Oracle Projects 11i & R12 – AutoAccounting – Concept & Overview
How does AutoAccounting work?
For each accounting transaction, you define rules to determine the appropriate account to charge. Each accounting transaction is identified by an AutoAccounting function. AutoAccounting functions are components of programs that you submit to generate accounting entries.
How do you implement AutoAccounting?
The steps are as follows:
a). Design your AutoAccounting setup based on your implementation data.
b). Define lookup sets. Navigation – Setup/AutoAccounting/Lookup Sets.
To define a lookup set, you specify pairs of values. For each intermediate value, you specify a corresponding account segment value. One or more related pairs of intermediate values and segment values form a lookup set.
You may need several lookup sets to map organizations to cost centers, expenditure types to account codes, event types to account codes, or for other situations where the segment value depends upon a particular predefined parameter.
You can use a lookup set more than once; several AutoAccounting rules can use the same lookup set.
You define and modify lookup sets using the AutoAccounting Lookup Sets window.
c). Define rules. Navigation – Setup/AutoAccounting/Rules.
Each AutoAccounting rule you define supplies one Accounting Flexfield segment value at a time. Thus, you need to specify one AutoAccounting rule for each segment in your Accounting Flexfield for each AutoAccounting transaction you want to use.
Some of the AutoAccounting rules you define can be quite simple, such as always supplying a constant company code or natural account. Others can draw upon context information (parameters), such as the revenue category for a particular posting or the organization that owns a particular asset. You can even use multiple parameters to provide a segment value.
You can reuse the same AutoAccounting rules for many different functions and their transactions.
You define rules based on project information that you enter. You can use these AutoAccounting parameters as input values to your rules. Note: AutoAccounting does not use Flexfield security rules when determining a valid account combination. You must define your AutoAccounting rules to determine the appropriate account based on the rules required by your company.
d). Assign rules for each function. Navigation – Setup/AutoAccounting/ Assignments.
When you are assigning rules to an AutoAccounting function, you may want to assign different rules to different conditions. For example, you may want to account for indirect projects using one set of rules, and use two different sets of rules for billable items and nonbillable items on contract projects.
To make it easy to do this, Oracle Projects provides function transactions to each function, which identifies commonly used conditions in which you may want to assign different rules.
You can assign rules to function transactions for each AutoAccounting function.
You complete the following steps to assign AutoAccounting rules to AutoAccounting functions and transactions:
Enable each transaction you want to use
For each transaction you enable, you specify an AutoAccounting rule for each segment of your Accounting Flexfield
How does AutoAccounting compare to Workflow Account Generator?
Both the account generation processes in Oracle Workflow and AutoAccounting in Oracle Projects can create account numbers dynamically, based on transactions in Oracle Projects. This section compares the Account Generator to AutoAccounting, and provides directions for:
Assigning a constant or lookup value to a segment
Assigning an attribute parameter to a segment
Deriving a segment value
Learning more about SQL functions to generate account codes
| ACCOUNT GENERATOR TERMS OR FUNCTIONALITY | EQUIVALENT IN AUTOACCOUNTING |
| Workflow or Item Type Function | Function |
| Process | Defining and assigning rules to segments |
| Attribute | Parameter |
| Assigning a constant to a segment | Assigning a constant AutoAccounting rule to a segment |
| Assigning an attribute parameter to a segment | Assigning an AutoAccounting rule that uses a parameter, which becomes the value (a lookupset is not used) |
| Assigning a lookup set value to a segment | Assigning an AutoAccounting rule that passes a parameter to a lookup set to determine the segment value |
| Deriving a segment value by using SQL statements or If conditions | Using an AutoAccounting rule that derives the intermediate value or segment value via a SQL statement. |
I have an AutoAccounting Error – where do I start?
In most cases, when a user encounters an AutoAccounting error when processing Oracle Projects transactions, you will utilize the debug log file to find the source of the error. Most AutoAccounting errors are specific and will provide you with enough information for troubleshooting purposes. Setting the Profile Option ‘PA: Debug Mode’ = Yes will provide more detail information in the log file.
How can I find out which parameters are valid for an AutoAccounting Function?
Run the IMP: AutoAccounting Functions report.
Can I create or edit existing AutoAccounting transactions?
Oracle Projects predefines AutoAccounting transactions; you cannot modify them, or define additional transactions.
