Part 1: Oracle Cloud HCM 25B Release – Unlocking the Power of Redwood UI, AI, and Automation
Modules Covered: HCM Common | Human Resources | Time & Labor
As part of MIPRO’s continued pursuit of excellence in Oracle Cloud Applications, we strive to provide the best of the application capabilities to the users in an understandable way. Oracle 25B introduces a comprehensive suite of enhancements across multiple modules, including an improved Redwood experience for a more intuitive user interface, AI-powered functionalities to automate and optimize processes, and advanced process automation features to streamline workflows. To maximize these benefits, organizations will need to undertake specific setup activities and configurations, such as customizing dashboards, integrating AI tools, and enabling automation features, ensuring a smooth transition and optimal utilization of the new capabilities. In Part 1 of our 3-part blog series, we explore updates in HCM Common, Core HR, and Time & Labor, foundational areas where Redwood UI, AI-driven recommendations, and smarter workflows create immediate value.
HCM Common
Enhanced role-specific Activity Centers: Centralized hubs designed for employees, managers, and specialists will offer insights, tasks, communications, key performance indicators (KPIs), and actionable items to enhance job effectiveness and overall impact.
AI-driven task recommendations: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms analyze user behavior to predict and recommend the actions each individual is most likely to take during a session, thereby enhancing navigation efficiency.
Improved data loader capabilities: The enhancements to the HCM Data Loader now support new and extended business objects, including job offers and offer assignments. These updates facilitate bulk data loading for both data migration and continuous updates.
Human Resources
Enhanced employee lifecycle management: Streamlined processes for managing employee records, transfers, and terminations enhance operational efficiency by simplifying workflows, reducing manual effort, and ensuring accurate, timely updates across HR systems, ultimately improving employee lifecycle management.
Improved organizational structure tools: Enhanced tools for managing workforce structures and hierarchies facilitate clearer organization mapping, easier updates, and better visualization of reporting lines, enabling HR teams to efficiently design, modify, and analyze organizational frameworks for improved workforce management.
Advanced reporting capabilities: Improved reporting capabilities enable more comprehensive data analysis and support informed decision-making by offering advanced visualization, customizable reports, and real-time insights, empowering users to identify trends, monitor performance, and make strategic HR and business choices effectively.
Time & Labor
Calendar-based time entry interface: The Calendar-based Time Entry Interface simplifies time tracking by allowing employees to log their work hours directly through an intuitive calendar view, making it easier to select dates, visualize schedules, and ensure accurate, efficient, and user-friendly time management.
Fully configurable time card layout: Redwood time cards can now show a newly delivered time total for unpaid break durations for the scheduled shift. You can show the new time total below the time card grid, on the time totals drawer, or in both places. The total duration shown is based on the schedule hierarchy. It comes from the published workforce schedule. If there isn’t any, it comes from the legacy schedule. If there isn’t any, it comes from the worker’s work pattern.
Redwood time card enhancements: Enjoy various enhancements to the Redwood Team Time Cards page, including indexing enhancements that let you now query any date range. You can also add time cards and include comments when rejecting time cards. And you can select all time cards and take action. Click an exception link to go to the Time Entries page where you can allow exceptions, as appropriate. Until now, if workers, line managers, or time and labor managers could edit time cards, they could also submit them. Now, if you don’t want them editing time cards, you can still let them submit the time cards. You can now use the Redwood Time Entries page to manage time entries. By default, the page opens to show In error time entries for the previous 2 weeks. It also includes tag icons that give you additional context.
Integration with Global HR, Absence Management, Payroll, and Project Costing: Time entries can be associated with jobs, assignments, positions, and other HR-related information. Track time taken for absences, ensuring accurate payroll calculations and to prevent double-counting of time and maintain accurate payroll records. Automatically transfers approved time data to Global Payroll, simplifying the payroll process which allows administrators to identify and include specific time cards in the payroll cycle. Track time against specific projects and tasks and use this data to calculate project costs and billable hours, improving project management and profitability.
Evaluate Group Membership Process Enhancements: You can now refresh HCM group memberships based on events, such as changing an assignment or hiring a worker. In the hiring case, the worker’s group membership start date is now automatically set to their hire date, even if they were set up in the Global HR app after their hire date. The Evaluate Group Membership process now has these two basic options:
- Incremental updates for all groups: The process evaluates all group memberships based on assignment changes and hiring events.
- Full refresh for the selected group: The process evaluates the membership only for the selected group and specified date.
Be sure to return next week as we continue our 3-part series.
Next up: Part II
We will explore what’s new in Compensation, Absence Management, and Recruitment, and how these updates improve planning, visibility, and user empowerment.
