{ Abhilash Kumar Bhattaram : Follow on LinkedIn }
In large Oracle estates, applications rarely fail because of infrastructure alone. They fail when application behavior changes across database versions, patch levels,
and environments — silently breaking predictability at scale.
If one looks at Oracle EBS as an application stack , Oracle diligently provides certification matrix for each of its components , I have not seen this level of transparency in other ERP providers , so it's essentially the job of ERP provider and support team to make this kind of a matrix for implementations at client site.
A typical Oracle EBS compatability certification is shown here.
Now the problem comes when such details are not available and each stack of the application are treated as silos.
1. Ground Zero: Where Challenges Start
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| 1. Ground Zero: Where Challenges Start |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Application works in Dev/UAT but degrades or fails in Prod |
| - SQL behaves differently across DB versions (19c vs 23c) |
| - JDBC / OCI driver differences not aligned with DB patch levels |
| - Optimizer plan changes surface only during peak business hours |
| - Features tested in Non-Prod not supported or enabled in Prod |
| - Application teams test against availability, not production reality |
| |
| >> Compatibility issues appear as performance bugs — not version mismatches. |
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2. Underneath Ground Zero:
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| 2. Underneath Ground Zero: Finding the Real Problem |
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| - Optimizer behavior differs across RUs and major versions |
| - SQL semantics change due to deprecated or enhanced features |
| - Hard-coded assumptions (NLS, cursor sharing, adaptive plans) break silently |
| - Patch-level drift across environments causes non-reproducible issues |
| - Missing SQL Plan Baselines allow uncontrolled plan evolution |
| - No defined application-to-database compatibility matrix |
| |
| >> The issue isn’t instability — it’s unmanaged compatibility debt. |
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3. Working Upwards:
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| 3. Working Upwards: From Understanding to Solution |
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| - Define supported DB versions and RU levels per application |
| - Align Dev, UAT, and Prod on the same patching and upgrade cadence |
| - Use SQL Plan Baselines to preserve known-good execution plans |
| - Apply Real Application Testing to replay real production workloads |
| - Validate changes using AWR diff reports before promotion |
| - Embed compatibility checks into change and release management |
| - Treat services, not environments, as the unit of predictability |
| |
| >> Compatibility engineered upfront creates predictability at scale. |
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