New features in R12 from 11i

New features in R12 from 11i.
------------------------------

--- Questions and exercises in R12.
--- What are the objectives/exercises that we need to do.

  1. Create a AR transaction, then run Create Accounting program, and see what kind 
   of Journals are created in SLA ???

   Make sure the accounting setup options are properly set for the ledger for
   which you are createing the transactions for. For ex, the sequencing context
   name needs to be created for the appropriate context i.e journal setup.

   It is also important to note that once the journal entries are created in the 
   SLA, they cannot be directly viewed from SLA. Each application will provide an
   inquiry screen to query those journal entries.


  Then for the same AR transaction, run the Submit Accounting program,which will
   basically run the revenue recognition progrm,generates the distributions and
   then see the journal entries in SLA.

  2. How are profile options "MO:Operating Unit" and "MO :Security Profile"
 related ??

   If "MO :Security Profile" is defined, then the profile option "MO:Operating Unit"
   is ignored. 
  If "MO :Security Profile" is not defined, then the system will fall back on
   the profile option "MO:Operating Unit" and then  the system will behave
   just like the 11i,where for ex in AR, we will be able to create the trx's
   only corresponding to the OU specified by "MO:Operating Unit".

  3. How is the multi-org feature achieved in R12 as opposed to 11i ???

   In R12, the multi-org feature is acheived thru the "MO :Security Profile" 
 profile option.

   In 11i, lets say in AR, if we have to create a transaction, then that particular
   transaction is corr to a particular Opearting unit id,which is dictated by the
   profile option MO: Operating Unit. If we have to create a trx corr to 
   a different OU, then we need to shift to a different resp corr to that
   OU and create the transaction. Also you can only see the trx corr to ur OU.

   In R12, We can access corresponding to multiple operating units using the 
   following steps.
 
   Go to HR, and create a Security Profile. Give the organizations that you need
     to that security profile.
   Come to System administrator and set the value of profile option  
 "MO: Security Profile " to the value created in the above step.

   Once the above step is done, we should be able to create invoices corres
 to any operating unit. see below for more inforatiom.

  4. How do you create transactions in AR corr to any operating unit???

    First thing set the profile options as explained in the above question.
 
    In AR, the batch source is tied to the operating unit. Hence once the above 
   profile option is set (corr to all Orgs), then you will be able to select any
   batch source corr to any operating unit. once you select a source, then the 
   legal entity field and the OU field(in the more tab) will get populated 
    accordingly. 
   As anex, if the "MO: Security Profile " is nullifed, and then you come to the
    trx screen, and if you select the source LOV, you will see only sources 
    corresponding to the OU specified by only "MO: Operating Unit".

   The whole point is to able to create transactions for any operating unit,with out 
    going thru the painful process of changing the responsibilities each time.
    So in transactions form ,there is no Operating unit in the more tab 
    in 11i while there is one in R12.   


  5. What happened to profile option MO: Top Operating Level ???
    
  In 11i, we had a profile option MO: Top Operating Level , which is not 
     there in R12. Basically all the multi org reports are still now 
     running with reporting parameters,reporting level and reporting context. 
     However now the reporting level willl have values of Ledger or Operating unit.

   6. With the introduction of SLA, do we still need to run the program
 Journal Import etc to push the transactions to GL ???

     No. See below for more details. 

      In 11i, when data was transferred from subledgers, it was transferred to 
      GL_interface table, and then the journal import program will push them 
      into the GL. if there was any errors in the journal import, then the user 
   had the option of changing the data in the gl interface tables and 
      then resubmit the program. the one disadvantage of this process is that 
      the same transaction will have different values in subledger and GL 
   because of the correction.
      
      In R12, (the transfer to gl, and journal import) are combined into "Transfer 
      to GL" function. If the Journal import does not complete successsfully, the 
      data is deleted from the gl_interface tables & SLA tables. This ensures that 
      the subledger (for ex, AR) and GL are in sync. Hence it is not recommended 
      to change the profile option "SLA: Submit Journal Import" profile option.  
      So the best way is to fix the source transaction with in the subledger.
      
      Hence one such error which could cause problems is the accounting setup/account 
      combination issues. To fix this you could use the disabled account feature
      ,where if an acount is disabled,then you could give a replacement acccount,
   so that the new account is taken.

    7. What is the difference/commonality between the 11i SOB and R12 Ledger.
   the set of books is combination of COA, Calendar and Currency
 while Ledger is combo of COA, calendar, currency, and SLA method.
   
 
 
    8. Any new changes as far as the Journal Reversal Criteria is concerned in R12 ??
 
      In 11i, at the set of books level, there is no journal reversal criteria 
      set specified. That means once you create a Journal Reversal criteria set
      it is specific to that set of books. 
      In R12, there is additional field for journal reversal criteria set in the 
      Journal Processing area ,where we can set a specific Journal reversal criteria set.
      So in summary, a single criteria set can be shared across different ledgers.

 9. Are there any changes to the number of AR Interfaces in R12?
 
       So basically unlike in 11i, where we had  5 interfaces (autoinvoice,lockbox, 
       customer, tax, GL interface), but in R12 ,we only have 3 interfaces namely 
       (autoinvoice, lockbox, customer).
       The GL transfer is no longer there. The transactions transparently flow from 
       the AR (for ex) to GL.  So if you need to transfer the data, basically you 
       need to transfer from SLA to GL. So there is a program Transfer GL data,but 
       it is under the application SLA. Similarly Tax interface is replaced by 
       Tax accounting engine or e-business tax,which means the e-business tax is shared
       by all the modules like AP,AR.

    10. How do you classify a particular account as Control Account in SLA in R12?
  

 11. Is Create Accounting Program there in all the Oracle Apps Modules ??
       Yes, if we look at the Subledger Accounting module (SLA), it is being seen
       as a service oriented architecture and hence the same program is used in
       different modules. And since differnt modules can use different ledgers,
       the parameter ledger is provided so that they can give any ledger they want.

    
      12 Is Revenue Management converted into a new feature/module in R12.
      
      Yes, the revenue management was a feature which was in AR even in 11i. In 11i AR,
      you are said to be using the Revenue Management if you set the options 
      with in the Revenue Policy tab of the system options. 
      
      However in R12, the revenue management functionality has been extended with
      some additional features and a new module has been created which is now
      called BRM(Billing and Revenue Management).
      
      So yes BRM exists only in R12.
    

Receivables New Features in R12 :
-----------------------------------

   What are line level cash applications ??
 Line Level cash applications :if the customer has only received one item
   and not the other line,then you could just apply the receipt amount to just
   one invoice line. To do this, in the applicaitons screen, click on the apply in
   detail and apply it to the specific linethat you want.

   How is daily revenue rate calculated???
 Daily revenue rate is calculated by dividing the revenue for that item
 by the total number of days in that duration. If you choose the daily
      revenue rate in the accounting rule, then number of periods is disabled.
    Only at the time of invoice entry you need to specify the start and end dates
    adn the number of days is calculated by the difference between those two.

   What is a partial period??
    A partial period is a period, whose start date is not the first date of that
    period or whose last date is not the last date of that period. As an ex, you
    can define a May-09 period,with the start date of 05-may-2009 or a June-09 
    period whose end date is 29-jun-09

  What are the new changes to the R12 Accounting Rule types??
   In 11i, there were only two types of accounting rule types
 Accounting, Fixed Schedule
 Accounting, Variable Schedule

  In R12, in addition to the above, two more rule types are introduced
      Daily Revenue Rate, All Periods
 Daily Revenue Rate, Partial Periods

  Multi Org Access :
  With Multi org access, it allows you to access multiple organizations data using a
   single responsibility.
    
 Are there any new receipt classes in R12.
 In R12, there are some new additional receipt classes available. For ex,
 there is a new receipt class "AP/AR Netting".  
 
 
What are the new features in recognizing revenue in R12 ?
 Some of the cool features are online accounting and draft accounting.
 
In R12 ,we do have an option of created the accounting or generating the revenue 
entries online or offline. that is we have a Create Accounting option in 
the transaction form.  The create accounting option allows you to recognize the 
revenue for that particular invoice only,this feature is not available in 11i.

Any changes in R12 to the consolidated billing ??
  In the payment terms, we are not seeing a cut off region in the R12,while in 11i 
  it is seen.

In 11i, for all the customer trx, there was no concept of legal entity id at the 
transaction level. However in R12, when we create a ledger we associate legal 
entities to it. So for ex in AR trx, a legal entity field shows in the form,
which means that particular LE in the main company has performed this transaction.   
When you create accounting setups in Accounting Setup Manager, it is recommended
that you assign specific balancing segment values to legal entities. This enables 
you to easily identify transactions by legal entity and take advantage of many 
legal entity features, such as Intercompany Accounting.

11i AR dunning letters and collections workbench is obsolete in R12. In R12, 
they are replaced by Oracle Advanced Collections.
 
In the approval limits, we can set the approval limits for a Refund as well. Previously
we could only set for adjustments, RWO's, and CM's

In 11i, the oracle advanced collections is represented by separate modules like 
Oracle collections agent, leasing agent etc and they are all forms based applications. 
In 11i, you need not have to use the oracle advanced collections, and still use 
the basic collections functionality i.e like able to look at the customers account, 
balances, changing due date etc. All this is done using the native forms.
    However in R12, there is no collections module per se, it is only advanced 
 collections and everything is html based
 
 
 
Payables New Features in R12.
-----------------------------------

* Suppliers are now represented as Trading partners.
See they are created and categorized.

* In 11i, payables invoices were having a header and distributions ,there were no 
lines. However in R12, you have the concept of the invoices,lines and distributions.
Basically the advantages of this change are
 provides for line level approval
 and matching between an invoice line to a PO shipment item.
 facilitates the transfer of additional information between AP and FA.

* Payment processing has gotten better than 11i. Since the selection criteria 
encompasses the Operating unit, multiple currencies and pay groups, we can manage
fewer payruns. 

* There is a new tool called payment manager.,which allows us to create a payment
process request template.

* AR/AP Netting. The netting feature enables the automatic netting of payables and 
  receivables transaction with in a same business enterprise. The netting process
   automatically creates the payables payments and receivables receipts required 
   to clear the payables invoices and receivables transactions.
  
 AP/AR Netting steps:

   1.define netting control a/c(setup>financials>flexfield>key>values)
   2.create bank (Setup>payment>Bank and Bank Branches.payment document is not 
      required for netting bank account
   3.go to receivables responsbility, receipt class definition form(setup>
     receipts>receipt class). query the 'AP/AR Netting' receipt class 
  which is a seeded one.
   4.attach your bank account in this receipt class
   5.go to system options, transaction and customer tabbed region, there enable 
   'Allow payment of Unrelated Transactions'check box
   6.create netting agreement(Receipts>Netting>Netting Agreement)
   7.Enter an Invoice in Payables, validate and run create accounting.
   8.enter a transaction in receivables.
   9.Create Netting Batch(Receipts>Netting>Netting Batch)
   10.Query your netting batch and see the status as Complete.also click on view 
      report icon on right side.click on run push button, you can see the final netting report.
   11.Go to view>request>find
   You can see 3 concurrent request programs 
       1.Create Netting batch 2.Settle netting batch 3.Netting Data Extract.
   12.Now go to receipts and query the AP/AR netting receipt.
   13.Now Go to Tools >view Accounting, you can see Netting control account 
       (defined in first step) debited and receivable account credited
   14.Now go to payables and query your invoce number and click the tab view payments.You can see the payment details and copy the document number
   15.Query your copied payment document number.you can see the payment type as Netting
   16.Click actions button and enable the check box create accounting
   17.Goto tools>view accounting .you can see the accounting entry: 
 
  See basically, First you have to create a netting agreement, with netting business rules and transaction
    criteria. Transaction criteria means we can associate Payables (Invoice, credit
 memo,debit memo) and Receivables(Transaction,credit memo,debit memoe,charge
 back etc)

  As an example,  let us say there is a supplier A with a balance of $100 (invoice)
          let us say there is a customer B with a balance of $150 (invoice)
 And if we have created a netting batch for these two parties, then since the
     AR Balance > $AP Balance ,
  then the netting amount would be AP balance which is $100 and hence you would
  create a AR receipt for $100, which will in effect make the open balance in 
  AR equal to $50.
  
  
GL New Features in R12 :
---------------------

1. What are Data Access Sets in R12 ?

With the introduction of the data access security feature some additional 
security provisions have been made in the R12 (in addition to the security 
features in 11i like security rules and cross validation rules).

When you create a ledger, automatically a new data access set is created with 
the same name with full ledger access.

If "SLA: Enable Data Access Security in Subledgers" profile option is set Y, then 
the user will have access to all the data specified by the data access set profile 
option "GL Data Access Set".

Each data access set corresponds to a particular data access set type,which 
could have a value of "Full ledger", BSV or MSV.

As an ex, if the value is BSV, your access could be like
    Read-only access to the balancing segment value 01
    Read-write access to the balancing segment value 03,04
    No acccess to the balancing segment value 05.

The data access sets work with the security rules. We know that the security 
rules in 11i allow a specific responsibility to access only certain balance 
segment values etc. The data access set basically lets you set the access 
privileges for different ledgers.

Consider the case,where the security rules provide access to only the balancing 
segment value 0 and 03. The data access set provides read only access to 
balancing segment values 01, 03. Then when the user logs in he will not be able 
to create any journals for any accounting combination.

2.  what is the management segment value,BAL,SEG value
    In r12, there is a new addition called management segment value (apart from 
 the other qualifiers).
 
3.  Did recurring journals get any new feature in R12 ??
   In Release 11i, you could define recurring journals using the functional currency 
   or STAT currency.
   
   However  in Release 12, you can create recurring journals using foreign currencies. 
   This is particularly useful if you need to create foreign currency journals that 
   are recurring in nature. For example, assume a subsidiary that uses a different 
   currency from its parent borrows money from the parent. The subsidiary can now 
   generate a recurring entry to record monthly interest payable to the parent 
   company in the parent’s currency.
 
4. Any new changes to the intercompany 
   Intracompany balancing rules ; only a concept in R12 not in 11i.

 If you look at a journal,you could see the following on a document,each Journal 
is classified by
 Journal Entry Description (text)
 Account Derivation Rules (account combination)
 Journal Line types ( Cr,Dr, $)


 In the approval limits, we can set the approval limits for a Refund as well. Previously
we could only set for adjustments, RWO's, and CM's

TAX Module in R12.
------------------
In the 11i world, the taxes were defined specific to each module. For ex, in AR, we
define tax code(corr to tax types) and we secify the tax code hierarchy. Similary
in AP too we define the tax code and there will be tax hieararchy. 
However in R12, the taxes have been integrated and a new product called e-business
tax has been created. This module  

Create Tax Regime which corresponds to a Tax country like US,UK etc.
Tax Types are always predefined like Sales Tax, Use Tax, Location based tax etc.
Configuration Owner is also predefined,not sure what this is 
Create a Tax (in 11i this is called tax code). This is based on a tax regime code,
    configuration owner , and tax type.
Create a Tax Status, this is based on tax regime code and Tax. A Tax can have multiple
    tax statuses corresponding to Standard rate, zero rate or reduced rates etc. 
       My understanding is that we can create multiple 0% rates (say)i.e we can
    create multiple zero-rate tax rates ,with each zero-rate tax rates corresponding
    to different purpose for ex, zero-rate products, zero-rate exports etc. And
    all such zero-rate tax rates can be clubbed into a tax status called 
    zero-rate tax status.
 

Cash Management New Features in R12.
----------------------------------- 
 
Banks and Bank Accounts :
------------------------
In 11i, the banks,bank accounts were owned by AP. However in R12, the banks are
owned by Cash Management,however the banks forms can still be accessed from AP/AR.


Also the functionality of bank account transfer was part of the Treasury Module,
which is now available as part of the Cash Management.