Use Cases

Oracle APEX provides compelling solutions for a variety of use cases; whether it is simple spreadsheet replacement, or a mission critical enterprise system used by thousands on a daily basis.

Explore these six common use cases and learn what Oracle APEX has to offer:

New Cloud Apps

Build apps required immediately to meet a new business opportunity.

Organizations have a huge backlog of apps they require to meet every changing business needs and to stay competitive. These are generally not enterprise apps and may only be required for a limited time, but are needed yesterday. The requirements may be poorly defined, and the business priorities may change rapidly, which is why the apps must be very fast to build and easy to update as required.

Try the Proof-of-Concept Lab

  • Concept to Working Prototype in Minutes

    You can define new data structures, complete with sample data, using Quick SQL. Quick SQL allows you to generate SQL scripts based on a simple shorthand syntax. These scripts can be saved and easily run within your Oracle APEX environment to create database tables, triggers and views. Then use the Create App Wizard to create reports and forms for the tables you defined. You can even add additional functionality, such as access control, activity reporting and more, to create a fully featured app in minutes.

  • Apply Low-Code Development Practices

    IT professionals and tech-savvy business users can both use the low code capabilities within Oracle APEX to quickly build apps. Oracle APEX is easy to use and easy to learn. The Application Builder provides a rich, browser-based, intuitive interface which guides you through the creation of your applications. The powerful components of Oracle APEX enable you to add a high-level of functionality to your apps with limited coding.

  • Agile Development

    Development with Oracle APEX is all about rapidly iterating the application and reviewing with the end users. Developers can easily work with end users and implement changes and enhancement requests, often in real time. APEX is just as fast at maintaining and enhancing existing apps as it is to build the first prototype.

  • No Additional Licensing Costs

    If you already have an Oracle Database license, there is no additional cost to use Oracle APEX, irrespective of the number of developers, applications, data volume, processors or end users. If you do not already have Oracle Database licenses, you can also use Oracle APEX included with Oracle Database Cloud services at competitive pricing, and are available by the hour.

Spreadsheet Replacement

Replace spreadsheets used for business critical functions - A disaster waiting to happen!

Almost every organization utilizes spreadsheets to disseminate and report on data. Why? Because spreadsheets are so easy to create - anyone can put together a spreadsheet once they have the data. Once created they often send it out to colleagues to help update, and so forth. This inevitably leads to numerous copies with different data and very flawed business processes. A far better solution is to have a single source of truth stored in a fully secured database with a browser-based app that everyone can use to maintain the data.

Try the Spreadsheet Lab

  • From a Spreadsheet to Web app in Minutes

    Use the wizard and just a few clicks to transform your spreadsheet into a fully-populated table in Oracle Database, complete with a fully functioning app with a report and form for maintaining the data.

  • Single Source of Truth

    Instead of having any number of spreadsheets floating around, users log into APEX to access a single centralized app where everyone maintains the data, and everyone always sees the same data.

  • Advanced Security

    Spreadsheets generally lack authentication and auditing capabilities. APEX apps can utilize SSO, LDAP, or Social Login and can readily incorporate audit tracking. The Oracle Database, where the data resides, is generally professionally backed up by DBAs.

  • Fully Relational

    Implementing master-detail type relationships in spreadsheets is exceedingly hard so most spreadsheets are flat making it hard to properly analyze the data. APEX runs on top of the fully-relational Oracle Database, where implementing referential integrity is trivial. Furthermore, APEX allows you to declaratively define master-detail pages with ease.

Oracle Forms Modernization

Modernize legacy Oracle Forms apps that are no longer meeting requirements to APEX.

Oracle Forms applications often provide an out-of-date client/server user experience, may have poor usability and accessibility issues, have difficulties working with various browsers, and are not mobile friendly. Finally, it is often difficult and cost prohibitive to hire skilled Oracle Forms developers.

For net new requirements or major functional upgrades, it may be best to consider your alternatives. As Oracle APEX and Oracle Forms are both SQL and PL/SQL based, and provide declarative development environments, it is easy for developers to transition from Oracle Forms to Oracle APEX.

Learn more

  • Modern, Beautiful, Responsive, Web-based Apps

    The Universal Theme within APEX produces modern apps with the ability to declaratively define different theme styles and easily utilize template options to develop apps your end users will love to use.

  • Cohesive Design Patterns

    APEX makes it easy to develop intuitive, accessible apps similar to other popular Web apps. End Users should be able to navigate around and use all the functionality within an APEX app without needing training, which also makes it ideal for customer or partner facing apps.

  • Rapid Application Development

    Given APEX is metadata-based then it is very quick and easy to maintain or enhance the page definitions as needed. If you need to fully extend a page you can utilize SQL, PL/SQL, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

  • Run on *any* Web Browser

    Running an APEX app is 100% browser based, and requires no client software. The apps are fully-responsive, making them mobile-ready by default, which means they can run in your browser on any device.

External Data Sharing

Build public facing apps for external users such as partners and customers.

Often it is difficult to share data with partners, which can make it very hard to improve business processes. Providing an app to enable your customers to interact with you, such as placing an order or reviewing / tracking progress, can greatly improve customer satisfaction and lead to repeat business. However, you don't want to expose your internal systems on the Internet, and you have concerns about security, denial of service attacks, and Web site uptime. By utilizing Oracle Database Cloud Services, or an isolated Oracle Database in your DMZ you can safely develop public facing apps.

  • RESTful Integration

    Using APEX and Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) developers can readily expose and/or consume RESTful Web Services. Developers can define a REST end point and then declaratively build a report, chart, or calendar on top of that data source.

  • Build Bespoke Apps

    Rapidly build custom apps specifically to delight and engage your customers so the they want to do more business with you.

  • Cloud Hosting

    You provide the data and let Oracle provide the external infrastructure, via Oracle Database Cloud services.

  • Oracle Vetted Services

    Oracle provide a hardened environment that is monitored 24x7.

Datamart Reporting

Build interactive reporting apps based on disparate data.

Obtaining a complete, accurate picture across the organization, or even within a department is often very challenging. Data is held in numerous systems, existing reports are limited and don't always provide the required detail to make informed business decisions, it is hard to limit who can see what and avoid data breaches, and running the canned reports can take hours. Utilizing APEX and it's extensive reporting and data visualization capabilities makes developing appropriate dashboards for various user communities far simpler.

  • Coalesce Data

    The first step to being able to correctly report across an organization is to load the numerous disparate data sets into the database, or define RESTful Web Services that can be consumed by APEX.

  • Fine Grained Security

    Data can be constrained or even redacted so different groups of users can only see the appropriate data.

  • Comprehensive Reporting

    APEX includes Interactive Reports that allow for extensive data manipulation by end users, so they can readily change how the data is displayed to meet their specific requirements. This includes column selection and ordering, filtering, sorting, computations, aggregates, and even the ability to pivot data. End users can even their reports for just themselves or for everyone to see.

  • Performant

    Data operations are performed directly in the Oracle Database rather than moving large quantities of data to a middle tier and then performing data manipulation. Oracle Database also includes numerous ad-hoc data analysis functions, which can be utilized within an Oracle APEX application.

SaaS and EBS Extensions

Many customers integrate their ERP systems using Oracle APEX. ERP systems provide extensive functionality out-of-the-box, however, they don't always provide the specific reports you need, or may be missing functionality, especially if it is specific to your industry or your organization. You may also find common business processes that take far too many steps to complete making them inefficient. In such cases, building an extension using APEX can deliver the appropriate information or greatly improve productivity and hence user satisfaction.

Read the Extending EBS 12.2 using Oracle APEX Technical Paper

  • Interactive Reporting

    Allow end users to readily manipulate the data so they can meet their reporting needs. This includes column selection and ordering, filtering, sorting, computations, aggregates, and even the ability to pivot data. End users can even save their reports for just themselves or for everyone to see.

  • Streamline Processes

    Develop an extension which delivers a simplified business process consisting of fewer steps. Importantly the extension retrieves the necessary data from the ERP system and then sends the completed work products back into the ERP system.

  • Bespoke Development

    Meet company or industry specific requirements by building bespoke applications. Such apps should utilize the appropriate ERP data, but may well have local database objects to store additional data not available in the ERP system.

  • Tight Integration

    APEX can be used to include data from disparate systems, not just data from your ERP, to build better dashboards and reports, or more complex business flows. Such data can be obtained utilizing REST Web Services, or from linking to another database to extract and/or post data.