PITSS.CON is a powerful tool which has helped many customers upgrade their Oracle Forms applications from older releases such as 6i to 11g and 12c as well as modernize Oracle Forms applications to other technologies such as APEX, ADF, etc. As time goes by, updates are made to PITSS.CON to not only patch bugs but also include new features and capabilities to better maintain your Oracle Forms and APEX applications and modernize them to other technologies. In addition, Oracle continuously releases newer releases of Oracle Database along with Oracle Forms and Reports. With the newer releases of such Oracle products, older PITSS.CON releases may not be compatible with them. Keeping your PITSS.CON environment stable and maintained with the latest releases is very crucial to using PITSS.CON’s full potential. We will explain why it is important to maintain your PITSS.CON environment.
Bug Fixes
With each new release of PITSS.CON, bugs discovered by PITSS personnel or customers are patched. This is similar to applying the latest updates from Microsoft on Windows environments or from Red Hat on Linux environments where potential bugs are fixed. It is important that you also contact PITSS if you discover a potential bug or glitch in PITSS.CON so that PITSS can address it promptly and provide either a patch or a bug fix in the next PITSS.CON release. With an upgrade to a newer PITSS.CON release, all bugs previously discovered will be fixed. Having a strong relationship between PITSS and the customer is crucial to making PITSS.CON beneficial to all.
New Features
New features and functionalities are being added into each new PITSS.CON version. If you are on an older release of PITSS.CON, you may be missing out on some powerful, new features. Examples of new features span from User Stories, Business Logic Extraction for Oracle Reports to new modernization capabilities such as Oracle Database to PostgreSQL and Oracle Reports to BI Publisher. Here are some of the features we have bundled with newer PITSS.CON releases:
- User Stories – User Stories is a feature of PITSS.CON which allows you to trace business activities and use cases and then obtain results of such use cases. Information gathered includes the general work flow for each use case and each program unit being executed in the use case. Each new release of PITSS.CON expands on User Stories by gaining new features and performance improvements.
- Loading Database Users Offline – Starting in PITSS.CON 18, PITSS.CON now provides the capabilities of loading database schemas without an online connection to another database. Users gain the opportunity to load schemas and database links via export files. Normally PITSS.CON can only load schemas from a single database at a time, but the ability to load schemas offline enable users to load more than one database into a single PITSS.CON user.
- Business Logic Extraction for Oracle Reports – Since PITSS.CON 15.4.2, PITSS.CON is also able to extract the business logic from Oracle Reports into the database. This allows users to migrate their Oracle Reports to other technologies such as BI Publisher and JasperReports more easily.
- Reports to BI Publisher Assistant – With Oracle Reports being deprecated, it is important to start considering moving Oracle Reports to another platform. For example with migrating reports to BI Publisher, the Reports to BI Publisher Assistant provides an analysis to determine how much effort it will take to move reports to BI Publisher.
- Reports Replacer Kit – Reports Replacer Kit is a tool which works with customers to help modernize their Oracle Reports to different platforms such as Oracle BI Publisher and JasperReports.
- Digital Documentation – Digital Documentation expands beyond User Stories and presents all findings from the use case analysis in a presentable format. This enables developers, administrators, project managers, and chief information officers to gain knowledge of the common business processes used in the application.
Support with Newer Oracle Database and Oracle Forms Releases
Newer PITSS.CON versions also have better compatibility with newer versions of Oracle Database as well as Oracle Forms and Reports. For example, PITSS.CON versions 15.4.2 and newer have support with Oracle Forms 12c and PITSS.CON 18 has support with Oracle Forms 12.2.1.3.0 and newer. If you are on Oracle Forms 10g or 11g and have not upgraded your PITSS.CON in years, it will be much more difficult to upgrade to Forms 12c without upgrading your PITSS.CON. In addition to support with newer Oracle Forms releases, more recent PITSS.CON versions have support with newer Oracle Database releases from 12c to 19c. For example, PITSS.CON 16 and newer have capabilities of utilizing pluggable databases (PDBs) available in Oracle Database 12c and newer. Older Oracle Database releases have been slowly taken out of support, and it is important that you keep PITSS.CON up-to-date so that it remains compatible with the latest Oracle Database versions.
Next Steps
To stay current with the latest features and bug fixes as well as support with the latest Oracle Database and Oracle Forms releases, you should consider having your PITSS.CON upgraded to the latest available release if you have not already done so. PITSS.CON upgrades are one of numerous features of an annual PITSS.CON maintenance agreement. Having PITSS.CON maintenance allows you to obtain the latest PITSS.CON releases and patches, submit bug reports and enhancement requests, and receive quality support from our consultants. For more information on what a PITSS.CON maintenance agreement entails, you may click here to find out more. Alternatively, you may also contact PITSS to inquire how PITSS can help you with your current and future business needs.
If you would like additional information on PITSS.CON and all of its features, you may find more here.
