Search Results create_balance_dimension

Overview

PAY_BALANCE_DIMENSION_API is a public PL/SQL API in the Oracle E-Business Suite HRMS/Payroll schema (APPS) that manages the definition of balance dimensions within the payroll balances infrastructure. Balance dimensions determine how a stored balance is calculated, accumulated, and retrieved — for example, the period type, dimension level, and legislation-specific rules that govern a balance. This package provides the standard supported interface for creating, maintaining, and removing these dimension definitions without performing direct DML against the underlying payroll tables. It is classified as an API in the ETRM repository, meaning it is a supported extension point intended for use by other Oracle modules, forms, and customer extensions. The package body header (pybldapi.pkb 120.0) confirms its long-standing presence in the EBS code line and its availability across both 12.1.1 and 12.2.2.

Key Procedures and Functions

• CREATE_BALANCE_DIMENSION — Inserts a new balance dimension definition. Based on the documented parameter list, it accepts identifying and configuration attributes such as the business group, legislation code, route, database item suffix and function, dimension name, dimension type, dimension level, period type, description, feed and expiry checking codes, payments flag, and start date code. It returns the generated balance dimension identifier and supports a validation-only mode. The body delegates the actual insert to the internal pay_bld_ins.ins routine after issuing a savepoint, and records the outcome in g_dml_status.
• UPDATE_BALANCE_DIMENSION — Modifies the attributes of an existing balance dimension. This is the procedure most commonly targeted when users search for "update_balance_dimension"; it is the supported mechanism for changing dimension configuration rather than updating the base tables directly.
• DELETE_BALANCE_DIMENSION — Removes a balance dimension definition, subject to the referential and validation rules enforced by the API.
• RETURN_DML_STATUS — Returns the DML status flag set by the most recent create, update, or delete call, allowing callers to determine whether the operation succeeded before committing.

Tables Accessed

The documented ETRM record for this package does not enumerate the underlying tables accessed via APPS synonyms. The package body excerpt shows that insert activity is routed through the internal helper pay_bld_ins.ins, which performs the physical insert into the payroll balance dimension storage. By convention, the balance dimension API operates against the PAY balance dimension definition tables and associated validation entities, and callers should rely on the API rather than querying those tables directly. Because the metadata provided does not list explicit tables, no table names are asserted here beyond the internal inserter referenced in the source.

Usage Notes

The package is referenced by three other packages in the ETRM repository, indicating that it is consumed by higher-level payroll configuration and setup components rather than being invoked in isolation. It is typically called from Oracle Payroll setup forms, from concurrent programs that migrate or seed balance definitions, and from custom PL/SQL extensions that need to programmatically define balances. Callers should invoke the procedures with the validation flag set appropriately, check the value returned by RETURN_DML_STATUS, and issue an explicit COMMIT or ROLLBACK, since the API does not commit on the caller's behalf. Direct DML against the balance dimension tables is unsupported and may corrupt balance processing, so the API should always be used to create, update, or delete dimension definitions in both 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 environments.