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Categories, Category Setsand Default Category Set Upfor Oracle Inventory

Author: Michele VeilleuxContributor: Lee EwertzOracle Corporation

ITEM CATEGORIES

Oracle Inventory allows a logicalclassification of items that havesimilar characteristics through theuse of Categories. You can usecategories and category sets togroup your items for various reportsand inquiries. For example, supposeyou have a category set namedInventory. Within this set youmaintain subsets called OfficeSupplies. This enables you to runreports for items which are classifiedas Final Assembly by sorting on theOffice Supplies category, withouthaving to number your FinalAssembly parts in a sequentialrange.

The following are examples of useswithin Oracle Inventory.

• Inventory items: You can usecategories to group inventoryitems.

• Summarizing demand histories:Oracle Inventory can summarizedemand history for a particularcategory of items.

• Loading forecasts: OracleInventory can compile astatistical or focus forecast for aparticular category of items.

• Performing min-max planning:Oracle Inventory can performmin-max planning for a particularcategory of items.

• Performing reorder pointplanning: Oracle Inventory canperform reorder point planningfor a particular category of items.

• Reports and Inquiry windows:You can enter categoryinformation in reports and inquirywindows where you are requiredto specify a list of items. Thereports or inquiries then includeonly those items in the categoryyou select.

There are several steps to setting upCategories, and some points toconsider prior to populating yourInventory Item Master. This paperserves as a guide to completingthese steps and provides someprecautions.

Define Item Category FlexfieldStructures

Multiple segment structures can bedefined for the Item CategoriesFlexfield. Each segment structuremay have its own display promptsand fields. In other words, you maychoose to have a structure with onesegment while another structure mayhave multiple segments. You canbuild specific meaning into eachsegment of this flexfield for trackingdetails such as product families,color codes, and product lines assuits your enterprise's needs. Forexample, if you want to group itemsaccording to product line andproduct information, then you canuse the first segment to represent

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product line and the second segmentto represent the product.

The Item Categories Flexfield mustbe designed and configured beforedefining items, since all items mustbe assigned to at least one category.The Item Categories Key Flexfieldhas a flex code of 'MCAT'. If at anytime you see an error in the systemwhich gives an Application (App)error and the following text: 'Appl =401, Structure =101, Code= MCAT',you may interpret this asApplication_Id 401 = Inventory,Flexfield Structure 101 for KeyFlexfield Item Categories. Theseerrors typically point to a conflict inthe flexfield structure, the validity ofthe flexfield values or that theflexfield needs to be re-compiled.Navigate to Setup > Flexfields > Key> Segments to setup the ItemCategory Key Flexfield.

Ø If the flexfield is displayed as‘Frozen’, you must first uncheckthis box before making changes.

Ø Choose an existing structure orcreate a new one.

Ø Plan out how many segments youwant to create and click on‘Segments’.

Ø Create the number of segmentsyou wish to use for the structure.

Ø Attach a value set to eachsegment by placing the cursor inthe Value Set column andchoose a value set from the list ofvalues. (Value sets can beshared among segments).

Ø Be sure to check the ‘Enabled’box on the far right of theSegment Summary form.

Ø Save your work, and freeze theflexfield in the Key Flexfield form.

Ø The flexfield must have the'Freeze Flexfield Definition' boxchecked before the ‘Compile’radio button becomes active.

Ø Be sure to press compile, whichwill generate the flexfield viewMTL_CATEGORIES_KFVnecessary for the system.

Ø Ø Check Help > View My Requeststo be sure that the viewgenerates successfully.

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Please note: creating the ItemCategories Flexfield with"dynamic insert" checked is notallowed within the Application.

Navigate to Setup > Flexfields >Validation > Sets to create a newvalue set or to review the seededones.

Values must also be entered into thevalue set used for the flexfield if youchoose 'Independent' or 'Dependent'as the validation type for the valueset attached to each segment of theflexfield. This provides a predefinedlist of values (LOV) for a segment,and is defined in the SegmentValues window.Navigate to Setup > Flexfields >Validation > Values to insert thevalues to validate the 'Independent'or 'Dependent' segments. This stepis not required for segments withvalue sets having a validation typeof 'None'. Since a ‘None’ value isnot validated, segments with avalidation type of ‘None’ are notprovided a LOV to select from whenyou define the segment.

Note: At this point in the setup, thesevalues only represent a list of validvalues you can choose from when

defining a category. They are notvalid categories until you definecategories as explained later in thisdocument.

Oracle Inventory Release 10.7 hastwo category flexfield structuresprovided by default: Item Categoriesand PO Item Category. Release 11provides three by default: ItemCategories, PO Item Category, andProduct Family.

See Oracle Applications FlexfieldsGuide for further information onflexfield setup.

Setting Up Categories andCategory Sets

Categories and category sets aresetup in four steps.

1. Define Categories.2. Define Category Sets.3. Assign Default Category Sets.4. Assign Items to Categories.

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Define Categories

The category information is stored inthe MTL_CATEGORIES table andholds the system generatedCATEGORY_ID, which is a numberfield, as the primary key.

Navigate to Setup > Items >Categories > Category Codes to setup categories.

Ø The Find Categories window willappear. Choose the 'New' button.

Ø Choose the name of the flexfieldstructure you wish to assign tothe category from the list ofvalues in the first column (forexample, Item Categories).

Ø In the second column, enter aunique name for the categoryand enter the description for thecategory in the third column.

Ø A LOV of categories is availablehere. With the cursor in thecategory field, click the LOVbutton. The Item Category pop-up window displays, and the LOVfor a single segment is grayedout. Click the multiple LOV andthe long list find window displays.Enter the wild card character ‘%’,press the OK button, and the

Item Category Set list will bedisplayed for you to choose from.

After completing the above steps,

commit the record. Plan ahead:the categories assigned to acategory set must be assigned tothe same flexfield structure that isassigned to the category set.

Ø To make a category inactive,enter the date on which thecategory becomes inactive in thefourth column on the form in DD-MON-YYYY format for bothrelease 10.7 and release 11.

As of the inactive date, you canno longer assign the category:

• As the default category of a new category set• As a valid category of a category set• As a valid category of an item catalog group• To an item

Note: You cannot assign aninactive date to a category that isthe default category for amandatory category set.

Define Category Sets

The category information is stored inthe MTL_CATEGORY_SETS tableand holds the system generatedCATEGORY_SET_ID, which is anumber field, as the primary key.

An item in the Item Master maybelong to many category sets, butcan only belong to one categorywithin the same category set.

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Also, a category may be assigned tomultiple category sets at the sametime.

Navigate to Setup > Items >Categories > Category Sets. This iswhere the subset category defined inthe Category Codes form isassigned to a larger set (CategorySet).

Ø Enter a unique category set

name in the 'Name' field andprovide a description that ismeaningful to you in the nextfield.

Ø The 'Flex Structure' field allowsyou to select one of the itemcategories flexfield structuresdefined earlier from the list ofvalues. Reminder: Thecategories assigned to thecategory set must have thesame flexfield structure as thecategory set. This is true evenif you choose not to validatethe category list by checkingthe 'Enforce List of ValidCategories'.

Ø Choose one of the followingcontrol levels for the 'Control At'field value:

Master Level: The Itemsassigned to this category sethave the same category value inall organizations where they areassigned.

Org Level: The items assigned tothis category set may have adifferent category value in eachorganization where they areassigned.

Ø Choose a 'Default Category' fromthe list of values. This is thedefault category used by thesystem to assign an item to acategory set even if no categoryset is assigned by the user whenthe item is defined. See DefineDefault Categories for furtherinformation.

Ø Ø To enforce the list of validcategories, check the 'EnforceList of Valid Categories' box.

If you do not use this feature, youcan assign an item to anycategory defined that uses thesame flexfield structure as thiscategory set. If you use thisfeature, you can only assign anitem to those categories definedas valid categories for thiscategory set. If you are usingOracle Purchasing, you mustuse this checkbox for categorysets you will use inPurchasing. (Purchasing onlyrecognizes categories assignedto the Purchasing category seteven if a category uses the same

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flexfield structure as thePurchasing category set).

Ø Select a valid list of categorieson each blank line. These are thevalid categories which the'Enforce List of Valid Categories'feature will check against.

Define Default Category Sets

Oracle Inventory requires you toassign a default category set to eachof the following seven functionalareas: Inventory, Purchasing,Planning, Service, Costing,Engineering and Order Entry.Oracle Inventory makes the defaultcategory set mandatory for all itemsdefined for use by a functional area.If an item is enabled for a particularfunctional area, the item'scorresponding default categoryassignment cannot be deleted.Oracle Inventory assigns defaultcategory sets so that each functionalarea has at least one category setthat contains all items in thatfunctional area. This occursautomatically when defining an itemusing the Define Master Item form orwhen importing items through theItem Open Interface utilizingMTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_INTERFACE.

The default category set informationis stored in theMTL_DEFAULT_CATEGORY_SETStable and holds the systemgenerated CATEGORY_SET_ID (anumber field), as the primary keyalong with theFUNCTIONAL_AREA_ID (also anumber field), as an additionalprimary key. The category set for a

functional area is guaranteed tohave a category assignment for eachitem defined for use by the functionalarea. For example, the category setfor the Inventory functional area ismandatory and is the default for allitems defined as Inventory items.

The FUNCTIONAL_AREA_IDquickcodes and values for eachfunctional area are as follows:

Column QuickCode Type QuickCodeTable

FUNCTIONAL_AREA_ID

MTL_FUNCTIONAL_AREAS

MFG_LOOKUPS

1 Inventory2 Purchasing

3 Planning4 Service5 Cost6 Engineering7 Order Entry

Navigate to Setup > Items >Categories > Default Category Sets.This is where the default categorysets for each functional area aredefined.

Plan Ahead: Once a defaultcategory has been set up and anitem has been defined, the only wayto change the default category setfor a functional area is to update allitems with the new default categoryset before updating the default

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category set associated with aparticular functional area. Failure todo so will result in Application errorssimilar to the following:

'App-5115 You must assign allitems of this type to the new setfirst'.

Note: The Purchasing category setshould not be changed afterrequisitions or purchase order lineshave been created using any of thecategories assigned to the categoryset.

Enable an item for a functional areaby using that functional area's itemdefining attribute. An item definingattribute identifies the characteristicsof an item. For example, whatdesignates an item as an'engineering item' is the attributeEngineering Item. If a functionalarea's item defining attribute has acontrol level of Organization, thenthat function area may only have anorganization level default categoryset.

The item defining attributes are:

FunctionalArea

Item Defining Attribute EnablingValue

OracleInventory

Inventory Item Yes

OraclePurchasing

Purchased ItemInternal Ordered Item

Yes,Yes

OracleMasterScheduling/MRP

MRP Planning Method MRPPlanningMPSPlanning

OracleService

Service Item,Serviceable Product

YesYes

Oracle CostMgmt

Costing Enabled Yes

OracleEngineering

Engineering Item Yes

OracleOrder Entry

Customer OrderedItem

Yes

Assigning Items to Categories

Assigning items to categories can beachieved several different ways. Ifyou are importing your items for thefirst time into Inventory, the categorywill default from the DefaultCategories. You cannot assign acategory when importing your itemsthrough the Item Open Interface.Currently, the Import Item processdoes not support populating thecategory set when inserting items.However, default categoryassignments can be changed usingthe forms discussed below.

There are two ways to assign anitem to a category set within theapplication. While defining an item inthe Item Master form, you may clickon ‘Special’ from the toolbar >Categories and the CategoryAssignment window will pop up andallow you to add a category.

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Also, you can perform this task fromthe Organization Items form onceyou have assigned the item to anorganization and the category set isdefined as controlled at theorganization level.

Additionally, when defining categorysets, you can press the ‘Assign’button and list the items you want toassign to a category set.

Summary

This document explains the processof setting up Categories, CategorySets and Default Categories withemphasis on setup considerations.

About The Author

Michele Veilleux is a Senior TechnicalAnalyst for Oracle Support Services inOrlando, Florida

Credits

q Oracle Inventory Reference Manual,Release 11

q Oracle Inventory Technical ReferenceManual, Release 11

q Oracle Inventory Reference Manual,Release 10SC

q Oracle Inventory Technical ReferenceManual, Release 10

q Oracle Inventory Applicationq Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide

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