TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Basic Order Fulfillment Processing Guide

Part 1: Introduction

B2B Processing is a simple way to describe electronic business (e-business) process automation.

With B2B processing, electronic documents are sent automatically to a computer at another company.

• Automate business processes

• Exchange electronic documents

• Connect computer-to-computer

B2B processing replaces the manual steps required to process common business transactions.

Many B2B processes use two documents:

1)  A request document starts the business transaction

2)  The reply document includes the business response.

Standards-Based B2B Processing

B2B standards define common ways to implement B2B processing.  These standards range from specific terminology for B2B documents all the way to encryption and Internet standards.

Using B2B standards reduces e-business costs for individual companies and industries.

• B2B Process Standards

• B2B Vocabulary Standards

• B2B Technology Standards

Basic Order-to-Cash Scenario

This B2B Processing Guide describes B2B processing examples for basic order fulfillment between a supplier and buyer.  A common series of B2B processes (scenario) starts with the purchase order and finishes once the payment has been confirmed.

• Purchase Order Management to create the PO for the buyer includes both a request and reply message.

• Shipment Notice to describe shipping details to the buyer.

• Shipment Receipt to notify the supplier that order was received

• Invoice to request payment from the buyer

• Remittance to notify supplier about the payment details

These individual B2B processes will be described in the following pages.

Basic Pricing and Quote Processes

Two B2B processes for determining price will also be described in this B2B Processing Guide.

• Catalogue Pricing for sharing fixed-prices with potential buyers.

• Quote processing to automate more flexible pricing agreements.

The order fulfillment process has many variations.

This B2B Processing Guide will focus on a basic, more traditional order process.

B2B Processing Model

Business-to-Business (B2B) Processing brings together these four business strategies.

1. Business Process Management (BPM) focus on process requirements, business-activity workflow, functional roles and use cases.

2. Total Quality Management (TQM) focus on customer requirements, manufacturing quality, performance measures and continuous improvement.

3. Information Technology (IT) focus on technology requirements for enabling business through information, processing, automation and networking.

4. B2B Standards focus on community requirements for defining a common vocabulary, technologies, and processes specifying a broad range of e-business capabilities.

Each B2B Processing Guide highlights
business considerations in these four areas

Selected B2B Standards Organizations

This B2B Processing Guide. includes standards from these non-profit organizations.