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Overview
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Overview

The APPS.OKC_TERMS_TMPL_APPROVAL_GRP package body is a Group (GRP) type API belonging to the Oracle Contracts (OKC) module of Oracle E-Business Suite, as shipped in releases 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. Its business purpose is to orchestrate the approval workflow for contract terms templates — the reusable library objects that define the standard clauses and conditions applied to contract documents. Rather than implementing approval logic directly, the package acts as a grouping layer that coordinates the public Contracts APIs involved in submitting, validating, and routing a terms template record through the approval process. The package is registered with the Applications DBA (AD) utility and is delivered under the APPS schema, meaning it is treated as an application-owned object from an AD or online patching perspective. Its header comment identifier (OKCGTMPLAPPB.pls 120.1) and the noship designation indicate that the file is shipped as part of the standard product rather than a customisation. The package defines a set of standard FND_API constants for return status (G_RET_STS_SUCCESS, G_RET_STS_ERROR, G_RET_STS_UNEXP_ERROR), truth values (G_TRUE, G_FALSE), and error token names, along with debug level handles drawn from FND_LOG. The package-level variable G_TEMPLATE_MISS_REC, typed as OKC_TERMS_TEMPLATES_PVT.template_rec_type, holds the template record under process, and debug output is gated by the AFLOG_ENABLED profile option. The user-facing search term g_template_miss_rec corresponds directly to this global variable, which is visible in the package source and is often referenced when diagnosing template approval failures.

Key Procedures and Functions

The package metadata documents a single public procedure:

  • START_APPROVAL — Initiates the approval cycle for a contract terms template. It is the entry point through which a caller requests that a given terms template be validated and submitted into the standard Oracle approval routing. The procedure is expected to operate on the template record held in G_TEMPLATE_MISS_REC and to communicate its outcome using the FND_API return-status convention defined by the package constants. As a GRP-classified API, it delegates the substantive work to lower-level private APIs (notably OKC_TERMS_TEMPLATES_PVT) rather than manipulating the underlying tables itself. No parameter list is documented in the metadata, and none should be assumed.

Tables Accessed

The documented table references, accessed through APPS synonyms, are:

  • OKC_TERMS_TEMPLATES — The base table storing the terms template header records. The package reads the template under approval and, via the private layer, may update its status or approval-related attributes.
  • OKC_K_ARTICLES_B — The base table for contract articles (clauses and sections) that make up the content of a terms template. The approval logic reads this table to verify that the template has valid, complete article content before approval can proceed.

Usage Notes

OKC_TERMS_TMPL_APPROVAL_GRP is normally invoked implicitly by the Oracle Contracts forms and the underlying terms template maintenance flows when a user submits a template for approval, rather than being called directly by end users. It may also be reached from concurrent programs or workflow activities that drive terms template approval in batch. Because it is an APPS-owned GRP API, custom code that calls it must respect the standard FND_API contract: initialise the message and error stacks, pass the expected return-status values, and inspect the returned status rather than relying on unhandled exceptions. No other packages are documented as referencing this package, so it sits at the top of its own call stack. The source header indicates no recent substantive change (version 120.1, dated 2005), so behaviour is consistent across the 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 releases.