What is Report Manager?

In Oracle EBS “report manager” is a product that has been offered to manage your reporting needs.

Report Manager is basically a secure point-in-time report repository offering centralized management and distribution of reports.

There are different levels of access that you can assign to reports that are generated by the Report Manager.

You can tie these access rights to your department assignments, to employees, or can build your own.

The report manager reports are stored in the database and can be published to a wider audience. The good is that you can manage access/availability to multiple groups of people. This is run as a menu option from the main menu of a specific application (AP, AR, etc.).

Report Manager benefits

• You can access business information from a central site using a standard browser
• You can provide that reports are with proper access
• You can store and distribute ANY type of report or file
• Preview reports prior to mass distribution

R12 Report Manager

The Report Manager seeded functions need to be assigned manually by the System administrators to appropriate responsibilities based on the types of reports a user submits and publishes in their job. For example, a system administrator might assign the Financial Report Template Editor and Financial Report Submission functions to an existing General Ledger responsibility already used for submitting Financial Reports by General Ledger users.

The seeded Report Manager functions are:

• Standard Report Submission
• Security Workbench
• Repository Management
• Financial Report Submission
• Upload File
• Variable Report Submission
• Financial Report Template Editor
• Ad Hoc FSG Submission
• Define Report Set Publishing Options
• Report Set Presentation Options
• Define Request Set Publishing Options
• Request Set Presentation Options

Release 12, ADI & Report Manager

In Applications Release 12, WebADI and Report Manager must be used instead of ADI, as client/server ADI is not supported for that release. Also in Release 12 the WebADI functionality for GL is integrated into the standard GL menu structures. These functions are ‘Launch Journal Wizard’, ‘Launch Budget Wizard’, and the spreadsheet upload of Currency Rates, via ‘Currency Rates Manager’.

When To Use Report Manager(Implementation consideration)

This is very important to understand when offering to customer for this product. Oracle Report Manager you need to:

• Provide a centralized report distribution system for point-in-time reports.
• Submit and publish Financial Statement Generator (FSG), Ad Hoc FSG, Variable Format, and Standard reports to a central repository.
• Present reports in the repository to information consumers via menu items on the Oracle E-Business Suite Home page or portal.
• Approve reports before making them available for general viewing.
• Permit report availability in a future time frame.
• View spreadsheets or PDF files for further analysis.
• Secure reports by utilizing three security paradigms: User to Value, custom, and flex field segment.
• Archive reports for future reference that no longer need to be displayed to report consumers.
• Publish reports that have been submitted as part of request sets or report sets.
• Upload any type of file and publish it to a central repository.
• Reports in the repository can then distributed to the Oracle E-Business Suite home page.

My last two post was on netting , lot of people asked me to provide some more insight view for netting, so this post is meant to walk through ,the concept to someone not very familiar with accounting in real world…so here to go..(adopted)

When trading partners agree to offset their positions or obligations, they are netting. By doing so, they reduce a large number of individual positions or obligations to a smaller number of positions or obligations, and it is on this netted position that the two trading partners settle their outstanding obligations. Besides reducing transaction costs and communication expenses, netting is important because it reduces credit and liquidity risks, and ultimately systemic risk. For a non accounting personal risk can be best understood as :the risk of a trading partner not fulfilling his obligations in full on due date or at any time thereafter is a risk that affects all aspects of business.

Definition of Netting

In this method of reducing credit, settlement and other risks of financial contracts by aggregating (combining) two or more obligations to achieve a reduced net obligation.

• Netting rules a basic part of master agreements.
• Netting rules define precisely the netting of positions or claims between counter parties.

Benefits of Netting

Netting potentially address four major risk in financial area, there are

Types of Netting

Payment Netting

Also called “Settlement Netting” or Also called “Position or Accounting Netting”.

On a payment date, each party will aggregate the amounts of a currency to be delivered by it, and only the difference in the aggregate amounts will be delivered by the party with the larger aggregate obligation.

This can be best understood as:

• Daily settlement or offsetting of several, due claims in the same currency
• Reduction of transaction costs, settlement risk and liquidity risk.
• No impact on credit risk.

Types of Payment Netting Agreements

• Master Agreement with a Payment Netting Clause
• Stand-Alone Payment Netting Agreement
• Informal, “ad hoc” agreement

Novation Netting

If the parties enter into a transaction which gives rise to an obligation for the same value date and in the same currency as an existing obligation, then the two obligations are cancelled and simultaneously replaced with a new obligation for the net amount.

• Settlement of not yet due claims in the same currency and the same maturity.
• Reduction of limit usage and credit risk.

Two Types of Novation Netting:

• Matched Pair Novation Netting
• “Comprehensive” Novation Netting

Matched Pair Novation Netting

Netting only occurs if the two transactions involve the same pair of currencies.

Example1: Matched Pair Novation Netting

Deal 1: Buy JPY / Sell USD
Deal 2: Buy USD / Sell EUR
Deal 3: Buy EUR / Sell JPY

No two deals involve the same currency pair, and therefore no netting under matched pair novation netting.

Example 2: Matched Pair Novation Netting

Example 3: Comprehensive Novation Netting

A Payment Netting vs Novation Netting

• Payment Netting reduces settlement risk, but does achieve netting for balance sheet or regulatory capital purposes because the transactions remain in gross.
• Contrast with Novation Netting, which achieves true netting through the cancellation of offsetting transactions and their replacement with a new, net transaction.

Close-Out Netting

Effective upon a default:

• Existing transactions are terminated
• Termination values are calculated
• Termination values are netted to arrive at a single net amount
• Recourse to credit support, if any

That mean:

• Settlement/offsetting of not yet due claims in different currencies in case of a default event or an early termination event of the contractual relationship.
• All outstanding gross obligations or payments are replaced by a single obligation or payment

Multilateral Netting

Bilateral Netting is between two parties.

Multilateral Netting involves netting among more than two parties, using a clearing-house or central exchange.

 

When it come to party , it may be two party interacting with third party. Th two party may be your other entity in the same instance, which do business internally, what we called Intercompany.

Multilateral netting is a settlement mechanism used by companies to pay for goods and services purchased from affiliated companies. The netting process consolidates
intercompany transactions and calculates settlement requirements internally instead of using external payment systems. Netting is typically used by companies with a number of affiliates in different countries. By netting, these companies reduce bank fees, currency conversion costs, bank balances and improve operating efficiency.

Will take this in some more details in another post.

Requirement Mapping with Existing Oracle EBS Product

Still these two processes are not fully enabled in Oracle EBS suite. Though first type of netting somehow mapped as Contra Charging in post 11i10 releases where as in R12 this functionality can be mapped as part of AP/AR netting, a new feature of R12.

Here is summarize list of the different types of netting and there corresponding netting.

Feel Free to comment or share any information.:)

Similar to Revaluation, there is another term called ‘Translation’ , a feature that linked with Foreign Currency transactions in General Ledger.

Translation

Translation is used to translate an entire set of books or balances for a company from the functional currency to a foreign currency.

This feature can translate both actual and budget balances. If the system have enabled average balance processing then the system can translate average balances as well.

Translation is frequently used to prepare financial reports for consolidation into global financial statements.

Translation uses periodic rates and, optionally, historical rates in compliance with FASB52.

FASB stands for Financial Accounting Standards Board which is a group within the Accounting field that issues bulletins on how to account for various financial events.

How does the system translate balances?

As per Metalink Note 1061166.6, FASB52 states that when translating a Trial Balance from one currency to another, the following conventions should be used:

How does the system translate balances?

Assets and liabilities are translated by multiplying the YTD balance by the Period End Rate.

YTD (translated currency) = Rate X YTD (functional currency)

Whereas,revenue and Expense balances are translated using the PTD balance for each period and the corresponding Period Average rate for each period; therefore, translation must be performed for the first period of the fiscal year forward to the period for which translation is required. Rates must also exist in the Period Rates table back to the first period of the fiscal year in which the translation is being performed.

PTD (translated currency) = Rate X PTD (functional currency)

In the Stock and Ownership Equity accounts, historical rates are generally used. but there are certain other special cases requiring the use of Historical rates.

Point that should be noted is EBS GL allows the use of an amount to be used as the translated balance for the account specified rather than calculating the amount using the Historical Rates. This feature allows the translated balance to be calculated outside of the application in lieu of setting up and maintaining the Historical Rates. Historical Rate usage is set up by specifying a range of accounts to use Historical Rate translation. This set-up overrides the above rules for using the Period End and Period Average rates.

Cumulative Translation Adjustment Account

Since the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss accounts are being translated using different rates, the translated Trial Balance is no longer in balance. The amount required to bring the foreign Trial Balance back in balance is called the Cumulative Translation Adjustment or CTA. This account is specified in the Set of Books set-up screen. The accounts and the amounts in them are created and populated dynamically when the Translation process get completed successfully.

You should note that CTA is typically a Balance Sheet account, the account type is determined when the account value is defined for the account

Some of the underline report for Translation :

• Historical Rates Execution Report : This is used to review the historical rates, mounts or weighted-average rates you assigned to individual accounts or ranges of accounts.
• Translated Trial Balance Report :This is for reviewing account balances and period activity after running translation.
  

..What happen in Oracle when Translation Run?

Translation is very table-space intensive. When this run its roughly doubling one period of data held in the GL_BALANCES table.

Suggested Reading at Metalink

• How Does the Translation Process Calculate the Translated Amounts? Note 188530.1
• DOES ORACLE APPS COMPLY WITH FASB 52? Note:1061166.6

Related Posts in series for “Dealing with Foreign Currency”

1. Dealing with Foreign Currency : “Revaluation”
2. Dealing with Foreign Currency :”Translation”

Do you know many financial reports have been written using Oracle’s Financial Statement Generator in Oracle EBS since very begining. This is one of robust tool that allows us to create reports which meet user defined criteria. Lets take quick overview of FSG and its usage.

What Are Oracle FSGs?

FSG is short form of Financial Statement Generator.

In brief , is a powerful reporting engine that supports interchangeable report objects, server-based processing for high performance, and report scheduling for efficient use of system resources.

A user defined report that allows for the rollup of GL Account Balances (i.e. combinations of accounting segments –GL Code Combinations) into logical groupings for reporting

The FSG allows you to?

• This is End user tool , which enables end business user for financial reporting without any programming
• Most of these reports are oriented toward financial statements
• These are very very easy to use :-)
• Transfer accounting information to a popular spreadsheet if you prefer to use your personal computer for analysis and planning.
• Report on both translated and entered foreign currency amounts.
• Access a wide variety of standard management and accounting reports for the detail information you need, including chart of account listings, journals, general ledgers and trial balances.
• Define the complex financial statements you need to analyse your business,including responsibility reports for business units, profit centres and cost centers.
• The good things is that all these reports run through concurrent manager
• Most important there is no additional setup required
• We can design our reports to meet your business needs
• Design to print directly to MS Excel
• Schedule reports to run directly from the application

“You can’t do what with FSG?”

• Limited flexibility in formatting
• Access GL balances only - no details
• Minimal security

What are the reports which is based out of FSG Reports

• Financials-P&L, Bal Sht, Cash Flow, Rev/Exp detail, cost center detail
• Auditor Schedules - trial balance mapped to financial stmts
• Income tax workpapers
• Partial trial balances
• Income Statement

What are the FSG Component or Structure

• Row Sets
• Column Sets
• Content Sets
• Row Orders
• Display Sets
• Reports
• Report Sets

Row Set

• Description to appear on left hand side
• Define accounting flexfield ranges or summary accounts here
• Define row calculation - total, etc.

What are the Column Set

Column Set Attributes
-The commonly assumed attributes for a column set are:
-Time period (PTD, QTD, YTD, etc)
-Account type (Actual, Budget or Encumbrance)
-These two elements are defined by an Amount Type

What is Column Set: Proforma

Proforma is an accounting term that refers to an annual fiscal amount that is comprised of actual amounts and budget amounts together.

What is a Content Set?

• Content Sets are used to override row/column account assignments and display types to create multiple variations of existing reports
• You can generate many similar reports in a single run by using content sets
• Use to “expand” a range to give multiple values on one report OR separate reports for each value in the range
• Override applied separately to each segment in flexfield

What is a Row Order?

• Row Orders are used to control how detail rows are displayed and/or sorted on a report
• Used with Row Set expand and Content Sets
• Allow user to expand detail of a row
• Can display
  • Segment value
  • Segment description
  • Both
• List alphabetically or numerically

Report Display Group

Report Display Set

• Assign Display Group(s) to your Set i.e. “display column 1, 3, 4”
• Can assign multiple row and/or column groups to one set i.e. “hide column 20”
• For each assignment, can specify whether to display the values on the report (Display = Yes) or (Display = No)

The Rule of Thumb for FSG

One FSG = One row set + one column set + one content set

Underline technology of FSG?? any guess , C, SQL, Java…

Important to know FSG reports are created from a program written in ‘C’ code, not from Oracle Reports, as is the case with standard reports. Many modules and tables are used to create reports based on the definition and component of a particular FSG.

What is FSG (Financial Statement Generator) Controller Program?

The FSG (Financial Statement Generator) Controller runs when you generate an FSG with a content set ‘Type’ set to Parallel. The FSG Controller kicks off the sub requests for the FSG’s that are created with the content set.

What is in Background–The FSG Query

As these report are developed in C, it’s impossible to break the code, but if you do some trace on you will find , the code is based out of GL balances table, addition to the some other tables which keeps the structure on the front end.

here is the hidden query:

SELECT
nvl(bal.PERIOD_TYPE, ”),
nvl(bal.PERIOD_YEAR, -1),
bal.PERIOD_NAME,
nvl(bal.PERIOD_NUM, -1),
nvl(bal.PERIOD_NUM, -1),
bal.ACTUAL_FLAG,
decode(cc.TEMPLATE_ID, NULL, ‘N’, ‘Y’),
nvl(bal.BUDGET_VERSION_ID, -1),
nvl(bal.ENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID, -1),
bal.CURRENCY_CODE,
bal.SET_OF_BOOKS_ID,
nvl(bal.TRANSLATED_FLAG, ”),
nvl(bal.PERIOD_NET_DR, 0) -nvl(bal.PERIOD_NET_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.PERIOD_NET_DR, 0),
nvl(bal.PERIOD_NET_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.QUARTER_TO_DATE_DR,0)-nvl(bal.QUARTER_TO_DATE_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.QUARTER_TO_DATE_DR, 0),
nvl(bal.QUARTER_TO_DATE_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.BEGIN_BALANCE_DR, 0) -nvl(bal.BEGIN_BALANCE_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.BEGIN_BALANCE_DR, 0),
nvl(bal.BEGIN_BALANCE_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.PROJECT_TO_DATE_DR, 0) -nvl(bal.PROJECT_TO_DATE_CR, 0),
nvl(bal.PROJECT_TO_DATE_DR, 0),
nvl(bal.PROJECT_TO_DATE_CR, 0) ,
nvl(SEGMENT1,”),
nvl(SEGMENT2,”),
nvl(SEGMENT3,”),
nvl(SEGMENT4,”),
nvl(SEGMENT5,”),nvl(SEGMENT6,”),nvl(SEGMENT7,”)
FROM GL_BALANCES bal,
GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS cc
WHERE bal.CODE_COMBINATION_ID= cc.CODE_COMBINATION_ID
AND cc.CHART_OF_ACCOUNTS_ID= 118
AND bal.SET_OF_BOOKS_ID= 1
AND nvl(bal.TRANSLATED_FLAG, ‘x’)in(’Y',’N',’x')
AND cc.TEMPLATE_IDis NULL
AND ( (nvl(SEGMENT3,”) >= ‘4001′
AND nvl(SEGMENT3,”) <= ‘5999′)OR (nvl(SEGMENT3,”) >= ‘6020′ AND nvl(SEGMENT3,”) <= ‘6370′) OR (nvl(SEGMENT3,”) >= ‘6390′
AND nvl(SEGMENT3,”) <= ‘7250′)OR (nvl(SEGMENT3,”) >= ‘7510′ AND nvl(SEGMENT3,”) <= ‘9100′) OR (nvl(SEGMENT3, ”) in (’9310′,’9320′)))AND ( (nvl(SEGMENT2,”) >= ‘000′
AND nvl(SEGMENT2,”) <= ‘01′))
AND((bal.period_name in (’Jun-07′,’Jun-07′)
AND ((nvl(bal.period_name,”) = ‘Jun-07′
AND((bal.ACTUAL_FLAG= ‘B’
AND bal.BUDGET_VERSION_ID= 1111
AND(bal.PERIOD_NET_DR!= 0 or bal.PERIOD_NET_CR!= 0))OR((bal.ACTUAL_FLAG= ‘B’
AND bal.BUDGET_VERSION_ID= 1111)OR((bal.ACTUAL_FLAG= ‘A’)) ))) OR(nvl(bal.period_name,”) = ‘Jun-07′
AND((bal.ACTUAL_FLAG= ‘A’)
OR
( (bal.ACTUAL_FLAG = ‘A’
AND (bal.PERIOD_NET_DR != 0 or
bal.PERIOD_NET_CR != 0))))))
) ) < /P > < /P >

The data is loaded into memory, and then sorted according to report format

How do you define a FSG Report?

• Reports are created by specifying a combination of report components (ie Row Set, Column Set, etc). Typically, values specified when defining a report override values specified at the individual component level
• The value entered in the Title field will appear at the top of the report

Where to run FSG Reports:

In Oracle EBS Running FSG Reports can be achieved from 3 different ways:

• Run Financial Reports form
• Concurrent Manager
  • The name of the request is “Program -Run Financial Statement Generator”
• ADI’s Request Center

Few more to know

Online Report Requests
You can request FSG reports on-line using only a few keystrokes. For example, you can choose from a list of report sets or predefined reports that Oracle General Ledger displays in a pop-up window. Or, you can create an ad hoc report by selecting from a list of predefined report components.

Exception Reporting
The Financial Statement Generator Exception Reporting feature allows you to highlight information requiring special attention. You can define the exception criteria and how you want to flag the rows in your report that you want noticed. This makes it easy to choose to display only the exception rows in your reports.

Responsibility Reporting
It is possible to construct one report to serve the summary reporting needs of multiple managers. With Responsibility Reporting you can ensure that each level of management spends time reviewing only the necessary level of detail.

Importing of Asset information into the Oracle Assets module is achieved by the transfer of the following five segments of data:

1. Adjusted current earnings (ACE) information
2. Budget data
3. Mass additions of Assets
4. Production Information which is typically related to depreciation
5. Physical Inventory data.

Each of the procedures are described in detail below.

Budget Data

The budget information can be entered manually, or it can be maintained in another system and the information uploaded using the budget interface. The budget information is prepared and analyzed on any feeder system and then automatically transferred into Oracle Assets. This information can be used to project depreciation expense for the capital budgets and to compare actual and planned capital spending in Oracle Assets.

• Manual Loading of the Budget Data

Manual loading of Budget Data is achieved by the following five step process: Open the Capital Budgets window. Choose the budget Book, asset Category, and general ledger Expense Account for which you want to budget. Enter or update the budget amounts for this period. The budget amount is the amount you plan to spend on new assets in this category in this period for this expense account. Save your work. Review the capital budget for the year using the Budget Report

• Automatic Loading of the Budget Data:

Transfer of Budget information is achieved by transferring the data using a file transfer method. The Budget information from various systems is first copied into an ASCII file which is transferred into the Budget interface file FA_BUDGET_INTERFACE. This file is used to load the Budget data into the Oracle Assets system.

Uploading budgets from other systems (such as a spreadsheet on a personal computer) into Oracle Assets is a five step process. A file transfer program is used to upload the ASCII budget file from any personal computer to the computer where Oracle Assets resides. SQL*Loader is then used to move the budget data into the Budget Interface. The Upload Capital Budget window is used to move the budget into the Budget Worksheet. ‘Delete Existing Budget’ needs to be checked if replacing an existing budget. The Capital Budgets window can be used to review or change the budget. The Capital Budget window is then used to move the budget into a budget book.

ACE Information

Oracle Assets looks at the asset’s financial information in either the Alternate Minimum Tax(AMT) or the federal book to determine new ACE information. If an asset is depreciating in the federal tax book using ACRS, Oracle Assets uses the federal book information. If the asset is depreciating in the federal book using MACRS, Oracle Assets uses the AMT book information. Oracle Assets automatically updates your assets when you run the Update ACE Book program.

For transferring the ACE information from the legacy system, it can either be entered manually, or it can be calculated by the Oracle Assets program. The difference is the process of populating the ACE interface table.

• Automatic population of the ACE conversion table

Manually, create an ACE tax book with ACE depreciation rules. Using the Mass Copy program, the assets are copied into the ACE book from the corporate book. The ACE conversion table (FA_ACE_BOOKS) is populated using the Populate ACE Interface Table program. The Update ACE Book program is then run to update the information in the ACE conversion table.

• Manually Loading the ACE conversion table

Manually, create an ACE tax book with ACE depreciation rules. Using the Mass Copy program , the assets are copied into the ACE book from the corporate book. The ACE conversion table is populated by loading the table manually with the ACE information from the previous system. The Update ACE Book program is then run to update the information in the ACE conversion table.

Mass Addition of Assets

The mass additions process lets the addition of new assets or cost adjustments from other systems to your system automatically without reentering the data. For example, new assets can be added from invoice lines brought over to Oracle Assets from Oracle Payables, or from CIP asset lines sent from Oracle Projects. Oracle Assets is already integrated with Oracle Payables; and it can easily be integrated with other payables systems. The mass additions process can also be used to convert assets from an outside system to Oracle Assets. Assets data can be transferred in one of the following three methods, depending on where the source is located.

• Creating Assets From Oracle Payables

The Create Mass Additions program creates mass additions from invoice information in Oracle Payables. The concurrent process places the new mass additions in a holding area (the table FA_MASS_ADDITIONS) interface tables, so that the mass additions are reviewed and approved, before they become asset additions.

• Creating Asset Additions From Another Payables System

To integrate Oracle Assets with another system, a program is created to add mass additions to the FA_MASS_ADDITIONS table. This new Custom Concurrent process has to be defined and added to the Oracle Assets menu in order to run it, when needed.

• Converting Assets From Other Systems

Oracle Assets allows the conversion of assets data from non-Oracle asset systems by using mass additions. Instead of loading the asset information into multiple Oracle Assets tables, the information is loaded into the FA_MASS_ADDITIONS table and the mass additions process is used to simplify the work.

Production Information

Typically, production information relates to the depreciation of assets in a production environment, where assets are depreciated depending on the number of units produced by the asset.
The production information can be entered manually, or it can be maintained in another system and the information uploaded into the Oracle Assets, using the production interface. Oracle Assets uses the information to calculate the depreciation of the units of production assets.

• Automatic Loading of the Production Information

The automatic loading is achieved in the following 4-step process:

1. An import program or utility is used to export data from the feeder system to populate the FA_PRODUCTION_INTERFACE table.
2. The Upload Production program is run to move the production information into Oracle Assets.
3. The Production History report is run to review the status of all imported items.
4. The Periodic Production window can be used to review or change the production information.

• Manual Loading of the Production Information

The manual entry involves the following tasks: Open the Periodic Production window; Find assets within a corporate Book for which you the production information is being entered; Enter the from and to date and the total Production for an asset; Optionally enter production for multiple non-overlapping date ranges within a single period; Save your work.

Physical Inventory

Physical inventory is the process of ensuring that the assets a company has listed in its production system match the assets it actually has in inventory. A company takes physical inventory by manually looking at all assets to ensure they exist as recorded, are in the appropriate locations, and consist of the recorded number of units. The Physical Inventory feature in Oracle Assets assists in comparing and reconciling your physical inventory data. The physical inventory data can be loaded into Oracle Assets using one of the following methods:

• Importing data from an Excel spreadsheet using ADI

The physical inventory data is entered into an Excel spreadsheet and exported to Oracle Assets using the Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI). ADI is a spreadsheet-based application that allows the user to format data inside a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then upload into Oracle Applications. ADI uses Wizards and Templates to simplify the data entry.

• Entering data in the Physical Inventory Entries window

Data for each asset is entered directly into Oracle Assets using the Physical Inventory Entries window. The limiting factor is that data for only one asset can be entered at a time when using this method

• Importing data from a non-Oracle system using SQL*Loader

SQL Loader is used to import the Physical inventory data in the following way: A single interim table it be used, if possible. Multiple tables may be used if the data exists in multiple tables or files in the system from which data is being loaded. In either case, the data must eventually be placed in a single table, the FA_INV_INTERFACE table. If preferred, data can be loaded directly into the FA_INV_INTERFACE table, but it is more difficult due to the complexity of the table SQL*Loader is used to import information from outside the Oracle database. SQL*Loader accepts a number of input file formats and loads the physical inventory data into the interim table. If the data already resides within an Oracle database, there is no need to use SQL*Loader. The physical inventory information is consolidated in the interim table using SQL*Plus or imported by any other method.

In the Oracle API Availability, here is note for Availability in Oracle cash Management.

Bank Statement

Bank Statements Open Interface: Before reconciliation of transactions against a bank statement, information about the statement needs to be entered into the Cash Management system. If the bank provides this information in a flat file, the open interface is used to load the data. Data is loaded by programs written in SQL loader; one program for each type of file provided. The Oracle interface tables to be populated are CE_STATEMENT_HEADERS_INT_ALL, containing header information about the bank statement, and CE_STATEMENT_LINES_INTERFACE, containing the statement line information. The header file contains one record for every account in the bank statement.
Reconciliation
Receipts and payments originating in non-Oracle systems can be reconciled in the Cash Management system using the Reconciliation open interface. However, the open interface view, CE_999_INTERFACE_ V, and open interface package, CE_999_PKG, provided by Oracle, need to be customized first. The Cash Management program automatically retrieves the necessary information from the open interface view for matching statement lines. (The Reconciliation Open Interface is not run as a separate program.)

Normally, the CE_999_INTERFACE_V is defined as a view to the legacy application’s database, and implemented to show all open interface transactions and their status. The view should include available transactions as well as reconciled transactions to bank statements that have not been purged or archived. The CE_999_PKG needs to be customized to access the non-oracle database, lock all transactions and perform any clearing functions so that the open transactions are in sync in both the Oracle and legacy databases. Once the view and package are modified and complete, the Reconciliation program is ready to be run. The reconciliation can be done automatically or manually, as required.

Auto reconciliation: The auto reconciliation program is used to automatically reconcile any bank statement in Oracle Cash Management, assuming the bank statement has been imported into the Cash Management system (a different version of this program does the import of the bank statement, if required). Once the reconciliation program is run, the auto reconciliation Execution Report is reviewed to identify any reconciliation errors that need to be corrected. This report is produced automatically, or can be run, whenever needed.

Manual reconciliation: Manual reconciliation can be used to reconcile any bank statement, whether imported or entered manually. In addition, new bank statement lines can be created while reconciling transactions, as well as update the reconciliation information for a previously manually-or automatically-reconciled statement

Cash Forecasting
Cash forecasting is a planning tool that helps in anticipating the flow of cash in and out of the business, allowing the projection of cash needs and evaluating the company’s liquidity. The Cash Management Forecasting Open Interface allows the utilization of external sources of data as cash inflow and outflow data for flexible cash forecasting.

Two cash forecast source transaction types, Open Interface Inflow and Open Interface Outflow, allow inclusion of external application transaction sources for cash forecasting. Having two separate source transaction types for external source transactions gives an easy way to indicate whether the transaction source consists of cash receipts (inflow) or disbursements (outflow). The Forecasting Open Interface collects cash flow amounts from the external systems, and the Cash Forecasting module summarizes and calculates the data to be included in the cash forecasts along with other Oracle Applications data.

Understanding the profile options and some parameter is essential for autoinvoice execution. Understanding is especially helpful when trouble shooting is required to figure out why and where the processing has failed for certain data scenarios. Here is some informative information for profile Options and parameter required for autoinvoice.

As we know system setup can be done from system options, which is as below.

 1.Max Memory (in bytes)
  As marked 1 in above picture. This is memory setting for allocating autoinvoice program for validation. It is recommended to set Value to 3,000,000 Bytes.

2.Log File Message Level

This is at 2 in above picture. This is number represents the amount of detail we wish to display Auto Invoice log file.

• Message Level 0
  This will gives the following entries in the log file:
  Product Version, Program Name, Auto Invoice Start Time, AutoInvoice Concurrent request Arguments, Error and Warning Messages, AutoInvoice End Time, auto Invoice logical Steps.
•  Message Level 1
  This gives all of the above entries plus:  Time-Stamped function labels
•  Message Level 2
  This gives you all of the above entries plus:  Sizes of Allocated Arrays, Dynamic SQL Statements, Number of Rows Updated, Inserted and Deleted
•  Message Level 3
    This gives you all of the above entries plus: Method IV SQL Array Values.

3. Purge Interface Tables
This is marked 3 in above picture. If this is checked then

• Purges records that are successfully imported into receivables.

It recommended to avoid getting interface tables filled with data that is no more required

4.AR: Autoinvoice Gather Statistics
Specify whether AutoInvoice process analyzes the interface tables or not

• Null is taken as Yes
• This profile should be set to “Yes” if type of data populated in the interface tables changes

5.Number of Instances
This is for Load Balancing.

• Number of CPU -1
• Maximum allowed 500

6.AR: Maximum Lines per Autoinvoice worker
This is setting for let worker know how many records need to pick. This setting is more important, if you are loading very huge set of data. If any one is doing conversion, it is essential to check this value.

The default value is 100000,But the optimal value should be 10000.

Hope this will give a fair idea who is going to utilize autoinvoice First time.

Why set up is important for transaction flex field in autoinvoice? Does my Autoinvoice get failed if I would not do set up or not passing information for Transaction flex field? Yes, You can’t. The way the auto invoicing works is designed it worked to Uniquely identify for each transaction.

Then what are those Transaction Flex Fields?

Transaction flexfields are descriptive flexfields that AutoInvoice uses to identify transactions and transaction lines. Oracle Receivables lets you determine how you want to build your transaction flexfield structure and what information you want to capture. There are four types of transaction flexfields:

• Line Transaction Flexfield
• Reference Transaction Flexfield
• Link-To Transaction Flexfield
• Invoice Transaction Flexfield

The key point is the Line Transaction Flexfield must be defined if AutoInvoice is being used. The Line Transaction Flexfield can be used to reference and link to other lines because the Line Transaction Flexfield is unique for each transaction line. AutoInvoice always uses the Line Transaction Flexfield structure for both the Link-to and Reference information when importing invoices. It is only necessary to explicitly define the Link-to, Reference, and Invoice Transaction Flexfield structures if this information is to be displayed on a custom window.

You must define both the line-level and header-level Transaction Flexfield. To define the line-level Transaction Flexfield, query ‘Line Transaction Flexfield’ in the Title field of the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window and enter the context and segments associated with this Transaction Flexfield. To define the Transaction Flexfield at the header-level, query ‘Invoice Transaction Flexfield’ and enter the context and segments associated with this Transaction Flexfield. All segments in the line level transaction flexfield that refer to header information must also exist in the header level transaction flexfield. For example if you define a line-level Transaction Flexfield with 4 segments and only the last 2 segments refer to line-level information, define the header Transaction Flexfield using the first two segments.

Where to setup
AR gives you the option of using QuickPicks to display reference information for imported invoices. You can use the System Profile Option AR: Transaction Flexfield QuickPick to select the Transaction Flexfield Segment you want to display in Invoice QuickPicks throughout Oracle Receivables.

Business Case:

Lets say my autoinvoice having two sources,

1.More4Apps - where data is coming from excel based More4apps.
2.PROJECTS INVOICES - for Creating Project invoices.

So to process these, we have set up like this:

If Source is More4Apps then required INTERFACE_LINE_ATTRIBUTE1 till 2 (Fig :2)
If source is PROJECTS INVOICES then required INTERFACE_LINE_ATTRIBUTE1 till 8 (Fig :3)

Fig 2: Setup for Fisrt source as above

Fig 3: Setup for second source as above

What is mean, pretty simple based out of source the respective column should be populated. At the time of validation auto invoice will try to validate first the DFF field, based out of Context Value, The value in context field would be the same which appears while defining. And the process should take the value as reference and create a transaction in the AR.

Lets have something informative for some important reports to reconcile Accounts Payable sub ledger to the General Ledger.

1. Accounts Payable Trial Balance

(Normally this report is run at the end of this period and the prior period. This represents your opening and closing AP Trial Balance)

The closing value per AP control account in this trial Balance should agree to the corresponding Account in the General Ledger Trial Balance.

If it does not, you will need to investigate why.

Run the following reports to assist you in the process:

o Posted Invoices report
o Posted Payments report

The Opening Account Payable Trail Balance (AP TB)

+ The Posted Invoice
- The Posted payments
= The Closing AP TB

The above formula is a key formula in attempting to identify the source of potential problems.

Note that in above:

The Aging Invoice Report Total should equal
The AP Trial Balance Total +
The Total of Swept (Unposted Transactions)

You may wish to perform this reconciliation as a further month end reconciliation check.

2.Invoice Aging Report

This is yet another important report which shows you a complete list of all unpaid invoices on the system irrespective of whether they are due for payment or not, whether they are on hold or not. This report groups invoices by how many days they are over due. The grouping of invoices by age past due is dependent on the Aging bucket selected for the report.

Running the Invoice Aging report is like running any other report. The key points to note are that
1. The report name to choose is “Invoice Aging Report”
2. It is recommended that you use the Standard Aging bucket.

Accounts Payable Trial Balance

The Accounts Payable Trial Balance shows you a complete list of all unpaid invoices on the system that has been transferred to the General Ledger, irrespective of whether they are due for payment or not. This report will assist with the month end reconciliation process.

Apart of the above, these are the additional reports which helps in completing account payable month end close procedure.

a) Invoice on Hold Report

b) This report normally run to identify the invoices with Holds that need releasing.

c) Payables Accounting Entries Report

d) Invoice validation report

 Normally to approve multiple invoices run the “Invoice Validation” request.once this report request runs the payables approval process and produces a report detailing the types and number of holds placed on invoices as a result of this run.

e) Unaccounted Transactions Report

f) Final Payment Register

g) Reconciliation Reports

Lets summarize some important steps that highlight the activity required to perform the month end close in account payable.

• The very first step is to submit and review the Invoice Validation and Invoice on Hold Report.

From the output, determine if there are invoices on hold; Resolve any holds on invoices. Note that depending on the type of hold on an invoice, it may be impossible to transfer the Invoice to the General Ledger.

• Make sure that if you still have any invoices on hold, they are invoices you intend to roll over to the following month. Once you are satisfied with your review, submit the Payables Transfer to General Ledger Program to transfer invoice and payment Accounting information to the General Ledger. This process will auto generate the Payables Accounting Process request. This creates all the accounting entries for Oracle Payables.
• Once your concurrent request get completes and you are satisfied that your journal has been Transferred, you are ready to reconcile your month end numbers. Sweep any unposted invoices to the following month.
• After your reconciliation, close the current period and open the following period.
  For This you should

Navigation > Accounting > Control Payables Periods

• An Accounts Payable Reconciliation is required to record reconciling items when reconciling Accounts Payable to the General Ledger.

The other activity, which involves accounts Payable User/Manager, is responsible for:

• Preparing all journal entries pertaining to Accounts Payable transactions, accrued Accounts Payable, and adjustments for Accounts Payable aging reconciliations
• Posting Accounts Payable transactions to the General Ledger
• Reconciling Accounts Payable accounts to the General Ledger
• Verifying current Accounts Payable aging
• Locating and voiding missing checks
• Correcting account distribution errors.