Inventory FAQ’s

Q. Once an item is assigned to an organization, is it possible to remove this association at

a later time?
A. If you have assigned an item to an organization, it can only be deleted from that
organization if the item has NOT been transacted. If it has been transacted against you
cannot delete the item from the organization. You can, however, make the status of the
item “inactive” on the main region of the Item Define form INVIDITM in „Item Status‟
field. This will prevent users from transacting against the item although the item will
continue to be included in LOV‟s.

Q. How do you setup Unit of Measure for an item?

A. When transacting an item, it will always default to the defined Primary Unit of
Measure, so if you need to use another UOM, you must select it from the List of Values
when you transact it. This implies that you want the Primary Unit of Measure to be that
which is used most often and which is likely to be the smallest unit of that type of item.
Once you have set the primary UOM for an item, it CANNOT be changed.

Q. How do I change an item‟s locator control method once I have transacted against it, for
example from No Control to Prespecified?
A. You cannot change this attribute if there is onhand quantity for the item. You must
first perform a miscellaneous issue of all quantity. Then the attribute can be changed and
once the locator(s) are set up, you can perform a miscellaneous receipt to receive the
quantity back into a specified subinventory/locator.

Q. How do I change an item‟s Unit of Measure?

A. You CANNOT change the UOM for an item once the UOM is assigned to the item. The
suggested solution is as follows: If the item has not been transacted you can delete the
item and then re-add it with the correct UOM. If the item has been transacted and has no
outstanding orders, purchase orders or WIP jobs you can do the following if approved by
your management.
1. Rename the existing item „123′ to „123-Bad UOM‟ and save the item. Any prior history
for item „123′ will now be associated with item „123-Bad UOM‟.
2. Add a new item „123′ with the correct UOM.

Q. How do I delete an Item Template I no longer use?

A. Suggested steps to follow to delete unwanted Item Templates:
1. Navigate Setup: Items: Templates – Find Item Templates form appears.
2. Click on the LOV, and select the Item Template that is to be removed.
3. Click the [Find] button on the Find Item Templates form. The Item Templates
Summary form appears, with the Item Template selected.
4. Click the [Open] button on the Item Templates Summary form, and the Item
Templates form appears.
5. From the menu, select Edit | Delete Record, then select Action | Save and Proceed. 6.
Close the Item Templates Summary form. Be careful not to delete Item Templates you
may need again as they are not retrievable once deleted.

Q. Is there a way to create custom item attributes?

A. No but you can create and define the descriptive flexfield for this form. This will allows
you to associate additional data with an item such as an attribute. See the Oracle System
Administrators
Users Guide and the Oracle Flexfields Manual for information on creating Descriptive
Flexfields.

Q. Why does the application prompt you for Organization when you enter the Master
Item form for the very first time even though you have only one Master Organization.
A. Once you setup a Multi-Org environment and you enter the form for the first time,
there is the possibility there can be more than one Master Organization. The application
therefore prompts you for an organization which is then used to determine the Master
Organization associated with it. In other words, you are choosing the Master
Organization by choosing one of the Orgs that belongs to it.

Q. How do you change the control level for item attributes from master level to
organization level for example. When I try to change this in the Attribute Control Form, I
get the message: frm-40200: field protected against update.
A. First change value of the field called “status” to “not used”. You should then be able to
change the control level of the attribute from master level to org level. Make sure and
change to status back to what it was before the change and save the record.

Q. How do I inactivate an item?

A. On the Master Item Form (Inventory->Items->Master Items), change the item status
field to “Inactive” or any another defined status which disables all attributes that make an
item usable (stockable, shippable, orderable, etc.). The “Inactivate” status comes pre-
seeded with the Application and is for this purpose.
Q. What characters can I use in an item name (including special characters)?
A. The only hard fast rule is not to use the character designated in the segment delimiter
for the System Item Flexfield. Also, you will not be able to enter any characters not
allowed by the valueset associate with the flexfield. It is recommended that you avoid the
use of any char that can be used as a delimiter to avoid future problems. It is best to not
use special characters like #@%& if at all possible as these may have a negative impact
down the road. Some characters, like percent (%), underscore (_), and pound(#), have
special meaning when performing queries by form as do the query operator characters
(=!><).

Q. Can you change the costing enabled and inventory asset flags on an item that has
already been transacted against even if there is no on-hand quantities for the item?
A. Yes, you can change the flags. If you are changing the flags from checked to unchecked
you will receive a warning that the associated cost records will be deleted alerting you
that the Cost of Goods will not be calculated any longer for transactions of this item. In
effect what you are doing is changing the item from an asset item to an expense item. If
you are changing the flags from being unchecked to checked then a database
trigger will fire and cause cost records to be added for this item. There is no warning that
is given.

Q. When I create a new item, and choose to assign to All orgs, the application allows me
to even though some of those organizations are restricted to my responsibility. Is this the
way it is supposed to work? If I assign in an Organization by Organization fashion, I am
not allowed to assign to the restricted organizations.
A. The situation described is standard functionality. Even if a responsibility has limited
access to a certain number of organizations, the “Assign to All Organizations” check box
will assign the item to all orgs, not just the ones limited to the user‟s responsibility.

Q. How do you tell that an item is an expense item or asset item?

A. Navigate to the Organization Items form: Inventory->Items->Organization Items.
Query up the item in question. Change to the “Costing” alternative region. The value of
the “Inventory Asset Value” flag determines this. If checked, the item is an asset item.

Q. Is there a way to delete or disable an item revision once entered?

A. There is no way to delete a revision nor is there a way to disable it. It must remain
there for historical data. The suggested workaround is to create a new item, transfer any
Quantity on-hand from the old item to new item and delete the old item. The only down
side is you will lose some transaction history.
For more interview Question click
here : http://knoworacle.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/oracle-applications-technical-
interview-questions/

1.What is item status? Name the related table.

INVENTORY_ITEM_STATUS_CODE is the Colum in table MTL_ITEM_STATUS will tell you the

different status for item while you defining the item in item master form (INVIDITM). You can
have different status as shown in below, also u can define your own custom status in status
code form in item setups (INVSDOIS)like “easyapps”
Active
Inactive
Engineer
Obsolete
Phase-Out
Prototype
OPM
Lease
Production
Concept
Design
DEM_Status
Pending

2.Define steps of assigning items to an organization.

Create an item in Item master from and select the template to assign the corresponding item
attributes from tools menu. Now save the item. After saving the item select the organizational
assignment option from tools menu for that item and organizational assignment item form
popups. Now u can select the organizations from the list by ticking in check box. save the
work.

3.In which table subinventory related information for item is stored?

MTL_ITEM_SUB_INVENTORIES

4.What are the prerequisite set ups for interorganization transaction?

Prerequisites
Define an inventory item that is common to both organizations. See: Defining Items and
Assigning Items to Organizations. Define at least two organizations, one of which is valid to
receive material from the other. See: Creating an Organization, Oracle Human Resource
Management Systems User’s Guide and Defining Organization Parameters. Set up inter–
organization relationships and their corresponding accounts. See: Defining Inter–Organization
Shipping Networks. For direct transfers, if the item to transfer is under serial number control,
the item must have the same unit of measure in each organization. See: Defining Items.

5.Where to define interorganization transaction charges and what are the different options?
Depending on the inter–organization transfer charge that applies between the organizations,
a percentage of the transaction value or a discrete amount that Oracle Inventory uses to
compute transfer charges.

6.What are stock locators and how to define them?

Stock locators are an optional entity that may be used to represent physical locations within a
subinventory. You may choose to use stock locators for selected subinventories or selected
items within selected subinventories. If locators are used, subinventory and locator track on-
hand balances. Therefore, if locators are defined to represent a shelf within a stockroom, on-
hand balances on the system would show the item and quantity down to the physical location
within the facility.U can derfine them in stocklocator from (INVSAFDH) in inventory setups.
MTL_ITEM_LOCATIONS is the main base table for this locators.

7.Name the tables where the stock locator information is stored. At least two.
Refer above Q.One more table is MTL_ITEM_LOC_DEFAULTS
8.What is unit of measure classes? Give atleast two examples. Name the underlying table.
9.What is the prerequisite for difining unit of measure?
10.In which tables the transaction details stored? Atleast two.
11.What are centralized and decentralized level of control of item attributes?
12.Name all status attributes.
13.Differentiate between intra & inter uom class conversion with examples.
14.Is uom maintained at master level or organization level or both?
15.Mention the interface tables for item open interface and open transaction interface and
also their respective production tables.
16.Name atleast five reports in oracle inventory related to transaction ?
17.What are the prerequsites for costing transactions?
18.Which is the table for storing organization information?
19.How to get the on hand quantity of an item across all organizations? Name the underlying
tables.
20.What is the purpose of standard cost update?
21.Mention the navigational steps for abc analysis.
1) Which are required steps in Inventory module set up?
Answer:
a) All the 6 key flexfields i.e Items, Item Catalog, Account Alias, Sales Order,
Locator and Item Category
b) Organizations
c) Change Organizations
d) Intercompany Relations
e) Unit of Measure Classes
f)Subunventories
g)Item Attribute Controls, Categories
h)Default Category set
i)Item Statuses
j) Cost types
k)Profile Options
l)Inventory Accounting Periods

2) What do you mean by Required with Defaults Steps?

Answer:
Required Step With Defaults means that the setup functionality comes with pre-
seeded, default values in the database; however, you should review those defaults
/default values and decide whether to change them to suit your business needs

3)Which are Required with Defaults Steps in Inventory module?

Answer:
There are no such steps in Inventory module

4)There is no stock locator control in your Inventory organization.Do you still need
to configure it?
Answer:
You need not to configure the flexfield in a specific way but you must still compile
the Stock Locators key Flexfield because all Oracle Inventory transaction and on-
hand inquiries and reports require a frozen flexfield definition

5) What is the use of a picking rule?

Answer:
When you pick release a sales order in Order Management module , Order Shipping
Execution module ( which is a part of Order Management) submits requests to
Oracle Inventory module which uses the information given in picking rule to give
priority to pick units of an items and then it generates pick lists for sales orders
6) Can you apply material overheads to Average Costing Organization?
Answer:
No, you can not apply it to Average Costing Organization. However you can apply it
to Standard Costing Organization

7) What is a Transaction Action?

Answer:
A transaction action is a predefined method of changing the quantity and/or
location and/or cost of an item. It is used in Transaction Type form

8) How many Predefined Transaction Actions are available in Inventory module?

Answer:
You may use one of six predefined transaction actions: --issue from stores,
subinventory transfer, direct organization transfer, intransit shipment, cost update
and receipt into stores.

9)Can you do Inventory transactions in prior periods?

Answer:
Yes, you can do by setting the profile option INV: Transaction Date validation to
Provide warning when date in past period or Allow date in any open period. It
allows entry of a past date

10) Can you change customer item name or Item after you save it?
Answer:
Yes, you can change it if you have set the profile option INV: Updatable Customer
Item to Yes and INV: Updatable item to Yes respectively
Q) What is the difference between lot control and serial control?
A) In general, Items are serial controlled where each single unit need to be tracked like a
laptops. Each laptop will have its own serial making easy for tracking. where as Lot
controlled items are produced in bulk and sold in bulk amounts like pens. A bunch of pens
will be assigned to one lot number instead of having a unique lot number to each pen.
Lot controlled items can have expiration date where serial controlled items do not have
expiration dates.