Workflow and Account

Generator in Oracle Projects

An Oracle White Paper
July 2001
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Workflow and Account Generator in Oracle Projects
OVERVIEW AND DEFINITIONS
Oracle Workflow provides a means for automating various work-related
processes. It enables you to design the logic that a particular process should
follow, provide information to relevant individuals, and include their interactive
feedback in the process. Within the applications, workflow technology is used
extensively, mainly for the automation of approval processes and in Account
Generator (which will be discussed in detail below). Release 11.0 of the
applications uses version 2.0.3 of Workflow. Release 11i of applications uses
version 2.5 (and more recently 2.6).
Definitions
Data Store The file or database that holds the workflow process information.
Item Type A collection of processes and components that represents what we
generally think of as a workflow (e.g., Project Supplier Invoice Account
Generation or PA Project Workflow).
Attributes Variables or parameters that are available to the Item Type and
store related information. Generally, most of the attributes for an Item Type
are initialized when the workflow is kicked off.
Processes The actual workflow definitions. They define what should happen
at each stage. These are represented graphically in the workflow builder with
nodes, decision points, subprocesses etc.
Notifications Used within processes at decision points or to inform someone of
an action that has occurred within the workflow. These can be purely
informative, or may require a response from the user.
Functions Activities within a workflow process that call a stored PL/SQL
procedure. For example in the PO Account Generator item type, there is a
function PO-Project Related?. Depending on the result of this function the
workflow process branches in two distinct directions.
Messages The messages that are sent during notification activities.
Message attributes Attributes which are referenced in your message. Send
attributes are existing attributes that you can reference in your message (e.g.
project number). Respond source attributes prompt the receiver of the
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notification for a response. A special respond attribute called RESULT can be
used to determine how the workflow process will branch after a notification
activity.
Lookup Types Lists of valid results. These can be referenced by notifications,
functions, messages or processes to define the valid outcomes.
Activities The nodes of your workflow process. They can be notifications,
functions, or subprocesses.
Transitions The arrows that lead from one process activity to the next. A
transition can be associated with a particular result value. When an activity
returns a result, the process will follow the transition associated with that result.
Accessing Workflow Data Workflow Builder
In order to access a workflow data store and view or modify the workflow
definition, you must have the appropriate version of workflow builder installed
on your PC. Once installed, you can access workflow definitions in two ways:
Open a definition file (.wft)
Open a definition stored in the database
For example to open the definition of all of the workflows in a given database, I
would select File -> Open -> Database. I would enter the apps username and
password and provide the connection string (from my tnsnames.ora in my
%ORACLE_HOME%\network\admin directory). This then opens the data store
from that database and allows you to choose from all of the available item types
for viewing and update.
On the other hand, a data store may be saved in the form of a file (a .wft
workflow definition file). If you have a workflow data store that has been saved
as a file, you would simply select File -> Open -> File and select the appropriate
file. This will then open the workflow definition stored in that file.
Version considerations **
As mentioned above, the different releases of applications run with differing
versions of Workflow. Release 11.0 runs with version 2.0 and release 11.5
(11i) runs with version 2.5 or 2.6. These versions are not compatible. You
cannot view version 2.0 workflows using the 2.5 version of workflow builder
and vice versa. Installing both versions of workflow builder on the same PC is
not supported, but can be achieved. It requires you to maintain separate
ORACLE_HOMES and you must register the appropriate versions of
wfproc20.ocx and wfnvg20.ocx prior to running one or the other version. You
can do this by running the following at the DOS prompt or as part of a .bat file:

regsvr32 d:\orant_wf25\wf\wfproc20.ocx
regsvr32 d:\orant_wf25\wf\wfnvg20.ocx
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These files are located in %ORACLE_HOME%\wf20 for version 2.0 and in
%ORACLE_HOME%\wf for version 2.5. Before registering the files make
sure you are located in the bin directory for the appropriate oracle home.
Access Levels Customization and Protection Levels
Each object in a workflow is assigned two protection levels by the developer.
These are visible under the access tab on an objects property sheet. These two
assignments and the access level you are assigned when you enter workflow
builder determine what you can and cannot modify:
Customization Level
If Preserve Customizations is not checked, this value is 0, otherwise it is some
number between 0 and 1000. You may only modify an object if your access
level is higher than this value.
Protection Level
If Lock at this Access Level is not checked, then this value is 1000, otherwise
it is some value between 0 and 1000. You may only modify an object if your
access level is lower than this value
So assuming that customization and access level protections are both enabled,
you can only modify an object if your access level is between the customization
and protection access levels for that objects.
Customizing Standard Workflow Definitions
Customizations to standard workflows should only be made using an access
level of 100 or higher. Items that have been created with a protection level of
100 or below should not be modified by the customer. They are considered seed
data. There is nothing to physically prevent anyone from modifying these items,
however. In the workflow builder you can set your access level to whatever you
wish from the help menu. You can also remove the restriction on modifying
customizations based on your access level from the help menu.
The customization level allows you to modify the workflow, and prevent your
changes from being overwritten during upgrades when the access level used to
load the new definitions will be below 100.
Loading and Unloading Data WFLOAD (Workflow Definitions Loader)
WFLOAD is a utility for loading and extracting worklflow definition files to and
from the database. When loading to the database its behavior is controlled by
the access levels discussed above.
Command Line Syntax:
WFLOAD <apps/pwd> 0 Y {UPLOAD | DOWNLOAD | UPGRADE |
FORCE} <filepath> [<item type>]
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The item type parameter is only used for the DOWNLOAD mode.
Example:
WFLOAD apps/apps 0 Y UPGRADE \
$PA_TOP/admin/import/PAPROWF.wft

This process (Workflow Definitions Loader) can also be run from within the
application in the System Administrator responsibility.
The modes used are as follows:
UPLOAD
Upload the definition from the file using the access level specified by the
environment variable WF_ACCESS_LEVEL. This allows the user to control
what access the file is loaded with and what customization level will be
preserved. This variable could be set in the applications environment file.
UPGRADE
Upload the definition from the file using the access level defined as the Seed
Data access level. This should preserve all customizations created at above this
level.
FORCE
Upload the definition exactly as it is from the file overwriting any existing
definition including any customizations. This is useful for restoring the
definition of an item type that may have been corrupted to its original value.
DOWNLOAD
Used for extracting the stored definition of an item type from the database.

Projects Related Workflows
Generally the base application workflow definitions are stored in the
<APP_TOP>/admin/import directory. Below is a listing of the main
workflows/item types relating to Oracle Projects and locations of the
corresponding files. These item types are used in Release 11.0 and 11.5:

Workflow Item Type
(WF_ITEM_TYPES)
User Item Type
(WF_ITEM_TYPES_TL)
Budget Workflow PABUDWF PA Budget Workflow
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Project Workflow PAPROWF PA Project Workflow
Timecard Approval (OIT) PATCARD PA Timecard Approval
Supplier Invoice (AG) PAAPINVW Project Supplier Invoice
Account Generation
Expense Report (AG) PAAPWEBX Project Expense Report Account
Generator

Workflows Specific to 11.5 and Project Resource Management (PRM) include:
Workflow Item Type
(WF_ITEM_TYPES)
User Item Type
(WF_ITEM_TYPES_TL)
Allocations Workflow PASDALOC PA Step Down Allocations
Workflow Library PAWFLOW PA Oracle Projects Library
Assignment Approval
(PRM)
PAWFAAP PA :Project Assignments [sic]
Candidate Notification
(PRM)
PACANDID PA Candidate Notification
Process
Competence Profile
Approval (PRM)
PACOPR PA Competence Profile
Approval Workflow
Project Forecast
Generation (PRM)
PAWFGPF PA Project Forecasting
Workflow
Forecast Item Generation
(PRM)
PARFIGEN PA Forecast Item Generation
Workflow
HR Changes Workflow
(PRM)
PAXWFHRU PA: HR Related Updates
Workflow
Apply Team Template
(PRM)
PARAPTEM PA Apply Team Template


Original definition files (release 11.0) are found either in
$PA_TOP/admin/import or in $PA_TOP/patch/110/import.
Original definition files for release 11.5 are not necessarily included as part of
the installation. If they are included in a patch that has been applied they can be
found in: $PA_TOP/patch/115/import/US
If it is not clear from the file name which file defines a particular item type, you
can search for the following to find the correct file:
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$ grep 'BEGIN ITEM_TYPE <ITEMTYPENAME>' *.wft
For example:
$ grep BEGIN ITEM_TYPE PATCARD *.wft
These files (when available) can be loaded into workflow builder and saved to
the database or vice versa. They can also be loaded into the database using the
WFLOAD utility as described above.
Monitoring Workflows
There are several methods of monitoring the progress of a particular workflow
instance. Each involves knowing the item type (eg, PAWPROF, or PA Project
Workflow) and the item key for the particular workflow process you wish to
monitor. The item key is an identifier that names a particular run or instance of
an item type. Whenever a workflow process is initiated, that individual run is
assigned an item key to identify it.
Obtaining the Item Key
The item types are listed above. The item key can be found in the Workflow
Status form in Projects (Release 11.0) (Querying by item type and dates) or,
more generally, via SQL*Plus from the table: WF_ITEMS. A sample script for
getting the key is below:
Select item_key, begin_date, end_date
From wf_items
Where item_type = PAPROWF
And begin_date between &low_start and &high_start;

If this does not definitively identify your item you can query on the various items
in the Workflow status form to give you more information about the activities
associated with them. For project and budget workflows you can also use the
table PA_WF_PROCESSES to get your key. This table stores the project_id
or budget_version_id (depending on the workflow type) in the column
entity_key1 and the item_key in the column item_key.
The item_key for the timecard approval workflow (PATCARD) is the same as
the timecard number.
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Viewing the Workflow Diagram from Within Projects
From within Projects you can monitor the progress of a project or budget
workflow from within the relevant forms (Projects or Budgets) via the Special
Monitor Project|Budget Workflows menu item (in 11.0). In 11.5 the menu
path is Tools Monitor Project|Budget Workflows. Unfortunately this only
allows you to view the progress, and does not allow you to administer the
workflow. Below is a little trick to get to the administration URL if you do not
have access via a Web Applications responsibility.
How to Get Administration URL for a Workflow:
**************************************************
set serveroutput on
declare
url_l varchar2(1000);
l_agent VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;
begin
l_agent := WF_CORE.TRANSLATE('WF_WEB_AGENT');
url_l := wf_monitor.getEnvelopeUrl
(x_agent => l_agent
, x_item_type => upper('&item_type')
, x_item_key => '&item_key'
, x_admin_mode => 'YES'
);
dbms_output.put_line (url_l);
end;
/
**************************************************
Plug the resulting URL into your browser and it will bring up the same
workflow diagram you were able to view from within the application, but with
administration privileges:
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The diagram will show you where the process is, its status, the values of
attributes, etc.

The green line indicates the progress of the workflow process. So for instance,
the above process is currently in the approval process stage. Double clicking on
this icon would bring up a new diagram showing the Approval Process. The
Definition, Usage, Status, Notification, and Item tabs provide
detailed information about the node of the process that is currently highlighted.
At the bottom of the screen you have several buttons that allow you to
administer the process. When the diagram is viewed without administrator
privilege, these buttons and the Item tab are not present.
Abort Process
The Abort Process button will result in the termination of the process and the
cancellation of any outstanding notifications.
Suspend/Resume Process
The Suspend Process button will suspend execution of the process so that no
new transitions occur. Outstanding notifications can be completed, but the
process will not advance. When a process is suspended, the Resume Process
button will be enabled. This button will allow the process to continue on to its
next transition as normal.
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Reassign
The Reassign button will be enabled when a current activity with a performer
is highlighted. The performer is the person who will perform the activity,
which in most cases means that he is the receiver of a notification.
Expedite
The Expedite button allows you to bypass the normal functioning of the
process. When a workflow process is stuck waiting for a response to a
notification, the expedite button allows you to advance to the next transition. If
the current activity should return a value (eg, Approved or Rejected) then
the expedite button will allow you to select the appropriate return value. It will
give you the opportunity to Retry the current activity, if you think that you
have fixed the problem that caused it to become stuck, or if you choose you can
select the appropriate return value and Skip the activity. This will cause the
workflow to continue on to the next transition without performing the current
activity.
Attributes
The Attributes button will display a listing of all the attributes associated with
the workflow process and their current values.

In Release 11.5, you can also access the Workflow monitor from the Workflow
Administrator responsibility. This will take you to the same screen as you
access via the Workflow responsibility in Self-Service applications described
below. The Workflow responsibility is available in 11.0 and 11.5.
Viewing the Workflow Diagram from Within Web Applications
From with in the Self Service applications, if you have been assigned the
Workflow responsibility, you will have access the View Progress screen
shown below:
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Once you have entered your criteria and pressed Find you will be taken to a
list of workflow processes. Selecting one of these processes will take you to the
same screens pictured above.
What processes you are able to see depends on whether you have the
administration privilege or not. If you do, you will be able to query all existing
item types and view all processes. If you do not, you will be able only to view
those processes where you are the process owner.
Technically, you are the process owner if WF_ITEMS.OWNER_ROLE is equal
to your username. In some cases, the owner role may not be populated at all,
and as a result you will not be able to see your own process.
Administrator Privilege
Viewing the workflow process with administration privilege is very useful for
cases where a bad workflow is stuck at some point and cannot be moved
forward because, for example, someone never received a notification.
What determines how one gets administrator privilege is a particular value in the
table WF_RESOURCES. In this table there is one record with:
TYPE=WFTKN and NAME=WF_ADMIN_ROLE
The value of the TEXT column for this record determines what role(s) will be
able to access the workflow monitor in administrator mode. If the value of
TEXT is *, then all roles and all users will access the monitor with
administrator privilege; otherwise, a user will only be able to access the
administrator mode if he has been assigned the ROLE specified by TEXT.
That is, if there is a record in the view WF_USER_ROLES indicating the users
user name, and the administrator role. The value of this role can be anything: a
user name, a responsibility, or some other string. The WF_USER_ROLES view
will contain automatically one record where the role assigned is just your user
name, and one record for each of the applications responsibilities you have been
assigned. For these responsibility roles, the role_name format is
FND_RESP<APPID>:<RESPID> where <APPID> represents the application
id of the responsibility and <RESPID> represents the responsibility id.
You can also assign roles to users manually by creating records in the table
WF_LOCAL_USER_ROLES.
So, for example, if I wanted only the user ALUMPE to have administrator
privilege, I would set the WF_ADMIN_ROLE to be ALUMPE:
update wf_resources
set text = ALUMPE
where type = WFTKN
and name = WF_ADMIN_ROLE;
If you are trying to fix a workflow process
that is stuck, you will need to access it in
the workflow monitor with administration
privileges. Otherwise the workflow
monitor is view only.

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If I wanted only users with Projects, Vision Services (USA) responsibility to
have administrator privilege, I would set this value to: FND_RESP275:50604
where 275 is the application id for Oracle Projects, and 50604 is the
responsibility_id for Projects, Vision Services (USA).
Using wfstat.sql and wfstatus.sql
These, and other administrative scripts, are listed and described in the Workflow
Users Guide. They can be found in $FND_TOP/sql.
wfstatus.sql
Given the item type and item key, this script prints an end user report of the
status of the workflow. It shows information about the item type and process,
the activities, error activities, and the values of the process attributes. The script
output looks like the following:

**** WorkFlow Item

Item Type Item Key Begin Date End Date Activity
---------- --------------- ------------------ ------------------ ---------------------------------------------
PATCARD 11352 08-JUN-01 15:06:20 PA_TCARD_APPROVAL_PROCESS

**** Activity Statuses

Begin Date Activity Status Result User
------------------ --------------------------------------------- -------- --------------- ---------------
08-JUN-01 15:06:22 ROOT/Timecard Approval Top Process ACTIVE #NULL
08-JUN-01 15:06:23 Timecard Approval Top Process/Start COMPLETE #NULL
08-JUN-01 15:06:23 Timecard Approval Top Process/Approval Proces ACTIVE
s

08-JUN-01 15:06:23 Approval Process/Start COMPLETE #NULL
08-JUN-01 15:06:23 Approval Process/Is Employee Equal To Prepare COMPLETE Y
r?

08-JUN-01 15:06:23 Approval Process/Auto Approve? COMPLETE Y
08-JUN-01 15:06:24 Approval Process/Inform Preparer Timecard Aut COMPLETE #NULL ALUMPE
o Approved

08-JUN-01 15:06:27 Approval Process/Mark Timecard As Approved An ERROR #EXCEPTION
d Set Batch Name


8 rows selected.

**** Errored Activities

Activity Result Error Name
--------------------------------------------- --------------- ------------------------------
Error Message
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error Stack
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Timecard As Approved And Set Batch Name #EXCEPTION 1
User-Defined Exception

PA_SELF_SERVICE_WF_PKG.Approved(PATCARD, 11352, 0, Incurred by organization id is null)
Wf_Engine_Util.Function_Call(PA_SELF_SERVICE_WF_PKG.APPROVED, PATCARD, 11352, 183747, RUN)


*** Error Process Activity Statuses

Begin Date Activity Status Result User
------------------ --------------------------------------------- -------- --------------- ---------------
08-JUN-01 15:06:27 ROOT/Default Error Process ACTIVE #NULL
08-JUN-01 15:06:27 Default Error Process/Start COMPLETE #NULL
08-JUN-01 15:06:27 Default Error Process/Initialize Error COMPLETE COMPLETE
08-JUN-01 15:06:27 Default Error Process/@Notify Administrator NOTIFIED SYSADMIN

**** Error Process Errored Activities
no rows selected

**** Attribute Values

Attribute Name Value
------------------------------ ------------------------------
.ADMIN_KEY 1120591626
.MONITOR_KEY 1762870721
APPLICATION_ID 178
APPROVER_COUNT 0
APPROVER_DISP_NAME
APPROVER_ID
APPROVER_NAME
BUISENESS_MSG
COMMENT
COMMENT_DOC plsql:PA_SELF_SERVICE_WF_PKG.G
enerateDocumentAttributeValue/
PATCARD:11352:COMMENT

EMPLOYEE_DISP_NAME Lumpe, Mr. Andrew G.
EMPLOYEE_ID 2831
EMPLOYEE_NAME ALUMPE
ERROR_MESSAGE
EXPENDITURE_ID 11352
FORWARD_FROM_DISP_NAME
FORWARD_FROM_ID
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FORWARD_FROM_NAME
LINE_TABLE plsql:PA_SELF_SERVICE_WF_PKG.G
enerateTimecardLines/PATCARD:1
1352

MANAGER_DISP_NAME Gray, Mr. Donald R
MANAGER_ID 52
MANAGER_NAME DGRAY
ORG_ID 458
ORIGINAL_APPROVER_DISP_NAME
ORIGINAL_APPROVER_ID
ORIGINAL_APPROVER_NAME
OVERRIDE_APPROVER_ID
PREPARER_DISP_NAME Lumpe, Mr. Andrew G.
PREPARER_ID 2831
PREPARER_NAME ALUMPE
REJECTION_REASON
RESEND_LIMIT 3
RESPONSIBILITY_ID 21818
SYS_ADMIN
TIMECARD_NUMBER SST-11352
TIMEOUT_NO_APPROVER_RESPONSE 7200
TIMEOUT_NO_PREPARER_RESPONSE 10080
TIMEOUT_NO_SYSADMIN_RESPONSE 4320
TOTAL_HOURS 8
TRANSFER_FROM_DISP_NAME
TRANSFER_FROM_ID
TRANSFER_FROM_NAME
TRANSFER_TO_DISP_NAME
TRANSFER_TO_ID
TRANSFER_TO_NAME
USER_ID 1000015
WEEK_END_DATE 10-JUN-01
WF_ADMINISTRATOR


wfstat.sql
Given the same parameters, this script prints a developer level status report.
The information included is basically the same as that produced by wfstatus.sql,
but in some cases underlying system names are used rather than User names
when displaying the information.
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ACCOUNT GENERATOR
An Account Generator workflow is a specific type of workflow used within the
applications to dynamically generate an account combination for the accounting
flexfield. It uses the workflow technology to replace the Flexbuilder feature
used in Release 10.7 and prior.
Assigning Processes
There is a pre-defined item type for each of the account generator workflows
within the applications. Generally there is a seeded process that will be called
when the account generator is invoked, although in some cases this seeded
process contains no default logic and must be customized (e.g., the Project
Supplier Invoice Account Generator). Customers can always modify the pre-
defined processes or create new account generator workflow processes within
these pre-defined item types to implement their own account generating logic.
The actual process that will be called when the account generator is invoked is
defined in the form:
SetupFlexfieldsKeyAccounts

In this form, the flexfield application is Oracle General Ledger and the
flexfield is the Accounting Flexfield. The structure you select is the
Accounting Flexfield structure being used by the set of books whose account
generator processes you are assigning. In the bottom zone of the form, there is a
list of applicable item types followed by the process being used to generate the
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corresponding account. For each item type, you can select any Runnable
process defined within the item type. A Runnable process is one which has the
Runnable attribute enabled in workflow builder.
If you were to create a custom process for one of your account generators, you
would have to come to this form and assign it to the corresponding item type in
order for it to take effect.
Missing Item Types
In some cases your item type (e.g. Supplier Invoice Account Generation) may
not appear in the form. Often this is because the process that has been assigned
to the item type no longer has the 'Runnable' attribute enabled. You can update
this attribute for the process in Workflow Builder and re-save to the database.
Once the process has been flagged runnable, the record for this item type will
again show up in the form.
Upgrading Flexbuilder Processes
If a customer has upgraded from 10.7, then during the upgrade process they may
have generated a workflow process based on their existing flexbuilder rules. In
account generator item types you will generally see a process defined with a
name like Generate xxxxx Account using Flexbuilder Rules. This process will
be based on a single PL/SQL process that would have been created during the
upgrade. The customer can assign this process in the Accounts form as
described above. This method of upgrading is usually a temporary measure,
however, because once this process is created there is no way to modify it. If the
business rules change, a new workflow process will have to be created starting
from zero.
The program which performs this conversion from flexbuilder to PL/SQL is
$FND_TOP/bin/FNDFBPLS. This program can be run manually using the
following syntax:
$FND_TOP/bin/FNDFBPLS apps/<appspw> 0 Y <APP> \
<FCNCODE> <PL/SQL FILENAME>
Where <APP> is the application short name (e.g., PA); <FCNCODE> is the
flexbuilder function code; and <PL/SQL FILENAME> is the name of the file in
which to create the PL/SQL program that will encompass the flexbuilder logic.
For example to convert the supplier invoice expense account function:
$FND_TOP/bin/FNDFBPLS apps/apps 0 Y \
PA_VEND_INV_CHARGE_ACCOUNT VENDINV.pls
Projects Related Account generators
The main account generator processes that relate to Oracle Projects are:
PAAPINVW -- Project Supplier Invoice Account Generation
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PAAPWEBX -- Project Expense Report Account Generator
POWFPOAG -- PO Account Generator
POWFRQAG -- PO Requisition Account Generator
Note that each of these processes is invoked from within an application other
than Oracle Projects. The first two are called from Oracle Payables when
creating project related supplier invoices and expense reports, and the second
two are called from Oracle Purchasing when entering projects related
requisitions and purchase orders. For transactions created within Oracle
Projects, account codes are generated using your autoaccounting setup rather
than Account Generator processes.
Project Supplier Invoice Account Generator
Project Supplier Invoice by default: There is no default setup. Unless you have
upgraded from Release 10.7 and are using your converted flexbuilder rules (see
below) this account generator process MUST be customized. The default
process Generate default account contains nothing more than a dummy
procedure (PA_ACC_GEN_WF_PKG.AP_INV_ACC_UNDEFINED_RULES)
which generates the following message and aborts:
The default workflow for the Oracle Payables account function Project Supplier Invoice
Charge Account has not been customised. Please replace the dummy function in the
default process for account generation by your own account generation method.
Expense Report Account Generator
The default Expense Report Account Generator works as follows:
The vendor on an expense report must be associated with an employee.
Employees can be assigned a default expense account in the employee setup in
Oracle Human Resources:
PeopleEnter and MaintainAssignmentPurchase Order Information
The account generator will use this default expense account. If it is not defined
you will get an error when you try to save your expense report.
PO/Requisition Account Generator
The PO and Requisition account generators actually generate a series of
accounts. Each has procedures to generate the charge/expense account, the
accrual account, the budget account and the variance account. Within the
default account generator there is a separate process to generate each of these
accounts for project related purchase orders and requisitions.

PO Project-Related?
The default PO and Requisition Account Generator processes contain a
procedure to determine if the PO or requisition is project-related or not. This
procedure (PO_WF_PO_CHARGE_ACC.IS_PO_PROJECT_RELATED) as
defined is a dummy procedure that always returns false. In order to generate
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specific accounts for project-related purchase orders and requisitions, this
process must be modified, or the activity replaced with another that accurately
determines whether the object is projects-related.
A common technique to accomplish this is to replace the function activity with a
Compare Number function (available in the list of standard functions). This
function allows you to compare the value of the Test value (which you set to
be the item attribute Project id) and the Reference value (which you set to
be the constant 0). The results of this function are Greater Than, Less Than,
Equal or Null. It will return null if the test value is null. Therefore
branching off of this comparison you will have two transitions. One linked to
the Null return value which leads to the non project-related process, and one
which is the <Default> encompassing all the other return values which leads to
the project-related process. In this way, if the project_id is not null, it will
branch to the project related process.
Build Expense Project Accounts
There are four subprocesses of the default workflow which are called if the
above process determines that the item is project related. They are all named
Build Expense Project XXXX Account, where XXXX could be Budget,
Accrual, Variance or Charge. Like the Supplier Invoice process, there is no
default logic associated with any of these processes, and if there is a business
need to enter project information and to generate different accounts based on
that, they must be customized.

Tips for Customizing Your Account Generator Processes
Using Standard Flexfield Functions
Oracle applications provides a number of seeded functions specifically to ease
the task of building an account generator workflow. These functions allow you
to easily assign values to your flexfield segments, get values from existing code
combinations, etc.
Abort Generating Code Combination
If you include this activity in your account generator process and the logic of the
process causes it to be executed, the account generation will fail. This activity
has only one attribute which is Error Message. Its use will be described in the
following section.
Assign Value to Segment
With this function you can assign either a constant value or the value of some
existing item attribute to a particular segment. The attributes for this activity
are:
Segment Identifier Either Name or Qualifier. Identifies the method by
which to identify the segment to which you wish to assign the value.
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Segment The value that corresponds the the Segment Identifier. For
example, if you chose Name for segment identifier, here you would
supply an actual segment name. If you had selected Qualifier you would
supply the flexfield qualifier that would identify the segment (eg,
Company, Cost Center, or Account).
Value Either a constant value that will be assigned to the segment or the
name of an item attribute whose value will be assigned to the segment.
Replace existing value Takes a value of True or False and indicates
what to do if the segment already has a value assigned. True will result in
the existing value being over-written. False results in retaining the existing
assignment.
Copy Segment Value from Code Combination
Like the Assign Value to Segment function, you must indicate, via the
Segment Identifier, Segment, and Replace existing values attributes,
which segment you are trying to populate and what to do if it already has a value
assigned. The final parameter Code Combination ID is the ID number of a
valid full account combination. This function will use this combination id to
pull the value of the particular segment you wish to populate from
GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS and then assign that value to the segment.
If you wish to copy a segment value from an account combination from another
chart of accounts, you can use the related function Copy Segment Value from
Other Structure Code Combination. The usage of this function is the same with
the addition of an attribute Structure Number for the structure id of the chart
of accounts structure whose combinations will be the source of your value.
Copy Values from Code Combination
This function is similar to the Copy Segment Value from Code Combination
except that, rather than copying a single segment value, it copies the entire
account combination from the code combination id you supply. Using this
function will populate all of the accounting flexfield segments.
Get Value from Code Combination.
This function is essentially the same as the Copy Value from Code
Combination function except that, rather than assigning the resulting value
directly to the corresponding flexfield segment, it assigns it to an item attribute
that you specify in the Attribute to Assign Value attribute. You can then use
the value of that item attribute in the rest of your workflow definition. Perhaps,
for example, you may want to get the cost center from the employees default
expense account, and depending on the value you may have different account
generation rules.
18
Also, as for the Copy Value from Code Combination function you have an
alternative version Get Value from Other Structure Code Combination. In this
case too you can access values from another chart of accounts by specifying a
value for the structure id.
Is Code Combination Complete
This function will validate that you have assigned values to all of your
accounting flexfield segments. It will return a true or false value, allowing you
to branch your account generator process accordingly.
Validate Code Combination
Normally placed just prior to the End generating Code Combination activity,
this function provides the final check that the flexfield you have built is valid.
Using Auto-Accounting Lookup Sets
Given that Oracle Projects uses autoaccounting to generate most of the account
combinations used by the application, there is often a good deal of effort that
goes into establishing and maintaining lookup sets and their values. In many
cases it would be useful to be able to take advantage of this effort when creating
your account generator processes as well.
To this end, the Projects development team has provided a seeded function
Segment Lookup Set Value. Its attributes are:
Lookup Set Name Name of the lookup set you wish to use
Intermediate Value The reference value that will be used to locate the
lookup set value. This can be a constant value, or some item attribute whose
value will be used.
The resulting lookup set is then assigned to the item attribute Lookup Set
Value. You can subsequently assign this to a flexfield segment using the
Assign Value to Segment function referencing this item attribute (Lookup Set
Value) as your value.
Using Custom PL/SQL Functions
You can create your own PL/SQL procedures that can be executed by a function
activity in your workflow process. These PL/SQL procedures must have a
standard format. The parameters of the procedure need to be the same as in the
following declaration:



procedure <procedure name> (
itemtype in varchar2,
itemkey in varchar2,
19
activityid in number,
funcmode in varchar2,
resultout out varchar2 ) is

Workflow will pass the appropriate values for all of the IN parameters.
Somewhere in your procedure you will assign the value of the OUT parameter
resultout. The itemtype parameter will hold the internal name of the
workflow, (e.g., PAAPINVW). The activityid will hold the value of the
identifier for the function activity that has called the procedure. For a function
activity, funcmode will be either RUN or CANCEL. You can use the
value of funcmode to invoke separate logic in the case of a normal call and in
the case the activity is being cancelled.
If your function activity has a result type, then the resultout parameter will
normally be assigned a value of the form: COMPLETE:<RESULT CODE>
where <RESULT CODE> is one of the valid internal values for the result type.
For example, if the activitys result type is Flexfield Result the valid values for
this lookup are Success and Failure. The corresponding internal values are
SUCCESS and FAILURE. So in this case you would normally assign one
of the following to the resultout parameter:
COMPLETE:SUCCESS
COMPLETE:FAILURE
Your function activity can then branch based on the outcome returned.
Within your PL/SQL procedure you can retrieve and assign the values of your
workflows item attributes using the workflow engine APIs. The Oracle
Workflow Guide has a complete listing of these APIs but some of the more
useful ones are described below
GetItemAttribute
There are actually several different APIs that fall under this heading, but all
perform the same function: they allow you to access the value of the item
attributes associated with your workflow process. The particular API you would
use depends on the data type of the attribute whose value you are accessing:
GetItemAttrText
GetItemAttrNumber
GetItemAttrDate

Each of these functions takes the same three parameters and returns the value of
the attribute:
1) The item type
2) The item key
20
3) The attribute name.
Using these APIs you can access the values associated with the workflow
process which will allow you to implement the logic of your PL/SQL procedure.
For example, if your account code will depend on the expenditure type of the
invoice distribution in question, you can get the value of the
EXPENDITURE_TYPE attribute and use this in your PL/SQL procedure.
SetItemAttribute
Similar to the GetItemAttribute functions, there are also different versions of
this API which correspond to the different possible data types of the attribute
whose value you wish to set:
SetItemAttrText
SetItemAttrNumber
SetItemAttrDate

These procedures take the same parameters as the GetItemAttribute functions,
with the addition of a forth: attribute value. The data type of this forth
parameter will vary based on the procedure you are calling.

A Sample Procedure
One simple strategy to implement your Account generator almost completely
within PL/SQL would be the following, which we will illustrate with an example
below:
1) Create an item attribute of type number to store a code combination id
2) Write your process to extract the code combination of the account
combination you wish to use in PL/SQL
3) In your PL/SQL process, assign this value to your attribute
4) Use the standard flexfield function Copy Values from Code
Combination to assign values to all the account segments using your item
attribute for the Code Combination ID activity attribute.
The commented example below illustrates most of the concepts you would need
to carry out steps 1-3 above:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE AGL_WF_FCN (
itemtype in varchar2,
itemkey in varchar2,
actid in number,
funcmode in varchar2,
result out varchar2) IS
-- Above: create the procedure with the 5 required parameters

--Declare local variables
21

l_expenditure_type varchar2(60);
l_my_ccid number;

BEGIN

-- Assuming our CCID will depend on the expenditure type, get the
-- value of this attribute for use in our procedure:

l_expenditure_type := wf_engine.GetItemAttrText( itemtype => itemtype,
itemkey => itemkey,
aname => 'EXPENDITURE_TYPE');

-- Get the code combination id of the account I want. This would normally be
-- where you would incorporate all of the logic required to build your
-- account. In this simple example, use account '5050' for all but 'Furniture'
-- expenditure types.

select code_combination_id
into l_my_ccid
from gl_code_combinations
where segment1 = '01'
and segment2 = '420'
and segment3 = decode(l_expenditure_type, 'Furniture','7334','5050')
and segment4 = '000';

-- Set the attribute which I created in order to assign it to ccid
-- later in the workflow

wf_engine.SetItemAttrNumber( itemtype => itemtype,
itemkey => itemkey,
aname => 'AGL_FCN_ATT1',
avalue => l_my_ccid);
result:='COMPLETE:SUCCESS';
exception when others then
-- If there is an error set the error message. A failure result
-- will branch to the "Abort genrating Code Combination" node.
-- Presupposes that I have created the message AGL_SINGLE_TOKEN_MESSAGE
-- in the PA application as nothing more than the token '&MSG_TOKEN'
-- It will assign the sql error message to the token to be
-- displayed. You can handle other types of exceptions here as well
-- for example if your process does not return a valid CCID.

fnd_message.set_name('PA', 'AGL_SINGLE_TOKEN_MESSAGE');
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fnd_message.set_token('MSG_TOKEN', 'MY ERROR: '||sqlerrm);
wf_engine.SetItemAttrText
( itemtype=> itemtype,
itemkey => itemkey,
aname => 'ERROR_MESSAGE',
avalue => fnd_message.get_encoded);
result:='COMPLETE:FAILURE';
end;
/
Displaying Custom Error Messages When Aborting
In Account Generator, frequently you will want to abort the procedure should
some procedure produce an error. In these cases often it would be useful to
display a custom error message when calling the 'Abort Generating Code
Combination' function to give the user some indication of what error actually
occurred. The example above contains an illustration of how we can do this in
the exception handler, which we will now explain in detail.
The Abort Generating Code Combination function includes an attribute Error
Message. However, it is not sufficient to simply assign this attribute a constant
text string with your error message. It also will not work to assign this attribute
the name of a registered applications error message. The value assigned to this
attribute must be a registered applications error message, but it must be in
encoded format (See the Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide for more
details on this encoded format).
The actual encoded format that is expected is as follows:
MSGAPP||fnd_global.local_chr(12)||MSGNAME||
fnd_global.local_chr(12)||MSGDATA
Where:
MSGAPP = The message application
MSGNAME = The message name
MSGDATA = Token assignments
The first thing to note here is that, given the use of the special character
fnd_global.local_chr(12), it would not be possible to assign this directly as a
constant value in the "Abort Generating Account Combination" node.
Therefore, we must assign an item attribute to this Error Message function
attribute and set the value of the item attribute in PL/SQL prior to branching to
the Abort node.
The first step is to assign the item attribute Error Message to the function
attribute of the same name in the "Abort Generating Code Combination" node:
Right click on the Abort node and bring up Properties
Click on node attributes
The custom error messages you wish to
display when aborting an account
generator process must be in an encoded
error message format.

23
Set the value of the Error Message attribute to the Item Attribute: "Error
Message"
You then need to set the value of the item attribute 'ERROR_MESSAGE' in the
PL/SQL code of the node which will branch to the "Abort" function. As
mentioned above, the value we assign to this attribute must be in the 'encoded'
error message format.
To accomplish this we can use the following procedures from the seeded
FND_MESSAGE package:
SET_NAME
This process indicates what message is to be called. The syntax is:
FND_MESSAGE.SET_NAME('<msg application short name>',
'<registered apps msg name>');
For example, if I want to call the message
PA_AA_WRONG_KEY_SRC_TYPE, I would use:
FND_MESSAGE.SET_NAME('PA','PA_AA_WRONG_KEY_SRC_TYPE');

SET_TOKEN
If the message includes any tokens you can set their value using this procedure.
The syntax is:
FND_MESSAGE.SET_TOKEN('<TOKEN>', '<TOKEN VALUE>');
One way to accomplish dynamic custom error messages is to register one custom
error message whose text consists only of one token. Whenever this error
message is called, the token is then assigned the text of the error message to be
displayed
For example if the error message you have registered consists only of the token
"&ERRMSG" then to set your token to the error message you want to display
you might call:
FND_MESSAGE.SET_TOKEN('ERRMSG','This is my custom error text');
GET_ENCODED
This function will retrieve the encoded message format for the current message
and token settings. It will return the message in the format required for the
ERROR_MESSAGE attribute. The syntax is:
FND_MESSAGE.GET_ENCODED
Setting the Error Message Attribute
To set value of the ERROR_MESSAGE item attribute you can use something
similar to the following:
24
wf_engine.SetItemAttrText
( itemtype=> itemtype,
itemkey => itemkey,
aname => 'ERROR_MESSAGE',
avalue => fnd_message.get_encoded);
Once this has been set, your code can return the value that will branch it to the
Abort node and your custom message will be displayed.

Common Mistakes
There are certain mistakes that occur frequently when customizing account
generator processes. Some of the most common are listed below.
Using Incorrect Flexfield Segment Names
When using several of the standard flexfield functions, there are two node
attributes that you must assign: Segment Identifier, and Segment. Segment
identifier will be either Name or Qualifier. You could use qualifier, for
example, to identify the cost center segment, or any other of the qualified
accounting flexfield segments, but generally is it simpler and more direct to use
the segment Name.
A common mistake, however, is to select Name and then not enter the segment
name correctly. In some cases users will enter the segment prompt or
description rather than the name, and in others there will be differences of case,
punctuation or spelling. The value that is entered for Segment must
correspond exactly to the Name of the segment as defined in the Setup
Flexfield Key Segments form for the corresponding segment.
Assigning Multiple Transitions to a Node with No Result
Most commonly this occurs with the standard function Validate Code
Combination. The name would indicate that if validation should fail we should
abort the account generator. As a result many people will hang an additional
Abort Generating Code Combination node off of this activity assuming that if
it fails, it will branch to this Abort node.
If you examine the properties of this function, however, you will see that its
result type is None. Which means there are no alternative results which it can
use to branch when it is finished validating. By adding the transition to an
Abort node you are simply confusing the workflow process by setting two
transitions out of the single node, with no result values to distinguish them.
As a result your account generator process will always abort.

25
Top Process Must have Start and End Nodes and be Runnable
The Standard library of functions includes a Start and End activity.
However, for account generator processes, you should rather use the functions
Start generating Code Combination and End generating Code Combination
provided in the Standard Flexfield Workflow.
Furthermore, as mentioned above, the process must be Runnable. If it is not,
it will not be available to assign to the account generator function within the
applications.

26
Workflow and Account Generator in Oracle Projects
July 2001
Author: Andrew Lumpe
Copyright Oracle Corporation 1995
All Rights Reserved Printed in the U.S.A.

This document is provided for informational purposes
only and the information herein is subject to change
without notice. Please report any errors herein to
Oracle Corporation. Oracle Corporation does not
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