Discover Oracle HCM Cloud’s Activity Centres

Jan 25, 2025 ~ K8 Mead ~ 2 Comments

Have you seen the new Oracle HCM Cloud Activity Centres? They’re a fundamental part of the new Redwood pages and I love them! When they first came out, they were called ‘Spotlights’, but they’ve since been rebranded and now there are 4 Activity Centres.

The original Activity Centres were for Employees and Line Managers. All Activity Centres are ‘One Stop Shops’ for the relevant user. Focusing first on the Employee Activity Centre, this is where an employee can view / update their personal details; view their payslips; book annual leave and absences and many other things. If there is information that need to be shared with employees in bulk, they can be posted on there too. Any activity the employee is likely to carry out can be linked from the activity centre. If there are tasks that aren’t needed, they can be easily hidden via VBS.

In the Manager Activity Centre, Line Managers can easily access all of their team members records in one place. From here you can view employment and compensation details and also monitor talent and performance. Again important communications for line manager can be posted in here. Additionally bulk actions can be carried out for team members, such as creating communications, adding Journeys and creating surveys for feedback.

The Recruiting Activity Centre was the first one that was launched as an ‘Activity Centre’ and I regularly talk about it to my customers. It’s a great landing site for the Recruitment team to use. Originally it was only available to Recruiters and Hiring Managers, but last year it was extended to Collaborators too, so the whole team has access to this great tool. It summarises key data like high priority tasks and the number of new applicants that need reviewing. It’s easy to view the status of requisitions and offers and, my personal favourite, communication history between the Recruitment team and the candidate in conversation format. This is something that a lot of my customers have enquired about in the past.

The final, and most recent, Activity Centre is the Payroll one. It allows the Payroll team to view all payrolls in one location, easily view notifications that might indicate their has been an error or significant disparity in a payroll run and investigate the root cause. All the usual actions that the team would need to carry out are easily accessible, such as calculation cards, element entries, costing etc as well as to be able to submit payroll flows. It speeds up the time to run processes and investigate issues.

The Activity Centres are all designed to improve the user’s experience and reduce the number of menus / clicks they need to make. It has all the information that you need at your fingertips and in my personal opinion, is a massive improvement! I’m sure this won’t be the last of the Activity Centres that we see and Oracle are constantly improving the existing ones, so keep an eye out on those quarterly release updates for more news.

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Redwood Updates from Oracle HCM Cloud CoE Summit

Jan 25, 2025Jan 25, 2025 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

I’ve already blogged about the Key Note from Chris Leone that kicked off the HCM Cloud Centre of Excellence Customer Summit. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here. The main themes for the summit were AI and Redwood. The ‘Jump Into Redwood Session’ with Laura Froehlich and Todd Wall was extremely interesting and a good follow up to the key note on the first day.

Having recently completed my Prosci Certified Change Practioner qualification, I was delighted when the session kicked off with ‘Why Change’. I think this question is often skipped because it’s a mandated change from Oracle, but as there are so many benefits to moving to Redwood, it’s a really important question. It’s true that change can be scary and users and organisations can be reluctant to do so, but there are so many advantages when you embrace that change.

One of the key benefits is the integration of AI. It’s so fundamental to the way businesses anticipate operating, a number of customers have added objectives to their team to incorporate AI into their daily work. Oracle are making it so much easier to achieve this goal by embedding AI and AI Agents into the Redwood applications. Whilst not everyone wants to use AI, Oracle have incorporated in such a way it can appease both those who do and those who don’t want to use AI. For those who don’t want to use it, it is delivered switched off. For those that do, a quick change to the page in VB Studio, involving ticking a box and publishing it and you have AI embedded in the particular page. It really is that easy! It should be noted that AI functionality is not available to all users, it depends on the server / region the organisation is in. Those in the UK Government Cage cannot access it at present, but it will be available in 2025.

When talking to customers about the new features being delivered in a particular quarterly release, they often only apply to the Redwood versions of the pages. So, if you want the latest functionality, switching to Redwood is your only option. The final key benefit is the improved performance Redwood brings. This wasn’t just a ‘lift and shift’ project to create the Redwood pages, they were completely rewritten from scratch in a new toolset.

One of the stand out parts of the session was the 5 myths about Redwood. Some I’ve heard before and some I haven’t, but I thought they were interesting and I wanted to share them with you. The first one about the profile options being automatically switched on when reaching the the quarterly update uptake date is actually a complex one. Whilst the quarterly release date is when it is mandatory to have made the move, it’s not actually delivered switched on. If you raise an SR after the uptake date, the analyst will advise you to move to the Redwood page, as the non-Redwood pages are out of support. One key announcement during this session was that in 25B, Learn will be delivered switched on in Redwood and in 25C, Timecards will be delivered with Redwood switched on. Whilst this isn’t on the uptake date, it’s 2-3 quarters later, it does mean that at some point Redwood will be automatically switched on for all organisations.

The second myth is around the product not being ready yet and therefore there is no point in starting work on testing and personalising pages. Whilst new features are constantly being released in Redwood, the uptake date is just that, the date you should have made the move for that module, it’s not a date to start making the move. The third myth is that it’s a massive and complex reimplementation. The move is only complex if the organisation chooses to make it such. It is possible to switch on the Redwood pages, make the appropriate security changes, migrate personalisations (using the Personalisation Helper Tool), test and deploy. If you wish to make it more complex by revisiting features that weren’t previously implemented or fundamentally change your existing configuration, this is when it becomes a reimplementation.

The fourth myth is that Redwood is optional. It really isn’t, if you wish to continue being in support, you must make the move. As announced on the session, eventually Oracle will force Redwood on users by delivering it switched on. It’s better to do it early so you’ve got time to test and update users as once it’s automatically applied, it will be too late. The final myth is not one I’ve come across, but that organisations are going to wait until ERP and SCM is available in Redwood, before moving HCM over. It might be because I’ve been regularly discussing the disparity between the timelines of ERP and HCM in terms of Redwood, that I haven’t heard this discussion before. With regards to SCM, Self Service Procurement is mandatory in Redwood from 25C, so this is on a similar timeline to HCM anyway.

The final item I want to share from the session is the Redwood Adoption Checklist. This is really helpful to remind us all of the steps involved in moving to Redwood. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love ticking items off the list!

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Key Highlights from Oracle’s HCM Cloud Centre of Excellence Summit

Jan 25, 2025Jan 25, 2025 ~ K8 Mead ~ 1 Comment

This week was the HCM Cloud Centre of Excellence Customer Summit. This was my first one, but I believe it was Oracle’s fifth summit. Oracle tried to be as inclusive as possible with the timings to accommodate different time zones, but I will be honest the 4-9pm UK time was a bit tricky to juggle, but I was able to go to every session and I’m really glad I did.

Chris Leone, the EVP of HCM and SCM apps development kicked things off. Some of the things announced on Chris’ key note were so new, the session couldn’t be recorded. It’s always a delight to hear Chris speak, he’s so passionate about Cloud Apps and makes you want to join him on his journey. As you would expect, the theme of the whole summit was Redwood and AI as these are the main two key areas of interest from HCM Cloud customers at the moment.

It was nice to get a recap on the functionality that Redwood brings, both embedded within the new pages, but also the ability to extend them using VBS. There was a recap on the Personalisation Helper Tool, both for HCM and SCM. If you don’t know what this is, check out my earlier blog on the tool. If you’ve never used it, I would recommend you check it out!

The piece that excited me the most, was the AI. We’ve all heard of Gen AI, check out my earlier blog on the use of it within Oracle HCM Cloud, if you missed it. Agentic AI takes it to the next level and I’m delighted that Oracle are incorporating it into their applications. Agentic AI is a type of AI that can independently make decisions and solve problems. It takes Machine Learning (ML), Large Language Models (LLM) and Enterprise Automation to create agents that can learn and adapt over time. The slide above refers to RAG based agents, but what are they? RAG stands for Retrieval Augmented Generation and RAG agents are part of RAG applications, which combine external data retrieval with LLMs to generate answers to user queries. In terms of practical application, the AI Agents can complete tasks autonomously, but also know when to loop in an actual user, either for approvals or review.

Oracle already have all of the above AI Agents available now. They can be activated in any process flow that supports Guided Journeys. This is just the start though, Oracle are in the process of developing more AI Agents, with plans for Agentic Agents too, for solutions such as sourcing candidates and scheduling interviews in Recruit and Succession Planning within Talent.

It’s a very exciting time in the Oracle HCM Cloud world and I can’t wait to see all the upcoming AI developments. I’ve got so many things to share from the Summit, so keep an eye out for more blogs. I’ll also write more updates on AI as Oracle announce them.

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UKOUG Conference Discover 2024 – Key Learnings Part 1

Dec 3, 2024Dec 3, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

I attended my first ever UKOUG conference in Birmingham this week and it was a wonderful experience. Sadly I was only able to attend one day of the three, but I certainly made the most of it. I managed to squeeze in 1 key note, 5 sessions and also present my own paper! I reunited with old colleagues and contacts and made lots of new connections. I came home buzzing and looking forward to putting my new learnings into action.

I arrived on Monday morning just in time to hear the Opening Keynote where Leona Chauhan put questions to Jason Bowers and Jeremy Tricker from Oracle. It was really interesting to hear what their priorities are for 2025, particularly given my focus on Fusion, what Jeremy discussed really resonated with me. Customer Success is a fundamental part of Oracle’s plans for the next year. Jeremy and his relatively newly created team are ensuring that their customer’s success is at the heart of everything Oracle do. Unsurprisingly there was discussion on AI, and how Oracle are embedding Gen AI into all aspects of their applications, both On Premise and Cloud. The strength of data linked in with the use of AI are fundamental in allowing the use of Oracle products to develop.

The first session I attended was driven by my passion for all things ESG and my desire to know more about EPM Cloud. You might not know this, but I’m the Environmental Champion for my office location. I’ve been aware of the ESG reporting functionality within EPM, but didn’t know anything about it.

Imagine my delight to discover that the session was being presented by the Queen of ESG Reporting – Saloni Ramakrishna from Oracle. She walked us through all of the complexities of ESG reporting, for example individual country’s legislation; industry specific legislation; the different rating systems that are used. When organisations are operating within multiple legislations and / or industries, this becomes even more complex.

Saloni’s passion was infectious and her understanding of the balance of ESG within a business is difficult. The ethics within a business context is fundamentally different to ethics and sustainability within your personal life. Having a low carbon footprint etc is important, but it is redundant if the costs associated means the business can no longer operate.

I found the factors that drive organisations to be more sustainable particularly interesting. In addition to the potential statutory requirements to achieve, there are other factors. The fact that it is being investor driven delighted me. Additionally consumer demand is a significant part. The key one was that over 50% of US students would take a lower salary to work for an organisation who prioritised sustainability.

So what does Oracle provide? The ESG reporting part of EPM Cloud provides the full end to end process and is included in all EPM Cloud licences with no extra cost. The tool can help you gather your ESG data, blend this data to create a unified view of your data. It also incorporates statutory requirements to ensure that the required data is stored. The ESG reporting incorporates Machine Learning to model, predict and plan your ESG data. The final process is the production of both internal and external reports, which can be used to drive business change.

The final part of the session covered use cases for utilising Gen AI within ESG. Given the huge focus on Gen AI and the forward thinking ESG product within EPM Cloud, it’s not surprising the tool incorporated AI. The use cases showing the predictive tools for the maintenance of wind turbines, was particularly of interest. Being able to predict maintenance requirements and acting early has saved an energy company both money and downtime.

Saloni’s key takeaways were important for all businesses, irrelevant of whether they are using EPM Cloud or not. Firstly that ESG is not something that will only impact people in the future, it has a direct impact on people and businesses now. Those who ignore ESG might find their role or organisation ceases to be required. Secondly technology is at the heart of managing ESG, and particularly utilising Gen AI to predict changes that are coming will improve processes. The final point is that businesses shouldn’t just implement ESG policies because they have to, there are so many other benefits too.

I learned so much on Monday that it would be too long a post to cover in one. I’ll do a follow up to this blog shortly, so please keep an eye out for it.

About the Author:

Kate Mead is an Oracle-certified HCM Consultant and Solution Architect at Version 1 with 155 years of experience in Oracle HR and Payroll systems, including 8 years with Oracle HCM Cloud. She has worked across implementation projects and managed services, has a sound knowledge of UK Payroll legislation and — before becoming a consultant — was an HR Manager.

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Oracle Guided Learning Partner Forum Key Learnings

Nov 27, 2024Nov 27, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Today I was fortunate enough to attend an Oracle Partner event on Oracle Guided Learning (OGL) in London. Unfortunately due to an issue, the tube was closed and I missed the first hour of the day. Despite this, it was a really interesting day and I’ve learned so much.

Whilst I already knew what a multifaceted product OGL is, I didn’t realise the full breadth of it’s functionality. The capabilities of the package of OGL, Digital Assistant and Journeys is phenomenal!

OGL can drive users to and through a Journey or use of Digital Assistant. Likewise, Journeys and Digital Assistant can drive users to OGL. For example OGL could be used to support a new user through their onboarding Journey.

Smart Tips can be added throughout pages to explain the purpose for fields. For example a Smart Tip could be added next to sensitive data fields such as Diversity data to explain why the organisation is collecting this data and what it will be used for.

Another useful function of OGL is the ability to add notes on a field. For example if you know there is an issue with the configuration of a particular action such as entering a maternity absence, a message could be added on the absence entry page warning of the issue. This would ensure that everyone who needs to add a maternity absence will be aware of the issue without the need for an organisation wide communication. The message can be updated to reflect it’s current status.

OGL has embedded analytics which allows for reporting on key search terms and how long has been spent on a particular transaction, amongst other items of data. This helps to highlight what users are searching for and might drive to the development of additional guides.

Unlike other Digital Learning platforms, OGL uses JavaScript and works within the browser, without the need for a plugin to be added to the browser. Previously when OGL was used with EPM, it did require a browser plugin but this has been resolved and is no longer the case.

Whilst OGL is an Oracle product, it can be used for third party and non-SaaS products. Each third-party product would need to be reviewed with the OGL team, but many uses have already been developed.

OGL is not just a training tool, it helps users with managing change. If an employee has been promoted and now is a Line Manager, giving them more responsibilities within the system, OGL can help with this! It can be used with (or without) a Journey to walk the user through their new responsibilities and functionality. Another key use can be for communicating changes brought by the introduction of Redwood. Smart Tips can be used to show where fields have moved to or the new process within the Redwood pages.

My absolute favourite part of OGL is the Auto Guide Recorder. The Recorder will do what the name says, record all of the steps followed, clicks made, keys typed to record the process. It is no more complicated that clicking through the steps that would typically be followed. Once this is recorded, the comments, Smart Tips and all other content can be added. This makes the creation of Guides much easier and quicker.

About the Author:

Kate Mead is an Oracle-certified HCM Consultant and Solution Architect at Version 1 with 14 years of experience in Oracle HR and Payroll systems, including 7 years with Oracle HCM Cloud. She has worked across implementation projects and managed services, has a sound knowledge of UK Payroll legislation and — before becoming a consultant — was an HR Manager.

If you have any questions or would like more information on how Version 1 can help you realise the full potential of your Oracle Cloud instances, please contact her at kate.mead@version1.com

Please note all screenshots are the property of Oracle and are used according to their Copyright Guidelines.

Updated Redwood Timelines

Nov 27, 2024Nov 27, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Oracle have made a slight change to the Redwood Timelines that were announced in August. Whilst it is not a significant change, there has been a separation of the deadlines for moving timecards to Redwood.

Those who complete timecards on a desktop / laptop, will still need to migrate to Redwood timecards by release 25A. The change is for those who complete timecards on a mobile device, have a little longer to make the move to Redwood. This has been pushed out to release 25B to give more time to make the necessary changes.

All other dates remain the same. The initial focus is Redwood Journeys and Redwood Timecards for desktop users. These are all mandatory in release 25A. The first deadline in the Procurement area is Self Service Procurement in release 25C.

About the Author:

If you have any questions or would like more information on how Version 1 can help you realise the full potential of your Oracle Cloud instances, please contact her at kate.mead@version1.com

Please note all screenshots are the property of Oracle and are used according to their Copyright Guidelines

Generative AI in Oracle HCM Cloud

Nov 24, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ 2 Comments

Everyone is talking about AI these days and Oracle is no different! The use of AI within Oracle applications isn’t new – Digital Assistant, Oracle’s chatbot has been in action for a while. Digital Assistant uses ‘skills’ similar to Alexa which are used as a basis for enquiries. Oracle provides seeded skills but custom ones can also be created.

But what about Generative AI or Gen AI? Gen AI uses machine learning to learn patterns from the data and then create content based on it. Oracle have been incorporating Gen AI into HCM Cloud since release 24A. All of the features released require Redwood as they can be activated via VB Studio. Oracle have introduced AI Assist in a lot of applications, although predominantly in the Talent and Performance modules. AI Assist will take the information provided and summarise it. For instance, when a Line Manager reviews all Performance Documents, the AI Assist button will compile and summarise all pertinent performance information for that Employee. This feature saves the manager time by providing an editable summary, designed to enhance efficiency without eliminating the human touch.

Gen AI is also available in Recruit to help produce content for your Career Site. By populating the topic, how many words you require it to be and a few key terms / words, the AI Assistant will generate the text for you. As with all Gen AI within Oracle, you can tweak the content as much as required, but it will make the process much easier.

The new AI features continued in 24D, which included the introduction of AI Assistance for Market Composites in Compensation Info. This allows organisations to utilise Gen AI to generate explanations for market composites to Line Managers within the Compensation module. This will help guide the conversations between Line Managers and Employees about the competitiveness of their compensation package.

Oracle are constantly working on new use cases for Gen AI. It is anticipated that in 25A, the Benefits Analyst Agent will be available. This will allow Employees and Line Managers to ask the chatbot about available benefits for them, but also question why things have changed etc. It can also link to the sources that it used to determine the response, so the Employee can validate the information, if required.

Oracle is investing heavily in Gen AI and other ways to optimise user’s experience, so there will be more announcements soon. I expect a number of features to be included in 25A, not just the Benefits Analyst Agent. Once they are announced, I will do another post.

About the author:

If you have any questions or would like more information on how Version 1 can help you realise the full potential of your Oracle Cloud instances, please contact her at kate.mead@version1.com

Please note all screenshots are the property of Oracle and are used according to their Copyright Guidelines

Redwood Notifications in Release 24D

Nov 17, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Lots of people have asked about the move to Redwood for notifications in release 24D, so I thought I’d better write a blog on it! In several modules, including Compensation, Absence and Recruit, the seeded notifications have moved over to the new Redwood style.

So what does this mean for organisations? If you’re already using Redwood, there is nothing needed to be done. However, what if you’ve not made the move to Redwood yet? Unfortunately it isn’t possible to switch off the Redwood notifications for these modules. There are two options available, firstly to use the notifications as delivered with the Redwood theme applied. Alternatively, create a custom BI notification to replace the seeded Oracle BI notification. It is the specific seeded Oracle BI notifications that have moved to Redwood, rather than all notifications within those modules being in the Redwood toolset.

So what do these notifications look like? An example is below, but they are cleaner and easier to read. The actual content hasn’t changed, it is the layout that has.

The only issue is where organisations have a mix of seeded and custom notifications within the modules that have made the move to Redwood notifications. This will mean that some notifications will be in the Redwood look and feel and some won’t. Additionally, where organisations have a mix of modules where some notifications are now in Redwood and some aren’t, they will have the same issue. This will potentially cause confusion with some users, but if I’m honest, the majority are unlikely to notice.

If custom BI notifications have previously been created and they are causing an issue due to the inconsistency of appearance with the mix of Redwood and non-Redwood notifications, it is possible to move the existing custom BI notifications to the Redwood style. If you create a copy of the custom BI notification, the Redwood style will automatically be applied. This can then be set as the active notification.

About the author:

If you have any questions or would like more information on how Version 1 can help you realise the full potential of your Oracle Cloud instances, please contact her at kate.mead@version1.com

Please note all screenshots are the property of Oracle and are used according to their Copyright Guidelines

Welcome to My New Blog!

Nov 15, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to my new blog! To those of you who followed my blog posts on Medium, thank you for joining me here. And to all the new readers, a warm welcome to you as well. I’m thrilled to make this transition and share my insights with everyone, without the need for an account

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Kate Mead. I am an Oracle certified HCM Consultant with 15 years experience on Oracle HR and Payroll systems, including 8 years with Oracle Cloud HCM. Prior to being a consultant, I was a CIPD Certified HR and Payroll Manager.

I have a deep passion for new technology, especially the latest features within Oracle Fusion/Cloud. I frequently write about Quarterly Releases and new functionalities, including Redwood.

I value your feedback and thoughts on my posts. Please feel free to comment or message me—I’m eager to hear what you think. As always, your comments, likes, and follows are greatly appreciated!

Oracle HCM Cloud Core HR 24D

Sep 7, 2024Nov 15, 2024 ~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of the quarter again, new features time! If you’re a New Features Nerd like me, I’m sure you’re equally as excited. Despite the date changes with the Redwood timelines, Oracle are still giving us lots of Redwood treats in this Core HR 24D release.

Originally Journeys and Time Cards were going to be mandatory in 24D, but these have been pushed back to 25A. This gives us a bit more breathing room to move forward in our Redwood journey.

Here are the top 5 new features in Core HR for Release 24D. Please keep in mind that Oracle will continue to roll out additional features throughout the quarter, if there are any subsequent features of note, I will do a follow up blog on these.

1)Redwood Journey Setup page. It won’t surprise anyone that given the mandatory move to Redwood Journeys in Release 25A, this is a very Journey heavy release. The first key point of note is the new Redwood Journey Setup page. This is the new landing page for anyone wanting to do any configuration relating to Journeys. As part of this, the Journey Templates; Journey Task Groups and Journey Task Libraries have all moved to Redwood.

2) Journeys Available for Non Workers. Keeping on the Journeys theme, I’m delighted that Oracle have now made it possible to assign Journeys to non-workers. Given the push towards the use of Journeys into all areas of Oracle Cloud, particularly SCM and Procurement, this doesn’t come as a large surprise. It does mean that where you have agency workers or Non Exec Directors set up as non-workers, it’s possible to assign Journeys and Journey tasks to them.

3) Redwood Position Costing. The introduction of position costing to Redwood might be quite a simple change, but it’s something that has been lacking in Redwood positions until now. Many organisations that also use ERP Cloud Financials want to be able to control where the costing of an employee is posted to based on the role they are doing. The introduction of Redwood position costing now allows this. It’s also possible to do split costing by percentage if multiple cost centres need to be charged for the work.

4) Redwood Pages Delivered Enabled in Release 24D. As we’re getting closer to the mandatory switch to Redwood pages, Oracle will be delivering certain Redwood pages automatically enabled. In 24D for Core HR there are only 2 pages being delivered switched on, the setup page for Guided Journeys and the Mass Download of Document Records. If you’re not ready for these to be in Redwood yet, they will need to be manually switched off in Manage Administrator Profile Values by setting the profile option to N.

Redwood Default Expense Account in Employment Update Flow

5) Default Expense Account added to Redwood Employment Update Flow. These do need to be configured in the Business Rules area of VBS to be visible, but this is a feature that has been missed by many since Person Management became non-supported. Default Expense Accounts are required before any employee can claim expenses in the ERP Cloud Expenses module. Adding them into the hiring and updating employment flows will minimise the risk of this valuable data not being recorded.

As previously mentioned, Oracle is expected to introduce additional features in Core HR later this month. If these new features prove to be of note, I will create an updated blog post. Stay tuned for blogs covering other modules within HCM Cloud for Release 24D.

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About the author:

If you have any questions or would like more information on how Version 1 can help you realise the full potential of your Oracle Cloud instances, please contact her at kate.mead@version1.com

Please note all screenshots are the property of Oracle and are used according to their Copyright Guidelines