Understanding Customer and Supplier Self-Service Setup

This chapter discusses:

• Customer and supplier self-service.

• Self-service setup.

Customer and Supplier Self-Service

Internet Commerce, the exchange of goods and services on the internet, specifically the World Wide Web (WWW), enables businesses to conduct business with other businesses and with consumers. Internet transactions are inexpensive, increasingly secure, platform-independent, and built on standards that make communicating with suppliers, partners, or customers a simple task. Businesses can easily use the internet for time-critical transactions, such as purchasing, invoicing, electronic funds transfer, cargo tracking, and sales force automation.

You can create an internet site from which the customers and suppliers can access the most updated information at any time.

The advantages of internet commerce include:

• Global market expansion.

• Wider product distribution.

• Worldwide, 24-hour access to customers.

• Cost reduction, including reduction of the physical inventory, fewer distribution intermediaries, and reduction of costs on catalog production and distribution.

• Increased revenue.

With JD Edwards EnterpriseOne software, the customers can enter their own orders, inquire on the status of orders, and review service and billing information whenever they want, without security risks or additional costs. Likewise, the suppliers can view real-time information about orders, receipts, and payment information and respond to requests for quotes.

Using the system's tools applications for web-based transactions, you can configure the self-service interface for the environment and business needs.

Note. This documentation is based on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne forms and data that are provided for self-service in a Microsoft Windows environment. The navigations, forms, steps, and data that are illustrated in this documentation might not correspond to the configured self-service internet site.

Prerequisites

Before you set up and use customer and supplier self-service:

• Verify that you have set up address book master and supplier master records for the suppliers.

• Verify that you have set up supplier and item information.

• Assign a branch/plant and default location to each supplier.

  When the suppliers inquire on orders, receipts, quotes, and so on, the system retrieves the information based on the branch/plant that you assign to the supplier's user ID.

Self-Service Setup

This section discusses:

• Self-service setup overview.

• Security issues.

• Activation of processing options.

Self-Service Setup Overview

Before the customers and suppliers can use self-service to access information, you must provide a method for them to perform one or more of these tasks:

• Access item information.

• Review account information.

• Review existing orders and shipments.

• Access product and warranty information.

• Review information about existing calls.

• Review service orders.

When you set up user profiles for the customers and suppliers, you can limit their access to only the self-service menus, based on their user IDs. Customers and suppliers cannot use self-service to add or modify address book, customer master, or supplier master information.

Security Issues

After you set up address book and master records for customers and suppliers, you must set up user profiles to limit the customers' and suppliers' access to the system. Customers and suppliers must have profiles before they can sign in to any self-service applications.

In the user profile, you specify this information for a customer or supplier:

• User ID.

• Password.

• Preferences, such as language and localization information.

You must also specify the menu that you want the supplier or customer to be able to access. Suppliers and customers can access only the programs that are on the menu that you specify in the user profiles. Specify one of these menus, depending on the type of user:

• Daily Self-Service Processing (G1715) for customers who need access to self-service programs in the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Service Management system from Oracle.

• Supplier Self-Service (G43S11), for suppliers who need access to self-service programs in the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Procurement system.

When a customer or supplier enters information using self-service programs, the system stores product selections and other information in a memory cache file. The customer or supplier can move between programs, and the cache file retains the current contents of the order or quote.

Activation of Processing Options

To enable the suppliers to use the self-service website to enter quotes and review information such as orders, receipts, and inventory levels, you must first activate the supplier self-service processing options for these programs:

• Address Book (P01012).

• Purchase Orders (P4310).

• Purchase Receipts Inquiry (P43214).

• Quote Response Entry (P4334).

• Supplier Self-Service Inventory (P41201).

• Work with Shipments (P4915).

• Supplier Schedule Revisions (P34301).

• A/P Standard Voucher Entry (P0411).

• Work With Loads (P4960).

• Purchasing Date Revisions (P43100).

When you activate the processing options for supplier self-service, the system displays only those fields that are useful to the suppliers and hides those fields that are not useful or are confidential.