The chapter discusses the actions that a project manager can perform using the project manager command center along with the Item Analysis and Supplier Analysis pages.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Oracle Project Procurement Command Center Plus enables project managers to perform the following actions:
Create a Project Procurement Plan
Update a Project Procurement Plan
View Procurement Planning Information and Metrics
View Revision History
View Revision History
Analyze and Replace Items and Services to Procure
Analyze Sources of Supply
Manage Project Procurement Exceptions
Release for Planning
Create Purchase Requisitions
The project manager performs the project procurement planning related activities using the project manager command center. The starting point of the command center is the Project Search and Overview page. Project managers can search for projects and access the command center for the selected project using the following navigation:
Projects: Delivery > Search Projects > Advanced Search > Search results > Click Project Name link > Procurement tab to open the selected project.
From the command center, the project manager can access the following:
Item Analysis and Supplier Analysis - All purchasing documents belonging to the operating units that the project manager has access to.
Actions: View Agreement, View PO, View Negotiation - Only those documents belonging to the operating units that the project manager has access to. For negotiations, security is governed by the operating unit in which the negotiation is being created. For agreements, the application enables multiple operating units to be assigned to a single agreement. Hence, project managers having access to any of the assigned operating units can access the agreement. For purchase orders, if the PO: Enforce Projects Security profile is set to Yes, project managers can access only those purchase orders containing at least one project in the distribution to which the project manager is a key member, and any other PO-level security.
Update tasks: for the selected tasks in the task list of the command center, the project manager can update multiple tasks or mass update a set of tasks using actions from the table level drop down menu.
The project manager cannot directly access the buyer command center.
Oracle Project Procurement Command Center Plus enables you to create a procurement plan and specify a periodic delivery schedule for the items and services associated to the plan lines using one of the following two methods:
Use the interface tables to transfer data automatically, from a third-party system, or a custom built planning or scheduling system.
Manually enter the data into a spreadsheet
To transfer procurement plan data automatically:
Insert data into the following interface tables using the sample script:
po_proc_plan_hdr_interface: Holds the header information such as Project Name, Description, Start date, End Date and Duration
po_proc_plan_line_interface: Holds the plan line details
po_proc_plan_prd_interface: Holds the periodic requirements details, the progress payment details
po_proc_plan_prog_interface: Holds the progress summary details.
The sample script helps you populate the interface tables with data. After data is inserted in the tables, the script runs the Procurement Plan Import (POPROCIMP) concurrent program automatically and returns the concurrent request ID. Navigate to the concurrent program window or the Procurement Plan page to check if the plan was uploaded successfully. If the program fails, the application displays the status Complete-Error in the Procurement Plan page. Use the Request Number link to check the list of errors and take appropriate action. Additionally, you can check for errors using l_interface_txn_id:
SELECT * FROM PO_INTERFACE_ERRORS WHERE INTERFACE_TRANSACTION_ID=l_interface_txn_id ;
For more information on the interface tables and script, see the appendix: Using Interface Tables.
To create a procurement plan using a spreadsheet:
Search and locate a project for which you need to create a procurement plan. For detailed steps to search, see: Oracle Business Suite Projects Fundamentals Guide.
Select the applicable project and click the Procurement link to open the Procurement Plan page.
For projects that do not contain procurement plans, the Procurement Plan page displays the Create Procurement Plan button. Click the button to open the Create Procurement Plan page for the selected project.
Click Download to download an XML Spreadsheet Template.
Refer to the appendix in this guide for instructions for using the spreadsheet to create a new procurement plan for the project.
Oracle Project Procurement Command Center Plus enables you to update a procurement plan using the following two methods:
Using the interface tables
Using a spreadsheet
To update using interface tables:
In the interface tables, add the existing procurement plan number.
Make the changes and follow the steps discussed in Creating a Project Procurement Plan > Using Interface Tables topic.
Refer to the appendix Using Interface Tables to find out which columns can be updated at various stages and statuses.
You can modify content and add new lines to an existing procurement plan by downloading the existing procurement plan and uploading it back after making changes to it.
For more information, refer to the appendix Using Spreadsheets to Create and Update Procurement Plans
To update a project procurement plan:
In the Project Search page, click on Advanced Search. From the search results, click the Project Name link to select a project, and then open the Procurement tab.
For projects that already have an existing procurement plans, the Procurement Plan page displays the Update Procurement Plan button. Click the Update Procurement Plan button to open the Update Procurement Plan page for the selected project. Ensure you enter a start and end date.
When there is a change in any of the attributes of a Procurement Plan Line, you can:
Freeze the current version of the line identified by the Procurement Plan, Procurement Plan Line Number and Procurement Plan Line Version Number
Create a new record for the same Procurement Plan, Procurement Plan Line Number and Procurement Plan but with the next higher Line Version Number
In order to keep a Procurement Plan Line Version in sync with the corresponding source of demand in the Engineering system, as a Project Manager, you can modify any of the following attributes of the line:
Category of the Procurement Plan Line
Item Description
Destination
Buyer Name
Suggested Supplier
Acquisition strategy primary objective
Acquisition strategy secondary objective
Source Information reference (All source related details)
Additional Information
Expenditure type
Planning Rate
Purchasing UOM
For one or more of the Schedules for a Material line:
Task Number
UOM
Location
Quantity
For one or more of the Pay Items for a Services line:
Pay item type
Pay item Description
Task Number
Quantity
UOM
Value(%)
Price
Need by date
Add one or more Schedules for a Material line
Add one or more Pay Items for a Services line
Suggested suppliers
Reference to a document detailing on or more components of the Technical Specifications
Reference to a document detailing the Submittal Requirements
As a Project Manager, you can make any kind of change to the Procurement Plan Line irrespective of the status of the plan line. You can download, make changes, and upload the document. You can however, not make manual updates to the status of the plan line. The Version Number column in the Plan Lines sheet is a non-editable field. If you, as a Project Manager provide a value for the Version Number, the application will ignore it during data upload. The Version Number is automatically updated to 0 when a plan line is uploaded in the Draft status. Any changes to the plan lines in draft status will not increment the Version Number. The Version Number is incremented by 1 when any of the plan lines that are not in Draft status are changed or updated. For example, if a plan line is in the Ready for Planning status, and the attributes of the plan line are changed, then the application automatically increments the Version Number by 1. Incrementing the Version Number by 1 puts the plan line in Revised status. The following table displays details of the various scenarios and application behavior based on the status:
| Scenario | Application Behavior |
|---|---|
| Updates to Plan lines that are in Draft status | No change in application behavior. Application will continue to work the way it works today |
| Updates to Plan lines that are in Ready for Planning status | When the plan line is in Ready for Planning status and the changed attribute falls under one of the following attributes:
then,
|
| Updates to Plan lines that are in Ready To Order status | When the plan line is in Ready to Order status and the changed attribute falls under one of the below attributes
then,
|
Click Download to download a zip file containing the procurement plan spreadsheet and a Readme file.
Unzip the archive and extract the XML spreadsheet document in a local folder. If you use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office Excel, then double-clicking the file opens the spreadsheet in Microsoft Office Excel. If you are not able to open the file with this method, or if the file opens in a different application, then you can make a file- type association by right-clicking the extracted XML file and selecting the option Open With > Choose Program > Microsoft Office Excel.
Update existing lines and periodic requirements or add new lines. Please read through the Readme file available in the downloaded zip archive to understand how each field in the excel sheet is validated and populated.
Once all changes are made, use Save or Save As option to save the file in the same format. If the system prompts you, then choose to save the workbook in the same format.
To upload the excel sheet, click Browse in the Update Procurement Plan page for the selected project, select the file that was just saved, and click Upload.
The command center page for a project displays work, project procurement financials, and services metrics, analysis charts and graphs, planning and procurement documents. This page enables you to manage the project supply chain effectively. This central page of the project manager command center indicates the current status of the project. You can see how much quantity has been requested, ordered, received, and invoiced for each task or for each periodic bucket. You can see the status of plan lines and negotiations. Additionally, you can see where the project has incurred unplanned spend and the procurement status for each task.
This page displays the following:
The heading region of the page displays the following:
Project Name
Project Number
Date/time stamp of last ETL update
Update Procurement Plan button
The Search component allows you to submit keyword searches and provides type-ahead suggestions displaying attribute values that match the typed text. When you perform a search, the search term is added to the Selected Refinements component. As you type, you may be prompted to select a matching attribute value, or simply search for the entered text.
The Selected Refinements component displays all values that you have selected to filter data, and allows you to quickly make adjustments to the current refinement by removing items or clearing all filters from the list.
The Bookmarks component allows you to save a given navigation and component state and return to it at a later time.
The Available Refinements component allows you to filter data based on the currently available values or value ranges for selected attributes that are displayed within attribute groups. Expand the attribute groups to view and select attribute names.
The page has three metric sections:
| Work Metric | Metric Display Title |
|---|---|
| Plan Lines | Total plan lines for the procurement plan of the project |
| Draft | Draft status from the procurement plan lines of the project |
| Ready For Planning | Ready for Planning for procurement planning lines of the project |
| Ready To Order | Ready to Order for procurement plan lines of the project |
| Revised | Number of Plan lines that are modified by the Project Manager that needs buyer review. This metrics lists the number of plan lines updated by the Project Manager that are in the Ready for Planning or Ready to Order statuses. When you click Revised, the application reapplies the Revised filter to the page and displays only those plan lines that are in the Revised status. |
| Active Suppliers | Number of suppliers against whom purchase orders are created for the Project |
| Supplier Change Requests | Change requests for the supplier |
| Supplier on Hold | Number of Suppliers on Hold |
| Open Notes | The Manage Notes action enables project buyers to create, update, or delete new actions. This action is available on PO header and lines, agreement header and lines, and requisition lines. Open notes come from Oracle Procurement Command Center. |
| Project Procurement Financials Metric | Metric Display Title |
|---|---|
| Project Currency | Currency indicator for the Project Currency |
| Budgeted Cost (PC) | Total burdened cost from the plan type associated to the project for procurement planning |
| Planned Procurement Cost (PC) | Total cost of the planned amounts from the procurement plan lines |
| Requisitioned | Total requisitioned for the procurement plan |
| Ordered | Total ordered for the procurement plan |
| Received | Total received for the procurement plan |
| Invoiced | Total invoiced for the procurement plan |
| Paid | Total paid for the procurement plan |
| Services Financials Metric | Metric Display Title |
|---|---|
| Accrued Retainage | Total Amount withheld as retainage against standard payment or prepayments for the Project |
| Progress Payments | Total amount paid for the Progress of Work against the Project |
| Progress Percentage | The total amount paid for the progress of work by the total amount allotted for the work for the Project |
This region displays the following:
| Exception Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Items with delayed shipments | Items with delayed shipments (not yet delivered) |
| Items past Need by Date but not requisitioned | Items not requisitioned |
| Items past Order by Date but not ordered | Items not ordered |
| Purchase Orders with Promised Date beyond Need by Date | Delivery dates beyond my Need by Date |
| Progress Payments Overdue | Service Lines with delayed progress reporting (Progress not yet processed) |
| Invoices on Hold | Invoices created for the Projects that are put on hold due to non receipt of the deliverables |
| Deliverables Overdue | Deliverables with the due dates earlier than the system date for the Project |
| Services to be Requisitioned | Services to be requisitioned |
| Items to be ordered within the next 1 week | Items to be ordered within the next one week |
Note: Any chart containing 'amount' on one of the axes, only renders if the data is of a single functional currency. If the chart does not render, then you must apply a currency filter.
This region displays the following charts and graphs:
| Chart Title | Tab | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | Schedule | Quantity by period for Quantity requested Quantity ordered Quantity received Quantity invoiced Quantity rejected Total quantity |
| Plan Lines Status | Schedule | Planning amount by period for line status: Draft, Ready for Planning, Ready to Order, and Revised |
| Task by Start Date | Planning Status | Task not started that have passed the scheduled start date |
| Spend Analysis | Planning Status | Amount by item category |
| Actual Over Planned | Financial | Quantity ordered by period for the items on the project |
| Procured Cost Percentage | Financial | Percentage breakdown of total procured cost by: Total cost ordered Total cost received Total cost requisitioned Total cost rejected/returned Total cost remaining |
| Supplier Measures | Supplier | Average delivery rating by month for each supplier |
| Approved, Local Suppliers | Supplier | Total amount approved by approval year date |
| Average Lead Time | Item | Average lead time by period |
| Product Variety | Item | Planned items and ordered items for the project |
| Unplanned Orders | Orders | Unplanned orders by date |
| Change Orders | Orders | Supplier change request by date |
| Progress Payments | Progress Payments | For the selected/filtered projects, displays the following amounts: - Requested Amount - Ordered Amount - Advance Paid Amount - Progress Payment Amount - Invoiced Amount - Retainage Amount - Paid Amount |
| Average Lead Time | Progress Payments | Average lead time by Item Description. Lead Time in the average number of days needed to procure the service. The lead time includes pre-ordering, Ordering and Post-ordering lead time. Lead time is obtained from the Sources of Supply. |
This region lists the tasks and related procurement plan information that meet the filter criteria applied by the you through searching, guided navigation, or selection of a chart series/section. The table in this section has the following sub-tabs:
Tasks – the tasks for a project that have at least one associated procurement plan line
Plan lines – the plan lines for the tasks in the tasks sub-tab. You can choose to filter information further based on the available result sets – for example Plan Lines, Delivery Tracker, Budget Tracker, Supplier Selection Strategy, Additional Information, Source Information, and Actions. You can view details such as Item Description, Item Category, Version Number (value displayed only if there are revisions to the plan line), Line Status, Previous Status (displays the Previous Status value only if the plan line is in Revised status – for example, if the plan line is Revised when it is in Ready to Order status, then the Line Status column displays Revised as the status and the Previous Status column will display Ready to Order), Buyer Name, UOM, Quantity, Planning Currency, Unit Price, Planning Amount, Functional Currency, Amount (Functional Currency), Project Currency, Amount (Project Currency), Suggested Supplier.
The Technical Specifications text field enables you to enter a URL that typically opens a page (usually Content Management Systems) on the internet that is useful to suppliers. Each type of the technical specifications may itself be revisioned. Therefore, not only all the components of the technical specifications for each item needs to be communicated to the supplier, but also the right version of each must be communicated as well. If the plan line status is Ready for Planning, any updates to the URL initiate revision control. When procurement document lines (requisition lines, purchase order lines, and requisition lines) get created from plan lines, the URL cascades as a To Supplier attachment of type URL.
Schedule – the schedule of item quantities in the procurement plan for the lines in the plan lines sub-tab
Schedule Summary – summarized using period buckets identified by the setup of the project, or the profile option
Progress Payments Summary – a summary of the progress payment
Sources of Supply – the sources of supply authorized by the buyer for the plan lines
Project managers can perform the following actions while reviewing the project details:
In the Tasks tab, you can select multiple task rows and request the following actions using the Actions option available on the right side of the Tasks table:
Update Multiple Tasks – You can select multiple task rows and select the 'Update Multiple Tasks' action for task in current working version.
Mass Tasks Update – You can select multiple task rows and select the 'Mass Tasks Update' action for task in current working version.
Mass Update Progress – You can select multiple task rows and select the 'Mass Update Progress' action for task in latest published version.
Additionally, in the Tasks tab, if Actions is selected in the column set dropdown menu, you can update financial plans by selecting a task and the Update Financial Plans action to view and update the financial plan lines (budgets or forecasts) for the task selected.
In the Plan Lines tab, you can select multiple lines and select Make Lines Ready for Planning action using the Actions option available on the right side of the Plan Lines table. You can also use Add to Shopping Cart from the Actions menu to create requisitions for Service lines. You can also select one or more lines and click View Revision History. When you click View Revision History, the Revision History page displays, where you can view the changes to the plan lines across different revisions. You can compare the changes of the selected procurement plan line with the earlier revision, original version and all the versions of the plan line. Additionally, in the Plan Lines tab, if Actions is selected in the column set dropdown menu, you can analyze items and suppliers. See: Analyzing and Replacing Items, Analyzing Sources of Supply topics.
In the Schedules tab, you can select multiple lines and select Add to Shopping Cart action using the Actions option available on the right side of the Schedule Details table. The schedule status is derived from various attributes that are available via ETL. The statuses are: Draft, Ready for Planning, Cancelled, Active, and Closed.
The Schedule Line Groups tab has an analytical table that groups plan lines using grouping criteria, such as:
Source System Document
Source System Name
Item Category
Line Type
Buyer
Period Name
You can see the number of plan lines, planned amount, and the total quantity in the group. Click a row-level action to include all eligible lines in the selected group when adding lines to the shopping cart. If a line status is not valid for the action selected, it is not eligible for the action. For example: lines with a status of Draft or Ready for Planning cannot be added to the shopping cart.
In order to prevent the creation of duplicate requisitions, or excess demand for the planned lines or schedules, the system calculates the open quantity while adding planned lines or schedules to the shopping cart. If the open quantity of planned line or schedule is calculated to be zero or negative, the planned line is not eligible to be added to shopping cart and displays an error message informing the user that the lines do not have open quantity.
Open quantity is calculated as difference of total quantity and sum total of available requisition quantity and shopping cart. For example, if the planned line has total quantity of 100 and 50 is created as a requisition; the quantity of 20 is already added to the shopping cart, then the open quantity or eligible quantity is 30.
This region displays details of the following purchasing documents associated with the plan lines:
Negotiation
Agreements
Requisitions
Orders
Deliverables
Notes
The Manage Notes region enables project managers to view notes. Notes are available for purchase order headers, purchase order lines, agreement headers, agreement lines, and requisition lines. This is helpful to process procurement documents rapidly. Project buyers can create, update, and delete notes.
Select Actions in the column set dropdown menu and view these purchasing documents from the respective sub-tabs.
The following refinements are available:
Agreement Supplier
Supplier
Agreement Status
Negotiation Status
Negotiation Number
Negotiation Title
Lead Time
Requisition Status
PO Status
Order Number
Negotiation Close Date
Requisition Need By Date
PO Need By Date
Note that Need By Date is available on the progress summary level for service lines. You may not use a past Need By Date, and if the Need By Date does not exist, the Period Start Date is used instead.
Project Managers can use the Revision History page to view and compare the changes made to a procurement plan line with the earlier revision, original version and all the versions of plan line. To do this, you, as a project manager, need to select one or more plan lines and select the View Revision History action in the Plan Lines tab of the Project Manager Command Center.
The Revision History page shows the changes made at the header (Project Details), Plan line, Schedules, and Progress Summary levels.
If you select more than one plan line for viewing the revision changes, then the comparison is sorted by Line and Revision. If you select a single plan line for viewing the revision changes then the comparison is sorted by Revision, where the latest revision is shown first followed by subsequent revisions.
If you delete the plan line selected from the command center from the Selected Plan Line region then the application refreshes and shows the revision changes for the available line in the Show all Procurement Plan Line Changes region.
When you select only one plan line from the command center and the selected line is deleted from the Selected Plan Lines region, then the application refreshes and does not show any values if you choose the Compare to Original Plan Line or the Compare to Previous Revision from the actions menu.
If you select a goods line that has associated schedules details, then the application displays an icon adjacent to the Line Number to identify it as a goods line.
If you select a fixed price services line that has associated progress payment related details, then the application displays an icon adjacent to the Line Number to identify it as a fixed price services line.
Changes to a plan line also affect downstream documents such as purchase orders, and negotiations. The following columns in the Revision History page display the list of affected downstream documents:
Impacted Document Type
Operating Unit - Document Style - Document Number with revision
Document Status
Click Return to Command Center to return to the Command Center.
Click Compare to Previous Revision and then click Go to view the changes between the previous revision and the current revision.
Click Compare to Original Revision and then click Go to view the changes between the original revision and the current revision.
Click the Compare to All Revisions and then click Go to view all the changes across all revisions of the Procurement Plan Line.
Project managers can use the Item Analysis page to view, compare, analyze, and replace items and services to procure for the project. For items or services that are specified in the procurement plan, project managers can analyze them using the Procurement Plan for a given project.
To analyze and replace items and services to procure:
Navigate to the Items Analysis page using the following navigation: Procurement Plan page for a given project > Planning Documents region > Plan Lines tab > Actions from the column set dropdown menu
Select the applicable item or service.
Click the Analyze Item link to open the Item Analysis page.
The Item Analysis page provides a summary of the procurement history of the item or service, including current orders and suppliers. You can use the Search Box on this page to look for alternatives.
If you find an alternative item that works better for this project, then select the item in the Item Summary > Item Details > Details table and click Compare with Procurement Line action available on the right side of the Details table.
If you find an alternative item or service that works better for this project, then select the item in the Item Summary > Item Details > Details table and click Compare with Procurement Line action available on the right side of the Details table.
For further information regarding Item Analysis page, see Analyzing Items.
Project managers can use the Supplier Analysis page to view, compare, and analyze the supplier performance for a given item or service. For suppliers who are specified in the procurement plan, project managers can analyze them using the Procurement Plan for a given project.
To analyze sources of supply:
Navigate to the Supplier Analysis page using the following navigation: Procurement Plan page for a given project > Planning Documents region > Plan Lines tab > Actions from the column set dropdown menu
Select the applicable item or service.
Click the Analyze Supplier link to open the Supplier Analysis page.
Use the information displayed in the Supplier Analysis page to view the performance history of the supplier and compare the suppliers.
For further information regarding Supplier Analysis page, see: Analyzing Suppliers.
Oracle Project Procurement Command Center Plus enables project managers to manage project procurement exceptions that pose risks to the project schedule or budgets. Use the Exceptions region in the Procurement Plan page for a given project to view and act upon the risks to the project progress. Exceptions help alert you to approach problems on the project before they actually cause schedule delays or wastage. Click on these exceptions to see the plan lines with an exception, and quickly resolve the problems even before they occur.
The project manager can authorize the project buyer to start sourcing the items or services required for the project by marking the applicable plan lines as ready for planning. This authorization changes the plan line status from 'Draft' to 'Ready for Planning'. The application displays an error if any of the selected plan lines are not in Draft status.
To release plan lines for planning:
Navigate to the Planning Documents region on the Procurement Plan page for a given project.
Click the Plan Lines tab.
Ensure that Plan Lines is selected in the Action dropdown menu.
Select the applicable items or services.
Scroll right to the Actions option available on the right side of the Plan Lines table.
Select Mark Lines Ready for Planning action to indicate to the project buyer that they can start finding suppliers for the item or service that is best suited for the project.
Upon successful completion of action, the application displays a confirmation message.
Project managers can create purchase requisitions for plan lines that are in Ready to Order status. The application can alert the project managers when they need to create purchase requisitions or they can apply filters to identify the plan lines with items or services that need to be ordered. They can select one or more schedule detail lines for the procurement plan lines and create a single requisition. When creating requisition, they can:
Update the item description (if not linked to an agreement)
Specify the quantity / amount and need by date
To create purchase requisitions for good lines:
Navigate to the Planning Documents region on the Procurement Plan page for a given project.
Click the Schedules tab.
Select the applicable schedules.
Scroll right to the Actions option available on the right side of the Plan Lines table.
Select Add to Shopping Cart action.
Select Checkout in the Shopping Cart page
Review the requisition summary.
Click Submit to submit the requisition.
The application displays a confirmation message. Click Continue to return to the Procurement Plan page.
To create purchase requisitions for service lines:
Navigate to the Planning Documents region on the Procurement Plan page for a given project.
Click the Plan Lines tab.
Select the applicable plan lines.
Scroll right to the Actions option available on the right side of the Plan Lines table.
Select Add to Shopping Cart action.
Select Checkout in the Shopping Cart page.
Review the requisition summary.
Click Submit to submit the requisition.
Note that for both goods-based lines, and service-based lines, the need-by date, if available, is added to the newly created requisition. You may not add a past need-by date to the requisition.
Create the requisition from the Schedules tab or the Plan Lines tab. You can select multiple schedules that have different plan lines. If all schedules selected have the same technical specification URL, add the URL as a To Supplier URL type attachment at the requisition header level. If the URL is different for at least one of the selected lines, the system populates the URL of each plan line as a To Supplier URL type attachment at the requisition line level.
As Oracle Project Procurement Command Center Plus is integrated with Oracle iProcurement, the selected plan lines, quantities, budget amounts, task, and expenditure type details are populated automatically. If you have enabled touch-less processing in Oracle Purchasing, then the application automatically creates and approves the associated standard purchase orders for all purchase requisitions that get approved with an agreement link. If you have not enabled touch-less processing, then the project buyer needs to find these purchase requisitions in the Alerts section of the project buyer command center and place an order.