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Understanding the Payables Open Interface Tables

Use Oracle EDI Gateway, the Credit Card Invoice Interface Summary, or SQL*Loader to load invoice information into the interface tables, AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE and AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE. When you initiate importing invoices, the import program validates all required invoice data in these tables. After it validates the information, Payables Open Interface Import creates invoices from the information in the Payables Open Interface tables. Payables also creates scheduled payments based on the payment terms.

Records in the AP_INVOICE_LINES_INTERFACE table create one or more invoice distributions. Note that one row may create more than one distribution. For example, if you enter a Tax line in this table and prorate it across three Item lines, during Open Interface Import the system will create three Tax invoice distributions based on the single Tax line in this table.

The interface tables are organized by columns that Payables uses to categorize and store specific invoice information. For example, invoice source information is stored in the column called SOURCE in AP_INVOICES_INTERFACE.

NOT NULL Columns

You must enter values for all NOT NULL columns in the interface tables to successfully save your invoice data in the interface tables.

NULL Columns

A column in the interface tables that must not have a value in order for Payables Open Interface Import to successfully create invoices from the records in the tables.

Required Columns

In addition to the NOT NULL columns, there are columns in the interface tables that require a value for import. If you do not enter a valid value in a Required field, the record will be rejected during import.

Conditionally Required Columns

Payables requires you to enter values in a conditionally required column only if you have entered a value in another column on which the column is dependent.

Optional Columns

You can use some columns in the interface tables to import additional invoice information for the invoices created by Payables Open Interface Import. Payables Open Interface Import imports the data that you load into these optional columns, provided that the information passes the validation checks during Payables Open Interface Import.

Columns Not Used for Import

Payables Open Interface Import does not use the STATUS or REQUEST_ID columns to create invoices. Payables does not support importing any data from these columns and you should leave these columns null for the records you load into the table.

Internal ID Columns

These columns contain values that Payables uses internally and the user never sees. You can obtain these values only by looking inside Payables tables. These ID columns correspond to other columns in the interface table. You do not need to enter a value for any of these ID columns if you enter a value in the corresponding column. For example, if you enter the TERMS_NAME you do not need to enter the TERMS_ID.

If you enter values for both columns and the values do not match, the record will be rejected during import. For example, if you enter a TERMS_NAME and a TERMS_ID and the TERMS_ID corresponds to a different TERMS_NAME, the record will be rejected during import.

Suggestion: The import process will work faster if you provide values for the internal ID columns instead of the corresponding columns.


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