Oracle provides bug fixes and legislative updates for Oracle E-Business Suite as part of its Premier and Extended Support offerings. The requirements and methods for delivering those updates are explained here:
- Oracle E-Business Suite Error Correction Support Policy (Version 4, March 2013, Note 1195034.1)
We've made some important changes to our policies. All EBS customers should read Version 4 carefully.
Why did we make these changes?
Version 3 was published in 2011. That version stated that new EBS 12.1 one-off patches would require all customers to have applied the suite-wide EBS 12.1.3 Release Update Pack by January 2013.
A significant number of customers have told us that they have not been able to apply EBS 12.1.3 in time. These customers have expressed concerns that 12.1.1 or 12.1.2 "were being desupported" and that they would not be able to request new updates.
What is our standard guidance?
Oracle recommends that all customers apply the latest suite-wide Release Update Pack. There are significant benefits to keeping your E-Business Suite environment updated with the latest suite-wide Release Update Packs:
- They are cumulative, reducing the overhead of identifying many individual patchsets
- They deliver the latest new features and enhancement requests
- They include the latest updates for performance, stability, and security
- They reduce the number of prerequisites required for other patches or new technology integrations
What has changed?
The 2011 version stated that all new one-off patches would require the suite-wide EBS 12.1.3 Release Update Pack as a minimum prerequisite.
The 2013 version relaxes the prerequisites for new one-off patches. New one-off patches will be produced with the individual 12.1.3 Family Packs as minimum prerequisites. This is so that vast majority of customers, who are at the 12.1.3 level, can get simpler and smaller patches.
How will this work?
For example, you request a new one-off patch for an Oracle Financials issue that you've encountered with EBS 12.1.2:
- Under the 2011 policy, the new Financial patch's prerequisite would be the EBS 12.1.3 suite wide Release Update Pack.
- Under the 2013 policy, the new Financial patch's prerequisite is the Financials 12.1.3 Family Pack.
You are not desupported if you are on 12.1.1 or 12.1.2. The question incorrectly assumes that 12.1.1 or 12.1.2 are "releases" covered by our Premier or Extended Support offerings.
An EBS environment consists of a base release and subsequent updates.Base releases are used to create new E-Business Suite environments or upgrade environments running older EBS releases. Base releases are documented in Oracle Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Applications and are eligible for Premier, Extended, and Sustaining Support.
Examples of base releases:
- E-Business Suite Release 12.0
- E-Business Suite Release 12.1
You get updates to base releases through:
- Release Update Packs (RUPs)
- One-off patches
- Critical patch updates (CPUs)
- Q: "How do I get updates for the EBS 12.1 base release?"
- A: By applying the latest Release Update Pack. If the fix that you need is not already included in the latest Release Update Pack, you may request a new one-off patch. New one-off patches will require their respective 12.1.3 Family Packs as a minimum prerequisite.
What if you haven't applied the relaxed minimum prerequisites?
Oracle will first recommend that you apply the appropriate 12.1.3 Family Packs. In cases of urgent business need, Oracle will evaluate the
feasibility of creating one-off patches without the established minimum
prerequisites. Whether this is practical will vary depending upon the
complexity of the dependencies. If the patch is in an area of code that
has undergone little revision with few dependencies, it may be
straightforward to produce one-off patches without the established
minimum prerequisites.
In most cases involving complex code objects, such as the major transaction screens, it is likely that a full dependency analysis will show that a major portion of the established minimum prerequisites levels are, in fact, required to apply the patch. In these cases, Oracle will recommend that customers minimize their risk by installing the established minimum prerequisites rather than a one-off dependency tree that is nearly as extensive but has not undergone the same level of testing.
You are closer to 12.1.3 than you realize
Our patching minimum prerequisite have been relaxed. We still recommend that all customers apply the EBS 12.1.3 suite-wide Release Update Pack. If you can't apply the EBS 12.1.3 suite-wide Release Update Pack, you should still apply the 12.1.3 Family Packs for the EBS products that you're using.You are probably a lot closer to 12.1.3 in most areas than you may realize. Any patches that were created since you went live almost certainly delivered code above the 12.1.3 version level. So, in areas where you had any patching or tuning as you stabilized on 12.1, it's pretty likely that any further patching would not require the 12.1.3 Family Pack. To understand this in more detail, you can run "Patch Wizard" to do an analysis of what files on your system would really change if you applied each 12.1.3 Family Pack.
What are the impacts of these changes for 12.0 customers?
The patching prerequisites for EBS 12.0 are not affected by these policy changes. EBS 12.0 customers must have the minimum prerequisites
Your feedback is welcome
We've relaxed these policies to simplify your EBS maintenance requirements. Please feel free to let us know if you have any comments or questions about these updated policies.