Oracle Purchasing provides default Account Generator processes for you to use. If the defaults do not satisfy your accounting requirements, you can use the Oracle Workflow Builder to customize the default processes.
Before you use or modify any of the workflows in Purchasing, read the setup information at the beginning of this document.
For more information on the generic features and functions of the Account Generator, see the Customizing the Account Generator section of the Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide.
Use the Oracle Workflow Builder to customize workflows. When you customize a workflow, only those documents that you create after you customize it are affected by the customized workflow.
You can use the Workflow Monitor to follow where certain documents are in a workflow process. If you encounter problems while the Account Generator builds accounts, set the profile option Account Generator: Run in Debug Mode to Yes to help you locate the problem. (Always set it back to No after you are finished, to maintain performance.) See: Using the Workflow Monitor with the Account Generator.
To display the workflow in the Oracle Workflow Builder:
Choose Open from the File menu, and connect to the database.
See: Opening and Saving Item Types.
The Display name of the Account Generator workflow for purchase orders is PO Account Generator. The name of its Workflow definition file is poxwfpag.wft.
The Display name of the Account Generator workflow for requisitions is PO Requisition Account Generator. The name of its Workflow definition file is poxwfrag.wft.
Expand the data source, then the Account Generator item type branch within that data source.
Expand the Processes branch within the Account Generator branch, then double-click on a process activity to display its diagram.
If you want to customize the PO Account Generator or the PO Requisition Account Generator workflows, you must customize the default (original) workflows that Purchasing provides. Unlike the PO Approval, PO Requisition Approval, and PO Create Documents workflows in Purchasing, only one Account Generator workflow can be called from the application itself, through the Account Generator Processes window. You can't select a separate customization, like you can with the other workflows in the Document Types window. Therefore, you need to make your customizations to the default Account Generator workflows. Have your backup to revert to, if you need, while you are testing your customizations.
There are no required modifications you need to make to the PO Account Generator or the PO Requisition Account Generator workflows, unless you need to customize them to suit your business requirements. See: Decide How to Use the Account Generator.
Following is a discussion of what you can and definitely cannot modify in both the PO Account Generator and PO Requisition Account Generator workflows. For those things you can modify, the discussion includes important guidelines that you need to be careful of when making customizations.
For important information on how to customize workflows, see the Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.
To further help you with your customizations, refer to the sections later in this document, starting with The Default Account Generator Processes for Oracle Purchasing. These sections describe the components of the main processes in the PO Account Generator and the PO Requisition Account Generator workflows. If you haven't already, see also: Customization Guidelines.
Attention: If a particular Workflow object does not appear in the following sections on the lists of things you can customize, do not modify it, regardless of its access level.
You cannot modify any attributes in the PO Account Generator or the PO Requisition Account Generator.
If you modify a process, it is essential that the basic flow be maintained. For example, the Get Expense Account ID function activity in the Build Expense Charge Account subprocess sets the item attribute Temp Account ID with the code combination identification number (CCID) of the account being built. This attribute is used by the function activity Copy Values from Account ID to fetch the concatenated segments. Therefore, if you replace the function activity Get Expense Account ID with one of your own, your new function activity must also set the item attribute Temp Account ID.
If you modify any process, either by replacing a portion of its flow or by adding additional function activities, remember the following:
Attributes that are set by default function activities in the default processes must also be set if you replace default function activities with ones of your own. That is, if a function activity in that process uses a SetItemAttr statement, then that function activity is setting an attribute to be used by another function activity later. Therefore, your new function activity must do the same. You should also preserve SetItemUserKey and SetItemOwner statements, if any. Depending on your customizations, you may also want to preserve GetItemAttr statements.
Any database state maintained by the default processes must also be maintained by processes you customize. That is, if a function activity in that process uses an Update or Insert Into statement, then that function activity is updating or inserting rows in the database. Therefore, your new function activity must maintain the same database state.
To get a list of the workflow function activities that use SetItemAttr, GetItemAttr, SetItemUserKey, SetItemOwner, Insert Into, or Update statements, run the PL/SQL script powfcust. For instructions on running this script, see: Customization Guidelines.
You can modify the following processes in both the PO Account Generator and the PO Requisition Account Generator, as your business needs require:
Generate Default Accrual Account
Generate Default Budget Account
Generate Default Charge Account
Generate Default Variance Account
Build Expense Charge Account
Build Inventory Budget Account
Build Inventory Charge Account
Build Expense Project Accrual Account
Build Expense Project Budget Account
Build Expense Project Charge Account
Build Expense Project Variance Account
Build Shop Floor Charge Account
Get Charge Account for Variance Account
Get Variance Account from Organization
You cannot modify the following processes in the PO Account Generator or the PO Requisition Account Generator:
Generate Default Accounts
Generate Accounts Using FlexBuilder Rules
Generate Charge Account Using FlexBuilder Rules
Generate Budget Account Using FlexBuilder Rules
Generate Accrual Account Using FlexBuilder Rules
Generate Variance Account Using FlexBuilder Rules
You cannot modify any function activities in the PO Account Generator or PO Requisition Account Generator. However, you can modify the Set Encoded Error Message function activity by changing its attributes in the Workflow Builder. See: To use the Set Encoded Error Message function activity, below.
You can replace some function activities with function activities of your own. When you replace a function activity, you are modifying the process in which it is contained. See the guidelines for customizing the Account Generator processes in the section Processes.
If you substitute default function activities in a process with function activities that you create, remember the following:
The result type of your new function activity must match the result type of the default activity. That is, the Result Type of the function activity in the Workflow Builder needs to match the result type specified by that function activity's corresponding PL/SQL procedure-for example, a Result Type of Yes/No. It also means that if you have, for example, two results (such as Yes and No) in your function activity and corresponding PL/SQL procedure, make sure that there are two corresponding transitions in the workflow diagram (one for Yes and one for No). If you alter the result types and transitions in a process, be careful that you aren't deleting or bypassing any special transitions or checks.
Just as with Processes above, any attributes that were set by the default function activity must also be set by your customized function activity.
Just as with Processes above, any database state maintained by the default function activity must also be maintained by the customized function activity.
This function activity is not used by any process in the workflow, but is provided if you need to create a customized error message. To use this function activity to send a customized error message, do the following:
To use the Set Encoded Error Message function activity:
Create the message in the Oracle Applications Message Dictionary.
You must first define the error message in the Oracle Applications Message Dictionary before it can be used by this function activity. For instructions, see the online help for the Messages window in the Application Developer responsibility, or see the Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.
Drag and drop the Set Encoded Error Message function activity into the process diagram of the process you want to modify.
Select the activity in the process diagram and choose Properties from the Edit menu.
In the Node Attributes region, enter the Message Name of the message you defined in the Message Dictionary and optionally enter one or more tokens to provide dynamic text for the error message.
The Application Code defaults to PO (Purchasing), but you can change it if you are displaying the error message in another application.
The PO Account Generator and PO Requisition Account Generator use the following two Lookup Types provided by the PO Standard workflow; you cannot modify these Lookup Types:
PO Work Item Destination Type
PO WIP Type
For information on the default lookup types provided by the Standard Flexfield Workflow, see the Account Generator section/chapter of the Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide.
Use the Account Generator Processes window to choose either the Generate Default Accounts process or the Generate Accounts Using FlexBuilder Rules process and associate the process with the appropriate Accounting Flexfield structure and item type.
If you customize any of the customizable processes belonging to the Generate Default Accounts process, and you make sure the Generate Default Accounts process is associated with the appropriate Accounting Flexfield structure and item type in the Account Generator Processes window, your customizations will take effect.
Navigate to the Account Generator Processes window by switching to the System Administrator responsibility and choosing Application > Flexfield > Key > Accounts.
With your cursor in the Application field, choose View > Find and select the combination of Application, Flexfield Title, and Structure that you need.
Or, perform a Query > Run and locate the PO Account Generator and PO Requisition Account Generator item types in the Item Type column.
In the Process field, specify the process-Generate Default Accounts or Generate Accounts Using FlexBuilder Rules-that you want to use to generate these accounts.
The default process, Generate Default Accounts, will default in.