AI Use in HCM Cloud

Oracle has just introduced a new set of AI agents within its Fusion Cloud Applications, and they’re set to make a real difference for HR teams. These agents are designed to support HR leaders throughout the entire employee journey—from hiring to retirement—by streamlining processes, improving the employee experience, and freeing up time for more strategic work. Whether you’re in recruitment, management, or part of the wider workforce, these tools are here to make everyday tasks easier and more efficient.

Built into Oracle Fusion Applications and running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, the AI agents are secure, fast, and included at no extra cost. They’re designed to work seamlessly within your existing workflows, so there’s no need to learn a new system. From helping employees discover internal job opportunities to assisting recruiters with interview scheduling, these agents are all about making HR more intuitive and responsive.

When it comes to career development, Oracle’s new agents offer some genuinely helpful features. Managers can get support with setting and tracking team goals, while employees receive tailored advice on roles that match their skills and aspirations. There’s even a Learning Tutor agent to help employees get more out of training courses, and a Talent Advisor agent that helps managers plan promotions and career growth using real performance data.

Core HR tasks are also getting a boost. Employees can quickly get answers to questions about pay, leave, or benefits through the Employee Concierge agent, while managers have their own version to help with team-related queries. There’s also a Positions Assistant agent that helps HR leaders make smarter staffing decisions by analysing organisational data and policies.

Finally, the agents support the full employee lifecycle, including onboarding, development, and offboarding. The Succession Planning Advisor helps HR teams stay ahead of leadership gaps, and the Payroll Run Analyst keeps payroll running smoothly by flagging anomalies and explaining any issues. Altogether, these AI agents mark a big step forward in making HR more proactive, personalised, and data-driven.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Learn 25D

Release 25D has landed, and Oracle are gearing up for phase 2 of Redwood for Learn—this time turning the spotlight on Learn Admin pages, which are mandatory by release 26A. The focus is on making things smoother and smarter when it comes to resources, recommendations, self-paced learning, and external content. With the deadline fast approaching, it’s no surprise there’s a whole bunch of handy features to help you make the switch. Let’s dive in and see what’s new!

If you’re someone who often forgets to reconcile learning assignments, this new feature is for you. With just a quick tweak to a profile value, any course, offering, specialisation, or self-paced learning you kick off will now automatically trigger the reconciliation process. That means all your linked learning assignments stay up to date, saving you from the hassle of mismatched or outdated info.

25D is bringing with it a new unified catalogue listing page, which will be your central location for all your Learn admin tasks. This new feature changes how admin access works for courses, specialisations, and offerings. Once you switch to the single learning catalogue view, courses, offerings, and specialisations will show up on the Learning Catalogue page. Just a heads-up: the old data security rules won’t apply anymore for the following tasks: viewing, managing courses, offerings, or specialisations in the catalogue. If your admins already have full access, there’s nothing you need to do. If you’ve been limiting access to certain items, now’s a great time to simplify things using catalogue administration profiles. Just set up profiles that define who can manage what, replacing the old security roles. Then, link your courses, offerings, and specialisations to the right profile—HCM Data Loader (CourseV3, OfferingV3, and SpecializationV3) can help with bulk updates.

If your organisation uses external learning content, you can now set default visibility rules for each provider, deciding who gets access and how the content shows up in topics and communities. It’s a great way to make sure the right people see the right stuff in the right places, all while keeping things aligned with your learning strategy. This update gives you more control over how third-party content is delivered, helps avoid misuse, and lets you manage licensing costs more efficiently. To get started, just head to My Client Groups > Learning and Development > Configure External Provider and tweak the audience and catalogue settings for any providers whose content is imported as self-paced learning.

With learning content getting better and richer, it’s no surprise the file sizes are growing too. Oracle’s on the ball, they’ve upped the max file size for Self Paced Learning, so you can now upload videos, SCORM packages (1.2 and 2004), AICC ZIPs, and presentations up to a whopping 2GB. PDFs are still capped at 1GB, but that should cover most needs. If you’ve already got Self Paced Learning switched on, there’s nothing you need to do—just enjoy the extra space!

The final feature I want to highlight, is one that has been a frustration for many people and now it has been resolved. You can now clear out old self-paced learning from your Oracle Learning catalogue—whether it’s inactive or has missing content. Just click the new Delete button and you’ll see how many people completed it. You can choose to keep those completions by moving them to a legacy item, note down a reason for deleting it, and add a quick comment if you like. Once you confirm, the system runs a scheduled process that permanently removes the learning and all its links—like specialisations, communities, recommendations, initiatives, HCM goals and journeys. If you’ve chosen to keep completions, they’ll be safely moved so learner history isn’t lost. Just make sure self-paced learning is switched on and that you’ve added the new security privilege: WLF_DELETE_LEARNING_CATALOG_ITEM_PRIV.

Oracle often slip in a few extra new features throughout the month, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out. If anything truly exciting drops, I’ll put up another blog post to keep you in the know and make sure you’re not missing out. In the meantime, please check out my latest write-up on the new Core HR features in Release 25D, you can find it here.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Recruit 25D

Great news – 25D has landed! Unlike most modules, Recruit has a two-step journey to Redwood, and 26B is the big one to focus on to make sure users stay compliant and fully switched over for core Recruit tasks. If you’ve already got 25C, you should be handling requisitions, job applications and candidates in Redwood by now. The next wave is all about offers, interviews, campaigns, events and agency hiring. While 25C gave us a few Redwood features for offers, 25D really ramps things up to help you stay on track for the 26B deadline, but even more excitingly, it’s full of AI features to make your lives easier! So let’s dive in and explore what’s new….

This first feature isn’t actually a Redwood specific one, but it’s a great one that I’m very excited about! Given Oracle’s push to embed AI into Fusion, wherever it is relevant, this feature is a great use case for it! The new AI Agent for Candidate Experience introduces an AI Chatbot called Career Coach directly onto the Career Site. It will be much easier for candidates to search for a new role with the Job Recommendations Agent and Job Fit Agent, as they get tailored suggestions based on their experience and skills. The candidate just need to upload their CV, answer a couple of questions and then the Job Recommendations Agent will highlight roles that match their profile, while the Job Fit Agent helps them figure out if a particular job is the right fit and answers any questions. Both agents can even use uploaded documents to give more personalised advice, making the whole process smoother and more relevant.

There’s another AI feature I’m excited about. This was shown at CloudWorld London and customers have been asking me about it ever since! The Job Applicant Screening Agent Template lets you create a handy agent team in AI Agent Studio, which Recruiters can get to straight from the Job Application page. It’s a super helpful “ask me anything” assistant that can dig up all sorts of info, including feedback scores, background checks, recent updates, and what’s happened over the past few weeks. You can ask things like “What’s going on with this application?” or “Give me the full lowdown,” and it’ll even suggest things like interview feedback, timelines, assessments, and offer details. It’s a real time-saver, especially for people who don’t use the system much and just want quick answers without the faff.

If you’re anything like me and find creating job offers a bit laborious, you’ll definitely want to check out the new Job Offer Creation Agent in AI Agent Studio. It’s like having a helpful friend on hand, it’s ready to answer all your questions, whether they’re general or specific to certain fields. You can customise it with your own documents and prompts, so it fits your organisation’s policies perfectly. Wondering if you can tweak the start date after sending an offer? Not sure about the typical job grade for a Chief of Staff? Curious about salary differences between cities, or what to do if a candidate already has another offer? This agent’s got your back. It helps you breeze through the offer process smoothly, fills in the right info, and cuts down on errors, so you can focus on getting the right people on board, faster.

The final Recruit AI Agent I want to highlight is one I particularly love, the new Job Requisition Creation Agent to help speed up the process of creating Job Reqs. Think of it as your go-to FAQ buddy, it answers all sorts of questions, whether you’re wondering about salary grades, attachments, or who’s recruiting in a specific location. It works entirely off the documents you upload and the prompts you set, so it’s easy to tailor to your company’s policies and ways of working. Whether you’re asking if you can change job grades later or need to know the salary range for consultants in Dallas, this assistant helps you get it right first time, no interruptions, fewer downstream issues, and a smoother, more efficient experience all round.

In 25C, the Candidate Sourcing tile was added. In 25D, the Campaigns and Events tabs are no longer under Hiring, but moved to Candidate Sourcing. When you head into the Candidate Sourcing tab, you’ll find everything you need to start building your talent pipeline – from Candidate Search and Pools to Messages, Campaigns, and Events. Over in the Hiring tile, you’ve got quick access to the Activity Centre, Messages, Requisitions, Offers, and you’ll spot Candidate Search and Pools again here too, so you’re never far from the tools that help you keep hiring on track.

Oracle often sneak in new features throughout the month, so it’s worth keeping an eye out. If anything truly game-changing drops, I’ll write up another blog post to keep you posted and make sure you’re not missing out. In the meantime, feel free to check out my latest write-up on the new Core HR features in Release 25D, you can find it here.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll 25D

I’m a big fan of innovation, which is why I always look forward to the Oracle Fusion Quarterly Releases. While this one doesn’t bring a huge wave of new features for Global Payroll, there are still some important updates across various legislations worth noting. In this blog, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the key highlights from both the global and local perspectives. Oracle’s got plenty more in the pipeline this quarter, so keep your eyes peeled, and if anything particularly exciting crops up, I’ll be back with another post to keep you in the loop!

The first feature in Global Payroll is the new Redwood Archive Results page. Whilst this isn’t a glamourous new feature, it is an important page. The redesigned Redwood Archive Results page offers payroll admins the modern Redwood functionality for managing their payroll data with greater efficiency and accuracy. With enhanced navigation, flexible search, customisable views, and inline editing, it’s easier than ever to identify and resolve errors, unprocessed assignments, or missing records directly within the archive. These improvements help reduce manual effort, minimise rework, and ensure smoother payslip generation and external payment processing. The feature is enabled by default via the Redwood Payroll Activity Enabled profile option, so you don’t even need to do anything and can start benefiting straight away. 

Payroll Activity Centre

All Payroll admins know that reporting is critical to the job! Oracle have made a small, but helpful update to the Payroll Costing Report. Prior to 25D, the report was a standard BI Publisher output, but listening to feedback, Oracle have rewritten the report as an extract-based one. This new version will handle larger payroll volumes and has added in more report output options, including Excel, XML and text. There are some simple steps to enable this new version of the report. First go to the Switch Task Action Version flow. Select Run Payroll Costing Report from the task list, choose the Extract-based Report version, and set it as active. From then on, all flows using this task will automatically run with the new version.

Moving on to the different legislations. There are a number of key features for Local Government in the UK. The first one is for the MCR for Teacher’s Pensions. A new input value, Error Number, is now available on the predefined TPS When Earned Details element, enabling employers to directly record error numbers linked to corrections for MCR files, particularly for When Earned U lines that typically require a TPS When Earned Details entry. This enhancement streamlines the reconciliation process for Teachers’ Pension errors. It’s easy to apply this update, navigate to Submit a Flow → Payroll, run the Run Feature Upgrade payroll flow task, and select Update Element Eligibility to Link Error Number for TPS When Earned Details Element.

There are two changes for LGPS included. Firstly a solution for the Pensionable Pay calculation for non-recurring payments. You can now easily work out the right Pensionable Pay for employees who’ve had time off mid-month and received one-off pensionable payments during their working days. With new balances in place, regular and irregular earnings are handled separately, so the LGPS employer contribution is calculated correctly without needing to prorate the monthly Pensionable Pay. Creating a new Main Pension Scheme element allows you to feed regular and irregular earnings into dedicated balances, ensuring accurate Pensionable Pay calculations for periods with one-off payments during working time. The second LGPS change relates to KIT and SPLIT days. You can now mark earnings as KIT or SPLIT days so they’re added to the right pensionable pay balances (CPP1 or CPP2). Just make sure to include the actual date worked when entering these, so the system can compare the day’s earnings with the assumed pensionable pay and use whichever is higher. If the day falls during unpaid leave, the full KIT or SPLIT earnings will be included in the pensionable pay.

With the introduction of Irish legislation for the first time, it is unsurprising that there are a significant number of new features in this release for it. These include Illness Benefit Payment or Offset; Public Sector Pensions; Salary Sacrifice; Send File Submission Process; Additional Superannuation Contribution (ASC) Forms; Check Revenue Submission Request; Payroll Submission Correction Request and Payslip Template. Additionally there are enhancements to reporting; Create Element template; Shadow Payroll; Special Assignee Relief Program and Withholding Taxes only on Irish Income. We know a few of you are already ahead of the curve when it comes to Irish legislation, so this’ll definitely be of interest. But even if you’re just starting to think about switching to Oracle Payroll, it’s still worth a look for our Irish customers.

There’s just one update this time for our US customers, but it’s worth flagging. The Retroactive Overpayment and Recovery for Earnings Elements feature is now switched on by default. Honestly, I can’t think why you wouldn’t want to use it, but just so you know, it’s no longer optional. This functionality gives you more control over how Retropay results are managed, especially when they reduce an employee’s net pay. Instead of the full overpayment being automatically deducted, you can now set up a repayment plan for the employee.

As I mentioned earlier, Oracle tend to roll out new features throughout the month. If any of these updates turn out to be game-changers, I’ll pop up a fresh blog post to keep you in the loop. In the meantime, feel free to check out my latest write-up on the new Core HR features in Release 25D, you can find it here.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Core HR 25D

This year seems to be flying by — it’s hard to believe we’re already talking about Release 25D! That said, Oracle has now published the initial set of documents for 25D. As is usually the case, further features are expected to be added throughout the month, but for now, let’s take a look at what’s been announced so far.

Unsurprisingly given AI Agent Studio was released in 25C and the current focus on AI, this is an AI heavy release. The first feature I want to highlight is for AI Agents. Oracle has introduced a smart enhancement to Guided Journeys on Redwood pages by allowing AI Agent tasks to appear at the section level, not just across the whole page. This means users get more focused, real-time support exactly where they need it, helping them move through transactions faster and with more confidence. Once enabled via a profile option, this feature brings cleaner UI design, smarter guidance, and reduced reliance on support teams—all without storing any interaction data. It’s a subtle but powerful upgrade that makes Redwood journeys more intuitive and intelligent.

AI Agent Embedded in Guided Journeys

Another key focus for Oracle lately has been the embedding of Analytics into pages. As a data nerd I love any opportunity to embed a graph or other visualisation of data into a page. Oracle have now introduced a new enhancement to the Analytics task type in Journeys, the Visualization Configuration subtask, which enables users to seamlessly view Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) analyses, including any supported parameters, directly within a journey task. This integration allows for real-time insights and decision-making without leaving the task flow. It should be noted that users configuring these will not only need Journeys config access, but also security access to the new Visualization Configurator. There are three new privileges for this: ZCA_VIEW_DATA_VISUALIZATION_CONFIGURATION_PRIV, ZCA_MANAGE_DATA_VISUALIZATION_CONFIGURATION_PRIV and HRC_MANAGE_SYSTEM_SEARCHES_PRIV.

Visualization Configuration in Guided Journeys

The next feature might not be the most thrilling, but it’s one you’ll want to be aware of. Oracle’s been steadily shifting notifications from the old Responsive style to the newer Redwood look, and now it’s Employment notifications getting the makeover. If you’re using Oracle’s seeded notification, it’ll automatically switch to the Redwood version, just a heads-up, there’s no going back unless you move to a custom notification. If you are using custom notifications, you’ll need to tweak your template to the Redwood style. On the plus side, the new notifications automatically adjust to the screen they’re being viewed on, so they’ll look spot-on whether you’re on a laptop, tablet or mobile. If you haven’t customised your existing notifications, the update rolls out without you lifting a finger. The fresh design is cleaner, more user-friendly, and helps you get things done quicker. Plus, it now supports date, time and number formats based on each user’s preferences.

The final update I’d like to highlight is for those who’ve not yet transitioned to Redwood. I understand some organisations have held off for various reasons, so it’s important to note that from release 25D, the Redwood Document of Records page will be automatically enabled, and the Responsive page will no longer be displayed. If you’re not quite ready to move to Redwood, you can revert to the Responsive version by setting the profile value ORA_PER_DOCUMENT_RECORDS_REDWOOD_ENABLED to ‘N’. However, as with other Redwood transitions, once the deadline has passed, any issues with the Responsive page will no longer be supported, and Oracle Support will only recommend using the Redwood version. That said, the Redwood page offers a significantly improved experience, including the need for fewer clicks and faster load times, so this change should be seen as a positive step forward rather than a forced inconvenience.

Redwood Document of Records

As previously mentioned, Oracle is set to introduce new features in Core HR later this month. Should these enhancements prove to be particularly noteworthy, I’ll publish an updated blog post. In the meantime, please keep an eye out for forthcoming blogs that will explore additional modules within Fusion as part of Release 25D.

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Oracle Digital Assistant – Does it have a Future?

With the introduction of AI Agents in Fusion, many are questioning the future role of Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA) within Oracle’s roadmap. During the AI Agent Studio training, it was mentioned that ODA seeded skills will eventually become obsolete, although no further details with regards to a timeline were provided. Since then, Oracle’s 25C What’s New documentation has confirmed that some older seeded skills are beginning to be deprecated—however, this is not a new development, as the phasing out of legacy skills has been an ongoing process.

Oracle Digital Assistant

Several Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA) skills are now deprecated and may soon become obsolete, requiring timely updates to maintain compatibility with Fusion Cloud Applications’ quarterly releases. The Expenses skill built on ODA version 20.08, the Candidate Experience skill on version 22.08, and the Internal Candidate Experience skill version 1 on version 23.06 are all deprecated—customers should ensure they have deployed the appropriate V2 versions of these skills to stay aligned with the latest updates.

An additional key point of note is that the HCM Knowledge skill has been decommissioned as of release 25A, and customers using the Classic HR Help Desk are advised to transition to the ‘Search Knowledge Article’ intent within the Helpdesk skill for continued support.

Adding Skills in Oracle Digital Assistant

Oracle advises customers to check the Skill Store for updated versions for every release. If you access a skill built on a deprecated platform version, a warning message will appear, and you can click the ‘Tell me more’ option to view additional details about the platform versions. Skills will cease to function once their underlying platform version becomes inactive, which typically occurs no later than two years after their release.

To ensure your Digital Assistant or skill remains up to date, you can easily install the latest version from the Skill Store whenever an update is available. Simply sign in to Oracle Digital Assistant, navigate to Development > Digital Assistants via the Navigator, and within the tile for the relevant skill or digital assistant, click the menu icon and select Install Update. After upgrading your digital assistant, it’s essential to reassign the appropriate channels to the new version to ensure continued functionality. To do this, sign in to Oracle Digital Assistant and navigate to Development > Channels via the Navigator. Click on Channel, and in the Create Channel dialog box, enter the necessary details, selecting the required channel type from the list. Once created, to link this channel to the latest version of FADigitalAssistant, use the Route To drop-down menu to search for and select the updated version. Finally, click Reset Sessions, and in the Change Channel Routing dialog box, confirm by clicking Change.

Oracle AI Agent Studio

At this stage, there’s no immediate need for customers to move away from Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA); however, it’s a good time to begin reviewing the skills currently in use and identifying the types of questions your users typically ask. These insights can serve as a valuable foundation for developing AI Agents using the new AI Agent Studio, which is being introduced in release 25C. Taking a proactive approach now will give you ample time to plan and transition before ODA eventually becomes obsolete—whenever that may be.

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Ask Oracle – The New Way to Interact with Fusion

Have you heard about Ask Oracle? I was chatting with someone from Oracle recently and left the conversation genuinely excited! It gets a brief mention in the Common Features for 25C, but there’s not much detail available just yet. So, what is it? Ask Oracle will form part of a new navigation experience being introduced in 25D. You’ll be able to use it to search for tasks, applications, and information—and it will also serve as your way of navigating between different areas. The Home page with Ask Oracle will remember where you’ve recently been and the places you visit most often, helping you get to what you need more quickly and intuitively.

Ask Oracle Homepage

Oracle understands that when users open Fusion, it’s usually with a specific task in mind. The new Ask Oracle experience is designed to make that journey more intuitive—whether you prefer to simply ask for what you need or browse a curated list of intelligent suggestions. To support this, the redesigned home experience brings together three key elements: a product map view to help you explore what’s available; intelligent suggestions that surface the most relevant items based on your likely next steps; and a modern search function with rapid type-ahead, synonym recognition, and integrated business objects—making it easy to find what you’re looking for, even if you’re unsure of the exact name or didn’t realise you needed it.

Ask Oracle Navigation

The version being released in 25D is the first iteration. This will continue to evolve over time. Future versions of the Home experience with Ask Oracle will support a full range of user goals: whether you’re exploring what’s possible with “What can I do?”, tackling a specific task with “I want to do ‘x’…”, or checking in with “What needs my attention?” to understand what actions are required to keep things moving. The application will intelligently highlight tasks and priorities to help maintain workflow momentum.

If you’d like to use Ask Oracle, it will need to be enabled following the 25D release. Once enabled, the Home experience with Ask Oracle will replace both the global header and the existing home page used in the News Feed layout. You can set Home with Ask Oracle as the default home page layout via the Appearance work area.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Talent 25C

Talent became mandatory in Redwood by Release 25C, but that doesn’t mean that Oracle haven’t given us some new features in this release. As usual, Oracle do usually continue to announce more features throughout the month, so if any significant additional features are announced, I will do a follow up post to highlight them.

In 25C Oracle have enabled combined goal administration pages, where you can view the performance and development goals administrative tasks on a single page. On the Performance and Development Goals page, unsurprisingly you can view and manage performance goals and development goals of any persons you have access On the Goals Library page, you can view and manage performance and development library goals. Then there is the Setup of Goals Mass Processes, which manages mass assignment process for performance and development goals and also the mass sharing process for performance goals. The final page within the admin pages are the Scheduled Processes for Goals, which again is fairly self explanatory. These changes are a simple one, but it will make life easier for Talent Administrators which can only be a positive thing!

Library Goals Page Listing Performance Library Goals

Oracle has rolled out valuable enhancements to its Check-in templates, making performance conversations more efficient and tailored. You can now link Touchpoints check-in documents directly to performance review periods, eliminating duplication and ensuring a smoother flow of information. A particularly helpful update is the ability to include competencies from an employee’s position, job, or talent profile as discussion topics—this provides structure and relevance to each conversation. Additionally, organisations can now target specific employee groups by assigning eligibility profiles to Touchpoints templates, allowing for a more personalised and strategic approach to performance management.

Add Talent, Position, and Job Competencies as Discussion Topics

A small but impactful update from Oracle is set to make HR workflows more efficient—notifications can now be automatically sent to HR when general or goal-related feedback is submitted in response to an HR request. These alerts include a direct link to the feedback, saving HR teams from having to manually check each employee’s Goals or Feedback page. It’s a simple enhancement, but one that will be widely appreciated for the time and effort it saves.

HR notified when feedback is received for a worker

It wouldn’t be an Oracle release without a touch of AI—and this one delivers just that. Managers using Redwood performance documents can now benefit from enhanced AI support during evaluations, making the process smarter and more intuitive. What’s especially reassuring is the new transparency feature: the data sources used to generate AI-suggested comments are now clearly displayed, helping to build trust in the insights provided. Additionally, a new page property allows you to set a minimum character count before an overall summary comment is generated, giving organisations more control over the quality and depth of AI-generated feedback.

AI Enhancements For Manager Evaluations in Redwood Performance Documents

As mentioned earlier, Oracle often roll out additional features throughout the month. Should these updates be significant, I’ll publish a follow up blog post. Please check out my blog on the new features in Core HR for Release 25C here.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Recruiting 25C

Earlier this year there was a split in the timelines for when Recruiting becomes mandatory in Redwood. Requisition Management, Job Applications and Candidate Management are all mandatory by Release 25C. Offer and Interview Management, Campaigns, Event and Agency Hiring are now mandatory by Release 26B. With this in mind, there are a lot of new features in release 25C to prepare for the second phase of Redwood for Recruiting. Oracle continues to deliver innovation, with new features rolling out throughout the quarter. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the updates, and if anything particularly noteworthy emerges, I’ll share a follow-up post to keep you in the loop.

Updated Redwood Timeline

This release introduces Redwood functionality for Offers. It’s now possible to both create and delete an offer within Redwood. It’s possible to override information from the position during the offer process, unless Position Sync is switched on and then the option is greyed out. As with all new Redwood pages, I would recommend switching it on in your Development pod and checking out the functionality as soon as you receive 25B. The earlier you start testing, the easier it will be to adopt Redwood for Offers.

Create an Offer in Redwood

In this release Oracle have split out the Hiring tab, into two separate ones: Hiring and Candidate Sourcing. The Hiring tile now contains these tabs: Activity Centre; Messages; Requisitions; Offers; Candidate Search; Pools; Campaigns and Events. The new Candidate Sourcing tile contains these tabs: Events; Candidate Search; Pools; Messages and Campaigns. The separation of tiles will automatically happen if you have the ORA_REC_RECRUITING_REDWOOD_ENABLED profile. Only users who have security access to Candidate Sourcing will have access to the tile and it’s content.

Hiring Tile and Candidate Sourcing Tile

Whilst Job Applications are mandatory in Redwood by Release 25C, Oracle have added extra functionality within VBS to personalise the Job Application page. This is following customer feedback that requested additional fields to be available within Job Applications. Whilst the move to Redwood hasn’t always been smooth, I do think Oracle’s response to client feedback on additional personalisations that are requested and movement on mandatory timelines has been significantly more flexible than I would expect of an organisation of their size.

Visual Builder Studio to Personalize the Job Application Page

The Send Job Requisition and Job Application Related Messages to members of the hiring team has now been moved to Redwood. You can use a template to create the message or create it from scratch. The Recipients list will automatically display all the hiring team members, but you can type in the list to find other recipients. When you’re ready to send it, you can preview the message to ensure the content is correct and tokens are being resolved as expected. Once the message is sent, it’s available on the Messages tab of the job requisition, and on the Activity tab of the job application. 

Send Message to Team Panel

As I said earlier, Oracle generally continue to add new features throughout the quarter. I’ll be keeping a close watch on the updates, and if anything particularly impactful comes through, I’ll share a follow-up post to keep you informed and ahead of the curve. Please check out my blog on the new features in Core HR for Release 25C here.

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Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll 25C

Everyone who knows me, knows that Quarterly Release time is my favourite time of the quarter, as I love finding out all the new features that Oracle have released. Payroll is mandatory in Redwood by release 25C, therefore there isn’t a large number of new features for Global Payroll in this release, but there are still some significant changes! Oracle will continue to roll out new features throughout the quarter. If any additional updates stand out, I’ll share a follow-up blog to keep you informed.

The first key point of note is that the Payroll Activity Centre will be automatically switched on in 25C. Given that it’s a really helpful tool, I would imagine this won’t cause any Payroll users hassle, but I wanted to flag it in case any organisations have delayed their move to Redwood for Payroll. If you don’t know what the Payroll Activity Centre is, it’s a one stop shop for all your payroll needs. You can run flows, check person results and do all of your usual Payroll transactions from one place. I’m a massive fan of all the activity centres, but this one is a massive leap forward for Payroll users.

Payroll Activity Centre

A number of pages have made the move to Redwood in this release. These include the Payroll Costing Setup and Process Summary pages. The Process Summary page allows for a high level summary of all payroll processes that have been submitted. The new page can either be accessed from the Payroll Quick Actions or the Payroll Activity Centre. This a much more user friendly way of reviewing any processes that have been submitted.

A new feature has been introduced to control how Retropay results are processed. Oracle have introduced the Retroactive Overpayment and Recovery for Earnings Elements process. How this differs from current behaviour is that rather than automatically processing the deduction for the overpayment in full, it is now offset resulting in no immediate impact to the employee’s net pay. You can then chose to setup and track repayments by the employee until it is paid back in full. This will ensure the fair recovery of overpayment.

For those customers in the US, there is a significant change to US Payroll Engine. Oracle have introduced the new US Oracle Payroll Tax Engine (USOPTE) solution.  The key change is that all statutory tax data information is now maintained and delivered by Oracle Cloud. These include wage limits, filing statuses and allowance amounts. The new Engine will also perform federal, state, and local tax calculations within the payroll product and provide improved visibility of tax calculations with a Tax Calculation Statement.

US Payroll Engine Changes

As mentioned earlier, Oracle often roll out new features throughout the month. Should these updates turn out to be significant, I’ll publish a refreshed blog post. Please check out my blog on the new features in Core HR for Release 25C here.

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