Fusion HCM File Based Loader (FBL): All you want to know

What is File Based Loader

Oracle Fusion File Based Loader allows you to load the data in bulk to Oracle Fusion HCM from other sources like your legacy system, Oracle Ebiz, PeopleSoft etc. As the name says loader it is only used to load the data to Fusion HCM. File Based Loader is capable of loading complex hierarchical data of large volumes including object history.

Note : If you are looking for any kind of training on Fusion HCM, please contact us today. We are offering online training and also offline training in Hyderabad for discounted price.

Working example of File Based Loader

We will see how File Based Loader is used in real life with an example so that our concepts are clear. I will explain the terminology and give more details as we progress.

Example : Lets understand that our requirement is to move the data (Business Objects) from Oracle Ebiz to Fusion HCM and you have been assigned the task to move Grade information. There are other team members who are taking care of other Business Objects like Job, Location, Position etc. Hope the requirement is clear and you understand your task.

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Now a question might come in your mind that can we move all Business Objects from Ebiz to Fusion using File Based Loader, so unfortunately the answer is NO. There are limited numbers of business objects for which we can use File Based Loader. As of today following are the objects for which we can File Based Loader. Some of the Business Objects are dependents on other.

Now after looking into this table you understand that you actually need not to wait for any of your team member as the business objects you are going to load (Grade) has no dependency. However, your colleague who is responsible to load Job you would like to inform that he cannot load unless Job Family and Grade are loaded.

Migrations Activities (Using File Based Loader)

Now since the Business Object you have to load doesn’t depend on any other objects, you start exploring the activities you need to perform for a successful load. You come to know that below are the detailed steps you will need to perform to load Grade or any business objects.

1. Configure the Load Batch Data Process
2. Define Oracle Fusion Business Objects
3. Generate the Mapping File of Cross-Reference Information
4. Import Cross-Reference Information to the Source Environment
5. Map Source Data to the Reference Data
6. Extract the Source Data
7. Deliver Your Data to the Oracle WebCenter Content Server
8. Import Source Data to the Stage Tables
9. Load Data from the Stage Tables to the Application Tables
10. Fix Batch-Load Errors

Now as you aware about the steps lets login to application and follow the steps one by one

1. Configure the Load Batch Data Process

For this please navigate to Setup and Maintenance » search for task Manage HCM Configuration for coexistence » Click on Go to Task

This will open Manage HCM Configuration for Coexistence window. Click on Detach () icon to have a larger view. A screen similar to below will appear.

This is also known as Load Batch Data Process, which helps to load the data from stage table to oracle Fusion application tables. We will make use of this at our later stage. Most of the parameter will have default values, which you will need not to change. You just need to make sure that value for Loader Number of Processes is between 1 to 8 and there is a password entered for filed ODI Password

Once you verify or update the data click on Detach () icon again to return back Manage HCM Configuration for Coexistence. If you changed any value click on “Submit” tab else no action is required.

2. Define Oracle Fusion Business Objects

Status of your process must be 12, which means SUCCEEDED. Even after clicking on Search tab multiple times you status shows other than 12 please see the table below to know the exact meaning of process Status.

Note :

• For processes that complete with errors (status 10), search for the process ID in the Scheduled Processes work area (Navigator – Tools – Scheduled Processes) and view the associated log file
• Whenever you make changes to any of the Oracle Fusion business objects, you must regenerate the mapping file. For example, if you define additional person types, then you must regenerate the GUIDs for the Oracle Fusion instance
• The GUIDs associated with an Oracle Fusion instance don’t change. However, GUIDs vary among instances. Therefore, the GUIDs that you generate from the stage environment are different from those that you generate from the production environment. You must generate them in both environments.
• As an alternative to running the Generate Mapping File for HCM Business Objects process, you can use the HCM extract described in the document Business Object Key Map Extract for File-Based Loader (My Oracle Support article ID 1595283.1)

4. Download Mapping File

From the previous steps you have create a .ZIP file now it is time to download the same. By now we know that the zip file will contain cross reference information for each business objects. The Generate Mapping File for HCM Business Objects process creates one or more data files (.dat files) for each business object. The application packs .dat files automatically in a zipped data file that’s written to the Oracle WebCenter Content server.

To download the file navigate to Navigator » Tools » File Import and Export » Set the Account value in the Search section to hcm/dataloader/export and click Search

You will see your .ZIP file that you saw in previous steps but this time you can click on the zipped file name. Click on the file name and it will down load the file onto your system.

If you unzip the downloaded file you will see total 21 .dat (data) files.  These .dat files belong to different Business Objects as described below in the table.

You can explore these files using notepad to see how GUIDs look like. GUIDs are unique 32-character alphanumeric identifier used by both Oracle Fusion HCM and source applications such as Oracle PeopleSoft and Oracle EBS. Screenshots below shows the XR_ASSIGNMENT_STATUS_TYPE.dat file

5. Map Source Data to the Reference Data

Now it is time to do some interesting and challenging work. To understand this better lets ask a question to yourself how fusion application will know the data your are going to supply to load will be mapped against which column of any table. To make our life easy oracle has given File-Based Loader Column Mapping Spreadsheet, which tells what are the data we can supply against any Business Objects .

So in our case if we check the Business Objects for Grade we will find the data we can supply under header given in the column “Datastore Attribute Name”. You can also check the comment column to see important information.  If you see the highlighted column it tells that we must reference the GUID from XR_SETID_SET.dat which we generated from step  Download Mapping File. If you go back and open the  XR_SETID_SET.dat you will see different GUIDs for each sets available in your Fusion application. Now you can select the GUIds of the sets you want to link your Grade. Please note a grade must be linked with your Business Units set or Common set.

Note:

• Heading rows must be in capital letters and spelled correctly.
• Data lines follow this heading row, with data items also being separated by the pipe character.
• Columns can appear in any order.

So based on the above information our file to upload Grade information should look like below. For example I have added below two grades and both are linked with common set

• Avi Demo Grade1
• Avi Demo Grade2

Click on this link to download the file

6. Extract the Source Data

This step is more about structuring about data that are ready to load. As we followed the naming convention while working on mapping source data to reference data, similar all business objects that we are going to load should be placed inside the structured folder and .dat files should also be placed inside their parent folder as given below

From the above table its pretty clear that to load Grade we must have a folder “Grade” and inside that there should be only one .dat file with name “F_GRADE_VO.dat”. However, system doesn’t stop you to combine all business objects together and place their .dat files inside respective parent folder. You can upload all business objects together to content server and upload in the stage table only file moving the business objects to fusion application you will need to follow the sequence we discussed earlier

Note:

• No parent folder exists in the zip file.
• The application processes each business object in the zip file as a separate batch. For example, if the zip file contains both Department and Job business objects, then the application processes the zip-file contents as two separate batches, one for Departments and one for Jobs.

7. Deliver Your Data to the Oracle WebCenter Content Server

Now its time to work on application again. Lets assume that now we have a .dat file F_GRADE_VO.dat, which is placed inside folder “Grade” and file is zipped with name LoadGrade.zip

Now to upload the .zip file (data) to Oracle WebCenter Content Sever follow the navigation Navigator » Tools » File Import and Export » Click on Update Icon and select your .zip file (LoadGrade.zip). Please make sure the value for Account is hcm/dataloader/import. Click on Save and Close.

Once you click on Save and Close please make a note of Content ID. If you are not able to see the content id click on View, columns and select Content ID.

8. Import Source Data to the Stage Tables

So far our uploaded zip file is only in the content server we need to move this to stag table. For the same please navigate to Navigator » Workforce Management » Data Exchange » and follow below activities

Select “Load Data for Coexistence” under Under task “Coexistence for HCM” » and follow below activities

• Click on Import
• Enter Contend ID that you got from previous step
• Select business Object as Grade (if you are uploading more business objects you have option to select all)
• Give the batch a name to identify it later. Object names are prefixed with the batch name to provide a unique batch name for each batch
• Loader Run Type select as Import
• Click Submit

Note:

• If you set the Loader Run Type parameter to Import, then data is imported to the stage tables. You can review the results of this process and correct any import errors before proceeding with the load to the application tables. When you first start to use File-Based Loader, this is the recommended approach.
• If you set the Loader Run Type parameter to Import and Load Batch Data, then data is imported to the stage tables. All objects imported successfully to the stage tables are then loaded automatically to the application tables. You may prefer this approach when import errors are few and your data-loading is routine.

Track the progress

Once you click on submit track the program. Enter your content Id in filed File and click on search. Press the refresh icon until you see process status Succeeded. At the bottom you can also see the total object, pending objects etc.

9. Load Data from the Stage Tables to the Application Tables

Now our data are loaded to stag table. Its time to move them to application table. For this click on the Batch Name link (for example : LoadGrade:Grade) or search based on the batch name that you gave earlier. You should see screen similar to below. Now select the batch name line and Click on Run icon

Note : If you have uploaded more than one business objects you need to perform this activity one by one for all object in the same sequence we discussed initially.

Once you click on Run you will see below screen. Before you click on Submit just make sure Batch Name is correct.

As soon as you click on Submit you will get confirmation and the process id. Click Ok and come back to previous screen where you can track the progress. Please click on refresh couple of time until you see the batch status Complete. Make sure all objects are loaded successfully, you can check this at the bottom.

10. Fix Batch-Load Errors

If you encounter any error on the previous step, click on the failed tab and analysis the data. You have the flexibility to correct data here itself and mark them for reprocess so that you do not need to start the whole process again.

Verify the loaded data through File Based Loader

Lets assume our data was loaded successfully to application tables. Now its time to verify them. Sine in this example we only uploaded Grades. the navigation we need to follow is Navigator » Setup and Maintenance » search for task “Manage Grades” and click on Go to task

Now search for the name Avi and you will see two grades available there, which we loaded through File Based Loader 🙂

Additional Resources for File Based Loader

Please check below oracle notes if they are of any help

• Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management File-Based Loader (Doc ID 1595283.1)
• File Based loader Common simple Issues and their workarounds (Doc ID 1683867.1)
• Data File Validation for File Based Loader (Doc ID 1587716.1)
• What the User Interface Setups Needed For File Based Loader? (Doc ID 1586070.1)
• E-Business Suite HCM Extraction Toolkit for Fusion HCM Integration Using File Based Loader (Doc ID 1556687.1)
• E-Business Suite HCM Extraction Toolkit for Fusion HCM Integration Using Data Loader (Doc ID 1942763.1)