OrderXchange

Order Xchange™ is a revolutionary new approach to ecommerce. Now a business or organisation can uphold it's branding, yet also gain and retain sales within public bodies such as schools, hospitals, councils, plus large companies - as they all move to eprocurement.

Many large suppliers may have invested in creating an ecommerce web site, only to discover that it cannot be linked into the buyers procurement system - this is often because their chosen ecommerce platform is not Punch-Out compliant.

What suppliers want is a solution that will allow buyers to come to a web site, select the goods or services they require and then pass the order back into their own electronic approval system - whatever format it is in . Those confirmed orders must then return to the supplier in their chosen format.

This process of exchanging orders from a supplier system into a customer’s procurement system through @UK is called "Order Xchange™" .
The computer protocol that supports the process is called “Shopping Basket Xchange Protocol”, SBXP™.

It is a good way to link non 'Punch-Out compliant' web sites into the @UK system. Buyers can procure goods and services from their suppliers, without them having to reinvest in a new ecommerce platform.

Linking to the Order Xchange™ network means that suppliers will get back accurate, properly structured orders from customers that will be easy and cheap to fulfil, and which can be invoiced and fulfilled with no queries. It also means that suppliers can offer a range of tailored promotions, extra item information and other functionality. The big corporates are also beginning to follow suit –since multi site, complex organisations can easily see the benefits of eprocurement. Suppliers will be able to keep their web site address on their literature, vans and products, but offer customers the advantage of electronic procurement - especially the public sector buyers, for whom it will soon be mandatory.

How does it work?

Below is a simple diagram showing how all the various electronic messages flow back and forth:

Below is a slightly more detailed overview of how the Order Xchange™ process will work (using www.schools.plc.uk as an example supplier portal).

What does it cost?

There are no transaction charges with @UK . We do however have to support the network through which the order and invoice messages will pass on a totally secure , "24 by 7" basis . We must also arrange to create links with any customers or prospects that suppliers inform us about, that do not yet link to our network.

For this there is an annual subscription,. This is the same cost however many customers suppliers link to and however many thousands of orders suppliers may receive and invoices suppliers send this way, as the system grows. This is set at £1,500 per annum - subscribe here. That's all suppliers need for the many benefits of Order Exchange ™. There is a tool kit for both Microsoft ASP and DotNet to make implementation easy for an additional £300.

How long does it take to implement?

Developers will only have 3 web pages to build to implement OrderXchange so it should be quick and easy… it does depend on the complexity of the web site, but we recommend a week to allow for development and testing.

Where do we send our technical staff?

We have produced a section for technical details.

What are the benefits?

• Buyers can go directly to a supplier web site and still get the benefits of electronic purchasing. UNIQUE benefit.
• If suppliers have multiple divisions, suppliers can build up a multi-merchant shopping basket and return it for authorisation. UNIQUE benefit.
• All the benefits of electronic purchasing - less paperwork, no mis-keying of orders, the ability to send back electronic invoices, more customer information. i.e. Reduced costs of doing business, more accurate orders and invoices = quicker payment = more profit !
• Listing of products and services on the @UK PLC network of over 500 portal sites.
• Integration into the @UK PLC network, and all buying organisations that use the network.
• Integration into all major purchasing applications Capita Education SIMS, SAP, Oracle, SAGE, Agresso, Epicor, Radius, IDEA Marketplace, Lloyds BVP, BT Transact, Elcom PECOS (Scottish Executive), UK Procure, HEeP and any other system that supports Oracle, SAP or cXML protocols.
• Many clients are linking to systems provided by @UK -for example the @Schools system which links to Capita's SIMS-FMS ™ software used by around 20,000 schools or to specific "@County" portals. Others may have "resident" computer systems from SAP, Oracle or other major players with eprocurement software that they want to connect directly to their suppliers.
  

What do suppliers need to go ahead?

To set up Order Xchange™ suppliers need their technical department to set up the necessary link to @UK. For this they will need a "ToolKit " which provides all the necessary information and schemas. This is a one-off purchase of £300 +VAT- purchase here. The ToolKit should answer any questions that suppliers may have, but suppliers may also use telephone support for any particular queries and issues they may have.

Suppliers will need an ecommerce web site that shows the correct prices for their different customers, and may need to show different ranges to different customers. If suppliers have this we can integrate with all major purchasing systems and marketplaces.

(@UK also provide ecommerce web site build services).

How do suppliers order this?

Click here to purchase OrderXchange (£2,500) and click here for the toolkit (£300).

For more information visit the OrderXchange microsite or contact our sales team.