Last updated on 10/23/01
Refer to the web site for the latest information prior to installing and setting up your software. Thereafter, periodically view the most current release notes and manuals.Customer web site: http://developer.iplanet.com/customers/index.jsp (call iPlanet Support for login information) Technical Support web site: http://www.iplanet.com/support/technical_resources/buyerxpert/
By caching the converted amounts, performance is improved. In addition, the new mechanism uses a uniform precision throughout the calculations, improving the correctness and consistency of order amounts.
Prior to BuyerXpert 4.1 SP3, the administrator had to manually type the default value for the rule instance. There was no validation scheme available. In other words, the administrator could type in anything, even if it had errors or was not a valid value. Obviously, this would create problems on the end-user side of BuyerXpert. For this release, a chooser functionality is provided which the administrator uses to choose the default value. The values that appear in the chooser are already validated and filtered, so administrator errors in entering default values are eliminated.
Other documents in the BuyerXpert documentation set (Concepts, Upgrade Guide) were not changed for this release. The BuyerXpert documentation can be found at the following location:BuyerXpert Installation Guide --- Bug fixes. BuyerXpert/SellerXpert Administrator's Guide --- Bug fixes; new invoice matching material. BuyerXpert Admin interface Help --- New rules material has been added, as well as bug fix material. BuyerXpert User interface Help --- Minor fixes have been made throughout.
http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/buyer.htmlManuals, release notes, and FAQs for other iPlanet products can be found at the following location:
http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/
http://developer.iplanet.com/customers/index.jsp (call iPlanet support for login information)A new Capacity Planning Tool for evaluating and planning your BuyerXpert installation or upgrade is also available at this site.
| Solaris 2.6 or 2.8 |
| Netscape Communicator, Version 4.77 and
4.78 or
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Version 4.01 SP1, 5.0, and 5.5 |
| iPlanet Web Server (iWS), Version 4.1 SP7 |
| iPlanet Application Server (iAS), Version 6.0 SP2 |
| iPlanet Process Manager, Version 6.0 SP2 |
| iPlanet Directory Server, Version 4.12 |
| ECXpert 3.5 |
| Oracle Server Database 8.1.6 and 8.1.7, Standard
or Enterprise Edition,
with InterMedia search engine |
| Oracle Client 8.1.6 and 8.1.7 (if BuyerXpert is not installed on the same machine) |
| Actuate Report Server, Version 4.1 |
http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/
Note: Generally, resolution is to update the new file by reapplying the changes that were made to the original file.A complication arises with critical-fix patches. For example, when upgrading from Service Pack 1 (SP1) to Service Pack 2 (SP2), with a critical-fix patch, SP1-P1, provided between the two service packs. The upgrade to SP2 compares the checksum of the original SP1 files. But some of these files may have been modified by the critical-fix SP1-P1 patch. These will be reported as potential conflicts. Determining which of these reported conflicts are genuine customizations and which are due to other patches is part of the work required in applying an upgrade. The Customizations section following will help you distinguish between the two.
Changes that could be due to intermediate patches
If intermediate patches have been applied to your system, reported conflicts may be due to the intermediate patches rather than to customizations. Evaluate the customization conditions as outlined here. If the conflicts are due to intermediate patches, you can safely ignore them.
Regardless of whether or not the JSP file has been updated by the patch/install, perform the following steps:
If a you have done servlet customizations, you should be familiar with the process of modifying the servlet, recompiling, updating the .war file and deploying the .war file. This process must be reapplied on the patch/upgrade whether the patch/upgrade modifies the servlet or not, if there is a .war file delivered with the patch/upgrade (which is usually the case). This is because the .war file is redeployed with the patch/upgrade, and will overwrite any customizations that have been made.
If you have made servlet customizations at your site, you must perform the following steps:
A patch/upgrade may include changes to the BuyerXpert data schema. In this case, a specific script and instructions for performing the data migration are supplied with the patch/upgrade.Return to Top of Page
Example 2: FREIGHT_TERM_DEFAULT rule does not use payment_subtype
as a role.
FREIGHT_TERM_DEFAULT rule has PAYMENT_SUBTYPE, SHIPPING_METHOD,
USER_CREATED_FOR and SELLER_COMPANY as roles, but it does not use
PAYMENT_SUBTYPE for its evaluation. For example, if SHIPPING_METHOD
is ?UPS - 2 Day?, SELLER_COMPANY is ?staples.com?, and USER_CREATED_FOR
is ?bugsbunny1?, there are two FREIGHT_TERM_DEFAULT rules instances
defined. One rule instance is defined for PAYMENT_SUBTYPE ?Visa? with FREIGHT_TERM
value ?Visa
Freight Term?, and it?s the most recent. The second rule instance is
defined for PAYMENT_SUBTYPE
?MasterCard? with FREIGHT_TERM value ?MasterCard Freight Term?. In
this case, even though the
PAYMENT_SUBTYPE is ?MasterCard?, FREIGHT_TERM_DEFAULT rule evaluation
will result in ?Visa Freight Term?, because it is the most recent.
Garbage displays when you run reports for the first time in a BuyerXpert instance, that is, the first time you click the Run Report button in your Reports page. This happens only for Netscape 4.7 running on the Windows NT platform.531340 Negotiated price column is not displayed in the BuyerXpert front end.Solution: Reload the HTML page.
Negotiated price fails to display in the BuyerXpert User interface when a time-consuming search is done (from the BuyerXpert User interface) and simultaneously (without any time lag) Catalog Manager also starts browsing before the BuyerXpert User interface search shows a result.Solution: Set up independent instances of the iPlanet Application Server (iAS) for BuyerXpert and Catalog Manager. That is, install BuyerXpert in iAS "A" and use it for BuyerXpert requisitioning front-end users only, then install BuyerXpert in iAS "B" and use that one for Catalog Manager tasks only.
This is part of the BuyerXpert design. In order to minimize caching problems, some asynchronous events are not reflected immediately for the end-user. For example:Return to Top of PageSolution: To have the changes reflected in the user interface, users must log out and log in again.
- When the administrator changes settings, such as a default shipping address
- When an approver approves a requisition or adds a note
During receiving, the precision of the received quantity field is controlled by a precision rule (and the decimal_places attribute in the NTV list of the repository.ntv file). At this time, the precision rule is not working, so users are able to set any number of decimal places in the received quantity field.Solution: Don't enter extensive decimal places in the received quantity field.
Occasionally the Order:CalcTaxFailed error occurs when submitting or viewing a requisition. Usually this happens when there is no corresponding tax rule.Solution: Verify that there is a tax rule for adjustments that are taxable.
During migration of accounting code data, the accounting code sequence LDAP attribute for the organization isn't migrated.Solution: When migrating accounting codes, ensure that membership is already migrated, then migrate accounting codes as a standalone module (as opposed to combining its migration with some other module).
During migration of commodity code data, the commodity code sequence LDAP attribute for the organization isn't migrated.Solution: When migrating commodity codes, ensure that membership is already migrated, then migrate commodity codes as a standalone module (as opposed to combining its migration with some other module).
After using the Uninstall utility to uninstall BuyerXpert, the ?IAS>/ias/APPS/modules subdirectory is not cleaned up. When reinstalling another build, the ?IAS>/ias/APPS/modules subdirectory still contains old files.Solution: After running the Uninstall utility, remove buyer, buyer-admin and upgrade files as follows:
# rm -rf ?iasroot>/ias/APPS/modules/buyer
# rm -rf ?iasroot>/ias/APPS/modules/buyer-admin
# rm -rf ?iasroot>/ias/APPS/modules/upgrade
One of the roles used for evaluating the RECEIVING_TOLERANCE rule is user_current. When the rule is evaluated, user_current has an incorrect value when the price model is PriceList.Solution:
1. Set the user_current to ALL instead of to a specific user when defining the rule value for RECEIVING_TOLERANCE.2. If #1 is not an acceptable solution:
For example, when working with Mercury Enterprises data, a user logs in as bugsbunny15. However, when the rule was evaluated, bugsbunny11 was the user. The solution is to set the rule for both of these users.Identify the user that was specified when the rule was evaluated. Set the rule value to include this user in addition to the user who actually logged in.
Migration of rules with role USER_CREATED_FOR or USER_CURRENT fails if the organization of the user is different from the organization that owns the rule.
Solution: Manually change the user's organization in the import file.
The error message "The input XML document is not valid XML" is misleading. A category which has name as a null
string cannot be imported. This is a case of bad catalog data, wherein a category is unnamed (name is a null string).Solution: Manually remove any nameless category before importing.
When a converted unit price has more than two decimal places, the resulting price seems to be incorrect because the number is rounded to the user-display precision preference. The reason it appears wrong is because quantity * (converted unit price) is not equal to converted (unit price * quantity). According to the European Commission, converted (unit price * quantity) is the correct methodology.
Solution: The computation is actually correct.
Solution: Reload the page.
To improve performance in catalog browsing/pricing, we have removed the PRODUCT role in the pricing model rule. However, the PRODUCT role still exists in the Admin graphical interface. As a consequence, if you defines the value for the role called PRODUCT as anything other than ALL, the role cannot take effect in pricing computations.547955 Deleting an OBI order from the PO screen doesn't work.Solution: For existing rules and any new pricing model rules, set the value for PRODUCT to ALL.
An inbound OBI order request cannot be deleted from the Proposed Order (PO) screen. Instead, you must use the Track screen.Return to Top of PageSolution: Go to the Track screen, select the requisition, and click Delete.
While approving/declining a requisition, validations were being done on requisitions, which would do the following:
- Verify if each individual line item in the requisition actually exists (if item is from catalog)
- Verify if the price of each of these individual line items has changed since creation of the requisition
- Verify if the pricing model for the line items has changed.
Example 1
For no validation: Keep "noValidation" set to true; the remaining parameters
do not matter.
Occasionally a user is logged out of the system when doing a search for an individual item. A double view of the screen may display after logging back in.Solution: Change the load balancing for System_StaticServlet & System_JSPRunner to "sticky". This can be done from ksvradmin/Application Tab/ System/. Mark everything "sticky".
We have improved this response by 40% and are working on further improvement.
When browsing the catalog, if you click a checkbox for an item, Internet Explorer 4 returns an error.
This type of adjustment is an accumulation lookup type of adjustment. The problem occurs because the program does not handle "greater than or equal to." The ranges for the lookup entries must be in this format:0 ? source ?= number_1
number_1 ? source ?= number_2.
number_i ? source ?= number_i+1
.
.
number_n ? source *
Solution: Do not use "greater than or equal to."
When a location is disabled, any associated location rules are not automatically disabled.Return to Top of PageSolution: Use the Admin interface to manually disable associated location rules.
The top frame of the Admin interface erroneously displays the BuyerXpert 4.0 frame. The Admin interface is not i18n-certified and is tested for English/US locale only. The user needs to add the English/US language as browse preference in the user preferences.Solution for Netscape browser:
Solution for Internet Explorer browser:
- Choose Menu Edit|Preferences.
- In the preferences dialog, choose the Navigator|Languages category.
- Click Add and choose English/United States.
- Arrange the order to set English/United States as first preference.
For Internet Explorer 5.0:
For Internet Explorer 4.0:
- View > Internet Options > General > Languages
- Choose en-Us
A number of fields are missing in the xdoc produced by BuyerXpert. Fixes address the country_name, locationname, and companyDisplay fields in the internal XML file.country_name
The full country name can be configured by modifying the buyer/codes.ntv file. This information is included in the internal XML file and also the non-OBI compliant external XML file. It has been placed after CountryCode. The new element's tag name is CountryName. It can be put in the OBI compliant XML file by modifying the outbound.ntv file.
location_name
The location_name is also in the internal XML file. It is put after location_id for the non-OBI compliant XML file. It can be put in the OBI compliant XML file by modifying the outbound.ntv file.
company_display_name
We add company_display_name besides company_name which means internal_name. For customers who set internal name and display name to be the same, or who like internal_name, nothing needs to be done. Customers who want the display name instead of the internal name in the XML file need to modify either the outbound-extra.ntv file (non-OBI compliant) or the outbound.ntv file (OBI compliant) by replacing company_name with company_display_name.
To search locations on city, state, and country-code, a workaround is required.Workaround: Perform these steps:
- Add the following strings into the string array in NTVASCII.chooser LocationChooser.search.param.attributes, in the <ias_root>/buyer/buyer/config/oms/chooser.ntv file:
minor_locality
major_locality
country_code- Index the locations in the LDAP database on common_name, major_locality, minor_locality, and country_code.
Even though the requisition state is Order Transmitted, a link for withdrawing the requisition appears in the details screen. If the requisition is accessed between the time the final approver approves the requisition and when xdoc finishes generating and sending the XML file, the withdraw link displays. If the withdraw link is clicked during this period, the requisition goes into a withdrawal state, even though the purchase order is generated and transmitted correctly.Solution: Wait for the approval and xdoc processing to complete, then refresh the frame.
At this time, the command-line functionality of the Import utility supports https only if you perform the additional configuration steps mentioned here. If you want to use the Import utility with SSL support, you need to make sure that the JSSE support is enabled. For example, make sure the classpath includes the JSSE jar files. For licensing reasons, the JSSE jar files are not bundled with BuyerXpert.You are free to download/get these files appropriately.Solution: Include the following jar files in the classpath: jsse.jar, jnet.jar, jcert.jar. If you use the import script, BXImport.sh, you need to add these files to the classpath parameter of the final Java call.
Example line:
$JAVAEX-classpath /export/cli/jsse.jar./export/cli/jnet.jar:/export/cli/jcert.jar: $JAVA_CLASSES_DIR:$BUYER_ADMIN_CLASS com.iplanet.buyer.admin.impexp.cmdLn.impExpCmd -c "$CONFIG_FILE" "$@"For a successful SSL session, don't forget to add the server certificate to cacerts.
Additionally: To change the default SSL Protocol ("com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol") and/or SSL Provider ("com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider") values, you can use additional parameters in command lines (/t (SSL Protocol) and (/v SSL Provider), or set corresponding parameters in the configuration file, "SSLPROTOCOL" and "SSLPROVIDER".
When configuring xdoc through the config_xdoc_in.pl script, the user is now asked what protocol is being used by BuyerXpert (http or https). If the user chooses https, then he/she is prompted to enter two other pieces of information :This is because SSL implementations can be provided by several vendors and the classpaths may vary depending on the vendor.The classpath of the SSL Provider The classpath of the SSL Protocol Handler It should also be verified that the jar file(s) corresponding to the SSL implementation is(are) present in the classpath. If not, a ClassNotFoundException error will occur. If the user incorrectly indicates that BuyerXpert is using an https connection when it is actually using an http connection, an 'Unrecognized SSL handshake' SSLException will occur.
The following internal documents may be useful:
- Setting up https on BuyerXpert:
http://surveyor/users/sreeni/publish/bxssl.html
- Obtaining and importing the trust certificate to the client:
http://bones/docweb/5.0/arch/SSLClientTesting.html
Approvers who use Microsoft Outlook 97 were not able to approve requisitions without logging into BuyerXpert. BuyerXpert 4.1 uses an HTML format email, with a form. This is not supported by Microsoft Outlook 97; Outlook shows the text, but not the controls.Solution: Now the html form is sent as attachment and approvers can open the attachment from Outlook 97 email and take action (approve/decline).
New entries into the mail.ntv file:
...
"inLineText" Bool "true", //want inline text in mail (true/false)
"inLineTextMessage" Str "Message body not found. Contact Administrator for detail.", //when inLineText is false, message u would like have in mail
"Attachment" NTV { //for attachment
"urlAttachment" Bool "false", //want url attachment (true/false)
"fileAttachment" Bool "false", //want file attachment (true/false)
"attachmentName" Str "Click here for the form", //attachment caption
},
Online Help currently says approvers can create external note at the requisition level. This is incorrect.Correction: Approvers can create notes, both internal and external, only at the purchase order or line item levels. Approvers and requisitioners can see each other's notes, but can only edit or delete notes that they created themselves.
The default sort for catalog is now set to SKU. You can configure this in the CatalogConfiguration.properties file as follows:...
#CFG_DEFAULT_SORT_ATTR
# Specify the name of the attribute for default sorting when browsing and
searching the catalog.
# The attribute must exist on all items or else they will not be returned.
18=SKU...
Important
The attributes for the default sort must be present in all catalogs, otherwise there will be no result when browsing/searching catalogs.
The order transmission failed because the default contact for the send_to_location was missing.
Solution: Enter a default contact for the send_to_location rule.
When the iPlanet Webserver is running in SSL (https) mode, if you try to deploy you will get a "Deployment Manager Timeout" error message. This message specifically asks if http://host:port is running, which means there is no recognition that the iPlanet Webserver is running in https mode.Solution: iPlanet Process Manager doesn't support https mode at this time, so you must deploy the applications in http mode and then turn on the encryption to make the instances secured (https).
When a new location is added to the location list using the Admin interface, a $ symbol displays in the address field of the location chooser in the User interface. This will be fixed in a future release.Workaround: Import data using the Import utility.
Some of the sample data shipped with BuyerXpert 4.1 SP3, specifically Payment Term data, has an expiration date of 11/16/2001. If you use BuyerXpert with the sample data after this date, errors will occur and you will not be able to add items to the shopping cart.Return to Top of PageSolution: Change the 11/16/2001 dates to future dates either using the Admin interface or the Import utility.