Introducing SAP Integrated Product Development Collaboration

Leveraging SAP Integrated Product Development for Development Collaboration

Collaborating with SAP Integrated Product Development for Supplier Collaboration

Collaborating with SAP Integrated Product Development for Document Collaboration

Collaborating with SAP Integrated Product Development for Specification Collaboration

Explaining Supplier Collaboration in SAP Integrated Product Development

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to explain the purpose and benefits of Supplier Collaboration in SAP Integrated Product Development.

Supplier Collaboration Overview

A company's supply chain is a source of strength or vulnerability. An integrated design function is critical to establish a responsive supply chain. Part of an overall IPD business process below is where supplier collaboration is situated.

Diagram illustrating business process capabilities in SAP Integrated Product Development, split into Define, Develop, and Deliver stages, supported by product data management.

Supplier Collaboration extends the processes of Product Development to allow collaboration with external parties or other lines of businesses on both structured and unstructured data. It also enables product teams to collaborate with Suppliers and Vendors to "exchange" product data for RFx processes.

Business Examples Can Be Many, like:

As a Collaboration owner, I want to create collaborations to reach a specific goal. For example, project completion, sourcing fulfillment, change impact evaluation, and so on.
As an OEM, I want to manage the collaboration lifecycle to reflect the appropriate collaboration phase.
As a Change Coordinator, I want to invite participants to the collaborations to assign work items and collaborate on a specific goal.
As a Collaboration owner, I want to manage folders and files in collaboration to share and collaborate on a specific goal with stakeholders.
As a Supplier, I want to view and upload files in the collaborations to propose changes to the Change Coordinator.
As a Change Coordinator, I want to assign workflow work items to various experts to fulfill the product change.
As a BOM Engineer, I want to import bills of materials from SAP S/4HANA Cloud or SAP S/4HANA (OP) into collaborations to share them with internal or external stakeholders.

Use Case

An OEM engineer wanted to compare the availability, and logistical information of a specific product component, "Valve Cover" on an existing Evo Valve assembly from different suppliers, so he could pick the best Supplier.

He creates a collaboration space in SAP Enterprise Product Development. He invites his existing Supplier from the SAP Ariba Supplier Network or other external users who are not defined in SAP Ariba. All supporting information like documentation of the product component and Bill of Material is uploaded on the collaboration, and a workflow is sent out to the Supplier for providing the product component logistical information. Since each collaboration space is unique per Supplier, after needed information is received from the Supplier, the OEM engineer can compare responses via similar collaboration spaces and pick a qualified supplier to start further downstream processes.

Flowchart showing collaboration steps between OEM Design Engineer and Partner/Supplier, from setting up a collaboration room to updating the design in DMS.

Play the video to learn more about supplier collaboration:

Summary

Let's Summarize What You've Learned:

Supplier Collaboration in SAP Integrated Product Development enables secure data exchange with external partners during product development.
It supports collaboration on both structured and unstructured data, streamlining processes like RFx and change management.
Collaboration spaces allow stakeholders to share documents, assign tasks, and manage workflows for specific project goals.
The solution helps compare supplier responses efficiently, improving decision-making and supply chain responsiveness.

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