Oracle Patch Certification process

Patch update certification is a critical process for maintaining the stability and functionality of Oracle Cloud environments. It ensures that the quarterly updates provided by Oracle do not disrupt business operations and that all systems continue to function optimally. 

This article outlines the steps involved in patch update certification, focusing on pre-update and post-update activities and the role of Opkey in facilitating these updates.

Importance of Patch Update Certification

The primary goals of patch update certification are to:

• Ensure business continuity.

• Identify and mitigate the immediate impact of updates.

• Provide timely test results to business users and stakeholders.

• Maintain a stable production system.

Cadences and Patch Schedule

Oracle provides quarterly updates in three cadences, and customers fall into one of these schedules:

1. January/April/July/October

2. February/May/August/November

3. March/June/September/December

Additionally, payroll customers processing for the US, UK, or Canada receive updates in February, May, August, and November.

Broadly the path certification process can be divided into two parts: Pre-updated activities and post update activities. Let's go through them one by one.

Pre-Update Activities

Before the update, several critical activities must be performed to ensure a smooth transition:

1. Inform stakeholders about upcoming changes, including new features, enhancements, known issues, and potential changes.

2. Provide details on the categories of subject areas, functionalities, and modules in use.

3. Identifying modules, business units, and interfaces to be tested during the update. Verifying required access credentials.

4. Running sanity suite to verify if the existing roles/functionalities are working as intended.

5. Run security roles validation tests.

Post-Update Activities

Following the update, post-update activities focus on analyzing the impact and ensuring system stability:

1. Generate impact report highlighting affected test cases and changes.

2. Track issues with Oracle, create a traceability matrix, and prioritize broken or at-risk areas for regression testing.

3. Conduct thorough testing to ensure security roles and system functionalities remain intact.

Let's go through each of these stages in sequence.

Role of Opkey

Opkey plays a crucial role in patch update certification by:

• Facilitating pre-release and post-release activities.

• Conducting impact analysis, security validation, and regression testing.

• Modifying test cases based on new features and workarounds and retesting to certify the module.

Patch update certification is vital for maintaining the stability and functionality of Oracle Cloud environments. By following a structured approach to pre-update and post-update activities, and leveraging the expertise of Opkey, organizations can ensure seamless upgrades and continuous business operations.