The information for each supplier record is organized into two main sections:
Company Profile: These pages contains all of the personal information about the supplier, their identity and their type of business. A significant portion of this information needs to be elicited directly from your contacts at the supplier. For those customers that have implemented Oracle iSupplier Portal, you can give suppliers access to most of the profile details so that they can maintain the information for you. Any updates that the supplier provides are handled as change requests that require approval by an internal administrator.
Terms and Controls: These pages provide access to all of the attributes that are used to control the business relationship you have with the supplier. This includes account code references, internal tax setups, purchasing, receiving, invoicing, and payment options. In addition, there is a Quick Update page that can be personalized to provide access to the most commonly used setup attributes for individual users or groups of users.
The Suppliers pages consist of:
Quick Update.
Company Profile.
Organization.
Tax Details.
Address Book.
Contact Directory.
Business Classification.
Products and Services.
Banking Details.
Surveys.
Terms and Controls.
Accounting.
Tax and Reporting.
Purchasing.
Receiving.
Payment Details.
Relationship
Invoice Management.
Information is shown for supplier and all sites on the same page. In the Site region, you can filter the display to show either Active or Inactive site records, or use the search tools to look for sites that have names that contain a specific text string or are in operating units that contain a specific text string. Most site-level details are available on each main profile page, but for some parts of the supplier profile, the site-level attributes are accessed in a drilldown page.
Note: If you make updates to a supplier's details on any of the pages, you need to save the changes before navigating to a different page.
The main Suppliers page allows you to search for existing supplier records in order to maintain the supplier's details, access the Create Supplier page, or review change requests that suppliers have submitted through the Oracle iSupplier Portal for their profile details.
The Quick Update page is the default page that the system displays when you initially access the profile details for a supplier. The page provides access to the main Hold flags for the supplier, along with site-level key purchasing and payment setup attributes. These attributes are also found in the more detailed Terms and Controls pages. The Quick Update page is intended to be the primary page you use for routine maintenance of supplier profile information. You can personalize the fields that are displayed on the page so that different types of users are given access to appropriate sets of key purchasing and payment attributes in the Supplier Sites regions.
Use the Organization page to document high-level company information such as structural, operational, personnel, and financial details about a supplier. These details are common and apply to the organization whether it is a supplier, a customer, or both. Therefore, you can enter the information either in the Suppliers pages or through the Customers Online pages.
In addition, you can import details from third-party directory services, such as Dun and Bradstreet, or if you have implemented iSupplier Portal or Sourcing, you can enable the supplier so that they can make direct updates to the organization details. Unlike other supplier profile information, there is no approval process for updates made to the organization details by the supplier since the information is not used for any transactional processing of business documents by the system.
Oracle Payables integrates with Oracle E-Business Tax to provide tax services for invoices. For information on levels at which you can default tax information based on supplier, see: Taxes on Invoices.
You can record tax default options, tax registrations, and withholding applicability for supplier sites using this page.
The Address Book page displays each of the locations that you define for the supplier. It also includes a region displaying inactive addresses. You can create new addresses and update existing ones. Using the Hide/Show, you can review which operating units use the address by the list of sites that exist for the address. The system only displays sites that are in your MOAC profile. The address table also displays the usages for the address.
The address status indicates whether the supplier has provided any updates for the address. Using iSupplier Portal's Supplier Profile Management tools, suppliers can enter address book information online, creating any number of new addresses, modifying the details for existing addresses, and indicating how each address is used. Suppliers can also inactivate addresses that are obsolete. Buyer administrators need to approve any changes in order to update the master supplier details.
Address statuses include:
New. A supplier has created a new address. Click the Update button to review the details for the new address which are broken into two stages, first look at the address details, and then indicate which sites will be created for the address.
Change Pending. A supplier has changed the address details. Click the Update icon to review the changes that have been made. The page displays the original address details and the changes, indicated by a blue dot. Buyer administrators can approve or make additional modifications to the changes before approving or rejecting the change. If the supplier has indicated that the address should be removed, there is a status change from Active to Inactive.
Current. There are no pending updates for the address.
Buyer administrators can also check the details for the sites that are using the Address. Click the Manage Sites button to view a list of sites and review the Communication and Identification used for each site. Buyer administrators can use the Create button to set up new sites to use the address.
For those buyer administrators with access to employee-supplier records, the Address Book page displays differently. The system displays the Expense Payment Sites region at the top of the page which includes the HOME or OFFICE site details that are used to process expense payments. These are sites that are not associated to an Address. For the Sites, users can access the Uses, Communication, and Identification details using the horizontal tabs.
Since suppliers are stored in TCA, the address details for the supplier may be used by other Oracle products so great care must be taken when removing supplier addresses. If the address is inactivated, the system no longer associates it to any contacts, and any bank account assignments to the address are inactivated. Methods to inactivate addresses include:
You can click the Remove button on the Address Book page. This sets the address status to inactive and sets the Inactive Date for every site that is associated with the address in all operating units to today's date.
You can update the address and set its status to Inactive. This changes the address status and does not inactivate any of the sites that are using the address.
You can use the Manage Sites page to manually update the Inactive Date for each site.
The Contact Directory page lists all the contacts that have been created for the supplier. Click the Update button to review contact details and to view the addresses to which the contact is associated. If you implemented iSupplier Portal or Sourcing, the table indicates which contacts the supplier have been given a user account to access the system. The supplier can enter details for new contacts and update existing contact information which alters the contact status.
Rather than manage user accounts on behalf of suppliers, you can delegate the authority to create user accounts to administrators at each supplier. For full details on setting up supplier's users, see: Oracle iSupplier Portal Implementation Guide.
Contact statuses include:
New. A supplier has created a new contact. Click the Update button to review the details for the new contact, make any format updates, and then approve. If the supplier requested a user account for the contact, the Create User Account for the Contact check box displays as checked. Using the Hide/Show, you can review the default responsibilities that will be assigned to the new user and make any changes. Also, the page displays the addresses that are associated with the Contact. If any of these addresses are in a non-Current status then you need to review the address changes before you can approve the contact details.
Change Pending. A supplier has changed the address details. Click the Update button to review the changes that have been made. The page displays the original address details and the changes, indicated by a blue dot. Buyer administrators can approve or make additional modifications to the changes before approving or rejecting the change. If the supplier has indicated that the address should be removed, there is a status change from Active to Inactive.
Current. There are no pending updates for the address.
Use the Business Classifications page to assign to each supplier the classifications that apply to their business. Alternatively, through the iSupplier Portal you can allow the supplier to access the list and claim the classifications themselves. After a supplier submits its classification details, the buyer administrator is notified, and the classification status is set to Pending. A buyer administrator can review the classification claims made by suppliers, research the details, if necessary, and then approve or reject the claim. The status is blank if a supplier removes the classification. If a buyer administrator claims a classification on behalf of a supplier, the system sets the status to Approved.
In some regions, business classifications are required by government regulations on purchasing activities for an industry. Alternately, buying organizations may use classification information for reports used to analyze purchasing activity. For more information on setting up the list of business classifications, see: Oracle iSupplier Portal Implementation Guide.
The Products and Services page allows you to categorize the types of goods and services that each supplier can provide. Typically, this categorization is something that you would ask the supplier to do themselves through iSupplier Portal. Buying organizations can use the category details provided by suppliers to help generate invitation lists for RFQs and for reporting. For more information on setting up product and service hierarchies, see the Oracle iSupplier Portal Implementation Guide.
The system indicates newly claimed categories by a Pending status and need to be reviewed by a buying administrator. The supplier cannot see the status and does not receive any notifications. Buyer administrators also can add new product and service categories on behalf of a supplier.
If the product and service categories have been set up in a hierarchy, users can select a parent category or child categories. If a parent category is selected, the system automatically selects all of the child categories for that product or service. Once a supplier selects a product and service category or categories, buyer administrators are notified so they can review the details.
Use the Banking Details page to create bank accounts for making payments to suppliers.
Using iSupplier Portal, suppliers can access their banking information and, if given the appropriate security privilege, make changes to the details. Suppliers can create new accounts that use existing bank and branch details or create new banks and branches when they create the account. Changes to accounts are shown in the Account Change Requests and Assignment Change Requests tables. New account requests must be approved before assignment requests for the new account can be approved. During approval of a new account, the buyer administrator can either approve the account or set the status to Verify. You can use the Verify status while you prenote the account or perform other activities for verifying an account with your bank.
As part of the supplier profile, you can create custom questionnaires that can be used to gather feedback from suppliers' surveys. For more information, see: Oracle iSupplier Portal Implementation Guide.