Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution

Flexfields
➢ Flexfields are user-defined data
entry fields that are available
throughout the OA.

➢ They can be used to customize OA

without programming.

The two types of flexfields are

➢ Key Flexfield
➢ Descriptive Flexfield
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Key Flexfield
➢ KFF consist of multiple segments, that
have a value and meaning.
➢ Are used by the applications as
identifiers and share common
information across applications.
➢ Are required by the application and
appear as a regular field with
concatenated values.
➢ Oracle application has 22 Key Flexfields
and Inventory has 7 Key Flexfields.
➢ KFF are referred as an intelligent field.
➢ Define up to maximum of 30 segments
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Inventory Key Flexfields

➢ System Item Flexfield

➢ Item Category Flexfield
➢ Item Catalog Flexfield
➢ Stock Locator Flexfield
➢ Account Alias Flexfield
➢ Sales Order Flexfiled
➢ Service Item Flexfield
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Inventory Key Flexfields

➢ Able to add a new structure only for

Item Category KFF.

➢ Able to add segments for all the 7 Key

Flexfields.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Steps to Define a Flexfield
➢ Plan the Flexfield.
– value sets, segments, prompts,
order.
➢ Define and set up the Value sets.
– check to see if there is already a
value set defined that would meet
your needs.
➢ Define and set up the Structure and
the Segments.
– freeze and compile the flexfield.
➢ Define the appropriate Values for the
Value Set.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Define the Flexfield Structure

➢ Give flexfield a code, title and a

meaningful description.
– Or use the existing code and title.
➢ Select a view name if a view is
desired.
➢ Make sure that the flexfield is
enabled.
➢ Choose a segment separator.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Key Flexfield Structure
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Defining the Flexfield Structure

➢ Decide if Cross-Validation will be used

on this flexfield.
➢ Decide if Dynamic Insertion will be
used on this flexfield.
➢ If using Rollup Groups, specify
whether to Freeze or not.
➢ Further define each of your segments.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Item Category Value Set
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Value Set

➢ Are used throughout the applications.

➢ Require a Value Set Name and
description.
➢ Ask for list type and security type.
➢ Allow you to choose Format Validation.
➢ Provide size and value limitations for
each .
➢ Provide method for validation.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
KFF - Segments Summary
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Define the Flexfield Segments
➢ Designate the order of the segments.
➢ Provide a name and description for
each segment.
➢ Provide prompts for windows and lists.
➢ Click on Enabled and Displayed.
➢ Assign column name (segment
number in table).
➢ Assign the appropriate Value set.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Defining the Flexfield Segments

➢ Choose whether this segment should

be Indexed.
➢ Choose defaults, if applicable.
➢ Choose whether Security should be
enabled for this segment.
➢ Choose Display and Description sizes.
➢ Assign Segment Qualifiers to the
appropriate segments..
Oracle Apps for
Values – Manufacturing
Value Set &- Distribution
Family
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Values for Value Set - Class
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Define Values in the Value Set

➢ Provide valid values and descriptions for

each independent segment.

➢ Values are limited to validation set

rules.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
System Item - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
System Item - KFF
➢ Also called as Item Flexfield.
➢ Defines the structure of item/part number.
➢ Defines single/multi-segmented field and
the length of segment.
➢ Every Item defined requires this item
number, to transact and report item info.
➢ Manufacturing enterprises widely use single
segment for item number, as the capability
of OA to retrieve item information by
number of different methods, including item
catalog, part number, item cross reference,
has reduced the requirement of multi-
segment.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Item Categories - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Item Categories - KFF

➢ A Category is a logical classification

of items that have similar
characteristics.
➢ A Category set is a grouping together
categories.
➢ Define Item categories and Category
sets to facilitate retrieval and
reporting to meet client unique
requirements.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Item Catalog Group - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Item Catalogs - KFF
➢ A Catalog can have its own set of
item characteristics, called descriptive
elements.
➢ Define as many as descriptive
elements as necessary to describe
the items and specify whether an
entry for the element is optional.
➢ Even if item catalog is not used, must
enable at least one segment and
compile before defining items.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Stock Locator - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Stock Locator - KFF
➢ A stock locator is a physical area
within a subinventory where material
is stored.
➢ A stock locator is a combination of
Row, Aisle, Bin, or Shelf.

➢ Even if you do not implement Locator

Control, must still compile as
inventory transaction inquiries require
a frozen FF definition.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Account Alias - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Account Alias - KFF
➢ Allows to use shorthand label for GL
account number combination when
entering inventory transaction.
➢ It reduce key stroke entries as well
as the chance of entering wrong
account numbers.
➢ Even if you do not use account alias,
must still compile as inventory
transaction inquiries require a frozen
FF definition.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Sales Orders - KFF
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Sales Orders - KFF
➢ Used to uniquely identify sales order
transactions that Order Management
interfaces with Inventory.

➢ Define the flexfield as Order Number,

Order Type and Order Source.

➢ Even if you do not ship items against

Sales Order, must still compile as
inventory transaction inquiries require
a frozen FF definition.
Oracle Apps – Manufacturing & Distribution
Descriptive Flexfield
➢ DFF is used to capture additional
information in generic fields.
➢ DFF is represented by a two-character
unnamed field enclosed by brackets ‘[]’
➢ When Organizations must customize a
form to capture additional information on a
row, or about a subject, first try to use a
DFF.
➢ An organization can customize DFF to
include as many fields as needed.
➢ DFF are widely used by Orgs and continue to
be an excellent way to expand the usability
of OA.