Onventis integration: BMEcat catalogue and PunchOut for suppliers
Your customer procures through Onventis and requests your items as an electronic catalogue? With Primus you deliver a validated BMEcat catalogue or a PunchOut via OCI and cXML – from the item list you already have.
- Target system
- Onventis
- Methods
- Static catalogue, PunchOut
- Formats
- BMEcat 1.2, Excel / CSV, OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0, cXML
- Primus solution
- Primus Catalog, Primus PunchOut, Primus Connect
Your customer orders through Onventis? This is how your range becomes orderable.
Onventis is most widely used among mid-sized companies in the German-speaking countries. When a customer introduces the system, its suppliers are asked to provide their items as a catalogue – often with a deadline and a guideline that specifies formats and mandatory information.
For suppliers without a catalogue tool of their own, manual work starts here: filling in templates, adding classifications, recoding units of measure, uploading, working through the error list. Pro3Con takes this off your hands and generates the catalogue from the data you maintain anyway.
- From your item list: Excel, CSV or an ERP export is enough to start from.
- BMEcat without XML skills: The file is generated automatically and validated before delivery.
- One catalogue per customer: Range and prices individually for each Onventis customer.
- One master catalogue, many platforms: The same data also serves SAP Ariba, Coupa or Unite Mercateo.
- Price rounds in minutes: The mapping is saved; the next version is generated at the push of a button.
Three routes into Onventis
Onventis accepts supplier ranges as an uploaded catalogue or as a PunchOut. Which route your customer intends is stated in its supplier guideline.
BMEcat catalogue
Your items are transferred to Onventis as BMEcat 1.2 and made available to the customer. Primus Catalog generates and validates the file.
Excel or CSV template
For smaller ranges Onventis provides its own templates, which are uploaded through the web interface. Primus fills them from your master catalogue.
PunchOut via OCI or cXML
The buyer moves from Onventis into your catalogue or webshop and brings the cart back. In production today with Primus PunchOut and Primus Connect.
The Onventis catalogue: BMEcat 1.2 with rules of its own
Onventis processes catalogues in BMEcat 1.2 format and in its own Excel and CSV templates. The templates can be uploaded through the web interface; BMEcat files and larger catalogues are transferred via FTP, for which Onventis sets up separate access.
Important for the first upload: Onventis extends the BMEcat standard with fields of its own and deviates from the standard in some field lengths. A catalogue that another platform accepts can therefore still produce errors in Onventis. On top of that come the specifications of the customer, for example on classification or mandatory information.
Whether your file is formally sound can be checked in advance with the free BMEcat validator. Primus Catalog then generates the file directly in the required variant.
- Catalogue format
- BMEcat 1.2, Onventis templates in Excel and CSV
- Transfer
- Web interface or FTP
- Classification
- As specified by the customer, often ECLASS or UNSPSC
- Units of measure
- Codes as specified, e.g. C62 or PCE
- Particularities
- Onventis extensions, differing field lengths
- Source
- Excel, CSV, BMEcat, ERP or PIM export
Catalogue upload or PunchOut: which fits your range?
Both routes make your items orderable in Onventis. They differ in where the product data lives and who keeps it current.
| Aspect | Catalogue upload | PunchOut |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the data? | In Onventis | With you, retrieved in real time |
| Standard | BMEcat 1.2, Excel / CSV | OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0, cXML |
| Product search | Directly in Onventis | In your catalogue; with OCI 5.0 in Onventis as well |
| Price changes | New upload | Effective immediately |
| Suited to | Manageable, stable ranges | Large ranges, availability, configuration |
| Primus solution | Primus Catalog | Primus PunchOut, Primus Connect |
As both routes build on the same master catalogue in Primus, you do not commit yourself: you can start with a catalogue upload and move to PunchOut later without preparing your data again.
Onventis PunchOut: OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0 and cXML
With PunchOut the catalogue stays with you. The buyer selects it in Onventis, moves into your range, fills the cart and transfers it back; the order itself is created in Onventis.
For this Onventis supports OCI 4.0 including the Validate and Detail functions, OCI 5.0 and cXML. With OCI 5.0 your item data is additionally taken into the Onventis search index, so buyers find your products directly in the platform-wide search.
For the setup Onventis needs, among other things, the protocol, the entry address of your PunchOut catalogue and the associated parameters. Primus PunchOut supplies these details together with the generated catalogue.
Primus Catalog: your Onventis catalogue from the item list
With Primus Catalog you upload your item list, map the columns once and receive a validated BMEcat catalogue. Bulk changes, such as a price adjustment across the whole range, are handled with saved rules.
For PunchOut, Primus PunchOut generates a shop for OCI and cXML from the same catalogue. If you already run a webshop, Primus Connect connects it to Onventis as a PunchOut front end.
- Export as BMEcat 1.2 and BMEcat 2005, Excel and CSV
- Classification mapping, for instance from your own product groups to ECLASS
- Validation of mandatory fields, field lengths and units of measure before upload
- Customer-specific ranges and prices for each Onventis customer
Four steps to your Onventis catalogue
1Clarify specifications
We record which method, format and classification the guideline of your customer requires.
2Map the data
Your item list is mapped to the fields of the target format; classification and units of measure are converted.
3Validate and transfer
Primus validates the catalogue. It is then transferred to Onventis, or the PunchOut is set up and tested.
4Approve and maintain
Once the customer has approved it, the catalogue is orderable. Changes go through the same mapping.
They work with Primus
Manufacturers and distributors delivering their product data to their customers’ procurement systems with Primus.
Frequently asked questions about Onventis integration
Nothing here that matches? Write to us – you will get a technical answer, not a template.
Which catalogue format does Onventis require?
Onventis processes BMEcat 1.2 as well as its own templates in Excel and CSV. Which format applies in your case is defined by the supplier guideline of your customer. Primus Catalog generates all three formats from the same item list.
Can I create an Onventis catalogue from Excel?
Yes. You upload your Excel or CSV file to Primus Catalog and map the columns to the catalogue fields. The software converts classification and units of measure, validates the result and provides the finished catalogue. More in the article Excel to BMEcat.
Does Onventis support PunchOut via OCI and cXML?
Yes. Onventis supports OCI 4.0 including Validate and Detail, OCI 5.0 and cXML. Primus PunchOut serves these standards from the same catalogue.
Why is my BMEcat catalogue rejected by Onventis?
Common causes are missing mandatory fields, exceeded field lengths, unrecognised units of measure, missing or invalid classification codes and duplicate item numbers. Onventis deviates from the BMEcat standard in some fields, so a catalogue accepted elsewhere is not automatically valid.
What does connecting to Onventis cost?
Onventis may charge suppliers fees of its own for import, hosting or a PunchOut interface; Onventis states the current terms. The costs for Primus are listed under Pricing.
Can I connect my existing webshop to Onventis?
Yes. Primus Connect connects your existing shop as a PunchOut front end: the buyer shops in your shop and the cart goes back to Onventis via OCI or cXML.
How many errors does your catalogue have?
Upload a BMEcat file. The validator checks it against the DTD and our quality rules and shows every error with its location. Free, no sign-up.