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TierCommerce

PunchOut

Let your biggest customers order from inside their own ERP

Large customers often can’t just log in and order. Every purchase has to start as a requisition in their SAP, Oracle or Dynamics 365 system. With PunchOut, their buyers open your store from that requisition, shop at their own prices, and send the cart straight back for approval.

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Your customer buys through

SAP S/4HANA Harbourside University

New purchase requisition · Catalogues

BS Brightline Supplies Shop

OCI · signed straight in

Brightline Supplies Harbourside contract prices
  • A4 copy paper, 80gsm, 5 reams 10 × $38.50
  • Nitrile gloves, medium, 100 6 × $11.20
  • Whiteboard markers, 4 pack 12 × $6.95
$535.60 ex GST Return cart to SAP

OCI · cart sent back

Purchase requisition · 3 lines Cost centre 4120
A4 copy paper, 80gsm, 5 reams $385.00
Nitrile gloves, medium, 100 $67.20
Whiteboard markers, 4 pack $83.40
Approved → PO 4500018273 → In your ERP

Why customers ask for PunchOut

When a university, council or large company says “you need to be on our system”, this is usually what they mean.

  • Every order needs a requisition

    Their budgets, cost centres and approvals live in their ERP. An order placed on your website, outside that system, often can’t be approved or paid.

  • No retyping your products

    Without PunchOut, buyers copy codes, descriptions and prices from your site into their requisition line by line. With it, the lines arrive filled in.

  • No stale price files

    The alternative is uploading a price file into their system and keeping it up to date. PunchOut shows your live range, prices and stock instead.

How it fits together

PunchOut connects three systems: your customer’s purchasing system, your TierCommerce store, and your ERP. Each keeps doing its own job.

Your customer’s system

SAP, Oracle, Dynamics 365, Unimarket and more

  • A requisition The buyer starts here, as their rules require
  • A PunchOut request Signs the buyer into your store over cXML or OCI
  • The purchase order Sent to you once it’s approved
TierCommerce

Your PunchOut store

  • Signs the buyer straight in
  • Shows their contract prices and approved range
  • Sends the cart back as requisition lines
  • Matches the purchase order to the cart

Where it ends up

Each system gets what it needs

  • Cart to their system Lines with codes, prices and units filled in
  • Sales order in your ERP Against their purchase order number
  • Order history In their TierCommerce account too

What it looks like for a buyer on SAP

The same round-trip works from Oracle, Dynamics 365, Unimarket and other systems. Only the screen names change.

  1. 1

    They start a requisition

    The buyer creates a purchase requisition in SAP and picks your business from their list of supplier catalogues.

  2. 2

    They shop your store

    Your TierCommerce store opens already signed in, with their contract prices and only the products they’re allowed to buy.

  3. 3

    The cart goes back to SAP

    When they check out, the cart returns to SAP as requisition lines. They add a cost centre and send it for approval.

  4. 4

    You get the purchase order

    Once it’s approved, SAP raises the purchase order. It comes back to TierCommerce and goes into your ERP like any other order.

Works with the systems your customers already use

PunchOut uses two standards: OCI, which SAP created, and cXML, which most other systems support. Your customer’s purchasing team will know which one they need.

  • SAP

    S/4HANA and SAP ECC connect over OCI, SAP’s own PunchOut standard.

  • Oracle

    Oracle Fusion Procurement and Oracle E-Business Suite iProcurement connect over cXML.

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain connect over cXML from a purchase requisition.

  • TechnologyOne

    Common across Australian councils and universities, and connects over cXML.

  • Unimarket

    Used by many universities and councils in Australia and New Zealand, with PunchOut or a hosted catalogue.

  • Procurement platforms

    Coupa, SAP Ariba, JAGGAER and other eProcurement platforms connect over cXML.

Built for eProcurement

  • PunchOut round-trip over cXML and OCI
  • Catalogues for Unimarket and similar platforms
  • Each customer’s own prices and approved range
  • Purchase orders sent into your ERP

Proven with university procurement

Our team built Impact Office Supplies’ B2B ordering, including procurement catalogues for universities.

About our team

PunchOut questions

What is PunchOut?

A way for a buyer to shop your website from inside their own purchasing system. They “punch out” from a requisition to your store, add products to a cart, and the cart comes back into their system as requisition lines ready for approval.

Our customers use SAP or Oracle, not a procurement platform. Does that work?

Yes. SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics 365 all support PunchOut from their own requisitions, so your customer doesn’t need a separate platform such as Coupa or SAP Ariba.

Which PunchOut standards do you support?

cXML and OCI PunchOut round-trips, plus catalogues for Unimarket and similar buyer platforms. SAP systems usually use OCI, and most others use cXML.

Do PunchOut buyers see their own prices?

Yes. They see their own prices and only the products their account can buy.

Where does the order end up?

Once the buyer’s system approves the requisition, it raises a purchase order. That order comes back to TierCommerce and goes into your ERP.

Do we need PunchOut to sell to large customers?

Not always. But many universities, councils and large companies only buy through their purchasing systems, and PunchOut lets them buy from you without leaving theirs.

More in manage accounts

See TierCommerce running on your own products.

Bring a price list and a recent purchase order. We’ll show you both working in 30 minutes.

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