Technical Upgrade Guide for Custom Code

Question

Hi,
My client is in the process of upgrading from 11.5.9 to 12.1 and has a relatively large customisation footprint.
There is a wealth of infomation on high-level technical changes made in R12 i.e. banks moved to TCA, suppliers moved to TCA etc. however there is little information on schema or low-level changes.
On a site with a large amount of customisations such as this it is often unfeasible to analyse every piece of code. In this case the client has to rely on customisations failing on compilation or execution to determine that an upgrade fix is required.
However, certain changes in R12 have been implemented in a way which will not highlight a problem using the approach above. For example, the table RA_ADDRESSES_ALL is retained in the archive tablespace however addresses are now maintained in TCA. Code that references this table will pass compilation however will reflect incorrect data.
Naturally Oracle are not responsible for custom extensions to the E-Business suite however it would be useful if there was a document which detailed the changes that needed to be made to make them compatible with R12.
Is there a published document on recommended upgrade checks required for custom code that I have missed?
Is there any further information that could be of assistance in this area?
Many thanks

Answer 1

I asked the developer working on this, for steps to duplicate the error, and I followed them:
"...the easiest way I’ve been testing it, is to log into US Super HRMS Manager | People Enter and Maintain. When the window pops up to search for a person, just click the New button like you’re going to enter a new hire. Type in a last name, first name, Mr/Mrs, then click the drop down on the top right for “Create Employment.” Then click on the field below that for the employee number. Then the message will appear.
I have noticed that it will allow you to click OK through the message and continue, and if you stay in the form and try to create another new person, the message doesn’t seem to come up a second time. But, if you log out and in and try again, you will get the message again."
When the message pops up, it spews quite a bit of data, and then stops until I click something.
Below is the text from one "USER_EXIT" of the full spew up to the one that looks like an obvious error, and it stops until I click OK on the "Application Emergency Message" error pop-up:
Executing USER_EXIT Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: FND GETPROFILE NAME="CH2_BEN_PPG_ACCESS" FIELD="GLOBAL.OUT" N
PERWSHRG, 10, Built-In, Entry, 2192221, USER_EXIT
PERWSHRG, 10, Built-In, Exit, 2192221, USER_EXIT
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: GLOBAL.OUT
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: NULL
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.D_PTU_USER_PERSON_TYPE
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Employee
Executing FIND_ITEM Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.EMPLOYEE_NUMBER
Out Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786460
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Entering app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing GET_ITEM_PROPERTY/FIELD_CHARACTERISTIC Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786460
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 16
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: TRUE
Executing SET_ITEM_PROPERTY/SET_FIELD Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786460
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 28
In Argument 2 - Type: String Value: NULL
In Argument 3 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 4.000000
In Argument 4 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 0.000000
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Completed app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing FIND_ITEM Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.DATE_OF_BIRTH
Out Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786467
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Entering app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing GET_ITEM_PROPERTY/FIELD_CHARACTERISTIC Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786467
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 16
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: TRUE
Executing SET_ITEM_PROPERTY/SET_FIELD Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786467
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 28
In Argument 2 - Type: String Value: NULL
In Argument 3 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 4.000000
In Argument 4 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 0.000000
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Completed app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing FIND_ITEM Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.D_MARITAL_STATUS
Out Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786470
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Entering app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing GET_ITEM_PROPERTY/FIELD_CHARACTERISTIC Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786470
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 16
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: TRUE
Executing SET_ITEM_PROPERTY/SET_FIELD Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: Integer Value: 786470
In Argument 1 - Type: Number Value: 28
In Argument 2 - Type: String Value: NULL
In Argument 3 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 4.000000
In Argument 4 - Type: Oracle Number Value: 0.000000
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Completed app_item_property2.set_property.
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: global.frd_debug
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.EMPLOYEE_NUMBER
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: NULL
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.D_PTU_USER_PERSON_TYPE
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: Employee
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.EMPLOYEE_NUMBER
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: NULL
Executing COPY Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: 0
In Argument 1 - Type: String Value: PERSON.ATTRIBUTE2
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.FIRST_NAME
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: empnew007
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.LAST_NAME
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: testemp090
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.HIRE_DATE
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: 05-APR-2011
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.BUSINESS_GROUP_ID
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: 0
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.MIDDLE_NAMES
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: NULL
Executing NAME_IN Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: PERSON.SUFFIX
Out Argument 0 - Type: String Value: NULL
Executing USER_EXIT Built-in:
In Argument 0 - Type: String Value: FND MESSAGE_NAME "CH2M_HR_GEN_NOTFOUND" "CH"
PERWSHRG, 10, Built-In, Entry, 2192221, USER_EXIT