Search Results ben_process_user_utility

Overview

The APPS.BEN_PROCESS_USER_UTILITY package is a PL/SQL specification that belongs to the Oracle Advanced Benefits (BEN) module and serves as an interface layer between Oracle E-Business Suite user provisioning processes and the underlying Oracle Applications security model. Its principal business function is to support the creation and maintenance of application user accounts within the FND security framework, allowing Benefits-related processing to establish sign-on credentials, assign responsibilities and security groups, and associate users with responsibility-level security profile definitions.

The package is declared AUTHID CURRENT_USER, meaning that its executable statements run with the privileges of the invoking schema rather than the defining schema. This is a deliberate design choice that allows the package to operate within the caller's security context while interacting with the FND and PER tables it references. As noted in the header commentary, the specification was authored to consist purely of public global variables, one of which is the package identifier g_package varchar2(33) := 'ben_process_user_utility.'. The declared intent is that user hooks invoke this utility so that output information — such as a newly generated user name, password string, or diagnostic status — can be communicated back to the calling API.

Key Procedures and Functions

The ETRM metadata for this object records zero documented procedures or functions. The package specification explicitly states: "This package specification contains global variables only. It does not have any functions or procedures." Consequently, there is no callable subprogram surface to enumerate. The package's behaviour is expressed entirely through the global variables that the calling context reads after invoking the underlying provisioning logic, rather than through direct procedural calls into this specification.

This design pattern is common in Oracle EBS extension hooks, where the package acts as a shared state container. The caller (typically a Benefits user-creation API or a user hook registered against that API) performs validation, then populates or reads the global variables to pass values such as user name, password, effective dates, and e-mail address between the hook and the main processing routine.

Tables Accessed

The documented tables referenced through APPS synonyms are FND_USER, FND_RESPONSIBILITY, FND_SECURITY_GROUPS, and PER_SEC_PROFILE_ASSIGNMENTS.

• FND_USER — the core Oracle Applications sign-on repository. The usage notes describe the fields that must be created or validated: user_name (required, maximum 100 characters), password (optional, subject to SIGNON_PASSWORD_LENGTH, otherwise an 8-byte alphanumeric string is generated), start_date, end_date, last_logon_date, password_date, password_accesses_left, password_lifespan_accesses, password_lifespan_days, email_address, fax, and description.
• FND_RESPONSIBILITY — holds responsibility definitions that may be assigned to the newly created user.
• FND_SECURITY_GROUPS — defines the security groups under which responsibilities and users operate.
• PER_SEC_PROFILE_ASSIGNMENTS — the assignment table linking security profiles to users or responsibilities; this is directly relevant to the user's search term per_security_profile_assignments, and reflects the package's role in propagating Benefits user provisioning into HR security profile assignments.

Usage Notes

Because the specification exposes no procedures, invocation occurs indirectly. Applications typically call this package from user hooks attached to the Benefits user-creation API, from concurrent programs that bulk-provision users, or from custom PL/SQL that needs to align a Benefits user with FND and PER security constructs. Callers must supply a valid user name (not exceeding 100 characters) and may omit password, start_date, and other optional attributes; the utility will default the password to a randomly generated eight-byte string, the start date to the current date, and the password date to a system default. If end_date is provided it must be later than start_date. Optional strings are bounded: email_address up to 240 characters, fax up to 80 characters, and description up to 240 characters. The metadata further indicates the package is referenced by one other package, confirming it is a supporting dependency rather than a top-level entry point. In Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2, this utility remains relevant because the FND and PER security tables it touches retain the same core structure across both releases.