Search Results ben_tcs_cat_link_u1

Overview

BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK is a transactional configuration table in the Oracle E-Business Suite Advanced Benefits (BEN) schema that stores the help links associated with each compensation category. In Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2, compensation categories (also referred to as total compensation categories, TCS) drive how compensation items are grouped and presented to participants and administrators. The BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK table allows an implementation to attach one or more hyperlinks—each with its own label and URL—to a given category, so that contextual help, policy pages, or external documentation can be surfaced directly alongside that category.

The table is owned by the BEN schema, resides in the APPS_TS_TX_DATA tablespace with a PCTFREE of 10, and holds 11 documented columns. Its Data Vault classification, mined heuristically from the foreign key structure, is standalone; this is best treated as a modeling suggestion rather than a definitive classification. The single foreign key to BEN_TCS_CAT technically makes it a dependent child that could be modeled as a link or satellite around the compensation-category hub, but the absence of any downstream references confirms its self-contained role as configuration metadata.

Key Information Stored

The table centers on CAT_LINK_ID, a system-generated NUMBER(15) surrogate primary key. The physical primary key is BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK_PK (CAT_LINK_ID), and the documented unique index BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK_U1 also covers CAT_LINK_ID on tablespace APPS_TS_TX_IDX. The most operationally significant columns are:

• CAT_LINK_ID — surrogate primary key; sole column of the unique index BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK_U1.
• LINK_LABEL — VARCHAR2(240) display label rendered for the help link.
• URL — VARCHAR2(2000) target address of the link.
• CAT_ID — NUMBER(15) foreign key to BEN_TCS_CAT identifying the owning compensation category.
• ORDR_NUM — NUMBER(15) controlling the display sequence of links within a category.
• LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN — standard WHO auditing columns.
• CREATED_BY, CREATION_DATE — creation audit columns.
• OBJECT_VERSION_NUMBER — optimistic locking counter that increments on each update.

Note that no business-key column other than the surrogate identifier is documented as unique, meaning duplicate labels or URLs are not prevented at the database level.

Common Use Cases and Queries

Typical uses include reconciling configured help links for a category, auditing WHO metadata after a configuration migration, and generating a rendered link list for portal or self-service pages ordered by ORDR_NUM.

Retrieve all links for a category in display order:

SELECT LINK_LABEL, URL, ORDR_NUM
FROM   BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK
WHERE  CAT_ID = :p_cat_id
ORDER BY ORDR_NUM;

Join to the parent category to produce a readable catalog:

SELECT c.CAT_NAME, l.LINK_LABEL, l.URL
FROM   BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK l, BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT c
WHERE  l.CAT_ID = c.CAT_ID
ORDER BY c.CAT_NAME, l.ORDR_NUM;

Audit recently changed links:

SELECT CAT_LINK_ID, LINK_LABEL, LAST_UPDATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_DATE
FROM   BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK
WHERE  LAST_UPDATE_DATE > SYSDATE - 30;

Related Objects

• BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT — parent table; joined via CAT_ID and the foreign key BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK.CAT_ID → BEN_TCS_CAT. Supplies category names and hierarchy context.
• BEN.BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK# — the shadow/archive table maintained in parallel, referenced as a dependent object in the ETRM dependency listing.
• BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK_PK / BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK_U1 — the primary key constraint and unique index enforcing CAT_LINK_ID uniqueness.
• FND_USER — implicit WHO reference for CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATED_BY, and LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN.

Because the table references only BEN_TCS_CAT and is referenced by no other object, integration is normally achieved through the parent category and its associated compensation configuration entities rather than through direct API calls against BEN_TCS_CAT_LINK.