Oracle premier support ends in December 2018 for Oracle WebCenter Suite including WebCenter Imaging  version 11.x  

This poses a key question to customers, upgrade or consider alternatives?

There are several things, which you will need to consider:

Have you customised your solution?

Are you looking to reduce hardware costs?

Where are you utilising WebCenter software in your business?

The Challenges of Upgrading Oracle WebCenter Imaging 11g to 12c

WebCenter Imaging projects, whether used for ‘Invoice Automation’ or custom solutions like ‘Customer Correspondence’; it is important to evaluate the complexity, costs and long-term maintenance of the solution. For AP Automation projects, Oracle provided an accelerator called the Financial Imaging Process Solution Accelerator (FIPSA) and partners built their own variations, using the toolsets available.

For customers who have used the FIPSA, Oracle product development has redeveloped this accelerator, however, this is only available under a controlled release. Does the partner that built your solution have access to this? Do you want to re-implement a solution not supported by Oracle Product Development? Does going down this route provide you with long-term stability and certainty

11.1.1.9 Extended Support Ends in December 2021

Oracle has created some additional challenges as part of the migration from 11g to 12c. The Imaging Agent and the server structure has changed, as the Content Server and Imaging Server are no longer separate. Therefore, the 12.2.x release requires a re-architecture of the solution, consequently, there is no simple upgrade option. Solutions will need to be re-developed as part of the upgrade.

Our Experience of Upgrading

Arcivate has been an Oracle Gold Partner since 2010 and is the premium partner for implementing imaging solutions integrated with Oracle Business Applications. We have a history of successfully designing and implementing solutions to help our clients to exploit the rich functionality provided by the Oracle Software product suite.

Arcivate’s own experience of moving from 11g to 12c has involved rewriting the Forms as 12c were not compatible with 11g. There are also several functionality changes between versions of 11 and then to 12. We found that it was much quicker and easier to implement using new features in 12c rather than work within the 11g limitations.

Stay on On-Premise or move to the Cloud with SaaS?

With the existing on-premise FIPSA solution there is no support for Oracle ERP Cloud, so it would only be a stopgap as there is no future roadmap. Arcivate has migrated its Invoice Automation solution for Accounts Payable to the cloud and as part of this migration; we have increased functionality including better intelligent OCR capture, enhanced automation, and an improved User Experience. As with all SaaS solutions, it minimises consultancy requirements, Capex expenditure and eliminates costly future upgrades, as this is included within the service.

Options

Arcivate enables global organisations to achieve their business objectives; to enable swift responses to opportunities and market changes. Our experience in specifying and implementing document capture and process management solutions, combined with our technical expertise in component technologies and integration skills.

Customers should consider their options of the upgrade from 11g to 12c.

In summary:

The upgrade is a complete re-implementation

Project timelines will be in the region of the initial implementation

Customers should also consider Oracles Cloud Direction, as this is accelerating

WebCenter Imaging is not offered in the Public Cloud

Moving to Mi Invoices for EBS protects their investment, as it is fully compatible with ERP Cloud

Mi Invoices is Fully Certified and available from the Oracle Marketplace

We believe our customers require a strategy and ongoing roadmap, so our recommendation to customers is to move to the cloud as it will future proof the investment.