Oracle Document Capture and WebCenter Enterprise Capture
Oracle Document Capture and WebCenter Enterprise Capture
By: Kevin Cocilo | WebCenter Imaging Integration Engineer
Introduction
Since WebCenter 11.1.1.8.0 was introduced, there are 2 major versions of Oracle Document Capture that are available for integration: Oracle Document Capture (ODC 10g) and WebCenter Enterprise Capture (WEC 11g). WebCenter Enterprise Capture is a browser based implementation and is part of the WebCenter stack. Oracle Document Capture is an older, stand-alone Windows server and thick client technology.
Although it should be apparent which to implement, there are some considerations to take into account, mainly supportability and your current starting point.
Supportability
Oracle Document Capture, and its web counterpart ODDC (Oracle Distributed Document Capture), are no longer covered by Oracle Premium (Nov 2013) or Extended Support (Dec 2015), but only Sustaining Support. What this means is that Oracle will only help with the product as it currently exists. Sustaining Support does not include the following:
- New updates, fixes, security alerts, data fixes, and critical patch updates
- New tax, legal, and regulatory updates
- New upgrade scripts
- Certification with new third-party products/versions
- Certification with new Oracle products
For complete information see support sheet: http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-middleware-069163.pdf.
If you’re a new WebCenter customer, the most current offering as of this writing is version 11.1.1.9.x. And since Oracle WebCenter Enterprise Capture has been offered since 11.1.1.8.0, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where you would want to use ODC/ODDC (although it is still available for download).
A more likely scenario is that you’re facing an upgrade decision.
Upgrade & Migration Considerations
If you’re currently using an ODC integration with an earlier version of WebCenter and are upgrading to WebCenter 11.1.1.9x, here are several points to consider:
Benefits
- Supportability, as noted above. All of Oracle’s support models are available for Oracle WebCenter Enterprise Capture 11g.
- WEC definitely has the advantage of strictly having a web interface and WebLogic managed server. No more need for ODC and ODDC.
- Security model, control and logging are now governed by your WebLogic implementation, just like your other WebCenter Managed Servers.
- Patching should be easier in 11g. Patches to WEC (and OIT!) are handled through the normal OPatch method. No more registry hacks, etc. (although currently Oracle WebCenter Enterprise Capture supports only Outside In technology, no Native document conversion until 12c)
- Migrating configurations to higher environments is easier such as “dev” to “test” and then to “production.”
Considerations
- Although most of the functionality for 10g is now available in 11g, upgrading will require you to reconstruct all of your ODC services (Servers, File Cabinets, Scan and Index Profiles). In other words, there is no way to migrate ODC 10g to WEC 11g. The configuration in 11g is arranged differently than it was in 10g.
- Scripting for Macros. It is not possible to reuse ODC 10g macros since they are written using Visual Basic scripting and WEC uses Java scripting.
- Recognition Processor is still a Windows OS only proposition although it’s still a Managed Server, and not a Windows client. Support for a Linux Recognition processor is not yet published.
- Pay attention to requirements for Java compatibility, since the WEC Client uses a JRE plugin. In addition to Java, be aware that not all Browsers versions are supported. The following link will lead to certification and supportability links: