Configuring the RFQ Solution.
SAP Business One users can send purchase quotations to business partners electronically. The process of sending requests and gathering purchase quotations is part of SAP Business One using the integration framework in a process called request for quotation (RFQ). This process allows SAP Business One users to automatically generate a Web-based quotation submission form, which the integration framework server hosts. Business partners, who receive an e-mail that contains a link to the quotation submission form, can directly submit their offers to the buyer and the data in SAP Business One is updated accordingly.
Providing Contact Details in SAP Business One.
Provide e-mail addresses of business partners contact persons and SAP Business One users, who are part of the RFQ process.
Procedure
1. To enter the e-mail address for the business partner contact person, from the SAP Business One Main Menu,choose Business Partner Business Partner Master Data.
2. Select the business partner and on the Contact Persons tab in the E-Mail field enter the e-mail address of the contact person.
Creating E-Mail Text in the Integration Framework
The integration framework uses information of the purchase quotation of SAP Business One and generates a Web-page that it hosts in the integration framework server BizStore. Once it has generated this page, it wraps the URL of this page with some text and sends it as an e-mail to the contact person of the business partner. The email content is part of an XML template that is available for modification in the BizStore. An administrator can change the e-mail content by providing individual text in the respective language or languages he or she wants to support.
Procedure
1. To access the XML document, use for example Microsoft Windows Explorer (Windows XP and above).
2. To adjust the EmailContent.xml document open the following directory:
http://<SERVER>:<PORT>/B1iXcellerator/exec/webdav/com.sap.b1.webapps/PurchaseQuote
Alternatively you can open this document using an XML Editor, such as Altova XMLSpy.
3. In the <Subject> tab, provide the language codes for the languages you want to support in the following way:
<emailMsg> <subject> <en code=”3”></en>
The Language Culture Name is a two letter ISO name that is available in the OLANG SAP Business One table.
Use lower case letters only.
4. Enter the subject of the e-mail in the language code tag.
In English, the subject is Request for Quotation. Take care to enter your customized text for the subject
between the corresponding culture names in the following way:
<emailMsg> <Subject> <en code=”3”>Request for Quotation</en></Subject>
5. The <Body> tag contains the e-mail text. Enter your text between the corresponding culture names in the
following way:
<emailMsg> <Body> <en code=”3”>Some text</en></Body>
6. In the <Closing> tag provide the text for greetings. Enter your text between the corresponding culture
names in the following way:
<emailMsg> <Closing> <en code=”3”>Some text</en></Closing>
Providing Server Information in the Integration Framework
Procedure
1. Log on to the integration framework and select Maintenance Cfg Connectivity.
2. Define the SMTP server and port details.
Without them, the integration framework cannot send e-mails to the business partner.
3. If the SMTP server requires authentication, enter the user name and password.
4. To test the connection, click the Test Email button.
5. If you want to define different SMTP server properties for different company databases, enter your settings in
the following table instead:
1. In the integration framework choose Scenarios Setup Data Mgt and select the sap.B1RFQ
scenario.
2. Select the Table: SMTPConfig.xml document.
A window opens that allows you to define the SMTP settings.
3. Select the System ID from the SLD.
4. Enter appropriate parameters for the SMTP Server port, and the associated user credentials for this
particular system.
5. Save your changes.
The RFQ scenario uses this information for sending e-mails.
6. To check the HTTP port or HTTPS port and the integration framework server name, select Maintenance Cfg Runtime.
Ensure that this server name and port is accessible outside your firewall.
7. You can set up the integration framework to send data to a remote B1i node.
8. When a new remote B1i node is created, a default subscriber is also created inside this remote B1i node with all filter criteria set to “*”. This is important, because it means that all B1 events coming to the local B1i server will be sent to the remote B1i server as well.
RFQ Process Overview and Maintenance
Once the integration framework has sent the purchase quotation, the business partner fills it out and submits it using the user interface available on the Web-page. The integration framework parses the data and directly updates it in the existing purchase quotation document in SAP Business One. Simultaneously, the integration framework creates a message alert in the SAP Business One user inbox. The alert is linked to the respective purchase quotation document. If the SAP Business One user clicks on this message, the purchase quotation document opens. The process remains the same when generating bulk quotations using the Purchase Quotation Generation Wizard.
The BizStore
com.sap.b1.webapps.PurchaseQuote.Data
stores the generated purchase quotations that are
visible to the business partner. A SAP Business One administrator can delete old requests from this folder using a WebDav client
