Search Results ies_answers

Overview

The IES_ANSWERS table is a core configuration object within the IES Scripting product family (Intelligent Enterprise Scripting), owned by the IES schema in Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. Its documented purpose is to store lookup choices — the discrete, selectable answer options that drive scripted interactions, questionnaires, and guided decision flows presented to end users. Each row represents one valid answer that can be attached to a question defined elsewhere in the IES scripting framework.

Because the table records attributes of lookup-driven answer options and references parent lookup definitions, its heuristic Data Vault classification is satellite-leaning. This suggests a modeling interpretation in which IES_ANSWERS behaves as a descriptive satellite attached to the IES_LOOKUPS hub (via LOOKUP_ID), capturing the granular answer-level detail rather than defining independent business entities. Consumers of the table should treat it as reference and configuration data rather than transactional fact data.

The table exposes 31 documented columns and carries a primary key constraint, IES_ANSWERS_PK, enforced on the ANSWER_ID column.

Key Information Stored

The most significant columns captured in the documented physical schema are:

• ANSWER_ID — Surrogate primary key (IES_ANSWERS_PK). The technical identifier for each answer record and the target of foreign key references from downstream tables.
• LOOKUP_ID — Foreign key to IES_LOOKUPS. Ties the answer to its parent lookup definition or lookup type, establishing the grouping of answer choices.
• ANSWER_VALUE — The stored, machine-readable value of the answer option, typically the code passed to scripting logic.
• ANSWER_DISPLAY_VALUE — The user-facing label rendered in the scripting UI for the answer choice.
• ANSWER_ORDER — Controls the display sequence of answer options within a lookup group.
• ANSWER_ACTIVE — Flag indicating whether the answer is currently enabled for selection.
• DESTINATION — The routing or navigation target associated with selecting the answer, supporting branching within scripts.
• ACTIVE_STATUS — Status indicator governing the record's lifecycle state.
• SECURITY_GROUP_ID — Foreign key to FND_SECURITY_GROUPS, enforcing multi-tenant / operating-unit data isolation consistent with EBS security conventions.
• ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY and ATTRIBUTE1–ATTRIBUTE15 — The standard EBS descriptive flexfield (DFF) column set, available for customer-specific extensions.
• OBJECT_VERSION_NUMBER — Optimistic locking column used by the Oracle ADF/BC4J framework to detect concurrent updates.
• CREATED_BY, CREATION_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN — The standard EBS WHO columns providing audit lineage.

No additional unique business-key index is documented beyond the ANSWER_ID surrogate; business uniqueness of an answer is effectively scoped by its LOOKUP_ID parent combined with ANSWER_VALUE.

Common Use Cases and Queries

Typical use cases include auditing the answer options configured for a scripted interaction, reviewing which answers route to which destinations, validating that only active answers are presented to users, and reporting on answer-to-question mappings. A representative query retrieving active answers for a given lookup follows:

• SELECT a.answer_id, a.answer_value, a.answer_display_value, a.answer_order, a.destination FROM ies.ies_answers a WHERE a.lookup_id = :p_lookup_id AND a.answer_active = 'Y' ORDER BY a.answer_order;
• Join to IES_LOOKUPS to resolve the lookup context: SELECT a.answer_value, l.lookup_code FROM ies.ies_answers a, ies.ies_lookups l WHERE a.lookup_id = l.lookup_id;
• Find questions consuming a given answer via IES_QUESTION_DATA: SELECT q.* FROM ies.ies_question_data q WHERE q.answer_id = :p_answer_id;
• Security-scoped reporting: filter on security_group_id to restrict output to the appropriate operating unit or security group.

Because flexfield columns exist, reporting can also surface customer-defined attributes stored in ATTRIBUTE1–ATTRIBUTE15 when a DFF context has been configured.

Related Objects

IES_ANSWERS participates in a small but tightly coupled relationship set:

• IES_LOOKUPS — Parent lookup definition table. Joined via IES_ANSWERS.LOOKUP_ID = IES_LOOKUPS.LOOKUP_ID.
• IES_QUESTION_DATA — References IES_ANSWERS through IES_QUESTION_DATA.ANSWER_ID = IES_ANSWERS.ANSWER_ID, linking configured answers to the questions that offer them.
• FND_SECURITY_GROUPS — Standard EBS security group table, joined via IES_ANSWERS.SECURITY_GROUP_ID = FND_SECURITY_GROUPS.SECURITY_GROUP_ID.
• IES_ANSWERS_PK — The primary key constraint on ANSWER_ID that downstream foreign keys depend upon.
• Standard EBS WHO and DFF infrastructure columns (CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATED_BY, ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY, ATTRIBUTE1–15) interact with FND audit and flexfield metadata registrations.

Administrators and developers modifying scripting behavior should treat IES_ANSWERS as the authoritative source of answer-level configuration and verify downstream dependencies in IES_QUESTION_DATA before deactivating or deleting any answer record.