Best Practices for Loading Catalogs
Overview
To make loading catalogs into Coupa easier, we've compiled some tips for you.
Do
- Always use the same method to load a catalog into Coupa.
- If you initially load a catalog on behalf of the supplier, use the Suppliers > Catalogs method. This will allow the supplier to take over maintenance of that catalog through the Coupa Supplier Portal.
- Ensure item name and description are unique, regardless of which loader method is used or the associated uniqueness criteria.
- Use good data!
Don't
- Don't use generic item names (Bad: "iPhone". Good: "iPhone 7 Plus 128GB Jet Black")
- Don't mix and match item loading methods.
- Never use incomplete data.
- Avoid using the wrong loader for the volume of data you need to load.
Loading Methods
Object | Method | Customer Effort | Additional Information |
---|---|---|---|
Supplier Catalog loaded by supplier | Coupa Supplier Portal | 2 hours |
|
Supplier Catalog loaded by customer | Coupa platform: Suppliers > Catalogs |
1 hour |
|
Internal Catalog | Coupa platform: Setup > Items |
2 hours |
|
Supplier Punchout Site | cXML | 8 hours Duration 2-4 weeks (depending on supplier’s efforts) |
|
sFTP Loader | CSV | 3 hours effort per sftp account |
|
Item Uniqueness
Field | Required? | Item Loader | Supplier Catalog Loader/CSP | sFTP Loader |
---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Y | x | x ** | x |
Description | Y | |||
Commodity | Y | |||
UOM | Y | |||
Item Number | Y | x | x | |
Supplier * | Y | x | x | x |
Contract Number * | Y | x | x | |
Price * | Y | x | ||
Currency * | Y | |||
Supplier Part Number * | Y | x | x | |
Auxiliary Part Number * | N | x *** |
* These fields are supplier specific.
** This is changed in R20 and Name will become part of the uniqueness criteria for the Catalog Loader
*** Becomes part of the uniqueness if used, although field is not mandatory
Loader Decision Tree
* Spot check of accurate data to be periodically carried out as no approval is required before items are available to be purchased.
Testing Best Practices
Do
- Load the catalog to your TEST environment, try with a few items only initially to test the data format is correct.
- Validate that the data has loaded correctly, visibility of the items is accurate and there are no duplicate items.
- Once the testing is completed and sign-off as correct load the catalog to your PROD environment.
Don't
- Don't load catalog directly to Production without testing first.
- Do not mix the loaders. Use the same loader in both TEST and PROD to ensure the load will be successful when the catalog is loaded in Production.