FAQs
The agreements ensure that every party maintains correct data privacy & ownership for handling electronic transactions and therefore protects commercial trade secrets.
More information about Members can be found here.
Once you’re a Member, you are a third-party beneficiary to all agreements so you can transact electronically at your own pace.
Our Members will work with your integration team and each party accepts its own costs.
There is no fee for an operator to become part of the OFS Portal Community.
OFS Portal is supplier-funded, and the fee is based on the size of each Member company. There is a minimum fee. Click here for more information.
There is no fee for a network to join the OFS Portal Community.
Yes, OFS Portal runs Community groups from time-to-time based on need.
The OFS Portal catalog tool is a secure data management and syndication system that provides a standard way to send contractually agreed upon pricing for goods and services to operators. Multi-client and multi-tenant, the catalog tool supports any number of supplier-operator relationships, however complex.
Your company has been invited to use the OFS Portal catalog tool to enable OFS Portal Members to publish their price books to you using open standards (PIDX) in the same manner as the price books are published to all other operators. By publishing price books in a standardized format, the OFS Portal catalog tool increases efficiencies and reduces costs for all users. Without this uniform approach, the publication of price books would become unsustainably complex and as a result the adoption of e-commerce and electronic price books would likely be slowed substantially.
I have an Operator requesting to bypass the OFS Portal Process. What information can I provide them?
The OFS Portal Electronic Data Agreement contains provisions relating to how Content (catalogs) and Transactions will be sent and received.
Deviating from the default transmission protocols described in the Electronic Data Agreement requires either the consent of OFS Portal or the OFS Portal Member. Also, delivery of confidential information via email is not, in our opinion, a secure method of delivering the information as anticipated by the Electronic Data Agreement. Therefore, the Electronic Data Agreement does contain the flexibility for alternative transmission methods, but those alternatives must be mutually agreed and not simply mandated by one party. Using standard and tested methods to exchange catalogs and transactions reduces costs and improves efficiencies for all parties. Introducing non-standard methods results in more costs and complexity. Because of this, the OFS Portal Agreement allows OFS Portal to assess fees on operators who demand catalogs in a non-standard process.
There is only one template that is generally used for all pricebook submissions.
The OFS Portal Electronic Data Agreement contains provisions relating to how Content (catalogs) and Transactions will be sent and received.
Outbound Formats (including the OFS Portal Template) and Transmission of Content are specified in the Agreement. As and when authorized by an OFS Portal Member, OFS Portal will make available to Buyer Content in OFS Portal’s standard format either directly or via OFS Portal’s Third Party Provider utilizing OFS Portal’s approved transmission protocols and procedures.
In the event Buyer requests Content in an outbound format other than the format specified above or Buyer requests services from OFS Portal other than the delivery of Content pursuant to the immediately preceding sentence, then Buyer and OFS Portal must first execute an amendment to this Agreement establishing the price and terms associated with such deli very or services.
The OFS Portal catalog tool is made available to operators free of charge pursuant to (and subject to) the terms set forth in the OFS Portal Electronic Data Agreement.
Currently well over 400 operators have signed the OFS Portal Electronic Data Agreement and have agreed to receive Content (price books) electronically via the OFS Portal catalog tool.
By being able to deliver price books to so many operators using open industry standards, we are able to streamline the process for all users and significantly reduce costs.
You of course are not required to use the tool or receive electronic price books from OFS Portal Members. But if you choose to receive electronic price books from the OFS Portal Members, you should expect to do so using the same secure tool that allows OFS Portal Members to send price books to all operators.
Allowing “one off” methods for delivery of price books would unfortunately drive up complexity and costs, which in the end would stunt the use of electronic price books.
Supplier’s updates to pricing is sent through the OFS Portal Catalog System to the Operator. This is the only way to get updated pricing from the Member. How the Operator updates their pricebook in their procurement system using this information is up to the Operator.
We do not believe email provides sufficient security to protect the trade secrets of both the operator and the supplier that are contained in the price books.