OracleAppsnFusion: Service Contract Setup

Auto Numbering

Auto Number is an import feature of Service Contracts. It lays out the rules how the contract number will be generated. Contract numbers can be sequential number or a combination of defined prefix and suffix that can alpha-numeric.

There are number of attribute provided by Oracle that can be used in different combinations to achieve a numbering sequence. These are:

Site - The rule can be setup at Site level that impact the entire site. All contracts created under that site even of different business group / Operating Unit / Class will follow as numbering sequence.
User Function - You can write you own pl/sql to generate the numbering sequence. Till now what ever I worked I haven't seen using function to generate contract numbers.
Business Group - If setup at this level all contract under the business group use the same number sequence unless a specific Class or Category is chosen. If it further dependent on Class / Category then it will unique numbers with the specified combination.
Operating Unit - Same goes with Operating Unit. All contract under same Operating Unit will have same numbering sequence unless is further classified based on Class / Category.
Class - If set only at Class, all contract created for a particular class have same sequence. Contract Class is like Service Agreement, Project Contract etc.
Category - If set at Category level, all contract for a particular category will have same numbering sequence. Contract categories are like Service Agreement, Warranty and Extended Warranty, Subscription Agreement etc...

Define Auto Numbering

Navigate to Service Contracts Manager -> Setup -> Service Contracts -> Autonumbering.

Choose appropriate level or combination from the available options as number generation combination. Most of the organization prefers to have contract generated based on Operating Unit and Contract category to identity the contract OU and category by looking at the number.

Choose below radio button

Operating Unit

Category

Sequential Detail

Operating Unit - Pull Operating Unit from LOV, for me its 'Vision Operation'

Category - Pull contract category from LOV, for me its 'Service Agreement'

From - Enter the initial number of the contract.

To - You can enter the last number of the contract or leave blank.

Format Length - You must enter format length if you are not entering To field.

Perfix - Choose a prefix. I love to see contract start with OU name to its 'VO-' in my case. Its no mandatory but gives better visibility to the contract.

Suffix - Choose a suffix. I opted the choose contract category like 'SC' / 'WR'.

Allow Manual - Choose if you would like to manually enter contract number while you are creating it. If selected the contract number field will not be read only. If not select then it will be read only field.

Note :When a contract is create from concurrent program the number is automatically generated even if the contract numbering is not setup and 'Sequential Numbering' profile option is not set. The concurrent program internally sets the profile option at session level.

This is how the contract number will look based on our configuration

Bus Unit	Op Unit	Class	Cat	Prefix	Suffix	Seq From	Seq To	Length	First Number
--	Vision Operations	--	Service Agreement	VO-	-SC	10000	99999	5	VO-10000-SC
--	Vision Operations	--	Warranty & Extended Warranty	VO-	-WR	10000	99999	5	VO-10000-WR

Auto Numbering Truth Table

Its really helps in understanding what all permutation combination of Autonumbering is permissible. So here we go.


Description	User Function	Site	Business Group	Operating Unit	Class	Category
User, no other attributes can be selected	Y	N	N	N	N	N
Site, no other attributes can be selected	N	Y	N	N	N	N
Business Group can be selected with Class	N	N	Y	N	Y	N
Business Group can be selected with Category	N	N	Y	N	N	Y
Business Group can be selected without Class or Category	N	N	Y	N	N	N
Operating Unit can be selected with Class	N	N	N	Y	Y	N
Operating Unit can be selected with Category	N	N	N	Y	N	Y
Operating Unit can be selected without Class or Category	N	N	N	Y	N	N
Class can be selected without Business Group/ Operating Unit	N	N	N	N	Y	N
Category selected without Business Group/ Operating Unit	N	N	N	N	N	Y

Note : If you try to change the Auto Numbering attributes, like from Business Group to Operating Unit, a decision widow displays the below warning :

You are changing the current contract numbering setup. Existing sequence numbering rules will no longer be effective. Do you want to continue?

If you click Yes, another window opens and asks:

Do you went to delete existing sequence numbering rules?

If you click Yes, then existing sequence numbering rules are deleted and there is no way you can retrieve those sequence numberings

If you click No, then existing sequence numbering rule will be kept in the system. Later if you want to change back to old attribute like Business Group, the old sequence numbering rules show up.

Next : Service Contract Setup - Part : 8 (Contract Approval)