Fusion
Update Policy
Enterprise Operational Policy
May 2019
Contents
Overview ...................................................................................................................... 3
Prior to Go Live ............................................................................................................ 3
Once You Go Live........................................................................................................ 3
Software and Hardware Update Types ........................................................................ 4
Quarterly Updates ............................................................................................. 4
Vertex Updates (Tax and Address Files)........................................................... 6
Infrastructure Updates ....................................................................................... 6
Monthly Maintenance Packs (Optional) ............................................................. 7
Exception Updates ............................................................................................ 9
Additional Update Information .................................................................................... 10
Planned Outages ............................................................................................ 10
Exceptions to Update Practices ...................................................................... 10
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ......................................................................... 11
Overview
This paper applies to Enterprise operational policy holders. Find your Cloud Service operational policy
on the Overview tab on the Service Details page in My Services.
We periodically provide software and hardware updates for your environments to:
Prior to Go Live
If your business is not live and not in production, consider requesting the Concurrent Maintenance
option to keep your production and non-production environments at the same update level.
The benefits of keeping your environments at the same update level during your initial implementation
using concurrent maintenance are:
• Setup and extensibility can be easily migrated from a non-production environment to your
production environment.
• Fulfillment of environment refresh requests is easier to schedule and fulfill because the source
and target environments are at the same update level. (A prerequisite for environment refresh
requests is that source and target environments are at the same update level.)
You’ll need to plan your Concurrent Maintenance end date for the last day of the month prior to your
go-live month. For more information about Concurrent Maintenance, see My Oracle Support article
Doc ID 1646394.1.
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Software and Hardware Update Types
We provide the following software and hardware updates:
• Quarterly Updates
• Infrastructure Updates
• Exception Updates
You’ll receive communication about these updates via the standard notification process.
Quarterly Updates
There are four feature/function updates each calendar year. We’ll send a notification to let you know
which month within the Quarterly Update period you’ll receive your update.
Note: Quarterly Updates are mandatory. You can’t skip or reschedule them.
Quarterly Updates may include:
• National Language Support (NLS) updates for all installed language packs
• Fixes for reported issues with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Transactional Business
Intelligence (OTBI). The middleware updates are sometimes referred to as P4FA updates
Note: If you’re a Payroll customer processing payroll for the US, UK, or Canada, you’ll receive
Quarterly Updates in February, May, August and November. You may need more frequent updates to
support legislative changes. See the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), “What if I’m processing
payroll for the US, UK, or Canada?” section for more information about Statutory/Legislative updates.
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Mandatory or Optional Mandatory
Your outage times are based on the time zone for the Data Center
location defined in your Welcome letter, and available from the My
Services details page.
• All Data Centers (estimated start time): Friday 21:00 Local
Data Center Time
Planned Outage Times
• Sydney: Friday 23:00 Local Data Center Time (AEST)
• Middle East Customer Environments: Thursday 10:00 US
Pacific Time
To review the latest outage times, see My Oracle Support article Doc
ID 1681146.2.
5
Vertex Updates (Tax and Address Files)
Vertex Updates occur monthly and apply to US and Canada tax rates, calculations, and address
validations. If your business operates outside of the US and Canada, you’ll receive these updates
because you may need to validate US and Canadian addresses for employees or trading partners who
have residences or businesses there.
Readiness Material and The Vertex Calculation Guide is updated as needed and accessible
Documentation from My Services for US Payroll and Canada Payroll customers only.
Infrastructure Updates
We provide hardware, network, and operating system updates periodically to keep your environments
optimized.
Outage times can happen on the 2nd or 4th weekend of any month
but are typically applied once a quarter. End times will vary based on
the scope of the updates. You’ll be sent a notification when there is
one scheduled.
Planned Outage Times
Your outage times are based on the time zone for the Data Center in
which you’re hosted. For example, if you’re an Asia Pacific customer,
but your environment is hosted by a US data center, this update
outage will most likely coincide with the US Update time.
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Monthly Maintenance Packs (Optional)
Monthly Maintenance Packs include fixes for reported issues as well as features/functions included in
the next Quarterly Update.
You might need Monthly Maintenance Packs if:
• Your software is not yet in production, and you want more frequent updates.
Your outage times are based on the time zone for the Data Center
location defined in your Welcome letter, and available from the My
Planned Outage Times Services details page.
• All Data Centers (estimated start time): Friday 21:00 Local
Data Center Time
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• Sydney: Friday 23:00 Local Data Center Time (AEST)
• Middle East Customer Environments: Thursday 10:00 US
Pacific Time
To review the latest outage times, see My Oracle Support article Doc
ID 1681146.2.
You should use My Services to request Monthly Maintenance Packs, however if it’s necessary, you
can log a service request, entering these fields:
Field Enter
Complete all fields in the template appropriate for your request. You’ll need to provide a start and end
date (Month/Year).
Once you reach your end date, only Quarterly Updates are applied from that point forward. If you want
to change the end date, submit a new request by 17:00 US Pacific on the Friday 2 weeks prior to the
first Friday of the desired Monthly Maintenance month.
Requesting optional Monthly Maintenance Packs will impact the available dates for scheduling
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environment refreshes or require that an existing refresh be rescheduled. For more information, refer
to Oracle Cloud Applications – Environment Refresh Service Entitlement article on My Oracle Support
(Doc ID 2015788.1)
Exception Updates
You may need an Exception Update when you encounter an unexpected issue that disables a
business-critical process and no workaround exists. You must raise the exception request through the
SR you opened when you initially reported the problem. We approve exception requests on a case-by-
case basis.
Several criteria must be met to request and receive an Exception Update, including:
• A resolution is available
• You submitted an update to the existing SR explaining how the reported problem severely
impacts a key business process
If you’re approved to receive an Exception Update, Oracle Support will explain the type of update you’ll
receive and the timing for applying it. Exception Updates may contain multiple fixes from different
product lines.
When to Submit Your Work with Support to ensure your request is received in time to meet
Request your timeline.
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Your outage times are based on the time zone for the Data Center
location defined in your Welcome letter, and available from the My
Services details page.
• All Data Centers (estimated start time): Friday 21:00 Local
Data Center Time
Planned Outage Times
• Sydney: Friday 23:00 Local Data Center Time (AEST)
• Middle East Customer Environments: Thursday 10:00 US
Pacific Time
To review the latest outage times, see My Oracle Support article Doc
ID 1681146.2.
• Differences in update levels between your environments. You may need to reschedule any
Environment Refresh that is planned.
• Additional potential outages may be required due to additional updates required to complete
the original Exception Update request
All Exception Updates are included in the next Quarterly Updates and Monthly Maintenance Packs.
Note: Exception Updates may contain multiple fixes from different product lines. Oracle doesn’t
provide documentation for Exception Updates.
Planned Outages
Outage times are defined to minimize disruption to your business. We’ll send you advance notification
with outage details, including impacted environment and outage start and end dates.
If you have an implementation partner, add them as a notification contact in My Services, so they can
receive notices of your outages and can plan their work accordingly. For more information, see
Managing Contacts for Service Notifications.
We make every attempt to limit update-related outages and exceptions to the update schedule defined
in this paper. However, there may be an occasional need to vary from this schedule for various
reasons, such as:
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We’ll make every attempt to forecast these special cases and provide you with advance notifications.
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Oracle Cloud Applications Operations team is available in your environment’s time zone. You can
find additional details for each update type in the Software and Hardware Update Types section in
this paper.
• How do I know what update region is assigned for my environments?
The region is automatically assigned based on the country identified in your Cloud Services
agreement.
• What do I do if an update does not address my reported issue?
Update the specific Service Request (SR) in My Oracle Support, indicating that the issue was not
resolved after the application of the update. Provide details of any changes in error messages or
symptoms and screenshots as appropriate.
• Does the update outage schedule still apply if my environment has more than one Cloud
Service (for example, HCM and Engagement)?
Yes. You’ll receive updates for all Cloud Services at the same time. If you receive an Exception
Update that requires an outage, your entire environment will be brought down and there will be no
access to any of your applications during the outage period.
• How do Exception Updates affect a request for an Environment Refresh?
An Environment Refresh can only be performed when both the production and non-production
environments are at the same update level. If you’re not using Concurrent Maintenance, an
Environment Refresh can only be scheduled during the period after the production environment has
received the Quarterly Updates (the third Friday of your Quarterly month) and up until the next
Quarterly Updates are applied to non-production environments (the first Friday of your Quarterly
month). For more details, see Environment Refresh Doc ID 2015788.1.
If you receive an Exception Update, your non-production environments will typically be updated
differently than your production environment and an Environment Refresh cannot be performed.
Oracle Support will identify the impact of Exception Updates on a scheduled Environment Refresh.
We won’t apply Exception Updates to synch up environments for an Environment Refresh.
• How close to a Quarterly Update can I schedule an environment refresh?
The environment refresh for both source and target environments should not be scheduled 5 days
before or 3 days after the start of a Quarterly Update. Also, it should not be scheduled within a
blackout period.
For more detailed information on environment refresh and its blackout periods, see the My Oracle
Support document – Doc ID: 2015788.1.
• How will I know that my environments are at the same levels for an Environment Refresh?
After you submit an Environment Refresh request, we’ll determine whether or not your environments
are at the same update level and can receive an Environment Refresh on the date you request. If
necessary, Support will identify the date on which your environments should be updated to the same
level so that you can reschedule your Environment Refresh.
• How will I know if the update process changes?
This paper will be updated as changes occur and the changes will be communicated via My
Services and Customer Connect.
• Can I request Exception Updates or Monthly Maintenance Packs because I always want the
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latest available fixes applied to my environments?
Exception Updates are only approved on a case-by-case basis when you have a previously
documented issue that is severely impacting a key business process with no workaround. You can
find additional details in the Exception Updates section in this paper.
Monthly Maintenance Packs let you receive updates monthly, rather than quarterly. No additional
approvals are required.
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