R12 – Oracle Suppliers

In R12 Accounts Payables, you will notice this change right away, that there is no more supplier form. The Suppliers have gone to self-service now. This is not the only change in the supplier. The suppliers objects have moved from AP product to TCA (Trading Community Architecture) DataModel. Due to this, even the underlying tables have changed. Supplier information is no more stored in PO_VENDORS Table now.

3 new tables have been introduced.

• AP_SUPPLIERS
• AP_SUPPLIER_SITES_ALL
• AP_SUPPLIER_CONTACTS

But don’t panic as your customizations can still work as there are views created with names of PO_VENDORS, PO_VENDOR_SITES_ALL and PO_VENDOR_CONTACTS for backward compatibility.

Being a part of the TCA, these tables are closely linked to the hz tables. Here is the list of few imp HZ Tables that are affected when a new supplier is added.

HZ_PARTIES – master table along with AP_SUPPLIERS instead of PO_VENDORS
HZ_PARTY_SITES – master table for supplier sites along with AP_SUPPLIER_SITES_ALL instead of PO_VENDORS_SITES_ALL
HZ_LOCATIONS – contains the party sites information
HZ_PARTY_USG_ASSIGNMENTS – stores party usages
HZ_ORGANIZATION_PROFILES – Captures additional Supplier information, e.g. credit scoring details of Supplier or
the Number of Employees working in Supplier Organization
IBY_EXTERNAL_PAYEES_ALL – Captures Payment related details of the Supplier.
POS_SUPPLIER_MAPPINGS – This table holds the mapping between the AP_SUPPLIERS.VENDOR_ID and HZ_PARTIES.PARTY_ID.
This is useful in cases whereby two vendors effectively belong the same HZ_Party Record.

see the diagram below for Supplier/Sites Mappings to TCA Objects.

So whenever a supplier is added in R12, an entry is made in all these tables.

Functionally also, creating the supplier is different from 11i. Here are the steps to create a new supplier.

1. Hit the CREATE SUPPLIER button
2. Enter a unique supplier name (Organization Name) along with other optional other information like Alias, Tax Registration Number, D-U-N-S number.
3. If the Supplier Number Entry option in the Payables System Setup window is set to Automatic, Payables automatically enters a Supplier Number for you. If this option is set to Manual, you must enter a unique Supplier Number.
4. Click Apply. The system creates the supplier record and accesses the Suppliers: Quick Update page.
5. To create Supplier Sites, you will have to create the locations for that supplier. For that, click on the “Address Book” Button.
6. On the Address Book page, click the Create button.
7. Fill all the address details and address purpose. i.e. Purchasing, Payment or RFQ Only.
8. You can add as many locations as you wish.
9. When created, you can manage the addresses for other information.

10. The system only displays sites that are in your MOAC profile
11. The address status indicates whether the supplier has provided any updates for the address. Using iSupplier Portal’s Supplier Profile Management tools, suppliers can enter address book information online, creating any number of new addresses, modifying the details for existing addresses, and indicating how each address is used.
12. Suppliers can also inactivate addresses that are obsolete. Buyer administrators need to approve any changes in order to update the master supplier details.
13. Address statuses include:
• New. A supplier has created a new address.
• Change Pending. A supplier has changed the address details. Click the Update icon to review the changes that have been made. The page displays the original address details and the changes, indicated by a blue dot. Buyer administrators can approve or make additional modifications to the changes before approving or rejecting the change. If the supplier has indicated that the address should be removed, there is a status change from Active to Inactive.
• Current. There are no pending updates for the address.

14. Since suppliers are stored in TCA, the address details for the supplier may be used by other Oracle products so be careful if removing supplier addresses. If the address is inactivated, the system no longer associates it to any contacts, and any bank account assignments to the address are inactivated. Methods to inactivate addresses include:
• You can click the Remove button on the Address Book page. This sets the address status to inactive and sets the Inactive Date for every site that is associated with the address in all operating units to today’s date.
• You can update the address and set its status to Inactive. This changes the address status and does not inactivate any of the sites that are using the address.
• You can use the Manage Sites page to manually update the Inactive Date for each site.