Oracle APPS: Interfaces , Conversion Basics

Oracle APPS: Interfaces , Conversion Basics

Overview: Oracle provides flexible and flexible tools in the form of Interface programs to import the master and transnational data like Customers, Invoices, and Sales Orders etc from external systems into Oracle Applications. This article briefs you about some of the major interface programs.
Conversion/Interface Strategy:

1. Data Mapping 
During the data mapping process, list of all the data sets and data elements that will need to be moved into the Oracle tables as part of conversion are identified. Data mapping tables are prepared as part of this activity that show what are the data elements that are needed by the target system to meet the business requirements and from where they will be extracted in the old system.

2. Download Programs
After the conversion data mapping is complete, download programs are developed that are used to extract the identified conversion data elements from the current systems in the form of an ASCII flat file.  The structure of the flat file must match the structure of the Oracle standard interface tables. These flat files generated may be in text form or a comma or space delimited, variable or fixed format data file.

3. Upload Program
Once the data has been extracted to a flat file, it is then moved to the target file system and the data from the file is loaded into user defined staging tables in the target database using SQL Loader or UTL_FILE utilities. Then programs are written and run which validate the data in the staging tables and insert the same into the Oracle provided standard Interface tables.    4. Interface Program             Once the interface tables are populated, the respective interface program (each data element interface has a specific interface program to run) is submitted.  The interface programs validate the data, derive and assign the default values and ultimately populate the production base tables.

Interface/Conversion examples with details:
            The below list of interfaces/conversions are few examples  Details like pre- requisites required, interface tables, interface program, base tables, validations that need to be performed after inserting the details into the interface tables and required columns that need to be populated in the interface table are discussed for each interface.

----------------GL----------------

1.    Journal import          

2.    Budget import          

3.    Daily Conversion Rates  

----------------AP----------------

4.    AP Invoices        

5.    Vendor          

----------------PO----------------

6.    Purchase Orders          

7.    Requisition         

8.    Receiving        

----------------AR----------------

9.    AR Receipts         

10. Customer conversion          

11. Auto Invoice Interface 

12. Lockbox Interface          

----------------OM----------------

13. Order Import Interface (Sales Order Conversion)        

14. Item import (Item conversion)          

15. Inventory On-hand quantity Interface