Configuring and Processing a Credit Check

You can configure Oracle Transportation Management to process a credit check for every order that is added either manually using any of the order options or via integration. A credit check is performed to ensure that the Bill-To Involved Party contact on an order is credit-worthy based on the credit level status of the location associated with the contact. If the Bill-To contact is considered not credit-worthy, the order is not released for planning.

If you then change the credit status of a location as credit-worthy, Oracle Transportation Management releases the order for planning. In addition, you can also directly approve or deny the credit status directly on the order base.

To enable credit check functionality, Oracle Transportation Management provides several agents and external status types and values for orders and locations.

Credit Check Status

Each location now has a CREDIT LEVEL status type. You can assign the following status values to identify a location's credit-worthiness.

• CREDIT LEVEL_UNKNOWN
• CREDIT LEVEL APPROVED
• CREDIT LEVEL HELD

By default, each new location that you add is assigned the CREDIT LEVEL_UNKNOWN value.

Each order also has a CREDIT APPROVAL status type with the following status values.

• CREDIT APPROVAL_UNKNOWN
• CREDIT APPROVAL_DECLINED
• CREDIT APPROVAL_APPROVED
• CREDIT APPROVAL_HELD

These location and order statuses and three workflow agents control how Oracle Transportation Management conducts credit checks for releasing orders. You can assign any of these values to a location or order base using the Change External Status agent on the Results pages of each business object.

Automation Agents

There are three automation agents that control how a credit check is processed. These agents are active but you can tailor them if you need to modify existing credit check functionality to match your business processes. You can also turn the agents off to disable credit check functionality.

Configure Credit Check

Oracle Transportation Management is initially delivered to enable order processing without credit checks and therefore orders are released under normal operating circumstances. To activate the standard credit check functionality for your domain follow these steps.

1. Select Configuration and Administration > Power Data > General > Status Types to display the status Search page.
2. Enter credit in the Status Type ID field.
3. Enter order_base in the Object Type field.
4. Enter your domain in the Domain Name field to limit the records.
5. Click Search to display the Results page.
6. Click the CREDIT APPROVAL Status Type ID. Make sure your domain name appears as a prefix. For example, DOMAIN.CREDIT APPROVAL.
   
   The External Status Type Definition page lists the four values for the CREDIT APPROVAL status.
7. Click Edit next to the CREDIT APPROVAL_UNKNOWN value and remove the check mark from the Initial Value column.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Edit next to the CREDIT APPROVAL_HELD value and mark the Initial Value column.
10. Click Save.
11. Click Finished to save your work.

Configuring Locations with Contacts:

1. Select Shipment Management > Location from the navigation menu.
2. Enter a new location or conduct a search to find an existing location.
3. Assign a contact to each location that you can identify as the Bill-To Involved Party on the order.

Assigning Location Status:

1. Select Shipment Management > Location from the navigation menu.
2. Conduct a search to find a location (one or more) for which you want to assign credit status.
3. Mark the Selected check box next to each location and choose Change External Status from the list of Location actions.
4. Click Go and choose CREDIT LEVEL from the first drop-down list.
5. Select the appropriate status value from the second drop list depending on the assignment that you want to make.
6. Click OK and a message indicates success.

Create Orders

Orders can be created manually or imported via integration. These steps outline the manual order entry process and the data that is required to make credit check work properly.

1. Select Order Management > Order Release (or any other order option) to create an order.
2. Complete the order details. Assign the appropriate contact as an Involved Party with the Bill-To Involved Party Qualifier. This contact must also be associated with a particular location.
3. Finish the order to save your work.

Credit Check Processing

When you create a new order, Oracle Transportation Management assigns the CREDIT APPROVAL_HELD status. If you did not assign a contact as the Bill-To Involved Party on the order, Oracle Transportation Management releases the order. If you recorded a Bill-To Involved party contact to the order and that contact is assigned to a location with a status of CREDIT LEVEL_APPROVED, Oracle Transportation Management releases the order. However, if the location has a status of CREDIT LEVEL_UNKNOWN or CREDIT LEVEL_HELD, no order release is created.

You can also manually change the order status to CREDIT APPROVAL_UNKNOWN or CREDIT APPROVAL_APPROVED using the Change External Status action and Oracle Transportation Management releases the order regardless of the Bill-To Involved Party or location status. You must manually release an order in this case using the Process Manager.

You can also manually change the status of a location to CREDIT LEVEL_APPROVED and Oracle Transportation Management creates the appropriate releases.

Notification

As orders are created and processed for credit check, you may want to receive notification of orders that are released after a successful credit check. You can configure the Order Base - Releases event to send any contact a notification by email, fax, etc when this happens. You can also configure the Location - Status Changed event to monitor credit level changes for locations.

You can also modify the Credit Release agent to notify a specific contact or involved party.