Let’s Talk Tech with

HCM and SCM Center of Excellence – Product

Development

[email protected]

Live Q&A

If you have any questions, you can ask them using the Q & A functionality in Zoom.

The event replay and slides will be available on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect.
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Copyright © 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates
Let’s talk Tech
Join your Cloud HCM Center of Excellence team for an exciting new series to talk about technology!
You will get to hear directly from our experts in product development to gain valuable insights into the
latest trends, new features, and best practices.

Date Day Time Title

Personalizing HCM and SCM Cloud Applications Using VB Studio Express:
21-Oct-24 Mon 9.00 AM
Fundamentals of Git and Merge Requests
Personalizing HCM and SCM Cloud applications using VB Studio Express:
25-Oct -24 Fri TBD
Branching
Personalizing HCM and SCM Cloud applications using VB Studio Express:
04-Nov-24 Tue TBD
Handling common issues, tips and tricks

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 VBS Project Management Extending SaaS
Applications fundamentals (HCM & SCM)
Hosted by Oracle Cloud HCM and SCM Center of Excellence
- Product Development
Featured Speakers Panelists
John Rhodes Prasanna Borse, CISSP, CISM
Director, HCM Center of Excellence
Applications Architect, HCM CoE
Tim Huth Murtaza Amiji
Senior Director, VBS Product Management
Applications Architect, HCM CoE Sweta Jha
Sunil Kashyap Principal Product Manager, VBS Product Management
HCM Cloud Services Director, HCM CoE Aravind Ragul and Amit Anand
Copyright © 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates HCM CoE
3
Safe harbor statement

The following is intended to outline our general product direction.

It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be
incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver
any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied
upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release,
timing, and pricing of any features or functionality described for
Oracle’s products may change and remains at the sole discretion
of Oracle Corporation.

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Agenda
• Understanding SaaS Extensions
• What is a project in VB Studio?
• Workspace Overview
• Introduction to Git
• Deployment Overview
• User and Environment Management in VB Studio

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Understanding SaaS Extensions

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Visual Builder Studio

• Oracle Visual Builder Studio (VB Studio) is a robust application development platform that helps
your team effectively plan and manage personalizations of Redwood SaaS applications
throughout all stages of the app dev lifecycle: design, build, test, and deploy
• Every TEST and DEV instance in your Oracle Cloud Application environment family receives its
own instance of VB Studio, which in turn are tied together by a single VB Studio organization.
More Info

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 VB Studio Projects
A project is the main container managing all work
related to SaaS personalizations.

• Includes workspaces, Git repositories, deployment

pipelines, and environment references.
• All personalization and development work is done
within the context of a project.
• Users need specific permissions to be part of a
project.
• Projects are not tied to any specific environment;
work can be packaged and deployed across
environments linked to the VBS organization.
• When navigating to VBS from Fusion, a project is
automatically created with an empty extension.

Recommendation:
Use the default VB
Studio project for all
personalizations—no
need to create
additional projects or
workspaces.
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 VBS Components- Projects

When you first navigate to Visual Builder Studio from Fusion

• Project is created automatically!
• An Extension is a container of changes made against
Fusion Redwood apps. VBS will automatically create an
Extension for each Fusion pillar family e.g. HCM, SCM,
etc. Changes for each extension are hosted in distinct
repos
• E.g “hcm_extension.git”, “cx_extension.git”,
“scm_extension.git”
• An extension is exclusive to the Project
• An extension initially has only the delivered code with no
changes.

Best Practice:
• Use the default VB Studio Project for all personalizations.
• There is no need for a developer to create more projects or
workspaces.

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 VBS Components- Workspace
Workspaces are where most of a user’s work occurs
• Workspaces are unique to a user identity.
• Workspace lets you operate on a local copy of the Extension source,
which is a clone of the copy that's in the central VBS repository
• Changes made are stored in the git repository and ultimately get synced
back to the project repository
• Also associates an environment for deploying packaged code

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 VBS Components- Git
• Extensions modify delivered SaaS code by layering
changes on top, focusing on business rules and
behavior.
• Modifications are implemented as code and
managed in a Git repository.
• Git ensures synchronization and tracking of changes
made by different teams and users.
• The repository is part of the project, storing all code
changes.
• Personalizations are packaged from the Git
repository and deployed to environments (e.g.,
production or test) through a deployment process.

Branches
• When you open a workspace and make personalizations, the
changes are initially stored in a branch, separate from other code.
• A branch isolates the changes you're working on, allowing you to
develop without affecting the official code.
• Once changes are finalized, they can be merged into the main
branch, which holds the official set of code changes.

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 VBS Components- Environments
• Use Environments to define the target Oracle Cloud
Applications where you want to deploy code changes.
• From the Environments page
• Create and delete environments.
• Add/remove instances tied to an environment.
• View the health status, account names, and service
ID’s for each environment
• Review the deployments for extensions.
• Use the extension lifecycle button to manage
deployed extensions across environments.

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Migration and Deployments
Publishing changes to the instance where
VB Studio is provisioned:
1. Make required changes using Express
Mode
2. Click on Publish button to publish your
changes
3. Merge requests are supported to
facilitate approvals before code
deployment.
4. A branching mechanism can be used to
isolate work, especially for
implementations involving code
deployment from multiple teams or
applications.
5. CI/CD pipelines can be set up to publish
changes to both non-production and
production environments.

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Publish without CI/CD Pipeline

• CI/CD Pipeline will be disabled for

new customers
• Use Publish to deploy to the default
instance
• CI/CD pipeline to be used for
Advanced Deployment
• …and more

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Tailored interface to manage extensions lifecycle

• Simplified interface to
manage extension lifecycle
is available in VBS 24.10
• Promote extensions from
one pod to another and
• Delete extensions from
pods
• Environments added in
Environments tab using
OAuth are listed on this
page

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Users and Roles

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Project Roles

A user has access to a VB project if they defined as a “member” of the project

The following membership types can be given:
• Project Owner
• Access all components of the project and perform project management and administrative tasks, such as adding or removing Git repositories,
managing project users, assigning default reviewers, and configuring Webhooks.
• Project managers and team leaders are assigned this membership. The individual that creates the project is automatically assigned this membership.

• Developer Full Access

• Access most components of the project, but has restricted project management or administrative actions.
• Senior developers are assigned this membership.

• Developer Limited Access

• Access some components of the project, but has restricted job configuration, environment management, board management, project management,
and administrative actions.
• Junior developers and members of the QA team are assigned this membership.

• Contributor
• Access the project's components in read-only mode but can enter comments, update issues, view wikis, and download build artifacts.
• Usually, new developers, technical writers, and other members are assigned this membership.
https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/paas/visual-builder/visualbuilder-manage-development-process/what-are-project-memberships.html
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Visual Builder Studio Roles

There are 2 Visual Builder Studio Roles that give access to VB

• VB Studio User (DEVELOPER_USER)
• VB Studio Administrator (DEVELOPER_ADMINISTRATOR)
If Role Synchronization is not enabled between Fusion and IAM
• These roles can be explicitly provisioned in the Identity Access Manager (IAM)

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Oracle Cloud Application Roles that give access to Visual Builder

There is a set of seeded Fusion roles that implicitly give access to the VB roles

Oracle Cloud Application Role Visual Builder Role

• Application Administrator VB Studio administrator
(ORA_FND_APPLICATION_ADMINISTRATOR_JOB) (DEVELOPER_ADMINISTRATOR)
• Sales Administrator
(ORA_ZBS_SALES_ADMINISTRATOR_JOB)
• Customer Relationship Management Application Administrator
(ORA_ZCA_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT_APPLICATION_ADMINISTRATOR_JOB)
• Human Capital Management Application Administrator
(ORA_HRC_HUMAN_CAPITAL_MANAGEMENT_APPLICATION_ADMINISTRATOR_JOB)
• Synchronization Enabled Administrator Identity
(ORA_SYNC_ENABLED_ADMINISTRATOR_ABSTRACT)
• Application Developer VB Studio user (DEVELOPER_USER)
(ORA_FND_APPLICATION_DEVELOPER_JOB)
• Synchronization Enabled Developer Identity
(ORA_SYNC_ENABLED_DEVELOPER_ABSTRACT)

In addition, any user that needs to access Visual Builder Studio from Fusion should have the
FND_ADMINISTER_SANDBOX_PRIV privilege.
When deploying, this privilege is also required by the user in the target instance.
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Custom Application Role

N.B. If you copy one of the application roles given on the previous slide, you will NOT be provisioned
with the VB roles

When creating a custom application role include the following to give access to VB
• Synchronization Enabled Developer Identity or Synchronization Enabled Administrator Identity
Job roles
• FND_ADMINISTER_SANDBOX_PRIV privilege

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Managing Multiple Instances

Visual Builder Studio is/will be available in all non-Production environments

• Users can access the same Project from different environments
• provided their user for the specific env is a member of the project
• E.g. john.doe@Test1, john.doe@Test2

• Users will have different workspaces in different environments

• Deployments can be made to different environments using Build Jobs
• Also using Environment Manager
• Publish can automatically deploy to the user’s environment
• If CI/CD on Publish is disabled (Advanced Mode -> Settings)
• No need for build jobs in this case
• If you are using CI/CD to Publish to your dev environment, if you switch to using a different VBS, be sure to
update the CICD Pipeline to deploy to your new dev environment.

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Refreshing non-Production environments with P2T

Users
• During a P2T refresh your users and their roles will be copied from the Production instance
• If any of the users had roles that gave VB access in the non-Prod environment, these will need to
be reprovisioned (if the same roles was not provisioned in Production)
Visual Builder Instance
• The Visual Builder instance, including Organization, Projects, Repositories, Packaged Extensions
will be unaffected by a P2T
Deployed Extensions
• The extensions that were deployed in Production will be what is deployed in the non-Prod
environment following P2T
• Following a P2T it will be necessary to redeploy the latest packaged extension versions from the
VB instance to the non-Prod environment

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Upgrade of Visual Builder

Visual Builder Studio is upgraded every quarter

• Not on the same cycle as Oracle Cloud Applications upgrades
• Not a fixed date
• Typically 2 months before Oracle Cloud Applications upgrades

VB Studio upgrades do not introduce dependencies

It is safe to continue to deploy from non-Prod environments to Production from a VB perspective
• VB tool is backward and forward compatible

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Upgrade of Oracle Cloud Applications

• Quarterly upgrades of Oracle Cloud Applications can introduce dependencies

• e.g. when a new page introduced, dynamic components will change, and any existing workspace
will need to be prompted to be updated
• Steps to upgrade the project:
• Navigate to Advance Mode -> three dots in top right -> Migrate
• Any changes made need to be merged back into the git repo
• Anybody creating a new workspace will automatically inherit the updates

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Upgrade of Oracle Cloud Applications

• You cannot deploy an extension created on a new release to an environment running an older
release dues to dependencies
• Important to be able to patch Production
• Changes made on a later release should not be merged to main before Production has been
upgraded.
• Changes can be merged to other branches and deployed to already upgraded environments for
dev/test purposes
• Enable branch protection on main to ensure dependencies are not inadvertently merged
• Impact is that there is a 2-week period when changes made on upgraded environments cannot be
merged to main
• If Production fixes are required ensure they are merged from environments on the save release

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 Deploying across different versions
Weeks to Prod Upgrade -2 -1 0
Release n Release n+1
Deploy
Prod Prod
Deploy
Dev1 Dev1

Test Test
VBS

Release Dependency

Merge Merge
Visual Builder
GIT (main)

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
Recent Project Activities

• Quick view of what has happened in the

Project recently

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
Changes merged into a branch

• Git -> Logs

• Shows each of the sets of code merged into
a specific branch
• Ability to view he details of the change
• Developer comments
• Code
• Compare against other branches

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
Merge Requests

• List out all merge requests

• Review the code contained in a merge request
• Identify who Approved/Rejected

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
Build Jobs

• List out the Job Build History

• Identify when deployments occurred
• Open build logs to get more detail

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
Deployments

• Environments tab
• Identify which extensions have been
deployed to and environment
• Open build logs to get more detail

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Auditing Changes made in Visual Builder
REST API

• REST API to identify deployed extensions

• https://{podName}/fscmRestApi/vx/v2/extensions
• Shows ACTIVE and INACTIVE extensions
• Shows deployments made using SCM (Source Code
Management)
• Show deployments from the Preview button

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Resources

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Upcoming Training Sessions
Oct 21st -Personalizing HCM and SCM cloud applications using VB Studio Express: Fundamentals of Git and Merge
Requests
In this session, we will discuss Git, how it stores personalizations, and how to collaborate with other users. We will also
give you a walkthrough of Merge Requests and how they can help manage personalization deployments. This is the
second of a series of sessions that explore using Visual Builder Studio to build personalizations for HCM and SCM
applications.

Oct 25th -Personalizing HCM and SCM Cloud applications using VB Studio Express: Branching
In this session, we focus on isolating changes using branching. This useful practice can significantly help teams
collaborate and is essential for controlling which changes are published. This is the third of a series of sessions that
explore using Visual Builder Studio to build personalizations for HCM and SCM applications.

Nov 4th -Personalizing HCM and SCM Cloud applications using VB Studio Express: Handling common issues, tips and
tricks
This session focuses on common issues, including undoing changes and troubleshooting. It is the fourth in a series of
sessions exploring using Visual Builder Studio to build personalizations for HCM and SCM applications.

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Resources

Administering Visual Builder Studio Fusion HCM: Redwood Required Steps for
• User Guide Environment Provisioned on Release 24A
• My Oracle Support Doc ID 2997123.1

Extending HCM Redwood Applications Using

Visual Builder Studio Cloud HCM Center Of Excellence
• White Paper My Oracle Support Doc ID 2991662.1 Blog
• https://blogs.oracle.com/fusionhcmcoe
HCM Redwood Pages with Profile Options
• My Oracle Support Doc ID 2922407.1 Customer Connect
• Visual Builder for Cloud HCM
• For anything else, visit HCM Community

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Thank You

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