Analyzing SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Integrations

The SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite covers what is often called strategic procurement. Integration with strategic procurement is designed to support strategic management of supplier relationships, sourcing, negotiations, and related contracts and spend.

SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite integration with SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA on-premise/cloud is implemented when a company wants to manage their strategic procurement process (within their SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA) separate of their operational procurement process.

Integrations are possible for most of the modules available in the SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing product line:

• SAP Ariba Sourcing
• SAP Ariba Contracts
• SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance

SAP ERP buyers integrated with SAP Ariba Sourcing or SAP Ariba Contracts can import the following master data:

Buyers integrated with SAP Ariba Lifecycle and Performance through SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway can use the unified vendor model to integrate business partner and vendor master data between the SAP Ariba solution and SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP Master Data Governance.

• Customer must be on SAP ECC 6.0 EhP 6 SP1 or higher + SAP Business Services Foundation 731
• Customer must have moved to the SAP Business Partner (BP) model, Supplier

The supplier master data integration uses the SAP Business Partner integration services and the interfaces provided by SAP MDG Foundation.

SAP MDG Foundation infrastructure is available on SAP ERP 6.0 EhP 6 and later versions only. Users that have licensed the MDG application can also leverage additional master data governance features that the MDG application provides.

*SAP Master Data Governance is a pre-requisite for customers with more than one SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA

Supplier organization data integration with SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA is bidirectional. You can export supplier master data from SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA to your SAP Ariba solution (outbound) and import supplier master data from your SAP Ariba solution to SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA (inbound).

The bidirectional integration allows you to replicate vendor master data in SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance.

• Inbound and outbound integration occurs through standard SAP business partner interfaces provided by SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA or SAP Master Data Governance, and outbound integration uses standard SAP programs such as the Data Replication Framework (DRF).

The standard integration between SAP and SAP Ariba Sourcing supports integrated sourcing events initiated from SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA on-premise:

• Manually created purchase requisitions in SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA materials management (MM) then create a request for quotation (RFQ)
• Automatically created purchase requisitions during MRP runs then create an RFQ
• Manual creation of SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA RFQs without purchase requisition

Integration with SAP Ariba and S/4HANA Cloud includes guided buying, collaborative sourcing, and networked-based, end-to-end supplier collaboration to deliver a simplified user experience and a seamlessly integrated working model with suppliers over the Ariba Network.

You can extend the core capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud with SAP Ariba solutions in a single-instance deployment. This enables you to receive business documents from SAP Ariba solutions in SAP S/4HANA Cloud and to execute end-to-end processes.

Scope Item 4BL: Sourcing with SAP Ariba Sourcing

Scope Item 42K: Automation of Source-to-Pay with Ariba Network, including:

• Supplier Quote Automation
• Commerce Automation

Scope Item 2NV: Guided Buying Capability with SAP Ariba Buying

Sourcing with SAP Ariba Sourcing (4BL) enables you to connect your SAP S/4HANA cloud for Sourcing and Procurement to the Ariba Network and SAP Ariba Sourcing. This provides access to intuitive RFX tools (for requests for information, requests for proposals, and reverse auctions), connections to more than two million companies, quick and easy supplier discovery, and automated and adjustable negotiation procedures.

• Ensure event success by using the SAP Ariba Sourcing support desk and event-day management assistance.
• Evaluate the total cost impact of sourcing decisions.
• Reduce the amount of time and effort spent on administrative tasks.
• Handy wizards and tools help you launch events, collaborate, and negotiate with the most suppliers, up-to-date profiles, ratings, and assessments, you can easily develop a large supply base and back-up sources, reducing supplier risks.

Once you subscribe to SAP Ariba Sourcing, you can simply activate this SAP S/4HANA scope item with guided configuration.

All data is routed through SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG).