Now that you know you need a Punchout Catalog how do you evaluate the best way to use it. Punchout Catalogs are great, but when paired with order integration can have an unexpected benefit of automation. After implementing your Punchout Catalog your buyer may ask for a full order integration. Your buyer may preach the benefits of automation and faster payment, but what does that really mean for you as the supplier?
Electronic Purchase Order and Invoices
Your buyer’s e-Procurement provider may offer several options for receiving a purchase order from your buyer:
- Supplier Portal
- Fax
- cXML
Supplier Portal
Let’s talk about the supplier portal first. The supplier portal is a web-based system that allows you to login and retrieve orders manually. Usually you can download via PDF or text, but not a file format that can be imported into your order processing system.
Email
Email is a viable option if you never have issues with spam, someone is always looking at the email account for orders and knows what to do with the order email when it does arrive. If you are anything like us you heavily rely on email and receive over a hundred emails a day so an order email might get missed in the first scan of your email box.
It’s also possible that an email could be blocked or filtered by your mail software by mistake. Another possibility is if the person receiving the order emails is out of the office for a day or on vacation for a week. The orders may just sit in the person’s inbox until they get back.
Fax
Faxing orders has some of the same issues as sending orders via email. Your fax machine could be jammed or out of paper. The order could be stuck in the fax machine until new ink cartridges are loaded. Or it could simply get discarded by mistake as part of another fax.
cXML
cXML gives you the best option for order delivery. Orders can be received at any time and both you and your buyer know whether the order was delivered successfully. Once the order is received it can be translated to MS Excel, CSV, Text or any other file format since you have the raw data.
Greenwing Technology offers order conversion to MS Excel, CSV, TSV, Text, EDI, XML and a dozen other formats that can be easily imported into your order processing system.
Learn about Greenwing Technology’s cXML Hub and Punchout Catalog that can directly feed into your order processing to reduce keying errors and speed order entry.
What is a Punchout Catalog?