A realm is a set of access privileges to internal catalogs, external catalogs, or categories within internal catalogs. A security realm is a list of objects (item source or a category) to which a user is granted access.  Examples of item sources include a company’s internal catalog or an external supplier’s catalog or marketplace.  A category, unlike an item source, represents a grouping of items within the internal catalog. 

You can create the following two kinds of realms:
■ A category realm is a set of access privileges to categories contained in the localcatalog.
■ An item source realm is a set of access privileges to punchout, transparent punchout, or informational catalogs.
Once you create a realm, you assign it to a responsibility or user. The requester associated with that responsibility or user can see whatever categories or item source catalogs are contained in that realm.

 

Category Realms Example
Assume the following item categories exist in the local catalog:
■ Medical/Surgical Equipment
■ Medical/Surgical Supplies
■ Notepads
■ Writing Instruments
Because of the nature of the items contained in the Medical/Surgical categories, only certain requesters are allowed to create requisitions for these items. You create two realms. One realm grants access to all of the categories mentioned above and is assigned to the iProcurement MedSurge responsibility. The other realm grants access only to the Notepads and Writing Instruments categories and is assigned to the Internet Procurement responsibility.
Any requester who logs in using the iProcurement MedSurge responsibility has access to items in all of the categories mentioned above. A requester who logs in using the Internet Procurement responsibility has access only to items in the
Notepads and Writing Instruments categories. Alternatively, or additionally, you could assign these realms to individual users.

Item Source Realms Example
Assume the following remote catalogs are defined in Oracle iProcurement:
■ Exchange.Oracle.com (transparent punchout)
■ Office Supplies Unlimited (transparent punchout)
■ Computer Components Corporation (punchout site)
Company policy limits the purchasing of computer hardware to the Information Technology (IT) department. To adhere to this policy and restrict certain requesters from ordering these types of items, two realms are created. One realm grants access to all of the remote catalogs mentioned above and is assigned to members of the IT department. The other realm grants access only to Exchange.Oracle.com and Office Supplies Unlimited. This realm is assigned to all other requesters. You can assign the realms to a responsibility (which assigns it to all requesters who use that responsibility), to individual requesters, or both.

Responsibility and User Access to Realms
Until you assign realms, users have access to all categories and to all punchout, transparent punchout, and informational catalogs defined in Oracle iProcurement.Once you assign a realm, the affected requester or requesters have access only to the data in the assigned realm.
Realms are additive. For example, when you assign a realm to a responsibility, all requesters assigned that responsibility have access to that realm; however, you can assign additional realms to any of these individual requesters that only they have
access to.

Setting up realms consists of three basic steps:
1. Create the realm.
2. Assign the realm to a responsibility.
3. Optionally assign realms to individual users if desired.
To use realms, you must at a minimum "secure" the responsibility that the requesters use to access Oracle iProcurement. Securing a responsibility consists of entering ICX_POR_REALM_ID in the Name field for the responsibility as described
in the steps below. Next, as described in the steps below, assign a realm ID to that responsibility, to requesters (users) in that responsibility, or both, as your needs require.

Notes
Categories restricted by realms display to requesters when browsing categories; however, the items in those categories do not display. Category realms restrict access to items in the excluded categories.