Creating events for direct materials in SAP Ariba Sourcing follows the same principles as for indirect materials. Users with Materials Manager and Materials Viewer have the ability to select materials from the Product Sourcing dashboard and trigger an event for it. To create quotes they will also need to belong to a system group that gives them this ability, for example Commodity Manager, Category Manager, Sourcing Agent.
Creating a material quote allows you to request supplier pricing for specific materials, not for the entire BOM structure. However, as in the SAP Ariba system any BOM is also a material (finished product), you can request a material quote for a BOM, if you are not interested in getting itemized pricing from suppliers. The invited suppliers will be able to provide pricing for the finished product. This might help you understand whether it makes more financial sense to purchase materials separately and assemble them yourself, or if buying the finished product is more advantageous.
You can initiate a material quote from the Product Sourcing dashboard or the Item 360° view. When you create quote requests for materials, you can choose to create:
- a simple RFX event: provides a quick way for the event creator to add items, invite suppliers, and specify the time periods for which they want to capture pricing.
- a sourcing project: uses the classic SAP Ariba Sourcing interface. It can be a full sourcing project, an RFI, RFP or an auction with the same functionality as for indirect sourcing.
- guided sourcing event: uses the guided sourcing functionality and is the recommended event creation method moving forward.
If your site is integrated with external systems, you must select an external system while creating the quote request. If the site has only one external system configured, by default, the external system is selected. If there is more than one external system configured for the site, the names of the available external systems are populated in the dropdown and you must select one external system to create a material quote request. When creating the event, previously contracted price is displayed as initial price for the materials and any AML or ad hoc suppliers associated with the material are added to the participants’ list.
When the event is triggered from the Product Sourcing dashboard, suppliers will be automatically added to the event participants list:
- if the Material Master import contains Approved Manufacturer List (AML) suppliers linked to the material.
- if an Ad-hoc supplier is associated to the material.
Adding Materials from Material Master
During the content creation and event setup you can search for and add additional product sourcing content to your event content. When you search for materials to add to a sourcing project, only those materials that are available in the external system that is specified in the sourcing project are displayed. If no external system is specified for the sourcing project, an error message appears to state that no external system is specified for the project and prompts you to edit the project to add an external system.
To search for additional product sourcing content to add to your guided sourcing event, on the Items that need quotes, choose Add → Items from Material Master.
On the Choose Materials page, enter the IDs or names of the materials you want to add, separated by spaces and press Enter. Select the materials you want to add to your sourcing event and Add to event.
Play the video to learn how to create a material quote in SAP Ariba Sourcing.
