Oracle Configurator Overview
About this white paper:
Dear readers, I am planning to publish a series of articles which will help you understand and use Oracle Configurator Module in Oracle E-Business Suite. This is the first article which gives first glance information about Oracle Configurator Module.
The main objective of this article is to simplify the learning process of Oracle Configurator Module. If the one goes through Oracle User Guides for this module then a person can easily get lost in 4-5 separate 200+ pages document, making the learning more difficult. Of course this series of Configurator articles will contain 3-4 more articles but information presented will be on the spot which is necessary for working on this module.
Prerequisite for using Oracle Configurator is knowledge of Oracle Inventory and Oracle Bills of Material modules.
After going through this white paper reader should understand following things:
- Oracle Configurator Components
- Important Profiles and Concurrent Programs
- Relationship of Oracle Configurator with Oracle Inventory/Bills of Material
- Overview of Most Importance component Oracle Configurator Developer
I will be using Oracle E-Business Suite R12 for screen shots but I will be discussing features which are present in Oracle EBS 11.5.10.2.
Overview:
Oracle Configurator Module can be treated of as a selling machine if there is a model bill against which to configure by selecting options. It can also be thought of as an engineering machine if there is no model bill. An engineering machine could generate a bill. Configurations created with Oracle Configurator are standard bills based on an already existing model bill. Configurator does not have to be based on bills of material, although that is currently necessary for ordering and downstream ERP.
Oracle Configurator is an application or part of an application that lets a user configure products and services. The configuration model, which is typically based on a BOM model, consists of structure, rules, and UI definition.
Oracle Configurator Components
Oracle Configurator consists of the following main elements:
- Runtime Oracle Configurator
- Oracle Configurator Servlet (OC Servlet)
- UI Server
- Configuration Interface Object (CIO)
- The Oracle Configurator Schema within an Oracle Applications database
- Oracle Configurator Developer
With Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 all above components come as integral part Oracle EBS installations. In Previous version, Oracle Configurator Developer used to be a separate desktop application.
Runtime Oracle Configurator
The runtime Configurator provides a means of selecting options to create a configuration. It is presented to end users by the OC Servlet as an Oracle Configurator window. Although Configurator can be deployed as a standalone application, the Oracle Configurator window is usually launched from within a host application.
From Oracle Order Management runtime Configurator can be invoked if ATO/PTO model is entered on Order Line and Configure button is clicked.
Oracle Configurator Servlet
This consists of UI Server and Configuration Interface Object. The OC Servlet runs on Oracle Internet Application Server (iAS), which includes the Apache Web Server. The behavior of the OC Servlet can be customized by setting Servlet properties.
Oracle Configurator Schema
The Oracle Configurator schema consists of Configurator (CZ) tables in the Oracle EBS 11i database that is accessed by both the runtime Oracle Configurator and Oracle Configurator Developer.
Oracle Configurator Developer
With Release 11.5.10 this comes as integral part of EBS. This is used to develop various configuration rules, user interface, add non-BOM items which are necessary for guided selling. The user interface (UI) can later be published to various hosting applications like Order Management, iStore etc.
Important Responsibilities
- Oracle Configurator Administrator
- Oracle Configurator Developer
- Inventory (For defining MODEL, Catalogs)
- Bills Of Material (for defining MODEL BOM)
Both Oracle Configurator responsibilities see the same user interface except using Administrator responsibility one can edit/change MODELs created by other users while Developer responsibility can edit MODELs created by same user. So we will be using Oracle Configurator Administrator only.
Important Profiles
Profile Name | Value | Description |
CZ: Generic Configurator UI Type | HTML Hierarchical Table | This displays DHTML user interface created in Oracle Configurator Module |
CZ: Use Generic Configurator UI | Yes |
|
BOM:Configurator URL of UI Manager | http://<host name>:<port>/OA_HTML/configurator/UiServlet | This will launch Configurator UI |
Item Related Setups in Oracle Inventory
Oracle Configurator is driven by the MODEL (ATO or PTO) type of items. Generally Oracle Configurator is used for guided selling i.e. user is presented with various questions and based on user inputs respective components are selected. So user should be allowed to select various product properties. These properties are stored as Item Catalog values in Oracle Inventory.
Item Properties are grouped into Catalog Groups. Each Catalog group can have multiple catalog elements (properties). At the most one catalog group can be assigned to a given item. While defining product structure for ATO Model and related Option classes one must design option class and its properties in such a way that end user should be able choose various property value in Configurator. In Configurator, these catalog groups are termed as Item Types. We can define property based rules to choose components for various option classes.
There are multiple ways of defining or designing catalog groups. We can have separate catalog groups defined for each option class/component items. Let’s discuss this with example of Model “Sentinel Custom Desktop” Item Code CN-92777. This model has various components viz. Software, Memory, Hard Disk etc. Each option class and its related item can have related catalog group attached to it. E.g. Hard Disk Catalog Group can have properties (elements) like Manufacturer, Size, type etc. All items which come under hard disk options can have this catalog group assigned to it. Finally the MODEL item can have a new catalog group e.g. CTO Sentinal or Laptop which will contain all the catalog elements of individual option classes.
Second type of Product design can be MODEL and all its option classes/components can have the same catalog group assigned to them e.g. Desktop Catalog and individual components have values only for related properties/catalog elements.
A product can be configured (by calling Configurator) from Oracle Order Management, Order Entry screen. This order can be progressed to create a new configured item (typically called STAR item because the new item code is Model item code and a sequence number separate by ‘*’). Newly created item is standard item with standard bill of material containing actual components (as against the option classes for MODEL item). The new star item also get the catalog group assigned to Model and the catalog element values come from individual component’s catalog element values. For example, newly configured star item CN92777*12245 has “CTO Sentinal or Laptop” group of which is same as base MODEL and individual value like Memory, Hard Disk Size etc will get values from individual components.
While designing catalog element one has to take care that all option class catalog elements names are unique. E.g. Manufacturer property will be present for all option class catalog groups, to make it unique we should name it like HD. Manufacturer for Hard Disk, FD. Manufacturer for floppy disk, RM. Manufacturer for RAM etc. So when final star item gets created all catalog elements for individual components get clubbed to gather automatically.
Populating Oracle Configurator Schema (CZ)
Enterprise Item data is created and maintained in the Oracle Inventory and Bills are maintained in Oracle Bills of Material. This data imported into the Oracle Configurator schema as read-only data for access by Configurator Developer and the run-time Configurator.
The Oracle Configurator schema includes a specialized control table CZ_DB_SETTINGS for custom data import.
The data stored in the CZ schema includes:
- Configuration models
- Item and Model structure data
- Configuration rules
- User interface definitions
- Publication records
- Configurations
Item and BOM data can be imported into CZ schema using following concurrent programs (registered under Oracle Configurator Administrator responsibility)
- Populate Configuration Models
- Refresh a Single Configuration Model
- Refresh All Imported Configuration Models
- Disable/Enable Refresh of a Configuration Model
Oracle Inventory-Bills Of Material-Oracle Configurator:
Data Setup and Movement
The first step of Configurator Data setup is prepare item data (MODEL) and its bills of Material containing various components and option classes. One needs have a confort level with Oracle Inventory and Oracle Bills of Material Modules.
- Login to Oracle Applications using Inventory responsibility and navigate to Master Item Screen. Create new item/MODEL by using Copy from functionality. Use existing ATO MODEL item code CN92777.
- Assign Inventory/Child Organizations
- Change Responsibility to Bills Of Material and navigate to Create Bills Screen. Use Copy Bills functionality to copy BOM data from CN92777 and create BOM for PB-CN92777
- From Tools Menu Create Common Bill
- Next step is to transfer Item/BOM information for a given model to Oracle Configurator Schema (CZ). To perform this activity, change responsibility to "Oracle Configurator Administrator" and submit concurrent job Populate Configuration Model with Item PB-CN92777 as input parameter. Please note there is similr CONC job available under Bills of Material Responsibility, please don't use that CONC program as its errors out (may be its older version of Populate Configuration Model)
- After successful completion of Populate Configuration Models Concurrent Program, we can check the population of CZ schema through SQL*Plus or through Oracle 11i front end by clicking Configurator Developer Menu and navigate to Repository (Main) Tab to see newly populated item PB-CN92777
Oracle Configurator Developer Overview
Oracle Configurator Developer is the most important component where Configuration Rules are defined and DHTML user interface is created. This is accessible from Oracle Configurator Developer menu through Oracle Configurator Administrator Responsibility. This tool (now integrated with Oracle EBS 11.5.10.2 installation) is used for following Oracle Configurator Setups viz. Create NON-BOM Items for guided selling, Create Numeric Rules, Create Logic Rules, Create Statement Rules, Create Configurator Extension Rules to allow customizations, Create User Interfaces and finally publish these user interfaces (UIs) as runtime UIs to hosting applications like Order Management, iStore, Oracle Telesales or third party custom order entry applications.
This consists of two HTML tabs viz. Repository and Workbench. Repository consists of Main, Item Master and Publication sub-tabs. Oracle configurator developer is used for defining following things:Repository-Main
The hierarchical table in the Main are of the Repository contains a root folder in which all Configurator Developer objects are created, maintained, and organized.
You use the Select checkbox to apply an Action, such as copy or move to one or more objects at a time. The Edit icon opens an object for editing. If the object is a Model, clicking the Edit icon opens the Workbench for working on that Model. The Create icon is for creating a new child object. In other words, if you want to create a new Property to appear within a certain Folder, you select the Create icon appearing in the row for that Folder. In this case, the Folder would be the parent object, and the new Property to be created and stored within that folder would be the child object.
Repository-Item Master
This screen is used to maintain item/catalog groups. You can create Items which are not present in Oracle Inventory using this area. All Items are grouped into various Item Types which are nothing but Catalog Groups defined in Oracle Inventory. Catalog Elements form the various properties of items in Configurator.
Repository-Publications
This section is used after Rules definition and UI creation is completed i.e. when Configurator UI for a given model is ready to be deployed to host application. You can also publish the UI to same Oracle apps instance or any different instance.
Work Bench-General
This section gives all information about the model. You typically access the Workbench from the Repository Main area by selecting the Edit icon in the hierarchical table row for a particular Mode
Work
Workbench-Structure
The Workbench also has areas for defining the Model's Structure, Rules, and User Interfaces. The Model structure area is shown here. It contains a table displaying a hierarchical tree of Model structure nodes. In this section you can create Non-BOM Items for a given model. Such items are typically required for building guided selling type of user interface.
Work Bench-Rules
The Rules area of the Workbench contains many pages for defining rules in a streamlined flow. The first page of the Rules area contains a hierarchical table displaying a hierarchical tree of Rule folders and rules. You can create various types of rules viz. Numeric Rules, Logical Rules, Statement Rules, Configurator extension rules by clicking “Create” icon.
Work Bench-User Interface
This section is used to build user interface which can be displayed in host applications. UI elements representing screens and UI controls are added, edited, copied, moved, or deleted here. The User Interfaces structure can be rearranged completely independently of the Model structure. Any model content can be displayed multiple times on either the same screen or on different screens.
Summary
I hope this article gave you an overview/idea about Oracle Configurator features and components involved in Oracle Configurator. In the upcoming articles we will talk about defining Configuration Rules, Creation of User Interface, Creating Configurator Extensions (Customizations) and various handy PLSQL APIs related to Configurator.
Stay tuned for upcoming Configurator Articles.........
Apps2Fusion Articles 
Comments
Thanks Sandip
Vinoth
In my company we are planning to cross publish rules to two different ERP's, so that we can write rules in one configurator and publish it to both the ERP systems. But during our testing we came to know that once we enable remote connections to a differemtt ERP it cuts the internal connection within the ERP. Do we have a solution for this? Do we have to upgrade to 12.0 Oracle Apps, since the existing version has this limitation.
Pl ease Comment.
. Nothing else. I came back to repository and selected a model, same thing always.Can You please let me know that how can I enable that.
Thanks again.
Prativa.
This person can sit anywhere and needs to be a TECHNICAL Oracle Configurator NOT functional. This position will call for 50% travel.
To learn more about this opportunity please send you resume to andrew.augustine
Job description:
T his position will be responsible for particular levels of effort of Configurator module of the Oracle Implementation. As a member of the global design team this position will work closely with local Configurator and Order Management resources to create configurable models and implement these for various sales and service modules including Order Management, Quoting, iStore, and Installed Base. In addition, this position will also be responsible with the Global footprint.
Thi s position will establish and TECHNICALLY lead the team that will develop and support Configurator models on an ongoing basis.
The ideal candidate for this position will have intimate knowledge of Configurator design and modeling, Bill of Material restructuring, and the Oracle Configurator to Order processes. It would also be beneficial if the candidate had some familiarity with and awareness of Advanced Pricing, Configurator attributes, and designing Configurator Extensions are also required.
Key Tasks
Provide solution design and validation testing around:
Bills of Material restructuring
Configurator model structure
Configurator rules
Configurator user interfaces
Naming conventions
Develop Standards and Guidelines around Configurator Modeling
Lead and manage Configurator TECHNICAL development activities across sites, responsible to Project Management Office
After implementation should provide leadership towards continuous improvement
Teaching and Developing users at the site on the Configurator functionality of Oracle, if necessary
Document and review materials for setup and training
The hire categories will work with the Quote to Order technical team/support team to perform production support and new development in the area of Oracle 11i Configurator and related e-Business applications. Specifically, these individuals will serve as manager, researcher and developer on analysis, design, development, enhancements, and testing of the Oracle Configurator, Quoting, Sales Contracts, Install base and Order Management applications. These individuals will work directly with functional support team and Users to resolve production problems. Production support requires a 7x24 response for emergency conditions and off-hours work for build releases.
Responsibilit ies
Provide production support for the Oracle Configurator and related modules like Quoting, Sales Contracts, Install Base & Order Management applications.
This includes 7x24 coverage for emergency conditions.
Identify and propose technical solutions that meet business requirements.
Perform problem analysis, debugging and coding as part of production support and new development.
Create technical specifications, and unit test plans.
Provide work effort estimates.
Assist with the build release process as required. This is an off-hours activity.
Work with End-Users, DBA Team, Functional Team, Operations, and Infrastructure Teams as required on problem resolution and enhancements.
Andrew Augustine
Disy s Corporation
Te chnical Recruiter
1425 Greenway Drive
Suite 650
Irving, TX 75038
(214)329 -0125 (office)
(972) 550-6036 (fax)
(972)849 -5785 (cell)
andrew.augustine
Its a ver nice and can u provide me r12 opm inventory implementation guide.
Regards,
Rama kri
I am trying to launch the configurator from my OAF page. I am successfully able to launch the same but when I finish my configuration, I am not able to come back to the configurator launch page. In place it is showing one window that that keeps on running forever.
Can you please help me on this.
Thanks
A noop
We are having 300 models on configurator and all of them contains large number of BOM Option classes.
While creating a UI, we have created a UI content template for dropdown that is attached to all the BOM option classes
for a single model. However, for large number of models, it is time taking job to create large number of UI contant template
for each BOM option class in a model and attach the drop down tempalte to it.
Can we have any sort of functionality in configurator, where we can reduce this large UI creation task by creating a single template for a model which will hold the drop down for all the option classess.
Plea se comment for any thoughts!!
Tha nks!
I can imagine the trouble you may be facuing with generating ui and attaching the template for each option class.
There is an easier way to accomplish the same , You need to create a Master Ui Template and Attach the content templates you are using for the drop down in the Master template --> drop down ltemplate
kind ly use the user defined name or the new Master Ui generated and the drop down list too.
whenever u are generating a Model Ui use this Master Template and the properties included would affect as shown.
or if u want to use the same master template just modify the content template for drop down and refresh the Uis ... u can see the drop down template applied to alla the exiisting drop down templates.
hop e this helps u...
Regards,
kavitha
i m want to practice to implemtment oracle application.
pl s confirm me any dummy site to implemented full cycle.
We are calling oracle configurator from our ecommerce site. We are often getting internal server error while calling Configurator. Our DBA installed separate Apache for configurator calling from our ecommerce and we have main Apache for oracle forms. He installed both on the same server. He has 6 JVMs for main and 2 JVMs for custom configurator Apache. Apache used by Custom application has some files refernce to main apache.(Our DBA is saying they are global). Internal server error is coming randomly, it is not due to complexity of the model we are calling.Since it is happening for every model.We are using reverse proxy and ssl for calling oracle configurator. I appreciate if you can give me any suggestions. Please let me know if you need any information.
TH anks,
SHekar
Thansks again,
AC
In my case, when i am doing test model after generate logic is generated ,it is asking repeatedly for" Model has changed. Click Generate Logic to update Model logic". so, i am unable to do test model.
this model dont have any child models. I am facing this issue first time.
Any inputs will be appreciated.
Regards,
Swathi
Can any one tell me how we can launch oracle configurator using form personalization and how can we pass parmeters required to that configurator page.
We have requirement of add 5000 options in structure to show on UI page. and same options available in BOM structure. Can you please tell me any ways to add these options in configurator schema through back end. or any other ways to add directly in bulk instead of adding one by one in configurator structure.
Ple ase suggest any options.
Thank s,
Sachin
Just wanted to ask. Is this for a developer or functional consultant?
Th anks,
Allen
http://kaushalbhati-oracle-applications-erp.blogspot.com/
I have a question. Whenever I update a Model BOM with new nodes and refresh the model in OCD(oracle configurator developer) to get the new items into the structure.
I see them with "include in generated UI" checked as Yes.
if this is left then after refreshing UI my UI looks corrupted, so when I try to un check the option "include in generated UI" and try to refresh my UI I get the following message.
Error
Refresh of Single_GD01_UI failed:
ORA-06512: at "APPS.CZ_UIOA_P VT", line 16350 ORA-06512: at "APPS.CZ_UIOA_P VT", line 16369 ORA-06512: at "APPS.CZ_UIOA_P VT", line 16460 ORA-06512: at "APPS.CZ_UIOA_P VT", line 16624 in Package CZ_UIOA_PVT Procedure refresh_UI
Ca n you please advise me
Thanks for the excellent series.
I had a question about multi-lingual support.
How to populate cz_intl_texts table with multi language data?
Thanks,
PH.
Thanks for the article on Configurator module! I wanted to know if it is possible to use Catalog groups without the Inventory module in Oracle Fusion.
Regards,
Krishna Mohan
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