Oracle_Retail_Cloud_Services_FAQ_External_OCT_28_2021.pdf
- 1. Frequently Asked Questions Oracle Retail Cloud Services Calendar Year 2022 1 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
- 2. Safe Harbor Statement The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, timing, and pricing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products may change and remains at the sole discretion of Oracle Corporation. 2 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
- 3. Table of Contents 4 Changes in 2022 5 Cloud Terminology 6 Continuous Delivery 19 Hot Fix 3 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. 21 Blueprint 22 Deprecation Policy
- 4. Changes in 2022 4 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates Standardized Calendar and Cadence To simplify the Continuous Delivery process, all Cloud Services will deliver Cloud Updates aligned to the same calendar and cadence. Mandatory Updates The Opt Out Policy will be phased out across all remaining Cloud Services to comply with security and performance guidelines. Accelerated Verification Verification periods will be shortened to accelerate updates deployed to all environments.
- 5. Cloud Terminology 5 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. On-Premise Term Cloud Term Product = Service Major Release = Major Update Patch Release = Service Update or Critical Update Hotfix = Hotfix Upgrading or Patching = Updating Testing or UAT (User Acceptance Testing) = Verification or MAT (Minimal Acceptance Testing) Pre-Production or UAT Environment = Staging Environment Production Environment = Production Environment Development Environment = Development or Non-Production Environment (NPE) • Terminology varies between Cloud Services and On- Premise Solutions. • Using consistent cloud terminology will ensure everyone is talking the same language.
- 6. Continuous Delivery 6 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is Continuous Delivery? Continuous Delivery is the ongoing deployment of cloud updates, designed to progressively increase security, performance, and productivity levels of cloud service subscriptions to maximize Customers’ return on investments in Oracle Retail Cloud Services. Continuous Delivery consists of processes and policies that support cloud update availability, scheduling and deployment. Is Continuous Delivery related to On-Premise solutions? No. Continuous Delivery only applies to Oracle Retail Cloud Services.
- 7. Continuous Delivery 7 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. Are all cloud Customers included in the Continuous Delivery process? New subscribers of a cloud service onboard to the Continuous Delivery process when provisioning of all environments is complete. Existing subscribers of a cloud service who are qualified to receive cloud updates will onboard to the Continuous Delivery Process through a coordinated launch plan. Are Customers who are in the Implementation phase included in the Continuous Delivery process? Yes. Customers in the implementation phase are included in the Continuous Delivery process.
- 8. Continuous Delivery 8 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is the Continuous Delivery Calendar? The Continuous Delivery Calendar is a synchronized quarterly schedule across the Oracle Retail Cloud Services portfolio to deliver cloud updates to customers on a frequent and predictable basis. Where can Customers view the Continuous Delivery Calendar? The Continuous Delivery Calendar and its supporting processes and policies are outlined in the Cloud Services Blueprint document on My Oracle Support (MOS). When are cloud updates available? Cloud updates are available on a quarterly basis in January, April, July, and October.
- 9. Continuous Delivery 9 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. When are cloud updates scheduled? Cloud updates are scheduled to be deployed between 10pm-6am local customer time, weekdays, unless an alternative customer scheduling preference is specified and can be accommodated. Customer scheduling preferences are not guaranteed. Major and Service Updates will not be scheduled during Oracle change freeze periods (for example, Holidays). This does not prohibit any emergency changes Oracle determines are necessary that may come up during these periods. When are cloud updates deployed? Cloud updates are deployed to Staging environments within 60 days following cloud update availability. Cloud updates are deployed to Production environments following the defined verification period.
- 10. Continuous Delivery 10 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What environments are updated and in what sequence? All environments are updated and in the following sequence: Dev → Stage → Production → Test & Other NPEs How and when will customers be notified of a scheduled cloud update? Customers are notified by email 10 business days prior to each scheduled cloud update. Notifications will be sent from: no-reply@oracle.com
- 11. Continuous Delivery 11 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is the scope or contents of a cloud update? Major Update: New features, potential architecture and configuration changes, integration changes, translation updates, defect fixes, change management, Critical Patch Update. Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) recommended and may involve business users, system administrator and system integrator. Service Update: Minor new features and user interface enhancements, administration feature changes, translation updates, defect fixes, Critical Patch Update. Less impactful to user community. Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) recommended and may involve business users and system administrator. Critical Update: Critical Patch Update and critical fixes released since the previous cloud update. Hot Fix: Ad hoc urgent defect fixes released before next service update. Only system administrator required to verify update.
- 12. Continuous Delivery 12 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What documentation accompanies a cloud update? Major Update: Release Value Proposition (RVP), Advance Release Notification (ARN), Release Readiness Guide or Release Notes, full documentation update, and enablement materials. Service Update: Advance Release Notification (ARN), Release Readiness Guide or Release Notes, minor documentation updates, and enablement materials, as needed. Critical Update: Advance Release Notification (ARN), Release Readiness Guide or Release Notes, minor documentation updates, and enablement materials, as needed. Hot Fix: Release Notes
- 13. Continuous Delivery 13 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. How and when is documentation published for a cloud update? Advanced Release Notes (ARNs) that outline the contents of a cloud update are published to My Oracle Support (MOS) at least 10 business days prior to the update being available. Other documentation associated with the update is published when the update is available. Customers may opt in to receive notifications when ARNs are published for Major Updates or Service Updates by adding the ARN Alerts article to their favorites list in MOS and enabling the Hot Topic E-mail subscription features. See steps below. Once in My Oracle Support (MOS), display the ARN Alerts article. https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=2704051.1 1.Click on the star icon to the left of the article title. This will add the ARN Alerts article to your favorites list. 2.Select My Account on the drop down list next to your name in the top right corner of the MOS portal. 3.Select Hot Topics E-Mail from the left navigation bar. 4.Under Delivery Options, verify the Activation is set to Send With Selected Options. 5.Under Content to Include select Documents I've marked as favorites. 6.Click Apply.
- 14. Continuous Delivery 14 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. How is documentation versioned for a cloud update? Major Update: All documents associated with the cloud service are released under the same number as the code. For example, all 19.0 documents correspond to the 19.0 initial code release. A new Oracle Part Number is also issued for each document. Service Update: Applicable documents associated with the cloud service are released under the same number as the code. For example, applicable, scoped 19.1 documents would correspond to the 19.1 initial code release. A new Oracle Part Number is also issued for any updated document. Critical Update: Applicable documents associated with the cloud service are released under the same number as the code. For example, applicable, scoped 19.1 documents would correspond to the 19.1 initial code release. A new Oracle Part Number is also issued for any updated document. Hot Fix: Release Notes are published to the Documentation Library using the code’s hot fix version number. Applicable documents associated with the hot fix are released under the same number as the Major Update or the Service Update code number. The updated version of the document is indicated by a change to the Oracle Part Number on the cover page, as well as potentially the print date (month and year). An updated version uses the same Part Number, with a higher-numbered suffix. For example, Part Number E123456-02 is an updated version of a document with Part Number E123456-01, and so on. The scope of documents for a hot fix is at the discretion of Oracle.
- 15. Continuous Delivery 15 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. Can a customer provide scheduling preferences? Yes. Customers may submit scheduling preferences to CSMs. Scheduling preferences are considered in a best case effort and not guaranteed. For example, a scheduling preference may be a regularly scheduled maintenance window that occurs on a weekly basis, not a specific date and time. Can a cloud update be rescheduled? No. A cloud update cannot be rescheduled. Can a cloud update be skipped or cancelled? No. Cloud updates are mandatory in order to comply with and maintain security and performance requirements.
- 16. Continuous Delivery 16 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is a Verification Period? A verification period is a defined time period to allow a Customer to test a cloud update in the Stage environment prior to the cloud update being deployed to the Production environment. It is important to start the verification process as soon as the cloud update is applied to Stage with focus on verifying existing functionality first and reporting issues promptly to allow time to resolve issues or determine remediation plans within the verification period. How long is the Verification Period? The verification period is two weeks for a Service Update and Critical Update, and four weeks for a Major Update. The actual number of days between Stage and Production updates can vary slightly due to such factors as resource availability, holidays and Customer scheduling preferences. Can the Verification Period be shortened or extended? No. The verification period cannot be modified.
- 17. Continuous Delivery 17 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT)? Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) is the recommended testing to be performed on a cloud update deployed to the Stage environment during the verification period. How do Customers report an issue identified during the verification period? Customers should submit a detailed Service Request (SR) on My Oracle Support (MOS) that outlines any business-critical impacts. If a business-critical issue is validated, will the cloud update be applied to Production? If a business-critical issue is validated by Oracle Retail, Oracle Retail will work with the Customer to determine the best course of action, including when to update Production.
- 18. Continuous Delivery 18 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What are Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) guidelines? Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) guidelines outline the testing scope, roles and responsibilities, and entrance and exit criteria recommended for a MAT plan to ensure business continuity when a cloud service update is applied. They are designed as both a planning and a communication tool to ensure testing owners thoughtfully consider how testing will be conducted, what needs to be tested, and who will be conducting the testing. Customer project teams should collaborate on the MAT Plan to ensure testing design meets the needs of all key project team members. The MAT Plan should be at a level of detail that will enable key project team members to develop test cases and test scripts. Testing timelines should be defined within the verification period for the cloud service and commence as soon as the cloud update is applied to the non-production Stage environment. MAT Guidelines are available in the Product Libraries for each Cloud Service on My Oracle Support (MOS).
- 19. Hot Fix 19 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. When are hot fixes applied? Hot fixes are applied on an ad hoc basis for urgent issues by request. If a hot fix is released between a cloud update to multiple environments, what version is applied to subsequently scheduled environments? Environments are maintained at parity. Therefore, the cloud update that is applied to the Stage environment is applied to all environments. If the cloud update to the Stage environment does not include a subsequently released Hot Fix that the Customer desires, then the Hot Fix will need to be requested separately by the Customer through a Support Request (SR) on My Oracle Support (MOS).
- 20. Hot Fix 20 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. Is a cloud update combined with the latest available hot fix? Yes. The latest hot fix available at the time of the Stage update is combined with the cloud update and applied to all environments. The release notes for the cloud update and the release notes for the hot fix remain separate documents that can be found on My Oracle Support (MOS). Is a hot fix cumulative, meaning does it include fixes released in previous hot fixes? Yes, hot fixes are cumulative and include fixes released in previous hot fixes for that specific version of a cloud service. For example, if three hot fixes are released for cloud service version 20.0 … •20.0.01 •20.0.02 - Includes bug fixes for Hot Fixes .02 and .01 •20.0.03 - Includes bug fixes for Hot Fixes .03, .02, .01
- 21. Blueprint 21 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is the Blueprint? The Blueprint is a document that outlines Continuous Delivery and Cloud Operations processes and policies across the Oracle Retail Cloud Services portfolio. How is the Blueprint used? Customers may use the Blueprint to understand cloud processes and policies, as well as prepare for events that may occur while subscribing to a cloud service. What information does the Blueprint contain? The Blueprint includes Continuous Delivery common guidelines and best practices to prepare for cloud updates, including the Continuous Delivery Calendar and Minimal Acceptance Testing (MAT) recommendations and responsibilities. Additionally, the Blueprint details Cloud Operations processes including monitoring, maintenance and support. Where is the Blueprint published? The Blueprint is available on My Oracle Support (MOS).
- 22. Deprecation Policy 22 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. What is the Deprecation Policy? As part of the continuous delivery model for cloud services, features and technical components of a solution may be removed or replaced to enhance the security, performance, and overall quality of the cloud service. When this occurs, the deprecation of a feature or component will be announced in advance, allowing Customers sufficient time to anticipate the change and transition to any enhanced replacement feature/component. After the deprecation is announced, the deprecated feature or component will remain in the solution until the planned removal date and will not be enhanced or made compatible with other new features. Where is information published about deprecated features? A full list of declared deprecated features may be found in the My Oracle Support (MOS) Documentation Library for each cloud service.
- 23. 23 Copyright © 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates.