Group Deletions of Items, Structures, New Item Requests, and Change Orders

Deleting items, structures, new item requests, and change orders is controlled through the Delete Groups task. Delete Groups can be created and maintained through the Mange Delete Groups link under Items on the Task menu of the Product Information Management work area.

Caution: Once an item is deleted, it's removed from the application, all the cross-references and item relationships such as item organizations, item supplier site organizations, structures, and components are lost.

On the Manage Delete Groups page, you can search for and access existing delete groups. From this page you can also delete those delete groups that were successfully submitted and completed.

On the Edit Delete Group page, you can add and remove objects for deletion, check constraints, and submit the delete group for processing.

Note: When you delete an object such as items, new item requests, and change orders from the appropriate manage page, you're prompted to add the object to an existing delete group or create a new one.

Checking Constraints

Constraints maintain data integrity so that pending transactions that involve objects in delete groups aren't affected during purges.

After saving a delete group, choose Check Constraints on the Edit Delete Group page to ensure that it's safe to submit the objects for submission.

To check constraints:

1. On the Edit Delete Group page for the delete group, click Check Constraints.

2. You're returned to the Manage Delete Groups page while the constraints check runs. Query the delete groups for updates on the status.

3. When the Status is Completed and the Last Activity is Constraints Check, then the Last Activity Status indicates whether there were errors.

4. If Last Activity Status for a delete group is Errors, click the group's name to open it.

5. On the Edit Delete Group page for the delete group, the objects with errors have a Status of Errors.

6. In the Details column for an object with errors, click the icon to open the Error Details dialog box, which displays a list of messages about the errors that prevent the object from being deleted.

Along with predefined constraints, custom constraints can be defined to be checked before purging is done. Constraints are defined using the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).

The products that are checked for constraints are:

• Product Hub

• Procurement

• Inventory

• Shipping

• Receiving

• Manufacturing

• Sales Forecast

• Sales Catalog

• Opportunity Management

• Order Capture

• Lead Management

• Market Response

When an item is in a delete group, the constraint check determines whether there are any open transactions involving the item. The constraint check is performed by querying a web service provided by each product. You can't delete an item that has open transactions. In some cases, you can’t delete an item that has a completed or canceled transaction involving the item. Hence, it depends on the product and the type of constraint checks performed.

Items in Delete Groups

On the Items tab of the Edit Delete Group page, you can specify the following objects for deletion by choosing Select and Add from the Action menu, then selecting from the Entity drop-down list on the Select and Add page.

• Items

• Item organizations

• Item supplier site organizations

Tip: When you add an item to the delete group, you can change the organization, supplier and supplier site assignments for the object by highlighting the item row and selecting the appropriate assignments.This feature can be used with the Duplicate action from the Action menu when you're adding several similar objects with different organization, supplier and supplier site assignments. The Duplicate feature enables you to copy the previous record and then you can change the different values, thus saving multiple clicks.

Item Structures in Delete Groups

On the Item Structures tab of the Edit Delete Group page, you can specify the following objects for deletion by choosing Select and Add from the Action menu, then selecting from the Entity drop-down list on the Select and Add page:

• Structures

• Components

Tip: When you add structures and components to the delete group, you can change organization, structure and component assignments by highlighting the structure or component row and changing the appropriate assignments.This feature can be used with the Duplicate action from the Action menu when you're adding several similar objects with different organization, structure and component assignments.

Change Orders and Delete Groups

On the Change Orders tab of the Edit Delete Group page, you can specify change orders for deletion by choosing Select and Add from the Actions menu.

Tip: When you add change orders to the delete group, you can change the organization assignment by highlighting the change order row and changing the organization assignments.This feature can be used with the Duplicate action from the Action menu when you're adding several similar change orders with different organizations.

Note: You can delete change orders that are in the Draft status by adding them to a delete group. You can delete change orders that are in the Canceled status too, but a canceled change order with even one scheduled or completed line can’t be deleted.

New Item Requests and Delete Groups

On the New Item Request tab of the Edit Delete Group page, you can specify new item requests for deletion by choosing Select and Add from the Action menu.

Submitting a Delete Group

Click Submit on the Edit Delete Group page to submit the objects for purging from the application.