Let's continue the conversation with Ariba’s online catalog experts on Punchout and the secrets to building a B2C-like shopping experience. Please use this discussion to share your thoughts and technical and business-strategy questions on catalog management challenges, metrics, tips, best-practice strategies and whatever else you can dream up!
Here is the transcript of the live Q&A/chat held on April 21.To download a copy of the transcript, please click here.
Lorin: Thank you for joining our Live Chat session on the Secrets to Building a B2C-like Shopping Experience. My name is Lorin Kennedy and I am part of the Supplier Solutions team here at Ariba. I will be your moderator today. Before introducing our panelists, let’s review a few housekeeping items. If you would like to ask a question, please type your name and question in the box below and hit send. This is the first live chat here at Ariba. So please, bear with me, we will do our best to answer as quickly as possible. There are also a few features you may need to know: At the bottom right corner of your chat window includes the following options to refresh chat window, choose from one of 14 languages to auto translate the chat messages; and send tweets. |
Lorin: If you have any other technical issues or want a copy of the chat transcript or the resources we will be sharing today, please send us a message with your contact information or email us at programs_info@ariba.com |
Lorin: OK, let’s meet our panelists. We have a team of subject matter exporters here to answer your questions on PunchOut and how to define and implement successful catalog management strategies First, I want to introduce Jon Glickman, B2B eCommerce Consultant and one of our resident PunchOut specialist. |
Jon Glickman: Hello everyone, glad to be here. |
Lorin: Dawn Fisher, Senior Catalog Knowledge Expert, is a long-time PunchOut enablement expert. |
Dawn Fisher: Hello Everyone! |
Lorin: Helen Li is our Team Manager for Electronic Seller Integration |
Helen Li: Hello! |
Lorin: Dave Heflin and Kevin Bonaventura are the Supplier Accounts Managers here at Ariba. |
Dave Heflin: hello everyone |
Kevin Bonaventura: Good afternoon everyone. |
Lorin: Achim (akeem) Voermanek, Senior Product Manager, Ariba Network |
Achim Voermanek: Hi, welcome everybody! |
Lorin: And Marion Morgan is also assiting us today from the supplier group |
Marion: Hello everyone, welcome! |
Lorin: Ok, we’re done. Let's begin. Please send us your questions and we will answer them as quickly as we can. Please be patient, we may have a lot of questions coming at us at one time. |
Comment From Gans Subramaniam: Hello |
Comment From Benita: I am the sales manager |
Comment From Fabio Auffant: Good Afternoon |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Hello everyone |
Comment From Humaa: Hi Everyone, Im Humaa from PebbleJet, one of the ASSP |
Comment From Heather Westerman: Hello everyone |
Comment From Vincent: hi |
Comment From Toby: I would like a copy of the transcript and the resources from today. |
Marion: You can get a copy of the transcript by sending an email to programs_info@ariba.com |
Comment From Humaa: Hello |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): Good day from PunchOutCatalogs.com! |
Comment From Veronica: Hello Everyone |
Comment From Gans Subramaniam: Hello Angelica - This is Gans Subramaniam from PebbleJet - an Ariba Supplier Solution Partner - |
Comment From Peter Chapman: Hello everyone form sunny UK, I'm Peter from ActiveBrand ASSP also! |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Hello from Essent and PunchOutNow.com |
Comment From Jorge: Here is a simple question, what are the simple functions of PunchOut? |
Marion: PunchOut is conceptually simple. Users initiate PunchOut shopping sessions to view your e-commerce site on your Web servers. They select items, configure them if necessary, and check out, which brings the contents of the shopping cart back to the requisition. Later, requisition approvers can display the requisition and re-punch out to inspect or edit the shopping cart on your site and bring any changes back again to the requisition. |
Comment From Brett: Is there a way to preview what is displaying on our customers page? |
Achim Voermanek: Hi Brett, are you referring to a preview of the punchout experience that a buyer will have on your site? If so, yes, that's possible, we have a punchout tester on the Ariba Network that allows that. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: A PunchOut website is an ecommerce like any other website, but with the special ability to interact directly with the Ariba Network. |
Comment From Teresa: How do we ensure that the content that is brought back from punchout match our system-maintained data |
Helen Li: @Teresa How do we ensure that the content that is brought back from punchout match our system-maintained data Could you please explain further? Do you mean when items are brought back from the punchout back to Ariba? |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: Assuming we start with our questions. Today, the majority of suppliers support a single customer experience during punchout. Where does Ariba view the personalization (or consumer) experience in punchout going. Should suppliers be looking into the personalization of the punchout to John Doe instead of a company experience such as Acme Brick? |
Jon Glickman: All personalization is available through elements in the first PunchOut message, the PunchOutSetupRequest. You'll be able to see the ID of the buying company, and possibly other info. This message is customizable by the buyer. Get an example PunchOutSetupRequest message from your customer to see what is available, and you can use any of the info in it to provide customization. |
Comment From Cheri: Does the punchout tester work with any punchout site, or do you need to use specific hosts or creators? |
Dawn Fisher: It will work with any punchout site that is cXML integrated - You can use this via your test AN account and change the credentials to different customers to simulate the punchout experience. |
Comment From Vincent: hi, i m a Procurement analyst from Bank of Montreal who manage the local catagloue function |
Comment From Terri So after they punchout, what is the process to get the order to the supplier |
Kevin Bonaventura: Terri, after the order is placed in the PunchOut, the interface punches back into Ariba Buyer or P2P and the order is routed through the Ariba Network and ultimately to suppliers via email, fax, cXML or EDI. |
Comment From Toby: Walk me through the general process of starting a PunchOut site, if you do not have a current online catalog. |
Achim Voermanek: You can take an existing B2C site that already offers extensive marketing to ensure that customers get what they need. PunchOut sits on top of that site. |
Achim Voermanek: Check out these technical resources. Overview of cXML: www.ariba.com/supplier/ordercollaboration/cxml cXML Website: www.cxml.org |
Comment From Angie: How can I convince my customers to use my PunchOut catalog? |
Marion: Many sellers we have worked with talk to their customers about the flexibility and customization that is possible with PunchOut. With PunchOut you can really made the site look the way they wanted to and it can appear as though you have a list of products but you really can only search for one and only come back with one—giving buyers a lot of control over what their company can purchase. Mostly, it comes down to helping build buyer’s confidence in the solution that they will see and use and having the flexibility to adapt to each customer’s needs. |
Comment From John Bowers: How often do we have this kind on Q&A sessions? Great idea! |
Geo: John Bowers, this is the 1st time we've done this...We agree, this is a great way to communicate with our customers. We plan on doing this more often in the months to come on various topics. Please feel free to suggest topic ideas and send them to programs_info@ariba.com |
Comment From Theresa: yes |
Comment From Adam: We are a manufacturer and only sell through dealers, but would like to offer our products to Ariba buyers. Is it the responsibility of the dealership to create the punchout or the manufacturer? |
Lorin: Can any of our ASSP providers help answer this question |
Comment From Diane Cousineau: Our organization is in the process of rebuilding our promotional items online catalog - do you have any suggestions for enhancements? Besides giving customers a photo of the item, are there any other ideas? |
Jon Glickman: Photos are the best way to promote items. Other than that, any personalization you can add to your site will help sales. Use data in the PunchOutSetupRequest (the first message in a PunchOut transaction) to personalize the session. Use that info for personalization, marketing, or customer-specific promotions. |
Helen Li: @Teresa The item info that is validated from the punchout site is the UNSPSC code, Unit of Measure. THese need to ahdere to the customer's standard. |
Comment From Andrew: Can you compare a standard catalog with the content that is required on a punchout site? |
Dawn Fisher: The only way you can compare to a standard hosted catalog would be to implement L2 Punchout. This is an index file similar to a CIF hosted catalog whereby you can search for the items in Ariba but when you select the item in Ariba, you are punched out to the item on the punchout site. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): One thing I'd add to Eric and Achim's comments re punchout enabling an existing site... |
Comment From Craig: What are the common solutions for SAP suppliers to implement punchout for their Ariba customers? |
Achim Voermanek: Craig, if you using the SAP OCI protocol to allow SAP SRM buyers to see you website, you can easily add the required technical code to support punchout as well. Both mechanisms are very similar. Check out the cXML Solutions Guide in http://supplier.ariba.com/help |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): while supporting the cXML punchout process is obviously a key requirement, i.e. getting in and transferring out, there's more to the project... |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): you'll more than likely need to modify your existing site to accomodate the punchout flow, e.g. |
Comment from Efua: Hello, I am a buyer that has recently migrated to the 9r1 version. We are currently experiencing some issues with our punchout catalogs with IE 7. Is having a secure website a requirement or recommendation for punchout catalogs (http vs https) |
Helen Li: Yes, you need to ensure you are using https connection otherwise there will contant warning messages displayed to users. You also need to be sure to implement a compact policy in the header of your punchout site. |
Comment from Mike Woods: We're live with PunchOut, and will soon be upgrading our eCommerce software. How do we test our new PunchOut installation - with our Ariba customer - while our older ecommerce site is still in production? |
Dawn Fisher: Each customer has a test environment that you should be able to set up integration of your new punchout site for testing purposes - this would be via your test AN account. |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: @Jon, extending on my personalizaton question. I understand how I can use the POSR to identify a specific user, My question is more of whether you view this as a direction suppliers should be strive toward. I can easily pull the punchout users, email address and auto create a new user (or match to existing); but is this the best approach or should I be driving toward a login while in my punchout experience |
Jon Glickman: @Robert, yes this is a good way for suppliers to go. Ideally, you'd hook up your customer database to your PunchOut site so that everything is in synch and you're displaying current information. Be careful about accruing info about individual users, though. Make sure they know you're doing it. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC) either removing some functionality if you'll be treating all customers as a single user on the site, or auto registering/logging in users in order to continue to provide customer speciifc functionaltiy like order history, etc. |
Comment From Andrew: Can you compare a standard catalog with the content that is required on a punchout site? |
Dawn Fisher: The only way you can compare to a standard hosted catalog would be to implement L2 Punchout. This is an index file similar to a CIF hosted catalog whereby you can search for the items in Ariba but when you select the item in Ariba, you are punched out to the item on the punchout site. |
Comment From Cheri: Does the punchout tester work with any punchout site, or do you need to use specific hosts or creators? |
Dawn Fisher: It will work with any punchout site that is cXML integrated - You can use this via your test AN account and change the credentials to different customers to simulate the punchout experience. |
Comment From Brett: Is there a way to preview what is displaying on our customers ariba ordering page? |
Achim Voermanek: Brett, the punchout tester shows you how a potential order looks like. If you want to get access to your own P2P instance you can join the Ariba Platinum Seller program. This would give you your own P2P test environment. |
Comment From David Blankenship: What does the customer need in order to use a punchout catalog? |
Dave Heflin: @ david b...you need a shopping cart functional website that supports b2b customization and an ariba network ID |
Comment From Efua: Hello, I am a buyer that has recently migrated to the 9r1 version. We are currently experiencing some issues with our punchout catalogs with IE 7. Is having a secure website a requirement or recommendation for punchout catalogs (http vs https) |
Comment From Adriana: Can you tell me if there is a punchout implementation or user guide that is current? |
Jon Glickman: @Adriana, the best info is thecXML User's Guide and the Ariba cXML Solutions Guide. Both are available in the Help page in your Ariba Network account. Go tohttp://supplier.ariba.com/help. |
Comment From John Daquila: @Robert and John... I have had great success extracting user data from the punhcout setup request to provide a personal shopping experience, but definitely let the customer know before I do so. |
Comment From Mike Woods: We're live with PunchOut, and will soon be upgrading our eCommerce software. How do we test our new PunchOut installation - with our Ariba customer - while our older ecommerce site is still in production? |
Comment From Kapil: What could be the best way to convince the supplier to go for a punchout option backed with some key cost benefits? |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Can someone tell me how I can display pictures at the line level an a Cif Catalog? |
Geo: Kapil...You can give them examples such as B&H Photo, a provider of creative technology products, is a great seller example. When a large buyer asked them to join the Ariba Network, they started out tactical—as a one off. After further customers discussions, management saw this as an opportunity to grow the account by replacing their 500-item, annually updated CIF catalog (which had rapidly obsolete, too-high prices) with a 40,000-item CIF catalog to be updated monthly. The customer’s initial reluctance to update catalogs at this higher frequency disappeared once they realized it would save them hundreds of thousands of dollars due to more timely pricing. B&H now provides customers with a 200,000+-item PunchOut catalog updated multiple times daily and has increased sales in the account by millions. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): {comment re SAP OCI} Another option is to partner with a company that can translate OCI RoundTrip to Ariba cXML Punchout. Our SAP certified GateWay can OCI enable a cXML site. http://www.punchoutcatalogs.com |
Comment From Jeff: Is there a list available of the AN Suppliers that currently provide L2 punchout? |
Lorin: Can our ASSP providers help answer this qusestion? |
Comment From Peter @ ActiveBrand: PunchOut is designed to enable purchasers to buy from a wide range of pre-approved suppliers as efficiently as possible. A well-implemented PunchOut catalogue will be very fast, simple and focussed on the B2B buyer. It is quite different to Amazon-style B2C shopping, so bolting punchout into an existing website is not generally the answer. |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Can someone tell me how I can display pictures at the line level an a Cif Catalog? |
Dawn Fisher: There is an Ariba field in the catalog called "Image" where you can input either image URL's that you host on your site or input Image file names and then submit the associated images separately for upload to synchronize with the image names in the catalog. |
Comment From Adam: Do you have a list of approved (or recommended) vendorst that develop puchouts? |
Kevin Bonaventura: Adam, all of our Ariba Supplier Solution Provider members have been validated as being able to develop PunchOut catalogs. Their information is on the left side of the screen, or you can email us at programs_info@ariba.com and we can provide the information to you. |
Comment From Brett: Is there a way to upsell items through ariba? |
Helen Li: @Brett In a punchout you can also show other products on an item details page to allow users to browse and select. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): {comment re compant P3P policy} This is a great point Helen. We see this problem a lot as we punchout enable supplier's sites. There are some tricks to modifying the compact P3P policy in order to get it to work for your buyers in punchout mode. |
Comment From Brian Shuey: If any of you have questions about turnkey punchout solutions, the members of the ASSP program (such as PunchOut Catalogs.com) can help. We'll help sellers to develop the eCommerce piece and then implement it into Ariba making it available to your buyer. |
Comment From Adriana: Software users at my company would like to leave our software and punch OUT to ariba. Do you have any documentation on how to make this integration? |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Yes, all of the ASSPs (Ariba Supplier Solution Provider) can help with turnkey PunchOut websites. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Robert You definitely don't want to require a user to login after punching out to your site. So auto lookup/regsitration/login is the way to go. |
Comment From Terri: Any plans to be able to update the price on a PO after the Punchout order is processed. We have issues with PO's where the price changes while the PO is waiting for approval. |
Achim Voermanek: Terri, if a seller changes the price after a punchout "shopping basket" is brought back into the Ariba buyside solution and then converted into a Purchase Order, this has to be then handled in a Order Cornfirmation back from the seller. If a Buyer then sets up certain tolerance levels, no buyer approval is needed on the buyside. |
Comment From Efua: Does Ariba provide any non-technical documentation for buyers on how to effeciently set up punchout catalogs? |
Jon Glickman: @Efua, suppliers create PunchOut sites, not buyers. For more (non-technical) information, go to http://www.ariba.com/supplier/ordercollaboration/cxml. |
Comment From Adriana: Software users at my company would like to leave our software and punch OUT to ariba. Do you have any documentation on how to make this integration? |
Dawn Fisher: You may be interested in our Procurement Content solution. Where users have the option to punchout to Ariba from your procurement system (i.e. SAP/Oracle/JDEdwards) to order from catalogs in Ariba and then return the cart back to your procurement system to process into a PO and complete in your system. |
Comment From Jeff: Can suppliers provide their CIF images through their AN account? Or do they have to send them outside of the AN to buyers? |
Marion: Yes, they can provide images directly in Ariba CIF catalogs. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Dawn re Level 2 Punchout... are you seeing more buyers asking for L2? |
Comment From Terri: Any plans to be able to update the price on a PO after the Punchout order is processed. We have issues with PO's where the price changes while the PO is waiting for approval. |
Helen Li: @Terri If there is a price change on a punchout item before the supplier receives the PO, the supplier may send am order confirmation rejecting the price, and listing the current price. THe buyer can resend the updated PO. Or if the buyer has their config set to allow invoices with price changes within a certain tolerance. This is something you would confirm with the Buyer first |
Comment From Kapil: How a punchout is better than a CIF catalog or vice versa? which one is more in favour of buyer? |
Achim Voermanek: CIF requires you to format your content in a specific way and requires your customers to download and approve catalogs. PunchOut uses your existing e-commerce site and allows you to change content such as descriptions, pricing, or availability on the fly. You gain savings through the fact that you don't need to produce CIF files and that you maintain your existing commerce site only. PunchOut allows you to display different contract prices, depending on the specific customer that is shopping; you don't have to create separate CIF files for each customer. |
Comment From Louise: What is an AN account? |
Geo: Louise, an AN Account is your Ariba Network account ID that your company set up to transact with your buyers |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): Dawn re Level 2 Punchout... are you seeing more buyers asking for L2? |
Dawn Fisher: It is a common request to maintain a consistent user experience when searching catalogs which answers this concern by implementing L2. This does require more maintenance on the supplier side however but is really an extension of the traditional punchout. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Adriana re punchout guide. Another great resource for suppliers that are looking to punchout enable their sites themselves, are Ariba's punchout classes. They go into pretty good detail re things to consider when supporting punchout. |
Comment From Missy: Question: Is there documentation around adding "images" to CIF catalogs? |
Comment From Brett: We have a Vendor sponsored program, can we leverage this program towards other vendors. Whats the fee and how do you change it for the other client? |
Marion: What do you mean by a vendor sponsored program? |
Comment From Eric with Essent: There is more than one mention of using your existing ecommerce site. This is definitely possible but may suppliers find implementing a dedicated PunchOut site, many times a site for each key account, is better. |
Comment From Brett: well we dont pay for it |
Comment From Missy: Question: Is there documentation around adding "images" to CIF catalogs? |
Dawn Fisher: You can go to supplier.ariba.com/help and search for the Catalog Format Reference Guide. This will explain how to link images to your catalog. |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: @ Kapil, I believe Punchout is better for complex goods and services or when parametric data searches are required to find your products. Simple goods can be supported from either model |
Comment From Adriana: Can you tell me how you link an item your Ariba catalog to an item in a suppliers catalog? |
Jon Glickman: @Adrian, You have two options. You can use regular (Level 1) PunchOut, which links to your main storefront page. Or, you can use Level 2 PunchOut, which allows you to link to your specific aisle-, shelf-, or item-level page. Level 2 requires you to create expanded an CIF file and publish it to your customer. More information is available in the Ariba cXML Solutions Guide. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Peter I'd agree with your comment that punchout enabling a site is more than just suporting cXML. There are many other things that need to be considered. |
Comment From Adriana: How does UOM conversion work with Ariba? So, if our customer uses a UOM of Each for an Item and punches into Ariba, how do you map the UOMs? |
Helen Li: @Adriana There is no conversion with UOM in punchout. You would need to send back the UOM standard the customer uses - most common is UN UOM. |
Comment From Brett: We just upload our products to it |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Even for simple products that don't require configuration, suppliers are increasing brand affinity through PunchOuts |
Comment From Adriana How dos re-punching out work? So, if I were |
Achim Voermanek: Adriana, what do you mean by re-punching? do you mean a requisitioner changing a requisition or PO? |
Comment From Louise: Is the CIF catalog the same as the excel file we sent in? |
Kevin Bonaventura: Louise- Yes, the CIF catalog is the static Excel file template that you upload for your customer through the Ariba Network. |
Comment From Adriana How do you sign up for an Ariba punchout class? |
Jon Glickman: @Adriana, Ariba holds regular one-hour webinars on eCatalogs, PunchOut , cXML. The next scheduled webinars are: - cXML May 11, 1:00 pm ET - PunchOut June 8, 1:00 pm ET - CIF Catalogs July 13, 1:00 pm ET More information is available at: http://www.ariba.com/solutions/livedemos.cfm |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP @ Adriana, do you mean edit and inspect? |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Brett re upselling... I concur with Helen, that you'd want to use a site that allows for upselling, crosselling related products, etc. It'll require work on your part to program what to push, but it's worth it. |
Comment From Adriana: Do you have to pay for the webinars? |
Marion: No, the webinars are all free.  |
Comment From Adriana Yes, I mean edit the cart, so delete items out and add more items to the cart |
Comment From Adriana once you have already punched out |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: For suppliers providing complex services, what and how are shopping carts handled. Do they traditional return quote skus or line items? |
Helen Li: @ Robert Calvert Hi Robert! Shopping carts are handled the same way for other items - there are required fields that apply to all items: partid, description, commodiy code, uom. |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: For suppliers providing complex services, what and how are shopping carts handled. Do they traditional return quote skus or line items? |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Dan Fisher: How can we configure the field that are visible with SDU's in Ariba 9r1....for example we have listed the following fields: Line Description, Price, Supplier Name, Supplier Part Id, Amount Currency, But I want have also field called Territory Available, and also Classification Code. How can I do that |
Comment From Adriana: How do you become an ariba preferred supplier? What are the perks? |
Kevin Bonaventura: Adriana- The Ariba Ready Sales & Marketing programs prepackage networking, marketing and consulting expertise to help you grow your online commerce business faster and more efficiently by becoming a preferred supplier. |
Jon Glickman: @Kapil, can you clarify your question a bit on "server spaces?" |
Comment From Efua: My company is about to implement catalog sync, does this functionality send updates to the supplier account to let them know that the catalog has bee downloaded ? |
Dawn Fisher: One of our frequently asked questions from suppliers is about if and when the catalog has been downloaded and looking for a way to reduce this - If you are on our OnDemand application, you can turn on a parameter to provide catalog status through each catalog step. The status will change on the supplier's account as the catalog goes through each step of the process *Pending Buyer Validation*Validated by customer*Pending Approval*Activated* - This is only for OnDemand Customers. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Comment to Robert Calvert: What's returned from the PunchOut, depends on the configuration engine of the PunchOut website and the integration with the back office ERP. |
Comment From Jeff: What is the best practice for directing Buyers to PunchOut sites in the catalog hierarchy? |
Achim Voermanek: Jeff, with Level 1 punchout you have to work with the buyer to make sure that requisitioning employees look for you seller name to find the punchout link to your site. With Level 2 punchout you yourself can determine the commodity groups that you will be listed under. |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: @ Eric, I understand the technical components. I am looking for best practices regarding handling Complex services in a shopping cart return |
Comment From Angie: can you just give the url of that youtube video so we can watch later? |
Lorin: On your web screen you can see the live chat resources on the right-hand column and the video will be there to review. |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Dawn Fisher: How can we configure the field that are visible with SDU's in Ariba 9r1....for example we have listed the following fields: Line Description, Price, Supplier Name, Supplier Part Id, Amount Currency, But I want have also field called Territory Available, and also Classification Code. How can I do that - |
Dawn Fisher: Those are both Ariba fields that are already available to you - To make the fields visible in the catalog, you would need to configure the type definition file to make those fields display in the UI. To learn more, please check out the Catalog Format Reference Guide. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: @ Robert, the ultimate goal is a well-formed order. The best way to achieve this is aligning items in the PO with the SKU's BOM. |
Comment From Adriana: If we implement punching out into Ariba and there are technical issues with the punchout, can we contact Ariba for troubleshooting? |
Helen Li: @Adriana You may contact Tech Support (using the form in the Help section of your AN account) if you have subscribed to STS services. If you are an Ariba Ready member you may contact your designated consultant. |
Comment From Angie: What will it cost to move from CIF to PunchOut? |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Adriana re Ariba Ready... I'd also recommend askign about Ariba's new Connection Solutions (see video below). Latane and her team at Ariba are workign very hard to help suppliers like yourself. |
Achim Voermanek: Angie,there are two costs related to PunchOut: enabling your AN account and modifying your e-commerce site. Enabling your AN account for PunchOut costs $495/year per supplier account. The cost of modifying your e-commerce site depends on the technology your site uses and is highly variable. It takes suppliers as little as one week to develop and test PunchOut for some sites and as long as a several months to build a new site from scratch. |
Comment From Kapil: I am not sure when I am asking it, but a CIF catalog or a punchout aquire space in an application and ultimately a server? |
Jon Glickman: @Kapil, CIF catalogs are stored within your customer's procurement application (e.g Ariba Buyer or Ariba Procure-to-Pay). PunchOut catalogs are stored on your own website, so they don't consume space on your customer's computers. You create a simple one-line CIF that links to your PunchOut catalog. Does that answer your question? |
Comment From Mike: Still learning all the acronyms- what is CIF? |
Comment From Kapil: Yes Jon |
Achim Voermanek: Capil, if you are referring to your own sell side, you can create catalogs for CIF with Excel, for punchout you would need a real sell side server (or hosted service). Both is something that our ASPP partners can help with. |
Lorin: Just a reminder: If you want a copy of the chat transcript or the resources, please email us at programs_info@ariba.com |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: @Mike from a supplier pespective think CIF = CSV file with header |
Achim Voermanek: Mike, CIF= Catalog Interchange Format |
Kevin Bonaventura: For anyone looking for the list of ASSP members, here it is: ActiveBrand Ltd. at www.activebrand.com Essent at www.essent.com Hubspan at www.hubspan.com/ariba Marketingunity at www.marketingunity.com PebbleJet at www.pebblejet.com PunchOut Catalogs at www.punchoutcatalogs.com Toreion at www.toreion.com |
Comment From Mike: Still learning all the acronyms- what is CIF? |
Dawn Fisher: Cif stands for Catalog Interchange Format which is a comma delimited format and is the preferred format for Ariba. We do provide this in a excel template that Ariba can accept via upload to your AN account. Please see supplier.ariba.com/help and review the Ariba Catalog Format Reference Guide for more information. |
Comment From Mike: Thanks for the clarification. |
Comment From Pat: Is there any way to be notified when a customer has approved a new CIF catalog to move into production. |
Comment From Angie: When is it good to move from a CIF to a punchout? |
Helen Li: @Angie When a supplier provides items that have highly volatile pricing (MRO items), or configurable items (computers, business cards) it's best to move to punchout since the supplier will maintain all data on the site so no constant catalog refreshed for buyers. |
Comment From Kapil: I am part of catalog maintenance team, we receive multiple catalogs in a day to update them, every time we have to download and upload them to reflect the latest changes, is there a better way besides uploading and downloading multiple times? |
Jon Glickman: @Kapil, PunchOut is a great solution to your problem. You avoid all the hassles of CIF by moving to PunchOut. Suppliers use their existing e-commerce sites instead of creating, uploading, and publishing CIF files. |
Lorin: I see that we are getting close to the time now. How about we answer a few more questions and then we will officially close the chat. |
Comment From Pat: Is there any way to be notified when a customer has approved a new CIF catalog to move into production |
Dawn Fisher: If your customer is using our OnDemand Platform, they now have functionality to turn on Catalog Status which will change your status on your AN account as it goes through each step of the process (Pending Buyer Validation*Validated by Customer*Pending Approval*Approval Denied*Activated* and so forth. Please check what platform your customer is on. This is only available for our OnDemand customers. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: PunchOut websites are great for control. Supplier gets in control of the catalog, the final pricing, and even communicating inventory availabilty. Good PunchOut websites allow you to have customer-specific and tiered pricing. |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: Looking for best practice. What mechanism do suppliers use to apply custom pricing attributes in a shopping cart return (for example contracts in the public sector space). Is the Auxillary Supplier Part No the only method. We've found most customer don't want to use an Extrinsic for contract number |
Comment From Peter @ ActiveBrand: @Jose Acosta & @Angie A major benefit of moving to punchout is the ability to provide rich product content - such as image gallerys, videos, PDFs etc. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Helen re moving to punchout... while Helen's comments re moving to punchout due to increased complexity, you may also want to move to punchout for non-technical reasons, e.g. the ability to control the shopping experience, upsell/crossell, provide better customer service, update your catalog whenever you want. Plus, punchout suppliers tend to be stickier with buyers, that is less likely to switch to another vendor. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Customers want a B2C (Business 2 Consumer) experience. PunchOut websites can offer that experience. |
Achim Voermanek: Any other seller here, that wants to help @Robert with his question re: custom prizing? |
Comment From Brian Shuey: @ Angie - when you're buying anything online as a consumer, would you rather search through a spreadsheet or shop on something Amazon.com-esque? This is the difference between CIF and PunchOut. |
Helen Li: @Matt Fisher - you are absolutely right - endless reasons to move to punchout, both technical, non-technical |
Comment From Angie: @Diane Cousineau FYI..www.corexpand.com has some great personlization features for promotional product suppliers especially for dealling with running charges One of my clients is using them for their punchout catalog and it rocks. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: @Robert. We see to methods: having customer-specific pricing and sub-items that affect net cost. Comment From Matt Fisher (POC) @Eric and that's why our motto at PunchOutCatalogs.comis "B2C functionality with B2B connectivity!" |
Dawn Fisher: Just an informative plug for L2 - Ariba has the functionality to do auto price call outs to your server so the content file can be published without price! |
Comment From Eric with Essent: @Matt. Us too: B2C for B2B |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Dawn re L2... very interesting. You learn something everyday. |
Comment From Robert Calvert: @Dawn, how actively is the Auto Price Call used. I've seen it on slides but never attempted/researched. DO you see it as growing or a one off |
Kevin Bonaventura: Again, the preferred list of PunchOut providers are below: ActiveBrand Ltd. at http://www.activebrand.com Essent at http://www.essent.com Hubspan at http://www.hubspan.com/ariba Marketingunity at http://www.marketingunity.com PebbleJet at http://www.pebblejet.com PunchOut Catalogs at http://www.punchoutcatalogs.com Toreion at http://www.toreion.com |
Comment From Mike: Question- what about customers with two or more financial systems such as Peoplesoft and SAP. Can Ariba integrate with both or are there certain areas that would need to be addressed from a catalog perspective? |
Lorin: If want a copy of the chat transcript, please send us an email with your contact information at programs_info@ariba.com |
Achim Voermanek: Mike, Ariba provides out of the box integration with Oracle and SAP financial systems for our products. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): I suspect all of us ASSPs get it... that is gone are the days when buyers wanted suppliers to provide boring looking websites thinking the way to save money is to just get in and get out. We need to provide enjoyable, value-add experiences in order to help buyers drive COMPLIANCE. And that's why B2C functionality is key. |
Comment From Brett: PunchOut providers are below: ActiveBrand Ltd. at http://www.activebrand.com Essent at http://www.essent.com Hubspan at http://www.hubspan.com/ariba Marketingunity at http://www.marketingunity.com PebbleJet at http://www.pebblejet.com PunchOut Catalogs at http://www.punchoutcatalogs.com Toreion at http://www.toreion.com so punch out is a term used to describe several different companies |
Achim Voermanek: @Mike, here is a link to a Whitepaper about Oracle and SAP integration: |
Comment From Rober Calvert, HP: @Dawn, how actively is the Auto Price Call used. I've seen it on slides but ne[...]ver attempted/researched. DO you see it as growing or a one off |
Dawn Fisher: Hello Robert - Thanks for joining today! As I mentioned at Ariba Live, this has been a challenge to provide because of the maintenance involved but with the Automated updates of price/availability data upgrade to our system, we want to get the word out. Note - this is not included the main DTD but in the cxml private DTD - we can cover this in more detail offline. |
Comment From Mike: Thanks Achim for the info. |
Comment From Angie: Thanks for a very informative session. |
Comment From Matt Fisher (POC): @Dawn I'm very interested in this L2 callout. Appreciate some more info on that after. Thanks. |
Comment From Barry: Thanks. I learn a lot! |
Comment From Robert Calvert, HP: Thank you. I hope this is an ongoing opportunity. |
Comment From Eric with Essent: Thanks from Essent and PunchOutNow.com |
Dawn Fisher: Sure Matt - will be in touch with more info! |
Comment From Veronica: Thank You for the informative Session |
Comment From David @ GBC: Live Chat experience was a success. Thanks! |
Comment From Andy Jenicek: Very informative session, got some nice links. Thank you. Feedback: Kindly make the chat box a pop-out window that is re-sizeable. Difficult to read posts when they scroll off the window each time there's another comment, thanks! |
Comment From Brett: so punch out provided by several different companies? |
Marion: Yes, you can get assistance on setting up PunchOut directly through Ariba or by using any of the ASSPs. |
Comment From Brian Shuey: Thank you and please feel free to get in touch with us through PunchOutCatalogs.com |
Comment From Peter @ ActiveBrand: Thanks from www.activebrand.com - punchout makes sense! |
Comment From Jose Acosta: Dan Fisher: What is the process to make in the search field in ariba 9r1 a user friendly tool, For Example when we type or search for a key word, and have ariba populate information related only to a the particular part number regardless how many items we will get. |
Dawn Fisher: The default is for Ariba to search the following fields: Supplier Name Supplier ID Supplier Part ID Manufacturer Name Manufacturer Part ID Description Short Name Parametric Data Parametric Name Are you asking to avoid all of the returned results? |
Comment From Peter @ ActiveBrand: PS For any UK contacts we will be at Ariba LIVE in London 24-26 May - hope to see you there! |
Achim Voermanek: oh, there was a technical question about punchout earlier, wanted to add: https:// URLs are mandatory for both the test and production URLs. As mentioned earlier, the certificate for these URLs need to be obtained from an Ariba Trusted Certificate Provider. Ariba does not support http:// urls for Punchout. The Punchout applications need to have a https:// URL and the certificate for this URL should be provided by one of the Ariba trusted certificate Providers. Here is the entire list of the Ariba Trusted Certificate Providers- ABAecom AddTrust American Express ANX Network Belgacom BelSign Deutsche Telekom AG Digital Signature Trust Co. Entrust Equifax GlobalSign GoDaddy GTE CyberTrust National Retail Federation Thawte TrustCenter United Parcel Service U.S. Department of Defense ValiCert VeriSign You cannot use a self-signed certificate to enable HTTPS connections. Digital certificates that you use to enable HTTPS connections must be issued by a trusted certificate authority. There is a list of the Ariba Network's trusted certificate authorities in the cXML Solutions Guide. For more information, see the cXML Solutions Guide in http://supplier.ariba.com/help. |
Marion: @Brett, many sellers also set up PunchOut using their own internal infrastructure and utilize user guides to assist them through the process. You can find resources for this atwww.ariba.com/supplier/ordercollaboration/punchoutor find documentation at supplier.ariba.com/help. Ariba also offers live online courses on PunchOut. You can see a full listing at http://www.ariba.com/supplier/suppliernetwork/?demodropdown http://www.ariba.com/supplier/suppliernetwork/?demodropdownThe next course currently scheduled will be on Wednesday, June 8, at 1:00 p.m. EST. |
Lorin: I want to thank everyone for their time today. I hope you found the session valuable. We are going to close the chat now. If want a copy of the chat transcript, please send us an email with your contact information at programs_info@ariba.com |
Lorin: Thanks again from all of us here at Ariba. |
Dawn Fisher: Please see the Catalog Format Reference Guide for more on catalog search |
Comment From Brett: later |
Achim Voermanek: Thanks! Auf Wiedersehen!  |
Dawn Fisher: Thanks! This was a blast! |
Marion: Thanks, this was great! |
Helen Li: Thanks everyone! |
Jon Glickman: Thanks everyone! |
Kevin Bonaventura: Thanks everyone, we look forward to working with you in the future! |
Dave Heflin: thanks, bye! |