Ovenca - eProcurement Plattform for Digital Procurement

Internal procurement shop: the Catalog Shop of the Ovenca platform

In the Catalog Shop, requesters from the business units search across all approved catalogs, compare items and add them to the cart. After approval, the purchase requisition goes to your ERP.

Procurement defines which catalogs a user sees through roles, legal entities and plants.

The ordering interface for the business units

Employees in business units, plants and legal entities use the Catalog Shop to request indirect goods such as office and IT supplies, laboratory supplies, protective equipment, tools or packaging. It works the way users know from online shops. The assortment, however, is controlled: the shop only shows catalogs that procurement has reviewed and approved.

Catalogs are imported and approved in Catalog Management, suppliers maintain their data in the Vendor Portal, and permissions and visibility come from the Admin Area.

Users
Requesters in business units, plants and legal entities
Content
Approved catalogs and connected punchout catalogs
Catalog size
Catalogs with more than 5 million items in total
Result
A cart that is handed over to the ERP as a purchase requisition after approval
In production
In use worldwide at LANXESS AG, working together since 2014, with SAP contracts and material numbers in the product search

One search across all approved catalogs

A single query searches the catalogs of all suppliers at once. The result list shows what a requester needs to decide: item, manufacturer, supplier, order unit and price. Search stays fast even with several million items. Items from punchout catalogs with level 2 appear in the same result list and lead straight to the product page in the supplier's shop.

Result list in the Catalog Shop for the search term “maus” with tabs for 508 items, 22 material numbers and 67 suppliers, filters on the left and prices per order unit on the right

The screenshots on this page show a demo environment with sample data.

  1. Search fieldSelection of the search scope and an advanced search.
  2. Results in three viewsThe same query returns items, material numbers and suppliers on separate tabs.
  3. FiltersNarrow down by manufacturer, supplier and category. External catalogs have their own section.
  4. ComparisonMark items in the result list and put them side by side in a comparison list.
  5. Favourites and cartsSave items as favourites, store carts and open them again.
  6. Price and order unitEvery result shows order unit and price. The quantity is entered directly in the list.
  7. Free-text orderIf the requirement is not in any catalog, a free-text item is created from here.

Free-text orders with catalog suggestions

Not every requirement is in a catalog. The free-text order captures it in fixed fields and shows whether a matching catalog item exists.

  1. Structured free-text item

    Short text, supplier description, material group, purchasing group, quantity, price, required date and order text are separate fields. The purchasing group can only be selected once the material group is set.

    Free-text item in the Catalog Shop with the fields free-text material, material group, purchasing group, quantity, price, required by and order text

  2. Suggestions from the catalog

    For the short text entered, the shop shows recommendations from the catalogs. In the example, “Mauspad” leads to 37 catalog items. Before submitting, the requester sees whether the requirement is already covered by a catalog.

    Free-text order dialog with the short text “Mauspad”, a list of recommended catalog items and the button “Alle anzeigen (37)”

A legend in the shop explains the field states: fields marked green are filled in correctly, fields marked red must be corrected before the data can be transferred.

Controlled procurement instead of open buying

For requesters the shop is simple to use. The rules behind it are set by procurement.

  • Approved assortment

    Catalogs only appear in the shop after they have been validated and approved in Catalog Management.

  • Visibility by organisation

    Roles, legal entities and plants determine which catalogs a user sees.

  • Approvals before the order

    Approvals can have several levels. Routing to the approvers can follow the material group.

  • Free text as a regulated exception

    Free-text items are captured with material group and purchasing group. The catalog suggestions show in advance whether an approved item exists.

  • Traceability

    Transactions are recorded in the audit trail.

Roles, visibility and approvals in the Admin Area

Connection to ERP and supplier shops

The Catalog Shop runs next to your ERP. Orders, contracts and master data remain leading there.

Integration and architecture in detail

Punchout catalogs
Supplier shops are connected via OCI or cXML. The requester switches to the supplier's shop and the cart comes back.
Handover to the ERP
Purchase requisitions and orders are handed over to the ERP. Interfaces: OCI, cXML and API.
Data from the ERP
Contracts, material numbers and master data come from the ERP. At LANXESS AG, SAP contracts and material numbers are part of the product search.
ERP systems
SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, Infor, Sage, DATEV and proprietary systems
Sign-in
Single sign-on via SAML 2.0 or OIDC

Catalog Shop capabilities

The table summarises what requesters can do in the shop and what procurement controls.

Catalog Shop functions by area
AreaFunctionScope
SearchCross-catalog searchOne query across all approved catalogs, plus an advanced search
SearchLarge data volumesFast search even with several million items
SearchPunchout level 2Items from external shops in the result list, jump straight to the product page
SearchResults in three viewsItems, material numbers and suppliers on separate tabs
SearchFilters and viewManufacturer, supplier, category; sorting; list and tile view
SelectionItem comparisonComparison list from the result list
SelectionFavouritesSave items and open them again
SelectionSaved cartsStore carts and reuse them
Special requirementsFree-text orderFixed fields with material group and purchasing group, catalog suggestions while entering
Special requirementsSmartFormsForms for items that need additional details, configured in Catalog Management
External catalogsPunchoutOCI and cXML
ControlVisibilityBy role, legal entity and plant
ControlApprovalsMulti-level, routing by material group possible
IntegrationHandover to the ERPOCI, cXML, API

Frequently asked questions about the Catalog Shop

An internal procurement shop is the ordering interface of an eProcurement software. Requesters search approved catalogs, add items to the cart and trigger a purchase requisition that is handed over to the ERP after approval. The Ovenca Catalog Shop guides users to the suppliers and items procurement has approved.

For corporate groups and large mid-sized companies that manage the indirect requirements of many business units, sites and legal entities through approved catalogs. LANXESS AG has worked with Onveda since 2014 and uses the platform worldwide.

Catalog maintenance takes place in Catalog Management and the Vendor Portal, not in the shop. Supplier catalogs are imported or submitted by the supplier, validated and approved by procurement. Requesters only see approved content in the shop.

Yes. Ovenca runs next to the ERP and hands over purchase requisitions and orders via OCI, cXML or API. SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, Infor, Sage, DATEV and proprietary systems can be connected.

The requester creates a free-text order. It is captured in fixed fields, including material group and purchasing group. For the short text, the shop shows recommendations from the catalogs, so it becomes visible whether a matching catalog item already exists.

Yes. At LANXESS AG, SAP contracts and material numbers are part of the product search. The result list has a separate tab for material numbers.

The shop works the way users know from online shops: search field, filters, result list, favourites and cart. Unlike a consumer shop, the assortment is limited to approved catalogs, and an approval precedes the order.

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