E-commerce Transactions

Desktop Requisitions opens the world of e-commerce to you. E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods electronically.

E-commerce is a revolutionary way to procure your items. Rather than searching through outdated catalogs then telephoning supplier representatives, you can now check a large variety of catalogs online. With up-to-date price and availability information, you can immediately determine the cost of your parts and check if they are available for immediate shipment. Your purchase orders are then sent electronically to suppliers. In turn, your suppliers can electronically send back a variety of transactions, including order status and shipment information.

Because e-commerce is an emerging field, not all buying companies and suppliers are currently set up to participate. Contact your system administrator if you have any questions about the availability of the e-commerce capability at your site.

There are two possible kinds of e-commerce transactions that can be generated from your own site as part of the electronic purchasing process. There are five possible kinds of e-commerce transactions that can be generated by the supplier in response to your PO during the electronic purchasing cycle.

Buyer Site E-Commerce Transactions

As a Desktop Requisitions user, you are at the buyer site. You and/or your purchasing agent can create two kinds of e-commerce transactions.

PO Transaction

When the requisition you submit via Desktop Requisitions becomes an approved PO, a PO transaction is created. This transaction contains the information necessary for the supplier to fill your order. The PO transaction starts the e-commerce transaction process.

The PO transaction includes your company name, ship-to address, one or more line items and quantities, price, method of payment, and so on.

Cancel PO Transaction

After the PO transaction has been sent, it is possible for your purchasing agent, via the Purchasing module, to send a Cancel PO transaction. (You cannot cancel an approved PO from Desktop Requisitions.)

The purchasing agent may want to cancel a PO in order to send a change order, a revision to the original PO, or simply because the items are no longer needed.

Supplier Site E-Commerce Transactions

An e-commerce-enabled supplier can generate up to five different kinds of e-commerce transactions in response to POs or PO cancellations sent from your site.

Note that the supplier does not have to generate any of these transactions. So you might receive only some of the following transaction types. Or you might not receive any from some vendors. Or you might receive electronic transactions sometimes, and not receive them other times. For example, the supplier could get the electronic PO, then telephone your purchasing agent to confirm receipt of the PO and provide a ship date, and send out the invoice by mail.

The supplier has the option to create any of the following e-commerce transactions.

Note:

If you want to be notified of e-commerce transactions sent by an e-commerce-enabled supplier, your Labor record should have a transaction e-mail notification setting of Always.

Acknowledgement

The acknowledgement transaction simply indicates that your PO has been received by the supplier. You might also receive an acknowledgement if and when you send a change order.

Vendor Order Status

The vendor order status transaction provides information about your order beyond the acknowledgement. For example, a vendor order status transaction could note that only part of your order can be immediately filled because parts are on back order.

Advance Ship Notice (ASN)

The ASN is a transaction containing the shipment information on your order. The transaction can contain information such as the PO number, the packing slip number, shipping method to be used (UPS, Fedex, etc.), expected ship date, and expected arrival date. Shipped quantities of individual line items from the PO are included in the transaction. Therefore, it is possible to use the ASN to receive items.

Confirm_BOD

The confirm_BOD transaction is a standard e-commerce transaction that can be sent to acknowledge the cancellation of a PO.

Invoice

The invoice transaction contains final cost and payment information. A supplier could issue multiple invoices against a single PO. For example, if multiple shipments were made to fulfill a single PO, an invoice transaction could be sent for each shipment.