A punchout catalog lets a buyer leave their procurement system, shop on a supplier’s website, and bring the full cart back into their own system for approval. The buyer keeps the supplier’s live catalog, and the company keeps its normal approvals, budgets and records.
This guide is for procurement and supplier program teams. It explains how punchout works, how Level 1 differs from Level 2, and why it matters for getting more suppliers in front of buyers.
How does a punchout catalog work?
The steps below follow a supplier guide published for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which uses SAP Ariba. Other systems work in a similar way.
- The buyer opens the catalog. In the procurement system, they choose the supplier’s catalog link.
- The systems connect. The procurement system identifies the buyer to the supplier’s site and opens it.
- The buyer shops. They search and fill a cart on the supplier’s site.
- The cart comes back. Selected items return to the procurement system.
- Approval runs as usual. The cart becomes a requisition, then a purchase order that goes to the supplier.
What is the difference between Level 1 and Level 2 punchout?
| Level 1 | Level 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the buyer starts | A link to the supplier’s store | A search inside the procurement system |
| Where the buyer lands | The store’s home page or catalog | The item’s page on the supplier’s site |
| What the supplier maintains | The punchout connection | The connection, plus a product file loaded into the procurement system |
Level 1 is the simpler option. Level 2 helps buyers find items without knowing which supplier carries them, but the product file has to stay current. The Oak Ridge guide covers both.
What are cXML and OCI?
They are the two common ways these systems exchange data. cXML is a protocol for sending business documents between buying systems, marketplaces and vendors. In the Oak Ridge guide, three cXML messages do the work: one sets up the session, one tells the system what to open, and one returns the cart. OCI was created by SAP and is established in SAP environments. Your IT team or provider will know which one your system uses.
How is punchout different from a hosted catalog?
With a hosted or static catalog, the product information sits in the buyer’s procurement system. Someone has to load and update it. With punchout, the buyer shops the supplier’s site, so items and prices come from the supplier when they shop. A company can use both, for example hosted catalogs for a short list of standard items and punchout for broad categories.
Why does punchout matter for supplier programs?
A supplier can be approved, certified and well priced and still get little business if buyers cannot find it where they shop. When buyers go around the system, those purchases also become harder to see and report. Putting more suppliers inside the procurement system helps with both problems.
It also makes tracking easier, because the purchase runs through the same requisition and purchase order as everything else. That helps with maverick spend and with Tier 2 reporting if your suppliers report to customers.
What should you ask before setting one up?
- Does our procurement system support the supplier’s connection method?
- Do we need Level 1, or do buyers need to find items through a search in our own system?
- Who will test it, and in which of our environments?
- Who keeps product files and pricing current?
- How will the cart map to our cost codes and approval rules?
Where Hubzone Depot fits
Our marketplace works this way. Buyers open more than 12 million products from a requisition in their own system, and the cart comes back to follow normal approvals, budgets and cost codes. We have built integrations for 32 procurement platforms, including SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle, Workday, JAGGAER and GEP SMART. Hubzone Depot fulfills and invoices approved orders.
Frequently asked questions
What is a punchout catalog?
It is a connection that lets a buyer go from their procurement system to a supplier's website, shop there, and bring the cart back into their own system for approval.
What is the difference between Level 1 and Level 2 punchout?
With Level 1, the buyer opens the supplier's store and searches there. With Level 2, the buyer searches inside the procurement system and goes straight to the item on the supplier's site.
Does punchout bypass approvals?
No. The cart returns to the procurement system and follows its normal steps, becoming a requisition and then a purchase order.
What is the difference between punchout and a hosted catalog?
A hosted catalog keeps product information inside the buyer's system, where someone must load and update it. Punchout sends the buyer to the supplier's site to shop.
What is cXML?
cXML is a protocol for exchanging business documents between buying systems, marketplaces and vendors. Many punchout connections use it to start the session and return the cart.
