Introduction

Over time, the chart of accounts (COA) will evolve as you add new segment values and modify or disable others. The Inherit Segment Value Attributes process automatically replicates segment value changes to its corresponding account combinations to ensure consistency between them. In this post, we explain how the process identifies account combinations to update and suggest ways to control unexpected changes.

What Inherit Segment Value Attributes Does

Cloud GL stores the following attributes on both segment values and account combinations. 

  • Enabled checkbox
  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Allow Posting 
  • Allow Budgeting
  • Third Party Control Account
  • Reconcile 
  • Financial Category

The Inherit Segment Value Attributes process propagates these attributes from a segment value to all account combinations that contain it. It is important to understand the following features:

  • If you change a segment value’s attribute, it will not take effect on existing account combinations until you run the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process.
  • The process uses the segment values’ Last Update Date to identify values that have changed since the last time it was run. The Last Update Date reflects any change to a segment value’s fields including its Description or descriptive flexfields.

Example

Consider the following example:

  • On July 1st, a user runs the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process. It synchronizes all account combinations with their corresponding segment values.
  • On July 5th, a user disables natural account “10000” on the Manage Chart of Accounts Value Sets page. Until the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process runs, all account combinations that contain it remain enabled.
  • On July 10th, a user disables account combination “01-000-1726-20000” on the Manage Account Combinations page. The individual segment values remain enabled.
  • On July 15th, a user runs the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process. It disables all account combinations that contain natural account “10000”. It updates no other account combinations.
  • On July 20th, a user updates the Description of natural account segment value “20000”. Its Last Update Date becomes July 20th. 
  • On July 25th, a user runs the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process again. It selects segment value “20000” and propagates its attributes to the corresponding account combinations. Hence, it re-enables account combination “01-000-1726-20000” disabled on July 10th. 

Hints and Tips

The First Time 

The first time that the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process runs, it compares all segment values and account combinations. Be prepared for it to take longer than expected. It will update all account combinations whose attributes differ from those of their segment values.

Subsequent runs use the last time the process ran hence, compare fewer segment values and account combinations. 

Preserve Attributes

You can prevent segment value changes from overriding account combination attributes by using the Preserve Attributes option on the Manage Account Combinations page. It protects account combinations from all segment value changes including unchecking the Enable checkbox.

Inherit Segment Value Attributes Report

The Inherit Segment Value Attributes process report displays account combinations whose segment values have changed since it was last run. It uses the segment value’s Last Update Date to identify them hence, displays account combinations whose Description differs or whose attributes have been changed back to their original values. The report does not display combinations with Preserve Attributes set.

Dynamic Insertion

Dynamic insertion creates account combinations with a blank Start Date and End Date. This includes combinations created by the Import Account Combinations FBDI.

Conflicts Bewteen Settings

The Inherit Segment Value Attributes process resolves conflicts between settings for the Enabled, Allow Posting, Allow Budgeting, Start Date, or End Date attributes by applying the most restrictive setting. For example, if an account combination contains a segment value whose End Date is July 30th and another segment whose End Date is September 25th, the process will set the account combination’s End Date to July 30th.

Update Account Combinations in Bulk

You can use the Import Account Combinations FBDI to bulk update account combinations. For example, you could use it to set the Preserve Attributes option on many account combinations. For full details of how it works, see How Account Combination Import Data Is Processed. You can leverage a SOAP webservice to orchestrate FBDI processing.

Other Processes That Disable Account Combinations

Other programs can disable account combinations. The DISABLED_BY_FEATURE_CODE column indicates which process has disabled the combination. Valid values are CVC for cross-validation combination, CVR for cross-validation rule, and SVI for the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process.

The Manage Cross-Validation Rule Violations program optionally disables account combinations that violate cross validation rules. If you set its Disabled Accounts parameter to “Yes and Preserve Change”, it also sets the Preserve Attributes option. Subsequent runs of the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process will not re-enable the account combination.

For Your Technical Staff

The following SQL query shows when segment values were changed for a particular combination:

SELECT
B.value,
b.last_update_date,
B.enabled_flag,
B.start_date_active,
B.end_date_active,
B.summary_flag, 
B.flex_value_attribute1 AS POSTING_ALLOWED,
B.flex_value_attribute2 AS BUDGETING_ALLOWED,
B.flex_value_attribute3 AS ACCOUNT_TYPE,
B.flex_value_attribute4 AS CONTROL_ACCOUNT,
B.flex_value_attribute5 AS RECONCILIATION_FLAG,
B.flex_value_attribute6 AS FINANCIAL_CATEGORY
FROM fusion.FND_VS_VALUES_B B
WHERE ((B.value_set_id = [first segment’s value set id] and B.value = '[first segment value]') or
(B.value_set_id = [second segment’s value set id] and B.value = '[second segment value]') or
(B.value_set_id = [third segment’s value set id] and B.value = '[third segment value]') or
(B.value_set_id = [and so forth] and B.value = '[and so forth]'))

This query shows segment values updated since the last run of the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process:

SELECT
b.value_set_id,
B.value, b.last_update_date,
B.enabled_flag,
B.start_date_active,
B.end_date_active,
B.summary_flag,
B.flex_value_attribute1 AS POSTING_ALLOWED,
B.flex_value_attribute2 AS BUDGETING_ALLOWED,
B.flex_value_attribute3 AS ACCOUNT_TYPE,
B.flex_value_attribute4 AS CONTROL_ACCOUNT,
B.flex_value_attribute5 AS RECONCILIATION_FLAG,
B.flex_value_attribute6 AS FINANCIAL_CATEGORY
FROM fusion.FND_VS_VALUES_B B
WHERE B.VALUE_SET_ID in ( [first segment’s value set id] ,
                         [second segment’s value set id] ,
                         [third segment’s value set id] ,
                         [and so forth])
AND B.LAST_UPDATE_DATE > to_date('[last process run date and time]', 'dd-mm-yyyy HH24:MI:SS')
ORDER BY
B.VALUE_SET_ID,
B.VALUE

Conclusion

Carefully plan your use of the Inherit Segment Value Attributes process to ensure consistency and prevent unexpected changes to account combinations.