Oracle has provided best practices for managing User Defined Objects (UDOs) in a way that allows users to get optimal use out of them. The video was intended for users who administer and maintain UDOs, and it covered information on UDO security, UDO administration, and UDO lifecycle management.

What Are UDOs?

User Defined Objects are web-based objects that are created and saved in EnterpriseOne by citizen developers like business analysts or end users. You can create UDOs for your own use, view UDOs that others have created, or share what you’ve created so others can view and use them. Just like other EnterpriseOne objects, they can be shared, packaged, and transferred between the path codes.

User Defined Objects can help users eliminated customizations and modifications to their JD Edwards system. They also make it easier for users to apply updates and go through upgrades, which enables them to move to a model of continuous adoption and staying current.

UDO Management Best Practices

The steps involved in best practices for UDO management include:

• Defining users or user groups
• UDO Security Administration
• UDO Administration/Management
• UDO Life Cycle Management (ULCM)

The first step is to define users or user groups. UDOs are handled extensively by different user types and groups. Permissions granted to the user types or groups will decide the operations that the user can perform.

There are several different types of users, and the operations that they can perform differ between each type. One type of user is an administrator. Administrators manage feature security, set up Action Security for UDOs, approve and publish UDOs to share, and set up ULCM path codes and statuses. Power users set user View Security, approve and publish UDOs to share, and perform ULCM tasks. Finally, citizen developers/business analysts access and create UDOs, save and edit personal versions of UDOs, request to publish UDOs and perform ULCM tasks.

The next step is to define security for users through UDO Security Administration. UDOs are used by a wide variety of different users. After you define the users or user groups and the operations that they can perform, you have to set up the security for them. There are four types of security:

1. Feature Security: Feature Security actives or deactivates each feature globally in the EnterpriseOne system (Composite Pages, Form Extensions, Watchlists, etc.).
2. Action Security: Action Security determines the actions users can perform with a particular UDO feature (create, publish, share, modify, etc.).
3. View Security: View Security authorizes access to shared UDOs and allows users to save personal versions of them.
4. Content Security: Content Security applies to the Composite Page and Composite Application Framework UDOs.

You can set up Feature, Action, and Content Security through the Security Workbench (P00950) and set up View Security through the Security Workbench and Work with User Defined Objects application (P98220U). The Work with User Defined Objects application enables you to manage View Security for multiple objects and users on a single screen. You can also copy security records by user or role.

The next step is UDO Administration/Management. Using the UDO Administration application, administrators or power users can preview UDOs, approve/reject them, review attachments, set up View Security, and view dependencies. Citizen developers or business analysts can request to publish UDOs, cancel those publish requests, copy personal versions, view dependencies, and perform translations. You can manage UDOs through the Work with User Defined Objects application (P98220U).

Within the UDO Administration application, you can also copy UDOs to versions to copy them from the source application version to the selected version(s) or all versions of the application in a single operation. You can easily map Watchlists, advanced queries, grid format, or personal forms to your specific versions.

You can also look into UDO dependency information through the application. Composite pages can contain multiple components like UX One landing pages, Watchlists, EnterpriseOne pages, analytics, etc. Citizen developers and administrators need the ability to review and manage UDO dependencies for Composed Pages and Cafe One. Dependency information for Composed pages and landing pages delivered with UX One is essential to successfully implementing and using UX One role-based landing pages. Within the Work with User Defined Objects application (P98220U), you can view dependencies for Composed pages, Composite Application Framework (Cafe One), and Watchlist UDO types at the object level.

The final step in UDO Management best practices is UDO Life Cycle Management (ULCM). You can get an understanding of the simplified process followed for UDOs. The Object Management Workbench Web application provides an easy way to manage UDOs. The Development Client version can be used to manage the general EnterpriseOne objects. The graphic below shows the differences between the Development Client and Web Client versions of the Object Management Workbench (OMW).

The lifecycle for general EnterpriseOne objects is complex and requires specialized skills and a longer delivery process. However, the lifecycle for UDOs is much simpler. There are no complex skills required, and delivery only takes a few clicks.

Using the OMW-Web application, you can view and manage dependency information at the project level. You can also view the dependent objects that are required to set up and implement Composed Pages and Cafe One UDOs. You can ensure that all dependent objects are included in a project for packaging and delivery, and you can rebuild dependency information when there are changes made to UDOs.

UDOs contained in a project or a dependent UDO can be approved and shared using the Work with Project Object Dependencies application. This helps you ensure that UDOs that are dependency or child objects are shared along with the parent object. In addition, with the OMW-Web application, you can copy an OMW project the contains UDOs. You can quickly create projects with objects and users contained on another project.

For visuals and more information about all of these best practices, check out the full Oracle video below. To learn more about UDOs, browse through the additional Quest resources attached at the bottom of this page.

Additional Resources

If you’re interested in presenting at INFOCUS 19, the premier deep-dive JD Edwards focused event of the year, submit an abstract by May 3 to be considered. The conference will take place August 20-22 in Denver, Colorado. Take advantage of Early Bird registration rates before July 23!