Your buyer wants a PunchOut catalogue. We build it and run it.
PunchOut over cXML or OCI, catalogue data your buyer’s system will accept, and the whole return leg from purchase order to a VAT-complete invoice. No integration team required.
The situation
A major customer has written to say they are moving purchasing onto their procurement system. The letter mentions PunchOut, cXML, supplier enablement and a deadline, and implies that the framework agreement depends on meeting it.
You do not have an integration team to take it on. Your web shop does not speak these formats. And the buyer still expects you to fit their process, not the other way round.
That is the gap we fill: we build the connection, we run it, and we are the people you call when the buyer’s system behaves differently from its documentation.
What your buyer’s system will ask of you
These sound like details. They decide whether a line lands cleanly in the buyer’s requisition, and whether your invoice gets paid on time.
cXML 1.2 or OCI 5.0
Ariba, Coupa, Oracle and JAGGAER speak cXML. SAP SRM and SAP ERP usually speak OCI. "We’re on SAP" does not answer the question: Ariba is SAP too, and it asks for cXML.
VAT on every line
VAT number, rate and amount per line, with totals that reconcile to the purchase order to the penny. A header-only VAT total is the classic reason a correct invoice goes unpaid.
Contract prices, not list prices
Framework agreements and negotiated discounts mean each buyer sees their own prices and sometimes their own range. The PunchOut has to know who is shopping.
UNSPSC codes and standard units
A classification code on every line so the requisition routes to the right approver, and UN/ECE units (C62 for each, BX for a box) instead of an abbreviation the buyer’s system rejects.
The return leg: order, ASN, invoice
The catalogue is the start. Most of the work comes after it: taking orders in without re-keying, sending an advance shipping notice, and returning the invoice in the format the buyer expects.
Public sector: GS1 and Peppol
NHS trusts and some other public buyers work to GS1 product data and Peppol messaging. We tell you where that applies and where a procurement-platform connection is what is actually needed.
Platforms
What matters is the protocol a system speaks, not what it is called.
cXML 1.2: SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle, JAGGAER.
OCI 5.0: SAP SRM, SAP ERP and systems that follow the same
HOOK_URL flow, with the cart returned in
NEW_ITEM fields.
A hosted catalogue instead of PunchOut: some buyers would rather load a file (CIF, CSV or BMEcat) than connect live. We produce that too, and keep prices and availability current. Not sure which one your buyer means? Hosted catalogue vs PunchOut explains the difference.
If your buyer’s system is not listed: send us its name. Almost always it is cXML or OCI under another name, and the answer is a clear yes or a clear no, not a statement of intent.
How we work
Four weeks, if your buyer keeps pace.
- Week 1: pin down what your buyer actually requires Which system, which protocol, which catalogue format, which documents after the order. Those answers in writing, from someone technical on the buyer’s side, before anyone estimates.
- Week 2: prepare the catalogue data We start from your product data as it is today: a spreadsheet, an ERP export, your web shop. We turn it into a catalogue that passes the buyer’s checks, including the mandatory fields nobody has missed until now.
- Week 3: connect in the buyer’s test system PunchOut endpoint, credentials, cart return. We test against the buyer’s test environment until a line lands cleanly in their requisition.
- Week 4: approval and go-live Your buyer approves the connection in production. Billing starts that day, not before.
What we won’t tell you
We are a young company. There are no invented case studies here, no percentages of time saved that nobody measured, and no certification we do not hold. What you get instead:
- The monthly fee starts at go-live. It begins on the day your buyer approves the connection in production. If it never goes live, you owe nothing.
- Straight answers on legal and data. Hosting location, the data processing agreement, sub-processors and the contracting entity, in writing before you sign rather than as a sales claim.
- Test us first. Our cXML and OCI tester is free, runs in your browser and needs no sign-up. Paste a document and see whether we know what we are talking about before you speak to us.
Common questions
Which procurement systems do UK buyers use, and do you connect to them?
Large UK buyers mostly run the same platforms as everyone else: SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle and JAGGAER over cXML, and SAP systems over OCI. Universities, councils and NHS trusts often run their own purchasing systems or marketplaces. If your buyer names one we do not list, send us the name: what matters is whether it speaks cXML or OCI, and we will give you a straight yes or no.
What does my invoice need to get paid by a UK buyer’s system?
Your VAT registration number, the VAT rate and amount on every line (standard, reduced or zero-rated), and totals that reconcile exactly with the purchase order. In cXML that detail lives in each line’s tax element. An invoice that is correct on paper but carries its VAT only as a header total is one of the most common reasons it lands in an exception queue instead of being paid.
We supply the NHS. What do they ask for?
NHS trusts in England have asked suppliers for GS1 product identification and for ordering and invoicing over Peppol, under the NHS eProcurement Strategy. Peppol runs through an accredited access point, which we are not. Where a trust also buys through a procurement platform or marketplace, we build that side: the catalogue, the order and the invoice to the trust’s system. We will tell you which of the two a given trust actually needs before you pay for either.
Is UK e-invoicing becoming mandatory?
The government has announced that VAT invoices between businesses, and to the public sector, are to be issued electronically from April 2029, with the detail still being consulted on. That obligation is about the invoice HMRC recognises. The invoice your buyer’s procurement platform expects, in cXML in Ariba or Coupa for example, is a separate flow, and it is the one we build.
Where is our data held, and who would we be contracting with?
We confirm both in writing before you sign, not on a marketing page. We are a young company without a UK office, and we will not make a claim your legal or information-security team would not accept. Ask us for the hosting location, the data processing agreement under UK GDPR and the list of sub-processors, and you will have a specific answer before you commit.
Can you quote in sterling?
Our published prices start at $199 a month for one platform connection, and we will quote in pounds sterling on request. The monthly fee starts on the day your buyer approves the connection in their production system. If it never goes live, you owe nothing.
Send us your buyer’s requirement
The letter, the platform name or the technical specification is enough. You will get an assessment of what needs doing, how long it takes and what it costs, without a sales call.
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