Our solution is offered as a SaaS based solution, so there is no need for software installations, servers, or IT support. We punch out to supplier hosted catalogs so there is not costly catalog maintenance. Our customer service is best in class. Our solutions are intuitive and built to please your community.

System Overview

The solution focuses on strategic suppliers with whom you have established relationships with and do the most volume. This would include office supplies, lab supplies, PC’s and electronics, MRO, and travel. We create connections for electronic orders and invoices, creating zero error rates. Maverick buying is reduced without mandates. Fewer p-cards need to be issued. Reporting is increased. There is no need to manage catalogs. Insert image from website (the one on solutions page showing st connecting schools to suppliers like VWR and ThermoFisher)

End to End Process

The system is the Sollod Technologies Marketplace (Marketplace) and is operated by Sollod Technologies (ST). End users are set up by the buying organization in the admin console, which can be accessed by anyone setup with an admin account. The first admin account is set up by ST and provided to the buying organization.

Once set up, end users go to the URL designated by Sollod Technologies and login using their username and password. Once logged in the system takes them to the home screen where they will see logos of the suppliers they are allowed to access. The user will click on the logo of the supplier they want to buy from and are redirected to the supplier’s b2b e-commerce site, where they will see the buying organization’s version of a catalog of products and negotiated prices. The catalog is hosted and maintained by the supplier. The user will fill their shopping cart with products and checkout.

At the time of checkout they are redirected to the marketplace, where the line item detail of what they wish to order appears, along with default accounting and shipping data. They can modify the accounting and shipping information with values entered in via the admin console. Finally the marketplace order is submitted for approval and sent to the supplier. Approvers, set up and assigned to users in the admin console, must approve orders over an approval level for their designated users. Orders under that amount are automatically approved and orders over a certain amount are automatically rejected. Once approved, the order is submitted to the supplier electronically using cXML.

Usually the act of shipping will trigger the invoicing process from the supplier. The supplier will send invoice information through a cXML file to ST. ST will load that information into their database and perform a matching routine. The matching will verify that there is a corresponding order for the invoice, and that the cumulative total of all invoices against that order are not over a preset amount. Those invoices are generally then converted by ST into a buying organization format and sent to the buying organization via SFTP. The buying organization is responsible for payment to the supplier.

Note: Suppliers may also send credit memos against orders that have had successful invoices processed against them.

Administration

All administration for the marketplace is done via the admin console. The admin console allows the admin to add/modify/deactivate users, to set certain marketplace settings, and for reporting and analysis purposes. Initially, as much of the data as possible should be bulk loaded from the buying organization to ST. ST will set up the initial batches of users. The marketplace can also accept periodic feeds from the buying organization to update data. Most ongoing administration is generally done manually via the console unless there is a feed.

Host punchout catalogs

If required ST can host punchout catalogs for suppliers who aren’t enabled. However, we discourage hosting catalogs in general, as it is costly and error prone.