Invoice Grouping Rules in Receivables R12

Grouping Rules group Revenue and Credit transactions into  Invoices, Credit memos and Debit Memos. Autoinvoice program uses the Grouping Rules to group similar sales orders into a single invoice. We need to assign matching attributes while defining the Grouping Rules. These attributes include mandatory and optional parameters. Mandatory parameters are pre-defined by Oracle, where as optional attributes are optional and can be assigned based on the business requirements. Following is the list of all Mandatory and Optional attributes which can be assigned to the Grouping Rules.

Mandatory Attributes:
AGREEMENT_ID
COMMENTS
CONS_BILLING_NUMBER
CONVERSION_DATE
CONVERSION_RATE
CONVERSION_TYPE
CREDIT_METHOD_FOR_ACCT_RULE
CREDIT_METHOD_FOR_INSTALLMENTS
CURRENCY_CODE
CUSTOMER_BANK_ACCOUNT_ID
CUST_TRX_TYPE_ID
DOCUMENT_NUMBER
DOCUMENT_NUMBER_SEQUENCE_ID
GL_DATE
HEADER_ATTRIBUTE1-15
HEADER_ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY
HEADER_GDF_ATTRIBUTE1-30
INITIAL_CUSTOMER_TRX_ID
INTERNAL_NOTES
INVOICING_RULE_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_BILL_ADDRESS_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_BILL_CONTACT_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_BILL_CUSTOMER_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_SOLD_CUSTOMER_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_BATCH_NAME
PAYMENT_SERVER_ORDER_ID
PAYMENT_SET_ID
PREVIOUS_CUSTOMER_TRX_ID
PRIMARY_SALESREP_ID
PRINTING_OPTION
PURCHASE_ORDER
PURCHASE_ORDER_DATE
PURCHASE_ORDER_REVISION
REASON_CODE
RECEIPT_METHOD_ID
RELATED_CUSTOMER_TRX_ID
SET_OF_BOOKS_ID
TERM_ID
TERRITORY_ID
TRX_DATE
TRX_NUMBER

Optional Attributes:
ACCOUNTING_RULE_DURATION
ACCOUNTING_RULE_ID
ATTRIBUTE1-15
ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY
INTERFACE_LINE_ATTRIBUTE1-15
INTERFACE_LINE_CONTEXT
INVENTORY_ITEM_ID
REFERENCE_LINE_ID
RULE_START_DATE
SALES_ORDER
SALES_ORDER_DATE
SALES_ORDER_LINE
SALES_ORDER_REVISION
SALES_ORDER_SOURCE
TAX_CODE
TAX_RATE

The following Ship-To fields were mandatory grouping attributes in release 11i, but are optional in release 12ORIG_SYSTEM_SHIP_CUSTOMER_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_SHIP_ADDRESS_ID
ORIG_SYSTEM_SHIP_CONTACT_IDThis is because ship to information is now stored at the line level in R12. Therefore a single invoice could have different ship to information for each line.
Autoinvoice program matches all the mandatory parameters and group the transactions into invoices. If all the mandatory parameters are matched for two or more similar transactions, they will fall in a same invoice. If we define any optional attribute, Autoinvoice program matches optional attributes in addition to the mandatory attributes to group the transactions.

For Example: SALES_ORDER is the optional attribute assigned to a grouping rule, there Autoinvoice program matches all mandatory attributes + Sales Order for the transactions. For any two or more transactions, if all the mandatory attributes and Sales Order(optional attribute) are matching, only one invoice will be created for those transactions.

If your Grouping rule doesn't include Sales Order and Ship To fields in Optional attributes, similar sales orders with different ship-to addresses but same bill to will be grouped into one invoice and AR transaction form will not show any value in Ship-To address as it can not determine which ship-to value to be picked from multiple sales orders.

Steps to create a Grouping Rule:

Responsibility: Receivables Manager
Navigation: Setup -> Transactions -> Auto Invoice -> Grouping Rules

Select Line Ordering Rules if you are using any. Optional grouping characteristics are optional. If we are not giving any optional Grouping Characteristics, Autoinvoice will only matches mandatory characteristics. We can assign Optional characteristics for Invoices, Credit Memos and Debit Memos. 
  

If  we want to assign optional attributes for all invoices, credit memos and debit memos, First assign optional characteristics for invoice class and the place the cursor on Class Invoices ad use Down Arrow to define  attributes for other classes(Credit Memo and Debit Memo) as well. 

References:
http://appscentric.blogspot.com/2011/11/invoice-grouping-rules.html
https://erporaclesy.wordpress.com/tag/autoinvoice-grouping-rules/