eBook

Oracle Forms to Oracle APEX

The 5 step modernization path from legacy to
modern applications

Including:
3 options for starting your application
modernization

August 2023
Who should read this?

This eBook is written for IT managers,

enterprise architects, infrastructure
administrators, technology executives
- and anyone who directly or indirectly
works with components from the Oracle
Fusion Middleware suite, such as
Oracle Forms.

From both a business and a high-level technical

perspective, this eBook examines why and how to
modernize from Oracle Forms to Oracle APEX
and includes results from one specific use case.

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Oracle Forms reached its limits years ago... What are your alternatives?
Now what ? Stay Legacy
If your Oracle Forms application is good enough for you, is easy to maintain and doesn‘t
require business changes, then you may well stay with Oracle Forms. We recommend
For over four decades, Oracle Forms has been one of the world‘s most the latest Oracle Forms version 12c.
widely used application development tool for building enterprise
applications that are tightly connected to the number one Oracle New developed with Open Source
database. What was once celebrated as an innovation no longer If you like to leave the Oracle eco system, a new development in an Open Source Stack
corresponds to the state of the art, which thinks service-oriented and may be an alternative approach for you. This could be anything - from a Java FatClient
approach, over an hybrid solution to a cloud native implementation.
device-independent with responsive design or just cloud computing.

Modernize to APEX
If you need modern, powerful web and cloud-based applications, we recommend
migrating to Oracle APEX as the natural successor to Oracle Forms and the most
awarded low-code platform of recent years.

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Alternative 1: Stay legacy
Modernizing to a new application technology is scary
Migrations are often highly complex and put critical data and systems at
risk. With so much at stake, it’s natural to be wary of modernizing at all. If
Oracle Forms seems to be doing enough of what you need for now or in
future, it’s easy to understand why staying legacy could be an option.

But let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of sticking with the status quo.

Pros

• No new software to install: Just continue with Oracle Forms.

• No new learning required: Stay with a technology and process you know.
• Avoid migration risks: Avoid problems like broken designs, queries,
and security configurations.

Cons

• Cost of maintenance: No documentation available. Knowledge retires or

disappears and the grown complexity in addition to technical debts
makes any change or adjustment expensive.
• You’re technologically stuck: Integration with modern software or
modularization of the existing holds you back from innovating with new
data sources, applications and deployment techniques.
• You could be stranded without help: It will likely become increasingly
difficult to find help when you need it as developers with experience or
desire to work with old fashion products become scarce.

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Alternative 2: New developed with Open Source

Greenfield promises everything, but is a huge risk

Hundreds of different open source tools from databases to UI frameworks

make it tempting for Forms customers to rebuild their application to get a
modern solution. What looks very tempting at first glance leads to the
dilemma of having to reassess and redesign all application requirements
that have grown over decades.

Pros

• No Vendor lock-in: With a complete redevelopment you could choose

any framework or database you like.
• Starting on a green field: You have the possibility to rethink any kind of
business process.

Cons

• Intensive learning curve: Enabling your team in new frameworks may

take longer, even if you leave PL/SQL and Oracle concepts. During the
learning process you may revert various prototypes.
• Massive rework: You have to recapture all specifications, which may
need a huge amount of time and delay a fast and precise project cal-
culation.
• Permanent migration: Open Source Frameworks, especially UI-Frame-
works have a shorter lifecycle and not rare, less upgrade capabilities.

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Alternative 3: Modernize to APEX

Take the best and modernize to APEX

While avoiding a painful migration has obvious appeal, the reality is

that alternative 1 is only delaying the inevitable. Migration is a matter of
when and how, not if. And as we will show you, a controlled, proactive
approach to modernization is the best way to reduce the risk of migra-
tion and enable your organization to safely develop more dynamically
and capture new business opportunities.

Pros

• APEX competes with the best. Easy to learn and highly efficient:
APEX offers a lightweight yet powerful architecture as well as cloud
readiness, out-of-the-box REST API and mobile-ready JS frontend.
• A low-risk modernization: Tightly integrated with the Oracle data-
base, APEX can reuse much of the same business logic, components
and more as Oracle Forms.
• Less costs: APEX comes with the database and is royalty-free, so it
can scale with your business needs.

Cons

• Difficult to scope and hard to calculate: In many cases, applica-

tions are old, grown and complex, making it difficult to determine the
time and cost of a migration.
• A lot of work: You may need to rewrite the old code for each pro-
gram, program unit or component and configure an environment
that‘s compatible with the new system.

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And your winner could be…
Modernization Modern applications require:

Cost awareness
Development „from scratch“ devours enormous costs, can lead to the same problems of the
• No costs for licenses, or upgrade fees
past and it is not uncommon to run the risk of failure or even the termination of your project.
• Less maintenance
On the other hand, everyone is rightly talking about sustainability and recycling. Migration, mo- • Managed by smaller teams
dernization, modularization starts right where you are, at a point that has been developed, tailo-
red and matured over years to meet all your current business needs. Flexible, open architecture
• Scalable and highly customizable
• CI/CD methods
The functions and processes of your IT systems ensure that your company keeps running. • Use modern REST APIs
Unless you plan to build an entirely different business, 60-90% of the processes implemented in • Cloud ready
your applications will cover the flows your business needs and make you successful.
Features and Functions
• Authentication out of box
If you take this into account, you hold in your hands a brilliant and unique concept „blueprint“ of
• Responsive design
your business activities, which needs to be supported and supplemented in the future to make • Browser independent
your company even more successful.
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But modernization can be difficult!
Why is modernization to a new technology so hard?

Difficult to scope
Oracle Forms applications can consist of hundred and thousands of Forms. Each Forms is part
of a gigantic structure of Forms, functions, dependencies and data sources. With so many fac-
tors to consider the scoping process alone can be overwhelming.

Hard to select the right technology

Which technology is the best fit to replace Oracle Forms? How complicated, learning-intensive
and costly is it? And how does it mesh with the entire system?

Painful to execute
Once scoping is complete, the process of transforming your existing Forms application to the
new solution begins. Most expect a primarily manual effort. This often causes errors and takes
much longer.

No margin for error

The application is needed day by day and cannot fail due to the migration. The migration must
be done seamlessly. Errors could have catastrophic consequences - up to the total failure of the
application.

Concerns about never ending projects

Set up as a pure consulting project and processed in manual steps, a migration can easily be
never ending. Often, different teams are at work again and again. This does not allow the
project to be completed successfully.

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What do you need to master all difficulties?

Methodology of proven and reliable processes

If you want to migrate successfully, that is, in time, in budget and in that
quality you expect, then you should use a proven methodology that
combines knowledge and products in such a way that you are always
on track and a part of the modernization right from first day!

Automation
Cars haven‘t been built by hand for decades, why your IT? Automation
makes sense where quality is required and where processes or work
steps are repeated. Automation allows experts and teams to recognize,
decide and implement much faster than just consulting.

Expertise
For successful modernization, whether as a separate micro-service or
the entire application in a „phased approach“, migration knowledge
and experience are elementary for successful implementation.

Confirmation of success
Ask for references that have been successfully modernized to your
desired architecture, functionality and at reliable prices. Learn from
others who have had this experience and choose your modernization
partner carefully.

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Why APEX?
Build apps 20x faster with 100x less code

APEX is Oracle‘s strategic low-code application platform that enables you

to build scalable, secure enterprise apps, with world-class features, that
can be deployed anywhere – whether in the cloud or on-premise. APEX is
used for business applications by thousands of customers worldwide, it‘s
easy to get started!

Web Dev Platform – managing the most

APEX manages all of the common aspects of Web app dev, like security,
session state management, concurrency, data persistence, full-respon-
sive design, mobile-ready by default and more.

RESTful Integration – easy o connect

Using APEX and Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) developers can readily
expose and/or consume RESTful Web Services.

Fast learning curve

APEX is extremely fast to learn and your results get into production much
faster than any mix of open source components. It’s powerful low-code.

Close to Oracle Forms

Oracle Forms customers readily adapt to the Oracle APEX app dev
experience, and as a bonus, you can easily reuse all of your existing
SQL and PL/SQL!

FORMS2APEX
MODELER
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Why PITSS?
PITSS is an awarded specialist in the digital
transformation of legacy Oracle systems.
With a combination of smart and powerful products and technical exper-
tise from so many successful projects, the PITSS team has been supporting
or migrating customers from Oracle Forms to Oracle APEX for years. This
should make it easier for you to meet all your expectations right from the
start.

Expertise – proven best practices

PITSS is prepared for your modernization through extensive experience from
many difficult and challenging migrations around the world in the last
decades.

Products – automation
Intelligent, highly automated products (not just a script) with a wide
customer base are easy to learn and use for you or partners to
significantly reduce migration time with maximum flexibility and
remarkable quality.

Innovation – awarded
PITSS was once again awarded by the German Ministry of Research in
the IT sector for innovative approaches that independently identified
business processes and focused on partially automated modernization.

Success – always on track

Start with an extremely precise analysis to put your project on a
measurable track from the start. With such a mature and proven
methodology, failing is not an option.
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Why modernize with a product?
Don’t risk your money with unguided services and
wrong decisions

Software products have proven themselves with many customers over years
They recognize patterns precisely and implement changes efficiently where
consultants quickly reach their limits. In modernization, more finely tuned pro-
ducts such as parsers, generators, interactive working documentations in the
hands of some experienced technicians provide tremendous flexibility to
achieve any desired goal. This is much, much more than technical experts
with a few scripts can achieve and saves you a lot of time and money.

Benefits of a product-based consulting:

• The entire program code is covered, evaluated, adjusted and usable
by the product in record time
• The product leads the entire migration process: from monitoring, and
cleaning via preparation, planning and generation up to testing
• Dramatic reduction of manual coding
• Increase of code quality while avoiding various manual errors
• Faster go-live with a higher stability
• Enables an object centric modernization approach to break down the
Oracle Forms monolith
• Saving of consulting expenses – the product enables your team or
partner of choice

Use your power where it’s needed!

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Success in just 5 steps
The right ingredients:
Based on well mature, and highly efficient automation software combined with • accurate numbers
decades of modernization experience across the globe, PITSS has successfully esta- • knowing each code and object
blished a proven, product-based methodology that delivers its promises on time, on • planning support
• burndown charts
budget and on quality. Products and methods can be quickly learned by your team or • project control
your partners or used by us to make your modernization transparent and successful • rapid prototyping
right from the start. • highly adjustable
• continuous improvements
• transparency
The methodology covers the entire modernization path, nothing will be forgotten and
is able to meet all known and unknown challenges when your company moves from
Oracle Forms to APEX. The process is well defined in a five-step plan where each step • and many more…
brings improvements and closer to your desired target.

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 5 step modernization process

1. ANALYSIS 2. PREPARATION 3. MIGRATION 4. FINE TUNING 5. ROLL-OUT

Provides a 360 degree Code refactoring eliminates Well prepared and with Refine the outputgenerated Fast delivery in sprints
view of the application technical debt and reduces many preset parameters with high and consistent for testing and
code as well as the code by up to 40% for UI, core logic and quality, closely guided by integration. Customer
defined project scope, - restructures and optimizes architecture, it goes into gapless checklists and acceptance and
work steps and its costs. logic for the upcoming the migration per form specific code documents. satisfaction in one.
migration. or in groups.
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1. Analysis
In step 1, the Analyzer of PITSS.CON products is used to perform a comprehensive
analysis of your existing Oracle application and its environment, detailing code
optimization with a reduction of up to 40% and the remaining scope and effort for
the entire modernization.

Scope of work
• Load and parse all programs, libraries, scripts, DB schemas... related to your APP
• Visualization of dependencies, code usage, object calls
• Identification of contaminated sites
• Determination of the functional focal points for cluster formation
• Detect all migration problems

That’s the basis of a goal-oriented decision-making workshop and process.

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2. Preparation
In step 2, the Engineer of PITSS.CON products is used to optimize and to
strip the existing application code down, so that a cleaned, structured and
essential foundation remain for the migration.

Scope of work

• Migration scope and work definition

• Cleaning of unused and redundant code and objects
• Business logic analyzed and adapted to target environment
• Code refactoring for an optimal migration
• Business process identification for a process-driven migration by cluster
• Documentation of changes made by PITSS.CON and what remains to be done

That’s the basis for an automated modernization to generate exceptional quality.

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3. Migration
In Step 3, the magic happens. As soon as the application has been analyzed,
prepared and designed, parameterized, intelligent automatisms take over.
According to the project‘s target definition, the architecture is shaped and the
core functions of the application are built and underlaid for generation.

Scope of work

• Implementation specific add-on prepared

• Cross functionality are set up and structured
• Coding and programming guidelines considered
• Architectural design defined - cluster cut
• PITSS products are parameterized
• Cluster-wise migration to APEX
• Feedback loops (quality checks)
• Documentation

That’s the basis for a guided, well-documented manual finalization. 17

4. Fine-tuning
In step 4, the generated APEX application is taken and finalized using
guiding documentations so that the application looks and navigates as
intended. For testing, code reviews and corrections programs are imple-
mented in a new, clean and organized environment. The amount of
fine-tuning required depends on the complexity of the application or
sub-application.

Scope of Work

• Backlog is build
• Project management tool like Jira is initiated
• Burn down charts in place
• Tickets assigned to the team
• Working documents and checklists are generated

Thats the basis for targeted, in time delivery. 18

5. Roll-out
Step 5: Are you ready to get the acceptance and buy-in of all project
members? Move the fine-tuned app to a valid test server for unit
testing to integration testing as the last step of the modernization. The
Oracle Forms to APEX modernization is complete and you can now deploy
the new application in your production environment or ship it to your
customers.

Scope of work
• Deployment pipeline
• Perform all tests to ensure everything is working as expected
• Roll-out APEX environment to production server

That’s the basis for success.

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Savantage Solutions a Customer Success
May be yours?
Unrivaled software products and services for public sector

Savantage Solutions is a premier provider of consulting, technology,

maintenance, and operational support services and solutions to federal
state, and local governments. The company is fully committed to the
Oracle technology stack. To provide leading edge solutions, only the
latest versions and technologies from Oracle are used.

Request
• Oracle Forms to APEX Migration
Motivation
• Business philosophy of staying in alignment
with Oracle’s path to provide leading edge
solutions to customers.
Conditions
• Reliable calculation of the migration effort
• Best practice migration method
• Product based migration
• Guided by an Oracle valued partner
Migration process - product-based
• Analysis - Pattern recognition
• Goal definition - Calculation of work
• Migration of entire application in a staged approach
• Tests and roll out

Listen to our webinar 20

Free DeepScan - Oracle Forms2APEX
Analysis
The smart start of application modernization
More than just simple number crunching

DeepScan is a free analysis of your Forms application to be

migrated. The results of the analysis will give you clarity and
certainty for the basic questions of a Forms to APEX moderni-
zation. This is your basis for decision-making and your starting
point for the modernization project.

Common questions about the modernization project:

• How expensive will our migration be?
• What do I learn about our old application?
• Who do I need for our modernization project?
• How do we approach the modernization project?
• What savings are possible with the product?

The DeepScan includes:

• Analysis on entire sources optional incl. DB - ER model
• Important decision criteria
• Determination of effort and optimization potential
• Evaluation of your existing application
• Your roadmap Forms to APEX
• Presentation of results and recommendations

Deepscan request

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 And how to get started?

Here are some options of the smartest and most chosen starting points for Oracle Forms to APEX!

DeepScan Hands On Assessment

to get neccessary to understand the of application, infrastructure
facts & figures technical challenge and your business

of your modernization project. in a live experience workshop. to make a decision.

Identify your real efforts with Invest just a few days and Get a grip on your
timelines and budget to a variety experience a transition based on modernization-odyssey
of options for your your source. from a company perspective.
migration challenges.

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Talk to us
about your Forms to APEX modernization project

PITSS GmbH PITSS UK PITSS LLC

Germany United Kingdom USA
70563 Stuttgart Oxfordshire RG9 2LT Troy, MI 48084
pitssDACH@pitss.com pitssUK@pitss.com pitssUS@pitss.com
+49 711 914 012 12 +44 203 7953 425 +1 248 824 6948

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