Oracle Retail Merchandising System (RMS) - Suppliers & Partners

Welcome again Oracle Retail fans. This post is a continuation of Oracle Retail Merchandising System Deep Dive article. If you are a beginner, you may want to visit Oracle Retail Merchandising System Overview article before proceeding on this article, however, it is not completely necessary.

In this article, I'm going to highlight all about Suppliers and Partners in RMS Foundations. As mentioned in my earlier posts, this article also covers each and every detail required for Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems (RMS) Certification (Pearson Vue Exam Number 1Z0-453) preparations with respect to RMS Suppliers & Partners. I’ll be taking you through following details to understand details about Supplier & Partners in RMS Foundations:

1.       Suppliers and supplier sites

a)       Supplier

b)   Supplier Sites

c)   Supplier Import Attributes

d)      Supplier Addresses

2.       External Finishers and Partners

a)       Partners

b)      Partner Addresses

c)       Partner Expenses

d)      Partner Documents

e)      Partner Stores

3.       Supplier traits

4.       Explain EDI usage within RMS

5.   Supplier related System Configurations

1. Suppliers and Supplier Sites

In Oracle Retail, Suppliers are vendors that provide Stores and Warehouses with merchandise. Suppliers are available for the following transactions in RMS:

1.        Item Unit Cost – Within RMS, the item unit cost is maintained by item/supplier/location/origin country.

2.        Purchase Orders – A supplier (only one) is required for a purchase order in RMS.  The items on the purchase order must be related to the supplier on the purchase order.  Supplier data defaults on the purchase order when the supplier is assigned to the purchase order.

3.        Contracts – A supplier is required for a contract.  A contract is a high-level agreement with a supplier to purchase a certain amount of goods from the supplier over a period of time.

4.        Deals/Fixed Deals – A supplier can be associated with a deal or fixed deal and is required for an off invoice deal.  A deal is an agreement by the supplier to reduce the invoice cost of a product over a period of time or a rebate for product purchased over a period of time

5.        Invoices – A Supplier can be associated with an invoice.

6.        Return to Vendor – A supplier is required on a Return to Vendor transaction.

7.        Replenishment – A supplier is required for supplier direct replenishment.  Default replenishment parameters can be maintained at the supplier level.

8.        Expense Profiles – Expense profiles can be created for suppliers and are used to calculate the Estimated Landed Cost (ELC) for items.

Oracle Retail supports supplier site functionality in which a supplier can have a parent / child relationship to other Suppliers. When RMS is configured for supplier sites, all supplier transactions are executed at the supplier site level.

Supplier functionality in RMS includes the following:

·         Supplier / Supplier Sites

·         Supplier Traits

·         Supplier Addresses

·         Supplier Inventory Management

·         Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

·         Supplier Returns

·         Required Documents

·         Import Attributes

·         Expenses

·         Invoice Matching Attributes

·         Supplier Payment Types

·         Delivery Schedule

·         Importer / Exporter

·         Routing Location

·         Supplier Custom Flex Attributes

 Supplier

Supplier records may be created one of two ways in RMS:

• Imported from an external accounting system
• Online

Within RMS, the following rules apply for Supplier:

1.        Payment Terms must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

2.        Freight Terms must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

3.        Currencies must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

4.        Languages must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

5.        Ship Methods must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

6.        Settlement Codes must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

7.        Payment Methods must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

8.        States must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier address.

9.        Countries must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier address.

10.     Jurisdictions must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier address.

11.     Supplier traits must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

12.     Documents must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

13.     Agents must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

14.     Factories must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

15.     Advising Banks must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

16.     Issuing Banks must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

17.     Lading Ports must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

18.     Discharge Ports must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

19.     Partners must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

20.     Cost Zone Groups and Cost Zones must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier expense profile.

21.     Cost Components must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier expense profile.

22.     Origin Countries must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier expense profile.

23.     Lading Ports must exist before they can be associated with the Supplier expense profile.

24.     Discharge Ports must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier expense profile.

25.     Importers/Exporters must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

26.     Routing Locations must exist before they can be associated with a Supplier.

27.   An Organizational Unit must exist before creating a Supplier Site.

Supplier Navigation in RMS

1.       From the RMS Start Menu, select Control folder.

2.       Double-click Supplier task.

The Supplier Search Window displays:

The table below describes the available search fields:

FIELD	DESCRIPTION
Supplier Number	Enter a valid, complete supplier number.
Supplier Name	Enter a valid complete supplier name or use the % sign to enter a partial description.
Supplier Site Number	Enter a valid, complete supplier site number.
Supplier Site Name	Enter a valid complete supplier site name or use the % sign to enter a partial description.
Division	Enter a valid division or use the Division LOV.
Group	Enter a valid group or use the Group LOV.
Department	Enter a valid department or use the Department LOV.
Class	Enter a valid class or use the Class LOV.
Subclass	Enter a valid subclass or use the Subclass LOV.
Item	Enter a valid, complete item number including any proceeding zeroes.
Item Description	Enter a valid complete item description or use the % sign to enter a partial description.
Supplier Secondary Name	Enter a valid, complete supplier secondary name.
Supplier Site Secondary Name	Enter a valid, complete supplier site secondary name.
Status	Use the drop-down to select the desired value: ·        Active ·        Inactive
Order	Enter a valid order or use the Order LOV.
Bracket Closing	Use the drop-down to select the desired value: ·        Yes ·        No

Based on the search, Supplier Maintenance screen displays:

When creating or maintaining a Supplier in RMS, the following data fields are available. Some fields may not be modified if they are interfaced from the financial system.

Field	Required	Functionality
Supplier ID	Yes	The supplier's ID (number).
Supplier Name	Yes	The supplier's trading name.
Supplier Secondary Name	Yes	A secondary name for the supplier.
Supplier Status	Yes	Determines whether the supplier is currently active. Interfaced from financials and protected in RMS.  Possible values are: 1.         'A' for an active supplier. 2.         'I' for an inactive supplier.
Contact Name	Yes	The name of the supplier's representative contact.
Contact Phone Number	Yes	The telephone number for the supplier's representative contact.
Contact Fax Number	No	A fax number for the supplier's representative contact.
Contact Telex	No	The telex number of the supplier's representative contact.
Contact Email	No	The email address of the supplier's representative contact.
Contact Pager	No	The pager of the supplier's representative contact.
Payment Terms	Yes	The Payment terms that should default when an order is created for the supplier. These terms specify when payment is due and if any discounts exist for early payment.
Freight Terms	Yes	The freight terms that should default when a purchase order is created for the supplier.
Currency Code	Yes	A code identifying the currency the supplier uses for business transactions
Language	Yes	The supplier's preferred language.
VAT Region	No	Assigns the VAT region that will be used for the Supplier/Supplier Site.
Shipment Method	No	The Supplier’s method used to ship the items on the purchase order from the country of origin to the country of import.   For example: 1.         Vessel, Non-container 2.         Vessel, Container 3.         Rail, Container or Non-container 4.         Air, Container or Non-container 5.         Etc.
Settlement Code	Yes	Payment process method used for the supplier.  Options are: 1.         Evaluated Receipts Settlement (ERS) 2.         Not Applicable –
Payment Method	No	How the purchase order will be paid. Options are: 1.         Bank Letter of Credit 2.         Private Letter of Credit 3.         Open Account 4.         Automated Clearing House 5.         Wire Transfer
Quantity Level	Yes	The level at which quantity is ordered. Valid values are Cases and Eaches. This is default information only. Item level information may vary.
Default Item Lead Time	No	The default lead time for the supplier. The lead time is the time the supplier needs between receiving an order and having the order ready to ship. This value will default to item/supplier relationships.
DSD Indicator	Yes	Indicates whether the supplier can ship direct to store.
DUNS Number	No	The Dun and Bradstreet number to identify the supplier.
DUNS Location	No	The Dun and Bradstreet number to identify the location of the supplier.
VMI Order Status	No	The status in which any inbound PO's from this supplier is created.  Leaving this value blank indicates that the supplier is not a VMI supplier.  Orders from these suppliers will still be created in worksheet status.
VMI Channel	No	If the supplier is an EDI supplier and supports VMI ordering, this field will contain the Channel ID for the channel to which all inventory for these types of orders will flow. This field is used when a vendor initiated order is created for a physical warehouse to determine the virtual warehouse within the physical warehouse to which the inventory will flow.
Inventory Management Level	Yes	This field determines whether supplier inventory management information can be set up at the supplier/department level or just at the supplier level. The value selected also determines if purchase orders created through replenishment for this supplier should be split by department or not. If the supplier is returns-only, this field will be blank. Otherwise, this field must have value. Values include: 1.         Supplier – Set parameters by the supplier. 2.         Supplier/Department – Set parameters by supplier/department. 3.         Supplier/Location – Set parameters by supplier/location. 4.         Supplier/Department/Location – Set parameters by supplier/department/location.
Auto Contract Approval Indicator	Yes	Indicates whether contract orders for the supplier should be created in Approved status. Valid values are 'Y' and 'N'.
Pre-Mark Indicator	Yes	If the supplier has agreed to break an order into separate boxes (and mark them) to ship directly to the stores, then select 'Y'.
Quality Check Indicator	Yes	Determines whether orders from this supplier will default as requiring quality control. Entering a value of 'Y' means that all orders from this supplier will require quality control unless overridden by the user when the order is created. Entering a 'N' in this field means that quality control will not be required unless indicated by the user during order creation.
Quality Check Percent	No	Indicates the percentage of items per receipt that will be marked for quality checking.
Quality Check Frequency	No	Indicates the frequency in which items per receipt will be marked for quality checking.
Delivery Policy	Yes	Select the delivery policy of the supplier. Options include: 1.         Next Day - If a location is closed, the supplier will deliver on the next day. 2.         Next Valid Delivery Day- Before delivering, the supplier will wait until the next scheduled delivery day.
Bracket Costing Indicator	Yes	This field will determine if the supplier uses bracket costing pricing structures. Valid values: 'Y' = Yes, 'N' = No.
Back Order Indicator	Yes	If back orders or partial shipments will be accepted by the Supplier, enter 'Y'.
Final Match Destination Indicator	Yes	Indicates whether the supplier can ship to the final destination as per the allocation or not.
Vendor Control Indicator	Yes	Determines whether orders from this supplier will default as requiring vendor control. Entering a value of 'Y' means that all orders from this supplier will require vendor control. Entering 'N' in this field means that vendor control will not be required.
Vendor Control Percent	No	Indicates the percentage of items per receipt that will be marked for vendor checking.
Vendor Control Frequency	No	Indicates the frequency in which items per receipt will be marked for vendor checking.
Comments	No	Add any miscellaneous comments associated with the supplier.

Supplier Sites

RMS supports the concept of a supplier hierarchy, where a supplier is linked to one or many supplier sites.  This allows for a seamless integration of suppliers and suppliers sites from financials to RMS.  It also provides the ability to roll up data from multiple supplier sites to a single supplier for reporting, rebate processing, etc. All transactions in RMS occur at the supplier site, with the ability to roll those transactions up to a supplier. 

Supplier Import Attributes

RMS has a set of parameters (attributes) for supporting import purchase orders.  These attributes default to the purchase order when the supplier is selected on the purchase order in RMS. Suppliers that are also Beneficiaries are indicated with the attribute and are normally populated as part of the financial interface to RMS. 

The following are the key supplier import attributes used in RMS:

·         Beneficiary

·         Payment Method (Letter of Credit*, Open Account**, ACH)

·         EDI Flags

·         Agent

·         Factory

·         Discharge Port 

Supplier Addresses

RMS supports different type of Supplier Addresses maintained in RMS with the certain address being primary address.

ADDRESS_TYPE	TYPE_DESC
01	Business
02	Postal
03	Returns
04	Order
05	Invoice
06	Remittance
07	Wholesale/Franchise

2. External Finishers and Partners

Partners

RMS supports the ability to use external partners that are used in the procurement process, primarily import purchase orders.  These partner types are utilized as factories, agents, and applicants in the purchase order and letter of credit processes.  Partners associated to purchase orders identify the specific partners that will be used for that purchase order.  Also, expense profiles can be associated to partners and will default to the purchase order, in addition to adding to the estimated landed costs.    

Partner Addresses

RMS requires a business address for a partner.  Additional address types can be associated to the partner. Factory and Agents can have addresses in RMS.

Partner Expenses

Partner Expense profiles are used to calculate the estimated landed cost (ELC) for items and they could be maintained in RMS. There are two types of expense profiles: Country and Zone.  Country expense profiles allow additional costs to be added from Origin Country to Lading Port to Discharge Port.  Zone expense profiles allow for additional costs to be added from Discharge Port to Cost Zone (location). 

Partner Documents

Maintaining the documents for a supplier that will default to the purchase order when the partner is associated with that purchase order is in RMS.

Partner Stores

Used in Sales Audit to associate Partner Type of bank with the stores. 

3. Supplier Traits

Supplier traits are client defined characteristics that can be associated with a supplier. Supplier traits are a single value, yes or no, type characteristics. Supplier traits are published from RMS to the RIB to be interfaced to other systems in the enterprise.

With supplier traits, you can group suppliers based on a trait. You can also group suppliers by associating them with a trait that indicates that they share a master supplier. A master supplier is an outside source that provides merchandise to your suppliers, such as a manufacturer, distributor, or wholesaler. You can also enter an external ID for the master supplier. Based on the traits you associate with your suppliers, you can create reports.

When creating or maintaining a Supplier Site in RMS, the following data fields are available for Supplier Trait.

Field	Required	Functionality
Supplier Trait ID	Yes	User entered number which represents a specific trait.
Supplier	Yes	Supplier number associated with the supplier trait.

4. EDI usage within RMS

RMS supports the following EDI transactions for a supplier:

·         Purchase Orders

·         Purchase Order Change

·         Confirming Purchase Orders

·         Contracts

·         Advance Ship Notice (ASN)

·         Supplier Availability

·         Invoices

·         Sales

·         Supplier Cost Changes

Navigation & Forms

5. System Configuration

Following are the Supplier related System Options/Configurations in RMS:

Oracle Retail Configuration	Recommended Setting	Comments
ORG_UNIT_ID	Y(es)	Indicator used to identify if organizational units (org units) are used within the system. Valid values are Y and N.This must be set to Y(es) when using the Oracle Retail to Oracle EBS Financials integration pack.
SUPPLIER_SITES_IND	Y(es)	This option allows for a single supplier to have multiple sites within RMS. This must be set to Y(es) when using the Oracle Retail to Oracle EBS Financial integration pack.
FINANCIAL_IND	Y(es)	Indicator used to identify if external financial application is integrated. Valid values are Y and N.
FINANCIAL_AP	O(racle Financials)	This field indicates whether or not a financial system is being used. Valid values are O (On) and NULL (Off).
FINANCIAL_AP_VER		This is system option is no longer used in Oracle Retail.
SUPP_PART_AUTO_GEN_ID	N(o)	Identifies whether the Supplier/Partner ID will be automatically generated. If not checked then the user can manually enter an ID.

This was all about Suppliers & Partners in RMS. Looking for more or think anything else too needs to be covered. Please do let me know.

In next article, we are going to dive more in Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems and understand all about various types of Tax setups and configurations in RMS. 

You may also want to refer to parent article Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems - Deep Dive. Do drop a note/comment in case you have any question, comments or feedback. 

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About Nagesh Mishra

Nagesh Mishra - A Passionate Oracle Retail Certified Professional with more than 17 years of overall experience in IT industry and more than 15 years of domain expertise in Oracle Retail Applications. Worked extensively in diversified fields of Product Implementation, Business Consulting, Pre-Sales, Application Software Development, Maintenance and Support and Re-Engineering Oracle Retail projects.