Appendix: Supplier Contract Management Helpful Hints

This appendix provides information about resolving issues when implementing, setting up, and using PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management and discusses:

Implementation and setup.

Contract library setup.

Click to jump to parent topicUnderstanding This Appendix

This appendix provides recommended solutions to some of the more common setup issues encountered by PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management customers.

Note. The information provided here is not consulting or implementation advise for your specific industry or your individual organization. You should adapt or disregard this information based on the needs of your organization. Oracle does not guarantee that the information included here will work as intended within your customized environment or as new versions of software are introduced.

For more detailed information for setting up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management:

See Setting Up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management.

See Also

Setting Up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management

Click to jump to parent topicImplementation and Setup

This section discusses:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicSupplier Contract Management Setup Needs

Depending on how you plan the implementation of PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management and how your organization plans to use the application, the next level implementation such as setting up clause libraries, configurators, Microsoft Word templates, and so on are areas that require more thought and planning. This process varies from customer to customer, so the related setup varies. In addition to the information provided here, you should first use the Setting Up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management chapter as part of the setup process.

See Setting Up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management.

This list provides information about setting up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management:

See Also

Setting Up PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management

Managing the Contract Library

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicSetup Manager for PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management

You use Setup Manager components to generate the list of implementation tasks for Supplier Contract Management. To access Setup Manager, select: PeopleTools, Setup Manager, Manage Implementation Projects, and select Supplier Contract Mgmt in the Supplier Relationship Management grid. Also, to use Setup Manager, you need to have related roles associated for proper security for buttons and actions with the component Manage Implementation Projects. From that component you can select products and generate the task list. Related roles include: PTLT_IMPLEMENTER, PTLT_PROJECT_MGR, PTLT_INTERNAL_APPS.

Note. Some setup steps are dependent on what features you are implementing. For example, you don't need to set up the Capture Parent Activity task unless you are using syndication.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDispatch, Comparison, Render, and Prepare Error Resolution

You can receive various errors when dispatching a Microsoft Word .doc file or when performing a server-side comparison between Microsoft Word files. For functions such as dispatching a .doc file or comparing files, the system calls an internal application message using a Microsoft Windows application server and the Microsoft Word version that reside on the Microsoft Windows server.

See Understanding Document Comparisons and Rendering.

These error message conditions can occur when various dispatch and comparison items are not setup correctly:

– The application sever URL on the installation page is not setup correctly, but the gateway is. The message appears as follows:

Message example

To resolve the message, update the URL entry on the Installation Options page to be //<app server machine>:<JSL Port>.

– The gateway and application server are on the same version, but the application server doesn't have the publication or subscription set to On.

This condition is okay. The application sever used for the compare and render functions doesn't have to have either publication or subscription set to On.

– When there is not a .dll file on the application server (csdocutil).

The message appears as follows:

Message example

– If you did not enter a default value or user ID and password on the configuration setting for the gateway properties, this message appears:

Message example

– The integration gateway is on version XX while the application server defined on the Installation Options page is on YY.

The message appears as follows:

Message example

To verify the server PeopleSoft PeopleTools version:

  1. Select: PeopleTools, Integration Broker, Configuration, Gateways.

    The Gateways page appears.

  2. Click the Ping Gateway button.

    The PeopleSoft Integration Gateway page appears with the PeopleTools version. Make note of the version.

  3. Open the Gateways page again.

  4. Click the Gateway Setup Properties link.

    The Configuration page appears.

  5. Make sure that the PeopleTools release version listed in the top portion of the page and in the grid is the same as the one that appeared when you clicked the Ping Gateway button.

  6. Verify that the Microsoft Windows application server defined in the Compare/Render Server/Path field on the Installation Options page is the same one as defined for the version of PeopleTools.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicMicrosoft Word Document Launch Problems

When you click the Edit Document button or any button that launches a document and the window only flickers and the document doesn't launch, then most likely, a pop-up blocker or Windows Internet Explorer setting is causing the document not to launch. Sometimes, you can confirm that you have a pop-up blocker issue by pressing the Shift key on the keyboard while clicking the PeopleSoft button or link that launches the document. You can use this action to override the pop-up blocker setting and verify that this is the issue.

To resolve launch problems, also try these procedures:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicMicrosoft Word Template File Errors

When you cannot upload the stdtemplate.xml, the system displays a template error message when you attempt to perform Microsoft Word tasks. Examples of these messages include:

These errors normally happen when:

To resolve the errors:

See Understanding Document Templates.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDocument Preview and Generation Errors

If you receive an XML Parser Error CreateXMLDoc Fatal Error message when previewing or generating contract documents, there might be new Microsoft schema and namespace definitions that you need to properly build the generated preview and contract document.

When you define new clauses that you edit in Microsoft Word then preview the clause or later use it to generate a Microsoft Word document, you might receive the following or a similar error message:

XML Parser Error CreateXMLDoc Fatal Error: at File Integration Server line: 2 column: 37271 message: the prefix wsp has not been mapped to any URI (159,5) SCM_CS_GEN_WORDXML.GenContractWordML.OnExecute.

This might happen with certain updates to Microsoft Word where there might be new Microsoft Word schema and namespace definitions that are needed to properly build the generated preview and contract documents.

Since the delivered stdtemplate.xml file, or a customer equivalent, might have been created with an older version of Microsoft Word than what you have, it may not have the newer schema information. It's recommended that if you use the stdtemplate.xml file delivered with the system, you should open it once, save it, and upload the file again into the PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management system. This ensures that the XML is rewritten with the latest information that the system needs for you to preview or generate new documents.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicVerity Indices Setup

Setting up Verity searches for Supplier Contract Management requires that you setup indices that control the returned data to populate search fields. Verity search setup is documented in the PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management Common Information PeopleBook. While most of the examples describe eProcurement-specific Verity indices, the concepts apply to other products, including PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management.

See Implementing the Verity Search Engine.

The PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management documentation lists Verity indices that need to be included in the application server configuration file (psappsrv.cfg) and process scheduler configuration file (psprcs.cfg). You use these indices the same as you would for the PeopleSoft eProcurement FDM_PV_ITEMCATALOL Verity index that is described in the PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management Common Information PeopleBook.

You can locate the Supplier Contract Management Verity search collections different from the PeopleSoft eProcurement locations. To store Supplier Contract Management Verity search collections, add these collections to the configuration file psappserv.cfg:

See Building Contract Search Indexes.

Click to jump to parent topicContract Library Setup

This section discusses:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicMicrosoft Word Integration and Formatting

If you need to understand more about how Microsoft Word integrates with Supplier Contract Management, such as paragraph styles, templates, formats, and XML schema, review the Microsoft Word Integration with Supplier Contract Management appendix.

See Microsoft Word Integration with Supplier Contract Management.

See Also

Troubleshooting Integration Issues

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicMicrosoft Word Protection Feature Prevents Document Formatting

Sometimes, Microsoft Word's protection feature might prevent certain formatting, such as changes to the first or last line of the text, because protection start-and-end-indicator brackets are on the line that you are formatting.

When this occurs, you might be able to move the text (insert a blank line at top of the text or at bottom) next to the protection bracket to move you text away from the protection marker. Then, format the text and delete the blank unwanted line.

There may also be other cases where you are restricted from making certain edits to a Microsoft Word file, such as changing a style or accepting changes that have been tracked. You can frequently work around this by removing the document protection, making the change, and then setting protection again within Microsoft Word.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicClause Editing and Special Characters

When you edit a clause and it looks okay, but when you preview the document the clause has an occasional special character, such as an upside down question mark, small square, or strange symbol translation for bullets, the system might have a multibyte data requirement.

Certain multibyte characters in Microsoft Word might not be supported when you integrate with a nonmultibyte PeopleSoft database for clause content in the library. If you are not using a Unicode Standard database, you should avoid using these special characters within the clause library. This exception applies to library setup because the system stores this content in its database.

PeopleSoft attempts to clear and replace these special characters with nonmultibyte representations for you when your system (database) is not configured for multibyte storage when possible; however, a reasonable substitution may not always be available.

When it's not possible for you to run in a multibyte/unicode environment you might need to remove special characters when editing the clause document and substitute a different and more common or simpler non multibyte character representation instead. For example, you might want to turn off smart quotes and retype the quote as a plain double quote in Microsoft Word.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicMicrosoft Word Prevents Text Edits or Tracked Change Acceptance

When Microsoft Word prevents you from editing text or performing a function on text, such as accepting tracked changes or refreshing a table of contents, it means that Microsoft Word's Protect Document feature has been set to restrict certain types of changes to the document.

For some data elements such as bind variables, the PeopleSoft system places protection around the bind in the document so that you cannot edit it in Microsoft Word. This prevents you from changing the source value for binds that originate from the transaction system using Microsoft Word. When the system prevents you from editing or accepting changes for a reason other than PeopleSoft bind protection, you must stop the protection in Microsoft Word, apply edits or run the function, and then start the protection again using Microsoft Word.

See Also

Defining Clause Information

Protected Areas

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicCannot Cut or Paste from Microsoft Word Files Into PeopleSoft Pages

When you cut and paste from a Microsoft Word document into PeopleSoft Internet Architecture clauses or sections, you can frequently lose the formatting and have corrupt characters when previewing or editing the clause or section.

Cutting and pasting content from Microsoft Word into PeopleSoft system pages for clause and sections content is not recommended because the text that appears on PeopleSoft pages does not support maintaining Microsoft Word's rich-text attributes. The system only allows plain text when you cut and paste into PeopleSoft pages. Therefore, it is recommended that you cut and paste from your current Microsoft Word file to an empty checked out version of your PeopleSoft clause or section (also in Microsoft Word) to preserve the document formatting that you want.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicClause Content Alignment in Documents and Configurators

When you preview a clause, it appears correctly, but when you include it in a generated document or you preview it using the document configurator, the alignment indentation of the content is incorrect.

Possible causes and their solutions for an alignment (indentation) problems include:

See Also

Defining Default Settings for Document Formats and Options

Styles and Formatting

Viewing and Maintaining Configurator Structures

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPage Numbering Inconsistent in Microsoft Word Documents

When you page up and down in a Microsoft Word document and the page numbering increases just by paging up and down document, a problem might exist with Microsoft Word protection and change tracking. This problem can occur even if you don't change the document. An example of this problem is the page number might increases from 10 to 1,000 in a single scroll.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicCharacter Column Alignment (Such as in a Signature Page)

The character column alignment, for example, aligned columns and underlines for a signature page, appears correctly when you edit a clause, but when you preview the clause, the page has unaligned columns.

Hidden tabs used in the alignment of columns can cause problems when the clause is previewed and assembled with other content. This is because of the outline-numbering level at which the clause appears when it's previewed, or styles that the system applies during the preview. For example, the tab symbol can cause different levels of indentation based on the outline level, which in turn can shift values over.

To improve the alignment of column-oriented information, try using a hidden table in Microsoft Word instead of tabs.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicResearch Task Pane Returns Some or No Results

When the Microsoft Word Research task pane does not return results from a search or is not working correctly, there are several possible causes, including:

See URL Configuration for Use with Clause Searches.

Note. It's important to exit all instances of Microsoft Word on the client machine prior to running the PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management setup.exe on that machine.

The Research task pane might also just return some, but not all clauses. If a clause is too large for Research task pane integration, the search can fail. The system displays a warning if there is a potential for failure due to the size of the file. Clauses can become too large for XML representation and for visible clause text if there is a large amount of custom formatting or custom paragraph styles applied to the clause.

A possible solution is to simplify custom formatting of these clauses or divide the clause into smaller pieces.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicBind Type Validation Errors During Check In

You can enter a valid bind variable into a Microsoft Word document or select it from the Microsoft Word Research pane and place it into the document. But, when you check in the document, the system displays validation errors for the bind variable. This happens because Microsoft Word has features that do automatic correction and tracking of grammar errors in documents that may be visible as you type names. When a field has the grammar underline beneath it, it normally means extra values are included in the XML bind value being checked in and is making the bind value no longer valid upon check in to the PeopleSoft system.

Because there are multiple versions of Microsoft Word, and a variety of user settings for each client, there are several possible resolutions for this issue. The first and simplest resolution is try to cut the bind variable text within Microsoft Word, and then paste it back to the same location. But, after pasting the variable, click the small Microsoft Word clipboard (Paste Options) that appears when you paste the variable and click the 'Keep Text Only' button. This can often remove any special formatting so that the bind will validate correctly when you check in the document.

If the problem persists, the next action to correct the issue is to change the spelling and grammar setting while editing the clause having the error. Use these steps to correct the issue:

  1. Select Tools on the Microsoft Word toolbar.

  2. Select Language, and then select Set Language.

    The Language window appears.

  3. Select the Do not check spelling or grammar check box for English when maintaining bind variables to avoid having special character inserted into the bind names.

  4. Delete and retype the bind variable.

    Verify that no grammar check underlines appear for the bind variable.

  5. Check in the document again.

If this does not resolve the issue, you can try indicating not to store random numbers within the document. This Microsoft Word feature has at times inserted random numbers within the bind variable name XML and causes bind validation errors during check in of the document. To clear the setting because the location might change depending on versions of Microsoft Word:

  1. Select Tools on the Microsoft Word toolbar.

  2. Select Options, and then select the Security tab.

  3. Deselect the Store random number to improve merge accuracy check box.

Finally, you can use the Microsoft Word Research task pane as a possible alternative. You can search and insert the bind variable using the Research task pane lookup for binds. In some cases, this alternative bypasses Microsoft Word's behavior of inserting grammar checks that can cause the problem.