Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Whats New in Oracle 12.1.1 Oracle i Supplier Portal

Overview

Oracle iSupplier Portal is the enterprise application that structures all supplier
communication through a secure, Internet-based portal. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply
management costs.

Features

Dispute Resolution for G-Log Invoices

In situations where suppliers include sundry charges on a G-Log invoice, it is not
uncommon for the buying organization to hold the invoice in order that the buyer can
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 Release Content Document Oracle iSupplier Portal 4 review any discrepancies between the invoice and the original Purchase Order. Depending on the nature of the additional charges, the buyer and supplier may negotiate a compromise and adjust the invoice accordingly. When such disputes occur, it is important that the supplier is able to log and track all activities for a particular invoice. To better help suppliers in these situations, new fields
have been added to the View Invoice page so that the supplier can see the original value for their invoice and the reason for the discrepancy.

AP/AR Netting

It is a common business practice in many industries to both purchase products or services from a trading partner and sell products or services to the same trading partner. In cases like this companies often offset payable and receivable invoices so that only the net difference is paid or received. This saves you and your trading partners the expenses associated with making multiple payments. The new feature will give iSupplier Portal users visibility into the AP/AR netting activity, so they can easily see which invoices will be paid standalone, which invoices will be offset against receivable transactions, and which groups of invoices will be paid
by a single payment. On the View Invoices and Payments pages, if a particular invoice
has been netted, the users will be able to see the Netted Amount and the Reckoning
Currency. Furthermore, the users will be able to drill down to the Netting Report, which will show all transactions that are a part of the netting batch.

Products and Services Search

A new search tool has been added to the Products and Services section of the Supplier
Profile to make it much easier for suppliers and administrators to find and select the goods or services categories that identify a supplier’s capabilities. This is especially useful for those customers that have an extensive Products and Services hierarchy with many thousands of individual categories from which to chose.
The new feature is available within both the Profile Management pages for existing
suppliers and the prospective supplier registration flow.

Business Classification Recertification

For those businesses required to track the business classification details of their
suppliers, it has always been a challenge to keep this information up to date to the
satisfaction of auditors. Now, a recertification tool has been added to the Business
Classification section of the Supplier Profile that tracks the "Last Update" date for the supplier’s classification details and allow administrators to schedule reminder
notifications to be sent to each supplier as this information becomes due.
This feature will significantly reduce risk and administrative burden for buying
organizations because they will no longer need to manage the recertification process
manually.

Third Party Payments

Third party payments help parties engaged in business set off their liabilities without directly paying them. This reduces the direct funds movements and enables transactions to be settled easily. When customers are making payments from their Payables system, Oracle E-Business Suite Release

whats new in oracle 12.1.1 i Procurement

iProcurement

Overview

Oracle iProcurement is the self-service requisitioning application that controls employee spending. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs.

Features

Change Management for Internal Requisitions

In Release 12.1.1, processing for internal orders has been enhanced to offer additional and better-coordinated change management capabilities. Now, quantity or date information can be updated by either the Requesting or Fulfillment organization and the updates will be accurately reflected on both the internal requisition and the internal sales order. In addition, support is now provided for the cancellation of internal transfer requests. All of these changes will now be visible throughout the planning, purchasing and order fulfillment workbenches. A Requester can update Quantity and Need-By Date of an approved internal requisition. If desired, tolerances can be set for automatic approval of updates made to the internal requisition.
Many new synchronization features are provided. Quantity and Need-By Date changes
on the internal requisition line are automatically propagated to the internal sales order and vice versa. Cascading of an internal sales order Schedule Ship/Arrival date with the internal requisition is may be controlled through a profile option. Cancellation of an internal requisition/line will automatically cancel the corresponding internal sales order/line and vice versa. And finally, the urgent flag on the internal requisition line will flow onto the internal sales order line as the shipment priority, based on a profile option setting.

Whats New in Oracle 12.1.1 Purchasing

Oracle Purchasing

Overview
Oracle Purchasing is the application for procurement professionals that streamlines
purchase order processing while strengthening policy compliance. It is a key component
of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts supply
management costs.

Features

PO and Requisition Mass Update

Oracle Purchasing will include a new capability to mass update buyer, approver, and
deliver-to person information in Purchase Orders (PO) and preparer, requester and
approver information on requisitions to streamline the process of maintaining
organizational changes.
A new program “Mass Close of Purchase Document” will allow users to mass close
Purchase documents. The Mass Close functionality applies to Purchase Orders that have
been fully processed i.e. batch processing has completed, but are not in the closed status
as well as for Purchase Orders that the user needs to manually close. The program is
applicable to Standard Purchase Orders, Blanket Purchase Agreements, Planned
Purchase Orders and Contract Agreement and Blanket Releases

Enable All Sites for Global Contract Purchase Agreements

A new feature “Enable All Sites” in Global Contract Purchase Agreement has been
introduced to allow Contracts to be referenced from any of the valid supplier sites while
creating standard PO and requisitions. This allows broader use of GCPA, such as for
suppliers with many valid sites in a single master agreement.
Additionally, a profile option has been added to allow a Requisition or Standard
Purchase Order to reference a GCPA from any of the Supplier Sites while the GCPA is
being amended. By default, the profile option is set to “No” to preserve current
behavior.

Deliverable Payment Holds

Engineering and Construction (E&C) firms have unique requirements regarding
subcontractor management, subcontractor payment, and customer billing. Pay When
Paid is a payment term common in this industry, where sub-contractors are not paid until
the customer pays the general contractor. In addition, it is sometimes necessary to require
subcontractors to maintain specified insurance coverage and other work related
certifications. The general contractor frequently reserves the right to withhold payments
to subcontractors until proof of insurance or proof of certifications has been provided.
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 Release Content Document Oracle Purchasing 7
The following features enable users to track such requirements and to automate the
payment hold process.
Note: This feature requires both Services Procurement and Procurement Contracts to be
licensed as it applies to complex purchase orders and leverages deliverable
functionality..

Payment Hold Deliverables

Tracking insurance and certification requirements is often a cumbersome and
manual process. Deliverables will be used to track these requirements. Initiate
Payment Holds functionality will provide users the ability to initiate payment
holds on all future invoices when a deliverable approaches its due date or when a
deliverable becomes overdue. For example, a subcontractor may be required to
be licensed yearly. To ensure that licensing happens, the buyer or project
manager can define a deliverable to hold all payments if the subcontractor fails
to renew his license.

Payables Integration

In Release 12.1.1, new hold and release reasons are seeded in Oracle Payables.
A “PO Deliverable” hold can be placed on all supplier invoices that are matched
to a purchase order that has a deliverable with payment hold terms and is nearly
due or is overdue.
Releases may be automatic or manual. A concurrent process automates the
release of PO Deliverable Payment holds. The process is submitted
automatically when the user updates the Due Date for a deliverable that is within
the defined payment hold terms. Project managers can also use the
Subcontractor Payment Management Workbench to manage Deliverables. A
Payment Hold Status and Payment Indicator allows users to quickly see whether
all deliverables have been met and determine whether payments can be made to
the subcontractor. Project managers can override the automatic payment holds
caused by overdue purchase order deliverables.

Support for Pay When Paid Scenarios

Many construction firms adhere to a “Pay when Paid” policy for subcontract
agreements, in order to manage cash flow for a project. Specifically, construction
companies will hold the payment of subcontractor bills until the construction firm
has been paid by the owner. Now, a Pay when Paid payment term may be
specified for a subcontract to automatically result in the placing of holds on all
subcontractor invoices under that subcontract until the corresponding customer
payment is received.
A new Subcontract Payment Controls workbench allows the project manager to
manage these holds, with visibility into both the customer invoices and the
associated subcontractor invoices. Alerted by workflow notifications once the
customer payment is received, the project manager can then choose to
automatically or manually release the corresponding subcontractor invoices. The
associations between the customer invoices and the subcontractor invoices may
be automatically maintained based on the billing of project expenditures in the
case of a cost-plus contract, or manually maintained for fixed price contract
scenarios.

Whats New in Oracle 12.0 i Procurement

3.1. Oracle iProcurement

3.1.1. Overview
Oracle iProcurement is the self-service requisitioning application that controls employee
spending. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite
that dramatically cuts all supply management costs.
Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement is focused on three key themes:
• Improved Content Management
• Advancements in Requester Driven Procurement
• User Interface Upgrades
Release 12 significantly improves the content management process with features such as
online catalog authoring, difference summaries for catalog changes, and a new and
improved catalog security model. This release also contains much advancement in
requester driven functionality by allowing requesters to suggest negotiation events when
ordering goods as well as providing tolerance rules to automatically process minor
changes without buyer involvement. Finally, numerous user interface upgrades such as
multiple search results layouts, multiple favorites lists were integrated into iProcurement
to make the ordering process more intuitive and provide more flexibility for the
requesters.

3.1.2. Features

3.1.2.1. Enhanced Catalog Authoring
Release 12 enhances the catalog management process by providing online authoring
capability for iProcurement catalog administrators. Online catalog authoring
complements the existing batch upload process. While batch upload is optimized for
large data upload, the online authoring is optimized for making small and quick updates to catalog content. Increasingly, content management has become a collaborative process between the buying and supplying organizations. Many enterprises now outsource the content authoring responsibilities to suppliers or third party vendors. This creates a need for suppliers to be able to view, create and maintain their content on behalf of the buying organization.
Through Release 12 of Oracle iSupplier Portal, suppliers can now author their own
content either via file upload or online. Self-service authoring supports industry standard formats for upload mode including OAG XML, cXML, CIF and text files. Any supplierauthored
content is subject to buyer approval before it is made available to requesters.
For additional details on Supplier Self-service Catalog Authoring, refer to the Oracle
iSupplier Portal Release Content Document. .
R12 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Procurement 8

3.1.2.2. Difference Summary for Catalog Changes
Release 12 eases the catalog change management process by providing a Difference
Summary between new catalog content and the last approved version.
When suppliers and/or catalog administrators make changes to catalog data, Release 12
provides a Difference Summary highlighting the changes. This allows users to easily
review and verify their changes prior to submission. Users can sort and drill down on the
summary to view additional information as well as export changes to a spreadsheet to
further manipulate the data. Similarly, buyers can also access the Difference Summary
when reviewing changes submitted from a supplier or catalog administrator. The
summary gives the buyer a clear snapshot into the requested changes, so they can
judiciously accept or reject the changes.

3.1.2.3. Unified Catalog
With Release 12, Oracle iProcurement and Oracle Purchasing now have a single shared
catalog data model. The converged catalog combines the best features of both previous
models, and provides a number of significant capabilities and benefits:
• Catalogs are automatically and perpetually up-to-date and based on real-time data.
The extractor process is no longer required to maintain the catalog. Instead,
approved content is instantly available to iProcurement requesters
• Support for extensible base and category attributes to enhance the product data
catalog. Oracle iProcurement customers can now define base and category attributes
for their specific needs
• Support for price breaks based on quantity, shipping organization and effective date
range

3.1.2.4. Approval, Revision Control and Archive for Catalog Data
Release 12 now provides approval, revision control and archival capability for catalog
data.
Catalog data is now stored in the form of Global Blanket Agreements, allowing users to
leverage Purchasing Approval hierarchy, Revision Control and Archival capabilities for
agreements. Customers can now leverage the purchasing approval hierarchy to configure
catalog approvals to suit their business needs. Following the approval of catalog data, the
document revision version is incremented as needed, and the previous revision of the
agreement is archived.
R12 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Procurement 9

3.1.2.5. Content Security
Release 12 expands catalog content security, providing more precise control of what
users can see in the catalog.
Enterprises that manage a large set of goods and services in their procurement system
need control of what content requesters can access—based on their responsibilities,
geographical locations, etc. Release 12 offers a configurable content security model that
introduces the concept of Content Zones to give administrators finer and more flexible
access control. Content Zones are segments of catalog content that administrators can
define based on supplier, supplier site and category. In addition, the administrator can
use inclusionary or exclusionary rules to determine whether certain items should be
included or excluded from a specified Content Zone. For example, an administrator can
define an ‘Industrial Supplies, North America’ Content Zone; this content zone includes
content from supplier ‘Industrial Depot’, supplier site ‘North America’ but excludes
content from category ‘Power Supplies’.
Once the administrator has defined a content zone, he can secure it by assigning it to one
or more operating units. Optionally, the administrator can also determine which
responsibilities in the selected operating units are eligible to access content in this content
zone. The administrator can also define Punchout, Transparent Punchout, and
Informational content zones.
Once the content zone is defined, the administrator can create a store, and assign one or
more content zones to that store. Similarly, the administrator can also assign Smart
Forms to the store to capture non-catalog requests appropriate to that store.

3.1.2.6. Advanced Approval Support
Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement further expands and enhances integration with the
Oracle Approvals Management product. This integration gives enterprises even more
flexibility to configure their business approval processes. Key enhancements include:
3.1.2.6.1. Position Hierarchy based Approvals
Position based hierarchies allow organizations the flexibility to create reporting
structures that remain stable regardless of personnel changes. Enterprises already
using position hierarchies via Oracle Approval Management can immediately
leverage those hierarchies for the requisition approvals process.

3.1.2.6.2. Parallel Approvals
The Parallel Approvals functionality gives enterprises the option to speed up the
approvals process by routing a requisition to multiple approvers simultaneously.
3.1.2.6.3. Support for FYI Notifications
Certain individuals or business roles need to be kept informed of purchases and
decisions, but do not necessarily need to take action against that notification. Release
12 provides new functionality to allow certain individuals or roles to review the
purchases, but do not require any response from the recipient.
R12 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Procurement 10

3.1.2.6.4. Graphical Display of Approval Chain
Release 12 provides requesters and approvers with a simple and intuitive graphical
view of the approval chain and requisition status for a given requisition.

3.1.2.7. Enhanced Requester Driven Change Order Management
Release 12 enhances touchless buying by optionally processing non-significant order
changes without requiring change approval.
Existing Oracle iProcurement functionality allows requesters to make changes to the
requisition even after it has been converted into a purchase order. These changes are
conditionally routed through the requester’s approval hierarchy based on tolerance values
setup for each of the changed attributes. However, the change request is always routed to
the buyer for approval.
To better automate this process Release 12 introduces tolerances and options into the
Requester Change Order workflow to determine whether the buyer needs to approve a
given change.
Release 12 also leverages this functionality to automate the processing of supplierinitiated
purchasing changes. The system processes changes that fall within defined
tolerances without buyer approval, and routes change requests that fall outside those
boundaries to the buyer for approval. Optionally, administrators can define tolerances to
indicate when a supplier-initiated change should be routed to the requester instead of the
buyer for approval.

3.1.2.8. Requester Directed Sourcing
Release 12 allows requesters to suggest a sourcing event, when they believe such an
event is needed.
Because the requester is often most familiar with the product or service being ordered, he
should be able to indicate whether a negotiation event is needed. For example, the
requester may be aware that for a large order, the company should be able to negotiate
more favorable prices or terms. With the requester-directed sourcing capability in
Release 12, requesters can indicate their preferences for sourcing a given requisition line.
The buyer can then review the request and proceed with the appropriate sourcing steps.

3.1.2.9. Support for Multiple Favorite Lists
Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement introduces Multiple Favorite Lists.
Users can easily organize items by adding them into separate favorite lists, instead of one
large list. This greatly speeds browsing and ordering process by allowing requesters to
quickly choose items from any one of the saved Favorite Lists.

3.1.2.10. Confirm Receipt Enhancements
Some organizations hold invoice payments until receipts are created for 3-way matched
purchase orders. For these organizations, the timely creation of receipts impacts payment
timeliness and ultimately supplier relationships.
R12 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Procurement 11
New in Release 12 are Confirm Receipt Notification Reminders that will be sent to the
requester whenever invoices are matched to purchase orders in Accounts Payable. Upon
receiving the notifications, requesters may:
• Review the order information and any invoices matched to their orders
• Create a receipt for the amount that was invoiced
Release 12 also continues to support Notification Reminders based on the requisition
need-by date, as well as fully or partially receiving goods or services.

3.1.2.11. Multiple Search Result Layouts
Release 12 incorporates the latest usability study feedback into iProcurement, revising
user interface models to improve the shopping experience. In this release, iProcurement
users can choose to display shopping search results in either an updated Paragraph search
result display format or the Grid display format.
The Grid format presents item information in a table to show more information on a page
and allow quick row-to-row comparisons. The refreshed Paragraph format provides
better alignment of item attributes and allows the truncation of long descriptions.
In addition, Release 12 substantially updates the Item Detail and Item Compare screens to
make them easier to read. These combined UI changes help requesters find information
and make purchasing decisions faster, with fewer clicks required to perform key actions.

3.1.2.12. List of Value Enhancements

Release 12 makes List of Value (LOV) functionality easier to use with the addition of
sorting capabilities, more LOV search criteria, and displaying additional information
about list of values.
Requesters use List of Values (LOV) frequently to find the correct approvers, locations,
and suppliers etc. In this release, new LOV functionalities are introduced to allow users
to more easily find the desired values. Key enhancements include:
• Sorting capability - Users can sort on the results returned from the LOVs
• Additional search criteria - Users can search for the values in the LOVs using new
search criteria customized for each LOV
• Additional information displayed - Additional information is displayed wherever
appropriate to provide relevant information

3.1.2.13. Contractor Support in iProcurement
Release 12 allows contractors to use iProcurement in the same manner as employees.
Now contractors can be set up as requesters and/or approvers. Given the appropriate
level of functional security, contractors can now have the ability to perform all the same
functions as the employees in iProcurement.

3.1.2.14. Work Confirmation Support
In large-scale projects, the supplier may periodically request payment as work progresses
and as certain deliverables or milestones are achieved. Oracle iSupplier Portal
streamlines the work certification and payment authorization process. Once the Supplier
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submits an online work confirmation, the request is automatically routed for approval to
those who are qualified to certify the work. The list of approvers can include certain
roles (such as project manager, buyer or engineer) that are familiar with the work
deliverables. To ensure accurate and timely payments, the system can optionally
generate an automatic invoice once the work confirmation is approved.
Internal users within the buying organization can also generate work confirmations. The
requester or project manager can initiate work confirmations within iProcurement, as well
as view and respond to work confirmations that require their approval.
For additional details on Complex Work, please refer to the Oracle Purchasing and Oracle
Services Procurement Release Content Document.
R12 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Procurement 13

Procurement FAQ

Autocreate Purchasing Documents

Q1. Does autocreate copies descriptive flexfields from the requisition to the document you create?

A: Yes, but it does not validate the information. For example: If in the requisition desc flex is not mandatory and in the purchase order it is mandatory, autocreate will not error out. It will just copy as is.

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Q2. Does autocreate copy Notes from the requisition to the document you are creating?

A: Yes, Notes are copied from the requisition lines and the corresponding requisition header.
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Q3. What are the columns on which autocreate combines the requisition lines into a single document lines?

A: For purchase order, Purchasing combines the quantities of all requisition lines that have the same item, item revision, line type, transaction reason, and unit of measure onto a single document line. For RFQ’s, quantities of all requisition lines that have the same item, revision, and line type are combined.

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Q4. What price becomes the actual price in case multiple requisition lines with different prices are combined to single PO line?

A: The lowest unit price from the combined requisition lines becomes the actual price of the purchase order line.

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Q5. What are the columns based on which Shipping information is combined in case of autocreate?

A: For purchase orders and releases, Purchasing combines shipment information only if the requisition lines have the same need–by date, ship–to location, organization, Accrual type (period–end or on–line), and shipment type

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Q6. Does autocreate add to an existing PO shipment that has been encumbered?

A: Purchasing does not add to an existing purchase order shipment if that shipment has been encumbered even though all the grouping columns necessary to combine shipping information are there.

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Q7. What can be done to open the created document directly once autocreate is done successfully?

A: Set the profile option PO: Display the autocreated Document to Yes, Purchasing displays the Purchase Orders, Releases, or RFQ window, as appropriate, after creating your document lines.

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Q8. Can requisition line with item number and without item number [one time item] be combined to single document line in autocreate?

A: If you want to combine two requisition lines for the same item, one with an item number and one without, you have to manually autocreate the document and use Modify on the Tools menu to add the predefined item to the requisition line for the one–time item.
Note: You cannot use Modify with outside processing items or if you are using encumbrance or budgetary control.

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Q9. Can you autocreate a release if the description of the requisition created in PO is different of the description of the Blanket?

A: No, If we do not choose an item, that is if the requisition and blanket are created with one time/expense items the autocreate process tries to match the descriptions as item id's are null. The only differentiating factor in one time items (item id null) is the description.

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Q10. How do you prevent autocreate from seeing requisitions from another organization?

A: Requisitions and Purchase Orders are not organization specific. If you do not want to be able to see or access requisitions across different organizations, then you need to set up different operating units with different responsibilities tied to each one.

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Q11. Can you autocreate from a quotation and tie the PO to the associated quotation and requisition?

A: Yes, you can autocreate from a Quotation.
Navigation:
1. Create and approve a requisition.
2. Go to the AutoCreate Screen, chose the requisition form the pool of approved requisitions.
3. Change the Document Type field to RFQ and click the automatic button.
4. The RFQ is created and appears on the screen.
5. Enter the required fields on the RFQ (quote affectivity), click on the Supplier button and choose the list of suppliers.
Change status to active and save.
6. To enter the vendor responses a Quote must be created.
Go to the RFQ screen and query up the RFQ you just created.
Click Special on the Tool bar and choose Copy Document.
This will create your quotation.
7. Go to the Quotation screen and query up the new quotation and enter
the price break information. Change the description (if PO attribute is set to allow the description to be changed).
8. Approve the quotation.
9. AutoCreate the PO from the requisition.
Delete the description if the quote has a description different than the requisition
Click on the catalog button - Receive message
Your can update only the price for the saved record.
Open the Catalog to select price only
Click YES
10. Select the quote.
11. You will now have both the requisition and quote tied to the PO.

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Q12. Where does the note to buyer show on an autocreated PO?

A: On the AutoCreate form, go to the Folder menu and choose Show Field. Select Note to Buyer and click OK. The field will now be displayed.
If you would like this field to be displayed every time you use autocreate, go to Folder -> Save As... Give the folder a name and check the Open as Default box.

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Q13. Does the supplier name from a requisition get carried over to an autocreated purchase order?

A: The standard functionality is that if the requisition has a the "suggested supplier name" field populated, it would carry over to the autocreated PO. The "suggested supplier name" field will only carry to the autocreated PO if it was selected from the list of values on the requisition. If it is typed in manually, it will not carry over.

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Q14. What causes the APP-14090 error when autocreating a requisition?

A: There are several things that must be performed to address this issue:
* Profile Option in MRP must be set as follows:
- MRP: Sourcing Rule Category Set value must be set to Purchasing in the Purchasing application.
* AutoCreate Blanket PO
- Revisions do not default for Items when autocreating Blanket PO and the Item Revision # must be entered.
- The Item Revision number on the requisition must match the Item Revision number on the PO.
* Navigate: Setup -->Organization -->Financial Options; and in the Alternate Region ENCUMBRANCE, verify if the REQUISITION ENCUMBRANCE checkbox is checked.
* In the Sys Admin Responsibility navigate to:
Profiles=> query for the Profile Option PO: AUTOCREATE GL DATE.
If using the Encumbrance for Requisitions, then this Profile Option can be set to either AUTOCREATE DATE or REQUISITION GL DATE. If not using Encumbrance, then you may set it to NULL. This will solve the problem.
The Profile Option PO: AUTOCREATE GL DATE is applicable only if you are using Encumbrance for Requisitions.

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Q15. How do you autocreate a requisition with a document type as blanket release when requisitions were imported from a 3rd party system?

A: Ensure the line types selected for Requisitions are appropriate.
You need to have Requisition Line types and PO Line types correctly associated.
Rerun the process and verify that the system does not error out.
Submit the request for requisition import and use the AutoCreate window to create document with type as Blanket Release against the requisition. Navigation:
Purchasing -> Reports -> Submit a request for Requisition Import
Purchasing -> AutoCreate

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Q16. How do you autocreate MRP generated requisitions to a blanket purchase order?

A: First initiate the Release Purchase Requisitions from the Planners Workbench.
Navigation:
Material Planning -> MRP -> Workbench
Second, in the Purchasing Responsibility, AutoCreate the requisition to a Blanket PO.
Navigation: AutoCreate
For Autocreate to find these requisition lines from MRP, the Blanket PO line type must be set to Goods because the MRP Purchase Requisition is always created with a line type of Goods. The reason that MRP uses the line type of Goods is because Goods is seeded data and because the MRP Planner Workbench uses MRPPRELB.pls to insert a record into the PO_REQUISITION_INTERFACE table.

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Q17. Can you autocreate more than one standard PO in one autocreate session?

A: Yes,
1) Find the requisition lines to be autocreated.
2) Choose a line.
3) Autocreate the purchases order using the automatic button.
4) Do not leave the requisition lines screen.
5) Choose a different line.
6) Try to autocreate another standard purchase order by clicking the automatic button.
7) The system gives the message: app-14090: no requisition lines were autocreated.

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Q18. Try to autocreate, but the system hangs, how to cancel the requisition that are locked?

A: Check if there is a lock on the PO related tables.
Select object_id, session_id, oracle_username, os_user_name,
Process, locked_mode
From sys.v_$locked_object;
Select a.object_name, b.oracle_username
From all_objects a, v$locked_object b
Where a.object_id = b.object_id
And a.object_name like 'po%';
If you have any records returned, you have a lock. To disable the lock, kill the session. Regenerating the form and bouncing the database will unlock all the objects.

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Q19. What is the package or procedure that stores the autocreate process?

A: POXBWP1B.pls - autocreate po package body.
Description: this package contains all the functions to create purchase orders, releases and rfq's from data stored in the po_headers_interface, po_lines_interface and po_distributions_interface tables. When a user selects a line to be autocreated, it loads the above interface tables. At that point the functions which are part of this package are called and move to create the req line into a release or purchase order.

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Q20. What does the grouping method 'Default' indicate in the autocreate form?

A: With the grouping method 'default' requisition lines for the same item, revision, line type, unit of measure, and transaction reason are combined into individual purchase order lines; and requisition lines for the same item, revision, and line type are combined into individual rfq lines. There are Two new profiles are added:- PO: Use Need-by Date for Default Autocreate grouping PO: : Use Ship-To Organization and Location for Default Autocreate grouping have been added to control the requisition line grouping using autocreate. Requisition lines with different need by dates or ship to information will be autocreated into two PO lines with one shipment each if the corresponding profile is set to 'Yes' or if it is unset. If the profile is set to 'No', Requisition lines with different need by dates or ship to information will be autocreated into a single line with multiple shipments and if there is any source document on the PO line the pricing will be determined using the ship to and need by information from the first shipment.

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Q21. I autocreated a PO with two lines. When I go to the purchase order entry screen and query the PO, instead of showing the lines created, it only shows a new line with number 3. Why?

A: Make sure Inventory organization field is populated in Financial Options.

Why does the PO header or line Descriptive Flexfield (DFF) does not get copied when autocreated from a requisition?
It is standard functionality that DFFs are not copied from autocreated requisitions.


Referring to the below bug

Bug 2340655-AUTOCREATED REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS DFF IS NOT REQUIRED UPON SAVE OF PO

This bug explains
-------------------------
The DFF at the requisition distribution will be carried over to PO distribution is standard functionality. The reason is it is one-to-one relation. However, the DFF at the requisition header or line will not be carried over to the DFF of po header and line. The reason is one po header can be autocreated from multiple requisitions.(many-to-one relation) also multiple requisition lines (with the same item numbers) can be autocreated to one po line.(many-to-one relation). It is impossible for the application to pick which DFF of requisition headers to be carried over to PO. This is standard functionality since release 10.

This is an enhancement request - Bug 2373428 POXPOEPO DFF ON PO HEADER ISN'T DEFAULTED WHEN PO IS AUTOCREATED
Why the PO gets saved with out the mandatory DFF in the PO header when autocreated?
It is standard functionality that mandatory DFFs are not enforced during autocreate.

Referring to the below bug

Bug 465712 REQUIRED DFF DOESN'T DISPLAY WHEN AUTOCREATE IS USED


This bug explains
-------------------------
Mandatory descriptive flexfields are not enforced when using autocreated POs. For autocreate we should not enforce required DFF as this automatic document creation from requisition to PO based on the REQ. This enforcement should happen only when creating a PO through the Enter PO form.

IProcurement

1. What is the Pre-Requisite Patch to use AME for Requisition Approval?
According to the released About doc (see Note 261265.1 ), Patch 3858763 is required for AME
2. Does Oracle HR needs to be fully installed to use AME for iProcurement and Purchasing?
First, customers using any of the financials products but not Oracle HR also install "Shared HR," which is a "lite" version of the HR product that includes the common entities that are needed by all applications. These include organizations, locations, jobs, positions, and people. AME will work with Shared HR. Customers do not need to apply the HR Family Pack if they do not install any of the HRMS applications. They will need to set up the people, jobs, or positions that they want to include in their approval rules.
Second, customers can use AME without either the full HR product or the Shared HR module, by using only FND users as approvers. Such customers would typically create AME approval groups, populate them with FND users, and reference the approval groups in rule using one of the approval-group approval types.
3. Can AME be used for requisition while Position Hierarchies used for POs?
Yes, AME with Procurement is only used with Requisitions, and it is possible to use Position Hierarchies for PO's while using AME for Requisitions (although Position Hierarchies are not used by AME during Requisition Approval)
4. Can Purchase Requisitions created in Core Purchasing Applications use the AME approval functionality?
Yes. AME works for both iProcurement and Core Purchasing Requisitions
5. Can other document types beside requisitions be used with the new Procurement AME approval functionality?
No.The functionality is only available for Purchase Requisitions at this time
6. Can Internal Requisitions use the new Procurement AME approval functionality ?
Yes
7. Can the Release 11.5.10 AME approval Functionality be backported to Release 11.5.9?
This is only available on 11.5.10 or with the Application of Oracle Supply Chain Management Family Pack J ( Patch 3384350 ). For more details on this Family Pack please reference Note 261265.1
8. Does AME support parallel approval ?
No, currently only serial approval is supported
9. Can approval rules be defined and leveraged across multiple products ?
Yes, approval rules can be defined once and be‚ leveraged across multiple products, requiring less maintenance work. Additionally approval rules can be easily extended without having to customize the application or the workflow
10. What is the meaning of the Profile Option: POR: System Approvers are Mandatory?
POR: System Approvers are Mandatory- Determines whether the default approvers on the approver list are mandatory and may not be deleted.
11. How do I enable the Approval Engine for my Requisitions ?
This is done in the Setup Document Type Form in Core Purchasing. The following Approval Transaction Types are seeded and supported:
• PURCHASE_REQ = Purchase Requisition
• INTERNAL_REQ = Internal Requisition
• RCO = Requestor change order
12. Which Action Types does iProcurement and Oracle Purchasing support and not support with AME integration in 11.5.10
Supported :
1. Chains of authority based on relative job level generate chains of authority by ascending the HR supervisory hierarchy until they reach a manager having a certain job level. The actions differ according to the job levels they require. Job level is based on supervisor hierarchy.
(E.g. If Kim is the requester and is at a job level of 1; if the rule states Chains of authority based on relative job level = 3, then the approvers would be whomever had a job level of 4 (that is three levels up from Kim)).
2. Chains of authority based on absolute job level - generate chains of authority by an job level number. For example, if a Joe has a job level = 3, and Kim chooses the action type Chains of authority based on relative job level 3, then the approval would route to Joe with a Job Level = 3.
3. Chains of authority based on number of supervisory levels generate chains of authority based only on a supervisor's position that is 'n' levels up from the requesting position.
4. Chains of authority containing only the final job-level approver generate chains of authority based upon the final approver in the requester's hierarchy.
5. Chain of authority includes requestor's manager and then the final approver generate chains of authority based on only the requester's manager and then the final approver in the requester's chain of authority.
6. Chain of authority includes an approval group
7. Chain of authority includes two sub-chains, each based on job level
Unsupported:
1. One job-level chain of authority per line item. An example of this is a Requisition with multiple lines and then requiring AME to find multiple approvers for each of these lines.
2. The ability to automatically find a required "pre-approver" for any given employee. An example would be like this. "Any requisition that must be approved by the CEO (top level approver), must first be approved by the CFO. However, the CFO is not in the employee supervisor chain for all of the employees submitting requisitions that must go to the CFO (for example the CIO reports directly to the CEO, however, a requisition that is approved by the CIO but still needs final approval by the CEO first must be approved by the CFO per their business rules)." In this case, the system cannot be setup to this because AME does not have the ability to add an approver into the Approval List after it has already been built, which is required in this example.
13. What does Subordinate Items Classes mean?
An attribute item class determines what classes of items have a value for the attribute. For a given transaction, each of the items in an attribute's item class has its own value for the attribute. An attribute always has the same item class, regardless of the transaction type. Attributes belonging to subordinate item classes are sometimes termed line-item-level attributes, cost-center-level attributes , etc. NOTE: In 11.5.10 Oracle Purchasing seeded line item as the only subordinate item class and it is not supported to create new subordinate item class in 11.5.10.
14. What Attributes within AME does iProcurement and Oracle Purchasing seed into the system?
The following attributes are seeded by the iProcurement team
• Requisition total: This is the total of all requisition lines that have not been canceled. The total is in the functional currency. The conversion method is derived from the profile POR: Default Currency Conversion Rate Type value for the user. GL's currency conversion must be enabled.
• Commodity: This value is derived by looking at the commodity associated with the item category for the requisition line.
• Natural Account: This is the segment of the accounting flex field that is specified as the Natural Account Segment. The value for this attribute is derived from the natural account segments for the charge accounts specified on the requisition line distributions.
• Cost Center: This is the segment of the accounting flex field that is specified as the Cost Center Segment. The value for this attribute is derived from the cost center segments for the charge accounts specified on the requisition line distributions.
• Item Number: This is the item number composed by concatenating all the segments defined on the Item key flex field. This value is derived from the Item number associated with the requisition line.
• Item Category: This is the item category composed by concatenating all the segments defined on the Item Category key flex field. This value is derived from the item category associated with the requisition line.
• Deliver to Location: This value is derived from the deliver-to location specified on the requisition line. Here we use the location code in database base language, because AME does not support MLS in setup forms.
15. What does Voting Regime mean?
Voting Regime is region that can be setup in AME when creating an Approval Group. There are four choices available in the Voting Regime region. They are:
• Series
• Consensus
• First Responder Wins
• Order Number
These are not available for use in the Oracle Purchasing Integration with AME in 11.5.10. The other choices may cause errors like "ORA-20001 'ame_api does not support parallelization'".

16. Are all of the Rule Types Supported?
A: Yes, all of the Rules Types available in AME are supported in the Oracle Purchasing Integration with AME in 11.5.10. The list of Rules Types are listed below with Explanation.
• List-Creation List-Creation Exception Standard creation of approval list, excluding a specified condition
Example : Have requisitions between $0 and $1000 approved by up to at most 3 levels except in the Deliver to Location V1 New York).
• List Modification create a standard list-creation rule with some type of modification to that rule.
Example: If two rules are required such as:
Invoice amount > $10K go up to VP lstitution
• Post-List Approval-Group - This approval group will be appended to the end of the chain of authority approval list.
17. Can different Approval Rules be Setup in AME across different Operating Units?
No. Approval Rules setup in AME will be used across all Operating Units. If it is necessary to not have rules work in a particular Operating Unit, there are two ways to do this:
• Turn of AME in that particular Operating Unit
• Create a rule that excludes that particular Operating Unit from the rule
18. What functional limitations exist when using AME for Requisition Approvals?
The followings features cannot be used with AME based Requisition Approval Workflow
• Notification TimeOuts with Reminders
• The Forward Documents form cannot be used with Notifications pending approval that were sent via Requisition Approval Workflow with AME
• The Notifications that are sent only have Approve and Reject response actions. Forward and Approve and Forward are not available at this time.

Purpose
Release 12 General Questions for iProcurement Advanced Approval Support
Questions and Answers
Does approval management engine (AME) support Purchase Order Approval ?
In Release 12, customers have the option to use either AME or purchase order (PO) based approvals for Requisitions. AME approvals for Purchase orders is still not supported!
What Approval Methods are supported in AME ?
Parallel approval - several approvers can be simultaneously notified for a given requisition!

Position hierarchy support - Position based hierarchies allow organizations the flexibility to create reporting structures that remain stable regardless of personnel changes. Enterprises already using position hierarchies via Oracle Approval Management can immediately leverage those hierarchies for the requisition approvals process.
Support for FYI Notifications - Allows flexibility in keeping a person/role informed of business purchases and decisions, without requiring a response

Will Employee/Supervisor Hierarchy still be supported ?
Yes, Employee/Supervisor Hierarchy will continue to be supported.

What is the Difference between AME or PO-based Approvals for Requisition approvals ?

AME & PO-Based Approvals are 2 separate approval engines that can be used for requisition approvals.
The setup for each engine is done separately and there’s no automatic migration between the 2.
One of the differences between the 2 engines is:
PO-Based approvals currently support the ability to route an approval to the final position only. For example, a requisition > 10,000 requires the approvals from the vice president. If a manager submits the requisition, in PO Based approval it can be setup for Direct routing such that only the VP needs to approve. However, in AME this is not possible. Intermediate approvers between the manager and the VP will have to also approve the document when using AME based approvals.

What are the differences between AME and Purchasing Approval for Supporting Position Hierarchy ?
The Position Hierarchy method in AME has some differences which allows it to model not exactly with PO-based Approvals
AME does look at the same position hierarchy as defined in the Document Type form. It looks for the hierarchy as defined in HR to see which positions roll up to other positions.

AME does NOT look “downwards” in the position hierarchy, only “upwards”. For example AME Rules are set for various requisitions amounts.

AME requires intermediate approvers to approve the requisition along the position hierarchy chain.
What related document types/processes can be setup to use AME :

Purchase Requisition Approval
AME is turned on and off via Document Types form (Requisition Purchase)

Internal Requisition Approval
AME is turned on and off via Document Types form (Requisition Internal)

Work Confirmation Part of the new R12 Complex Services demo flow for
Work Confirmation submitted by supplier. To be approved by buyer organization.
AME is invoked by design.

Sourcing Award Sourcing module for award approval
AME is turned on and off via Sourcing Admin tab

POS Supplier Approval Management New in R12 to support supplier approval
AME is set by profile: POS: Use AME for Supplier Approval. ADS has set site level to NO

Requester Change Order Approval For changes to requisitions
AME is turned on and off via Document Types form (Change Order Request Requisition)
Does the Change Order Request Requisition inherit the AME setup for Purchase/Internal Requisitions ?
Change Order Request Requisition is a separate document type, and AME rules must be enabled for this doc type.
It does not inherit the AME setup from Purchase/Internal Requisitions.
Is AME enabled based on Operating Units ?
Yes, AME is enabled based on OU. So to enable AME for multiple OUs, it has to be setup in individual Operating Units. An OU in the US may have different sets of approval rules than an OU in France.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-------------------
1. Creating Contractor Request the UOM LOV is empty. The field is required.
How to get the UOM in LOV?

Answer
------
See Note 285374.1 - Creating Contractor With Rate Type UOM LOV is Empty


References
----------


2. Getting message: "Supplier and supplier site needs to be active"
when selecting supplier from preferred list. Supplier and supplier site are
active. How to get around this error?

Answer
------
Set profile PO: UOM Class for Temp Labor Services to TIME.

3. Is Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) supported for temp labor line type?

Answer
-----------
Only Global Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is supported for temp labor line type.

4. Can goods and temporary labor lines types be combined on one Requisition ?

Answer
-----------
Goods and temporary labor lines cannot be combined on the same requisition


5. Does Services have separate schema?

Answer
------
No. It is in the existing schemas.

6. Can we create Internal Services?

Answer
------
Internal Services is not supported yet.

7. Does Punchout support Services?

Answer
------
No. Punchout does not support Services features.


8. Can we create Fixed Price requisition in core PO?

Answer
------
No. This is not supported.

9. Is Fixed Price supported in PO documents?

Answer
------
Fixed Price Services is supported in Global Blanket Purchase Agreement,
Blanket Purchase Agreement, Standard Purchase Orders, and Contract
Purchase Orders.


10. Is Fixed Price supported in Bulkload?

Answer
------
No. It is not supported doing Bulkload.

11. To use Contingent Labor is it required to have HR as full installed?

Answer
------
No need to have HR (Human Resources) as full installed to use Temp
Labor line type.

12. What is Pending in Contractor Status?

Answer
------
Pending status appears when Requires Interview is checked. Choose a supplier
to proceed.
The Pending is due to Require Candidate Screening flag checked while creating
the Contractor request. To change from Pending status execute:

12.1. Go to Requisitions tab > Requisitions
12.2. Click the requisition number
12.3. Click Assign Contractor button
12.4. Click Assign Contractor icon
12.5. Enter the Contractor Name and attach resume if any
12.6. Enter any other applicable information
12.7. Click Apply
12.8. Click Checkout
12.9. Click Next
12.10. Click Next
12.11. Click Submit

The status will change to Assigned. The complete status is Approved, Assigned.


13. Is Contractor Performance automatically updated?

Answer
------
No. It is a manual process to enter the data for each supplier.

14. What do I need to enter Time Card?

Answer
------
It needs the Purchase Order to create time card entry.

15. Why all suppliers didn't get the notification?

Answer
------
Only selected suppliers get the notification.

16. Can use Advanced Pricing for Oracle Services Procurement lines?

Answer
------
There is no integration to Advanced Pricing for Oracle Services Procurement
lines

17. Can receive/return/correct Oracle Services Procurement lines from core PO?

Answer
------
No, cannot receive/return/correct Oracle Services Procurement lines through forms.

18. When approved the Contractor Services requisition it shows: Approved, Not Applicable.
What is Not Applicable?

Answer
------

The Not Applicatble is for Contractor request.

Contractor Request Flow

Contractor requests use either of two flows:
• Fast-Track. Also known as a manual request, the fast-track request results in a
contractor request status of Not Applicable. This flow works like any normal
requisition. The requester completes the contractor request, checks out, and receives
the required approvals. In a fast-track request, typically the requester does not care
who the contractor is.

• Full-Track. A full-track request results in a contractor status of Pending. This flow
is initiated when more than one preferred supplier is selected on the contractor
request, when the candidate screening option is selected on the contractor request, or
when the target rate entered on the contractor request does not equal the rate on an
existing contract in Oracle Purchasing. The flow is as follows:
• Requester completes the contractor request, checks out, and receives the
required approvals.
• Oracle iProcurement sends an automated notification to the supplier or
suppliers on the request.
• Requester works with the supplier or suppliers offline to choose a contractor.
• Requester assigns the contractor to the requisition, changes amounts if
necessary, and checks out.
• Depending on how POR: Reapproval after Contractor Assignment is set, the
requisition may require reapproval.
(See Question 12)

For more details see:

Oracle® iProcurement
Implementation Guide
Release 11i
Part No. A85361-05

page 5-72

19. Can Contingent Worker create requisitions?

Answer
------

Contingent Workers can not create requisitions in release 11.5.10. This feature
is supported in release 12.0 already available.


1. What's the difference between the Bulk Loader and "Internal" or SQL Catalog
loads?

Functionally, the bulk loader is a tool which enables you to load xml or txt
files from sources external to the Oracle Purchasing application. You can
create them yourself or you can get these files from suppliers or commercial
content providers. The bulk loader has to be configured by your system
administrator. The catalog files are converted into xml format (if they are not
already in xml format) and then loaded into a directory defined by the profile
option POR: TEMP_CATALOG_FILES. If the catalog loader job is running, it will
then look in this location for the xml file and load this into the catalog. If
the loader is unable to write to this directory, you will receive a "service
unavailable" message. If the file has been written to this directory, but the
catalog loader has not picked it up, you will see the job number appear but the
job status will remain in "pending" status. The bulk loader is run from the
iProcurement Catalog Authoring E-Content Manager web page.

In contrast, the Internal or SQL loader is a set of concurrent processes run
from the Oracle Purchasing application. The SQL loader pulls categories and
items that have been defined in the core application as "web enabled."
Detailed information on setup and troubleshooting the Internal Catalog loader
issues can be found Catalog Create/Search heading of the iProcurement Toolkit
in Metalink.

2. My bulk load status says "Multiple Errors" - How do I find out what lines
failed and why?

Have your dba or system administrator run the following SQL:

SQL:> Select job_number, line_number, message_name
from icx_por_failed_lines_messages
where job_number = ;

If you need further details, then you may also use this SQL:

SQL:> select job_number, line_number, action, row_type,
descriptor_key, descriptor_value
from icx_por_failed_lines
where job_number = ;

3. There were many changes to the loader after patchset "I" (1498652).
Can you give me an overview?

The schema section of the old Catalog DTD was replaced by a new Schema DTD.
The new DTD allows you to define all the schema information in a single file.
The creation of the schema can be separated from the creation of the item and
pricing information so that you can grant these functions to different people
in your organization. The new catalog DTD will create and modify descriptors

Old Catalog DTD New Catalog DTD
----------- -------------
Administrative (required) Administrative (required)
Schema (optional) Root Descriptors (optional)
Data (required) Data (required)

The Schema now has it's own DTD which is separate from the Catalog DTD.
It is recommended that catalog schema is loaded through a separate Schema DTD.
However, there are some instances where schema and item/price data may be
defined in one XML file. If schema and catalog data are contained in the same
XML file, the profile options must be set properly in order for the schema to
be created.

The following three profile options are applicable:

POR: Load Auto Category:
This profile controls the dynamic creation of categories. A value of "Yes"
ensures that if the loader encounters a new category in the item section of
the XML file, it will create the category. "No" will cause the loader to
reject the item belonging to this category. The default option is "No".
This profile can only be set at the site level.

POR: Load Auto Attrib:
This profile controls the dynamic creation of local descriptors. A value of
"Yes" ensures that if the loader encounters a new category attribute in
the item section of the XML file, it will create the category attribute.
The default for this option is "No". This profile can only be set at the site
level.

POR: Load Auto Root:
This profile controls the dynamic creation of base descriptors. A value of
"Yes" ensures that if the loader encounters a new base attribute in the Root
Descriptors section of the XML file, it will create the root descriptor.
The default for this option is "No". This profile can only be set at the site
level.

In previous releases of iProcurement downloaded templates were created
statically. In other words, modifications made to the schema of the catalog
were not reflected in the templates that were subsequently downloaded.
Dynamic template generation ensures that any changes to both base descriptors
and local descriptors will be reflected in the downloaded templates.

The new bulk loader also supports character set encoding when loading
spreadsheet files. Use the following declaration to inform the spreadsheet
loader of the encoding:
#Encoding ISO-8859-1

4. Where do I find detailed information regarding the setup of bulk loader
after patchset "I"?

Detailed information is found in the Iprocurement Patchset I Release Notes
(Patch 1498652) and is viewable in the download patch area of Metalink.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-------------------
1. How can I create a notifications worklist in main menu?

Answer
------
. Add Preferences responsibility to your user.
. Click Create and Modify Pages icon at the top of your menu page.
. Click New.
. New Page Name = Worklist.
. Apply.
. Select Worklist: single click on Worklist.
. Click edit.
. Choose Edit Content.
. Select Worklist.
. Single click on the ">" icon.
. Done.

2. Which responsibility should I use in iProcurement?

Answer
------
Internet Procurement (or iProcurement) and Internet Procurement Catalog Administration (or iProcurement Catalog
Administration) responsibilities are delieverd with iProcurement.

3. How can I create responsibilities per operating unit?

Answer:
-------
3.1. Create a new responsibility copying from iProcurement responsibility.

How to create a new responsibility:
. choose system administratior responsibility
. go to secure/responsibility/define
. create new responsibility copying the fields from seeded iProcurement
responsibility changing responsibility name and description.

3.2. Go to profile as system administrator responsibility, choose the new
responsibility been created, then profile option MO:operating unit. Place cursor
under responsibility column in the System profile Values screen. Choose from list
of values the operating unit.

3.3. Assign this new responsibility to an user. As system administrator
responsibility go to security/user/define, then query up the user. Add the new
responsibility to the user.

4. What is the difference of preferences responsibility and preferences
in My Profile?

Answer:
-------
Preferences under My profile are default values while creating a requisition.
Preferences responsibility define the preferences at your session.

5. How do I customize Purchasing Policies page?

Answer:
-------
To change the Purchasing Policies see Oracle Internet Procurement Implementation
Guide Release 11i - page 33. The manual is available in Metalink under Top Tech
Docs > E-Business Suite ERP > iProcurement > Documentation.

See also Note 188760.1 for prior versions than 11.5.9.


IPFAQ for 11i

1. What is the correct Workflow Startup process for Purchasing Requisitions in
Release 11i if you are using iProcurement SSP5

Answer
------
Unlike R11 where there were 2 workflow startup process for Requisitions, one
for Web Reqs and the other for Core Apps requisitions, we now have only one
workflow process in R11i which is the same as the Web Reqs one in R11.

For R11i Purchase Requisitions set the Workflow Startup Process = Main
Requisition Approval (MAIN_REQAPPRV_PROCESS) as shown in the LOV.

2. What happens when I withdraw a requisition?

Answer
------
When a requisition is withdrawn, all outstanding approval workflow notifications
associated with that requisition are canceled and removed from the approvers'
notifications. After changes have been made to the withdrawn requisition and it
is submitted, the approval process for that requisition will commence at the
beginning of the approval list specified during checkout.


3. I have an in-process status requisition and I click on Resubmit but I get the
following error message: Error You can only resubmit requisitions of status
returned or rejected. Why does this happen?

Answer
------
In-process documents cannot be resubmitted as they are already in a workflow
approval process flow. You can resubmit only the requisitions that have a status
of Returned or Rejected. requisitions in other status cannot be resubmitted for
approval. A possible workaround is to perform a Withdraw which allows you to
pull a requisition from its position in the approval process, make changes to
the requisition, and resubmit it for approval.


4. How do I find requisitions that require my approval?

Answer
------
The three most recent notifications that have been sent to you are listed on
the Home page under To Do List. These requisitions appear based on the approval
hierarchy in your organization, or an approver selection made by a requester.

When someone submits a requisition that requires your approval, you also receive
a notification in the Notifications section of the Requisition Status page.
Notifications can come from other sources as well-- for example, when a
requisition you submitted has been approved or rejected by your approver.

You can click on the notification to drill-down to view the complete
notification, or use the "more" link below the To Do List to open the
Notifications page. This page lists all the notifications that you have
received so far. Click on a subject to view the complete notification


5. Can I approve multiple requisitions simultaneously?

Answer
------
You can approve only one requisition at a time.


6. Can I reject some of the items in a multi-item requisition?

Answer
------
When you approve a requisition, all the item lines in that requisition are
approved. You cannot selectively approve or reject individual items in a
multi-item requisition. You can, however, edit the requisition to add or delete
items, modify requisition quantity, and then approve the requisition.

7. How do I approve a requisition?

Answer
------
View notification details by clicking the notification in the To Do List section
of the Home page, or in the Notifications page. To open the Notification Details
page, follow the "more" link below the To Do List section, or choose the
Requisition Status tab and then the Notifications tab.

The notification summarizes the requisition. You can view complete requisition
details by following the Requisition Detail link on the Notifications Details
page. The View Requisition Details page, where you may review requisition
details, opens. Use the Back button on your browser to return to the
Notifications page
.
After reviewing the requisition, you can approve the requisition, approve and
forward the requisition to another approver, reject the requisition, or forward
the requisition to another approver without approving it. If you opt to forward
the requisition to another approver, you must enter the user name of the
approver to whom you are forwarding the requisition. You can also attach a note
explaining your action.

Select the action you want to take in the User Approval Action field of the
Notification Details page and click the Submit button.

8. How do I forward a requisition to another approver?

Answer
------
You may need to forward a requisition to another approver due to a number of
reasons. For example, if the requester is working on a project outside of your
normal approval hierarchy or for a different organization on a temporary basis,
you may want to forward the requisition to the appropriate approver.

To forward a requisition to another approver, enter the name of the approver to
whom you are forwarding the requisition in the Forward to field of the
Notification Details page. In the User Approval Action field, select Forward as
the action you want to take and click the Submit button.

9. How do I reassign the requisition to another approver?

Answer
------
To reassign a requisition to another approver, from the Notifications page,
click the Reassign button. In the Reassign To field enter the name of the
approver to whom you are reassigning the requisition. Click the Reassign button.

.



1. What are the names of the apache log files and what are they used for.

Answer
------
Error_log:
This is the file where all iProcurement exceptions are written. Meaning, error
handling for the java code written for iProcurement is dumped in this log.
HOWEVER, if you are running multiple JVMs then it is possible that java errors
would be written to the jvm logs instead of the error log. Within the java
source code, exception handling is coded as either ‘system.err’ or ‘system.out’.
The ‘system.err’ exceptions are printed in error.log and the ‘system.out’
exceptions are written to the logs. Development is in the process of converting
all the exceptions to print to error_log, but this is still in progress.
Therefore, if you are running multiple JVMs you would have to check the error
log first and then all JVM logs to find the actual error information.
Unfortunately, a separate JVM log exists for each JVM running. When an error
occurs there is no way of knowing which JVM log contains the error. Therefore,
you will have to search all of them.

Location: 11i - /util/apache/1.3.9/Apache/Apache/logs

Jserv.log:
This is the java log for Apache. It records information and error messages
generated by the java source code of the Apache server versus the application.
Typically, if would contain errors related to configuration of one of the
config files or improper installation of iAS.

Location: 11i - /util/apache/1.3.9/Apache/Jserv/logs


Mod_Jserv.log:
This is the c log for Apache. It records information and error messages
generated by the c source code of the Apache server versus the application.
Typically, if would contain errors related to configuration of one of the
config files or improper installation of iAS.

Location: 11i - /util/apache/1.3.9/Apache/Jserv/logs

Access_log:
This log contains very few errors. It is mostly information as it stores the
urls used to access pages. Sometimes, it will display a ‘Page Not Found’ error,
by it typically is only useful to capture the actual url used when an error
occurred.

Location: 11i - /util/apache/1.3.9/Apache/Apache/logs




2. How can these log files help me determine what the problem is.

Answer
------
The key to using log files is to relate an error back to the line of source code
that generated it. This is accomplished in a 2-step process:

1. In the jserv.properties file locate the following line:

wrapper.bin.parameters=-mx400m

Append the line to look like the following:

wrapper.bin.parameters=-mx400m -Djava.compiler=NONE

There is a space between the mx400m and the -Djava. After bouncing iAS, your
log files will now print the java file and the line number within the java file
that generated the error.

2. Using a text editor (vi, for example), open the java file and
search for the line number. You should now see the code that generated
the error.


3. How can I see real-time errors in my log files while I am reproducing my
issue.

Answer
------
Another key to utilizing the log file is to use the tail -f
command in UNIX. This command will show you real time inserts into the file.
For example, from your UNIX prompt type > tail -f error_log. Then in your
iProcurement session recreate your error and toggle back to your UNIX session.
You should see any new errors print to the file as they occur. This ensures
that you capture the correct errors.



4. How do I enable middle tier Debug Trace for iProcurement.

Answer
------
Please do the following to generate debug trace files.
- Locate ssp_init.txt
- Add the following 3 lines to ssp_init.txt

DebugOutput=/Apache/Apache/logs/debug_log
DebugLevel=5
DebugSwitch=ON

- save the file ssp_init.txt
- shut down apache
- remove error_log in /Apache/Apache/logs/ to start from a clean file
- start up apache server
- reproduce the issue
(Please document the step-by-step test case as to what item was selected and
which contract is being used)
- upload apache configuration files and log files (debug_log and error_log) to
Metalink for the analyst to review.


5. How do I find the version of a java file for support on 11.5.x

Answer
------
For example, you want to find out the file version for
Oracle.apps.icx.por.domain.SystemInfo.java
- locate apps.zip
It usually is in //comn/java directory.
- Use the utility
adident Header apps.zip | grep SystemInfo

6. Upgraded to new application version and tabs are from previous version.
How can I fix the tabs?

Answer
------

If for example, click on Requisition Status tab, the tabs change to
Home, Shop, Requisition Status, and My Profile in 11.5.9, delete cached files
from the browser.




Punchout in IP

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-------------------
1. What is the category structure on Exchange.oracle.com?

Answer
------
ECCMA UNSPSC version 6.01 is the category structure on Exchange.oracle.com.


2. If I am a buyer, how do I register on exchange or testexchange to
test/implement punchout?

Answer
------
There are two Exchange sites you can register on. As long as your company holds
a valid IP license, your access will be granted upon confirmation.
Test Exchange: https://testexchange.oracle.com/home.jsp
Production Exchange: https://exchange.oracle.com/home.jsp

3. If I am a supplier, how do I register on exchange or testexchange to test/implement
punchout?

Answer
------
Because supplier does not hold an IP license, your participation is by buyer's
invitation only.
Each IP customer who is registered on exchange.oracle.com or testexchange.oracle.com
was provided a registration link to send to the suppliers they wish to have registere
on the exchange.

4. Can Oracle handle XML PO delivery?

Answer
------
Yes, Procurement Family Pack G is designed with PO delivery capability. Please refer to FPG
documentations for further information.

5. If you want to Punch out of Oracle iProcurement does it have to be via Oracle Exchange?

Answer
------
No. You have the following choices:

Punch out from Oracle iProcurement to a suppliers catalog hosted on Oracle Exchange
Punch out from Oracle iProcurement to a supplier via Oracle Exchange using Oracle
Native XML or cXML
Punch out from Oracle iProcurement directly to a supplier using Oracle Native XML or cXML (11.5.9)

6. Will the requisition creation, approval through to PO creation still be done in Oracle
iProcurement?

Answer
------
Yes.

7. What are the latest punchout related patches on iP and Exchange?

Answer
------
See Oracle iProcurement Patches Guide - Punchout (Note 222874.1) available in Metalink > Top Tech Docs >
Applications > Procurement > iProcurement > Patches.


8. Where should we setup the hub (i.e. Oracle Exchange) on iProcurement?

Answer
------
Choose IP responsibility

Internet Procurement Catalog Administration > eContent Manager. Select the option 'Maintain
Supplier Hubs'.

9. If my company is punching out from iProcurement to a cXML supplier, what values will be
populated in the from credentical fields in the PunchoutSetupRequest xml?

Answer
------


Oracle Exchange



The value in the domain attribute is from the oexOperUrl and the value in the identity element
is from the oexOperName.
You can setup these field via operator shell.

Go to Configuration Home > Identification, the oexOperName is the "System Name".
Go to Configuration Home > Software Setup, the oexOperUrl is the "System URL".

10. When punching out from iP to Exchange, what certificate is sent from the exchange? Where is
this set on the exchange?

Answer
------
Where the certificate is setup depends on the web server, i.e for apache, it is in httpd.conf file.
This is part of SSL setup steps where the certificate file location and certificate chain file location
is provided.

When ssl handshake happens, exchange server sends its certificate with the chain certificates (To view
these certificate, go to https://testexchange.oracle.com with IE browser and click on yellow lock at the
right lower corner, click on certification path tab, you will see 3 certificates, first 2 is the chain and
the last one is the real certificate). When iP received this certificate, it checks ca-bundle.crt file to see
if any of the chain certificates (these are public keys of certifying authorities) exists. If it does exist,
then the real certificate is deemed as trustworthy, otherwise the SSL handshake will fail.


11. What XML standard does punchout support?

Answer
------
Oracle punchout supports Oracle Native XML and cXML standard depending on the specific punchout model used.

Oracle Native XML is based on OAG XML, Oracle has further extend and modifed the OAG XML to suit today's
business need.
For more information, please refer to the Punchout Implementation Guide.
Oracle punchout supports cXML version 1.1.007. For more information on cXML, visit www.cxml.org.


12. Is Oracle XML gateway needed to setup punchout?

Answer
------
No, Oracle XML gateway is not needed for punchout.

13. On the page Edit Supplier Hub page, what is the purpose of the option - Extend user's
idle session timeout - during punchout?

Answer
------
When this option is checked, user's iP session is extended indefinitely while the iP user is
shopping on OEX. The way it works is that the exchange will continuely ping the iP application
via a heartbeat URL to keep user's iP session alive.
The purpose of this option is to keep the user's iP session alive while user is shopping on the
exchange, so when user is returned to iP from exchange, he would still have a live iP session and
would not lose his shopping cart.

The same option can be used for punchout to supplier, however, supplier will need to implement the
heartbeat URL on their site to continuely ping th iP server to keep the iP session alive.

Starting in FPH release, this method of extending user's session would not be necessary. In FPH, when
the user punches out to supplier site or Exchange site, their iP session may expire. However, upon returning
the shopping cart to iP, the user is prompted to log in again to resume their iP session. This way, they will
not lose their shopping cart.

14. Where and how will the mapping of the supplier data to Oracle iProcurement data be done?

Answer
------
E-Commerce Gateway is used. To access E-Commerce Gateway, logon to Core Purchasing Applications
and navigate to e-Commerce gateway Setup -> Code Conversion -> Define Code Conversion Values.

Three types of mapping are done here:

Supplier
Unit of measure (UOM)
Category

Note:

There is no mapping for currency. The standard for currency is ISO.

15. Where I enter if code conversion is against Oracle Exchange or Supplier?

Answer
------
Field key1 should have OracleExchange or Supplier Name.

For 11.5.10 see Note 258520.1 - About Oracle Services Procurement in
Oracle Supply Chain Management Family Pack J - section Punchout Mapping Enhancements.

16. How do I map external unit of measure?

Answer
------
Category = UOM
Direction = IN
Key 1 = If punching out from iP to exchange or from iP to cXML
supplier via exchange, enter the value in
. (i.e. OracleExchange)

If using iP to XML supplier directly or via exchange, enter
the value in (
element is empty.)

Internal value = Internal UOM code, e.g. BOX50

External 1 = External uom code (value in ), e.g. BX

External 2 = External uom quantity (value in ,
optional), e.g. 50

Note:

You can map more than one external UOM to a single internal UOM.
If Key1 field is not specified and left blank, then the mapping is
applicable for all suppliers unless otherwise specified. If Key1
field is specified, the the mapping is supplier or catalog trading
partner specific.

In the Code Conversion Values form the 'Internal Value' field maps to
the unit of measure of 'Name' (i.e. - each) not the unit of measure code
(i.e. - ea). Mapping example is:
Internal Value - each (not ea)
External 1 - EA


17 How do I map external categories?

Answer
------
Category = ITEM_CATEGORY
Direction = IN
Key 1 = If punching out from iP to exchange or from iP to cXML
supplier via exchange, enter the value in
. (i.e. OracleExchange)

If using iP to XML supplier directly or via exchange, enter
the value in (
element is empty.)

Internal value = internal ERP category (e.g. MISC.MISC)

External 1 = External category name (value in ),
e.g. Office supplies)

Note:

You can map more than one external categories to a single internal category.
If Key1 field is not specified and left blank, then the mapping is applicable
for all suppliers unless otherwise specified. If Key1 field is specified, the
mapping is supplier or catalog trading partner specific.

18. How do I map external suppliers?

Answer
------
Here is the supplier information section in the OrderLinesDateElements.DTD.


contactName?, contactPhone?)>







You can map the external supplier in one of two ways:

I. The value provided in or can be mapped
to EDI location field in core purchasing.

Logon to core purchasing, select Purchasing Super User Responsibility
Navigate to Supply Base > Suppliers
Find Supplier Name then choose Sites
Find Site Name then choose EDI
Enter the value from the appropriate supplier element in the EDI Location field:
. DUNS Number or
. Mapped Trading Partner ID or
. Unmapped Trading Partner ID

II. Alternatively, the value passed in from and field can be
mapped via the Ecommerce gateway.
Use EDI code conversion values definition form (EDI->Setup->Code Conversion->Define Code
Conversion Values) to enter the values.

Supplier mapping has two steps:

supplier name mapping.
supplier site mapping.

Supplier name mapping
---------------------

Category = VENDOR_NAME
Direction = IN
Internal Value = Internal supplier name (as defined in supplier form, value in
Vendor_Name in PO_Vendors table) , i.e Staples

External 1 = External supplier name (value in ) i.e.
Staples Corp.

Supplier Site Mapping
---------------------

Category = VENDOR_SITE
Direction = IN
Internal Value = Internal supplier site name (as defined in supplier site form,
value in Vendor_Site_Code field in PO_Vendors_Sites_All
Table), i.e HQ

External 1 = External supplier name (value in ), i.e. Staples Corp.

External 2 = External supplier site name (value in ), i.e. HeadQuarters

Note: Key 1 field is left blank in this case.

19. How does iProcurement determine supplier/supplier site match?

Answer
------
iProcurement will attempt to find matches for external supplier in the following manner.

If EDI location field on Oracle Purchasing exists, then iProcurement will use the value in
or , whichever is available, and match this value
with the value in EDI location field (see above for how to populate the EDI location field).
If EDI location field does not exist, iProcurement system will then go to E-Commerce Gateway
mapping to look for supplier/supplier site matches using value in field.
In either case, if no matches are found, iProcurement system will populate the value in
field in the suggested vendor field in the requisition.

20. I understand that Exchange also provide data mapping functionality, if iP is punching out to supplier
via Exchange, how can I leverage the mapping functionality on the exchange?

Answer
------
In the following case, Exchange mapping is not utlizied.

IP punching out to XML supplier via exchange

In the following two cases, Exchange mapping is utlized.

IP punching out to Exchange
IP punching out to cXML supplier via exchange

Two types of mapping are available on the Exchange: supplier and unit of measure (UOM). Refer to Exchange
on-line user guide to learn more about this feature.

Supplier Mapping:

Prior to 6.2.2+ release

if the supplier has provided DUNS Number on the Exchange, this DUNS number is then populated in the
field;
if DUNS number has not been provided, is left blank and is
populated in the manner described below:
if trading partner data mapping has been done, the mapped trading partner code (i.e. the value in
' to my Company' column for the given trading partner) is populated in the
element.
if trading partner mapping has not been done, value in 'Exchange ID' (every registered company on
the exchange has an Exchange ID) of the trading partner is populated in the
element.

Starting in 6.2.2+ release, the hierarchy can be modified by the buying organization on the exchange via the
punchout preference.

21. How do I obtain the appropriate supplier information?

Answer
------
In the following two cases where Exchange mapping is utlized.

IP punching out to Exchange
IP punching out to cXML supplier via exchange

Follow the steps below to obtain the appropriate supplier information,

Login to the Oracle Exchange Site as a company administrator for the buying organization.
Navigate to 'Trading Partner Directory'.
Query the supplier that you want to have referenced on your requisition in iProcurement.
Make a note of the 'DUNS Number' (if any) and the ' ID' for this trading partner.
Navigate to 'Company Admin' tab.
Navigate to 'Data Mapping'.
Select the radio button next to 'Trading Partner' and click the 'Edit Mapping' button.
Query the same supplier that you used in step 3 above.
Make a note of the value (if any) in the ' to my Company' column (the right hand column)
for this trading partner (i.e. supplier).

In the following case, Exchange mapping is not utlizied.

IP punching out to XML supplier via exchange

Contact you XML supplier to obtain the appropriate supplier information.

22. Is key1 field for Exchange(OracleExchange) can be different for different Exchanges?

Answer
------
Currently no. They have to share the same EDI mappings


23. In eCommerce Gateway, are the Key2 through Key5 and External2 through External5 fields used?

Answer
------
Key1 through Key5 and External3 through External5 are not used for supplier data mapping. External2
is only used for UOM (optional) and supplier site mapping.

24. Is there a way to define a default category conversion, i.e. a catchall item category? In other words,
if a supplier passes back an item category for which no specific mapping has been created, can this be
automatically assigned a specific category, i.e. MISC.MISC?

Answer
------
Currently there is no way to achieve this.

25. Is there a way to use Supplier Site with more than 15 characters as 11i has the limitation
to handle up to 15 characters for this field?

Answer
------
Map Supplier Site through E-Commerce Gateway responsibility. See question 18 in how to map supplier
site.


Purpose
The purpose of this document is to help in answering questions regarding Change Request Process. The iProcurement Implementation Guide - Release 11i Part N. A85361-04 and A85361-05 contains the details of the process. Please refer to these guides for the complete overview of the process.
Questions and Answers
1. Can I change or cancel a requisition placed in a purchase order or release?
A: Requestor can change or cancel a requisition if the purchase order or release is approved. Check iProcurement
Implementation Guide - section Requisition Changes - Implementation Considerations for details and exceptions.
2. Why is Purchase Order approved but preparer/requestor can not change the requisition?
A. Check if function View My Reqs Change Order is excluded in the responsibility. Also, check in the Purchasing
responsibility > Setup > Purchasing > Document Type > Purchase Requisition if the flags are checked for Owner
Can Change.
3. Can the requestor change the requisition with emergency Purchase Order?
A: If the purchase order is approved and there is no menu or function exclusions and the owner can change the document, then
the requestor can initiate the change request process.
4. How can I restrict the approval process while executing the changes?
A: There is a Workflow Process PO Change Request Tolerance Check - poxrcoa.wft where the tolerances can be set to
restrict when the change needs to go to approval process or not.
5. Why the changed Need By Date tolerance is not taking effect?
A: The Need By Date tolerance is in days not percentage.
6. When attempting to change a requisition that has closed to receiving and or closed to invoicing shipment line, the change does not occur.
A: Change profile PO: Allow Retroactive Pricing of POs to "ALL RELEASES". If not using encumbrance, the change
process will go through.
7. Requisition change is completed and forwarded to an approver. Approver has not yet approved the change. Meanwhile, the buyer changes the purchase order and is also submitted for approval. Approver has not yet approved the first change.
a. Is the requisition change approved first and then the purcase order change?
b. Is the purchase order change approved first and then the requisition change?
What is the approval workflow order?

A: In case a. after the requisition change is approved, there will be a buyer FYI notification sent to
buyer, and RCO workflow will end.
After the PO change is approved, that PO will appear in ‘Pending PO change’ ( since it has
pending changes coming from requester ) and buyer can respond to the change from user interface (UI).

Notice in this case, buyer can not respond to pending RCO through notification; he/she has to go
to UI ( pending PO changes ) to respond. The FYI notification serves just as a reminder. Also, PO
will not appear in ‘Pending PO changes’ queue until it gets approved.

In case b. once the requisition change is approved, there will be a buyer FYI notification sent to
buyer, and this RCO will be automatically rejected. Requester can raise the RCO again if he/she
wants the change.

Technically, inside the workflow, after RCO gets approved, we check ‘If PO has changed after requisition
change submitted’; if this is the case, RCO does not include the most updated information about
the PO and it is rejected by RCO.

Also, please notice that if RCO gets approved first, and then po change request gets REJECTED, the
underlying RCO will get auto rejected.
8. When a buyer receives an FYI notification, should it have a note to navigate to 'Pending Purchase Order Changes' form to approve or reject the change made by requestor since the purchase order has been modified from a core application?
A:. Currently, the buyer can receive FYI in both case (a ) and case (b).
In case (a), there will be ‘Pending PO changes’ after the purchase order is approved. In case (b), the
RCO is auto-rejected and there will not be ‘Pending PO changes’.
9. When buyer goes to 'Pending Purchase Order Changes' form, can they view the changes on
the PO that they have done earlier?
A: No, they can not view the changes they did earlier.

Purpose
This document is a FAQ of the main changes in rel 12 for iProcurement. The purpose is to provide additional information to the available documentation. Some of the answers can be already in the manuals, but it gives a quick overview of the features. For detailed information please check iProcurement Manual available in Metalink.
Questions and Answers
A. Catalog Management
Where are the extract concurrent processes in rel 12?
In rel 12 there is no need to extract the items. Once the item is entered in core PO it is available in iProcurement.
No need to enable the categories to iProcurement anymore. Use the Content Security Management to restrict the
items in iProcurement.
How to create Local Blanket Purchase Agreement from Buyer Work Center?
Creating a Blanket Purchase Agreement (GBPA) from Buyer Work Center is always Global. To create a local BPA
go to Purchase Orders Form.
While Executing Bulkload the code is not checking against the file?
The code assumes the information from the Global Blanket Agreement.
While executing changes how do I know which item is available to the requestor/preparer?
The items available are the ones from the approved document. Until the changes are approved, they are not available to
the requestor/preparer.
Is there any lock mechanism for updates from buyer, supplier, and catalog administrator?
There is a column locked by that controls the updates by multiple users.
B. Content Security Management
Where are the realms in rel 12?
Realms are replaced by Content Security Management in rel 12. Realms from prior releases are converted to
content zones.
I assigned multiple content zones to a store. Ho can I test the setup?
There is a Test Stores Setup in the Manage Stores page. Enter the Operating Unit and Responsibility to check
the setup.
C. Search Enhancements
How can I restrict the items in iProcurement?
Use Content Security Management features to restrict the items in iProcurement.
Can I select and add multiple lines in the cart?
Yes, in rel 12 there is a preference to change the format of search results. Go to iProcurement Home Page, click
Preferences link at the top of the page, click iProcurement Preferences at the left side.
Change Shopping Search Results Layout to Grid View. This will let you select multiple items to add to the cart.
Why is the Browse not showing all the items?
The items from the Browse depends on the store.
D. Change Requests
Where are the tolerances for change requests?
The tolerances are now in the Purchasing responsibility > Setup > Tolerances and Routings. The tolerances from
Worfklow are obsoleted.
E. Multi-org Access (MOAC)
What is Multi-org Access?
In rel 12 using the same responsibility requestors/preparers/approvers can choose the operating unit from a LOV to see
the requisitions from different operating units without switching responsibilities. This can be accomplished by setting up
Multi-Org Acess feature.

Goal
What is the Difference between Approval Hierarchy in Iprocurement in comparison to Core Purchasing ?
Can I change a default approval Hierarchy in Iprocurement ?
Solution
Approval hierarchy in Iprocurement works differently than in Core Purchasing.
The Iprocurement Approvals works in the following manner:

If using Approval Hierarchy, the system will try to build an approval list based on the default
approval hierarchy set in the document type setup. If no approvers are found then the user has the
option of adding an approver who could be outside the default hierarchy. Even if an approval list
is built the user still has the option of adding more approvers.
If the requester does not belong to the default approval hierarchy set in the document type setup, an approval list is not built !
Now the Requester is trying to add a new approver. This means the approval list is manually built by adding one approver.
Hence the approval list contains a single approver and the requisition is forwarded to that person.
When an approver is added manually in iProcurement this action does not cause subsequent approvers to be added.

Now when this second person to whom the requisition is forwarded is trying to approve the requisition, there is
already a approval list which is built which has got only this person and in the workflow process
it reaches the stage where the approval list is empty after this person. So the system will Notify
Requester that no Approver are Available.

In Core Purchasing you can select a different Hierarchy and based on this Hierarchy the approval list is built
in the workflow. So based on the Hierarchy the approval list is built and this will have all the approvers in the list.
So when you approve the requisition it goes to the manager and then the system notifies the Director that the requisition needs to be approved.

Per design it is not possible to select a different approval Hierarchy in iProcurement and hence the Requester needs
to add all the people to the Hierarchy so that the approval list is built. This is the existing functionality !

IP Receiving FAQ

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-------------------
1. Why are only certain requisition lines available for receiving?

Answer
------
Please see Note 135890.1 for the complete description on all the items available
for receiving.

2. When will I be able to return items or perform corrections to the receipt?

Answer
------
The Oracle iProcurement patchset I provided the returns and corrections
functionality. The patch numbers for patchset I are 1498652 (main ARU)
and 1533239 (online help). Please apply the latest iProcurement patchset from
Metalink to obtain this functionality.

3. Can I receive against a PO created in the core application?

Answer
------
Yes, you can receive against Purchase Order lines where the backing requisition
was NOT created in iProcurement. However, the same criteria must be true for
these items, as for requisition items created in iProcurement. Please see note
135890.1 for details.

4. Can I receive against an internal requistion?

Answer
------
No, iProcurement does not support receiving against internal requisitions.

5. When will I be able to perform standard or direct delivery receipt
routing?

Answer
------
There are no plans to include this functionality with iProcurement, as this
is a 'self-service' tool to be used by 'desktop' users who need items delivered
directly to them. The core application is the intended method of standard or
receipt required receiving

.

IP Order Item

1. How can an item be ordered?

Answer
------
The basic steps for ordering an item are:
- Shop. Search for the item or items, select them, and add them to the shopping
cart. Optionally, the user may place a non catalot order if an item cannot be
found.
- Enter delivery information (this may already be entered).
- Enter billing information (this may already be entered).
- Enter notes to buyers and/or approvers, or attach files to the order
(optional).
- Select approvers for the order. If not specified, the approvers are
defaulted depending on purchasing and document type options.
- Review and submit the order.


2. How can an item be ordered when it cannot be located or found?

Answer
------
If a desired item cannot be found, it may be because it does not exist in the
online catalog (which is what is being searched). Once you are certain the item
does not exist in the catalog, a non-catalog request can be placed by
clicking the Non-Catalog Request tab (Special Order link in older releases)
at the top or bottom of the Shop page.


3. How can a frequently-ordered item be reordered?

Answer
------
There are two ways to do this:
- Search for the item, select it, and click 'Save to My Favorites List'.
This can even be done while the item is being ordered. The 'Save to
My Favorites List' functionality adds the item to a favorites list; later,
this list can be accessed by clicking 'Shopping List' in the Shop page.
Any time an item from the favorites list is desired, it can be selected
and the user can then proceed to checkout as with any other order.
- From the Order Status page, select an order that is still open and click
'Copy to Cart'; changes can then be made to the order, if desired, before
proceeding to checkout.


4. What is the difference between Checkout and Power Checkout?

Answer
------
When the 'Proceed to Checkout' button is clicked, the user is taken through
the checkout process one step at a time; when the Power Checkout is selected,
the user enters all order information in one place. Power Checkout is best
suited for users that frequently place large orders with different billing and
delivery information for individual items or groups of items.
The third option for checkout is 'Express Checkout', this uses defaults
from My Profile. Like Power Checkout this option does not force the user
through all the entry forms of the requisition.

Three checkout processes: Standard, Express, and Power Checkout, have been
consolidated into a single checkout flow in 11.5.10 (11i.SCM_PF.J) and higher.


5. What is a non-catalog request (special order)?

Answer
------
Non-Catalog requests (Special orders) are used to purchase goods and
services that are not available in the online catalog. If it is certain
that an item does not exist in the online catalog, a non-catalog request
(special order) can be placed by clicking the Non-catalog request tab (Special
Order links) at the top or bottom of the Shop page. Note that if the desired
item exists in the catalog, it should not be placed on a Non-Catalog request
(special order).


6. What does checking the 'Urgent Order' checkbox mean?

Answer
-----
When the 'Urgent Order' checkbox is selected, a purchase order number is
automatically reserved for your online requisition.


7. What parameters can be used when searching for an item?

Answer
------

The user can search for an item by entering values for any of the following in
the 'Search' field:
- Item description
- Supplier name
- Unit price
- Currency

As many keywords as necessary can be specified in the Search field to narrow
down the search results. The search engine can sarch on any attribute deeemed
searchable in e-content manager.

8. How are wildcard searches performed?

Answer:
-------

The percent sign (%) can used as a "wildcard" that takes the place of missing
characters in your keyword or keywords. For example, a search on "%point" may
return the categories 'Pointers', 'Appointment Books', and so on; a search on
"%er%" might return the categories 'Air Filters', 'Battery Chargers', and so on.

9. Where is the charge account link after selecting multiple items from the
cart to edit?

Answer:
-------

The charge account link is available if only one item is selected to edit. If
multiple items are selected, the link is not available. This is intended functionality.
To distinguish which distribution belongs to which line it is not allowed multiple
lines to modify charge accounts at the same time.

10. What are the categories displayed in the LOV of Category under
Non-Catalog Request while using REALMS?

Answer:
-------

Realms only affect catalog items. It is per design that non-catalog
item page is not restricted by realm. Non-catalog item page allows entry of items not
listed in the catalog. It allows the flexibility to enter any items. Control
is enforced by the approval system.

This is intended functionality.

11. Why does item price not get updated in the Requisition Template when item
is imported via bulkload?

Answer:
-------

Bulkloaded items are external and Requisition Templates are internal. This is the
intended functionality.

12. Can users Cancel line(s) from approved requisitions that are not placed
on a PO/Sales order?

Answer:
-------

Yes. The feature provides the Oracle iProcurement user the capability to select and
cancel individual requisition lines (in addition to the entire requisition),
before they are placed on a purchase order or a sales order.

The Cancel Entire Requisition option is not available when the requisition
lines are placed on a PO and the PO is approved. (Ref Bug3399911)

13. What are the categories displayed in the LOV of Category under Non-Catalog
Request?

Answer:
-------

All the categories web enabled in core purchasing Categories Code show up in
the LOV. If the category is web enabled it will appear in the LOV even if not
extracted.

14. What is the meaning of the blue dot in iProcurement?

Answer:
-------

Viewing requisition detail screen shows a blue dot at the line level. When the
requisition is updated / modified the Po_requisition_lines_all.MODIFIED_BY_AGENT_FLAG
changes to 'Y'. This creates a blue dot in the application indicating to the
user, this line of the requisition has been modified.

15. How does the "New Supplier" check box work on the Create Non-Catalog Requisitions
page?

Answer:
-------

Check Note 199346.1.


16. How to change the price of an approved and returned requisition from a buyer due
to incorrect pricing?

Answer:
-------

Not being able to change the price on a returned Requisition is the current functionality
of the application. Only quantity can be modified. If the buyer needs to change the price
from the requisition they can enter the new price on the PO when autocreate PO.
Other option is to create a new Requisition with the correct price on it.

17. What is the column heading "Special Info" in the Shopping Cart contents page?

Answer:
-------

The information in "Special Info" comes from Information Template. To create an Information
Template:

In core PO navigate to:
. Setup
. Information Template
Create an information template.

See Oracle iProcurement Implementation Guide Release 11i for more details in Information
Template.

18. Why does text attachment with indentation not show the correct format in view
attachments through iProcurement while it is in the correct format through core
purchasing?

Answer:
-------

This is the current functionality. It is planned to be implemented with iProcurement
using OA Framework.

19. How to eliminate Proceed to Checkout button?

Answer:
-------

. Log in as System Administrator
. Go to Security > Responsibility > Define
. Query up iProcurement responsibility been used
. Add function POR Standard Checkout in Menu Exclusions
. Save

20. How to eliminate Express Checkout button?
(Applicable to 11.5.9 and lower)

Answer:
-------

. Log in as System Administrator
. Go to Security > Responsibility > Define
. Query up iProcurement responsibility been used
. Add function Express Checkout in Menu Exclusions
. Save


References
----------

Oracle Self-Service Web Applications Implementation Manual (Part #: A85252-01)
Oracle iProcurement Implementation Guide Release 11i (11.5.7)


IP Catalog

1. What is a catalog schema?

Answer
------
The schema of a catalog refers to the structure and organization of the catalog.
A schema consists of categories and descriptors. A category classifies items;
a descriptor describes items or categories. There are two types of descriptors:
base and local. Base descriptors apply to all items or services in the catalog;
'Supplier' is an example of a base descriptor. Local descriptors apply only to
items within a specific category. 'Ink color' is an example of a local descriptor
for the category of 'Pens'.



2. What is the Schema Editor used for?

Answer
------
The Schema Editor can be used to:
- Create a new category
- Search to modify, rename or delete a category or to edit the local descriptors
for an existing category
- Edit base descriptors


3. How does the Schema Editor get started?

Answer
------
The responsibility required is Internet Procurement Catalog Administration.
The navigation to the Schema Editor is eContent Manager > Schema Editing.

4. Where do the categories in the Schema Editor come from?

Answer
------
The categories in the Catalog come from several sources:
- Categories created in Oracle Applications and extracted to the online
catalog
- Categories that suppliers have created and uploaded to the online catalog
using XML or a spreadsheet text file
- Categories that have already been created using the Schema Editor.

5. How can you search for a category using the Schema Editor?

Answer
------
Before modifying or creating a new category the Catalog must be checked to
see if that category already exists. By clicking the Search button on the
Schema Editor page without entering any search criteria, you will see all
the categories that currently exist in the online catalog. This will return
all the categories that currently exist in the online Catalog.
To search with specific criteria do the following:
Enter the criteria in the box beside the Search button.
The drop-down menu box on the right contains 4 choices -
'Begins with':
returns only those categories that contain that begin with the string
'Contains this text':
returns only those categories that contain that text string
'Suggest a category for this text':
returns an intelligent match based on the text string
'Exact match only':
returns an exact match on the text string
Click on the Search button to start the search for a matching category.

6. How can a new category be created or viewed?

Answer
------
Use the Create button on the Schema Editor page to create a new category. A
new category, once created, inherits all the base descriptors (supplier,
supplier item number, etc.) for the catalog. Additional based descriptors can
be defined and existing ones can be modified, and local descriptors for the
category can be added as well.


7. How can a category be renamed?

Answer
------
From the Schema Editor page, search for the category you want to rename and
click the Rename button. When you rename a category, all of its descriptors
and properties are retained.


8. How can a category be deleted?

Answer
------
From the Schema Editor page, search for the category you want to delete and
click the Delete button. When a category is deleted, each item belonging to
the category is removed as well.


9. What are the types of category descriptors and how can they be created and
modified?

Answer
------
There are two types of descriptors: base and local.

Base descriptors, such as 'Supplier', apply to all items or services in the
catalog. Local descriptors, such as 'Ink Color', apply only to items within a
specific category, and thus can vary from one category to another. However it
is possible for categories to share a local descriptor.

To create and edit base descriptors:
A) In the Schema Editor page, make sure that a category is not selected;
otherwise, you will be creating a local descriptor.
B) Click Edit Base Descriptors. The Descriptor Editor opens.
C) If you are creating a new descriptor:
- Enter a new descriptor name in the New Descriptor field
- Select a descriptor type of 'String' if the descriptor is all text, or
'Numeric' if it contains numbers
- Select 'Visible' or 'Hidden' to control whether the descriptor displays
in the Search Results page when searching for items
- Click the Create button. The new descriptor will be listed in the
Descriptors scroll box; furthermore, a new field is added with a null
value for all items in the category.
D) If you are editing an existing descriptor:
- Select the descriptor in the scroll box
- Use the Rename, Delete, or Set buttons to modify the descriptor.
- Select 'Visible' or 'Hidden' to control whether the descriptor displays
in the Search Results page when searching for items

To create and edit local descriptors:
A) In the Schema Editor page, search for and select a category.
B) Click Edit Local Descriptors for this category. The Descriptor Editor
appears; any local descriptors that already exist for the category will be
listed at this time.
C) If you are creating a new descriptor:
- Enter a new descriptor name in the New Descriptor field.
- Select a descriptor type of 'String' if the descriptor is all text, or
'Numeric' if it contains numbers.
- Select 'Visible' or 'Hidden' to control whether the descriptor displays
in the Search Results page when searching for items.
- Click the Create button. The new descriptor will be listed in the
Descriptors scroll box; furthermore, a new field is added with a null
value for all items in the category.
D) If you are editing an existing descriptor:
- Select the descriptor in the scroll box.
- Use the Rename, Delete, or Set buttons to modify the descriptor.
- Select 'Visible' or 'Hidden' to control whether the descriptor displays
in the Search Results page when searching for items.


10. What are the various ways that catalog information can be uploaded?

Answer
------
Catalog information can be uploaded from various sources:
- XML file
- Text file exported from a spreadsheet
- Catalog Extractor accessible from the Catalog Server Loader Values window in
Oracle Purchasing. This extractor imports the following items from Oracle
Applications into the online catalog:
- Item master items
- Requisition templates
- Blanket agreements and quotations created in Oracle Purchasing
- Blanket agreements and quotations imported through the Purchasing
Documents Open Interface.


11. What is a Table of Contents?

Answer
------
The Table of Contents presents a hierarchical view of the catalog. Use the
Table of Contents to view and create hierarchies of categories. You may find
or create categories of any of the following levels in the Table of Contents:
-Master categories: a category containing one or more intermediate or genus
categories
-Intermediate categories: a category containing one or more genus categories
-Genus categories: a category containing items

Sets of genus categories may be grouped together in sub-category groupings for
both master and intermediate category levels. These categories can be edited
at any time by clicking the associated Edit button. Genus categories cannot be
edited. The changes you make to the Table of Contents are visible
immediately in the online catalog.

12. Can a category be assigned to multiple Table of Contents entries?

Answer
------
Yes - A category that was previously assigned to one Table of Contents may be
assigned to another Table of Contents entry.


12. Why should Oracle Purchasing categories be mapped to catalog categories?

Answer
------
Category mapping (Map Categories button)enables you to map categories defined
in Oracle Applications to catalog categories defined in iProcurement. Catalog
categories are created using the Schema Editor page or uploaded through XML or
spreadsheet catalog files. These catalog categories do not necessarily match
the categories created in Oracle Applications; however, Oracle Purchasing will
not process orders against catalog categories unless they are mapped to
categories defined in Oracle Applications. If you or a supplier uploads
catalog data that contains categories that are not defined in Oracle
Applications, they must be mapped before they can be used on a purchase order
or agreement.


13. What does Map Categories do?

Answer
------
Oracle Categories are mapped to Catalog Categories.


14. What does Map Special Order do?
Answer
------
Catalog Categories are mapped to Oracle Categories.


15. How are Oracle categories mapped to catalog categories?

Answer
------
From the Map Categories page, select the Oracle Applications category on the
left-hand side of the window, choose the catalog category or categories that
need to be mapped on the right-hand side of the window, and click the Map
button. Note that you cannot map to a category that contains subcategories
(denoted with a '+' besides it); however, you can select a '+' marked category
and click the Open Entry button to map to categories within it.


16. How can the current category maps be viewed in Map Categories?

Answer
------
To view the current mapping for a catalog category, select it from the Catalog
Category list in Map Categories. The Oracle Applications category to which it
is mapped is indicated in the Current Mapping field.


17. How can you determine if a catalog category has already been mapped?

Answer
------
An asterisk mark is appended to the catalog category to indicate that it has
already been mapped.


18. How the current category mapping be removed?

Answer
------
From the Map Categories page, select an asterisked (*) Catalog Category; an
asterisk is appended to catalog categories that have already been mapped. The
current mapping for the category is displayed in the Current Mapping field. To
proceed, click the Remove button. Note that all your mappings to the selected
catalog category will be removed and that mappings cannot be selectively
removed.


19. Can you map multiple Oracle categories to a single Catalog category?

Answer
------
Multiple Oracle categories can be mapped to a single Catalog (iProcurement)category.
This determines which Catalog (iProcurement)category used for the item when
creating the requisition in iProcurement. Once the item is on an iProcurement
requisition it is the mapping of the Catalog category done in "Special Order Mapping"
which determines the category that gets put onto a requisition in the core
Purchasing application.


IP req View

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
------------------
1. I have an in-process status requisition and I click on Resubmit but I
the following error message:
Error You can only resubmit requisitions of status returned or rejected.
Why does this happen?

Answer
------
In-process documents cannot be resubmitted as they are already in a
workflow approval process flow. You can resubmit only the requisitions
that have a status of Returned or Rejected. requisitions in other status
cannot be resubmitted for approval.
A possible workaround is to perform a Withdraw which allows you to pull
a requisition from its position in the approval process, make changes
to the requisition, and resubmit it for approval.



2. What happens when I withdraw a requisition?

Answer
------
When a requisition is withdrawn, all outstanding approval
workflow notifications associated with that requisition are
canceled and removed from the approvers' notifications. After
changes have been made to the withdrawn requisition and it is
submitted, the approval process for that requisition will
commence at the beginning of the approval list specified during
checkout.



3. How do I cancel a requisition?

Answer
------
Open the Requisition Status page and select the requisition you want
to cancel. Click the Cancel button.



4. Can I cancel approved requisitions?

Answer
------
From the Requisition Status page, you can cancel any requisition of
any status.



5. How do I find the status of the latest requisitions I have submitted?

Answer
------
The most recent requisitions you have submitted and their status are
listed on the Home page under Requisitions at a Glance. This section
lists the requisition number and the current status of the requisition.



6. What do the statuses mean?

Answer
------
Pre-Approved: has been approved, but was forwarded to another approver
for additional approval
Rejected: has been rejected by an Approver.
Returned: no approver could be found, or the buyer returned it to the
requester without creating a purchase order.



7. How do I track the approval history for my requisitions?

Answer
------
On the Requisition Status page, select the Requisition Number then
click View. Click the View Approval History link.



8. Can I duplicate requisitions in any status?

Answer
------
You can duplicate any requisition irrespective of its status. You
can duplicate a rejected, in process, approved, returned, or
canceled requisition.

Note that you cannot duplicate a requisition if the item on the
requisition is no longer available in the catalog. You can, however,
always duplicate a non-catalog request.



9. Would my duplicate requisition inherit the approval status of the
original requisition?

Answer
------
When you duplicate a requisition, the original requisition retains
its status. The copy will be treated as a new requisition, which
you will have to take through the checkout process. When you submit
the copied requisition, the system assigns it a unique requisition
number. This new number should be used to track your requisition.



10. What happens when I copy a requisition?

Answer
------
When you duplicate a requisition, you are actually copying the item
information from the original requisition into the shopping cart.
Note that any item in your shopping cart will be replaced with the
items from the copied requisition. During the checkout process, you
may modify the item quantity, delivery, billing and approval
information. You cannot modify the item description, price, unit of
measure, or supplier information.



11. I clicked on an in-process requisition and I click on Receive and
I get the following error message:
Error This Requisition is either not approved or none of the lines have
been placed on an approved Purchase Order.
Why does this happen?

Answer
------
Requisitions are documents utilized to identify material or service
requirement needs within an organization. These documents must be
approved and then autocreated into a purchase order. This purchase
order is then received in the core application or through the
Requisition Status page.



12. How do I find the items to receive?

Answer
------
Click the Requisition Status tab and then the Receiving tab.

When the need-by date specified on your requisition arrives,
your requisition is listed in the Receiving page. A basic
search is executed every time you open the Receiving page.
You can sort this list by creation date, item number, need-by date,
requisition number, and item description. Or use the Expanded Search
link to narrow the search further.

There are some requisitions for which you may not receive receipt
notifications. For example, 3-way matching requisitions that are set
up in your Purchasing system.



13. How do I receive items into the inventory?

Answer
------
Click the Requisition Status tab, and then the Receiving tab. Find
the item you want to receive. You can use the Expanded Search link
to narrow your search. The requisitions listed on the Receipt page
are those for which the need-by date has arrived.

Select the item you have received, and in the Receipt quantity field,
enter the quantity you have received. Click the Receive button. The
system records a receipt for your items. If you created your
requisition to replenish a subinventory (and you specified the
subinventory on your requisition), the system creates the receipt for
that subinventory.

Purchasing Accounting

Purpose
The Accrual Reconciliation Report is used to track and reconcile
On Line Accrual Balances to the Gl Accrual Account.
In recent times it has become difficult to track the several changes
and modifications to the Accrual Rebuild and Reconciliation Reports.
This Note will serve as a focal point to find relevant information
on the Reports.

Questions and Answers
What is Online Accrual?
The two Accrual Methods used in Oracle are 'On Line Accrual' and 'Period End Accrual'.
On Line Accrual also called Accrual at Receipt means the Accrual Accounting is
generated by the Receiving Transaction at time of receipt.
On Line Accrual is used for accruing Inventory Destination transactions and in
a limited way Expense Destination Transactions where there is the need to
perpetually track stock movement. Period End Accrual is the recommended method
for accruing Expense Destination Transactions.
For further discussion of selected Topics of the two Accrual Methods refer to
Note 106583.1 Accruals and Accounting FAQ's- Release 10.7to 11.59
For an overview of Oracle Documentation on Receipt Accounting refer to
Note 198545.1
What are the Defaulting Rules of Accrue On Receipt flag?
On Line Accruals have the accrue_on_receipt_flag in po shipment checked.
At the table level the accrue_on_receipt_flag in PO_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL
and PO_LINE_LOCATIONS_ALL are set to 'Y'
For an overview of Defaulting Rules for Accrue_on_receipt refer to
Oracle Purchasing Release 11.5.10 User Guide. Go to the Section
Titled Purchase Order Defaulting Rules and look at the column Accrue on Receip
What setups are required for On Line Accruals and where do the Accounts used
come from?

The Purchasing Options/Accrual for Inventory Items can only be set to accrue at receipt.
Expense Destination can accrue at receipt or period end.
Accounts:
Receiving Account – Purchasing Super User
Nav: Setup/Organizations/Receiving Options
Inventory AP Accrual Account – Inventory Super User
Nav: Setup/Organization/Parameters
Choose the Inventory Organization which was used on the Purchase Order shipment and is being received against.
Move to the ‘Other Accounts’ region – ‘Inventory AP Accrual’ account
Expense Accrual Account if Expenses accrue on receipt
Purchasing Super User/setup/organizations/Accrual
What Accounting Entries are generated for On Line Accruals?
INVENTORY DESTINATION ACCRUE ON RECEIPT
Receive item:
Debit Receiving Account
Credit Inventory A/P Accrual Account

Deliver: No Accounting Entries

Run Inventory Renansfer to GL
Debit Subinventory Account
Credit Receiving Account

Match/Validate/Create Accounting in A/P
Debit Inventory A/PAccrual Account
Credit A/Piability

Pay The Invoice
Debit A/P Liability
Credit Bank

EXPENSE DESTINATION ACCRUE ON RECEIPT

Receive item
Debit Receiving Account
Credit Expense Accrual Account

Deliver(For Multiple Distributions you must click on the + sign
and distribute for double entries)
Debit PO Charge Account
Credit Receiving Account

Match/Validate/Create Accounting in A/P
Debit Expense Accrual Account
Credit A/P Liability

Pay the Invoice
Debit A/P Liability
Credit Bank
What Are the the PO Distribution Accounts used by A/P during Invoice Match?
a) If the PO distribution has destination type = Inventory
then the invoice distribution is using the Inventory A/P accrual account.
ap_invoice_distributions_all.dist_code_combination_id =
po_distributions_all.accrual_account_id
b) If po_distributions_all.destination_type_code = 'EXPENSE' and
po_distributions_all.accrue_on_reciept_flag = 'Y'
then
ap_invoice_distributions_all.dist_code_combination_id =
po_distributions_all.accrual_account_id

c) If the PO distribution has destination type = Expense,
accrue on receipt is set to 'N',
then the invoice distribution is using the po distribution charge account.
ap_invoice_distributions_all.dist_code_combination_id =
po_distributions_all.code_combination_id

d) If the PO distribution has destination type other than Expense,
then the invoice distribution is using the accrual account.
What are the designated Reports used for On Line Accruals?
And what are they used for?
The designated Reports are Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild (previously
called Accrual Rebuild Reconciliation) and Accrual Reconciliation Report

Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild is now used only to populate the po_accrual_reconcile
temp_all Table with data based on the date range and other parameters selected.
There is no output for the rebuild.

The Accrual Reconciliation report is now the only report that generates an output.
The Accrual Reconciliation Report does not reselect information from the subledgers as does the Rebuild. It only reports on the data currently stored in the PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL based on the parameters selected.

In previous versions when the Rebuild is run, it first deleted all records currently stored
in the PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL table before populating the table with
new data based on the parameters selected. Please see full discussion of this
in the next session under incremental basis
What is meant by the new parameter of the Rebuild 'Full AP Classification'
and what is meant by the new 'INCREMENTAL Basis' in the Rebuid?
The parameter list of the rebuild program has been modified. The
parameters which previously were needed for generating report output have been
removed from the Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild since it no longer generates
any output.
Furthermore, a new parameter 'Full AP Classification' has been introduced.
If it is set to 'Yes', the program will generate the same accrual codes for AP transactions in PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL table as it did previously.
If it is set to 'No', the accrual code for AP will be generated as follows:

A/P PO Match - The invoice is created by matching to a PO
A/P Receipt Match - The invoice is created by matching to a receipt
A/P No PO - The invoice is not matched.

If one sets the 'Full AP Classification' to 'No', one will see a slight
improvement in the performance of the rebuild program since a limited number of
A/P Codes are generated.

Another new feature introduced in the rebuild program is capability to update data in
PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL on incremental basis. Prior to this new feature:
Old behavior: the program would always first delete all data for a given operating
unit before building the data for a selected date range.
New behavior:
Old data in the PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL that falls outside the selected
date range is not deleted when the Rebuild Program runs. The only data that
is deleted is the data that falls within the date range selected. This happens
so that new data for the date range selected can be populated. By deleting data
within the date range first before populating data within the selected date
range, duplication of data is avoided.

Let us assume that a Company has been in existence since 01-JAN-1999.
When the Rebuild is run for the first time for the period say
01-JAN-1999 to 31-DEC-2001, data for this period is populated into the
PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL table and the same is used for generating
the report, if required.
Now let us assume further that the Rebuild program is run with a new date
range of say 01-DEC-2001 to 31-DEC-2004. The only data that will be
deleted is data in the overlapping period 01-DEC-2001 to 31-DEC-2001.
The old data in the Table outside the new date range 01-JAN-1999- 30-NOV-2001
will remain intact and not deleted. Data from the current date range 01-DEC-2001
to 31-DEC-2004 will be processed and inserted into the table.

Thus the data in the table
PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL would now have data from 01-JAN-1999 to
31-DEC-2004. The Accrual Reconciliation Report Conc. program can then be run
to generate reports for any date range between 01-JAN-1999 to 31-DEC-2004.

After applying the incremental patch, one has the option to build the data
since inception in one run or one can break the Rebuild run into multiple
date ranges depending on the volume of data to process.

All the latest Report versions of Accrual Rebuild in both Release 11.5.9 and
11.5.10 use the incremental reasoning.

What determines whether a Transaction does not appear on the Acccrual Reconciliation Report?
The following two columns in the PO_ACCRUAL_RECONCILE_TEMP_ALL table
determines whether a Transaction appears on the Accrual Reconciliation
Report.

Net_po_line_quantity
Net_po_line_amount

For a Transaction not to appear on the Accrual Reconciliation Report
net transaction quantity AND the net transaction amount for each PO Line must be
less than or equal to the values entered in the tolerance parameters (or <= 0,
which is the default value).
What general steps should be followed to reconcile the Accrual Reconciliation Report and GL?
Reference Note 414169.1 How To Reconcile Accrual Reconciliation Report And GL

Should the balance of Uninvoiced Receipt Report and Accrual Reconciliation Report tie?
Refererence Note 370910.1
The Accrual Reconciliation Report and the Uninvoiced Receipts Report are not intended to reconcile to one another. Although they have some similarities, these two reports use different logic and their outputs will very often be different.
Please note that Development requests that for purposes of logging bug only the Accrual Reconciliation Report should be used to reconcile on line accruals to GL. A bug should only be logged if there is a material difference between the Accrual Reconciliation Report and GL. The Uninvoiced Receipt Report should be used only for reconciling Period End Accruals to GL.
Why is it that after upgrade to 11.5.10 the Accrual Reconciliation Report shows Accounts that were not displayed in 11.5.9?
The 11.5.10 architecture and Accrual code have been modified in Release 11.5.10. In 11.5.9 the code only picked up Acrual Accounts currently used on Purchase Orders. In 11.5.10 The code picks up all Accrual Accounts that have ever existed in the Org Parameters .

The following are two workarounds to prevent the display of unwanted Accrual Accounts
in the Accrual Reconciliation Report:

a) Write off the unwanted Accrual Accounts using the Accrual Write Off Form

b) Run the Accrual Reconciliation Report by selecting from the Report Parameters only the Accrual Account you want to be displayed. This will exclude the other Accrual Accounts from showing up on the Report.
To achieve this functionality however, one needs to upgrade the version of Acccrual Reconciliation Report to one of the latest versions.
The following sql will assist you to find out all the Accounts that have been used before as Accrual Accounts:

SELECT distinct(mp.ap_accrual_account) ap_accrual_account,
gl.padded_concatenated_segments account_number
FROM mtl_parameters mp, gl_code_combinations_kfv gl
WHERE mp.ap_accrual_account is not null
AND mp.organization_id in
( SELECT cod.organization_id
FROM cst_organization_definitions cod
WHERE cod.operating_unit = &org_id)
AND mp.ap_accrual_account = gl.code_combination_id

Where can I find the latest versions of POXACREC.rdf in 11.5.10?
Reference Note 427771.1 11.5.10 Accrual Reconciliation Report - Latest Fixes as of July 25, 2007

How do we fix the following Errors:
MSG-00131: ORA-30036: unable to extend segment by 8 in undo tablespace 'APPS_UNDOTS1'
Reference <423463.1> Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild Report Completes With Error

MSG MSG-00001: EXCEPTION..... populate_temp_table() >X 26-JUN-2007 10:33:42
MSG MSG-00999: 7: 101504: non-ORACLE exception
MSG MSG-00999: POXACREC >X Tue Jun 26 10:33:42 2007
ERR REP-1419: 'beforereport': PL/SQL program aborted.
Reference <334977.1> REP-1419 Running Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild Report



REP-1212: Object 'Body is not fully enclosed by its enclosing object 'P_title'

APP-FND-01404: An invalid style, LANDWIDE240, is specified
Cause: AOL cannot find the record for the print style LANDWIDE240
Action: Check that the print style LANDWIDE240 is a valid style and that a record exists in FND_PRINTER_STYLES
i) Make sure you are on the latest version of file POXACREC.rdf
Refer to Note 427771.1 11.5.10 Accrual Reconciliation Report - Latest Fixes as of July 25, 2007

ii) Check the PrinterNote 427771.1 11.5.10 Accrual Reconciliation Report - Latest Fixes as of July 25, 2007

ii) Check the Printer setups:
Refer to Note 433950.1 Accrual Reconciliation Rebuild Errors with REP-1212 Even After Applying Latest Patches

Rebuild Accrual Reconciliation Report and Reconciliation Rebuild Report (POXACREC)
Fail with the following errors:

ORA-01555: snapshot too old: rollback segment number 5 with name "_SYSSMU5$" too small
ORA-01555: snapshot too old: rollback segment number with name "" too small
MSG-00999: POXACREC >X Mon May 22 10:30:31 2006
REP-1419: 'beforereport': PL/SQL program aborted.
Reference Note 390906.1
Inadvertently deleted transactions with user_je_category_name= 'Receiving' and user_je_source_name = 'Purchasing' from GL_INTERFACE that have not yet been imported to GL. How do I retrieve the data?
Reference Note 364575.1 How to Recreate Purchasing Receiving Accrual Records Deleted from the GL_INTERFACE Table

Where is the Accrual Reconciliation Report In R12

Refernce Note 459449.1 Where is the Accrual Reconciliation Report In R12 ?

Purchasing Accounting Related


Q1.Can you pay an Invoice for an item without reciving the item ?
Can expense be recognised without a receipt?
A1.If an invoice is matched to a PO before receipts are made, then there will be
no accrual entries. The only distribution created will be for match for
Accounts Payables.

Q2. A Cancelled Purchase Order is not seen in the Receipt return form.
How does the receipt of a cancelled Purchase Order be prevented from
appearing on the Accrual Reconciliation report?
A2. Either reject/return the receipt or pay the bill.
To reject/return the receipt:
1) to adjust inventory
- in Inventory, adjust the item quantity on hand
2) to adjust accruals
- in Payables, pay the PO then put in a dummy credit memo to
reverse the invoice.
- enter the invoice match to the PO/receipt (depends on 2-way or 3-way
matching) - this will remove the accrual
- enter a credit memo to adjust the invoice. However, a credit memo
match to the invoice will put the accrual back, so you have to enter an
unmatched credit memo to zero the payables.

Q3. Purchase Order lines level there is a check box called capital expense.
Does this field have a function or is it strictly for documentation ?
A3. This field is for recording purposes only. It does not have function in the
Purchase Order module nor is it meant for any calculations.


Q4. While defining vendors where is the default defined for the currency?
A4. Charactor mode this is defined by using the Purchasing responsablity
\Navigate Setup Finacials Options
Go to the payment information zone and enter in the invoice currency.

GUI (smart client) Mode this is defined by using the AP responsablity
Navigate Setup Option Payables
Got to the supplier zone and enter in the invoice currency.

Q5. In the character mode, View Purchase Order Form ( POXPOVPO ) you could
navigate to an Invoice Zone and see information about invoices matched to
the current Purchase Order. Where is this functionality in Smart Client?
A5. In Smart Client, use the Purchase Order Summary Form. After Selecting the
Purchase Order to examine, go to the SPECIAL menu and select INVOICES, this
will bring up a screen displaying the invoice and matched information
related to that PO. This function is available at the Purchase Order
Summary Header and PO Summary Lines Zone.

Q6. How do you enforce receiving before invoicing takes place?
A6. Set the line type = receipt required and the line item attribute 'receipt
required' = yes. With AP Responsibility navigate to Setup/Invoice/Tolerance
and check the QTY REC'D under Tolerances.


Encumbrance Accounting Related


Purpose
To understand and interpret the data related to Encumbrance Accounting .
Questions and Answers
Which is the account used for RESERVATIONS in PO_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL and PO_REQ_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL for Expense transactions?
Funds are always reserved against the Budget account, which is an account type of EXPENSE.
Can the four distribution accounts on a PO or REQ distributions have the same Code Combination ID ( CCID)?
NO. Accrual account should be of an account type of LIABILITY
Budget account is an account type of EXPENSE.
Charge account is generally an EXPENSE type .
Expense Account can be capitalized to be an Asset Type.
For an Expense item, the Charge, Budget and Variance account are always the same.
What is the Account Type of a RECEIVING Account?
Receiving account is of an account type = ASSET.
What does the abbrevation RFE stand for , and how can these Journals be identified in GL_JE_LINES?
The RFE is RESERVE for ENCUMBRANCE account which is an OffSetting account for all Encumbrance Journals .
These RFE journals maybe grouped for all JE_SOURCE and JE_CATEGORY . This Journal line can be identified
from the column description in the GL_JE_LINES having this Entry.'Reserve for Encumbrance line added by
Posting' and these lines will NOT have any of these REFERENCE COLUMNS ( 1 to 5) Populated.
What are the Possible values for the column FUNDS_CHECK_LEVEL and what do they mean?
B = Absolute , Meaning = Strict budgetary control
D = Advisory Meaning = Warning messages only
N = None Meaning = No budgetary control

What are the different Account Type Values that exist and what do they stand for?
A = Asset
E = Expense
L = Liability
O = Owners' equity
R = Revenue

What does the values in the column ACCOUNT_CATEGORY_CODE in GL_BC_PACKETS stand for?
B =Budgetary
P =Proprietary
What are the possible values in the Column FAILED_FUNDS_LOOKUP_CODE in PO_REQ_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL and PO_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL and what do they stand for?

F00 Insufficient funds (detail) This detail transaction fails funds check
F01 Insufficient funds (->summary) This detail transaction causes a summary account to fail funds check
F02 Insufficient funds (summary) This summary account fails funds check
F03 Insufficient funds (pending) One or more earlier pending transactions cause this transaction to fail
F04 Insufficient funds (both) This detail transaction fails and causes a summary account to fail funds check
F05 Insuff funds (<-generated) One or more associated generated transactions cause this transaction to fail
F06 Insuff funds (prop<-assoc) One or more associated transactions cause this proprietary transaction to fail
F10 Insufficient funds (budgetary) This budgetary detail transaction fails funds check
F11 Insuff funds (->sum budgetary) This budgetary detail transaction causes a summary account to fail funds check
F12 Insuff funds (sum budgetary) This budgetary summary account fails funds check
F13 Insuff funds (pend budgetary) One or more earlier pending transactions cause the budgetary transaction to fail
F14 Insuff funds (both budgetary) This budgetary transaction fails and also causes a summary account to fail
F15 Insuff funds (budg<-assoc) One or more associated transactions cause this budgetary transaction to fail
F20 Nonexistent flexfield This Accounting Flexfield does not exist
F21 Disabled or expired flexfield This Accounting Flexfield is disabled or out-of-date
F22 Posting not allowed This Accounting Flexfield does not allow detail posting
F23 Budgeting not allowed This Accounting Flexfield does not allow detail budget posting
F24 Nonexistent period This accounting period does not exist
F25 Period not open or future This accounting period is neither Open nor Future Enterable
F26 Period not in open budget year This accounting period is not within an open budget year
F27 Frozen budget This budget is frozen
F28 Expired USSGL transaction code This USSGL transaction code is out-of-date
P00 Funds not reduced This transaction does not reduce funds available
P01 Funds check not required This account does not require funds check
P02 Not funding budget This budget transaction applies to a budget other than your funding budget
P03 Foreign currency budget This foreign currency budget transaction does not require funds check
P04 Add Summary program created This summary transaction is created by the Add Summary Accounts program
P05 Force passed funds check This transaction passes funds check in force pass mode
P10 Passed funds check This transaction passes funds check
P15 Passed funds check (budgetary) This budgetary transaction passes funds check
P20 Advisory warning This transaction fails funds check; advisory checking is in force
P21 Passed due to override This transaction fails funds check; you overrode the failure
P22 Advisory warning (->summary) This detail transaction causes a summary account to fail funds check (advisory)
P23 Passed due to override (sum) This summary account fails funds check; you overrode the detail(s)
P25 Advisory warning (budgetary) This budgetary transaction fails funds check; advisory checking is in force
P26 Passed due to override (gen) This transaction or its associates fail funds check; you overrode the original
P27 Advisory warning (->sum bud) This budgetary transaction causes a summary account to fail check (advisory)
F29 The transaction account and budget account are different
F30 The transaction failed funds check at the resource level
F31 The transaction failed funds check at resource group level
F32 The transaction failed funds check at the task level
F33 The transaction failed funds check at the top task level
F34 The transaction failed funds check at the project level
F35 The transaction failed funds check at project account level
F36 Funds check failed because of unexpected error
F37 Failed because year end rollover process is in progress
F38 Funds check failed because of invalid budget versions
F39 No budget account on raw line
F40 The resource list is invalid or null
F41 The amount type or boundary code is invalid
F42 The amount type or boundary code is invalid for no time phase
F43 Invalid boundary code for amount type 'Project to date'
F44 Invalid boundary code for amount type 'Year to date'
F45 Invalid boundary code for amount type 'Period to date'
F46 Funds check failed because of invalid resource list member
F47 Start date or end date is null for the specified date range
F48 Not able to derive PA date
F49 Invalid budget entry method or missing baseline version
F50 Could not map to a budget line while deriving budget account
F51 Not able to derive GL date
F52 The encumbrance type is null or invalid
F53 Funds check failed because budget baselining is in progress
F54 No matching requisition was found for this purchase order
F55 No matching purchase order was found for this invoice
F56 Could not acquire lock: funds checks are running concurrently
F57 Transaction failed because of CBC funds check
F58 Transaction failed because of GL funds check
F59 No budget exists at the resource level
F60 No budget exists at the resource group level
F61 No budget exists at the task level
F62 No budget exists at the top task level
F63 No budget exists at the project level
F64 No budget exists at the project account level
P28 Funds check passed at the project account level
P29 Funds check passed at project account level in advisory mode
P30 Funds check passed at the project level
P31 Funds check passed at the project level in advisory mode
P32 Increase in funds does not require funds check
P33 Invoice interfaced from projects does not require funds check
P34 Expense report from projects requires no funds check
P35 Funds check passed at the resource level in advisory mode
P36 Funds check passed at resource group level in advisory mode
P37 Funds check passed at the task level in advisory mode
P38 Funds check passed at the top task level in advisory mode
P39 GMS: Transaction passed Funds Check in advisory mode
F65 PO/CBC: Single year validation failure
F66 PO/CBC: Accounting Date validation failure
F67 GMS:Funds check processing error,contact system administrator
F68 GMS: Funds Check failed due to invalid award number
F69 GMS: Funds Check failed at Top Task Level
F70 GMS: Funds Check failed in full mode
F71 GMS: Funds Check failed at the Award level
F72 GMS: Funds Check failed at the Task level
F73 GMS: Funds Check failed at the Resource level
F74 GMS: Funds Check failed at the Resource Group level

What are the values for FUNDS_CHECK_STATUS_CODE in GL_BC_PACKETS and what do they mean?
A =Approved ,Approved
C = Checking , Checking
F = Failed , Check Failed funds check
P = Pending , Pending
R = Rejected, Rejected
S = Passed Check , Passed funds check
T = Fatal , Irrecoverable error detected

FAQ Account Generators



Q1. What does the Account Generator process do?

A: The Account Generator process builds charge, budget, accrual, and variance accounts for each purchase order, release, and requisition distribution based on the distribution’s destination type. It is a synchronous Workflow process.

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Q2. What are the Pre-requisites to use Account Generator?

A: Before using the Account Generator you must:
- Define your Accounting flexfield structure for each set of books.
- Define flexfield segment values and validation rules.
- Set up Oracle Workflow.
- Decide whether you want to use the Account Generator processes as seeded in Oracle Purchasing, or you need to customize them to meet your accounting needs.

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Q3. What are the workflow item types used in Account Generator?

A: For Purchase Orders: POWFPOAG
For Requisitions: POWFRQAG
Each Account Generator item type contains the following top-level workflow processes:
Generate Default Account
Generate Account Using Flex Builder Rules
If you are upgrading from 10.7, and you have been using the flex builder to generate the accounts, you have an option of upgrading your existing flex builder rules to Account Generator. In which case, you should use the “Generate Account Using Flex Builder Rules” process.

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Q4. I have been using the Flex builder rules in Release 10.7 to build the accounts. Can I continue using the same setup in account generator in 11.x also?

A: Yes. The same setup can be used with account generator also. To achieve this, the following actions should be performed on up gradation to account generator.
- Run the program in $FND_TOP/bin/FNDFBPLS. This will create a PL/SQL package that will contain all the flex builder rules.
- Apply the newly created PL/SQL file to the database. This will create a package called PO_PO_CHARGE_ACCOUNT /
PO_REQ_CHARGE_ACCOUNT
- Verify that the package is created successfully and that it is valid in database.
- Choose the Account Generator Top level process as Generate Account Using Flex Builder.
- Test the account generator.
@- For more details refer to Note 1013708.102.

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Q5. The flex builder rules package PO_PO_CHARGE_ACCOUNT is being overwritten whenever I apply a family pack. Why?

A: The family pack will contain POXWFB1S.pls and POXWFB1B.pls, which contains a blank definition of the PO_PO_CHARGE_ACCOUNT for compilation purpose. This will override the already existing PO_PO_CHARGE_ACCOUNT
package created from flex builder rules. So the Client must take a backup of the Flex builder rules package before applying the patch, and revert back the package PO_PO_CHARGE_ACCOUNT using that file.

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Q6. What are the steps to generate the WFSTAT output for Account Generator?

A: 1. Set the following profiles:
- Account Generator: Run in Debug Mode=> Yes
- Account Generator: Purge Runtime Data=> No
PO: Set Debug Workflow On => Yes
2. Make sure that the concurrent program "Purge Workflow Obsolete Runtime Data" is NOT running.
3. Open Purchase Order/Requisitions form, go to the distributions window, enter necessary fields and click on charge account field to start generating the charge account. After the account generator has done building the account, or errors out, do the following from the toolbar (DO NOT exit the form or navigate to any other block or record, otherwise this information would be lost):
Help=> Diagnostics => Examine
Enter in 1st field => parameter
Enter in 2nd field => charge_acc_wf_itemkey
Then tab out. The Item key will appear in the third field.
4. Now save the purchase order/requisition. If you are not able to save, then clear the distribution record and navigate back to the shipment window and save the form. Saving the form is must, because a commit is required to save the workflow information in tables, for generating the wfstat output.
5. If step#3 could not give you an item key, then use the following query to identify the relevant item key:
Select item_key, item_type, begin_date
from wf_items
where item_type = '&item_type'
order by begin_date desc;
For PO, use 'POWFPOAG' item type in above query, and for requisition, use 'POWFRQAG'.
6. To generate the WFSTAT output,
Run the sql in $FND_TOP/sql/wfstat.sql with above item_type and item_key. Spool the output.
7. To get the wf debug information, run the following query:
SELECT item_key, item_type, debug_message
FROM po_wf_debug
WHERE item_key = '&Item_key'
ORDER BY execution sequence;

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Q7. What exactly does profile option "Account Generator: Run in Debug Mode" do?

A: This profile option controls whether the account generator workflow process runs in synchronous mode (workflow-on-a-fly) or asynchronous/persistent mode (save the runtime data).
When this profile is NULL or "No", the workflow runs in synchronous mode and it will NOT store any runtime data in database. So you cannot generate the wfstat etc for debug purposes. However once you set this profile option to "Yes", then the process would run in persistent mode, thereby the runtime data would be stored in database. Now you can generate the wfstat etc.

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Q8. Will the account generator build the charge account based on project information?

A: No. By default, the Account Generator process as seeded in Oracle Purchasing would not consider the project information to build the account. To achieve this functionality, you should customize the Account Generator to consider the project details. There is a dummy sub process 'Build Project Related Account' seeded in the Account Generator workflow, available for customization. You would also have to modify function PO_WF_PO_CHARGE_ACC.IS_PO_PROJECT_RELATED to return a value of "True".
For more information on how to customize the Account Generator, please refer to the manual Oracle Purchasing Account Generator Workflow Customization Example.

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Q9. Will the account be generated for amount based/one time item lines?

A: No the Account will not be generated if you are using the Account Generator as seeded in Oracle Purchasing. Either the account should be manually entered or the account generator should be customized.

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Q10. When the charge account field is non updateable?

A: In the following cases the charge account field is not updateable:
1. If the destination type code is INVENTORY or SHOP FLOOR.
2. If the distribution is already encumbered.
3. If the PO is created from a encumbered Requisition
4. If the destination type code is Expense and
If the project is entered and the profile option PA: Allow Override of PA Distributions in AP/PO is set to NO
If the expense accrual code= RECEIPT

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Q11. If the account generator process raises a blank error message, what does it mean?

A: Check the invalid objects in the database. Recompile the invalid objects.

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Q12. Where do the various accounts come from?

A: Here is a list of all possible places from where account will be picked:

Destination type Item type/WIP type Sub inventory/WIP Entity type/Bom_cost_element_id Account Hierarchy Inventory
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________expense_account - subinventory
Expense Not NULL expense_account - mtl_system_items
expense_account - mtl_parameters
Inventory
NULL material_account - mtl_parameters
Expense expense_account - mtl_secondary_inventories
Asset Expense expense_account - mtl_parameters
Asset mtl_secondary - mtl_secondary_inventories
Asset material_account - mtl_parameters
________________________________________Expense ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________expense_account - mtl_system_items
(Req) default_code_combination_id -hr_employees_current_v
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________WIP - type 6,7 ________________________________________
st_eamcost_pub.get_direct_item_charge_acct
Bom Id 5 overhead_account - wip_discrete_jobs
Job WIP 4 outside_processing_account - wip_discrete_jobs
3 resource_account - wip_discrete_jobs
2 material_overhead_account - wip_discrete_jobs
1 material_account - wip_discrete_jobs
NULL flex_value - fnd_flex_values_vl
Shop Floor
Bom Id 5 overhead_account - wip_discrete_jobs
4 outside_processing_account - wip_discrete_jobs
Schedule 3 resource_account - wip_discrete_jobs
2 material_overhead_account -wip_discrete_jobs
1 material_account - wip_discrete_jobs
NULL flex_value - fnd_flex_values_vl
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FAQ Encumbrance Accounting



FAQ Details
Q1. What are the setups required for Encumbrance Accounting?

A: 1) In General Ledger
a) Enable budgetary control in your Set of Books:
Navigation: Setup->Financials->Books
Alternative Region : Budgetary Control Options Flag Enable Budgetary Control.

b) Create budgetary control groups:
Navigation: Budgets->Define->Controls
Create name, description and enter Budgetary control rules. e.g.. Add Purchasing as Source with category Purchases.
This control group has to be attached at the Site level or User level Profile Option (Budgetary Control Group) and this will control the behavior regarding the tolerance of budgetary control.

c) Define Budget:
Navigation->Budget->Define->Budget
In Budget, basically you set period boundary for your budget i.e. time frame.
Remember to open the periods for the budget by pressing the Open next year button.
NOTE: A prerequisite to the above step is that Encumbrance year should be open at Set of Books level.
Navigation: Setup->Open/Close

d) Define Budget Organization:
Navigation: Budget->Define->Organization
In this step you choose the accounts for which you want to have control and link it to your Budget defined in step 'c'. Complete Header of form and Navigate to Ranges and define your ranges for your organization.

e) Encumbrance types:
Navigation: Setup->Journals->Encumbrances.
Encumbrance types are defined so as to bifurcate the reservation of funds done at different levels i.e. Requisition, PO or Invoice level, it helps management people in having better financial control.

2) In Purchasing
a) Enable encumbrance: Encumbrance has to be enabled in Financial Options form in Purchasing modules.
In Purchasing: Setup->Organization->Financial Options (Alternative region Encumbrance)
Select different encumbrance types for different levels i.e. Requisition, PO and Invoice. Here you attach the types that you defined in step 1.e of GL setup.

FAQ Encumbrance in Purchasing
Q1. What reference columns does Oracle Purchasing populate in the table gl_bc_packets? And what information is populated in these columns?

A: Oracle Purchasing populates the following reference fields.
Reference1 with the document type, e.g. PO or REQ.
Reference2 with the document header id, po_header_id or requistion_header_id.
Reference3 with the distribution id, po_distribution_id or distribution_id.
Reference4 with the document number, purchase order number or requisition number.
Reference5 with the backing requisition number, if the related purchase order or release
has been autocreated from a requisition.
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Q2. If there has been an over receipt of goods, will Oracle Purchasing reverse encumbrances associated with the over receipt quantity?

A: No, this is not possible as the budget is only updated with the encumbrance amount when the purchase order was created. Since this transaction has already been logged in gl_bc_packets and potentially picked up by the Create Journals program there is no method to modify this transaction.

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Q3. How do I liquidate excess encumbrances for the purchase order, purchase order line or purchase order shipment?

A: By performing a Cancel or Final Close action on the document. However, this action is irreversible, so be sure no other transactions need to be completed before taking either of these actions.

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Q4. How can I tell if Oracle Federal Financials is installed in my instance?

A: To check if Federal Financials is installed in the application, join the tables FND_APPLICATION and FND_PRODUCT_INSTALLATIONS as:

SELECT fa.application_id, fa.application_short_name,
fpi.status
FROM fnd_application fa,
fnd_product_installations fpi
WHERE fa.application_id= fpi.application_id
AND fa.application_short_name like 'FV%'
SQL> /

APPLICATION_ID APPLICATION_SHORT_NAME
-------------- ------------------------------------------- -
8901 FV I

In addition to the status of installed, you can also query the dba_objects view for the object_name with a prefix of FV, for example:

SELECT object_name
FROM dba_objects
WHERE object_name like 'FV%'
AND owner='APPS';

If there are any objects in the database with the prefix FV, a row will be returned. There are approximately 500 objects that belong to the Federal Vertical application.

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Q5. Is there a way to unreserve or reverse an encumbrance on a purchase order?

A: Beginning with Oracle Applications Release 11, the functionality exist
to unreserve a funds reservation at the header level of a purchasing document.
Once you have unreserved the document you can modify as needed and the reserve again.

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Q6. What is a Transaction Code and how is this defined?

A: Transaction codes are typically used when the budgetary or the fund accounting model is employed. The vertical application Oracle Federal Financials includes the profile Enable Transaction Codes which activates this functionality.

Once transaction codes have been enabled, they can be defined in General Ledger (Setup - Accounts - Transaction Codes). Transaction codes are used as a shortcut to create debit and credit pairs for a single transaction.

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Q7. What steps do I take when the approval of the purchase order fails due to insufficient funds?

A: 1. Identify the distribution that is failing, the error message will usually indicate which distribution is in error. Obtain the ccid of this distribution account.

2. . Check the budget organization for which this code combination id is assigned. This is accomplished in General Ledger (Budgets - Define - Organization).

a) First find the budget_entity_id (budget that this account is tied to)
select set_of_books_id , budget_entity_id ,
range_id, AUTOMATIC_ENCUMBRANCE_FLAG ,FUNDS_CHECK_LEVEL_CODE from
GL_BUDGET_ASSIGNMENTS where CODE_COMBINATION_ID = '&#####' ;

b) Using the budget_entity_id query the Budget Organization name.
select name, set_of_books_id , status_code from GL_BUDGET_ENTITIES
where budget_entity_id = '&####';

Specifically verify the Amount Type, the Boundary and the Funding Budget values. The funding budget should be active and ensure that your encumbrance amount has not exceeded the funds available for the funds checking interval (boundary). For example, if the budget total is $100,000.00, the amount budgeted per quarter is $25,000.00, the Amount type is YTD and the boundary is QTD, then check that the purchase order encumbrance would not exceed the boundary amount of $25,000.00.

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Q8. The Encumbrance Detail Report does not pick up expected purchase orders.

A: Review the parameters passed to the report to verify that the selection criteria did not exclude the purchase order. The selection of purchase orders on this report is based on the following information in the database:
- the setting of the encumbered_flag in po_distributions, needs to be set to Y, and the cancel_flag in po_line_locations must be set to N and
- the gl_encumbered_date in po_distributions must be between the dates passed to the report for the encumbered dates and
- the vendor used on the purchase order must be included by the Vendor parameter and
- the po_distributions.prevent_encumbrance_flag must be set to N

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Q9. Records are appearing on the Uninvoiced Receipts report for expense items which have been received but not invoiced. How can these records be removed from the report and kept from accruing each month?
Q10. A purchase order shipment was received against, then cancelled. It now appears on the Uninvoiced Receipts report and accrues each month when running the Receipt Accruals - Period-End process. Why is this happening?

A: These questions pertain to Oracle Purchasing release 10.7. The quantity on an approved, encumbered Purchase Order can be changed by deleting and creating a new line with a revised quantity.

There are restrictions regarding modifications to encumbered Purchase Orders after being approved, and the following is standard functionality:

An encumbered Purchase Order cannot be modified as follows:
- Cannot change price
- Cannot change shipment distribution
- Cannot change shipment quantity
- Cannot change accounts (distributions)
- Cannot change currency

The line quantity can be increased as this will create more encumbrance. Upon doing so additional shipment lines have to be added to resolve the differences in the new quantity. A change in price would require real time modification to existing rows in the GL_BC_PACKETS table and there is no provision in the software code to do this.

The most efficient and recommended manner for revision of Purchasing Documents is to cancel the Purchase Order line, shipment or even the entire Purchase Order then recreate the Purchase Order with the revised data.

This cancellation does not perform a reversal of funds, but it does a corresponding debit to the respective accounts to nullify the encumbrance.

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Q11. If I go to cancel an encumbered/reserved purchasing document and the period in which it was created is closed, I cannot cancel the line or document due to the closed period?

A: There are software fixes released which place the reversing funds in the next available open Purchasing period.

10.7 - pofdo.lpc 80.28

11.0 - pofbd.lpc 110.13
pofin.lpc 110.5

This has been fixed in 11i.

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Q12. I click on the Approve button for a Purchase Order and the reserved check box in the approval window is already enabled as default.

A: This issue is addressed in bug 1535050. Fix will be available in Purchasing Patchset H for Release 11.

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Q13. I am using encumbrance accounting and when I forward a Purchase Order for approval, I am encountering the following error: APP-14166: Please enter a forward to employee or funds are not reserved.

A: You must check the Reserve Funds check box when forwarding and/or approving a Purchase Order if you are using encumbrance. You can check to see if you are using encumbrance in Purchasing by doing the following:

1. Setup/Organizations/Financial Options
2. Change the Alternate Region to Encumbrance and see if the Use PO Encumbrance check box is checked.
3. Refer Note 1064155.6 for more details.

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Q14. I am trying to approve the Purchase Order and get the following error: "This record cannot be reserved for update. It has already been reserved by another user".

A: This is resolved In file version POXAPAPC.pld 110.37 (758079). This fix moves the document submission check from document approval manager to client side.

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Q15. Blanket Purchase Agreement have "Reserved" box checked on the purchase order lines. I am not using encumbrance accounting.

A: This issue is Fixed file POXPOEPO.fmb ver 110.88 and also in Release 11i (889797).

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Q16. I reserve a requisition with 2 distributions - the 1st distribution succeeds but fails for the 2nd distribution. Distributions quantities for both distributions are changed and re-reserved but the reserved amount for the 1st distribution is not changed (and is wrong compared to the quantity on the distribution).

A: This issue has been fixed in the following file versions:
10.7 fixed in POXRQLNS.pld 916.68 Purchasing Patchset P-1618264
11.0 fixed in POXRQLNS.pld 110.65 Purchasing Patchset G-1525417
11.5 fixed in POXRQLNS.pld 115.53 - (Internal bug - 1363372)

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Q17. I created a new requisition, then reserved (without approving) the funds are reserved. Then I delete the requisition from the requisition form, which does not un-reserve funds.

A: This issue has been fixed in the following files:

10.7 -- Patchset O (Patch number 1267514)
POXRQRES.pls 80.1
POXRQREB.pls 80.4
po10sc.msg 80.20

11.0 -- Patchset F (Patch number 1330514)
POXRQR1S.pls 110.1
POXRQR1B.pls 110.5
po11.msg 110.25

11.5 -- Fixed in these files
POXRQR1S.pls-115.1
POXRQR1B.pls-115.1
poencmsg.ldt 115.0.

DROP SHIPMENT

FAQ Details
Q1. What is a Drop Ship PO?

A: Oracle Order Management and Oracle Purchasing integrate to provide Drop Shipments. Drop Shipments are orders for items that your supplier ships directly to the customer either because you don't stock or currently don't have the items in inventory, or because it's more cost effective for the supplier to ship the item to the customer directly. Drop Shipment was introduced in R11.

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Q2. How is a Drop Ship PO created?

A: Drop Shipments are created as Sales Orders in Order Management. The Purchase Release concurrent program or workflow in Order Management creates rows in the Requisition Import tables in Purchasing. Then Purchasing's Requisition Import process creates the requisitions. Drop Shipments are marked with the Source Type of External in Order Management and Supplier in Purchasing.

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Q3. What is the setup required for Drop Ship PO?

A: ITEM ATTRIBUTES:
Navigate: Inventory -> Items - > Organization items
Purchased (PO) Enabled
Purchasable (PO) Enabled
Transactable (INV) Enabled
Stockable (INV) Optional
Reservable (INV) Optional
Inventory Item (INV) Optional
Customer Ordered (OM) Enabled
Customer Orders Enabled (OM) Enabled
Internal Ordered (OM) Disabled
Internal Orders Enabled (OM) Disabled
Shippable (OM) Optional
OE Transactable (OM) Enabled
All Drop Ship items must be defined in the organization entered in the profile option OE: Item Validation Organization and in the Receiving Organization.
All Drop Ship sub-inventory must have Reservable box checked. If the sub-inventory is not Reservable the Sales Order issue transaction will not be created in MTL_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE. After Drop Ship inventory organization is created, subinventories should be defined. To create the subinventory, go to an inventory responsibility and navigate to Setup -> Organizations -> Subinventories. Asset subinventories must have the reservable and Asset boxes checked. Expense subinventories must have the Reservable box checked and the Asset box unchecked.
Subinventory Attributes for Asset Subinventory
Reservable/Allow Reservations
Asset Subinventory
Subinventory Attributes for Expense Subinventory
Reservable
Asset-must NOT be enabled.

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Q4. How can we avoid the miscounting of supply as logical organization is involved?

A: You must receive drop-ship items in a logical organization. If you use Oracle master Scheduling/MRP and Oracle Supply Chain Planning, to avoid miscounting supply you may not want to include logical organizations in your planning. If you choose to include logical organizations, ensure that doing so does not cause planning and forecasting complications.

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Q5. If you make changes to a Sales Order after the Purchase Order (PO) has been generated, will the order changes automatically be updated on the PO?

A: Order changes will not be automatically updated on the PO. Pulling up the Discrepancy report will allow you to view the differences between the Sales Order and PO. However, you will have to manually update the POs in the Purchasing application. Please note: Sales Order changes will be automatically updated on the PO if the PO Status is Incomplete or Require Re-approval. If the PO is already approved, you cannot make changes to the Sales Order line (without un-approving the PO).

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Q6. If items on a Drop Ship order are cancelled, does the system automatically generate a PO Change to the PO originally sent to the supplier?

A: No, Drop Ship functionality in this regard remains the same as in R11. There is a discrepancy report available that will report differences between the PO and the Sales Order.

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Q7. Does Order Management 11i have functionality to do serial number management with Drop Shipments?

A: You are able to receive serial numbered Drop Ship stock. Order Management will receive the serial number noted on the PO.

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Q8. Can Configurable Items be Drop Shipped?

A: Currently only Standard Items can be Drop Shipped. Functionality for Configurable Items will be added in future releases.

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Q9. How do I Drop Ship across operating units?

A: Release 11i does not currently support this functionality.

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Q10. How are over/under shipments handled in Drop Shipment?

A: If part of a drop-ship line ships, and you do not wish to fulfill the remaining quantity, cancel the line. Over shipments must also be handled manually. If the supplier ships more than the ordered quantity, you can bill your customer for the additional quantity or request that they return the item. Use the Drop Ship Order Discrepancy Report to view differences between your drop-ship Sales Orders and their associated purchase requisitions and orders.

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Q11. Will Blanket PO's work with Drop Shipment?

A: Blanket PO's will not work with Drop Shipment because the PO must be created when OM notifies PO that a Drop Ship order has been created. This PO is linked to the Drop Ship order so that when the receipt is done (partial or complete) .OM is updated to receiving interface eligible. Drop Ship lines do not use the pick release, ship confirm or inv interface order cycles.

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Q12. Is it possible to create releases based on drop shipment orders for the items in the blanket agreement when a valid Blanket PO is created ?

A: Yes, it is possible to create releases from drop ship orders automatically or via Autocreate window, if the drop ship Requisition has the correct Blanket Information (Source)

1.Set up the ASL entry for the supplier site desired.
2.Depending on the hierachy determine which assignment better suits and define sourcing rule according to the required level with the required supplier,site.
Also ensure that ASL entry exists for the above supplier/site.
For automatic sourcing to be done also set profile 'PO:Allow Automatic Sourcing' to Yes so that the source document will be determined automatically depending on the creation dates and the type of the document.

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Q13. Can we cancel Drop Shipment after it is received?

A: Drop Shipments cannot be cancelled once Oracle Purchasing obtains the receipt. A user who wants to cancel a Drop Ship Sales Order line must ensure no receipts have been created against the line and that the requisition and/or Purchase Order associated with the line is cancelled. Cancellation of a Partial Drop Ship receipt is allowable. But only the portion that has not been received can be cancelled. If you cancel a Drop Shipment line for which you have not shipped the entire quantity, the order processing splits the line. The first line contains the quantity shipped and the second line contains the non-shipped quantity in backorder. You can cancel the second line the backorder on the Sales Order. The PO line quantity should be changed to reflect the new quantity.

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Q14. What debugging tools are available for Drop Shipments?

A: 1. Note 133464.1 contains a diagnostic script that can be used for troubleshooting problems with Sales Orders.
2. Debugging receipt transaction or the Sales Order issue transaction, Set the following profile options:
RCV: Processing Mode to Immediate or Batch
RCV: Debug Mode to Yes
OM: Debug Level to 5
INV: Debug Trace to Yes
INV: Debug level to 10
TP: INV Transaction processing mode to Background
-Then go to Sys Admin: Concurrent: Program: Define; query up the Receiving Transaction Processor and check the Enable Trace box.
-Save the receipt for the deliver transaction (destination type will say Inventory for the deliver transaction).
-View the Receiving Transaction Processor log file, the Inventory Transaction Worker log file, as well as, the trace for the errors.

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Q15. What is the Import source and status of PO generated from Drop Shipment?

A: Import source is Order Entry.
Status of PO will always be Approved.