Multi-Org Structure in Oracle EBS

Multi Org or multiple organization structure in Oracle is the architecture which allows a single Oracle Application Installation to track the different business operations of all the concerned companies/subsidiaries where each can follow a different set of books for its reporting purpose. The Multi org concept is composed of a number of entities.We will be providing you a brief overview of the multi-org structure available in Oracle.

Multi Org Architecture

A brief description of each of the entities is give below

Business Group:The business group represents the highest level in the organization structure ,such as the consolidated enterprise, a major division or an operational company.The business group secures human resource information of the company. If we list the employees of the company it is seen that all the employees are assigned to the highest business concern ie the business group. Going by Oracles architecture multiple legal entities or set of books can be associated to a single business group.

Set of Books:  A financial reporting entity that uses a particular chart of accounts, functional currency and accounting calender. Oracle General Ledger secures transaction information (journal entries and balances) for a set of books.

A chart of accounts (COA) is a created list of the accounts used by the set of books to define each class of items for which money or the equivalent is spent or received. It is used to organize the finances of the entity and to segregate expenditures, revenue, assets and liabilities in order to give interested parties a better understanding of the financial health of the entity.

The list can be numerical, alphabetic, or alpha-numeric. The structure and headings of accounts should assist in consistent posting of transactions. Each nominal ledger account is unique to allow its ledger to be located. The list is typically arranged in the order of the customary appearance of accounts in the financial statements, balance sheet accounts followed by profit and loss accounts.

Legal Entity: A legal company for which fiscal or tax reports are prepared. Tax  identifiers and other legal entity information are assigned to this organization.Multiple legal entities may share the same set of books.

Operating Unit: Operating unit refers to the single organization that uses cash management,Order Management and Shipping Execution,Oracle Payables, Purchasing and Oracle Receivables. The operating unit can be referred to a particular department of a company for example : In a large organization we may have multiple operating units of which one tracks details of Finished Goods, one for spares and one for raw materials etc. Each operating unit is associated with a legal entity. Data of each operating unit is secured from the other, the users also see the data relevant to their operating units . This is done by via responsibilities in oracle. Data in the system is accessed by the users by querying data by navigating to a particular responsibility which is assigned to a given operating unit.

Inventory Organization: Is an organization for which we track inventory transactions and balances. An Inventory organization may refer to a business warehouse,godown or sales office. The following applications secure information by inventory organization: Oracle Inventory, Bills of Material, Engineering, Work in Process,Master Scheduling/MRP, Capacity, and Purchasing receiving functions.To run any of these applications, you must choose an organization that has been classified as an inventory organization.

The Mutli Org structure of Oracle can be further extended to the level of Subinventory and Stock Locator.

Each Inventory will have one or more sub-inventories.

 A sub-inventory refers to a region within the warehouse to track the goods. For Eg in a inventory organization for finished goods . a Subinventory might be maintained for LCD television, one for Music system etc. 

Each defined sub inventory might have one or more stock locators.

A stock locator is an area within the sub-inventory which helps the exact location of goods. Continuing with the above example , a given sub-inventory for LCD television might have one locator for 26' TV, one for 32' and so on.

Set of books are created by  using the Define set of books window in Oracle General Ledger.All pother types of organization are defined using the define organization window.

• Multiple Organizations in Oracle Applications is enabled by partitioning some database tables by operating unit. Other tables are shared across operating units (and thus across sets of books).
• In general, the following criteria determine if a table would be partitioned:
  • The table contains a GL Account Code (code combination ID).
  • There is a business reason for the table to be partitioned (for example, the entity should not be shared).
  • The table contains transaction data.
  • The table is an interface table where data being loaded is partitioned.