New Features in Purchasing Release 11
New features in this release include the following.
Advance Shipment Notice (ASN)
An Advance Shipment Notice (ASN) is transmitted via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) from a supplier to let the receiving organization know that a shipment is coming. From the EDI Gateway, the ASN is passed into the Receiving Open Interface in Purchasing. The ASN contains details including shipment date, time, and identification number; packing slip data; freight information; item detail including cumulative received quantities; purchase order number; and returnable container information.
Advance Shipment Notices let you:
- Anticipate and respond to potential delivery problems before they occur.
- Reduce receiving costs by reducing receiving transaction time and data entry error.
- Automatically capture additional information (for example, when using ASNs to enter receipts), if the supplier provides it.
Once an ASN is successfully validated, you can use it in the Receipts window to create receipts, reducing data entry time. Or you can simply scan its barcode information to complete the receiving transaction. Suppliers can also send ASNs with billing information. These contain the same information as ASNs plus invoice and tax information. Once an ASN with billing information is validated in the Receiving Open Interface and imported into Purchasing, an invoice for the shipment is created automatically.
A supplier creates an ASN based on the demand conveyed by the purchasing organization's purchase order, planning schedule, or shipping schedule. If Purchasing detects errors or discrepancies in the ASN at any time, from the time the ASN is sent to the time it is entered as received, an Application Advice, transmitted through EDI, is sent automatically to the supplier. The supplier can then send a corrected ASN.
You can view or cancel an accepted ASN as an intransit shipment in the Maintain Shipments window.
Attention: ASNs come from external suppliers only. They cannot be used for internal sales orders sourced from your inventory and generated by internal requisitions.
See Also
Advance Shipment Notices (ASNs)
Oracle EDI Gateway User's Guide
New Receiving Open Interface
The updated Receiving Open Interface provides full, functional validation of Advance Shipment Notices (ASNs). It also provides full, functional validation of receipt information from all external sources. For example, you can easily load barcoded and other receiving information from scanners and radio frequency devices, and the Receiving Open Interface maintains the integrity of the new data as well as the receipt data already in Purchasing.
The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transaction types that can be loaded into the receiving open interface are as follows:
- Inbound ASNs (ANSI X12 856 or EDIFACT DESADV). These include New, Cancellation, and Test ASNs.
- Inbound ASNs with billing information (ANSI X12 857). These also include New, Cancellation, and Test ASNs.
- Outbound Application Advice (ANSI X12 824 or EDIFACT APERAK).
See Also
Oracle Manufacturing, Distribution, Sales and Service Open Interfaces Manual, Release 11
Purchasing Documents Open Interface
Your supplier can send you the latest price/sales catalog information and responses to requests for quotation through the Purchasing Documents Open Interface. The Purchasing Documents Open Interface processes catalog data to ensure that it is valid before importing it into Purchasing. One way to import catalog data into the Purchasing Documents Open Interface, and finally into Purchasing, is through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). EDI programs import the catalog information into Purchasing directly as blanket purchase agreement lines or catalog quotations, whichever you choose. You can also choose to have the programs automatically populate the item master (through the Item Open Interface) and/or apply sourcing rules to the imported item information. If you import price/sales catalog information as blanket purchase agreement lines, you can also specify release generation methods.
Your supplier can send you the catalog information with two kinds of action codes: Original or Replace. An Original file is one in which all the catalog information is new to your system. A Replace file invalidates already-created blanket purchase agreement lines or catalog quotations and creates new valid documents containing new price/sales catalog information.
See Also
Receiving Price/Sales Catalog Information Electronically
Oracle Manufacturing, Distribution, Sales and Service Open Interfaces Manual, Release 11
Procurement Workflow
Purchasing uses Oracle Workflow technology to handle the following procurement activities: requisition and purchase order approvals, automatic creation of purchase orders and releases, purchase order changes (specifically, any additional approvals those changes require), and receipt confirmation. Each of these procurement activities consists of a series of workflow processes. This means that, if you choose, you can use the Oracle Workflow Builder's easy interface to modify these processes.
Approvals
Whenever you submit a purchase order or requisition for approval, Purchasing uses Workflow technology to handle the approval process. Workflow uses the approval rules you've already defined in Purchasing. You can also use Oracle Workflow Builder to create unique approval workflows for particular document types and organizations.
Automatic Purchase Order Creation
The Procurement Workflow lets you define the business rules that determine when approved requisitions are automatically converted into standard purchase orders. You can modify this workflow in the Oracle Workflow Builder to define additional business rules that determine when your approved requisitions are automatically converted into standard purchase orders and blanket releases.
Purchase Order Changes
Changes to purchase orders may require different approvals than standard purchase orders. The Procurement Workflow lets you define what changes to purchase orders--for example, changes to amounts, suppliers, or dates--require approval and what approval rules to follow for those changes. The changes can then be sent automatically to the appropriate people for approval.
Receipt Confirmation
Through integration with Oracle Web Employees, the Procurement Workflow provides you with notifications when shipments are due and allows you to respond accordingly to the appropriate individuals, including suppliers. (These notifications are not the same as ASNs. They are generated by workflow to indicate that you should have received the goods you ordered. You then confirm whether or not you did receive them. ASNs are typically sent before the goods arrive.) Oracle Web Employees is part of the Oracle Self-Service Web Applications.
See Also
Approval Workflows
Purchasing Workflows
Confirm Receipts
Oracle Workflow Guide
Supplier Drop Shipments
Oracle Order Entry and Oracle Purchasing integrate to provide drop shipments. Drop shipments are orders for items that your supplier ships directly to the customer either because you don't stock or currently have the items in inventory, or because it's more cost-effective for the supplier to ship the item to the customer directly. Drop Shipments enable you to ship products directly from your supplier to the customer, reducing lead times, warehouse costs, and inventory investment.
Drop shipments are created as sales orders in Order Entry. The Purchase Release concurrent program in Order Entry creates rows in the Requisition Import tables in Purchasing. Then Purchasing's Requisition Import process creates the requisitions.
You can track the drop shipment order status using sales order or purchase order information. Your supplier can notify you through a phone call, an invoice, or an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document, such as an Advance Shipment Notice (ASN), when the material has been shipped. When you receive notification, you enter the item as received, and receive it into a special organization that you create specifically for recording drop shipments made directly to customers. You handle customer returns using existing Purchasing or Order Entry functionality.
See Also
Drop Shipments, Order Entry/Shipping
Drop Shipments, Purchasing
Changes to Encumbered Purchase Orders
Purchasing now allows you to change purchase orders even after funds have been reserved. An Unreserve option in the Approve Document window allows you to remove any encumbrances on the purchase order, make the required changes, and then reserve funds based on your changes. Since the unreserve action exists at the header level, it affects all lines on the purchase order. The unreserve action changes the document's status to Requires Reapproval.
See Also
Changing Encumbered Documents
Integration with Oracle Project Manufacturing
Together with Oracle Project Manufacturing, Purchasing now enables you to specify projects and tasks for your requisition and purchasing transactions. Specifically, Project Manufacturing enables you to specify projects and tasks for destination types of Inventory and Shop Floor. (You can still enter project and task information for destination types of Expense.) The windows in which you can specify projects and tasks are as follows:
- Requisition Distributions
- Purchase Order Preferences
- Purchase Order Distributions
- RFQs (in the More alternative region)
- Quotations (in the More alternative region)
The project information you enter is used by Oracle Projects for destination types of Expense, or by Oracle Project Manufacturing for destination types of Inventory or Shop Floor.
See Also
Entering Requisition Preferences
Entering Requisition Distributions
Entering Purchase Order Preferences
Entering Purchase Order Distributions
Entering Release Distributions
Entering RFQ Lines
Entering Quotation Lines
Oracle Projects User's Guide
Oracle Project Manufacturing Implementation Manual
Integration with Oracle Quality
Receiving inspections in Purchasing are now linked to Oracle Quality. From the Receiving Transactions window, you can enter quality information on the supplier, the shipper, rejections, and packaging conditions at the time of receipt.
See Also
Receiving Transactions
Entering Receiving Transactions
Inspecting Received Items
Using Oracle Quality with Oracle Purchasing
Purchasing Versus Quality Inspections
Document Numbering Enhancements
Purchasing now numbers requisitions, purchase orders, quotations, and RFQs within operating units rather than across operating units. Purchasing now also numbers receipts within inventory organizations rather than across inventory organizations. So, for example, the same requisition number could be used by two different operating units. The same receipt number could be used by two different inventory organizations.
See Also
Defining Numbering Options
Defining Receiving Options
Multiple Reporting Currencies
Purchasing supports Multiple Reporting Currencies (MRC). The MRC feature allows you to report and maintain accounting records at the transaction level, in more than one functional currency. You do this by defining one or more reporting sets of books, in addition to your primary set of books. In your reporting sets of books, you maintain records in a functional currency other than your primary functional currency. You can set up as many reporting sets of books as you decide are necessary and associate them with a primary set of books.
Typically, you use MRC in the following situations:
- You operate in a country with an unstable currency and you need to concurrently report your business in a hard currency.
- Your company is multinational, and you need to report financial information in a common functional currency other than that of the transaction or your primary functional currency.
- You operate in a country that is part of the European Monetary Union (EMU), and you want to concurrently report in Euro in preparation for the single European currency.
See Also
Multiple Reporting Currencies in Oracle Applications
Support for European Currency
If either your functional currency (defined in your set of books) or your transaction currency (the currency you enter in a purchasing document window) is Euro (the European Monetary Unit currency), and the other is another European currency, Purchasing defaults in the appropriate conversion Rate Type, Rate, and Rate Date.
See Also
Entering Currency Information
Entering Document Information and Completing AutoCreate
Entering Requisition Lines
Defining Default Options
Entering Requisition Preferences
Tax Defaulting Enhancements
Purchasing can now default tax information onto documents from a variety of sources. You can choose from and rank the following sources for tax defaulting in the new Tax Defaults region of the Purchasing Options window:
For example, if you select and rank Supplier as 1, Supplier Site as 2, and Item as 3, then when your purchasing documents default tax information, they look first for tax information from the supplier; if that tax information is not found, they look next for tax information from the supplier site; if that's not found, they look for tax information corresponding to the item.
Note: A Tax Name defined in the Purchase Order Preferences window overrides any tax defaults you set in the Tax Defaults region of the Purchasing Options window.
See Also
Tax Defaults in Purchasing
Creation of Requisitions and Internal Sales Orders Across Sets of Books
You can use internal requisitions to obtain inventory items from organizations that belong to a different operating unit, set of books, or chart of accounts. For internal sales orders, you can ship from an inventory organization belonging to another operating unit, set of books, or chart of accounts.
See Also
Creation of Internal Sales Orders
Asset/Expense Enhancement for Internal Requisitions
You can now move an asset item from an expense subinventory to an asset subinventory using internal requisitions. You can also ship an asset item from an expense subinventory into intransit.
See Also
Demand for Internal Requisitions
Placing Documents in the Navigator
You can place specific purchase orders or requisitions that you reference frequently in the Oracle Applications Navigator. Placing documents in the Navigator is useful when you need to query large documents with multiple lines, shipments, or distributions. When the purchase order or requisition is open, choose Place on Navigator from the Action menu. When you choose the Documents alternative region in the Navigator, you can then access that document directly from within the Navigator.
See Also
Using the Navigator's Documents Region
