1 Feature Summary
This chapter describes the feature enhancements in this release.
Noteworthy Enhancements
This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in the Oracle Retail Merchandising Cloud Services update and describes any tasks you might need to perform for the update. Each section includes a brief description of the feature, the steps you need to take to enable or begin using the feature, any tips or considerations that you should keep in mind, and the resources available to help you.
Column Definitions
-
Feature: Provides a description of the feature being delivered.
-
Module Impacted: Identifies the module associated with the feature, if any.
-
Scale: Identifies the size of the feature. Options are:
-
Small: These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.
-
Large: These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.
-
-
Delivered: Is the new feature available for use immediately after upgrade or must the feature be enabled or configured? If no, the feature is non-disruptive to end users and action is required (detailed steps below) to make the feature ready to use.
- Customer Action Required: You must take action before these features can be used. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them.
Table 1-1 Noteworthy Enhancements
Feature | Module Impacted | Scale | Delivered | Customer Action Required? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Integration Modernization |
All |
Large |
Enabled |
No |
Product Transformation Integration Fresh |
Merchandising |
Large |
Enabled |
No |
File ID in EDI Order Download |
Merchandising |
Small |
Enabled |
Yes |
Support for CFAS in the Promotion Offers ReST Service |
Pricing |
Small |
Enabled |
No |
Invoice Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) |
Invoice Matching |
Small |
Enabled |
No |
e-Invoicing Integration |
Invoice Matching |
Small |
Enabled |
No |
Redwood StyleSheet | All |
Small |
Enabled |
No |
Integration Modernization
This cloud service update marks the conclusion of a multi-phased effort to modernize the integration options available for the Merchandising Cloud Services. New in this release is the enablement of the direct table-based integration between the Store Inventory Operations Cloud Service (SIOCS) and Merchandising. Other key REST APIs added with this update include Create/Update/Delete Items, Create Outbound ASNs, and Manage Returns to Vendor.
These updates complement updates previously released and communicated in earlier Release Readiness Guides, including:
-
Conversion of SOAP Based Services to ReST – refer to the 21.0 (March 2022) and 22.1.201.0 (April 2022) Release Readiness Guides for more information.
-
ReST Based Publishing (Outbound) Services – refer to the 22.1.201.0 (April 2022) Release Readiness Guide for more information.
-
ReST Based Subscription (Inbound) Services – refer to the 23.0.101.0 (Feb 2023), 22.1.401 (Nov 2022), 22.1.301.0 (July 2022) Release Readiness Guides for more information.
-
Migration of Integration Services previously supported within the Retail Integration Cloud Service (RICS) Omni-Channel Data Services (OCDS) component into the Merchandising footprint. Refer to the New Foundation, Inventory, and Pricing Services Requirement in the 21.0 (March 2022) Release Readiness Guide for more information.
-
Enabling all ReST Services for OAuth 2.0 Authentication (21.0).
Those services previously made available are documented in the Merchandising Cloud Services Inbound and Outbound Integration Guide (previously known as Operations Guide Volume 2 - Message Publication and Subscription Designs).
Product Transformation Integration - Fresh
It is important for any grocery retailer to manage fresh food inventory to minimize wastage and to create better visibility of ingredient inventory and sellable items produced in store. Many fresh food retailers leverage a Fresh Product Management system for managing the in-store manufacturing which involves tracking fresh food transformation at an item level, production planning and execution, cost of labor and packaging, and so on.
This cloud service update addresses the integration of a Fresh Product Management system with Merchandising to allow end-to-end visibility of inventory of both orderable and sellable items, which results in more accurate forecasting and ordering for perishable goods and ingredient items.
Enhancements related to this area cover the following:
-
New ReST endpoint that supports inventory and cost adjustments for transformations occurring in a Fresh Product Management System.
-
Support for defining a regular item as non-orderable, sellable, and inventoried. Previously items with these characteristics were limited to deposit return items only.
-
Updates to the Item Publication ReST Service to include additional input criteria such as the Inventory Indicator, Supplier, and Reference Item. These additional criteria are intended to make the service more robust when being used by a Fresh Product Management system by adding more flexibility.
-
Updates to the Item/Location Publication ReST Service to include additional input criteria such as the Location, Inventory Indicator, Sellable Indicator, and Orderable Indicator.
This cloud service update, this new API and the updates to the existing APIs are documented in the Merchandising Cloud Services Inbound and Outbound Integration Guide (previously known as Operations Guide Volume 2 - Message Publication and Subscription Designs).
File ID in EDI Order Download
This update includes an enhancement to the EDI Order Download (edidlord) to include the File ID attribute captured on purchase orders. This allows for orders grouped together using pooled suppliers to be communicated to suppliers. This feature was delivered in a manner that supports backward compatibility. To utilize this feature, an updated file format must be adopted. This format is published in the Merchandising Cloud Services Inbound and Outbound Integration Guide (previously known as Operations Guide Volume 2 - Message Publication and Subscription Designs).
Support for CFAS in the Promotion Offers ReST Service
The inbound ReST Service for Promotions was enhanced to include support for loading Custom Flex Attributes (CFAS) when creating promotion offers. These changes are documented in the Pricing Cloud Service Operations Guide.
Invoice Universally Unique Identifier (UUID)
An enhancement was made to Invoice Matching to support the capture of a universally unique identifier (UUID) on invoice documents. This enhancement supports the requirement of certain governments to have a unique fiscal identifier captured on payment documents to support the auditing of these documents. In addition to capturing and maintaining this identifier on invoice documents, changes were made to pass this value to the financial system when the invoice documents are communicated.
e-Invoicing Integration
E-Invoicing is the electronic exchange of financial documents between a business and a government agency, a business to another business, or a business to consumer. To support this process an update was made to include integration support between Invoice Matching and the Fiscal Document Generation (FDG) component of Merchandising, including an extract of invoice documents to FDG for communication to the appropriate government agency. This update does not include any communication back to Invoice Matching from the government agency via FDG.
Redwood StyleSheet
The Merchandising cloud service application screens have all be updated with a new Redwood-themed stylesheet. This impacts the colors, fonts, and various other look and feel aspects of the application screens. The task flows remain unchanged, meaning the position of fields, labels, and navigation order has not been impacted.