Results for “po_agents”

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

Overview

PO_AGENTS is the buyer (agent) master table in the Oracle Purchasing (PO) module, owned by the PO schema. It stores the definition of every purchasing agent — commonly referred to as a buyer — who can be assigned to purchasing documents, requisitions, releases, and supplier records. In Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 the table functions as the authoritative source of buyer identity, buyer authorization limits, effective dating, and assignment to a default purchasing category.

From a Data Vault modeling perspective, the mined foreign-key structure classifies PO_AGENTS as hub-leaning. It behaves primarily as a hub: a stable, business-key-driven entity holding the AGENT_ID as its unique identifier, with descriptive and effective-dating attributes surrounding it. Buyers referenced throughout the purchasing document lifecycle resolve back to this hub.

Key Information Stored

The table carries 33 documented columns. The surrogate primary key is AGENT_ID, enforced by PO_AGENTS_PK and reinforced by unique index PO_AGENTS_U1 (AGENT_ID), which makes AGENT_ID both the surrogate and the documented business-key candidate. The most significant columns include:

• AGENT_ID — primary key; the buyer identifier propagated to all dependent purchasing tables.
• CATEGORY_ID — foreign key to MTL_CATEGORIES_B, the purchasing category assigned to the buyer.
• LOCATION_ID — the buyer's default location.
• AUTHORIZATION_LIMIT — the approval/authority ceiling for the buyer on purchasing documents.
• START_DATE_ACTIVE / END_DATE_ACTIVE — effective-dating window controlling whether the buyer is currently active.
• IS_CONTRACT_OFFICER — flag indicating whether the buyer holds contract officer status.
• WARRANT_ID — the warrant associated with the buyer's signing authority.
• ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY through ATTRIBUTE15 — the standard DFF descriptive flexfield columns.
• LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, CREATION_DATE, CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN — WHO-columns for auditing.
• REQUEST_ID, PROGRAM_APPLICATION_ID, PROGRAM_ID, PROGRAM_UPDATE_DATE — concurrent program tracking columns.

Common Use Cases and Queries

The most frequent scenario is resolving a buyer name and authorization for a purchase order or requisition. Because many child tables store only the numeric agent ID, PO_AGENTS is joined to translate that ID into a meaningful buyer record.

• Reporting active buyers for a period using START_DATE_ACTIVE / END_DATE_ACTIVE.
• Joining PO_HEADERS_ALL.AGENT_ID to PO_AGENTS.AGENT_ID to attribute POs to buyers.
• Resolving default buyers on requisition lines via PO_REQUISITION_LINES_ALL.SUGGESTED_BUYER_ID.
• Auditing authorization limits and contract officer warrants.

A representative query pattern:

• SELECT ph.segment1, pa.agent_id, pa.authorization_limit FROM po.po_headers_all ph, po.po_agents pa WHERE ph.agent_id = pa.agent_id AND TRUNC(SYSDATE) BETWEEN pa.start_date_active AND NVL(pa.end_date_active, SYSDATE);

Related Objects

PO_AGENTS is referenced by numerous purchasing objects through AGENT_ID and related buyer columns:

• PO_HEADERS_ALL and PO_HEADERS_ARCHIVE_ALL — join on AGENT_ID.
• PO_HEADERS_DRAFT_ALL — draft purchase orders reference buyers via AGENT_ID.
• PO_RELEASES_ALL — references both AGENT_ID and HOLD_BY.
• PO_REQUISITION_LINES_ALL and PO_REQEXPRESS_LINES_ALL — join on SUGGESTED_BUYER_ID.
• PO_REQUISITIONS_INTERFACE_ALL — suggested buyer on imported requisitions.
• MTL_CATEGORIES_B — parent of CATEGORY_ID.
• MRP_SYSTEM_ITEMS — references BUYER_ID.
• PO_VENDORS — references HOLD_BY.