Tag: Oracle HCM

Oracle HCM Cloud Recruit 26A

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Things are really heating up in the world of Recruit as we approach the final deadline to move the remaining Recruiting pages over to Redwood in 26B. This release is your last opportunity to make the switch. With the 25C deadline behind us, you should already be managing requisitions, job applications and candidates in Redwood. The next phase brings exciting updates around offers, interviews, campaigns, events and agency hiring. So, let’s dive in and see what’s new…

The AI Career Coach, first introduced in 25D to help candidates find roles that match their skills, has already been enhanced in 26A. The Career Coach now uses the Supervisor model, which brings all agents together under one umbrella, streamlining information sharing and removing redundancies. The agent is pre-seeded and ready to run, so there’s no need to create agents from templates. You can also choose to display the widget as an overlay, ideal for highly customised sites, rather than the default side panel, ensuring it doesn’t interfere with your design. For one-page application flows, the widget now displays correctly, and when shown as a side panel, the navigation menu is replaced with a horizontal progress bar. The fixer button appears on the page instead of the left-hand side, and a clickable Terms and Conditions link pulls content from the job application legal disclaimer in the Recruiting Content Library. If you’ve enabled CV parsing, candidate CVs will be parsed into the application flow when uploaded via the widget. From this release, any CV uploaded into the recommended jobs widget in the candidate experience will also be available to the agent.

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of AI, anything that makes life easier. The next update introduces an AI assistant for job requisition creation, working like a smart, on-page helper that answers both general and field-specific questions as you build a requisition. Because its guidance is driven entirely by the documents you upload and the prompt you configure, it’s easy to tailor to your organisation’s policies and practices. The agent helps users get it right first time, capturing the correct data, minimising downstream issues and boosting overall efficiency without interrupting the flow.

By 26B, the Job Offer process must be fully transitioned to Redwood, and Oracle has introduced a new AI agent to make this easier. Acting as an FAQ-style assistant, the agent helps users by answering both general and field-specific questions during job offer creation. Its guidance is based entirely on the documents you upload and the prompt you configure, making it simple to align with your organisation’s policies and practices. This smart assistant ensures job offers are created smoothly, reduces downstream issues by capturing accurate data, and boosts overall efficiency without disrupting the process.

Another useful Redwood Offer feature is the Initiate Job Offer Creation for Hiring Managers functionality. Hiring managers with the Initiate Job Offer privilege can now start the process and share notes with the recruiting team using the Create Job Offer action from the Redwood job applications list or details page. On the Create Job Offer page, they can add comments in the Notes to Recruiter field to provide context or instructions. Once they click Save and Close, the candidate’s application moves to Offer – Draft status and appears on the Redwood Job Offers list page. The recruiter receives a notification to complete the offer details using the Edit Offer action, with the manager’s notes displayed in a banner above the Details and Offer tabs. When ready, the recruiter can submit the job offer for approval or save it for further editing later.

The final feature worth mentioning is the new Redwood Interview Details page, which brings several improvements over the previous responsive version. A new Basic Info section now displays key interview details at a glance. In the Interviewers section, you can easily resend the Interview Scheduled notification, handy if someone says they haven’t received it. The Scheduled Candidates section allows you to click candidate and job requisition links to open a drawer with more information, and the Actions menu lets you manage candidates scheduled for the interview. Under Interview Resources, you’ll find interviewer guidelines, attachments and candidate notes added to the interview. If you’re an interviewer, you can respond directly to the invitation, accept, tentatively accept, decline or propose a new time. When proposing a new time, the drawer can even display your availability if calendar integration (Microsoft 365 or Google) is enabled.

Oracle often slip in new features during the month, so it’s worth keeping an eye out. If anything truly game-changing appears, I’ll share another blog post to keep you updated and make sure you don’t miss out. In the meantime, why not check out my latest write-up on the new Core HR features in Release 26A? You can find it here.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Learn 26A

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Release 26A has arrived, marking the start of the second phase of Recruitment for Learn becoming mandatory. This update sets the deadline for the first half of the required changes to Learning Admin pages, covering Resources, Recommendations, Self-Paced Learning and External Content. The remaining updates to Learn Admin pages will become mandatory with Release 26D. Let’s take a look at what is new!

Before you can use this first feature, Dynamic Skills must be enabled. Oracle have updated the licensing for Dynamic Skills over the past year, so it may already be included in your Core HR licence. If you’re unsure, it’s worth checking with your Oracle Customer Success Manager. Once enabled, you can take advantage of the AI Learning Catalogue Smart Search Advisor. This clever tool lets you search the learning catalogue using questions rather than just keywords, delivering more focused and higher-quality results. The results are semantically relevant to your query and tailored to you, taking into account your work history, talent profile and learning record. When active, you’ll notice a new section on the learning catalogue page after you search. This section highlights up to five learning items the advisor has identified as most suitable for you and your request.

There are several new features for Self-Paced Learning, starting with Redwood functionality for enrolment forms, evaluations and feedback. You can now collect the information you need when learners enrol by requiring an enrolment form, a questionnaire, or both. The Learner Info Collection options available in the Self-Paced Learning configuration under the Rules tab in the Enrolment section, offering four choices: no extra information, a combined page with both questionnaire and request form, just the questionnaire, or just the request form, each leading to the Enrolment Details page. These options are controlled by a single setting within Self-Paced Learning.

Oracle has added support for two new content types in Self-Paced Learning: CMI5 and AICC URLs. You can now upload CMI5 .zip archive packages when creating self-paced courses. This format combines the structured approach of SCORM with the flexible, detailed tracking of xAPI, enabling richer data sharing between the learning item and the server. The result? Deeper insights into learner progress and engagement. In addition, you can create self-paced courses by adding an AICC URL as content. Once the page refreshes, the Learning Format field appears, defaulted to Online Course, alongside the Mastery Score field. You can adjust the format as needed and set a mastery score, which moves to its usual spot on the Rules tab under Completion when you create the draft. The score can be updated later if required.

Oracle has introduced a new Redwood Learning Events page, offering a streamlined way to publish instructor-led training directly to your learning catalogue. This update simplifies setup and adds flexibility, allowing events to be defined by formats such as In-Person, Webinar, or custom options tailored to your organisation. Events can be delivered as standalone offerings or included in a course for equivalency, with improved scheduling that supports multiday and overnight sessions and calculates effort automatically. You can specify dates and times via a calendar or manual entry, integrate feedback through evaluations and ratings, and control when learners provide it. Enrolment periods can now be configured separately from catalogue visibility, enabling early access via deep links, while enhanced withdrawal and waitlist options give greater control. Although events cannot yet be added to specialisations and pricing isn’t included in this release, both features are planned for future updates.

The final feature worth highlighting is the new Redwood Course Management page, which brings a modern, visually appealing interface to Oracle Learning. Learning Specialists can now enjoy a streamlined experience with grouped tabs for managing courses, Definitions, Defaults, Access, Skills and Qualifications, User Experience, and More Details, alongside a step-by-step creation process for organising core details, descriptions, visuals and settings. All course offerings, whether instructor-led, self-paced or blended, plus associated events, are accessible from a single Offerings tab for quicker navigation. Learners benefit from improved course detail pages with clearer layouts, showcasing included content, expected effort, acquired skills, instructors, outcomes, languages and celebratory completion notices. They can also engage through ratings, comments and lively discussions via dedicated interaction tabs.

Oracle often slip in a few extra features during the month, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out. If anything truly exciting comes along, I’ll share another blog post to keep you updated and ensure you don’t miss out. In the meantime, take a look at my latest write-up on the new Core HR features in Release 26A, you can find it here.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll 26A

~ K8 Mead ~ 1 Comment

It’s that time again, quarterly release time, and there’s plenty to look forward to! With Oracle’s strong focus on AI, Release 26A promises some exciting updates. Oracle often adds extra features throughout the month, so keep an eye out for more enhancements as they arrive. This release is especially important for UK Payroll customers, as it includes all the new tax year functionality.

Global Payroll introduces an exciting new AI-powered tool, the Payroll Administrator Troubleshooting Agent. Known as the Payroll Run Analyst, this assistant helps payroll administrators validate employee payroll results directly from the Payroll Results page, including reviewing statements of earnings. Built on Oracle’s AI Agent framework, it delivers secure, role-based information within your permissions and significantly reduces manual effort during payroll reconciliation. It also streamlines corrective actions with deep links to related HCM pages, such as earnings and deductions, for quick updates. Best of all, it requires no extra setup and is ready to use immediately, with a chat experience coming in a future release.

Another feature worth highlighting is the redesign of payslip templates using the Redwood toolkit. The new Redwood Payslip offers a far better experience than the previous responsive version, but until now it only worked with the seeded payslip, which most organisations don’t use. With this update, the Redwood payslip can be viewed online or downloaded, and the PDF/UA templates are fully accessible while meeting all legislative requirements for payslip reporting. To stay compliant with local regulations, Oracle recommend adopting the Redwood payslip template as soon as possible.

As mentioned earlier, this release includes the UK legislative updates for the new tax year. Please note that a monthly patch may be required to incorporate any additional changes announced by the UK Government closer to April. One key update relates to the Full Payment Submission (FPS). You can now choose whether employee addresses are reported for all employees or only new starters. This option applies to the FPS processes for tax years ending April 2025 and April 2026. To set this, use the new field Employee Address on FPS from Tax Year 2024–25 on the organisation-level Statutory Deductions calculation card. By default, this is set to All Employees.

There’s also an update to the P60 template for the 2025/26 tax year. A new Statutory Neonatal Payment field has been added to the Statutory Payments section of the P60, along with a corresponding balance in the UK Balances for the End-of-Year Archive group. To generate and issue P60 End-of-Year Statements to employees, use the updated templates for 2025/26: Type LE(P), eP60 – Online and Plain Paper.

New payroll attributes have been introduced to help organisations set up adoption, maternity, and paternity absences for calculating benefit payments or offsets. Detailed steps are provided to guide you through creating the necessary elements, entitlement formula result rules, balance feeds, and validation formulas based on delivered templates. You’ll also find instructions for setting up entitlement formulas, certificates, absence plans, and absence types, ensuring a smooth and compliant process.

Oracle has now introduced Advance Pay for Irish legislation, giving employees the option to request payment before going on holiday. The amount is then recovered over a set period, such as weekly, bi-weekly, or lunar cycles, as needed. Before processing Advance Pay, make sure all other earnings and deductions have been completed. You’ll also need to configure Advance Pay usage and ensure that earnings are correctly processed during the holiday period.

Enhanced Reporting Revenue (ERR) Requests are now available, making compliance easier. After payroll runs and prepayments that include ERR element entries, use the Run Enhanced Reporting Submission Request. You can also run this process for a specific time period to report on unprocessed ERR entries, such as Travel and Subsistence, Remote Working Daily Allowance, and Small Benefit Exemption. The process generates three outputs: an ERR Audit Report showing archived employee and element details, an Errors and Warnings report, and a JSON file for Revenue submission via the Send File Submission process. For corrections, use the Run Enhanced Reporting Correction Request on previously submitted ERR files. This creates a revised JSON file, an ERC Audit Report, and an Errors and Warnings report—ready to send to Revenue.

As I mentioned earlier, Oracle usually drops extra features throughout the month, so keep an eye out! If anything really exciting comes along, I’ll post an update to make sure you’re in the loop. In the meantime, why not check out my latest blog on the new Core HR features in Release 26A? You can find it here.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Core HR 26A

~ K8 Mead ~ 1 Comment

It’s the most wonderful time of the quarter! Sorry, I just put up my Christmas tree and now I’m feeling festive. Oracle have just announced the latest features that will be coming in release 26A. As you would expect, it’s an AI heavy one! As usual, additional features may follow later this month. In the meantime, let’s review what’s been introduced so far.

The first feature is one I saw at AI World in October and I thought it was great, so I’m glad it’s here now. The new Manage Journeys with AI Assistant makes managing employee journeys so easy. Powered by Oracle’s AI, it understands your everyday questions and gives you clear answers that fit your organisation’s rules. Need to check overdue tasks, see onboarding progress, or jump straight to the right page? Just ask. It cuts through the clutter, saves you time, and means less training for your team. Managers and HR can quickly get the info they need without digging through menus, so you can spend less time clicking and more time supporting your people.

Everyone loves a good dashboard, and now there’s the new Redwood View Legal Employer Changes Dashboard. It’s your one-stop shop for reviewing and keeping track of all global transfers, but only those that you have access to. The dashboard gives you a clear summary of each worker’s transfer details, making it easy to stay on top of changes. One thing to note: even if the Change Legal Employer dashboard is enabled for Redwood, the deep links on this page still follow their own product-specific profile settings. For example, if you click the Compensation Info link, it will open the Compensation page based on its profile option. It will only open in Redwood if that page’s Redwood setting is enabled, otherwise it will open in the responsive view.

HR teams already have plenty on their plate, so there’s a growing shift towards employees taking ownership of their own data and using self-service wherever possible. The new Request My Assignment Change feature makes this easier than ever, allowing employees to update their own assignment details through a simple Redwood process. From the self-service interface, employees can now request changes to update their work location or adjust their working hours, without any HR involvement. The Request My Assignment Change process uses the existing assignment approval framework. To customise approvals for this request type, configure rules with:
sensorDataReferenceCode = "RequestMyAssignmentChange".

Two new AI features are now available in Workforce Structures: the Job Assistant and the Workforce Structures Insight Analyst. The Job Assistant speeds up creating roles by asking a few simple questions and setting up the job with minimal details like name and code – quick, straightforward, done. The Workforce Structures Insight Analyst is where things get really powerful. Acting as an intelligent companion, it gives you instant access to workforce structure data without the need to build custom reports or navigate complex analytics. You can ask natural language questions and receive clear, actionable answers tailored to your organisation’s policies. Managers can quickly get summaries of job families, positions, and organisational hierarchies; compare structures across teams; and even analyse areas that aren’t covered by standard reporting tools. It’s designed to save time, reduce complexity, and provide insights that help you make informed decisions faster, all from a single, intuitive interface.

The Document Records Management Assistant brings AI to one of the most essential yet often overlooked areas, document records. This smart assistant makes creating, organising, and finding records quick and effortless. Using advanced language models, it understands the context of each document type and offers helpful suggestions, so you can capture records accurately, categorise them correctly, and retrieve them when needed. With natural language interaction, direct links, and intuitive guidance, it removes complexity, reduces training, and even anticipates intent, such as fetching the latest passport record. In short, it streamlines document management into a simple, conversational experience.

As mentioned earlier, Oracle will be rolling out new Core HR features later this month. If any of these updates turn out to be particularly significant, I’ll share an updated blog post with the details. In the meantime, keep an eye out for upcoming posts where we’ll dive into other Fusion modules as part of Release 26A.

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

Oracle AI World – Day 3

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

Day 3 was the last day of Oracle AI World and whilst it was only a half day, it was one of my favourites! We all breakfast together, before going our separate ways. It was a lovely start to the day. I managed to fit in two sessions, one on AI Powered EPM and the final one was Amplifying Human Potential. I had lunch with lots of my fellow ACE program members, before we all went off on our ACE Adventure to the Atomic Museum.

The first session was on AI Powered EPM. Not only was the customer panel hosted by Marc Seewald, the EPM Product Manager, but I was able to sit in the front row next to Andy King, the King of EPM. I was surrounded by extensive EPM experience and it was extremely interesting. I particularly liked the inclusion of Andrew, the VP of Finance at Oracle. It was really interesting to hear his perspective on the value EPM brings to Oracle’s internal Finance processes.

All members of the Panel had extensive experience of Finance Transformation. EPM has been a fundamental part of their financial planning, albeit in different areas. As an EPM novice, it was really interesting to hear the different ways EPM has added value. It definitely has made me want to find out more about EPM. Hopefully I can share my learnings in the future.

The second, and last session of the day was Amplifying Human Potential. Again it was a panel discussion, this time about using HCM Cloud to improve business processes. As a HCM Nerd who loves innovation,  this was definitely the session for me.

It was a really good panel, Julie has a HCM background,  Kamwin has a systems background and Paul recently led an implementation of Recruiting Cloud. It was a great balance of Oracle experience and system viewpoints.

Not only was the knowledge sharing from the panel really inspiring, what I took away most from the session was how much I love the HCM Cloud community. During the Q&A at the end, a number of people asked for advice. One key question was around how to handle incorporating innovation when the organisation had only just gone live and were struggling to keep on top of BAU work. The panel were very reassuring and provided personal experiences,  but so did the audience. A number of people, myself included, stopped to speak to the question asker at the end to provide advice and reassurance. I highlighted the importance of Cloud Success Navigator as they could record the new features that are of interest on their roadmap, then review them in the future when they feel in a better place to start switching on additional functionality. The general conversation and support given made me very proud of the community.

I can’t believe this is the end of my AI World blogs. I hope you found them all interesting. I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

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

Oracle AI World – Day 2 Part 1

~ K8 Mead ~ 1 Comment

Day 2 was a jam packed day! I started with a session on using AI to accelerate HR processes; had another wander around the stands learning about all the upcoming features, attended Steve Miranda’s inspirational Key Note and finished the day with a session on AI use in EPM, which is a product I’m trying to learn more about. It was also the day of the Oracle ACE dinner and the party with Def Leppard, but I was so tired I gave the party a miss! There was so much happening on Day 2 that I’ve had to split it out into 2 blogs. This one will cover Accelerating HR with AI and EPM and AI. Steve Miranda’s key note will be in the second blog.

As soon as I saw Nancy Estell Zoder was presenting this session, I knew I wanted to see it. Having attended the Partner Day following Oracle CloudWorld in London, Nancy was a really dynamic presenter and it made me want to attend this one, I wasn’t disappointed! There was the added bonus of Jon MacGoy presenting too.

The overall introduction was really interesting. As someone who loves a stat, I loved hearing how successful the HCM Cloud product has been this year. It also recapped the breadth of the product, which whilst it is known by most, it’s always helpful to see the info graphic listing them all and how they relate to each other.

The feature that Jon demoed was one of my absolute favourites of the whole conference. Oracle are introducing a new way to use Journeys, Personal Journeys. If a user has some tasks they wish to carry out, but don’t want to write a to do list to remind them, Oracle have now provided a systemised solution. A user can now add tasks to a Personal Journey and create their own custom checklist of activities. On top of this, an AI Agent can be used to make the creation of the Personal Journey more streamlined. By asking what tasks do I have outstanding, the AI Agent will generate a Personal Journey that will incorporate all outstanding tasks that the user wishes.

AI World has really triggered an interest in EPM. I’ve enjoyed discussions with Product Managers, colleagues and other attendees on EPM. Given this, I was very keen to learn more about AI use in EPM. The session was a customer forum, but was really interactive. Numerous questions were asked of the audience who responded by displaying paddles with responses on.

It was an interesting discussion giving the perspective from both IT and Finance. The key points were the speed and accuracy of Financial Planning, which was cumbersome prior to the use of EPM. It has definitely triggered a lot more questions for me, which I will do further research on. When I do, I will share it with you!

That wraps up my summary of the first part of Day 2 at Oracle AI World in Las Vegas 2025. Keep an eye for more posts, as I’ll be sharing write-ups from Steve Miranda’s key note and also from day 3.

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

AI Use in HCM Cloud

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

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.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Learn 25D

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

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.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Recruit 25D

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

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.

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

Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll 25D

~ K8 Mead ~ Leave a comment

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.

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