This post is about the Data Conversion utilities given by Oracle for upgrades to PeopleSoft 9.1.
Data Conversion is a key process in a
PeopleSoft upgrade where data from old table or columns get converted to
new table or columns. Oracle delivers the conversion programs in the
form of Application Engine and these are designed to run through the
Change Assistant for the chosen upgrade path.
Now, if a
delivered table has been customized by the addition of custom fields,
then one needs to analyze the conversion programs (which are usually
huge libraries) and take corrective actions within the referenced
program so that data is not lost. Another challenge with conversion is
improving the performance of the conversion programs so that the overall
cutover time gets reduced. With 9.1, Oracle
has brought in useful analysis features that will help you in not only
making these corrective actions but also in running the programs in an
optimized way.
The new EO Upgrade Framework Analysis
includes analyzing the insert, update and delete SQL steps in the data
conversion program to determine the source and target tables, column
usage, stat records and bind variables that are used. The information
from the table usage analysis is then used to determine the dependencies
between the AE Steps so that multiple instances of the updated data
conversion is executed in parallel against a single dependency
information.
A number of useful reports can be taken from the EOUF repository once the analysis is complete.
- Tables referenced Report: Lists all
tables referenced within the Application Engine Program including the
Section, Step and whether is a source or a target and the type of SQL
(Insert/Update/Delete) in which it is referenced.
- Click to enlarge – Opens in a new window
- Customizations Impact Report:
This shows the Section/Steps within the Application Engine program which
reference tables with custom added fields. With this, we can directly
go to the program and modify the SQL in order to take care of the custom
fields especially in Insert statements.
- Execution Report by Section:
Duration: Using the AE Trace feature during the conversion, this report
shows execution time for each section ordering by the poorest
performing steps at the top.
- Click to enlarge – Opens in a new window
- Execution Report by Start Time:
This is similar to the previous report except that it orders by the
start time in order to see the order of steps executed.
- Execution Report by Step/Thread/ Thread duration: Few more reports for execution timings according to the step and thread.
- Execution Comparison Report: This
report shows the execution duration for the current conversion program
as compared to the previous run of data conversion.
- Table Analysis Report: This report
show how a particular application table is impacted by the create/alter
scripts as well as the data conversion process during the PeopleSoft
Upgrade.
- Click to enlarge- Opens in a new window
Using the above has definitely
helped in reducing the analysis time and also in improving the
performance of the overall execution of the data conversion.
More details regarding the tables that
store this information as well as the technical details are available in
the Appendix Section – Using Data Conversion Utilities of the Upgrade
Documentation for 9.1.
