R12.2 RUP5 New and Changed features

For 12.2.3, patch 17909898 - (R12.HR_PF.C.DELTA.5) HRMS Release Update Pack 5 - was released in August 2014. For complete details on new and changed features, please see My Oracle Support Knowledge 1903217.1 (make sure you read relevant notes listed under both - Application Technology, as well as HCM).

A quick round up of the significant changes is captured below (I had originally authored these in a word document, so formatting is not the best when pasted into the blog):

Feature	Existing functionality (12.2.3, before RUP5)	New functionality (12.2.3, after RUP5)
New Universal Global Header	Header before RUP5	This release introduces an updated Look and Feel (called Skyros) that incorporates the above Universal Global Header. Oracle supports only this standard Look and Feel for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2.4. Oracle no longer supports the Look and Feel options of previous releases. You can choose to render "icons" rather than text links as shown in the screen capture above. This is controlled by the profile option "FND: Branding Size". For the screen capture above, this profile option is set as "Links only". I also like the fact that Logout link has moved to the far right - this brings Oracle Applications in line with where most users expect the Logout link to be.
Copy concurrent request options have changed.	Clicking on the “Copy” button when submitting a new request gives a list of request previously submitted, along with the parameters those requests have been submitted with.	Release 12.2.4 introduces a more manageable screen for resubmitting or copying a request - this results in improved performance as the Application only has to query for prior requests with a specific name. Also, there is a flag "Recalculate Default Parameters" that can be set to determine if the parameter values should be recalculated upon resubmission or copying a request.
Worklist Access	Previously, a link was available on the home page for "Worklist Access"	The Worklist Access functionality is replaced with the “Manage Proxies” functionality, which is accessible from under the “Settings” link. You can , then select the username for the proxy to whom Worklist Access needs to be granted. Once you have submitted this request, a notification will be received by the proxy intimating of Worklist Access. The proxy will then see an additional link "Switch User" link on the Toolbar, using which the Proxy can “Switch Users” to view Worklist Notifications.
WebADI look and feel and upload options have changed.	The existing WebADI menu that renders in the Excel sheet is a plain list of options under the "Add-ins" menu	A new intuitive Oracle ribbon with fresh icons is now available via Excel (2007 and above) to control the upload of data when using WebADI. This is available via a new "Oracle" tab when you launch the WebADI.
Workflow Transaction Monitor	Not available	The Transaction Monitor feature helps users to view details of all pending or completed self-service transactions. They can navigate to the details page of the transaction to view approval history, comments, and attachments. Here is the new search screen for transaction monitor:
Retropay Status WebADI	Not available	Prior to this release, mass creation or update of retro assignments was not available. Payroll administrators had to create or update retro assignment for each employee separately. With this release, WebADI integrator for mass uploading and or modification of retro assignment is delivered. This release facilitates users to create or update multiple retro assignments or entries using a spreadsheet. Users can create or update the entries only if the Status is Awaiting Processing or Deferred. To access this feature, on the RetroPay Status window, a new option "Create Retro Lines" is available:

In addition, another much touted feature introduced is "Rich Table Interactions". While this does help where you have a large record set rendered in a table on an OAF page, I found that enabling this made the page appear quite "busy". Given that we do not have many such tables in HRMS (except perhaps the list of Absences applied on the Absence screen in self-service), I decided to "hide" this feature by setting the following profile option:

FND: Enable Rich Table Interactions = False (site level)

(If you take a closer look at Item 3 above - Worklist Access - the last picture on the right shows 4 icons at the top of the worklist table. These are the items that get disabled by using the profile option mentioned above).

In general, this version is stable for HRMS suite.

(For the next release RUP6, see my blog here)