 Flexfields are customisable UI components that have built-in flexibility, so that users can

define reporting structures that are relevant to their specific organisations. There are three
types of flexfields:

Key flexfields (KFF): (Mandatory) They are configurable multi-part intelligent keys used to
implement Item Number, Account Number, etc.

Descriptive Flexfields (DFF): (Optional) They have the ability to extend the data model with
additional attributes.

Extensive Flexfields (EFF): They are similar to DFF, with some additional features: the
number of configurable segments is not fixed, and they support one-to-many relationships
between the entity and extended attribute rows.

What is a Flexfield?

A Flexfield allows the user to store additional information in fields (segments) in the
application for a specific purpose without the need for customization.
They can be defined by the end-user according to their requirements, or their
definitions can be pre-seeded by HCM Development to allow the capture of
information that varies usually according to legislations.

When the specific Flexfield is configured the implementor needs to specify the
prompt, length, and data type of each flexfield segment. Configuration includes
the specification of how valid values are input for each segment.

There are 3 types of Flexfield:

1. Descriptive Flefields (Customer or Developer)

Customer descriptive flexfields (DFFs) are optional and allow implementors to create
a limited number of standalone fields (up to 50) in one particular functional area.
End Users can then see the fields and enter values against them. DFF segments can
either be entered as Global (viewed all the time), or selectively by choosing a
Context.
Data is held in Attribute columns on relevant base table. They are identified by a
name and a code.
For example:
Assignment Attributes - (PER_ASG_DF)
Person Attributes - (PER_PERSONS_DFF)
Organization Attributes - (PER_ORGANIZATION_UNIT_DFF)

Developer desriptive flexfields (DDFs) are used generally by localization teams. For
example

Legislative Assignment Attributes - (PER_ASG_LEG_DDF)

This has a context based on territory_code, and a set of segments for France and
Germany. Specific fields will display if the assignment is in a Legal Employer
associated
with a Legislative Data Group in these countries.

N.B. It is not supported for customers to add or modify the configuration of DDFs.
Any changes will be overwitten during upgrades.

Setup by Navigating to Setup and Maintenance -> Manage Descriptive Flexfields

task.

Example of Assignment Attributes Setup

End User Display in Manage Employment UI

2. Extensible Flexfields

An extensible flexfield is similar to a descriptive flexfield, but does not have a fixed
number of segments, and allows grouping of segments into contexts. Can be either
single
row or multiple row format.

In Manage Person there is a dedicated page called Extra Information where al the
context for the Person EIT Information flexfield are grouped together. When defining
your
Person EIT Information flexfields you must also be sure to add your context to the
Pages tab so that it will display on the EIT page. The following note should help:

Newly added context of EFF Person EIT Information not displayed (Doc ID
1573610.1)

Extensible Flexfields include:

Person EIT Information – (PER_PERSON_EIT_EFF)
Assignment EIT Information – (PER_ASSIGNMENT_EIT_EFF)
Organization Information EFF – (PER_ORGANIZATION_INFORMATION_EFF)

Setup by Navigating to Setup and Maintenance -> Manage Extensible Flexfields task

Search for EIT e.g Person EIT Information, Edit and Click on Manage Contexts
button and search to see
existing contexts. Need to Create new context, and segments then add to Assoicated
Contexts in previous page.

Navigate to Manage Person -> Extra Information Type, to see Person EIT Types

3. Key Flexfields

Key flexfields are configurable intelligent keys, where each segment combines to
form a key that may be individually meaningful, as well as the combination as a
whole.
For example, key flexfields might represent part numbers and account numbers.
Configuring Key Flexfields is usually a mandatory part of setup in order to enable
important
functionality within the application.

In Fusion HCM there are two key flexfields, People Group and Cost Allocation Key
flexfield. You create a structure beneath which you define your segments.

People Group is used mainly in the eligibility area. You determine the structure to
use at Enterprise or Legal Employer level, and enter data against the assignment.

The Cost Allocation Flexfield is used to distribute and report on payroll costs, and the
structure is set at Legislative Data Group level. The implementor can choose
when defining a segment on which page it appears.

The Key can be a maximum of 30 segments and is held in segment columns on

dedicated combination tables. When you define your segments you also select labels
from the available list where you choose which page you require the data to be
entered. e.g. Department, Payroll, or Element UI.

Segment combinations held on following tables:

PAY_PEOPLE_GROUPS
PAY_COST_ALLOC_KEYFLEX

Setup by Navigating to Setup and Maintenance -> Manage Key Flexfields task

The example below shows the People Group setup. Click on Manage Structures
button and search.
The implementor would create a new structure and the segments below it.

Associate the Flexfield to a Legal Employer in Manage Legal Entity HCM Information
UI

In the Manage Elements UI, when creating the Eligibility record, the People Group
shows up as one of the criteria to which you can link elements

Limitations of Use?

Flexfields can be used to store additional information in fields on a page where the
developer has identified a specific flexfield can be used. It cannot be added to a
page where it has not been enabled. In the case of Desciptive and Key Flexfields the
number of Fields allowed are limited.

Also it is not possible to reclaim a deleted segment. See Enhancement Request:

https://bug.oraclecorp.com/pls/bug/webbug_edit.edit_info_top?rptno=15881008

How to Identify?

In order to identify what Flexfields are available on a page in Fusion HCM, do

Adminstration-> Highlight Flexfields in Fusion Applications and this will then display
the
names of what flexfields are available.

Common Components

1. Segments

Flexfields are divided up into segments or Fields which are visible to the end user
and where they enter the data. You provide a name, link to a value-set, etc

Create segment from the Manage Descriptive,Extensible or key flexfields User

Interfaces.

2. Context

For Descriptive Flexfields, this is how you determine if the segments are visible all
the time , or only when selecting a context they are associated too. If generally
available then you would
define them as Global segments. If only to be displayed when a particular category
is chosen, then you would define them under a specific Context like Job for example.
Jobs would be listed and segments specific to the chosen Job would display. See
Section 1. Descriptive Flexfields above.

See also Bug 13655609 - ENHANCEMENT REQUEST TO ALLOW DETERMINATION OF

CONTEXT ON FLEXFIELDS BY A REFERENCE FIELD

3. Value Sets

Value Sets determine what you are allowed to enter into the Segment/Field. You
can have no value set which means you can enter any data into a field depending
on validation type (date, character, number), length, min/max, case, etc, or you can
use a value set. Value Sets can be:

i. Independent – where implementor defines a set of values for the end-user

to choose
ii. Dependent – which is a set of defined values dependent on a previously
selected independent value.
iii. Subset – a subset of an independent value set. I.E. If there is an
independent value set which is Days of the week, the Subset could be Saturday and
Sunday from there.
iv. Table – Use SQL to derive a list of values from a Table. E.g.

select distinct name from Fusion.PER_JOBS_F_TL where source_name =

‘US’;

v. Format Only – Use when just restricting on Length, Validation Type, etc

The following diagram shows an Independent Value Set in the Manage Value Sets
user interface.

You can also enter the values assoicated to this valueset from the same UI.
Loading Flexfield Data

File Loader supports the loading of the Core Descriptive Flexfields. Spreadsheet
Loader also supports flexfields but has restictions on the number of attribute
columns
available on the worksheets. There is also a manual process that can be utilised to
satisfy the requirement to load data into descriptive and extensible flexfields on SaaS
environments, via a set of standard scripts to load the data from flat csv files
provided by the customer.

See Note - Support Process for Loading HCM Descriptive Flexfields (DFF) (Doc ID
1572370.1)

Flexfields and OTBI

A descriptive or key flexfield can be included in Oracle Business Intelligence by

enabling the flexfield
for BI when defining the segment.

See following Note for further information:

Fusion Applications OTBI (Reporting) FAQ For Descriptive Flexfields (DFF) (Doc ID
1503455.1)

N.B. To support a New Descriptive Flexfield within OTBI, HCM has to add the DFF /
DDF Flex VOs and create a VL to the base VO within the analytics workspace. A
Collaboration SR would need to be raised for the flexfield to be supported