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 Delivery Notes 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.
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
- Fields may always be delimited with double quotes and the delimiters will always be discarded. Please note: The system will not use the quotes to impart type information to fields imported
- 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.
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.
Delivery Notes (sent to Purchase to Pay)
Some users of Purchase to Pay may require the supplier to respond to each order with a Delivery Note (aka Despatch Advice) showing the details of what has been picked or packed - the “firm expectation” of what is to be delivered.
Please note: The system assumes that a Delivery Note only contains lines with a single Purchase Order reference.
Each file must contain:
Exactly one Delivery Note document
Each Delivery Note document must contain:
Exactly one Delivery Note Header Line
1 Delivery Note detail line for each item to be delivered
Note that this document should reflect what will be sent whether or not it was on an original order or confirmation.
Delivery Note header line
Each file will contain a single order header line as the first row in the file.
Field | M/O | Column | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Row Type | M | A | "H" |
Sender’s Code for Unit | M | B | This is your code for the delivery location. |
Test Flag | D | C | If provided, this it must be set to “Y”=Test or “N”=Live. If it is not provided it will be derived from the target platform. |
Purchase Order Reference | M | D | This must be the reference from the original purchase order. |
Purchase Order Date | D | E | Format YYYYMMDD; this must be the purchase order date from the original purchase order. If not provided, the system will look for the latest purchase order of that reference and use the date associated with it. |
Delivery Note Reference | M | F | Must be provided. |
Delivery Note Date | D | G | Format YYYYMMDD. |
Actual Delivery Date | D | H | Format YYYYMMDD; this will be set to the requested delivery date from the purchase order if not supplied. |
Actual Delivery Slot Start Time | O | I | Format HHMM. |
Actual Delivery Slot End Time | O | J | Format HHMM. |
Delivery Location Contact | D | K | If not provided, the system will derive it on your behalf. |
Delivery Location Name | D | L | As above. |
Delivery Location Address Line 1 | D | M | As above. |
Delivery Location Address Line 2 | D | N | As above. |
Delivery Location Address Line 3 | D | O | As above. |
Delivery Location Address Line 4 | D | P | As above. |
Delivery Location Address Postcode | D | Q | As above. |
Number of Lines | D | R | If provided, the system will validate that the file contains the correct number of lines. |
Sender’s Branch Reference | O | S | This field indicates the customer group or PL account – please refer to Fourth on how this field is used. |
Supplier’s Code for Customer | O | T | This is necessary when a supplier has a mixture of PL and non-PL customers but can’t suppress values in Sender’s Branch Reference field for non PL customers – please refer to Fourth on how this field is used. |
Original Purchase Order Number | O | U | In a Back Order situation the supplier should use a unique Purchase Order number for the subsequent deliveries. However, they can use this field to cross-refer to the original order. |
Delivery Note Detail Line
Each Delivery Note will contain one or more order detail lines.
Field | M/O | Column | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Row Type | M | A | "D" |
Supplier’s Product Code | M | B | Must be provided. |
Product Description | D | C | If not provided, the system will derive it from the original purchase order. |
Pack Size | D | D | If not provided, the system will derive it from the original purchase order. |
Quantity ordered | O | E | |
Quantity confirmed | O | F | |
Quantity to be delivered | M | G | Must be provided and it must be greater than zero. |
Expiry Date | O | H | Format YYYYMMDD. |
Sell By Date | O | I | Format YYYYMMDD. |
Ordered quantity unit of measure | O | J | If not provided a default of ‘EA’ will be used. |
Confirmed quantity unit of measure | O | K | If not provided a default of ‘EA’ will be used. |
Delivered quantity unit of measure | O | L | If not provided a default of ‘EA’ will be used. |
Example Delivery Note
H,EL001,N,PO123456,20050601,DEL0001,20050603,20050603
D,WE0001,Tropical Fruit Drink,24x330ml,5,5,5
D,WE0009,Rum Punch Box,Each,0,1,1
D,WE0009,Cheese Block,approx 2.5kg,0,1,2.41,,,EA,EA,KGM
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