I- SUPPLITER

Oracle iSupplier Functionalities and Processes

Oracle iSupplier Portal is an Internet-based robust, secure and highly-efficient application that
establishes seamless communication between an enterprise and suppliers to exchange purchase
orders, shipment, invoicing information as well as initiate purchase order changes,
acknowledgement and cancellations etc.
There are following tabs in the iSupplier User Full Access responsibility
Home
Orders
Shipments
Planning
Finance
Product
Intelligence
Admin
The web interface is meant to be used by the supplier contacts, so that they can access the
purchase orders placed by the purchasing organization and act accordingly.
Oracle iSupplier portal helps to reduce the purchasing activity cost significantly as it not only reduces
the supplier communication cost but also helps to reduce the procurement lead time that helps to
receive items much earlier from suppliers. Overall it immensely contributes to establish an efficient
supply chain process in the organization.
Oracle iSupplier Supplier Registration: There are various ways you can register a supplier
contact to allow accessing iSupplier Portal. One of the following options can be performed to do so.
Invite Supplier User
Register Supplier User
Registration through supplier contact setup
You may login to Purchasing superuser or similar responsibility to perform one of the above
mentioned activities.
Invite Supplier User:
Navigation: Supply Base -> Supplier User Management -> Supplier User Creation -> Invite Supplier
User
This functionality allows a purchasing organization to send an invitation to a supplier contact to
register in iSupplier portal. The supplier contact person will receive an email notification containing a
link to enter all the necessary information. Once it is entered and submitted the administrator or the
buyer who issued the request receives notification to approve the registration process.
Register Supplier User
Navigation: Supply Base -> Supplier User Management -> Supplier User Creation -> Register
Supplier User
The administrator or the buyer can register a supplier contact using this page.
Select the supplier name. The number will be automatically populated.
Enter the mandatory fields Email, Username, Last name etc. Note that, the user name defaults as
email address and you may overwrite it.
It is recommended to enter other non-mandatory fields, such as First name, Phone and Fax
numbers etc.
Select the responsibilities you want to assign to the user by checking the box in the Select
Responsibility section. Note that only the external responsibilities appear in this list.
You may want to restrict the user access to a particular supplier and site by adding the respective
supplier and sites in the User Access Restrictions section. Click on the Modify Suppliers and
Modify Sites button to add allowed suppliers and sites respectively.
Finally click on the Register button. This registration process does following things automatically:
Creates the contact for the supplier. Navigate to Supplier Base -> Suppliers and query for the
respective supplier. Then click on the Contact Directory link to see the contact setup. Also see the
Has User Account field is checked for the registered contact.
Creates the Oracle user account for the supplier contact. Navigate to Security -> User -> Define in
the System Administrator responsibility and query mentioning the username entered earlier in the
registration page. Also see that, the responsibilities checked during registration process have been
automatically assigned to the user account. The Securing Attributes tab in the user setup contains
the id of the supplier site that was assigned to the contact during registration.
Finally the supplier contact receives an email confirming registration that contains the link and
temporary password to login to the iSupplier network.
Registration through supplier contact setup
Another option is to automatically register a contact for iSupplier while performing supplier contact
setup.
Navigation: Supply Base -> Suppliers.
Search for the supplier and click on the Contact Directory link on the left side bar.
Click on the Create button to create a new contact.
Enter all the relevant information and check the Create User Account for this Contact checkbox
which defaults the email address as username which you may overwrite.
Check the boxes related to the responsibilities that you want to assign to the username.
Also establish access restrictions by assigning respective sites to the user by clicking the Modify
Sites button.
Click on Apply button.
An Oracle user account based on the user name mentioned earlier will be created automatically and
the temporary password will be emailed to the contact.
Oracle iSupplier External Responsibility Setup: The Oracle responsibility that is accessible by
the supplier contact is actually an External responsibility. It is same as other Oracle responsibilities
but you need to perform few setups to make the responsibility accessible to external users (i.e.
supplier contact). This document is applicable only when you are creating a custom iSupplier
responsibility for supplier contacts registered in iSupplier.
Step-1: Responsibility Setup:
Once you create a custom responsibility for registered supplier contacts to access iSupplier
functionalities, make sure to perform following setup in the Responsibility setup window (Navigation:
Security -> Responsibility -> Define in the System Administrator responsibility).
Click on the Securing Attributes tab and add the following attributes.
ICX_SUPPLIER_CONTACT_ID Application iSupplier Portal.
ICX_SUPPLIER_ORG_ID Application iSupplier Portal.
ICX_SUPPLIER_SITE_ID Application iSupplier Portal.
Once you save the above records, click on the Values button for ICX_SUPPLIER_CONTACT_ID
and ICX_SUPPLIER_SITE_ID securing attributes and enter the value -9999 (without the inverted
commas) for both the attributes separately. Without this value setup iSupplier users will not be able
to see their orders, shipments etc. though they will be able to login to the application.
Step-2: Profile Option Setup:
Following profile options need to be setup at the responsibility level to establish the custom
iSupplier responsibility created in the step-1 as an External responsibility.
POS: External Responsibility Flag - Yes
Responsibility Trust Level - External
Now yo
u may assign the custom iSupplier responsibility to the iSupplier users.
Oracle iSupplier Purchsase Order (PO) Acknowledgment: Oracle iSupplier allows a supplier
contact to acknowledge purchase orders based on the request from the buyer. Without Oracle
iSupplier, this activity is usually done offline which is time-consuming, error-prone and lacks effective
tracking of purchase order acknowledgment. So lets see how it works.
Step-1: Buyer creates the Purchase Order (PO) in Oracle Purchasing:
Login to Oracle applications as a buyer and create a standard purchase order using PO-Superuser
or PO-Buyer or similar responsibility. Note that, you need to use appropriate supplier, site and
contact that are registered in Oracle iSupplier.
Make sure to enter Document or Document or Schedule in the Required Acknowledgment field
in the PO header section. You may optionally enter the date in the Acknowledge By field.
Finally submit the PO for approval. Once approved the PO status shows as Requires
Acknowledgment.
Difference between Document and Document or Schedule:
I have noticed only one difference between Document and Document or Schedule as, Supplier
Order Number field becomes enterable in the Document or Schedule method while supplier
contact is acknowledging the PO in the iSupplier portal. Otherwise it is a non-editable field. Also note
that it is optional for the supplier contact to enter the data in that field.
Step-2: PO acknowledgment by supplier contact in iSupplier portal:
Supplier contact may follow one of the following steps to acknowledge a PO.
Notification section: iSupplier Home tab
Once the PO created in the Step-1 is approved, the supplier contact will receive a notification in the
iSupplier Home page as Standard Purchase Order ZZZZ,Z requires your acceptance. The contact
clicks on the link and finally Accept /Reject the PO.
Purchase Order view: iSupplier Orders tab
Click on the Orders -> Purchase Orders in the iSupplier portal page.
Now, select Purchase Orders to Acknowledge in the view field and click on Go.
It will show all the purchase orders those have been requested for acknowledgment by buyers.
Select the purchase order you want to acknowledge and click on the Acknowledge button.
Alternatively, you may click on the PO number and then select Acknowledge in the Action field
and click Go.
You may click on either Accept Entire Order or Reject Entire Order button to acknowledge the
order.
In both steps mentioned above, the buyer will be notified automatically and the order status will be
either Accepted or Rejected once PO is acknowledged.
Oracle iSupplier Request Changes for Purchase Orders (PO)
Oracle iSupplier allows supplier contacts to submit a request for PO changes, in case they are
unable to fulfil the commitment made earlier in reference to the PO. This functionality helps to
update the purchasing organization about the latest status of the order in terms of pricing, schedule
etc.
Supplier contacts activity in Oracle iSupplier:
Login to iSupplier portal as a supplier contact and click on the Orders -> Purchase Orders link.
Select the PO and click on the Request Changes button or click on the PO number and select
Request Changes in the Action field in the subsequent page and click go.
You can modify following fields in the page that appears next:
Line level: Supplier Item and Price can be updated.
Shipment level: Ordered Quantity, Promised Date and Supplier Order Line number can be updated.
You need to provide appropriate reason and action (shipment level changes only) for the change
that will help buyer to take an informed decision.
Click on Submit button to submit the changes. The PO status changes to Supplier Change
Pending and authorization status changes to In Process once submitted. Refer to the Action
History to see the more details.
The Supplier contact can see the POs waiting for change request approval by clicking on the Orders
tab and selecting Purchase Orders Pending Supplier Change in the view field.
Buyers activity in Oracle Purchasing:
Buyer can access the change request from the following areas:
1. Email or Notifications in the Notification Summary. See the notifications related to PO change
request and click on the link. The changes requested by the supplier are highlighted prominently in
the details of the notification. Click on Accept/Reject/Reassign button as appropriate.
2. Access the change request using Professional Buyer Work Center(PBWC) Click on Buyer Work
Center -> Orders and select My Orders with Pending Change Requests option in the view field and
click Go. It will show the orders with pending change requests created by supplier. Note that, there
will be a blue circle next to the PO number to indicate the pending change request. Click on the PO
number to get into the details of the PO and you will see changed fields are appropriately indicated
for better understanding.
3. Another option is similar to the above. Access the change request using Professional Buyer Work
Center(PBWC) Click on Buyer Work Center -> Orders and select My Orders with Pending Change
Requests option in the view field and click Go. It will show the orders with pending change requests
created by supplier. Note that, there will be a blue circle next to the PO number to indicate the
pending change request. Select Respond to Change Requests from the Select Order drop-down
list and click Go. Now Buyer can approve or reject the change in the subsequent page.
Note that, PO in the supplier change pending status cant be updated till the change is approved or
rejected. Also, only the buyer of the respective PO can action the change request approvals.
Oracle iSupplier Request Cancellation of Purchase Orders (PO)
Oracle iSupplier allows supplier contact to request cancellation of purchase orders that was placed
by purchasing organization. This may be done due to various reasons, such as unable to deliver on
time, product design change no longer meets the request criteria etc.
Supplier contacts activity in Oracle iSupplier:
Login to iSupplier portal as a supplier contact and click on the Orders -> Purchase Orders link.
Select the PO and click on the Request Cancellation button or click on the PO number and select
Request Cancellation in the Action field in the subsequent page and click go.
If you are cancelling the entire PO, then click on the Cancel Entire Order button in the subsequent
page and enter the reason of the cancellation in the page that appears next.
If you are cancelling one/few line(s) of the PO, then select Cancel in the Action field and enter the
reason of cancellation in the Reason field.
In iSupplier portal, the status of the PO will show as Supplier Change Pending and the
authorization status changes to In Process. The Supplier contact can see the POs waiting for
change request approval by clicking on the Orders tab and selecting Purchase Orders Pending
Supplier Change in the view field.
Buyers activity in Oracle Purchasing:
Now, login as buyer in Oracle.
Buyer can access the change request from the following areas:
1. Email or Notifications in the Notification Summary. See the notifications of PO Supplier Change
type and click on the link. The changes requested by the supplier are highlighted prominently in the
details of the notification. Click on Accept/Reject/Reassign button as appropriate.
2. Access the change request using Professional Buyer Work Center(PBWC) Click on Buyer Work
Center -> Orders and select My Orders with Pending Change Requests option in the view field and
click Go. It will show the orders with pending change requests created by supplier. Note that, there
will be a blue circle next to the PO number to indicate the pending change request. Click on the PO
number to get into the details, and then select View Change History in the Actions field to see the
change details. You will see the record shown will have Cancellation Request field value as Yes
and Response will be shown as Pending till the change request approval notification is approved.
The Response field value will be changed to Accepted or Rejected based on the button clicked in
the approval notification.
3. Another option is similar to the above. Access the change request using Professional Buyer Work
Center(PBWC) Click on Buyer Work Center -> Orders and select My Orders with Pending Change
Requests option in the view field and click Go. It will show the orders with pending change requests
created by supplier. Note that, there will be a blue circle next to the PO number to indicate the
pending change request. Select Respond to Change Requests from the Select Order drop-down
list and click Go. Now Buyer can approve or reject the change in the subsequent page. It will also
provide you the option to select yes/no to indicate whether you want the related requisition to be
cancelled as well.
Note that, PO in the supplier change pending status cant be updated till the change is approved or
rejected. Also, only the buyer of the respective PO can action the change request approvals.
Oracle iSupplier Advanced Shipment Notice (ASN): The Advance Shipment Notice (ASN)
functionality of Oracle iSupplier helps a supplier to communicate the shipment information to the
buyer while the goods are being shipped form the premises. It immensely helps the purchasing
organization to estimate the expected arrival of goods which in turn helps to determine whether
production schedule, customer delivery commitments etc. are on track or there may be a change in
various schedules. It also saves the data entry time of the receiver, as an ASN can be automatically
converted to a PO receipt which we will discuss later in this document.
Supplier contact actions:
Login to iSupplier as a supplier contact.
Click on the Shipments tab and then shipment Notices link.
Now click on Create Advance Shipment Notices link.
Now select appropriate view or perform an advanced search to extract the purchase orders eligible
for shipments.
Select the respective PO, line or shipment you want to create the shipment notice for and click on
the Add to Shipment Notice button.
Click on the Shipment Header link in the subsequent page and enter the shipment number. As
expected, this number is unique. Also enter the shipment date and expected receipt date etc., as
they are mandatory. You may optionally enter the Freight, packing and weight information.
Now click on the Shipment Lines tab and optionally enter the packing slip, container information.
You may click on the Default to All Lines button to default the mentioned information to all the lines
of the ASN or click on the Show link
of the respective ASN line and enter the aforesaid fields if the values for various lines are not same.
You may also attach various supporting documents, such as packing slip, to the ASN which will be
visible by the receiver and will appear as a From Supplier attachment. An ASN line can be split into
multiple ASN lines if needed.
Finally click on the Submit button. This action will send the ASN information to the buyer as a For
Your Information (FYI) notification, so that buyer can communicate to stores, planning etc. if needed.
The Receiving Transaction Processor program will process ASN records.
Receiver Actions:
While the shipment is in transit, the receiver can view the shipment details and update the same in
the below navigation:
Responsibility: Inventory Superuser or similar
Navigation: Transactions -> Receiving -> Manage Shipments
Or
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or similar
Navigation: Receiving -> Manage Shipments
Select appropriate inventory organization.
Enter the ASN number in the Shipment field of the Find In-Transit Shipments form and click on the
Find button. You will be able to see the shipment details and update the allowed fields. You may
also cancel the whole ASN or a line of it by clicking on Tools -> Cancel menu.
Now, once the shipment arrives in the purchasing organization, the receiver converts the ASN to a
PO Receipt.
Responsibility: Inventory Superuser or similar
Navigation: Transactions -> Receiving -> Receipts
Or
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or similar
Navigation: Receiving -> Receipts
Select appropriate inventory organization.
Enter the ASN number in the Shipment field of the Find Expected Receipts form and click on the
Find button.
Now follow standard PO receiving process to complete the receiving.
Sometimes you may not get expected results on ASN or Receipt search activities. In that
case, make sure to run the Receiving Transaction Processor program if it is not
periodically scheduled.
Oracle iSupplier Advanced Shipment and Billing Notice (ASBN): The Advance Shipment and
Billing Notice (ASBN) functionality of Oracle iSupplier is an extension to Advance Shipment Notice
(ASN) functionality. ASBN not only creates the shipment record but also initiates the AP invoice
creation process by inserting the invoicing details to the AP invoice interface table. The invoice
details entered into the AP invoice interface table can be processed by Payables Open Interface
Import program to create the Invoice. Therefore in addition to saving the receivers time, it also
saves significant time of account payable officer by creating the AP invoice automatically.
Prerequites: The supplier site involved in the ASBN creation process should be a Pay site and
bank account for the respective purchase order currency should be assigned to the supplier site. For
example: if the supplier contact is trying to create ASBN for Purchase order DD1234DD (currency
USD) of supplier S1 and site SS1 then the site SS1 should be a pay site and have a USD bank
account assigned to it.
Supplier contacts actions:
Login to iSupplier as a supplier contact.
Click on the Shipments tab and then shipment Notices link.
Now click on Create Advance Shipment and Billing Notices link.
Now select appropriate view or perform an advanced search to extract the purchase orders eligible
for shipments.
Select the respective PO, line or shipment you want to create the shipment notice for and click on
the Add to Shipment Notice button.
Click on the Shipment Header link in the subsequent page and enter the shipment number. As
expected, this number is unique. Also enter the shipment date and expected receipt date etc., as
they are mandatory. You may optionally enter the Freight, packing and weight information. Unlike
ASN, supplier contact needs to enter the invoice number as well while creating the ASBN.
Now click on the Shipment Lines tab and optionally enter the packing slip, container information.
You may click on the Default to All Lines button to default the mentioned information to all the lines
of the ASBN or click on the Show link of the respective ASBN line and enter the aforesaid fields if
the values for various lines are not same.
You may also attach various supporting documents, such as packing slip, copy of the invoice to the
ASBN which will be visible by the receiver and accounts payable officer and will appear as a From
Supplier attachment in the receipts and invoices respectively. An ASBN line can be split into
multiple ASBN lines if needed.
Finally click on the Submit button. This action will send the ASBN information to the buyer as a For
Your Information (FYI) notification, so that buyer can communicate to stores, planning, accounts
payable team etc. if needed.
The Receiving Transaction Processor program will process ASBN records. The invoice details will
be automatically inserted into the AP invoice interface table.
Receivers actions:
While the shipment is in transit, the receiver can view the shipment details and update the same in
the below navigation:
Responsibility: Inventory Superuser or similar
Navigation: Transactions -> Receiving -> Manage Shipments
Or
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or similar
Navigation: Receiving -> Manage Shipments
Select appropriate inventory organization.
Enter the ASBN number in the Shipment field of the Find In-Transit Shipments form and click on
the Find button. You will be able to see the shipment details and update the allowed fields. You
may also cancel the whole ASBN or a line of it by clicking on Tools -> Cancel menu.
Now, once the shipment arrives in the purchasing organization, the receiver converts the ASBN to a
PO Receipt.
Responsibility: Inventory Superuser or similar
Navigation: Transactions -> Receiving -> Receipts
Or
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or similar
Navigation: Receiving -> Receipts
Select appropriate inventory organization.
Enter the ASBN number in the Shipment field of the Find Expected Receipts form and click on the
Find button.
Now follow standard PO receiving process to complete the receiving.
Sometimes you may not get expected results on ASBN or Receipt search activities. In that case,
make sure to run the Receiving Transaction Processor program if it is not periodically scheduled.
Accounts Payable officers actions:
The Account Payable officer can access the invoice records created by the ASBN in the following
navigation:
Responsibility: Payables Manager or Similar
Navigation: Invoices -> Entry -> Open Interface Invoices
Now, run the Payables Open Interface Import concurrent program selecting the source parameter
value as Advance Shipment Billing Notice and other relevant parameter values to create the
invoice.
So the document explains how an ASBN can significantly save the Receipt and Invoice creation
timing.
Oracle iSupplier Supplier Onboarding Configuration: The Supplier Onboarding Configuration
(SOC) is part of iSupplier setup that enables a supplier contact or an internal user to view and
update the supplier profile data though Admin tab in the iSupplier Portal. The SOC includes Address
Book, Contact Directory, Business Classifications, Product & Services, Banking Details, General &
Industrial and Attachments sections of a supplier profile. You can restrict the configuration to an
operating unit or make it Global (across operating unit) by selecting appropriate value in the Scope
field.
Following responsibility and navigation will take you to the SOC configuration page.
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or similar
Navigation: Setup -> Profile Management Configuration -> Supplier Onboarding Configuration
You need to check the boxes for the related profile section based on the organization decision to
allow a supplier contact or internal user to update the supplier profile. Note that, if you allow supplier
user to view and update a profile section, the internal users gets the update access automatically.
Click on the Apply button once the setup is done.
So, this will allow a supplier user/contact to update address book, contacts, bank details,
classifications etc. for a supplier through Admin tab of the iSupplier portal.
Oracle iSupplier Setup Notification Subscription: The Supplier Profile Management (SPM)
notification subscription setup is part of iSupplier configuration and that helps the purchasing
organization to setup the person(s) who will receive the notifications generated out of activities
performed in the iSupplier Admin page. You may setup multiple persons for an event type to
receive the approval notification.
Prerequisites: User account populated with email address and mapped to an active employee
record needs to be setup for the individuals to receive notifications prior to performing notification
subscription setup.
Setup steps:
Responsibility: Purchasing Superuser or Similar
Navigation: Setup -> Profile Management Configuration -> Setup Notification Subscription
In the Setup SPM Notification Subscription page, click on the Add Subscription button to setup
notification subscription for a user. You may search the user by mentioning First Name, Last Name,
Email Address or Employee Number in the Find Receivers section of the Add SPM Notification
Subscriptions page. Select the receiver(s) and Event type(s) in the Select Event Types section
and click on apply button to save the setup.
Following event types are available for selection:
Supplier Registration: To receive notifications related to supplier registration activity.
Supplier Address Change Request: To receive notifications related to supplier address change
activity discussed in the iSupplier Admin page.
Supplier Bank Account Change Request: To receive notifications related to supplier bank account
change activity discussed in the iSupplier Admin page.
Supplier Business Classification Change Request: To receive notifications related to supplier
business classification change activity discussed in the iSupplier Admin page.
Supplier Contact Change Request : To receive notifications related to supplier contact change
activity discussed in the iSupplier Admin page.
Supplier Products and Services Change Request: To receive notifications related to supplier
products and services change activity discussed in the iSupplier Admin page.
This document answers the question on where does the iSupplier notification go. Does it follow a
position or supervisor hierarchy. No, it doesnt. It goes based in the setup explained in this
document.
Oracle iSupplier Admin: The Admin tab of Oracle iSupplier allows supplier user to perform updates
in the profile based on the update access provided in the Supplier Onboarding
Configuration setup. The updates performed in the admin tab will go for approval to the user(s)
mentioned in the Notification Subscription setup and the supplier record will be updated only after
the updates are approved by the approver. Various options in the iSupplier Admin tab are explained
below.
General: This page displays supplier name, number information as well as allows to update, delete
and add attachments to the profile. Supplier may attach various certificates, copy of licenses etc. to
their profile. Note that, updates to this page dont send any notification to purchasing organization.
All the attachments are added as From Supplier type attachment to the supplier setup.
Organization: This page has fields like D-U-N-S number, Year of establishment, Mission statement,
Employee number and Tax and Financial information. Supplier user may update information in this
page but it wont send any approval notification.
Address Book: This page allows supplier user to create/update address. Activities in this page will
send approval notification to the administrator.
Contact Directory: This page allows supplier user to create/update contact. Activities in this page
will send approval notification to the administrator. The updated and new contact will be shown as
Change Pending and Pending respectively in the iSupplier portal till the approver approves the
notification. Rejection of the new contact setup activity will make the contact inactive and the same
will be available in the Contact Directory: Inactive Contacts section.
Business Classifications: This page allows to update or insert a new certificate details for a
supplier. Supporting copy of the certificate can be attached in the General page as discussed
above. Activities in this page will send notifications to approver.
Product & Services:Supplier user may add the categories of various products and services they
can supply to the purchasing organization. This will help the purchasing organization to identify a
supplier from their supplier base while ordering a specific product or service. There is no update
option, as you can only add or remove the categories to the supplier profile. The Products and
Services setup needs to be completed prior to using the functionalities in this page.
Banking Details: This page allows the supplier user to add/update bank account information that
will be used for payments. Activities in this page generate notification for approval.
Payment & Invoicing: Supplier user may update the payment method, payment and invoice
currency preferences and notification method for each supplier address in this page. Note that,
activities in this page doesnt create any notification for approval as well as it doesnt update the
actual record straightaway. Purchasing organization will be able to view the supplier preferences
updated here in the Supply Base -> Suppliers -> Invoice Management -> Supplier Preferences tab
accessible using PO Superuser or similar responsibility.
Administrator in the purchasing organization can access the notification from one of following areas:
Notification Summary in Oracle applications
Email message
To Do List appears in the top-right corner of the supplier setup page available in Supply Base ->
Supplier navigation accessible using Purchasing superuser or similar responsibility.


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