Search Results ben_elig_object




Overview
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Overview

APPS.BEN_ELIG_OBJECT is a caching routine within the Oracle E-Business Suite Advanced Benefits (OLTP) module. Its stated purpose, per the package header, is to return compensation object eligibility information — that is, to determine and surface which compensation objects (programs, plans, options, and related plan types) a given person or assignment is eligible for under a benefit program configuration. The package relies on a session-level PL/SQL collection cache rather than repeated queries against the eligibility base tables, which is significant because eligibility resolution in Oracle Advanced Benefits is one of the most intensively executed operations in the module, invoked repeatedly during enrollment validation, self-service flows, and batch eligibility processing.

The package is classified under ETRM as API classification OTHER, indicating it is an internal utility routine rather than a formally published, supported public API. It declares several package-level associative array types, including g_cache_elig_prte_rec_table, based on the rowtype of BEN_ELIG_TO_PRTE_RSN_F, and g_cache_elig_rec_table, based on the rowtype of BEN_PRTN_ELIG_F. A corresponding set of global cache variables — g_cache_pgm_rec, g_cache_pl_rec, g_cache_oipl_rec, g_cache_plip_rec, g_cache_ptip_rec, and their matching g_cache_*_elig_rec counterparts — hold cached rows for program, plan, option-in-plan, plan-in-program, and plan-type-in-program eligibility scopes respectively.

Key Procedures and Functions

  • SET_OBJECT — Populates the in-memory eligibility cache for the compensation object identified by the caller (the package header shows p_pgm_id as an input). Version history notes that set_object was modified in May 2000 ("Modified set_object to pass out record structure"), confirming that its role is to load and return a cached eligibility record rather than only seed the cache.
  • GET_OBJECT — Retrieves eligibility information previously placed in the cache by SET_OBJECT, allowing downstream code to satisfy eligibility lookups without additional SQL against the eligibility tables.
  • CLEAR_DOWN_CACHE — Resets or flushes the package-level cache collections, ensuring that stale eligibility data is not reused across logical operations or when the underlying configuration changes within a session.

The historical entries also record that all procedure calls were altered in version 115.9 to use NOCOPY for large objects, an optimization that avoids copying large PL/SQL records or collections by value on parameter passing. This is consistent with the cache-oriented design, where record structures are passed into and out of the routines frequently.

Tables Accessed

The package references the following tables through APPS synonyms:

  • BEN_ELIG_TO_PRTE_RSN_F — The eligibility-to-participant-reason fact table. Rows from this table populate the per-scope cache collections (program, plan, option-in-plan, plan-in-program, plan-type-in-program) that hold eligibility-to-participant-reason relationships.
  • BEN_PRTN_ELIG_F — The participant eligibility fact table. Cached rows of this table are used to resolve participant-level eligibility results for each compensation object scope.
  • PLITBLM — A general PL/SQL index-by table storage mechanism used by the caching infrastructure, not a business eligibility entity.

The dual caching strategy — one collection family for eligibility-to-participant-reason rows and another for participant eligibility rows — reflects the two-level nature of Advanced Benefits eligibility: first determining which participant-reason combinations attach to a compensation object, then determining whether a specific participant satisfies those conditions.

Usage Notes

BEN_ELIG_OBJECT is an internal caching utility. It is referenced by two other packages within the Advanced Benefits codebase, and is most likely invoked during eligibility determination routines where the same compensation object hierarchy is evaluated repeatedly — for example, while rendering enrollment opportunities in Oracle Self-Service Benefits or while validating an enrollment in the Benefits forms. Because the cache is package-level and therefore session-scoped, callers that reuse the package across logical transactions must invoke CLEAR_DOWN_CACHE when the underlying eligibility configuration or participant context changes. The package is not documented as a public API and carries no supported API designation, so custom code should not depend directly on its signatures; extension developers should instead use formally published Advanced Benefits APIs. The version history further shows backports to earlier releases, underscoring that the routine predates the current 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 line and has remained functionally stable since its creation in 1999.