Oracle EBS: Key Flexfield Segment Value Set

The basic definition of a Value Set (VS) is the “Validation of values” for a particular segment. Now if I further simplify Validation it means the type of value a segment can have.

For Example: Take an example of Multinational Company (MNC) say SydWerkz International having multiple branches in different countries. Now if SydWerkz decides to implement Oracle EBS Financials then the COA structure would definately have a Branch Segment. The heirarchy of the branches decided by SydWerkz International was

• Continent(1)
  • Country(2)
    • City(3)
      • Branch(2)

The number written in front of each branch category is the character length. For example Country has a character length of 2, which means there can be 100 countries or at least 99 countries. The total charachter length of Branch segment will be 8 and code of the branch segment will be 10000000.

Now if we list down the above mentioned categories with the code, it will be

Regions:

1- Asia

2-Europe

Country:

01-Pakistan

01-Germany

02-India

City:

001-Karachi

001-Mumbai

Branch:

01-Branch A

02-Branch B

See the beauty of the heirarchy this code character will have:

10000000 – Asia

10100000 – Pakistan

10100100 – Karachi

10100102 – Branch B

20000000 – Europe

20100000 – Germany

So you see that the branch codes are the identifiers of Branch category. You can even identify which code is a parent and which one is the child. If the last two digits of the branch codes are 00 then the code is of City and it is a parent, if the last 5 codes are 0 then the code is of Country and it is a parent.

A branch value set in this case will have a “Char” format and “Numbers Only” Check Box enabled and the length of the Value Set will be 8.

The Button of Usage shows where the selected Value Set is used, in DFF or KFF in which Structure and in which Segment.

Validation can be done on the following attributes

• Type of segment list
  • List of Values: It displays Searching Criteria and Values. Useful if the quantity of value is from 50-500
  • Long List of Values: It only displays the searching criteria. Useful if the quantity of value is from 500 – 10000
  • Pop List: It is a dropdown for the value set. It is useful if the quantity of the value is from 1-15

• Type of Security that applies on that particular segment
  • Hierarchical Security: if applied to parent then child also has the same security rules. Likewise Non-Hierarchical security is applied only to that specific segment value has the security rule.
  • It for restricting segment values among Responsibilities. When you define security rules for any segment then you have to re-compile the COA Structure.
  • To define security you have to specify the segment, first include all the values then exclude the particular value. Save the rule. Assign the rule to particular responsibility.
• Format of the value set
  • Char is used for financial and other values.
  • Date & Time is specific to Purchasing & Order Management.
• Numbers Only: If this option is checked then the value set will only have numbers. To enable Alphabets keep this box uncheck.
• Upper Case Only: Only Capital letters will be allowed.
• Right Justify Zero fill: This option will automatically fill the zero on the right side. For Example if the character length of a value set is 4 and during entering a value, if “65″ is entered, the system will automatically insert 0 on the right and code will become “0065″
• Maximum Size of the value set:The total length of a value.
• Minimum Value: The minimum side of the range.
• Maximum Value: The maximum size of the value. Like in the above example of the Branch Segment, the maximum size can set to 7999999. as there are only 7 continent and cannot exceed this value at the moment.
• Value Validation: This needs more explanation and it will be discussed later. For now the definition of this attribute is “if the value of this segment depends on another segment or the values should be picked from a Table” then this validation defined. Generally we use the following
  • Independent
  • Dependent
  • Table

That’s All :)

Oracle EBS: Key Flexfields

First let’s break the term to define it in more detail. “Key” means important, For Example somebody says General Ledger is the key module in Oracle EBS or he played the key role in winning this game, etc. So “Key” means important. The term “Flexfield” is composed of two words, “Flex” and “Field”, Flex means flexible. Field is self explanatory term and is referring to the input field in any software.

Key Flexfields are used by some modules like for example Oracle General Ledger uses Accounting Flexfields, Oracle Assets uses Location, Category and Asset Key Flexfield, etc. To see which application uses which use the Segment Setup Window. In General Ledger the navigation is

GL>Setup>Financials>Flexfields>Key>Segment

On Application field click (B)Torch and press the initial letter of the application, Like “i” for Inventory.

Now what or how can any field is flexible? Well there are Three types of flexibilities you get from KFF.

1. Every KFF needs segments. The number of segment depends on the requirement. This segment is one form of flexibility. For Example: One organization decides the COA Structure or Accounting Flexfields as Company-Branch-Department-Natural Account. Another organization decides it COA as Company-Branch-Department-Product-Account.
2. Each segment has a value set. This value set is another form of flexibility. Both of these flexibilities are ONE TIME. Once you have decided the segments and value sets of any KFF structure, it is freeze.
3. The third type of Flexibility in KFF is related to Security. You can define multiple security rules on segment values for multiple responsibilities. How? We will find out later.

So this is the flexibility Oracle has in Key Flexfield. Or what I understand from the term key flexfields.

In General Ledger Segment provides the flexibility to define particular information to level of details required by the user/organization. Technically, it is column divided into further columns, those further columns are called segments. There can be 30 Segments in General Ledger, each can have 25 character length, but in actual the length supported by the application is of 240 characters.

That’s All :)