4 Process Integration for New Part Request

This chapter provides an overview of the process integration for new part request (NPR) and discusses:

• NPR process integration

• Solution assumptions and constraints

• Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) interfaces

• Oracle E-Business Suite interfaces

• Core Application Integration Architecture (AIA) components

• Integration services

4.1 Overview

Even though Agile PLM is the system of record for product design and part information, new part numbers may originate in a system outside of Agile PLM. The NPR process sends the new part numbers from Oracle E-Business Suite to Agile PLM. This process can be triggered within Agile PLM in one of the following ways:

1. Releasing or approving an NPR object in Agile PLM:

   Engineers designing an electronic assembly may need a part that they cannot find in the system. They will then raise a new part request to doc control that will then route it to materials managers for review.

   Buyer will look into catalogs offered by the approved manufacturers and find a couple of parts that meet the criteria. They will contact the manufacturers, confirm availability, procure specifications, and then approve the new part request with the new manufacturer part numbers attached to it. Doc control will compile all the information, and assign an internal part number corresponding to the manufacturer parts and inform the engineers.

2. On-demand by user

   An engineer creating a new part in Agile PLM should be able to get a part number generated from other ERP systems on request without creating an NPR and routing it for approval. This process integration addresses this scenario by invoking a new part request using a Custom Auto Number Process Extension (PX) or an Action menu based Process Extension.

   When using the Custom Auto Number process extension, the NPR process is triggered after the AutoNumber option is selected and the item type is passed as the only parameter from Agile PLM to Oracle E-Business Suite to create the part in the Product Information Management (PIM) application.

3. Through the Action menu based process extension, a dummy part is created in Agile PLM and the NPR is triggered from the Action's menu of that part.

The set of mapped item attributes of the dummy part are sent as input to the NPR process and the dummy part number created in Agile is replaced by the actual part number created in Oracle E-Business Suite for the parameters that were sent.

4.2 NPR Process Integration

The synchronous new part request process from Agile PLM to E-Business includes:

1. A user in Agile PLM needs a new part number to be used on a design.

   In Agile PLM, a user clicks the New Object button to create a new item for a given subclass. The New Part Request process integration compliments or replaces the new item creation process in Agile PLM by providing the users a process extension that they can use to trigger the creation of a new item.

2. The user has two options:

   • Use the Agile PLM AutoNumber process extension, which triggers the Automatic Part Number generation process. This will be used whenever the part number generation process is generic (mainly using a sequence), and does not require any item attributes to be used when generating the part number. The item type can be passed as the only parameter from Agile PLM to Oracle E-Business Suite to create the part in the PIM application. The AutoNumber PX sends a request to Oracle E-Business Suite, which generates a part number and sends it to Agile PLM.

   • Enter a dummy part number in Agile PLM that triggers the NPR process through a process extension from the Action's menu of the part. This part should not exist in Oracle E-Business Suite and therefore, the new part request will have all the required attributes for a part number to be generated in PIM. This is used whenever the user need to specify the values for one or more item attributes (including item type). The user cannot use the dummy part number in a change order until the part is created in Oracle E-Business Suite and the actual part number is sent to Agile PLM.

3. In the case of the Action menu based process extension, the PX carries out some pre-validations and a set of mapped item attributes.

   Certain validations are specific to each customer's environment (and therefore done at the time of implementation by the customer or consultant, and are not pre-packaged with the integration). Examples of such validations are:

   • Ensure that the PX is being called for the right type of part. Not all part types may need their part numbers generated in PIM. One of the ways to do so is to ensure that the PX is being called from an item of the right subclass or the right type of dummy item number.

   • Ensure that the user calling the PX has the right privilege to generate a new part number in PIM for the item.

4. In the case of the autonumber process extension, the PX carries no input parameters, except for the item type.

5. The PX calls the new part number generation process in PIM, which itself could be a custom function.

   In the case of the Action menu based process extension, any attributes values passed from Agile are copied over to the corresponding mapped attributes in PIM.

6. PIM generates the part number and item number.

   The item number and description is generated only if the context is Master Organization. If the item description cannot be generated or obtained, PIM sends the item number. If the organization is not passed, the item is created in the Master Organization. If more than one item master organizations exist in an Oracle E-Business Suite installation, then the organization value is obtained from the configuration property value for DEFAULT_MASTER_ORG.

7. The new part number is communicated to Agile PLM and is displayed to the user in the item or auto number window.

   Optionally, a description may also be auto generated in PIM and sent back to Agile along with the part number.

8. Depending on the type of PX, one of the following events occur:

   • If the PX is AutoNumber, the part number from the response ABM is returned to the web client and displayed in the number field in the create item screen.

   • If the PX is Action, the response ABM is updated on the part.

Figure 4-1 illustrates the integration sequence for NPR from Agile PLM to Oracle E-Business Suite:

Figure 4-1 NPR sequence diagram

4.2.1 Exceptions

The following exception conditions create error messages for this integration process:

• The number/description generation attributes for the item catalog category setup are not passed.

• The item catalog category is not passed or is in invalid.

• The context organization is not passed.

• More than one item master organizations exist and the default master organization configuration property is not setup or is invalid.

• The new part request process time out with no result.

4.2.2 NPR Integration Services Orchestration

Table 4-1 lists the NPR integration services orchestration activities:

Table 4-1 NPR Integration Services Orchestration Activities

Step	Activity	Remarks
1	Agile PLM NPRAutonumber PX or NPRActionPX is triggered.	One of these is triggered by an Agile PLM user from the Agile PLM Web client as part of new part creation.
2	Invoke SyncItemListAgileReqABCS with AgileSyncItemListABM as input.	The NPRAutonumberPX or NPRActionPX process invokes SyncItemListAgileReqABCS with AgileSyncItemListABM as input.
3	Invoke SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl with AgileSyncItemListABM as input.	SyncItemListAgileReqABCS invokes SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl with AgileSyncItemListABM as input.
4	SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl invokes ItemEBSV2 with the SyncItemListEBM operation.	SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl transforms AgileSyncItemListABM into SyncItemList EBM and invokes SyncItemList operation on ItemEBSV2 with SyncItemListEBM as the input. SyncItemListEBM is routed to Oracle E-Business Suite SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl.
5	SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl transforms and then calls the Oracle E-Business Suite service.	SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl transforms SyncItemListEBM into SyncItemListABM and invokes the GenerateItemNumberService BPEL process to generate the new part number and description based on the Number Generation Method and Description Generation Method setup in PIM for that item type (Item Catalog Category) and invokes SyncItemListEbizAdpater to create the new part in PIM. Finally, transforms ItemResponseABM into SyncItemListResponseEBM and routes the response to Agile PLM through ItemResponseEBSV2. Note: The GenerateItemNumberService composite service uses the oracle/wss_username_token_client_policy client security policy while calling GenerateItemNumberAndDescriptionService hosted through IRep on the Oracle E-Business Suite server. The security credentials for this are stored in the csf-key GINServiceKey on Fusion Middleware (FMW). The Oracle E-Business Suite username and password need to be setup correctly so that the Oracle E-Business Suite service is invoked successfully from the AIA composite in FMW layer.
6	SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl transforms and then returns the response to SyncItemListAgileReqABCS.	SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl transforms SyncItemListResponseEBM into AgileSyncItemListResponseABM and returns the same to SyncItemListAgileReqABCS.
7	SyncItemListAgileReqABCS returns AgileSyncItemListResponseABM to NPRAutonumberPX/ NPRActionPX	SyncItemListAgileReqABCS returns AgileSyncItemListResponseABM to NPRAutonumberPX or NPRActionPX.
8	NPRAutonumberPX/ NPRActionPXreturns the part number to New Part Creation UI in Agile PLM.	The NPRActionPX/NPR Auto number PX using AgileSyncItemListResponseABM updates the part using Agile SDK. The PX updates all the information passed from Oracle E-Business Suite in case of the Action menu based PX and only the part number in case of Auto Number PX.

4.3 Solution Assumptions and Constraints

1. Item catalog category (ICC) is set up with the necessary item number and generation setup in Oracle E-Business Suite.

   If the item catalog category is set up with New Item Request (NIR), then the item created will be an engineering item and will need to go through the NIR process in Oracle E-Business Suite

2. Oracle E-Business Suite INV: Default primary unit of measure and INV: Default Item Status profile options must be set up to create the item successfully.

3. The Action menu based PX is designed in such a way that any attribute for the item could be passed in the payload.

   In addition, any extra information from Oracle E-Business Suite could be updated on the item apart from Part Number.

4. While Autonumber PX is being created, a unique autonumber is created for every subclass.

5. Dynamic invocation interface (DII) is used in the Autonumber PX for triggering the integration so that no stubs are generated for the Application Business Messages (ABMs) and are packaged in the PX jar; any changes to the payload have minimum impact.

4.4 Agile PLM Interfaces

Table 4-2 lists the Agile PLM Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) files:

Table 4-2 Agile PLM Services Definition Language (WSDL) files

Interface	Description
SyncItemListAgileReqABCS SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl
ItemABS.wsdl	Used to create an item in Oracle E-Business Suite

Table 4-3 lists the Agile PLM XML Schema Definition (XSD) files:

Table 4-3 Agile PLM XML Schema Definition (XSD) files

Interface	Description
SyncItemListAgileReqABCS SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl
ItemABM.xsd ItemABO.xsd	Contains the Item Request and Response ABM/Application Business Objects (ABOs)

4.5 Oracle E-Business Suite Interfaces

Table 4-4 lists the Oracle E-Business Suite WSDL files:

Table 4-4 Oracle E-Business Suite WSDL files

Interface	Description
SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl
SyncItemListEbizAdapter.wsdl	Used for the OA Adapter "INV_EBI_ITEM_PUB.process_item" pl/sql function call

Table 4-5 lists the Oracle E-Business Suite XSD files:

Table 4-5 Oracle E-Business Suite XSD files

Interface	Description
SyncItemEbizProvABCSImpl
APPS_INV_EBI_ITEM_PUB_PROCESS_ITEM.xsd	Contains the CreateItem Request and Response ABM
GenerateItemNumberABM.xsd	Contains the GenerateItemNumber User Exit Output Type

4.6 Core AIA Components

Table 4-6 liste the industry components used in the process integration for NPR:

Table 4-6 Industry Components for NPR

Component	Name
Enterprise Business Object (EBO)	ItemEBO
Enterprise Business Message (EBM)	SyncItemListEBM SyncItemListResponseEBM
Enterprise Business Service (EBS)	ItemEBSV2 ItemResponseEBSV2

Table 4-7 lists the core components locations:

Table 4-7 Core Component Location

Component	Location
EBO and EBM XSD files	$AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/EnterpriseObjectLibrary/Core/EBO/ $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ ApplicationObjectLibrary /Ebiz/Release1/Core
WSDL files	$AIA_HOME/apps/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ EnterpriseBusinessServiceLibrary /Core/EBO/ $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ ExtensionServiceLibrary/Ebiz $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ApplicationConnectorServiceLibrary/Ebiz/V1

For detailed documentation of individual EBOs and EBMs, click the AIA Reference Doc link on EBO and EBM detail pages in Oracle Enterprise Repository.

For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack 11g Release 1, "How to Access Oracle AIA Content in Oracle Enterprise Repository."

EBOs can be extended, for instance, to add new data elements. These extensions are protected and will remain intact after a patch or an upgrade.

For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts and Technologies Guide for Oracle Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack 11g Release 1, "Understanding Extensibility."

4.6.1 Agile PLM and Oracle E-Business Suite Components

Table 4-8 lists the Agile PLM and Oracle E-Business Suite components:

Table 4-8 Agile PLM and Oracle E-Business Suite Components

Services	Agile PLM (Requester)	Oracle E-Business Suite (Provider)
ABMs	AgileSyncItemListABM AgileSyncItemResponseABM	GenerateItemNumberABM APPS_INV_EBI_ITEM_PUB_PROCESS_ITEM
Application Business Connector Service (ABCS)	SyncItemListAgileReqABCS SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl	SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl

Table 4-9 lists the core components locations:

Table 4-9 Core Component Locations

Component	Location
Application Business Objects, ABM, and Common XSD files	$AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/EnterpriseObjectLibrary/Core/EBO/ $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ ApplicationObjectLibrary /Ebiz/Release1/Core
WSDL files	$AIA_HOME/apps/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ EnterpriseBusinessServiceLibrary /Core/EBO/ $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ ExtensionServiceLibrary/Ebiz $AIA_HOME/AIAMetaData/AIAComponents/ApplicationConnectorServiceLibrary/Ebiz/V1

4.7 Integration Services

The integration services for the NPR process are:

• ItemEBSV2

• SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl

• SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl

4.7.1 ItemEBSV2

ItemEBSV2 exposes the operations related to the item integration on the Item EBO.

The following list itemizes the routing rules:

• ItemEBSV2 service

  SyncItemList: Routes SyncItemListEBM to SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl

• ItemResponseEBSV2 service

  SyncItemListResponse: Routes SyncItemListResponseEBM to SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl

4.7.2 SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl

SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl transforms the Agile PLM message (AgileSyncItemListABM) into SyncItemListEBM, calls the routing service to synchronize the item, and receives the SyncItemListResponseEBM response from Oracle E-Business Suite. It then transforms the SyncItemListResponseEBM response from the routing EBS back to the Agile PLM message (AgileSyncItemListResponseABM) and sends it to SyncItemListAgileReqABCS, which returns it to the calling Agile PLM PX.

The process includes:

1. Receives AgileSyncItemListABM from SyncItemListAgileReqABCS invoke by the Agile PLM Action PX or Autonumber PX.

2. Transforms this message into SyncItemListEBM:

   • Populates the EBM header

   • Determines the target system IDs and adds them in the EBM header for controlling the routing

   • Validates the required fields

   • Maps to the SyncItemListEBM

3. Calls the target ItemEBSV2 service with the operation SyncItemList

4. Transforms the SyncItemList Response Message (from SyncItemListResponseEBM) to an AgileSyncItemListResponseABM Agile PLM message

5. Sends AgileSyncItemListResponseABM back to SyncItemListAgileReqABCS, which in turn sends it back to the respective PX

4.7.3 SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl

SyncItemListEbizProvABCSImpl receives the SyncItemListEBM message from ItemEBSV2, transforms it into Oracle E-Business Suite specific SyncItemListABM, and calls the Generate Item Number and Description services. Depending on the item catalog category, the item number and its description are generated and returned.

Note:

Generate Item Number and Description service is called only if the syncActionCode value in the EBM is CREATEREPLACE. In the NPR flow, the value of syncActionCode is CREATEREPLACE; however, in the item synchronization flow, where the value of syncActionCode is CREATEUPDATE, the Generate Item Number and Description service is not called.

Subsequently, this Sync Item PL/SQL Application Programming Interface (API) is called to synchronize an item in Oracle E-Business Suite. It then transforms Oracle E-Business Suite-specific response message SyncItemList ResponseABM to SyncItemListResponseEBM and calls the routing service ItemResponseEBSV2 from which the response is sent back to Agile PLM.

The process includes:

1. Receives SyncItemListEBM from ItemEBSV2

2. Transforms SyncItemListEBM into Oracle E-Business Suite specific message SyncItemListABM

3. Applies the dynamically generated eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) onto this transformation

   This dynamic XSL is generated based on the eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) defined at the customer site, which allows mapping of the EBM attributes to the ABM attributes that can be configured at the customer site. To allow this mapping, a template call is made at the end of the Transformation XSL file (the one that transforms the EBM to ABM) and this dynamic XSL is called from the original EBM-To-ABM transformation XSL.

4. Calls the GenerateItemNumberService helper BPEL process if PIM is installed

5. Creates the item in Oracle E-Business Suite with Oracle E-Business Suite Generated Item Number instead of the Agile PLM Generated Item Number

   • Populates the EBM header

   • Determines the Target System IDs and adds them into the EBM header for controlling the routing

   • Validates the required fields

6. If the condition IS_PIM_INSTALLED is set to true, it calls the GIN service

7. Invokes the Sync Item API

8. Transforms Oracle E-Business Suite specific message SyncItemListResponseABM into SyncItemListResponseEBM

9. Calls ItemResponseEBSV2 to send response message SyncItemListResponseEBM to SyncItemListAgileReqABCSImpl