Using the Account Generator in Oracle Purchasing (Oracle Purchasing Help)


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Using the Account Generator in Oracle Purchasing

This essay describes how to use and customize the default Account Generator process in Oracle Purchasing.

The Account Generator in Oracle Purchasing utilizes Oracle Workflow. You can view and customize Account Generator processes through the Oracle Workflow Builder. You can also monitor account generation through the Oracle Workflow Monitor. See: Oracle Workflow Guide.

All purchase orders, requisitions, and releases require accounting distributions. Oracle Purchasing automatically builds a charge, budget (if using budgetary control), accrual, and variance account for each document distribution.

Oracle Purchasing provides you with the features you need to:

Improve accuracy and speed document generation by automatically constructing accounting distributions.

Relieve buyers, requestors, and document preparers from the responsibility of specifying which accounts should be charged for their purchases.

Customize Account Generator account construction rules to match your business rules.

Decide How to Use the Account Generator

In Release 10, several Oracle Applications products used FlexBuilder to derive account code combinations for certain account transactions. In Release 11, FlexBuilder is replaced by the Account Generator to provide implementation teams with even greater flexibility and a better user interface with Oracle Workflow.

If you are upgrading from Release 10 and used FlexBuilder, then you should perform the equivalent of this setup step as part of your upgrade, see the FlexBuilder chapter of the Oracle Applications Upgrade Preparation Manual.

If you are implementing Oracle Purchasing for the first time, you need to review how Purchasing uses the Account Generator to build Accounting Flexfield code combinations. Consider whether the default Account Generator process is appropriate for each set of books that uses a unique Accounting Flexfield structure. For each structure and set of books, you can choose one of the following:

Use the default Account Generator processes

Generate Default Accrual Account

Generate Default Budget Account

Generate Default Charge Account

Generate Default Variance Account

Customize the default Account Generator process

This decision determines which setup steps your implementation team needs to perform.

Attention: These steps need to be performed for each operating unit.

Prerequisites to Using the Account Generator

Before using the Account Generator on a production database in Oracle Purchasing to build accounts for purchase order, release, and requisition distributions, you must:

Setting Up Oracle Workflow

Choose to use the default Account Generator processes.

Customize the default Account Generator processes, test your customizations, and choose the processes for a flexfield structure, if necessary.

The Default Account Generator Processes for Oracle Purchasing

Evaluate whether the default Account Generator process meets your accounting requirements. No setup steps are required to use the default. The default process can also be updated later as your needs change. You can make minor changes to the default process without changing the name.

Note: If you used FlexBuilder in Release 10 but did not customize the default configuration, you can use the default Account Generator process in Release 11, which gives you the same result as the default assignments in FlexBuilder.

Each Account Generator workflow is called an item type. Oracle Purchasing comes with the following Account Generator item types for purchase orders and releases:

PO Accrual Account Generator

PO Budget Account Generator

PO Charge Account Generator

PO Variance Account Generator

The following Account Generator item types exist for requisitions:

PO Requisition Accrual Account Generator

PO Requisition Budget Account Generator

PO Requisition Charge Account Generator

PO Requisition Variance Account Generator

Each Account Generator item type for purchase orders, releases, and requisitions above contains the following top-level workflow processes:

Generate Default Account

Generate Account Using FlexBuilder Rules

Each of the item types also contains a subprocess called Build Project Related Account. This process is available for you to customize an account-building process if Oracle Projects is installed. To use this process, you provide your own rules to the process, in the form of workflow process definitions, to build the account. Note that you can provide your own rules only when the destination type for the document is Expense.

For more information about using the Account Generator when you integrate Oracle Purchasing with Oracle Projects, read the following essay: Using the Account Generator in Oracle Projects.

Generate Default Account Process

The Generate Default Account process is the default workflow in Purchasing that builds the accounts.

The following functions are used by each of the Generate Default Account processes in Oracle Purchasing:

PO Accrual Account Generator and PO Requisition Accrual Account Generator

Accrual Account for Expense Item

Accrual Account from Organization

PO Project-Related? (You can customize this function if you want to build project-related accounts using your own rules and if Oracle Projects is installed.)

Purchase Order FlexBuilder Upgrade

Work Item Destination Type

PO Budget Account Generator and PO Requisition Budget Account Generator

Build Inventory Charge Account

Get Budget Account from Item/Sub

Get Charge Account

Get Item Level Budget Account

Get Org Level Budget Account

Item Pre-Defined?

PO Project-Related? (You can customize this function if you want to build project-related accounts using your own rules and if Oracle Projects is installed.)

Purchase Order FlexBuilder Upgrade

PO Charge Account Generator and PO Requisition Charge Account Generator

Build Inventory Charge Account

Expense Account

Job WIP Account

PO Project-Related? (You can customize this function if you want to build project-related accounts using your own rules and if Oracle Projects is installed.)

Purchase Order FlexBuilder Upgrade

Schedule Account

Type of WIP

Work Item Destination Type

PO Variance Account Generator and PO Requisition Variance Account Generator

Get Charge Account

PO Project-Related? (You can customize this function if you want to build project-related accounts using your own rules and if Oracle Projects is installed.)

Purchase Order FlexBuilder Upgrade

Variance Account from Organization

Work Item Destination Type

Note: For more information about using the Account Generator when you integrate Oracle Purchasing with Oracle Projects, read the following essay: Using the Account Generator in Oracle Projects.

Each account generator contains a number of item attributes. These attributes correspond to all the row parameters and some derived parameters that were used in FlexBuilder. For a particular account, such as the PO Accrual Account Generator, the item attributes, just like the functions and processes, are identical among all of the purchase order item types and all the requisition item types. Moreover, each account ID is provided as a possible source value, in the form of an item attribute, to the subsequent account being built.

Viewing Account Generator Processes in the Workflow Builder

The PO Charge Account Generator contains the default process, Generate Default Charge Account. This is what the Generate Default Charge Account process looks like in the Oracle Workflow Builder.

What the Account Generator Does in Oracle Purchasing

The default Account Generator processes in Oracle Purchasing build a charge, budget, accrual, and variance account for each purchase order, release, and requisition distribution based on the distribution's Expense, Inventory, or Shop Floor destination type. Oracle Purchasing always builds these accounts using the Account Generator; you cannot disable this feature.

For Inventory charge account construction, the Account Generator further distinguishes between asset and expense purchases based on the item and subinventory that you provide for the distribution. If you select an expense item, the Account Generator disregards the subinventory and builds an expense charge account. If you select an asset item, the Account Generator evaluates the subinventory to decide whether to build an expense or asset charge account.

Additional Information: You classify a subinventory as Expense or Asset by selecting the Asset Subinventory check box in the Oracle Inventory Subinventories window. You classify an item as Expense or Asset by selecting the Inventory Asset Value check box in the Costing section of the Master Item window. (This window is accessible through Inventory or Purchasing.)

When the Account Generator locates a source account based on the distribution destination type, it copies complete code combinations (full Accounting Flexfields) from designated fields to destination Accounting Flexfields. The default Oracle Purchasing processes do not build individual flexfield segments.

For example, to populate the Accrual account for distributions with an Expense destination type, the Account Generator locates the Expense AP Accrual Account that you specify in the Purchasing Options window as part of your application setup, and copies it into the Accrual Account Flexfield in your document.

The following matrix describes the source fields that the Account Generator references to build the charge, budget, accrual, and variance account based on the distribution destination type.

Default Account Generator Account Sources

The horizontal axis lists the Oracle products and windows you use to specify the source accounts that the Account Generator references in Oracle Purchasing. The vertical axis lists the possible destination types for each account type the Account Generator constructs. The body of the matrix lists the fields you use to enter the reference accounts.

When more than one option is indicated for a particular account/destination type combination, the Account Generator attempts to locate the primary source account identified on the matrix with a 1. If this reference account is unavailable or not appropriate for the distribution information you provide, the Account Generator tries the source indicated as 2 and so on until it either successfully locates a reference account, or fails.

Suggestion: Minimize your setup by specifying source accounts at the appropriate level of detail for your business. For example, you can specify the charge account source for Inventory (expense) destination types at the subinventory, item, or organization level. If an organization level account is sufficient for your business needs, it is not necessary to specify item or subinventory accounts.

For Shop Floor destination types, the Account Generator constructs the charge account based on the resource cost element associated with the Outside Processing job or schedule. In this case, the Account Generator selects one of the five possible source accounts; it does not step through a hierarchy of choices as it does for other destination types. Finally, the Account Generator does not construct a budget account for Shop Floor distributions, even if you are using encumbrance. Oracle Purchasing never encumbers outside processing purchases.

Attention: The default Oracle Purchasing Account Generator processes includes one rule for building Expense destination charge accounts. If you specify an expense account for each of your predefined items, the Account Generator copies this code combination to the Charge Account field of your destination documents. If you are buying one-time or predefined items with no associated expense account, the Account Generator is unable to build a charge account. In this case, you can either manually specify a charge account in your document or you can design a custom Account Generator function to build Expense destination charge accounts based on field values like Requestor.

While you cannot edit the accrual, budget, or variance accounts that the Account Generator constructs, you can override or specify the charge account for uncommitted Expense distributions. In this case, you can either edit the charge account that the Account Generator constructs for you, or you can specify a default charge account in the Defaults region of your document. When you specify a default charge account, it always overrides any expense charge account that the Account Generator tries to provide.

Account Build Timing and Logistics

For Expense and Inventory destinations in the Requisitions, Purchase Orders, and Releases windows, the Account Generator constructs the account when you navigate into the distribution Charge Account field, or when an explicit or implicit commit anywhere in the window provides enough information for Oracle Purchasing to create a distribution. For Shop Floor destinations, the code is constructed when you enter all required data in the Outside Processing region and either return to the document distributions region or commit.

For all windows, the build sequence is:

1. Charge

2. Budget

3. Accrual

4. Variance Each account is provided as a possible source value to the subsequent builds. For example, the budget rules accept the charge account as a possible value, and for Expense destination types the charge account value is copied into the Budget Account field. The accrual account rules accept both the charge and budget account values. Finally, the variance account rules accept the charge, budget, and accrual account values as possible sources.

If the Account Generator is unable to construct accrual, variance, or budget accounts you cannot enter these fields to manually provide the missing values. You must identify and resolve the problem that is causing the Account Generator to fail. If the Account Generator is unable to construct a charge account, you can manually specify the missing values if the destination type is Expense. Since budget and variance account rules take the charge account value for Expense destination types, the Account Generator tries to construct these accounts as soon as you manually provide a charge account if it was unable to find one during the initial build attempt.

Generate Account Using FlexBuilder Rules Process

If you used FlexBuilder in a previous release to generate account combinations, you can use the Generate Account Using FlexBuilder Rules process to replicate your FlexBuilder setup automatically, without changing any of your predefined FlexBuilder Rules, and without customizing the Account Generator. The Generate Account Using FlexBuilder Rules process includes a function generated during your upgrade from Release 10 to Release 11.

If you are upgrading from Release 10, follow the guidelines in the FlexBuilder chapter of the Oracle Applications Upgrade Preparation Manual.

Customizing the Account Generator for Oracle Purchasing

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 or create a new one.

If you want to create a new process to meet your company's needs, use the Oracle Workflow Builder to create a new process, or copy the existing default and change the name before making extensive changes to it.

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.

For more information on how to use the Oracle Workflow Builder, see the Oracle Workflow Guide.

Customization Guidelines

When you choose to customize the Account Generator in Oracle Purchasing, consider the following:

Once the Account Generator successfully builds accounts for a document, it does not attempt to rebuild when you update the document. For example, if you build a custom process to generate the requisition charge account for Expense purchases based on requestor, and change the requestor after the Account Generator constructs the charge account, it will not attempt to rebuild.

Requisition Import does not use the Account Generator to construct charge, budget, accrual, or variance accounts. Any custom process that you create cannot be used by this utility.

Both the top-level processes used by the Account Generator item types in Purchasing are customizable. The only subprocesses that you can customize are the following:

Build Expense Account

Build Project Related Account

Customization Example

In the PO Charge Account Generator item type, you could modify the Build Expense Charge Account subprocess by replacing the Get Expense Account ID function with one of your own. Your new function, however, should have the same result type as the Get Expense Account ID function has. In this new function, you also must set 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, Copy Values from Account ID, to fetch the concatenated segments.

You must test any modified Account Generator process before using it on a production database.

Implementing a Customized Account Generator Process

If you have customized your Account Generator process for a particular Account Generator item type and assigned a new name to it, use the Account Generator Processes window to associate the new process name with the appropriate Accounting Flexfield structure and item type.

If you made customizations to the default process, but did not change the name of it, you do not need to perform this step.

Choosing the Process for a Flexfield Structure

1. Navigate to the Account Generator Processes window.

In the System Administrator responsibility, this window is under the navigation path Application > Flexfield > Key > Accounts. In your Oracle Purchasing responsibility, it is under Setup > Flexfields > Key > Accounts.

2. Select the structure to which you want to assign a process. You can choose the application, flexfield title, structure, and description from the list of values.

3. Specify the Item Type containing the process, for example, PO Accrual Account Generator.

4. Specify the process you want to use to generate the accounts. The default process--for example Generate Default Accrual Account--will default in. If you want to use a different process, enter the name of the process you want to use.

Using the Account Generator Profile Option

The Account Generator: Purge Runtime Data profile option ensures that data used to build account combinations is purged after the Account Generator has completed. For more information, see: Profile Options in Oracle Purchasing.