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Supplier FAQ's for the iSupplier Portal
Updated 28 January 2003
Q. Am I required to
have any specific hardware or software to access the iSupplier Portal?
A. You will need to use Internet Explorer version 5.5 or
higher to acknowledge orders or create advanced shipping and billing notices
(ASBN). You can use Internet Explorer
5.0 for other uses of the iSupplier Portal.
Q. When I try to
access the iSupplier Portal homepage, I am told my password has expired. Is there a problem?
A. No, all supplier logons are created with a generic
password. Upon initial access to the
page, suppliers are prompted to change their password for security purposes.
Q. I have changed my
password to logon the iSupplier Portal, but I do not remember it. What should I do?
A. Inform your Agilent buyer, and they will reset your
password.
Q. Does each person
at a supplier site, performing separate functions, get a logon?
A.
There is only one logon per supplier site per Agilent Operating Unit for
the iSupplier Portal, regardless of the functional group. Multiple users can simultaneously logon
using the same user logon and password. If your office is doing business with two Agilent factories,
eg Agilent Sonoma USA and Agilent Penang PIMO, then you will use separate iSP
user logons for each of them.
Q. Why do we need
logons for each Agilent site?
A. At this time, the iSupplier Portal software requires
different logins for each Agilent Operating Unit, except for the concatenated
forecast, which allows viewing forecasts across all Agilent sites that are
using Oracle. In the future, Agilent
will work with Oracle to possibly create single logins that will give access to
all Agilent sites.
Q. When I access the
iSupplier Portal for the first time, there are a significant number of orders waiting
to be acknowledged. These have been
acknowledged previously, so why am I being asked to acknowledge them again?
A. All open orders in Agilent's legacy system were migrated
to the new Oracle system. Oracle treats
these orders as new orders, therefore requesting acknowledgement. All of these order notifications should be
ignored and deleted.
Q. When I logon to
the iSupplier Portal, I get an error.
A. During the first couple of months after Agilent
implements Oracle, we will be upgrading and performing maintenance on the
system. This causes the iSupplier
Portal to intermittently go down and deny access. If this happens repeatedly, contact your buyer, providing screen
shoots. At times, the buyer may need you to share the login with him/her so they can login on your
behalf and evaluate the problems.
Q. I have not used iSupplier Portal for over 6 months;
will my original logon still work?
A. No, if iSupplier
Portal has not been accessed within 6 months, then the logon will be
de-activated. You will need to contact
your Agilent Contact, to request a new iSupplier Portal Logon.
Q. Can I submit price
changes using the iSupplier Portal?
A. No, the only information on a purchase order that a
supplier can request to change using iSupplier Portal is the delivery date,
using the RESCHEDULE button.
Q. We typically send
Agilent advanced shipping notices (ASN), will this double invoice Agilent?
A. No, advanced shipping notices (ASN) do not invoice
Agilent. Advanced shipping and billing
notices (ASBN) will invoice Agilent.
Q. I am currently
setup on Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS).
Can I also use the Advanced Shipping and Billing notification?
A. No, if you are using ERS, you should not use other
methods to invoice your Agilent site.
Q. I am a supplier
and a customer of Agilent. Is the iSupplier Portal tied together with customer information?
A. No, the iSupplier Portal only contains Agilent
procurement information; here the data is related to your entity as a supplier to Agilent. Your entity as customer
is retained in a separate Oracle Order Management module.
Q. We currently are
getting our orders via EDI, do we still need to use the iSupplier Portal?
A. If your orders are coming to you via EDI, you do not need
to log into the iSupplier Portal to view your orders. However, the iSupplier Portal can be used view other information
such as payment status and forecasts.
Q. How often should I
log onto the iSupplier Portal?
A. Depending on you order volume with Agilent, you should
access the iSupplier Portal frequently to view your orders and
notifications. Some supplier may want
to access the portal daily.
Q. How will I know if
I must acknowledge through the iSupplier Portal?
A. When accessing the iSupplier Portal homepage, you will
see new order notifications, indicating which actions you need to take.
Q. Can I see whether
my invoice has been paid?
A. Yes, you can access the iSupplier Portal and review an
invoice and its status.
Q. What's a
concatenated forecast?
A. The concatenated forecast that is available in the
iSupplier Portal is an Agilent-wide forecast.
When you access the concatenated forecast, you can view all Agilent
sites without having to logon to each individual site iSupplier Portal. NOTE: The concatenated forecast that appears
in the iSupplier Portal is a forecast only for Agilent sites that have
converted to Oracle. As each site
converts to Oracle, that site's forecast will be part of the concatenated
forecast. All Agilent sites will be
using Oracle by late 2003.
Q. Will we have to
use the iSupplier Portal to invoice Agilent?
A. No, you should continue to use your current method of
sending invoices to Agilent, unless you have been asked by Agilent to
participate in a supplier program such as Evaluated Receipt Settlement
(ERS). Note, however, bill-to addresses
are changing for some Agilent sites.
Visit the supplier website, www.agilent.com/go/supplier for the current
bill-to addresses.
Q. Will the iSupplier
Portal be used for request for quotes (RFQ)?
A. At this time Agilent is not using the RFQ feature of the
iSupplier Portal.
Q. Do we have to use
the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) functionality of the iSupplier Portal every
time we ship something to Agilent?
A. No, if you normally do not provide ASN's to Agilent, then
you do not need to use the ASN function.
Q. Is it possible to have the e-mail
notifications sent to more than one e-mail address?
A. At this time,
iSupplier Portal workflow notifications can only be sent to one e-mail
address. A possible alternative is to
set up an auto-forward with your e-mail account or set up a group mailbox.
Q. How can we import PO information directly
into our systems?
A. The delivery schedule screen has an export button at the
bottom of the screen. This function
will allow you to export purchase order details into an Excel file.
Q. I am a supplier
for Manufacturing Orders, also known as outside processing items or OSP, and I
cannot get all of my information from the delivery schedule screen. What can I do?
A. At this time, the exported delivery schedule does not
provide the manufacturing data; therefore, you must manually look up the
information for each order in the iSupplier Portal. If you go to the manufacturing order detail and click on the
job/schedule, this will give you details on the order and operating
instructions. In the future, Agilent
will work with Oracle to determine if this could possibly be added to the
iSupplier Portal capabilities.
Q. I am not receiving
the correct workflow e-mail notifications for my company.
A. Contact your buyer as soon as possible. They will make the appropriate changes in
the Oracle system.
Q. I missed the
previous iSupplier Portal training session; is there a recorded session?
A. Yes, there is a recorded session on the external supplier
website, www.agilent.com/go/supplier.
The recorded WebEx session has sound.
Q. Why are all my
parts on the Blanket Purchase Agreement?
A. The Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) serves primarily as
a price list. The BPA lists all the
part Agilent has purchased or intends to purchase from your company. If you notice price discrepancies on the
BPA, notify your buyer. However, the
BPA is not a purchase order. The actual purchase order will be in the
form of a BPA Release. The BPA release will show the specific
parts, quantities, requested delivery dates and delivery addresses. The first ten digits of the BPA release will
be the BPA number, then there will be a dash (-) and another number. That second number is the BPA release
number. Also, note that if you are
using Nocturne (Supplier Managed Inventory program), you will get a separate
BPA for the parts that are on Nocturne.
Q. What should I do
if incorrect pricing shows on the purchase order or purchase order release?
A. If there is an incorrect price, call your buyer and
request that she changes the price to match the agreed upon price. Avoid rejecting the PO in the iSupplier
Portal. Rejecting the PO will nullify
the PO. Rather, if your intent is just
to correct the PO, call your buyer, and they will make the necessary
modifications.
Q. Will the buyer's
phone number be on the purchase order?
A. The buyer's phone number should be on the purchase
order. If it is not, you can get the
phone number in the iSupplier Portal by double clicking on the buyer's
name.
Q. We are getting
some purchase orders through EDI, should we acknowledge via the iSupplier
Portal?
A. You should acknowledge by the same means that your are
receiving your PO's.
Q. We are receiving
some PO's through EDI and would rather receive them through iSupplier
Portal. How can we use just one method?
A. At this time iSupplier Portal is only available for
orders originating from the Sonoma County, California; Penang, Malaysia; and
Singapore sites. Other Agilent sites will begin using the iSupplier Portal as their site converts to Oracle.
If you are getting EDI orders from Sonoma, Malaysia, or Singapore, contact your buyer to make the iSupplier Portal your
primary method of receiving PO's. We encourage suppliers to move to iSupplier Portal and away from EDI to
minimize the EDI costs incurred by both Agilent & suppliers.
Q. Do I have to
acknowledge all orders?
A. Most BPA releases do not require an acknowledgement in
order to reduce the number of transactions.
If you need to change the date of a delivery, you can do so on the
iSupplier Portal. If you have other
problems with an order that does not require an acknowledgement, contact your
buyer and they can modify the purchase order release.
Q. How can we tell
which revision of a part Agilent is ordering?
A. Agilent part numbers now have an “item revision
number.” This number, which will most
likely be “100,” can be seen in the iSupplier Portal. If you are unsure which drawings correspond with the item
revision number, contact your buyer.
Your buyer can send you a cross-reference list of revision numbers and
drawing numbers.
Q. Can we add notes
or attachments to purchase orders?
A. If you are
rescheduling a purchase order, you can add a note to explain why you need to
change the delivery date. However, only
buyers can add attachments to purchase orders.
These attachments can be viewed by double clicking on the paperclip icon
in the iSupplier Portal.
Q. When I export data
from the purchase order screen, I only get general information such has
purchase order numbers and dates. How
can I export more useful data?
A. The “Delivery
Schedule” under the “Shipments” tab contains the detailed order information. Exporting
from this page will give you the line by line item information.
Q. Why does the
system log me out after only 5 or 10 minutes of inactivity?
A. For security purposes and not to use additional memory,
you will be logged out after a period of inactivity.
Q. I do not have
notifications on the iSupplier Portal homepage, even though I am getting
notifications via e-mail.
A. You should be able to view notifications on your
homepage. If these notifications do not
appear on your iSupplier Portal homepage, contact your buyer and provide screen
shots. Your buyer will help resolve the
problem.
Q. How does the
iSupplier Portal interface with Nocturne?
A. If you are a Supplier Managed Inventory (SMI) supplier
using Nocturne, the purchase order release you will see in Nocturne will have all your SMI parts on the release with a
delivery date of 2049. This is simply a
placeholder and list of your SMI parts.
You will need to provide Agilent with parts based on the min and max
levels that are in Nocturne. For your
SMI parts, you will only need to look at the purchase order release in the
iSupplier Portal to view the release number.
This release number should be indicated on your packing slips.
Q. The delivery
schedule export does not show the ship to location or the unit price.
A. If a purchase order has been migrated from Agilent's
legacy system, the ship to location will not show the delivery schedule. Agilent will work with Oracle to determine
if the unit price can be added to the delivery schedule.
Q. After I request a delivery date change, and then try to
view the purchase order, I get an error. The error says, Information on this Purchase Order cannot be
viewed. Check back later.
A. After you request a delivery date change, the purchase
order enters a pending status, and the buyer is notified to review the date
change. After the buyer acknowledges and approves the date change, the purchase
order will appear back on the main purchase order list.
Q. How can I view the
entire “Blanket Purchase Agreement” (BPA)?
A. On the “Orders” tab, under “Agreements,” you will find
your complete Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA).
Q. Can price breaks
be structured within a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA)?
A. Yes, price breaks can be used with a BPA and can be
viewed on the iSP.
Q. Sometimes we
negotiate a price change and it appears on the Purchase Order (PO) or Blanket
Purchase Agreement (BPA) release, but our next release and the BPA still
has the old price.
A. It is possible for the buyer to just change a single BPA
release, but not the BPA (price list).
Then, the next time the item is released, it will still show the old
price. If this happens, contact your
buyer, and they can update the BPA.
Q. What does “ASCP”
on the forecast mean?
A. ASCP stands for Advanced Supply Chain Planning. In the legacy ERP system, Agilent referred
to this as MRP (Materials Requirement Planning).
Q. Are both ”Blanket
Purchase Agreement” (BPA) and “Blanket Purchase Agreement release”
numbers required on our packing slips and invoices?
A. Yes. On the
purchase order release, you will find that the first 10 digits, a dash and then
the release number. The first 10 digits
are BPA number; this number will be on all releases, therefore the release
number (numbers after the dash) is critical for distinguishing between
releases.
Q. I'm receiving
releases, and the individual's name on the release is not my normal buyer. Who should I work with?
A. Continue to work with your normal buyer to resolve
issues. We are in the process of
changing the name on the releases to the actual buyer that you will need to
work with.
Q. Is there a
difference between accepting and acknowledging an order?
A. No, accepting and acknowledging an order is the same
thing.
Q. When I attempt to
accept an order, I cannot use the dropdown menu, but I can manually enter in
the code. Is this okay?
A. No. The iSupplier
Portal will not accept anything that is typed into the “Action” box of the
Acceptance page. Note that you must
have Internet Explorer v. 5.5 or higher in order to use the iSupplier Portal's
Acknowledge/Accept order functionality.
Q. If I want to ship
early, can I use the Advanced Ship Notification (ASN) and not be penalized for
an early shipment?
A. No, the ASN is only to notify Agilent's receiving
department of the shipment. If you want
to change the delivery date of an order, you will need to call your buyer.
Q. If I want to ship
short, can I notify Agilent of this by using the ASN functionality?
A. No, you must contact the buyer if you are going to make a
short shipment.
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