1. Modeling Configurations for SCM
  2. Manage Your Validations

Manage Your Validations

Manage how and when Configurator validates your configurator model.

Configurator might need to validate your model when you import, create, revise, or submit a sales order that contains a configured item in Oracle Order Management, or when Order Management explicitly requests a validation.

Sometimes you might not need to validate the model. Assume you create a draft sales order that has a configured item, Configurator validates the configuration, but you don't submit the order because your customer isn't ready to commit to the purchase, isn't sure what configuration they need, needs more time to mull over the purchase, and so on. Several weeks later you revise the order with the customer's latest changes, and then submit the order. Configurator already validated the configuration on the draft order, so it can quickly examine what's different in the configuration on the submitted order to determine whether it can skip validation.

If you sell lots of configured items, or large complex configured items, then you can skip validation under specific conditions to realize performance improvements and make your deployment more efficient.

Skip Validation

Specify whether to skip validation for a model.

  1. Open your model for editing in a workspace that you haven't released.

  2. On the Edit Configurator Model page, click Structure, select the model's root node, then click Preferences.

  3. Make sure the Skip Validation When It's Not Required option contains a check mark.

  4. Save the model and release the workspace.

If you don't enable Skip Validation When It's Not Required, then configurator will validate your runtime configuration regardless of whether or not you have made any changes to your model that affect the runtime configuration.

Regardless of whether you enable the option, you might need to specify the Configuration Effective Date.

Specify the Configuration Effective Date

You can use the Configuration Effective Date parameter to identify the version that you want to validate.

You might have different versions of your model, and you might set each version's start and end dates differently. Assume you have:

  • Version 1, in effect June 1 to June 10.
  • Version 2, in effect June 11 to June 15.
  • Version 3, in effect June 16 to June 30.

Configurator compares the version that you submit to the version that exists according to the Configuration Effective Date parameter.

Try It

  1. Go to the Setup and Maintenance work area, then go to the Manage Order Management Parameters task:

    • Offering: Order Management

    • Functional Area: Orders

    • Task: Manage Order Management Parameters

  2. Set the value for the Configuration Effective Date parameter.

    Value

    Description

    Configuration Date

    Use the version that's in effect on the date that you add the order line and configure the item on the line.

    Assume you create an order line, add the Stove to the line and configure the stove on June 1. The configuration date is June 1.

    In our example, Configurator will use Version 1 because Version 1 is in effect on June 1. If you configure the stove on June 11, then Configurator will use Version 2.
    Ordered Date Use the version that's in effect on the ordered date.

    Order Management sets the Ordered Date to the date when you create the order, by default, but you can manually change it before you submit the order.

    For example, if the Ordered Date attribute on the order header contains June 16, then use the version that's in effect on June 16. In our example, that's Version 3.

    Current Date

    Use the version that's in effect on the current date. For example, if the current date is June 1, 2023, then use the version that's in effect on June 1, 2023.

    The current date is the date that you submit the order to fulfillment.

    Assume you create an order on June 1, save it as a draft but don't submit it until June 10. The ordered date is June 1 and the current date is June 10. In our example, if you set the parameter to Current Date, then Configurator won't validate the model because it already validated Version 1 on June 1 and Version 1 is still in effect.

    If you don't set the parameter to any value, then Order Management uses the current date, by default.
    Requested Date Use the version that's in effect on the requested date. For example, if the Requested Date attribute on the order line contains July 14, then use the snapshot that's in effect on July 14. In our example, that's Version 2.

For most deployments, we recommend that you set the Configuration Effective Date parameter to Current Date because that's the date that you submit the order. The configuration that's on the order line when you submit usually includes the configuration you need because it typically includes any changes that you might have made to the configuration to reflect your customer's current requirements.

You might have some specific requirements to use another value. For example, Requested Date is the date the customer wants to receive item. If you plan to modify your model between the time you configure it and the time you actually deliver it, and you want to apply that modification before you deliver it, then you could use Requested Date.

For details, see Manage Order Management Parameters.

Changes That Affect Validation

Configurator looks at the changes that you make on each version, then compares them to the version it already validated. It uses the Configuration Effective Date parameter to determine which version to look at.

Assume:

  • You set Configuration Effective Date to Current Date.

  • You update the Maximum Quantity attribute on a component that's part of your model, and you specify when the change goes into effect on the model.

  • You revise the sales order in Order Management.

If:

Change on Attribute Value Goes Into Effect

Will Configurator Validate?

On or before the current date.

Yes

After the current date.

No

Example

Assume your model has this hierarchy.

Stove
  Oven
    10K BTU Gas Burner
    20K BTU Gas Burner
  Stovetop
    10K BTU Gas Burner
    20K BTU Gas Burner

Assume:

  • You find through market research that customers want to have up to four 10K BTU Gas Burners on the stove top instead of only three, so you modify the Maximum Quantity attribute on the 10K BTU Gas Burner from 3 to 4, and you set the Maximum Quantity's Start Date so your new quantity goes into effect on June 15. The new start date gives you enough time to increase supply for the 10K burners and provides time for your factory to adjust to the new workflow they'll use to add another burner.
  • You create sales order 56497 on June 1, so the Ordered Date is June 1. You add an order line for a refrigerator and save the order as a draft because the customer says they might want to add the stove in a day or two.
  • You create a new order line on June 2, and the Stove on the line, configure the stove, and save the order as a draft. So, the Configuration Date is June 2.
  • The Requested Date on the order line is June 20.
  • You don't submit the order until June 10, so the Current Date is June 10.

Configurator might or might not validate when you submit the order depending on how you set the Configuration Effective Date parameter.

Set Configuration Effective Date Parameter To

Validate?

Configuration Date

The Configuration Date is June 2 but the Maximum Quantity's start date doesn't happen until June 15, so there's no need to validate your change. Configurator can use the current version, and it already validated that version when you created the draft order.

Customers can add no more than three 10K burners on the stove top.

Current Date

The Current Date is June 10 but the Maximum Quantity's start date doesn't happen until June 15, so there's no need to validate your change. Configurator can use the current version, and it already validated that version when you created the draft order.

Customers can add no more than three 10K burners on the stove top.
Ordered Date The Ordered Date is June 1 but the Maximum Quantity's start date doesn't happen until June 15, so there's no need to validate your change.

Customers can add no more than three 10K burners on the stove top.
Requested Date The Requested Date is June 20, the Maximum Quantity's start date happens on June 15 which is before the requested date, so the configuration needs to consider your modified quantity. Configurator will validate your change.

Customers can add up to four 10K burners on the stove top.

The Maximum Quantity attribute

Configurator Will

After the Requested Date on the sales order.

Skip the validation.

Before the Requested Date on the sales order.

Validate the configuration.

Skip Validation for Models That You Don't Import from Product Information Management

Configurator examines different attributes to determine if it can skip validation depending on whether you import your model from the Product Information Management work area into the Configurator Models work area or create it directly in the Configurator Models work area.

If you don't import your model from Product Information Management, but instead create it in the Configurator Models work area, then Configurator can skip validation when:

  • You haven't changed the model.
  • You haven't changed any of the attributes on the model's child components.

Configurator examines these attributes on the model to see if you modified them:

  • Order Management Indivisible

  • Structure Item Type

Configurator also examines these attributes on the model's child components to see if you modified them:

  • Quantity

  • Minimum Quantity

  • Maximum Quantity

  • Optional

  • Mutually Exclusive Options

  • Instantiability. The value can be Multiple Instances, Optional Single Instance, or Requires Single Instance.

For details about some of these attributes, see Valid Component Attributes and Structure Types.

Configurator also determines whether you end dated any of the model's child components or removed any component from the model.

Skip Validation for Models That You Import from Product Information Management

If you import a model into the Configurator Models work area as a snapshot from the Product Information Management work area, and if you modify and release the snapshot, then Configurator:

  • Examines the changes that you released to determine whether your updates affect the model's item structure, rules, or user interface.
  • Determines whether you updated and released any snapshots for the model's child items.
If Configurator finds that you made changes that affect the snapshot, then it won't skip validation. Instead, it will validate your changes.

Guidelines for Not Skipping Validation

Make sure you don't skip validation when:

  • The effective date on the configuration's run time instance happens on or after the effective date of the configuration's most recent revision, and before you create, import, or submit the sales order, or when Order Management explicitly requests a validation. If you change the ordered date or the requested date on the sales order after Configurator initially created or validated the configuration, then you must validate the run time configuration.

  • You release an item class or a value set in you snapshot after you initially create or validate the configuration and before you create, import, revise, or submit the sales order.

  • Your model contains an extension rule that calls an external application and that call modifies the configuration.

  • The configuration involves a transactional attribute. See Transactional Attributes.

If any of these situations apply to your model, then make sure the Skip Validation When It's Not Required option doesn't contain a check mark.

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