This chapter covers the following topics:
Oracle Sales Offline gives you the information you need to remotely manage your sales efforts and offers sales organizations the functionality required in an interface that is both familiar and effective. Leveraging the capabilities of desktop applications, Oracle has designed a template that provides sales organizations a way to manage sales information without the need to install additional software.
The template is downloaded from Oracle Sales and provides upload and download data capabilities. Oracle Sales Offline provides you with the ability to view and edit sales information while your support organization does not have to support any additional technical software on laptop computers.
To manage and close deals successfully, sales teams often cross group boundaries, territories, and even company lines. Oracle Sales Offline works with Oracle Sales and with Oracle TeleSales to create a virtual sales team that enables the sharing of opportunities, contacts, notes, and other customer information between sales team members. You can automatically or manually assign opportunities to sales members. Sales representatives can see information from partners about their accounts as they prepare for on site meetings. Oracle sales automation modules complement each other and provide the solution for team selling in a dynamic environment.
Oracle Sales Offline imports and exports (synchronizes) information from an Oracle enterprise database and enables you to view and update your sales information remotely with your laptop computer. You can add, view, and edit customers, opportunities, leads, quotes, and tasks from your laptop, saving the changes for subsequent upload.
You can optimize your selling time in the field by having key customer information readily available. This enhances your relationships with customers and promotes company profitability. Oracle Sales Offline integrates with the Oracle Sales applications and is designed to maximize sales effectiveness in the mobile environment. Oracle Sales Offline is part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, an integrated set of applications that are engineered to work together.
Note: Oracle Sales Offline is NOT supported in Mac machines.
The following information describes the prerequisites for Oracle Sales Offline.
Oracle Applications
Oracle Sales release 12.0 or later
Oracle Quoting
Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator
System Requirements
Microsoft Windows 95/NT/2000/XP operating system
Microsoft Excel 2000/2003/2007
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Licensed copy of WinZip, PKZIP, or WinRAR
Microsoft Windows Common Controls-2 6.0 (Mscomct2.ocx)
System Recommendations
500 MHz or higher processor
256 MB RAM or higher
To increase your knowledge of Oracle Sales Offline, Oracle provides many sources of information including documentation, training, and support services. We recommend that you review the latest release of Oracle Sales Implementation Guide and the Oracle Sales User Guide in addition to using the Oracle Sales application. There is also a number of Oracle Sales training classes available through Oracle University including an Oracle Sales Fundamentals course.
Oracle Sales Offline includes the following features:
Lead Management
Opportunity Management
Customer Management
Offline Quoting
Task Management
Flexfield Support
Home Tab - Non-Validated Records, New/Changed Items and Conflict Resolution
Incremental Synchronization
Synchronization Preferences Filters
Multilanguage Support (MLS)
Common Product Catalog
Multi-org Access
Data Filtering Tools
Lead Management
You can manage leads and qualify them into sales opportunities in Oracle Sales Offline. Leads can be prioritized so that you can target activities on hot leads first. Oracle Sales Offline gives you access to lead information such as notes history, and key contacts. All changes to the lead can be synchronized back to the enterprise database. Also, you can perform the lead to opportunity business flow in Oracle Sales Offline.
Opportunity Management
You can manage opportunities remotely through the sales cycle. Oracle Sales Offline gives you access to opportunity activities and statuses, notes history, key contacts and sales credits. You can create and update the opportunity information by adding new notes, and changing the opportunity status. Access to this information and the ability to update it enables sales organizations to sell more effectively. Sales team members can share information about call activity, major issues, and account strategy. All changes to the opportunity can be synchronized back to the enterprise database. Also, you can perform the opportunity to quote business flow in Oracle Sales Offline.
Sales Forecasting: Oracle Sales Offline enables you to build forecasts constructed from opportunities. Oracle Sales Offline supports forecast information at the Opportunity transaction level. You can add, edit and create Forecast information within an Opportunity in Oracle Sales Offline.
Customer Management
Oracle Sales Offline gives sales representatives the information they need to manage their sales efforts when they are on the road. Mobile sales agents have access to detailed customer information, product interests and notes about their customers. Contact information lets representatives identify key players within their accounts and share that information with other members of the sales team.
Offline Quoting
Oracle Sales Offline supports mobile quoting functionality. The quoting functionality enables you to maintain and develop customer quotes. You can view detailed quote information, such as customer account information, contact details, and ship-to and bill-to information. You can add, remove, and price products using offline quoting. You can perform manual price adjustments at the product line level. You can also synchronize all changes to the quote back to the enterprise database.
Task Management
Oracle Sales Offline supports task management features. You can download tasks that are assigned to you, or that you own. You can view and edit these tasks in Oracle Sales Offline, and you can create new tasks. Tasks can be stand-alone, or associated to an Oracle business object. You can use the Calendar form to display tasks for a particular day or date range in Oracle Sales Offline.
Flexfield Support
Oracle Sales Offline supports customer defined flexfields, where applicable. You can download flexfields established in the online sales applications to use in Oracle Sales Offline. You can add, view, and edit data captured in these flexfields, and have the data synchronized to and from the online sales applications.
Home Tab - New Items, Non-Validated Records and Conflict Resolution
The Home Tab of Oracle Sales Offline, the first window you see in the application, lists newly added or changed records during the last synchronization. Initially, the Home tab will not list any records. New or changed items are listed as the result of subsequent synchronizations. Records are listed in the various tables, depending on the source of the record. Non-validated records are also listed in the Home Tab.
The Conflict Resolution subtab is available in the Home Tab. The conflict resolution sheet displays conflicted records that occurred during synchronization, and provides a side-by-side comparison of the local client record and the associated server record. You can reapply or discard the conflict records directly through Oracle Sales Offline.
Incremental Synchronization
Oracle Sales Offline supports incremental synchronization for uploading and downloading sales data. During incremental synchronization, only the records that have been changed or added in Oracle Sales Offline are uploaded during synchronization, and only the records that have been added or changed in the online applications are downloaded.
Synchronization Preferences Filters
The Synchronization Preferences allows you to selectively download sales data based on Oracle business objects such as, organizations, leads, opportunities and quotes. These download options can be saved and edited.
Multilanguage Support (MLS)
Oracle Sales Offline is MLS compliant. Multilanguage Support includes:
Language Data Handling: Support for characters from any language as data in the application.
Language Data Handling: Support for local formats for date, time, number, address, and name.
Common Product Catalog
Oracle Sales Offline supports the common product catalog, which is used by all Sales applications. In the past, product categories were limited to interest type, primary codes, and secondary codes. Using the common product catalog, multiple levels of product categories are possible based on implementation needs. Product catalog security is inherited from the security set in Oracle Sales.
The common product catalog is part of Oracle Product Lifecycle Management and manages product hierarchy. Your product catalog is set up in Oracle Product Lifecycle Management. A hierarchical catalog called Product is seeded for use by Sales and Marketing. You can either use this seeded catalog or create a new product hierarchical catalog with Product Categories.
In the Sales Offline summary sheet Hot Keys are provided for:
Main tabs - Home, Tasks, Lead, Opportunity, Quote, and Customer
Subtabs - Home, Conflict Resolution, Organization, Contact and Person
Global buttons - Calendar, Profile and Sync
Action buttons - Reapply, Discard, Save and Create
Remove button - Toggle remove button on task summary sheet
All the hot keys are identified by an underline and can be accessed with the key combination of Ctrl +Alt. However, for the remove button on the task summary sheet you can access the key with the combination of Ctrl +Alt and set the prompt value to control toggling.
Note: If any global hot keys conflict with the Sales Offline hot keys, global hot keys always get the preference. Sales Offline hot keys would not work in this case. However, the system administrator can change the application menu hot key for the conflicting hot keys menu name. Refer to the Oracle Sales Offline Implementation Guide for information on changing hot keys.
Oracle Sales Offline works with Oracle Sales, but some features may not be available. Oracle Sales Offline integrates with:
Oracle Quoting: Oracle Quoting is used to propose product solutions and perform negotiations, while enforcing consistent business rules throughout the sales cycle. Users can maintain quotes, and eventually convert quotes to orders. This integration applies only if offline quoting is used in Oracle Sales Offline.
Oracle Sales: Oracle Sales is an application for sales professionals that simplifies and optimizes the task of planning and managing the sales process. Oracle Sales simplifies the sales process by providing complete visibility into the sales cycle, helping companies to plan and manage effective selling activities.
Oracle Sales Offline is available from the online Sales application, in the form of a compressed file.
Reference
Oracle Sales Offline Implementation Guide
Login
Log in to Oracle Applications to access Oracle Sales.
Responsibility
Oracle Sales: Sales User
Navigation
Oracle Sales: Preferences Link > Sales Offline Template Download
Steps
For using Oracle Sales Offline in conjunction with Oracle Sales for the first time, download Oracle Sales Offline from the Preferences link of Oracle Sales before proceeding.
Navigate to the downloaded file SalesOffline.zip in your directory. Unzip the file into your folder and run Oracle Sales Offline by double-clicking on SalesOffline.xls. Enable macros when prompted.
If Oracle Sales Offline fails to open when you choose to enable the macros, verify the macros security is set to the medium or low level. You can do this by navigating to Tools > Macro > Security in Microsoft Excel 2000.
Click the Sync icon. Enter the requested user information and then click Sync. The synchronization preferences will display the first time you Sync.
You can filter your data using the Sync preference filters associated with the downloads. See Setting Synchronization Preferences for details. You can save these preferences to use in future synchronizations.
Note: Oracle Sales Offline is not supported in Mac machines.
The following sync preference filters are applicable to downloads:
Lead Preferences - Filter by Status, Channel, Lead Rank, Budget Status, Time Frame, or Number of Records
Opportunity Preferences - Filter by Status, Stage, Sales Channel, or Win Probability (From/To)
Quote Preferences - Filter by Operating Unit, Inventory Category Set (inventory item or product), Inventory Category, or Price List
You must select categories (from the Default Category Set or the Sales and Marketing Category Set) for download. You can select categories from multiple categories. You can select multiple lines from one category set by highlighting a row and using the Ctrl or Shift functions.
The operating unit dropdown displays your default operating unit and any other operating unit you are associated with. For example, you may be associated with Vision Operations, Vision Corporation and Vision Communications, USA. These operating units are linked to your login responsibility and the default is derived from the profile MO:Default Operating Unit. You can only select one Operating Unit in the dropdown. Additionally, the product information displayed in the Sync Preferences, Quote tab are the values associated to the Operating Unit you selected in the Operating Unit dropdown.
Customer Preferences - Filter by Customer Category, or Country. Customer category filter is only used for Organization.
If Quote tab is removed (Refer to the Sales Offline Implementation Guide for information on removing the Quote Tab) the sync preferences form contains Inventory Preferences instead of Quote Preferences.
Inventory Preferences - filtered by Inventory Category Set (Default Category Set or Common Product Catalog), Inventory Category, and Operating Unit.
In Oracle Sales Offline, tabs indicate the first layer of information and subtabs show further details. Links enable you to access detailed information about specific items.
The Table 1-1 describes navigation features and fields:
| Navigation Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Tab | Enables you to navigate among the areas of functionality in the application. |
| Subtab | Enables you to access additional functionality under a tab. |
| Link or hyperlink | Enables you to navigate to additional levels of detail under the subtab. |
| Asterisks | Designate required fields. These fields have a white background. Fields with a white background and no asterisk are optional. Fields with a grey background are read-only. |
| Column headings | Enables you to sort rows of information. Clicking on a column heading will sort rows in ascending or descending order based on the information in the selected column. |
| Go button | Enables searches for a list of values. |
| Ctrl F | Enables you to search for a specific value. |
The following information describes how to use your keyboard to navigate in Oracle Sales Offline.
Summary Sheet
The following table describes keyboard navigation for the Summary Sheet.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| Navigate across the fields (cells) of the worksheet | Tab |
| Move vertically across the worksheet cells | Up/Down Keys |
| Move horizontally across the worksheet cells | Left/Right Keys |
| Open record hyperlinks/sorting columns on summary sheet. | Enter (For Excel 2000) Right Click Button and "Open Hyperlink" Shortcut (For Excel XP/2003) |
Cell Dropdowns
The following table describes keyboard navigation for cell dropdowns.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| View the list of available values for drop down | Alt+Up/Down |
| Select a value from the cell dropdown | Enter |
Hot Keys
You can dynamically set hot keys for the following items. All of the hotkey characters are highlighted by an underscore.
Select Ctrl+Alt+Hot key to invoke any of these items.
Calendar (Global Menu)
Profile (Global Menu)
Sync (Global Menu)
Home (Menu)
Home (Sub Menu)
Conflict Resolution (Sub Menu)
Reapply (Button)
Discard (Button)
Task (Menu)
Create (Button)
Save (Button)
Lead (Menu)
Create (Button)
Save (Button)
Opportunity (Menu)
Create (Button)
Save (Button)
Quote (Menu)
Create (Button)
Customer (Menu)
Organization (Sub Menu)
Create (Button)
Contact (Sub Menu)
Create (Button)
Person (Sub Menu)
Create (Button)
Forms/Screens
The following table describes keyboard navigation for forms/screens for example, Create Opportunity Screen.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| Move forward across fields | Tab |
| Move backward across fields | Shift+Tab |
| Move across tabs in the forms/windows | Ctrl + Tab |
| Toggle the value of radio button/checkbox | Space bar |
| View the list of available values for combobox/View Datepicker calender | Alt+ Up/Down |
| Select a value from the dropdown | Enter |
| Change the value from the list of available value for a combobox. | Up/Down Keys |
| Select values in LOV screen | Up/Down Keys |
Date Picker
The following table describes keyboard navigation for the Date Picker.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| View Date Picker calendar | Alt + Down |
| Change year | Ctrl Page Up/Down |
| Change month | Page Up/Down |
| Change days | Up/Down keys |
Toggle Remove Checkbox on Task Summary Sheet
Select/highlight the cell that you want to toggle
Crtl + Alt + Hot Key (Refer to the Oracle Sales Offline Implementation Guide for information on how to set the hot keys for toggle.)
Oracle Sales Offline enables you to select preferences for synchronization. These preferences apply to the data downloaded from Oracle Sales. During the initial synchronization, Oracle Sales Offline, will, by default, perform a full download of necessary data. Using preferences to select subsets of data to download can contribute to improved application performance. You can modify these preferences after making your initial choices.
Steps
In Oracle Sales Offline, click the Profile icon.
Make your synchronization selection.
Click Save to save changes or Sync to start the synchronization process (which will save changes on completion).
The Oracle Sales Offline synchronization process uploads changes or additions to the server and downloads changed or added records back to Oracle Sales Offline on your laptop. You do not have to log into Oracles Sales to upload and download data. The synchronization function handles this process within Oracle Sales Offline. See Setting Synchronization Preferences for details on changing data synchronization preferences for your data downloads.
To ensure the synchronization function works correctly clean out (delete old files) your Web ADI folder located in the Windows temp folder (C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp\WebADI).
Steps
To synchronize data:
In Oracle Sales Offline, click the Sync icon.
The Sync Login window appears. Enter your user name and password.
Click OK. The Sync Console appears. A status bar shows the progress of the synchronization.
While the synchronization is in progress, you can:
Go Offline - Click to go offline while synchronization is in progress.
Note: To disable the saving of your Sync Preferences, navigate to Oracle > Go Offline Autosave, and disable the autosave feature.
Note: When the data processing is prolonged, the access to the aslUploadEngine.jsp procedure times out and the application present the following error message:
“Unexpected error has occurred whilst retrieving the file name”
To rectify this time-out issue, please increase the value of the timeout parameter in the httpd.conf file.
Go Offline enables you to use Oracle Sales Offline in a read-only (locked) mode. Any changes that you make while Oracle Sales Offline is in locked mode are not saved. Data synchronization must complete before you can create, modify, or save data in Oracle Sales Offline. Go Offline is not available during some parts of the synchronization. For example, you cannot choose Go Offline when the synchronization engine is downloading data.
If you click the Sync button, or attempt to save data while the synchronization is offline in locked mode, the following message displays:
Sync and Save disabled while in Locked Mode:
The buttons on the tabs (for example, Task or Lead) are not disabled (greyed out) while Oracle Sales Offline is in locked mode. However the functionality associated with these buttons is disabled.
While in locked mode, if you close the worksheet, and then reopen it, you will receive this message:
Do you want to complete the unfinished sync?
You can do one of the following:
Yes - continues the synchronization. You will have to provide a login password. The Sync Console will appear and display the synchronization status bar.
No- enables you to remain in the offline (Locked mode).
Click to cancel the synchronization that is in progress. This button is functional at the beginning of the synchronization. As the synchronization progresses, you eventually will not be able to cancel, and this button will be disabled. The Cancel button is disabled when the synchronization process is writing to the enterprise database, to protect the integrity of the database.
Click Show to expand the Sync Console and show synchronization processing messages. These messages are similar to a log file. Click Hide to hide the processing messages.
You will receive a message at the end of the synchronization process informing you that either the synchronization was successful or it failed to complete.
If you receive conflict errors, navigate to the Home tab and click the Conflict Resolution subtab to resolve the conflicts in the Conflict Resolution screens.
If you receive a server not found and not available error, contact your administrator for assistance.
At the successful end of the synchronization, messages indicating the synchronization is complete and reminding you to you save your data display. Click Yes to save or No to cancel the save.
Oracle strongly recommends that you save your data after the synchronization completes.
Using a remote application that synchronizes information with an enterprise database can result in data conflicts. Conflict resolution is critical to using a remote application successfully, and it is important that up-to-date and accurate information is written to the enterprise database.
Note that the server record will always override your Oracle Sales Offline client record. If the same server and client record has been changed in between synchronization processes, a conflict will occur, and the server record will override your client record. You can resolve the conflict in the Home tab, using the Conflict Resolution subtab.
During a full and incremental synchronization, all conflicts associated with a particular user are downloaded. Error messages indicate the cause of the conflict.
Steps
To resolve conflicts between the Oracle Sales database and Oracle Sales Offline:
Open Oracle Sales Offline.
Click the Conflict Resolution subtab in the Home tab.
In the Conflict Resolution screen, you will see tables listing the conflicts that occurred during synchronization.
Click the link to see details of the conflicted record and make the necessary updates, if needed, before deciding to apply the changes or discard them.
The left side of the form contains your local Oracle Sales Offline record while the right side of the form contains the Oracle Sales server record. The fields that caused the conflict are shown in red.
If you choose Reapply, the Oracle Sales Offline record will override the Oracle Sales record. You must perform a synchronization for your record to be applied to the database. If you choose Discard, your Oracle Sales Offline changes will not be applied to the Oracle Sales server. If you discard the conflicts you do not need to perform a synchronization.
From the main Conflict Resolution screen you can select groups of conflicted records to Reapply or Discard. Select the checkbox by the record(s) you want to reapply or discard. If you want to reapply your changes to the server, click Reapply. If you want to discard the conflict, click Discard.
Conflict Resolution also displays the header and line object relationships in one clear view so you can decipher which line conflict is associated to the header record.
The information in the following table applies to Conflicted records:
Note: Sales Team, Notes, Lead and Opportunity contact, Person classification and Quotes sales credit conflict resolution is not supported.
You can view rejected (non-validated) records in Oracle Sales Offline, as well as a message indicating why the record was rejected. Any record that is created in Oracle Sales Offline that does not pass the online validation rules during the upload-synchronization process is captured in a Non-Validated record table in the Home tab of Oracle Sales Offline.
In addition to displaying each record that did not pass the server validation rules, the non-validated records table also lists the reason the record was not applied to the server. You can rectify (Reapply, Discard or Cancel) the non-validated record while in this table.
The table contains two columns, Non-Validated Records and Sync Time.
Non-Validated Records column - Contains the hyperlinked record name with hyperlink.
Sync Time column - Contains the server date stamp for the non-validated record's synchronization.
The most recent non-validated records are listed at the bottom of the table. If a non-validated record is a header record, then any accompanying line records are grouped together in the table, with the header record listed above the line records.
If the rejected records are related (for example, an opportunity header item and the related opportunity lines), these records are grouped together in the non-validated table. If a header record results in a NVR, it is the first item in the grouped records, followed by the related line items.
Both rejected header and lines records are listed. The following information applies to Quote, Opportunity, Lead, Organization, Contact and Person modules. It does not apply to the Task module.
The information in the following table applies to Non-Validated records.
| Non-Validated Record Scenario | Non-Validated Record Summary Sheet (table) | Non-Validated Record Form |
|---|---|---|
| Header Only NVR (lines will not get applied because the header did not pass server validation) | The Header record is displayed and hyperlinked. Click on the header record to display the NVR form. Line records are displayed, but not hyperlinked. | Header record is displayed in the NVR form, and you can either reapply or discard the header record. On reapply or discard all the line records will also get reapplied or discarded. |
| Header passes server validation (or the header was already synchronized and established) but line record does not pass validation | The header record is displayed but not hyperlinked. The line record, displayed directly below the header record is hyperlinked. | The line record is displayed in the NVR form and you can either reapply or discard the line record. Note that Notes, Lead, and Opportunity contact, person classification and quotes sales credit NVR is not supported. |
| Multiple lines do not pass validation (header was already synchronized and established). | The header record is displayed directly above the Line record conflict, but not hyperlinked. Each line record is displayed directly below the header record and hyperlinked. Each line is displayed directly below the header. | Each line record is displayed in the NVR form, and you can reapply or discard the line record. |
Quote NVR and conflict resolution support is the same as described in the previous section with the following exception :
If multiple lines are non-validated - Non-hyperlinked header record is displayed before each line record. Basic header information is displayed in a frame on the Line conflict form.
If header and line (one or many) are conflicted - Conflict header record is also displayed and non-hyperlinked before each line record. If there are n quote line/child record conflict(s) for a particular quote parent, the non hyperlinked quote name is displayed n number of times. These lines may be separated by other conflict quote records.
If the Sales Offline created quote line has a conflict/validation failure, the quote header status is changed to 'Sales Offline Error'. The quote becomes read only and this type of quote cannot be converted to an order. After quote line conflict/NVR record processing, Oracle Sales Offline changes the status back to Draft.
If you performed a Lead to Opportunity flow in Oracle Sales Offline and/or Oracle Sales between syncs, the lead will be displayed in the Conflict Resolution table of Oracle Sales Offline. This only occurs if the same lead record has been changed in both Oracle Sales and Oracle Sales Offline. The server changes will override the client changes for the lead.
The Lead table of the conflict resolution sheet captures the lead header information. The lead will become read-only because of its Converted To Opportunity status, and only the Discard and Cancel buttons will be activated.
If any Lead child (for example, Sales Team, Lead Purchase Line) information is changed in Oracle Sales Offline, these child records will appear in the appropriate table of the conflict resolution sheet. None of these child changes will be uploaded to Oracle Sales. In the appropriate conflict form (for example, Lead Purchase Line, Sales Team), only the Discard and Cancel buttons will be activated.
When the Lead in conflict has been converted into an Opportunity, the following message displays:
Lead (LEAD NAME) has been converted into an opportunity in Oracle Sales. This lead is now read-only. Please discard this lead conflict, and make any appropriate changes to the leads corresponding Opportunity.
Oracle Sales Offline client log stores messages about these activities:
Opening the template
Loading sheets
Synchronizing data
The timing statistics which are logged enable administrators to analyze Oracle Sales Offline’s performance and identify issues that may arise when a large volume of records are processed.
The log file, aslclient.log, is located in the logs directory in the folder containing Oracle Sales Offline. Oracle Sales Offline supports the following kinds of log messages:
Statement
Procedure
Event
Timing
Exception
Error
Unexpected
The two types of logging available are:
Normal : Set at Oracle > Logging > Normal. The log messages of type TIMING, EXCEPTION, ERROR and UNEXPECTED appear on the client log file if you select this option. By default, the timing log is always enabled.
Detailed: Set at Oracle > Logging > Detailed . All types of log messages appear on the client log file if this option is chosen.
Note: Each time you open the Oracle Sales Offline template, the log file is copied to a .bak file and the .log file is cleared. To view the log, look at the log in the logs directory before you open the template. To restart logging, select Oracle > Logging > Reset. This deletes the existing log file and starts a new one during the current session.
Sales Offline uses date picker technology to ensure consistency across all of the Sales Offline modules. The date picker helps keep the date attribute consistent across all Oracle Sales Offline modules, and helps you maintain a consistent date look and feel between Oracle Sales and Sales Offline. The date picker is available on the following fields and sections.
Date Fields - A date picker is displayed for all date fields.
Time Flexfields- A time picker will display for all time flexfields. The time picker allows you to change the hour, minute and second values using the up/down arrows or the keyboard.
Standard Date/Time Flexfield- When you choose a date from the date picker calendar display, the chosen date along with the current time will be displayed. You can edit the time using the up/down arrow keys or the keyboard.
To keep the date look and feel consistent between the online and offline applications, Oracle Sales Offline downloads and uses the profile: ICX:Date format mask.
Sales Offline supports the Auto Filter feature provided in Excel which allows you to filter data based on column headers that are exposed on each summary sheet. In Sales Offline this feature is called My Filter. Click on Oracle>Data Filter>My Filter to access it.
Sales Offline supports another filtering option called Address Filter, which allows you to further filter customer Information via an Address Filter form on the Organization, Person, and Contact summary sheets. Click on Oracle>Data Filter to access the filter features.
Note: You must enable or disable the My Filter feature individually for each of the subtabs.
The Data Filter menu contains the following options:
My Filter- sets or removes the native Excel Auto Filter in Oracle Sales Offline. When you select the My Filter functionality, the native Excel auto filter dropdown becomes available for each column visible on the current summary sheet. All the summary sheets Offline (Organization, Person, Contact, Opportunity, Lead, Task and Quote) except the Home tab are supported by the My Filter.
Show All- Removes any filter conditions already set via the native Excel Auto Filter and displays all rows on the tab. This sub menu item will only be highlighted when the native Excel Auto Filter has been set on a tab.
Address Filter- Displays the Address Filter pop-up (only supported on the Customer tabs - Organization, Contact and Person). Provides more extensive data filtering than the native auto filter functionality in Excel. When you select the Address Filter sub menu from the Oracle>Data Filter menu, a pop-up form displays containing the address filter options. For example, when you select a country from the Country dropdown, the address fields below dynamically changes according to the global address setup used for the sales applications. You can choose to filter via one attribute, or many attributes.
The buttons on the Address Filter function as follows:
Cancel- Closes the Address Filter form without saving any changes to the address attributes. The summary sheet will maintain the filter of any previously saved Address filter. If no address filter has been previously added to the Organization , Person or Contact summary sheet, the summary will display all of the Organization, Person or Contact records.
Save Filter- Saves the value added into the Country dropdown and any value added into the address attributes. The Address Filter form will close and the summary sheet will only display Organization, Person or Contact rows that match the address criteria. You can use wildcards (%) in the Address Filter form. The Country dropdown is mandatory to filter via any address attribute. If you enter an address attribute without selecting a Country and click the Save Filter button, an error message displays.
Reset Filter- Clears any values added into the Country dropdown and address attributes. Any previously saved Address Filter condition for that particular sheet will expose all the Organization, Person or Contact records.
Address Search Criteria
Address Search criteria is applied to all of the addresses related to a particular Organization, Person, or Contact. The search examines the identifying address as well as any other addresses that have been created for each record.
Note: The Organization and Person subtabs show the Identifying Address on the summary sheet. Even though the search criteria may match an address for a particular customer, the matching criteria may not be part of the Identifying Address. In this case, the record displays on the summary sheet even though the address shown does not match the search criteria.
The Multi-Org Access Control feature, also known as "Security by Operating Unit", allows you to access secured data in one or more Operating Units within one responsibility. This feature uses the Security Profile concept, which allows system administrators to predefine the scope of access privilege as a profile option. You can define a security profile in hierarchical or listing mode, consisting of one or more Operating Units.
The following table describes the related profile options:
| Profile Option | Description |
|---|---|
| MO: Security Profile | Associates a predefined security profile to a user responsibility. This enables you to perform tasks for any operating units within your access. In Oracle Sales Offline you can work on any one of the operating units at a time. This can be specified in the sync preference form, which lists all the accessible operating units. |
| MO:Default Operating Unit | Specifies the default value of the operating unit list. |
| ASO: Operating Unit Override | Determines whether you can select any operating unit other than the default in the operating unit list box. |
Opportunities and quotes created in Sales Offline are stamped with the operating unit on which you are currently working.
During sync, only those quotes belonging to the selected operating unit are downloaded to sales offline. The default value of the quote order type list depends on the operating unit selected for synchronization. Any Inventory items that you can add to the quote are determined by the operating unit selected for sync.
In Oracle Sales Offline, you can download, and display Operating Unit information in the Sync Preferences form. The Quote tab in the Sync Preferences form contains an Operating Unit dropdown displaying your default operating unit, and any other operating unit you are associated with.
The operating unit(s) is linked to your login responsibility. The default value for your Operating Unit dropdown is your default operating unit derived from the profile MO: Default Operating Unit.
Oracle Sales Offline allows you to select only one Operating Unit in the dropdown. The profiles, ASO: Override Operating Unit, MO: Security Profile, and MO: Default Operating Unit determine the logic for which Operating Unit values appear.
The product information displayed in the Sync Preferences, Quote tab will be those values associated to the Operating Unit you previously selected in the Operating Unit dropdown. The Inventory Category Set, Inventory Category are not dynamically generated based upon the value in the Operating Unit dropdown. Price List and product will be filtered based on operating unit.
You can provide support personnel with a unique version number that identifies the implemented client version of Oracle Sales Offline by navigating to Oracle > About Sales Offline. This enables you to identify the version of the client in use when you report an Oracle Sales Offline problem.
Status bar messages for phases that relate to the processes of File Open, File Close, File Save, and synchronization in Oracle Sales Offline are displayed in the Microsoft Excel status bar.