Quick notes for Dunning Letter in EBS R12.

• The AR Dunning Letters is obsolete in R12.
• The AR Collections Workbench is obsolete in Release 12.
• You will need to install the Oracle Advanced Collections application.
• The basic Collections functionality is available in Oracle Advanced Collections without any extra cost.
  • However, if you wish to use the more complex functionality in the Oracle Advanced Collections, you will need to pay for license cost.
• In R12 Advanced collections, you will now need to run Oracle Advanced Collections Dunning Plans instead.
• To using the Dunning Plan basic functionality you donot requires Oracle Advanced Collections license.
• The Dunning process in R12 Collections is based on Scoring. You can set it up so that a particular score is associated to a Dunning Letter Plan. Then only allow that one customer to get that score.
• Dunning Plans in Advanced Collections replace Dunning Letters in 11i AR , thus dunning Plans will need to be setup.
• Staged Dunning Letters does not exist in R12 Collections rather can be used the Standard Dunning Plans in R12 of Collections. However, for a more complex timing and use of Dunning letters you will want to setup the highly configurable Strategies and send your letters in this manner.
• Customer interactions and correspondence, transaction processing, and dunning activities are consider as basic functionality whereas scoring, collections strategies, enhanced payment and promise processing, automated promise tracking, and automated collector work assignment are consider as advance feature of product.
• In R12, dunning functionality is executed by XML Publisher.
• These are some of seeded template for Dunning in R12.

List of seeded Template (ref:source)

• It is anticipated that Dunning Letters can be delivered via e-mail, fax or print.
• IEX is application code 782 is product code for Advance Collections.
• Dunning Plans include aging bucket parameters for all data levels (customer, account, bill-to, transaction) in Oracle Advanced Collections. That mean A collections manager can configure dunning plans that look at the oldest aged invoice for each customer, along with the score, and have the system send different dunning letters to customers in each aging bucket.This was first Released 11i.IEX.H.
• A migration white paper and migration scripts will be provided to Oracle Receivables Workbench customers moving to Oracle Advanced Collections.

Metalink Reference Note:

• Note 389443.1:Migrating to Oracle Advanced Collections An Overview for Oracle Receivables
• Note:454908.1:Migrating to Oracle Advanced Collections: An Overview for Oracle Receivables Users
• Note:727659.1:How Do You Setup Dunning Plans Now That You’ve Installed R12 Advanced Collections?
• Note:557452.1: What Products need to be Licensed/Installed for Collections to Compile Properly?
• Note:726427.1 :Cannot Print/Email/Fax Dunning Letters in R12, Why?
• Note 289801.1 :About Oracle Advanced Collections Mini-pack 11i.IEX.H

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1 release likely to announced sometime by Sept’08 OOW Event.

The reason ..RCD’s for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 are now available on Metalink. According to Metalink note 561580.1 - this document contains links to the published Release Content Documents for Oracle Applications, E-Business Suite Release 12.1.These RCD communicate information about new or changed(Delta) functionality introduced between Release 12.0.4 and 12.1

There are 15 RCD’s available as listed below:

1. Applications Technology
2. Asset Lifecycle Management
3. Financials
4. Human Resources
5. Logistics
6. Manufacturing
7. Marketing and Sales
8. Master Data Management
9. Order Management & Contracts
10. Procurement
11. Projects
12. Service
13. Supply Chain Planning
14. Aerospace, Defense, and Transportation
15. Financial Services

Lets hope formal announcement for release date would be at Open World in September. Should be guess Product will be avaible by sometime Oct 08.

Metalink Note

• 561580.1: E-Business Suite Release 12.1: Release Content Documents

ISD team of client side was struggling with such requirement.

Scenario :They have two request set name say ‘X’ and request set name ‘Y’.

Their requirement was to make these two incompatible to each. So that when X runs Y should wait for X to complete or vice versa?

This might be very similar requirement for other so thought to bring into post.

Lets understand ….. “INCOMPATIBLE”

So left hand side figure , is what defined in m-w.com

Lets revisit in Oracle Context..

INCOMPATIBLE means: Two incompatible reports or request set are not allowed to run in parallel. Incompatible reports /program can only run sequentially, the first one must terminate before the other is allowed to start.

So, it can happen that a report is pending for a long time, when it is waiting for the incompatible report to finish.

In Oracle Context you have to know that INCOMPATIBLE type may be global or domain . If you choose Domain, the incompatibility is resolved at a domain-specific level. If you choose Global, then this concurrent program will be considered globally incompatible with your concurrent program, regardless of which domain it is running in.Make sense.. Lets take a look how documentation define:

Example of Program Incompatibilities

You can understand like this: Oracle General Ledger’s Posting program,which is used to post journal entries.

If the Posting program’s incompatibility with other concurrent programs were not enforced, other financial reports running simultaneously with the Posting program could contain incorrect account balance information.

Definition of incompatible type “Domain” VS “Global”

If you choose Domain, the incompatibility is resolved at a domain-specific level.

If you choose Global(Fyi..The concept of “Global” incompatibilities was introduced with Patch 2364876), then this concurrent program will be considered globally incompatible with your concurrent program, regardless of which domain it is running in.

You can define a concurrent program to be globally incompatible with another program that is, the two programs cannot be run simultaneously at all; or you can define a concurrent program to be incompatible with another program in a Conflict Domain. Conflict domains are abstract representations of groups of data.

They can correspond to other group identifiers, such as sets of books, or they can be arbitrary.

Concurrent Conflict Domains Concept

As per Oracle system admin user guide, If two programs are defined as incompatible with one another, the data these programs cannot access simultaneously must also be identified.

In other words, to prevent two programs from concurrently accessing or updating the same data, you have to know where, in terms of data, they are incompatible. A Conflict Domain identifies the data where two incompatible programs cannot run simultaneously.

In Oracle Applications, data is stored in database tables that belong to a particular application. Each table may also contain information used to determine what conditions need to be met to access the individual records. These conditions may consist of one or more of the following data groupings:

• Set of books : This is based out of underline profile option i.e..GL_SET_OF_BOOKS
• Multiple Operating units :This is based out of underline profile option MO_OPERATING_UNIT)
• Multiple Orgs :This is based out of underline profile option ie. INV_ORGANIZATION_ID Manufacturing Applications
• HR may use business group as a conflict domain
• Fixed asset may use Fixed asset dep. book(FA)

A conflict domain is an abstract representation of the groupings used to partition your data. There is no limit to the number of domains that can be defined, but excessive domains may hurt performance.

More on Oracle Conflict Domains

A conflict domain is a set of related data stored in one or more ORACLE schemas and linked by grants and synonyms. Do not confuse logical databases with your ORACLE database. The ORACLE database contains all your Oracle Applications data, with each application’s data usually residing in one ORACLE schema. You can think of a logical Defining database as a line drawn around a set of related data for which you wish to define concurrent program incompatibilities. In other words, logical databases determine which concurrent programs cannot run at the same time.Make sense:)

Profile Options as part of standard setup

• Concurrent:Conflicts Domain :This option identifies the domain within which all the incompatibilities between programs has to be resolved.
  The profile can be set at Site, Application, Responsibility and User levels.This can be an operating unit name, a legal entity name, or a set of books name as the domain name. You are allowed to define as many as domains as you need. Since you cannot delete conflicts domains, you should keep the domains to a necessary minimum.

DEFINING CONFLICTS DOMAINS

Navigate to Concurrent > Conflicts Domains

How its Conflict Domains Works with conflict resolution manager

All programs are assigned a conflict domain when they are submitted. If a domain is defined as part of a parameter the concurrent manager will use it to resolve incompatibilities. If the domain is not defined by a parameter the concurrent manager uses the value defined for the profile option Concurrent:Conflicts Domain.

Lastly, if the domain is not provided by a program parameter and the Concurrent:Conflicts Domain profile option has not been defined the ‘Standard’ domain is used. The Standard domain is the default for all requests.

All programs use the Standard conflict domain unless a value is defined for the profile option Concurrent:Conflicts Domain or a conflict domain is defined through a program parameter.

Each request submitted uses parameters which identify the records that it will access.

For programs that are defined with incompatibility rules an additional parameter (conflict domain parameter) is used. The conflict domain may be set automatically based on such variables as a login ID, set of books, or the organization the user is working in. The conflict domain parameter may in some cases be selected in the parameters field of the Submit Requests form. Once the parameter is determined the Conflict Resolution Manager (CRM) uses the domain to ensure that incompatible programs do not run simultaneously in the same domain.

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A typical ERP Deployment for any Global company typical consider as Global, Regional or Local Deployment , which can be best understood as:

• Global ERP -Corporations with common business areas that are seeking to centralize management and standardize business processes across geographies and divisions
• Regional ERP -Corporations that operate in group of regional businesses which need to meet unique requirements of particular markets and comply with statutory or legal requirements
• Local ERP -Corporations with significantly different business areas having significantly different business process requirements

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There are two very distinct features in E-Business Suite Release 12 of AGIS.

1. Automatic Balancing – When a transaction with multiple BSV’s is entered, the Balancing Process automatically generates the correct intracompany or intercompany accounting entries, depending on whether the balancing segments are in the same legal entity or in different legal entities. If the balancing segments values are in the same legal entity (intracompany accounting) the automatic Balancing Process uses Cross-Entity Balancing Rules to generate the balancing accounting entries. You can specify both the Debit Balancing Segment Value and Credit Balancing Segment Value for the balancing relationship; this new dimension allows you to define explicitly the accounts that should be used when any pair of balancing segments values are balanced against each other. If the BSVs are in different legal entities (intercompany accounting) the automatic Balancing Routine uses Intercompany Accounts setup to create the balancing accounting lines. You can setup several intercompany accounts for your intercompany activities, and select one as the default to be used for automatic balancing.
2. Manual Intercompany Transaction entry – entry of intercompany transactions is enhanced . For all requestor(initiator) and recipient organizations, the legal entity information is displayed on each transaction. Intercompany accounting entries are generated automatically based on centralized setup. The requesting organization is able to create a single batch containing multiple recipient transactions across different ledgers, currencies and calendars, which are automatically submitted to all recipients for approval. When a batch is entered with multiple recipients, Oracle AGIS optionally prorates the distribution amounts for each recipient, based on the proportion of the transaction allocated to that recipient.

Balancing : Difference (11i vs R12)

• In 11, balancing journal entries were generated at posting time by the GL posting routine
• In R12, the Balancing Routine (balancing API is called by GL and SLA): Generates balancing accounting entries for subledger journal entries at time accounting is created Generates balancing journal entries at posting time for all other journals.

R12 Balancing API

Balancing API is triggered from Journal Posting process or from Subledger Journal Creation process. Once it is called it creates balancing journal lines automatically based on the setup for the combination of journal source and category.

Balancing has 3 elements :

1. The Balancing API
2. Intracompany Balancing Rules (Navigation: Setup->Financials->Accounting Setup Manager->Accounting Setups)
3. Intercompany Accounts

The Intracompany Balancing Rules and Intercompany Accounts are used by the Balancing API to generate accounting lines for transactions that include multiple balancing segment values.

The Balancing API is called from the General Ledger at posting time for GL Journals, and from the Subledger Accounting Architecture during the accounting process for subledger transactions. Transactions originating in Payables and Receivables will be balanced using the Balancing API when SLA performs the accounting for them.

Technical Interest

Following two tables involved

1. FUN_BALANCE_OPTIONS
   This table stores the ledger, journal source and category information for which the Intracompany balancing rules have been defined. These rules are used by the Intercompany Balancing API to balancing Intracompany journals. This table also gives the clearing balancing value option selected for a particular source and category.
2. FUN_BALANCE_ACCOUNTS
   This stores the intracompany accounts defined between each trading and transacting balancing segment value. These accounts are used by the Intercompany Balancing API to balancing Intracompany journals

• The table FUN_BALANCE_OPTIONS and the table FUN_BALANCE_ACCOUNTS are linked by a Template_id.
• The posting program uses the package FUN_BAL_UTILS_GRP while creating the intracompany lines.The pls files for the package FUN_BAL_UTILS_GRP are fungbalutilb.pls and fungbalutils.pls. File location would be at $FUN_TOP/patch/<version>/sql.

Similar Post

• R12 AGIS : What makes “Advanced” - Part II (0)
• R12 “AGIS” : What makes “Advanced”
• Defining Intracompany Balancing Rules From Dave Blog.

Metalink Note

• 604441.1 :AGIS Setting Up Intracompany And Intercompany Accounting - An Example

A reader query from Sreekanth Allamudi

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Adding a New Operating Unit with LE , here are the steps you need to perform.

Prerequisite:

1. Finalize the your organizational structure
2. Finalize your COA Structure
3. Finalize SOB criterion which depends on 3 C (Calendar , Chart of account and Currency)

A Note for your COA and LE design

The COA must recognize the real world that the business operates in, and the entities through which its operations are carried out. It must meet the basic requirement that it should provide all financial information by ‘real’ legal entities (as opposed to organizational classifications of business units, divisions etc.). It also allows us to capture information along the dimension by which we hold ourselves out to the real world, and is extremely useful for tax and statutory reporting. The ‘real’ legal entity must be a balancing segment, i.e. it should be possible to extract a self balancing chart of accounts by legal entity. This may not be a requirement for a business division where BS (balance sheet) elements may not be shared and separate information may be required only for the P & L (Profit and Loss) accounts.

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Today is special day in this island, so here is my wish.

Happy 43th Birthday Singapore…. May country grows higher and happier…

Oracle’s EBS delivers a user interface that was designed to increase the productivity of all users. Here are the compiled list of some of the features that user experiences such rich UI functionality who moved from SAP to Oracle Apps.

1. Folders for screen layout in which you can change Prompts, Field Orders, Size etc. Refer this post
2. Top Ten List : User can use the Top Ten List to add personal favorites and most frequently used forms to quickly navigate to them from the Top Ten List on the right side of the screen.
   • The good is that each list is unique to a user and responsibility.
   • To add a form to the Navigation Top Ten List, select a frequently used form in the navigation list (on the left side of the screen).
   • The form name appears in the Top Ten List preceded by a number.
   • To remove a form from the Top Ten List, select the form in the Top Ten List and click the left arrow button
3. Navigator Window : In Oracle a Navigator window will be displayed after a responsibility is selected.User can use this window to navigate to the form that allows you to perform desired business functions. This is the main window that is always displayed during your session.The navigation list is organized in levels. Items that begin with a plus sign (+) can be expanded to further sub-levels until you find the form of interest (no sign will appear). The expand buttons are located on the Navigator window at the left of the screen
4. File Export to Excel :The File - Export option allows you to dump the data you see on the form.check this post
5. Multiple Windows Open at one time : Technically called zoom in Oracle.Since 11i multiple Document Interface, which means that all windows are displayed inside a single window, with a single toolbar and menu attached to that window. So, since the toolbar opens as part of the window, there is no way for the toolbar to get disconnected or “lost”.
6. Workbenches :These are most liked one by key user. These are only menus which carry the whole bunch of functions/submenus.Most of application product does have workbench. If you are new to Oracle you can understand within AR workbench is divided into 3 main sections:
   • Transaction Workbench - Menu: Transactions
   • Receipts Workbench - Menu: Receipts
   • Collections Workbench - Menu: Collections
7. Message and Status Line :The Message Line and the Status Line are shown at the bottom of the window, instead of on the toolbar.
8. Required Fields Highlighted - Fields where input is required have a highlighted background,Fields are color coded to indicate the type of activity allowed:
   • White– Permits data entry
   • Yellow– Requires data entry
   • Grey with Black Text- For display only
   • Blue- Indicates the form is in Query-Enter mode
9. Autofill and Type Ahead
10. Field Level Update/Validation : That you can get without ’save’ or ‘Update’ operations.
11. Drag and Drop: This is feature, in which you can move a column by drag and drop.
12. Graphical Elements : User can get some graphical elements like ‘T’ Accounts, Graphs, Diagrams directly from UI.
13. Attachment
14. Query in all forms : Oracle best feature for user is they can do query is most of the form.
15. Right Mouse click :Clicking the right mouse will open up a menu that offers the cut, copy, and paste features, as well as folders and help.
16. Hot keys :Hot keys can increase user productivity by allowing common operations to be executed from a keyboard shortcut, rather than a menu selection. Hot keys are an effective usability tool, especially for “heads down” mouse-less data entry such as rapid order entry.Experienced Oracle Applications users can access the menu by using a keyboard shortcut or hot key, a specific combination of keystrokes that performs the same function as a corresponding menu item. Oracle Applications assigns many commonly used functions, such as Run Query(Ctrl+F11), Save(Ctrl+S), or Clear Record(F6) to keyboard shortcuts.
17. DFF : Addding a Descriptive Flexfield and Use It
18. Using FIND : If you want to search for records in your current block or window, the simplest way to proceed is to use Find. This will usually display a Find window, in which you can enter the criteria to match, then click the Find button. If any of the fields in the Find window have lists of values associated with them, you can use these to validate your search criteria. Find windows often provide ranges in addition to individual field values (e.g. date or value ranges). However, your search is limited to the fields that have been included in the Find window.

This quick overview of User interface for EBS is designed to provides all kind of end users with a highly productive interface.

Every business runs more efficiently with a database that is well-maintained and up-to-date. With the Merge Customer Utility, you have the ability to easily clean up your existing data and consolidate multiple customer accounts as the need arises. Duplicate activity is eliminated by combining current duplicate accounts into one accurate account.

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