How to Eliminate Process Gaps with Oracle SaaS and Oracle PaaS

Cloud service is becoming the service businesses choose the most and Oracle isn’t different. Oracle Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is growing its base day by day with customers moving from traditional ERP to the cloud.

With Oracle’s growing cloud footprint, there is also a need for automated 3rd party integrations with Oracle SaaS to help minimize user dependencies and eliminate any potential process gaps. At Apps Associates, we try to identify these gaps, educate the user community, and help resolve these gaps with potential Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions.

One such needed integration solution which is used every day by businesses is daily rates. Oracle has been known to provide the multi-currency functionality for all modules and applications since its inception. Ideally, in earlier on-premise Oracle instances, this was achieved with either web services or PL/SQL driven interfaces. With SaaS, the access to the database has been completely restricted which results in users having to load the daily rates files manually every day (leaving it prone to errors).

Apps Associates identified this gap and built a solution on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace with a subscription app called RatesLoader which integrates Oracle SaaS with OANDA via web services and PaaS. The app is fully integrated with OANDA and provides a seamless integration with the automation of fetching, formatting, and loading the daily rates back in Oracle SaaS via scheduled jobs. This solution was made possible by PaaS.

Oracle Cloud SaaS is essentially an “on-demand software” based on a subscription model that provides access to core products along with many pre-configured extensions, applications, or apps that are available via the Oracle Cloud Marketplace (https://cloudmarketplace.oracle.com/marketplace). However, access to the underlying technology isn’t possible and that can restrict and/or constraint developers from building any custom extensions to support the needs of the unique business model on the SaaS platform.

However, the introduction of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solves this problem. PaaS is generally considered at a step lower than SaaS and provides a unique platform and framework for developers to create and deploy any extensions, interfaces and integrations. The developed custom solution then can be integrated and can be configured to call from SaaS as well. PaaS inherits all the cloud features of SaaS such as scalability, high-availability and multi-tenant.

PaaS itself is built on top of a virtual pay-as-you-go system which includes infrastructure (servers, networking, storage, middleware, development tools, and more). Customers will have the ability to either scale up or down resources using a self-service like portal for managing infrastructure based on the needs of organization.

Trends on Oracle SaaS and Oracle PaaS

As evident from the 5-year trend graph below for Oracle SaaS and Oracle PaaS popularities, both the services are go hand-in-hand. Oracle PaaS is becoming a go-to service for extending the Oracle SaaS platform.

Image/Graph Courtesy: https://trends.google.com

Features of Oracle PaaS

Oracle PaaS offers an open, standards-based application development platform to build, deploy, and manage API-first, mobile-first cloud applications. Pre-built adapters are available to integrate on-premise and cloud applications. The pre-built adapters (and connectors) can ease the development of custom integrations to extend SaaS apps. Additional capabilities include data integration and replication, API management, integration analytics, along with data migration and integration that make it comprehensive.

Automated patching encrypts the data by default and High SLA guarantees high security and performance. When it comes to deployment, it can be deployed to any data center which are managed and serviced by Oracle. Last but not least, lower cost of ownership.

Oracle PaaS revolves around three basic business needs

1. Build: Move from the mirage of a product idea, to the seeds of initial code, and then finally to a flourishing, finished product released to the customers by using Oracle Developer Cloud Service to create and administer the configurations for code repositories, continuous integration, testing, building, and deployment for all the stages of development.

• Building custom application process follows typically SDLC process
• Supports open source and other programing languages: Java, Python, PHP, node.js, ruby, etc.
• Supports many platforms like mobile, cloud native, web
• Access to database and Weblogic servers
• Supports IDEs: jDeveloper, Eclipse, NetBeans

2. Integrate: Oracle Cloud Service liberates development from what can be a static, expensive on-premise infrastructure and tool set, to the varied, flexible, and innovative environment in Oracle Cloud. The goal is to simplify and accelerate integration between Oracle and non-Oracle cloud applications and on-premise applications

• Availability of real-time, APIs, adapters, web services, applications, sevices (IoT)
• Comprehensive suite of integrated, best-in-class application services, including Sales and Marketing, Customer Service and Support, Human Capital Management, Talent Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Planning and Budgeting and Financial Planning
• Automated approval workflows
• Crowd sourced services to assist, accelerate integrations
• Zero or minimal coding, point-n-click experience; end user participation
• Extensive menu of pre-built adapters to connect to cloud and on-premise applications

3. Engage: The goal here is to encourage and improve customer, partner, and employee engagement in the business and to improve the customer/partner/employee experience.

• Allow users access anywhere, on any device, any channel to collaborate
• Permits easy creation of content across any channel
• Measures app usage and other metrics across channels
• No or low coding
• Increased engagement fosters innovation

I would like to hear your experiences about eliminating process gaps so feel free to leave a comment below. If you want to get started with the Oracle Cloud Platform, reach out to us to learn more at https://www.appsassociates.com/oracle-cloud-applications.