Wiki: DERIVATION_EXPRESSION

Derivation Expression Logic for Inbound Interfaces
Calling Functions in IDIF for Outbound Interfaces
Derivation Expressions Calling Database Functions
Example Derivation Expressions
Derivation Expression Examples for UPPHF and UEEF
IDIF - Derivation Expression - Multiple Field Processing

Derivation expressions provide the ability to translate values or to retrieve information otherwise not accessible in an interface format in IDIF. Data from within the Wiki database may need to be translated to match the requirements from a receiving third party system. Also, data within a source file may need to be translated to match the Wiki specifications.

Derivation Expression Logic for Inbound Interfaces#

Inbound interfaces provide the ability to load a source file into ePersonality; this is done by running LMTD. The LMTD allows you to apply derivation expressions to variables within the record that is being loaded.

The LMTD respects most of the same derivation expressions that are used with SQL Loader. One exception that the LMTD does not respect is the BYPASS function. Instead you should define a qualifier record, this can be done using an existing column within the table or by defining a foreign field. The derivation expression in this situation would contain an IF statement or a Case When clause and the constant field would contain the result (i.e. True or False). For more information on this please review the chapter on loading with interfaces.

LMTD can handle multiple fields being referenced in a derivation expression, however, for LMTD purposes the syntax is slightly different. The multiple fields must be specified in brackets with a colon prefacing the field name, for example: (:PLPL.TIME_CODE).

Calling Functions in IDIF for Outbound Interfaces#

Define Interface Formats (IDIF) is the screen used within the system to define export interface definitions for processing by the various interface programs. Many of these interface programs support the use of derivation expressions, but not all. As at June 1, 2008, the following interface programs have this support:

UEEF - Employee / Assignment Interface
UPPHF - Pay History Interface
UBEF - Employee / Benefits Interface
UPGLF - General Ledger File Interface
UPDIF - Disbursement File Interface
UENH - New Hire Interface
UPVEND - AP (Vendors) Interface
UPDTB - Deposits to Bank Interface
UPROEF - Canadian Record of Employment file interface

Derivation Expressions Calling Database Functions#

The Callable Functions page contains the list of available functions that may be called within a Derivation Expression that may be used in an interface. The list contains functions from Oracle and those created as part of the application.

Example Derivation Expressions#

The following are examples of what derivation expressions can be used for:

To translate Gender to M/F

: DECODE(~, '01', 'M', '02', 'F')

To manipulate data prior to interfacing,e.g. to remove hyphens from Government ID

: REPLACE(~, '-',)

To get data that is not otherwise available, e.g. to get the Department Code when you only have the ID available

: P2K_SMGCD(~,'DDP')

To filter the data and "throw out" a record,e.g. if employee is not in department ABC, disregard otherwise put in "1234"

: DECODE(~,'ABC','1234','BYPASS')

To populate an effective date

: NVL(RTRIM(~),'01-JAN-0001')

To change the case of supplied data

: upper(~) or initcap(~)

To extract a portion of the supplied data, e.g. the source data is a 30 character distribution code but we are only interested in loading some of it to our field)

: substr(~,1,5)

To remove whitespace

: trim(~)

To remove leading zeros off of a Person Code

: LTRIM(~,'0')

To reformat a date value, e.g. date is coming in as YYYYMMDD and needs to be reformatted for the data base to accept it

: TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(RTRIM(:HIRE_DATE),'YYYYMMDD'),'DD-Mon-YYYY')

To shorten a fiscal period of 200307 for just the period

: Substr(~,5,2) would give you "07", begin in position 5 for 2 characters

To shorten a fiscal period of 200307 for just the year

: Substr(~,1,4) would give you "2003", begin in position 1 for 4 characters

Distribution code (001-643-8824-0976), only see the last four positions of the distribution string

: Substr(~,14,4) will display "0976", you must take the "-"'s into account when coding this string.

This is an example of populating a distribution segment using the value from another field defined in IDIF. In this example, the 6th segment will be populated based on the value in the time code field after it has been translated using a translation

lexicon.

: '?-????-?????-???????-?-' || p2k_smglx('PL_LABOR_CD_KEYED', :PLPL.TIME_CODE) || '-?????'

Format a GL amount to display the leading zeros and display a decimal point for $2263.13

: Substr(TO_CHAR(ABS(~),'0000000000009.99'),2,16) will display 0000000002263.13, will begin at the 2nd character ignoring the leading "-" or "+" sign.

To decode specific areas of the string

: Decode(substr(~,117,2),'05',substr(~,55,5),'02',substr(~,51,3),' ')

To round information coming in from four to two decimal places

: ROUND(~,2)

This is an example of providing a Start Date for a field. This example will use the Beginning of Time date if there is a null value provided

: NVL2(~,(to_char(to_date(rtrim(~),'YYYYMMDD'),'DD-Mon-YYYY')),'01-Jan-0001')

To removing a colon from time field in an inbound interface (ie TTX.START_TIME)

: concat(substr(~,1,2),substr(~,4,5))

Translate an incoming value to a defined Time Code in the system using a translation lexicon. The lexicon is defined in IMLN, the saved value is the value defined in the source file and the displayed value is the eP translation, in this example the time code.

: P2K_SMGLX('GWRS_PC_TRANSLT',~)

Derivation Expression Examples for UPPHF and UEEF #

IDIF - Derivation Expression - Multiple Field Processing#

On the IDIF derivation expression, you can specify multiple variable names processing by indicating the lexicon value of the X_INF_VARIABLE_NAME inside the bracket [ ], e.g. [320001]. Lexicon values available from IMLN for X_INF_VARIABLE_NAME are: 32nnnn, 35nnnn.

A full list of INF variables interchangeable for UPPHF and UEEF are provided as long as the Database tables are being loaded according to the Interface Level parameter of the run.

Please see example below:

Example: Record # 50, Field # 20 Requirement for Employee Row id or Unit id:

If the Pay Header Group user-defined field (UDF) 'PROJECT HOURS BY PERSON' is 'Y', this means that the employee is an 'ADMIN' employee and if the journal entry is reporting for 'Hours', then use the Identity eid.id on the Interface File field.

Otherwise, use the Unit dun.id on the field for all other situations.

From above IDIF set up, you should specify the variable name using 'UDF (DGD)' and enter the name in the Constant Value field, then the value of UDF will be returned and represented as in the derivation expression.
In the derivation expression, enter: decode(~,'Y',decode([320803],'02',[320009],[350400]),[350400])

where:
[320803] Journal Type (DGA), 01 - Financial Journal, 02 - Statistical Journal
[320009] Identity eid_id
[350400] Unit dun_id (DUN)

This derivation expression means decode the value of from UDF. If the value is 'Y', then decode the value from [320803] Journal Type. If the journal type is '02' Statistical Journal, then return [320009] Identify eid.id. Otherwise, return [350400]

Unit dun_id.

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