Managing Product Sourcing Fields

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to administer Product Sourcing custom and standard fields.

Standard Fields Mapping

You can map item material master data received from ERP systems to standard (existing) product sourcing fields for items in BOM and material lists. You can also map Approved Manufacturer List (AML) data from SAP ERP to product sourcing fields for items.

You can see a list of the standard fields mapped in the XML, PDX, CSV, or material master file. The standard fields are a list of fields that SAP Ariba looks for in a file. You can use this list to map your data, if you want it mapped differently.

When mapping data fields received from ERP systems to standard product sourcing item fields, you can map an ERP data field to more than one product sourcing item field. You can also change the case (convert to all upper case or all lower case) of ERP data before displaying it in a product sourcing item field.

You can change some information for the standard fields:

  1. Go to ManageAdministrationProduct Sourcing ManagerStandard Field Mapping
  2. Search for the field by selecting the following information:
    1. Source Type: MATERIAL_MASTER
    2. Source Class: ITEM_MASTER
    3. Standard Class: ITEM_DETAIL
    4. Standard Field: leave it blank or select the specific field to edit
  3. Select the field and choose Edit and the following field become editable:
    1. Source field ID: This field needs to be the same as the field created in the ERP.
    2. Default value: complete this field if you wish to have a default value for the specific field.
    3. Conversion function: Conversion applied to the source data before being stored in the SAP Ariba field. Valid values:
      • Upper case: Converts all text to upper case.
      • Lower case: Converts all text to lower case.
      • Choose Update to save your changes.

Custom Fields Mapping

You can map item material master data received from SAP ERP to custom (new) product sourcing fields for items in BOM and material lists. You can also show the custom field in the Custom fields’ column of a material data table. You can add, edit, or see a list of the custom fields mapped in the XML, PDX, CSV, or material master file.

Note

To create custom fields for the direct material sourcing purposes please contact SAP Ariba Customer Support.

The CSV custom field mappings allow you to map item material fields for CSV file-based BOM integration.

Custom fields for purchasing information records (PIR), and sourcing projects should have a source class with the source type MATERIAL_MASTER. Other source types are not supported.

Modifying Product Sourcing Field Labels

Organizations might use terminology that differs from names and terms that SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite displays for product sourcing field labels in the user interface. Administrators can use theField Label Manager to configure SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite to display field names that match the names used for their own business use case.

For example, the default configuration has displays the field Contract MFR (Contract Manufacturer). However, in business scenarios that don’t require contract manufacturer IDs, this field is used to display the SAP Plant ID. In such cases, the system administrator can rename the field to Plant.

Summary

  • Map item material master data from ERP systems to standard and custom product sourcing fields in BOM and material lists.
  • Modify standard field mapping and configure conversion functions to enhance data display in SAP Ariba.
  • Use custom field mappings for CSV BOM integration, with support for various data types and UI display options.
  • Employ Field Label Manager to customize product sourcing field labels, matching your organization's terminology in the UI.