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Overview

DBMS_OFFLINE_SNAPSHOT is an Oracle-supplied PL/SQL package owned by the SYS schema and shipped as part of the core RDBMS distribution rather than as an E-Business Suite product-specific API. Within the Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 environments, this package provides the server-side infrastructure used to instantiate and populate materialized views (historically termed snapshots) through an offline, bulk-copy mechanism. Its role is to allow a snapshot site to be initialized from a staged export of the master table data instead of pulling every row across a database link in a single online refresh, thereby reducing network load and elapsed time for large replicated objects.

The ETRM 12.2.2 metadata classifies the package with an API classification of OTHER, indicating that it is not an EBS business API but a database utility referenced by EBS schemas and by other SYS-owned packages. The object status is recorded as VALID, and the package body is present, confirming that the implementation is compiled and available in the database.

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented interface exposes two procedures, which together bracket the offline snapshot creation process:

• BEGIN_LOAD — Marks the commencement of an offline snapshot load. It establishes the snapshot being initialized and prepares the target site so that rows can subsequently be inserted from the offline data set. In practice it supports the controlled setup of the snapshot definition prior to bulk data insertion.
• END_LOAD — Completes the offline load operation. It finalizes the snapshot after the data has been transferred, reconciling the newly created snapshot with its master and leaving it in a consistent state for subsequent refreshes.

No parameter lists are documented in the ETRM extract, and none are reproduced here. The documented dependency list shows the package relies on the SQL STANDARD package and that DBMS_OFFLINE_SNAPSHOT_INTERNAL exists as a dependent SYS package, indicating that the public procedures delegate to internal helpers. The package is additionally referenced by the PUBLIC synonym DBMS_OFFLINE_SNAPSHOT, which is how EBS sessions normally resolve the name.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM metadata records no tables referenced through APPS synonyms for this package. This is consistent with its nature as a replication utility: it operates primarily against the RDBMS data dictionary and the snapshot base tables identified at runtime, rather than against fixed EBS application tables. Any table interaction is driven by the snapshot and master objects named in the load operation, not by a static catalogue of EBS entities.

Usage Notes

DBMS_OFFLINE_SNAPSHOT is not invoked from EBS forms or standard concurrent programs. It is normally called from custom PL/SQL or from DBA scripts during the setup of snapshot replication topologies, most commonly when a new snapshot must be seeded from an exported data set rather than from a live master. The sequence places BEGIN_LOAD before the bulk insert of offloaded rows and END_LOAD after the insert to finalize the snapshot.

Because SYS owns the package and it is granted through a PUBLIC synonym, it can be referenced without schema qualification by privileged EBS sessions. It should be used only by administrators with an explicit replication requirement, and its behaviour is governed by the database version rather than by the EBS application release; the same documented interface applies to both 12.1.1 and 12.2.2.