our strategic partners and customers, and one thing we heard was the need to have some practical applications of concepts learned in our implementation courses. 01:46 Bill: So, we got our subject matter experts on the task and challenged them with creating some real-world scenarios that students can work through in our hands-on lab practice environments. In these scenarios, students will work their way through examples of some of the decisions and configurations that they and customers might need to go through in an implementation of Oracle Cloud Applications. It's a great way to expand your skills and apply the concepts you've learned in implementation classes in a safe, controlled lab environment. Then, you can take that back to your workplace and apply that knowledge in your own implementation projects. 02:19 Nikita: Wow, that's really cool, Bill. And how exciting that we're taking feedback directly from our customers and developing the training that they are asking for. Bill: Yes, Niki, it is. And we're planning to continue that listening program in our Oracle University Learning Community. We've launched an Idea Incubator and we're looking forward to hearing from our members about their content ideas and suggestions. Who knows what new types of courses will come out of that? 02:43 Lois: It's another great reason to join the Community for sure. Bill: Indeed, it is. Nikita: Ok, Bill, back to the Applied Learning for Fusion Cloud Application Implementations program. Who is this training best suited for? Bill: Well, Niki, it's really aimed at those people who are going to be actively involved in an Oracle Cloud Apps implementation. So, your solution consultants, implementers, administrators, project teams, etc. etc. 03:07 Nikita: And can you give us an example of what one of these projects looks like? Bill: I sure can, Niki. One of the new Applied Learning Implementation projects is centered around Fusion Enterprise Structures & General Ledger in the ERP space. In the project scenario, we follow a fictional company, which is a startup that has decided to implement Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials to streamline their business processes while taking advantage of the latest functionality Oracle Cloud Applications has to offer. The case study outlines the business requirements of the company and then provides a challenge to the learner. The student must determine how these requirements would be met within the application, complete the setup and configuration, and validate that they've done it correctly. 03:48 Lois: That's really neat. So essentially, it's mimicking a business scenario that you may come upon in a conference room pilot during an implementation and would have to configure using Fusion Applications. Bill: Right, Lois. Providing a practical business scenario based on the customers' requirements for the student to configure a solution in a safe practice environment. The student will be prepared to tackle the scenario based on the foundation of knowledge they've gained when they completed the implementation learning path training in the learning subscription or during their previous implementation experience. 04:22 Have an idea for a new course or learning opportunity? We'd love to hear it! Visit the Oracle University Learning Community and share your thoughts with us. Your suggestion could find a place in future development projects. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to join the community. You will need to log in first. If you've not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started. 04:51 Nikita: Welcome back. Ok, Bill, so the students do this setup. How do they know it was done correctly? What if they get stumped and don't know what to do? Bill: If they're completely stumped, then it's probably a good indication that they need to revisit the training and check that they understand the core concepts. But once they've completed the challenge, there will be a solution video in which our SME will walk through one of the possible solutions. Bear in mind, there may be more than one solution that is possible. We will show one possibility, but learners may opt for a different route when they approach the challenge. And that's ok. We want people to be able to explore the options and learn while they're doing so. 05:28 Lois: And all of this is done within MyLearn and the lab environments provided to our learning subscribers, right? Bill: That's correct, Lois. This content is available to our MyLearn subscribers. The projects are included as part of the Cloud Applications Implementation training. So, if you go to mylearn.oracle.com and search by the phrase “Applied Learning,” you will find all the applicable learning. You can also search by “Implementer” to see the Implementation training that is available. Applied learning projects will be part of this implementation training. The content is available on a paid subscription basis only, but very well worth the investment if you're in the middle of an Oracle Cloud Apps implementation. If you already have a subscription, you can dive right in and give one of our projects a try. 06:12 Nikita: Bill, where are these Applied Learning scenarios found? Is it only for General Ledger? Bill: No, Niki, it's not. We've got Applied Learning projects available for 10 of our most popular product areas, such as General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Project Management, Accounting Hub, Global Human Resources, Talent Management, Recruiting, Inventory, and Procurement. Lois: So, we're covering all the bases here – ERP, SCM, HCM… Bill: Exactly. 06:42 Lois: Is there anything else we should know about the Applied Learning program? Bill: Well funny you should ask, Lois, because one of the unique things we're doing with this new program is we're offering the opportunity to engage with other people who are completing the project via a discussion in the Oracle University Learning Community. Lois: You knew that was a loaded question, right? Bill: Haha, I sure did. You're the champion of our Community. So, in the Community, people can ask questions, share their solutions, and more. It's a great way to expand the learning experience and see how other people approached those same scenarios based on their knowledge and experience. 07:13 Nikita: And if people have ideas for other Applied Learning scenarios, what should they do? Bill: They can always suggest those in the Idea Incubator in the Community, Niki. Lois: Yep. The Community has a lot of great things to offer. If you're not a member, you should join today by accessing it via mylearn.oracle.com. 07:29 Nikita: Thank you so much, Bill, for coming back to talk to us about the Applied Learning program. I really think it's such a great new resource for our learners. Bill: I'm always happy to be here with you ladies. Thank you for having me. Lois: Thanks Bill. Ok, next week we've got another great topic lined up. If you followed along with some of the announcements at Oracle Cloud World, you'll know that we launched a new certification and training path centered around Artificial Intelligence. Next week, we'll be talking with Rohit Rahi to learn more about this free training that is available, in an episode we're calling AI for Everyone. You won't want to miss that. 08:03 Nikita: And if you want to learn more about these Applied Learning projects, visit mylearn.oracle.com. Lois: Right, Niki. So that's all for today. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 08:15 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

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Payables Automation for Forwarders with Tom Durrenberger

Profiles

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2023 28:00

In this episode, Tom Durrenberger, CEO at Bravotran, joins Host Brian Glick, CEO of Chain.io, to discuss: Software investments for freight forwarders Methods for cost saving and improved visibility Streamlining the payables and invoicing process Industry challenges and culture in supply chain BravoTran's focus on payables automationTom was inspired by BravoTran's ability to bring just the right tools to the freight forwarding world. He saw what BravoTran can do to overcome massive business challenges and it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Listen to his story on the podcast now!Connect with TomConnect with BrianConnect with Chain.io on LinkedInFollow Chain.io on Twitter

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C'est tous les jours Demanche : Les amendes pour consommation de drogue bientôt payables immédiatement en liquide ou carte bancaire - 27/06

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2023 5:03

Chaque jour, Arnaud Demanche vous dévoile trois histoires insolites de l'actualité, dans Apolline Matin, sur RMC. La matinale 100% opinions et auditeurs 3ème saison pour Apolline de Malherbe aux commandes d'Apolline Matin. Cette année, de nouvelles voix viennent rejoindre l'équipe. L'humoriste Arnaud Demanche viendra chaque matin dialoguer avec les auditeurs à 7h20 (le « 3216 d'Arnaud Demanche ») et proposera un billet d'humeur grinçant et piquant à 8h20 (« Vivement Demanche ») ! Marguerite Dumont aux journaux et Amélie Rosique pour la chronique « RMC s'engage pour vous » rejoindront également l'équipe d'Apolline Matin pour une matinale 100% info, engagée et d'opinions.

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Amendes payables immédiatement pour les consommateurs de drogue : les policiers n'en veulent pas

Le grand journal du soir - Matthieu Belliard

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2023 10:55

Aujourd'hui dans "Punchline", Laurence Ferrari et ses invités débattent de l'annonce d'Emmanuel Macron concernant les amendes payables immédiatement en liquide ou en carte.

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#20: Accounts Payables as a Service with CEO of Finexio

PayCLT Payments Hub

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2023 42:27

Ernest Rolfson, Founder and CEO of Finexio, joins Scott Harkey in this latest installment of the Payments Hub podcast to discuss the accounts payable (AP) industry and Finexio.They explore:How Finexio is transitioning businesses to electronic paymentsFinexio's approach to AP automationThe evolution and future of the AP and payments industryAnd much more!Connect with the speakers on LinkedIn:Scott HarkeyErnest RolfsonLearn more about the featured companies:Levvel, an Endava companyPayCLTFinexio

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S38E16 - How Companies Are Adopting On-Demand Payroll Practices to Attract and Retain Talent, with Jim Colassano and Eric Wade

Human Capital Innovations (HCI) Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2022 37:30

In this HCI Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jim Colassano and Eric Wade about how companies are adopting on-demand payroll practices to attract and retain talent. See the video here: https://youtu.be/ku5hbiArpq4. Jim Colassano (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-colassano-8466096/) is senior vice president of product development and strategy at The Clearing House. Mr. Colassano has more than 25 years of experience in all facets of the Payments and Cash Management business. He joined The Clearing House in 2016 as a Senior Vice President in the Product Development and Strategy group, where he is focused on product strategy and bank readiness for TCH's new real time payments system. In this role he works closely with TCH owner banks on opportunities and applications to address business related payment problems, and identify strategic priorities for this new payments infrastructure. Before joining The Clearing House, Jim spent 10 years with HSBC as a Product Executive in their Payments and Cash Management group. During that period he served as the Global Product Head for their Payables business which had responsibility for faster payments initiatives as well as cash, check and ACH payment products worldwide. Before joining HSBC, he spent 15 years with JPMorgan Chase in a variety of cash and treasury management roles. Mr. Colassano holds Masters Degrees in Banking and Finance from Pace University. Eric Wade (https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-wade-cpp-a2111662/) is a Product Manager at Paychex, a recognized leader in the payroll, human resource, and benefits outsourcing industry. Eric has worked at Paychex for over 28 years and in his current role, he is responsible for payment and tax related products. He has led the research and launch efforts at Paychex on multiple new products and payment strategies including being the first HCM company to offer Same Day ACH in 2016 and now Real-Time Payments in 2020. Paychex serves approximately 670,000 payroll clients, pays one out of every 12 American private-sector employees and moves over $700 billion in funds annually. Please consider supporting the podcast on Patreon and leaving a review wherever you listen to your podcasts! Go to cardiotabs.com/innovations and use code innovations to get a free Mental Health Pack featuring Cardiotabs Omega-3 Lemon Minis and Curcumin when you sign up for a subscription. Get 3 months of GUSTO free when you run your first payroll, at Gusto.com/HCI. Get up to 20% off by using code HCI for the summer sale at shop.Ekster.com/HCI. Check out the Ready for Takeoff podcast at Wix.com/readyfortakeoff. Check out Zapier.com/HCI to explore their business automations! Go to Swag.com/HCI and use promo code HCI10. Check out the HCI Academy: Courses, Micro-Credentials, and Certificates to Upskill and Reskill for the Future of Work! Check out the LinkedIn Alchemizing Human Capital Newsletter. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Future Leader. Check out Dr. Westover's book, 'Bluer than Indigo' Leadership. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Alchemy of Truly Remarkable Leadership. Check out the latest issue of the Human Capital Leadership magazine. Ranked #5 Workplace Podcast Ranked #6 Performance Management Podcast Ranked #7 HR Podcast Ranked #12 Talent Management Podcast Ranked in the Top 20 Personal Development and Self-Improvement Podcasts Ranked in the Top 30 Leadership Podcasts Each HCI Podcast episode (Program, ID No. 592296) has been approved for 0.50 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR™, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ recertification through HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coffee Break Session #64: What Is Reverse Factoring?

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Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2022 8:36

What is reverse factoring? Coffee Break Session Host Alexa Cook catches up with Strategic Treasurer's Managing Partner, Craig Jeffery, to discuss reverse factoring. They discuss what reverse factoring is and how it can be leveraged. Listen in and learn a little bit about reverse factoring.

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Episode 403: Improving Payment Operations with Georgetown University

FOCUS

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 30:05

It's no secret that the pandemic altered the way colleges and universities carry out their everyday operations, driving campuses to adopt more innovative technology. In this episode of the Focus podcast, Rico Marea, assistant vice president for Revenue Receivables and Payables at Georgetown University shares how they transformed their payment operations by adapting and implementing more modern solutions. Adapting to new payment options During the pandemic, Georgetown quickly discovered issuing and receiving paper checks became difficult. With no one able to physically do the work of handling checks, the university was able to push for all departments and offices to accept electronic payment options. Through TouchNet uStores and uPay, Georgetown was able to quickly create payment acceptance websites for students to use. “A great example of something that we're leveraging [is] the TouchNet solution to simplify payment processes that were painful in many ways, because we were relying on paper checks,” said Marea. The integration of electronic payment options also helped bill past students still eligible for student health insurance and campus organizations receive donations while cutting back on paper checks. Georgetown's efforts with TouchNet opened the doors to begin to solve other problems in payment operations. University procurement cards reimagined Beyond student finances, TouchNet's uStore has allowed Georgetown to look further into online reimbursement options for staff with university procurement cards. Before, when a personal expense was accidentally charged to a campus card, employees had to mail a check to reimburse the institution. Once a uStore can be set up, employees will be able to easily replace accidental spending on pro-cards and have it automatically reallocated on the back end of the financial system. Once Georgetown and TouchNet have fully developed and tested this software, other higher ed institutions will be able to integrate it into their operations. ACH validation with TouchNet made possible ACH validation is another integrated TouchNet solution that Georgetown was able to quickly implement; making it is to comply with the new ACH regulations enforced by Nacha. This new feature reduces the risk of fraud and incorrect or incomplete transactions. With ACH validation integrated in the TouchNet payment solution, invalid bank accounts and input mistakes are not accepted. So students and parents won't have to worry about their payments and refunds not going through. This feature also benefits the staff, as now there is an automatic way to know what went wrong and how to fix the issue if a bank account cannot be validated. What's next for Georgetown? As Georgetown continues to improve its payment operations with integrated technology solutions, the administration is looking toward new ways to manage the increase in electronic transactions. Marea is focused on data security for students and parents, and working with TouchNet to streamline PCI compliance. Georgetown's plan is to keep pushing in the direction they're going with TouchNet's help, to continue to improve payment operations to meet the needs and expectations of today's students and parents. Partnering with TouchNet has allowed them to implement innovative solutions and is an example to other institutions of how we can help transform electronic payments in campuses across the country. Special Guest: Ricard Marea .

Security Standards Are Shifting: A Series on Cyber Security

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2022 30:31

Organizations of all sizes are under persistent attack and surveillance at an increasing level. Understanding these attacks and strengthening our defenses must include a process of steady updates to our systems, processes, and team members. In this episode, Host Craig Jeffery sits down with Jonathan Doskocil of TD Bank and Christopher Gerda of Bottomline Technologies for the second conversation in this series concerning cyber security. This episode covers topics including changing security standards, growing risks, and the duty placed on companies to protect their people, data, and assets. Listen to the first episode here.

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Coffee Break Session #62: What Is Dynamic Discounting?

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Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2022 5:36

What is dynamic discounting? Coffee Break Session Host Alexa Cook catches up with Strategic Treasurer's Managing Partner, Craig Jeffery, to discuss dynamic discounting. They discuss what dynamic discounting is and how it can be leveraged. Listen in and learn a little bit about dynamic discounting.

risk investing network capital partners investments managing partners payments dynamic supply chains cashflow ecosystem shareholders coffee break discounting payables strategic treasurer craig jeffery

Palladium One (PDM) - Doubles Their Resource & Increases Payables

CruxCasts

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2022 30:37

Palladium One Mining Inc. is a mineral exploration company. The Company operates in the acquisition, exploration and evaluation of mineral properties segment. The Company holds an interest in the Lantinen Koillismaa Platinum Group Element-Copper-Nickel (PGE-Cu-Ni) Project (LK Project) located in North-central Finland. The Company holds an interest in the Kostonjarvi Platinum Group Element-Copper-Nickel (PGE-Cu-Ni) Project (KS Project) located in North-central Finland adjacent to the LK project. The Tyko Project is located in Northwestern Ontario, which is a nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), platinum-group element (PGE) project and comprises approximately 173 single cell mining claims. The Company holds an interest in the Disraeli Lake Project located near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Company's wholly owned subsidiaries include Tyko Resources Inc. and Nortec Mineral Oy.

Challenges of Working Capital Management (Corcentric)

Savvy Business, Life Unscripted

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2022 37:18

In this episode, Craig Jeffery of Strategic Treasurer talks with Brent Kinman of Corcentric on key principles of working capital management, including how organizations achieve alignment between areas. There are several critical measurements of efficiency and the use of capital that allow organizations to understand how activities impact their performance. https://www.corcentric.com/

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FX Connections: Bringing Transparency to Cross-Currency Payments

TreasuryCast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2022 21:01

Cross-border activity is growing at a remarkable rate, making FX payments a hot topic for treasurers across the globe. In this TreasuryCast episode, Eleanor Hill asks Daniela Eder and Gibran Maqsood (Barclays Corporate Banking) to provide their key action points around FX payments in 2022. Our guests share their impressions of the technologies that can assist in making full use of the increasingly connected payments marketplace, the industry sectors to keep a close eye on in terms of innovation, and the potential impact of not optimising cross-currency payments.

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Accounts Payable vs. Accounts Receivable: What's the Difference

APNow

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2022 2:36

Accounts Payable vs. Accounts Receivable: What's the Difference is a rather common question. Many outside accounting don't know what the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable is. You will sometimes see it written as AP vs AR or AR vs AP. Most in #accounting and #accountspayable understand the nuances of #accountspayablevsaccountsreceivable That being said, many don't understand what's the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable. They want to know accounts payable and accounts receivable meaning and that's why they do this search. Accounts receivable and accounts payable the opposite sides of a coin, in a manner of speaking. Knowing what is accounts receivable and accounts payable is the basis for a decent accountant. What is accounts receivable and payable is an often searched google question, sometimes written as ap vs ar or perhaps ar vs ap. Another way this issue is researched is through the google search payment receivable. To bring the points home in this short talk, real-life examples of accounts payable and accounts receivable are included. Receivables and payables are key issues for most organizations as they relate to the cashflow of the company, which some refer to as its lifeblood. Payables and receivables are critical. Accounts billable is how a few refer to their receivables. Payments and billing must be kept up to date if the organization wishes to survive. The talk also includes real life accounts payable examples, as well as real life accounts receivable examples. Link Finding Cash Hidden in Accounts Payable https://youtu.be/fnpegmMJAE0 Learn more about AP Now at www.ap-now.com Host: Mary Schaeffer (www.ap-now.com)

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Keep your Business in Order with The Neat Company's President and CEO, Garrett Baird

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2022 15:52

NeatBooks, allows businesses to see your bills at a glance. Neat-Books lets you automate this process and see your reports in one spot. Today, The Neat Company's President and CEO, Garrett Baird joins us to share how NeatBooks can help your business thrive and grow in 2022.At Neat, they are reinventing bookkeeping for small business owners. Leveraging its legacy in document scanning and storage, they are making the mundane (but necessary!) steps to manage your company's books and prepare to file taxes simple - nice and Neat. Try NeatBooks® Free for 15 Days: https://www.neat.com/t/

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Module 4: Vendors and Payables

Bookkeeper Training School 2.0 Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2021 11:55

vendors module payables

ABP #314 - The Payables Address

Accounting Best Practices with Steve Bragg

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2021 4:44

How to make a standard payables email address work

address payables

Top Restaurant Accounting Tips: Closing Out Vendor Payables & Credit Card Liabilities

Operating A Profitable Restaurant

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2021 7:36

Successfully closing out a period starts the domino effect for proactively operating a restaurant versus missed opportunities in the following periods. The purpose of the Period End Financial Close is accuracy verification to highlight where your money is going. This enables you to make quicker, more educated business decisions. To close out a period, begin with a review of the financial statements; The Profit & Loss Statement, The Balance Sheet, and The Cash Flow Statement. Within each statement, defined areas of focus should pop out to an operator as a must-watch for success. In this episode of The Tip Share, RASI Training & Education Manager, Brittany Ward focuses on two critical accounts to review for accuracy prior to closing out the period: Vendor Payables, and Credit Card Liabilities. Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwB0F_Fk668 Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/top-restaurant-accounting-tips-closing-out-vendor-payables-and-credit-card-liabilities Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

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3426: Small, Beautiful & Strong | Payables

Moneycontrol Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2021 11:15

Welcome to the special podcast series -Small, Beautiful & Strong- that dives deep into how India's small and medium businesses have reorganised through technological innovation and other improvements. This episode examines how small businesses have managed expenses through technology and other innovations of management with payment processes. This series is brought to you by Moneycontrol in association with Dell Technologies. Contact a Dell Technologies Advisor today at www.dell.co.in/work or call 1800 425 4001

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EP 73: Social Media Ad, Pag-hahanap Ng May Pera, Payables and Receivables sa Negosyo at Iba Pa Sa Negosyo

Negosyo Realtalk by Arvin Orubia

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2021 50:11

Negosyo Usapang Social Media Ad, Pag-hahanap Ng May Pera, Payables and Receivables sa Negosyo at Iba Pa Sa Negosyo --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/arvinorubia/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/arvinorubia/support

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ABP #306 - The Payables Clerk

Accounting Best Practices with Steve Bragg

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 5:35

The characteristics of a successful payables clerk.

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Manage Your Payables Properly

The Contracting Coachcast: Construction Business Improvement

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2021 16:03

"Stay on top of your payables to avoid complications."In today's episode, I discuss managing cash flow and your fiduciary responsibility.Sign Up for Free Coaching Session / Coaching Review CallDownload the Free Contractor's Business Systems DeckWant to speed up your path to success? Looking for some support for your business or career?Consider one of our coaching programs to get the support you need. Click below and complete the quick survey and we can schedule a call to discuss the benefits of working with me directly.Schedule a Coaching Review CallThanks for Listening!have questions or comments?Comment on our Facebook page here.Ask a question at Ask the CoachI would love your feedback:Leave a review on iTunes or Stitcher. 1 Star of 5 Star, I love your feedback and read every review.Leave a review on our Facebook page.Listen Anywhere!Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherListen on Alexa just say "Alexa, play The Contracting Coachcast podcast."Online at ContractingCoach.comor on your favorite Podcast PlayerWant More?Check out these other great resources:The Contracting Coach AcademyThe Contracting Coach Resources

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ASA Asia Episode 15: Best AP/AR Solution

Treasury Talks podcast series

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2021 15:32

Overall Winner – Microsoft, Fanny Niu. Highly Commended Winner – Chubb Insurance Australia Ltd, Gerard Sitaramayya. Highly Commended Winner – Pontian Pei Chun Chinese Schools.Payables are key to any business. How do companies negotiate improved payment terms with their suppliers? We have seen an increase in the use of shared service centres and payment factories in recent years, and Payment-on-Behalf-of structures are a lot more common now. We also look at how companies manage their accounts receivables, including reconciliation. As with payments, we are now seeing Collection-on-Behalf-of structures emerging.

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Coffee Break Session #31: What Are Days Payables/Days Receivables?

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2021 5:39

What are days payables and days receivables? Coffee Break Session Host Alexa Cook catches up with Craig Jeffery, Managing Partner of Strategic Treasurer, to discuss this topic. They cover what days payables and days receivables are, why they are both important, and why treasury should care about them. Listen in and learn a little bit about days payables and days receivables.

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Payables and Receivables - Week 14

Pinewood Church PCA

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2021 42:12

receivables payables

PodChats for FutureCFO: Challenges and opportunities in the automation of accounts payables

CXOInsights by CXOCIETY

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2020 13:28

Within the finance function, departments like accounts payables got a renewed sense of urgency to transform following recognition that the pandemic crisis we are experiencing this year may not be a one-off occurrence and there is a need, and an opportunity, to introduce reforms to the way things are done to ensure that future crises will not have as disruptive an impact on overall operations as the one we are having this year.In today's Podchats for FutureCFO, we have with us, Marcus Rex, managing director for Asia-Pacific with xSuite, sharing his views on one aspect of finance automation – that of accounts payables.

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Zoug est le premier canton avec des impôts payables en bitcoin - 03.09.2020

Le 12h30 - La 1ere

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2020 1:47

The misuse of payables finance - Global Supply Chain Finance Forum (GSCFF) Commentary

Trade Finance Talks

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2020 31:11

The supply chain finance technique of payables finance is regarded by the industry as a useful and beneficial tool for both buyers and suppliers. Yet recently, it’s come under significant scrutiny by the press, financial Ombudsman, and various regulators around the world. Add to this, the financial distress wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, with SMEs tending to be the first to feel the effects of financial crises. Peter Mulroy, Secretary General of FCI, Stacey Facter, SVP of Trade Products at BAFT, and Christian Hauscher, Chairman of the Global Supply Chain Finance Forum and Product Manager for Trade and SCF EMEA at Deutsche Bank, discussed why payables finance remains a force for good. Full article and report here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e49-misuse-of-supply-chain-finance-worrying-but-not-widespread-says-gscff/

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KfW: Strong recovery after April low; Trafigura, Gunvor 'take Hin Leong's storage leases at Singapore Universal Terminal’; GSCFF unveils report responding to criticism of payables finance

TXF Daily Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2020 3:19

In today's daily round-up of export, trade and commodity finance news, TXF's Max Thompson covers the latest stories and trends across the market: KfW Research says it stands by its forecast that Germany’s gross domestic product will contract by around 6% in 2020, before growing again by 5% in the coming year. Oil traders Trafigura and Gunvor have taken over the fuel oil storage leases previously under Hin Leong at Singapore's Universal Terminal The Global Supply Chain Finance Forum (GSCFF) has released a new paper in response to growing concerns regarding the use of supply chain finance Like what you hear? Hit subscribe to stay up to date and for all the latest news online visit www.txfnews.com today.

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Improve Cash Flow and Margins Through Payments Processing

Illuminated Path: Shining a Light on Healthcare's Best Operational Practices

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2020 8:20

In looking to cut expenses, improve cash flow and grow margins, one area of relatively “low-hanging fruit” that can be implemented relatively swiftly, and begin to literally pay dividends almost immediately is payments processing. Intalere Senior Vice President of Business Development Shon Wettstein shares how these solutions can lower your overall costs for merchant services and payment processing – while accelerating and simplifying payments so you can focus on patients.

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Protecting Your Treasury in Uncertain Times - In Conversation with BNP Paribas

TreasuryCast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2020 35:42

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has created a host of unprecedented challenges, ranging from increased instances of cybercrime, to diminished access to workplace resources. Eleanor Hill, TMI, speaks to Bruno Mellado, Bruno Francois and Nicolas Trimbour, BNP Paribas, to ascertain how the Treasury community is responding to these shortcomings, as well as their predictions for the post-pandemic financial landscape.

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Working From Home: Reducing Cybercrime and Fraud Risk

TreasuryCast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2020 13:27

Eleanor Hill, TMI, speaks with Nicolas Trimbour, Head of Fraud Prevention and Data Management at the Cash Management Competence Centre, BNP Paribas, about how treasury teams can manage the heightened cybersecurity and fraud risks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Payables Friction Index | Ending the Payables Pain of Invoice Management

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2019 24:15

In order to efficiently manage payables, you need to streamline the entire process that make payments possible, like invoice processing and approval workflow. Yet roadblocks persist. Matt Clark, president and COO of Corcentric tells Karen Webster how the understanding of efficiency gains and a competitive advantage makes many CFOs reassess their resistance to change and welcome a holistic digital transformation of their source-to-pay processes.

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Ending The Payables Pain Of Invoice Micromanagement

PYMNTS Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2019 24:16

Corcentric explains how invoice micromanagement hinders corporate progress, but digitizing B2B payables processes with automation technology boosts efficiency.

Payables Friction Index | Taking a Platform Approach to ePayables Adoption

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2019 26:20

Transitioning to ePayables answers two main pain points for AP: fraud and manual reconciliation. Yet neither buyers nor suppliers feel enough pain to eliminate their dependence on payments via paper checks. Matt Clark, president and COO of Corcentric tells Karen Webster how the re-emergence of platforms in the B2B space may reveal a coming change in attitude.

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Taking A Platform Approach To ePayables Adoption

PYMNTS Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2019 26:21

Corcentric discusses a platform approach to ePayables adoption, stressing the importance of keeping the supplier in mind to digitize accounts payable.

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Payables Friction Index

Contractor Success Map with Randal DeHart | Contractor Bookkeeping And Accounting Services

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2019 23:00

Accounts payable (AP) processes are anything but efficient, mired in paper and manual labor. Waiting for the fax machine to break is no spur of change, either. However, as Matt Clark, president and COO of Corcentric tells Karen Webster, focusing on people, process and, of course, automation can soothe AP pain points.

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0310: Contractor Bookkeeping: Outsource Or Do It Yourself

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2019 9:16

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0310, And It Will Be About Contractor Bookkeeping: Outsource Or Do It Yourself I would like to start my blog post by asking you to reflect on your WHY. Pause for a while and think about the reason or reasons why you started your business. I highly doubt that your answer is rooted in accounting tasks or involved any type of bookkeeping project at the slightest. It is apparent that you’re passionate about what you do and you love working in the construction industry, be your own boss, and have the freedom you’ve dreamed of. I admit, small business owners - like myself, have learned to make the most of the resources we have. And as an entrepreneur, tend to take on the challenge of wearing multiple hats. Marketing your business, answering phone calls, responding to emails, scheduling appointments – to name a few. However, I am reminding you now that being a company owner and doing your accounting and bookkeeping requires a totally different skill set from being a construction expert in your field. When it comes to your financials, it would be wise to take a step back and let someone who specializes in bookkeeping do it for you. Not just any accountant or bookkeeper, but see to it that they are Construction Bookkeeping and Accounting Professionals. Questions to ask yourself: Do I have experience in bookkeeping and/or accounting? Outsource: Working with a knowledgeable and experienced bookkeeper that specializes in your industry will save you time in setting up your system and processes, so it’s easier to get started. DIY: You may have a bit of a learning curve. Start by familiarizing yourself with construction bookkeeping and accounting processes. Create a system and an everyday routine when it comes to managing your paperwork. What kind of software and applications should I use? Outsource: Your construction bookkeeper will be able to help you out and can determine which accounting software will work best for your business, provide you with extensive training and support, and share tips and tricks on how you can optimize it. Fast Easy Accounting supports several different software and applications. In particular, QuickBooks or Xero for construction depends on how you get paid, the type of work your company does, and if you need Job Costing. DIY: This is where it gets tricky. As I have mentioned, using a particular software depends on the kind of contracting business you have, what you need out of it, and how much time you are willing to devote to learn and use it. Keep in mind that using a more popular and in-demand software and applications have a significant advantage in case you are having some issues. Tech support should be readily available, and if not, a quick Google search can lead to video tutorials and community answers. Can I process payroll for my employee/employees? Outsource: During a regular pay schedule, when time cards arrive on time, everything runs smoothly. Payroll processing is a complex task and shouldn’t be put off because it can lead to burdensome complications especially when time cards are late or you have to deal with overtime management, entry errors, employee loans, and ineffective time records. Fast Easy Accounting offers Payroll Processing with options such as Paper Check, Direct Deposit, or Debit Card. DIY: To learn how to process payroll for your employees is one thing, but to deal with common payroll issues I specified is another thing you need to add on your to-do list even when you’re already busy juggling other tasks. How do I generate Financial Reports? Outsource: Contractor Financial Reports such as Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash, Receivables, Payables, Job Costing Reports, and Job Profitability Reports all depend on proper bookkeeping set up from Day 1. It’s easy to pull a report based on the entries and make use of it whether you want to understand when and where you are making money, or you need to present your financials to the bank or CPA. DIY: It is easily accessed and generated from your accounting software. The real question here is, how reliable are your reports? A generic chart of accounts that comes with your QuickBooks software, for instance, is not customized to your construction business needs; thus transactions are often assigned to improper categories resulting in inaccurate reports. Conclusion: The ability to produce more fieldwork is dependent on your construction skills but more on your ability to plan your work and work your plan. Contractors like you are skilled in construction but not usually in construction accounting. As Construction Accountants, we understand that there are “too many tasks” and not enough time in the day. This is why we develop systems and processes, use software and apps to make it as fast and easy as possible for our clients to manage their business. In the end, it’s not that you can do your own bookkeeping, it is about the best use of your time – whether you are talking to a prospect, looking at a job, creating an estimate, writing an invoice, collecting the money, cleaning your truck and even sleeping. We offer construction bookkeeping and accounting solutions at our online store. We have QuickBooks and Xero set up templates for those who would like to do their own bookkeeping, we have packages available to choose from when you need to outsource it to us, or opt to have an in-depth review of your current bookkeeping set up. You can always schedule a free one-hour consultation with me by calling our toll-free number 1-800-361-1770 or (206) 361-3950 or send me an email sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com. We help a little or a lot depending on your needs. I look forward to being able to assist you with any option that best fits your company. Please feel free to download all the Free Forms and Resources that you find useful for your business. About The Author: Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood, Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. Call 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Take a Proactive Approach to AP Automation

BB&T Bank Let's Go Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2019 15:05

Take a Proactive Approach: AP Automation with Payables and Invoice Management. Rather than leading your team through the grind of your business payments month after month, a more proactive approach – perhaps based in automation – can provide a number of benefits. Listen to this episode to find out the value to you of a new approach.

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Bringing Technology to the Back Office | Timing and Taking Risks: Episode 3