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Overview

QA_CHARS is the master definition table for collection elements (characteristics) within the Oracle Quality (QA) module of Oracle E-Business Suite. Each row defines a single characteristic that can be captured on a quality collection plan, specification, or transaction. Characteristics represent the individual data points — inspection results, measured values, operator observations, or reference lookups — that Quality collects during inspection, testing, and data gathering activities. Because every downstream activity in Quality (specifications, plan elements, criteria, action triggers, and value lookups) references a characteristic by its identifier, QA_CHARS functions as the semantic dictionary for the Quality module.

The table resides in the QA schema and is marked VALID in both Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. In the 12.2.2 documented physical schema it contains 70 columns. Its Data Vault classification, derived heuristically from the foreign-key topology, is a hub: the table is referenced by a large fan-out of dependent tables but does not itself carry a foreign key to another entity, which is the characteristic profile of a hub entity anchored on a stable business key.

Key Information Stored

The surrogate primary key is CHAR_ID, enforced by QA_CHARS_PK. Two unique indexes act as business-key candidates: QA_CHARS_U1 (CHAR_ID, ZD_EDITION_NAME) and QA_CHARS_U2 (NAME, ZD_EDITION_NAME), confirming that the characteristic NAME is unique within an edition context in the 12.2.2 data model.

CHAR_ID — surrogate identifier; the join key used by virtually every dependent table.
NAME — user-defined characteristic name; the business key.
CHAR_TYPE_CODE — classification of the characteristic type.
DATATYPE, DISPLAY_LENGTH, DECIMAL_PRECISION — value type and presentation attributes.
PROMPT, DATA_ENTRY_HINT — UI labels and entry guidance.
DEFAULT_VALUE, DEFAULT_VALUE_ID — default value supplied at collection time.
MANDATORY_FLAG, ENABLED_FLAG, VALUES_EXIST_FLAG — control flags governing entry and value lists.
UOM_CODE — unit of measure for numeric characteristics.
TARGET_VALUE and the specification limit columns (UPPER_SPEC_LIMIT, LOWER_SPEC_LIMIT, UPPER_REASONABLE_LIMIT, LOWER_REASONABLE_LIMIT, UPPER_USER_DEFINED_LIMIT, LOWER_USER_DEFINED_LIMIT) — quality targets and tolerance bands.
SQL_VALIDATION_STRING — validation logic applied to entered values.
DEPENDENT_CHAR_ID, DEPENDENT_ELEMENT — self-referencing dependency between characteristics.
FK_LOOKUP_TYPE, FK_TABLE_NAME, FK_MEANING — configuration for foreign-key (list of values) characteristics.
SEQUENCE_NUMBER, SEQUENCE_PREFIX, SEQUENCE_SUFFIX, SEQUENCE_START, SEQUENCE_LENGTH, SEQUENCE_INCREMENT, SEQUENCE_NEXTVAL — automatic numbering configuration for sequence-type characteristics.
ZD_EDITION_NAME — editioning column supporting the 12.2 online patching (edition-based redefinition) model.

The 15 ATTRIBUTE flex columns, together with ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY, provide the standard EBS descriptive flexfield extension surface.

Common Use Cases and Queries

Typical reporting and diagnostic scenarios include listing active characteristics defined for a plan, auditing mandatory elements, and reconciling specification limits.

Enumerate enabled characteristics:

SELECT char_id, name, datatype, uom_code, mandatory_flag
FROM   qa_chars
WHERE  enabled_flag = 'Y'
ORDER  BY name;

Locate numeric characteristics carrying specification limits:

SELECT c.name, c.upper_spec_limit, c.lower_spec_limit, c.target_value
FROM   qa_chars c
WHERE  c.datatype = 'NUMBER'
AND   (c.upper_spec_limit IS NOT NULL OR c.lower_spec_limit IS NOT NULL);

Find characteristics attached to a specific collection plan via QA_PLAN_CHARS:

SELECT pc.plan_id, c.char_id, c.name
FROM   qa_plan_chars pc, qa_chars c
WHERE  pc.char_id = c.char_id
AND    pc.plan_id = :plan_id;

Identify characteristics that depend on another element (self-join on DEPENDENT_CHAR_ID):

SELECT child.name dependent, parent.name parent_char
FROM   qa_chars child, qa_chars parent
WHERE  child.dependent_char_id = parent.char_id;

Because CHAR_ID is an FK target in sixteen documented relationships, any query joining collection results back to plan definitions ultimately traverses QA_CHARS. Performance attention should be paid to the NAME index when resolving user-entered characteristic names to CHAR_ID.

Related Objects

The following objects depend on QA_CHARS through documented foreign keys on CHAR_ID (or COLLECTION_TRIGGER_ID):

QA_PLAN_CHARS — assigns characteristics to collection plans (CHAR_ID join).
QA_SPEC_CHARS — binds characteristics to specifications (CHAR_ID join).
QA_CRITERIA and QA_PC_CRITERIA — criteria definitions referencing characteristic values.
QA_CHAR_VALUE_LOOKUPS and QA_PLAN_CHAR_VALUE_LOOKUPS — permitted value lists for lookup-type characteristics.
QA_CHAR_INDEXES — indexing configuration for characteristic columns.
QA_ACTION_LOG, QA_CHAR_ACTION_OUTPUTS, QA_CHAR_ACTION_TRIGGERS, QA_PLAN_CHAR_ACTION_OUTPUTS, and QA_PLAN_CHAR_ACTION_TRIGGERS — action and trigger infrastructure keyed by characteristic.
QA_PC_ELEMENT_RELATIONSHIP — models parent/child element hierarchies through PARENT_CHAR_ID and CHILD_CHAR_ID.
QA_PLAN_COLLECTION_TRIGGERS and QA_TXN_COLLECTION_TRIGGERS — trigger definitions referencing the characteristic as COLLECTION_TRIGGER_ID.

No database API package is documented in the supplied metadata; characteristic creation and maintenance are normally performed through the Quality application user interface, which writes directly to this table and its dependent structures.

Table: QA_CHARS 12.1.1
owner:QA, object_type:TABLE, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_CHARS, object_name:QA_CHARS, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: Collection elements definitions , implementation_dba_data: QA.QA_CHARS ,
Table: QA_CHARS 12.2.2
owner:QA, object_type:TABLE, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_CHARS, object_name:QA_CHARS, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: Collection elements definitions , implementation_dba_data: QA.QA_CHARS ,
View: QA_CHARS_V 12.2.2
owner:APPS, object_type:VIEW, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_CHARS_V, object_name:QA_CHARS_V, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: This view shows the Collection elements information. , implementation_dba_data: APPS.QA_CHARS_V ,
View: QA_CHARS_V 12.1.1
owner:APPS, object_type:VIEW, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_CHARS_V, object_name:QA_CHARS_V, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: This view shows the Collection elements information. , implementation_dba_data: APPS.QA_CHARS_V ,
View: QA_PLAN_CHARS_V 12.1.1
owner:APPS, object_type:VIEW, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_PLAN_CHARS_V, object_name:QA_PLAN_CHARS_V, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: Shows collection plan and collection elements , implementation_dba_data: APPS.QA_PLAN_CHARS_V ,
View: QA_PLAN_CHARS_V 12.2.2
owner:APPS, object_type:VIEW, fnd_design_data:QA.QA_PLAN_CHARS_V, object_name:QA_PLAN_CHARS_V, status:VALID, product: QA - Quality , description: Shows collection plan and collection elements , implementation_dba_data: APPS.QA_PLAN_CHARS_V ,