Set PO Interface Options

PowerShift includes a number of customer-specific solutions to automate transferring data to and from PowerShift; the PO interface is one example.

Select PO Interface in System Options Maintenance (XM) to set options for importing purchase order data. PO data can be processed manually with Purchase Order Import (VRQI) or automatically using the drop file parameters you specify. See Background: Purchase Order Import for additional information.

Interface Requirements:

The interface requires three different native directories (i.e., work, drop, and archive)
The *SECURE password must have access to the work, drop and archive directories
Different applications can share work, drop and archive the directories; a file prefix should be used to identify file type. VRQ is recommended for imported POs.
When the interface is first activated or if the configuration is changed, you will need to restart the interface or shutdown and restart PowerShift.

Interface Options:

Set these options for your enterprise:

Field Name	Type / Max Length	Action / Description
Drop file interface active?	Optional	Select if you want to actively poll a drop file directory to automate importing data.
Drop files logging?	Optional	Select if to include information for troubleshooting interface issues. Leave blank unless directed by PowerShift Support.
Interface admin email	Required	Enter the email address of the person who should receive error messages regarding the interface. These are not data-related errors; rather, they pertain to problems with the incoming file (e.g., the file is not formatted correctly) or setup issues (e.g., the user does not have access to the drop file directory specified).
Error notification device	Required	Select the output device (set up in Output Device Maintenance) to use when sending out interface errors. The recommended device is an email device with an HTML table in the body of the email. This makes messages easy to read without having to open an attachment.
Work directory	Required 3 alphanumeric	Enter the directory to which drop files are copied for the use with the update program.
Drop directory	Required 3 alphanumeric	Enter the directory into which files are "dropped" (i.e., this is the directory that PowerShift will poll for drop files).
Archive directory	Optional 3 alphanumeric	Enter the directory to which drop files are archived. Archived files can be viewed in the Interface Log Inquiry (WLOG) program. If you do not specify an archive directory, the drop file is not retained.
Archive base path	Conditional	Enter the location of the archive directory.
File prefix	Required 3 alphanumeric	Enter the prefix for import files. VRQ is recommended for imported POs.
Delimited or Fixed length	Required	Select D Delimited if data in the drop file is delimited; select F Fixed length if the data is in fixed length fields.
Field delimiter	Conditional 1 alphanumeric	If the data in drop files is delimited, enter the field delimiter such as the \| (pipe character). Enter T if the file is tab-delimited.
Polling interval	Required 4 numeric maximum	Enter the number of "system" seconds for the interval between checks for drop files. An entry of 0 is treated as 10.
Device for log/reporting	Conditional	Select the device to use for transaction logs (i.e., number of records successfully processed) and reports from the interface. The device must be email (device type L Email) with 6 HTML in body of the email selected as the Email attachment format in Output Device Maintenance. Note If you do not want a log sent, leave both Device for log/reporting and User ID for log/reporting blank.
User ID for log/reporting	Conditional	Select the user ID of person who should receive transaction logs (i.e., number of records successfully processed) and reports from the interface. Note If you do not want a log sent, leave both Device for log/reporting and User ID for log/reporting blank.
Device for data errors	Required	Select the output device to use for data-related errors. The device must be email (device type L Email) with 6 HTML in body of the email selected as the Email attachment format in Output Device Maintenance.
User ID for data errors	Required	Select the user ID of person who should receive notification of data-related errors found during the import (e.g., vendor number is invalid, purchase order already exists).

Click Other info to set these options:

Field Name	Type / Max Length	Action / Description
PO numbers imported as new?	Optional	Select this field if you want the interface to always create new purchase orders. If the file imported has a PO number assigned, and that PO already exists in PowerShift, it will be treated as an error condition. If you leave this option blank, the interface will add to an existing PO.
Accept stocked items only?	Optional	Select this option if you do not want the interface to create requisitions/purchase orders for non-stock items; if the item is not in the inventory file (i.e., set up in Enterprise Item Maintenance or Branch Item Maintenance), it is an error condition. Leave blank if you want the interface to allow non-stock items. In either case, service items are not allowed and are treated as an error condition.
Override firewall?	Optional	Select this option if you want the imported data to always generate a purchase order, not a requisition, regardless of the date wanted. Leave blank if you want to respect the purchase order firewall settings in System Options Maintenance - Purchasing Options.
Set as internal documents?	Optional	Select this option if you want purchase orders created by the import process marked a "internal documents". You can use this setting on the PO header to exclude the automatic printing/sending of the purchase order, based on the copies set up Document Output Parameters (TDOC). Leave blank if you do not want the imported POs to be marked as internal documents.
PO import package	Required	Select the software package that is supplying the file to import.

Choose the appropriate options:

To	Do This
Change an option	Move the cursor to the appropriate field and make the required change.
Set more options	Click Other info.
Exit without changing these options	Click Cancel.
Print these options	Click Print. See Print an Inquiry.
Accept these options and exit	Click OK.
Exit from the detail screen	Click Exit. If you made any changes that have not been saved, you will be prompted to save them.

Choose the appropriate options when you click OK or Cancel:

To	Do This
Display a category of options	Highlight the line and click Select or double-click the line.
Exit the program	Click Exit.