Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers

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Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 2. Getting Help ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 3. Business Rules ................................................................................................................................................... 3 3.1 General Business Rules ............................................................................................................................ 3 4. Preparing the Inventory File ............................................................................................................................... 5 4.1 Inventory File Field Descriptions ............................................................................................................. 5 4.2 File Submission Requirements ................................................................................................................. 7 4.3 Formatting Inventory Data in Excel ......................................................................................................... 8 5. Uploading the Inventory File to OrderStream .................................................................................................. 10 6. Viewing Inventory File Errors ............................................................................................................................ 12 7. Manually Maintaining Inventory Data ............................................................................................................... 14 7.1 Adding an Inventory SKU ....................................................................................................................... 14 7.2 Updating an Inventory SKU .................................................................................................................... 16 7.3 Viewing Inventory SKU Details .............................................................................................................. 17 7.4 Deleting an Inventory SKU ..................................................................................................................... 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 1 of 18
1. Introduction This document provides instructions for using the Inventory Upload feature of the CommerceHub OrderStream™ interface. Suppliers who have been certified to use this functionality have the choice of two data update methods: Upload a data file: You may upload a file containing inventory data. File formats include, but are not limited to, Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets and delimited files. Instructions on how to prepare and upload files are included in the Preparing the Inventory File and Uploading the Inventory File sections below. Manually enter and maintain data: You may choose to manually enter and update individual inventory records in the OrderStream interface. Instructions on how to enter and update inventory data using the OrderStream application are included in the Manually Maintaining Inventory Data in OrderStream section below. For additional information, refer to the Quick Start Guide. Important: In order to become certified to use this functionality, you must successfully prepare and upload a sample inventory file to the CommerceHub test system. 2. Getting Help The Resource Center is accessed from the Resource Center button (as seen in Figure 1) within the top right of the OrderStream application. It provides online access to documentation and training tutorials. You may access and download all necessary documentation pertaining to your merchant partnerships. Figure 1 Resource Center Button The CommerceHub Customer Support Team is ready to assist you Monday through Friday, 8:00 A . M . to 6:00 P . M . (Eastern Time), via email or phone: Email: customersupport@commercehub.com Phone: 844-HUB-HELP (482-4357) 2 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
3. Business Rules Refer to the appropriate Supplier Guide for each Merchant with whom you conduct business to familiarize yourself with their applicable business rules and requirements. CommerceHub validates that all SKUs submitted in your inventory files are in compliance with these Merchant-defined business rules. Any SKUs in violation will be rejected and must be corrected before they are accepted by CommerceHub and passed onto your Merchant partner. 3.1 General Business Rules General business rules when inventory is required: Merchants expect suppliers to update their inventory data frequently (at least once per day, sometimes more often) to ensure the available quantities are current and accurate. On a daily basis, CommerceHub® provides this inventory data to Merchants in a master inventory feed. The frequency with which these master inventory feeds are generated and delivered varies per Merchant, based on their established receipt schedule. Through their OrderStream interface, suppliers can view a particular Merchant’s inventory receipt schedule. For further details, refer to the 4-2 Quick Start Guide . With each update, you are certifying the stock levels for all your SKUs as of the time of the update. It is not necessary to include all SKUs in every update in order to accomplish this certification. Stock levels recorded in the CommerceHub inventory are considered to be “recertified” at the level last reported for any SKU not included in an update. Your responsibility is to submit updates for SKUs with changes, so that your inventory report is accurate once an update has been applied. It is important for suppliers to understand that they must report inventory data separately for each merchant with whom they conduct business. To provide each merchant with the correct inventory information, the supplier must upload a separate inventory file for each merchant. Inventory status designations and meanings are as follows: Yes The quantity on hand for the item is available for sale No The item is temporarily unavailable for sale. Note the quantity on hand may not be zero Guaranteed The item is guaranteed to be available regardless of the quantity on hand. It is good practice to set the Quantity Available field to reflect your maximum processing capability (i.e., the daily sales volume which, if exceeded, might begin to pose an operational or logistical problem) Discontinued The item will be discontinued effective as of the discontinued date. Discontinuation is defined as the point in time at which replenishment of a product ceases. The merchant is free to continue to sell a discontinued item if the Quantity Available field has a value greater than zero. If the availability status is set to discontinued, the supplier must enter a discontinued date Suppliers are responsible for reporting available stock in such a way as to avoid unnecessary order cancellations. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 3 of 18
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When a supplier conducts business with two or more merchants over the CommerceHub network, it is likely that the merchants will carry some of the same products. It is the supplier’s responsibility to maintain current inventory information including available quantities for each merchant. The supplier should take this into account when products are carried by two or more merchants. Example: For a given item, a supplier may have a total quantity on hand of 100 and may choose to make 75 of these items available to merchant A and 25 of these items to merchant B. It is not advisable to allocate 100 items to each of the merchants as their combined sales may be more than the supplier has available. All uploaded Inventory Files cannot exceed 3 Megabytes. Files larger than this limit will be rejected. 4 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
4. Preparing the Inventory File 4.1 Inventory File Field Descriptions The following table describes CommerceHub base requirements for each data element that may be included in the inventory file update. The following field requirements apply: Mandatory = the field must always be included in the inventory file. Optional = the field is not required; however, it is preferred that the data be included if it is available. Conditional = the field may be required depending upon a particular Merchant’s requirements. Refer to the appropriate Supplier Guide for each merchant to determine whether this information is required. Field Name Field Requirement Field Type Definition File Type Mandatory Text Always set to IN (for inventory) Vendor SKU Mandatory Text Supplier’s SKU for an item. Availability Status Mandatory Text Item Status Data Description Available Yes Specifies that the quantity on hand for an item is available for sale. Unavailable No Identifies the item as temporarily unavailable for sale. Note: The Quantity On Hand may not be zero. Guaranteed Guaranteed Indicates that the item is guaranteed to be available regardless of the quantity on hand. Quantity On Hand Mandatory Numeric Represents the number of items available for sale for the Merchant that you are submitting the inventory file. If the availability status for an item is No, the Merchant will disregard the quantity in this field. Suppliers may upload an item with an inventory equal to zero and update the available quantity at a later time. Important: Do not include decimals. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 5 of 18
Field Name Field Requirement Field Type Definition Next Available Quantity Conditional Numeric Represents the quantity expected to be received into stock at the Next Available Date. Important: Do not include decimals. Next Available Date Conditional Text The date the supplier expects to receive additional stock for an item. The date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 01/31/2015 for January 31, 2015.) Important: Do not format as a date in Excel. Availability Start Date Conditional Text Date the item will become available for sale. The date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 01/31/2015 for January 31, 2015.) Important: Do not format as a date in Excel. Availability End Date Conditional Text Date the item will no longer be available for sale. The date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 01/31/2015 for January 31, 2015.) Important: Do not format as a date in Excel. Minimum Business Days to Ship Conditional Numeric Minimum number of days the item will be shipped, from when the order is received. Maximum Business Days to Ship Conditional Numeric Maximum number of days the items will be shipped, from when the order is received. Manufacturer Optional Text Manufacturer’s name. Manufacturer SKU Optional Text Manufacturer’s Product ID/Number. Description Conditional Text Description or title of the item. Unit Cost Conditional Numeric Cost of single item, wholesale cost to Merchant. Important: Unless you are reporting a value, leave blank; do not send 0 or 0.00. Unit Cost 2 Conditional Numeric Extra price value, used by certain Merchants. Important: Unless you are reporting a value, leave blank; do not send 0 or 0.00. Unit Cost 3 Conditional Numeric This field is reserved for future use. Unit Cost 4 Conditional Numeric This field is reserved for future use. Discontinued Optional Text YES = product has been discontinued blank or NO = product has not been discontinued 6 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
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Field Name Field Requirement Field Type Definition Merchant Department Conditional Text Merchant’s code for item department. Unit of Measure Conditional Text Code for unit to which quantity available refers; this value is commonly EA for “each.” Note: If not used, the supplier and the Merchant must agree in advance on the units to be reported using (e.g., inches vs. feet, or ounces vs. pounds). Default value is EA. Merchant SKU Conditional Text Merchant’s SKU for item. Merchant ID Mandatory Text ID for Merchant. CommerceHub will provide this code to the supplier. UPC/EAN Conditional Text UPC (Universal Product Code) or EAN (European Article Number). Condition Code Optional Text Condition of the item (e.g. new, used, refurbished). 4.2 File Submission Requirements You may choose to upload any type of file that contains the data elements described above. However, for simplicity and ease of use, CommerceHub recommends suppliers maintain their inventory in a spreadsheet format. File may not exceed 3 megabytes in size, or approximately 10,000 SKUs Do not delete any rows or columns Do not add additional columns Save files in spreadsheet format (e.g. either .xls or .xlsx formats) Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 7 of 18
4.3 Formatting Inventory Data in Excel Step 1: Using the CommerceHub spreadsheet template provided in the Resource Center, enter your entire inventory to be made available for the Merchant. For field descriptions, see section 4.1 Inventory File Field Descriptions above. See the sample and legend below for more information on how the fields work together. Legend: Line SKU Status On Hand Deactivated Comment 3 005896-54 Yes 200 SKUs are formatted as text to enable SKUs to be properly reported with leading zeroes. 5 A54-02665 Guaranteed 50 By indicating an Availability Status = Guaranteed, the supplier is indicating that the item will always be available regardless of the amount reported in the “Quantity on Hand” field. 6 0038559 No 1200 Even though the Quantity on Hand = 1200, the merchant will assume that this product is not available. 9 A54-02253 Yes 20 Yes Even though the “Discontinued” flag = YES, the merchant will assume that 20 items are available for sale. 10 A54-04450 No 0 Yes The merchant will interpret this item as being no longer available for sale. 11 0030660 No 0 The merchant will expect the item to become available on 7/18/05. 8 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
Step 2: Format the data in the file using the guidelines described in the table below. Note: If you are using the Excel template provided by CommerceHub, these formats are already in place. Field Type How to format in Microsoft® Excel Dollar Values 1. Highlight the desired cells and select Format Cells (then select the Number tab). 2. Select Number from the Category column. 3. Decimal Places = 2 4. Use Comma Separator = Unchecked 5. Negative Numbers = Select -1234 (i.e. do not select an option using parentheses) Quantities 1. Highlight the desired cells and select Format Cells (then select the Number tab). 2. Select Number from the Category column. 3. Decimal Places = 0 4. Use Comma Separator = Unchecked 5. Negative Numbers = Select -1234 (i.e. do not select an option using parentheses) SKUs 1. Highlight the desired cells and select Format Cells (then select the Number tab). 2. Select Text from the Category column. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 9 of 18
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5. Uploading the Inventory File to OrderStream Step 1: Access the appropriate OrderStream environment. For testing, go to test.commercehub.com For production, go to www.commercehub.com Step 2: Click the Login button located in the top right area of the CommerceHub home page and enter your username and password to log in. Step 3: Select Upload Files from the Files drop-down menu. Step 4: The File Upload page is displayed. Click the Browse button in the Upload Inventory File section to locate the file on your computer to upload. Step 5: Browse to the file that you wish to upload. Step 6: Click the filename. Step 7: Click Open. Step 8: The name of the file you selected is displayed in the “Inventory File” field. Click the Upload File button. 10 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
Step 9: Within a few minutes, your new inventory data displays on the Dashboard and the File History page. Note: Only the last 200 uploaded files are accessible from the File History page. If you need an older file, contact the CommerceHub Customer Support Team. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 11 of 18
6. Viewing Inventory File Errors All SKUs in error must be corrected and resubmitted. Any errors encountered when a file has been uploaded and processed by CommerceHub will be displayed in the OrderStream interface. Step 1: Access the OrderStream dashboard. Step 2: The Inventory File Error Log brick is displayed as shown below. This brick groups together the number of SKU errors that have occurred within a given time period. The time periods displayed represent when the file was originally received by CommerceHub. Click the number of errors for a specific time period. Step 3: The Inventory File Error Log page is displayed as shown below. This page displays: When the file was received by CommerceHub, and the error(s) that were encountered in processing each SKU within that file A listing of all additional data included in the file for this SKU. If a particular data element is not included for a SKU, it will be listed as ‘missing.’ Note: Data listed as ‘missing’ may not necessarily be the cause of the error. 12 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
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The root cause of most errors is usually related to SKU data that is malformed or is in violation of the Merchant validation rules for a given Merchant relationship. Please refer to the Supplier Guide located in the OrderStream Resource Center for additional information, or contact the CommerceHub Customer Support Team for further details. Note: The Inventory File Error Log page can also be accessed via the OrderStream File History page by clicking on the appropriate Error During Processing link for a particular file, as shown below. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 13 of 18
7. Manually Maintaining Inventory Data If you do not wish to upload an inventory file, you may manually enter, update, and view SKUs via the OrderStream web interface. 7.1 Adding an Inventory SKU Step 1: From the Inventory drop-down menu on the OrderStream navigation toolbar, select Add Inventory. Step 2: The Add Inventory page is displayed. Select the merchant for which you wish to add inventory. Step 3: The fields on the screen will be updated with red asterisks ( * ) to indicate which are required for the selected merchant, as shown in the example below. 14 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
Important: The “Vendor SKU,” “Merchant,” “Availability,” and “Quantity” fields are always required for all merchants. Step 4: Complete the fields as necessary. Step 5: When finished, click Submit. Step 6: Once submitted, any SKU fields in violation will be highlighted and a mouse-over, pop- up window will be displayed indicating the correct format/requirements for that field. Step 7: When the SKU has been successfully submitted, a confirmation message is displayed. You may exit the page by closing the active tab, or perform one of the following actions: Add This SKU for a different Merchant: This option will return you to the Add Inventory SKU page. The following data attributes will be returned to their default (‘NULL’) values: Merchant Merchant SKU Quantity Add a New SKU for the Same Merchant: This option will return you to the Add Inventory SKU page. All data attributes will be returned to their default (‘NULL’) values except the Merchant, which will be retained from the previous entry. Add a New SKU: This option will return you to the Add Inventory SKU page. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 15 of 18
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7.2 Updating an Inventory SKU Step 1: From the Inventory drop-down menu on the OrderStream navigational toolbar, select Inventory Update. Step 2: The Inventory Update search page is displayed. Select the appropriate SKU(s) to update and click Find Inventory. Step 3: The search results are displayed. Update the editable fields as appropriate and click Submit All. Note: To flag unchanged items as current, select the Update All SKUs checkbox prior to clicking Submit All. 16 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
7.3 Viewing Inventory SKU Details Step 1: From the Inventory drop-down menu on the OrderStream navigational toolbar, select Inventory Update. Step 2: The Inventory Update search page is displayed. Select the appropriate SKU(s) to update and click Find Inventory. Step 3: The search results are displayed. Click the link for the SKU you wish to view. Step 4: The SKU Detail page is displayed. Important: SKUs cannot be updated from the SKU Detail page. If you identify data that must be updated, complete the following steps to update the SKU: Step 4a: Select the Edit SKU option. Step 4b: The Edit Inventory SKU page is displayed. All fields that are required for the selected Merchant are indicated by a red asterisk ( * ). Note: The “Merchant” and “Vendor” fields cannot be edited from this page. Step 4c: Update the fields as necessary and click Submit. Step 4d: The SKU will be validated against the Merchant’s business rules. Any SKU fields in violation will be highlighted and a mouse-over, pop-up window will be displayed indicating the correct format/requirements for that field. Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014) 17 of 18
7.4 Deleting an Inventory SKU Step 1: From the Inventory drop-down menu on the OrderStream navigational toolbar, select Delete Inventory. Step 2: The Enter Search Criteria search page is displayed. Select the appropriate search criteria and click Next. Step 3: The search results are displayed. Select the SKU(s) you wish to delete, or check “Select All” to delete all SKUs. Step 4: When finished, click Submit to delete the SKU(s). IMPORTANT: It is important to note that this action is final and no warning or confirmation is displayed. 18 of 18 Delimited Inventory Guide for Suppliers (4/18/2014)
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