Interface with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module: Overview and Setup
Oracle Retail Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment is a module of Order Broker that provides a collaborative, browser-based environment for retailers and vendors to share order, customer, and shipping information related to drop ship processing, and to automatically process drop ship orders. Order Broker is an Oracle application that also provides distributed order fulfillment through its Order Broker module.
You can integrate with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module to fulfill drop ship purchase orders with any number of vendors, and at the same time use Order Management System to fulfill drop ship purchase orders with other vendors.
Order Broker and its Supplier Direct Fulfillment module are sold as a separate product. For more information about purchasing Order Broker, contact your Oracle representative.
For more information: See Supplier Direct Fulfillment Processing for details on process flows and the communication between Order Management System and Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module.
In this chapter:
• Integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module: Overview
• Setup for Integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
- System Control Values Related to Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
- Property Settings for the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Integration
Integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module: Overview
Although Order Management System allows you to process drop ship orders in several ways, manual intervention is required to complete the business processes. The interface with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module creates a bridge between Order Management System and the Order Broker application so you can exchange information with drop ship vendors via the internet, track transactions, and automate the business process, without the need for manual intervention.
The interface with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module automatically sends drop ship purchase order information to Order Broker, which makes the information available to your vendors, creates packing slips when the vendors pull orders, and sends tracking and transaction information back to Order Management System. The interface bridge uses one of Order Broker’s web services to pass information between the two systems.
Vendor Portal: Order Broker provides both the screens that you, as the retailer, use for configuration and inquiry, and also a separate Vendor Portal where vendors can log in and work with their assigned purchase orders; the tasks available include printing pack slips and confirming shipments. The Vendor Portal typically resides on a separate server outside your firewall.
Vendor integration: Optionally, you can enable a vendor to integrate with Order Broker in order to receive purchase orders and confirm shipments without the requirement to use the Vendor Portal screens for these tasks.
The interface in Order Management System enables you to:
• Identify vendors for whom you use Order Broker to process drop ship orders based on the Drop ship output setting in the Vendor table.
• Create or update vendor name and information in Order Broker based on the information in Order Management System.
• Use retail brands to identify the logos to print on packing documents, and sort purchase orders for review, pack slip generation, and shipment.
• Process drop ship orders using the Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) menu option and:
- Automatically create and send drop ship purchase orders to Order Broker, where they are available to their associated vendors.
- Through Order Broker, automatically send email notifications to your vendors to inform them that there are purchase orders to be selected and fulfilled.
• From Order Inquiry or Purchase Order Inquiry (MPOI):
- Initiate a request to cancel a drop ship item.
- Through Order Broker, automatically send an email notification to your vendor regarding the cancel request.
- Automatically cancel the drop ship purchase order line when the vendor accepts a cancel request.
Note: If you send a cancel request before the vendor has begun working on the purchase order, Order Broker cancels the purchase order line automatically.
• Track the status of Order Broker drop ship orders to identify when they have been:
- Created in Order Management System and sent to Order Broker.
- Received by Order Broker but not yet selected by the vendor for fulfillment.
- Updated by the vendor, including changes to the due date or to the hold status of a purchase order line.
- Updated with information sent from Order Management System, such as cost changes or address changes.
- Selected by the vendor for fulfillment.
- Canceled or had a cancel request denied.
- Shipped by the vendor.
• When you process backorder cards:
- You can generate backorder notices with a meaningful expected ship date based on Vendor lead days and Drop Ship Lead Days (H36).
- Optionally, send immediate backorder notices.
For more information: See Supplier Direct Fulfillment Processing.
Setup for Integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
Purpose: Setup in Order Management System for integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module includes:
• System Control Values Related to Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
• Property Settings for the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Integration
In addition, you need to complete configuration in Order Broker. See Setting Up Data for the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module in the Order Broker online help for more information.
System Control Values Related to Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
System Control Value |
Description |
Required System Control Values for the Integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module |
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This umbrella system control value defines whether your system uses an interface to transmit information to Order Broker for processing drop ship orders. Also, you can use this screen to specify the system code identifying your company in Order Broker, and the location code identifying your default warehouse in Order Broker. |
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Controls whether the CDC Async will become active, and whether you can set the Drop ship output field for a vendor to OROB drop shipping for integration with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module. |
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The number of days you want to add to the date passed to Order Broker to calculate Expected ship date in Order Management System. |
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The code identifying your company as a system in Order Broker. Used in all communication with Order Broker. |
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The code identifying your default warehouse as a location in Order Broker. Used in the CreateDSOrder message to create a purchase order in Order Broker. |
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The name of the Order Broker database, as specified in the Account field at the Tenant screen in version 5.1 or later of Order Broker. In prior Order Broker releases, the account is specified in the locate-config.properties file on the Order Broker server. This account name is passed as the destination in messages to Order Broker. |
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Note: • The Order Broker integration with Order Broker also uses the OROB System (K50) and OROB Default Location (K51) system control values. • The Drop Ship Integration Values (H20) also includes the OROB Account (K49) system control value; however, this system control value is not used by the Drop Ship Module integration. |
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Additional system control value |
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If this system control value is selected, the system generates a separate drop ship purchase order for each item when you use Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP). |
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System Control Values Related to Drop Ship Integration Backorder Card Processing Note: System control values FTC - Number of Days to Add for Special Handling (C67) and FTC - Number of Days to Add for Drop Ships (C68), and Number of Days to Delay Initial Backorder Notice (D89), which define values used for drop ship processing within Order Management System rather than through an integration. For additional system control values related to backorder card processing for all items, see Purchase Order Layering and Backorder Notifications. |
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Unselect this system control value if you want to generate backorder notices for any items, including drop ship items. |
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Must be set to a valid program (the standard program is BOCARDS). |
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The number of days you want to add to the date passed to Order Broker to calculate Expected ship date in Order Management System. |
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The number of days the system will add to the backorder card processing date to create a new expected ship date. |
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Secured Feature |
Description |
You must have authority to this secured feature to initiate a cancel request. |
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Users with authority to this secured feature can cancel a drop ship purchase order using the Cancel option on the PO Maintenance - Maintain Detail Screen. |
Menu Option |
Description |
Use this option to start and stop the CDC async job, which processes drop ship transactions and updates passed between Order Management System and Order Broker. |
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Use this option to create and maintain retail brands, and associate them with one or more entities in your company. You must set up at least one retail brand in order to integrate with the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module. Each retail brand must be associated with at least one entity. Entities are associated with divisions; the source code on an order must point to the division associated with the entity for which you have set up retail brands. See Working with Retail Brands (WRBD) for more information. Note: Retail brands appear on Order Broker screens as Brands. In Order Broker, you can use brands to specify a logo, packing slip messages, and a pack slip and pull sheet form type. Also, the vendor can restrict the display of purchase order information, or the purchase orders selected for pack slip generation. |
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Vendor item: The information for the vendor item, including the vendor item code, description, price, ship via, lead days, and unit of measure, defaults to the purchase order. If you do not set up a vendor item, the item number and description are passed as the vendor item ID and vendor item description in the CreateDSOrder message to create the purchase order generated through Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP), and the PO and vendor unit price are from the item/SKU’s cost. Vendor item ship via: The ship via defined for the vendor item of the first line on a drop ship purchase order defaults to the header of a purchase order sent to Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module; otherwise, if no ship via is defined for the vendor item on the first purchase order line, the ship via from the sales order header is assigned. Ship weight: The item or SKU’s ship weight or sell weight defaults when the vendor uses the Integrated Shipping screen in the Vendor Portal to confirm shipment. From the: • Ship weight from the SKU, if any; otherwise, the • Ship weight from the item, if any; otherwise, the • Sell weight from the SKU, if any; otherwise, the • Sell weight from the item, if any; otherwise, no weight is passed. To Send Backorder Notices The Suppress backorder card field in the SKU table must be unselected for the item. |
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For each vendor who will use Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module to process your drop ship orders, set the Drop ship output field on the Second Create Vendor Screen to OROB drop shipping. You also need to enter an email address for the vendor in the Vendor Contact table. |
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Use the Retail brand field on the Create/Change/Display Entities screens to associate a retail brand with an entity. Not displayed if the Use OROB Drop Shipping (H13) system control value is unselected. See Working with Retail Brands (WRBD). |
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Use this option to transmit new or changed vendor information to Order Broker for all vendors whose Drop ship output field is set to OROB drop shipping. See the CreateDSVendor Message Samples for the information sent to Order Broker through this menu option. |
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Use this option to review all drop ship order detail lines that have been entered but not yet processed through the Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) menu option. |
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Use this option to review errors that occurred during the integration with the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module and delete the records in error from the CSF Transaction table (FLCSFT). |
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Use this option to print the following reports: • Drop Ship Integration Items on Hold from Vendor Report • Drop Ship Integration Items with Revised Due Date Report • Drop Ship Integration Items Pending Cancellation Report • Drop Ship Integration Items Confirmed Cancellation Report • Drop Ship Integration Items Sent to Integrated System Report |
The CDC async job processes drop ship transactions between Order Broker and Order Management System. For each company that has the Use OROB Drop Shipping (H13) system control value selected, and for each vendor whose Drop ship output field is set to OROB drop shipping.the job processes:
• sending address changes to Order Broker (SetDSAddressChange message)
• sending cost changes to Order Broker (SetDSCostChange message)
• sending cancellation requests to Order Broker (SetDSCancel message)
• requesting activity updates from Order Broker (GetDSChanges message)
See Sample Drop Ship Messages between Order Management System and Order Broker for examples of these messages and additional background.
The CDC async job does not send new purchase orders (the CreateDSOrder message) or new/updated vendors (the CreateDSVendor message) to Order Broker. See Sending Drop Ship Purchase Order Information to the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module and Downloading Drop Ship Vendors (ECSV) for information on these processes.
You can start and stop the CDC async job using the Working with Drop Ship Background Jobs (WPBJ) menu option. The CDC async job should be stopped and started each day.
Note: You can start the CDC async job only if the Use OROB Drop Shipping (H13) system control value on the Drop Ship Integration Values (H20) is selected for at least one company in your environment.
For more information: See Troubleshooting the CDC Async Job for troubleshooting steps.
Property Settings for the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Integration
Complete the following settings in Working with Customer Properties (PROP).
• OROB_PURCHASING_SERVICES_MESSAGE_VERSION: Specifies the outbound message version to send to Order Broker for integration with the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module. Should be set to 4.5 or higher.
• OROB_PURCHASING_SERVICES_WSDL_LOCATION: Needs to specify the endpoint for the Purchasing Services web service. This entry should be set to https://SERVER:8443/Locate/PurchasingServices, where SERVER is the name of your Oracle Retail Order Broker server.
- Required if you are integrating with Order Broker’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module.
- If the purchasing web service requires basic web service authentication, you must define a valid web service authentication user and password in Working with Web Service Authentication (WWSA).
• OROB_PURCHASING_SERVICES_MAX_UPDATES: Indicates the maximum number of drop ship updates for Order Broker to include in drop ship status inquiry responses. For example, you might set this number to 100 to prevent a large number of status updates from impeding system performance. If this property is blank, Order Broker does not limit the number of updates included in the response message.
• The OROB_SERVICES_WSDL_LOCATION property needs to specify the endpoint for the Services web service. This entry should be set to https://SERVER:8443/Locate/LocateServices, where SERVER is the name of your Oracle Retail Order Broker server.
For more information: See Order Broker Configuration for configuration requirements related to integration with Order Broker’s Order Broker.
