This chapter covers the following topics:
A note is free-form text attached to an object that records descriptive information about business transactions and that can be referenced across modules. It can be created by an agent, sales, or service representative, to capture a chronological log of information for business needs. The Notes module provides a common look and feel across applications and can be used as a communication tool to record business information throughout Oracle E-Business Suite.
Notes can be further defined by setting up note types, and note statuses. A note type is used to classify notes or indicate the type of notes, such as a general note type or an interaction note type. In addition to the seeded note types, the implementor or system administrator can create note types to further categorize notes if necessary. Note types can be mapped to a source object to limit the selection in a drop-down list. A note status is used to determine note accessibility, such as a private note with note status Personal. The value of a note status can be set by a profile option during Notes implementation.
In addition, the Notes module provides a flexible security system that the implementor or system administrator can further customize the notes data and then grant appropriate users or user groups with read only or full privilege to access particular notes.
Before implementing Notes, however, it is necessary to understand the functionality of both the Forms-based and HTML versions of Notes.
In addition to using seeded note types, the implementor or system administrator can create new note types to categorize notes for specific business needs. For example, if a note is created for a general purpose, then a note type for this note can be General. If a note is created specifically for an interaction or activity, then a note type for the interaction note or the activity note can be Interaction or Activity.
To create a new type, enter the Code name of your application (such as KB_Action for Knowledge Base note with note type called Action), and this code name must be unique and cannot have a duplicate record in the system. In addition, enter note type name (such as Action) in the Meaning field. Select the Enabled check box before using the new note type.
In order to hide an existing note type, the implementor or system administrator can assign an end date to that note type.
In Forms, navigate to CRM Administrator > Notes Setup > Note Type Setup
In the Application Object Library: Note Types Lookups window, place your cursor in the code field and select File > New to enter new note type.
After creating a note type, the implementor or system administrator can map a note type to a source object in order to limit the selection of the note type list of values for the mapped source.
Source Objects
A source object is a business object that initiates the creation of a note. If a note is created for a service request or party, then the service request or party is the source object of that note. A note must have a source object.
Related Objects
Be aware of the difference between a source object and related object. A related object is an object related to a note, but is not the source of the note. A note may be created for a task, a source object, but it can be related to a party, an opportunity, or an employee as well. The party, opportunity, and employee are the related objects for that note. Related objects are not mandatory, instead they are nice to have information for a note.
Mapping Note Types to a Source
Use the Mapping Objects window to map note types to a source. For example, if closure, activity, and interaction note types are mapped to Task Manager, a source object, then when users create a note from a task, they can see these three note types displayed in the list of values. If the same note types are not mapped to another source, Campaign Schedule for Marketing, then users will not see them while attaching a note to a campaign schedule.
Please note that it is necessary to map note types to the source Employee Resource so that employee resources can see the mapped note types from the list of values when creating a note.
In addition, implementors or system administrators can set an end date for a mapped note type if necessary.
Note: This Mapping Note Types to a Source functionality is not enforced in the Forms version.
In Forms, navigate to CRM Administrator > Notes Setup > Source and Note Type Mapping.
Use the Mapping Objects window to map a reference type to a source object. This narrows down the References list of values (LOV) to the mapped object. For example, when creating a note for a Sales Opportunity, users typically don't want to see such objects as Service Request or Defect in the Relate To or References list of values. Instead, they only want to see Lead, Forecast, Quote, and Sale Organization. Therefore, implementors or system administrators must map note references such as Lead, Forecast, Quote, and Sales Organization, to the source object, Sales Opportunity.
Be aware that the Mapping Objects window is used to define reference mapping for both Task Manager and Notes. To locate the reference mapping screen, select the Task and Escalation Manager, not Notes navigation node.
In Forms, navigate to CRM Administrator > Task and Escalation Manager > Setup > Task & Note References.
The following table describes the profile option used by Notes.
| Name | Default Value | Level | Description | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes: Default Note Status | Public | Site | This profile option sets the default note status. Profile option values include private, public, or publish. | If you select Publish, then that is the default value shown in the Status drop-down list when creating a new note. If no profile option is set, default is Public. |
| Notes: Default Note Type (OA Only) | N/A | Site | This profile option sets the default note type only to the Notes in Oracle Applications Framework. It does not apply to the HTML and Forms-based Notes. | Set the desired value to the note type. If this profile option is not set or the note type default value is not mapped to a source, then there will not have a default value in the Note Type field during note creation. Otherwise, the default note type will appear in the field. |
The Notes module, leveraging the Oracle Workflow Business Event System, publishes business events such as creating, updating, and deleting a note when a note is created, updated, and deleted from APIs, or application user interfaces (UIs) regardless of the Forms, HTML, or Oracle Applications Framework based interfaces.
The Oracle Workflow Business Event System is an application service that leverages the Oracle Advanced Queuing (AQ) infrastructure to communicate business events between systems. The Business Event System consists of the Event Manager, which allows you to register subscriptions to significant events, and workflow process event activities, which allow you to model business events within workflow processes.
The Event Manager contains a registry of business events, systems, named communication agents within those systems, and subscriptions indicating that an event is significant to a particular system. Events can be raised locally or received from an external system or the local system through AQ. When a local event occurs, the subscribing code is executed in the same transaction as the code that raised the event, unless the subscriptions are deferred.
See Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide for detailed information about Oracle workflow business event system, and subscriptions.
The following business events are published when a note is created, updated, or deleted from APIs, or application user interfaces (UIs) regardless of the Forms, HTML, or Oracle Applications Framework based interfaces:
| Event Name | Display Name |
|---|---|
| oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.create | A note is created. |
| oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.update | A note is updated. |
| oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.delete | A note is deleted. |
The following terms are used in the Task Business Events table:
Event Name. Event name represents the name of a business event that is an occurrence in an application or program that might be significant to other objects in a system or to external agents. Event name must be unique and is case-sentitive.
Subscribers must use Event Name for subscription purposes.
Display Name. Display name is the name appearing in the event list.
Additionally, for each note event, the owner name is CAC Notes, the owner tag is JTF and the default status is "Enabled".
The event key is generated by the concatenation of the event name followed by the value of the sequence CAC_NOTES_WF_EVENTS_S.
The following attributes are published for the oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.create Create Notes event, the oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.update UpdateNotes event, and the oracle.apps.jtf.cac.notes.delete Delete Notes event:
NOTE_ID: The ID of the note for which the event was raised
SOURCE_OBJECT_CODE: JTF object code of the note source object
SOURCE_OBJECT_ID: JTF object ID of the note source object.
An event is not raised if a change is made to the context of a note.
All event subscriptions must follow the guidelines mentioned in the workflow development standards. For example, any subscription cannot commit inside the rule function. This can cause unexpected behavior in the workflow or notes APIs.
In addition, the following subscription guidelines are also used in publishing Task business events:
Asynchronous Subscriptions
All subscriptions to the events should be asynchronous. The UIs call the APIs, which in turn publish events. Therefore, if the subscriptions are synchronous, the transaction time for the UI will increase.
Returning with success or warning
The rule function of the subscriptions should return success or a warning. It should not return an error. Returning an error disrupts the processing of other subscriptions; therefore, an error should not be returned.