Considerations for Planning Key Flexfields
Your first step in planning your key flexfields is to determine which key flexfields your application requires.
Your plan should include these tasks:
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Determine the purpose of the key flexfield.
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Identify the number and length of its available segment columns.
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Identify if your key flexfield permits more than one structure.
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Identify if more than one structure must be defined.
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Identify the number, order and length of your segments for each structure.
Before You Begin
Once you have identified a flexfield, plan its configuration in advance. Compile a list of the UI pages and other artifacts in your deployment that are affected by the configuration. Verify that you're provisioned with the roles required to view and configure the flexfield. Use the Highlight Flexfields command in the Administration menu to view the run time page where the flexfield appears. Plan how you deploy the flexfield for test and production users and review the tools and tasks available for managing flexfields.
If you plan to use value sets, create them before configuring the key flexfield. You can't create value sets for key flexfields at the time that you add and configure key flexfield segments.
Access to Flexfield-Related Tasks
To configure flexfields and value sets, you must have access to the tasks for managing flexfields. Contact your security administrator for details. For information about product-specific flexfield tasks, such as Manage Fixed Assets Key Flexfields, refer to the product-specific documentation.
Restrictions
If you plan to use value sets, create them before configuring the flexfield. Plan your key flexfield configuration to scale to your enterprise needs. For example, if you expect to disable old cost centers and enable new ones frequently, plan a larger maximum size for your cost center value set so that you can have more available values. A 3-character value set with one thousand available values provides more room for changes than a 2-character value set with 100 available values.
Note the code name of the flexfield you intend to configure so that you find it easily in the tasks for managing key flexfields. In some cases you can configure how the flexfield appears on the page. See product-specific documentation to determine any restrictions on using product-specific key flexfields.
Reporting
To report on your data by certain criteria or sub-entities, such as account number or project or region, consider making that sub-entity a distinct segment, rather than combining it with another sub-entity. You can categorize and report on smaller discrete units of information.