ALERTS IN ORACLE APPS

Oracle Alert is your complete exception control solution. Alerts signal important or unexpected activity in your database. They ensure that you are regularly and quickly informed about critical database events instead of sorting through length reports.

The basic function of alerts includes but not limited to

·         Keep you informed of critical activity in your database

·         Deliver key information from your applications, in the format you choose

·         Provide you with regular reports on your database information

·         Automate system maintenance, and routine online tasks

Alerts keep a constant check on your database information and prompt you when the

specified criteria are met. You can use either an Oracle application or a custom oracle

application to define alerts. However, few applications such as purchasing, allow you to

simply activate and use alerts supply by default.

You can define two types of alerts:

1.    Event alert

2.    Periodic alert.

An EVENT ALERT immediately notifies you of activity in your database as it occurs. When you

create an event alert, you specify the following:

·         A database event that you want to monitor, that is, an insert or an update to a specific database table.

·         A SQL Select statement that retrieves specific database information as a result of the database event.

·         Actions that you want Oracle Alert to perform as a result of the database event. An action can entail sending someone an electronic mail message, running a concurrent program, running an operating script, or running a SQL statement script. You include all the actions you want Oracle Alert to perform, in an action set.

A periodic alert, on the other hand, checks the database for information according to a

schedule you define. When you create a periodic alert, you specify the following:

·         A SQL Select statement that retrieves specific database information.

·         The frequency that you want the periodic alert to run the SQL statement.

·         Actions that you want Oracle Alert to perform once it runs the SQL statement. An action can entail sending the retrieved information to someone in an electronic mail message, running a concurrent program, running an operating script, or running a SQL statement script. You include all the actions you want Oracle Alert to perform, in an action set

By creating event alerts, you can have an immediate view of the activity in your

database, so you keep on top of important or unusual events as they happen. By

creating periodic alerts, you can have current measurements of staff and organization

performance, so you can zero in on potential trouble spots. You can automate routine

transactions, preserving your valuable time for more important issues. Oracle Alert gives

you the information you need online, so you do not have to contend with a pile of

paperwork.

Workflow vs. Alerts:

Unlike alerts, workflow is defined in a system to detect a condition and requires user

intervention. Every time a response is not recorded during a designated time period,

workflow may send a notification to the user's manager depending upon the workflow

definition. It is difficult to accomplish such notification using alerts.

Defining Alerts:

You can create alerts that are as simple or as complex as you need them to be, and you can tailor your alerts in a variety of ways so they perform the kind of exception reporting your organization needs. There are two types of alerts: event and periodic. Both types are defined by a SQL Select statement that you specify.

You can create event alerts that monitor your applications for the exception conditions you specify. You can create periodic alerts that check your database for predefined conditions according to the schedule you determine.

Major Features

Verify SQL

You can verify that your alert's SQL Select statement runs correctly, and returns the data you specify. You can do this verification directly in Oracle Alert immediately after you enter your Select statement - you don't have to suspend your Oracle Alert session or navigate to SQL*Plus.

Specify Installations

You can specify which Application installations you want your alert to run against, so you can control which Application installations your alert checks in a database with multiple Application installations.

Information Routing

With Oracle Alert, you can include a file created by another application as part of an alert message. You can also define an alert that distributes an electronic copy of a report, log file, or any other ASCII file.

Dynamic Message Distributions

Oracle Alert lets you define a message distribution list without knowing ahead of time who the actual individuals on the list will be. Oracle Alert can retrieve the appropriate electronic mail IDs from your application tables, and send the message automatically.

Duplicate Suppression

Oracle Alert can automatically determine which action to perform based on whether it locates the same exceptions during a sequence of alert checks. You can have Oracle Alert perform a different action during each alert check that finds the same database exception.

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Customizable Inputs by Action Set

You can further customize your alerts by specifying parameters for each set of actions you define. These parameters, or inputs, provide you with extra flexibility in creating your alerts because you can assign specific values to them. For example, if a vendor delivery is overdue, Oracle Alert can notify the purchasing agent when it is two days late and the purchasing manager when it is seven days late. The number of days late is the input; two and seven are distinct input values you assign for each type of recipient.

Distribution Lists

Oracle Alert lets you create an electronic distribution list that you can use on many messages. At any time, you can add or remove names from your lists, or you can make copies of your lists and use the copies to create new lists.

Standard Message Address Formats

Oracle Alert lets you address messages using easily recognizable symbols: to, cc, bcc, just as you would use when writing a memo or sending electronic mail.

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Printed Alert Messages

Oracle Alert lets you send messages to people who do not use electronic mail. You can direct a message to a printer with the recipient's name on the burst page.

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Electronic Mail Integration

Oracle Alert leverages the Workflow Notification Mailer to send and receive alert e-mail messages. The notification mailer uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for outbound messages and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for inbound messages.

Creating a Periodic Alert:

These Alerts are triggered hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly based on your input.

To create a periodic alert, you perform the following tasks in the order listed:

·         Define your periodic alert and specify its frequency.

·         Specify the details for your alert.

·         Define actions for your alert.

·         Create action sets containing the actions you want your alert to perform.

Before you define a periodic alert, make sure you do the following:

·         Configure the Workflow Notification Mailer to send and receive e-mail messages according to your alert requirements.

·         Specify Oracle Alert options to configure how Oracle Alert checks alerts and handles alert messages.

Enter a SQL Select statement that retrieves all the data your alert needs to perform the actions you plan to define.

Your periodic alert Select statement must include an INTO clause that contains one output for each column selected by your Select statement. Identify any inputs with a colon before the name, for example, :INPUT_NAME. Identify any outputs with an ampersand (&) before the name, for example, &OUTPUT_NAME. Do not use set operators in your Select statement.

Tip: If you want to use an input value in an action for this alert, select the input into an output. Then you can use the output when you define actions for this alert.

When selecting number columns, Oracle Alert uses the number formats defined in your database. Optionally, you can format your number outputs as real numbers by specifying a SQL*Plus format mask in your Select statement. For each number output, simply add a pound sign (#) and format mask to your output name. For example, if you select purchase price into the output &PRICE, add "#9999.99" after &PRICE for Oracle Alert to display the value to two decimal places. Your number output looks like: &PRICE#9999.99. Here is an example of a periodic alert Select statement that looks for users who have not changed their passwords within the number of days specified by the value in :THRESHOLD_DAYS.:

SELECT user_name,

password_date,

:THRESHOLD_DAYS

INTO &USER,

&LASTDATE,

&NUMDAYS

FROM fnd_user

WHERE sysdate = NVL(password_date,

sysdate) + :THRESHOLD_DAYS

ORDER BY user_name

Note: Although Oracle Alert does not support PL/SQL statements as the alert SQL statement definition, you can create a PL/SQL packaged function that contains PL/SQL logic and enter a SQL Select statement that calls that packaged function. For example, you can enter a SQL Select statement that looks like:

SELECT package1.function1(:INPUT1, column1)

INTO &OUTPUT1

FROM table1

In this example, package1 is the name of the PL/SQL package and function1 is the name of user-defined PL/SQL function stored in the package.

Creating an Event Alert:

These Alerts are fired/triggered based on some change in data in the database.

To create an event alert, you perform the following tasks in the order listed:

·         Define the database events that will trigger your alert

·         Specify the details for your alert.

·         Define actions for your alert.

·         Create action sets containing the actions you want your alert to perform

·         This section focuses on the first task of defining the database events that trigger your event alert and divides the task into smaller sub-tasks.

Before you define an event alert, make sure you do the following: 

·         Configure the Workflow Notification Mailer to send and receive e-mail messages according to your alert requirements.

·         Specify Oracle Alert options to configure how Oracle Alert checks alerts and handles alert messages.

To specify an event table:

Specify the name of the application and the database table that you want Oracle Alert to monitor.

Although the application you enter here need not be the same application that owns the alert, both applications must reside in the same Oracle database and the application that owns the alert has to have Select privileges on the tables listed in the alert Select statement.

Important: You cannot use a view as the event table for your alert.

Important: Do not define an event alert on the table FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS. Oracle Alert submits a concurrent request to the concurrent manager when an event alert is triggered by an insert or update to an event table. For concurrent processing to occur, every submitted concurrent request automatically gets inserted as a row in the

FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS table. If you define an event alert on this table, you create a situation where the event alert will cause an exception to occur recursively.

Although Oracle Alert does not support PL/SQL statements as the alert SQL statement definition, you can create a PL/SQL packaged function that contains PL/SQL logic and enter a SQL Select statement that calls that packaged function. For example, you can enter a SQL Select statement that looks like:

SELECT package1.function1(:INPUT1, column1)

INTO &OUTPUT1

FROM table1

Specifying Alert Details

Once you define an event or periodic alert in the Alerts window, you need to display to the Alert Details window to complete the alert definition. The Alert Details window includes information such as which Application installations you want the alert to run against, what default values you want your inputs variables to use, and what additional characteristics you want your output variables to have.

In the Inputs tabbed region, Oracle Alert automatically displays the inputs used in your Select statement, unless they are the implicit inputs: :ROWID, :MAILID, :ORG_ID and :DATE_LAST_CHECKED. The values of the implicit inputs are as follows:

• ROWID-Contains the ID number of the row where the insert or update that triggers an event alert occurs.

• MAILID-Contains the email username of the person who enters an insert or updates that triggers an event alert.

• ORG_ID-Contains the organization ID that is selected when the alert runs.

• DATE_LAST_CHECKED-Contains the date and time that the alert was most recently checked

Major Features

Event Alerts

Event alerts immediately notify you of activity in your database as it happens. You define what a database event is - an insert or an update to a table - and Oracle Alert informs you when it happens. You can modify our precoded alert conditions or simply create your own, and Oracle Alert will send messages or perform predefined actions in

Periodic Alerts

Periodic alerts periodically report key information according to a schedule you define.

You can modify our precoded alerts or simply create your own, and Oracle Alert will send messages or perform predefined actions from an action set according to the schedule you set.

You can define periodic alerts on any Oracle Financials, Oracle Manufacturing, Oracle Human Resources, or Oracle Public Sector Financials application as well as any custom Oracle application.

Periodic alerts can be set to run as often as you need during a 24-hour period, or they can be set to run once a month - the frequency is up to you. Used over time, periodic alerts can provide a regular and reliable measure of performance.

For example, you can define a periodic alert for Oracle Purchasing that sends a message to the Purchasing Manager listing the number of approved requisition lines that each purchasing agent placed on purchase orders. You can define this alert to run weekly, and provide performance measurement on a consistent and timely basis.

Easy Alert Definition

Oracle Alert can load the SQL statement for your alert definition from an operating system file, allowing you to automatically perform the functions you currently do by hand. Oracle Alert will also transfer your entire alert definition across databases. You can instantly leverage the work done in one area to all your systems.

Customizable Alert Frequency

With Oracle Alert, you can choose the frequency of each periodic alert. You may want to check some alerts every day, some only once a month, still others only when you explicitly request them. You have the flexibility to monitor critical exceptions as frequently as necessary, even multiple times during a 24-hour period. You can also check less significant exceptions on a more infrequent schedule; for example, once a month.

Customizable Alert Actions

You can define a variety of actions for Oracle Alert to perform based on the exceptions it finds in your database. Oracle Alert can send an electronic mail message, run a SQL script or an operating system script, or submit a concurrent request, or any combination of the above. You can create your own message, SQL script, or operating system script actions in Oracle Alert, or have Oracle Alert send messages or perform scripts that reside in external files. Each action is fully customizable to the exceptions found in your database, so you have complete flexibility in your exception management.

Detail or Summary Actions

You can choose to have Oracle Alert perform actions based on a single exception or a combination of exceptions found in your database. You can define a detail action such that Oracle Alert performs that action for each individual exception found. You can also define a summary action such that Oracle Alert performs that action once for each unique combination of exceptions found. You decide which exceptions you want Oracle Alert to consider as a unique combination. You can format a detail or summary message action to display the exception(s) in an easy-to-read message.

No Exception Actions

Oracle Alert can perform actions if it finds no exceptions in your database. You can define Oracle Alert to send electronic mail messages, run SQL scripts or operating system scripts, or submit concurrent requests, or any combination of the above.

Alert History

Oracle Alert can keep a record of the actions it takes and the exceptions it finds in your database, for as many days as you specify. When you ask Oracle Alert to reconstruct alert history you see a complete record of alert activity exactly as it was performed. You can even review all responses Oracle Alert received to your messages and the actions they invoked. Oracle Alert also lets you decide which information you want to review.

You can narrow your review criteria so you see only the history you specifically want to examine, without sorting through all the history information available for an alert.

Duplicate Checking

Oracle Alert can search for exceptions that remain in your database over time, and can take certain actions based on the presence of those "duplicate exceptions." You can track exceptions in your database for the length of time that you save history for your alerts.

Action Escalation

You can define a sequence of actions and have Oracle Alert perform the next action in that sequence each time it finds the same exception or exceptions in your database. For example, you can have Oracle Alert send messages of increasing severity if it finds the same exceptions over a period of time. Using action escalation, you can make sure that exceptions needing attention don't languish unattended in your database.

Summary Threshold

Oracle Alert can automatically determine whether to perform a detail or a summary action based on the number of exceptions it finds in your database. If your alert locates few exceptions, it can simply perform detail actions-one for each exception. If your alert locates many exceptions, it can perform a summary action on all of those exceptions.

Oracle Alert automatically determines when it should perform a detail or a summary action.

Response Processing

Oracle Alert can take certain predefined actions based on a user's response to an alert message. The response can cause Oracle Alert to send another alert message, run a SQL script or an operating system script, or submit a concurrent request, or any combination of the above. Because Oracle Alert performs response actions automatically, you can delegate routine user transactions to Oracle Alert and thereby increase your organization's efficiency.

Self-Referencing Alerts

You can create an alert that checks for exceptions that are new in your database since the last time the alert was checked. The alert uses its own DATE_LAST_CHECKED value as the start time for checking for new exceptions.

Customizable Options and User Profile

You can specify exactly how you want your Oracle Alert user interface to look and behave. From choosing a printer to specifying the header text in your Oracle Alert messages.

Electronic Mail Integration

Oracle Alert allows you to send alert e-mail messages through your mail system using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for outbound messages and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for inbound messages.

Important Alert Tables:

·           ALR_ALERTS

·           ALR_ACTIONS

·           ALR_ACTION_SETS

·           ALR_ACTION_SET_INPUTS

·           ALR_ACTION_SET_OUTPUTS

·           ALR_ACTION_SET_MEMBERS

·           ALR_ALERT_CHECKS

·           ALR_ALERT_INPUTS

·           ALR_ALERT_OUTPUTS

·           ALR_ACTION_SET_CHECKS

·           ALR_RESPONSE_SETS

·           ALR_RESPONSE_ACTIONS

·           ALR_VALID_RESONSES

Oracle Alert uses the following internal views:

·            ALR_ALERT_ACTIONS_VIEW

·            ALR_ALERT_HISTORY_VIEW

·            ALR_CHECK_ACTION_HISTORY_VIEW

·            ALR_INSTALLATIONS_VIEW

·            ALR_PERIODIC_ALERTS_VIEW

·            ALR_RESPONSE_ACTIONS_VIEW

·            ALR_SCHEDULED_PROGRAMS

·            ALR_VARIABLES_AND_OUTPUTS