Performing B2B Commerce Inquiries

Perform a B2B Commerce inquiry to check vendors' current inventory and prices for a product, in real time. You can perform an inquiry for one vendor, or perform an inquiry for all vendors.

To perform a B2B Commerce inquiry:

1. From the Orders menu, select Sales Order Entry to display the Sales Order Entry window.

2. Start the inquiry.

3. Verify that the desired product description displays on the Eclipse B2B Commerce window. The system displays the corresponding data in the view-only columns.

   Field		Description
   Description		The product description. This field is editable if you started with a blank Eclipse B2B Commerce screen.
   Product Information	Status	The product status, for example, Stock or Nonstock, which is used for inventory control and cataloging.
   	Weight	The product weight, if specified. The weight can indicate whether the demand for a product in a particular buy line contributes to meeting a vendor target for weight.
   	Load	The load factor of the product, if specified. The load factor represents the cubic dimensions of a product or the point value of a product (from a vendor specification sheet) towards meeting a vendor target for load factor.
   	Package Quantity	The package quantity for the product, if specified. For example, the product might be packaged in quantities of a dozen.
   	Buy Line	The product buy line, if specified. The buy line indicates all the products that are normally purchased together from a vendor.
   	Price Line	The price line to which this product belongs. Price lines can group products according to vendor or product type, and so on. Price lines are often used for reporting and ranking.
   B2B Vendor		The names of the vendors from whom you can purchase this product using B2B Commerce. For more information, see Setting Up Vendors for B2B Commerce.
   Status		The status of the information connection. Temporarily displays *Send* while an inquiry is in progress at the selected vendor.
   Avail Qty		The real-time product quantity available from a vendor.
   Your Price		The price you pay to procure the product from the vendor.
   Vendor's Description		The product description the vendor uses, so you can verify that it is the correct product. Displays ** PRODUCT NOT FOUND ** if an inquiry does not find the product.
   Detail		The detailed branch and available quantity information for a vendor that carries the product. Note: Populates after an inquiry runs.

5. From the File menu, select one of the following to perform an inquiry:

• One Inq - Performs an inquiry with the vendor selected by your cursor position.

• All Inq - Performs inquiries with all vendors shown.

The Status column temporarily displays SEND while an inquiry is in progress at the corresponding vendor. The Detail column updates to display the results of your inquiry.

6. If the product availability and price are satisfactory, from the File menu, select Send Order to send the order to the selected vendor.

See Also:

Starting B2B Commerce Inquiries

Sending Orders to a B2B Vendors

Procuring Items from B2B Commerce Vendors