Punch-out Process

A punch-out site lets your people order from Mimeo without leaving the procurement system they already use. Orders follow your existing approval route, and Mimeo only starts production once a purchase order comes back.

Overview

Companies use procurement systems to manage spending through approval processes and purchase orders. A punch-out site, offered through MimeoConnect, integrates Mimeo into those existing ordering and approval processes.

How it works

1. The user logs into your procurement system and reaches Mimeo through a link inside it.
2. When they place an order, Mimeo puts it on hold and sends a requisition back to the procurement system.
3. Their manager approves the purchase in the procurement system.
4. The procurement system transmits a purchase order to Mimeo, which releases the order for printing automatically.

Integrations to date

Punch-out integrations have been built for two procurement systems: Ariba and Coupa. Any client already using one of these internally can integrate with Mimeo's punch-out site. The sections below cover the parts of the process that affect Mimeo purchases.

Single sign-on

Punch-out removes the need for a second login. Once a user is signed in to the procurement application, their credentials are passed to Mimeo through single sign-on.

• If the email already belongs to a Mimeo account, the user is logged in without entering a password.
• If the user is new to Mimeo, they are prompted for a password and an account is created automatically.

Punch-out user settings

After signing in, users can be directed to an optional punch-out landing page where they set preferences such as skipping that page on future visits or nominating a custom FedEx shipping account. These can also be set in My Account, where that feature is enabled for the organization.

New and existing users are placed into the correct Mimeo organization automatically, based on the information sent from the procurement system. That organization is marked as punch-out, and every user in it inherits the punch-out preferences and functionality.

This matters because a punch-out user must reach Mimeo through the procurement system to access their shopping cart. Logging in to Mimeo directly produces an error when they try to open the cart, though every other action still works. A custom logo near the top left of the screen indicates that the user is on the punch-out site.

Placing an order

Past the landing page, building a document and shopping work exactly as they normally do. The only difference is the final payment page: credit card and account credit are not offered, and the sole option is Request for Approval.

Selecting it transmits the request to the procurement system and creates a Mimeo order with a status of Pending. Pending orders are not sent to the production floor. Once the manager approves and a purchase order reaches Mimeo in time, the order moves to Submitted and follows the normal production flow. The purchase order carries the PCard or account credit information used to charge for the order, and that is recorded in the Mimeo database.

Late approvals

Mimeo's standard cutoff for orders is 10pm Eastern, meaning most orders received by then ship the same night. For a punch-out order the cutoff is the time the purchase order approval must arrive by — not the time the original request was placed.

On the final payment page, punch-out users may be offered one or more of the following choices for what should happen if approval does not arrive in time. These options can be enabled or disabled per organization.

Expired orders can be reordered like any other Mimeo order. A new Mimeo order ID is issued.

Buffers

If shipping is upgraded, or an order needs offline manual adjustment, the final total can end up higher than when the order was placed. Charging a PCard or invoicing for more than the purchase order covers risks the payment being rejected. To reduce that risk, a buffer can be added to the purchase order request amount.

The buffer is added only to the purchase order amount. The order total in the Mimeo system is not affected. Buffers can be enabled or disabled per organization.

Payment types

Punch-out orders use a payment type called Purchase Order, which is what appears in the tools when the request is submitted. Once a purchase order is received, the actual payment method is recorded — account credit or PCard — along with the purchase order number, both stored in the Mimeo database.