Rinktee - Blog

If Short On Space

Posted on Dec 28, 2017 by Simon

Most punchout catalog systems are somewhat stingy on space and also in what they allow you to customize.

Not so with Rinktee.

As seen on the screenshot below, the Details link and "Add to cart" button are almost entirely hidden from view since the admin had chosen to make Category and the Manufacturer columns visible on the punchout item list.

A quick adjustment to the attributes in Views, shortening "Item Number" to "Item #", and Manufacturer to Mfg, and Currency to Curr, frees up space to give room for Details and the button.

For more details on this customization and others, please visit our site at, punchout-item-list.

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Fun With Multiple Images

Posted on Nov 30, 2017 by Simon

One Image

Ever need to display more than one image of an item to the user, but the software limited you to just one image?

If you needed two images, or 3, or 4, 5, 6, the choice is yours.

Make sure in your CSV file each item has the images listed, then within Views, move each Image up to the top of the list, and then in Attributes click Visible in List.

Three Images

And that's it! Now the user will see multiple images for each item as they are displayed in the punchout.

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

All things to all people, ah ...maybe no.

Posted on Oct 30, 2017 by Simon

Trying to be all things to all people is a strategy without direction or focus.

What happens is rather than doing one thing well, you end up doing many things poorly.

Our focus is on providing a consistent and reliable punchout catalog.

There are many other solutions that can do master data scrubbing, and we leave that task to them.

In our experience, a majority of our customers have well defined data, and other than duplicate checking, we concentrate on getting the data uploaded as quickly as possible.

And by the way, Realistic, the maker of the all-in-one stereo system, is now bankrupt.


Cheers!

UNSPSC - Yes or No?

Posted on Sep 23, 2017 by Simon

UNSPSC is a single universal coding convention for item categories that all companies can draw on from for FREE.

If a supplier needs to register with a search engine or a third-party market place, most likely a categorization of items by UNSPSC will be required.

Advantages of utilizing UNSPSC:

• A standard within the organization and across the supply chain.
• Analyse spend by category.
• Familiarity when searching for a product.

Additional category FAQ and reference available on our site.

And it's a Yes on UNSPSC.

Cheers!

Subscription Model Explained in Five

Posted on Aug 31, 2017 by Simon

The subscription model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but now closely modeled by many businesses and websites.

By 2020 its expected that 80% of software will be by subscription.

Here are just five reasons as to why subscription is favored by our customers.


Internet Ubiquity
Available from any computer, from any device, at any time, from anywhere.

Minimal Startup Cost
No license fees, hardware, software, or extra resource expenses.

Application Maintenance
No need to download, upgrade, or install patches, new updates, or maintain hardware like hard disks or RAM.

Cloud Scaling
Architecture that can scale indefinitely to meet customer demand.

Business Integration
Integrate with existing ERP systems or to other business systems across the web.

Cheers!

Bridgestone SA Goes Live with Rinktee Cloud Punchout Catalog

Posted on Jun 30, 2017 by Simon

We are pleased to announce that Bridgestone (South Africa) has gone live with the Rinktee cloud punchout catalog solution earlier this month. This marks our 3rd SAP customer running SRM that has chosen Rinktee over SRM-MDM to manage catalogs for supplier items.

The preferred method of managing items in the cloud using Rinktee won over the standard SRM-MDM legacy offering that was limited in search and a challenge to maintain.

The following observations were also noted at Bridgestone:

• MDM needs hardware,
• MDM is more complex to setup,
• Rinktee solution is easy, and time to market much quicker then MDM,
• Rinktee is easier to maintain and not dependent on SAP support staff.

Congratulations Bridgestone SA!

Cheers!

JSON Data Magic

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Simon

The modern web has made great improvements in just the last few years, and Rinktee has taken full advantage of these latest innovations by deploying JSON as the main format for storing and managing document data.

JSON uses key value pairs in documents to store records, just as relational databases use tables and rows to store records. The striking difference between a relational database and a JASON non-relational (NoSQL) document is that the schema for each NoSQL record can vary. This means that you are not restricted as to how many attributes you can use to define your items (or remove and add them later if you change your mind).

If you realize in the future that your items need additional attributes like width, length and height, then simply add the required fields and the additions are managed seamlessly across the catalogs and views.

For us to manage the NoSQL documents is also greatly simplified since NoSQL databases are designed to scale out with the addition of distributed clusters of RAM and hard disk space to increase space and throughput without decreasing speed.

So there you have it, JASON non-relational (NoSQL) documents is how Rinktee manages data in the cloud and where you'll notice the improved performance straight away.

Cheers!

Punchout Catalog Demo Q&A

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Simon

Punchout Catalog Demo Q&A

Thursday's @ 7:00 AM US/Pacific (GMT-0700)

1. Conference Dial-in (United States): (857) 957-1130

Access Code: 241-855-404

International: https://www.startmeeting.com/wall/rinktee#international

2. Join Online Meeting:

Online Meeting Link: https://join.startmeeting.com/rinktee

Online Meeting ID: rinktee

Instructions:

- At the scheduled date and time of the meeting, dial in to the conference line.

- When prompted, enter the access code followed by hash (#). 

- To join the meeting, click the online meeting link and follow the prompts.

- (Can also call-in through computer).

https://www.rinktee.com

Time Zones:

Honolulu	UTC-10	4:00 AM
San Francisco	UTC-7	7:00 AM
Denver	UTC-6	8:00 AM
Chicago	UTC-5	9:00 AM
New York	UTC-4	10:00 AM
Rio de Janeiro	UTC-3	11:00 AM
London	UTC+1	3:00 PM
Johannesburg	UTC+2	4:00 PM
Moscow	UTC+3	5:00 PM
Mumbai	UTC+5.5	7:30 PM
Beijing	UTC+8	10:00 PM
Tokyo	UTC+9	11:00 PM
Sydney	UTC+10	12:00 AM
Auckland	UTC+12	2:00 AM

Cheers!

Private Supplier Network

Posted on Apr 27, 2017 by Simon

Major eProcurement vendors like SAP, Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer (SciQuest) provide their own Supplier Networks or Portals for which Suppliers can join to manage items, receive invoices or to communicate one thing or another.

As long as you the Buyer and your Suppliers abide to the Network set of rules and methods, no issues arise.

If the Buyer needs to establish a new set of rules and methods that Suppliers are required to follow, then unless the functionality is already found in the Network it will leave the Buyer out of luck.

That is why we are presenting a variant of our Cloud product specifically for Buyers that want to establish their own Cloud punchout catalog as a Private Supplier Network.

This will allow the Buyer to:

• Establish a Private Supplier Network for a select group of Suppliers.

• Set a common template of mandatory fields for Suppliers.

• Determine a common set, or a specific set of categories for Suppliers.

• Allow Suppliers to manage images and additional item attributes themselves. 

For additional details on our Private Supplier Network, please contact us at info@rinktee.com.

Cheers!

Modified Ariba Punchout

Posted on Apr 17, 2017 by Simon

Our customer Groupe RG (design, production, and distribution of personal protective equipment) had a request from Thales Group (design and build electrical systems for  aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets), to provide a Groupe RG punchout catalog for buyers at the various Thales divisions.

The requirements were:
- the user interface had to be in the French language,
- each division should have its own mini-catalog,
- mini-catalogs to have their own contained search,
- be able to connect to the Ariba Supplier Network,
- the punchout be available in the Cloud.

The only new modification to this request was the addition of the mini-catalogs where items are grouped by divisions, and searches are then limited to that division. All the rest of the requirements were already available in our Cloud solution.

Now we have Thales connecting to the Ariba Supplier Network, accessing the Groupe RG punchout catalog supplied by us here at Rinktee, and the Thales buyer is now bringing back the items to the Ariba shopping cart. A reliable seamless process all done in the Cloud.

Cheers!

Gas Jockey

Posted on Mar 31, 2017 by Simon

Not only did the gas jockey pump fuel, but the jockey also checked oil levels, cleaned the windshield, offered some promotion, and then took the payment. Only in New Jersey and Oregon are gas jockeys still in existence where self-serve gas stations are banned.

Is the demise of a gas jockey good or bad?

If in a rush and minimal needs ...then good. If blistering cold or howling rain ...then bad.

As a driver, I'd like to write some emails when gas is being filled. But I know my car best and the level of urgency. The advantages of me doing the filling win out.

Who knows item data the best? The supplier of course. Why be a gas jockey when you can let the supplier (i.e. the driver), manage the items and punchout catalog. All the pieces are there for the supplier to take responsibility for their catalog and run the show. For a buyer with many suppliers (drivers), wouldn't this arrangement be most preferable?

Cheers!

Coupa Supplier Portal - Made Better !

Posted on Mar 26, 2017 by Simon

Coupa as a procurement system has much to be admired. Strength after strength throughout the entire application. Yet supplier item management can be greatly strengthened with the usage of the Rinktee catalog system.

The following is a list of weaknesses that Coupa exhibits and which Rinktee can remedy (as noted by our customers that use Coupa).

• The Coupa Supplier Portal is confusing for suppliers to maintain items.
• Coupa's internal catalog loses its portability once an item file is over 5MB zipped.
• The technical steps in CSP for the publication of items are confusing.
• Coupa system often complains about duplicate items.
• Cannot ever really delete items that are in Coupa.
• Suppliers with over one hundred items can be more efficiently maintained when using a punchout catalog.

We have sample catalogs that can be easily uploaded (or take one of your own), and have a quick look at how efficient catalog management can be. Soon enough you'll be asking yourself, "what were we waiting for?"

Cheers!

Configurable Punchout

Posted on Mar 20, 2017 by Simon

A customer of ours had an interesting request that we've never encountered before. Rather than having a static catalog of items with predetermined attributes, could we apply our cloud technology to present a punchout with a different set of attributes based on the category the item belongs too?

Easy enough, the only complexity was capturing the data the requester was entering for that attribute and sending it along in the checkout as well.

One typical scenario is a user selecting the Electric Motor category. This category has a predefined set of attributes than does the Pneumatic Actuator category. The Motor might have four attributes the buyer needs info for, while the Actuator might need seven pieces of information for the buyer to make the correct purchase. Rather than uploading a standard CSV category file, the admin uploads a slightly different file called an Object CSV file, and then continues setting up the View and User sessions as before. The requester selects the category (now called object), and proceeds to enter applicable data into each attribute's text box and then submits the configured item into the shopping cart.

The requester in the end is able to configure an item based on their immediate requirements and not wait for the administrator to upload or create a specific item. This type of solution fits directly into our self-service mission to minimize any unnecessary delays and get items ordered as quickly as possible.

Please contact us for more details on this solution at Info.

Cheers!

CeBIT 2017

Catch a glimpse of Rinktee at CeBIT 2017 in Hannover, Germany during the "Realize the value of S/4 HANA with Capgemini's 'Highway to S/4' presentation". 

(SAP, hall 4, C04, Capgemini booth, March 20 – 24, 2017)

SAP S/4HANA FIORI

Posted on Mar 12, 2017 by Simon

Connectivity for SAP S/4HANA FIORI confirmed from the Rinktee punchout catalog system. Please follow link for additional information.
Web Services Setup

Faux Cloud

Posted on Feb 28, 2017 by Simon

All seems real, ...until you pull back the curtains. The wizard of silicon valley is still at it. If you can't make it, might as well fake it.

Too many companies are labeling themselves as the cloud which is just disingenuous and does nothing but confuse the public.

• If you host your application on Amazon or Rackspace, that does not automatically qualify you as the cloud. Legitimacy by association is a fallacy.

• If you upgrade users A-to-M one day, and N-to-Z the next, that does not automatically qualify you as the cloud. All users are on the same version, at the same time.

• If you make users download the application locally, that does not automatically qualify you as the cloud. The whole reason is to keep it up in the cloud and find it there.

• If each user has their own tablespace, that does not automatically qualify you as the cloud. Clouds change in shape and size with no defined limits.

So don't be fooled by these companies jumping on the bandwagon and labeling themselves as the "cloud" by simply touching up legacy stacks with a new coat of paint. We need to have these services cloud authenticated or just call them out for pure fakery.

Cheers!

Raison d'être

Posted on Jan 27, 2017 by Simon

I'm sure we're all looking to check off these points when we're looking for a solution.

- Save time
- Save money
- Increase revenue
- Reduce stress
- Improve productivity

Sometimes we look high and low and just can't find anything useful out there and end up being stuck with something less then desirable.

How frustrating!

Well this is where we're coming from when we came up with this solution.

Most of the available solutions out in the market were not that good. In one way or another!

I'm almost certain that previous designers of punchout catalogs had never lived through the experience of having to upload and update catalogs from suppliers large and small, day after day, week after week, month after month.

Then programmers poorly built, blindly followed requirements making you suffer through system interruptions, reloads, endless clicking, steps that never made any sense, and the list goes on.

Hey, all we were asking for was a simple solution to upload items from suppliers and put items into a punchout shopping cart.

That's it! Plain and simple.

We know what we want and we want to do it fast.

I hope you find that Rinktee meets these objectives.

Our mission is simple; deliver a cloud solution without user aggravation or frustration.

Keep the price low and let the users stay in control.

Cheers!