---
sourceDocument: Zurich Finance and Supply Chain
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/zurich/source-to-pay-operations

 Release :

    - zurich

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Zurich Finance and Supply Chain

ft:clusterId :

    - stpop

bundleId :

    - stpop

workflow :

    - Employee


---

# Establishing connection between SPO supplier

# Establishing connection between SPO and the supplier punchout system {#ariaid-title1}

* Release version: Zurich
* 
* Updated July 31, 2025
* 
* ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read

SPO and the supplier punchout system use PunchoutRequest and PunchoutResponse payloads to establish the connection.  
The Punchout system returns a PunchoutResponse, which contains the start URL for the Punchout session. The SPO endpoint parses this response and opens the URL in a new tab. This parsing can be implemented using the XML Parser action step.  
Note:  
The PunchoutRequest and PunchoutResponse payloads are expected to follow the same structure across all Punchout systems.

The following figure illustrates the connection flow:
Figure 1. How SPO communicates with the supplier punchout system