1. Upgrading the Fun Ships
with Oracle APEX
Jerome Raja
Supervisor, Shipboard
Applications Development
Carnival Cruise Lines
Scott Spendolini
Executive Director
Enkitec
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2. WELCOME
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3. About the Presenters
 Jerome Raja
 jraja@carnival.com
 Employee of Carnival for over 12 years
 Manages Project resources ( On-site and off-shore )
 Shipboard Applications primarily involving Oracle database
 Check-in
 Guest Services
 Hotel Operations
 Finance
 Crew Personnel Administration
 PMP & Practicing Scrum Master
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4. About the Presenters
 Scott Spendolini
 scott.spendolini@enkitec.com
 @sspendol
 Ex-Oracle Employee of 10 years
 Senior Product Manager for Oracle APEX
from 2002 through 2005
 Founded Sumner Technologies
in October 2005
 Co-Founded Sumneva in January 2010
 Joined Enkitec in June 2012
 Oracle Ace Director
 Co-Author, Pro Oracle Application Express
 “Scott” on OTN Forums
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5. About Carnival
 Most popular Cruise Line
 24 ships
 US, Europe, Australia
itineraries
 FUN FOR ALL. ALL FOR FUN.
 Mission : Consistently deliver
FUN, memorable vacations at
a great value
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6. About Enkitec
 Oracle Platinum Partner
 Established in 2004
 Headquartered in Dallas, TX
 Locations throughout the US & EMEA
 Specialties include
 Exadata Implementations
 Development Services
 PL/SQL / Java / APEX
 DBA/Data Warehouse/RAC
 Business Intelligence
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7. Agenda
 Overview
 Business Problems
 Solutions
 Demonstration
 Summary
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8. OVERVIEW
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9. Your Data Center
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10. Carnival’s Data Center
Swim-Up
Water Slide
Bar
Daycare
5-Star
Center
Restaurant
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11. Your Network
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12. Your Network
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13. Carnival’s Network
Satellite Dish
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14. Background
 Carnival used an Oracle Forms Character Mode
application to facilitate ship embarkation
 Older technology, but also worked over satellite link when
ship was not yet in port
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15. Ship Embarkation System
 Key requirement: check in 3000-4000 guests into
a ship in less than 5 hours
Carnival Splendor
Embarkation Lines
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16. Ship Embarkation System
 Encompasses a wide variety of functions
 Document swipes ( Passports, Passport cards, Alien
Resident cards, Enhanced Drivers License )
 Credit Card swipe
 Complete missing guest details for governmental reporting
 Cabin key printing
 Collect Cash and print receipts
 Guest Account merges & splits
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17. Unique Requirements
 24 data centers, all of them float
 Sun/Oracle servers onboard with laptops/
desktops at terminals
 Wired/Wireless connection to the ship
 Check-in over the satellite for ships arriving late
to the port
 Remote check-in from Airport
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18. Ship Embarkation System
 Originally built years ago in Oracle Forms
Character Mode
 Y2K conversion included Forms conversion from 3.0 to 4.5
and Reports 1.1 to 2.5 ( developer 1.6.1 )
 Later converted Forms and Reports to 6i
 Development in GUI client/sever and deployment in
character mode
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19. Character Mode Forms Application
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20. Character Mode Forms Application
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21. BUSINESS PROBLEMS
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22. Business Problem #1
 Oracle discontinued support & extended support
on Developer 6i - the last version to support
character mode
 Thus, the character mode configuration had to be run
unsupported
 Character mode Forms presented its own
challenges:
 Longer Development Cycles
 Limited Features
 Difficult to find development resources
 More difficult to train users
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23. Business Problem #2
 Carnival was no longer able to meet changing
business needs with Oracle Forms
 Unable to comply with PCI, PII & SOX compliance
requirements
 Thus, we needed to get off of Forms as quickly
and inexpensively as possible
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24. Business Problem #2
 Web-enabling forms solved nothing aside from the
support problem
 Same PCI, PII & SOX problems persisted
 Considered migrating to Oracle Fusion
Middleware
 Too cost prohibitive, as it would require a unique license
for each ship
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25. SOLUTIONS
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26. Stop Gap Solution
 As a temporary solution, a Forms 6i GUI system
was developed
 Eased some of the pain, but had issues:
 Horrible performance over satellite network
 Maintenance was a challenge, as each desktop required
software to be installed and managed
 Especially difficult to deploy at some seasonal ports
 PCI was still an issue, as data was still not encrypted on
the network
 ASO would have resulted in additional license costs
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27. Stop Gap Solution
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28. Another Approach...
 Migrate Forms to .NET front end
 Carnival is a Microsoft shop and extensive technical
resources are available
 Replacement of knowledgeable development
resources with .NET developers
 Uncertainty and unknown cost of new technology
implementation at high demand and complex
ship/terminal infrastructure
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29. Selected Solution
 Oracle APEX 4.1.1
 APEX Listener
 Tomcat
 HTML/DHTML
 Custom Theme & CSS
 jQuery
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30. Key Benefits
 No additional license cost
 Retooling of existing Oracle development
resource thereby retaining the knowledge pool
 Reuse of PL/SQL objects
 Fast paced development and staggered delivery
 Quicker time to market
 Eliminating multiple failure points in three tier
architecture
 Performance of the application over the satellite
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31. DEMONSTRATION
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32. EMBARKATION SYSTEM
D E M O N S T R A T I O N
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33. Login
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34. Search
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35. Guest Details
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36. Travel With
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37. Split Pre-Registered Account
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38. Add Payment
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39. Embarkation Metrics Report
*Only Report visible to Check-in Host login
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40. Guest List Report
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41. No Show List - Report
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42. Kiosk Check-in Report
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43. Cash Collection At Pier Chat
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44. Guest Summary - Chart
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45. Cabin Summary Chart
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46. DESKO UPDATES
D E M O N S T R A T I O N
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47. Login
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48. DESKO Search
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49. DESKO Check-in
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50. Payment
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51. SUMMARY
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52. Current Status
 HTTPS
 Check-in guests in 3 seconds
 Automated check-in with only swipe of a
document
 Agents work on guest records only if incomplete
thereby reducing data entry errors
 Graphs and charts for Embarkation progress
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53. Futures
 Integration w/flatbed scanner to capture MRZ
and image
 Guest Photo capture
 Implement gangway security with photos
captured
 Modernize Guest Services desk
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54. Download
 This and all other Enkitec presentations can be
downloaded for free from:
http://enkitec.com/presentations
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55. http://www.enkitec.com
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