Oracle Cloud Applications

Fusion

Update Policy
Standard Operational Policy

November 2019
 Contents

Overview ...................................................................................................................... 3
Software and Hardware Update Types ........................................................................ 3
Quarterly Updates ............................................................................................. 3
Vertex Updates (Address Files) ........................................................................ 5
Infrastructure Updates ....................................................................................... 5
Additional Update Information ...................................................................................... 6
Planned Outages .............................................................................................. 6
Exceptions to Update Practices ........................................................................ 6
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ........................................................................... 7
Overview
This paper applies to Standard operational policy holders. Find your Cloud Service operational policy
on the Overview tab on the Service Details page in the Applications Console.
We periodically provide software and hardware updates for your environments to:

 Address reported issues

 Introduce new features/functions

Software and Hardware Update Types

We provide the following software and hardware updates:

 Quarterly Updates

 Vertex Updates (Address Files)

 Infrastructure Updates
You’ll receive communication about these updates via the standard notification process.

Quarterly Updates

There are four feature/function updates each calendar year. We’ll send a notification to let you know
which month within the Quarterly Update period you’ll receive your update.
Note: Quarterly Updates are mandatory. You can’t skip or reschedule them.
Quarterly Updates may include:

 New and enhanced features/functions

 National Language Support (NLS) updates for all installed language packs

 Fixes for reported issues with Oracle Cloud Applications

 Fixes for reported issues with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Transactional Business
Intelligence (OTBI). The middleware updates are sometimes referred to as P4FA updates

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Mandatory or Optional Mandatory

Non-production environments: First Friday of your Quarterly

Update month. Exception is the Middle East, where the update is
applied on Thursday.
Delivery Schedule
Production environments: Third Friday of your Quarterly Update
month. Exception is the Middle East, where the update is applied on
Thursday.

Your outage start time is based on your maintenance region. If you

don't know your maintenance region, look at your Welcome letter or
the Applications Console Details page.

 Americas – Friday 21:00 CST/CDT

Planned Outage Times  Europe – Friday 21:00 BST/GMT
 Middle East – Thursday 21:00 GST
 Asia Pacific – Saturday 00:00 AEST/AEDT

To review the latest outage times, see My Oracle Support article Doc
ID 1681146.2.

You'll receive advance notice of Readiness material, which describe

the new features/functions in upcoming updates. This material is
published on the Oracle Cloud Readiness site at least 30 days prior to
update availability. This Readiness material along with the
documentation will help you prepare for the features/functions
Readiness Material and introduced with each Quarterly Update.
Documentation
For more information on the details of known and resolved issues in
the Quarterly Update, review the specific Cloud Applications
Functional Update papers from My Oracle Support article (Doc ID
1603154.1).

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Vertex Updates (Address Files)

Vertex Updates occur monthly and apply to US and Canada address validations. If your business
operates outside of the US and Canada, you’ll receive these updates because you may need to
validate US and Canadian addresses for employees or trading partners who have residences or
businesses there.

Mandatory or Optional Mandatory

Non-production environments: 18th of each month.

Delivery Schedule
Production environments: 25th of each month.

Planned Outage Times No outage required

Infrastructure Updates

We provide hardware, network, and operating system updates periodically to keep your environments
optimized.

Mandatory or Optional Mandatory

Delivery Schedule Typically quarterly or as needed

Outage times can happen on the 2nd or 4th weekend of any month
but are typically applied once a quarter. End times will vary based on
the scope of the updates. You’ll be sent a notification when there is
one scheduled.
Planned Outage Times
Your outage times are based on the time zone for the maintenance
region in which you’re hosted. For example, if you’re an Asia Pacific
customer, but your environment is hosted by a US data center, this
update outage will most likely coincide with the US Update time.

Readiness Material and

Documentation not necessary
Documentation

5
Additional Update Information

Planned Outages

Outage times are defined to minimize disruption to your business. We’ll send you advance notification
with outage details, including impacted environment and outage start and end dates.
If you have an implementation partner, add them as a notification contact in the Applications Console,
so they can receive notices of your outages and can plan their work accordingly. For more information,
see Managing Contacts for Service Notifications.

Exceptions to Update Practices

We make every attempt to limit update-related outages and exceptions to the update schedule defined
in this paper. However, there may be an occasional need to vary from this schedule for various
reasons, such as:

 Unscheduled, emergency updates to address a critical problem affecting all customers

 Extending a planned outage time for an update

We’ll make every attempt to forecast these special cases and provide you with advance notifications.

6
 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
 Why can’t I skip the Quarterly Updates?
We need to ensure all customers have the latest critical code updates and features/functions.
Therefore, Quarterly Updates are mandatory. Without these critical fixes, the stability of your cloud
environment can be affected.
 Can I combine multiple Quarterly Updates into a single maintenance window?
No. You have to uptake Quarterly Updates in the month you’re assigned based on your Quarterly
Schedule.
 Why do the non-production and production environments get Quarterly Updates two weeks
apart?
This gives you time to perform testing before changes are introduced to your production
environment.
 How do I know what version I’m on?
The Maintenance Completion notification tells you what version you’re on.
 How can I tell what month I’ll receive my Quarterly Update?
We’ll send a notification to let you know what month you’ll receive your Quarterly Update.
 Why can’t I access new features included in the Quarterly Update?
We deliver new features turned off by default. You need to turn new features on. See the Release
Readiness content for more information (https://cloud.oracle.com/en_US/readiness).
 How do I know what is included in the Quarterly Updates to create a testing plan?
Review the following content:
 What's New documents included in Release Readiness content for each service
(https://cloud.oracle.com/en_US/readiness)
 Oracle Fusion Applications Known Issues and Update article on My Oracle Support (Doc ID
1603154.1)
 Functional Readmes for Fusion Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) Updates article
on My Oracle Support (Doc ID 1573674.1)
 Why can’t I request a specific downtime for when updates are applied?
We schedule predefined downtime windows for all updates, as it’s critical to time updates when the
Oracle Cloud Applications Operations team is available in your maintenance region’s time zone. You
can find additional details for each update type in the Software and Hardware Update Types section
in this paper.
 How do I know what maintenance region is assigned for my environments?
The region is automatically assigned based on the country identified in your Cloud Services
agreement.
 What do I do if an update does not address my reported issue?

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 Update the specific Service Request (SR) in My Oracle Support, indicating that the issue was not
resolved after the application of the update. Provide details of any changes in error messages or
symptoms and screenshots as appropriate.
 Does the update outage schedule still apply if my environment has more than one Cloud
Service (for example, HCM and Engagement)?
Yes. You’ll receive updates for all Cloud Services at the same time. If you receive an Exception
Update that requires an outage, your entire environment will be brought down and there will be no
access to any of your applications during the outage period.
 How will I know if the update process changes?
This paper will be updated as changes occur and the changes will be communicated via the
Applications Console and Customer Connect.

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