Analyzing Supplier Lifecycle Performance (SLP) Integration

• The UVM provides a common Webservices(MDG) format for SAP Applications.
• Buyers can use the Unified Vendor Model to integrate Business Partner & Vendor Master Data between the ERP → Master Data Governance (MDG) → Supplier Lifecycle Performance (SLP), using CIG.
• The integration allows you to replicate Vendor Master Data in ERP & SLP.
• Buyers can integrate Supplier Organization data with ERP by using the direct-connectivity integration method or by using a middleware.
• The integration between SLP, ERP & MDG is bi-directional and enables you to replicate Vendor Master Data as Business Partners in ERP & SLP.
• The outbound integration from ERP to SLP is achieved through Business Partner interfaces provided by MDG & standard SAP programs such as DRF programs.
• Transaction code DRFOUT is used for initial replication of Business Partners from ERP to SLP.

Inbound & outbound Supplier data can be integrated using the following standard services:

• BusinessPartnerSUITEBulkReplicateRequest_In
• BusinessPartnerSUITEBulkReplicateRequest_Out
• BusinessPartnerSUITEBulkReplicateConfirmation_In
• BusinessPartnerSUITEBulkReplicateConfirmation_Out

There are 5 activities in this section:

This is the system ID of the SAP ERP system. The SAP Ariba Supplier Management solutions uses this system ID to send the supplier data to the corresponding ERP system. For example, ABCCLNT002 <logical system ID name>.

• After an integration connection with SAP ERP is established, this field is automatically populated with the name your SAP ERP system uses to identify SM.
• In default configurations, this is the SAP Ariba customer site name you set as the User ID in your integration method configuration, and you do not have to change that setting.
• However, if your SAP ERP configuration uses a custom naming scheme to identify external systems instead, you must specify the customer site name for your SLP site here.
• Ensure that the customer site name is an exact match to the name SAP Ariba used to create your site.

1. Set-up initial Supplier data synchronization
2. Control the ongoing synchronization of data from suppliers in mass registration waves

1. On the dashboard Home page, click the Manage dropdown menu and select SM Administration.
2. Click ERP Integration.
3. Expand the Ongoing supplier synchronization area, then choose the mass invitation wave for which you want to control synchronization from the dropdown menu.
   • If you use the ongoing synchronization setting, the moment you apply this setting, suppliers in the specified wave stop being synchronized with the ERP.
   • Instead, the next ongoing synchronization occurs on the date and time you specify. After that date, automatic ongoing synchronization starts again for the suppliers in the wave.
   
4. Choose the date you want ongoing synchronization to start again for suppliers in the wave.
5. Click Save.

There are 2 sub activities in this section –

1. Requiring MDG-S validation & approval of supplier creation in SLP
2. How to require MDG-S validation & approval of supplier creation in SLP

There are 2 sub activities in this section –

1. Requiring ERP approval for updates to supplier data in SLP
2. How to require ERP approval for supplier data updates in SLP

Configuring ERP approval of updates to supplier data in SLP: Requiring ERP approval for updates to supplier data in SLP

• The Enable external ERP approval integration setting requires external ERP approval for changes to supplier registration data in SLP.
• The Enable external ERP approval integration setting ensures Changed Vendor data in SM is approved in External ERP.
• By default, integration between SLP and ERP is bi-directional.
• MDG Approval Workflow: The update request that SLP sends to ERP is designed to feed into existing MDG workflows.
• Custom Approval Workflow: ERP must receive the update requests from SLP.
• The external ERP should support an approval process for updates to vendor records.
• The external ERP approval requirement applies only to updates in supplier registration projects.
• Also in registration projects, it only applies to fields that are mapped to the vendor database since only those fields are synchronized with ERP.
• Supplier Registration Project: Suppliers update the registration questionnaire and internal users can update associated internal surveys on an ongoing basis.
  • Whatever data supplier is maintained in the supplier registration phase we are integrating all those info with ERP vendor master fields, so if any changes is made to this data and the filed is an ERP integrated filed then all those info will get validated in MDG.
  • If there is no violation, it will get updated making sure the data is exactly the same.

High-level work flow:

1. In SLP, registered supplier submits an update to one or more mapped fields in the registration questionnaire

   Example: the supplier might move and update its address in the registration questionnaire, and those address fields are mapped to the vendor database address fields.

2. In SLP, updates for supplier-facing questionnaire are approved either automatically or manually.
3. SLP send a request for update to ERP that includes the new data.
4. ERP receives the update request & processes it through its approval flow.
5. An ERP vendor administrator either accepts the changes, accepts a modified form of the changes, or rejects the changes.
6. The vendor record in ERP now reflects these actions by either including the changes from SLP or remaining unchanged.
7. ERP sends the complete current vendor record back to SLP using DRF.
8. SLP updates the vendor database to match the vendor record sent by ERP.
9. In either case, the SLP vendor record replicates the current, approved SAP ERP vendor record.
10. SLP sends an email notification to the supplier registration project owner, and supplier's primary supplier manager indicating whether the update was approved or rejected in SAP ERP.
11. The notification includes the status of the update; if it was rejected, the notification also includes the error message from SAP ERP, which the category or supplier manager can use to correct the update & submit it again.

Example:

A registered supplier (who is also integrated with ERP), makes a change to their registration data (i.e. address)

• Once the address is changed, the change request will go to ERP for validation.
• ERP will receive the request and pass it to approval flow and
• The ERP vendor admin will have an option either to accept or reject the changes
  • Whatever action the vendor admin will perform on the change req based on that the vendor record in ERP will get updated or remain unchanged.
  • In both cases the vendor record is sent back to SLP using DRF, and the same gets updated in SLP vendor DB.

Additional information:

• If additional updates for the same supplier occur in SLP while a previous update is still in approval in ERP, SLP retains those updates and only sends them to ERP after receiving the response to the previous update.
• If you require approval of supplier updates in SAP ERP, you will typically set the approval task for registration questionnaire updates in SLP to auto-approve, since you are managing changes in SAP ERP.
• If there are multiple updates happening in the registration data, for the first time when the change request goes to ERP, SLP will wait for the response before sending subsequent update request.

Configuring ERP approval of updates to supplier data in SLP: How to require ERP approval for supplier data updates in SLP

• For external ERP approval of supplier data updates in SLP, changes to any mapped fields in supplier profiles must be approved in the integrated ERP system before they are committed to the SLP vendor database.
• To modify integration settings, you must be a member of the SM ERP Administrator group.

How to require ERP approval for supplier data updates in SLP:

A SM ERP Administrator group member must follow these steps:

1. On the dashboard, navigate to Manage → SM Administration.
2. Click ERP Integration.
3. In the Supplier profile update synchronization area, check Enable external ERP approval.
4. Click Save.

Note

This option enables tasks for External ERP approval when ever there is any change to supplier registration profile.

Connecting ERP vendor fields to SLP questionnaires

SLP uses forms, questionnaires & internal surveys to gather information about suppliers.

• To map a question to a vendor database field, a template creator needs to add questions to a supplier form, questionnaire, or internal survey in one of the supplier management project templates.
• Add the vendor field to the Supplier Field Mapping field on the Add Question page.
• There are several field mapping values that are used only internally in SLP projects, but the majority of the values correspond directly to vendor field names in the ERP business partner model (Customer & Vendor).
• The flow between ERP Vendor fields & SLP questionnaires is bi-directional.

In the event that the customer does not have a separate MDG system and they wish to use SLP integration, the customer may choose to enable BusinessPartner related standard SAP Services.

Thus, for the integration between ERP & SLP (that use the unified vendor model), the customer must activate the following business functions:

• CA_BP_SOA.
• CA_SUPPLIER_SOA.
• DRF_FOUNDATION - used to send supplier info out of SAP system to Ariba SLP.

• MDG license is not required to activate these above-listed business functions.
• Set up the customer-vendor integration(CVI), define a replication model and assign a target system for the replication model or outbound implementation.
  • CVI replicates BP as Vendor and vice-versa (as well as Customer as BP and vice-versa).

For the outbound integration between ERP and SLP to work, you must configure the data replication settings on ERP.

Please follow these steps to define a Replication Model –

1. Run the transaction code DRFIMG from the ERP user interface – The Display IMG window appears.
2. Click Data Replication → Define Custom Settings for Data Replication → Define Technical Settings for Business Systems – The Change View "Define Business Systems": Overview window appears.
3. To define a new business system & to maintain the logical system for the receiving systems, click New Entries.
4. In the New Entries: Overview of Added Entries window, enter the name of the Business System (Customer Site name); Logical System ID of your SAP system & RFC Destination.
   • RFC destination is not required or makes more sense only in case of multi-ERP for replication purpose otherwise if customer has only one ERP, it is not needed.
   
5. Click Save.
6. Select the newly-created business system & then select Define Bus. Systems, BOs.
7. Click New Entries; select the business object type (for example, Supplier), click Save.
   
8. Go back to the Display IMG window.

   To define a replication model:

   • Click Data Replication,
   • Click Define Custom Settings for Data Replication,
   • Click Define Replication Models.
   
9. The Change View "Define Replication Model": Overview window appears.
10. Click New Entries to enter a name for the replication model & add a description.
11. Select the line that contains the newly-added replication model & click Assign Outbound Implementation. Create a new entry & enter the following values using the input help:
    • Outbound Implementation: 986_3 Outbound Impl. for BP/REL via Services
    • Communication Channel: Replication via Services
    • Filter time: Filter After Change Analysis
    Note

    We will be using outbound implementation model as 986_3. This is SAP’s standard outbound implementation for Business Partner.
    
    
    
12. Mark the line & choose Assign Target Systems for Repl. Model/Outb.Impl.
    • Create a new entry & enter the business system name for the receiving system that you created in Step 4.
    
    
13. Click Assign Outbound Parameter. Create a new entry, enter the following values & save.
    • Outb. Parameter: PACK_SIZE_BULK
    • Outb. Parameter value: For example, 1000
    
    
    
14. Go back to the Define Replication Model view.

    Optionally, you can also add an expiration time for the log.

    
15. Save the replication model.
16. Select the newly-created replication model & click Activate.
    • With this we are done for the replication model config and next we will go to DRFOUT report which will send the supplier record from ERP.
    • Whatever outbound implementation and replication model you have created that you have to maintain in the selection screen of thr DRFout report.
    
    

Procedure to configure connection to CIG –

1. Run the transaction code SPRO – The Customizing: Execute Project page appears.
   
2. Click SAP Reference IMG –The Display IMG page appears.
   
3. Navigate to Integration with Other SAP Components → SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway → SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite Integration → General Settings → Setup the Interface.
4. Click Configure the connections to send messages – the Interface Setup Program for SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing page appears.
   
5. Under Interface Setup for Web Services
   • Select one of the following to indicate if the connection is to a Production instance or a Test instance of CIG:
     • Connect to Cloud Integration Gateway Production Instance
     • Connect to Cloud Integration Gateway Test Instance
   • Select one of the following types of authentication methods:
     • Select User ID / Password & enter authentication information to connect to CIG.
     • Select X.509 SSL Client Certificate & choose the Certificate Name.
   • Enter the following values if you are using a middleware. The following fields appear only when you enable the ENABLE_MIDDLEWARE parameter in the Global Settings section:
     • URL Host: Enter the host URL for the middleware.
     • Path Prefix: Enter the path prefix for the middleware.
     
6. In the HTTP Proxy Options section, enter values for following fields:
   • Name of Proxy Host
   • Port Number of Proxy Host
7. Select below mention Outbound messages:
   • SLP Confirmation Out Request
   • SLP Outbound Request
8. Select below mention Inbound messages:
   • SLP Confirmation In Request
   • SLP Inbound Request
9. Click Execute.

Errors may occur during the inbound and/or outbound transaction between ERP & CIG.

In order to monitor for errors, please follow these steps:

1. Go to transaction code SRT_MONI.
2. Web Service Utilities: Message Monitor window appears.
3. Specify the filters and click the Execute icon – The Web Service Utilities: Message Monitor page lists the errors, if any.