Cancellations in Order Management

An Oracle White Paper May, 2001

Cancellations in Order Management

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Canceling is the process of voiding an order or line. There are points in an order process where it is not possible or logical to cancel. For instance, you should not be able to cancel an order or line that has invoiced. Individual companies differ regarding when it is acceptable to cancel an order or line. Release 11 provided a fixed point after which standard items could not cancel. The new functionality of Order Management cancellation merges with Processing Constraints to provide users with significantly more flexibility. This paper outlines differences affecting cancellation between Order Entry and Order Management.
INTRODUCTION

At first glance, one of the most obvious differences with Order Management is that there is no Cancel form on the Navigator. Its no longer necessary to go to a separate form to cancel an order or line. Cancellations can now be made within the Sales Order Form. But there are other differences that are not so obvious. You can define your own cancellation point using Processing Constraints. Once the line reaches the defined cancellation point in the flow, a reason is required for the cancellation. The Processing Constraints form also allows you to define the point from which cancellations are not allowed. There are two ways to cancel. One way is to press the Actions button and select Cancel. This can be done at either the order or line level. Select Actions from the Order tab for a header level cancellation, or Actions from the Lines tab to cancel at the line level. Another way to cancel is to reduce the quantity ordered on the order line. If you reduce the quantity ordered at or after the cancellation point, it is a cancellation and a reason must be provided. If you reduce ordered quantity before the line reaches its cancellation point, it is merely a decrease in quantity, not a cancellation.

This paper discusses the new concepts of cancellation used by Order Management.
BACKGROUND

Oracle Order Entry 11.0.3 and before (OE) included canceling functionality. However, the way that cancellations are implemented is quite different in Order Management R11i.

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Functional Differences

OE provided fixed a fixed point of cancellation; it was not possible to cancel after Pick Release. Reasons were required for all cancellations, and they were stored in the SO_ORDER_CANCELLATIONS table. In OM, the SO_ORDER_CANCELLATIONS table no longer exists. It has been replaced by the OE_ORDER_LINES_HISTORY table, which stores details such as line records with reasons, comments, and last cancelled quantity. With OE, a decrement was simply a decrease in the ordered quantity. With Order Management, a decrement in quantity can be a cancellation if it is after the cancellation point in the order flow. Processing Constraints replace the Security Rules that were used in OE. With OM, the Processing Constraints form (Setup / Rules / Security / Processing Constraints) can be used (1) to define the cancellation point in the order cycle and (2) the point at which cancellations are not allowed. Two types of actions are associated with the Cancel operation: Give Reason. This defines the cancellation point. At whatever time a reason is required to decrement quantity, the decrease in quantity is regarded as a cancellation. Validation Templates are seeded for conditions such as Booking, Pick Release, and Ship Confirm. Implementers can select the one that meets their business requirements. Not Allowed. Choosing this action will prevent cancellations from occurring at or after the point defined using the Validation Template.

If both Give Reason and Not Allowed are assigned to the same point, i.e. Pick Released, the Not Allowed action will override the Give Reasons action. In other words, there will be no opportunity to provide a reason for the cancellation at that point because cancellation is not allowed. If you cancel a model, the ordered quantity of 0 will cascade to classes, options, and included items. If you partially cancel a model, i.e. decrease ordered quantity, the value of the reduced quantity will also cascade. For this to occur, the line must have reached its cancellation point, i.e. where a reason is required to cancel.
Key Enhancements

OM has many excellent enhancements for cancellations: There is more flexibility. You can define a point in the flow where cancellations are not allowed, rather than using pick release as the fixed point preventing cancellation. Using Processing Constraints, you can define the point when reasons are required for cancellation. This determines your cancellation point, because

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cancellations always require a reason. At this point the system will regard a decrement in quantity as a cancellation. There is more flexibility for partial cancellations. Users do not have to leave the Sales Order Pad to cancel. Canceling the ordered quantity of a model causes the cancellation to cascade to classes, options, and included items of the model. You can cancel in batch mode using Order Import or EDI. Mass change functionality can be used to cancel. Internal sales orders are treated as any other order, and can be canceled accordingly. (This functionality is under review but at the time of this writing. If changed, it will force the cancellation to come from the Purchasing where the requisition was created.) A Cancel Remaining feature now supports canceling all eligible lines in an order from the header level. As an example, constraints are set up to allow canceling up until the point of ship confirmation, and there is an order with five lines. Two lines are shipped and three lines are awaiting shipment. You can cancel the three eligible lines from the header level.

Terminology

Cancellation has always meant voiding an order or line. This concept of cancellation has been extended so that decrements to ordered quantities, once the line or order reaches the defined cancellation point, are also cancellations. A partial cancellation at the line level means reducing the ordered quantity to be less than initially ordered. A partial cancellation at the header level means that some lines have shipped but the remaining lines are canceled. Processing constraints provide implementers with a way to allow or prevent changes to the sales order. One of the Constraints operations is Cancel. When used with Give Reason, the Processing Constraints define the cancellation point. When used with Not Allowed, Constraints prevent canceling at a user-specified point.
Conditions

Implementers are able to define the point in the order flow when a cancellation occurs. To do so, define a point such as Booking or Picking when a cancellation requires a reason. Once defined, it will always be necessary to give a reason for the cancellation. Order Management actually seeds the following user-defined constraint but it is not flagged as seeded because it is user-defined in the sense that it can be changed. It requires providing a reason for canceling once the order is booked. From booking

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onward in the flow, a reduction in quantity will require a reason. Canceling from the Actions menu always requires a reason.

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The Processing Constraints form can be found at Setup / Rules / Security / Processing Constraints. In the example below, the Require Reason action is associated with the Cancel operation. Operation Cancel Attribute User Action Requires a Reason System Changes User Changes

The condition tab on the same form sets Booked as the condition. Group 100 Scope Any Validation Entry Order Line Record Set Line Validation Template Booked

Because this user-defined constraint is not flagged as seeded, it can be modified or deleted at any time. If you want picking (instead of booking) to be the condition that defines the cancellation point, use Pick Released as the Validation Template. Both Booked and Pick Released are seeded validation templates. Other Validation Templates are also available.
FLEXIBILITY

Previously the cancellation point was fixed, preventing cancellation after pick release. Now seeded constraints are moved farther down in the order processing flow. Shippable lines can be canceled up until ship confirm. Non-shippable lines can be canceled until invoicing. For returns, seeded constraints allow canceling until an RMA has been received. These seeded constraints cannot be changed, but you can define cancellations to occur up until these points. You can cancel in one of two ways, both without ever having to leave the Sales Order Pad. One option is to use the Cancellations window on the Actions menu, available on both the Order and Lines tab. Alternatively, you can decrement the quantity ordered directly on the Lines tab. If this is done at or after the defined cancellation point, the system regards the change in quantity as a cancellation, and will require a reason.
PARTIAL CANCELLATION

You can cancel part but not all of a line. To partially cancel a line, reduce ordered quantity on the Lines tab. If this is done at the point in the flow where a reason is required to cancel, the decrement is actually a cancellation. Its also possible to partially cancel an order. For example, suppose that two of five lines on the order have invoiced and are no longer eligible for canceling. From the Order tab, select Actions / Cancel and set the flag to cancel remaining lines. This

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will cancel all remaining lines and partially cancel the order. Alternatively, you can highlight the remaining lines on the Lines tab, and then select Actions / Cancel. Canceling from either tab, Order or Lines, will require a reason.

MODELS AND KITS

If you change the ordered quantity of a model or kit to 0 and the line flow has reached its cancellation point, the quantity of 0 will cascade to the option classes, options, and included items. The reason for the cancellation, provided for the model or kit, will also cascade to the option classes, options, and included items. (This is not working right now. Bug 1774292.) If you change the ordered quantity to 0 before the line reaches its cancellation point, the model classes, options, and included items are deleted.
DEFINING AND REVIEWING REASONS

You can define reasons for canceling that make sense for your business needs. This is done using the Order Management Lookups (Setup / QuickCodes / Order Manaagement). Use Cancel_Code to define and to enable your reasons. You can view the reasons used for cancellations from the Sales Order Pad. To see the reason history, go to the Actions menu and select Additional Line Information. Then select the Quantity History tab. This can be done on either the Order or Lines tab. The following shows Quantity History access from the Lines tab:

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The Reason field on the Sales Pad indicates that a reason is stored. Its purpose is to accept input but it does not display the reasons.
BATCH CANCEL USING ORDER IMPORT OR EDI

It is possible to batch cancel those orders imported through Order Import. Two types of operations are possible: You can cancel the complete order. To do so, send only the header information. The operation is Update. Set the Cancelled_Flag column to Yes (Y). For the Change Reason Code, use an existing, valid Lookup code. You can cancel individual lines. To do so, send the header information and also the line information. The operation is Update, the Quantity is 0, and you must supply a valid Change Reason Code. When canceling individual lines, do not set the Cancelled_Flag at the header level column to Yes.

MASS CHANGE WITH CANCELLATION

You can use the Mass Change feature to cancel either at the order or line level. The Mass Change feature is on the Tools menu, available from the Lines Tab or from the Order Organizer. If you want to mass change at the header level, use the Order Organizer to query a group of orders. Highlight those you want to change using the control or shift key with the mouse selection. Then select Tools / Mass Change for the lines, or Actions / Cancel for the order level mass change.

WATCH OUT FOR

Here are some exceptions you will need to understand. There is a difference in behavior between canceling using the Actions menu and canceling by reducing ordered quantity. The difference is that Canceling using the Actions / Cancel form will always require a reason, even if the order or line has not reached its cancellation point. However, the system will not ask you to provide a reason for reducing ordered quantity until the line has reached its cancellation point. The Actions menu cancellation behavior is not consistent with the processing constraints setup, but its behavior is intentional. The system assumes that if a user consciously goes to the Cancel action, the intent is to cancel, not just reduce quantity or fix a keying error. A cancellation using the Actions menu will require a reason without checking where the cancellation point is set up in

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Processing Constraints. It does honor the point at which cancellations are not allowed, however. All provided reasons are saved, but they are not displayed in the Reasons field. This is because it is possible to have many reasons for incremental cancellations. To view reason history from the Sales Order Pad, go to Actions / Additional Line (or Order) Information / Quantity History. Once the line reaches its cancellation point, a decrement in quantity is regarded as a cancellation. Scroll over on the Main tab to the Reason Code field, and provide a reason. On the reason window, there is the option of entering comments. Once Audit Trail functionality is released, the scrolling will be replaced with a popup window asking for the reason and comments. Examine your business processes carefully when deciding where to set your cancellation point. Changes you make to the sales orders affect Shipping Execution. If you sometimes physically ship goods before ship confirming on the system, you will want to set your cancellation point earlier in the flow than ship confirm. Instead you could set the cancellation point to be pick confirmed or staged. If your cancellation point is ship confirm, your business practice should be to soft close the delivery. This allows you ship confirm without interfacing to Order Management. To do this, uncheck Set Delivery in Transit on the Shipping Transaction form. While the delivery is in the status of soft close, lines can be cancelled. When the delivery is picked up by the carrier, close the stop to initiate the OM and Inventory interfaces. Once that is done, it is not possible to cancel lines. If you partially cancel an order, the status of the order will not change to Canceled. For example, in an order of five lines, you might have two lines that are closed. But you can cancel the remaining lines using the Actions button on the Order Information tab. The status of the canceled lines will change to Canceled, but the status of a partially canceled order cannot cancel because some lines have already closed. If some lines are open and have progressed at least until booking, and some are Canceled, the Order status will be Booked. If you cancel all lines on an order, the order is eligible to be fully canceled but it will not happen automatically. You will have to cancel it from the Order Information tab. This is because in some cases users may want to add more lines to an open order consisting of canceled lines.

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The Canceled Quantity field can exceed the initial value of the Quantity field. In the following example, ten items were ordered, the current ordered quantity is two, and the canceled quantity is 11. Note that the value of Canceled Quantity increases with each cancellation.

Quantity Ordered 10

Quantity Changed To 5 8 6 5 2

Canceled Quantity 5 5 7 8 11

Partial cancellations after a partial pick release are handled differently than after a partial ship confirm. This is because the system splits the line after a partial ship confirm. The line that shipped cannot be canceled. The line that has not shipped can be either canceled in full or partially canceled. However, a partial pick release will not split the line. If you want to cancel what you did not pick, you will need to manually cancel the remaining quantity on the Sales Pad line. You will need to do this by changing the quantity ordered field. For example, if you picked only 8 of 10 and want to cancel the remaining quantity, change the quantity ordered from 10 to 8. The result of changing the quantity of a model to 0 is different, depending on the point in the line flow. If the line has reached its cancellation point, the 0 quantity will cascade to the children. If the line is not yet at its cancellation point, the option classes, options, and included items will be deleted. If a constraint is not performing as expected, evaluate all your constraints to get a clear picture of the system setups. You may have one constraint that defines pick release as the cancellation point, and yet be required to give a reason when you reduce the quantity of a booked order. This will happen if you have a second constraint that defines the cancellation point earlier in the flow. All constraints not flagged as seeded can be modified and deleted. Seeded constraints should not and cannot be changed. They are required for system integrity, i.e. you cannot cancel an invoiced line. If you want to restrict canceling after Pick Release, which was standard functionality in Release 11, you will need to change the Processing Constraint that is provided (no canceling after invoicing) to one that does not allow cancellations after Pick Release.

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EXAMPLES

Example 1
The following constraint is provided out of the box. It is seeded in the sense that the product ships with this constraint. But it is not flagged as seeded because it is a user-defined constraint, meaning that it can be changed. Unless another constraint has been set up defining the cancellation point earlier in the flow, this constraint makes it unnecessary to give a reason for reducing quantity on the Sales Pad when the order status is Entered, but it will be required if the order is Booked. However, remember that you will have to give a reason if you cancel an Entered order from the Actions menu.

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Example 2
In this example, the business requires a reason if any lines are canceled from the time of pick release. To do this, set up Pick Release as the cancellation point using Processing Constraints, using Require Reason as the Action and Pick Released as the Condition. Remember that you will not have to give a reason when reducing quantity on the lines until pick released. If there is a problem, evaluate all other constraints to identify what needs to be changed. Also remember that you will always be asked to provide a reason when canceling using the Actions menu.

The Requires Reason action implements Cancellation.

Pick Released is the point where a reason is required.

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Example 3
In this example, the business requirements are to prevent cancellation once the product is pick released. Notice that the highlighted action for Cancel is Not Allowed. This example sets the point where canceling is not allowed to the same point it was in previous OE releases, Pick Released. However, you always have the option to disallow canceling at a point later in the flow, if you wish.

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Example 4
You can use Mass Change functionality to cancel multiple lines from the Sales Pad. Highlight the lines before invoking Mass Change from the Tools menu. Then change the quantity to 0 and give a reason. This example has highlighted only two lines. However, you can select as many lines on an order as you want, provide a reason, and set the ordered quantity to 0. All selected lines will cancel, assuming the line flow has reached its cancellation point.

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Example 5
You can cancel at either the header or lines level using Mass Change functionality from the Order Organizer. The following example shows canceling at the order header level. You must highlight the orders before going to the Actions menu to cancel. After selecting Cancel, supply a reason. That reason will be stored for all highlighted orders.

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Example 6 This last example shows the cancel pop-up window, which appears on the Order Organizer, the Order Header, or the Order Lines. The Reason is required. Comments are optional.

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CONCLUSION

OM provides great flexibility in cancellation functionality. To use this feature successfully, you need to understand processing constraints and also the exceptions outlined in this paper. With correct setups and understanding, you have greater flexibility than ever before to make this feature suit your business processes. OM cancellations are also easier to use because it is no longer required to leave the sales order form to cancel.

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Cancellations in Order Management July 2001 Author: Linda Henry Contributing Authors: Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Fax: +1.650.506.7200 Web: www.oracle.com This document is provided for informational purposes only and the information herein is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors herein to Oracle Corporation. Oracle Corporation does not provide any warranties covering and specifically disclaims any liability in connection with this document. Oracle is a registered trademark, and Oracle Order Management is a registered trademark(s) of Oracle corporation. All other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright Oracle Corporation 2001 All Rights Reserved