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 E-Business Suite, 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:
SOB - based on the profile option GL_SET_OF_BOOKS
Multiple installations (referred to as MSOB)
Multiple Operating units (determined by profile option MO_OPERATING_UNIT) (referred as MULTIORG).
Multiple Orgs (determined by profile option INV_ORGANIZATION_ID, Used by Manufacturing Applications)
HR may use business group as a conflict resolution domain
FA may use FA book
etc...
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.
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 incompatability 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.