Integrating with an Item Content Provider

The proliferation of Web-based catalogs has provided manufacturers with an easy and effective tool to locate components with the desired specifications at the lowest cost. The traditional catalog function now comes in a variety of forms to improve business to business communication between systems. Examples of the types of systems PeopleSoft defines as 'Item Content Providers' include Component Supplier Management (CSM) systems, market site aggregators, independent trading exchanges, and traditional catalog providers with new web interfaces. These systems benefit the design and purchasing of new products by accelerating item location, maximizing design reuse, and reducing acquisition costs.

Item Content Providers provide tools to classify and query item lists. This benefits engineering designs by enabling parametric search capability, maximizing design reuse, preferred parts selection, and efficient parts retrieval. You can use Item Content Providers to help reduce the number of redundant items in an organization.

On the procurement side of your organization, you can use an Item Content Provider to classify parts and suppliers, and set up business rules for supplier consolidation, and supplier performance management. It also helps with cost reduction by getting the correct and lowest cost components up front.

PeopleSoft provides several enterprise integration points (EIP) to these systems to maximize ease of importing item data into the PeopleSoft database. Using Application Messaging technology, you can keep this information up to date within the PeopleSoft system by subscribing to XML messages from an Item Content Provider system to the PeopleSoft EIPs:

  • Item Definition (SetID)

  • Item Business Unit attributes

  • Item Revisions

  • Supplier/Item attributes

Note: For Item Content Providers, PeopleSoft supports inbound messages only.

Depending on the Item Content Provider involved, it may include publishing items, revisions, and item pricelist messages. These messages must be formatted into the PeopleSoft XML structure prior to being posted to PeopleSoft.

Note: This translation is third-party specific and isn't performed using the PeopleSoft system.

This diagram illustrates the flow of data (using the service operations within PeopleSoft Integration Broker) from an item content provider to PeopleSoft for item definitions, item attributes, and item price lists:

 Item Content Provider process

Once XML messages are posted to PeopleSoft , the PeopleSoft subscription process reformats the XML message data and writes the data into PeopleSoft staging tables. The system then initiates an Application Engine process to validate the data. If no errors are found, the process then updates the PeopleSoft item definition tables. If errors are found, you can review the message log and correct errors using the standard Data Definition Maintenance pages.

Note: You can't use Item Content Provider transactions to update transaction related data such as item quantity balances in the PeopleSoft Inventory tables.

Using the Item Master Transaction

The Item Content Provider uses the Item Master EIP to accept detailed updates and new items master information as well as Item business unit specific attributes including Revision data. The Item data includes Master Item, Item Business Unit Attributes, Purchasing Attributes, Item Unit of Measure and Item Revision information.

See Examining the PeopleSoft Engineering Product Strategy.

Using the Item Pricelist Transaction

Item Pricelist messages update the system with supplier's item catalogs. This includes detailed item information such as item dimensions, lot and serial control numbers, item groups and families, categories, and statuses. For each item, the system can also receive purchasing data including inspection information, pricing, packing dimensions, and supplier information like supplier catalog number and standard pricing.