Vehicle order processing may be carried out using the Epyx on-line procurement system. Any vehicle that is required to be sourced from a dealer network is added to a pool of vehicles on the Epyx vehicle procurement site. This is the area where vehicle suppliers are able to automatically respond to the vehicle enquiry offering their envisaged cost and lead times.
All quotations raised on Kestrel and accepted by the customer are flagged as Epyx and automatically passed to Epyx for sourcing. This is achieved by the passing of interface files between Kestrel and Epyx. Responses to the vehicle enquiry from the supplier are also automatically processed by the passing of two further interface files from Epyx to Kestrel. The second of these files uses the Update Orders from Epyx process is required for confirmed orders. This file contains details of the vehicle once confirmed such as the registration number, chassis number and key numbers etc. Each time an order is moved to a confirmed status within Epyx the order is flagged as ready to be sent to Kestrel. This file is then used to update the Kestrel vehicle order records.
The interface process uses SOAP (simple Object Access Protocol) which is a lightweight XML-based messaging protocol used to encode the information in Web service request and response messages before sending them over a network.
All records transmitted to and from Epyx are recorded in a log file (FO.edlog). This file is available for reporting across in order to track the records processed through these interfaces. The main events audited in this log as errors are: File corruption; Missing data in required fields; Unknown order number in file; Unmapped status description in file. Successful file processing is logged in this file without an error message.
Note: The options for the passing of interface files may be run manually from within Vehicle Purchasing / Miscellaneous Options; however, these options are more typically set up to run at a given frequency each day within Timed Operations. This means that we can set this to run automatically at any interval we wish and send the data to Epyx. For example it could be that this routine runs every hour between 09:00 and 18:00 without user intervention (intervals can range from every one minute up to once per month). This process searches all vehicle purchase order records and validates the following: the vehicle agreements status is equal to Accepted; the Submit Order to Epyx flag is ticked and the Date Sent to Epyx field is blank. If these conditions are met then the order details are added to the file that is transmitted to Epyx.
What do you want to do?
To access Update Orders from Epyx:
From the Master Menu, select the Vehicle Purchasing option and Company required.
The Vehicle Purchasing Menu is displayed.
Select the Miscellaneous Options option.
The Miscellaneous Options menu is displayed.
Select the Process Epyx Deliveries Option.
The Update Orders from Epyx form is displayed.
This form is divided into four parts that are as follows:
In addition to displaying the screen name the Title Bar displays other useful identification criteria and buttons.
The Update Orders from Epyx dialogue box consists of a description outlining the procedure that is to be carried out for adding vehicle order progress updates to the Epyx transmission file.
The following step by step process should be followed:
Before the Epyx interface may be used at all, the Allow Epyx Processing? flag within the Epyx Tab in System Parameters must be ticked. Vehicles that do not require sending to Epyx may continue to be processed using standard Kestrel functionality.
Additional parameters must also be set at this time.
Flag Vehicle Purchase Order record as Epyx
Locate the required Vehicle Purchase Order. The agreement must be at an Accepted Status.
Select the ED
icon from within the Order Tab. The Edit Epyx Submission Details form is displayed.
Tick the Submit Order to Epyx? checkbox and leave the Date Sent to Epyx field blank so that the system knows that this is an unprocessed record that is to be added to the Submit Orders to Epyx file interface process.
The options for the passing of interface files may be run manually from within Vehicle Purchasing / Miscellaneous Options; however, these options are more typically set up to run at a given frequency each day within Timed Operations. This means that we can set this to run automatically at any interval we wish and send the data to Epyx. For example it could be that this routine runs every hour between 09:00 and 18:00 without user intervention (intervals can range from every one minute up to once per month).
This process searches all vehicle purchase order records and validates the following: the vehicle agreements status is equal to Accepted; the Submit Order to Epyx flag is ticked and the Date Sent to Epyx field is blank. If these conditions are met then the order details are added to the file that is transmitted to Epyx.
Once the routine has identified records that need sending it prepares a file in accordance with the Epyx file layout requirements to ensure all required information to allow successful ordering is present. The file prepared within this routine will be sent to Epyx electronically as an XML formatted file. At the same time the system flags the vehicle order records selected as sent to Epyx by updating the Date Sent to Epyx field (designed for this purpose) with the date the routine was run. This prevents these records being re-sent.
The options for the passing of interface files may be run manually from within Vehicle Purchasing / Miscellaneous Options; however, these options are more typically set up to run at a given frequency each day within Timed Operations. This means that we can set this to run automatically at any interval we wish and send the data to Epyx. For example it could be that this routine runs every hour between 09:00 and 18:00 without user intervention (intervals can range from every one minute up to once per month).
Once an order is up and running on Epyx and a supplier has been allocated, any progress status changes to the order on Epyx should be filtered back automatically to the Kestrel system. The Update Progress from Epyx process extracts this data from Epyx and update the progress log within Kestrel for the corresponding orders. Each time a new status update is applied to an order on Epyx it generates an update file that needs to be sent to Kestrel. This file is then used to update the Kestrel order records. The Update Progress from Epyx routine is added to the Kestrel timed operations schedule allowing updates to be captured and processed at regular intervals in a similar fashion to the order enquiries sent out from Kestrel. The updates are held on the order progression and displayed in the order Progress Tab. Updates will show the status code applied to the order on Epyx and the Expected date will match the most recent expected delivery date also saved to the on-line order. For simplicity and to ease congestion on the order processing screen, these status updates are applied to the Vehicle order line only.
Set-up Progress Code Cross-Reference File
Before the Update Progress from Epyx interface may be used this table is used as a cross reference between Epyx status messages i.e. the Status description and Kestrel order Progress codes for progress files returned from Epyx. Typically Epyx order progress updates are in a character text format and this text has to be identified and cross-referenced into a code that Kestrel can validate as a true progress code. This is done in the Progress Grid held in the Epyx Tab within System Parameters.
Any additions/amendments to these codes within Epyx going forward should then manually be entered into the grid to ensure a successful match. By mapping the Epyx status descriptions to a Kestrel progress code a detailed level of reporting will be possible directly within the Kestrel system.
The options for the passing of interface files may be run manually from within Vehicle Purchasing / Miscellaneous Options; however, these options are more typically set up to run at a given frequency each day within Timed Operations. This means that we can set this to run automatically at any interval we wish and send the data to Epyx. For example it could be that this routine runs every hour between 09:00 and 18:00 without user intervention (intervals can range from every one minute up to once per month).
The Update Progress from Epyx interface above is used for importing progress updates. The Update Orders from Epyx process is required for confirmed orders. This file contains details of the vehicle once confirmed such as the registration number, chassis number and key numbers etc. Each time an order is moved to a confirmed status within Epyx the order is flagged as ready to be sent to Kestrel. This file is then used to update the Kestrel vehicle order records.
A number of updates are carried out when importing into Kestrel. The order notes record (FO.otext) for the vehicle should update the following fields: Confirmed Date and Delivery text (postcode). The vehicle master record should be updated as follows : Registration number, Chassis number and Key number. It should be noted that the updating of the above fields follows the existing system rules for the Amend registration routine. This includes logging of the previous registration number and creation of an audit record (plus movement tracking record where appropriate).
