Oracle iProcurement enables internal corporate requesters to independently order items from both local (internal) and remote (external) catalogs.
Oracle iProcurement is part of Oracle Applications, an integrated suite of E-Business solutions designed to transform your business into an E-Business. Along with the rest of the Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle iProcurement helps an enterprise streamline the procurement process with end-to-end business automation. It is the starting point for the ordering process and provides powerful self-service requisitioning capability with an intuitive, Web shopping interface. In an efficient and automated manner, Oracle iProcurement:
Constitutes a key component of the procure-to-pay business flow.
Helps an enterprise process and manage requisitions.
Helps an enterprise process and manage receipt of the requested goods or services.
Procure-to-Pay Flow
The core features of Oracle iProcurement that give requesters the ability to transform the procurement process into an efficient and streamlined process are:
For more information about catalog features, see Understanding the Procurement Catalog.
Oracle iProcurement offers a flexible solution to catalog and content management, enabling you to select from several approaches based on your business model.
Load catalogs directly into the Oracle iProcurement catalog using the catalog bulk loader, which supports catalogs formatted in XML, standard text, catalog interchange format (CIF), or cXML. Using the catalog bulk loader, you can load new catalogs, update existing catalogs, and delete catalog content. Oracle iProcurement also supports catalogs created in multiple languages and currencies to support requester communities worldwide.
Perform a punchout to an Oracle Exchange marketplace, such as exchange.oracle.com, or a supplier's Web store to access their catalogs. This punchout can be a direct link to the store, where the requester searches, shops, and returns items to Oracle iProcurement. Alternatively, you and the supplier can set up a transparent punchout that works in the background to return matching items from the external site directly to the requester's search results.
Use informational catalogs, which contain instructions or links for ordering other items or services at your company. The informational catalog enables Oracle iProcurement to be your company's portal for all ordering.
You can use any or all of these approaches for creating catalog content.
Stores provide an way for requesters to shop among a variety of catalog types and sources. Stores are an optional part of your catalog configuration. See Shopping.
Oracle iProcurement catalog provides uploading and online capabilities to create categories and descriptors.
You can use content security to control what catalog content requesters can access You can also configure stores to appear only to requesters in certain operating units.
Oracle iProcurement provides several options for displaying images for items. For example, you can upload or reference images. You can also provide thumbnail images that appear next to items in the search results. (These can be separate, smaller format images, or you can use profile options to automatically size them from the larger item images.)
Oracle iProcurement leverages the well-accepted model for Web shopping that top consumer Web sites use. This proven approach lets first-time, untrained requesters find desired items or services (shop) and create requisitions (check out), while also catering to experienced requesters by providing increased control and flexibility when creating requisitions.
The following figure shows the Shop home page, from which requesters can enter a search term to search all catalogs in a particular store, and view recent requisitions and notifications. See the Oracle iProcurement Help for details.
Oracle iProcurement uses the concept of stores. Using stores, organizations can define an intuitive collection of their content areas. You can configure stores to include any combination of local catalogs, punchout catalogs, informational catalogs, and transparent punchout catalogs.
For most organizations, restricting access to content by role is very important. Administrators can use content security to control which catalogs and stores are made available to different groups of requesters.
The search capabilities of Oracle iProcurement provide support to all levels of requesters--from the casual requester browsing for items to the focused requester searching for specific products. Oracle iProcurement requesters search the catalog by entering natural language text descriptions to find the desired items or services. Requesters are not required to know the details of a classification format or catalog hierarchy. Instead, requesters enter search criteria ranging from partial item descriptions and part numbers to supplier names and specific product attributes (such as color or size). Using Oracle interMedia's technology, the search returns a list of matching items. Additional search capabilities such as comparing, sorting, filtering, and advanced search enable requesters to refine their search.
As an alternative to performing searches, requesters can browse through the hierarchy of categories within the catalog to locate items and services. This is particularly effective when the requester is familiar with the classification of the items.
For more information about searching, see the Search Engine Logic Appendix.
Standard search looks across all the searchable descriptors for records that match all of the entered search keywords.
If the search results show no matches from performing a standard search, requesters can find more approximate matches by using expanded search.
Advanced search enables requesters to search by specific item descriptors, such as item description, supplier, manufacturer, or price. Requesters can use advanced search operators such as with at least one of the words or with the exact phrase to search for items that match a particular description, manufacturer, and price, or other combination.
Requesters can access frequently ordered items through the use of shopping lists.
Requesters can create their own personal favorite lists for the items they most frequently order.
Professional buyers in Oracle Purchasing can use requisition templates to create public lists that can be accessed by requesters.
Requesters can save an unlimited number of shopping carts in progress. This enables them to save selected items and return later to add more items and check out.
Requesters can request items and services not found in the catalog or shopping lists by creating non-catalog requests. Using catalog administration, you can create non-catalog request templates, also known as smart forms. These templates enable you to control the non-catalog request fields that requesters complete, depending on which store or operating unit they are in. For more information, see Smart Forms.
If you implement Oracle Services Procurement, requesters can create fixed price service requisitions using a non-catalog request. For more information, see Oracle Services Procurement.
Oracle iProcurement supports several different supplier-level document types to enable the automated document creation process. Supplier purchase contracts and quotations can generate standard purchase orders. Supplier blanket purchase agreements can create releases. All document types support purchasing document creation without requiring buyer intervention.
Oracle iProcurement supports requisitioning against global contract agreements and global blanket agreements. A central procurement center in your business can create these for use by other organizations. For example, a requester in the German operating unit can request an item that exists on a global blanket agreement in Ireland, as long as the global agreement is enabled in the German operating unit. Oracle Purchasing generates a standard purchase order against the global blanket agreement, and the requester receives the item.
In a buying organization, the sources of goods are from either external suppliers or internal inventory and warehouse locations.
In Oracle iProcurement:
Users request externally sourced items using purchase requisitions. Users request internally sourced items using internal requisitions.
The system does not convert internal requisitions to purchasing documents, such as purchase orders or blanket releases. Rather, the system converts internal requisitions to internal sales orders. The internal sales orders undergo processing. The receiving of the requested items occurs in Oracle iProcurement.
Checkout consists of the following basic components:
Delivery
Billing
Notes and attachments
Approvers
Each requisition includes the need-by date and time, requester, and location. Users can enter these one time for the entire requisition or vary them by line. You can set most of the information to automatically be the default information. Requesters can change these delivery defaults in their Oracle iProcurement Preferences or on the requisition.
You can use Oracle iProcurement to create requisitions for requester-initiated inventory replenishment requests, such as stocking a shop floor crib. Alternatively, you can specify delivery of requested items to an expense destination.
Requesters want items delivered to a location, such as a home address, that is not an office location or other location stored in the database. This is a one-time address that requesters can specify as a delivery location during the requisition creation process.
Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) identifies, schedules, and tracks all work activity and costs that relate to assets throughout an organization. Oracle iProcurement requisitions update EAM work orders.
Charge accounts for requisition lines are generated using Account Generator Workflow rules. You can split charges for requested items across multiple accounting codes to let multiple departments or accounts absorb the cost of items on a single requisition line. This eliminates the need to create multiple requisition lines when the same item is being requested for multiple departments.
Oracle iProcurement automatically flags shopping cart lines for procurement card (P-Card) payment and defaults to the P-Card number depending on the requester and supplier profiles. The supported types of P-Cards are:
Employee P-Cards: Companies maintain a separate employee P-Card for each requester in the company to make purchases.
Supplier P-Cards: Companies maintain a single supplier P-Card for each supplier or supplier site in the system to consolidate all purchases from that supplier or supplier site.
After a requisition has been created and approved, the system creates a purchase order containing the P-Card number, and the supplier receives that information. A P-Card reconciliation process provides the capability to electronically reconcile the P-Card statements and the corresponding purchase orders in the buyer's purchasing application.
Integration with Oracle Projects and Oracle Project Manufacturing enables requesters to optionally reference project and task information about shopping cart order lines.
Integration with Oracle Grants enables requesters to optionally reference projects, tasks, and award information about shopping cart order lines.
For customers using budgetary controls, Oracle iProcurement lets users view funds online before submitting requisitions. If a request carries costs past their budgetary limit, the requester is informed and can take appropriate action. Funds are automatically reserved during the requisition submit process.
In addition, fund reservation is available for Shop Floor destination type purchasing requisitions that are linked to eAM work orders and are submitted for approval in iProcurement.
Oracle iProcurement enables you to specify tax information, including taxable status and tax code, if applicable. This tax information is carried forward to the purchasing document.
During checkout, requesters can include notes to buyers and approvers. The intended recipients can view the notes later in the procurement process.
You can provide additional information to approvers, buyers, suppliers, and receivers by attaching text, URLs, and other file types to the requisition. You can transfer these attachments through the system to purchase orders, blanket releases, and receipts.
In Oracle iProcurement, requesters can add attachments to a requisition during checkout. Examples of attachment types include:
Internal to Requisition: View the attachment only from the requisition.
To Buyer: The attachment information is passed on to the purchase order created from the requisition.
To Approver: Appropriate approvers can view the attachment information.
To Receiver: If the receiver is not the requester, the receiver can view the attachment information.
To Supplier: Transmit text and non-image file attachments electronically by EDI or XML to the supplier when transmitting the purchase order that was automatically created from the requisition.
Miscellaneous.
Approval and workflow setup in Oracle Purchasing determines the approver list for each requisition. During checkout, the requester can add approvers and change the first approver in the approver list, depending on whether you allow access to this functionality (using function security). You can also customize the workflow to meet your business needs.
You can alternatively use Oracle Approvals Management to determine the approver list. Oracle Approvals Management provides a single approval management engine (AME) that multiple Oracle applications, including Oracle iProcurement, can use.
Any item that is associated with a contract purchase agreement can reference complex pricing rules in Oracle Advanced Pricing, such as formula-based pricing, discounts, and surcharges. If an item is associated with a contract purchase agreement, and you have set up advanced pricing, then the item's price considers the pricing rules during checkout.
After the requester has created and submitted a requisition, the requester can track further processing of the requisition using Oracle iProcurement.
Can view the status of all of their requisitions on the Requisitions tab.
Can perform detailed searches for requisitions. Requesters can search by many criteria, including when the requisition was created, requester, and purchase order (or sales order) number.
The requester also receives real-time notifications to keep the requester up-to-date with actions taken against the requisition. Requesters can view notifications in either Oracle iProcurement, on the Notifications page, or in an e-mail message.
Requesters perform all requisition management activities on the Requisitions tab:
Complete: A saved cart becomes an Incomplete requisition on the Requisitions tab. The requester can select the requisition and click Complete to finish the checkout.
Change: The requester can select the requisition and click Change. If the requisition is not yet placed on a purchase order, then the requisition is withdrawn from the approval process. The requester makes the desired changes and starts the checkout process. If the requisition is already placed on a purchase order, then the changes that the requester performs become change order requests that the buyer must first approve.
Cancel: The requester can select the requisition and click Cancel to cancel the entire requisition or specific lines. If the requisition is not yet placed on a purchase order, then the cancellation occurs immediately. If the requisition is already placed on a purchase order, then the cancellation becomes a request that the buyer must first approve.
Resubmit: If the status of the requisition is Rejected or Returned, then the requester can resubmit it by clicking Change, making the necessary changes, and starting the checkout process.
Requesters can track the entire procure-to-pay life cycle of their requisitions. On the Requisitions tab, they can select the requisition, and then click the Details icon to view a requisition line. Each line shows the entire procure-to-pay life cycle of the requested item, including the purchase order, shipment, receipt, invoice, and payment.
Oracle iProcurement provides flexibility in streamlining the approval process:
Vacation scheduling. Approvers can indicate dates of planned absence, specify proxy approvers for their notifications, and eliminate potential bottlenecks in the approval process.
The approval manager can reassign, forward, or request more information during the approval process.
Approver checkout. When the approver reviews the requisition, the approver can also make changes to the requisition before approving it.
In Oracle iProcurement, requesters can receive items, return items, correct items that have been previously received, and view their receiving transaction history.
From their desktop, requesters can receive internally and externally sourced items or the entire requisition. Requesters can obtain receipts for single items by using the Express Receive feature. Requesters can optionally enter additional information, such as packing slip number, waybill or airbill number, and comments using regular receiving. Oracle iProcurement automatically records the time of the receipt. (The requester can also manually enter or change the receipt date and time.)
Oracle iProcurement supports blind receiving, if it is set up in Oracle Purchasing. With blind receiving, a receiver does not see the quantity ordered, quantity already received, or the receiving tolerances that have been set up.
Oracle iProcurement requesters can view supplier advanced shipment notices (ASNs) as well as internal shipments. Shipment information defaults into the receipt while receiving items. For more information, see Receiving Against Intransit Shipments.
Oracle iProcurement lets the receiver return items to suppliers. If set up, the system can generate debit memos during the return process. (See Debit Memos for Return Transactions.)
Oracle iProcurement lets the receiver make corrections to the quantity received on receipts that have already been processed.
Oracle iProcurement also provides a workflow-driven receipt confirmation mechanism that proactively sends a notification to requesters to confirm receipt on the due date.
You can use Oracle iProcurement in requisitioning services and temporary labor through Oracle Services Procurement. If you have licensed and implemented Oracle Services Procurement, perform additional setup to requisition services and temporary labor in Oracle iProcurement. For more information, see Oracle Services Procurement.