Oracle Apps Order Management - Overview of Defaulting Rules

Overview

Order Management Defaulting Rules reduce the amount of data input required when entering orders or returns. You can define business rules for defaulting values, and prioritize how conditions and validation rules are implemented. If a defaulting rule definition fails to default desired values for orders or returns, you can choose to define additional defaulting rules for most attributes (fields) within Entities such as Order or Line.

Order Management provides seeded defaulting rules, and you can create additional Defaulting Rules by either

defining a new defaulting rule, either with a new Condition you create or using an existing Condition.
disabling a seeded defaulting rule and creating your own. You can not change seeded defaulting rules but you can disable the defaulting rule's condition.

Note: You cannot update defaulting rules marked as seeded. However, you can create additional rules based upon seeded rule definitions and consequently disable the seeded rule.

You can use defaulting rules to default values into fields (attributes) in both the Header and Lines Entities

Entities include groups of related attributes such as Order or Line.
Attributes are the individual fields within a particular entity, such as Warehouse, Ship To Location, or Agreement.

A default is a value that Order Management automatically places in an order or line field.

If the Attribute name is the same on both the Order and the Line, you can initially default the value from the Header to the Line.

For example, you can default Purchase Order at the Header to Purchase Order at the Line when you first create a PO number.

Note: The initial value will default, but if you change the PO the new value will not default automatically from the header to the line.

You can also default the value of an attribute from another attribute within the same entity. For example, you could default Promise Date on the Line from Request Date within the Line Entity.

A defaulting condition is evaluated at run time to select the appropriate default source assignments for all the object attributes. You can define defaulting conditions that control defaulting of object attributes of an object (data object) in given mode of functionality. For example, you may have set up a condition for defaulting to occur one way if the Payment Terms are A, and another way if the Payment Terms are B.

Defaulting conditions created for an Entity must be based on attributes within that Entity. For example, within the Lines Entity, you cannot use the attribute Order Type because Order Type is a attribute within the Header Entity.

A defaulting rule includes the following components:

Defaulting Source/Value (Entity and Attribute, Source Type)
Defaulting Condition
Precedence of Defaulting Condition (if multiple defaulting conditions exist, precedence determines the condition to use)
Sequence (in what order is the rule applied if multiple rules exist)
Source Type and Defaulting Source/Value: (how the attribute value is derived

Defaulting Rules

You can define several different rules to use in different order processing situations.

Sequence of Initial Attribute Defaulting

When attributes have equal sequence numbers, defaulting takes place alphabetically. You can change these sequences, if you need defaulting to happen in some different order. For example, you might define a sourcing rule that says default attribute A on the line from attribute B on the same line. In this case, you need to ensure that the Attribute B is defaulted before A is defaulted, or the rule may not work as you expect.

Alternatively, attribute A can be set up to be dependent on Attribute B. Refer to 'Dependencies' section for further details on how to set this up.

Defaulting Rule Sequences

Specify the priority sequence in which you want to search for a field's defaulting value. Order Management looks at the lowest sequence number initially to begin searching for a default value, and continues to the next highest sequence number until it finds a value. For example, if your first and second sources are null, but your third source contains a value, Order Management uses your third source as the source.

Defaulting Sources

A defaulting rule source is the location from which you obtain a defaulting value; usually the location is another entity and attribute. For most attributes, you can assign at least one entity/attribute defaulting source, in addition to using other defaulting sources.

Defaulting Sources include:

Same Record
Related Record
System Variable
Constant Value
Profile Option
PL/SQL API.

For example, you may want to define a rule to default the Price List to the order header based upon a variety of different sources. Potential defaulting sources include customer agreement, customer, and order type; the potential attribute for all three of these entities would be Price List. You can choose any of the three source entities. Your choice may depend on your business practices, whether those sources exist for a particular order, and whether those sources have a price list defined for them. For the customer, you may have defined separate price lists for the Bill To and Ship To addresses in addition to the customer itself. All three of these fields are available as sources.

Examples of Defaulting Sources

Profile Option

The profile option source enables you to use a profile option, either system- or user-defined, as a default value source. You must indicate the name of the profile option to be used as the default value in your rule. Profile options sources enable for flexible default value tailoring without complex customizations.

Note: If you intend to use a profile option as a defaulting source, be certain that it is defined before attempting to reference it in a defaulting rule.

Constant Value

The constant value source option enables you to specify a constant value instead of a field that contains a value. This is especially useful if you want your default to be the same value or to be used if no other sources you have defined for your rule can provide a value.

For example, if all items in your organization are sold with the unit of measure Each, you could define a defaulting rule to default the value of Each for the Unit of Measure attribute within the Order Line entity.

System Variable

This system variable source option enables you to default system variables or functions of system variables for a field. This is commonly used to default date fields where SYSDATE expression or functions on SYSDATE can be used to default the current date or a function of the current date.

For example if the policy of your organization is to ship all items on the next day, you can setup the Request Date defaulting rule with System Variable as sysdate + 1.

Same Record

Using same record as a source, you can default an attribute from another attribute on the same entity record.

For example a common requirement is to compute tax for an order line based on the scheduled ship date for that line. Set up a defaulting rule for tax date with Same Record source and Source Attribute as Schedule Ship Date.

Related Record

The Relates Record is one of the most frequently used defaulting sources. Defaults for certain attributes can be setup when defining related object records such as Customer, Ship To, Bill To and Item.

For each attribute that you can use as a default, related record source objects/ source attributes are pre-defined in the system.

For example Order Type can be defaulted from its value on the related objects: Customer, Invoice To, or Ship To. The source attribute in each case would be Order Type.

PL/SQL API

If you have a complex defaulting rule that cannot be defined using any other defaulting source, you can use the API source. Your logic to derive default values can be coded into your custom PL/SQL API, enabling you to reference you API within a defaulting rule.

See: Defining Defaulting Rules.

Dependencies

Some attributes are dependent upon the value of other attributes on the same record. Dependencies can be established only among attributes on the same entity, not across entities. The list of available Source Attribute and Dependent attributes is pre-defined; most attributes are available but some are not.

If an attribute is changed, either by the user or by the system, any attributes that are dependent on it will be cleared and then re-defaulted.

For example, the Freight Terms for the Header Entity is dependent on Agreement. If the Header Agreement is changed, the Freight Terms for the Header entity will be cleared and re-defaulted.

Note: Since the initial release of Oracle Order Management, functionality for Defaulting Rules has been slightly modified. Previous versions of Order Management allowed a change for certain attributes such that if re-defaulting did not determine a default for the dependent attribute, the previous value would be retained instead of clearing the value. Attributes affected are:

price list
salesperson
customer po number
order type.

For example, the Salesperson for the Header Entity is dependent on Customer. If the Header Customer is changed, the Salesperson for the Header entity will be cleared and re-applied. However, the new Customer does not have a value for Salesperson, the old value is retained instead of clearing the existing value.

The new functionality surrounding defaulting is available and part of the core Order Management application beginning with the release of Order Management Family Pack F.

 If you create a rule for attribute X based on a condition using attribute Y, ensure that attribute Y is defaulted (not manually entered) before attribute X. Please note that if you manually enter Y and want to default X based upon the current value of Y, you will need to define a dependency where the source attribute is Y and the dependent attribute is X.

For example, if you define a Condition for defaulting the Unit of Measure by using the Customer, ensure that Customer is defaulted before the UOM. If you were to enter the Customer and you want Unit of Measure to re-default based on this new Customer value, you must define a dependency for Unit of Measure on Customer.

If you wish to create additional dependencies or disable existing dependencies, you can code a simple customization in the dependencies API

For additional details on dependencies and usage of the APIs within Defaulting Rules, refer to the Order Management white paper "Defaulting Rules Setup" on Oracle MetaLink, http://www.oracle.com/support/metalink/.

Effects of Modifications to Orders and Rules

Modifications to orders may cause Order Management to re-apply defaulting values from your defaulting rules. This reapplication of defaults also may lead to changes that trigger another default.

If re-application changes a value and results in inconsistent information on the order, Order Management prevents users from committing the order and provides messages to assist in correcting the data. For example, depending on the defaulting rules, changing the line type on the order line could change the price list on the line. If the line items are not in the new price list, Order Management prevents you from committing the order and issues instructions.

Modifications to defaulting rules take effect for any new orders that use the modified defaulting rules when you open the Sales Order Header or Lines windows or if you update an attribute (field) on an order. If you do not or query an order or make a change to an existing order that uses the modified defaulting rules, thus activating validations for defaulting, then the order is not affected by the modification.

During order and line defaulting, Order Management does not replicate the value of defaulted attributes to all common lower level entities (cascading) when performing updates to existing orders. If you want to change the value of lower level entities for defaulting attributes on existing order or line records, you should utilize Mass Change functionality.

For example, assume you have a defaulting rule set up to default the line-level attribute Ship Method from the order header to all order line. You create an order using Ship Method A, then add several lines. Since you are using Ship Method A for the order header, each subsequent order line created will use the default, Ship Method A. Now, you decide to change the Ship Method for the order header to Ship Method B.

Changing this attribute at the order header will result in any subsequent new order lines created to use Ship Method B as a default. Existing order lines that have Ship Method A are not updated to Ship Method B as a result of your changing the header attribute.
Use mass change to update order lines to Ship Method B.

Generating Defaulting Packages for Rules and Conditions

To generate or update defaulting rules or defaulting conditions, you must submit the Defaulting Generator concurrent program. When you submit the Defaulting Generator concurrent program, a defaulting handler package is generated for each attribute on each entity. The creation of new rules or conditions, as well as modified rules and conditions are not effective until the defaulting package for the attribute is successfully generated.

The concurrent program must be submitted if you perform either of the following:

Update an existing defaulting rule.
Update a defaulting condition: When validation rules for a defaulting condition are updated, defaulting packages need to be re-generated for all attributes of the entity.
Disable a defaulting condition.

Defining Defaulting Rules

You can create and modify defaulting rules to improve the efficiency and accuracy with which you enter orders. You can define the rules to determine the source and prioritization for defaulting order information to reduce the amount of information you must enter manually in the Sales Orders window. For most fields, you can assign one or more defaulting sources in a priority sequence, or, if the default is always the same, you can define a constant value.

Updates to defaulting rules take effect once the Defaulting Generator concurrent program has been submitted for the application and entity combination modified and the program successfully completes for the entity combination modified. Existing orders are only affected by updates to defaulting rules if you update an attribute on an order that was included in the modified defaulting rule. If you do not perform a change to an existing order that uses the modified defaulting rules, thus activating validation of defaulting, the order is not affected by the modification.

Note: Seeded defaulting rules can be disabled, but not modified. If you wish to modify a seeded defaulting rule, disable the seeded defaulting rule condition, and then create a copy of the seeded defaulting rule and include your changes in the copied defaulting rule.

To query entities and attributes:

Navigate to the Defaulting Setup - Entity Attributes window.

The Defaulting Setup - Entity Attributes window displays.

Entity Region

Application--The Application field displays the application context for the entity displayed. For Oracle Order Management, the value is "Oracle Order Management". This field is non updateable.

Entity--The Entity field displays the name of the object for which defaulting rules and conditions are being defined such as the order line. For Order Management you have the following options:

Order Header
Order Line

Attribute Region

The Attributes Region displays all the entity attributes for which defaulting rules can be defined. You are currently NOT allowed to enter new records here.

The Defaulting Sequence field enables a user to assign the sequence (priority) number in which this attribute should be defaulted.

Note: Attribute with identical sequence numbers are defaulted in alphabetical order. e.g. If the order type has a sequence number of 1 and the price list has a sequence number of 1, then the order type defaults before the price list.

The Attribute field stores the name of available attributes. Values are currently defaulted based upon the entity selected.

The Include in Building Defaulting Conditions check box indicates whether an attribute can be used in defining conditions for the entity selected.

Note: The Include in Building Defaulting Conditions checkbox is for display purposes only, and is non-updateable.

Save your work.

The Defaulting Condition Templates button enables you to define defaulting template and conditions for the application\entity combination displayed on the defaulting rules setup window. Selecting this button will take you to the Defaulting Condition Validation Templates window.

The Defaulting Rules button enables users to define defaulting rules for the attribute selected. Selecting this button will take you to the Attribute Defaulting Rules window. For more information on defining or updating defaulting sourcing rules, see the Define Defaulting Rules section.

Select the Defaulting Condition Templates button to define the defaulting condition for this entity.

Note: The template that appears after selecting the Default Condition Template button is based upon current values displayed in the Application and Entity field on the Defaulting Step screen.

To define Defaulting Condition Templates:

Navigate to the Defaulting Conditions Validation Templates window.

The Defaulting Condition Validation Templates window displays.

Defaulting conditions enable you to define conditions that can be used to dictate how and when an attribute is sourced and defaulted. Select an existing condition name if you wish to update the associated validation rules or add a new condition name with associated validation rules.

In the Description field, enter a brief description of the condition.

Note: A generic condition of Always is seeded for each entity. Use this condition to define generic defaulting rules

The Seeded check box will be checked for seeded conditions. This field is protected against update. You cannot update seeded conditions or validation rules associated with seeded conditions; however, you can disable seeded conditions and create your own.

In the Validation Rules Region, enter the validation rules based on the attribute values of the above entity. For example, standard orders could have the order type Standard. Order type = Standard.

In the Group Number field:

For conditions that should together evaluate to TRUE (AND conditions), enter the same group number.
For conditions that should together evaluate to OR (OR conditions), enter a different number for each record.

Select the Attribute name, such as Order Type.

Select the validation operation: Select from:

(>) Greater Than
(<) Less Than
(>=) Greater than or Equal to
(<=) Less than or Equal to
(=) Equal
(!=) Not Equal

Enter the Value String of the attribute that you want to validate against.

Navigate to the Defaulting Setup - Entity Attributes window.

The Attribute name displays in the Attribute field. Descriptive Flexfield attributes will not be displayed.

Save your work.

Select the Defaulting Rules button to define your defaulting rules.

To define defaulting rules:

Navigate to the Attribute Defaulting Rules window.

The Attribute Defaulting Rules window displays.

Defaulting Conditions Region

Enter a value in the Precedence field to determine the precedence when resolving multiple TRUE defaulting conditions.

Note: If more than one defaulting condition is valid, the conflict is resolved by internally ranking conditions using the Precedence value. For example, defaulting condition Standard Order has a precedence value of two and Copied Order has a precedence value of one. If an order is standard and a copied order, then the defaulting condition with higher priority, Copied Order, is used initially. If your conditions for Copy Order do not return a default, conditions for Standard Order will be evaluated.

Select a Defaulting Condition from the List of Values and then enter the defaulting rules to be used if this defaulting condition is TRUE.

Note: The Always condition should be the last in this sequence as it would always evaluate to True and no other defaulting conditions would be evaluated.

Select the Enable check box if you wish to enable the defaulting condition. If this check box is not selected, the defaulting condition is disabled and the rules and condition associated with this condition are not used in default possessing.

The check box for the field Seeded cannot be updated. This value is seeded by Order Management. For seeded Order Management defaulting conditions, you are unable to update or delete any fields except:

the Precedence field on the defaulting rule condition and
the Enable check box. You can disable seeded Order Management defaulting rules.

Default Sourcing Rules Region

Select the priority Sequence in which you want to retrieve the default for this attribute.

The defaulting process searches for a default for your attribute by evaluating defaulting rules in ascending order.

Select the defaulting source type. The defaulting source type determines data entry in the Default Source/Value field.

Based on the default source type selected, either select the default sources or enter default values in the Default Source/Value field.

The table below describes Order Management Source Types and the appropriate action required by a user.

Source Type	Action required
Constant Value	Enter the default constant value.
Profile Option	Select the profile option from where you want to retrieve the default value.
Same Record	Select the attribute on the same record from where you want to retrieve the default value.
Related Record	Object--Select the related object.Attribute--Select the attribute on the related object from where you want to retrieve the default value.
System Variable	Expression--Enter the system expression to be evaluated to obtain the default value. (E.g. System Date.)
PL/SQL API	You can write a custom API to obtain a default value if the value cannot be obtained using other source types such as, the default order number from a sequence.Package--Enter the PL/SQL package name.Function--Enter the function name.Object--Optionally, enter the name of an object to be passed to this API.Attribute--Optionally, you can also enter the name of an attribute to be passed to this API. (See the PL/SQL API Procedure below.)

Save your work.

Caution

If defaulting rules or conditions are updated, the Defaulting Generator concurrent program must be run to generate new defaulting packages.

If you update an existing defaulting rule or condition from within the Defaulting Rules window and the update is saved, a pop up window will display a note reminding you to submit the Defaulting Generator concurrent program.
Choose to submit the program by selecting Defaulting Generator from the Tools menu while within the Defaulting Rules window, or from the Order Management SRS window.
To generate the Defaulting Generator concurrent program for an Entity, you must go to the Requests form and select your entity. This will happen rarely in a production environment, but when necessary, it is recommended that all users briefly log off the system while the entity package is being re-generated. Otherwise, you may encounter record locking constraints, and the defaulting package may not generate successfully. It is unlikely that users will need to log off the system when a package is being re-generated for an attribute only.

You may execute the Defaulting Generator concurrent program while users are still on the system, although the defaulting package may not generate successfully. This can be due to the package currently being called by other users who are processing orders on the system. Common errors within the output log file for this concurrent program may contain text that a time-out occurred while waiting to lock object.

If defaulting packages do not generate successfully, you must choose to run the program at a later time, or to have users briefly log off the system while defaulting packages are regenerated.

Defaulting Rule Example

Here is an example of a defaulting rule that you can define so that a specific Price List will default to the Sales Order Header window. You may also define a sequence (priority) in which you want Order Management to search for a Price List.

The default sequence can also be complex. For example

Look on an Agreement for a Price List, followed by the Invoice To Location, then the Ship To Location, then the Customer, and finally, the Order Type. If Order Management still does not find a price list for any of the source locations listed (Invoice-To, Ship To, Customer, Order Type), you can have a Constant Value default, such as 1998 USA Prices, which you enter in the Value field of the Attribute Defaulting Rules window.

The table below corresponds to the example stated above.

Sequence	Defaulting Sources	Source Field or Value
1	Related Record	Agreement.Price List
2	Related Record	Invoice To Location.Price List
3	Related Record	Ship To Location.Price List
4	Related Record	Customer.Price List
5	Related Record	Order Type.Price List
6	Constant Value	1998 USA Prices

Suggestion: Oracle Order Management does not recommend that you define any overly complex or recurring defaulting rules.

PL/SQL API Procedure

The signature of the PL/SQL API is:

function function_name (p_database_object_name VARCHAR2,

p_attribute_codeVARCHAR2)

return VARCHAR2

Note: Within this function if you need to access other attributes on the entity, then you can use the global entity record that is cached by defaulting: ONT_<Entity Code>_Def_Hdlr.g_record and the datatype for this record is <Database Object Name>%Rowtype.

The table below describes Order Management entities, their associated entity code, and the database object called when the entity is processed within an Order Management.

Entity	Entity Code	Database Object
Order Header	HEADER	OE_AK_ORDER_HEADERS_V
Order Line	LINE	OE_AK_ORDER_LINES_V

For example:

Function to default order number from a sequence based on the order type:

Function Get_Order_Number(p_database_object_name IN VARCHAR2,

p_attribute_code IN VARCHAR2)

return varchar2

l_header_rec OE_AK_ORDER_HEADERS_V%ROWTYPE;

BEGIN

-- Getting the defaulting global record

l_header_rec: <= ONT_Header_Def_Hdlr.g_record;

-- for internal orders, use this sequence but for all other order types use the -- sequence for STANDARD orders.

if l_header_rec.order_type_id = 1 then

return to_char(OE_INTERNAL_ORDERS_S.nextval);

else

return to_char(OE_STANDARD_ORDERS_S.nextval);

end if;

END;

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