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Note: The Physical Inventory Comparison program only compares physical inventory entries with a status of NEW. If an entry has been compared and you want it to be compared again, you must change the status of that entry back to NEW.

During the comparison, the comparison program attempts to match each asset in the physical inventory data to an asset in the production system. It begins the comparison by searching for matching unique identifiers. The matching unique identifier can be either the asset number, tag number, or serial number.

The program first determines whether the physical inventory data includes an asset number. If an asset number has been provided, the comparison program searches the Oracle Assets production system for a matching asset number. If it finds a matching asset number, the program continues the comparison by determining whether the location and number of units match. If they do not match, the program updates the status of that asset to DIFFERENCE. See: Status Codes.

If the program cannot find a matching asset number in the Oracle Asset production system, it terminates the comparison for that asset and continues on to the next asset.

If an asset number has not been recorded as part of the physical inventory, the program next determines whether the physical inventory data includes a tag number. If there is a tag number, the program searches the Oracle Assets production system for a matching tag number. Similarly, if the physical inventory data includes neither an asset number nor a tag number, the program determines whether a serial number has been recorded for the asset. If so, it searches the Oracle Assets production system for a matching serial number. In both cases, if the program finds a match, it will continue the comparison to determine whether the location and number of units match. If they do not match, the program updates the status of that asset to DIFFERENCE. See: Status Codes.

In both cases, if the program cannot find a matching identifier in the Oracle Assets production system, it terminates the comparison for that asset and continues on to the next asset.

If none of the three unique identifiers are present for that asset, the program attempts to match the asset using other criteria, such as description and asset key CCID.

Note: When the program attempts to match assets using criteria other than the three unique identifiers, the matching criteria may not be unique and the program may not be able to uniquely identify an asset. Therefore, we strongly recommend that when bringing physical inventory data into Oracle Assets using any method other than the Physical Inventory window (which does not allow you to save your changes unless you have entered an asset number, tag number, or serial number), that you include at least one of the three unique identifiers for each asset in physical inventory.

After completing the comparison, the comparison program updates the FA_INV_INTERFACE table, indicating the assets in physical inventory that cannot be reconciled with the assets in Oracle Assets, and, if necessary, the type of adjustment that needs to be made (either a unit adjustment or location adjustment). If there are no differences between the Oracle Assets data and the physical inventory data for a particular asset, and the asset meets the other requirements for inclusion in the physical inventory process, the asset will automatically have a status of RECONCILED. If there are differences between the Oracle Assets data and the physical inventory data for a particular asset, or the asset does not meet the requirements for inclusion in the physical inventory process, one of the other status codes described in will be assigned to the asset. You can view the comparison data online using the Find Physical Inventory Comparison window, or by running the Physical Inventory Comparison Report.