r12CatalogWPaper

Oracle iProcurement:

Enhanced Catalog Content Management,

Online Authoring and Content Security

Model in Release 12

An Oracle White Paper April 2008

Enhanced Catalog Content Management, Online Authoring and Content Security Model in Release 12

Table Of Contents Introduction .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 1 Enhanced Catalog Content Management - Unified Catalog Model .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 1.1 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Overview .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 1.2 Enhanced Catalog Content Agreement Management Setup and Process .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5 1.3 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Set up Change Acceptance Options .. .. .. .. .. 6 1.4 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Create/update Agreement Header .. .. .. .. .. 7 1.5 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Create/Update Catalog Content .. .. .. .. .. .. 8 1.6 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Line Details .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 1.7 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management View Difference Summary .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 1.8 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Difference Summary Details .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 1.9 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Approve/Reject Changes .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 1.10 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Extractor .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 1.11 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Catalog Available for Requesters .. .. .. .. .. 12 1.12 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management - Concurrent Request Program Changes .. .. .. 13 1.13 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 14 1.14 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade Setup and Process .. .. .. .. .. .. 16 1.15 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade -Pre-upgrade Summary .. .. .. .. .. 17 1.16 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade – Upgrade Summary .. .. .. .. .. 18 1.17 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade – Upgrade Summary .. .. .. .. 19 2 Enhanced Content Security Model .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 21 2.1 Enhanced Content Security Model Overview .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 21 2.2 Enhanced Catalog Content Security Model - Setup and Process .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 2.3 Enhanced Catalog Content Security Model - Partitioning Content .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 23 3 Data Model Changes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 26 3.1 New Tables .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 26 3.2 Obsoleted Tables .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 26 3.3 Replaced Tables .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 27 3.4 New Views .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 27


Introduction

The two major areas that have undergone significant technical architectural change in terms of Data

Model for Oracle iProcurement in Release 12 are as follows.

� Enhanced Catalog Content Management - Unified Catalog Model

� Content Security Enhancements

The first area deals with content management. Instead of stand-alone bulk-load items, Oracle

iProcurement Release 12 provides centralized management of items migrated and stored in global blanket

agreements (GBPA). The extractor will be obsolete, and the catalog content will be updated in real time.

In a similar manner, the second major initiative, to consolidate the previous functionalities of Realms,

Stores, and Catalogs into the improved Stores, Content Zones, and Smart Forms features in Release 12,

required that the data model to be extensively updated. Data model changes are covered in in detail.

Please refer to both the Oracle iProcurement Implementation Guide, and Oracle iProcurement

Functional Upgrade in the Oracle Applications Upgrade Guide for details.


1. Enhanced Catalog Content Management - Unified Catalog Model

1.1. Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Overview

• Catalog Authoring Capability for Buyers, Suppliers and Catalog Administrators o Online Authoring and File Upload from Buyer Work Center, iSupplier and

iProcurement Catalog Administration Responsibilities. o Industry standard formats for upload mode including OAG XML, cXML, CIF and text

files, with improved error review process.

• Difference Summary for Catalog Changes o Display changes between the revised vision and the last approved version. Visual

indications for added, changed and delete lines

• Approval, Revision Control and Archive o Buyer can review difference summary during approval o Buyer’s acceptance with line level disposition for all changes or only for those that

exceed price tolerance. o Purchasing Approval Hierarchy, Revision Control and Archival capabilities are added to

catalog content o Real-time catalog update o Extractor will be obsolete.

Figure 1: Enhanced Catalog Agreement Overeview


Benefits

• Improve Catalog Management

o Reduce the buying organization overhead in catalog management

o Buyers can delegate catalog management to suppliers and catalog administrators

o Online catalog authoring for quicker catalog update

o Difference Summary to highlight the changes

o Version control of catalog data

• Streamline catalog creation and management

• Catalog perpetually up-to-date and based on real-time data

1.2 Enhanced Catalog Content Agreement Management Setup and Process.

This screen shows an example of how catalog content may be authored.

• First, a buyer or system administrator must configure acceptance requirements and tolerances for

the buying organization.

• Next, a buyer creates a global blanket purchase agreement header, or GBPA header for short.

• The buyer may add line level items to his GBPA using the online PBWC or via Bulk load.

• The buyer has the option to update the GBPA and submit it for approval, or to enable the

GBPA for authoring by suppliers or catalog administrators in the future.

• Once the buyer has completed his work, he submits the GBPA for approval.

• Once the GBPA is approved by the buying organization’s approval hierarchy, its contents are

available immediately to iProcurement requesters.

• Once a GBPA has been created in the system, catalog administrators and suppliers may modify it

later by buyers, and optionally.

• When catalog administrators and suppliers are allowed to modify GBPAs and do so, a difference

summary report is generated by the system. This report serves two purposes. First, the person

making GBPA updates can use the difference summary report to review his changes for

correctness before submitting it to the buyer for acceptance. Second, once the GBPA is

submitted for buyer acceptance, the buyer can view the difference summary report to see where

the changes are, and determine if the changes should be approved.


Figure 2: Enhanced Catalog Agreement Setup and Processs

1.3 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Set up Change Acceptance Options

In the first step of catalog authoring, a buyer or system administrator must configure acceptance

requirements. Changes from suppliers and catalog administrators may be set to always require buyer

acceptance, never require buyer acceptance, or require buyer acceptance based on price tolerance settings.

The two settings are independent of each other.

This step is a one-time configuration procedure and applies to all PO documents that are subsequently

created or modified.

Buyer organizations may wish to configure their Catalog Administration process such that changes by

suppliers always require buyer acceptance, but provide a relaxed rules for their internal catalog

administrators. Oracle Advanced Procurement provides this flexibility in acceptance of agreement

changes.

Figure 3: Agreement Changes Setup

Define buyer’s acceptance requirement per


1.4 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Create/update Agreement Header

Once acceptance and tolerance configuration is complete, a buyer proceeds to create a GBPA header

using the PBWC.

The ability to author GBPA header and line level content in HTML represents a significant addition of

functionality in Release 12 of Oracle Advanced Procurement. Alternative methods of creating catalog

content; such as bulk load and copying from existing catalog content will also be available in Release 12.

The header of a GBPA contains the usual suspects of supplier, contact, date effectivity, payment terms,

and other information.

Using this screen, a user may provide header information for the GBPA he is editing.

A user may also perform certain header level actions against the GBPA being edited. For instance, in the

Actions dropdown box, a buyer may choose to enable this document for supplier authoring or catalog

administrator authoring, or both. By default, newly created GBPAs are not enabled for supplier or catalog

administrator authoring. These actions are performed on a document-by-document basis.

Figure 4:Enabling Catalog Authoring of an Agreement


1.5 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Create/Update Catalog Content

Next, line level GBPA content may be updated.

This screen allows users to add, modify, or expire blanket line items. Item descriptor values can be edited

directly using the PBWC.

A GBPA may be modified by one user at a time. The first user to save changes to the document locks it.

Depending on acceptance configuration, changes made by a catalog administrator or supplier are saved as

a draft until the buyer accepts them.

The system provides visual indication to the buyer that a GBPA is locked by catalog administrator or

supplier. A buyer may unlock and override a document at any time. When this happens, pending changes

are automatically deleted and the buyer’s changes take effect.

Also, the original user who edited the document receives a notification that the buyer has deleted his

changes.

Figure 5: Creating Agreement Lines

• One user at a time can edit the document. Catalog administrator and supplier changes are saved

as a draft until the buyer accepts them.

• Prior to acceptance, buyers can take control of the document at any time. When buyer edits the

document, any pending changes are automatically deleted.


1.6 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Line Details The Create and Modify blanket agreement lines screen, as shown in the previous slide, provides text input areas for some but not all item descriptors. In this screen, additional line level details are displayed to the user for editing. Oracle Procurement allows customers to define a large number of base and category descriptors, and item values for these descriptors may be provided using this screen. Also, an item may have additional detailed information that can be updated, such as price breaks, and an authorized user may provide such information here.

Figure 6: Update Agreement Lines 1.7 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management View Difference Summary A difference summary report can be generated by the user when changes have been made to a GBPA. The objective of the difference summary to highlight what has been changed between this proposed version and the last approved version. For every line item that has a proposed change, the difference summary report shows the item’s item or job number, description, supplier item, price and price change percentage information. Any change to these fields results in a green starburst icon being used to highlight the updated value. For price and amount changes, both the existing and proposed values are displayed, along with a percentage change indicator. On the right most column of the difference summary table, a “Details” drill down icon allows users to navigate to a detail item level summary screen that shows additional information, such as descriptor changes that have not been captured on the main summary screen.

Update line

details

Shopping Category is not required and can be derived by

mapping

Category and Base

Descriptors


New items and item deletes are flagged with icons as well. Difference summary reports may be exported for further analysis.

Figure 7: Difference Summary

1.8 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Difference Summary Details When the Details drill down icon is clicked, the user is redirected to the Difference Summary line levels detail page. On this screen, descriptor attributes changes, price break and rate differential changes are shown. All changes are highlighted using icons to allow users to better identify where changes have been proposed.

Figure 8: Difference Summary Details

Difference Summary shows all changes

Export changes to Spreadshee

t Click here to see

changes to the line

Price increase/ decrease indicator

Updated Line

attributes

Price breaks and rate

differential changes


1.9 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Approve/Reject Changes When changes are presented to the buyer for acceptance, a variation of the difference summary report is shown to highlight proposed changes. This screen is called the Respond to Changes screen. Oracle Procurement leverages the powerful features of the Difference Summary report in its Respond to Changes screen. It allows buyers to quickly identify proposed changes and make decisions as to whether changes should be accepted. For each line item that has changed on a GBPA, the Respond to Changes report summarizes the item, job, description, supplier item, UOM, and pricing modifications on the main page. A details icon is available for the buyer to drill down to additional changed details. Buyers can accept or reject all changes to the GBPA by clicking an action button. Acceptance may also be specified at the line level. The Respond to Changes report can also be exported into a flat file for further review.

Figure 9: Approve/Reject Changes Page

1.10 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Extractor Extractor is no longer required. Changes to catalog content and content security definitions occur in real-time. The administrator is not required to run any “extractor” type concurrent program to enable his catalog content or security modifications.

Line level disposition

Buyer accepts or rejects

all changes

Submit accepted lines to buyer’s approval hierarchy


1.11 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Catalog Available for Requesters If a GBPA has been approved at least once, changes in process are also available for searching immediately. This feature ensures that minor changes to existing GBPAs do not cause all items on the existing GBPA to be made unavailable until the document is re-approved. For example, if a GBPA with one thousand line items has been approved, its items would have been available to iProcurement requesters since the time of approval. Later, if a supplier submits a pricing adjustment for a few lines on the GBPA, the document will remain in “requires re-approval” status until it’s been accepted by the buyer and is approved by the approval hierarchy. During this time while the document is in approval limbo, it is undesirable for 1000 line items to become unavailable to iProcurement requesters. After all, the changes are potentially minor, and impact a minority of the GBPA lines. For this reason, once a GBPA has been approved at least once, changes in process are also available for searching immediately.

Figure 10: Search Results

Search displays in process, requires re-approval and pre-approved GBPA, which has been approved at least once.

Catalog content: GBPA, BPA, Quote, Req

Template and Item Master


1.12 Catalog Management - Concurrent Request Program Changes

The following table describes the Concurrent Requests used in Catalog Content Management for Release 12. It should be noted some of these replace existing processes that required changes for the new catalog model.

Request Name Program Description Catalog Index Create – Intermedia ICXCICRI Create the Intermedia Indexes used for item

searching. Required only as part of new install or upgrade from pre-FP.I, otherwise should not be run.

Purge Catalog interMedia Index ICXPCIIP Purges the following data from the search indexes; any inactive blanket agreements, inactive and deleted quote lines, inactive and deleted requisition template lines, master items belonging to inactive purchasing categories.

Rebuild Catalog interMedia Index ICXRCIIP Refreshes the Intermedia Indexes used for item searching

Populate And Rebuild Intermedia Index For Searchable Change

POXSRCH Populate And Rebuild Intermedia Index For Searchable Change In Descriptors

Update Items for Category Rename POXCATRN When category name is changed, this job filters the changes through its items.

Catalog Bulk Load - Items Upload POXCDXBL The upload of items onto agreements using iProcurement Catalog Administrator (automatically launched)

Catalog Bulk Load - Schema Upload POXCSXBL The upload of category structures using iProcurement Catalog Administrator (automatically launched)

Catalog Load - Convert File POXCCONV As part of Catalog Administrator, this request converts an uploaded file from pre-release 12 formats into the latest format (automatically launched).

Catalog Child Data Exceptions Report ICXCUCDER Catalog Child Data Exceptions Report

submitted as a concurrent request during the Release 12 catalog upgrade.

NOTE: Catalog Data Extract – Classifications, Catalog Data Extract – Items, and Catalog Data Purge, are all now obsolete and should have been disabled (along with others) during the upgrade.


1.13 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade

The catalog authoring capabilities of Oracle Procurement has been refined significantly in Release 12, and a comprehensive upgrade strategy needed to ensure customers’ seamless migration to Release 12.

Oracle iProcurement R12 provides online authoring capability for catalog administrators for content stored in global blanket agreements (GBPA). The existing batch upload process continues to be optimized for handling large catalog data file uploads. Similar functionality is going to be provided for buyers from the new Buyer’s Work Center and for suppliers from iSupplier Portal. The extractor will be obsolete, and the catalog content will be updated in real time.

Bulk-loaded items in iProcurement will be migrated to newly created GBPAs based on their Supplier, Supplier Site, Currency, Operating Unit, and Contract Reference. From the iProcurement Catalog Administration responsibility, there will be a summary of all newly created GBPAs for bulk-loaded items, there will also be a data exceptions report that lists all the exceptions that prevent migration of bulk-loaded content to new GBPAs. Please refer to the Pre-Upgrade steps for more details on how to correct these exceptions. For Customers on 11.5.9, patch# 5452131 needs to be applied and for Customers on 11.5.10, patch# 4914492 needs to be applied. The upgrade strategy for existing Oracle Procurement customers using version 11.5.9 and 11.5.10 includes two steps. The first step, called pre-upgrade, is optional but recommended. During pre-upgrade, a customer’s existing data is reviewed for upgrade readiness. Data that is not ready for upgrade are summarized for the system administrator, so that appropriate fixes can be made prior to the actual upgrade. In order to run the pre-upgrade, a pre-upgrade patch is installed and adds additional functionality through the iProcurement Catalog Administration responsibility specific to the pre-upgrade process. Pre-upgrade can be run multiple times. Our expectation is that data issues are resolved iteratively prior to the actual upgrade.

Pre-Upgrade

• Available for customers using 11.5.9 or 11.5.10.

• Optional step, but highly recommended.

• Minimizes the risk of complications during upgrade.

• Reduces the time required for upgrade.

• Pre-upgrade can be run multiple times.

• Enable iterative data cleanup to run on data created or modified between the initial pre-upgrade run and the final upgrade to release 12.

• Prior to pre-upgrade and upgrade, it is recommended to run the extractor to ensure data consistency.

The pre-upgrade also pre-processes catalog data to reduce actual time required for upgrade. Pre-upgrade is intended to ensure that the actual upgrade process runs seamlessly. Pre-upgrade can be run multiple times and the customer’s installation can continue to function after pre-upgrade has been ran.


Please note: Changes to system setup data are not recommended after the pre-upgrade is executed. Once pre-upgrade has been executed, the system saves and stages some pre-processed catalog data in preparation for the actual upgrade process. The staged catalog data might not be updated to reflect new setup options if changes to the system are made after pre-upgrade has been performed. Pre-Upgrade Step

• Data cleansing to guarantee upgrade can be seamless.

• Pre-processing of catalog data to the new data model to reduce the time required for upgrade.

• Pre-Upgrade Summary.

• List of data that should be fixed.

• Download feature so that users can easily fix, and reload the data back into the catalog.

The second step in the data upgrade process is the actual upgrade, which relocates data from pre-Release 12 data models into the Release 12 data model. The upgrade process is to be executed once only. Upgrade Step

• Data cleansing and data relocation.

• Upgrade Summary.

• List of data that should be fixed.

• Download feature so that users can easily fix, and reload the data back into the catalog. Examples of data issues that are identified by the pre-upgrade step are as follows:

• Bulk-loaded items that do not have supplier site information

• Bulk-loaded items that are assigned to “all-buyers”

• Bulk-loaded items that have invalid category mappings and other issues that prevent the upgrade from running successfully.

During upgrade, data is relocated from pre-Release 12 data models into the Release 12 data model. Bulk loaded items from pre-Release 12 catalogs are placed onto new GBPAs in the Release 12 data model. Data Cleansing

• Pre-Upgrade/Upgrade summary will identify the following data issues:

• Bulk-loaded items without Supplier Site

• Bulk-loaded items assigned to “all buyers”

• Bulk-loaded items with invalid category mapping

• Other issues that prevent creation of GBPAs in the data relocation step. Data Relocation

• Bulk-loaded items from iProcurement catalog will be placed on newly created GBPAs based on their Supplier, Supplier Site, Currency, Operating Unit, and Contract Reference.


1.14 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade Setup and Process This screen illustrates the upgrade process. First, run the extractor to ensure that iProcurement’s extracted catalog data is in sync with Procurement catalog data. Next, apply pre-upgrade patch. The pre-upgrade patch may be applied to releases 11.5.9 and 11.5.10 and adds a pre-upgrade user interface in the eContent Manager responsibility. This option will allow users to initiate the pre-upgrade, review errors, download XML files to fix errors and view a summary of the new GBPAs created by the system. The pre-upgrade may be run as many times as necessary to ensure all data issues have been resolved. A pre-upgrade summary report is generated each time the pre-upgrade is run. Users have the option to run upgrade without fixing all issues. They can fix the issues after the upgrade or they can choose not to upgrade certain data.

Figure 11: Data Upgrade Process

Note:

• After patch, Pre-Upgrade is available via iProcurement Catalog Administration responsibility.

• Users can run Pre-Upgrade multiple times.

Run Pre-Upgrade

Review Pre-Upgrade Summary

Setup PROCESS

Download file, fix errors,

and re-load fixed data into iP catalog

Run Upgrade

Review Upgrade Summary Apply pre-upgrade patch

to release 11.5.9/11.5.10

Download file, fix errors,

and re-load fixed data For GBPA

Run Extractor (Recommended)


1.15 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade - Pre-upgrade Summary – Exception This screen illustrates the Pre-upgrade Summary report. Errors are listed in the exceptions table. For catalog data errors, an XML data file can be downloaded. A system administrator can use the XML data file as a starting point for resolving the data issue. Once the XML file is updated, it can be loaded back in to the catalog. If the issue is resolved correctly, it will no longer appear on the pre-upgrade summary report the next time the pre-upgrade process is run. Customer can export this report for future reference.

Figure 12: Pre-Upgrade Summary


1.16 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade – Pre-upgrade Summary – New Agreements New GBPAs will be created as part of the upgrade process for bulk-loaded items. There are two sets of agreements: one for bulk-loaded items that refer to CPA/GCPA and one for bulk-loaded items with no reference. During Pre-upgrade, a summary report lists new GBPAs that will be created.

Figure 13: Pre-Upgrade Summary – New Agreements


1.17 Enhanced Catalog Agreement Management Data Upgrade – Upgrade Summary When the upgrade is performed, a summary report is generated to inform the system administrator of any errors. As is the case with the Pre-upgrade process, for catalog data errors, an XML data file can be downloaded. A system administrator can use the XML data file as a starting point for resolving the data issue. Figure 14: Upgrade Summary

Dependencies and Interactions

Oracle Purchasing With Release 12, Oracle iProcurement and Oracle Purchasing have a single shared catalog data model. iSupplier Portal With Release 12 of Oracle iSupplier Portal, suppliers can now leverage these new catalog management tools to maintain their own content. Release 12 Pre-Upgrade There is a patch that enables the pre-upgrade option in Release 11i10 and 11i9.

Download XML file, fix data and load file against GBPA in Buyers

Workcenter

Upgrade Summary


Release 12 Upgrade Impacts

The following notes refer to changes in behavior in Release 12 as a result of the catalog upgrade:

� The upgrade will migrate bulk-loaded items into GBPAs. In R12, users will load content into a GBPA and they will no longer need to provide Supplier, Supplier Site, Operating Unit, and CPA/GCPA reference in the file. The bulk-load option will also be available for BPAs and quotes.

� In R12, users will not be able to load catalog content for all Operating Units. Please refer to the

Oracle Purchasing Implementation guide for more details on assigning GBPAs to Operating Units.

� Approved Supplier’s Lists (ASLs) will not be shown in iProcurement search results. In R12, the

Oracle Purchasing Sourcing Rule will be used to determine the best Supplier and Supplier Site combination during the requisition creation process.

� The bulk-load file format in R12 has been changed. A Converter has been provided for users to

convert old files to R12 format.

� In R12, users will not need to run the extractor to update the catalog content. It will be updated in real-time.

Additional Document References:

Summary

In summary, iProcurement’s Catalog Management Enhancements in Release 12 offer:

� Functionality for buyers, suppliers, and catalog administrators to manage content online. � Bulk-load functionality is retained and enhanced with improved error review capability. � Changes are summarized, reported, and can be configured to require approval before taking

effect. � Acceptance of changes may be performed at line level or header level. � Real-time availability of catalog content after approval. � Document approval, archive, and version control supported.

These enhancements allow buying organizations to:

� Offload and reduce overhead in catalog management

� Streamline catalog management processes


2. Enhanced Content Security Model

2.1. Enhanced Content Security Model Overview The new Content Security model allows administrators a more flexiable method to control and adjust iProcurement Content (items) available for requisitioning users. This single feature-set replaces and enhances functionalities previously provided by Realms, System Profiles, Catalogs, and the Extractor.

The following screen shows how the iProcurement user (requester) still sees the familiar Stores, and how the item and category content is organized within these. Behind this familiar fascade, are the many new Content Security Model features.

Figure 15: Homepage Stores These new features include:

• Control What Catalog Content To Show

o Catalog Administrators can partition local catalog content into Local Content Zones based on items’ Supplier, Supplier Site, Item Category and Browsing Category information.

o Support for inclusion and exclusion rules.

o Ability to include Inventory items.

• Control How How This Is Applied

o Once defined, Content Zones may be made accessible to users of specific

Responsibilities or Operating Units.

o Content Zones may be assigned to multiple Stores. o Stores may contain multiple Content Zones.


• Improved Shopping Experience

o Browse store content using Category Browse functionality.

• Single Point of Configuration

o Content Security features are configurable in a single administration interface.

• Existing Realms Configuration are Migrated During the Upgrade

• Profile Option “POR: Approved Pricing Only” is no longer used

o The same functionalities can be applied using Content Zone administration.

2.2 Enhanced Catalog Content Security Model - Setup and Process.

The screen below shows an example of how Content Security is structured and setup.

• First the basic structures within the Content are created, including PO Documents, (including

G/BPA’s, Quotations, Requisition Templates), Supplier Information, Category Structure and Items

• Next an administrator creates a Local Content Zone and defines the Inclusion and Exclusion Rules

• This is then assigned to an Organization Unit or Responsibility

• An administrator can then create a Store, to hold this, and other Content Zones.

• Once the store is created, during shopping the rules are applied and requesters see relevent content

only.

Figure 16: Content Security – Setup and Process


2.3 Enhanced Catalog Content Security Model - Partitioning Content

In Release 12 Content Zones replace previous Catalogs, and these content zones are configured with a set of rules, which allows access control. These rules allow the content to be partitioned based on including or excluding certain values for the following data;

• Supplier

• Supplier Site

• Shopping Category

• Browsing Category

For Example, a Content Zone rule may be: “Include items from Supplier X and Category C only”. This can be illustrated in the following, where only the content corresponding to the red square is displayed:

Figure 17: Content Zone Graph Example

Where Content Zones have multiple include and exclude rules, the content available is determined by the intersection of the rules (“and”). This is illustrated by the examples in the following table;

Figure 18: Content Zone Table Examples

The following screen shows the creation of a Content Zone, and the definition of the rules associated with it. All types of data can be included, or specific values are selected for inclusion or exclusion.


The actual values included or excluded allow restriction of items that can be found in the search results, based on mainly on each items Category and Supplier data. Checkboxes are used to indicate if the following types of data are also included:

• Inventory Items

• Internal Requisition Templates

• Items in Categories not mapped to iProcurement Shopping Categories

The Content Zone is then assigned to either all users, or is limited to a list of specific Operating Units or Responsibilities.

Figure 19: Content Zone Setup Page

The Content Zones are then added to Store/s. This is the same page where Smart Forms are assigned to a specific Store.

Figure 20: Stores Setup with Content Zones


Where a store has multliple Content Zones, it is the Union of the rules that determined the available content (“or”). The following table illustrates this with examples:

Figure 21: Mutliple Content Zone Examples Table

Obviously the more Content Zones and rules are applied, the more difficult and time consuming it would be to test the implementation. To this end, the Enhanced Content Model also introduces a Test Stores Setup feature that allows the Catalog Administrator a quick simulation of what content would be applied, when a user logs in under a specific Responsibility or Operating Unit context.

Figure 22: Test Stores Setup Page


3 Data Model Changes

The follow tables summarise the changes made in Release 12 to support the Enhancd Catalog Content and Content Security features;

3.1 New Tables For Catalog Authoring and Shopping:

ICX_CAT_ATTRIBUTES_TL ICX_CAT_ITEMS_CTX_HDRS_TLP ICX_CAT_FAV_LIST_HEADERS ICX_CAT_ITEMS_CTX_DTLS_TLP ICX_CAT_FAV_LIST_LINES_TLP

For Content Security Model;

ICX_CAT_STORE_CONTENTS ICX_CAT_ZONE_ATTRIBUTES ICX_CAT_SHOP_STORES_B ICX_CAT_ZONE_SECURE_ATTRIBUTES ICX_CAT_SHOP_STORES_TL ICX_CAT_SECURE_CONTENTS ICX_CAT_CONTENT_ZONES_B ICX_CAT_PUNCHOUT_ZONE_DETAILS ICX_CAT_CONTENT_ZONES_TL

For Catalog Authoring;

ICX_CAT_PARSE_ERRORS ICX_CAT_CONVERTER_DETAILS ICX_CAT_DELETED_SQES ICX_CAT_BATCH_JOBS_ALL

For The Upgrade only;

ICX_CAT_R12_UPGRADE ICX_CAT_R12_UPGRADE_JOBS ICX_CAT_R12_UPG_AUTOSOURCE ICX_CAT_R12_UPG_EXCEP_FILES ICX_CAT_R12_UPG_ERROR_MSGS

3.2 Obsoleted Tables For Catalog Authoring and Shopping;

ICX_CAT_CATEGORY_ITEMS ICX_CAT_ITEMS_B ICX_CAT_ITEM_PRICES ICX_CAT_PRICE_LISTS ICX_CAT_UPLOAD_IT_DUMP ICX_CAT_UPLOAD_PRICE_DUMP


3.3 Replaced Tables For Catalog Authoring and Shopping;

Old Table Replacement New Table

ICX_CAT_EXT_ITEMS_TLP PO_ATTRIBUTE_VALUES, PO_ATTRIBUTE_VALUES_TLP

ICX_CAT_ITEMS_TLP ICX_CAT_ITEMS_CTX_HDRS_TLP ICX_CAT_STORES_B ICX_CAT_SHOP_STORES_B POR_FAVORITE_LIST_HEADERS ICX_CAT_FAV_LIST_HEADERS POR_FAVORITE_LIST_LINES ICX_CAT_FAV_LIST_LINES_TLP


Old Table Replacement New Table

ICX_CAT_ITEM_SRC_DETAILS ICX_CAT_ZONE_SECURE_ATTRIBUTES, ICX_CAT_ZONE_ATTRIBUTES

ICX_POR_ITEM_SOURCES ICX_CAT_CONTENT_ZONES_B ICX_POR_ITEM_SOURCES_TL ICX_CAT_CONTENT_ZONES_TL ICX_CAT_STORES_TL ICX_CAT_SHOP_STORES_TL ICX_CAT_STORE_CATALOGS ICX_CAT_STORE_CONTENTS ICX_CAT_STORE_ORG_ASSIGNMENTS ICX_CAT_SECURE_CONTENTS

3.4 New Views For Catalog Authoring and Shopping;

ICX_CAT_AGREEMENT_ATTRS_V ICX_CAT_CATEGORIES_V ICX_CAT_SHOPPING_CAT_MAP_V ICX_CAT_LATEST_BATCH_JOBS_V ICX_CAT_PURCHASING_CAT_MAP_V


ICX_CAT_STORE_CONTENTS_V ICX_CAT_CONTENT_ZONES_VL

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iProcurement: Enhanced Catalog Content Management, Online Authoring and Content Security Model in Release 12

April 2008

Authors: Ananthalakshmi Anbuselvan, Richard Bingham

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