Deep Dive: Oracle WebCenter Content Tips and Traps!
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This document outlines the best practices and common pitfalls in deploying the Oracle WebCenter Content system, highlighting ten reasons ECM projects can fail, particularly focusing on metadata management, contribution strategies, and security considerations. It emphasizes the importance of user engagement, effective training, and iterative improvement in metadata models while providing actionable tips for successful implementation. Additionally, the document covers advanced features, integration suggestions, and the importance of optimizing the user interface for better consumption of content.
Deep Dive: Oracle WebCenter Content Tips and Traps!
- 1. #C14LV REMINDER Check in on the COLLABORATE mobile app #C14LV WebCenter Deployment Patterns Prepared by: Brian “Bex” Huff Chief Software Architect Bezzotech 5 Tips to Try, 5 Traps to Avoid!
- 2. 2 #C14LV Agenda ■ Intro ■ Top 10 reasons ECM projects fail ▪ AIIM Survey ■ Tips and traps in 5 areas: ▪ Metadata ▪ Contribution ▪ Consumption ▪ Security ▪ Integrations 2
- 3. 3 #C14LV Intro ■ You installed WebCenter CONTENT ■ Now what??? ■ What “big things” do you need to do right? ■ What “big things” should you avoid? 3
- 4. 4 #C14LV Top 10 Reasons ECM Projects Fail ■ 10) Poorly defined business case (16%) ■ 9) Failed to think of benefits and issues outside of our business unit (16%) ■ 8) Low user acceptance due to poor design or clumsy implementation (18%) ■ 7) Failed to address taxonomy and metadata concerns (19%) 4
- 5. 5 #C14LV Top 10, cont. ■ 6) Excessive "scope creep“ (20%) ■ 5) Underestimated the effort to distill and migrate content (21%) ■ 4) Uneven usage due to poor procedures and lack of enforcement (29%) 5
- 6. 6 #C14LV Top 10, cont. ■ 3) Project derailed by internal politics (30%) ■ 2) Lack of knowledge or training among our internal staff (32%) ■ 1) Underestimated process and organizational issues (44%) 6
- 7. 7 #C14LV Metadata ■ ECM systems are not Google! ▪ We are looking for the document, not just some document ▪ Relevant information not always stored in the document — Author, date, intended audience, security level — Crawling the document does not get you this 7
- 8. 8 #C14LV Metadata is like a tax... ■ Contributors are burdened to aid consumers ■ Value is in proportion to the benefits provided ■ But, nobody agrees on how much is too much! ■ To little, and the consumers go elsewhere ▪ Like direct phone calls, and emails ■ Too much, and contributors will go elsewhere ▪ Like store important files in DropBox 8
- 9. 9 #C14LV Other Important Uses ■ Lifecycle Management ▪ Records management, archives, 3rd party integrations ■ Workflow triggers ▪ Trigger external processes based on metadata ▪ Eg: creator, cost, department ■ External Identifiers ▪ PO #, Customer #, work order # ▪ Tip: avoid storing state of remote systems in metadata, just IDs 9
- 10. 10 #C14LV Metadata Questions ■ How will people search for this information? ▪ By date? By author? By project? By client? ▪ Search by project, get back 20 documents — Filtering by Title or Description should be sufficient ▪ Search by project, get back 200 documents — Probably need sub-categorization ■ What information about this document is not obvious within the document itself? ▪ Data about data 10
- 11. 11 #C14LV Metadata Traps ■ Overly complex metadata model ▪ Too many fields, not relevant to all users ▪ Inconsistent use of metadata fields, values ■ Fields that are too narrow in their use ▪ Fields that are very similar, yet are not combined — Contract ID, Start Date, Reference ID, etc. ▪ Why add a field when a similar one exists? — Need to make hard choices 11
- 12. 12 #C14LV Metadata Traps, cont. ■ Trying to get it “perfect” the first time ▪ Enterprise-wide analysis paralysis ▪ You will not get it right the first time! ▪ You must expect the metadata model to change! ■ Not having a process to incorporate feedback ▪ You need processes in place to know when to change! 12
- 13. 13 #C14LV Metadata Tips ■ #1 goal is broad user acceptance! ▪ Must engage your users, have them understand the value ▪ Training, threats, enticements can fail or backfire ▪ Even the best contributors will be fatigued after 5 fields ■ Why? ▪ Bad metadata is sometimes worse than no metadata ▪ If only half the users follow the rules, can you trust your search results? ▪ If you can’t trust the search results, will you bother to use the system? 13
- 14. 14 #C14LV Metadata Tips, cont. ■ Content Profiles simplify the metadata model ▪ You may require 100 metadata fields to describe all content ▪ But... any one type may only need 10 fields ▪ Profiles allows you to minimize the “clutter” ■ Can do much more than organize ▪ Create “default” values on pages to minimize data entry ▪ Minimize the number of values in drop-down lists ▪ Block certain users from selecting certain values ▪ Create “derived” values to store based on what they entered 14
- 15. 15 #C14LV Content Profiles, Before and After 15
- 16. 16 #C14LV Metadata Tips ■ Make a “growable” taxonomy ▪ Better than a “complete” taxonomy ▪ Start, get feedback, prune, iterate! ■ Add only fields that have proven value ■ Get to know UCM tools ▪ Framework Folders for batch metadata updates ▪ Archiver for batch metadata updates ▪ Custom DB reports to find unused / repeated fields 16
- 17. 17 #C14LV Think in Metadata “Facets” ■ Orthogonal “types” of metadata that allows you to drill down ■ General (Title, Subject, Description) ■ Creator (Author, Department) ■ Audience (Internal/External, General/Tech) ■ Digital Rights (Distribution, Cost) ■ Language (Native Language, Translations) ■ Formats (Native Format, Alternate Formats) ■ Dates (Start, End, Active, Creation, Expiration) ■ Location (Division, Customer, Country) ■ Management & Control (Security, Retention, Project) 17
- 18. 18 #C14LV Contribution Traps ■ Folders! ▪ Tough to scale a folders-based model enterprise-wide ▪ Organizational structure is highly subjective ■ Folders_g versus FrameworkFolders ▪ Check which one is required for the features you need! ■ Fearing customizations ▪ Everybody uses CONTENT differently ▪ A custom UI can can aid user adoption 18
- 19. 19 #C14LV Contribution Tips ■ New 11.1.1.8 User Interface ▪ Simplified ADF front-end ▪ Easy integration with Cloud & Mobile ■ Framework Folders ▪ Desktop integrated version available since Patch Set 5 ■ Content Folios ▪ Used instead of Folders ▪ Lightweight “Case Management” 19
- 20. 20 #C14LV Contribution Tips, cont. ■ Use Content Tracker ▪ Keep stats on “most popular authors” ▪ Nothing like a little competition to aid adoption! ■ Check-Out-And-Open ▪ One-click editing from the web browser ▪ Some issues with HTTPS and IE, but fixable ■ Desktop Integration Suite ▪ Drag-and-drop into folders ▪ Folders have default metadata ▪ Metadata pop-ups to fill in critical metadata 20
- 21. 21 #C14LV Folders and Desktop Integration 21
- 22. 22 #C14LV Contribution Tips, cont. ■ 3rd Party: CVision PdfCompressor ▪ Does OCR, and compresses PDFs about 50% ▪ Compatible with Capture and Content ▪ Great for importing old documents into the system ■ 11.1.1.8 DesktopTag Component ▪ Allows you to “tag” office docs with custom properties ▪ Date, revision, author, source repository ▪ Used to track content back to the original repository ▪ http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E29542_01/doc.1111/e26694/desktopt ag.htm 22
- 23. 23 #C14LV Custom Schema Option Lists ■ Schema is a highly powerful tool for generating option lists ■ Option lists can be filtered based on users ▪ Localization ▪ “Pick-lists” in a content profile ■ StandardSchemaSecurityFilter ▪ Put a dSecurityGroup and dDocAccount in the table ▪ On “search” page, option visible to users with “Read” access ▪ On “check-in”, visible to users with “Write” access ▪ Extensible for more complex rules — Like “IsEnabled” 23
- 24. 24 #C14LV Simplified ADF-Based “Content UI” 24
- 25. 25 #C14LV Content UI ■ Officially known as “Content UI” ▪ Existing UI will be referred to as the “Native UI” ■ Streamlined for greater efficiency ▪ Modeled after consumer web design with zero-training requirement ▪ Document Libraries, Favorites, Access Control Lists ▪ Streamlined search results, and document viewer ■ Currently, no administration or configuration pages ▪ Will be added with future patches ■ 11.1.1.8 and later only! ▪ Requires FrameworkFolders 25
- 26. 26 #C14LV Content UI Setup ■ Content UI is an optional install ▪ Can run it and “Native” UI at the same time ■ Install on a separate middleware home and domain ▪ Content UI will be patched more frequently than Content Server ▪ New features being added quickly ▪ Recent example: February patch has custom skins! ■ Architecture ▪ Session replication is NOT recommended, for performance reasons (ADF session state is ~5 MB per user) ▪ Use sticky sessions with failover 26
- 27. 27 #C14LV Customizing ADF UI ■ Can use WLST or Metadata Services to customize ▪ WLST for small changes, skinning requires ADF code ■ Change the title text (must be done here): ▪ updateWccAdfConfig(appName='Oracle WebCenter Content - Web UI', customBrandingTitle = 'ACME') ■ Change the URL to the page logo: ▪ updateWccAdfConfig(appName='Oracle WebCenter Content - Web UI', customBrandingLogo = '<image url>') 27
- 28. 28 #C14LV Custom ADF UI Skin ■ Now exposed through Metadata Services (MDS) ▪ Built-in ADF customization layer ■ Download WebUI application’s EAR file and skin ▪ <WCCUI_ARTIFACTS_DIR>/WccAdf.ear ▪ <WCCUI_ARTIFACTS_DIR>/WccAdfStandardSkin.jar ■ With JDeveloper 11.1.2.x create application from WccAdf.ear ▪ Ensure all required libraries are present ▪ Change context root to wcc ▪ Optionally disable CSS class name compression in web.xml ▪ Set RIDC connection to your CS in connection.xm 28
- 29. 29 #C14LV Custom ADF UI Skin, cont. ■ Create new skin: custom-wcc-skin.css ▪ Add WccAdfStandardSkin.jar as a library to the project ▪ Create new skin file extending wcc-skin.desktop ▪ Remove skin libraries from weblogic-application.xml ▪ Set new skin as the default in adf-config.xml ■ Override styles/selectors in the new skin file ▪ Review comments in wcc-styles.css for tips on what to modify ■ Test your skin ▪ Run the application in Embedded WLS server ▪ When you modify the skin, reload the page (no restart needed) 29
- 30. 30 #C14LV Deploying Custom Skin ■ Upload and replace the existing custom skin file – <WCCUI_ARTIFACTS_DIR>/WccCustomSkin.jar ■ Change the application’s skin using WLST ▪ updateWccAdfConfig(appName='Oracle WebCenter Content - Web UI', skinFamily='custom-wcc-skin') ■ Restart Web UI’s managed server to see new UI ■ If needed, switch back to original skin: ▪ updateWccAdfConfig(appName='Oracle WebCenter Content - Web UI', skinFamily='wcc-skin') 30
- 31. 31 #C14LV Customization Limitations ■ Currently limited to customizing skin ■ In future releases, will support additional customization ▪ Custom buttons, custom Java Code ■ Might be different than “pure MDS” ▪ MDS can be used to customize everything, but! ▪ MDS is very difficult to debug ■ Need a customized UI right now? ▪ Only option: crack open & edit the EAR file ▪ Add a button to launch external JSP/HCST page ▪ Code in 2 places to keep EAR modifications to a minimum 31
- 32. 32 #C14LV Consumption Traps ■ “If you build it, they will come!” ■ Spent a million bucks on a CMS, and the item with the most hits is the cafeteria menu... ■ Assuming it will work like Google ▪ People spend big bucks on internet SEO ▪ Very few think about intranet SEO ▪ Content must be findable to be reusable 32
- 33. 33 #C14LV Folders is also a Trap! ■ Need a department-wide organizational structure ▪ Think of it like a branded website... ■ Top 2-3 level: strictly controlled hierarchy ▪ Ensure it makes sense to people outside the department ■ Next 2-3 levels, flexible but with some structure ▪ Categories and sub-categories ▪ Broad terms and narrow terms ▪ Date-based folders 33
- 34. 34 #C14LV Consumption Tips ■ Have an actual editor / publisher ▪ Somebody needs to care that content is reusable ▪ Software enables people: it doesn’t replace them! ▪ If everybody cares, great! If not, put somebody in charge! ■ Create targeted Portal / Site Studio pages ▪ Department portals, quick contribution, what’s new lists, etc. ■ Focus on how your audience looks for information ▪ Search? Browse? Call? Email? ▪ Make it easy for them, with a bit of training 34
- 35. 35 #C14LV Consumption Tips, cont. ■ Faceted searches ▪ Built-in to Oracle Text 11g, customizable metadata fields ▪ DrillDownFields=dDocType,dSecurityGroup ■ Oracle Text “Controlled Thesaurus” ▪ Search common term and related terms at the same time — IE, hospital and ‘provider,’ dog and ‘canine’ ▪ Use the ctxload.exe utility to load custom list of terms ▪ Use the RT(term) to find mates of related terms 35
- 36. 36 #C14LV Mobile UI for Easy Consumption 36
- 37. 37 #C14LV Mobile Features ■ Optimized app for smartphone and tablet ■ Support iOS and Android ■ Search, Browse, View, Download ■ Take important documents offline ■ Initial release supports general mobile use cases ▪ Search, Browse & View, Favorites, Download for offline access ▪ Email links to documents or w/ attachments ■ Future release will add more support: ▪ Upload New Documents, Checkout / Checking, Workflows 37
- 38. 38 #C14LV Mobile Limitations ■ Only works with 11.1.1.8 and new UI ▪ Therefore, FrameworkFolders and not Folders_g ▪ Therefore, Portal not simultaneously supported ▪ But, Portal 11.1.1.9 should be out “very soon”! ■ Workarounds ▪ Portal 11.1.1.8 has its own Mobile interface ▪ Mobile web versus mobile app ▪ Data entry is still tricky ■ Fishbowl Solutions mobile app ▪ Not dependent on Folders at all, highly customizable 38
- 39. 39 #C14LV Cloud Interface ■ Oracle Documents Cloud Service ▪ https://cloud.oracle.com/documents ▪ Not yet available... ■ “Content UI”, accessible outside your firewall ▪ Can “push” to cloud with one click ▪ Users can edit cloud documents ▪ Manual “pull” back to your internal repository ▪ Works with Desktop Integration Suite as well ■ Encrypted documents, simple file sharing ▪ IT departments will prefer this to DropBox 39
- 40. 40 #C14LV Security Traps ■ Access Control Lists ▪ Popular, easy, but sloooooow ▪ Use sparingly, or run Exalogic! ▪ New UI uses a lot of ACLs, which could be a problem ■ Security should not be used to organize! ▪ Do you really need that other security group??? ▪ Do you really need highly granular security??? ▪ Or are you just mapping your org chart? 40
- 41. 41 #C14LV Security Traps, Cont. ■ Windows! ▪ Active Directory integrations tricky with 11g ▪ LDAP works fairly well ▪ Single Sign On can take several week to properly tune ■ Cloud! ▪ How much data is in DropBox or Oracle’s cloud? ▪ Are they encrypted? ▪ Oracle no longer sells IRM, you need something custom 41
- 42. 42 #C14LV Security Tips ■ Two dimensional group/account model ▪ Groups for classification: Public, Internal, Secure ▪ Accounts for department: Accounting, Sales, HR ▪ VP of Sales can read Secure documents in Sales account... ▪ ... but cannot read Secure documents in HR account! ■ Complex security models can affect performance ▪ Reduce ACL usage, focus on groups/accounts blend ▪ Minimize the number of “buckets” to maximize performance 42
- 43. 43 #C14LV Security Tips, cont. ■ Loosen up contribution access ▪ Use workflows to control important docs ▪ Place in highly secure group only when absolutely required ■ Content Tracker ▪ “Trust, but verify” security ■ Use proven single sign on solutions ▪ Active Directory — Takes some time to get SSO fully operational ▪ Oracle Access Manager — Some issues with applets 43
- 44. 44 #C14LV Integration Traps ■ Standards!!! ▪ CMIS, WebDAV, JSR170, etc. ▪ Very narrow pipe: you always replace them! ■ BPM/BPEL Workflows instead of EBS/PeopleSoft ▪ Sometimes native workflow APIs work better ■ Performance ▪ Load test, get metrics, use caches ■ Security ▪ Make sure other system understand WebCenter security!!! 44
- 45. 45 #C14LV Integration Tips ■ RIDC ▪ Lightweight Java connector ▪ May need to set IntradocServerPort on 11g ■ SOAP / SOA ▪ 11g standard, great for ESBs ■ Content Presenter Task Flows for Portal ▪ Works great with Site Studio templates... ▪ Tricky to get working with ADF templates ■ IFRAMEs ▪ Cheap and cheesy, but sometimes enough! 45
- 46. 46 #C14LV Integration Tips, cont. ■ jQuery and Web-Oriented Architecture ▪ Put IsJson=1 into any URL ▪ Use jQuery, ExtJS, YUI to render with 100% JavaScript ▪ http://bezzotech.com/library.html ■ Sometimes need to “trick” browsers with AJAX ▪ Single-Origin AJAX policy ▪ Use mod_proxy with Apache to bypass it 46
- 47. 47 #C14LV Integration Tips, cont. ■ Two web-service endpoints ▪ http://server.com/cs/ — Standard Interface ▪ http://server.com/_dav/cs — Legacy Basic HTTP interface (WebDAV, SOAP) ■ Can perform a login through _dav interface ▪ http://server.com/_dav/cs/idcplg?IdcService=PING_SERVER&Is Json=1 ■ Get back the JSESSIONID ▪ Put it in the cookie, or in the URL to “magically” log in 47
- 48. 48 #C14LV Integration Tips, cont. ■ WebCenter Business Mashups ■ Enterprise Document Capture ▪ URL to trigger a scan, and check it in! ■ Application specific connectors ▪ E-Business Suite, Siebel, Peoplesoft ▪ Secure Enterprise Search ▪ BPEL, SOA Suite for “orchestration” ■ Managed Attachments ▪ Still need IPM installed even if not used 48
- 49. 49 #C14LV Integration Tips, cont. ■ Oracle Forms Recognition ▪ Find the 20% of forms that you process 80% of the time ▪ Pre-define those classes up-front ▪ Other classes will be automatically added over time ▪ Supervised Learning for better results ▪ Like ODC, highly customizable with Macros ■ PeopleSoft: attend this session for more tips: ▪ 505: Delivering value with PeopleSoft and WebCenter Content Imaging integration! ▪ Thursday, 8:30 AM, San Polo 3502 49
- 50. 50 #C14LV Questions? ■ My Company: ▪ http://bezzotech.com ▪ Booth 1350 on Main Street ■ My Blog: http://bexhuff.com ■ My Tweets: @bex ■ My Self: [email protected] 50
- 51. #C14LV#C14LV Please complete the session evaluation on the mobile app We appreciate your feedback and insight This box will have simplified instructions about how to complete the session evaluation online