Oracle SCM Integration Design Patterns with OIC

OIC is a perfect fit for building integrations when Oracle Apps(ERP, SCM, HCM, CX, DB, DBaaS, ADB, etc.) are in the landscape. It is even greater if there is a requirement to create business workflows and custom web apps. All of these work very well together.

In this blog we will look at the various integration patterns available with OIC to integrate with Oracle Supply Chain management cloud.  

Inbound (Send to SCM)

• Realtime Sync – rest API/soap web services
• FBDI

Outbound (Fetch from SCM)

• Realtime Sync - business events
• BI Publisher
• BICC

Inbound Pattern - Realtime Sync

Key Takeaways

• Use for real-time integrations
• Two flavors SOAP and REST.
• Preference is REST over SOAP.
• Use SOAP only if functionality is not available in the REST
• REST APIs are growing in numbers
• REST API "Batch Action" can be used to process multiple records in one shot
• SOAP services have Async web services with callbacks. These services are useful for implementing Async patterns
• Plan for Rest API limits
• Paginate to overcome limits on records/call
• Use batch action to combine multiple operations into a single HTTP request (batch actions) to improve performance.
• Transform & Enrich payload in OIC using information from other applications

Can use Oracle REST APIs to view and manage data stored in Oracle Supply Chain Management Cloud. You can view a list of all REST endpoints

Inbound Pattern - Bulk Import (FBDI)

Key Takeaways

• Inbound Batch Pattern
• Use capabilities of ERP Adapter to simplify FBDI import and callback
• FBDI Imports have asynchronous callbacks(business event) to monitor the status of import
• Widely used pattern in ERP and SCM world
• Import bulk data operation does end-to-end process – upload file to ucm, submit load, and import job.
• Need not create an explicit Interface WSDL to implement on job completion operation
• Event is natively supported by Oracle ERP Cloud Adapter which protects from any changes in the ERP Cloud interface changes just in case.
• Needless to mention we can avoid all the additional steps to capture JSON and parse the same. Event payload is parsed and readily available in the trigger message to fetch the report from UCM
• When an Event-based integration is activated OIC creates a subscription entry in Oracle ERP Cloud. For some reason, if the Event-based Integration Flow is not reachable ERP Cloud will re-try the events multiple times with an exponential time gap. In the URL-based callback, re-try cannot happen as it is a fire and forget from ERP Cloud

Outbound Pattern - Realtime Sync (Event Driven)

Key Takeaways

• Events can only be used with OIC. Cannot be used with any other third-party listener
• Events make use of the Event Handling Framework
• Not all business events are supported through the Events Framework
• If there are no events for a specific Business Object or if the use case in question is Batch Processing, then use BIP/BICC

Outbound Pattern - Bulk Export (BI Publisher)

Key Takeaways

• Use BIP only when REST and SOAP Services are not available
• Do not use runReport() service in high volume transaction
• Use BIP Reports in an asynchronous pattern using scheduled-based integrations
• Export bulk data operation does – submit ess job(bip) and transfer output and log files to ucm.
• Need not create an explicit Interface WSDL to implement onJobCompletion operation
• Event is natively supported by Oracle ERP Cloud Adapter which protects from any changes in ERP Cloud interface changes just in case.
• Needless to mention we can avoid all the additional steps to capture JSON and parse the same. Event payload is parsed and readily available in the trigger message to fetch the report from UCM
• When an Event-based integration is activated OIC creates a subscription entry in Oracle ERP Cloud. For some reason, if the Event-based Integration Flow is not reachable ERP Cloud will re-try the events multiple times with an exponential time gap. In the URL-based callback re-try cannot happen as it is a fire and forget from ERP Cloud

Outbound Pattern - BICC (BI Cloud Connector)

BICC is a cloud connector to extract business intelligence and other data in bulk. BICC can be configured to write the extracted data files to UCM or Cloud Object Store. BICC is available as part of the Oracle Applications Cloud subscription.

Oracle’s simplified solution of Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) enables customers to easily exchange data with SCM Cloud.

Capture request originating IP address in OIC

Recently, we encountered a business use case where requests passed through proxies or load balancers and reaches to HCM. At one layer, requests were being blocked, preventing users from logging into HCM. For debugging, the customer requested information on the originating IP address, along with intermediary IP addresses, to diagnose the issue. The ‘X-Forwarded-For’ header is one of the properties that can be utilized for debugging purposes.

The X-Forwarded-For (XFF) is an HTTP header field that is used to identify the originating IP address of a client, especially when a request passes through one or more intermediary proxies or load balancers.

Here’s how it typically works:

1. Client Sends Request: A client (e.g., a web browser) sends an HTTP request to a web server.
2. Request Passes Through Proxies or Load Balancers: If the request passes through one or more proxies or load balancers, each intermediary server may append the client’s IP address to the X-Forwarded-For header.
3. X-Forwarded-For Header: The X-Forwarded-For header then contains a comma-separated list of IP addresses, where the first IP address is the original client's IP, and subsequent addresses are the IP addresses of the intermediaries.
4. Web Server Accesses X-Forwarded-For Header: The web server, upon receiving the request, can check the X-Forwarded-For header to determine the original client's IP address.

The primary use cases for X-Forwarded-For include:

• Logging and Analysis: Web servers can log the client’s original IP address for analysis and logging purposes. This is especially important in scenarios where traffic passes through proxies or load balancers.
• Security: Some applications use the X-Forwarded-For header to implement security measures. For example, it might be used to allow or deny access based on the client's IP address.

It’s important to note that the X-Forwarded-For header can be easily manipulated. Additionally, when using this header, be aware of privacy considerations and potential security risks.

OIC Implementation

Create an App-Driven integration , drag an REST Connection (trigger)

Select custom Request headers

Request Headers, add Custom Header Name X-Forwarded-For

Print the X-Forwarded-For using logger

Logger will print X-Forwarded-For: Client IP, Proxy1, Proxy2

You can also check other Custom Header like 

X-Forwarded-Port : Gives the port the client connected to on the proxy (e.g. 80 or 443)

X-Forwarded-Proto : Gives the protocol the client used to connect to the proxy (http or https)

X-Forwarded-Host : Gives the content of the Host header the client sent to the proxy