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How To Setup Gapless Document Sequencing in Receivables [ID 197212.1]

Modified: Jun 27, 2012

Type: HOWTO

Status: PUBLISHED

Priority: 3

In this Document
Goal
Fix
1. Enable Sequential Numbering Profile Option
2. Setup System Options
a. Set Document Number Generation System Option to When Completed
b. Disable Changes to Printed Transactions and Transaction Deletion
3. Define a Transaction Type
4. Define a Batch Source
5. Define a Document Sequence
6. Define a Document Category
7. Assign a Document Sequence to the Document Category
8. Test your Setup
9. Representation in AR Tables
10. Other Gapless Sequence Configurations
11. References
12. Troubleshooting Document Sequences
Still Have Questions?
References
Applies to:
Oracle Receivables - Version 11.5.0 to 12 [Release 11.5.0 to 12.0]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
Form:FNDSNDSQ.FMB - Define Document Sequences
Form:FNDSNDCT.FMB - Define Document Categories
Form:FNDSNASQ.FMB - Assign Document Sequences
Form:ARXTWMAI.FMB - Transactions
Executable:RAXTRX - Autoinvoice Import Program
Executable:ARXREC - Recurring Invoice Program

Goal
Oracle Receivables (AR): AutoInvoice Information Center Note 197212.1
Oracle Receivables (AR): Transactions Workbench Information Center Note 197212.1
This document covers setup specific to gapless document sequences. For a more general discussion on document sequences in Receivables, please review Note
1086565.1, How To Setup Document Sequences In Receivables.
In some countries, it is a legal requirement that transactions are numbered in a gapless sequence for audit purposes.
Gapless document sequences ensure that there are no gaps or missing numbers in your document sequence. By using this feature in tandem with the Copy Document
Number to Transaction Number setting in your transaction source definition, you can generate gapless transaction numbers.
This document provides steps on how to setup Gapless document sequencing within Receivables.
Fix
1. Enable Sequential Numbering Profile Option
The profile option Sequential Numbering must be enabled in order to use the document sequence feature.To ensure gapless numbering, it is recommended that this is
set at the Application Level as Always Used.
Note: By setting this profile to Always used, you will also need to complete the setup of document sequence for your Receipt Methods and Receivable Activities.
Responsibility: System Administrator
Navigation: Profile > System
Query on:
Application = Receivables
Responsibility = Receivables Manager
Profile = Sequential Numbering

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2. Setup System Options

a. Set Document Number Generation System Option to When Completed
The setting of Document Number Generation Level in the System Options form allows you to specify when Receivables should generate a document
number for your transactions. This should be set to When completed so that the sequence is only invoked when the transaction is finalized.
b. Disable Changes to Printed Transactions and Transaction Deletion
To prevent the removal of transactions which have already been assigned gapless document sequence numbers, uncheck the check boxes for Allow
Change to Printed Transactions and Allow Transaction Deletion.
Responsibility: Receivables Manager
Navigation: Setup > System > System Options

3. Define a Transaction Type

Define a transaction type which you will use to create invoices. A document category (discussed in step 5) is automatically created for each transaction type you create.
Responsibility: Receivables Manager
Navigation: Setup > Transactions > Transaction Type

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4. Define a Batch Source

There is no way to enforce gapless numbering directly on transaction number and the only way to do this is to create a gapless document sequence and then have it
replace the transaction number by enabling Copy Document number to Transaction number.
Responsibility: Receivables Manager
Navigation: Setup > Transactions > Sources

Take note of the following settings:

Automatic Transaction Numbering - this check box has nothing to do with document sequencing. This feature simplifies the data entry process by assigning
a system generated transaction number to the invoices that are created using this batch source. The number is unique but is not guaranteed to be gapless.
When you check this, you are required to enter a value in Last Number.
Last Number - this field contains the starting sequence number from which a counter will be created to determine the next value to assign to subsequent
invoices created using this Batch Source.
Copy Document Number to Transaction Number - this check box is impacted by the document sequence setup. By checking this, you are instructing
Receivables to generate a document sequence for your invoice and use that to replace the current transaction number whether it was automatically generated or
manually inputted.
5. Define a Document Sequence
Create a database sequence that will be used to generate a document sequence for your transactions.

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Responsibility: System Administrator

Navigation: Application > Sequential Numbering > Define

A document sequence is defined specifically for a particular application. In this case, GAPLESS_INV1 can only be used within the Receivables application. We specified
the Type =Gapless, and provided the Initial Value = 1000. The first time this document sequence is used, the value will be 1000 and will increment by 1 for each
subsequent use.
Note: Although you are allowed to enter any number for Initial value, you are advised to keep the number low, and not to exceed 10 digits. Otherwise you will
encounter unexpected errors when creating invoices because some pieces of code are unable to handle document sequence values exceeding 10 digits.

6. Define a Document Category

This step is no longer necessary in release 11.5, because document categories are automatically created for you when you define a new transaction type (or receipt
method or receivable activity).
This step is shown here to provide clarity on how document sequences and document categories are associated to each other.
Responsibility: System Administrator
Navigation: Application > Sequential Numbering > Define
The following screen shot was generated by running a query on Name = GAPLESS INVOICE.
Reminder: You do not need to create the document category as it was already created for you when you setup the Transaction Type.

Note: For all new records created in the following areas, a row will exist in this form with the following data:
Entity

Application Code

Name

Description

Table Name

Transaction
Types

Receivables

Name given for the

Transaction Type in the
Transaction Types form

same
value as
Code

Description given for the

Transaction Type in the
Transaction Types form

RA_CUSTOMER_TRX_ALL

Receipt
Methods

Receivables

Name given for the

Receipt Method in the
Receipt Classes form

same
value as
Code

Printed Name given for the AR_CASH_RECEIPTS_ALL

Receipt Method in the
Receipt Classes form

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Receivable
Activities

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Receivables

Name given in the

Receivable Activities
form

same
value as
code

Description given for the

Receivable Activity in the
Receivable Activities form

AR_RECEIVABLES_TRX_ALL

7. Assign a Document Sequence to the Document Category

In this step, you create a relationship between the document category and the document sequence created earlier through an assignment.
Responsibility: System Administrator
Navigation: Application > Sequential Numbering > Assign
This form has 2 tabs, in the Document tab, create a new record as shown:

The field Method, designates the manner in which invoices using this category will be created:
Automatic - transactions are created via a concurrent process, such as an external program or something like AutoInvoice which creates transactions without
manual data entry.
Manual - transactions are manually created using a form in an application, such as the Transaction workbench.
Null - transactions can be created either Automatically or Manually.
For our example, the transaction type GAPLESS INVOICE can be used for both manual and automatic processes. Hence, we set the Method = Null. Another way to
implement this is by creating 2 records with the information shown above where all fields are identical except for Method, one row will have Method = Automatic and
the other Method = Manual.
In the Assignment tab, we associate this category to the sequence GAPLESS_INV1 we created earlier.

Ensure that you provide a Start Date that comes prior to any transaction date you will use with this transaction type.
8. Test your Setup
Responsibility: Receivables Manager
Navigation: Transactions > Transactions
Create an invoice using the transaction type GAPLESS INVOICE and take note of the behavior.

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Prior to completing the invoice, the fields: Number = 2 and Document Num = null . Since our batch source is enabled to use Automatic Transaction Numbering, the
value 2, is generated by incrementing the Last Number value in the Batch Source GAPLESS BATCH SOURCE.

After completing the invoice, the fields: Number and Document Num now contain 1000. This value is from the sequence GAPLESS_INV1. This shows that during
completion, the document sequence returned the the value 1000, and this value becomes the Document Num as well as replaces the Transaction Number.

9. Representation in AR Tables
If you are interested in seeing what the data looks like in the back-end:

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The original transaction number prior to replacement with document number is stored in the field OLD_TRX_NUMBER.

10. Other Gapless Sequence Configurations

Using the number series to help identify the transaction type:
You can repeat this process for as many transaction types as you need to be Gapless. You can define the Initial value of the sequences so that you can identify a
transaction's type from it's transaction number. For example: Invoices have transaction numbers in the 100000 series, Credit Memos have transaction numbers in the
200000 series and Debit Memos have transaction numbers in the 300000 series.
In doing such an implementation, care must be taken to ensure that the document sequence values never overlap, otherwise you will no longer be able to identify the
transaction types from just the transaction number, further the transaction numbers will no longer be unique.
Using the same document sequence across operating units:
If you have the business requirement of sharing a document sequence across operating units, this can be done by assigning the same Gapless document sequence to
different document categories. However, please remember the following restrictions:
You can associate several transaction types to a particular document sequence for as long as all these transaction types belong to operating units that use the same
ledger, you cannot assign a document sequence defined in ledger 1 to a document category in ledger 2.
Impact of Gapless numbering on Consolidated Billing Invoices
In release 11.5, the Consolidated Billing Invoices (CBI) feature is used to group individual invoices for a particular customer. The numbering of a consolidated bill is not
covered by the Gapless transaction numbering feature, as this is simply an artificial grouping of distinct invoices, hence your CBI number may have gaps. True gapless
numbering is only implemented on individual invoices.
The Audit Report by Document Number (Control>Requests>Run) can be used to audit the document numbers.
11. References
For a more general discussion of Document Sequences in Receivables, please review
Note 1086565.1, How To Setup Document Sequences In Receivables.
Also, the following documentation provides more information on Document Sequences:
Oracle Receivables Implementation Guide, Chapter 2: General Receivables Setup, Implementing Document Sequences.
Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide - Configuration, Chapter 14: Document Sequences.
12. Troubleshooting Document Sequences
If you encounter issues using document sequences, please review Note 1087122.1, Troubleshooting Document Sequences in Receivables.

Still Have Questions?

To discuss this information further with Oracle experts and industry peers, we encourage you to review, join or start a discussion in the My Oracle Support
Receivables Community.
To provide feedback on this note, click on the Rate this document link.
References
NOTE:1086565.1 - How To Setup Document Sequences In Receivables
NOTE:1087122.1 - Troubleshooting Document Sequences in Receivables

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