Quick Reference Guide:

Email and Fax Delivery Options in Oracle EBS R12

Executive Summary

With its new “Submit Request Delivery Options” button, Oracle EBS 12.1.3 brings new
document delivery functionality that sounds good on the surface, but will it meet
expectations?

Ultimately each EBS customer is going to study and determine for itself whether its
business processes lend themselves to this new functionality. At STR Software, we have
studied the functionality closely and believe it falls short of expectations in many key areas:

1) Access to Delivery Options requires an expensive system-wide upgrade

2) Delivery Options is another distinctly different delivery mechanism for IT to support
3) Lack of delivery tracking and troubleshooting functionality adds to a overloaded IT staff
4) No ability to add attachments to report output during delivery

The remainder of this guide discusses in detail the pros and cons of the new “Submit
Request Delivery Options” button in Oracle EBS R12.1.3.

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The new “Submit Request Delivery Options” button

What is this new Delivery Options button?

According to Oracle’s release notes, the R12.1.3
release makes the following functionality available:
“When submitting concurrent requests, users can
now choose to have the request output delivered
using BI Publisher’s Delivery Manager. The output
can be automatically emailed, faxed, sent to an IPP
printer, or delivered using FTP or SFTP.” ~ Section
4.1.3.3. of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1
Content Document.

So, what does this mean for users?

The hook in to BIP Delivery Manager means that
users can reduce manual intervention and the need
for custom code in order to automate delivery of
single/ad hoc reports to a final location (e.g. a
single invoice can be faxed directly from within EBS
without the need to print and fax from a separate
machine).
Inside R12.1.3, view the options by choosing the new “Delivery Opts” button.

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Inside the Delivery Options Screen

Oracle offers four points of integration with BI Publisher and four corresponding tabs:
1. IPP Print – allows users to select any number of IPP Printers to print the results of a concurrent
request.
2. Email – allows delivery of a report via email.
3. Fax – allows automated delivery of a report via fax.
4. FTP – allows users to transfer Concurrent Request output to a remote host using FTP or SFTP.

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IPP Printer Tab:
Users can select IPP printers to print results of a concurrent request
What is IPP Print vs. Regular EBS Printing
functionality?
IPP stands for Internet Printing Protocol and is
an open standard for printing. CUPS (Common
UNIX Printing System) is the most common
consumer of IPP and is an open source
printing system. Printers are setup within
CUPS and then printed to as normal. The
‘Regular Print’ functionality of EBS is a bit
different, while it can utilize CUPS it does not
typically communicate directly over IPP. EBS
has traditionally used drivers and styles to
setup how to print to the system print spooler.
When using this new functionality, your
current print drivers/styles/types that are
setup in EBS will not be used.

This screen allows users to:

Execute printing upon completion of a
concurrent request, without accessing the
Upon Completion form.

More details: The Lowe Down Blog – R12.1.3 Delivery Options: IPP
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Impact of the IPP Printing Tab Functionality
The impact of this tab will prove minimal for most users. This is largely due to the fact that standard
report printing is likely in place wherever printing would be desired.

Potential positive impact: Limitations:

• In some business cases, the ability to set up • When using the IPP tab to set up a print job,
print instructions and fax/email/ftp instructions standard printing is still executed upon completion
from the same location may improve the user of the concurrent request. Unless the standard
experience. print information is removed from the system, the
job will print twice.
• This means that:
o if an organization wants to use the IPP Print
tab, system configuration will take a
different approach; all printers will need to
be specified using the new printer definition
form.
o users will need to be retrained to correctly
specify printers for the functionality to work.
• Further, the new tab does not take into account
any of the more robust processing and
configuration that EBS Print Drivers and Styles
make possible such as choose paper size,
initializing strings, and running custom programs.

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 Email Tab:
Users can deliver a report via email from any application

Functionality

• For each recipient row (To/CC), a

new email is sent to the defined
recipients. The behavior of the
delivered email is as follows:
1. If the report being delivered is
TEXT based, then the email
message body contains the
report contents.
2. If the report being delivered is
NON-TEXT, the email message
body is blank and the report is
added as an attachment to the
email. The attachment name is
derived from the Concurrent
Program Short Name and
Request ID. For example:
POXPRPOP_12345676_1.PDF

More details: The Lowe Down Blog – R12.1.3 Delivery Options: Email
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Impact of the Email Tab Functionality
This option provides new functionality that was otherwise not available across EBS. There are limitations, but
users should benefit from this addition.

Potential positive impacts: Limitations:

• Sending reports via email is no longer limited to • Not ideal for delivering high volume of documents;
PO Approval and other select modules – reports No bursting functionality is associated with this
can be emailed from any application within EBS. form.
• Users will be able to receive any email bounce • Email formatting isn’t consistent across EBS – it
backs that may have been missed by specifying a depends on the report type.
“from” email address on the form. • The form does not allow for hardcoded information
about the email content or sender – nothing is
configurable on the fly.
• When a non-text based report email is sent, an
attachment is generated (as mentioned in the
previous slide); the attachment names are derived
from Oracle information and not user friendly or
configurable.
• Setting up the report to email only, without also
printing the report, requires an extra step and a
confusing user experience.

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 Fax Tab:
Allows delivery of the report via fax

This screen allows users to specify:

• Fax Server – Which IPP server to use

that has fax capabilities.
• Username – Some IPP servers
require authentication, this field
allows for the passing of a username.
• Password – Use this field to specify
the password for the username
entered in the previous field.
• Fax Number – Where to actually send
the fax!

More details: The Lowe Down Blog – R12.1.3 Delivery Options: Fax
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Impact of the Fax Tab Functionality
Like email, this tab provides some new functionality, however the benefit will be determined on a case by
case basis. It’s good for delivering a few one-off or ad hoc documents; for higher volume delivery, you’re
better off looking at alternative solutions.

Potential positive impact: Limitations:

• Good option to deliver one-off documents if you • Not ideal for delivering high volume of documents.
can manage the exceptions manually – no more • Bursting is not available!
walking to the fax machine in this scenario.
• No audit trail for documents that have been faxed.
• Faxes that fail will not be automatically retried.
• There is no hook-in to network or internet-based
fax servers.
• Very little meta-data is available with the fax
output.

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 FTP Tab:
Allows users to transfer Concurrent Request output to a remote host

This screen allows users to specify:

• Server – Where the data is to be

transferred.
• Port – Port on which the FTP/SFTP
server is listening.
• User – User login on the server in
question.
• Pwd – Password for user on the
server.
• Remote Dir – Directory on remote
server to place concurrent program
output.
• Secure – Checkbox to denote SFTP vs
FTP.

More details: The Lowe Down Blog – R12.1.3 Delivery Options: FTP
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Impact of the FTP Tab Functionality
The FTP tab functionality is very straight forward. If delivering data via FTP is currently a business
requirement, it’s worth a look. If not, keep the functionality in mind for future uses.

Potential positive impact: Limitations:

• Companies who have FTP programs that are • There is no way to name the file on the remote
being called to deliver concurrent program data machine.
to remote hosts such as banks, logistics • If there is a typo in the configuration, the
companies, etc, could potentially remove the concurrent process will still complete successfully.
need for managing a customization using the There is little indication if something in the data
form. has been entered incorrectly. Thus, it is difficult to
determine true status of the document following
the FTP request.

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How does the new functionality rate?

• The Good News: Oracle is recognizing users’ need for multiple transmission
methods. This new ‘Delivery Opts’ button offers a delivery mechanism native within
Oracle EBS for delivering BI Publisher reports.

• But . . . : In order to burst and deliver high volumes of reports or to get robust
delivery options and reporting, a specialized third-party application is your best
option.

• Conclusion: Though Oracle is making moves in the right direction, at this time, the
delivery options aren’t likely to meet the bulk of users’ business needs. Advanced
document delivery (email, fax, print, and archiving) still may still require extensive
coding and personnel resources or the implementation of 3rd party products like the
AventX Oracle Connector from STR Software.

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A third-party document delivery engine like AventX significantly
reduces IT time and resources required to meet custom needs
STR Software bridges the gap in Oracle’s delivery manager to meet your specific
business needs.

The AventX Oracle Connector allows users to:

• Email, fax, and print any report type with one solution
• Deliver single or a batch of documents from any EBS module
• Attach supporting documents to business-critical documents
• Confirm email and fax delivery status inside EBS
• Troubleshoot, fix, and re-queue delivery errors engine without IT support
• & more

Contact STR Software for more information about advanced document delivery from Oracle EBS.

This guide was created from information posted on the STR Software blog.
Visit for more details on the new functionality and other
BI Publisher-related news and tips.
Questions or comments? Email: brent.lowe@strsoftware.com or leave your thoughts on the blog.

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