Using the Product Index Layer (PIL) Tools Version

Contents

Contents of this topic:

Search Online Doc
Spend Definitions
Current Release Notes

Overview

This topic explains the Product Index Layer (PIL), and outlines activities that you can perform with the Product Index Layer.

What is the Product Index Layer (PIL)?

The Product Index Layer reconciles item data from different sources. It is a cross-reference index of item records by manufacturer, manufacturer item number, vendor, and vendor item number that allows contract and hospital items to be matched without intensive data cleansing. Processing associates contractable item catalog records and contract item lines with the corresponding PIL entries.

The PIL currently contains several hundred thousand item records.

Development of the PIL is ongoing, to increase the size, and to implement additional planned user interface features. Maintenance is done on a regular basis to modify the PIL as new items become available, as new manufacturer/vendor corporations are formed, and as existing manufacturers or vendors consolidate.

Why was the Product Index Layer created?

Item manufacturer and vendor information from a GPO or distributor can be different from the data in a hospital’s records for a given item. Different versions of the manufacturer name can occur.

Multiple vendors/distributors may exist for the item, manufacturer and vendor item numbers can differ, and other inconsistencies can exist.

When contracts are imported, significant data cleanup is often needed before contract items and hospital item records can be matched accurately. The PIL eliminates most cleanup. Hospitals can activate contract items immediately so that they can purchase the items on-contract. Non-file items purchased on-contract can be identified, and spend for those items added to the pool of data for study and analysis.

Product Index Layer Enabled Environment

Several panels provide user access to maintenance and other activities in the PIL, as outlined below. Continued development of both the PIL features and the PIL database is planned for future service packs.

How the Product Index Layer Works

The Product Index Layer uses the concept of "entities" to reconcile item record differences and to make spend data available for analysis.

Entities

An "entity" is a corporate name for a manufacturer or vendor, such as Johnson & Johnson or Owens & Minor.

For example, with two manufacturer item records, if the manufacturer names (although different) represent the same overall company, the items belong to the same manufacturer entity. The situation is parallel for vendors; when two vendors are part of the same company, even if the vendors' names are different, the vendors can be associated with the same PIL vendor entity.

Services vendors (who provide services, rather than items) may also be associated with entities in the Product Index Layer. For example, the entity GE Healthcare could be associated with services vendors such as GE Healthcare Financial Services.

Definition: Registering a vendor or manufacturer means associating that vendor or manufacturer with a Product Index Layer entity.

An entity may be simple with only one name associated to one manufacturer or vendor. If the same manufacturer, or vendor, uses different names or has subsidiaries, the entity may include the multiple names as aliases. Figure 1 is a list of entities with aliases. Notice that each of the four Abbott... entities is assigned one or more aliases (red arrows on the right side).

Figure 1 - Aliases for the Entities Named "Abbott..."

An entity can be a "parent" or "child" of another entity. This situation is common.

In Figure 1, the entities "Abbott Medical Optics Inc.," "Abbott Molecular Inc.," and "Abbott Vascular Inc." (on the left side) are actually "child" entities of the parent "Abbott Laboratories Inc." The hierarchical structure is illustrated in Figure 2. This kind of entity structure is a "family."

Figure 2 - Child Entities for the Parent "Abbott Laboratories"

The hierarchical structure of entities lets the Product Index Layer handle items whose manufacturer (or vendor) has been acquired by a new owner, either outright, or as a subsidiary of an existing enterprise, in addition to the more common situation where manufacturer/vendor names have different forms, either because of spelling or brand designation.

Key Concepts: Registration

Manufacturers -- such as "Guidant," for example -- are registered in the PIL to manufacturer entities, such as "Abbott Laboratories, Inc." (Figure 1).
Vendors -- such as "Fisher Scientific," for example -- are registered in the PIL to vendor entities, such as "Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc."

Registration associates or cross-references manufacturers and manufacturer entities; vendors and vendor entities.

Tip: When registering a vendor, register based on the vendor name, rather than on the vendor location name.

PIL Processing and Contract Item Matching

Figure 3 illustrates how the PIL works with Sourcing and Contract Management to match contract items.

Figure 3 - Matching Contract Items with the Product Index Layer (PIL)

Identifying Items for Matching and Analysis

In matching contract items (and in spend analysis), the Product Index Layer uses the vendor item number (VIN) to determine whether an item on a contract detail line is the same as a PIL item. Figure 4 is an illustration of the process.

After processing with the PIL, if a contract item cannot be matched but the item manufacturer is registered, Sourcing and Contract Management uses the site's original data to match the item. The item catalog MIN and manufacturer are compared with those in the contract. The MIN is compared in "noiseless" mode; i.e., with non-alphanumeric characters removed.

Figure 4 - The Product Index Layer Process of Item Matching

Here are some examples of how the Product Index Layer might match items in a contract.
- In the discussion below, MIN is "manufacturer item number;" VIN is "vendor item number."

Case 1:
- The manufacturer is registered and the MIN is found in the PIL.
- The PIL finds the item's vendor and VIN.
The PIL returns the manufacturer, MIN, item description, and UNSPSC code for use in contract matching and in analysis.

In Case 1, the MIN, manufacturer identity, item description, and UNSPSC code come from the PIL.

Case 2:
- The manufacturer is registered, but the MIN is not found in the PIL.
- The PIL does not find the item's vendor or VIN.
The system uses the site's local item data (MIN, manufacturer, item description, and UNSPSC code) in contract matching and in analysis.

In Case 2, the MIN, manufacturer identity, item description, and UNSPSC code come from the site's local item data, not from the PIL.

Case 3:
- The manufacturer is not registered.
- The PIL does not find the item's VIN or vendor.
The system uses the site's local item VIN as the MIN and the vendor as the manufacturer in contract matching and in analysis.

In Case 3, the VIN, vendor, item description, and UNSPSC code come from the site's local item data, not from the PIL.

Case 4:
- The manufacturer is registered and the MIN is found in the PIL.
- The PIL does not find the item's VIN or vendor.
The system uses the site's local manufacturer and MIN, and the PIL's item description and UNSPSC code.

In Case 4, values from both the PIL and the site's local item data are used in contract matching and in analysis:
The MIN and manufacturer come from the site's local item data, and the item description and UNSPSC code come from the PIL.

Using the local item's VIN to match to contracts (Case 3, above) can occur when a manufacturer has not been associated with an entity.
You will want to look at the list of manufacturers and make any needed manufacturer–entity registrations.

Implications of How the Product Index Layer Identifies Items

For Contract Matching:
When neither the manufacturer nor the vendor is registered, the system cannot match contract items.
When you accept a contract, if "no item matches are found" you may need to check the registration status of the vendor and manufacturer.

For the Analysis Workbench and Projects:
Imagine that you have used a keyword to create an analysis group in the Analysis Workbench, and then created a project from the group.
The project that you created may contain more items than the analysis group had. The reason is that the project pulls spend for all MINs that are the same as the analysis group MINs. In addition, project items include items from the item catalog/item file that match the analysis group MINs, but have no spend. Items with the same MIN may have different item descriptions. The objective is to get the complete set of items relevant to the segment of spend under analysis so that you can solicit bids. You can review and eliminate any items that you do not want to include in the project, of course.

Another detailed example of this situation is in the chapter on Analysis Projects, under "Spend Values in Projects Created from Analysis Groups."

The version of the item description used in Projects and in the Analysis Workbench can be set for your site. The options are: use either the item description from local item records or the item description from the PIL.

Using the Search Panel to Find Items in the Product Index Layer

Search is available from the page menu and from the Sourcing and Contract Management main Contents (Figure 5) for contracts.

Figure 5 - Accessing the Search Panel

The Search panel contains tabbed areas where you can run different kinds of searches. A tab appears for Product Index Layer item searches (Figure 6).

Figure 6 - The Search Panel for the Product Index Layer

Clicking the Product Index Layer search tab lets you search for an item in the PIL. You can enter characters from the MIN (manufacturer item number), VIN (vendor item number), item description, manufacturer, vendor, UNSPSC, or UNSPSC description. Mouse over the Items link to display a list of elements that are searched.

Important: For the Product Index Layer search, and for other links in the application that let you search for an entity, use a search value longer than three characters. The search routine does not work effectively for three or fewer characters. For example, instead of "MAS" enter "Medical Automation Systems."

Figure 7 is an example of a PIL item search. The user has entered characters from the VIN.

Figure 7 - Product Index Layer Item Search Results

Note: Call the Help Desk to turn on the Search feature.

When you first open the search for a supply contract, manufacturer, item, or vendor search, for a services contract search, or for a PIL item search, the list of My Last Viewed Contracts appears. My Last Viewed Contracts contains the last ten contracts that you opened.

The link Open Full View appears at the bottom of the contracts list if you have worked with more than ten contracts. Click Open Full View to display more contracts.

Vendor Spend - Contract Activation and Analysis

Spend for a vendor's locations is "rolled up" to the vendor entity level. Multiple vendor locations are registered to a single vendor entity.

When you are analyzing vendor spend, you can identify any unregistered vendors, and then register the vendors. The panels for registration contain sorting tools that rank vendors by spend amount so that you can register those whose spend you consider significant.

Registration of vendors is outlined in a subsequent section.

Services and Supply Spend Types

A single vendor entity can have -- and usually does have -- multiple vendors locations registered to it. Some of the vendor locations registered to a single entity can provide supplies and others can provide services. Some vendor locations may provide both.

For example, consider a hypothetical vendor "American Electronics Inc." This vendor provides imaging equipment and accessories, equipment maintenance, film, and portable storage media for X-rays and other imaging devices. Imagine that you have services contracts with this vendor for maintenance, and supply contracts for film and equipment accessories.

Since American Electronics is used to purchase both items and services, how would you describe its spend? Is the spend "supply" spend or "services spend?" It depends on how you wish to work with the spend.

In registering a vendor, you specify the vendor's Spend Type. The spend type options are Supply or Services.
The spend type does not necessarily reflect what you purchase from the vendor, but rather, how you want to access the vendor's spend for analysis.

Key Concepts: Spend Type

You specify a vendor's Spend Type as the location of the vendor's spend for analysis purposes.

Spend dollars labeled "supply" are from purchase order invoices.

Spend dollars labeled "services" are from all invoices (which includes PO invoices).

Deciding on a vendor's spend type assignment

Here are a couple of approaches you might take in deciding how to assign a vendor's spend.

Displaying spend based on the vendor's spend type

To access the panel in Figure 8, from the Administration contents, click Product Index Layer > Manage Vendor Entities.

Figure 8 - List of Unregistered Vendors

Advanced scenario - two vendors with different spend types registered to the same entity

An example of two vendors registered to the same entity with different spend types is in Appendix 1.

Registering Vendors

Vendors must be registered ("cross-referenced") to vendor entities so that the Product Index Layer can provide correct item information for contract matching and spend analysis. The sections below explain how to register vendors, and how to specify that a vendor's spend is services spend or supply spend.

When you register a vendor, its spend is available for analysis the next day. The registration process completes overnight.

Note: Manufacturers are also registered to Product Index Layer entities. However, the need for a site to register a manufacturer seldom occurs. The need to register vendors, especially local vendors, is more common.

Universal and Local Suppliers

Most hospitals purchase supplies from large, nationally known vendor/distributors such as Abbott Laboratories, Inc. and Cardinal Health; and from national manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, and others. Services vendors may also include national companies such as Hertz, ADP, ARA, and others. The Product Index Layer (PIL) includes parent and child entities for these "universal" suppliers that you can register to the specific subsidiary (e.g., Abbott Diagnostics, Allegiance Inc.) that your hospital uses.

In addition to national and regional suppliers, many hospitals use smaller, local vendors and manufacturers. Local vendors and manufacturers may provide supplies. Local services vendors may provide services such as housekeeping, landscaping, valet service, water treatment, etc. Entities for these local vendors may not exist, and will need to be created.

When created and registered, local vendor and manufacturer entities and cross-references become part of a site's own data tables.

Note: To create/register entities, the "CARegistration" role object in your user role must be set to Modify, minimally.

National or regional supplier/service vendor?

You must decide if an unregistered vendor (or manufacturer) is local, or should be associated with one of the universal entities in the Product Index Layer.

Location of panels for registering vendors

Links are available for registering a vendor from these application panels:
- The "Supply Analysis Workbench" page Actions panel (Figure 9). This link opens the "Vendors and Entities" page. Figure 12 is an example.
- The main Contents Administration > Product Index Layer > Manage Contract Vendors link (Figure 10). This link also opens the "Vendors and Entities" page. Figure 12 is an example.
- The "Work with Vendor" page Actions panel (Figure 11) lets you register a single vendor. You can access the Work with Vendor page through the Search application; Search > Vendors > Select a vendor.

Figure 9 - Register a Vendor from the Supply Analysis Workbench Actions Panel.

 

Figure 10 - Register a Vendor from the Administration Contents

 

Figure 11 - Register a Vendor from the "Work with Vendor" Actions Panel

To register a vendor,

  1. Open the Vendors panel.
    On the Analysis Workbench Actions panel (Figure 9), click View Unregistered Vendors.
    - Or, from the Administration contents, click Product Index Layer > Manage Contract Vendors.

    The "Vendors and Entities" page appears. The panel has two tabs: Entities and Vendors. The Entities list, which opens by default, displays a list of entities. You use the Entities list to edit an entity, and create or edit markup sets.
  2. Click the Vendors tab. A list of vendors appears (Figure 12).

Figure 12 - List of Unregistered Vendors

The Vendors list (Figure 12) shows vendor locations, items in spend for each vendor, if any, spend amounts, and more, depending on how the list is filtered. You can use the filters on the left to display registered and unregistered vendors, or all vendors. Other filter options are on the left as well. The default date range is Prior 12 Months, but this can be changed by clicking the change link.

You may have a vendor that cannot be registered as either a supply or services vendor; in such a case, you can exclude a vendor from the Unregistered Vendors list by clicking the Exclude link.

An "undo" feature -- the Include link -- is available for any vendor that you exclude.

Using the Vendors Panel

Status filter: On the Status filter, you can select All, Registered, or Unregistered vendors. Figure 12 displays unregistered vendors;
Figure 13 displays registered vendors.

- For unregistered vendors (Status is set to Unregistered), clicking Register lets you register the vendor.

- For registered vendors (Status is set to Registered), the Set Spend Type link appears (Figure 13).
This link lets you change the spend type of a vendor.
Also, you can change the assigned category of a services vendor when you click Set Spend Type.
The Unregister link also appears (Figure 13). This link lets you remove the registration.

Figure 13 - List of Registered Vendors

Vendors filter: You can display All vendors, vendors With Supply Spend, or With Services Spend for each Status.
Figure 12
and Figure 13 display vendors with supply spend.

Local filter: You can display All vendors, or only Local vendors. (See the discussion of "universal" and local applied to vendors and manufacturers.)

Spend Type filter: You can also filter the list for vendors with Supply spend, Services spend, or All types (services and supply).
Figure 12 and Figure 13 contain vendors with supply spend. (Supply spend is purchase order invoice dollars.)
Vendors can have services spend as well. (Services spend is dollars from all invoices.)
Clicking Set Spend Type lets you change the spend type of a registered vendor.
(The changed spend type is available the next day, after an overnight job runs.)

In Figure 12 or Figure 13, notice that you can click the search icon and use the search to locate the vendor of interest.

Clicking a value in the column Items In Spend opens a list of vendor's items for all vendor locations.
Figure 14 is the result of clicking 48 Items in Spend in Figure 12. If more than ten vendor locations exist, More appears:
click More to display the full list. (The system only displays the first ten locations initially.)

Figure 14 - Vendor Items for an Unregistered Vendor

  1. On the "Vendors and Entities" page, Vendors panel (Figure 12): Click Register next to the vendor that you wish to register.
    - A panel displays entities that may match the vendor (Figure 15).
  2. Review the entities on the list.
    - The system automatically searches for an entity that includes characters from the vendor name. You may need to click the search icon and search for a different part of the vendor name to find the correct matching entity, if one exists. If no good candidates for an entity appear, try altering the search to just part of the vendor name. Keep in mind that the correct entity name may be entirely different from the vendor.

Figure 15 - Search Results for Existing Vendor Entities

The entity candidates listed include "universal" entities -- vendors of national or regional scope -- and "local" entities designated by (Local).

Is the vendor "universal" -- in other words, a national or regional company?

Determine if there is an existing entity on the list to register to the vendor.
If none of the entities match, and the vendor has national stature, you can request the Help Desk to create a new universal entity

  1. A. Click Register next to the matching entity. A panel appears for vendor information (Figure 17). Follow the instructions below for completing the vendor information.
Or...Is the vendor "local?"

Determine if there is an existing local entity to register to the vendor.
(If none of the local entities match, you can create one.)

  1. B. Click Register next to the matching entity. A panel appears for vendor information. Follow the instructions below for completing the vendor information.

    If you need to create a new local entity, do the following:

Figure 16 - Giving a New Local Entity a Name

  1. Complete the fields on the Create Registration panel (Figure 17) for the vendor.

Figure 17 - Creating a Vendor Entity and Registering a Vendor

Fields on the panel are in Table 1:

Table 1 - Fields on the Vendor Create Registration Panel

Vendor

The name of the vendor that you are registering to the entity.

Spend Type

Select the spend type (See the discussion below).
- Supply: The vendor's spend appears on the supply Analysis Workbench. This value is the default.

- Services: The vendor's spend appears on the Services Analysis Workbench. Also, when you check this box,
the field Category appears at the bottom of the panel (See Figure 15).

You can have both supply and services vendors registered to the same entity.
See the Spend Type discussion.

Entity

The entity name that the vendor is being registered to.

Register All Locations for this Vendor?

Clicking this checkbox causes all of the vendor's locations to be registered to the entity when you click Save.
Otherwise, when the checkbox is not checked, only the location that you selected is registered.

Default Markup Set

The letter identifier for the default markup values used by the vendor.
A group of markup values -- a markup percent and/or dollar amount -- is a markup set.

Once the vendor is registered, you can edit the vendor registration record and add other markup sets, if you wish.
You can also change the default markup set.

The initial markup set is designated "A." Other markup sets that you create are assigned successive letters.

Unless at least the initial "A" markup set has been defined for a vendor entity, you cannot activate item prices
on contracts for the vendor.

Markup Description

A description of the markup set.

Markup Percent

The percent markup to be applied to manufacturer prices for the vendor. You can enter only this value,
or a markup dollar amount also. If no markup applies to the vendor, enter zero.

Markup Dollar

The dollar amount of markup to be applied to manufacturer prices. You can enter only this value, or a markup percent.
You can also enter both a percent and a dollar amount. (You can enter zero in this field.)

Category

This field appears when you select the Spend Type "services." Categories are descriptors assigned to vendor entities,
typically -- but not necessarily -- entities registered to services vendors.
The Category can be used to locate and study a particular kind of spend when you work with spend analysis.

A table of Categories is created for your site. Click the down arrow to select the appropriate Category.

Some entities may have both supply and services vendors registered.
You can assign a category to an entity that has registered supply vendors
The Entity panel lets you edit vendor entity records and assign categories.

Note: If you change the Category of a services vendor (by editing the vendor entity record),
the change is processed in a nightly job, and not available until the next day.

  1. Enter data in the fields on the panel as described below:
Do you want to work with the vendor's spend as services spend?

If so, do Step 6. If you are working with a supply vendor (the default Spend Type setting), go to Step 7.

  1. Click the down arrow in the Spend Type field, and select the spend type.

Figure 18 - Creating and Registering a Services Vendor Entity

  1. Enter a Markup Description of the default markup set ("A")
    - Enter a Markup Percent and/or Markup Dollar amount. For the markup values, enter zero if the vendor has no markup.
  2. Click Submit. The vendor is registered. The registration process runs overnight, so you will be able to display spend for the vendor on the next day.

Notes:

Vendor locations are "rolled up" to the vendor level. This means that when you register a vendor to an entity, all of the vendor locations are registered as well. When you unregister a vendor, all of its locations are unregistered. If you set the Spend Type for a vendor to Services, all its vendor locations set their Spend Type to Services.

Registering a Second Vendor to a Previously Registered Entity

When you register a vendor location to an entity, Sourcing and Contract Management looks for other vendor locations for the same vendor, and automatically registers them to the entity. Once you have a vendor entity (either local, or universal) with vendors registered to it, should any new vendors need to be registered to the entity, you can do so following the process outlined previously.

Normally when you first register a vendor to an existing entity, or when you select a vendor entity that already has at least one vendor cross-referenced to it (Figure 19A), the Create Registration panel for the new vendor looks like Figure 19B.

Figure 19A - Select an Entity with Registered Vendors


Figure 19B - Register an Additional Vendor to the Entity

Editing Vendor Entity Records

Editing Local Entity

As mentioned earlier, your site may use local vendors that are not associated with a national or regional universal entity. (See Universal and Local Suppliers.) These local vendors are registered as Local Entities (steps are outlined above) and are stored separately in the site’s own database, not in the PIL with other vendor entities. For this reason, there are separate menus for managing local entities and “non-local” entities.

To edit or delete a Local Entity, open the Administration menu on the main Table of Contents. Under the PIL subheading, select Manage Local Entities. (See Figure 20.)

Figure 20 - Manage Local Entities in Administration Menu

On the Local Entities panel, you may edit , delete , or add a note to a Local Entity. (See Figure 21.)

Figure 21 - Local Entities Panel

Editing a Markup Set or Creating a New Markup Set

Once a vendor entity has been created and cross-referenced to vendors, you can create or change markup sets for the entity.

To edit or create a vendor entity markup set,
  1. From the Administration menu (Figure 10) under the heading Product Index Layer, click Manage Vendor Entities.
    - The "Vendor Entities" page appears, open to the Entities panel (Figure 22).
  2. Use the Search on the Entities panel to find the vendor entity of interest (Figure 22).

Figure 22 - Locating a Vendor Entity on the Entities Panel

  1. To edit or add markup values, click Markup Sets. The Markup Sets panel appears (Figure 23). You can edit an existing markup set, or create a new one. New markup sets are automatically assigned consecutive letters. So, if you have an "A" markup set, the next set that you create will be "B."
    - You can enter a Markup Percent and/or a Markup Dollar amount. Note: If the you enter both a percent markup and a markup dollar amount, the system applies the percent markup first, then the dollar markup.
    - Click Save when you are finished editing or creating a markup set to save the values. When you edit or create a markup set, the markup set is available the next day. The processing job runs nightly.

Figure 23 - Working with Markup Sets for a Vendor Entity

Change a Vendor Entity Category

You can change the category of a vendor entity by editing the vendor entity record.

To edit a vendor entity record,
  1. Follow steps 1 through 3 to open the vendor Entities panel and locate the vendor entity of interest.
  2. Next to the vendor entity, click Edit (Figure 22). The Edit Registration panel appears (Figure 24).
    - For a vendor entity, to change the category, click the down arrow in the Category field and select a new category from the resulting list.

    Note: If you change the Category of a services vendor, the change is processed in a nightly job, and not available until the next day.

Figure 24 - Editing a Vendor Entity Record

Change a Vendor's Spend Type and/or Category

You can change the Spend Type of a vendor, if desired. Doing so will change the spend type of all vendor locations for that vendor.

  1. From the Administration menu (Figure 10) under the heading Product Index Layer, click Manage Vendor Entities. The "Vendor Entities" page appears.
  2. Click the Vendors tab. The Vendors panel appears (Figure 25).
  3. Set the Status to Registered. A list of registered vendors appears. This list for this Status setting includes the link Set Spend Type on the far right.
  4. Use the Search on the Vendors panel to find the vendor of interest.
  5. Next to the vendor, click Set Spend Type. A panel appears for changing the spend type.
  6. Select the Spend Type.
  7. Click Save.

Figure 25 - Changing a Vendor's Spend Type

Registering Manufacturers

Manufacturers must be registered (or "cross-referenced") to manufacturer entities so that the Product Index Layer can provide correct item information for contract matching and spend analysis. Most manufacturers that you work with will already be registered as part of Product Index Layer implementation, but you may encounter some -- particularly if you use local manufacturers -- that do need registration. The Actions panel on the Supply Analysis Workbench (Figure 26) page lets you open the panels for registering manufacturers.

Note: When you register a manufacturer, spend for the manufacturer is available for analysis the next day. The registration process completes overnight.

To register a manufacturer

  1. If you do not already have the Analysis Workbench for Supply Contracts open, open it for File Analysis.
  2. On the Actions panel, click View Unregistered Manufacturers (Figure 26, purple arrow).

Figure 26 - File Item Spend Analysis Page: Accessing a List of Unregistered Manufacturers

A list of manufacturers appears (Figure 27).
- By default, the Status is set to Unregistered, so the list displays unregistered manufacturers. You could also view Registered manufacturers, or All manufacturers.
- Notice that the Manufacturers view is set to With Spend. Clicking All displays manufacturers with and without spend.

Figure 27 - Unregistered Manufacturers List

  1. If needed, click the search icon and use the search to locate the manufacturer of interest.
  2. Click Search Entities next to the manufacturer.
    - The Select Entity panel appears. This panel displays entities from the PIL that may match the manufacturer (Figure 28), if any exist.
    - The entity candidates listed include "universal" entities -- manufacturers of national or regional scope -- and "local" entities designated by (Local).

Figure 28 - Search Results for Existing Manufacturer Entities

  1. If any entity matches, click Register next to it.
    - The contract manufacturer name is assigned to the entity, and you can activate contract item prices.
    - If no entities appear or none of the entities match, and your manufacturer has national stature, you can request the Help Desk to create a new universal entity.
    - If the manufacturer is local, an no existing local entity matches it, you can create a new local entity.
  1. Click Create New Local Entity and Association (Figure 28).
    - A panel appears for you to enter the new manufacturer entity name (Figure 29).

Figure 29 - Assigning a Manufacturer Entity Name

  1. Enter a name in the Entity Name field.
  1. Click Save. When the system processing is complete (the job runs overnight), you will be able to view spend for manufacturer on the Analysis Workbench and Projects panels.

Remove a manufacturer or vendor registration

You may have registered a manufacturer or a vendor to an entity, and later realized that the cross-reference is wrong. You can remove the registration for the vendor or manufacturer, if you wish.

To remove a registration using the Analysis Workbench links:
  1. If you do not already have the Analysis Workbench for Supply Contracts open, open it for File Analysis.
  2. Look at the Actions panel.

    For a manufacturer,
    - Click View Unregistered Manufacturers.(Figure 26, purple arrow).
    The unregistered manufacturers list appears.
    - On the manufacturers/vendors list, in the Status view, click Registered.
    A list of registered manufacturers appears (Figure 30).

Figure 30 - A List of Manufacturers that are Registered to Entities

For a vendor,
- Click View Unregistered Vendors.(Figure 26, green arrow).
The unregistered vendors list appears.
- On the list, in the Status view, click Registered.
A list of registered vendor appears, similar to Figure 13.

  1. Locate the manufacturer or vendor of interest on the list.
  2. Click Remove Registration.
    - A confirmation panel appears.
  3. Click Submit.
    - The manufacturer/vendor is unregistered, and appears on the Vendors or Manufacturers list when you click Status: Unregistered.

Request a New Universal Entity

Typically you will only need to request a new entity when you are working with spend for a "universal" supplier -- a vendor (or manufacturer) of national or regional stature whose items should be available in the PIL. If you are working with a "local" vendor, you can create a local vendor entity yourself. The local vendor's data will then be available in your site's tables.

Note: To request a new universal entity, call the Help Desk.

It will be most helpful if you can provide the following information when you call:

Entity Name – as close to the true legal name as possible.
Address
Phone Number
URL address for the vendor's website
Tax ID

Provide as much information as you have for the vendor.

The timeframe for getting a new universal entity into the PIL is seven to ten working days.

Get Entity Family Information in Savings, Analysis, or in a Project

In Projects, Analysis, and Savings, you can click a manufacturer parent entity to display family members (children).

For example, in Analysis, the Spend Selection panel lists manufacturer parent names. In Figure 31, clicking the manufacturer entity Johnson & Johnson displays members of the family for Johnson & Johnson in a pop-up window.

Figure 31 - Displaying Entity Family Members in the Analysis Workbench

Associate a Contract Manufacturer with a Defined Entity

When a contract is imported, Sourcing and Contract Management picks out the field that it maps as the manufacturer, and looks for an entity associated with the manufacturer. The mapped field depends on where the contract originated, and whose contract it is. For example, the system maps the Business Partner Entity ID in a  contract as the manufacturer.

In Sourcing and Contract Management, when Identify Entity appears with a contract name, the manufacturer on the contract cannot be found among the PIL entities.
Before you can activate the contract item prices, you need to associate the contract manufacturer with a PIL entity (Figure 32).

Figure 32 - Contracts That Need Entities Identified

  1. On the Contracts panel, click Identify Entity.

Figure 33 - Searching for an Entity

For example, a manufacturer code “JJ” on a contract needs to be associated with a PIL entity, probably “Johnson & Johnson.” The user searches for an entity using the characters “Johnson.”

A list of entities appears. Figure 34 is an example.

Figure 34 - List of Entities for Selection to Register a Contract Manufacturer

The entity search looks for "universal" entities in the Product Index Layer.

  1. From the list of entities, locate the one that represents the contract manufacturer.
  2. Click Select next to your choice.
    - The contract manufacturer name is assigned to the entity, and you can activate contract item prices.
  1. Click Local Entity Search Figure 34.
    A list of local entities appears (Figure 35).
    - If one of the local entities is a match, click Select.
    The contract manufacturer name is assigned to the entity, and you can activate contract item prices.
    - If a matching entity is not the local list, create a local entity.
  2. Click Create New Local Entity and Association (Figure 35).

Figure 35 - List of Local Manufacturer Entities

A panel appears for creating a new local entity and associating the manufacturer with the entity (Figure 36).

Figure 36 - Creating a New Local Entity and Registering a Manufacturer

  1. Enter an entity name.
  2. Click Save. The registration process runs overnight, so you will be able to display spend for the vendor on the next day.

Note: You can also identify entities from the Contract Info panel (Figure 37).

Figure 37 - Contract Info Panel Identify Entity Link

Associate Entities with Multiple Manufacturers

In some situations, a contract may have multiple manufacturers, each of which needs to be associated with an entity.

Selecting the correct entities may be difficult without viewing the manufacturers on the contract. In this case, it is easier to go to the Contract Items panel and work with each item manufacturer until you have covered all the manufacturers.

  1. From the “Work with Contract” page Actions panel, click View Contract Lines.
  2. Filter the list for All items.
  3. Next to each item, click Identify Entity.
  4. Click Select on the list for the entity to register with the manufacturer (Figure 38).
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have associated all the entities with manufacturers.
    - You can also work with local entities, as outlined previously.

Figure 38 - Contract Items with Entities to Identify

Remove an Entity-Manufacturer Association

If you made an error in assigning a contract manufacturer to an entity, you can remove the assignment, as long as any contracts that use the the manufacturer are not activated.

When you associate a manufacturer with an entity for a contract, the Entity field is populated with the manufacturer name.
Beneath the manufacturer name is a new link -- Contract Entity Associations -- that lets you remove the cross reference (Figure 39).

Figure 39 - Removing an Entity-Manufacturer Association

To remove an entity-manufacturer association,
  1. On the Contract Info panel, click Contract Entity Associations (Figure 39).

The Contract Business Partner Entity Associations panel appears (Figure 40).

Figure 40 - Removing an Entity-Manufacturer Association

The panel contains these columns:

- Entity: the name of the PIL entity that is associated with the contract manufacturer.
- Business Partner ID: the contract's ID for the business partner name.
- Business Partner Name: the contract manufacturer's name.
- Source: the source of the Business Partner Name and ID; e.g., a GPO.

The Affected Contracts column lists the current contract and any other contracts that use the entity-manufacturer association.
Multiple contracts may be listed on the panel. (If the list is long, page number links are available at the bottom.)

The Activated? column contains Yes when the contract is activated.

If a contract on the panel has been activated, you cannot remove the entity-manufacturer association. The Remove link is grayed out.
When you hover over the grayed-out Remove link, the message "Activated contracts exist with this entity association, therefore, it cannot be removed."

  1. Click Remove.
    - A confirmation panel appears.
  2. Click Delete.
    - The Contract Info panel again displays Identify Entity.
    - You can click Identify Entity to make a new cross reference.

You can view a list of all contract entity - manufacturer associations from the Administration menu.
From the Administration menu, under the heading Product Index Layer (Figure 10), click Manage Contract Entities.

Get Vendor and Manufacturer Information

You can use the Sourcing and Contract Management overall Search to locate and display vendor and manufacturer information.

Vendors

To search for a vendor,

  1. Click the Supply tab or the Services tab on the Search panel.
  2. Click the vendor link.
    - The system displays recently viewed vendors.
    - Clicking a vendor name opens the "Work with Vendor" page.
  3. In the search box, enter characters from a vendor name, vendor ID, or vendor set.
  4. Click Enter or Search.

Sourcing and Contract Management returns a list of vendors where the search characters you entered are matched (Figure 41). The results panel contains vendors whose names, IDs, or vendor sets contain the search characters. You can filter the list of vendors in the search results for either services or supply Spend Type, or display both.
If no matches for the search characters exist, a message appears.

The panel columns can be sorted.

Figure 41 - Search Results for Services Vendors

Filters

Vendors: lets you display all vendors (services and supply) or only vendors with spend.
Local: displays all vendors, or only vendors that are local.
Spend Type: lets you display vendors with both spend types (services and supply); supply vendors only, or services vendors only (as in Figure 39).
- Filter the results list for supply vendors by clicking Spend Type: Supply.
- Display both services and supply vendors by clicking Spend Type: All.

Columns

Table 2 shows the column name and the definition, from Figure 41.

Table 2 - Columns on the Vendors Panel

Vendor

The vendor location name.
Click the vendor name to display the "Work with Vendor" page.

 

Entity

The entity to which each vendor is registered. If the entity is a local entity, the "Local" appears in parentheses, grayed out.
For an unregistered vendor, the Entity field is blank.
Click the entity to display the entity family.

 

Category

The category assigned to a vendor entity. The Category helps you locate spend in the Services Analysis Workbench.

You can filter on a category as follows:
- Mouse over a category value. Filter appears.
- Click Filter.

 

Items

The number of items for each vendor, if any. (Services vendors may have no items.)
Click the number to display the "Work with Vendor" page Items panel.

 

Spend Type    

The type of spend represented by the vendor's contracts.
Values are Services or Supply.

Services contracts vendors (Figure 42) display the Vendor Info panel and Actions panel. In the Vendor Info panel, note the Category definition "External Landscaping" assigned to the vendor entity. Vendors used for services contracts display the Services Contracts tab, Invoices tab (grayed out, if no invoices exist), and Registry Information tab.

If the vendor is not registered, the Entity, Category, and Spend Type fields in the Vendor Info panel do not appear, and a note is on the Registry Information panel.
In this case, you may wish to register the vendor. You can do so by clicking Register on the Actions panel.

Figure 42 - The Services Vendor Page

Supply contracts vendors (Figure 43) display the Supply Contracts tab, Items tab, and Registry Information tab. If the vendor is not registered, the Entity and Spend Type fields in the Vendor Info panel do not appear, and a note is on the Registry Information panel. In this case, you may wish to register the vendor. You can do so by clicking Register on the Actions panel.

Figure 43 - Vendor Information Panels on the "Work with Vendor " Page

Panels on the "Work with Vendor" page

Vendor Info lists the vendor name and vendor entity. If a vendor is not registered, the entity field is missing.

Supply Contracts or Services Contracts lists the contracts for the vendor. Clicking any contract number opens the contract.

Items lists the vendor's items for vendors of supply contracts.

Invoices lists invoices for vendors of services contracts.

Registry Information displays the entity family -- the parent entity and its child entities and aliases -- to which the vendor belongs. If the vendor is not registered to an entity, a message appears on the panel. In this case, you may wish to register the vendor.

Actions contains activities that you can perform with the vendor.

Manufacturers

You can use the Search panel to locate a manufacturer. On the manufacturer search results, click the manufacturer name. Figure 44 is an example of the information available

Figure 44 - Manufacturer Panels on the "Work with Manufacturer" Page

Manufacturer Info lists the manufacturer name and, when the manufacturer is registered, the entity.

Contracts lists the contracts for the manufacturer. Clicking any contract number opens the contract.

Items lists the manufacturer's items. Click any Item No to display item information (Table 3).

Table 3 - Fields on the Items Panel

Item No

The item number used in your item file. The item description is underneath the item number.

UNSPSC

The UNSPSC code for the item, if assigned, from your item file. This field may be absent on some versions of the panel.

Vendor

The vendor for the item. (Appears for lists of manufacturer items.)

Vendor Item

The vendor item number (VIN). This value is the vendor's identifier for the item.

Current Price

The current price of the item from your item records.

Mfr Item

The manufacturer item number (MIN).

Total Spend

The dollar amount of spend for the item. The spend includes file and non-file items.

Entity

The entity that the item's manufacturer is registered to.

Item

The PIL item description and UNSPSC code for the item.

Registry Information displays the entity family -- the parent entity and its child entities and aliases -- to which the manufacturer belongs. If the manufacturer is not registered to an entity, a message appears on the panel. In this case, you may wish to register the manufacturer.

Actions links to activities such as displaying manufacturer proposals.

Including AP-Only Vendor Spend in Analysis

This feature is only available for sites with Sourcing and Contract Management and with the  Materials Management and/or Accounts Payable applications.

Normally, spend dollars for analysis in Sourcing and Contract Management are drawn from the set of vendors labeled "MM and AP." These vendors produce both purchase order invoices and non-purchase order invoices.

Vendors labeled "AP-only" are not automatically included in the Sourcing and Contract Management spend pool because hospitals tend to have many such vendors that are small- volume suppliers or services providers, one-time vendors, or are set up as "AP-only" to handle refunds. However, you may have AP-only vendors with significant amounts of spend -- services vendors -- that you wish to analyze in Sourcing and Contract Management.

To include spend from AP-only vendors in Sourcing and Contract Management, you set a flag on the vendor record in Materials Management or Accounts Payable. The Vendor Edit panel.

Instructions are in the advanced vendors setup chapter -- Work with Vendor Information: Advanced - "Set Up an AP-Only Vendor" -- for Materials Management and Accounts Payable.

Using the Product Index Layer When Adding an Item to the Materials Management Item Catalog

When adding an item to the Item Catalog, you can now use the PIL to find and select the item. On the Consolidated Item Add panel's Vendor Information tab, the Manufacturer Item No (MIN) field lets you select an item from the Product Index Layer. When you select the manufacturer item, the system populates several fields on other panels with PIL data for the item.
Also, if you wish, you can override the MIN by keying in a different value in the Manufacturer Item No field.

This feature is only available for Sourcing and Contract Management sites that also have the  ERP - Materials Management application.

Note: If you wish to use this feature, contact the Help desk. A system flag must be set for PIL access with Consolidated Item Add.

To use the PIL when adding an item to the item catalog:

  1. From the Materials Management main Contents, select Inventory > Consolidated Item Add. The Consolidated Item Add panel appears.
    - The cursor in the panel is positioned in the General tab's Description field.
  2. Complete the required fields on the Consolidated Item Add General tab, as usual.
  3. Click the Vendor tab.
    - Click the prompt (...) next to the Vendor No field and select a vendor.
    The system populates the Buy From Location field with the default, or you can select another buy-from location.
    - Similarly, you can select a manufacturer by using the prompt in the Manufacturer ID field.
    - You can also enter the Vendor Item No (VIN) if you know it.
  4. To populate the Manufacturer Item No field from the PIL, click the prompt (Figure 45).
    - The PIL uses data in the fields that you entered (Vendor No, Buy-From Location, Vendor Item No and/or Manufacturer ID) to find and propose a list of items for your selection.

Figure 45 - Selecting an Item From the Product Index Layer List for the Manufacturer/Vendor

  1. Locate the item of interest on the list. You can use the Quick Filters to help find the item.
  2. Click Select to select the manufacturer item.
    - When you select the manufacturer item, the system populates several fields on other panels with PIL data for the item (Figure 46).
    - Also, if you wish, you can override the MIN by keying in a different value in the Manufacturer Item No field.

Figure 46 - Other Fields Populated on the Consolidated Item Add Panels by Selecting a PIL Item

  1. Enter data on other panels as needed.
  2. Click Submit to enter the item in the Item Catalog.

Extracting PIL Data for Export to an External Materials Management System

A report object "Product Index Layer Item Extract" allows you to export Product Index Layer information to update your site's materials management system, for systems other than 's.

These fields are on the report object:

Vendor Loc Name     PIL Item Desc
Vendor Loc   PIL Item Create Date
Vendor Item No   PIL Entity Zipcode
UNSPSC Code   PIL Entity URL
Record Count   PIL Entity Tax ID
Mfr Name   PIL Entity State
Mfr Item No   PIL Entity Name
Mfr ID   PIL Entity DUNS No
Item Sub Class   PIL Entity Create Date
Item No   PIL Entity Country
Item Desc   PIL Entity City
Item Class   PIL Entity Address Line 3
Vendor Set   PIL Entity Address Line 2
Vendor Entity Name   PIL Entity Address Line 1
PILUNSPSC Code   PIL Created
PIL Updated   Orig Mfr Item No
PIL Source Description   Noiseless Vendor Item No
PIL Source   Noiseless Mfr Item No
PIL Parent Entity Zipcode   MIN VIN ID
PIL Parent Entity URL   Manufacturer Catalog
PIL Parent Entity Tax ID   Local Registered YNB
PIL Parent Entity State   Local Registered YN Desc
PIL Parent Entity Name   Item Vendor ID
PIL Parent Entity Create Date   Item Sub Class Desc
PIL Parent Entity Country   Item Class Desc
PIL Parent Entity City   Item Catalog ID
PIL Parent Entity Address Line 3   Different UNSPSC Code YNB
PIL Parent Entity Address Line 2   Different UNSPSC Code Desc
PIL Parent Entity Address Line 1   Different Min YNB
PIL Item No   Different Min Desc
PIL Item Description   Catalog

 

Miscellaneous Features on the Administration Menu

Several Product Index Layer features are available from the Sourcing and Contract Management Administration menu. For example, you can view a log of contract activations.

To view the Price Activations Log:

The Contract Price Activations Log is a single, searchable list of price activations for all contracts.

Figure 47 - Accessing the Activations Log

Other features on the Admin menu include (Table 4):

Table 4 - Other Features on the Admin Menu

Clicking this link displays recent activity for connectors.
A connector is an element of the application used to pass data between stand-alone MMIS systems,
such as Lawson, and Sourcing and Contract Management. Only sites with an MMIS other than  ERP - Materials Management have connectors.
See View a Connector's Status for details.

Displays batch jobs that have been opened. Batch jobs run in asynchronous mode.

Sets a system tolerance for price changes. See Setting Price Change Tolerances for details.

Click to view a list of items that are never purchased on contracts.
A setting on the item record lets you designate an item as "non-contractible."

Displays a list of scheduled jobs. You can create, edit, or delete a scheduled job.
See Set Up Schedules for Batch Jobs.
Allows administrators to purge obsolete records, such as old archived reports.

Appendix 1 - Example of a Vendor with Different Spend Types Registered to an Entity