Session # 27333

March 2, 2010

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM

What do you mean, my PO What do you mean, my PO was lost in the mail!?!was lost in the mail!?!

Purchase Order Dispatch

Tip and TricksTip and Tricks

Presenter

David BestDavid Best

• Senior ERP Analyst• Eight Years with ERPEight Years with ERP• Former Associate Director of PurchasingFormer Associate Director of Purchasing• 43 Year Seminole43 Year Seminole

Session Overview

This presentation will focus on the PO Dispatch step in This presentation will focus on the PO Dispatch step in Purchase Order Management. The five PO dispatch Purchase Order Management. The five PO dispatch methods will be examined separately. Comparative methods will be examined separately. Comparative strengths and weaknesses among the methods will be strengths and weaknesses among the methods will be presented and potential pitfalls of each method will be presented and potential pitfalls of each method will be highlighted. Ways to improve the fault tolerance of highlighted. Ways to improve the fault tolerance of each method will be suggested, including procedural each method will be suggested, including procedural changes, configurations, and minor enhancements. changes, configurations, and minor enhancements. Lastly, some precautions for vendor file management, Lastly, some precautions for vendor file management, testing and integrating with a third-party document testing and integrating with a third-party document repository will be covered. repository will be covered.

Agenda

• The five PS dispatch methods

• Setup Basics: Run Controls and Processes

• Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• Testing, Vendor File, and Change Orders

Florida State University

Established 1851

Fall 2009 enrollment was 40,000 students

Over 14,000 employees

Annual Operating Budget 1.1 B

…a public university with emphasis on research, education and public service.

FSU and Oracle

• Big Bang go live with PeopleSoft Financials version 8.4 on July 1, 2004 and HR on December 17, 2004.

• Upgrade to FIN version 9.0, MP5, and conversion to Oracle Database in April, 2009

• Supply enablement of eSupplier Connection, Strategic Sourcing, eSettlements on March 15, 2010

Five Dispatch Methods by Volume

Period: Calendar Year 2009

DISP_METHOD COUNT PERCENT

FAX 12,792 43%

EDX 7,598 26%

PHN 3,520 12%

PRN 3,347 11%

EML 2,273 8%

TOTAL: 29,530 100%

Print

• Speed: Slowest– Lag time just to get hard copy out of the door– USPS

• Effectiveness: Mixed– Withstands the test of time– Return service unreliable

• Cost: Highest Per Unit Price among five methods

Print

• Why do we still need print?

– Individuals and Small Companies

– Pickups

– Minimum Address Info Required

– Requires the least information to get a PO out of the door

– People still like paper

Print Issues

• Buyer must enter the correct Type, Format and Output Destination during online dispatch for PO to go to the printer.

Print Issues and Remedies

If output destination is missing or incorrect, the POPO005

process runs to success but cannot send the file to the printer.

Print Issues and Remedies

• Logo and Signature Files

• PSNT or UNIX Server

• Dedicated or Shared Printer

• Log POs from Printer

• Initiative to reduce volume of printed POs

Phone

• Speed: Fast

– PO can be transmitted before dispatch processing

– Slows as the line count increases

• Effective: Mixed

– Person to person communication/contact

– Communication errors: sending and receiving

– Confirmation risks duplication

• Cost: Varies relative to line count and phone line charges

Phone

• Why do we still need telephone orders?

– Individuals and Small Companies

– Wide Accessibility to Medium

– Common Vendor Address Requirement

• FSU Purchasing has not provided the option to dispatch POs via phone for over 10 years. So, why are 12% of POs dispatched via phone?

– Confirming Orders, Change Orders and Cancellations

– A method that changes PO status without sending anything out of the system

Fax

• Speed: Faster– Transmits POs quickly to the vendor– Handoff to a third party fax server increases the speed

of transmittal even more than a fax machine

• Effectiveness: Very Effective and Highly Reliable– Machine to machine over hardwired network– Confirmation of delivery and fast error correction– Vendors have dedicated sites and procedures

• Cost: Lower (lower still with fax server)

Fax Issues

• Why move beyond fax dispatch if its fast, effective and low in cost?

– Files attachments are sent by email, which separates the PO and the “attachment”.

– Many old fax machines print low resolution, poor quality documents.

– Without a fax server:• still incurs cost of printing and manual handling• tracking and reconciliation with PS are difficult

– There is a potential for delay and errors while vendors enter the faxed PO into their systems.

Fax Servers

• Third-party Fax Servers

– Automated dispatch reduces time, labor and material costs

– Log files improve tracking and the ability to reconcile with your ERP system

– Some fax servers deliver additional benefits that offset the cost of having one server dedicated to PO dispatch:

• Desktop Faxing

• Automated Inbound Fax Routing

• Access to Electronic Document Management Systems

• Looping … send a duplicate PO 1000 times in a day!

Keep your fax server in the same domain as your outbound folder!

Fax Servers and Procedures

• FSU uses RightFax (Captaris) and a T1 line as an Enterprise Fax server solution.

• A Purchasing staff member monitors the fax logs every 90 minutes, which coincides with the timing of our batch dispatch jobs.

• For undeliverable fax messages:

– Manually fax PO

– Contact Vendor status of their machine and/or to get correct fax number

– If bad fax and phone, contact requester and/or mail it with form seeking updated information for the vendor file

Fax Servers Log

Fax Servers Log

Email

• Speed: Faster– Transmits POs very quickly to the vendor– Lag time for PO to be opened and entered in vendor’s

system

• Effectiveness: Medium– Handoff to SMTP gateway compromises tracking– Bounce backs and replies managed manually– Typically goes to a person rather than a company

• Cost: Very Low

Email Issues and Remedies

• Email address is typically to a salesperson.– Get company accounts where possible. Avoid

freebees like Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail

• POs get stuck in the email queue without notice– Simple App Engine to check PO_EMAIL_QUEUE

• Version 8.9 upgrade used contact’s email address instead of the email address in the vendor’s ordering address.– MP5 and communication with vendor file managers

Email Issues and Remedies

• Bouncebacks and Replys go to SMTP server, which requires manual monitoring by IT staff.

• Two possible ways to move monitoring to the Purchasing Department:

– Add Cc: to a generic Purchasing account

– Spoof sender

EDX

• Speed: Fastest– Transmits POs like lighting to the vendors– No lag time for vendor to manually enter the order

• Effectiveness: Very Highest– Machine to machine communication– Excellent for high volume vendors

• Cost: Lowest per unit cost with no noticeable impact for high line/page count POs.

EDX Issues

• Order site down

• Ship To addresses:

– become limited to the lowest common denominator among vendors:

• Only Address1 and Address2 allowed

• Only 30 Char per field

– For some vendor, must share Ship To location codes and re-sync quarterly

– One time addresses are potentially problematic

• Comments might be disregarded or delay order entry

EDX Issues and Remedies

Ship To Location Limitations

EDX – How it works at FSU

• FSU contracted with SciQuest in 2008 to obtain access to an online marketplace offering both punchout and hosted catalog shopping. At that time we purchased the order manager module, too. The latter made EDX integration much easier because all of our EDX dispatch routes though their middleware and order site.

• Currently have 23 linked vendors, eleven of which receive their PO through SciQuest via cXML.

EDX – How it works at FSU

• Online Single PO Dispatch from Core PO or ePro

• Batch Publishing via PV_DISPATCHER

• Monitor EDX Dispatch in ePro and Integration Broker

• Research Sent POs in SciQuest Order Manager

EDX – How it works at FSU

Online Dispatcher

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

PV_Dispatch Process

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

PV_Dispatch Process

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

EDX Dispatch Message Log

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

EDX Dispatch Message Log

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

Synchronous Details

EDX Dispatch – How it Works

Message XLM

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Buyers Dispatch Ad Hoc via Add/Update POs

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Buyers Dispatch Ad Hoc via Add/Update POs

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

FSU_BATCH Job for Dispatch Processing

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Run control for Batch Dispatch FAX, EML & PHN

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Run control for Batch Dispatch via Print

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Process List setup for Batch Dispatch via Print

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

PO_DISPATCHED Table

Dispatch Run Controls and Processes

Outbound Folder

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• POPO005: Mods for vendors– Remove clutter and mask PO ID to show only last

seven digits– Requester Info– Attn To – Watermarks– Add link to Terms and Conditions

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• POPO005 Mods

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• POPO005 Mods

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• POPO005 Mods, Watermarks

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

Custom Support Processes

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• FSUPOPO5, Clone for creating copies of POs in a permanent electronic document management repository

• Replaced file cabinets

• AP favorite

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• FSU_POEML_CK … App Engine process to check the table PO_EMAIL_QUEUE for POs that are undeliverable due to syntax errors in the email address.

Check PO_EMAIL_QUEUE

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• The PS Job PODISP runs to success, but the second process in the job, PO_PO_EMAIL, cannot sent the .pdf file to the SMTP subsystem:

Check PO_EMAIL_QUEUE

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

1. When the PO email check process run it looks to see if the row count in the PO_EMAIL_QUEUE is greater than zero.

2. When the count is greater than zero the process selects the emailid from a small custom table and send an alert message to the users that were set up in that table for notification when the condition exists.

3. A SQL update is then run to correct the emailid or delete the row from the table, after which the online correction is made to the PO or vendor file.

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

A simple custom page for maintenance of the users that

need to be notified when an except occurs rounds out the

enhancement.

Check PO_EMAIL_QUEUE

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• PO Dispatch Email Notification• Custom Process• Politically motivated• Popular with Requesters• Sends an email message to the requester when

the PO for his requisition is dispatched.

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

Sample Email Message

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

Requirements:• App Engine Process: FSU_PO_NOTIF

• Three custom tables:

FSU_PO_NTFY_STG

FSU_PO_NOTIFY

FSUpPO_OPTOUT

• Custom Page: For users that want to opt out and not receive the email messages.

PO Dispatch Email Notification

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

How the process works:

1. Insert from PO_DISPATCHED into staging table

2. Update staging table with selected req data

3. Update staging table with requester ID

4. Delete requesters from the optout list

5. Fetch Requestors emailids

6. Fetch Vendor name and address info, email, fax, etc

7. Call SENDMAIL, spoof sender, and create and send email notifications to requesters

PO Dispatch Email Notification

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

• Schedule Daily Reports:– Managers get quick view of previous day’s dispatch– Staff reconciles print log against report– Buyers check OCO coding for EDX

Enhancements to Delivered Functionality

Place holder for diagram, tables, and sample message will be added to the presentation

Vendor File Issues Affecting PO Dispatch

• Addresses• Conventions for standardization• USPS Standards• Email ID format or blank• Phone Information blank for fax

• Locations• Dispatch Methods• Transmit Change Orders Misleading• Default Location

Precautions for Testing Environments

• Refresh Scripts for overwrite valid email and fax addresses when test environments are refreshed with production data

• Reset PO ID auto numberingUPDATE PS_BUS_UNIT_TBL_PM SET PO_ID_LAST_USED = 9900000;

• BU Standard comment stating PO is for test purposes and otherwise null and void.

• Use bogus vendors like Suggest or TBD that have the Purchasing Department as their addresses

Change Orders: Special Challenges

• Run Control Options– Print changes Only– Valid and Invalid Chartfields

• No changes to EDX POs• Watermark • Set dispatch method to phone when vendor already

knows about the change.

Questions?

This presentation and all Alliance 20 presentations are available for download from the Conference Site

Presentations from previous meetings are also available