Article On Purchasing

Communication Methods
An Oracle Technical Brief
March 2008
 Article On Purchasing Communication Methods

Introduction.............................................................................................
..........5
1.0
Print..........................................................................................................
.....5
Choosing the format of document for
communication..........................5
Text
Format..............................................................................................
5
PDF...................................................................................................
.........6
Setting up
.......................................................................................................6
Report
parameters.........................................................................................6
Launching Printed PO report from
Approval..........................................7
Printed Purchase Order report output
......................................................9
2.0
Fax............................................................................................................
.....9
How it works?
...............................................................................................9
Text
Format..............................................................................................
9
PDF
Format............................................................................................1
0
Sample
Output............................................................................................10
Output when the format is
text............................................................10
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 2
 Output when the format is
PDF..........................................................11
Fax codes control file
............................................................................11
Setup
steps...................................................................................................1
1
Select the communication method as ‘Fax’ for supplier site
...........12
Faxing at the end of
approval...............................................................12
3.0
Email........................................................................................................
...12
How it works?
.............................................................................................12
Features of Oracle
Workflow...............................................................12
HTML
format.........................................................................................13
PDF
format.............................................................................................1
4
Setup
steps...................................................................................................1
4
Supplier Site
............................................................................................14
Set the Profile
Options..........................................................................15
Create and Approve
PO........................................................................15
What happens in
Approval?......................................................................16
Sample Purchase Order
Emails................................................................17
Important Queries for Email Purchase
Orders......................................17
Script to check the workflow status and po_wf_debug
data...........17
To check the AdHocUser
Setup..........................................................17
To check the Mail
status........................................................................18 To Verify the
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 Mail content from sqlplus............................................18 R12
feature to support communication of nontext attachments
through
email:..............................................................................................18
View Attachments in PDF
PO.................................................................18
Communicate Attachments via
Email.....................................................19
4.0 PDF – In
depth.........................................................................................19
What is XML?
.............................................................................................19
What is
XSL?...............................................................................................20
XSL consists of three
parts:..................................................................20
XSLT = XSL
Transformations............................................................20
XSLT Uses
XPath:.................................................................................20
XSL-
FO:.......................................................................................................
20
XML
Publisher............................................................................................2
1
Advantages of PDF over Text
format.....................................................21
Prereq for PDF Document
Generation..................................................22
Overview of the PDF document generation
solution...........................22
XML
Generation....................................................................................2
3
XSL Style
Sheets.....................................................................................23
Generate Documents API
....................................................................24
Generate PDF Document
(genDoc)...................................................25
XDO API’s
.............................................................................................27

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 4

 Setup
Steps...................................................................................................2
7
Purchasing
Options................................................................................27
Select the Style sheets
............................................................................28
Triggering Points of PDF
generation......................................................28
Sample
outputs............................................................................................29
Communication on
demand......................................................................33
PO Output for Communication Concurrent Program
....................35
Customizing Style
sheet.............................................................................36
5.0
XML..........................................................................................................
..37
Business Events
..........................................................................................38
Oracle XML
Gateway................................................................................38
How it
works...............................................................................................39
Setup steps for
Model2..............................................................................41
Setup by Buyer in Oracle XML Gateway
...........................................41
Set Up System Administrator Profile Options for XML Gateway.43
Setup on Supplier’s
System...................................................................43
Process submission by the
buyer..............................................................43
Create a PO and approve it
..................................................................43
6.0
EDI............................................................................................................
44
Introduction.........................................................................................
........44

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 5

 Oracle e -Commerce Gateway
.............................................................44
How it works?
.............................................................................................45
Outbound Flow of a Transaction with Oracle e-Commerce
Gateway............................................................................................
.......45
Inbound Flow of a Transaction with Oracle e-Commerce
Gateway45
Oracle Purchasing’s integration with e-commerce
Gateway................46 Setup
steps...................................................................................................4
6
Setup Profile Options............................................................................47
Purchasing Options Setup ....................................................................47
Set Up Trading Partners........................................................................47
Business Views............................................................................................51
Columns Updated Upon Extraction...................................................51
Sample Output............................................................................................52

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 6

 Article On Purchasing Communication Methods

INTRODUCTION
In business world, communication of documents between legal entities is
crucial.
They play an important role in driving the business. Oracle Advanced
Procurement Suite of Applications supports variety of communication methods
starting traditional Postal mails to the recent PDF document communicated
through Email and automatic communication of documents through XML and
EDI.

This document explains the different types of communication methods

supported in Oracle Advanced Procurement Suite of Applications and steps to
set them up and salient features of them.

Print
Fax
Email
XML EDI

1.0 PRINT
This is one of the traditional communication methods. The legal documents
[Purchase orders and Purchase agreements] are printed on pre-printed
stationeries and sent to suppliers though normal postal service.

Choosing the format of document for communication

In Setup/Organizations/Purchasing options, there is an option to choose
between whether the communication should happen in text format or in PDF
format.
Choosing this option will determine in which format document will be
generated. We will review more about this option in later sections.

Text Format

The Printed Purchase Order report [Landscape and Portrait] generates the
document in text format. The document is printed on a printer setup in the
system. The document can be printed on pre-printed stationeries, which has
the company logo and other required legal declarations [like confidential etc].
To support this the report output we will not hard code any headings/labels.
PDF

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PDF is the new communication functionality for Oracle Purchasing in 11i10. By
choosing this, the document generated for communication will be of PDF
format rather than text format. PDF output will be used in following
communication methods: Print, Fax and email. We will discuss more about this
option in later sections.

Setting up
Minimum steps for printing are:
• Setup the Printer

This is explained in depth in system administrator’s guide. Please refer

Printers Section in System Administrator’s Guide - ConIguration document. •
Get pre-printed stationeries
To give a special touch up to the legal document, get a pre-printed
stationary with company logo on Top-Left corner and with labels and
legal declarations. Since the report is always printed in ‘Ever green
format’, these pre-printed stationeries can be used to print out the
documents.
• Run Printed Purchase Order by feeding the above pre-printed
stationeries.
Here are some important parameters and their impact on report output.

Report parameters
Print Selection
This parameter determines what type of documents needs to be
printed. This parameter can have the following values: New, Changed,
All.
New: Print only the new documents, which are never been
communicated.
Changed: Print only Changed documents that have been
communicated at least once in the past.
All: Print all the documents.
Purchase Order Numbers From/To
Provide the range of document Numbers to Print.
Release Numbers From/To
Provide the range of Release Numbers to Print
Release Dates From/To
Provide the range of release dates to print. This is applicable only for
Releases.
Approved
Whether to Print the Approved documents or all documents.

Test

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 Indicate whether the document is actually being printed for sending it
to the supplier or is just being printed for internal verification. If it is
passed as Yes, then we also print a text “This is a test copy of the
document”.
Print Releases Option
When printing Blanket Agreements buyer can use this option to specify
whether to print the corresponding releases also or not.
Sort By
Specifies the order in which the documents should be printed
Dynamic Precision Option
Since the quantities does not have any default rounding mechanism
Printed PO report uses this argument to find out the precision to which
the quantities needs to be rounded. Most of the purchasing reports
use this argument.
Fax Enabled / Fax Number
This parameter determines whether it is a Print Request or a fax
request. If it is a fax request, then the fax number should also be
specified. Please refer the Fax communication method section for
more information.

Launching Printed PO report from Approval

For any supplier/supplier site, buyer can setup default communication method.
This option is available in the Suppliers supplier site screen. Here we can
choose the defaults between the traditional communication methods; Print,
Fax and e-Mail.
The advanced communication methods like EDI and XML needs separate setup
like trading partners. Hence in this screen they are not available for defaulting
purpose.
If the advanced communication methods like EDI and XML are setup, then they
take the precedence over the traditional communication methods like Print,
Fax and e-Mail.

Supplier site window with Print as communication method:

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If the supplier site ‘Default communication method’ is choose as Print then the
buyer can optionally choose to Print the document at the end of approval
process. This option is available in the Approval submission window.
Approval window choosing print:

Printed Purchase Order report output

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2.0 FAX
Next traditional method we are going to see is facsimiles. Oracle Purchasing
supports facsimile transmission of Purchasing Documents in text as well as in
PDF format. For documents text format, purchasing uses the Printed PO report
as base. For PDF communication, the PDF document is used as base.

How it works?

Text Format

The fax server is configured as a printer in application. Buyer will choose this fax
server (printer) while submitting the fax request.
To fax, the buyer submits the Printed PO report with Fax parameter as ‘Yes’. In
addition the fax number is also provided as parameter. The report prints the
document wrapping inside the Fax Control codes. The report output is directed
to the fax server (printer).
Fax server interprets the control codes and starts transmission when it
encounters the Start control codes. The transmission is terminated when the
fax server encounters the end control codes.
PDF Format

The fax should be capable of transmitting the PDF documents. The server is
configured to listen to a directory in the system in Oracle applications network.
Whenever a new control file is generated in this directory, fax server will pick
up the control file and transmit the document to the specified location.
To fax the document, the buyer will submit the request ‘PO Output for
Communication’ with Fax as parameter. This program generates the PDF
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 11
document and also generates a control codes file. The control codes file will be
placed in the directory specified in the profile option ‘PO: Fax Output Directory
for the PO Document’
Since the fax server is configured to listen to this directory, once the control file
is generated the fax server will transmit the document.

Sample Output

Output when the format is PDF

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{{BEGIN}}
{{FAX 408524-7661}}
{{ATTACH
/conclog/log/unclass/lv115dyp/out/o2763510.out}}
<Attach the PDF document>
{{END}}

Setup steps

Select the communication method as ‘Fax’ for supplier site

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Faxing at the end of approval

At the end of approval process, buyer can optionally choose to fax the
document. This option is available in the Approval window. Buyer needs to
check the fax check box and to fill up the fax number. Then at the end of
approval process depending on the document format chosen, corresponding
output will be generated and faxed to the suppliers automatically.

3.0 EMAIL
Next communication method is email. Emailing the Purchasing documents is an
easy to use, cheaper and reliable communication method. Oracle Purchasing
supports emailing purchasing documents to suppliers

How it works?
Oracle Purchasing leverages the Oracle Workflow’s capabilities to email the
Purchasing Documents. Oracle Workflow provides a facility to email the
notifications to the specified workflow user. Purchasing uses this concept to
send the Purchasing documents to the suppliers. The document can be sent in
HTML or in the PDF format.

Features of Oracle Workflow

Oracle Workflow delivers a complete workflow management system that

supports business process based integration. Its technology enables modeling,
automation, and continuous improvement of business processes, routing
information of any type according to user–defined business rules.
Oracle Workflow sends a notification to a workflow role when the Workflow
Engine executes a notification activity in a workflow process. The notification
activity may designate the role as being responsible for performing some
human action or may simply relay process–related information to the role. To
successfully deliver a notification to a role, the role must be defined in the
Oracle Workflow directory service.
The notification can be delivered to the persons email inbox if the notification
preference is set to ’Plain text mail’, ’HTML mail with attachments’, ’HTML
mail’, or ’Plain text mail with attachments’ in the User Preferences web page.
Also the notification mailer should be setup and running.
Documents can be added to notifications using the document type attributes.
The document type attributes can call plsql functions to get varchar2, clob or
blob object as return. This object is embedded to the notification.
Please refer the Workflow Developer’s Guide for more information.
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 14
HTML format

If the document output format in purchasing options is chosen as Text, then

purchasing emails the documents in HTML format. The document is
constructed by three document type attributes.

Po_Email_Header 'PLSQL:
PO_EMAIL_GENERATE.GENERATE_HEADER/'||
To_Char (Documentid) || ':' || Documenttypecode

Po_Email_Body 'PLSQLCLOB:
PO_EMAIL_GENERATE.GENERATE_HTML/'||
To_Char (Documentid) || ':' || Documenttypecode

Po_Terms_Condition 'PLSQLCLOB:
s PO_EMAIL_GENERATE.GENERATE_TERMS/'||
L_Itemtype || ':' || L_Itemkey

These three attributes are appended to construct a dynamic HTML notification.

This HTML notification is then sent to the supplier.
The Po_Email_Header attribute constructs the header information of the
document. The Po_Email_Body attribute constructs the line information of the
document. The Po_Terms_Conditions attribute collects the Terms and
Conditions from the text file placed in the specific location.

Working Principle

Oracle Workflow sends notifications only to a valid workflow user (role). So

Oracle Purchasing uses the following logic to send the notification to the
supplier eMail address.
• Collect the email address of the supplier from the supplier site or from
the buyer on submission of approval.
• During approval, purchasing creates an adHocRole in the workflow
directory services with name as eMailAddressOftheSupplier”||Language.
The language is the supplier language, which is specified in the supplier
site screen. This adHocRole is created using the directory services APIs.
This is done in the activity Po_Reqapproval_Init1.Email_Doc_Yes_No.
• This adHocRole will be having notification preference set to HTML Mail.
Hence any notifications sent to this adHocRole will reach the Supplier
email Address.
• After approval a notification is added. This notification is constructed
using the above attributes mentioned. The performer of the notification
is chosen as the adHocRole just created.
• When the workflow engine encounters the above notification, the
message is generated and handed over to workflow mailer to send the
document to the supplier email address.
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 15
PDF format

In Purchasing Options if PDF format is selected then the PDF output is

generated and this PDF document is selected in to a document type of attribute
[PDF_ATTACHMENT]. This attribute is then attached to the notification. Hence
when the mail is sent, the attribute PDF_ATTACHMENT content (which is pdf
document) is also sent to the supplier. Otherwise the working principle remains
same.

Setup steps

Supplier Site

While creating the Supplier site, make sure to provide the correct language of
the supplier site. Choose the default communication method as Email and
provide the default email address to use in the E-mail field.

Set the Profile Options

Now we need to set few profile options to complete the Email PO setup.
Navigate to: Sysadmin=>Profiles=>System
Set the profile option PO: Secondary Email address to a generic Email address
(PurchasingDept@Company.com) to which also the purchase order will be sent.
This back up Email can be used for internal reference or to forward to supplier
in case if it is missed some how.
Set the PO: In File Path profile option to a UNIX directory in which the terms
and conditions file will be placed. Make sure that the directory required
permissions.
Login to Unix and place the terms and conditions in the above-mentioned
directory.
Set the PO: Terms and Conditions filename option to a valid file name.
When the Mail is sent the above file will be attached to the Email. First the
system will search for file named FileName_<SupplierLang>. If it is not found
then it will search for file named FileName_<BaseLang>. If that is also not found
then it will search for file named FileName.

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 16

Create and Approve PO

The buyer can optionally choose to email the Purchase order at the end of
approval process. This option is available in the Approval window. If the Email
option is chosen then at the end of approval process a notification will be
generated for the supplier. This notification will be emailed to the supplier
email address specified in the approval window.
While sending the document, the general Terms and Conditions also added
form the location mentioned in the above profile options.

What happens in Approval?

When the PO is submitted for Approval, the Approval workflow process is
triggered from with the Email Notification Option and the Email Address
entered in the Purchase Order Approval Window. Normal approval flow
happens. At the end of the approval, the document is sent to the supplier as
Email. During the approval the data is stored in the workflow tables.
Area Of Interest Object Of Interest

Workflow File poxwfpoa.wft

Workflow Process Email_Doc_Process And

Email_Doc_Process_Co

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 Workflow Attributes Email_Document, Email_Address,
Po_Email_Header, Po_Email_Body,
Po_Terms_Conditions,
Po_Wf_Email_Performer,
Email_Add_From_Profile

Procedures Of Interest Po_Reqapproval_Init1.Email_Doc_Yes_No

And Package Email_Po_Generate

At the time of starting of the workflow, the Email address entered in the
approval window is populated in to the workflow attribute EMAIL_ADDRESS.
In addition to the supplier address, the document also can be copied to an
internal Email address. The profile option ‘PO: Secondary Email Address’ holds
the secondary email address to which the document will be sent. This is used as
a backup copy. Incase if the supplier does not receive the original copy of the
Email, then the secondary copy can be forwarded to them.

Sample Purchase Order Emails

Standard Purchase Order: For Your Review - Standard PO 3510,

Important Queries for Email Purchase Orders

Script to check the workflow status and po_wf_debug data. Get the Item
Type and Item Key from the po_headers_all table.

SELECT wf_item_type, wf_item_key FROM

po_headers
WHERE segment1 = ‘&PO_Number’;

Run the wfstat from $FND_TOP/sql using the above Item_Type and Item_key
@wfstat.sql POAPPRV <ITEM_KEY>. Spool the output for reference.

Run the following SQL to get the po_wf_debug

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SELECT debug_message FROM po_wf_debug WHERE itemtype = ‘POAPPRV’ and
itemkey = ‘&ItemKey’ ORDER BY execution_sequence;

To check the AdHocUser Setup.

Get the AdHocUserName from the wfstat output in the User Column for
EMAIL_PO_NOTIFICATION activity.
…
22-AUG-03 22:59:52
EMAIL_DOC_PROCESS/EMAIL_PO_NOTIFICATION COMPLETE
#NULL HYDERABAD2252 40455 O
…
In the above HYDERABAD2252 is AdHocUser name and 40455 is Email
notification id.

Run the following SQL to check the AdHocUser setup

SELECT *
FROM wf_users
WHERE name = ‘&UserName’;

To check the Mail status

Run the following SQL to verify the notification status. This should be ‘SENT’
and not ‘FAIL’. If it is ‘OPEN’, it means the notification mailer is not yet sent the
mail.
SELECT status, mail_status FROM
wf_notifications
WHERE notification_id = &NotificationId

To Verify the Mail content from sqlplus

Run the bde_wf_notif.sql with the Email Purchase Order Notification id to verify
the Email content in the sqlplus.

R12 feature to support communication of nontext attachments through email:

The Enter PO form supports various types of attachments (excel sheet, pdf files,
MS document etc) to be used along with the PO. The current PO PDF 11.5.10
functionality, however, allows only for text attachments (both short text and
long text) at the header, line and shipment levels when the PO Communicate
option is used for printing, faxing or emailing. This functionality is extended to
support the other types of attachments that are already supported in the Enter
PO form.

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 19

View Attachments in PDF PO

The PDF PO can be accessed from the following forms: Enter PO, Enter
Releases, PO Summary, and Approval Notification. This pdf would display the
names of the attachments according to the level they reference. All HTML files
and web pages will appear as hyperlinks. When the user clicks on one of these
hyperlinks, a new window should open with the attachment. All other types of
attachments would be classified as type “File”. Their contents cannot be viewed
directly from the purchase order.

Communicate Attachments via Email

When communicating purchase orders via email, it should be possible to

communicate the “File” type attachments. All “File” type attachments would be
zipped into a single zip file. By default this zip file will be named
‘Attachments.zip’. The filename for the compressed file can be changed by the
user in the Purchasing Options page. The maximum size of the zip file would be
defined as “Maximum Attachment Size” under the Document Control section of
Purchasing Options.
If the zip file is below the maximum allowable size, then it would be e-mailed
along with the pdf PO. Otherwise, the PO would be e-mailed without the
attachment and workflow mailer would send a notification to both buyer and
supplier to alert them of the fact that attachments could not be communicated.
The snapshot below shows the new fields “Maximum Attachment Size” (in MB)
and 'Email Attachment Filename' in the “Purchasing Options” page.

4.0 PDF – IN DEPTH

The above-mentioned communication methods can happen in the form of Text
or in the form of PDF. The text format of output enforces a fixed layout. This is
a major restriction as some customers might have some special attributes that
need to be communicated to the suppliers. So they end up in customizing the
reports. Oracle Purchasing provides a new flexibility to the customer by
separating the data layer from the presentation layer.

Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 20

Before we get in to the complete PDF flow, let us re-collect some important
concepts.

What is XML?
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a standard for creating markup languages,
which describe the structure of data. It is not a fixed set of elements
like HTML, but rather, it is like SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language)
in that it is a meta language, or a language for describing languages.
XML enables authors to define their own tags. XML is a formal specification of
the World Wide Web Consortium.
Please refer http://www.w3schools.com/xml/ for more information on XML

What is XSL?
XSL stands for Extensible Style sheet Language.XSL describes how the XML
document should be displayed.

XSL consists of three parts:

XSLT - a language for transforming XML documents XPath

- a language for navigating in XML documents
XSL-FO - a language for formatting XML documents

XSLT = XSL Transformations

XSLT is the most important part of XSL.XSLT is used to transform an XML

document into another XML document, or another type of document that is
recognized by a browser, like HTML and XHTML. Normally XSLT does this by
transforming each XML element into an (X)HTML element. With XSLT you can
add/remove elements and attributes to or from the output file. You can also
rearrange and sort elements, perform tests and make decisions about which
elements to hide and display, and a lot more. A common way to describe the
transformation process is to say that XSLT transforms an XML source-tree into
an XML result-tree.

XSLT Uses XPath:

XSLT uses XPath to find information in an XML document. XPath is used to

navigate through elements and attributes in XML documents. In the
transformation process, XSLT uses XPath to define parts of the source
document that should match one or more predefined templates. When a
match is found, XSLT will transform the matching part of the source document
into the result document.

XSL-FO:
XSL-FO stands for Extensible Style sheet Language Formatting Objects.XSL-FO is
an XML-based markup language describing the formatting of XML data for
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 21
output to screen, paper or other media. XSL-FO documents are XML files with
output information. They contain information about the output layout and
output contents. XSL-FO documents are stored in files with a .fo or a .fob file
extension.
It is also quite common to see XSL-FO documents stored with an .xml extension,
because this makes them more accessible to XML editors.

XML Publisher
Oracle XML Publisher is a new java based product available within the
technology stack of the E-Business suite. Utilizing a set of familiar desktop tools
such as Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word users can create and maintain their
own report formats based on development delivered xml data extracts. XML
Publisher will then convert these documents to the XSL-FO format. Users can
also obtain 3rd party provided PDF forms e.g. government tax forms and merge
xml data generated from the E-Business Suite to fill the forms with the required
data.

Please refer http://xdo.us.oracle.com/ for more information

Advantages of PDF over Text format

Buyers can customize the document layout as per their business needs to
include:
• Company logo image
• Standard legal disclaimers
Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 22
 • Important DFF information

Buyers can communicate the contract terms attached to the purchasing

document. Just changing the layout without changing the code can do all this.
Also PDF document gives a professional appearance. Since the data and
presentation layers are separated, customization of the lay out (XSL-FO) is
simple and easy. There are many UI tools that assist in customizing the
templates.

Buyers will be able to view the Purchasing documents online through View
Documents before communicating to the supplier. Also the same PDF
format will be accessible through iSupplier Portal too.

Please note that at this point, Oracle Purchasing does not support the Planned
Purchase order and Scheduled Release documents in PDF format.

Prereq for PDF Document Generation

The pdf document is generated by the XML Publisher APIs. Hence the XML
Publisher should be installed to generate the pdf documents. Also to use
Contracts Terms in purchasing documents, Procurement Contracts should be
installed.

Overview of the PDF document generation solution

The following flow depicts the flow for generating PDF purchasing documents.
The PO communication API receives the communication request from different
modules within Purchase applications: Sourcing, iSupplier and Core Purchasing.
To fulfill the request the communication API must:
Generate the XML PO meta-data
Store style sheets (xsl-fo) or pdf templates in the template repository. Associate
the stylesheets/PDF Templates in the template repository to PO Document
Types. Make use of the above association to apply the preferred style sheet to
the XML at run time.
Invoke the XMLPublisher provided API's to generate the pdf documment based
on the XML/XSL-FO or XML/PDF templates combinations.
Store the PDF document generated as attachments to the PO and in the
Contracts repository. Retrieve the stored PDF documents for online
preview/Print/Email/Fax operations.

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XML Generation

To generate the PDF, the data is collected in the form of XML. For purchasing
documents we might need two different XML documents; One XML for
purchasing document and another XML for the contract terms document

The procedure PO_COMMUNICATION_PVT.POXMLGEN generates the xml

content. It uses DBMS_XMLGEN utility to generate the xml. For 8i database it
uses DBMS_XMLQUERY utility. To avoid the compilation issues, the complete
block is constructed and executed as a dynamic block.

The following business views are used to get the xml data. The XML is merely a
select * from these views: po_headers_xml, po_lines_xml,
po_line_locations_xml, po_distribution_xml, po_headers_archive_xml,
po_lines_archive_xml, po_line_locations_archive_xml,
po_distribution_archive_xml.

Depending on which revision to communicate, either the main tables or the

archive tables are used to construct the XML data.

XSL Style Sheets

Oracle purchasing seeds standard style sheets with frequently used layout. The
following are the seeded style sheets.
• Standard Purchase Order Style sheet
• Blanket Agreement Style sheet
• Contract Agreement Style sheet
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 • Blanket Release Style sheet
In addition to the XSL style sheets, purchasing also supports PDF templates.
These PDF templates can be easily created using the Acrobat Writer.

Generate Documents API

The following are the important class variables and their purpose.
m_documentId //represents document id (po_header_id or po_release_id)
m_documentType m_languageCode m_revisionNum m_documentSubtype
//if required m_orgId m_authorizationStatus m_withTerms // “Y”,”N”,”C”
m_storeFlag // “Y”, “N”.”Y” indicates that PDF document needs to be stored in
the repository
m_PDF // has the generated pdf as a BLOB/Stream based on XMLPublisher
API’s m_POXML // PO data as a CLOB m_POXSL // this will have the po
stylesheet in the form of BLOB/Stream based on Template Repository API’s
m_POHasTermsConditions //indicates whether the po has Terms and
Conditions m_POIsSigned //indicates whether the po has been signed atleast
once or not m_archiveOn // print or communicate m_amendmentProfile
m_viewOrCommunicate //view or Communicate m_documentTemplateType
//XSLFO or TEMPLATE (pdf template) m_contractsXML m_contractsXSL
m_fileName m_documentTemplateID

m_connection
m_testFlag
m_regenFlag

Constructors

GenerateDocument (documentId, RevisionNum, documentType,

documentSubType, orgId, AuthorizationStatus, languageCode, withTerms,
storeFlag, viewOrCommunicate, conn)
GenerateDocument (documentId, RevisionNum, documentType,
documentSubType, orgId, AuthorizationStatus, languageCode, withTerms,
storeFlag, viewOrCommunicate, testFlag, conn)
GenerateDocument (documentId, RevisionNum, documentType,
documentSubType, orgId, AuthorizationStatus, languageCode, withTerms,
storeFlag, viewOrCommunicate, regenFlag, conn)

Methods

GetDocument () //which checks in the repository whether the pdf file exists or
not
GetPOXML () //generates the XML for the given document

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GetPOXSL () //retrieves the document template/type from the template
repository
GetContractXML () //get the Contract XML
GetContractXSL () //retrieve the contract template from the template
repository
GenDoc () //generates the pdf document and returns a BLOB

Generate PDF Document (genDoc)

Generate documents API uses the below logic to determine whether to

generate the PO or to retrieve the PO from the DB. Also this determines
whether to or not to store the generated pdf document in the database.

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XDO API’s

After generating the XML data and retrieving the XSL from the database
Generate Documents API calls the XDO APIs to generate the PDF document.
This API takes the XML and XSL as parameters and generates the pdf. Below is

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the systematic flow of pdf generation when the document and contracts layout
is a style sheet.

If the document and contract uses different types of layout (style sheet, pdf
template), the generate pdf follows the below logic to generate the pdf
document.

Setup Steps

Purchasing Options

In the Setup->Purchasing options screen choose PDF value for the ‘PO Output
format’ field. This value is used to determine the format in which the document
needs to be communicated.

Select the Style sheets

For each document type, buyers can choose the layout in which the pdf would
be generated. The layout can be selected for the document as well as for the
contract terms. The layout can be a seeded or a customized one. These layouts
are stored in the XML Publisher repository.
Navigate to Setup->Purchasing->Document Types and associate the style sheets
as shown below:

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Triggering Points of PDF generation
The pdf document generation can be initiated from the following points. The
generated documents are used to communicate the supplier/approver and to
buyers. Depending on the triggering point the generated document could
contain different contents.

The generated PDF document is marked as DRAFT if the document is in one of

the following conditions:
• Document status is Incomplete or requires re-approval
• Document status is Pre-Approved because of pending approval
• Document status is In-Process because approval is not complete

If document is pre-approved, the internal flag requires_signature is checked,

and acceptance required is document and signature (binding design), the draft
word doesn’t apply. In this situation the document is pending signature and the
supplier shouldn’t see the word draft.

Following are the triggering points of PDF generation:

• Enter Purchase Order form Inquire View Document
• Enter Releases Order form Inquire View Document
• Purchase Order summary form Inquire View Document
• Tools->Communicate from PO Summary form
• Approval of the PO or Release
During the approval process three pdfs will be generated. The PO document will
be stored in the fnd repository as an attachment to the PO or Release header
and the contracts document will be stored in the contracts repository.
PDF with T’s & C’s in Buyers Language
PDF without T’s &C’s in Buyers Language
PDF without T’s &C’s in Suppliers Language

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Sample outputs
Here is a sample output of the pdf document with contract terms. First page of
the document is the cover page. This page is generated separately and added
to the main document. The next section is the document details. The next
section is the contract terms and conditions. The last page contains space for
signature of the buyer and the supplier for legal purpose.

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Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 31
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Communication on demand
In addition to the normal communication methods a new option is added in the
Purchase Order summary form. Using Tools Communicate option the buyers
can communicate the purchasing documents to the suppliers on need basis.
This option supports all communication methods.

Also optionally the buyers can choose the language of communication as well
decide whether to communicate the terms and conditions or not.

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Article On Purchasing Communication Methods Page 35
PO Output for Communication Concurrent Program

The concurrent Program PO Output for Communication is designed to generate

the PDF documents. This program allows printing a range of purchasing
documents in one request. Following is the request submission screen. The
arguments are self-explanatory.

One important argument to note is the ‘Test’ flag. This can be Yes, No or Debug.
The values Yes and No has the same meaning as the Printed Purchase Order
report. If the value for this flag is passed as Debug, then the XML and XSL
contents are printed in the log file. Also the XML Publisher APIs are not called.
This option is very useful to debug any issues with this program. This can be
used to separate the issues between purchasing, Procurement Contracts and
XML Publisher.

Customizing Style sheet

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As we saw already the style sheets are maintained in the XML Publisher
repository. If the customer has any need to customize the style sheet, they can
navigate to the XML Publisher Administrator responsibility. There they can
query for any existing style sheets.

But important point to note is, the customer cannot customize the seeded style
sheets. They need to make a copy of the seeded style sheet and then customize
it as per their requirement.

Duplicate a style sheet.

After duplicate the style sheet, they can download the same from XML
Publisher.

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Then the customer can make the required modifications to this downloaded
style sheet. Once the modifications are done, they can upload the style sheet
again to XML Publisher.

Now click on ‘Update’ to update the template file with throne you have
modified

Now the modified style sheet should be selected in the Document Types form.
Incase if there is any issues with the customized style sheet, the customer can
test the PDF generation using the seeded style sheet. This will help them in
identifying whether issue is with the style sheet or with the code.

5.0 XML
XML is one of the automatic methods of communication used by Purchasing to
send the Purchase orders to the suppliers. This communication method
leverages Business Events Feature of Oracle workflow for communication.

Business Events
The Oracle Workflow Business Event System is an application service that
leverages the Oracle Advanced Queuing (AQ) infrastructure to communicate
business events between systems. The Business Event System consists of the
Event Manager and workflow process event activities.
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The Event Manager contains a registry of business events, systems, named
communication agents within those systems, and subscriptions indicating that
an event is significant to a particular system. Events can be raised locally or
received from an external system or the local system through AQ. When a local
event occurs, the subscribing code is executed in the same transaction as the
code that raised the event, unless the subscriptions are deferred.
Subscriptions can include the following types of processing:
• Executing custom code on the event information
• Sending event information to a workflow process
• Sending event information to other queues or systems
You can set up subscriptions, which cause messages to be sent from one system
to another when business events occur. In this way, you can use the Event
Manager to implement point–to–point messaging integration.

Oracle XML Gateway

Oracle XML Gateway integrates with the Oracle E-Business Suite to create or
consume XML messages based on application business events. Oracle XML
Gateway creates or consumes standards compliant XML messages without the
use of a translator. Oracle XML Gateway provides a common, standards-based
approach for XML integration between the Oracle E-Business Suite and third
party applications, both inside and outside of your enterprise.
Please refer the below link for more info:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/applications/XML_EDI_Gateways
/index.html
Oracle Purchasing integrates with Oracle XML Gateway to generate an XML
document. XML Gateway generates XML document based on the following:
• PO document data in Oracle Applications
• Document type definitions (DTDs) stored in Oracle Applications
• Setup in XML Gateway including optional data mapping

XML Gateway does not support all the document types. XML Gateway supports
only the following purchasing documents.

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How it works

• When a purchasing document is approved, approval workflow raises a

business event ‘Raise Set XML’ with the po_header_id/po_release_id.
This event is enqueued to the AQ used by workflow event manager.

• The workflow even manager dequeues the AQ for events and looks out
for the subscriptions. In this case the POXML workflow is subscribed to
this event. This workflow receives the event with document header id and
does the necessary checks to ensure that XML is chosen in the PO
approval window and the trading partner is setup and then raises an
event ‘Raise XML
Poevent’

• The Event is received by the below process and generates the XML
document. Additionally, XML Gateway provides optional data mapping
that enables the buyer to convert certain data in the XML document
before transmitting it to the supplier.

XML Gateway then passes the generated XML document to an AQ to be picked

up by the Oracle Transport Agent.

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 • OTA offers a message transport layer between two systems (in this case
buyer and supplier). The key benefit is guaranteed, exactly one-time
delivery of message over HTTP (S), when both systems are using OTA.
This is how it works: OTA in the buyer’s Oracle Applications system picks
up the XML document from the outbound AQ where the XML Gateway
placed it. When OTA in the buyer’s system communicates with the
transport layer in the supplier’s system, the XML document is sent to the
supplier’s system over the Internet. The security of the document when
transmitted depends on whether an HTTP or HTTPS protocol is set up for
transmission.

XML Gateway uses the following two models to send the XML documents
to the supplier
• Model1: XML documents are sent to the supplier by the way of the
Oracle Exchange
• Model2: XML documents are sent to the supplier directly.

Setup steps for Model2

Setup by Buyer in Oracle XML Gateway

The setup for Oracle XML Gateway by the buyer includes entering data in the
Trading Partner Setup window. Select the XML Gateway responsibility.

Trading Partners Setup Window

The Trading Partner Setup window is used to enable messages to be processed

through the XML Gateway engine for the trading partner (in this case supplier
site). During message processing by Oracle XML Gateway, trading partner setup
data is used to:

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Link a particular address location in Oracle Applications to the trading partner
definition in XML Gateway.
Provide a means of telling the execution engine which trading partner message
map to use.
Enable specific transactions for trading partner and mode of delivery.

Details Information - Trading Partner Setup Window

In the Trading Partner Details region, enter information for the New PO
document as follows

Transaction Type
It is the standard product short code for the base Oracle Application. Type PO
is for Purchasing, and subtype PRO is for Process PO (i.e. a new purchasing
document). For change order transmission POCO subtype should be selected.
The last letter of the subtype signifies the direction of messaging.

Standard Code
This code represents the XML format to be used. Oracle supports most widely
accepted OAG standard. This is best suited for any B2B applications
communication.
Note: The Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGi) is a not-for-profit
open standards group building process-based XML standards for both
B2B and A2A integration. The Open Applications Group was formed in
late 1994 as the first postEDI organization focusing on improving the
state of application integration.
Website: http://www.openapplications.org/
External Transaction Type
External Transaction Type and subtype are the primary external identifier for
the XML message. For new purchasing document, text ‘SOP’ is used.

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Direction
This code identifies the direction of the transaction. The value IN identifies an
inbound message, and the value OUT identifies an outbound message. The
value displayed is OUT.

Map
This is the name of the map created using the XML Gateway Message Designer.
Select PROCESS_PO_007 from the LOV. (Although you can customize this map,
Oracle does not support the customizations.)

Connection/Hub
This option is used to select whether it is a direct communication to the
supplier site or through a hub like Oracle Exchange. If it is DIRECT
communication method, then the following details must be furnished: Protocol,
Address where the xml document should be posted by the Transport Agent and
the username/password for authentication in the destination server.

Set Up System Administrator Profile Options for XML Gateway

ECX: Log File Path

This is used to define the XML Message and Process Log Directory. This
directory should be listed as one of the utl_file_dir. Also make sure that the
directory has correct permission settings.

ECX: System Administrator Email Address

This is used to identify the XML Gateway system administrator or contact

person e–mail address to notify when a system or process error is detected.

ECX_OAG_LOGICALID

This is used by the sending application to enter the Identifier in the XML
message.

Setup on Supplier’s System

The supplier company needs to perform all necessary setup to enable the
supplier’s system to receive the XML documents transmitted by the buyer
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directly. The supplier should use the same OAGI standard XML documents used
by the buyer company. In addition, the supplier needs to use the same
Extensions DTD as used by the buyer company to ensure all information
transmitted by the buyer is received. The Extensions DTD specifies fields used
by Oracle to provide additional information.

Process submission by the buyer

Create a PO and approve it

On submission the XML flag will be checked automatically. During approval

based on the xml_flag in the approval window, the xml flag is updated on the
headers table. Later in approval, this flag is used to check whether to send the
document in xml gateway or not.

6.0 EDI

Introduction
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of
structured information, by agreed message standards, from one computer
application to another by electronic means and with a minimum of human
intervention eliminating paper work. In common usage, EDI is understood to
mean specific interchange methods agreed upon by national or international
standards bodies for the transfer of business transaction data, with one
typical application being the automated purchase of goods and services.

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Oracle e -Commerce Gateway

Oracle e-Commerce Gateway provides a common, standards-based approach

for EDI integration between the Oracle E-Business Suite and third party
applications. Oracle e-Commerce Gateway integrates with the Oracle E-
Business Suite to extract or import ASCII flat files. A third party EDI Translator is
required to map the flat file data between the Oracle E-Business Suite and the
EDI standard of choice such as ASC X12 or EDIFACT.

How it works?
Oracle e-Commerce Gateway collects all of the business data needed to map to
a standard EDI transaction, which the receiving Trading Partner can interpret
properly into their receiving application using their equivalent of Oracle
eCommerce Gateway/Translator setup.
Oracle e-Commerce Gateway extracts outbound transaction data from
application tables and loads inbound transactions into the base Oracle
Application Open Interface tables.

Outbound Flow of a Transaction with Oracle e-Commerce Gateway

During outbound flow the document first recorded in the Oracle system. Then
the e-Commerce Gateway collects the data and generates in to a flat file in
Oracle standard format. Then a third party translator converts the flat file in to
ASCII standard format. This file is then transmitted to the supplier site by
conventional means.

Inbound Flow of a Transaction with Oracle e-Commerce Gateway

During inbound flow, the oracle host system administrator receives the flat file
(in ASCII format) from the trading partners. The EDI Translator converts this flat
file in to oracle standard format. Oracle e-Commerce Gateway processes flat
file and populates the business data into the open interface tables of Oracle
Applications.

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Oracle Purchasing’s integration with e-commerce Gateway

Oracle Purchasing uses the e-Commerce Gateway to communicate the

documents to the suppliers and to record the acceptances. The following
purchasing transactions are supported by e-Commerce Gateway.

The following table lists the transactions that integrate with Oracle Purchasing

The following purchasing documents are supported for EDI communication

• Standard PO
• Blanket PO
• Blanket Release
• Contract PO
• Planned PO

Setup steps
Here is the flow for setting up and running e-Commerce Gateway for Oracle
Purchasing.

• Set up required profile options in Purchasing and e-Commerce Gateway

• Create supplier, supplier site in Oracle Purchasing

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 • Set Up Trading Partners in Oracle e-commerce Gateway
• Create a PO and approve the PO. PO approval window will have 'EDI'
communication selected by default as a result of the trading partner
setup done in step 3.
• Run the outbound concurrent program ‘OUT: Purchase Order
(850/ORDERS)’ in e-Commerce Gateway to generate the flat file.

Setup Profile Options

Navigate to e-Commerce Gateway responsibility. Setup->Profile Options.Make

sure that the following profile options are entered:

System Profile Option Description

ECE:OUT_FILE_PATH Indicates the directory to which

outbound data files are written. The
directory mentioned here should
match the utl_file_dir parameter in
the
INIT.ORA file
ECE_POO_ENABLED Set this value to ‘Yes’ to enable the
PO Outbound transaction to be
processed by Oracle e-Commerce
Gateway.
ECE_POCO_ENABLED To enable Change Order PO
Outbound transaction set this profile
to ‘Yes’

Purchasing Options Setup

Navigate to Oracle Purchasing responsibility. Setup->DocumentTypes.Set the

"Archive on” option to “Approve" for each document type enabled.
Note: DO NOT set the attribute to "Archive on Print." This prevents the eligible
purchase orders from being extracted since they will print and archive before
the extract can happen.

Set Up Trading Partners

Setting up Trading Partner involves defining a Trading Partner Group and

assigning the supplier to the trading partner and entering the transaction
details for the trading partner.
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Define Trading Partner Group

Navigate to Oracle e-commerce Gateway responsibility.

Setup Trading Partners. Enter a new Trading Partner Group name. Select
the new button to define a Trading Partner.

Define Trading Partner – Assignment

In the Define Trading Partner window, select the Assignment tab. Associate the
supplier and supplier site to the trading partner.

Define Trading Partner - Details

In the Define Trading Partner window, select the Details tab. select the
transaction as:

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‘OUT: Purchase Order (850/ORDERS)’ for new purchasing documents and ‘’ for
changed purchasing documents. Transaction type is the document type of
interest.

The Map field gets defaulted based on the transaction and transaction type if it
is already setup. This map gives the relation between business data fields and
the position of the fields in the flat file. E-Commerce gateway seeded
predefined standards.

Check the enable check box.

Define Trading Partner - Contact (Optional)

In the Define Trading Partner window, select the Contact tab. The information
on the contact tab is optional. It contains contact data for the specified trading
partner. It may be used by the EDI Coordinator for the trading partner’s EDI
Coordinator’s contact data. This data is for reference only. It is not used by
Oracle e-Commerce Gateway.

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Create and Approve the PO

Navigate to Oracle Purchasing responsibility, Enter Purchase Order’s form.

Create a purchasing document with the supplier site defined and approve the
document.

Run the concurrent program

Navigate to e-commerce Gateway responsibility and View Requests and
run the concurrent program
‘OUT: Purchase Order {850/ORDERS)’ for new documents and ‘OUT: Purchase
Order Change (860/ORDCHG)’ for changed documents.

The concurrent program will generate the EDI flat file from the PO data and will
write the file to the directory mentioned in the profile option
‘ECE:OUT_FILE_PATH ‘.

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Business Views

The outbound Purchase Order transaction is controlled by three database views

that are defined according to the Oracle Purchasing data model for purchase
orders.
ECE_POO_HEADERS_V
ECE_POO_LINES_V
ECE_POO_SHIPMENTS_V
ECE_POCO_HEADERS_V
ECE_POCO_LINES_V ECE_POCO_SHIPMENTS_V

The ECE_POO_HEADERS_V view is used to identify which purchase orders are

eligible for extraction. The extract criteria are as follows:
• Trading partner is defined
• Transaction type enabled for the trading partner
• Purchase order has not been printed or previously extracted
• Purchase order status is Approved
• Purchase order has not been canceled
• Purchase order is not on hold

Columns Updated Upon Extraction

After the document is successfully extracted and written to flat file it will be
marked by Oracle e-Commerce Gateway to prevent it from subsequent
extraction. The following table lists the fields updated based on an excerpt of
code in the UPDATE_PO procedure defined in the ECEPOOB.pls file.

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Sample Output
File POO7170.dat contains the following output.

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Article On Purchasing Communication Methods
March 2008
Author: Himabindu Kuchana
Contributing Authors: Rajalingam Ramasamy

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