The Oracle HRMS person-name-formats function enables you to define person-name formats to meet enterprise requirements. HRMS provides some commonly required format definitions, which you can edit. You can also create your own format definitions for use in custom code. Each format definition, known as a format mask, comprises standard components of a person name, such as first name, last name, and title, in an appropriate order. A format mask can apply to a single legislation and has a format type.
HRMS identifies the following format types:
Full Name
Display Name
List Name
Order Name
The Full Name format type defines the full name HRMS uses in its forms-based interface (for example, in the Find Person window).
The Display Name format type is intended for use where names appear singly.
Note: Oracle HRMS does not currently use display names in any of its interfaces. However, you can use this format type in custom code.
The List Name format type is intended for use where names appear in lists. Oracle HRMS uses this format type to display person names in SSHR pages.
Some legislations currently store a version of the person name, known as the order name, for use in name-ordered lists when the full name is not appropriate for list ordering. Order names are not necessary in most languages, where full name dictates list order. HRMS constructs the order name using a PL/SQL procedure. HRMS also provides an Order Name format type, so that localizations or users can replace the supplied PL/SQL procedure if they wish.
You can define additional format types for use in custom code. To create a new format type, you add its name to the lookup PER_NAME_FORMATS. You can then select the name when defining a new format mask.
For performance reasons, HRMS stores person names in list-name, order-name, and full-name formats. By contrast, HRMS assembles names in display-name and user-defined formats when required.
The format mask defines the structure of the person name (its components and their order). The character set HRMS uses to store and display person names depends on whether the format is local or global.
A local format is suitable for users in a single legislation who prefer to see person names in a character set appropriate to their legislation. For example, users in a Japanese enterprise would typically select a local format to see names displayed in a Japanese character set.
A global format is suitable for users in a multinational enterprise who prefer to see person names in a single (typically, Western) character set, so that all names, regardless of origin, have the same representation.
HRMS supplies both local and global versions of its Display Name and List Name format masks. (HRMS supplies only a local version of the Full Name format mask.) When you create a new format mask, you identify it as either local or global. A format mask may reference different name components depending on whether the format is local or global.
HRMS provides a profile option, HR: Local or Global Name Format, to enable users to choose between local and global representations of names.
See: User Profiles
HRMS supplies the following format masks:
| Format Mask | Default Structure |
|---|---|
| Full Name | [Prefix] [Last Name,] [Title] [First Name] [Middle Name] [Suffix] [Preferred Name] |
| Local Display Name | [Known As] [Last Name] |
| Global Display Name | [Known As] [Last Name] |
| Local List Name | [Last Name] [, Known As] |
| Global List Name | [Last Name] [, Known As] |
Note: The Known As component contains the name stored in the Preferred Name field, if there is one. Otherwise, Known As is a person's first name.
You can edit the supplied format masks, but you cannot delete them.
These format masks are not legislation specific. Localizations may provide legislation-specific versions of format masks, and you can also define your own. For example, you can define a List Name format mask for France or an Order Name format mask for Japan if the legislation does not supply those format masks.
To create a new format mask or edit the supplied format masks, you use the Person Name Formats function from the HRMS Other Definitions menu.
For a new format mask, you specify the:
Format Type
User Format Choice (local or global)
You can also specify a legislation value. A null legislation value means the format mask applies to all legislations.
These three values constitute the format mask's name, which must be unique in the enterprise.
The format mask itself comprises one or more name components in an appropriate order, with spaces and punctuation characters as required between components.
Note: Person names must not include the dollar sign ($) or vertical bar (|) characters. Oracle HRMS uses these characters to delimit punctuation and identify tokens that represent name components in format masks.
Spaces and punctuation characters can precede or follow individual name components. For example, you could define this format:
| Row 1 | First Name |
| Row 2 | Space (Middle Name) |
| Row 3 | Space Last Name |
Following this example, John Smith's name is "John (Arthur) Smith". In this format mask, the first space and the parentheses belong with the Middle Name component: if the person has no middle name, the first space and the parentheses do not appear. If the person has no first name, however, the name begins with a space. Therefore, when you create or edit a format mask, consider carefully the positioning of spaces and punctuation characters in combination with optional name components.
Note: When you create or edit format masks, be sure to include at least one component that you are confident will never be null to avoid creating null person names.
For information about the circumstances in which HRMS uses your new or updated format mask, see How HRMS Selects a Format Mask.
When you create or edit a person-name format, you select name components from a list of values. The names of some of the components in this list may come from the Further Person Information developer descriptive flexfield or the Additional Personal Details descriptive flexfield and are database-column names (for example, PER_INFORMATION1 or ATTRIBUTE1) rather than column prompts. For example, the component PER_INFORMATION1 is the Maternal Last Name component for Mexico. To obtain the descriptive names of the name components, review the Further Person Information and Additional Personal Details flexfields for your localization. For each segment in the Segments Summary window, the value in the Window Prompt field identifies the information held in a particular component.
Names in a global format are usually held in a Western character set. Whether a localization stores names in a global format is usually apparent when you create or update a person record. For example, in the Japanese localization, the People window has an English Name tab where HRMS displays a Western representation of a person's name. In the Korean localization, the Western representation of a person's name has the characters "EN" (for English) next to the name component (for example, Given (EN)).
To determine which segments of the Further Person Information developer descriptive flexfield hold the components of a global format, you can view the segments of the Further Person Information flexfield for your localization.
When you first use the person-name-formats function, and whenever you update any of the supplied format masks for stored formats (list name, order name, and full name), you must run the Update Person Names concurrent program. This program populates or updates the list-name, order-name, and full-name versions of person names in a specified legislation or in all business groups.
See: Running the Update Person Names Program
HRMS selects a format mask whenever you:
Create or update a person name.
Run the Update Person Names concurrent program.
When looking for an appropriate format mask, HRMS follows the sequence shown below for each format type. For example, for the global List Name format type, HRMS looks first for a global List Name format mask for the business group legislation. If there is no legislation-specific format mask, HRMS uses the supplied, null-legislation, global List Name format mask.
Full Name format mask for the business-group legislation
PL/SQL procedure (PER_legcode_UTILITY.PER_legcode_FULL_NAME)
Supplied, null-legislation Full Name format mask
Global List Name format mask for the business-group legislation
Supplied, null-legislation, global List Name format mask
Local List Name format mask for the business-group legislation
Supplied, null-legislation, local List Name format mask
Global Display Name format mask for the business-group legislation
Supplied, null-legislation, global Display Name format mask
Local Display Name format mask for the business-group legislation
Supplied, null-legislation, local Display Name format mask
Order Name format mask for the business-group legislation
PL/SQL procedure (PER_legcode_UTILITY.PER_legcode_ORDER_NAME)
Note: For Full Name and Order Name, if there is no legislation-specific format mask, HRMS looks for a PL/SQL procedure. Localizations have provided PL/SQL procedures in the past to support legislation-specific name formats. These procedures remain valid until localizations or users replace them with legislation-specific format masks.