Documentation: Manager controls

Please note that downloading this page as a PDF creates a static document. Any changes to the content presented cannot be included in the PDF later. We therefore advise to always use the version available online.

• 1 Extended menu
• 2 Mappings and relations
• 3 Request user-accounts
• 4 Edit or delete user accounts
• 5 Request new password
• 6 Add business partners
• 7 Request certificate
• 8 Look up new business partners
• 9 Transmissions
• 10 Create new business partner

1 Extended menu

As manager, even more menu points appear on the left side of the blue bar. Here you get an overview of the additional content.

While the user can only see “My Profile”, the manager can also make even more settings in the portal.

My company

Under “My Company” you can see an overview of all data set up or created for your company. All tabs can be viewed here, but editing is only possible by the employees of myOpenFactory. The only exception is the “Certificates” tab, which can also be used by you as a manager.

My business partners

Here you can see all connections made between your company and your customers and/or suppliers through the platform. A distinction is made between productive connections and test connections. Test connections can be recognized by the yellow T symbol to the left of the company name.

We also distinguish between independent and sponsored business partners.

• Independent business partners are companies that have concluded their own users contract with us and therefore bear the costs for participating in the EDI platform themselves. You can recognize them in the overview of business partners by the green house symbol:

  

• sponsored business partners are companies for which independent business partners bear the costs for participating in the EDI platform. You can recognize them in the overview of business partners by the grey house symbol:

  

My colleagues

Here you can see all employees from your company who also have access to the portal. You are not listed here because you always make your personal settings under “My Profile”.

Filter for messages

There are already 6 standard filters in the mailboxes that can be selected. Here you can set up additional filters. However, we always recommend that you configure this in consultation with the myOpenFactory staff. If you need a filter, please contact us!

Workflows

When your company is created in the portal, your company is always set up with a standard workflow. There you can configure which document types can be processed, and you can also set mappings for unit of measure, country indicators, surcharges and other values. Again, we recommend that you make changes only in consultation with the employees of myOpenFactory.

2 Mappings and relations

Under the menu item “My business partners” you will find an overview of all your connected business partners. When sending documents to your business partners, you must enter all customer or supplier numbers that you use for your business partners here. Additionally, incoming mappings can be made here if your business partners use different IDs/numbers than those you expect.

Outgoing relations

If you manage your purchasing processes via EDI, you must enter the supplier number(s) from your system in the corresponding supplier settings under “outbound relation”. If you manage your sales processes via EDI, enter the customer number(s) in the business partner settings.

Click on “Add outbound relation” for this purpose and an input field will open. Enter the relevant number there and click on “Save” at the top right. If you open this business partner again, you will see the relation you have just saved. All documents containing this number will now automatically sent to this business partner.

Incoming mappings

If a customer or supplier uses an ID or number for a role/company that your system cannot assign, you can store a mapping on the platform.

Example:

Your customer sends their order with the customer number “987654321” from their system. However, you would like to receive the customer number “0815” that you have assigned to identify the customer in your system.

To set up a mapping, click on “Add inbound mapping”, which will open 2 input fields separated by an arrow. In the left field, enter the initial value for example, the number “987654321”. In the right field, enter the target value, here for example, “0815”. Then save at the top right. If you open this business partner again, you will see the mapping you have just saved. In all incoming documents, the left number will now be replaced in the company numbers by the right number.

Import and export of relations and mappings

If you use a lot of numbers for a partner, we recommend importing the numbers instead of saving them manually. The same applies to incoming mappings.

Import of outgoing relations

If you want to import outgoing relations, each line in a CSV file should contain a number. The file extension must always be “.csv”.

Example:

987654321
666555
33367
4711
0000632
55638

To start the import, click on “Import” above the outbound relation. This window will then open:

Click on “Select file” to select the file from your PC. Before importing, you can now decide whether existing mappings should be overwritten or if the new numbers should be added additionally. If you select “overwrite existing values”, all previous mappings will be deleted and replaced by the newly imported numbers. Finally, click on “Import” to immediately display the new mappings.

Export of outgoing relations

If you want to export the existing relations, e.g. to add them, click on the “Export” button above the relations. This will start the download of the mappings as a .csv file.

Import of incoming mappings

Prepare a CSV file with the initial value in the first column and the target value in the second column. Each pair should be in one row, separated by a semicolon. Click on the “Import” button. A window will open in where you can select a file to import. You can choose whether existing values should be overwritten or supplemented. Finally, click on “Import”. The mappings will be displayed immediately.

Example:

987654321;0025687
666555;3400175
33367;776631
4711;0815
0000632;632
55638;160374

Export of incoming mappings

If you want to export the existing mappings, e.g. to add them, click on the “Export” button above the mappings. This will start the download of the mappings as a .csv file.

3 Request user-accounts

Before you start, always check whether a colleague already has access to the portal. If a large number of colleagues already exists in your company account, you can also use the search mask at the top right for quicker orientation.

1. Click on “My colleagues”
2. In the upper right corner, click the + icon
3. A pop-up opens in which you can enter your colleague’s data.
4. If you have filled in all the fields, click on “Create”
5. The message appears that the request has been successfully forwarded.

If you added a new user, the request is always checked by an employee of myOpenFactory first. So the new colleague does not appear directly under “My colleagues” and it may take a moment for the user-request to be processed.

When the user is shared, the user will automatically receive an email with a user name and password. Please always provide all new users with the certificate that you received as a manager at the time of setup. Certificates are valid company-wide, so all employees in a company should have the same certificate in use.

4 Edit or delete user accounts

If one of your colleagues has left the company or is no longer responsible for using the portal, you can and should delete the user concerned.

1. Click on “My colleagues”
2. Click on the user you want to delete
3. Click “Delete user” at the top right
4. A pop-up window will appear asking if you are sure.
5. Click on “Delete” here
6. A message appears that the request has been successfully forwarded.

If a user is to be deleted, the deletion is always checked by a myOpenFactory employee. We have to check whether the user is stored in the portal for a relevant function and needs to be replaced. It may therefore take a moment before the user is no longer visible.

If you would like to make a change to an existing user account, you can simply change the relevant values and then click on “Save” at the top right. If a user’s name changes, e.g. due to divorce or marriage, you can change it yourself. Our support team will adjust the user name for you on request.

5 Request new password

As a manager, you are the central point of contact for your colleagues. So if one of your colleagues has forgotten his password to log in to the portal, you can request a new password for him/her.

1. Click on “My colleagues”
2. Click on the user you want to receive a new password
3. Click on “Request a new password” in the upper right corner and confirm the message with “Create”
4. A message appears that the request has been successfully forwarded

The new password is generated by an employee of myOpenFactory and then automatically made available to the user by e-mail.

6 Add business partners

1. 1. Open “My business partners”
2. 2. Click on “Available partners” in the upper right corner

You will now see all partners who have any connection to the myOpenFactory platform (sponsored or independent).

3. 3. In the search box, enter the name of your business partner and confirm with |Enter|
4. 4. Select the correct partner by clicking on the company name

5. 5. Click “Save” in the top right corner to add the partner to your business partners
6. 6. A message appears that the business partner has been successfully saved

You are now back in the Business Partner view and the new partner will appear in your list. All partners that are newly added are by default in test state (indicated by yellow field with “T” next to the company name).

Test or productive connection

When a business partner is added to your business partners, the entire connection is always in test status. Since tests should be carried out before each productive connection, the platform ensures that no goods are sent by mistake. Regardless of whether you send a test flag in your messages or not, all documents are will arrive as test-messages at the receiver.

If you would like to set a connection to productive state after completing the tests, please contact our Support team.

Sponsored or independent business partner

In the overview of available business partners you can see whether you will incur costs as a result of connecting a specific partner.

• Independent business partners are companies that have concluded their own users contract with us and therefore bear the costs for participating in the EDI platform themselves. You can recognize them in the overview of business partners by the green house symbol:

  

• sponsored business partners are companies for which independent business partners bear the costs for participating in the EDI platform. You can recognize them in the overview of business partners by the grey house symbol:

  

7 Request certificate

Certificates are always valid for 24 months, after which they must be reissued. In order to inform you in good time of the expiry of the validity of your certificate, notice messages will appear in the portal from 60 days before expiry.

Here you can request a new certificate directly via the link in the yellow box.

For users without manager rights, the following message appears:

This way, each employee is informed which colleague has the current certificate.

A new certificate is not automatically sent for security reasons. Therefore, you can apply for a new certificate from about one week before the current certificate expires:

1. Click on “My Company”
2. Open the “Certificates” tab

You will now see an overview of all certificates already issued, including validity and recipient of the certificate.

3. Click on “Request Certificate”
4. A new mask opens in which you must select the user to receive the certificate. Since it should be the key-user, probably it is you.

5. Confirm the user with “OK”
6. A message appears that the request has been successfully forwarded.

As with new users, the request is always checked by an employee of myOpenFactory. When the certificate is generated, the previously selected user automatically receives an e-mail with the new certificate. Only then will the new certificate be listed under “Certificates”.

8 Look up new business partners

1. Open “My business partners”
2. Click on “Available partners” in the upper right corner

You will now see all partners who have any connection to the myOpenFactory platform (sponsored or independent). In the upper right corner you see two icons left from the search-field.

Now you can filter the list by name (ascending and descending). You can switch the list by clicking on the icon again.

Or you can filter the list by the creation-date of the business-accounts (ascending and descending). You can switch the list by clicking on the icon again. This is especially useful if you want to regularly check which companies were recently added to the platform.

If you would like more information about the company you´re intereted in, you can always contact our Support team to gather information about whether the company is productive yet, is it selling or purchasing and which message-types are in use.

9 Transmissions

From menu item “Transmissions”

As a manager, you can see the menu item “Transmissions” in the blue bar on the left.

Click on this menu item to get an overview of all incoming and outgoing transmissions. You will receive information on the transmission path used for each direction (e.g., HTTP from myOpenFactory and HTTP from the customer) the times of the transmissions, the file sizes and whether a process has already been completed.

Here you can view individual transmissions and download the necessary documents.

From documents

If you want to see the transmission for a specific document on the platform, you can do this from the document in question. To do this, simply click on “Status” tab under the document:

If you click on this status, you will find the transmission to this document at the end before the receipts.

If you click on the link there, you will be taken directly to the transmission overview. Here you can view and download the document sent to you or sent to us by you.

If you would like to download this file, click on “Download” in the horizontal blue bar at the top right.

10 Create new business partner

1. Open “My business partners”.
2. Click on “Available partners” in the upper right corner.

All available business partners that are either sponsored or independent are displayed.In the upper right corner you will also find the search bar and two filter elements. If it turns out that the desired business partner is not yet connected, you can create a new business partner on the platform, if you have agreed on a new EDI connection via out platform.

3. Hit the “+” icon next to the search bar. A blue pop-up appears.

4. The connection type depends on the agreement you made with your partner.

• Does your customer or supplier have an ERP system with an EDI interface and wants to exchange data via EDI with you? Then choose ERP connection (sponsored).
• Your supplier doesn’t have an ERP system or a system which is not able to perform EDI processes? Then choose WebEDI supplier (sponsored).

5. In the next step, enter the data of your business partner. On the left we are expecting company data and on the right we are expecting data about the contact person.

Mandatory:

• Company name
• name of the contact person at your business partner
• Email address of the contact person at your business partner

6. Click Create.

7. A notification is displayed that informs you about our team checking your request.

Your request will now be checked by our of staff members. If the request is approved, your new business partner can be found under “My business partners”. By default, all partners that are added appear in test state (yellow box with “T” next to the company name) until you want us to change it to production.

Here you can find further information as a sponsor of WebEDI supplier: Requirements WebEDI

Sending login data and certificate

For WebEDI

Two Emails are sent to the contact person you entered in the request.

• One E-Mail including the username and password of the user and a link to this manual and to the portal.
• One E-Mail including the certificate and certificate password for authentication.

A guide on how to use the certificate can be found here: How to use the certificate.

For an ERP connection

Sponsored partners with an ERP connection usually do not get access to the portal. The contact of your sponsored partner is required though to set up the connection between your partner and the platform. Please make sure to loop us in in mail conversations with your partner. This way we can clarify all technical questions directly with your partner.