This chapter covers the following topics:
The TCA Classifications model provides a flexible tool that you can use to categorize entities, which can include parties, projects, tasks, orders, and so on. Classifications can use different paradigms and does not restrict you to a single way to classify an entity. This enables you to classify an entity, such as a party, in a way that the rest of the world sees it, in addition to the way it is referenced within your organization. This is extremely helpful when you map the internal representation of a company's environment to the way that the outside world models it.
The major components of the TCA Classifications model are:
Class category: A broad subject area within which you can classify parties. A class category is a logical grouping of one or more class codes and allows for rules to be defined for how the category code structure is set up, as well as which entities can be assigned to these categories.
You can define class categories to meet the needs of your organization. For example, you can define class categories consistent with special business considerations, pricing arrangements, or terms for a party.
Class code: A specific value of the class category. These class codes can be organized in a hierarchical fashion. Class codes are grouped together into categories.
For example, if you want to specify the industry sector to which a party belongs, you can use a predefined class category, such as SIC 1987, which includes the 1987 version of US Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. For example, within the SIC 1987 class category, you could assign the class code Software to a party in the software industry.
All classifications are made up of two key components: a class category and class code. In the user interface, the classification scheme you create is called a class category or classification. The individual values within the classification scheme are called class codes.
Classification rules: The Classifications model allows class categories to have rules and characteristics which define how classifications can be assigned to entities. When you set up class categories, you can create specific rules such as allowing for multiple parents for the codes in the category. For example, a Hardware class category could include the tangible components of a computer system.
Entities with multiple classifications can have the classifications ranked in order of importance for the particular entity. A party can have multiple class codes associated with it. A ranking of these codes could be useful. For example, Oracle could have databases and applications linked to it as separate codes. If you are part of an organization interested in databases, you might rank the Database class code higher than the Application class code.
Class code hierarchy: A hierarchy of class codes within a class category. For example, you could set up the High Tech class category, and the class codes associated with the High Tech class category are: Software, Hardware, Applications, PCs, Printers, and Consulting. These codes are set up in a hierarchical manner by assigning the parent codes to the appropriate children.
High Tech
Software
Applications
ERP applications
CRM applications
Consulting
Hardware
PCs
Printers
Consulting
When you create a class code hierarchy, three options are available to administer the hierarchy. You can:
Assign one or more parents to a code. As shown in the example above, Consulting can be found under both the Hardware and Software parent class codes.
Allow one or more codes to be assigned to an entity. Using the schema above, both Applications and Printers could be assigned to an Organization party.
Allow the assignment of higher level codes to an entity, not just the lowest level code. With the schema above, for example, a company could be assigned the Software code, even though that code is not at the lowest level, or leaf, node.
The Create Class Category and Update Class Category pages provide a list of the valid entities that the class codes within a class category can be assigned to.
A classification schema can be built using standards such as the NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System), NACE (European Union's Statistical Classification of Economic Activity), or SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) classification schema, or on user-defined classifications based on your organization's business needs. For example, you can define a class category to determine if there is a special business consideration, special pricing arrangement, or special term for a customer.
If you use the seeded standard classification schema, then you do not have to set up user-defined categories and codes.
The Oracle Trading Community Classifications model includes the following standard class categories and class codes:
SIC 1987: The 1987 version of the US SIC schema. This is the most popular industrial classification in U.S.
NACE: The industrial classification schema used in European countries.
NAICS: Introduced in 1997 to replace the SIC schema. This includes the 2012 NAICS code as well.
SIC 1972: The 1972 version of the US SIC schema. Used by Dun & Bradstreet for classifying companies in Canada.
SIC 1977: The 1977 version of the US SIC schema. Used by Dun & Bradstreet for classifying companies in European countries.
Administration for seeded or user-defined classifications includes:
To create your own system of classification for customers, you must design the system first and should have a printout ready before you start this procedure. You should know the parents and children of each classification node in the class code hierarchy before you create them.
You might want to name your class codes in a way that will help you find all of the child nodes for each level of the class code hierarchy. If the names for class codes at the same level share the same characters, then you can find and add them as children all at the same time.
Search for class categories to update or to confirm that the class category you want to create does not already exist.
Define class categories, including assigning entities to and creating class codes for the category.
Optionally, define the hierarchy of class codes within a category. Assign the parent codes to the appropriate children codes, for example:
Software is the a parent of Applications.
Applications is the parent of ERP applications.
Related Topics
Use the Classifications page search for a class category to view and update or to confirm that a class category does not already exist before you create a new category. In the Search region of the Classifications page, you can enter several criteria to search the existing class codes. Your initial search should be broad enough to find class categories that may be similar to the one you plan to create.
Note: You can search for class categories. However, to be able to use a class category and assign it to an entity, the class category must be in the compiled state.
Navigate to the Classifications page.
Enter search criteria for the class category or the class code in the appropriate fields of the Search region. You can also select Yes or No in the Compiled poplist to filter the results by whether or not the class category or class code is compiled.
Note: You must enter at least some of the search criteria to search for the class category.
Click the Go button to start your search.
View the results.
If the appropriate class category is not found, click the Create Class Category button to create a class category. See: Creating a Class Category.
Related Topics
Use the Create Class Category page to define class categories. When you create a class category you must provide required information that identifies and describes the class category.
Assign a name, meaning, and description to a category, for example, High Tech.
Define rules for using the class category.
Allow single or multiple parent codes. For example, class codes in a High Tech category can have multiple parent codes.
Allow single or multiple parent code assignments. For example, you can assign the Hardware, PCs, or both to Vision Corporation.
Allow parent class code assignments. For example, you can assign class codes to Vision Corporation at any level of the hierarchy, Hardware or PCs, not just the lowest level of PCs.
Define what types of entities use the class codes. A seeded list of tables restricts the use of class codes. For example, the SIC Code categories are restricted to Organization parties.
You also assign at least one entity to the class category and create at least one class code for the new category.
To create a class category that is similar to an existing one, you can copy the existing category. See: Copying a Class Category.
In the Classifications page, make sure that the class category you want to create does not already exist and click the Create Class Category button. See: Searching for an Existing Class Category.
Enter the required information in the appropriate fields.
Select any of the optional attributes for this class category:
Allow Multiple Parent Codes: You can select this check box to allow any node in your hierarchy to have more than one parent. Clearing this check box restricts the class category to only one parent.
Allow Parent Code Assignment: You can select this check box to allow the assignment of parent nodes in the class code hierarchy. Clearing this check box requires that you must use leaf nodes, nodes that have no children, for the class category.
Allow Multiple Class Code Assignments: You can select this check box to allow a user to classify a customer, opportunity, or other entity using more than one class code from this class category. Clearing this check box prevents users from assigning more than one class code to an entity.
In the Assign Entities region, you can assign entities to this class category. Select the appropriate entities identified by the table and column names.
Optionally enter, edit, or delete a condition defined with an SQL Where clause.
Click the Add New Entity Assignment button to add a new entity.
For more information, see: Assigning Entities to a Class Category.
Click the Apply and Create Class Codes button to apply and create new class codes for this category. See: Creating a Class Code.
To use a class category, you must first compile it. A class category should be complied when it is created and whenever it is updated. Class categories must be compiled before their classification codes can be associated with parties. Only active classification codes can be associated to parties.
Navigate to the Classifications page.
Enter the search criteria.
Select No in the Compiled poplist.
Click the Go button to start your search for all uncompiled class categories.
Click the Compile Class Categories button.
Related Topics
Use the Assign Entities page or Entity Assignment region to assign entities to a class categories. You must assign an entity by entering the name of the table and the column for the appropriate entity. You can also optionally create a condition, using an SQL Where clause, to select a subset of the entities in your database.
Navigate to the Assign Entities page or Entity Assignment region.
From the Create Class Category page, click the Add New Entity Assignment button and then enter the entity information in the Assign Entities page. See: Creating a Class Category.
If you have created a copy of an existing class category, then in the Create Class Category page enter the entity information in the Entity Assignment region. See: Copying a Class Category.
From the Update Class Category page that displays an existing class category, click the Add Another Entity Assignment button and enter the entity information in the Entity Assignment region. See: Updating a Class Category.
Enter the required entity information:
Table name, such as HZ_PARTIES
Column name, such as PARTY_ID
You can use the list of values to search for the table and column name.
Enter an optional condition in the Condition field. The condition is expressed as an SQL Where statement, such as:
PARTY_TYPE='ORGANIZATION'
Related Topics
Use the Create Class Codes page to create the appropriate class codes for class categories. When you create the class codes you specify the name of each class code, a meaning, a description, the date when the code becomes active, and an optional date when the code is not active. You can immediately enable a class code or enable it at a later time.
Click the Apply and Create Class Codes button in the Create Class Category page, after you have created a class category. See: Creating a Class Category.
Enter the characteristics of the class code in the Class Codes region of the Create Class Codes page:
Name
Meaning
Description
Start date active
End date active
Check the Enabled check box to make the class code effective, or leave the check box clear until you are ready to enable it.
You can use the Enabled check box, along with the Start and End active dates, to control the availability of a class code. For example, you can create and enable a class code with a start date in the future. On that start date, the class code automatically becomes available for use. You can immediately make an active class code unavailable by clearing the Enable check box. Or you can inactivate a class code by specifying an end date on some day in the future.
Optionally assign a parent class code to at least one of the class codes. See: Assigning Parent Class Codes.
Related Topics
Use the Assign Class Codes page, after you have created a class category and its class codes, to make one class code the parent of another class code in a class code hierarchy. This option structures class categories and class codes in parent-child hierarchal relationships.
The assignment of parent class codes is restricted by the options available for the class category. When you create or update a class category, you can check or clear the Allow Multiple Parent Codes check box, which allows or prevents a class code from having more than one parent class code.
You can update class code definitions, including parent codes, in the Update Class Code page. See: Updating a Class Code.
Create new class codes for a new category. See: Creating a Class Code.
In the Class Codes region, select the child class code of the parent-child relationship that you are creating.
Click the Assign Parent Class Codes button to navigate to the Assign Class Codes page.
Select a parent class code, or one or more if allowed.
If the Allow Multiple Parent Codes option is selected, then you can select one or more class codes.
If the Allow Multiple Parent Codes option is not selected, then you can only select one class code.
Click the Assign button.
Use the Update Class Category page to update the information associated with an existing class category, such as the meaning, description, delimiter, and entity assignment for a class category.
Search for the class category that you want to update. See: Searching for an Existing Class Category.
In the Results region, click the appropriate class category.
In the Update Class Category page, you can update the information about the class category in the Class Category Details region and the Entity Assignment region. See: Creating a Class Category and Assigning Entities to a Class Category.
Click the Compile button to save your work.
For user-defined class codes, you can navigate to the Update Class codes page from this page to revise information about class codes. For more information, see: Updating a Class Code.
Related Topics
Use the Update Class Codes page to update the information associated with existing class codes, such as the meaning, description, parent, end date, and whether the class code is enabled or disabled.
Search for the class category with the class codes that you want to update. See: Searching for an Existing Class Category.
In the Classifications page, click the Update Class Codes icon for the class category with the class codes that you want to update.
In the Update Class Codes page, revise the information about the class codes, as necessary. You can revise the information in the following fields:
Meaning
Description
Parent Class Code
End Date Active
Note: The Start Date Active date cannot be changed.
Check or clear the Enabled check box to enable or disable the class code.
Save your work.
If the class code that you want to update is not found, then you must create the class code. For more information, see: Creating a Class Code.
Related Topics
You can access the class code hierarchy for viewing by clicking the View Class Code Hierarchy button on the Update Class Codes page to bring up the View Class Code Hierarchy page. See: Updating a Class Code.
On the Update Class Category page you can also view the class code hierarchy. See: Updating a Class Category.
For each class code you can view:
Class code meaning
Class code
Description
Start date active
End date active
To update the class code hierarchy, see: Updating a Class Code.
Related Topics
Use the Copy Classification feature on the Classifications page to create similar class categories. You can copy an existing class category and then edit the information about that class category to create similar class categories.
Although class codes are associated with a class category, you cannot edit the class codes for a copy of a class category in the Create Class Category page. You must edit the copy of a class category and then, if necessary, edit the class codes in the Update Class Codes page.
Search for the class category that you want to copy. See: Searching for an Existing Class Category.
Click the Copy Classification icon for the class category that you want to copy.
In the Create Class Category copy page, edit the class category details and entity assignments as necessary. See: Creating a Class Category and Assigning Entities to a Class Category.
To update the class codes for the category, see Updating a Class Code.
Related Topics
Use the Refresh of Classification Denormalization program to perform a data refresh to populate the HZ_CLASS_CODE_DENORM denormalization table. This table is populated from these source tables:
FND_LOOKUP_TYPES_TL
FND_LOOKUP_VALUES
HZ_CLASS_CATEGORIES
HZ_CLASS_CATEGORY_USES
HZ_CLASS_CODE_RELATIONS
You should schedule this program to periodically run, but manually run the program under the following circumstances:
The first time you install a patch which contains the classification feature.
Every time you enter or update classification related data outside of the Administration tab. For example, run the program if you enter or update lookups in Oracle Receivables.
Every time you install a HZ or FND patch that has added more seeded data for classifications.
Important: In order to see the changes you have made, you must bounce the middle tier.
Class Category: Enter the class category that you want to refresh data for. If you leave this parameter blank, the entire HZ_CLASS_CODE_DENORM denormalization table is refreshed.
Debug: Specify if you want to run the program in debug mode or not.
SQL Trace: Specify if you want to do SQL statement tracing or not.
Related Topics