BirdDog Software supports CXML integration.
What is CXML?
- Stands for: Commerce Extensible Markup Language
- An electronic Business to Business communication
- Handles your customers generating a purchase order and that being sent to you as a sales order.
- Supports electronic invoices from your system to their system
- Supports shipping notifications from your system to their system
- Specifically formatted documentation that systems interpret electronically.
- cXML transactions consists of simple text files containing values enclosed by predefined tags.
- Automates the process of getting a sales order. cXML automates the process of business transactions such as purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, status requests, and product catalogs.
2 Ways of Implementing cXML
Catalog – Needs a catalog of products/services/goods to include:
- Files of products and services a customer is allowed to buy that may include:
- part numbers
- descriptions
- images
- prices
- units of measure
- Business 1 uploads a catalog to business 2 who makes selections. A purchase order is sent to business 1 for the purchase; all of this is done electronically.
- BirdDog software pushes a cXML document to the vendor who hands back a cXML purchase order.
- What is required?
- A cXML endpoint to receive the cXML purchase order and a catalog
- BirdDog's cXML product running on a URL that is accessible by your customer such as cxml.mysite.com
- There are no hierarchies. Appropriate permissions are assigned to catalog items so that BirdDog knows what items to put in the catalog to send to your customer.
- Vendor controls what products go into the catalog.
- Your customer's procurement system checks to see if:
- the person has the authority to purchase items
- the budget for the purchase
- the approval for the purchase
- the system gets the upper level managerial approval.
- Once the request is approved, the request becomes a purchase order, which turns into a sales order in your system.
PunchOut – Needs an Ecommerce website.
- Business goes to a your customer's procurement system.
- They choose the name of a business from a list.
- That business’s website comes up in the middle of the browser.
- The outer frame is still your customer's procurement system; the inside is the vendor’s site.
- They search for and select the items needed.
- They click checkout.
- The store manager does not need to remember any login or password ID.
- When it is time to check out, no shipping address or credit card is required because the system knows it already. The order is packaged into a cXML document and sent through electronically for the approval process.
- Once final approval is given, a purchase order is sent for the order.
- All documentation is handled electronically.