r12 Adv Procurement Rcd

RELEASE CONTENT DOCUMENT Release 12 Oracle Advanced Procurement

Prepared by Advanced Procurement Product Management Teams

Last Updated:

18th October 2006

Version:

7.0

Copyright © 2006 Oracle. All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

1.

Disclaimer

2.

Introduction

2.1.

Purpose of Document

6

2.2.

Reference Documents

6

Oracle Advanced Procurement

7

3. 3.1.

Oracle iProcurement 3.1.1. Overview 3.1.2. Features 3.1.2.1. Enhanced Catalog Authoring 3.1.2.2. Difference Summary for Catalog Changes 3.1.2.3. Unified Catalog 3.1.2.4. Approval, Revision Control and Archive for Catalog Data 3.1.2.5. Content Security 3.1.2.6. Advanced Approval Support 3.1.2.7. Enhanced Requester Driven Change Order Management 3.1.2.8. Requester Directed Sourcing 3.1.2.9. Support for Multiple Favorite Lists 3.1.2.10. Confirm Receipt Enhancements 3.1.2.11. Multiple Search Result Layouts 3.1.2.12. List of Value Enhancements 3.1.2.13. Contractor Support in iProcurement 3.1.2.14. Work Confirmation Support

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3.2.

Oracle iSupplier Portal 3.2.1. Overview 3.2.2. Features 3.2.2.1. Complex Contract Payments 3.2.2.2. Supplier Change Order 3.2.2.3. Supplier Onboarding 3.2.2.4. Supplier Managed User Maintenance 3.2.2.5. Supplier Contact Management 3.2.2.6. Enhanced Supplier Profile Management 3.2.2.7. Representation of Suppliers in the Trading Community Architecture (TCA) 3.2.2.8. New Supplier Setup User Interface 3.2.2.9. Consolidated Banking Model 3.2.2.10. Integration with Oracle Supplier Network Identity Broker 3.2.2.11. Enhanced Inbound Logistics 3.2.2.12. PO Status Tracking 3.2.2.13. Receipt Inquiry 3.2.2.14. Invoice & Payment Inquiry 3.2.2.15. Supplier Scorecard 3.2.2.16. Supplier Self-Service Catalog Authoring 3.2.2.17. Multi-Org Access Controls

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R12 Release Content Document, Rev. 07

2

Table of Contents

1.

Disclaimer

2.

Introduction

2.1.

Purpose of Document

6

2.2.

Reference Documents

6


7

3. 3.1.

Oracle iProcurement 3.1.1. Overview 3.1.2. Features 3.1.2.1. Enhanced Catalog Authoring 3.1.2.2. Difference Summary for Catalog Changes 3.1.2.3. Unified Catalog 3.1.2.4. Approval, Revision Control and Archive for Catalog Data 3.1.2.5. Content Security 3.1.2.6. Advanced Approval Support 3.1.2.7. Enhanced Requester Driven Change Order Management 3.1.2.8. Requester Directed Sourcing 3.1.2.9. Support for Multiple Favorite Lists 3.1.2.10. Confirm Receipt Enhancements 3.1.2.11. Multiple Search Result Layouts 3.1.2.12. List of Value Enhancements 3.1.2.13. Contractor Support in iProcurement 3.1.2.14. Work Confirmation Support

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3.2.

Oracle iSupplier Portal 3.2.1. Overview 3.2.2. Features 3.2.2.1. Complex Contract Payments 3.2.2.2. Supplier Change Order 3.2.2.3. Supplier Onboarding 3.2.2.4. Supplier Managed User Maintenance 3.2.2.5. Supplier Contact Management 3.2.2.6. Enhanced Supplier Profile Management 3.2.2.7. Representation of Suppliers in the Trading Community Architecture (TCA) 3.2.2.8. New Supplier Setup User Interface 3.2.2.9. Consolidated Banking Model 3.2.2.10. Integration with Oracle Supplier Network Identity Broker 3.2.2.11. Enhanced Inbound Logistics 3.2.2.12. PO Status Tracking 3.2.2.13. Receipt Inquiry 3.2.2.14. Invoice & Payment Inquiry 3.2.2.15. Supplier Scorecard 3.2.2.16. Supplier Self-Service Catalog Authoring 3.2.2.17. Multi-Org Access Controls

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3.2.2.18.

Invoice Requests and Online Collaboration

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3.3.

Oracle Procurement Contracts 3.3.1. Overview 3.3.2. Features 3.3.2.1. Rules based Clause Selection 3.3.2.2. Microsoft Word Synchronization 3.3.2.3. Contract Deviations Report 3.3.2.4. Contract Policy Standards and Deviations 3.3.2.5. Support Contract Terms as an Attached Document 3.3.2.6. Clause Usage Analysis 3.3.2.7. Professional Buyer’s Work Center 3.3.2.8. Contract Workbench 3.3.2.9. Approve Clauses as Part of Template Approvals 3.3.2.10. Automatic Application of Contract Template 3.3.2.11. Complex Contract Payments 3.3.2.12. Multi-Organization Access Control 3.3.2.13. Enhanced Support for Contract Template Translation 3.3.2.14. XML Interface for Clause Import 3.3.2.15. Contract Publishing Enhancements 3.3.2.16. Enhanced Electronic Signature Support 3.3.2.17. Availability of New Features

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3.4.

Oracle Purchasing 3.4.1. Overview 3.4.2. Features 3.4.2.1. Professional Buyer’s Work Center 3.4.2.2. Procurement for Complex Services 3.4.2.3. Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC) 3.4.2.4. E-Business Tax 3.4.2.5. Document Publishing Enhancements 3.4.2.6. Communicate Document Attachments to Suppliers 3.4.2.7. Oracle Supplier Network - Rapid Supplier Enablement 3.4.2.8. Maintain Sourcing Rules/ASLs for Agreement Items 3.4.2.9. Support for Contractor Purchasing Users 3.4.2.10. Compliance to Packaging Constraints 3.4.2.11. Auto-Approval Tolerance for Change Orders 3.4.2.12. eAM Support for Services Procurement 3.4.2.13. Model Complex Pricing for Blanket Line Items 3.4.2.14. Advanced Approval Support for Requisitions 3.4.2.15. Subledger Accounting for Budgetary Control Actions 3.4.2.16. New User Interface for Oracle Purchasing Setups 3.4.2.17. Chargeable Subcontracting 3.4.2.18. Support for Unified Process Manufacturing/Discrete Inventory 3.4.2.19. Dual Unit of Measure Control 3.4.2.20. Material Status Control 3.4.2.21. Sublot Control 3.4.2.22. Depot Repair Enhancements

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3.5.

Oracle Services Procurement 3.5.1. Overview 3.5.2. Features 3.5.2.1. Complex Contract Payments 3.5.2.2. Advances and Recoupment of Advances 3.5.2.3. Progress Payments 3.5.2.4. Retainage and Retainage Release 3.5.2.5. Negotiate Contracts for Complex Services 3.5.2.6. Work Confirmation 3.5.2.7. Supplier Collaboration 3.5.2.8. eAM Support for Fixed Price Services

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3.6.

Oracle Sourcing 3.6.1. Overview 3.6.2. Features 3.6.2.1. Negotiation Styles 3.6.2.2. Complex Contract Payments Negotiation 3.6.2.3. Negotiation Requirements 3.6.2.4. Team Scoring for Subjectively Scored Requirements 3.6.2.5. Automatically Knockout Suppliers from the Shortlist 3.6.2.6. Support for Very Large Number of Line Items on a Negotiation 3.6.2.7. Enhanced Catalog Management 3.6.2.8. Negotiation Document PDF Printing Enhancements 3.6.2.9. Collaboration Team Member Messaging 3.6.2.10. Professional Buyer’s Work Center 3.6.2.11. Staggered Closing of Lines in Auctions 3.6.2.12. AutoExtend Improvements 3.6.2.13. Notification Subscription 3.6.2.14. Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement: Sourcing Dashboard 3.6.2.15. Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement: Supplier Scorecard 3.6.2.16. Award Approval Routing Using Position Hierarchy 3.6.2.17. Workflow Business Events 3.6.2.18. Price Breaks Settings Defaulting 3.6.2.19. Support for Contractors 3.6.2.20. Easier Configuration of Responsibilities 3.6.2.21. Multi-Org Access Controls (MOAC) 3.6.2.22. Representation of Suppliers in the Trading Community Architecture (TCA) 3.6.2.23. Prospective and New Supplier Invitation 3.6.2.24. Display Best Bid Price in Blind Negotiations 3.6.2.25. Bidding Improvements 3.6.2.26. Live Console 3.6.2.27. Transformation Bidding 3.6.2.28. Lot Based Bidding 3.6.2.29. Line Groups 3.6.2.30. Control Supplier Participation 3.6.2.31. Post Negotiation Synopsis to Extranet Website 3.6.2.32. Create and Publish Industry Standard Forms 3.6.2.33. Home Page Enhancements 3.6.2.34. Negotiate Contract Purchase Agreements 3.6.2.35. Supplier Research Enhancements 3.6.2.36. Change Document Type for New Round 3.6.2.37. Copy across Document Types 3.6.2.38. Spreadsheet Import of Header Attributes 3.6.2.39. Negotiations without Lines 3.6.2.40. Improved Purchase Document Creation Flow

Oracle Sourcing Optimization – New Product 3.6.3. Overview 3.6.4. Features 3.6.4.1. Scenario Objectives 3.6.4.2. Business Constraints 3.6.4.3. Scenario Optimization 3.6.4.4. What-if Analysis 3.6.4.5. Scenario Acceptance


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1.

Disclaimer This Release Content Document (RCD) describes product features that are proposed for the specified release of the Oracle E-Business Suite. This document describes new or changed functionality only. Existing functionality from prior releases is not described. It is intended solely to help you assess the business benefits of upgrading to Release 12. This document in any form, software or printed matter, contains proprietary information that is the exclusive property of Oracle. Your access to and use of this confidential material is subject to the terms and conditions of your Oracle Software License and Service Agreement, which has been executed and with with you agree to comply. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed to anyone outside Oracle without prior written consent of Oracle. This document is not part of your license agreement nor can it be incorporated into any contractual agreement with Oracle or its subsidiaries or affiliates. This document is for informational purposes only and is intended solely to assist you in planning for the implementation and upgrade of the product features described. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described in this document remains at the sole discretion of Oracle. Due to the nature of the product architecture, it may not be possible to safely include all features described in this document without risking significant destabilization of the code.

R12 Release Content Document


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2.

Introduction 2.1.

Purpose of Document The Release Content Document (RCD), produced as part of Oracle’s Applications Product Lifecycle (APL), communicates information about new or changed functionality in the specified release of the Oracle E-Business Suite. Existing functionality from prior point releases is not described. However, content introduced by Family Packs, Mini-Packs or Standalone patches since the prior point release has been included in this document and denoted accordingly.

2.2.

Reference Documents Name


Location

Completion Date


6

3.

Oracle Advanced Procurement 3.1.

Oracle iProcurement 3.1.1.

Overview Oracle iProcurement is the self-service requisitioning application that controls employee spending. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs. Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement is focused on three key themes: •

Improved Content Management

•

Advancements in Requester Driven Procurement

•

User Interface Upgrades

Release 12 significantly improves the content management process with features such as online catalog authoring, difference summaries for catalog changes, and a new and improved catalog security model. This release also contains much advancement in requester driven functionality by allowing requesters to suggest negotiation events when ordering goods as well as providing tolerance rules to automatically process minor changes without buyer involvement. Finally, numerous user interface upgrades such as multiple search results layouts, multiple favorites lists were integrated into iProcurement to make the ordering process more intuitive and provide more flexibility for the requesters.

3.1.2.

Features 3.1.2.1. Enhanced Catalog Authoring

Release 12 enhances the catalog management process by providing online authoring capability for iProcurement catalog administrators. Online catalog authoring complements the existing batch upload process. While batch upload is optimized for large data upload, the online authoring is optimized for making small and quick updates to catalog content. Increasingly, content management has become a collaborative process between the buying and supplying organizations. Many enterprises now outsource the content authoring responsibilities to suppliers or third party vendors. This creates a need for suppliers to be able to view, create and maintain their content on behalf of the buying organization. Through Release 12 of Oracle iSupplier Portal, suppliers can now author their own content either via file upload or online. Self-service authoring supports industry standard formats for upload mode including OAG XML, cXML, CIF and text files. Any supplierauthored content is subject to buyer approval before it is made available to requesters. For additional details on Supplier Self-service Catalog Authoring, refer to the Oracle iSupplier Portal Release Content Document. .



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3.1.2.2. Difference Summary for Catalog Changes

Release 12 eases the catalog change management process by providing a Difference Summary between new catalog content and the last approved version. When suppliers and/or catalog administrators make changes to catalog data, Release 12 provides a Difference Summary highlighting the changes. This allows users to easily review and verify their changes prior to submission. Users can sort and drill down on the summary to view additional information as well as export changes to a spreadsheet to further manipulate the data. Similarly, buyers can also access the Difference Summary when reviewing changes submitted from a supplier or catalog administrator. The summary gives the buyer a clear snapshot into the requested changes, so they can judiciously accept or reject the changes. 3.1.2.3. Unified Catalog

With Release 12, Oracle iProcurement and Oracle Purchasing now have a single shared catalog data model. The converged catalog combines the best features of both previous models, and provides a number of significant capabilities and benefits: •

•

•

Catalogs are automatically and perpetually up-to-date and based on real-time data. The extractor process is no longer required to maintain the catalog. Instead, approved content is instantly available to iProcurement requesters Support for extensible base and category attributes to enhance the product data catalog. Oracle iProcurement customers can now define base and category attributes for their specific needs Support for price breaks based on quantity, shipping organization and effective date range

3.1.2.4. Approval, Revision Control and Archive for Catalog Data

Release 12 now provides approval, revision control and archival capability for catalog data. Catalog data is now stored in the form of Global Blanket Agreements, allowing users to leverage Purchasing Approval hierarchy, Revision Control and Archival capabilities for agreements. Customers can now leverage the purchasing approval hierarchy to configure catalog approvals to suit their business needs. Following the approval of catalog data, the document revision version is incremented as needed, and the previous revision of the agreement is archived.



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3.1.2.5. Content Security

Release 12 expands catalog content security, providing more precise control of what users can see in the catalog. Enterprises that manage a large set of goods and services in their procurement system need control of what content requesters can access—based on their responsibilities, geographical locations, etc. Release 12 offers a configurable content security model that introduces the concept of Content Zones to give administrators finer and more flexible access control. Content Zones are segments of catalog content that administrators can define based on supplier, supplier site and category. In addition, the administrator can use inclusionary or exclusionary rules to determine whether certain items should be included or excluded from a specified Content Zone. For example, an administrator can define an ‘Industrial Supplies, North America’ Content Zone; this content zone includes content from supplier ‘Industrial Depot’, supplier site ‘North America’ but excludes content from category ‘Power Supplies’. Once the administrator has defined a content zone, he can secure it by assigning it to one or more operating units. Optionally, the administrator can also determine which responsibilities in the selected operating units are eligible to access content in this content zone. The administrator can also define Punchout, Transparent Punchout, and Informational content zones. Once the content zone is defined, the administrator can create a store, and assign one or more content zones to that store. Similarly, the administrator can also assign Smart Forms to the store to capture non-catalog requests appropriate to that store. 3.1.2.6. Advanced Approval Support

Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement further expands and enhances integration with the Oracle Approvals Management product. This integration gives enterprises even more flexibility to configure their business approval processes. Key enhancements include: 3.1.2.6.1. Position Hierarchy based Approvals

Position based hierarchies allow organizations the flexibility to create reporting structures that remain stable regardless of personnel changes. Enterprises already using position hierarchies via Oracle Approval Management can immediately leverage those hierarchies for the requisition approvals process. 3.1.2.6.2. Parallel Approvals

The Parallel Approvals functionality gives enterprises the option to speed up the approvals process by routing a requisition to multiple approvers simultaneously. 3.1.2.6.3. Support for FYI Notifications

Certain individuals or business roles need to be kept informed of purchases and decisions, but do not necessarily need to take action against that notification. Release 12 provides new functionality to allow certain individuals or roles to review the purchases, but do not require any response from the recipient.



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3.1.2.6.4. Graphical Display of Approval Chain

Release 12 provides requesters and approvers with a simple and intuitive graphical view of the approval chain and requisition status for a given requisition. 3.1.2.7. Enhanced Requester Driven Change Order Management

Release 12 enhances touchless buying by optionally processing non-significant order changes without requiring change approval. Existing Oracle iProcurement functionality allows requesters to make changes to the requisition even after it has been converted into a purchase order. These changes are conditionally routed through the requester’s approval hierarchy based on tolerance values setup for each of the changed attributes. However, the change request is always routed to the buyer for approval. To better automate this process Release 12 introduces tolerances and options into the Requester Change Order workflow to determine whether the buyer needs to approve a given change. Release 12 also leverages this functionality to automate the processing of supplierinitiated purchasing changes. The system processes changes that fall within defined tolerances without buyer approval, and routes change requests that fall outside those boundaries to the buyer for approval. Optionally, administrators can define tolerances to indicate when a supplier-initiated change should be routed to the requester instead of the buyer for approval. 3.1.2.8. Requester Directed Sourcing

Release 12 allows requesters to suggest a sourcing event, when they believe such an event is needed. Because the requester is often most familiar with the product or service being ordered, he should be able to indicate whether a negotiation event is needed. For example, the requester may be aware that for a large order, the company should be able to negotiate more favorable prices or terms. With the requester-directed sourcing capability in Release 12, requesters can indicate their preferences for sourcing a given requisition line. The buyer can then review the request and proceed with the appropriate sourcing steps. 3.1.2.9. Support for Multiple Favorite Lists

Release 12 of Oracle iProcurement introduces Multiple Favorite Lists. Users can easily organize items by adding them into separate favorite lists, instead of one large list. This greatly speeds browsing and ordering process by allowing requesters to quickly choose items from any one of the saved Favorite Lists. 3.1.2.10. Confirm Receipt Enhancements

Some organizations hold invoice payments until receipts are created for 3-way matched purchase orders. For these organizations, the timely creation of receipts impacts payment timeliness and ultimately supplier relationships.



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New in Release 12 are Confirm Receipt Notification Reminders that will be sent to the requester whenever invoices are matched to purchase orders in Accounts Payable. Upon receiving the notifications, requesters may: •

Review the order information and any invoices matched to their orders

•

Create a receipt for the amount that was invoiced

Release 12 also continues to support Notification Reminders based on the requisition need-by date, as well as fully or partially receiving goods or services. 3.1.2.11. Multiple Search Result Layouts

Release 12 incorporates the latest usability study feedback into iProcurement, revising user interface models to improve the shopping experience. In this release, iProcurement users can choose to display shopping search results in either an updated Paragraph search result display format or the Grid display format. The Grid format presents item information in a table to show more information on a page and allow quick row-to-row comparisons. The refreshed Paragraph format provides better alignment of item attributes and allows the truncation of long descriptions. In addition, Release 12 substantially updates the Item Detail and Item Compare screens to make them easier to read. These combined UI changes help requesters find information and make purchasing decisions faster, with fewer clicks required to perform key actions. 3.1.2.12. List of Value Enhancements

Release 12 makes List of Value (LOV) functionality easier to use with the addition of sorting capabilities, more LOV search criteria, and displaying additional information about list of values. Requesters use List of Values (LOV) frequently to find the correct approvers, locations, and suppliers etc. In this release, new LOV functionalities are introduced to allow users to more easily find the desired values. Key enhancements include: • •

•

Sorting capability - Users can sort on the results returned from the LOVs Additional search criteria - Users can search for the values in the LOVs using new search criteria customized for each LOV Additional information displayed - Additional information is displayed wherever appropriate to provide relevant information

3.1.2.13. Contractor Support in iProcurement

Release 12 allows contractors to use iProcurement in the same manner as employees. Now contractors can be set up as requesters and/or approvers. Given the appropriate level of functional security, contractors can now have the ability to perform all the same functions as the employees in iProcurement. 3.1.2.14. Work Confirmation Support

In large-scale projects, the supplier may periodically request payment as work progresses and as certain deliverables or milestones are achieved. Oracle iSupplier Portal streamlines the work certification and payment authorization process. Once the Supplier R12 Release Content Document


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submits an online work confirmation, the request is automatically routed for approval to those who are qualified to certify the work. The list of approvers can include certain roles (such as project manager, buyer or engineer) that are familiar with the work deliverables. To ensure accurate and timely payments, the system can optionally generate an automatic invoice once the work confirmation is approved. Internal users within the buying organization can also generate work confirmations. The requester or project manager can initiate work confirmations within iProcurement, as well as view and respond to work confirmations that require their approval. For additional details on Complex Work , please refer to the Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Services Procurement Release Content Document.



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3.2.

Oracle iSupplier Portal 3.2.1.

Overview Oracle iSupplier Portal is the enterprise application that structures all supplier communication through a secure, Internet-based portal. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs. In Release 12, substantial new functionality has been introduced to Oracle iSupplier Portal to support the procurement and management of complex work. Significant enhancements have also been made to the supplier change order process and supplier onboarding, in addition to many usability improvements for external and internal users of the application.

3.2.2.

Features 3.2.2.1. Complex Contract Payments

Oracle Purchasing, in conjunction with Oracle Procurement Contracts, supports the procurement of large-scale complex services including construction, research and engineering, and project outsourcing. These long term-contracts may require complex payment arrangements such as milestone payments, progress payments, advances, retainage and recoupment. To optimize the business process, suppliers and key project stakeholders need to collaborate throughout the contract execution cycle. Using Oracle iSupplier Portal, suppliers will be able to perform the following tasks: 3.2.2.1.1. View and Manage Complex Orders

Large-scale projects present unique order management challenges. Oracle iSupplier Portal will allow suppliers to view and manage purchase orders for large-scale complex projects. Suppliers will be able to view the unique finance and retainage terms that are unique to the contract as well as the detailed payment schedule. The payment schedule will include the contractual deliverables for the project and the associated progress payments for completing the deliverables on time. Through iSupplier Portal, the supplier will be able to track the deliverable due dates and monitor the payment status and progress of each deliverable. Existing features that support the order acknowledgement process and supplier initiated change requests will also be available for complex orders. 3.2.2.1.2. Create and View Work Confirmations

In large-scale projects, the supplier may periodically request payment as work progresses and as certain deliverables or milestones are achieved. Oracle iSupplier Portal streamlines the work certification and payment authorization process. Once the Supplier submits an online work confirmation, the request is automatically routed for approval to those who are qualified to certify the work. The list of approvers could include a project manager, buyer, engineer, etc. who are familiar with the work deliverables. To ensure accurate and timely payments, once the work confirmation is approved, an invoice may be automatically generated. In addition to supplier initiated work confirmations, work confirmations can also be initiated by internal users within the buying organization. From Oracle R12 Release Content Document


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iProcurement, the requester or project manager is able to initiate work confirmations as well as view and respond to work confirmations requiring their authorization. For additional details on Complex Work, please refer to the Oracle Services Procurement section of this document. 3.2.2.2. Supplier Change Order

Release 12 significantly enhances the supplier change order flow to expedite both initiation and approval of change order requests. 3.2.2.2.1. Multi-Order Change Request

The current change order functionality allows suppliers to acknowledge orders and initiate change requests one purchase order at a time. With Release 12, this functionality has been extended to enable suppliers to acknowledge or process changes across multiple orders simultaneously. Suppliers use advanced search capabilities to find shipments from multiple orders that share common attributes such as item number, promised date range and more. Acknowledgements, changes, and cancellations can then be initiated for the entire search selection. 3.2.2.2.2. Tolerance-based Auto-Approval of Supplier Change Requests

Release 12 allows buyers to filter out minor supplier change requests by having them automatically approved by the system. Currently, change requests initiated by the supplier are routed to the buyer for approval. However, some changes may not be significant enough to require the buyer’s attention. To improve the cycle time for processing change requests, tolerances have been introduced to control whether the buyer is required to approve the change request. Changes that fall within predefined policy limits are automatically approved. The buyer is notified when a change request is auto-approved but does not need to take any action on the approval task. For increased flexibility, tolerances may be defined at the Operating Unit level. 3.2.2.2.3. Route Change Requests to Requester

In prior releases, requesters did not have visibility into the supplier change order process. However, change requests can have a direct impact on the project or needs of the requester. With Release 12, the buying organization may optionally give requesters full control of their orders by routing change requests to the requester rather than the buyer. If the requester does not have the appropriate approval authorization, approval from the requester’s approval hierarchy will also be required. The change request is conditionally routed to the requester for approval based on the configuration rules of the buying organization. A routing rule may be created based on any combination of the following attributes: promised date, shipment quantity and price (for non-catalog items). 3.2.2.2.4. Change Requests for Services

In many situations, service orders are commonly created with an estimated price. Currently in iSupplier Portal, suppliers are able to initiate changes to promised dates and request cancellations for service orders. The final price may not be determined until the service schedule is finalized. To account for this business situation, Release 12 allows suppliers to request changes to the price of their service and create new service schedules by splitting existing shipments.



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3.2.2.3. Supplier Onboarding

For many organizations, the processes for onboarding and maintaining supplier relationships are cumbersome and inefficient. Inadvertently, companies often support multiple channels for receiving new supplier requests and establish profile maintenance procedures that are bureaucratic and overly restrictive. This makes it difficult to manage the overall process and to ensure that requests and updates are directed to the appropriate stakeholders within the business. Many companies bear the added cost of maintaining back-office teams whose key function is to maintain supplier master data. To help companies better control the inflow and qualification of new suppliers, Release 12 includes significant improvements to the existing prospective supplier registration feature. Also introduced are new procedures that allow internal users to request new suppliers. 3.2.2.3.1. Flexible Prospective Supplier Registration

Many companies now use their corporate websites to allow potential suppliers to register their interest in doing business with the buying organization. For Release 12, the Prospective Supplier Registration feature has been significantly enhanced so that customers are able to configure the type of qualification details that are captured during the registration flow. They can define which elements of the supplier profile need to be filled-out and also have the flexibility to include customized questionnaires using iSurvey that must be completed by the supplier as part of their registration request. These can be used to gather specific information that is required by the buying organization as part of their qualification process, such as standards compliance details, logistical capabilities or support for relevant business practices. To assist prospective suppliers, a draft registration request can be saved at any time, allowing the supplier to return to it at a later date. Once a prospective supplier has registered, their request is routed through an approval hierarchy for review. The buying organization can use the request details to customize the approval flow so that the appropriate approvers can look at the details. Once a registration request has been approved or rejected, the supplier is automatically notified by email. Following approval, the qualification details provided by a supplier become part of their profile that can be updated at a later date. 3.2.2.3.2. New Supplier Request

The New Supplier Request feature facilitates the process of gathering requests for new suppliers from internal users and the subsequent capturing of qualification details about the company. An approval hierarchy allows deploying organizations to ensure that once the qualification details have been gathered, the relevant stakeholders within the business are involved in the review process for the requested supplier. Following approval, a new supplier record is setup automatically using the supplier’s qualification details. The Profile Administrators tools have been enhanced so that they can track the list of requests that have been submitted and review the details.



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For Release 12, the New Supplier Request feature is incorporated into Oracle Sourcing so that Sourcing event managers can now invite prospective suppliers to participate in a particular auction or negotiation. In prior Sourcing releases, buyers could only invite suppliers to sourcing events if the supplier was already defined in the supplier master. Once the event has been approved, the contact at the prospective supplier receives notifications that provide details of the event and also invites them to register their details with the buying organization in order that they can be qualified to participate. Only approved suppliers are able to submit bids for an event. As an alternative, designated sourcing event managers can also be given the authority to include a new supplier in an event and approve them immediately as an RFQ-only supplier, thus bypassing the need to capture and review qualification details. 3.2.2.3.3. Supplier Approval Management

Tracking the formal approval of each new supplier request is traditionally a manual process that requires coordination across multiple departments as credit checks are carried out, customer references called, quality standards reviewed and production facilities inspected. In Release 12, Oracle iSupplier Portal leverages the Approval Management Engine to allow companies to generate customized approval flows for processing supplier requests and registrations. The details for each new supplier can be passed to multiple stakeholders across many departments within the buying organization. Approvers are notified when they are required to review a request and can check graphically the overall approval status for a given request. 3.2.2.4. Supplier Managed User Maintenance

While the advent of portal solutions has allowed buyers and suppliers to streamline the flow of information between the two organizations at a greatly reduced cost, tracking and maintaining the portal user accounts has remained an administrative burden to both parties. To relieve this pressure, Release 12 introduces the Supplier Managed User Maintenance feature. Buying organizations are now able to hand over the task of user account administration to nominated administrators at each supplier. The Supplier User Administrators can create or obsolete user accounts and also alter the security access rights for each user within their company. Their right to do this is limited to the set of security privileges originally delegated to them by the buying organization. This benefits both organizations. Suppliers can directly control which of their users have access and what activities they can perform. Buyers eliminate a time-consuming administrative task and no longer need to monitor for obsolete supplier user accounts. 3.2.2.5. Supplier Contact Management

In this release, supplier contact records and supplier user accounts are harmonized so that any changes need only be made to a single record. In addition, the process for setting up supplier user accounts is simplified so that an administrator only needs to flag a contact to grant them a login to the portal.



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3.2.2.6. Enhanced Supplier Profile Management

The Supplier Profile Management tools have been significantly enhanced for both supplier users and buyer administrators. For suppliers, the enhancements enable them to access and update additional profile details such as their tax information and payment preferences. They are also able to access and respond to questionnaires that the buying organization has created in order to gather information beyond the standard supplier profile. The updates for buyer administrators are significant. The Profile Management tools are integrated into the new HTML Supplier UI for managing the total supplier setup (see 3.1.2.8). The pages used to manage profile change requests from suppliers have also been streamlined so that an administrator is able to review a given type of request across all suppliers at once. The administrator can then select multiple requests and approve or reject them as necessary. 3.2.2.7. Representation of Suppliers in the Trading Community Architecture (TCA)

The Trading Community Architecture is a highly flexible architecture that allows you to fully model real world entities in your trading community and accurately represent the complex relationships among those entities. It is the core data model for trading partners used by Oracle e-Business Suite applications. By representing Suppliers as part of the trading community, you have access to many of the features provided by TCA. Data Librarian tools assist with activities focused on improving data consistency, eliminating duplicates and modelling extended relationships. Through TCA it is also possible to leverage external data sources such as Dun & Bradstreet to enrich data quality. 3.2.2.8. New Supplier Setup User Interface

A new HTML UI for managing suppliers has been introduced in Release 12 that replaces the previous Suppliers Form.



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Figure 1: Obsolete Suppliers Form

The new UI delivers an improved layout for accessing all aspects of a supplier's setup, providing a clear distinction between the supplier's company details and the terms & controls that are used to manage the trading relationship. General and site level setup parameters are now available on a single page and work has been done to rationalise the organisation of setup preferences across fewer subtabs to allow administrators quicker access to information. In addition, a new Quick Update page gives each administrator access to an initial summary page that can be personalized to suit the needs of their role.

Figure 2: New HTML Supplier Setup UI



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For those companies that have enabled supplier access to their profile information through the Portal, the Supplier Profile Management tools have been integrated into the Setup UI pages, affording administrators a single view of a supplier's setup and any pending updates that have been provided by the supplier to the buying organization. The new Supplier UI also includes a Survey section that provides administrators with access to the results of questionnaires that were created using iSurvey and which the supplier was asked to complete, either during self-registration or as part of profile maintenance through the Portal. Security controls are incorporated into the Setup UI so that companies can limit an administrator’s access to specific tabs within the supplier setup. This feature is key for assisting companies to comply with the separation of duties elements of the SarbanesOxley legislation. 3.2.2.9. Consolidated Banking Model

Enhancements to the setup of supplier bank accounts remove some processing restrictions and achieve greater control and security. Bank accounts are now modeled centrally providing the architecture to meet the following features: •

•

•

The bank account is tied directly to the trading partner allowing one bank account definition to be leveraged by a “supplier” trading partner and shared if the trading partner is also an employee or customer. This approach provides for easier and centralized maintenance and security of the bank account information This definition is targeted directly towards trading partner bank accounts leaving internal bank accounts out of the user interface. . In other words, the supplier’s banking information is entered and assigned right in the Supplier Entry and Maintenance user interface Notification when trying to inactive a bank account that is associated with unpaid invoices or pay runs that are in process

3.2.2.10. Integration with Oracle Supplier Network Identity Broker

Buying organizations now have the ability to let their suppliers access Oracle iSupplier Portal through the Oracle Supplier Network (Oracle SN). Oracle SN acts as a central access point, allowing suppliers to logon and then gain access to other registered iSupplier Portal instances. This simplifies the collaboration process for suppliers by having Oracle SN store their username and password information for each of their customer’s iSupplier Portal’s. Whether suppliers are enabling transaction automation with customers or needing to view PO or payment details in iSupplier Portal, it can all be initiated by the supplier simply logging into the Oracle Supplier Network. To assist buyers with their supplier on-boarding in iSupplier Portal, registered suppliers on Oracle SN are now able to request an ‘iSP’ account for a specific iSP instance. The Oracle SNsends a new supplier user request to the buyer’s iSupplier Portal instance, which initiates a workflow process. Once approved, the supplier’s new account is stored on the Oracle Supplier Network and a link becomes active providing the supplier one click access to the buyer’s iSupplier Portal instance. 3.2.2.11. Enhanced Inbound Logistics

Buying organizations may choose to manage the transportation of incoming goods from their suppliers. Oracle iSupplier Portal introduced features in 11i10 to enable buying R12 Release Content Document


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companies to greatly reduce freight costs by optimizing their transportation plans. These features included allowing the supplier to upload the transportation routing request and allowing supplier access to the routing response from the transportation planner. With Release 12, the supplier is able to include the ship from location on an ASN/ASBN. This allows automated matching of shipment lines to the corresponding delivery lines in Oracle Transportation Management, and largely reduces the need for the manual match. 3.2.2.12. PO Status Tracking

Suppliers are now able to track the status of their purchase orders throughout the order lifecycle. The redesigned purchase order page gives suppliers real-time order status at a glance. Supplier may drill down to see the details of the associated ASN/ASBN, receipts, invoices and payments. 3.2.2.13. Receipt Inquiry

The redesigned receipt pages provide suppliers with a streamlined process to view receipt information and the details of the associated purchase orders, shipments and invoices. The receipt details page includes on-time performance information, so that late, on-time and early shipments can be easily identified. In addition, the receipt details page includes values for quantity/amounts received, ordered, returned and rejected. 3.2.2.14. Invoice & Payment Inquiry

The redesigned Invoice and Payment pages provide a holistic view of an invoice and associated payment activities. More search options are provided so that users can identify invoices and payments quickly. Invoice and payment flexfields that are enabled in Oracle Payables are now displayed on the invoice and payment pages in iSupplier Portal. This ensures that all pertinent information is communicated to the supplier. Also in Release 12, the Invoice Summary page includes invoice hold information and payment status, as well as links to payment and receipt details. The Invoice Detail page summarizes the most pertinent information at a glance including the invoice breakdown and related payment information. To ensure a smooth payment cycle, users are now able to view upcoming scheduled payments and invoice holds. 3.2.2.15. Supplier Scorecard

By integrating with Oracle Daily Business Intelligence, iSupplier Portal allows a buying organization to view and share with supplier’s quantitative measures of supplier performance. Buyers and suppliers are able to examine and track the results to provide feedback for continuous improvement. This feature provides a one-stop location for relevant and reliable supplier performance information and a complete view from aggregated data to granular details on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Both the supplier and the buyer are able to perform comparison across supplier sites, trend data over various time periods and collect results by time period. The flexibility built into the tool allows the buyer to tailor the KPIs in Oracle Daily Business Intelligence for each supplier and supplier site. Additionally, this new feature enables the buyer to focus his or her efforts on managing and selectively scoring performance of the most strategic suppliers.



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3.2.2.16. Supplier Self-Service Catalog Authoring

Increasingly, content management has become a collaborative process between the buying and supplying organizations. Many enterprises now outsource the content authoring responsibilities to suppliers or third parties. Therefore suppliers must be able to view, create and maintain their content for the buying organization. Release 12 provides suppliers the capability to author their own content online, either via bulk file upload or on-line authoring. The industry standard formats supported in the upload mode include OAG XML, cXML, CIF and text file. Content provided by the supplier is subject to the buyer’s approval before it is made available to the requesters in Oracle iProcurement. 3.2.2.17. Multi-Org Access Controls

Multi-Org Access Control enables companies that have implemented a Shared Services operating model to efficiently process business transactions by allowing them to access, process, and report on data for an unlimited number of operating units within a single applications responsibility. This increases the productivity of Shared Service Centers, as users and processes no longer have to switch applications responsibilities when processing transactions for multiple operating units at a time. Data security and access privileges are still maintained using security profiles that now support a list of operating units. All documents and transactions on iSupplier Portal are tied to an operating unit. Internal users may be responsible for transactions that span operating units. Previously internal users were required to maintain separate responsibilities for each operating unit. In Release 12, Oracle E-Business Suite introduces a new architecture to enable Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC). MOAC allows a set of operating units to be assigned to an internal user so that they can process transactions and view data across them. Approvers and internal users of iSupplier Portal with the appropriate security access are able to access documents, transactions and associated notifications for multiple operating units. MOAC has no impact on supplier users, as their access is restricted by the supplier logging in, rather than the operating unit. 3.2.2.18. Invoice Requests and Online Collaboration

An Invoice Request records an invoice when the accuracy or verification of the services or goods may be in question. Collaboration and Approval processes route the invoice request to the employees in the company that are most likely to resolve these issues. 3.2.2.18.1. Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable Netting

When a trading partner is both a customer and a supplier, you may choose to offset open receivables’ against open payables’ items. Netting Agreements add trading partner terms as well as deploying company controls. A selection program automatically pulls information from Oracle Receivables and Oracle Payables taking into consideration discounts, late fees, and withholding taxes prior to determining the final netting amount. A review process and trading partner approval afford further verification to support the netting event. When an invoice submitted by a supplier falls outside the tolerances for planned or received amounts or quantity, buyers or employees must collaborate with the supplier and sometimes negotiate to resolve the differences. The Invoice Request feature R12 Release Content Document


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allows a disputed invoice to be recorded as an invoice request, offers online buyer/supplier collaboration to resolve or accept differences or allow the supplier to cancel their invoice request. Since the invoice request is recorded in Oracle Payables, the requests are tracked. If the differences are negotiated successfully, the accepted changes are recorded as an invoice ready for regular invoice processing. An audit trail will be created informing the user of what occurred during the negotiation process. 3.2.2.18.2. Non-Purchase Order Invoices

Suppliers are allowed to submit invoices when a purchase order was not obtained up front. In this case, the invoice request first goes through an approval process. Along the approval process, users have an opportunity to add accounting information that is used when an approved request becomes an invoice.



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3.3.

Oracle Procurement Contracts 3.3.1.

Overview Oracle Procurement Contracts is the enterprise application that creates and enforces better purchasing contracts. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs. Oracle Procurement Contracts allows you to take control of your contract lifecycle, from authoring and negotiation through implementation, enforcement, evaluation and closeout. Procurement and legal professionals can quickly author contracts that comply with corporate standards, and measure compliance to ensure that negotiated savings reach the bottom line. With Oracle Procurement Contracts you can:

3.3.2.

•

Standardize Contract Processes

•

Reduce Time-to-Contract

•

Drive Contract Compliance

Features 3.3.2.1. Rules based Clause Selection

Release 11i10, cumulative update #1 introduced Contract Expert, a rules-based contract creation configurator that assists purchasing professionals in authoring complex contracts. Using Contract Expert, companies can define their business rules that govern the contract clauses to be included in a purchasing or sourcing document. During authoring, Contract Expert takes users through a contract creation questionnaire and automatically adds needed clauses based on previously defined policy rules. In addition to user answers, clause selection rules can also be based on the business terms and other values contained in the purchasing or sourcing document, such as purchasing category, payment term and agreed contract amount. For example, buying organizations may require additional clauses in contracts for the purchase of hazardous materials, or contracts for which the supplier is located in a specific foreign country. Contract Expert further enhances Oracle Procurement Contracts’ functionality for users across the enterprise to author standards-compliant contracts with minimal legal department supervision. Buyers or contract administrators can choose to remove the clauses brought in by Contract Expert or select alternates during negotiation. However, these changes are flagged as deviations during the approval process, ensuring proper scrutiny of all non-standard terms.



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Contract Expert: Rules Based Clause Selection

This feature was first released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1 3.3.2.2. Microsoft Word Synchronization

Oracle Procurement Contracts provides all the necessary tools for authoring contracts that conform to your corporate standards. However, it is often convenient during negotiation and redlining to edit the contract offline in a word processor. Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1, allowed contract administrators or legal to download the contract into Rich Text Format (“RTF”) for editing in Microsoft Word. In Release 12.0, Oracle Procurement Contracts also supports import of the Microsoft Word document and the synchronization of the changes with the structured contract stored in the system. Modifications to the original contract can be reviewed before changes are accepted. This two-way integration with Microsoft Word streamlines the contract collaboration process involving the buyer, contract administrator, legal and supplier. Please note that this feature requires Microsoft Word 2003 Professional. 3.3.2.3. Contract Deviations Report

The contract deviations report streamlines the approval process and improves internal control by highlighting non-standard terms and conditions for approvers. Deviations are changes made to the contract as compared to the standard template used to author the contract and all established policy rules that apply. 3.3.2.3.1.

Review Contract Deviations Online

Contract administrators and approvers can view the deviation report online. The deviations report lists all changes made to the contract under the following categories: a) Non-standard clauses in the contract – Standard clauses that were modified for this contract, or clauses that are not from the pre-approved R12 Release Content Document


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library. The ‘compare’ feature displays a redline view of the changes to a standard clause if modified on the contract. b) Standard clauses removed from the contract – Clauses suggested by Contract Expert or part of the standard template that were removed. c) Invalid clauses on the contract – Clauses that are ‘on-hold’ or have expired. d) Standard clauses added to the contract – Clauses from the pre-approved library that were manually added to the contract including alternates. Users can also provide an abstract or summary justifying the deviations. The abstract is forwarded to approvers for review along with the deviations report. 3.3.2.3.2. Include Contract Deviations Report in Approvals

For standard purchase orders, blanket purchase agreements, and contract purchase agreements with contract terms, users have the option to automatically include the system generated deviation report in Adobe PDF format to the approval notification. 3.3.2.3.3. Export Contract Deviations Report

Oracle Purchasing users can download the deviations report including the abstract to Microsoft Word. This is useful in cases where additional information like tables, graphics and clause-specific justifications may need to be added to the deviations report for approvals. Users can upload the modified document as an attachment under the new category ‘Approval Abstract’. For standard purchase orders, blanket purchase agreements, and contract purchase agreements with contract terms, the attached document is included in the approval notification. Oracle Sourcing users can view the deviation report online and download to Adobe PDF document. This feature was first released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1. 3.3.2.4. Contract Policy Standards and Deviations

Contract negotiations may result in terms that do not conform to company standard policies. For example, a buying organization may have a policy that would require a payment term of Net 45 for facilities services at a specific location. However, suppliers may negotiate a different payment term in the contract that results in a deviation from corporate standard. Release 12.0 extends the contract expert to enable contract administrator to set rules that represent corporate policy. Such deviations from set corporate standards in negotiated business terms are reflected as deviations to ensure proper visibility during review and approvals. The rules can be based on values of system variables, user-defined variables, or responses to questions asked during the contract authoring process. All policy deviations are reported to approvers alongside clause deviations in the Contract Deviations Report, guiding approvers to exceptions in the contract along with the standard values.



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Policy Deviation Rule – User interface depicting Policy Deviation Rule definition using System Variables for a corporate policy

3.3.2.5. Support Contract Terms as an Attached Document

When negotiating complex deals or when the supplier authors the contract, the terms and conditions are often represented in a document file. In such cases, contract administrators may choose not to update the structured representation of the contract terms in the application and instead retain them in the document. With Oracle Procurement Contracts, users can indicate the source of the contract terms to be an attached document. The system flags the attached document as the primary contract document. If the attached document had been previously downloaded from the system the preview functionality will merge its contents with the business document (such as standard purchase order, blanket purchase agreement, or RFQ) to generate the final contract in PDF format. This feature was released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1. 3.3.2.6. Clause Usage Analysis

To improve future contract negotiations, or to comply with regulatory requirements, contract administrators or legal may need to periodically review and revise their contract standards. Analyzing the contract language used in existing contracts is a critical step in effectively updating existing standards. In Release 12.0, users can search for all contracts where certain clauses are used, or have been modified. The search can be filtered by various criteria like contracts with a specific supplier, contracts above a certain amount, contracts for one or all Operating Units, or contracts authored using a specific template. Information on the number of times a certain clause has been used or modified is also provided as part of the results.



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Contract Administrator searches for all Approved Contracts that uses Keyword “Payment” and has “Facilities Maintenance Template” applied and summarize by Clause Version

3.3.2.7. Professional Buyer’s Work Center

Release 12.0 introduces the Professional Buyer’s Work Center, a next generation interface that provides command and control for the procurement department. Designed for contract administrators and procurement professionals, the Work Center combines ease of use with powerful capabilities to track, manage and control all strategic and tactical activities. 3.3.2.7.1. Procurement Contract Creation and Maintenance

The Professional Buyer’s Work Center provides a dedicated user interface for creating and maintaining contracts, targeting the contract professional and strategic buyer responsible for maintenance and compliance of such contracts. Visibility to key attributes like authoring party and contract template is enhanced with a wider range of data making contract authoring easier.



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User Interface tailored to creating a facilities maintenance contract

3.3.2.7.2. Document Styles

Document styles allow contract administrators the ability to control the look and feel of the application to match the needs of different contract spend categories. Through reusable document styles, deploying organizations can turn on or off various Oracle Procurement Contract features. When a contract is created using a style, disabled features are hidden to simplify the user interface. For example, organizations can create a document style for a specific commodity, such as temporary labor. This document style optimizes field labels and presentment for that commodity, simplifying contract entry by hiding regions/attributes that are only relevant for goods purchases. In addition, document styles provide the ability to appropriately name contracts to align more closely with the naming conventions of the deploying organization’s business. The following figure shows a style intended for authoring agreements/orders to acquire Facilities related services. This style would enable contract administrators to author a “Facilities Maintenance Contract”. The style display name is exposed throughout the work center and also to the supplier. Contract Expert rules and deviation rules may now reference a Document Style, generating tailored agreements and enforcing policies relating to the document style.



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Document Styles – Various settings allow companies to control look and feel of user interface

3.3.2.8. Contract Workbench

The contract workbench is a configurable portal that provides contract administrators easy access to all their contracts. Simple and advanced search capabilities with a rich set of attributes enable adhoc queries or reporting on all enterprise procurement contracts. Administrators can also use the workbench as a launch pad for all contract activities. The workbench provides relevant information in bins that can be personalized by the administrator to improve their productivity. For example, administrators can quickly access all their contracts that are currently in draft or pending approval. Expiring agreements can also be easily tracked. The workbench also allows administrators to view various business documents like orders and agreements. 3.3.2.9. Approve Clauses as Part of Template Approvals

When authoring a new contract template, library administrators can now include draft clauses as part of the template. This enhancement to the contract template approval functionality allows users to submit the draft clauses for approval along with the contract template as one approval workflow. This allows approvers to simultaneously approve the contract template and its clauses in a single step. This feature was released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1. 3.3.2.10. Automatic Application of Contract Template

In many situations, incoming demand can be automatically sourced to the appropriate vendor and issued without any buyer intervention. This touch-less buying capability significantly drives down processing costs and cuts cycle time. Now, companies can optionally assign a default contract template which will automatically be applied to all R12 Release Content Document


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outgoing standard purchase orders, blanket purchase agreements, or contract purchase agreements. This feature was released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1. 3.3.2.11. Complex Contract Payments

Across Fortune 1000 companies, services-related procurement accounts for about 54% of procured total procurement spending. Outsourcing and globalization are the key drivers of this trend. Due to the increasing share of budget allocated to services, procurement organizations are increasingly being given responsibility to control services spend. Much of services spending go to complex services, such as outsourced high-value projects that require extensive collaboration between the buyer and supplier organizations. These complex services include consulting, advertising, construction, research and development, and professional services. These services require complex negotiated contracts that often include complex payment arrangements. These arrangements can include: •

Progress payments

•

Advances and recoupment of advances

•

Retainage and retainage release

Release 12.0 will support acquisition of complex services by allowing buyers to author, negotiate, execute and monitor complex contract payment arrangements like progress payments, advances and retainage. Please see the Services Procurement part of this RCD for more details. 3.3.2.12. Multi-Organization Access Control

Multi-Org Access Control enables companies that have implemented a Shared Services operating model to efficiently process business transactions by allowing them to access, process, and report on data for an unlimited number of operating units within a single applications responsibility. This increases the productivity of Shared Service Centers for users who no longer have to switch applications responsibilities when processing transactions for multiple operating units at a time. Data security is still maintained using security profiles that are defined for a list of operating units and determine the data access privileges for a user. With Release 12.0, contract administrators can be granted access to multiple operating units from within a single responsibility. This enables them to manage contracts across different operating units without switching responsibilities. Administrators can also manage the contract terms library across different operating units. 3.3.2.13. Enhanced Support for Contract Template Translation

With Release 12.0, contract administrators can additionally define certain templates as primary, and associate other templates from the same organization as translations of the primary template. Users can use this to author templates in multiple languages within an operating unit.



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3.3.2.14. XML Interface for Clause Import

Organizations using Oracle Procurement Contracts may need to import clauses from external systems or content providers. For example, US Federal Agencies are required by statute to follow policies and procedures defined in Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). In 11i10, users could use the clause import interface table to upload clauses. With Release 12.0, Oracle Procurement Contracts will also provide a mechanism to import clauses that conforms to the XML schema published by Oracle. The XML interface will also support creation of user defined variables and clause relationships. Prior to upload, the import program validates all system and user-defined variable tokens that are embedded in the imported clause text. 3.3.2.15. Contract Publishing Enhancements

Release 12.0 further enhances the 11i10 feature, which introduced the ability to generate contract in Adobe PDF format. 3.3.2.15.1. Support for RTF and PDF layout templates

In Release 11i10, generation of contract documents in Adobe PDF format required organizations to create contract layout templates in the form of XSL-FO style sheets. With Release 12.0, organizations can also use RTF or PDF layout templates for Purchase Order Layout, which require little training to configure and maintain. 3.3.2.15.2. Publish Contracts using user specified layout

In order to comply with reporting requirements of regulatory bodies, organizations, especially in the public sector, need the ability to publish the contracts that they award in multiple formats as prescribed by these bodies. In Release 11i10, Procurement Contracts supported generating contract document in Adobe PDF using a specified format but such documents could use only a single layout template as configured in the Document Types Setup. Release12.0 enables buying organizations to easily publish contracts on demand using any predefined layout template. To generate a contract using a certain layout, organizations can provide the layout name as a runtime parameter while submitting the “PO Output for Communication” concurrent program.



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Publish Contract – Additional parameters introduced in the concurrent parameter allowing selection of predefined Adobe PDF or RTF layout templates

One particular application of this feature is for public sector organizations to generate government forms (such as SF30, OF347 etc.). Published, fill-able PDF templates for these forms can be modified and stored in Oracle XML Publisher as layout templates. 3.3.2.16. Enhanced Electronic Signature Support

Oracle Procurement Contracts’ supports digital certificate authentication to electronic signature. Buyers and suppliers can sign contracts manually or electronically. Release 11i10 of Oracle Procurement Contracts enabled buying organizations to authenticate users’ identity by requiring users to re-enter usernames and passwords when signing contracts electronically. A new alternative is to validate users’ unique digital certificates, normally issued by a Certification Authority. This new signature process can be enabled in the existing workflow approval process. Signed documents are kept in an evidence store in case of future disputes. The Oracle technology underlying this feature is in compliance with recognized industry standards, such as PKCS7 (based on X.509 certificates) and CFR 21.



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This feature was released in Release 11i10, Cumulative Update #1 3.3.2.17. Availability of New Features

Oracle Procurement Contracts enables contract functionality within existing Oracle Advanced Procurement products and Oracle Contract Core. The following table summarizes the availability of the new contract functionality by product:

Feature Name

Oracle Purchasing

Oracle Sourcing

Oracle iSupplier Portal

Oracle Contracts Core

Rule based Clause Selection Microsoft Word Synchronization Contract Deviations Report Corporate Policy Compliance Support Contract Terms in an Attached Document Clause Usage Analysis Contract Workbench Professional Buyer’s Work Center Approve Clauses as Part of Template Approvals Automatic Application of Contract Templates Complex Contract Payments Multi-Organization Access Control Enhanced Support for Contract Template Translation XML Interface for Clause Import Contract Publishing Enhancements Enhanced Electronic Signature Support



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3.4.

Oracle Purchasing 3.4.1.

Overview Oracle Purchasing is the application for procurement professionals that streamlines purchase order processing while strengthening policy compliance. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts supply management costs.

3.4.2.

Features 3.4.2.1. Professional Buyer’s Work Center

Oracle Purchasing Release 12.0 speeds up daily purchasing tasks with an enhanced Professional Buyer’s Work Center. Based on the latest web-based user interface models, the Work Center is a central ‘Launch Pad’ from which buyers can efficiently perform their daily tasks: •

View and Act upon Requisition Demand

•

Create and Manage Orders and Agreements

•

Run Negotiation Events including Auctions and RFxs (requires Oracle Sourcing)

•

Manage Supplier Information

The Professional Buyer’s Work Center leverages Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC) by allowing buyers to view and manage documents across all of the operating units they service. For more details, please reference the MOAC section of this document.

Professional Buyer’s Work Center – Launch Pad to Perform Daily Tasks

3.4.2.1.1. Requisition Management

The Work Center offers a streamlined, HTML user interface to look up and act upon requisitions. Buyers can aggregate demand from different organizations and consolidate it in a single document in an organization that they designate. The document could be a solicitation (Auction/RFx) for bids (requires Oracle Sourcing) or a Standard Purchase Order. Buyers can search for requisitions with several pre-configured views and advanced search criteria. Default views include My Requisitions, My Urgent Requisitions, My Requisitions requiring a RFQ, Requisitions with a Suggested Supplier, Requisitions with a New Supplier, and Unassigned Requisitions. In addition, buyers can save their own views, specifying custom search criteria and display columns. Buyers can view details of the requisitions by clicking the requisition links. In addition, buyers can return requisitions to requesters to solicit additional information, R12 Release Content Document


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reassign requisitions to other buyers, split requisition lines in order to source from multiple suppliers and replace off-catalog requests with items available in the catalog.

Requisition Demand - View All Requisitions Assigned to the Buyer Across Multiple Operating Units

3.4.2.1.2. Purchase Order Creation and Maintenance

The Work Center user interface optimizes the standard purchase order creation and management processes. The new user interface allows buyers to edit and view delivery schedules and account distributions across all order lines, thus eliminating the need to drilldown on individual lines. For simple purchase orders that do not require staged delivery schedules or multiple account distributions, buyers can quickly enter all necessary information for the orders in the header and line sections, without having to navigate to the schedules and distributions sections.



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Orders – User Interface Tailored to PO Creation

Purchase Order Lines – Enter Schedule and Delivery Information When Creating Lines



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3.4.2.1.3. Purchase Agreement Creation and Maintenance

The Professional Buyer’s Work Center provides a dedicated user interface for creating and maintaining agreements, targeting the strategic buyer responsible for agreement maintenance and compliance.

Agreements – User Interface Tailored to Creating Long-Term Agreements (Schedule and Delivery Information Replaced by Agreement Controls)

In addition, user extensible attributes can now be captured on the blanket agreement to further enrich the description of the products and services listed in the document. Such attributes could be generic to all items (Example: Manufacturer Number, Lead time) or could be category specific (Example: Color, Size, etc.) 3.4.2.1.4. Negotiations in Oracle Sourcing

The Professional Buyer’s Work Center increases the drill down capabilities between Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Sourcing. Buyers can now easily navigate from purchasing to sourcing documents, and vice-versa, using a single, friendly user interface 3.4.2.1.5. Enhanced Catalog Access

Release 12.0 of Oracle Purchasing builds on the popularity of Oracle iProcurement’s search capabilities by offering professional buyers a similar search interface to easily find the items they need to procure. From the Demand Workbench, buyers can access the catalog to find negotiated alternatives to non-catalog requests. While authoring orders and agreements, buyers can use the catalog to quickly add items, thereby accelerating the document creation process. 3.4.2.1.6. New Supplier Setup User Interface R12 Release Content Document


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Release 12.0 introduces a new HTML UI for managing suppliers, which replaces the existing Suppliers Form.

Obsolete Suppliers Form

The new UI delivers an improved layout for accessing all aspects of a supplier's setup, providing a clear distinction between the supplier's company details and the terms & controls that are used to manage the trading relationship. General and site level setup parameters is now available on a single page and work has been done to rationalize the organization of setup preferences across fewer sub-tabs to allow administrators quicker access to information. In addition, a new Quick Update page gives each administrator access to an initial summary page that can be personalized to suit the needs of their role.



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New HTML Supplier Setup UI

For those companies that have enabled supplier access to their profile information through the Portal, the Supplier Profile Management tools have been integrated into the Setup UI pages, affording administrators a single view of a supplier's setup and any pending updates that have been provided by the supplier to the buying organization. The new Supplier UI also includes a Survey section that provides administrators with access to the results of questionnaires that were created using iSurvey and which the supplier had been asked to complete, either during self-registration or as part of profile maintenance through the Portal. Security controls are incorporated into the Setup UI so that companies can limit an administrator’s access to specific tabs within the supplier setup. This feature is key for assisting companies to comply with the separation of duties elements of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. 3.4.2.1.7. Document Styles

Document styles allow buying organizations to control the look and feel of the application to match the needs of different purchasing documents. Through reusable document styles, deploying organizations turn on or off various Oracle Purchasing features, thereby simplifying the user interface. When a purchasing document is created using a document style, disabled features are hidden to simplify the user interface. For example, organizations can create a document style for a specific commodity, such as temporary labor. This document style optimizes field labels and presentment for that commodity, simplifying



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purchase order entry by hiding regions/attributes that are only relevant for that commodity. In addition, document styles provide the ability to appropriately name purchasing documents to align more closely with the naming conventions of the deploying organization’s business. In other words, the same purchasing document type (e.g. Standard Purchase Order) can assume different names based on the style applied. The following figure shows a style intended for authoring agreements and orders to acquire facilities related services. The name assigned to Standard Purchase Orders using this style is ‘Facilities Maintenance Order’. The name assigned to Blanket Purchase Agreements using this style is ‘Facilities Maintenance Contract’. These names are exposed throughout the Work Center and also to the supplier.

Document Styles – Various Settings Allow Companies to Control Look and Feel of User Interface

Note: The existing Oracle Purchasing forms for managing requisition demand and purchasing documents, including orders, agreements and releases, will still be available in Release 12.0. Also note that creation of the following documents will only be supported in the forms interface: •

•

Blanket Purchase Agreements and Releases (Work Center will only support authoring of Global Blanket Purchase Agreements) Planned Purchase Orders and Scheduled Releases

3.4.2.2. Procurement for Complex Services

Across Fortune 1000 companies, services-related procurement accounts for about 54% of procured total procurement spending. Outsourcing and globalization are the key drivers



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of this trend. Due to the increasing share of budget allocated to services, procurement organizations are increasingly being given responsibility to control services spend. Much of services spending go to complex services, such as outsourced high-value projects that require extensive collaboration between the buyer and supplier organizations. These complex services include consulting, advertising, construction, research and development, and professional services. These services require complex negotiated contracts that often include complex payment arrangements. These arrangements can include: •

Progress payments

•


•


Release 12.0 will support acquisition of complex services by allowing buyers to author, negotiate, execute and monitor complex contract payment arrangements like progress payments, advances and retainage. Please see the Services Procurement part of this RCD for more details . 3.4.2.3. Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC)

Multi-Org Access Control enables companies that have implemented a Shared Services operating model to efficiently process business transactions by allowing them to access, process, and report on data for an unlimited number of operating units within a single applications responsibility. This increases the productivity of Shared Service Centers for users who no longer have to switch application responsibilities when processing transactions for multiple operating units at a time. Data security is still maintained using security profiles that are defined for a list of operating units and determine the data access privileges for a user. In Release 12.0, Oracle Purchasing will leverage the new Multi-Org Access Control capabilities to support more streamlined operation of Shared Procurement Service Centers. Without changing Responsibility, and without closing windows, buyers will now be able to view consolidated requisition demand spanning multiple operating units. Using a single Responsibility, they will be able to manage demand (i.e. requisitions), conduct sourcing events, enter into agreements and issue purchase orders on behalf of any of the operating units that they serve. The operating units that they can transact on behalf of will be controlled by the security profile associated with their responsibilities. Similarly, receiving clerks will now be able to easily inquire about, plan for and receive expected shipments against purchase orders or requisitions or RMAs originating in multiple operating units without needing to close windows and change responsibilities. 3.4.2.4. E-Business Tax

Oracle E-Business Tax is a new infrastructure for tax knowledge management and delivery, using a global system architecture that is configurable and scalable for adding country specific tax content. As the single point solution for managing transaction-based tax, Oracle E-Business Tax will deliver tax services uniformly to Oracle E-Business Suite business flows through one application interface. Oracle E-Business Tax significantly enhances the current tax code/tax group based tax computation capabilities within the Procure to Pay business flow. R12 Release Content Document


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For more information, please refer to the Oracle E-Business Tax section within the Oracle Financials RCD. 3.4.2.5. Document Publishing Enhancements

Release 12.0 further enhances the 11i10 feature, which introduced the ability to generate purchasing documents in Adobe PDF format. 3.4.2.5.1. Support for RTF and PDF layout templates

In Release 11i10, generation of purchasing documents in Adobe PDF format required organizations to create layout templates in the form of XSL-FO style sheets. With Release 12.0, organizations can also use RTF or PDF layout templates which require little training to configure and maintain. 3.4.2.5.2. Publish Contracts using user specified layout

In order to comply with reporting requirements of regulatory bodies, organizations, especially in the public sector, need the ability to publish the contracts that they award in multiple formats as prescribed by these bodies. In Release 11i.10, Oracle Purchasing supported generating purchasing documents in Adobe PDF. Format for such documents were limited to a single layout template as configured in the Document Types Setup. Release12.0 enables buying organizations to easily publish documents on demand using any predefined layout template. To generate a document using a certain layout, organizations simply provide the layout name as a runtime parameter while submitting the ‘PO Output for Communication’ concurrent program.



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Publish Contract – Additional parameters introduced in the concurrent parameter allowing selection of pre-defined Adobe PDF or RTF l ayout templates

One particular application of this feature is for public sector organizations to generate government forms (such as SF30, OF347 etc.). 3.4.2.6. Communicate Document Attachments to Suppliers

Release 12.0 enables buyers to communicate all necessary document attachments to suppliers. Oracle Purchasing supports various types of file attachments (MS Word, Excel, PDF etc.) that can be appended to purchasing documents in addition to long and short text attachments. In previous releases, only text attachments were communicated to suppliers. With Release 12.0, buyers can communicate all necessary attachments to suppliers, including file attachments via email. When the system emails a purchase order to the supplier, the corresponding file attachments appear in a zip file attached to the email. System administrators can specify the maximum allowable size for this zip file to minimize network traffic. 3.4.2.7. Oracle Supplier Network - Rapid Supplier Enablement

Oracle Supplier Network lets Oracle Purchasing customers leverage pre-defined connectivity to quickly enable electronic messaging with suppliers. The Oracle Supplier Network (OSN) provides a community of suppliers available for transaction integration, capable of sending and receiving XML documents, such as Purchase Orders and Invoices. The hosted network service eliminates the costly IT effort involved in building and maintaining direct connections with specific suppliers since each trading party only has to maintain a single connection with the OSN. This enables companies to drive machine-to-machine messaging down to a larger base of their repetitive suppliers with R12 Release Content Document


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even less resources. Release 12.0 is certified with the OSN, which ensures that all R12.0 Purchasing and Payables’ XML documents are fully supported for end-to-end message routing and transformation over the OSN. A quick start guide is provided to help buying organizations quickly connect R12.0 to the OSN. 3.4.2.8. Maintain Sourcing Rules/ASLs for Agreement Items

Release 12.0 streamlines enabling blanket agreements for automatic document sourcing in specific inventory organizations. Previous releases allowed buyers to instruct the system to automatically create sourcing rules, sourcing rule assignments and approved supplier list entries out of all blanket agreement lines during blanket agreement approval submission. The system would then automatically source of requisition demand for all inventory organizations within an operating unit Release 12.0 allows finer control of how blanket agreements are enabled for automatic document sourcing. Buyers can now choose to enable them only in specific inventory organizations. Thus, buyers can negotiate a blanket agreement to fulfill requisition demand for a subset of inventory organizations and enable the agreement for autosourcing only in those inventory organizations. To use a blanket agreement for autosourcing in a specific inventory org, the buyer simply submits a concurrent program specifying the inventory organization and the blanket agreement number as runtime parameters. 3.4.2.9. Support for Contractor Purchasing Users

More and more companies are outsourcing part or all of their procurement processes in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. In keeping with this recent trend, Oracle Purchasing Release 12.0 introduces support for contingent workers in the procurement process. Authorized contingent Purchasing workers can raise requisitions, conduct negotiations, and create and maintain purchase orders. 3.4.2.10. Compliance to Packaging Constraints

Release 12.0 makes inventory replenishment more efficient and less expensive by applying supplier-packaging constraints to replenishment choices. Material replenishment recommendations from Inventory Planning systems are typically designed to maintain inventory levels to match predetermined policy guidelines. Such guidelines seldom take into consideration packaging lot sizes or minimum order quantity requirements of the supplier. Placing orders based on such requests without any review or adjustment may force the supplier to over or under-ship the order, or even reject the order. To reduce cost and time delays associated with administering such orders, Oracle Purchasing can automatically apply supplier-specific order modifiers, including fixed lot multiple and minimum order quantities to replenishment requests that originate in Inventory planning systems. These include Min-Max, Reorder Point and any requisitions imported from legacy systems via the open interface. Automatic application of such modifiers can be used both for requisitions sourced from external suppliers as well as those sourced from internal warehouse locations within the enterprise. R12 Release Content Document


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3.4.2.11. Auto-Approval Tolerance for Change Orders

With Release 12.0, business users can use a web-based interface to define tolerances for auto-approval of document revisions. 3.4.2.12. eAM Support for Services Procurement

Release 12.0 extends the support for Enterprise Asset Manager (eAM) to include fixed price services line types. Now requesters can associate maintenance Work Orders and Operation References for fixed price services requisition lines. The existing eAM integration for goods and amount based requisition lines is still supported. 3.4.2.13. Model Complex Pricing for Blanket Line Items

With Release 12.0, Oracle Purchasing extends the integration with Oracle Advanced Pricing to allow procurement professionals to model complex pricing rules for items listed on Global Blanket Agreements. Requisitions and orders sourced to these agreements can now leverage dynamic pricing formulas and/or modifiers defined in Oracle Advanced Pricing, in addition to the agreement line price and price breaks. 3.4.2.14. Advanced Approval Support for Requisitions

Release 12.0 of Oracle Purchasing further expands and enhances integration with the Oracle Approvals Management product for approval routing of purchase requisitions. This integration gives enterprises even more flexibility to configure their business approval processes. Key enhancements include: •

Position Hierarchy based Approvals

Position based hierarchies allow organizations the flexibility to create reporting structures that remain stable regardless of personnel changes. Enterprises already using position hierarchies via Oracle Approval Management can immediately leverage those hierarchies for the requisition approvals process. •

Parallel Approvals

The Parallel Approvals functionality gives enterprises the option to speed up the approvals process by routing a requisition to multiple approvers simultaneously. •

Support for FYI Notifications

Certain individuals or business roles need to be kept informed of purchases and decisions, but do not necessarily need to take action against that notification. Release 12.0 provides new functionality to allow certain individuals or roles to review the purchases, but do not require any response from the recipient. 3.4.2.15. Subledger Accounting for Budgetary Control Actions

In Release 12.0, Oracle Purchasing utilizes the new Subledger Architecture (SLA) for encumbrance accounting entries created for documents in Oracle Purchasing and Oracle iProcurement. These entries will be available for analysis and reporting with other SLA reports. Customers will also now be able to configure accounting annotations for their purchasing encumbrance accounting entries. Please see Subledger Accounting section of the Release 12.0 Oracle Financials RCD for more details. R12 Release Content Document


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3.4.2.16. New User Interface for Oracle Purchasing Setups

With Release 12.0, more user-friendly and intuitive web-based user interfaces will replace the following existing Oracle Purchasing setup forms. •

Define Buyers

•

Define Approval Groups

•

Assign Approval Groups

•

Define Purchasing Options

•

Define Receiving Options

•

Define Line Types

•

Define Document Types

•

Control Purchasing Periods

•

Setup Expense Account Rules

•

Define Hazard Classes

•

Define UN Numbers

•

Define Quality Inspection Codes

•

Define Job and Category Association

The new UIs will also leverage MOAC, making it easier for system administrators to perform setups in multiple operating units in the context of a single application responsibility. 3.4.2.17. Chargeable Subcontracting

The Japanese legal and business practice of Chargeable Subcontracting is a method of subcontracting assemblies from an OEM to one or more manufacturing partners. According to this method, the OEM ships and makes a provisional sale of component materials used to build the assembly at the manufacturing partner. When the assemblies are completed and returned to the OEM, the manufacturing partner bills the OEM for the gross price of the assembly. In order to provide support for the Chargeable Subcontracting business practices, the Pay on Receipt Auto-invoice program has been enhanced to create separate invoices for these items. For more information, please refer to the Charegeable Subcontracting features within the Oracle Logistics RCD. 3.4.2.18. Support for Unified Process Manufacturing/Discrete Inventory

Release 12.0 of Oracle E-Business Suite merges the Oracle Process Inventory and Oracle Inventory applications into a single version of Oracle Inventory that manages inventory across the entire E-Business Suite. This single application supports Process characteristics such as dual units of measure, grade, child lots as a subdivision of lotcontrolled inventory, and the use of material status. This convergence removes the need for integration between Oracle Process Inventory and Oracle Purchasing. The process-enhanced Release 12.0 version of Oracle Inventory is the one source for all material management information. Oracle Process Quality for receiving inspection has been enhanced specifically to support Purchasing. Process users R12 Release Content Document


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of Oracle Inventory can leverage all of the related functionality in Oracle Purchasing including: •

Consigned and Vendor Managed Inventory

•

Cross Operating Unit Drop Shipments

•

Center-Led Procurement Flows

•

Warehouse Management System functions.

3.4.2.19. Dual Unit of Measure Control

In many industries, such as the meat, poultry, metals or chemicals industries, ‘catch weight’ is a term used to track inventory simultaneously in two different units of measure. To run their businesses, these industries need to know both the number of cases, bars or drums of product stored, as well as the weight or potency of that product. Prices are calculated based on the shipment weight of the product, not on the number of cases or units shipped. Oracle Inventory's Dual Unit of Measure Control enables users to transact inventory in two unrelated units of measure where the conversion between the measures vary from lot to lot or from one transaction to the next. The dual unit of measure support that had been available only for Oracle Process Manufacturing enabled organizations is now available for all Inventory organizations. Thus, if a user chooses to enable dual unit of measure control for a given inventory item, Oracle Receiving will now require quantity entry in two units of measure according to the defaulting rules set up at the item level. 3.4.2.20. Material Status Control

Quality Control and product lifecycle issues may require that certain material, although stored in a ready to use state in the warehouse or production facility, may not be usable for certain applications. A lot that has not yet passed inspection should not be shipped to a customer or consumed in production. A warehouse location that has been discovered to have erroneous inventory balances should not be included in available to promise calculations. With this release, if material status control has been enabled for a given lot or serial controlled item, Oracle Receiving will now require quantity entry of the status for each new lot or serial received. 3.4.2.21. Sublot Control

Getting fast answers to questions such as the following may determine whether y our company will survive a crisis: •

Which lots were delivered to which customers?

•

Which other lots were produced from that production line during that shift?

•

What was the quality of the components or ingredients and which suppliers sent them?

To enable better visibility to a lot and its genealogy and attributes, significant enhancements have been made to the lot tracking capabilities within Oracle Inventory. Sublot control allows users to track the parent lot from which multiple lots were created. The parent lot may refer to the production batch that spawned the lot, but if the output of that batch varied in term of grade or other QC attributes, multiple sublots could be R12 Release Content Document


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received into inventory. Users can query lots in by their parent lot and view the parent lot in the lot genealogy form. Users can also now grade control their lot controlled items. With this release, if sublot control has been enabled for a given item, Oracle Receiving will now require quantity entry of the parent lot for each new lot received. For more information, please refer to the OPM Convergence features within the Oracle Logistics RCD. 3.4.2.22. Depot Repair Enhancements

Many business processes require receiving capabilities to complete a material movement flow. When receiving material based on business processes initiated in other forms, minimizing keystrokes is key to a great user experience. With this release, different applications, such as Depot Repair can invoke the receiving forms with the requisite data; such as requisition number and/or requisition line number and the system will directly show the results of the search criteria by completely bypassing the 'find' screen. For more information, please refer to the Depot Repair RCD



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3.5.

Oracle Services Procurement 3.5.1.

Overview Oracle Services Procurement is the application that enables complete control and oversight for services spending. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs. Release 12 of Oracle Services Procurement further streamlines all aspects of the acquisition process for complex services including: •

Negotiation of service contracts with emphasis on terms related to contract financing and progress payment arrangements

•

Tracking of work progress against agreed schedule in the contract

•

Processing of payment requests

By supporting real time online collaboration involving key stakeholders throughout the lifecycle, organizations can significantly improve the acquisition process of this important spend category.

3.5.2.

Features 3.5.2.1. Complex Contract Payments

Across Fortune 1000 companies, services-related procurement accounts for about 54% of total procurement spending. 1 Outsourcing and globalization are the key drivers of this trend. Because of the increasing share of budget allocated to services, procurement organizations are increasingly being given responsibility to control services spend. Much of services spending goes to complex services, such as outsourced high-value projects that require extensive collaboration between the buying and supplying organizations. These complex services include consulting, advertising, construction, research and development, and professional services. These services require complex negotiated contracts that often include complex payment arrangements. These arrangements can include: •

Progress payments based on cost, stage of completion or performance milestones

•


•


Release 12 will support acquisition of complex services by allowing buyers to author, negotiate, execute and monitor contracts for complex services with one or more of these payment arrangements built into the contract.



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3.5.2.2. Advances and Recoupment of Advances

In order to provide working capital to smaller contractors, buying organizations may often pay advances to these contractors right after contract signing, before any work or product delivery has been performed. With this release, buying organizations can negotiate and finalize the terms of such advances, and ensure compliance to those terms. Requests for advances submitted by the suppliers are verified against the advance limits set forth in the contract. These advance payments are automatically liquidated/recouped from payment requests, based on the recoupment rates specified in the contract.

Contract with provisions for Advance and terms for Recoupment 3.5.2.3. Progress Payments

Complex Service Contracts are characterized by their high dollar value and long lead times. In order to track progress and release payments between the time the contract is signed and the final deliverable completed, it is typical of the buying and selling parties to agree on a progress payment schedule. With Release 12, buying organizations can negotiate with their contractors and incorporate a detailed progress payment schedule as part of the contract. The schedule consists of ‘pay items’ that specifies the work component, the associated dollar amount and due date for completion. The solution provides for maximum flexibility in defining these pay items based on the way progress needs to be measured. The pay items could be: •

•


Based on a ‘Milestone’ that needs to be fully complete before the associated payment can be claimed by the contractor. Example: Successful test flight of completed aircraft. Amount: $1,200,00.00 Based on a ‘Rate’ of work completion. Payments for these can be claimed as units of work are completed. Example: Installation of 100 lamp posts @ $1000.00/lamp post.


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•

Based on a ‘Lump Sum’ amount allocated to a portion of work against which payments can be released based on the stage of completion. Unlike milestone pay items, contractors can report partial progress against such pay items and request payments. Example: Excavation of Site. Amount: $20,000.00.

For industries where such a payment schedule is considered as a form of contract financing, these payments are automatically liquidated/recouped from payments due at delivery based on the recoupment rates specified in the contract.

Progress Payment Schedule within a Contract 3.5.2.4. Retainage and Retainage Release

Retainage represents funds withheld from payment to ensure that the supplier finishes work as agreed. The buying organization releases these funds only after verifying that the contractor has fulfilled all contractual obligations. Retainage is also called ‘retention’ or ‘contractual withholds’. With Release 12, contract administrator can negotiate retainage terms with the supplier and capture these as a part of the contract. These terms include: •

•

Retainage Rate: Determines the percentage of the amount requested that will be withheld before releasing payments to the supplier Maximum Retainage Amount: Puts a cap on the total amount that can be withheld from payments released to the supplier.

At the end of the project or when the agreed criteria are met, the withheld amount can be released upon receipt of a retainage release request from the supplier.



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Retainage Terms on the Contract 3.5.2.5. Negotiate Contracts for Complex Services

With Release 12, Oracle Sourcing provides a platform for online collaboration between the buying organization and the contractors for negotiation of contracts for complex services. Complex contract payment arrangements including advances, retainage, progress payments, typical of these contracts, can now be included in the RFQs or Auctions for negotiation negotiation between the two parties. parties. Once the RFQ is published, the the buying organization can make changes to the proposed contract payments through the existing RFQ amendment process, if needed. Suppliers can review the proposed complex contract payment terms online and submit their quotes accordingly. If permitted by the buying organization, organization, suppliers can propose propose a different payment schedule, add payment milestones, request for additional advances, or change the retainage and financing terms as part of their quotes. When the contract is awarded, the agreed terms along with the payment schedule are transferred along with other contract terms to Oracle Purchasing for signature, execution and payment. 3.5.2.6. Work Confirmation

Managing the execution of Complex Services contracts presents unique challenges to the buying organization and the contractor due to their high-dollar values and long leadtimes. One of the challenges is to accurately track and monitor progress as required by the contract before releasing progress payments. Release 12 provides a streamlined process for Contractors to report progress in the form of Work Confirmation Requests, which can then be electronically routed for approval. Organizations can leverage the flexibility of Oracle Approvals Management to configure their business approval processes for Work Confirmation Requests. The solution allows online negotiation on the amount of work eligible for payment through multiple rounds of resubmissions of the work confirmation request till both parties are in agreement and the request is approved. R12 Release Content Document


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Create Request for Work Confirmation C onfirmation 3.5.2.7. Supplier Collaboration

In Release 12, Oracle iSupplier Portal streamlines online collaboration between the buying and supplying organizations required for managing these complex services contracts. The portal provides the contractors a self-service interface to check on the status of their contracts in real-time. Using the portal, they can look up progress status, billing/payment status, advance and retainage balances associated with their contracts. The portal extends process automation beyond the enterprise by allowing contractors to enter contract related transactions online. Such transactions include: •

Acknowledge or Sign the contract before starting work

•

Change requests including changes to the progress payment schedule

•

Request to confirm work (See the Work Confirmation Section above)

•

Request to release advance payments

•

Request to release progress payments

Through online transaction entry and self-service query capabilities, Oracle iSupplier Portal extends process automation beyond the enterprise eliminating inefficiencies linked to paper-based processes.



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Oracle iSupplier Portal: Contract Status Summary 3.5.2.8. eAM Support for Fixed Price Services

Release 12 extends the support for Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) to include fixed price services line types. Requesters can associate Work Order and Operation References for a fixed price services requisition line. Release 12 continues to support support the existing eAM integration integration for goods and amount-based requisition lines.



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3.6.

Oracle Sourcing 3.6.1.

Overview Oracle Sourcing is the enterprise application that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of strategic sourcing. sourcing. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Advanced Procurement, the integrated suite that dramatically cuts all supply management costs. Oracle Sourcing enables buyers to source more of the organization’s spend at lower total cost. Oracle Sourcing creates immediate immediate savings through rapid rapid deployment, and ensures long-term savings with consistent execution and compliance.

3.6.2.

Features 3.6.2.1. Negotiation Styles

Over the last few releases, Oracle Sourcing has evolved to enable increasingly complex electronic sourcing practices. practices. The introduction of of advanced features (e.g., multi-attribute multi-attribute scoring, transformation bidding, etc.) has made the product extremely powerful. However, this rich functionality has come at the cost of unnecessary user interface complexity for those events where the advanced features are not required. Document styles allow buying organizations to tailor the Oracle Sourcing user interface to match the needs of different sourcing sourcing events. Through reusable document document styles, deploying organizations expose or hide unneeded Oracle Sourcing features, therefore, simplifying the user interface interface and reducing clutter. When a sourcing document document is created using a style, disabled features are hidden to simplify the user interface. For example, the buyer can set up a ‘Simple Auction’ style that turns off all advanced features such as multi-attribute scoring, cost factors, location-based pricing, and price differentials. Negotiations created using this style inherit the streamlined interface of the style. Oracle Sourcing also displays or hides user interface elements based on the Purchasing Document Style chosen as the the Outcome for the negotiation. negotiation. See Release 12.0 Purchasing RCD for more details. 3.6.2.2. Complex Contract Payments Payments Negotiation Negotiation

Across Fortune 1000 companies, services-related procurement accounts for about 54% of procured total procurement spending. 1 Outsourcing and globalization are the key drivers of this trend. Because of the increasing share of budget budget allocated to services, services, procurement organizations are increasingly being given responsibility to control services spend. Much of services spending goes to complex services, such as outsourced high-value projects that require extensive collaboration between the buying and supplier organizations. These complex services include include consulting, advertising, advertising, construction, research and development, and professional professional services. These services require complex complex negotiated contracts that often include complex payment arrangements. These

1

Center of Advanced Purchasing



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arrangements can include milestone payments, progress payments, advances, and retainage and recoupment.

Complex Contract Payment – Capture financing and retainage terms du ring the sourcing process.

Release 12.0 supports complex services and equipment acquisition by allowing buyers to define, negotiate, monitor and execute many types of complex contract payments like milestone payments, progress payments, advances and retainage. See Release 12.0 Services Procurement RCD for more details. 3.6.2.3. Negotiation Requirements

Header level attributes have been enhanced in a number of different areas in Release 12.0. •

•

•

In response to feedback from a product usability study, header level attributes have been renamed ‘Requirements’, and their presentation and formatting have been significantly improved. Buyers can now further structure supplier responses to requirements by predefining the list of acceptable response values. Suppliers then choose from these values when responding to requirements. In addition to the current manual scoring method, buyers can opt to score requirements automatically 3.6.2.3.1. Improved Formatting and Presentation

A new, two-level hierarchical structure allows buyers to organize requirements into sections. Sections and requirements can be moved and re-organized using the new user interface controls, thus facilitating the grouping and sequencing of questions. Buyers composing questions and requirements can now use Rich Text Format commands (e.g., bold, italics, bullets, etc.) to highlight key information to suppliers. The rich text is presented to suppliers as entered by the buyer, both online and in the negotiation PDF. Additionally, suppliers will enjoy a reconfigured bidding screen with more room to enter long answers.



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Requirements – New scoring options and Rich Text Format (RTF).

3.6.2.3.2. Enhanced Support for Acceptable Response Values

Buyers can set up acceptable response values for each text-type requirement, regardless of whether the requirement is scored. With Release 12.0, buyers can also associate predefined value sets to requirements as a means of specifying acceptable values for text type responses. 3.6.2.3.3. System Scoring for Header Level Requirements

Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 allows buyers to set up requirements to be scored automatically by the system. They can set up acceptable response values and corresponding scores for each response value. The system uses this information to automatically score supplier responses. For example, the buyer sets up the following requirement, acceptable response values and scores: Q. Is your company ISO certified?



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Response Value

Score

Yes No

10 0

If a supplier responds with ‘Yes’, then the system automatically gives the supplier a score of 10. The new automatic scoring and the existing subjective scoring can co-exist on a single sourcing event. Some requirements can be scored manually, while others might be set up for automatic scoring Buyers can highlight the relative importance of requirements by assigning weights to each requirement. Both, manually and automatically scored requirements can be weight. Oracle Sourcing calculates the total weighted score for the response once all scores have been entered in the system. See Team Scoring for Subjectively Scored Requirements in this document for additional details. 3.6.2.4. Team Scoring for Subjectively Scored Requirements

Companies usually approach the evaluation of bid packages as a team effort. People from different departments such as legal, engineering, etc., typically evaluate different parts of suppliers’ responses based on their area of expertise. Buyers are then chartered with combining the different score sheets submitted by the team members and computing the total score for the supplier. Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 automates the procedure and brings additional transparency to the team scoring process. In Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0, buyers can designate collaboration team members as fully privileged, scorers, or view-only members. Fully privileged members have complete access to the negotiation document, limited only by the security functions assigned to them. Scorers have view-only access to the negotiation, but are granted access to the scoring screens in order to enter subjective scores during the evaluation of responses. View Only members can only view the negotiation information. Scoring members can be organized into different teams. Each team can be granted access to specific sections that need to be scored by that team. Following a common business practice, the buyer can specify if the pricing information on the quotes should be hidden from a scoring team. This helps scorers to remain objective during the scoring process.



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Scoring Team – Oracle Sourcing automatically computes the average team score

Each member on a scoring team enters scores for each quote for sections assigned to them for scoring. Upon completion of the scoring process, the system computes the average score for each quote. If desired, fully privileged members on the collaboration team can override the average score, for example, with a consensus score. The system maintains an audit trail of whether the final score is the system calculated average or overridden by a user. 3.6.2.5. Automatically Knockout Suppliers from the Shortlist

Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 allows buyers to set up knockout criteria that can be used to automatically exclude suppliers from the shortlist, therefore simplifying the bid analysis process. Knockout criteria can be set up in terms of minimum score that the supplier must attain for certain negotiation requirements. Suppliers that are scored below the specified minimum are automatically removed from the shortlist. Suppliers excluded from the shortlist are not eligible for awards. If desired, buyers can modify the knockout criteria during the analysis and award phase to narrow down the suppliers on the shortlist. 3.6.2.6. Support for Very Large Number of Line Items on a Negotiation

Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 expands support for very large RFXs/Auctions, allowing for thousands of line items on a single negotiation. In prior releases, Oracle Sourcing supported large RFXs/Auctions with hundreds of line items. 3.6.2.6.1. Offline Work using Spreadsheet Upload and Download

Buyers can create such large negotiations using the spreadsheet upload feature, or by re-negotiating an existing catalog with thousands of lines. Suppliers can download the line items to spreadsheet in order to enter their bid offline and upload the completed bid. Buyers can download the bids to spreadsheet to enter award decisions offline and upload the award. They can also award using the online user interface if they want to award the entire business to a single supplier.



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3.6.2.6.2. Online Edits to Subsets of Lines

Buyers and suppliers can search for a subset of lines in order to make online updates. They can search for lines based on line number range, line description, category or item. 3.6.2.6.3. Asynchronous Processing Support

As part of Oracle Sourcing setup, the administrator can set up the threshold for number of lines for using asynchronous processing. If the user submits a request to process more than this number of lines, the system will automatically initiate an asynchronous request to complete the processing. The user will be notified when the processing completes. This allows the user to go on to other tasks online, while the system completes the request to process a very large number of lines. For example, if the limit for online synchronous processing is set up as 4,000, a buyer request to create PDF document for a negotiation with 4,100 lines will be processed asynchronously. 3.6.2.7. Enhanced Catalog Management

With Release 12.0, buying organizations with locally hosted catalogs will be able to leverage the enhanced catalog management capabilities. Oracle Sourcing will enable catalog negotiation process with a seamless flow across the Advanced Procurement Suite. Procurement organizations will observe the following benefits: •

•

•


Negotiated pricing is available to requesters faster. Buyers can negotiate prices for catalog items, and then automatically create a catalog from the awarded bid. Existing catalog descriptors are automatically available for negotiation. When requisition lines are copied to a negotiation document, the extensible base and category descriptors from the catalog will be copied to the negotiation line attributes. The buyer can choose to simply share the attribute values with suppliers or have suppliers respond with values during the negotiation process. Add negotiation lines from the catalog. Buyers can now link out to the Oracle iProcurement catalog while adding lines to the negotiation. From the negotiation creation flow, buyers can navigate and browse the iProcurement catalog, select the appropriate items, and automatically add them to the negotiation. Optionally, all catalog descriptors will be automatically copied onto the negotiation as well.


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Catalog Negotiation – Automatically add catalog descriptors to negotiation lines •

Automatically add incumbent catalog suppliers to the negotiation invitation list.

Whether negotiating requisitions created from the catalog or renegotiating the entire catalog, the incumbent supplier is automatically added to the negotiation invitation list •

Bid line attributes move automatically to catalogs. When buyers create the catalog

from an awarded bid, the attribute values will be copied from the bid lines to the catalog items See Release 12.0 Oracle iProcurement RCD for more details. 3.6.2.8. Negotiation Document PDF Printing Enhancements

3.6.2.8.1. PDF Printing Before Publishing Negotiation To Suppliers

With Release 12.0, buyers can generate PDF version of the negotiation while the document is in draft status. They can print a ‘buyer version’ that includes all the information on the document (e.g., collaboration team, invitation list, etc.), and a ‘supplier version’ that includes only the information visible to suppliers. The draft and buyer versions of the PDF include watermarks to avoid confusions with the supplier version of the document. 3.6.2.8.2. Supplier Specific PDF

Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 supports printing the negotiation document specific to a particular supplier. In this case, the PDF contains information based upon supplier specific data. For example, if the buyer set up cost factors for the supplier or restricted the supplier to view only a subset of lines, the PDF will reflect the same. 3.6.2.9. Collaboration Team Member Messaging

The collaboration aspects of the Online Discussions feature have been enhanced to include any collaboration team member. Whereas in previous releases team members could read the ongoing communication with suppliers, in Release 12.0 team members will be able to send messages to external parties. R12 Release Content Document


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In addition, all people on the collaboration team for a negotiation can send online messages to each other and to entire scoring teams. This further facilitates collaboration during all phases of the negotiation process from negotiation document creation, through analysis and award. 3.6.2.10. Professional Buyer’s Work Center

Oracle Purchasing Release 12.0 speeds up daily purchasing tasks with an enhanced Professional Buyer’s Work Center. Built on the latest web-based user interface models, the Center is a central ‘launchpad’ from which buyers can efficiently perform their daily tasks—such as viewing and acting upon requisition demand, creating and modifying orders and agreements, and accessing Oracle Sourcing to initiate negotiations. The Professional Buyer’s Work Center increases the drill down capabilities between Oracle Sourcing and Oracle Purchasing. Buyers can now easily navigate from purchasing to sourcing documents, and vice-versa, using a single and friendly user interface. See Release 12.0 Oracle Procurement RCD for more details. 3.6.2.11. Staggered Closing of Lines in Auctions

In fast-paced auctions that include multiple products and services, suppliers are challenged to respond to competitive bids in a timely manner. Suppliers often find themselves struggling to amend and submit their improved bid before the auction closes. Staggered closing of lines allows buyers to schedule cascading closing times for negotiation lines, letting suppliers focus their attention and energy on a single line, lot, or group at a time. The additional attention that every line gets from suppliers drives competitive behavior, leading to increased savings. During the auction creation process (Controls page), buyers indicate whether auction lines should have staggered closing times, and what the closing interval from one line to the next should be. Oracle Sourcing then determines the closing date to each line in the negotiation considering the specified interval. For example, if the first line is scheduled to close at 10:30 and the closing interval is 10 minutes, Oracle Sourcing will assign the following closing times: Line Number

Close Time

1 2 3 ...

10:30 10:40 10:50

When AutoExtend and staggered closing are used in conjunction, any automatic extensions on a line are automatically propagated to the subsequent lines to retain the closing interval between lines. This functionality was originally released as a patch for 11i.10. 3.6.2.12. AutoExtend Improvements

In negotiations where the intention is to award business to more than one supplier (e.g., companies looking for a primary and an alternate source of supply), buyers want to encourage competitive bidding not only for first place, but also for subsequent places in



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the auction. One way to drive competitive behavior is to give suppliers additional time to respond to new incoming bids from competing suppliers. AutoExtend has been enhanced to automatically extend an auction when a new bid ranked in a buyer-specified position is received. Whereas before only winning bids triggered AutoExtend, now buyers have the ability to specify the minimum rank of a bid that will automatically extend the auction (e.g., buyers can set up the auction to automatically extend when a new bid ranked third or better is received). Buyers can also set up the negotiation to extend every time a new bid is submitted, irrespective of the bid rank. In addition, Release 12.0 gives buyers increased flexibility to specify the maximum number of automatic extensions by entering any number between 1 and 9999, or choose unlimited extensions. Suppliers are notified via an Online Discussion message once the auction enters the last extension period (i.e. when no more extensions are allowed). Buyers view the number of remaining AutoExtensions for an auction on the Live Console page. 3.6.2.13. Notification Subscription

One of the key elements of the sourcing process is the communication with suppliers and internal collaboration team. To that extent, Oracle Sourcing has increased significantly the number of notifications that the system generates at different times during the sourcing process. However, many of these notifications vary in relevance depending on the sourcing document type or the sourcing processes followed by the deploying organization. Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 introduces a notification subscription framework that allows deploying organizations to easily enable and disable notifications, system-wide. The new model reduces the need to request help from the IT department to modify workflow definitions. The user-friendly interface allows sourcing administrators to turn notifications on and off by document type. For example, for auctions a system administrator may want to disable the Response Submitted notification because buyers are likely to be monitoring the bidding process online. Conversely, they may decide to enable the same notification for RFQs to alert buyers when a new quote is submitted.



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Notification Subscription – Easily subscribe to relevant notifications by document type.

3.6.2.14. Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement: Sourcing Dashboard

Procurement managers will be able to monitor the performance of their sourcing efforts using the DBI for Procurement Sourcing Dashboard. The dashboard contains key performance indicators (KPI) that answer traditionally tough questions such as: •

What percent of total purchases are negotiated? Is the percentage the same across operating units?

•

What is the total projected savings from sourcing activities?

•

What are the realized savings from previously negotiated contracts?

•

What’s the average sourcing cycle time? By commodity?

The dashboard measures sourcing performance through metrics such as: •

Sourcing Awarded Amount, Projected Savings and Realized Savings

•

Negotiated Purchases

•

Average Cycle time taken in Sourcing Process

As with all DBI reports, buyers can obtain additional information about a sourcing KPI by drilling down to the report that shows supporting information information.



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Sourcing Dashboard – Measure sourcing processes performance

See Release 12.0 Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement RCD for more details. 3.6.2.15. Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement: Supplier Scorecard

Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 integrates with Oracle Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement to provide buyers with quantitative measures of supplier performance. Buyers can view relevant and reliable supplier performance information when determining which suppliers to invite to sourcing events, as well as while analyzing supplier bids. Buyers get a complete view, from aggregated data to granular details on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They can also view trend data over various time periods. The flexibility built into the tool allows the buyer to tailor the KPIs in Oracle Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement for each supplier and supplier site. See Release 12.0 Daily Business Intelligence for Procurement RCD for more details. 3.6.2.16. Award Approval Routing Using Position Hierarchy

The award approval process in Oracle Sourcing uses AME (Oracle Approvals Management) as the approval engine. In prior releases, AME could only be set up to use employee-supervisor hierarchy for Oracle Sourcing award approvals. With Release 12.0, companies can also use Position Hierarchy based rules to determine the approvers for negotiation award approval. Position based hierarchies allow organizations the flexibility to create reporting structures that remain stable regardless of organizational changes. 3.6.2.17. Workflow Business Events

Customers planning to extend Oracle Sourcing will be able to leverage the new workflow business events embedded in the application. Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 includes a R12 Release Content Document


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set of workflow business events that will be raised at different event points during the negotiation process. Customers can create custom ‘subscribing’ processes for these business events to perform desired processing when the corresponding business event is raised. The following is the list of business events: •

Response for a negotiation is submitted

•

Negotiation is published (also for amendments and new round)

•

Response for a negotiation is disqualified

•

Negotiation is submitted for award approval

•

Negotiation award is completed

•

Purchase Document creation is initiated

3.6.2.18. Price Breaks Settings Defaulting

Companies using location, time-phased, or volume pricing will enjoy easier configuration of price breaks settings in Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0. The new settings defaulting significantly reduce data entry effort as only specific lines that require different settings need to be updated. Buyers can set up system level Price Break Response setting to None, Optional or Required that default onto the negotiation document being created, but may be overridden. All lines on the negotiation then inherit the Price Break Response setting from the header. Additionally, Oracle Sourcing now defaults the Price Break Type from Purchasing Options. 3.6.2.19. Support for Contractors

More and more companies are outsourcing part or all of their procurement processes in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. In keeping with this recent trend, Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 introduces support for contingent workers in the sourcing process. This allows contractors with the appropriate level of functional security to perform all the same functions within Oracle Sourcing as employees. Contractors can be set up as buyers, approvers, or team members. This does not apply to external supplier users. 3.6.2.20. Easier Configuration of Responsibilities

Oracle Sourcing’s security model provides system administrators with enormous flexibility to control what parts of the application are exposed or hidden from sourcing users. For example, companies may decide to create two independent user roles to score bids and produce award recommendations. The security model is based on security functions that control different functional areas of the application and are assigned to application responsibilities. In Release 12.0 all the functions in the Oracle Sourcing application have been grouped into sub menus of related functions to facilitate the manipulation and creation of new responsibilities. For example, all functions that relate to the task of creating and editing a negotiation document are grouped into a single sub menu. This allows for easier inclusion or exclusions of tasks



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from customized responsibilities by simply including or excluding the appropriate sub menu. Quite often Collaboration Team members need to help with negotiation creation and quote evaluation, but should not have access to other tasks such as closing the negotiation or entering award decisions. A new Team Member responsibility tailored for collaboration team members is provided with the product. Please refer to the Release 12.0 Oracle Sourcing About Doc for a detailed list of sub menus and functions included in this new responsibility. 3.6.2.21. Multi-Org Access Controls (MOAC)

In a Shared Procurement Services environment, a buyer typically carries out procurement/sourcing functions on behalf of multiple business units. Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 implements Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC) to control user access to different operating units. All Oracle Sourcing negotiation documents and transactions are owned by an operating unit. Whereas in prior releases buyers could create, review, and update documents in any operating unit, in Release 12.0 buying organizations will be able to limit buyers’ access to a predefined set of operating units. With the new MOAC architecture, administrators can associate a Responsibility with either a simple list of Operating Units or a list that is derived from a node in a given hierarchy. Using a single Responsibility, buyers can conduct sourcing events, enter into agreements and issue purchase orders on behalf of any of the operating units that they serve. There are no changes to the system’s behavior for external supplier users. 3.6.2.22. Representation of Suppliers in the Trading Community Architecture (TCA)

The Trading Community Architecture (TCA) is a highly flexible model that allows you to fully model real world entities in your trading community and accurately represent the complex relationships among those entities. It is the core data model for trading partners used by Oracle e-Business Suite applications. By representing Suppliers as part of the trading community, you have access to many of the features provided by TCA. Data Librarian tools can assist with activities focused on improving data consistency, eliminating duplicates and modeling extended relationships. Through TCA it is also possible to leverage external data sources such as D&B to enrich data quality. See Release 12.0 Oracle iSupplier Portal RCD for more details. 3.6.2.23. Prospective and New Supplier Invitation

The New Supplier Request feature facilitates the process of gathering requests for new suppliers from internal users and the subsequent capturing of qualification details about the company. An approval hierarchy allows deploying organizations to ensure that once the qualification details have been gathered, the relevant stakeholders within the business are involved in the review process for the requested supplier. Following approval, a new supplier record will be setup automatically using the supplier’s qualification details. R12 Release Content Document


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The Supplier Profile Administrators tools have been enhanced so that they can track the list of requests that have been submitted and review the details. For Release 12.0, the New Supplier Request feature allows sourcing event managers to invite prospective suppliers as the sourcing event is created. In prior Sourcing releases, buyers could only invite suppliers to sourcing events if the suppliers were already defined in the supplier master. The contact at the prospective supplier will receive a notification to participate in the sourcing event and then an additional invitation requesting that they register their details with the buying organization in order that they can be qualified to participate. Only approved suppliers are able to submit bids for an event. As an alternative, designated sourcing event managers can also be given the authority to include a new supplier in an event and approve them immediately as an RFQ-only supplier, thus bypassing the need to capture and review qualification details. See Release 12.0 Oracle iSupplier Portal RCD for more details. 3.6.2.24. Display Best Bid Price in Blind Negotiations

In blind online negotiations, buyers sometimes implement a strategy where all suppliers follow the price of the best bid in the event. In this strategy, suppliers are encouraged to improve their bids to better the best bid in the event without necessarily knowing their own rank. As in any blind event, suppliers do not have access to additional information about the competing bids, so the best bid price is the only feedback that they receive. An alternative strategy is for buyers to share with the supplier his overall rank and the best bid in the event. In this case, suppliers know their position in the negotiation and how much they would have to improve their bid to become the leader in the negotiation. Buyers now have the option to let suppliers see the best bid price in the auction or RFQ. Buyers cannot only disclose rank to suppliers (previously supported feature), but also the price of the best bid for every line in the event. Buyers decide whether to share best bid price with suppliers through a bid control when the negotiation is created. Administrators can set up a default bid control value in the negotiation configuration page. This functionality was originally released as a patch for 11i.10. 3.6.2.25. Bidding Improvements

The following improvements have been made to the supplier bidding pages: 3.6.2.25.1. Power Bid On Losing Lines

In the competitive environment of reverse auctions, suppliers use Power Bid to quickly improve their bid price (11i.10 functionality). Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 adds additional flexibility to the existing Power Bid capability, by allowing suppliers to choose to apply the Power Bid decrements only to non-winning lines. When suppliers select this option, those bid lines that are already winning bids remain untouched. As in prior releases, suppliers can still apply the Power Bid decrement to all lines in their bid. 3.6.2.25.2. Better Visibility to Bid Total Amount R12 Release Content Document


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Oracle Sourcing Release 12.0 increases the visibility of total bid amounts to help buyers and suppliers evaluate bid packages more easily. Suppliers will now be able to view the total amount for their bid on the Review Bid page, before they submit the bid. The bid total amount will also be displayed to buyers and suppliers on various other pages in the application, including View Bid, Bid History, and Monitor Bids pages. 3.6.2.25.3. Bid Decrement Enhancement

Buyers can enforce that suppliers re-bidding on a negotiation improve their bid by a certain amount or percentage (Minimum Bid Decrement). In Release 12.0, a new bid control allows buyers to specify the price base on which the minimum decrement is calculated. The new control allows buyers to opt between the current bid submitted by the supplier (current support) and the best bid available in the negotiation (new in Release 12.0). 3.6.2.25.4. Bid Price Reduction Enforcement Across Negotiation Rounds

In multi-round negotiations, buyers typically want to encourage suppliers to improve the bid price submitted in the previous round of the negotiation. A new bid control allows buyers to specify whether the last bid price for each supplier should be enforced as the start price in the new round. The new bid control is available during the creation of a new round of auctions and RFQs. If the bid control is selected, Oracle Sourcing will require suppliers to enter prices that at least match their best price from the previous round. The original start price will not be carried forward from one round to the next. This functionality was originally released as a patch for 11i.10. 3.6.2.26. Live Console

The Live Console provides a graphical display especially suited to monitoring the progress of a fast-paced auction. From a single page buyers view graphs and charts of bidding activity. Buyers may view bidder status and participation, and monitor ongoing bid activity. Bid totals and projected savings are immediately calculated and graphed. Over 10 graphs provide insight for many negotiation scenarios. Bids can be viewed as total bid amount or by individual line or lot. New tools that expand buyer control of the negotiation include: Negotiation Pause; Supplier Activity Monitor; Supplier Lockout and Message Alerts.



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Select from multiple graphs

Live Console – Monitor bidding activity as it hap pens

3.6.2.26.1. Negotiation Pause

Buyers may occasionally need to halt a live negotiation. For example, a buyer may desire to clarify a question for all bidders when precious few minutes are remaining in the negotiation. When the negotiation is paused bidding activity is halted, an icon is displayed beside the negotiation number, and online message alerts are immediately displayed to suppliers at the top of each screen. Once restarted, the negotiation continues where it was paused. 3.6.2.26.2. Supplier Activity Monitor

Buyers can view the login status of invited and walk-up supplier users, and view the most recent activity the supplier has taken, such as whether the supplier has created a draft response. The buyer can immediately determine actual participation levels to help evaluate how the negotiation is progressing. 3.6.2.26.3. Supplier Lockout R12 Release Content Document


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Buyers may choose to lock a supplier out of a negotiation. The buyer may find this useful if they see a supplier viewing the negotiation – and collecting competitive pricing information – but not actively participating. Usually lockout is used when the buyer has a policy requiring active participation prior to some point in the negotiation. 3.6.2.26.4. Message Alerts

The existing Online Discussions feature allows buyers and suppliers to communicate in a structured and archived manner. During short time-frame negotiations, messages can be urgent in nature, such as those relating to pricing or product clarification. Message alerts notify buyers and suppliers of new messages on each screen associated with a negotiation. The benefit is timely information that remains part of the archived message history. Live Console was originally released in Oracle Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.27. Transformation Bidding

Transformation Bidding allows buyers to incorporate (1) intangible costs such as switching costs and supplier risk factors and/or (2) tangible costs such freight and special charges, into the bidding, analysis, and award processes. The bid that receives the highest rank is the one with the lowest Total Bid Price including the quantified effect of all tangible and intangible costs. With Transformation Bidding, the buyer can define ‘Price Factors’ to represent tangible and intangible costs in addition to the price of the goods or services. These price factors can be defined as Per Unit, % of Line Price or Fixed Amount. The buyer can define ‘Buyer’ and/or ‘Supplier’ price factors. Note that in Oracle Sourcing 11.5.8, only the supplier price factors (called Price Elements) could be defined. The bid price, line bid total and bid total, as viewed by the buyer, include the effect of the price factor values. Therefore, each bid is evaluated based on the true cost of buying the goods or services from the supplier. This results in cost savings that are not possible with a manual, paper-based RFQ or conventional reverse auction platform. 3.6.2.27.1. Buyer Price Factors

Buyer price factors can be assigned a value only by the buyer before the start of the negotiation. A different value may be assigned for each line item and for each invited bidder. Examples of buyer price factors are intangible costs such as supplier risk factors applicable to non-incumbent suppliers, or tangible costs that the buyer will incur. If only buyer price factors are used in a negotiation, the buyer can choose to hide from suppliers how price factors adjust their bids. Each supplier views their own bid as entered by them, but the bids of competitors are automatically transformed based on the buyer price factors specified. 3.6.2.27.2. Supplier Price Factors

Buyers can define different Supplier Price Factors for each line. Suppliers then enter values for these price factors when they create their bids. Examples of supplier price factors are freight or special charges that the supplier needs to charge.



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Transformation Bidding – Evaluate tangible and intangible costs

Transformation Bidding was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.28. Lot Based Bidding

Buyers can now define lots that contain a collection of lines, giving a new hierarchical structure to the sourcing document. A lot may be an assembled product, or lines may be organized into lots to get the most competitive bid. Suppliers are required to evaluate the entire lot and submit their bids at the lot level for speed and convenience. Suppliers may optionally provide line-level bids as well. Buyers can analyze the bids and make award decisions at the lot level. When the buyer creates a purchasing document from the Sourcing award, awarded lots are transferred to purchasing document lines. Lot Based Bidding was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.29. Line Groups

Negotiation lines can now be organized into groups for ease of analysis and award. Groups are collections of related lines that allow buyers to model market baskets. Suppliers bid against individual lines in the group, and pricing information is automatically rolled up to the group level for enhanced analysis. Buyers can analyze and make award decisions for the entire group or they can choose to cherry-pick the best supplier bids for individual lines within the group. Awarded lines are transferred to the purchasing document, if the buyer creates one from the Sourcing award. Line Groups was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J)



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3.6.2.30. Control Supplier Participation

Buyers may specify which groups, lots, or lines should be visible to each supplier during the negotiation. By including only qualified bidders, competition is maximized and bidder data entry is reduced. In addition, this feature allows buyers to reduce the number of negotiations needed to source a commodity when particular lots or lines require distinct (or overlapping) sets of suppliers. Supplier Participation Control was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.31. Post Negotiation Synopsis to Extranet Website

Buying organizations can publish negotiation summary information to their organization’s extranet website to allow potential suppliers to view upcoming and current negotiations and register if interested. For example, Public Sector entities may be legally required to advertise sourcing events for goods and services. This capability is also useful for organizations that are trying to obtain new vendors or broaden participation. Buyers can publish a customizable subset of information from their negotiations to their extranet web site using an automated, secure, and audited approach. A PDF of the negotiation can also be made available for download. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.32. Create and Publish Industry Standard Forms

This feature allows users to create forms that are filled out by buyers with information concerning a negotiation or event. Forms can be created to emulate standard industry formats, for example, the Contract Notice form used in the European Union. Once created, Forms are made available to and completed by buyers that are responsible for the creation of the negotiation. The buyers can then publish this information to any website that accepts XML files, in an automated and audited method. For example, Public Sector buyers frequently have statuary requirements to transmit standard forms to regulatory authorities. Now, these buyers can enter information in the forms online and send them via XML to the appropriate authority (such as the FedBizOps website for the US Federal Government and the Tenders Electronic Daily in the European Union). Forms can be revised over time, and information entered in the forms is stored for easy reference. Note: Publishing forms via XML requires use of a XML mapping tool, such as Mapforce™ from Altova, Inc. or an equivalent product.

This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.33. Home Page Enhancements

The negotiations home page has been enhanced to provide better visibility to current negotiations and pending activities for both buyers and other collaboration team members. The published negotiations section now includes negotiations where the user is a collaboration team member in addition to the ones that the user created. A list of all draft negotiations allows collaboration team members to easily locate negotiations in draft status without performing a search. R12 Release Content Document


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Many collaboration team members may have tasks assigned to them, such as specifying item attributes, scoring supplier responses, performing analysis, etc. Users are now alerted to incomplete tasks on the home page. An Unread Messages list highlights new supplier questions, allowing the buyer to respond more quickly for real-time communication between trading partners.

Oracle Sourcing Home Page

This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.34. Negotiate Contract Purchase Agreements

Now Contract Purchase Agreements (CPA) can be negotiated in Oracle Sourcing. Negotiation of CPAs is especially valuable to buying organizations that do not host their content (i.e., suppliers maintain their catalogs). Buyers can negotiate contract terms while optionally detailing the services and products that will be ordered against the agreement. If Oracle Procurement Contracts is licensed, contract clauses and deliverables may be part of the negotiation. Based on one or more awards, the buyer may automatically create a new CPA in Oracle Purchasing. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.35. Supplier Research Enhancements

Buyers now have enhanced supplier research capabilities while creating a negotiation. They can also use the same capabilities to research suppliers for a particular commodity in order to create an invitation list. Additional search criteria include search for suppliers for a particular commodity, and search based on suppliers’ sourcing transactions history. R12 Release Content Document


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Supplier search results have been enhanced to provide a more comprehensive view of the supplier. Additional information includes: Details on the sourcing and purchasing transactions history with the supplier, over a configurable time period Invitation Lists and Templates that contain the supplier Registered Users In addition, links to the following DBI reports allow direct access to real-time commodity spend data across purchasing organizations: •

Invoice Amount

•

Contract Utilization Rates

•

Returns

•

Receipt Date Exceptions

•

PO Price Change

•

PO Price Savings and Quantity Change

This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.36. Change Document Type for New Round

Often buyers conduct negotiations where the first round is an RFI to pre-qualify suppliers, followed by one or more rounds of RFQs, and finally an Auction so that the qualified bidders can offer the best prices. With this feature, buyers may create an Auction, RFQ or RFI from a prior round regardless of the document type of the prior round. This provides buyers the ability to use the most appropriate document type for each round of negotiation. All data applicable to the negotiation document type being created, is carried over from one round to the next. Also, all applicable data is defaulted from the previous round when the supplier creates a response in the new round. Further, when creating the new round, the buyer has the option to: (1) Either retain or remove Clauses and Deliverables; (2) Update Clauses with the latest versions; (3) Either retain or remove attachments. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.37. Copy across Document Types

Buyers often need to create negotiations that contain similar data as already entered in an existing negotiation. Now buyers can create an Auction, RFQ or RFI by copying a published or draft negotiation, regardless of the type of the document being copied. Further, when creating the copy, the buyer has the option to: (1) Either retain or remove Clauses and Deliverables; (2) Update Clauses with the latest versions; (3) Either retain or remove attachments. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J)



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3.6.2.38. Spreadsheet Import of Header Attributes

Spreadsheet support has been extended to allow buyers to import header attributes using a spreadsheet created offline. This is useful when the buyer needs to create a large number of header attributes. The buyer can also use spreadsheet upload to add header attributes during amendment or new round creation. Suppliers may download header attributes from a negotiation, enter their responses in the downloaded spreadsheet offline, and then import the spreadsheet into their online response. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.39. Negotiations without Lines

Buyers can now create negotiations that do not include a specific product or service. This is useful, for example, when negotiating an RFI with header attributes for survey questions, or when negotiating a Contract Purchase Agreement and not desiring to receive bids on individual lines. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.2.40. Improved Purchase Document Creation Flow

The process to complete the award in Oracle Sourcing and create a document in Oracle Purchasing has been significantly streamlined. Now this can be done in two steps as opposed to five steps in prior releases. In case the negotiation was created from requisitions, these are automatically allocated to the awards. The user may modify the automatic allocation if required. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J)



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Oracle Sourcing Optimization – New Product 3.6.3.

Overview When allocating business to suppliers, buyers often must strive to meet multiple purchasing goals and business policies. For example: ‘award at least 10% business to minority-owned suppliers,’ ‘no single supplier should get more than 80% of the total business,’ or ‘at least half of the business should go to incumbent suppliers’. It can be challenging to achieve maximum savings while meeting such business policies, particularly if there are many line items and a large number of competitive bids. Oracle Sourcing Optimization can help by allowing the buyer to create scenarios that can be automatically optimized to determine the best award, while adhering to policies and goals defined on the scenario. This results in better and faster award decisions. Oracle Sourcing Optimization was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J)

3.6.4.

Features 3.6.4.1. Scenario Objectives

When creating a scenario, the buyer chooses an objective that defines what the optimization engine should seek to maximize or minimize. For example, the objective ‘Maximize award quantity and minimize award amount’ will cause the optimizer to try to award quantities indicated on the negotiation while minimizing the total cost of the award. The buyer can also choose to include or exclude price factor values from the bid prices during the optimization process. This can be particularly useful if the price factors model intangible costs such as risk. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.4.2. Business Constraints

The buyer may specify the purchasing policies or goals in terms of ‘constraints’ at the negotiation header, line, or supplier level. The optimizer will satisfy all the constraints defined for a scenario, while it seeks to find the optimal solution for the chosen objective. 3.6.4.2.1. Header Constraints

Header constraints span all the lines in the negotiation. For example, to make sure that a budget amount is not exceeded; a constraint can be set up to limit the maximum award amount. Constraints can also be set up to exclude suppliers that do not meet cutoffs for header attribute scores, header attribute group scores or total score. 3.6.4.2.2. Line Constraints

Constraints may also be defined at the line level. The buyer can decide whether or not a line award can be split between multiple suppliers. Price and score cutoffs can be defined for the lines so as to eliminate bids that do not meet the cutoff. Line



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constraints can be used to limit the maximum amount or quantity awarded for a particular line. The buyer can specify if he or she wants to award all lines in a group to the same supplier. Further, the buyer can define supplier related constraints for a specific line. These constraints may be used to specify the minimum and maximum quantity or amount that may be awarded to a supplier for a particular line. 3.6.4.2.3. Supplier Constraints

Supplier constraints can be used to manage the size of the supply base by specifying minimum and maximum number of suppliers that can be awarded. Risk from switching to new suppliers can be reduced by specifying that a certain percentage of the total award amount should go to incumbent suppliers. Supplier constraints can also be set up based on business classifications such as Minority Owned, Women Owned, etc. Setting up constraints based on Approved Supplier List statuses can ensure that a certain percentage of the business is awarded to approved suppliers.



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Award Scenarios – Enforce company policies through award constraints

This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.4.3. Scenario Optimization

The buyer can compute the optimal award allocations for a scenario with a single click. Oracle Sourcing uses ILOG’s CPLEX optimization engine to generate the optimal award allocation that satisfies the constraints. Optimization results are displayed in both graphical and tabular formats for ease of interpretation.

Optimization Results – Review award recommendations in graphical and tabular format

The buyer can easily view savings resulting from the optimal solution for the scenario. The constraints are summarized and supplier type constraints are graphed so the buyer can see how these constraints were met. This functionality was originally released in Sourcing Mini-Pack J (11i.PON.J) 3.6.4.4. What-if Analysis

Through ‘What-if’ Analysis the buyer can define different scenarios and compare optimization results. The buyer can edit an existing scenario or copy it to create a new scenario to quickly generate alternate scenarios. R12 Release Content Document


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r12 Adv Procurement Rcd

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