Configuring Integration Specifications
In this lesson, you’ll learn to maintain the Request for Quotation-specific Cross-Reference UOM Template in the integration project on the Managed Gateway portal.
Before starting this lesson, you should already be able to:
- Enable the Managed Gateway from your SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing site or realm and create an integration project.
- Choose Product = Ariba Sourcing in the Basic Information of the integration project.
- Define connection information to establish connectivity between the Managed Gateway and your SAP on-premise system.
- Define Cross Reference Parameter for Request for Quotation (Doc Type – QuoteRequest).
- Define Cross References for Units of Measure (UOM).
- Define Cross Reference Lookup Table for Request for Quotation (Doc Type – QuoteRequest).
- Assign Realm IDs.
- Confirm, test and deploy the integration project.
These activities are discussed in the course Deep-dive into SAP Integration Suite managed gateway for spend management and SAP Business Network of the Learning Journey Administering SAP Integration Suite, managed gateway for Spend Management and SAP Business Network.
In this lesson, we’ll focus on configuring the Cross-Reference UOM Templates for the Request for Quotation integration.
To complete this configuration:
- Define values in the UOM Template for the units of measure you want to map.
- You can create UOM Mappings when creating a project for Ariba Sourcing or on the My Configuration page. When creating the project, you define the UOM mappings.
When creating the project, you define the UOM mappings. You can edit the project while it’s in the Testing status and define values for both test and production environments.
You can edit the project while it’s in the Testing status and define values for both test and production environments.
Purpose of the UOM Template
The UOM Template in the Managed Gateway project defines how Units of Measure (UOM) from the SAP system are mapped, standardized, and converted into the corresponding UOMs expected by SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing and SAP Business Network. Its primary purpose is to ensure consistent, accurate, and error-free communication of quantities between the two systems during document exchanges like RFQs, Purchase Orders, Confirmations, Service Sheets, and Invoices.
Without a UOM template, mismatches between the SAP system and SAP Ariba UOM formats can cause integration failures or incorrect quantity interpretation. SAP system and SAP Ariba use different UOM formats or naming conventions (for example, EA vs. each, or KG vs. kg). The UOM Template ensures UOM consistency and interprets quantities identically, preventing integration errors and mapping failures due to missing or inconsistent UOM mappings.
Benefits of the UOM Template
The UOM Template standardizes UOM representation across all document types and applies across all integrated SAP Ariba processes, such as Sourcing, Supply Chain Collaboration, and Commerce Automation. It eliminates the need for custom enhancements or code, and no BAdI enhancements or manual conversions are required to fix UOM fields. The solution remains upgrade-safe and fully supported by SAP Ariba. It supports multi-region and multi-business scenarios. If SAP systems use different UOM conventions (e.g., PAC, PCE, EA), the UOM Template harmonizes them into a single, SAP Ariba-compliant format. This enables Centralized Sourcing, Multi-ERP Integration, and Consolidated Reporting. UOM Template ensures accurate supplier interpretation. Correct UOM mapping ensures suppliers see accurate and meaningful quantities, pricing UOMs, and service UOMs (e.g., "H" for hours, "DAY", "LOT"). This improves bidding quality in Sourcing and reduces misunderstandings. It also reduces testing and troubleshooting efforts. Proper template configuration makes integration testing smoother because UOM-related errors are common in SAP Ariba integration.
Maintaining a UOM Template in the Managed Gateway project ensures accurate, standardized, and error-free Unit of Measure mapping between SAP systems and SAP Ariba solutions. This improves data consistency, reduces integration issues, and enhances supplier clarity.
Further Learning
To learn about maintaining the UOM Template in the Managed Gateway project, refer to the learning Journey, Administering SAP Integration Suite, managed gateway for spend management and SAP Business Network:
- Course: Deep-dive into SAP Integration Suite managed gateway for spend management and SAP Business Network
- Unit: Creating a Project in SAP Integration Suite, managed gateway for spend management and SAP Business Network
- Lesson: Defining Cross References for Parameters, UOM Mappings, Lookup Values, and Realm ID