Results for “ak_foreign_key_columns”

AI-generated from documented ETRM metadata — verify critical details on the linked pages.

Overview

AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS is a metadata repository table owned by the AK (Common Modules-AK) schema in Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. Its documented purpose is to link an attribute to a foreign key. In practical terms, it stores the column-level definition of foreign key constraints registered within the Oracle Application Object Library's extensibility and relationship framework, mapping each foreign key to the specific attribute (column) that participates in the relationship.

Because the table stores descriptive metadata about relationships rather than transactional business data, its heuristic Data Vault classification is satellite-leaning. It is best modeled as a satellite attached to the parent foreign key entity, capturing the descriptive and audit attributes associated with each foreign key column definition.

Key Information Stored

The primary key AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS_PK is defined across FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, ATTRIBUTE_CODE, and ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID. The documented physical schema contains 26 columns, including a ZD_EDITION_NAME column that supports the multi-tenant editioning model used in EBS 12.2.2.

• FOREIGN_KEY_NAME — Identifies the parent foreign key; also the foreign key reference to AK_FOREIGN_KEYS.
• ATTRIBUTE_CODE — The attribute (column) participating in the foreign key relationship.
• ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID — The application owning the attribute, completing the composite key.
• FOREIGN_KEY_SEQUENCE — Ordinal position of the column within the foreign key; a business-key candidate via AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS_U2.
• ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY — Descriptive flexfield context for the attribute definition.
• ATTRIBUTE1 through ATTRIBUTE15 — The standard EBS descriptive flexfield segment columns.
• LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, CREATION_DATE, CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN — Standard EBS audit and who-columns.
• ZD_EDITION_NAME — Edition identifier supporting online patching in 12.2.2.

Two unique indexes serve as business-key candidates: AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS_U1 (FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, ATTRIBUTE_CODE, ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID, ZD_EDITION_NAME) and AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS_U2 (FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, FOREIGN_KEY_SEQUENCE, ZD_EDITION_NAME).

Common Use Cases and Queries

This table is queried primarily by developers, integrators, and technical analysts inspecting how foreign key relationships are registered in the AK metadata layer. Typical scenarios include tracing the column composition of a foreign key, mapping attributes to their owning applications, and validating relationship definitions before extending or customizing an object.

A representative query joining the column definitions to their parent foreign key is:

• SELECT c.FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, c.FOREIGN_KEY_SEQUENCE, c.ATTRIBUTE_CODE, c.ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID FROM AK.AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS c WHERE c.FOREIGN_KEY_NAME = :fk_name ORDER BY c.FOREIGN_KEY_SEQUENCE;

Reporting use cases include data lineage documentation, impact analysis for schema changes, and reconciliation of registered foreign keys against physical database constraints. When edition-enabled, queries should filter on ZD_EDITION_NAME to target the correct edition.

Related Objects

The most significant dependency is the parent table AK_FOREIGN_KEYS, joined on FK_FOREIGN_KEY_NAME = AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS.FOREIGN_KEY_NAME. The documented foreign key from AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS.FOREIGN_KEY_NAME to AK_FOREIGN_KEYS confirms this as the primary referential path. Related AK metadata objects that commonly participate in this framework include AK_ATTRIBUTES (definitions of the attributes referenced by ATTRIBUTE_CODE and ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID), AK_FOREIGN_KEYS (constraint-level definitions), and the AK entity relationship tables that drive the Applications Object Library. Application and object-ownership lookups against FND_APPLICATION bridge ATTRIBUTE_APPLICATION_ID to human-readable application names, and the standard FND who-columns resolve LAST_UPDATED_BY and CREATED_BY to FND_USER.

These relationships make AK_FOREIGN_KEY_COLUMNS a focal reference point for understanding how EBS persists and exposes foreign key metadata across the Common Modules-AK framework.