Search Results has_timeout_notifications

Overview

HXC_NOTIFICATION_HELPER is an Oracle EBS Applications (APPS) PL/SQL package that centralizes the notification configuration logic for the timecard approval workflow used by Oracle Time and Labor (HXC = Time and Labor). Timecard approval depends on configurable rules attached to an approval style: whether timeouts are enabled, how many retries are allowed, how long an approver, preparer, or system administrator has before a timeout action occurs, and which participants (supervisor, worker, preparer) receive notifications at various lifecycle events such as submission, automatic approval, approval, rejection, or transfer. Rather than embedding these lookups throughout the approval engine, Time and Labor encapsulates them in this helper package.

The package is declared AUTHID CURRENT_USER, meaning it executes with the privileges of the calling user and relies on the APPS schema synonym/privilege grants for its underlying tables. Its public surface consists of a record type and a set of functions and maintenance procedures. The record type g_rec_notif models one row of notification settings for an approval style, carrying the approval_style_id, a timeouts_enabled flag, a number_retries value, three separate timeout durations (approver_timeout, preparer_timeout, admin_timeout), and several one-character notification flags (notify_supervisor, notify_worker_on_submit, notify_worker_on_aa, notify_preparer_approved, notify_preparer_rejected, notify_preparer_transfer).

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented functions are primarily scalar getters and predicate checks that surface a single configuration value for a given approval style or component:

• RUN_EXTENSIONS — returns a Boolean indicating whether the run-extensions option is enabled for an approval component (true when the value is 'Y' or NULL).
• HAS_TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATIONS — returns 'Y' or 'N' indicating whether timeout notifications are enabled for the supplied approval style.
• NUMBER_TIMEOUT_RETRIES_ANY — returns the notification retry count configured for the approval style.
• APPROVER_TIMEOUT_VALUE, PREPARER_TIMEOUT_VALUE, ADMIN_TIMEOUT_VALUE — return the configured timeout durations for the approver, preparer, and administrator roles respectively. The admin_timeout_value search term corresponds directly to the ADMIN_TIMEOUT_VALUE function (backed by the admin_timeout column of g_rec_notif).
• NOTIFY_SUP_FOR_APPROVAL, NOTIFY_WORKER_SUBMISSION, NOTIFY_WORKER_AUTO_APPROVE, NOTIFY_PREPARER_APPROVE, NOTIFY_PREPARER_REJECT, NOTIFY_PREPARER_TRANSFER — return the individual notification-enablement flags for each workflow event.

Three maintenance procedures manage persistence: CREATE_NOTIFICATION_RECORDS, UPDATE_NOTIFICATION_RECORDS, and DELETE_NOTIFICATION_RECORDS. Together they insert, maintain, and remove the notification configuration rows associated with an approval style or component. APPROVAL_COMPS_USAGES reports which approval components an approval style consumes.

Tables Accessed

All access is through APPS synonyms. Configuration and defaults are read from HXC_APPROVAL_STYLES, the master definition of approval styles. The notification settings themselves are stored in and maintained by HXC_APP_COMP_NOTIFICATIONS (notification_number_retries, notification_timeout_value, and the notification enablement flags). HXC_APPROVAL_COMPS defines the approval components that styles reference, and HXC_APP_COMP_NOTIF_USAGES records the usage relationships between components and their notification definitions. The CREATE/UPDATE/DELETE procedures write to the notifications table, while the getter functions read from it and the approval-style/component tables.

Usage Notes

HXC_NOTIFICATION_HELPER is an internal helper invoked by the Time and Labor approval engine rather than a user-facing API. It is called during approval-style setup and at runtime by the workflow notification logic to determine whether to send reminders, escalate to the administrator, and how many times to retry. Its maintenance procedures are typically executed when an approval style is created, modified, or deleted through the Time and Labor setup UI. Because the package is referenced by four other packages and is not classified as an open interface, customizations should call its documented functions rather than duplicating the underlying SQL; the metadata does not guarantee parameter signatures for custom use.