23D : Procurement Updates : Good to have features for customer

 UPLOAD BUYER ASSIGNMENT RULES BASED ON THE COST CENTER USING A SPREADSHEET 

Use the ADFdi spreadsheet to create and update buyer assignment rules based on the cost center of the requisition distribution.

Before this update, you could use only the UI to create or manage the buyer assignment rules using the Cost Center attribute. With this update, you can use a spreadsheet to create or manage buyer assignment rules in bulk using the Cost Center attribute.

This screen capture illustrates the feature:

Buyer Assignment Rules Spreadsheet

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

KEY RESOURCES

• To know more about how to use the spreadsheet processing to manage buyer assignment rules, refer to the How You Upload Buyer Assignment Rules topic.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains this privilege can access this feature:

• Manage Buyer Assignment Rules (PO_MANAGE_BUYER_ASSIGNMENT_RULES_PRIV)

This privilege was available prior to this update.

VIEW THE REJECTION REASON FOR AUTOREJECTED PURCHASING DOCUMENTS 

View the rejection reason for purchase orders and agreements that have been automatically rejected during the approval process in the rejected FYI notification and document history. You can now configure an appropriate rejection reason for purchasing documents that are automatically rejected.

Before this update, buyers or requesters couldn't know the reason why a purchasing document was autorejected. With this update, you can configure a rejection reason for an autorejection rule, share the reason with buyers or requesters via an online and email notification, and track the rejection reason in the document history.

These screen captures illustrate the feature:

Autorejection Rule

Standard Lookup Code to Configure the Rejection Reason

Rejected FYI Notification

Purchase Order Document History

STEPS TO ENABLE

1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Standard Lookups task.

2. Search for the lookup type ORA_POR_AUTO_REJECT_REASON.

3. Create a new lookup code for the autorejection reason.

4. You must use the autorejection rule name as the lookup code, however, you must remove any spaces that may be there in the rule name when you specify lookup code for the autorejection rule.

Standard Lookup Code to Configure the Rejection Reason

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

• When no description is provided corresponding to a lookup code configured for an autorejection rule, the rule name will be displayed as the rejection reason.

• The lookup code has a limit of 30 characters to define a rejection reason for the autorejection rule.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature in Purchasing:

• Create Purchase Order (PO_CREATE_PURCHASE_ORDER_PRIV)
• Change Purchase Order (PO_CHANGE_PURCHASE_ORDER_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update.

To set up this feature, you'll need a configured job role that contains this existing privilege:

• Manage Application Standard Lookup (FND_APP_MANAGE_STANDARD_LOOKUP_PRIV)

SELECTED PURCHASING BUG FIXES IN THIS UPDATE

This update includes some bug fixes that can change the way Oracle Purchasing works. This isn't a full list of all the bug fixes in this update. This list includes the bug fixes that can cause a noticeable change in application behavior.

Perform Price Tolerance Check Using Foreign Currency

Before this update, the validation process for price change tolerances between requisitions and purchase orders used the functional currency for comparison. However, differences in conversion rates between the requisition and purchase order were causing the validation to be triggered incorrectly, even when there wasn't an actual price change in the transactional currency.

After this update, the validation process for price change tolerances between requisitions and purchase orders uses the functional currency for comparison only when the requisition and purchase order currencies don't match.

Oracle reference: 35387314

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

ITEM REPLACEMENT

CAPTURE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WHILE DEFINING ITEM REPLACEMENT TASKS

You can now capture the reason for supply disruption while creating item replacement tasks. If it's a temporary replacement, you can also capture the expected availability date for the disrupted item from a supplier. This date is expected to be the end date for replacement of the disrupted item after which you must initiate the reinstatement action on the replacement task. Permanent replacement tasks don’t have the expected availability date attribute.

New Item Replacement

The reason for supply disruption and expected availability date are now available on the Replacement Details page from where you initiate replacements and reinstatements.

Replacement Details

Capturing these attributes in the item replacement task helps you to analyze supply disruptions, identify the root cause, and evaluate the supplier performance enabling you to take better sourcing decisions thereby improving operational efficiency.

STEPS TO ENABLE

To use this feature, you must define the lookup codes for the supply disruption reason to help categorize the item replacement tasks based on the different reasons for supply disruption.

In the Setup and Maintenance work area, search for the Manage Standard Lookups task. In the task window, enter Reason for the Supply Disruption in the Meaning field and click Search. Create new lookup codes under ORA_SCH_PR_SUP_DIS_ REASON: Lookup Codes.

Supply Disruption Reason Lookup Values

KEY RESOURCES

• See Item Replacement in Using Procurement on Oracle Help Center.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains the Manage Item Replacement (SCH_MANAGE_ITEM_REPLACEMENT) privilege can access this feature.

SUPPLIER MODEL

REQUIRE BANK ACCOUNT TO PROMOTE SUPPLIER TO SPEND AUTHORIZED 

To pay suppliers electronically, a bank account is required in the supplier profile. If a request to promote a supplier to spend authorized is submitted without a bank account, it slows the approval process and requires manual intervention by approvers. With the ability to require that a supplier profile has a valid bank account before a spend authorization request can be submitted, approval processing will be smoother and you can transact with the supplier sooner.

When you promote a prospective supplier who doesn't have any active bank account or bank account assignment, an error will be displayed to prevent you from proceeding with the promotion.

Can't Promote a Supplier Without Bank Account

STEPS TO ENABLE

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Procurement

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

Consider these when you opt in to the feature:

• When you award a prospective supplier to a negotiation in Oracle Sourcing, a bank account is also required before promoting the supplier to spend authorized. Review the Require Bank Account When Awarding Prospective Suppliers feature in Sourcing for more details.

• In the spend authorized registration, the spend authorization approval is kicked off automatically once the supplier registration is approved and the supplier is created. You should configure bank accounts as required in the setup for spend authorized registration so that bank account information is captured when the supplier is being reviewed for spend authorization.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains this privilege can access this feature:

• Maintain Supplier (POZ_MAINTAIN_SUPPLIER_PRIV)

This privilege was available prior to this update.

ATTACH DOCUMENTS TO SUPPLIER BANK ACCOUNTS 

Proper documentation is required to ensure that supplier bank accounts are set up correctly and to verify they are valid for the supplier. Without accurate documentation to verify supplier bank accounts, there's an increased potential for risks such as late payments or worse, fraudulent payments. With the ability to securely collect and store the appropriate documents with the supplier bank account, you can better verify the account ownership, thereby helping prevent fraudulent payments.

With this feature, you can now attach documents when you create or update a supplier bank account. To implement a stringent policy with respect to bank account verification, options are provided to configure attachments as required. If configured as required, a supporting document must be attached when creating a new bank account or when updating any one of these attributes of an existing bank account: country, account number, bank name, branch name, IBAN, and currency.

Create Bank Account in Self-Service Supplier Registration Request

Create Bank Account in Internal Profile Change Request

Add Attachments in Change Request

During the approval process, for a supplier registration or profile change request, the attached documents are made available to the approvers to help them review the bank account for accuracy. After the request is approved, the attached documents are saved along with the bank account in the supplier's profile for future reference.

Bank Account Attachments Available for Approvers

STEPS TO ENABLE

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Procurement

• Grant the Maintain Supplier Bank Account Attachment privilege to internal users (approvers, supplier administrators, or managers) who need to access the supplier bank account attachments. This privilege is new in this update and allows both the view and manage access to supplier bank account attachments.

NOTE: Supplier contacts don't need this privilege to access these attachments from Oracle Supplier Portal. Approvers of the self-service registration or profile change requests who review bank accounts must be granted this privilege to ensure they can view the attached documents necessary to validate the bank account.

Additionally, this setup is optional, usage depends on your requirements:

• In the Configure Supplier Registration and Profile Change Request setup task, configure the bank account attachments as required. Option to configure the bank account attachments as required for the next-generation self-service supplier registration and for supplier profile change requests are available under Supplier Registration and Supplier Profile Change Request tabs respectively.

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

• Bank account attachments are supported for both internal and external supplier profile change requests and the next-generation self-service supplier registration flows.

• Bank account attachments are also supported in the supplier profile when bank account is not enabled for change control.

• For security reasons, the bank account attachments aren't available in the email notifications. Approvers can access them only from the worklist notification in the application.

• These ready-to-use document categories are supported: ACH Request Form, Bank Letter, IBAN Certificate, Other Document, and Scanned Check. The bank account attachments attached in self-service supplier registration requests are saved with the category of 'Other Document'.

SOURCING

DEFAULT SUPPLIER SITE AND CONTACT WHEN INVITING SUPPLIERS 

Currently, when you invite suppliers, you're required to select the supplier site and a supplier contact, or you can notify all contacts. Selecting the site and contact for each supplier can be tedious, especially when the suppliers have only one site, or only one contact.

Now, when you add suppliers, the supplier site and supplier contact will default if the supplier has only one site, and one contact associated with the site.

Supplier Site Defaulted on Adding Suppliers to Selection

Supplier Contact Defaulted on Returning to Suppliers Step

You can now search and add many suppliers efficiently and quickly publish the negotiation.

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Create Supplier Negotiation (PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)
• Create Supplier Negotiation Template (PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_TEMPLATE_PRIV)
• Edit Supplier Negotiation (PON_EDIT_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)
• Manage Negotiation Supplier Invitation (PON_MANAGE_NEGOTIATION_SUPPLIER_INVITATION_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update.

CANCEL A CLOSED NEGOTIATION 

With this feature, you're now able to cancel negotiations in all statuses before the purchasing documents are created. All the invited and participating suppliers are notified of the cancellation.

Currently, negotiations with response visibility as Open and Blind can be cancelled before they're closed. And negotiations with response visibility as Sealed can be cancelled before proceeding with the award. But there are scenarios which don't lead to an award, such as,

• Running mock auctions before the live auctions
• Budget constraints
• Items negotiated are no longer required by the requester
• Negotiation did not receive responses and got closed but there's no requirement to extend the negotiation

In these business scenarios, it is necessary to cancel the negotiation, and notify the suppliers that the negotiation process won't be completed.

Cancel a Closed Negotiation

You now have the ability to cancel negotiations throughout the negotiation lifecycle based on your business needs.

STEPS TO ENABLE

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Procurement  No Longer Optional From: Update 24B

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

Considerations to use the feature are as follows:

• You won't be able to cancel a negotiation in these statuses as they have reached the end of the negotiation lifecycle:
  • Completed, purchasing document created
  • Amended
  • Round completed

• You can't cancel the negotiations whose approval is in process. You must withdraw the approval first, edit the negotiation, and then proceed further.
  • Approval in process
  • Withdrawn
  • Award approval in process
  • Award withdrawn

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains this privilege can access this feature:

• Cancel Supplier Negotiation (PON_CANCEL_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV) 

This privilege was available prior to this update.

EMAIL A CONFIRMATION WHEN SUPPLIER SUBMITS A RESPONSE 

Suppliers can now receive a notification confirming their negotiation response was submitted successfully. A new email and in-app notification is sent to the supplier contact who submits the response. An Oracle Analytics Publisher template is now available to configure the layout and content of the notification according to your business needs.

When a response is submitted, a confirmation message is shown as follows.

Confirmation Message for Response Submission

Response Submission Notification to Supplier

Improve supplier communication and provide confidence to the supplier that their response was received.

STEPS TO ENABLE

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Procurement  No Longer Optional From: Update 24B

In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Negotiation Styles task.

• Offering: Procurement
• Functional area: Sourcing
• Task: Manage Sourcing Notifications

On the Manage Sourcing Notifications page, a new notification 'Response submitted confirmation to supplier' is now available, and is enabled by default for RFI and RFQ negotiation types. You have the option to enable it for Auctions if necessary for your business.

Manage Sourcing Notifications with The New Task

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

• No notification is sent for a surrogate response or responses submitted through REST.

KEY RESOURCES

• Refer to the Overview of Analytics Publisher chapter in the Creating and Administering Analytics and Reports for Procurement guide, available on the Oracle Help Center.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Create Supplier Negotiation ( PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)
• Edit Supplier Negotiation (PON_EDIT_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)
• Create Response (PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_RESPONSE_PRIV)
• Edit Response (PON_EDIT_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_RESPONSE_PRIV)
• Submit Supplier Negotiation Response (PON_SUBMIT_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_RESPONSE_PRIV)

          These privileges were available prior to this update.

INCLUDE ATTACHMENTS IN ONLINE MESSAGE NOTIFICATIONS

With this update, any attachments added to the online message to suppliers, or team members in the UI, are also included in the email and in-app notification sent to the recipients.

Online Message Notification Based on The Oracle Analytics Publisher Template

Negotiation participants - both suppliers and team members - can easily access the message attachments in their email without having to log into the application.

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

KEY RESOURCES

• Refer to the Overview of Analytics Publisher chapter in the Creating and Administering Analytics and Reports for Procurement guide, available on the Oracle Help Center.

• Refer to the What's new for Configure Online Message Notification with Oracle Analytics Publisher, available in Update 23B.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Create Supplier Negotiation Online Message (PON_CREATE_ONLINE_MESSAGE_PRIV)
• Reply Supplier Negotiation Online Message (PON_REPLY_ONLINE_MESSAGE_PRIV)
• Create Supplier Negotiation Online Message as Supplier (PON_CREATE_ONLINE_MESSAGE_SUPPLIER_FACING_PRIV)
• Reply Supplier Negotiation Online Message as Supplier (PON_REPLY_ONLINE_MESSAGE_SUPPLIER_FACING_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update

INVITE MORE THAN 500 SUPPLIERS TO A NEGOTIATION 

Many organizations, especially in the public sector, invite suppliers to participate in sourcing negotiations based on the products and services they have registered for. Some products and services categories have 500 or more suppliers registered. Category managers need to ensure that all suppliers registered for these categories are invited to the negotiation. 

Before update 23D, only 500 suppliers could be added and were visible on the UI. In this update, the limit is extended, so you can view and add more than 500 suppliers.

You can now invite all suppliers as needed to meet regulatory requirements and provide a fair market opportunity. You can see these suppliers in the UI and in spreadsheets.

STEPS TO ENABLE

In the Setup and Maintenance work area, Search for the Manage Profile Options task. Search and update the profile option:

Profile Option Code: ORA_PON_INVITE_500_PLUS_SUPPLIERS

Profile Option Name: Invite More Than 500 Suppliers

Description: Allow adding and viewing more than 500 suppliers in negotiations.

Once the profile option value is set to 'Yes' for the site, you can search and add 500+ suppliers fromt he UI, or with an excel spreadsheet with visual builder plug-in using REST web services.

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

The number of suppliers you can add may vary based on several factors such as the number of negotiation lines, line details, email server capacity, and network configurations in your environment. Suppliers may experience a delay in receiving invitation emails after the negotiation is published.  It's advised to test for your common business requirements to establish limits, and provide guidance to your users accordingly. It's recommended to not exceed 2000 suppliers in a negotiation.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Create Supplier Negotiation (PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)   
• Create Supplier Negotiation Template (PON_CREATE_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_TEMPLATE_PRIV)   
• Edit Supplier Negotiation (PON_EDIT_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update.

SELECTED SOURCING BUG FIXES IN THIS UPDATE

This update includes some bug fixes that can change the way Oracle Sourcing works. This isn't a full list of all the bug fixes in this update. This list includes the bug fixes that can cause a noticeable change in application behavior.

Use the Import Negotiation Lines Template for Large Negotiations on MAC Devices

The Import Negotiation Lines XLSM format template for FBDI (file-based data import processes) can now be used on MAC devices. This means you can download the template on a computer with MAC OS and use it to generate CSV format files for importing negotiation lines to large negotiations.

Oracle reference: 35124333

Derive the Correct Item Master Organization when Creating Negotiation Base Contracts

Before this update, when you create a base contract in a negotiation, the default inventory organization set for the Procurement BU is expected to be the item master organization included on the contract. But, this is not always the case, as the default inventory organization for a BU can be different from the Item Master. Now, the correct item master organization is derived from the default inventory organization on the Procurement BU, and used for creating the base contract.

Oracle reference: 35348635

Spend Authorization Approval for Awarded Prospective Suppliers in a Large Negotiation

After this fix, in a large negotiation, if your award decision includes prospective suppliers, a spend authorization request will be successfully initiated when the award is completed.

Oracle reference: 35695195

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

REQUIRE BANK ACCOUNT WHEN AWARDING PROSPECTIVE SUPPLIERS

When you award a prospective supplier with a missing bank account or an inactive bank account, an error will be displayed to prevent you from proceeding with the award. The supplier administrator can take action to complete the supplier's profile for spend authorization promotion and avoid downstream impacts in the purchase order lifecycle.

Error Displayed When a Prospective Supplier with No Bank Account Is Awarded

Ensure that the awarded prospective supplier is ready for spend authorization, so that purchasing documents can be successfully created after award.

STEPS TO ENABLE

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Procurement

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

To use this feature, you must opt in to the Suppliers feature: Require Bank Account to Promote Supplier to Spend Authorized

KEY RESOURCES

• Review the feature Require Bank Account to Promote Supplier to Spend Authorized in Supplier Model for more details.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Award Supplier Negotiation (PON_AWARD_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_PRIV)
• Award Supplier Negotiation as Owner (PON_AWARD_SUPPLIER_NEGOTIATION_OWNED_BY_SELF_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update.

SPEND CLASSIFICATION

ENHANCE YOUR CLASSIFICATION RESULTS WITH NEW CONDITIONS FOR RULES

Increase the efficiency of your classification with the help of improvements to the conditions you can establish when creating rule definitions. These enhancements include changes to the way keywords are used, conditions to assign default categories, a new drawer component to create and edit transactions, and advanced search options.

When you define a rule, you can now add conditions that check for keywords or strings across each transaction in its entirety, including all the attributes rather than within specific attributes. For example, if you want to search for the keywords oil or petrol within each transaction where it may be part of the line description, item description, or a header description, you can now define the conditions using the attribute Transaction text as shown in this example:

Transaction Text

Sometimes, a category prediction is based on low keyword confidence or the absence of any matching keywords. In such cases, you can create rules to assign a default category if the prediction confidence is lower than a specified threshold or if there are no matching keywords between the unclassified transactions and the training data. In this example, the Purchasing taxonomy attribute is assigned a constant value of Office Supplies when the match confidence is below 30%.

Confidence Percentage

Use the new advanced search function to find and add categories to actions in rules. Using advanced search for categories, you can now search for and select category values easily while defining the actions in a rule.

Advanced Search

Use an improved way to create or edit the conditions, eliminating any data entry issues. Now when you add or edit a condition, a drawer opens on the UI providing an easier way to enter the attribute, operator, and values.

Create and Edit Conditions

These enhancements to using conditions make defining rules easier and more flexible, and hence increase the control that you have over the classification predictions.

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

KEY RESOURCES

• Refer to the Spend Classification chapter in Oracle Procurement Cloud documentation, available on the Oracle Help Center.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

• Administer Spend Classification Application (POI_ADMINISTER_SPEND_CLASSIFICATION_PRIV)
• Manage Spend Classification Batch (POI_MANAGE_SPEND_CLASSIFICATION_BATCH_PRIV)
• View Spend Classification Work Area (POI_SPEND_CLASSIFICATION_WORKAREA_PRIV)

PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS

ATTACH DOCUMENTS WHEN EMAILING CONTRACT 

When you use the Email action to send a contract, you can use the Attachments section to attach other documents and send them along with the contract.

Email Contract

You can add attachments by either dragging files to this window or by browsing for the files you'd like to attach.

Attach Documents to Email

Attachments can be of several different file types such as .DOCX, .PDF, .JPG, .PPT, .CSV, .HTML.

You can preview the contract before you send the email using the Preview button. This opens the PDF of the contract in the same way as the Preview action from the Edit Contract page but doesn't include a preview of the documents you've attached to the email.

Sending everything together in a single email helps the recipient get the full context they need to review the contract plus its associated documents, and respond to your email.

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

DISPLAY APPROVAL HISTORY FROM CONTRACT SEARCH 

You can check the approval progress of contracts in Pending approval status directly from the contract search results. From the contracts landing page, Search Contracts by Text, or from the Manage Contracts task, any contracts in Pending approval status will contain a link in the status column.

Pending Approval Link from Search Results

Clicking the Pending approval link opens the Review Approvers page where you can see the approval hierarchy for the contract.

Review Approvers from Pending Approval Link

Using this feature, you can enter search criteria to focus on the right contracts and see where they're stuck and help move them forward.

STEPS TO ENABLE

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS

You can also monitor approval progress from the Review Approvers column on the Pending Approvals tab on the contracts landing page.

CONFIGURE CONTRACT APPROVAL NOTIFICATIONS

You can configure contract approval notifications to set the content and layout according to your business needs. You can modify the Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher report using RTF templates for layout changes, and the BI data model for content changes. Here's the list of some of the components that can be configured in the default report:

• Logo: Modify the brand logo in the email notification.

• Body: Add or remove existing attributes or add new tables. This includes standard attributes from any table, Descriptive Flexfields and Application Composer attributes.

• Action buttons: Change the text of the buttons.

• Footer Links: Hide link to the transaction page or workflow notification.

• Style: Change the formatting including font size, color, table borders and so on.

Depending on how you choose to configure your approval notification, you may need to make changes to one or more of the following components: the contract approval RTF template, subtemplate and data model.