Overview
It is possible to load various types of information and data to Fourth's Purchase to Pay product (formerly known as Trade Simple). Both customers and suppliers can use this functionality to import documents that largely correspond with paper-based equivalents, for example - Product Catalogues, Purchase Orders, Delivery Notes or Invoices. These documents are in CSV format.
This guide defines the contents and rules governing the sending of Product Catalogues via Purchase to Pay where the basic Fourth flat file format has been selected.
This article is aimed at the UK-based technical reader, and a working familiarity with CSV files is essential.
See below for links to articles covering the creation of other CSV files that can be loaded to Purchase to Pay.
Please follow this link to see a full list of articles covering the creation of other CSV files that can be loaded to Purchase to Pay - P2P&I - Purchase to Pay CSV Specification - Contents Page
General Notes on all CSV Documents
File structure
Each record is one line. A record separator should consist of a line feed (ASCII/LF=0x0A), or a carriage return and line feed pair (ASCII/CRLF=0x0D 0x0A).
Fields are separated with commas.
Restrictions on the Fields Data
- Fields with embedded commas must be delimited with double-quote characters. Ex: Field,Data should be sent across within double quotes as “Field,Data”
- Fields containing double-quote characters must be surrounded by double-quotes, and the embedded double-quotes must each be represented by a pair of consecutive double quotes. Ex: Field”Data should be sent across as “Field””Data”
- Fields with leading or trailing spaces must be delimited with double-quote characters Ex: FieldData should be sent across within double quotes as “ FieldData ”
- Fields containing any special characters (characters other than alphabets (a-z or A-Z) and numerals (0-9)) should be embedded within double quotes
- The first record in a CSV file should be data and not a header record containing column (field) names
- Optional elements at the end of any line and their delimiters can be omitted but delimiters are necessary when optional elements are omitted “within” a line
- Do not use a pipe separator character "|" in any field. The system uses them as a delimiter and interprets anything after a pipe as a new line
- Double quote characters used as delimiters do not get imported and are not displayed on the front end
Mandatory/Optional Fields
Tables in this article use the following fields to indicate whether a field is mandatory, optional, or otherwise.
- M – Mandatory, must be provided
- O – Optional, should be provided if appropriate
- C – Conditional, should be provided under certain circumstances. The notes next to the field will describe exactly when the field should be provided
- D – The system requires this field but will derive it if not provided
Numeric Data Elements
All numeric data elements must have any decimal point explicitly stated. A negative value may be sent by placing a minus sign before the number, e.g. –1250.02. A decimal point is not needed where the decimal part is equal to zero, e.g. 15.00 may be formatted as 15.
Text Data Elements
The appropriate separator should terminate all variable-length text data elements without trailing spaces or any other “padding” character. Double-quotes may be used to define and enclose single text data elements. Please refer “Restrictions on the fields data” section above for more details.
Date Elements
The date field format in these documents must always be YYYYMMDD unless otherwise stated.
Product Catalogues (Price Lists)
Suppliers are expected to provide one or more price lists for use on the exchange. Price lists (or 'Catalogues') can be created in Excel and saved it as CSV files.
Please note: Excel can strip leading zeroes and make date and number format alterations. Always verify the file contents before transmission.
Each file must contain:
- Exactly 1 header line
- 1 detail line for each product on the price list
Price List Header
| Field | M/O | Column | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalogue Code | M | A | |
| Catalogue Name | M | B | |
| Effective Date | M | C | Format YYYYMMDD or DD/MM/YYYY. The system accepts both formats to ensure that it is compatible with the output of MS Excel |
| Account Code | O | D | Set this to a default value to be used for those price list lines that do not specify an Account Code. |
| Stock Items | O | E | Set this to "Y" or "N" to indicate those price list lines that do not specify a value for the Stock Item field. |
| Branch | O | F | This field optionally indicates the customer group or PL account - please contact Fourth for guidance on how to correctly use this field. |
Price List Line
One line for each product
| Field | M/O | Column | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier’s Product Code | M | A | |
| Product Description | M | B | |
| Pack Size | M | C | |
| Order Price Ex. VAT | M | D | |
| Category | O | E | |
| Sub-category | O | F | |
| Product not orderable flag | O | G | Set this to “Y” if the product is not to be ordered by the buyer’s units. The product will still be price-checked on invoices. Generally used for substituted products which still need price checking but are only provided when another product is out of stock, and therefore should never be ordered. |
| Image URL | O | H | If an image is to be provided then this field contains the full URL for it. |
| Order Unit of Measure | O | I | “EA”, “CS”, etc. Will default this to “EA” if not supplied. |
| Invoice Price Ex. VAT | O | J | Only provide if the invoice and order UOM differ. |
| Invoice Unit of Measure | O | K | “KGM”, “LTR”, etc. Mandatory if Invoice Price Ex. VAT provided. |
| Ignore Price Change | O | L | Set this to “Y” if differences between the Invoice Price and the price appearing on Invoice documents are to be ignored during price checking. |
| Account Code | O | M | Set this to a value to override the value (if any) provided in the header record Account Code field (column D) |
| Stock Item | O | N | Set this to “Y” or “N” to override the value (if any) provided in the header record Stock Item field (column E) |
| Unit Volume | O | O | |
| Unit Volume Unit | O | P | |
| Miscellaneous Product Attributes | O | Q |
Set this to a delimited list of name/value pairs to specify other information to be listed against a product.
|
Example Price List
URB,Buyer Summer Price List,26/07/2010
1098,”B&P Cornflour”,4x3.5kg,18.13,Ambient,Ambient Grocery
1098S,”B&P Cornflour”,1x3.5kg,5.23,Ambient,Ambient Grocery
100944,”Alpen Bars Apple Blackberry Yoghurt”,24x29G,7.92,Ambient,Ambient Confectionery,,,,,,,,,,,"Nutrition Facts=No Mayonnaise, No Butter, Contains Nuts"
100941,”Alpen Bars Fruit & Nut,24x28G”,7.92,Ambient,Ambient Confectionery,,,,,,,,,,,Vegetarian=No;Vegan=No;No Mayonnaise=Yes;No Butter=Yes;Contains Nuts=Yes;Wheat Free=No;Healthy=No
1234,”Whole salmon (Average Weight 2kg)”,Each,10.24,Fish,,,,EA,5.12,KGM
102799,”Cheese Ched Mature White”,1X5kg,26.85,Cheese,,,,EA,5.37,KGM
102055,”Duck Breast Female 180G - 220G”,1x1Joint,12.36,Meat & Poultry,,,,EA,61.8,KGM
102084,”Duck Legs Male 180-220G”,1x1 Unit,4.84,Meat & Poultry,,,,EA,24.2,KGM
102376,”Whole Duck With Head 1.6-1.8Kg”,1x1JOINT,3.73,Meat & Poultry,,,,EA,2.19,KGM
102370,”Whole Rabbit 1.4-1.5Kg”,1x1JOINT,7.2,Meat & Poultry,,,,EA,4.97,KGM
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