Results for “set_no_cache_context”

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Overview

APPS.BEN_DISTRIBUTE_RATES is a PL/SQL package body within the Oracle E-Business Suite Advanced Benefits (Benefit) module. Its principal business function is the distribution, proration, and balancing of benefit rates and election values across the periods that make up a benefit activity period. The package translates between annual amounts and periodic amounts, prorates minimum and maximum limits according to the number of periods in which an election is effective, and reconciles computed balances against stored enrollment rates. These operations are central to the rating and costing of benefits during enrollment processing, life events, and periodic payroll cycles.

The package header comment identifies it as created in September 1998 and maintained through a long series of versions, culminating in version 120.10.12010000.3 (2008). Early revisions addressed yearly activity periods (PYR), correct calculation of the number of pay periods using the regular payment date, and rounding behavior in period counting. Later revisions added context such as activity base rate, eligibility period and elective choice identifiers, and activity base rate passed to date determination logic for Element Configuration Rules (ECR). The package is referenced by eleven other packages, indicating a foundational role in the benefits rate-distribution architecture.

Key Procedures and Functions

• CACHE / SET_NO_CACHE_CONTEXT — Manage the caching of reference data used repeatedly during a processing run, and control context under which cached values are considered valid.
• GET_PERIODS_BETWEEN — Computes the number of periods falling between two dates. Historical note: this logic was changed from rounding to truncation and later corrected for inaccurate counts (bug 3637).
• ANNUAL_TO_PERIOD / ANNUAL_TO_PERIOD_OUT / PERIOD_TO_ANNUAL — Convert amounts between annual and periodic bases, avoiding period-count calculations for yearly activity periods and accepting payroll context where relevant.
• COMPARE_BALANCES — Reconciles computed balances against expected values; null annual minimum values are deliberately not defaulted to zero.
• PRORATE_MIN_MAX — Prorates minimum and maximum election values across effective periods; when input values are null, proration is skipped.
• GET_BALANCE / ESTIMATE_BALANCE — Retrieve and, where required, estimate balances so that downstream rating can proceed.
• DECDE_BITS — Decodes bit flags used to suspend minimum and maximum checks during proration decisions.
• CONVERT_RATES_W / CONVERT_PCR_RATES_W — Perform rate conversion within the distribution workflow.
• PERIODIZE_WITH_RULE — Applies a rule to periodize values, forming the core of rule-driven rate distribution.

Tables Accessed

The package reads and writes benefit definition and enrollment tables through APPS synonyms. Plan and program structures are sourced from BEN_PL_F, BEN_PL_TYP_F, BEN_PGM_F, and BEN_COMP_LVL_FCTR for coverage and costing level factors. Year-period and population-period definitions come from BEN_YR_PERD, BEN_POPL_YR_PERD, and BEN_PER_IN_LER. Enrollment and rate data are read from and written to BEN_ENRT_BNFT and BEN_ENRT_RT, with prorated values held in BEN_PRTT_RT_VAL. Eligibility context is drawn from BEN_ELIG_PER_ELCTBL_CHC, BEN_PIL_ELCTBL_CHC_POPL, and BEN_OIPL_F. Activity base rates originate in BEN_ACTY_BASE_RT_F, and location defaults come from HR_LOCATIONS_ALL. The table BEN_POPL_YR_PERD is directly relevant to the "popl_yr_perd" search term, as it links populations to activity year periods that govern period counting and proration.

Usage Notes

BEN_DISTRIBUTE_RATES is not typically invoked directly by end users. It is called from benefit enrollment and life-event processing, from rate and cost calculation routines, and from concurrent programs that distribute rates across benefit periods. Because the package is referenced by eleven other packages, customizations should avoid modifying its behavior; extensions are better implemented through the configuration of rates, eligibility rules, and period definitions. The "popl_yr_perd" reference confirms that population-to-year-period setup drives the period counts this package derives.