Search Results hr_rate_api




Overview
Explore in AI Chat

Overview

HR_RATE_API is a public PL/SQL API package owned by the APPS schema in Oracle E-Business Suite. It provides the supported, programmatic interface for creating, maintaining, and deleting rate definitions within Oracle Human Resources and Oracle Payroll. In the EBS data model, a "rate" represents a monetary or numeric value attached either to a rate definition or to a specific assignment, and it is consumed by payroll processing, compensation calculations, and benefits eligibility routines.

The package is classified as an API in the documented metadata, which means it encapsulates business logic and validation that must not be bypassed. It is a layered API: HR_RATE_API depends on the lower-level HR_API package for shared validation, error handling, and security utilities, and it in turn exposes its functionality to the HR_RATE_SWI (Server-side Wrapper Interface) and to configuration packages such as PQH_GSP_STAGE_TO_HR and PQH_GSP_UTILITY. This separation follows the standard Oracle HRMS API architecture, where the SWI layer validates and marshals parameters before delegating to the API layer for row-level DML.

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented metadata lists seven procedures and functions; the five named explicitly are described below.

  • CREATE_RATE — Creates a new rate record. This is the entry point used when defining a new rate value against a rate definition, and it performs the validation required before a row is inserted into the underlying rate table.
  • UPDATE_RATE — Modifies the attributes of an existing rate record. It is used to change values or effective-dated attributes of a rate already defined through CREATE_RATE.
  • DELETE_RATE — Removes an existing rate record. Deletion is subject to the referential and business rules enforced by the API, so direct SQL DELETE statements against the table are discouraged.
  • CREATE_ASSIGNMENT_RATE — Creates a rate that is associated with a specific assignment rather than only with a rate definition. This supports assignment-level overrides, such as an employee-specific pay rate.
  • UPDATE_ASSIGNMENT_RATE — Modifies a rate previously created at the assignment level, allowing changes to an individual's rate without affecting the shared rate definition.

The remaining two documented procedures follow the same create/update pattern for related rate constructs. As with all HRMS APIs, callers are expected to invoke the standard HR_API.INITIALIZE and HR_API.FINALIZE sequence so that validation and error propagation behave correctly, and to rely on the API rather than on direct DML.

Tables Accessed

The package operates on the following tables through APPS synonyms:

  • PAY_RATES — The principal table holding rate records. HR_RATE_API inserts, updates, and deletes rows here in response to the create, update, and delete procedures. All access is mediated by the API so that effective dating and validation remain consistent.
  • FND_PRODUCT_INSTALLATIONS — Referenced to confirm that the relevant Oracle application (Human Resources and/or Payroll) is installed and licensed in the current environment before rate maintenance is permitted.

Usage Notes

HR_RATE_API is normally reached indirectly. Oracle HRMS forms that maintain rates and rate definitions, and concurrent programs that load or calculate rates, call the higher-level HR_RATE_SWI wrapper, which in turn calls HR_RATE_API. The PQH_GSP packages also reference it, indicating that grade/step progression processing may create or adjust rates through this interface.

In custom development on 12.1.1 or 12.2.2, the correct practice is to call HR_RATE_API (or HR_RATE_SWI) with the standard initialization and finalization calls, checking the returned error table, and to avoid writing directly to PAY_RATES. Because the package is validated and owned by APPS, it is safe to grant execute to custom schemas rather than granting DML on the underlying tables.