Frequently Asked Questions - Parabilis
1. Overview
1.1 What is Parabilis?
The Parabilis e-procurement system is a combination of new Aptos modules and access to an
electronic marketplace. Parabilis provides an addition to, not a replacement for, the standard Aptos
PO Management module. In time however, Parabilis will replace most of the core Aptos functions.
Parabilis supports three trading options
1. Hosted Catalogues: This involves purchasing items from a catalogue of supplier’s products.
2. Punch-Out: This is generally used for high value, high volume ordering from a handful of
suppliers. Items are purchased by linking through to a supplier website via Parabilis.
3. Free text: Generally used for suppliers who only receive a few orders, and/or for items which do
not lend themselves to catalogues. Examples include services and goods such as window
cleaning, gardeners, utilities and bespoke items such as blinds. Orders are typed as free text
lines.
1.2 Who is behind Parabilis?
The four English purchasing consortia and the Higher Education Purchasing Consortium for Wales
(HEPCW) are the driving force behind Parabilis – the University of Exeter is a member of the
Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC). The chosen supplier, E-Government Solutions
(EGS) works closely with the Consortia in the promotion, implementation and management of
Parabilis.
Funding has been provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) under their
Leadership Governance and Management fund providing for a co-ordinated implementation of an emarketplace for use by more than seven institutions and Research Councils. This funding also
supports a full-time Supplier Adoption Officer who ensures content from contracted and common use
suppliers is available on Parabilis and provides support to the institutions using Parabilis.
2. Functionality
2.1 What functionality does Parabilis provide?
Parabilis is a hosted solution able to work in tandem with Aptos. Parabilis provides the “interface”
between the University and our substantial supplier base, including the large numbers of noncontract (free text) suppliers. Parabilis includes the following functionality:
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Web-based requisitioning and approval workflow
On-line access to national, inter-regional and consortia contracts, through on-line catalogues
and/or punch-out to supplier websites
Orders delivered to suppliers’ by fax, e-mail or directly into their back office systems, depending
on the level of integration required and supported by the supplier’s systems
E-Invoicing
Management information
3. Benefits
3.1 What benefits does Parabilis deliver?
In terms of business benefits, Parabilis will deliver:
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Reduced costs of goods and services through access to collaborative contracts
Reduced costs of goods and services through increased use of our own contracts
Significant reductions in resource required for the catalogue management, and ordering and
invoicing process
Improved negotiating position (through detailed spend information)
A single, easy to use, ordering system for all requirements, contract items and free-text
Simpler, quicker ordering process by removing the need to create orders on supplier’s websites
and then again in Aptos
Signification reductions in order and invoice process for suppliers
4. Operation
4.1 How do I know when to raise an order in Aptos and when to raise one through
Parabilis?
If you have already received your Aptos Web Requisitions/Parabilis training, all orders should be
placed through Parabilis, provided the supplier you wish to use is registered on the Marketplace.
4.2 How do I know whether the supplier is registered on Parabilis or not?
There are two ways:
1. A list of suppliers registered on Parabilis, regularly updated, is held on the Parabilis pages of the
Procurement website.
2. When you log on to Aptos Web Services, choose the ‘Shop’ option, select the appropriate Web
Profile and punch-out to the Parabilis marketplace, click the ‘Catalogue’ link and then select the
‘Supplier Directory’ option. You will be able to search the registered suppliers by selecting the
relevant initial letter of the supplier’s name from the alphabetical list or by entering the first part of
the supplier’s name and clicking the ‘search suppliers’ button. If the supplier you require is not
listed, they are not registered and the order may be created directly on Aptos.
4.3 What do I do if the supplier I want to use is not registered?
If the Supplier is already on Aptos, contact Procurement at [email protected]. Provided the
supplier is or will be used regularly for purchasing (ie. this is not a “one-off” purchase)
arrangements will be made to register the supplier on the marketplace. It would also be helpful if
you could include an assessment as to whether the goods and/or services provided by the supplier
are suitable for a hosted catalogue. Picking items from a catalogue to create your order is much
quicker and more accurate than creating a free text order.
If the Supplier is not already on Aptos, the normal new account request process will need to be
followed.
4.4 What do I do if I have a problem?
In all instances, contact the Helpdesk – [email protected]. Provide as much information as possible
– for this purpose, it is helpful if you leave open the web page on which the error occurred while you
create your email. Please provide:
1. The name of the web page on which the error occurred
2. The error number, if displayed
3. The prefix and number of the requisition you were working on
4. A description of what you were doing immediately before the error occurred
5. Any other information you think may be relevant
4.5 What happens if I complete an order and then wish to amend it and re-send
it?
This is not possible with a web order placed using Parabilis. Once you have checked out your basket,
the approval of the requisition and creation and transmission of the order to the supplier is
automatic. The only option is to contact the supplier and ask them to ignore/cancel the order and
then to create a replacement. Discussions are underway with EGS with a view to developing “change
order” functionality for a future release.
An enhancement request has also been submitted to B-Plan to allow a requisition to be held,
possibly for review, before being submitted to Workflow for approval and transmission to the
supplier.
4.6 How do I split a requisition line across several GL accounts, the same as I can
do in Aptos?
At the moment this is not possible. An enhancement request has been submitted to B-Plan with a
view to developing this functionality in Web Requisitions. These discussions will include EGS to
ensure that the Parabilis marketplace order can hold more than one account code per line.
4.7 How do I know that the supplier has received an order?
Some suppliers already send an “auto acknowledgement”. All suppliers have been contacted to
request that they send order acknowledgements but this normally means that supplier staff will
have to remember, something that cannot be relied upon. If you do not receive an
acknowledgement from a supplier, we suggest you contact them and remind them to do so for all
orders.
An enhancement request has been submitted which would result in an acknowledgement email
being sent to the originator.
4.8 What happens to my requisition when it is above my approval limit and my
manager is away?
Before leaving on holiday, all “senior” approvers should contact the Helpdesk ([email protected])
and advise the following details:a. the start and end dates of their absence and
b. the name of the person to whom they wish to delegate their approval authority.
Support staff will then apply the necessary re-assignments.
NB:
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The nominated delegate must already be defined as an Aptos user and a Workflow ‘actor’.
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It should be noted that the re-assignment will result in the delegate receiving the entire
approval rights.
If the nominated delegate is someone from within the same approval chain (as would be
normal practice), that person may have to approve a requisition twice – once using their
own authority and again using the assigned authority.
4.9 How does a supplier decide which Exeter accounts to deliver to and charge for
any order?
Most suppliers with punch-out connections have been provided with a full list of Exeter delivery
addresses from Aptos. This enables them to “map” each customer account on their system with a
“ship-to” address, enabling both the delivery and invoicing to be directed correctly.
An enhancement request has been submitted which would allow users to enter their personal
account IDs to make it easier for suppliers to match orders from the punch-out connection (which is
simply designated as “Exeter University”) to the individual delivery/invoicing locations within the
University.
4.10 It is difficult to create a basket from a large catalogue. What is the quickest
way?
When you punch-out to Parabilis, simply choose the “Quick Add” tab on the top right. The dropdown list contains the names of all suppliers for whom catalogues are hosted on the marketplace.
Simply select the required supplier from the drop-down list and add up to 20 part numbers and
quantities per page. If your requisition is greater than 20 items, simply click ‘add to basket’ and
repeat the process.
Of course, this is only possible if you know the supplier’s part numbers for the items you wish to
order. If you contact the Helpdesk ([email protected]) you can request a printout of a catalogue
from the marketplace. You can then either use this for future orders or create from it a selective list
of all your frequently ordered items (including supplier part number’s) for your own use.
Note: In some cases it is possible to create and host on the Parabilis marketplace a sub-set of a
supplier’s full catalogue. This is extremely helpful if, for example, only a few items are ever ordered
from a supplier whose full catalogue may be several thousand items long. Send your email request
to [email protected].
4.11 I was kicked out of the system in the middle of an order. What happened?
As has always been the case with Aptos, the system has a “timeout” set at 60 minutes. This is used
to ensure that users don’t unnecessarily occupy user licences for which we have only a limited
number. The time is measured from the last keystroke (although there may have been problems
with an earlier version of Parabilis which measured the time from when you “logged on” (ie.
Punched-out from Aptos).
It is essential to ensure that before you begin to create an order you know who you want to place
the order with and what you want to purchase.
4.12 My order didn’t arrive as expected. When I contacted the supplier, they said
they hadn’t received it.
On all the specific occasions when this has been investigated, it has become apparent that this is
due to inefficiencies on the part of the suppliers. Like us, their staff will take some time to get used
to the system and it is probable that the likelihood of this happening will diminish. It would help if,
the first time you send an order through Parabilis to a supplier you ring them to alert them that the
order is about to arrive via email.
5. Suppliers
5.1 How do suppliers use Parabilis?
Suppliers utilize Parabilis to “present” their contracts (through electronic catalogues) to the
University. They will use Parabilis to receive approved purchase orders and to transmit invoices
electronically to us. Parabilis includes the following functionality for suppliers:
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Single point of access for all their HE customers
Catalogue management functionality
Order delivery by fax, e-mail or directly into their back office systems
Invoice delivery to the University
Single connection to Parabilis enables order and invoice transmission to all their customers
across all EGS exchanges
5.2 What about those suppliers who we already trade with electronically through
their websites?
This is quite common. More and more suppliers are becoming e-commerce aware and building their
own commercial websites to trade. Links can built between the Parabilis and supplier’s websites and
users can then punch-out from Parabilis, capture a basket of goods and then populate the Aptos
requisition with the goods. This removes the requirement to process the order twice, once on the
supplier’s website and once in Aptos.