PunchOut Catalogs
What is PunchOut?
PunchOut is a technology that connects a buyer’s eProcurement application (used to purchase goods and services) directly to their suppliers’ eCommerce sites. PunchOut enables a buyer’s employees to shop on suppliers’ eCommerce sites, but complete their purchase in their organization’s eProcurement application, where approval workflows can be applied and spending can be tracked.
PunchOut Workflow
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An employee logs in to their company’s eProcurement system.
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The employee selects a supplier eCommerce site to "PunchOut" to (typically by clicking the supplier’s logo).
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The employee is taken to the supplier’s eCommerce site without requiring them to login. The PunchOut connection will automatically login the employee to their company’s account with the supplier. The supplier’s eCommerce site may appear customized for the employee’s company, with a unique homepage, product selection, and pricing.
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The employee can browse/search the supplier’s catalog and add items to their shopping cart.
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The employee clicks the checkout button on the supplier’s site and is returned to their eProcurement system. Rather than going through the normal checkout flow on the supplier’s site, the shopping cart is sent back to the eProcurement system as an XML file.
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The employee can create a requisition in their eProcurement system from the cart and submit the requisition for approval.
Implementations
The two PunchOut standards that are currently in use are cXML PunchOut and OCI RoundTrip. Both standards provide similar functionality. cXML is the most popular PunchOut standard and is supported by most eProcurement applications. OCI RoundTrip is needed to integrate with certain SAP applications which do not support cXML PunchOut.
In addition to cXML and OCI, there are a number of legacy PunchOut standards that are no longer used. These legacy standards include Oracle XML, xCBL, OBI, and RosettaNet.