INTERFACES & CONVERSIONS

ABOUT INTERFACES: In Oracle Apps Interfaces are generally tables, which act as a medium to transfer the data from one module to another module or to transfer the data from legacy system into Oracle Applications. There are 352 tables provided by the Oracle Package. Each module has its own Interface Tables. A typical path to transfer the data from Legacy System to Oracle Apps:

What is Interfacing? It is the process of converting the records from one format to another format. The main components of this interfacing are Transfer Program Interface Table and Import Program A] Transfer Program: If the source modules data are implemented in Oracle Applications then the Transfer Programs are integrated with the Package. If the source modules are implemented in external system (i.e. other than Oracle Applications) then we have to develop our own Transfer Programs. Generally these Transfer Programs are developed using PL/SQL, JAVA or SQL Loader. What they do? It maps the columns of source table with the columns of Interface Tables. It performs Row Level and Column Level validations. It transfers the data from Source to the Interface Table.

B] Interface Tables: The Interface tables basically have 4 types of columns. 1. Mandatory Columns. 2. Conditionally Required Columns. 3. Optional Columns. 4. Internal Processing Columns.

Mandatory Columns: These are the main columns which are required in the destination tables (i.e. Oracle Application Module Tables). With the help of mandatory columns only the Import Program will converts the records from source to destination. Conditionally Required Columns: The values for these columns are based on the values of Mandatory columns. For Example: If you are converting foreign currency transactions to INR then it as compulsory to provide conditionally required columns like Currency conversion rate, Conversion Time and Conversion Date. Optional Columns: These are used when a client wanted to transfer some additional information from source to destination. These are based on clients requirement. Internal Processing Columns: Status and Error Message columns are called Internal Processing Columns. These are specific only to Interface Table. These columns are going to be used by the Import Program to update the status and error message, if the record fails its validation while importing from Interface Table to the Destination Table. C] Import Program: For all Interface Tables, Oracle Application Package is going to provide Import Programs. These are generally registered with destination modules. These Import Programs are designed using PL/SQL, JAVA, C, C++, etc. What they do? It maps the columns of the Interface Table with one or more columns in the destination table. It performs row level and column level validation. It imports the data from Interface Table to the Destination tables, if the records validated successfully. It deletes all the successfully validated records from Interface Table. If the record fails its validation then the Import Program will update the status and error message columns of Interface Table.

What are Interfaces? Interfaces are used in Oracle Applications to integrate external systems and Data Conversion. The interfaces are mainly used to either transfer data from Oracle Applications to a flat file or data from legacy system to Oracle Applications. Used extensively at the time of Data Conversion from legacy/ old systems to a fresh implementation of Oracle Applications. Used also at regular intervals when data transfer is from other live systems if the systems are not defined in Oracle Applications implementation.

 Oracle provides flexible and flexible tools in the form of Interface programs to import the master and transactional data like Customers, Invoices, and Sales Orders etc from external systems into Oracle Applications. Types of Interfaces There are two major types of Interfaces: Inbound Interface : These interfaces are used to transfer data from external systems to Oracle Applications. Outbound Interface : These interfaces are used to transfer data from Oracle Applications to external systems. Two other distinctions of Interfaces: Open Interface: If the interface logic is provided by Oracle Applications, it is called an Open Interface. Custom Interface: If the interface logic needs to be developed by the implementation team, it is called a Custom Interface. Interface Components

Open Interface Logic First the data from the source application is loaded into a database table (called Interface table). Then the provided validation program logic validates the records whether they are correct or not . If the validation fails, the errors are transferred into another table (called Error Table).

 If the validation succeeds, the correct records are transferred through a process into the destination application table. Components of an Interface a] Source Application: You obtain data from a source application to pass on to a destination application for further processing and/or storage. b] Source Data Issues: Type of file, Size, Frequency of upload, Record Length (Variable or fixed), Delimiter, Datatype for each field, Any unwanted data, Naming convention and uniqueness of file, Location of the file, Access on the file. c] Destination Application: You send data to a destination application so that the application can perform further processing and/or storage. d] Interface Table: For inbound interfaces, the interface table is the intermediary table where the data from your source application temporarily resides until it is validated and processed into the destination application. e] Identifier columns: Uniquely identify rows in the interface table provide foreign key reference to both the source and destination applications. f] Control Columns: Control columns track the status of each row in the interface table, as it is inserted, validated, rejected, processed, and ultimately deleted. WHO columns are also control columns. g] Data Columns: Stores the data that is being converted. Required columns store the minimum information needed by the destination application to successfully process the interface row. h] Derived Columns: Derived columns are created by the destination application from information in the required columns. i] Optional Columns: Optional columns are not necessarily required by the destination application, but can be used by the destination application for additional value-added functionality beyond the basics. j] Error Table: For inbound interfaces, the errors table stores all errors found by the validation and processing functions. In some cases, the errors table is a child of the interface table. This allows each row in the interface table to have many errors, so that you can easily manage multiple errors at once. In other cases, the errors are stored in a column within the interface table, which requires you to fix each error independently. Developing an Interface 1] Identification: Find out if there exists an Open Interface to carry out the functionality. 2] Creation of Pre-Interface table ( staging Table): A table in the format of the data file which can be pruned to load as clean a data into the Interface table. 3] Load data into Pre-Interface table: SQL*LOADER can be used to load the flat file into the pre-interface table.

4] Validate data in the Pre-Interface table: Basic validation of the data loaded into the Pre-Interface table can be carried out like: For checking NULL values in required columns Checking for Foreign Key and Quick Code values. Duplication Validation Business Rule validation 5] Mapping the values: Generated fields in Oracle Applications can be mapped in this step to either default values or sequences. 6] Load data into Interface table: Once the data is as clean as you can get it, the data can be inserted into the Interface table. At such a time, certain columns, which are necessary in Applications but not found in legacy system, need to be populated accordingly like WHO columns. 7] Run the interface program 8] Check for Errors 9] Report on the Interface

AR Invoice Interface The main three steps for AR Invoice Interface are: 1] Put the data into your staging tables. 2] Calls your package to validate the data and load into AR Interface tables (RA_INTERFACE_LINES_ALL & RA_INTERFACE_DISTRIBUTIONS_ALL). 3] Then submits a concurrent request for AutoInvoice. If any errors occur it can be found in ra_interface_errors_all table. The concurrent program has 2 stages. First the Master program fires which intern kicks of the Import Program. Once this is completed data is inserted into the following tables. 1) ra_customer_trx_all (Invoice Header Info) 2) ra_customer_trx_lines_all (Invoice Line Level Info) 3) ra_cust_trx_line_gl_dist_all (Accounting Info. One record for each Account Type is inserted into this ex. Receivable Revenue Tax Freight etc) 4) ar_payment_schedules_all (All Payment related info) Validations: Validation are generally done on the below columns. Batch_source_name Set_of_books_id Orig_sys_batch_name orig_system_bill_customer_ref orig_system_bill_address_ref Line_Type Currency_Code Term_name Transaction_type Interface_line_attribute1-7 Account_class Accounting Flexfields segments

1- AR Transaction Type Validation: Check if the Transaction type provided in data file is defined in AR transaction types (RA_CUST_TRX_TYPES_ALL) 2- Transaction Batch Source Validation: Check if the source provided in data file is defined in AR transaction Batch source (RA_BATCH_SOURCES_ALL). 3- Invoice Currency Validation: Check if the currency provided in data file is defined in AR Currency (FND_CURRENCIES). 4- Customer Validation: Check if the Bill to Customer Number, Ship to Customer Number, Bill to Custom Location, Ship to Customer Location provided in the data file is defined in AR Customer (RA_CUSTOMERS). 5- Primary Sales Representative Validation: Sales representative number to be hardcode to 3 for No Sales Credit. 6- Term Name: Check if the Term name provided in the data file is defined in Payment terms (RA_TERMS) 7- Inventory Item Validation: Check if the Item provided in data file is defined in Inventory Items (MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS). 8- Unit of Measurement validation: Check if the UOM provided is defined in MTL_UNITS_OF_MEASURE Table 9- Invoice Tax Code Validation: Check if the Tax Code provided in data file is defined in AR_VAT_TAX_ALL_B Table. 10- Invoice GL Date Validation: Check if the GL Data of provided invoices is in open period. For MOAC: You need to add the below columns and need to do validations if your application supports MOAC. conversion_type conversion_rate conversion_date

GL Budget Interface This program lets you prepare and analyze your budget outside of General Ledger and then transfer your budget information into General Ledger. This enables you to perform your budgeting in the environment you choose, and still maintain the integrity of your database. Interface Table: GL_BUDGET_INTERFACE is used to upload budget data into your Oracle General Ledger application from an external source. Each row includes one fiscal years worth of budget amounts for an account. When you load this table, you must supply all NOT NULL columns with data. In addition, you must supply a valid account combination in the SEGMENT columns appropriate to your chart of accounts. Finally, you must supply the budget amounts in the appropriate AMOUNT columns. The mandatory (not null) columns of the Interface table are: BUDGET_NAME BUDGET_ENTITY_NAME (the budget organization) CURRENCY_CODE FISCAL_YEAR UPDATE_LOGIC_TYPE (A for Add, R for Replace) Other important columns are:

SET_OF_BOOKS_ID BUDGET_VERSION_ID PERIOD1_AMOUNT through PERIOD60_AMOUNT SEGMENT1 through SEGMENT30

Validations: Budget Name and Budget Entity Name Currency Code Account Segments(Code Combination in GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS Table) To upload a budget: 1. Navigate to the Upload Budget window (Budgets > Enter > Upload). 2. Enter the Budget and Budget Organization. 3. click Upload. General Ledger submits a concurrent process to upload budget information from the GL_BUDGET_INTERFACE table. Budget Upload Validation: Budget Upload validates all of your budget information for compatibility with General Ledger. Budget Upload also checks to make sure that the following conditions are true: Your account is assigned to a budget organization The budget entry type for your account is Entered Your budget is not Frozen Your budget organization is not Frozen Your budget fiscal year is open for your budget Once updated, General Ledger automatically deletes the rows of budget records in the Budget Interface table. Base Tables: GL_BUDGETS GL_BUDGET_ASSIGNMENTS GL_BUDGET_TYPES

For more information see Oracle General Ledger User Guide

AP Invoice Interface

This interface helps us to import vendor invoices into Oracle applications from external systems into Oracle Applications. Interface tables: 1] AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE This is the open interface table for importing AP Invoices from external sources and stores header information about invoices. Invoice data comes from sources including: EDI invoices from suppliers that are loaded through Oracle e-Commerce Gateway Supplier invoices that are transferred through the Oracle XML Gateway Invoices that are loaded using Oracle SQL*Loader Lease invoices from Oracle Property Manager Lease payments from Oracle Assets Credit card transaction data that are loaded using the Credit Card Invoice Interface Summary Expense Report invoices from Oracle Internet Expenses Payment Requests from Receivables Invoices that are entered through the Invoice Gateway. There is one row for each invoice you import. Oracle Payables application uses this information to create invoice header information when Payables Open Interface program is submitted. Data in the AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE table used in conjunction with AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE table to create Payables Invoice, Invoice lines, Distributions and Schedule payments. Data in this table can be viewed and edited using Open Interface Invoices window. The Payables Open Interface program validates each record in this interface table selected for import, and if the record contains valid data then the program creates a Payables Invoice. Important columns: INVOICE_ID (Required) : Unique identifier for this invoice within this batch. Same value should be populated in invoices lines in the AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE table to identify the data as belonging to the same invoice. INVOICE_NUM (Required) : Enter the invoice number that needs to be assigned to the invoice created in Payables from this record. INVOICE_TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE (Optional) : Type of invoice: Credit or Standard. INVOICE DATE (Optional) : Date of the invoice. If you do not enter a value, the system uses the date you submit Payables Open Interface Import as the invoice date. PO_NUMBER (Optional) : Purchase order number from PO_HEADERS.SEGMENT1. This column needs to be populated if invoice to be matched with an purchase order. VENDOR_ID & VENDOR_SITE_ID (Required) : VENDOR_ID is unique identifier for a supplier and VENDOR_SITE_ID is Internal supplier site identifier. Supplier of the invoice to be derived by value in one of the following columns in this table: VENDOR_ID, VENDOR_NUM, VENDOR_NAME, VENDOR_SITE_ID or PO_NUMBER. VENDOR_NUM & VENDOR_NAME (Optional) : Supplier number and name. You must identify the supplier by entering a value for one of the following columns in this table: VENDOR_ID, VENDOR_NUM, VENDOR_SITE_ID, VENDOR_SITE CODE, or PO_NUMBER. INVOICE_AMOUNT (Required) : Amount of the invoice. INVOICE_CURRENCY_CODE (Optional) : Currency code for the invoice. If you want to create foreign currency invoices, enter a currency code that is different from your functional currency. EXCHANGE_RATE (Optional) : This column is required if you enter a foreign currency code in the INVOICE_CURRENCY_CODE column and you enter User as the EXCHANGE_RATE_TYPE. TERMS_ID (Optional) : Internal identifier for the payment terms. DESCRIPTION (Optional) : Enter the description that you want to assign to the invoice created from this record.

SOURCE (Required) : Source of the invoice data. If you import EDI invoices from the Oracle EDI Gateway, the source is EDI Gateway. For invoices you import using SQL*Loader, use a QuickCode with the type Source that you have defined in the QuickCodes window in Payables. 2] AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE This is the lines interface table for the AP Invoice Open Interface and it is used in conjunction with AP_INVOICE_INTERFACE table. AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE stores information used to create one or more invoice distributions. Note that one row in this table may create, during the import process, more than one invoice distribution. Important columns: INVOICE_ID (Required) :Enter the INVOICE_ID of the corresponding invoice in the AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE table. INVOICE_LINE_ID : This value is not required. You can enter a unique number for each invoice line of an invoice. LINE_NUMBER (Optional) : You can enter a unique number to identify the line. LINE_TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE (Required) : Enter the lookup code for the type of invoice distribution that you want Payables Open Interface Import to create from this record. The code you enter must be ITEM, TAX, MISCELLANEOUS, or FREIGHT. These lookup codes are stored in the AP_LOOKUP_CODES table. AMOUNT (Required) : The invoice distribution amount. If you are matching to a purchase order, the AMOUNT = QUANTITY_INVOICED x UNIT PRICE. If the total amount of all the invoice distributions does not equal the amount of the invoice that has the same INVOICE_ID, then Payables Open Interface Import will reject the invoice. Concurrent program: Payables Open Interface Import Parameters: Source: Choose the source of the invoices from the list of values. Use EDI Gateway, Credit Card, or a Source type QuickCode you defined in the Payables QuickCodes window. Group: To limit the import to invoices with a particular Group ID, enter the Group ID. The Group must exactly match the GROUP_ID in the Payables Open Interface tables. Batch Name: Payables groups the invoices created from the invoices you import and creates an invoice batch with the batch name you enter. You can enter a batch name only if you have enabled the Use Batch Control Payables option, and if you have enabled the Use Batch Control Payables option, you must enter a batch name. If you use a batch name and some invoices are rejected during the import process, you can import the corrected invoices into the same batch if you enter the exact batch name during the subsequent import. Hold Name: If you want to place all invoices on hold at the time of import, enter an Invoice Hold Reason. You can define your own hold reasons in the Invoice Approvals window. Hold Reason: Payables displays the Invoice Hold Reason Description. GL Date: If you want to assign a specific GL Date to all invoices, enter a GL Date. If you do not enter a value here, the system will assign a GL Date based on the GL Date Payables option. Purge: Enter Yes if you want Payables to delete all successfully imported invoice records that match the Source and Group ID of this import. Payables does not delete any invoice data for which it has not yet created invoices. If you want to purge later, you can use the Payables Open Interface Purge Program. Steps: 1] Firstly, lets get a unique number to be used as INVOICE_ID to the invoice to be imported. This method ensures that each invoice has a unique INVOICE_ID assignment. 2] Then, create records in the Invoice Open Interface tables through SQL queries. 3] You can go to Payables > Invoices > Entry > Open Interface Invoices to check the details of Invoice and Invoice Lines from the front end. If required you can do any modifications here. Alternatively you can use these forms to put invoice data in AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE and AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE tables.

4] Go to the front end and run the concurrent program Payables Open Interface Import to submit a request for Invoice Import.

5] The imported invoice becomes available for review in Invoices Workbench.