Oracle Inventory Management - Version: 11.5.9 to 11.5.10.CU2 - Release: 11.5 to 11.5
GOAL
What is the supported approach for using the Import Item concurrent program (INCOIN) to create and update items for multiple languages?
SOLUTION
Per INV TechRef 11.5.8 eTRM Quote Section MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_B:
See DESCRIPTION column in the base table ...
"Items now support multilingual description. MLS is implemented with a pair of tables: MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_B and MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_TL. Translations table (MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_TL) holds item Description and Long Description in multiple languages. DESCRIPTION column in the base table (MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_B) is for backward compatibility and is maintained in the installation base language only."
Item open interface (IOI) is implemented so that there is no multilingual interface table (_TL) counterpart to MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_INTERFACE, unlike transaction tables where there is a pair of base/translations tables: MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_{B,TL}. . Description and Long_Description text cannot be imported with IOI in multiple language simultaneously. Item Description is imported in only one language (=language of the session) per single Interface run, populating the MTL_SYSTEM_ITEMS_TL table with the SOURCE LANGUAGE of the import session. Then the Description can be updated for any particular language by running an import in UPDATE mode in that language session.
When the description is controlled at the Master Level, the description value will propagate to the Child Organization. This can be tested by making an update through the application to the Master level and then confirm that it propagated to the Child Org. Any attribute that can be updated via the form in the application will behave the same way through IOI also.
REFERENCES
NOTE:124283.1- Multilingual Support in Oracle Applications Release 11i
