How to Create HCM Geography & Geography Structure using File Import??

One of the activities while Implementing Fusion HCM Workforce Deployment is to create Geography and Geography Structure. This is done through FSM Task Manage Geographies. The navigation is as shown in the picture

From FSM(Setup and Maintenance  Manage Implementation Projects, Open the project which you have created and then expand and select as shown.





Once you click on Go to Task it displays the following screen

There are 3 MOS documents which explains how to load your Geography Structure and Geography Hierarchy from CSV files. You can there is task called Address Cleansing Defined. This is where you enable Verify Address button for real time address verification if you have licensed Oracle Fusion Data Quality Address Cleansing Module.

Following are the MOS documents
Sample Geography Data (1341174.1) - This document explains how to use FSM and CSV File to upload data using File Import Utilities provided by Fusion. It has sample data for following countries which you use as reference to create your own data file for import.
GeoPlanet AU geographies.csv - sample geography data for Australia
GeoPlanet AU structures.csv - sample country structure for Australia
GeoPlanet BE geographies.csv - sample geography data for Belgium
GeoPlanet BE structures.csv - sample country structure for Belgium
GeoPlanet BR geographies.csv - sample geography data for Brazil
GeoPlanet BR structures.csv - sample country structure for Brazil
GeoPlanet CA geographies.csv - sample geography data for Canada
GeoPlanet CA structures.csv - sample country structure for Canada
GeoPlanet CH geographies.csv - sample geography data for Switzerland
GeoPlanet CH structures.csv - sample country structure for Switzerland
GeoPlanet CL geographies.csv - sample geography data for Chile
GeoPlanet CL structures.csv - sample country structure for Chile
GeoPlanet CO geographies.csv - sample geography data for Colombia
GeoPlanet CO structures.csv - sample country structure for Colombia
GeoPlanet DE geographies.csv - sample geography data for Germany
GeoPlanet DE structures.csv - sample country structure for Germany
GeoPlanet ES geographies.csv - sample geography data for Spain
GeoPlanet ES structures.csv - sample country structure for Spain
GeoPlanet FR geographies.csv - sample geography data for France
GeoPlanet FR structures.csv - sample country structure for France
GeoPlanet GB geographies.csv - sample geography data for United Kingdom
GeoPlanet GB structures.csv - sample country structure for United Kingdom
GeoPlanet HK geographies.csv - sample geography data for Hong Kong
GeoPlanet HK structures.csv - sample country structure for Hong Kong
GeoPlanet ID geographies.csv - sample geography data for Indonesia
GeoPlanet ID structures.csv - sample country structure for Indonesia
GeoPlanet IE geographies.csv - sample geography data for Ireland
GeoPlanet IE structures.csv - sample country structure for Ireland
GeoPlanet IL geographies.csv - sample geography data for Israel
GeoPlanet IL structures.csv - sample country structure for Israel
GeoPlanet IN geographies.csv - sample geography data for India
GeoPlanet IN structures.csv - sample country structure for India
GeoPlanet IT geographies.csv - sample geography data for Italy
GeoPlanet IT structures.csv - sample country structure for Italy
GeoPlanet JP geographies.csv - sample geography data for Japan
GeoPlanet JP structures.csv - sample country structure for Japan
GeoPlanet KR geographies.csv - sample geography data for Korea, Republic of
GeoPlanet KR structures.csv - sample country structure for Korea, Republic of
GeoPlanet MX geographies.csv - sample geography data for Mexico
GeoPlanet MX structures.csv - sample country structure for Mexico
GeoPlanet MY geographies.csv - sample geography data for Malaysia
GeoPlanet MY structures.csv - sample country structure for Malaysia
GeoPlanet NG geographies.csv - sample geography data for Nigeria
GeoPlanet NG structures.csv - sample country structure for Nigeria
GeoPlanet NL geographies.csv - sample geography data for Netherlands
GeoPlanet NL structures.csv - sample country structure for Netherlands
GeoPlanet RU geographies.csv - sample geography data for Russian Federation
GeoPlanet RU structures.csv - sample country structure for Russian Federation
GeoPlanet SA geographies.csv - sample geography data for Saudi Arabia
GeoPlanet SA structures.csv - sample country structure for Saudi Arabia
GeoPlanet SG geographies.csv - sample geography data for Singapore
GeoPlanet SG structures.csv - sample country structure for Singapore
GeoPlanet TH geographies.csv - sample geography data for Thailand
GeoPlanet TH structures.csv - sample country structure for Thailand
GeoPlanet TW geographies.csv - sample geography data for Taiwan
GeoPlanet TW structures.csv - sample country structure for Taiwan
GeoPlanet US geographies.csv - sample geography data for United States
GeoPlanet US structures - seeded out of box, sample file is not provided 
GeoPlanet VE geographies.csv - sample geography data for Venezuela
GeoPlanet VE structures.csv - sample country structure for Venezuela
GeoPlanet VN geographies.csv - sample geography data for Viet Nam
GeoPlanet VN structures.csv - sample country structure for Viet Nam

It has also an attached document which explains step by step process to use these data files.
How to Import Geography? (1334798.1)
How to Import Country Structure? (1334789.1)

Cheers....

Fusion Apps New Flexfield -Extensible Flexfields

An Extensible Flexfield (EFF) is similar to a descriptive flexfield(DFF), but with the added ability for customers to add as many context-sensitive segments to a flexfield as they need.

Another feature of extensible flexfields is that you can have more than one context associated with any particular row of data, and a row can have multiple occurrences of the same context. That is, extensible flexfields support a one-to-many relationship between the entity and its extended attribute rows.

Now let's go through this process of configuring an EFF. In order to do that you need to first find whether EFF exists in a Page. Below are the steps to find that. We can not use Administration -> Highlight Flexfield to mark an EFF. Here we have to use Page Composer to do that.

I have taken example for Managing Locations in HCM.
So Navigate to Nagigator -> Workforce Management -> Workforce Structure. Select Manage Locations from Locations Task Pane and search a Location e.g. Sample Location EFF

This is what you will see. This Page has an EFF and that can be seen from the next figure

The area marked in RED is where EFF has been plugged in (as delivered by Oracle).
Now we need to know the details of this EFF. So open the page through page composer (Administration --> Customize Workforece Structure Pages). When prompted select Site as the layer. We are not going to modify anything in the page. We will just be checking the details of the EFF

This will open the page in Source view. If it has not then select View -> Source from the top left corner.

Select View-> Source Position -> Left from the top left corner. This will give you larger space to go through the source structure.


Now in the page, if you select the area where EFF exists then the corresponding node in the structure will be automatically highlighted. Check the region names (take the mouse pointer on the region and it will display the Task Flow name). Find names which has EFF in it as shown.

Once you click on that it will take you to another view. Next figure shows that.When Prompted for Edit confirmation accept that.

Now in the new view you will again see some regions. Check the region which has name EFFContextsPageContainerFrag.jsff. This is the region which display the EFF in the page.

Click on Edit from the menu bar. That will open a Pop up as shown in the next picture.

Click on Flexfield Properties.

This displays the EFF Name and code. Here the EFF name is Location Information EFF. Copy the name and code and close this pop up by clicking Cancel button.
Then click on Close located at the top right corner.





Now at this point we have EFF name and code details. We will configure this EFF and add custom Contexts and context sensitive segments to it.
To configure the EFF we have to use FSM (Setup and Maintenance) task Manage Extensible Flexfields and search that.

Click on Go to Task and search the Location Information EFF.

Click on Action -> Edit.

In this screen you see EFF details along with a section named Category.
Extensible flexfields also enable implementers to combine the contexts into groups known as pages, which serve to connect the contexts so they will always be presented together in the application user interface. Hierarchical categories for can be defined for extensible flexfields, and implementers associate any combination of contexts with a given category. For example, the Electronics and Computers category hierarchy might include a Home Entertainment category, which in turn might include an Audio category and a TV category, and so on. The Home Entertainment product might have contexts that specify voltage, dimensions, inputs and outputs. Contexts are reusable within a given extensible flexfield. For example, the dimensions context could be assigned to any category that needs to include dimensional information.

As can bee seen from the above it has a Single category. Most Fusion Apps EFF are supplied with a single category. Some EFFs (e.g CRM Application) have Multiple categories and they have category hierarchy. As it has one, let's create a Context and associate it with the category. To create context click on Manage Context button

Select any existing context and then click Actions -> Edit  to see the details of the segments.

For our exercise we will create a custom Multi Row Context as shown in the next figure.

Give it a name and code. Specify Behavior is Multiple Rows. This will allow user to enter multiple rows into a Context inside a category.

Select Usage of the context as Location Information EFF. Basically a context may be reusable which means it can be used in multiple EFFs.

Select View Privilege and Edit Privilege. Then in the Context Sensitive Segments section select Actions --> Create to create segments in the given context

Enter all the Name, Code, Data Type, Table Column, Value Set, Required Display Prompt etc and then Click Save and Close.

You can click Detach the table to float the table and get extra display area.

Now for Multiple Rows Context if you do not specify an Unique Segment, then you try to save the values you will get this error. So go back and mark one segment as Unique.

You can set the Unique Segment as shown.

Now after creating all the segments and associating Table Columns and Value Sets with each of the them, you Save and Close the Context and then go back to the EFF screen. You now need to associate these custom Contexts with the EFF Category. So select HcmLocationsCategory in the Category Panel and then scroll down

Now select on Associated Contexts Tab and Click on Actions->Select and Add

This is what you will see. Search the contexts and click on Apply and Ok sequentially. In this case I have created a multi row and another as single row.

So you have now associated Custom Contexts with the Category. Click on Save. Now we want to club all the contexts and display them together. To do that we need to associate these two contexts with the existing Page which is displaying others. You can create a new Page by grouping your own custom contexts. But here we will put our contexts inside the existing Page. So click on Page Tab.

As you can see that it has one page and five contexts associated with that sequentially. You can change the sequence.

Select Actions --> Select and Add from Location Information: Associated Context Details. Search the Custom contexts and add them. You can also specify the sequences as shown.

Click on Save and Close.
From Actions select Validate Flexfield. This validate the Flexfield and displays errors if the EFF has any. You can deploy it to the instance itself by selecting Deploy Flexfield or you can deploy it to Sandbox. Sandbox is a container where you can put all your customization and then migrate the same to other instances. Also if you want to test the EFF before publishing it to the user community then you can do this by deploying it to Sandbox. 

Normally we create Sandbox first then we active it and do all customizations inside that. You create Sandboxes using Administration --> Manage Sandboxes and after creating it you can make it Active.


But here in case of EFF, if you select Deploy Flexfield to Sandbox

From the pop up box you can see that it is going to create a Sanbox, deploy the flexfield to it and then make it current active session sandbox. Click on Ok and then it displays the deployment details as shown in the next picture.

As can be seen that it has failed during deployment. Expand the Deployment Details to see the error. As it errored out I will not be able to show the EFF on the locations Page. 




I did check HCM Domain EM and found the error message that states oracle.jbo.NoDefException: JBO-25058 error. Then the MOS document Fusion PIM: Item Extensible Flexfields Deployment Ends In Error [ID 1536436.1] provided me the hint -'Attributes that were defined as Text Box and Text Area do not have height or width defined'. 

I checked my attributes and found that attributes were not having Height specified. After fixing that I redeployed the EFF and this time it was successful.
Let's go to Manage Locations task in FSM and search Sample Location EFF location. Below are the pictures which shows both Multi Row and Single Row Contexts

Multi Row Context

Single Row Context











This covers how to

• Find Extensible Flexfield in a page ??
• Configure the EFF through FSM ??
• Deploy the EFF ??
• Verify the results ??

Similarly you can follow the same process for Category Hierarchy having multiple categories.

Do let me know if you face any issue.

Cheers........

Value Sets & Use Case Part I - Independent Value Set

For Key and Descriptive Flexfields you might need to create Value Sets for restricting values user can enter.
People who are from EBS background knows about this. In EBS you can create value sets for Concurrent Program Parameters also. But here in Fusion Apps you create value sets only for flexfield segments.

So let's get into the details. We create value sets through Manage Value Sets task from FSM [Navigator -> Tools(Setup and Maintenance)]
Once you go the task this is what you will see

You can search existing value sets and edit or you can create a new one. So for this exercise let us create some value sets. Click on the Actions -> Create or directly click on the create sign

The field elements are almost same as EBS. Let us see what are all the validation types available in Fusion Apps.






The following types of validation are available for value sets.

• Format Only, where end users enter data rather than selecting values from a list
• Independent, a list of values consisting of valid values you specify
• Dependent, a list of values where a valid value derives from the independent value of another segment
• Subset, where the list of values is a subset of the values in an existing independent value set
• Table, where the values derive from a column in an application table and the list of values is limited by a WHERE clause

In the above example I created XXCUSTOM_COMPANY value set with Validation Type Independent and Value Data Type Character in General Ledger Module. Once you have specified the details click on Save and Close. It will go back to the Manage Value Sets screen. Search the value set and click on Manage Values to enter the values

Select the row and click on Manage Values button or Select Manage Values from Actions menu.

This is what you see in the Manage Values screen. You can search existing Values or can create new ones. Select Actions -> Create

In the Create Value sreen specify the Value, Description and optionally specify the Start Date, End Date and Sort Order.

Click and Save and Close. In this way you can create all the required values.

Let's associate this Value Set in one of the segments in the Descriptive Flexfield I setup in the previous post.

So Search the Manage Descriptive Flexfields in FSM and Click on Go to Task. In the following screen search Job Attributes DFF and then click on Actions -->Edit

This is what you will see in the following screen. Let us associate our Value Set XXCUSTOM_COMPANY with DFF Global Segment External Job Title. Click on Actions --> Edit

In the Edit Segment Screen select the Combobox and then select Search

Search XXCUSTOM_COMPANY and then select it and then then click Ok. In the Edit Segments screen click Save and Close. And then in Edit Descriptive Flexfields screen click Save and Close again.Then finally in Manage Descriptive Flexfields screen select the DFF and click on Deploy Flexfield.

Now let's see whether our value set is working or not. Go to Navigator --> Workforce Management --> Workforce Structures

Go To Manage Jobs Tab and search or Create a Job and then Click on External Job Title Combobox. The list will show you the values you defined in the value sets

This screen confirms the same.

Few more things about Value Sets. This is what Oracle Common Implementation Guide talks about Value set security

Security

Value set security only works in conjunction with usage within flexfield segments. If a value set is used standalone, meaning outside a flexfield, value set security is not applied, but Oracle Fusion data security is enforced.

You can specify that data security be applied to the values in flexfield segments that use a value set. Based on the roles provisioned to users, data security policies determine which values of the flexfield segment end users can view or modify.

Value set security applies at the value set level. If a value set is secured, every usage of it in any flexfield is secured. It is not possible to disable security for individual usages of the same value set.

Value set security applies to independent, dependent or table-validated value sets.

Value set security applies mainly when data is being created or updated, and to key flexfield combinations tables for query purposes. Value set security does not determine which descriptive flexfield data is shown upon querying.

Security conditions defined on value sets will always use table aliases. When filters are used, table aliases are always used by default. When predicates are defined for data security conditions, make sure that the predicates will also use table aliases.

For key flexfields, the attributes in the view object that correspond to the code combination ID (CCID), structure instance number (SIN) and data set number (DSN) cannot be transient. They must exist in the database table. For key flexfields, the SIN segment is the discriminator attribute, and the CCID segment is the common attribute.

Value Sets for Context Segments

When assigning a value set to a context segment, you can only use table-validated or independent value sets. The data type must be character and the maximum length of the values being stored must not be larger than column length of the context.

Cheers......

Fusion Apps - How to customize the Navigator Menu?

You can Customize the menus which appear under navigator. This can be done using FSM(Navigator->Setup & Maintainace). The name of the task is Manage Menu Customizations.

Fusion Apps - How to navigate from FA to OIM?

OIM is generally deployed in a separate domain and could be accessed directly typing the URL provided during installation. Also it can be navigated from FA. The navigation for the same is