Supplier Direct Fulfillment Processing

Purpose: Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module is an Oracle application 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 Orchestration and its Supplier Direct Fulfillment module are sold as separate products. For more information about purchasing Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment, contact your Oracle representative.

In this topic:

• Supplier Direct Fulfillment Information Flow
  • What Does Order Administration send to Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module?
  • What Does Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module send to Order Administration?
  • Creating or Updating Vendors in Order Orchestration
  • Creating Drop Ship Orders for Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
  • Sending Drop Ship Purchase Order Information to the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
  • Viewing Errors and Re-entering Orders in Error
  • Shipping Orders through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
• Updates to Order Orchestration Drop Ship Purchase Orders
  • Cancelling Order Orchestration Drop Ship Order Lines
  • Changing Address and Cost Information
• Drop Ship Reports
• Supplier Direct Fulfillment Backorder Notice Processing

Supplier Direct Fulfillment Information Flow

In this topic:

• What Does Order Administration send to Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module?
• What Does Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module send to Order Administration?
• Creating Drop Ship Orders for Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
• Sending Drop Ship Purchase Order Information to the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
• Viewing Errors and Re-entering Orders in Error
• Shipping Orders through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module

What Does Order Administration send to Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module?

Order Administration sends the following information to Order Orchestration for Supplier Direct Fulfillment:

• Vendor: current name and address
• New purchase orders
• Purchase order address changes
• Purchase order cost changes
• Purchase order cancel requests

What Does Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module send to Order Administration?

Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module sends the following information to Order Administration:

• Purchase order acknowledgements
• Purchase order updates, including address change and cancellation acceptances or rejections, status changes, and changes to accepted ship dates
• Purchase order shipment confirmations

Creating or Updating Vendors in Order Orchestration

Order Administration sends the CreateDSVendor message for each vendor whose Drop ship output field on the Second Create Vendor Screen to OROB drop shipping when you use the Downloading Drop Ship Vendors (ECSV) option. If the vendor already exists in Order Orchestration, the existing information is overwritten. See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for the vendor information that Order Administration sends to Order Orchestration.

You can also use the Order Orchestration screens to create or update a vendor, and need to use these screens to specify additional vendor configuration options, such as assignment of carriers (ship vias), pack slip output, and the creation of vendor user IDs who can log into the Vendor Portal.

Note:

You can also create a vendor through the CreateDSOrder message sent through Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) if the vendor does not already exist in Order Orchestration; however, this creates the vendor with minimal information, and you will need to complete vendor setup, typically through the Order Orchestration screens.

Creating Drop Ship Orders for Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module

You must identify the vendor for each item flagged for drop ship, and typically use the vendor item record to specify additional information about the item to include on the purchase order. You flag a drop ship vendor to use Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment module by setting the vendor’s Drop ship output field to OROB drop shipping. The Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) option determines whether to send purchase orders to Order Orchestration based on this setting.

You can view all unprocessed drop ship orders, regardless of whether the vendor is flagged for Order Orchestration drop shipping or any other setting, using the Displaying Unprocessed Drop Ship Items (DUDS) menu option.

D/S PO history: When you create the purchase order through Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP), the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays the message: Drop Ship PO Created.

Sending Drop Ship Purchase Order Information to the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module

You create and send drop ship purchase orders through the Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) menu option. For drop ship purchase orders whose vendors are flagged for OROB drop shipping, the system:

• Creates drop ship purchase order records.
• Sends the CreateDSOrder message to Order Orchestration to create the purchase order for any drop ship items on the order for each vendor. Multiple items are included on the same purchase for a vendor, regardless of whether the items are flagged to ship alone. See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for details on the information included in the message.

When Order Orchestration receives a purchase order, it sends an email notification to the vendor indicating that there are drop ship purchase orders to be fulfilled.

The vendor can access the purchase order information in the Order Orchestration Vendor Portal. At this point, the drop ship purchase order has been created and sent, but not yet selected by the vendor for fulfillment.

Note:

You can also print or reprint a drop ship purchase order using the Printing Purchase Orders (MPRP) menu option. Printing or reprinting a drop ship purchase order does not resend the purchase order to Order Orchestration.

D/S PO history: When Order Administration sends the purchase order to Order Orchestration, the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays the message: PO available to vendor.

Required Information in Order Orchestration

When you use Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) to send a new drop ship purchase order to Order Orchestration through the CreateDSOrder message, the information in the message includes:

• vendor: If the vendor does not already exist in Order Orchestration, Order Orchestration creates the record using the vendor code, name, and email address specified; however, this is the only vendor information included in the CreateDSOrder message, and you will need to complete vendor configuration in Order Orchestration. See Creating or Updating Vendors in Order Orchestration for information on sending current vendor name and address information to Order Orchestration.

Order Orchestration does not update an existing vendor based on the code, name, or email address passed in the CreateDSOrder message.

• carrier: If the ship via does not already exist in Order Orchestration as a valid carrier, Order Orchestration creates a new carrier based on the ship via code; however, this is the only carrier information included in the CreateDSOrder message, and you will need to complete carrier configuration in Order Orchestration. If the ship via code is a single position, it is passed with a padding zero; for example, a code of 7 is passed as 07.
• item: If the item does not already exist in Order Orchestration as a valid item, and Order Administration is the system of record in your Order Orchestration organization, Order Orchestration creates the item and vendor item, using the information passed in the CreateDSOrder message.

The drop ship item and vendor item in Order Orchestration do not need to match an existing product imported into Order Orchestration as part of Order Orchestration processing, and the item does not need to be flagged as OROB eligible in Order Administration.

• brand: The brand you set up through Working with Retail Brands (WRBD) must match a brand you have created in Order Orchestration.

For more information: See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for details on the data passed to Order Orchestration from Order Administration.

Special Handling on Orders Sent to the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module

The Supplier Direct Fulfillment interface supports only custom special handling for drop ship items. See the Work with Special Handling Screen for information on entering custom special handling instructions.

To set up custom special handling for a drop ship item, see Establishing Custom Special Handling Formats (WSHF).

Order and Gift Messages

The Supplier Direct Fulfillment interface sends the following messages for a drop ship purchase order:

• Order messages or gift messages: Up to 8 total order header (sales order) messages with a Print flag setting of Picks, Both, or Gift msg can print below the ship-to address at the top of the pack slip.
• Order line messages: You can send up to 99 order line messages for a drop ship order line. Order line messages identified in Order Administration with a Print flag setting of Picks or Both print below the order line on the pack slip.

See Adding Order Messages.

Viewing Errors and Re-entering Orders in Error

You can use the Working with Drop Ship Errors (WDSE) menu option to review different types of drop ship errors, including errors related to sending a purchase order to Order Orchestration.

You cannot resend a drop ship purchase order if Order Orchestration does not receive it; instead, you can recreate the order as a new order to process it, or retrieve the CreateDSOrder message from Order Orchestration’s xml_ds.log and resend it to Order Orchestration if the message was logged.

Requesting Updates from Order Orchestration

To obtain updates on vendor activity related to drop ship purchase orders, the CDC async job periodically sends the GetDSChanges request message to Order Orchestration for each company whose Use OROB Drop Shipping (H13) system control value is selected. Possible activities include:

• generating the pack slip
• acknowledgement of the purchase order from an integrated vendor
• shipment: see Shipping Orders through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module
• acceptances or rejections of cancel requests: see Cancelling Order Orchestration Drop Ship Order Lines
• vendor changes to due dates or a purchase order line’s hold status: see the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1).

Examples: See the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen for examples of related history messages.

How many changes sent? The OROB_PURCHASING_SERVICES_MAX_UPDATES in Working with Customer Properties (PROP) determines the maximum number of changes to request for each company at a time. If the number of changes since the last request exceeds this maximum, Order Orchestration sends any additional changes in response to the next GetDSChanges request.

Shipping Orders through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module

When your vendor completes shipment of a drop ship purchase order line, the Order Administration purchase order line is closed, and the corresponding Order Administration order line is also closed. Order Administration automatically performs shipment confirmation updates for the order and the purchase order.

Depending on the carrier settings you have specified in Order Orchestration, vendors may be required to enter or upload shipping-related information (including carrier (ship via), tracking number, rate, weight, and ship date) for shipments. This shipment information is transmitted to Order Administration and can be available to the customer through, for example, the shipment confirmation email.

If the carrier does not match a valid ship via: If the carrier passed for a shipment in the GetDSChanges response message does not match a valid ship via, Order Administration uses the existing ship via on the order. In this case, the tracking number link in the shipment confirmation email might not be a valid link for the ship via indicated.

Order Administration does not require that there be a valid SCF/ship via record for the carrier passed for the shipment and the shipping address on the order.

Order Orchestration sends shipment information to Order Administration in the GetDSChanges response message. See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for more information.

D/S PO history: When Order Administration receives a shipment confirmation update from Order Orchestration, the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays a message such as: Item Shipped 11/02/13.

Updates to Order Orchestration Drop Ship Purchase Orders

Overview: The changes that you can apply to purchase orders once they are sent to Order Orchestration are described below.

Note:

Changes can be applied to purchase orders only if the vendor uses the Vendor Portal screens. If the vendor uses the vendor integration rather than Vendor Portal screens to work with purchase orders, the changes are not sent to the integrated vendor’s system.

• Cancelling Order Orchestration Drop Ship Order Lines
• Changing Address and Cost Information

Cancelling Order Orchestration Drop Ship Order Lines

You can request to cancel a Order Orchestration drop ship order line at the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen, available through standard Order Inquiry or Purchase Order Inquiry. Order Administration sends the SetDSCancel message to Order Orchestration. It is not possible to cancel a partial quantity. If the vendor has:

• not yet generated a pack slip for the purchase order line, Order Orchestration cancels the line automatically. The cancellation is noted in the next GetDSChanges response message from Order Orchestration, and Order Administration cancels the line.
• already generated a pack slip for the purchase order line or put the line on hold, Order Orchestration notifies the vendor that there is a cancellation request pending and displays related messages on various screens in the Vendor Portal. If the vendor:
  • accepts the cancel request, Order Orchestration cancels the line automatically. The cancellation is noted in the next GetDSChanges response message from Order Orchestration, and Order Administration cancels the line. Similarly, if the line goes back to New Order status in Order Orchestration if the vendor voids the pack slip, Order Orchestration cancels the line automatically.
  • declines the cancel request Order Orchestration does not cancel the line. Order Orchestration sends an email notification to your PO Status Notification email address specified through its Drop Ship Preferences screen. The rejection is noted in the next GetDSChanges response message from Order Orchestration, and Order Administration does not cancel the line.
  • confirms shipment without responding to a cancel request, Order Orchestration closes the purchase order line. The shipment is noted in the next GetDSChanges response message from Order Orchestration, and Order Administration bills the line.

If line is already shipped? If the cancel request arrives in Order Administration after the vendor has confirmed shipment of the line, Order Orchestration automatically rejects the cancel request and does not perform any additional updates, but does send an email notification to your PO Status Notification email address specified through its Drop Ship Preferences screen.

You can generate a report of pending cancellation requests using the Printing Drop Ship Reports (PDSR) menu option. See Drop Ship Reports.

D/S PO history: When you send a cancellation request to Order Orchestration, the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays the message: Cancel Request Sent. If:

• the vendor declines the cancel request, the message is Cancel Request Rejected.
• the vendor accepts the cancel request, or the cancellation applies automatically because the vendor has not yet begun processing the purchase order, the message is Cancel Request Confirmed
• the cancellation is rejected automatically because the vendor has shipped the line, there is no message noting the automatic rejection.

Secured feature: If you have authority to the Cancel OROB Drop Ship PO (J04) secured feature, you can cancel a Order Orchestration drop ship purchase order line using the Cancel option on the PO Maintenance - Maintain Detail Screen. In this situation, the system does not send a cancel request to Order Orchestration and instead immediately performs a full cancellation, cancelling the purchase order line and order line, removing the printed quantity on the order line, writing an order transaction history message: DS PO line canceled, and updating the drop ship status of the line to cancelled.

Note:

• The only situation in which you should use the Cancel option on the PO Maintenance - Maintain Detail Screen to cancel a Order Orchestration drop ship purchase order line is if you have previously sent a cancel request to Order Orchestration and did not receive a response indicating whether the vendor confirmed or rejected the cancellation.
• Because the cancellation updates the drop ship status of the line to cancelled, you cannot use the cancel request option on the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen to send a cancellation request to Order Orchestration. However, if Order Orchestration returns an update in the GetDSChanges response message for the order line that updates its status to an open status, such as Held, after the cancellation has been performed, you can use the cancel request option to send a cancellation request to Order Orchestration.
• If the GetDSChanges response message includes a shipment confirmation from Order Orchestration after the line has been cancelled, Order Administration does not update the line as shipped, but does update order transaction history with the shipment confirmation.

For more information: See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for details on the information sent to Order Orchestration for a cancellation request.

Changing Address and Cost Information

• Changing Address Information
• Changing Cost Information

Changing Address Information

When you maintain an order that includes at least one Order Orchestration drop ship PO line item which has been sent to Order Orchestration and has not yet been shipped, and the changes to the order include an update to the ship-to address, Order Administration sends the updated address information to Order Orchestration in the SetDSAddressChange message.

Sold-to same as ship-to? If the sold-to and the ship-to address are the same, then the SetDSAddressChange message includes a flag indicating to apply the same update to both.

Updates in Order Orchestration: Order Orchestration creates a record of the original and changed ship-to address and:

• If all lines on the PO are in a new (not in process) status, automatically updates the address information and does not generate an email to the vendor.
• If any line on the PO is already in process, generates an email notification to the vendor about the requested address change; also, various screens in the Vendor Portal display a warning message about the requested change. If the vendor:
  • declines the address change, Order Orchestration sends an email notification of the rejection to your PO Status Notification email address specified through its Drop Ship Preferences screen.
  • accepts the address change, Order Orchestration updates the address for all open (unshipped, uncanceled) lines.The vendor then needs to void and reprint the pack slip in order to generate a pack slip with the correct address.
• If all lines on the PO are in shipped or cancelled status, Order Orchestration automatically rejects the address change and sends an email notification of the rejection to your PO Status Notification email address specified through its Drop Ship Preferences screen.

Conditions:

• If you update a customer’s address in any way besides using order maintenance to maintain the order that includes the drop ship purchase order, the address change is not sent to Order Orchestration.
• If there are additional open purchase orders for the same customer being fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module, Order Administration does not send address updates to Order Orchestration for these purchase orders.
• If you change the sold-to customer’s address but the order is shipping to a different address, Order Administration does not send an address update to Order Orchestration.
• If you change information that is not part of the shipping address, Order Administration does not send an address update to Order Orchestration.

D/S PO history: When you send an address change request to Order Orchestration, the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays the message: Address change sent to vendor. No additional drop ship purchase order history is written for address changes, regardless of vendor action or automatic acceptance or rejection.

For more information: See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for details on the information sent to Order Orchestration for an address change request.

Changing Cost Information

When you update the Cost field on the PO Maintenance - Change PO Detail Screen, Order Administration sends the SetDSCostChange message to Order Orchestration. Order Orchestration creates a record of the original and updated PO cost, and updates the PO with the new cost. No action by the vendor is required.

D/S PO history: When you change the cost of a purchase order line, the Display P/O Drop Ship Screen displays the message Cost change sent to vendor if you advance to the screen through Purchase Order Maintenance (MPOI). This message is not displayed in order inquiry.

For more information: See the Order Administration Web Services Guide on https://support.oracle.com (ID 2953017.1) for details on the information sent to Order Orchestration for a cost change request.

Drop Ship Reports

You can use the Printing Drop Ship Reports (PDSR) menu option to generate reports for drop ship purchase orders fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module:

• 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
• Drop Ship Integration Items Pending Shipment Report
• Drop Ship Integration Items Shipped Report

Supplier Direct Fulfillment Backorder Notice Processing

Backorder notices for drop ship items fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module are based on accurate expected ship date information that your vendors communicate to Order Administration. Because expected shipment information is readily available for these drop ship items, the interface evaluates drop ship items for backorder notices in a manner similar to the way it evaluates non-drop-ship backordered items. The integration offers the following advantages over regular drop ship processing:

• When you enter an order for a drop ship item fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module, the system calculates an expected ship date based on vendor item Lead days plus the Drop Ship Lead Days (H36).
• When your vendor revises the expected ship date for a drop ship order line, the expected ship date is updated on the Order Administration order. This updated expected ship date is included on the backorder notice to the customer.
• Drop ship items fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module are eligible for immediate backorder card notices, if immediate notices are selected for the order type.

Setup for backorder notifications: If you want to generate backorder notices for an item fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module:

• leave the Suppress backorder card field in the SKU table unselected.
• make sure the Unconditional Suppression of Backorder Card (F19) system control value is unselected.
• set accurate Lead days for the vendor item, using the Working with Vendor Items (WVNI) menu option.
• set the Drop Ship Lead Days (H36) system control value to the number of days you want to add to the date passed to Order Orchestration to calculate the Expected ship date in Order Administration.

Due date calculation: For a purchase order line fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment interface, the due date sent to the vendor and the Expected ship date to present to the customer are calculated as: Current date + Vendor item Lead days + Drop Ship Lead Days (H36).

Future arrival date? An order line with a future Arrival date will not be eligible for processing through Selecting Vendors for Drop Ship Processing (MDSP) until the line’s Arrival date is within the vendor item lead days for the item plus the Drop Ship Lead Days (H36).

When the expected ship date passes with no shipment: If the Expected ship date passes, the Next BO card date has been reached, and the item has not been shipped, the backorder notification program generates a notification to the customer. In this case, the new Expected ship date reported to the customer is calculated by adding the FTC -- # of Days for Items without Expected Ship Date (C71) to the date you generate the backorder notices.

Example: When the expected ship date passes but the order has not shipped:

• Order date: 9/10
• Arrival date: 9/10
• Vendor item lead days: 14
• Drop ship lead days (H36): 3
• Expected delivery date [Current date + Vendor item lead days + Drop ship lead days]: 9/27
• FTC -- # of Days for Items without Expected Ship Date (C71): 30

Date	Action	Backorder Notice Result (GBOC)
9/10	You enter the order.	No notice is produced (Immediate Backorder Notification is set to N). Expected ship date on the order is 9/27.
9/27	Expected ship date expires but the order has not shipped.	Backorder notice is generated with new expected ship date: 10/25. (9/27 + FTC -- # of Days for Items without Expected Ship Date (C71)).

When the vendor revises the expected ship date: When the vendor revises an expected ship date, the system updates the Expected ship date to reflect your vendor’s entry. If the Expected ship date is later than the date calculated when you entered the order, and the Next BO card date for the line has been reached, the backorder notification program generates a notification with the revised date the next time you generate notifications.

See System Control Values Related to Order Orchestration’s Supplier Direct Fulfillment Module for information on system control value settings.

Example:

• Order date: 9/10
• Arrival date: 9/10
• Vendor item lead days: 14
• Drop ship lead days (H36): 3
• Expected delivery date [Current date + Vendor item lead days + Drop ship lead days]: 9/27

Date	Action	Backorder Notice Result (GBOC)
9/10	You enter the order.	No notice is produced (Immediate Backorder Notification for the order type is unselected). Expected ship date on the line is 9/27.
9/20	Your vendor revises the expected ship date to 10/14.	If the Next BO card date has been reached, a backorder notice is generated with the new expected ship date of 10/14.
10/14	Expected ship date expires but the order has not shipped.	If the Next BO card date has been reached, a backorder notice is generated with the new expected ship date of 11/13 (10/14 + FTC -- # of Days for Items without Expected Ship Date (C71)).

Immediate backorder notice? For drop ship items processed through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment interface, you have the option to generate immediate backorder notifications to inform your customers of an accurate expected delivery date. Immediate backorder notifications are controlled by Immediate B/O notice setting for the order type, set up in the Establishing Order Types (WOTY) menu option.

Note:

The Number of Days to Delay Initial Backorder Notice (D89) system control value does not apply to items fulfilled through the Supplier Direct Fulfillment module.