ORA-01722 when executing a procedure

Question

I am executing a procedure in a package thru a nightly database job. This job has been working fine for the last several months. However recently it started abending with a ORA-01722 error. No changes have been made to the code. The procedure code follows:
PROCEDURE p_start_batch_merge_sites IS
p_batch_site_id tf_batch_merge_sites.master_site_id%TYPE;
p_batch_sub_site_id tf_batch_merge_sites.subordinate_site_id%TYPE;
p_batch_sub_site_name tf_batch_merge_sites.subordinate_site_name%TYPE;
v_error number;
CURSOR batch_merge_sites_cur is
Select master_site_id, subordinate_site_id, subordinate_site_name
from tf_batch_merge_sites
where merge_Date_time is null;
BEGIN
OPEN batch_merge_sites_cur;
LOOP
FETCH batch_merge_sites_cur into
p_batch_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_name;
EXIT WHEN batch_merge_sites_cur%NOTFOUND;
pkg_tf_merge_sites.p_merge_sites(p_batch_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_id);
select sql_err_no into v_error
from tf_merge_log
where id = (select max(id) from tf_merge_log);
IF v_error <>0 then
close batch_merge_sites_cur;
update tf_batch_merge_sites
set error_message_text = 'Error in Batch Merge'
where master_site_id = p_batch_site_id
and subordinate_site_id = p_batch_sub_site_id;
ELSE
update tf_batch_merge_sites
set error_message_text = 'Batch Merge Sites Successfully Completed',
merge_date_time = sysdate
where master_site_id = p_batch_site_id
and subordinate_site_id = p_batch_sub_site_id;
pkg_tf_merge_sites.p_delete_subordinate (p_batch_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_name);
END IF;
END LOOP;
CLOSE batch_merge_sites_cur;
END;
One call in this procedure passing 2 number fields works ok:
pkg_tf_merge_sites.p_merge_sites(p_batch_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_id);
The call that is abending is passing the same 2 number fields as the above call, plus a varchar2 name field.
pkg_tf_merge_sites.p_delete_subordinate (p_batch_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_id, p_batch_sub_site_name);
The table structure for the tf_batch_merge_sites is as follows:
SQL> desc tf_batch_merge_sites
Name Null? Type
MASTER_SITE_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(12)
MASTER_SITE_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(60)
SUBORDINATE_SITE_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(12)
SUBORDINATE_SITE_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(60)
MERGE_DATE_TIME DATE
ERROR_MESSAGE_TEXT VARCHAR2(100)
REVISION_USER_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30)
REVISION_DATE_TIME NOT NULL DATE
p_delete_subordinate procedure:
PROCEDURE p_delete_subordinate(
p_site_id IN NUMBER,
p_subordinate_site_id IN NUMBER,
p_site_name IN VARCHAR2
IS
-- PROCEDURE: p_delete_subordinate
-- NOTES: Deletes the subordinate site after merging with the master site.
-- HISTORY:
-- 05-01-2003 BSS Created.
v_batchid NUMBER;
CURSOR subordinate_site_cur(
p_subordinate_site_id NUMBER
IS
SELECT rid
FROM se_i_entities
WHERE id = p_subordinate_site_id
AND entity_type = 'SITE';
BEGIN
BEGIN
INSERT INTO tf_merge_sites
(site_id,
merged_site_id,
merged_site_name
VALUES (p_site_id,
p_subordinate_site_id,
p_site_name
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
RAISE;
END;
DELETE FROM tf_site_aliases
WHERE primary_site_id = p_subordinate_site_id;
-- OR secondary_site_id = p_subordinate_site_id;
DELETE FROM tf_former_site_names
WHERE site_id = p_subordinate_site_id;
FOR k IN subordinate_site_cur(p_subordinate_site_id)
LOOP
DELETE FROM se_i_entity_relationships
WHERE entity_rid_2 = k.rid
AND entity_type_2 = 'SITE';
END LOOP;
DELETE FROM se_i_entities
WHERE id = p_subordinate_site_id
AND entity_type = 'SITE';
DELETE FROM tf_sites
WHERE site_id = p_subordinate_site_id;
DELETE FROM e_masters
WHERE id = p_subordinate_site_id;
COMMIT;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
RAISE;
END;
I've looked at the data and it looks fine. Does anyone have any idea why I would get this message after it has been running fine for several months?
Thanks!!
Shellie Bricker

Answer 1

ORA-01722: invalid number
Cause: The attempted conversion of a character string to a number failed because the character string was not a valid numeric literal. Only numeric fields or character fields containing numeric data may be used in arithmetic functions or expressions. Only numeric fields may be added to or subtracted from dates.
Action: Check the character strings in the function or expression. Check that they contain only numbers, a sign, a decimal point, and the character "E" or "e" and retry the operation.
Maybe you have bad data?