Results for “ff_archive_item_contexts”

AI-generated from documented ETRM metadata — verify critical details on the linked pages.

Overview

The FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXTS table resides in the HR schema and is a component of the FastFormula (FF) product within Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. Its documented purpose is to store the context values used to retrieve archived FastFormula definitions from the companion table FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS. FastFormula is the rule engine used throughout EBS modules such as Payroll, Benefits, Absence Management, and Compensation; when formulas are archived, their retrieval depends on a set of keyed context attributes that this table preserves.

From a Data Vault modeling perspective, the metadata's heuristic classification is satellite-leaning. The table does not introduce its own business subject; instead, it hangs off the archive item as a descriptive dependent, capturing the context attributes that qualify each archived formula record. Viewed this way, FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXTS functions as a satellite of the archive item, with ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID acting as the parent (hub) reference and CONTEXT_ID contributing to the business key of the context entry.

Key Information Stored

The documented physical schema defines four columns, and the important ones are:

• ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID — Foreign key to FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS. It identifies the archived formula item to which a given context belongs and is the primary linkage between the context and its parent archive record.
• CONTEXT_ID — Identifier for the individual context entry. Together with ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID, it forms the unique business-key candidate FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXT_PK.
• CONTEXT — The context value or context descriptor associated with the archived item, providing the substantive content of the context record.
• SEQUENCE_NO — Ordering value used to sequence multiple context entries that belong to the same archive item, preserving the intended retrieval order.

The surrogate/primary key is FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXT_PK, defined over (ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID, CONTEXT_ID). This composite key is simultaneously the unique index and the strongest business-key candidate documented, distinguishing it from any internal row identifier. No other unique indexes are documented for this table.

Common Use Cases and Queries

This table is primarily accessed programmatically by the FastFormula archive and retrieval infrastructure, but it also supports direct diagnostic and reporting queries. A typical pattern joins the context table back to FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS to reconstruct a full archived formula record:

• Retrieving a formula by context — joining FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXTS to FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS on ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID to locate archived items matching specific context values.
• Ordered context inspection — querying all contexts for a given ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID and ordering by SEQUENCE_NO to see the context chain as the retrieval engine would assemble it.
• Integrity audits — identifying archive items with no associated context rows, or context rows with SEQUENCE_NO gaps, to detect incomplete archive records.

Sample SQL:

SELECT a.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID,
       c.CONTEXT_ID,
       c.CONTEXT,
       c.SEQUENCE_NO
FROM   FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS a,
       FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXTS c
WHERE  a.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID = c.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID
ORDER  BY a.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID, c.SEQUENCE_NO;

Related Objects

The most significant related object, and the only documented foreign-key partner, is FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS, joined on FF_ARCHIVE_ITEM_CONTEXTS.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID = FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS.ARCHIVE_ITEM_ID. Supporting objects in the FastFormula archive family include FF_ARCHIVE_ITEMS_TL (translated descriptions for archive items), FF_FORMULAS and its FF_FORMULAS_TL translation table (the live formula definitions from which archives are derived), and the context infrastructure surrounding FF_CONTEXTS, which supplies the context identifiers referenced by CONTEXT_ID. Application-level access to archived formulas is generally mediated through the FastFormula engine and the relevant module API rather than direct DML against this table, and it is normally treated as read-only reference data by functional or reporting users.