PunchIn implementation

Implementing PunchIn will require you to collaborate and work closely with at least one Punchout-enabled vendor who is willing to store, retrieve and maintain, at a minimum, a list of your company’s Lawson item identifiers and return it to you in the <SupplerPartID> element in the PunchOutOrderMessage. In a standard PunchOut process, the value the vendor places in the <SupplerPartID> element will not be your item identifier, but the vendor’s or supplier's item identifier.

If the punchout-enabled vendor cannot put your item identifier into the "SupplierPartID" element, an Extrinsic element can be used instead. In this case you and the vendor will need to agree upon the value of the "name" attribute in order for you to construct the appropriate <mapping> instruction in the RQC configuration file. More details on <mapping> instructions are found later in this document.

Alternatively, your organization could construct a web site containing items from your own item master. This web site will need to conform to the "best practices" outlined for Punchout web sites found on the cXML.org web site. Remember, "PunchIn" is essentially standard cXML Punchout with a flag in the document which directs Lawson Procurement Punchout to process the data contained in the received PunchOutOrderMessage "as if" it came from your local Item Master, as an I-nventory, S-tock or N-on stock-item type. "True" Lawson Procurement PunchOut, by design, assumes all items are X-type, or "Special" items. This will require time for you and your business partner to discuss, implement and test, so allow for this in your planning.

When the user punches out to a PunchOut-enabled vendor (or your company's own "PunchIn" web site) using Requisition Center (RQC) and Lawson Procurement PunchOut, the items returned are evaluated to determine if these are intended to be found in the Lawson Item Master or not ("PunchIn" vs. "PunchOut" items). For this to occur, these must be true:

• The web site must conform to the "best practices" outline for cXML Punchout sites. The Lawson user/requester must be able to "punchout" to this web site.

• Any Lawson items intended to be treated as "PunchIn" items returned from PunchOut must contain the XML element with: <Extrinsic name="PunchInVendor">true</Extrinsic> at the line-level of the PunchOutOrderMessage document. This indicates to Requisition Center that the item should not be treated "as X-type" items, that is, as a Stock/Nonstock/Inventory item. Consult the cXML.org documentation for details of these data structures.

• It is the presence of <Extrinsic name="PunchInVendor">true</Extrinsic> which determines the path the processing logic will take, if it is normal, default PunchOut processing (all items treated as "X-type" items) or "PunchIn" processing. No "PunchInVendor" <Extrinsic> element present == default, x-type processing.

• In order for "PunchIn" to work as expected, if the item is a PunchIn item, the item identifier returned from the Punchout site must be found in your item master.

• The Lawson Requisition Center application will then process the PunchIn item and subject it to the edits one normally expects while operating on Stock/Non-stock item types and default the necessary information from Lawson (the same way RQC behaves with S- and N- type items today).

• Normal PunchOut will still work as it does now. All PunchOut items are considered X-type (special) item by default.

You (the customer) and your business partner(s) are responsible for identifying and maintaining the data on the "PunchIn" web site. Lawson provides no tools for this task. Discuss the creation and maintenance of the data set with your business partner(s).

If the item identifier data received by Lawson’s requisitioning product is not found in ITEMMAST, the Lawson requisitioning application cannot save or process the requisition. The operator must delete the failed requisition and correct the data before trying again.