Evaluate Payment Opportunities with the Payment Options Assistant
The Payment Options Assistant helps payment specialists identify and evaluate financing opportunities.
The assistant analyzes upcoming payment obligations, evaluates available financing programs, compares projected benefits, and supports payment optimization decisions using financing program information, historical payment data, and published RAG documents. It also supports Supply Chain Financing benefit analysis, supplier spend report generation, financing program candidate management, and creation of ad hoc Virtual Card draft offers.
Common tasks include:
| Task | What the Assistant Helps You Do |
| Review available financing programs | Identify financing programs available for a business unit or payment population. |
| Analyze payment outflows | Review upcoming payment obligations and projected cash outflows. You can also review the updated cash outflow after evaluating a payment program. |
| Evaluate financing benefits | Calculate projected benefits for Dynamic Discounting and Virtual Card opportunities and Supply Chain Financing programs.. |
| Compare financing options | Compare projected benefits across multiple financing programs, including Supply Chain Financing. |
| Perform what-if analysis | Evaluate alternative scenarios using changes to supported program assumptions, including the payment-extension period for Supply Chain Financing. |
| Create draft financing offers | Generate draft supplier financing offers for review and confirmation, including ad hoc Virtual Card draft offers for eligible suppliers. |
| Analyze historical supplier spend | Review historical supplier payment activity to identify suppliers that may benefit from financing programs. You can also generate and download the Supplier Spend Analysis report for offline sharing. |
| Simulate payment programs | Use payment program details provided through published RAG documents to evaluate projected benefits before deciding whether to configure the program in Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials. Payment Program Simulation supports Dynamic Discounting, Virtual Card, and Supply Chain Financing. RAG-only programs are simulation inputs and can't be used for supplier offers, supplier enrollment, or payment execution until the corresponding program is configured. |
| Manage financing program candidates | Add, review, update, and end-date suppliers and supplier sites as financing program candidates for Dynamic Discounting programs. Changes are previewed and require confirmation. |
Supplier Spend Analysis Report Generation
After identifying the supplier population using historical spend analysis, you can ask the Payment Options Assistant to generate the Supplier Spend Analysis report. You can download the report for offline review or sharing, such as with a banking partner for supplier recruitment.
The supplier population identified during conversational spend analysis might differ from the population returned by the generated report. Conversational analysis can use criteria that aren't supported as report filters, such as supplier type. When generating the report, the report population is determined only by the supported report parameters and filters. Review the report parameters before confirming the request.
When you generate the report, select one of these report levels:
- Supplier Profile
- Supplier Address
- Supplier Site
| Supported filter | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date range | Defaults to the last 12 months from the system date if not specified. |
| Supplier country and legal entity country | Restricts the supplier population by geography. |
| Payment method and payment terms | Restricts by current supplier payment configuration. |
| Currency and Business Unit | Restricts by transactional scope within the user's data access. |
Supplier type can be used to filter conversational spend analysis, but it isn't supported as a filter when generating the Supplier Spend Analysis report.
Review the report parameters before confirming the request. If a requested filter isn't supported for report generation, the assistant identifies the unsupported filter and provides the supported alternatives.
When the report is ready, download it from the notification. Alternatively, open Scheduled Processes and locate the Generate Supplier Spend Analysis Report process to access the report.
Manage Financing Program Candidates
You can add, review, update, and end-date financing program candidates using the Payment Options Assistant. Direct supplier and supplier-site candidate additions are supported for Dynamic Discounting programs. The assistant presents changes for review and requires confirmation before applying them.
| Action | Example Prompt | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Review candidates | Show candidates for [Program Name] | Returns active candidates with supplier, site, business unit, rate, and effective dates. |
| Add candidates | Add [Supplier] to [Program Name] | Adds the supplier or supplier site as a candidate for a Dynamic Discounting program, using the program default rate unless you specify another valid rate. |
| Update candidates | Update the APR to 12% for [Supplier] in [Program Name] | Updates the specified rate or effective dates after review and confirmation. |
| End-date candidates | End date [Supplier] in [Program Name] effective [Date] | Sets the end date and excludes the candidate from future offer readiness after that date. |
Candidate management isn't available while a financing program campaign is active. In this situation, complete or end the campaign, or maintain the candidates using Manage Financing Program.
Review Updated Cash Outflow
After evaluating a payment program, you can ask the Payment Options Assistant to show the revised cash outflow. For example: Calculate the cash outflow after adopting [Program Name]
The result reflects the timing and amount changes associated with the payment program. To evaluate a different assumption, use what-if analysis so that the benefit is recalculated.
Use Case: Identify and Evaluate Financing Opportunities
Business Objective: Identify suppliers that may benefit from Dynamic Discounting or Virtual Card programs and determine which financing strategy provides the greatest projected benefit.
Prompt: Compare DD and VC benefits for my top suppliers in USD for Vision Operations
The Payment Options Assistant analyses upcoming payment obligations, calculates projected benefits for available financing programs, and returns a side-by-side comparison of financing opportunities. Review the results to identify suppliers with the greatest potential benefit and determine the most appropriate financing strategy.
Compare Supply Chain Financing Benefits
Business Objective: Compare Supply Chain Financing with other supported financing programs and evaluate the working-capital benefit of extending the payment period.
Prompt: Compare Dynamic Discounting, Virtual Card and Supply Chain Financing benefits for my top 5 suppliers in USD for [Business Unit].
The Payment Options Assistant returns a per-supplier comparison of the three program types. For Supply Chain Financing, it calculates the working-capital benefit using the applicable program parameters and explains how the benefit was derived.
You can ask a follow-up question such as: What if we extended the payment period by 30 days?
The assistant recalculates the scenario using the revised payment extension. Supply Chain Financing supports benefit analysis and comparison only. You can't create Supply Chain Financing offers, enroll suppliers, or manage an offer lifecycle from the assistant.
Use Case: Identify Suppliers Using Historical Spend Analysis
Business Objective: Identify suppliers with significant historical payment activity that may be good candidates for Dynamic Discounting or Virtual Card programs.
Prompt: Show spend analysis for the last 12 months for Supplier Vision Corporation
The Payment Options Assistant summarizes the supplier's historical payment activity and identifies suppliers that may benefit from financing programs. Review the results to prioritize supplier outreach and evaluate financing opportunities based on historical spend patterns.
You can refine conversational spend analysis using supported criteria such as supplier country, legal entity country, and supplier type.
The filters available for conversational spend analysis aren't the same as the filters supported by the Supplier Spend Analysis report. When generating the report, use only the supported report filters described in Supplier Spend Analysis Report Generation.
Use Case: Create Ad Hoc Virtual Card Draft Offers
Business Objective: Create a Virtual Card draft offer for eligible suppliers that aren't already enrolled in a Virtual Card program.
Prompt: Create Virtual Card draft offers for [Supplier A] and [Supplier B]
Before creating the offers, review upcoming payments and calculate the Virtual Card benefits for the suppliers. The Payment Options Assistant then presents a supplier-level offer preview that includes the financing program, funding card account, payment method, and proposed payment term.
Review and modify the preview as needed. Enter Confirm to create the draft offers. The selected installments are soft-locked after the draft offers are created. Use the Supplier Offers Assistant to review, approve, and send the offers.
Use Case: Simulate a Payment Program
Business Objective: Evaluate the potential benefits of a payment program before deciding whether to configure and use the program in Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials.
Prompt: Calculate potential benefits for payment programs defined in published RAG documents.
The Payment Options Assistant uses payment program details provided through published RAG documents to simulate the program and calculate its potential benefits. This enables users to evaluate the expected financial benefit and determine whether the payment program is suitable for their organization before configuring and operationalizing it.
Payment programs provided through RAG documents are used for simulation and benefit analysis only. They can't be used to create supplier offers or execute payment activities until the corresponding program is configured in Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials. Payment Program Simulation supports Dynamic Discounting, Virtual Card, and Supply Chain Financing.