Abstract
An Abstract is a form which summarizes negotiation details. Abstracts are published to external web sites and can be viewed by suppliers without having to log into the system.
Agreement Terms (Blanket or Contract Purchase Agreement only)
Agreement terms are optional, and apply only when you have selected "blanket purchase agreement" as the auction outcome.
Agreement Amount - Specifies the currency amount over the course of a blanket purchase agreement. It is the maximum amount that can be issued against a blanket purchase agreement as long as the Amount Limit on the blanket purchase agreement is not increased beyond the Total Agreement Amount. Total Agreement Amount applies only to RFQs or auctions with blanket purchase agreement outcomes.
All procurement organizations maintain lists that associate the items and services they buy with the companies who supply them, either formally or informally. Data stored in a controlled, global repository containing relevant details about each ship-from/ship-to/item relationship, is known as an Approved Supplier List (ASL). This repository includes information about all suppliers with business statuses including Approved, Debarred, or New.
Attachments contain additional descriptive information about items, such as technical specifications or engineering drawings.
Attachments can be an attached file, a URL address of a file, a short or long text message, or an existing document from the system document catalog. For each attachment negotiation creators select, they identify the class of accessor by assigning the attachment a category value. Depending on the category value assigned, only the appropriate users can view the attachment.
The file size limit for attachments is 10 MB. For attachment files larger than 10 MB, use an attachment URL. Post the attachment file to an Internet site, and enter the full URL (for example: http://www.mysite.com/filename.doc) at which the attachment can be accessed.
Best Price (Best Quote/Bid Price)
The best price quote/bid is the quote/bid that includes the lowest price for an RFQ/Auction item.
Bid/Quote Price
The total per-unit price offered by the supplier after all cost factors have been included. The bid/quote price represents the actual per-unit cost. Bid/quote price is calculated as follows:
( ( ( ( line price * any percentage of line cost factor(s) ) + any per-unit cost factor(s) ) * bid/quote quantity) + any fixed amount cost factor(s) ) / bid quote quantity.
Bid Ranking
Bid Start Price
Billing Address (Bill-To Address)
The address to which bills for purchased items is sent. You can enter multiple billing addresses.
See RFQ/Auction Outcome.
Blind (Negotiation Style)
See Negotiation Style.
An auction to purchase items or services that are clearly defined such as office furniture or memory chips. Buyers can tailor each auction to control who can see bids during the auction, whether multiple rounds of bidding are possible, and whether partial bids are allowed. Also called a reverse auction.
A group of buyers from the same purchasing organization who can collaborate on the creation and management of a sourcing document. Collaboration team members can be any user within the same organization to which the creator belongs. Members can be restricted to read only access meaning they can view but not update any information. Other members can be assigned specific tasks and given deadlines by which these tasks must be completed. Finally, some members can be designated approvers. Approvers must OK the document content before it can be published.
Cost factors allow a buyer to identify additional costs associated with a particular negotiation item. Such costs could include services such as training or consulting, or discrete costs such as shipping fees. Buyers can specify when they create the RFQ or auction how much they are willing to pay for these additional costs. These costs can then be negotiated between a buyer and supplier just like the line price.
See Reusable Cost Factor Lists.
The current price represents the assessed value, relative value, or regular "list" price of a negotiation item. The current price can be used to analyze negotiation performance. Suppliers cannot view the current price.
Estimated Quantity(blanket and contract purchase agreements only)
The organization's best estimate of demand for the item over the life of the blanket agreement. Note that this field is optional for blanket purchase agreements and cannot be scored.
The rate used to convert values between currencies.
The date on which the currency exchange rate is taken from the operating unit's currency exchange rate table.
When creating a multi-currency negotiation the buyer selects the exchange rate type:
System exchange rates - Exchange rates that have been bulk loaded into the system's exchange rate table for a particular date. There can be many different system exchange rates defined.
User-Defined Rates - Exchange rates the buyer enters when defining response currencies for a negotiation.
Global agreements are a type of blanket or contract purchase agreement. Global agreements can be used by multiple organizations within a company. The agreement is owned and maintained by the creator's organization, but the agreement can be accessed by any of the authorized organizations. When an organization processes a release against the global agreement, the terms and conditions (for example, the ship-to address and billing information) that are applicable to that organization are used even though they may be different from the terms and conditions of the owning organization. Releases against a global agreement are processed as standard purchase orders.
Ledger Currency (Negotiation Currency)
The currency in which an operating unit conducts business on the system. For example, if an operating unit's currency is USD, then USD is the default currency that appears whenever a user from that operating unit creates a new sourcing document.
A negotiation line item's line type determines whether the line item refers to goods or services (other line types can also be defined).
Lots
Collections of lines giving a hierarchical structure to the sourcing document. Lines may be organized into lots to obtain the most competitive bid. Suppliers are required to evaluate the entire lot and place a bid at the lot level. They may optionally provide lot line-level bids as well./
The minimum amount by which bids must decrease This is set in the auction's response controls, Oracle Sourcing User Guide. You can enter either a straight amount or a percentage by which bids must improve.
Note: A bid decrement amount will always be applied to a bidder's current bid price. If you specify your bid decrement amount as a percentage, the decrement percentage will be calculated based on a bidder's original bid price, but will be applied to the bidder's current bid price. For example:
Auction #1234; bid decrement = $100 Bidder A's original bid = $1,000 Bidder A's second bid = $900 Bidder A's third bid = $800 Auction #2234; bid decrement = 20% Bidder B's original bid = $1,000 Bidder B's second bid = $800 Bidder B's third bid = $600
Specifies the smallest currency amount for any single release of goods during the life of a blanket or contract purchase agreement. It is the minimum amount that can be issued against a blanket purchase agreement header or blanket purchase agreement line or both.
Minimum release amount applies only to RFQs or auctions with blanket purchase agreement outcomes.
Depending on the type of negotiation, buyers set four dates for each negotiation (*indicates a required field):
Preview Date (RFXs, auctions) - During the preview period, all eligible suppliers may view the RFx/auction but not submit responses.
*Open Date - The date and time the negotiation opens.
*Close Date - The date and time the negotiation closes. Once closed, no further responses may be accepted.
Award Date (RFQs and auctions) - The date and time by which RFQ/auction will be awarded. While buyers are encouraged to honor their award dates, the system does not enforce these dates.
The style determines who will be able to see the quotes/bids and when. The three styles are:
Open(RFIs and auctions only) - All suppliers can see the quotes/bids, though the responding supplier's identity is concealed.
Blind - Only the buyer can see the quotes/bids.
Sealed - The buyer can see the responses when the negotiation is unlocked. Both the buyer and suppliers can see the responses when they are unsealed.
Percentage (with AutoIncrease)
Power Quote/Bid
Power Quote/Bid allows you to expedite your rebidding when you have bid on several items in the same auction. When you use power bid, all of your bids (losing and winning) in an auction are improved by the percentage you enter in the Power Bid field. Power bidding cannot be used if any of the auction items contain cost factors, Oracle Sourcing User Guide.
See
A multiplier applied under certain circumstances to a rate-based labor cost, for example, vacation or overtime pay rates
The number of decimal places allowed for per-unit prices entered in the RFx/Auction currency. The precision you set doesn't apply to per-unit prices entered in a currency other than the RFx/Auction currency no does it apply to currency amounts such as Bid Total or the bid value of Fixed-Amount price elements. While you can set the precision for unit-prices entered in a non-RFx/Auction currency when you define your currency list,, Oracle Sourcing User Guide the precision for amounts is automatically governed by the standards defined by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization). The ISO standards are used automatically by Sourcing.
Price tiering allows buyers and suppliers to negotiate multiple prices for the same item. Price tiering can be based on Quantity, Ship-To address, and Effective Date. The type of tiering available depends on the document outcome. Standard purchase orders can only use tiering on the quantity. Blanket and contract purchase orders can use tiering on location, quantity and effective date.
In an RFQ or auction using Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring, the price to total score ratio is determined by dividing the Quote/Bid price for an item by the total score for that item. The price to total score ratio is then used to rank competing quotes/bids. For more information see, Basing Award Decisions on Line Attributes, Oracle Sourcing User Guide
Pricing Basis
The method used when using a cost factor to calculate the Quote/Bid price:
Per-Unit - The value is added to the item price.
Fixed Amount - The value is divided by the quantity of units Quote/Bidd and added to the item price.
% of Item Price - The value is divided by 100, then multiplied by the item price, and the result added to the item price.
By activating proxy bid in an auction, you allow the system to automatically rebid on your behalf whenever a competing bid price beats your bid price. See Using Proxy Bidding, Oracle Sourcing User Guide.
The exact amount by which you want each of your proxy rebids to decrease . The proxy bid decrement amount applies to all items on which you submit proxy bids in a single auction.
You cannot change your decrement amount after you submit it.
The lowest price you are willing to proxy bid for any auction item. Whenever your bid price is higher than a competing bid price, the system will continue to automatically rebid (by the proxy bid increment/decrement amount you specify) until your proxy minimum bid price is met.
After you have submitted your proxy minimum bid amount, you cannot change this amount unless the minimum amount is met in the auction bidding.
Quote/Bid Ranking method determines how bids and quotes are ranked. When creating a sourcing document, the buyer can choose between two methods, Price Only or Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring. In a Price Only negotiation the lowest price Quote/Bid receives the best rank. In a Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring negotiation, the buyer can select attributes other than price to be included in the best rank calculation. The bids and quotes are ranked with the lowest price to total score ratio receiving the best rank. The buyer can choose to display the scoring criteria to the suppliers.
The price at which Quoting/Bidding for an item must begin. A Start Price is not required, but if the buyer specifies one, all quotes/bids in an RFQ or auction must be equal to or below the Start Price.
The rank indicator specifies how response rankings are displayed. If allowed by the system administrator, you can choose from three different indicators. Win/Lose displays "Win" for the best ranked Quote/Bid and "Lose" for all others. "1,2,3..." displays "1" for the best Quote/Bid and sequentially numbers the remaining bids in order of rank. "None" displays no ranking indicator.
If a buyer allows responses in currencies other than the negotiation currency (the currency of the buyer who created the negotiation), the buyer must define the currencies in which responses are accepted.
Reusable Cost Factor Lists allow you to group several cost factors which are related or are typically used together. Once you have created a cost factor list, you can apply that cost factor list to any negotiations (RFQs or auctions) containing items to which those cost factors are applicable.
RFI (Request for Information)
RFI's are used to qualify suppliers and their goods and services for subsequent procurement activities. RFIs are used more for gathering information on goods and service provided by a supplier than to lock in particular price information. Therefore, one unique feature of an RFI is that buyers can choose to define negotiation line items without price and quantity and specify lists of criteria to which suppliers must respond. RFIs can be taken to multiple rounds until the buyer has enough information to identify supplier(s) with which to deal. At the conclusion of the RFI cycle, the information contained in the RFI can be copied into an RFQ or buyer's auction.
RFQ (Request for quotes)
RFQs enable buyers to collect quotes from suppliers for complex and hard-to-define items or services such as made-to-order manufacturing or construction projects. Once suppliers have submitted an initial round of quotes, the buyer has the power to fine-tune the RFQ and initiate detailed negotiations as necessary. The process may go through multiple rounds of negotiations and quote before completion.
The outcome of an auction or an RFQ can be:
Standard Purchase Order - A one-time purchase, after which the buyer is not committed to any future purchases.
Blanket Purchase Agreement - The buyer commits to a contract for future purchases and can enter agreement terms.
(In Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring, Oracle Sourcing User Guide only). A number between 0 and 100 assigned to each acceptable Quote/Bid response. The score is multiplied by the weight assigned to the attribute to calculate the weighted score for the attribute. The sum of all weighted scores is the bid or quote's total score which is used to determine the rank of the response.
You can create a sourcing document having a security level of Public, Private, or Hierarchy. Each level of security restricts access to the document.
Public - Any user in the company has access to public sourcing documents. The actions users can perform is determined by their functional security. Buyers can define an additional collaboration team for a public document, but access is not restricted only to members of the team. Actions collaboration team members can perform is determined on their functional security and whether they are identified as view-only.
Private Only the document owner and the members of the collaboration team can access the document. The actions the collaboration team members can perform is determined by their functional security and their view-only status values.
Hierarchy - Only the document owner, the members of the collaboration team (if any), and individuals who are higher in the security hierarchy than the document owner can access the document. Any subsequent approvers can also access the document.
See Auction Outcome.
A repository of information about suppliers from whom you purchase goods and services. Set up in Oracle Purchasing using the Suppliers window. For each supplier there may be multiple supplier sites.
In tab-delimited text (.txt) files, fields are separated by the tab character, but without any special formatting characters. Spreadsheet applications are recommended to open tab-delimited text files.
The price a buyer hopes to pay for one unit of an auction item
You can select the time zone in which you will conduct your system transactions. Click "Edit Personal Information" from the Sourcing Welcome page to set your time zone preference.
Total Agreement Amount
(Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring) The score calculated for a bid or quote based on a supplier's responses to an item's weighted attributes. For more information, see Basing Award Decisions on Line Attributes, Oracle Sourcing User Guide
The type of value that suppliers should enter for item attributes:
Characters - (letters/words)
Numbers - (digits)
Dates - (numbers in date format)
URL - (using the format http://www.oracle.com)
Text is the most flexible value type. If you select Text, buyers can enter letters as well as digits. If you select Numbers, buyers can only enter digits; if you select Dates, buyers can only enter digits in date format.
(Multi-Attribute Weighted Scoring , Oracle Sourcing User Guide only) On a scale on 1 to 100, the weight of a scored attribute as compared to other attributes. Weights for scored attributes must total 100 and each scored attribute must have a weight of at least 1.
The winning quote/bid is the response which most correctly meets the requirements of the negotiation. A response's acceptability is generally based on price, however, the quantity available, availability date, may also be important. The winning response is selected by the buyer.