- In addition to integrations with external systems, and other SAP applications, the SAP Ariba applications have integrations with themselves. This is called suite integration. Suite Integration is the integration between SAP Ariba Buying and SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing to facilitate seamless user experience and data management.
- Potential Benefits:
- Enables seamless integration of Contract Workspaces and Contract Compliance documents.
Provides a single logon location for SAP Ariba users who access both applications.
The sign-on is handled by the SAP Ariba Buying application for suite integrated sites.
Consolidated maintenance of common data (users, suppliers, accounting, etc.)
Analyzing Suite Integration
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to define the integration of 2 SAP Ariba solutions.
Suite Integration Overview
Suite Integration
After suite integration, users granted access to multiple solutions will view everything in one place.
- Application sign-on:
- Users log in to one SAP Ariba solution, but can access all solutions when provided the appropriate access.
- Home dashboard:
- The home dashboard provides visibility to tasks from SAP Ariba Sourcing, SAP Ariba Contract Workspace and SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing.
- Master Data:
- Data is synchronized between all SAP Ariba solutions.
- Flex fields:
- All SAP Ariba solutions can access relevant flex field data.
- Reporting:
- Reports pull data from all SAP Ariba solutions.
Master Data Shared when Suite Integrated
Master Data integration allows (and requires) a common set of the following master data across on-demand applications – shown in diagram.
In a suite-integrated site, the SAP Ariba Procurement solutions are the "source of truth" for the shared common master data. The shared common master data is exported from the SAP Ariba Procurement solutions to the SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing solutions.
Planning For Suite Integration – General Considerations
Suite Integration projects should include resources from BOTH the Sourcing and Procurement teams to ensure alignment and that all considerations are evaluated.
Only one SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing realm can be suite integrated with one SAP Ariba Procurement realm.
Both SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing and SAP Ariba Procurement sites need to be taken offline for several hours for the initial suite integration.
SAP Ariba Procurement is the source of truth for all common master data objects after suite integration.
- Both sites must have the same Buyer Ariba Network ID (ANID).
- Generally this a non-issue for customers that plan this at the onset. If necessary to change one, this is a VERY important decision.
- Changing ANID on SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing and / or SAP Ariba Supplier Management site causes all Ariba Discovery to be lost
- Changing ANID on SAP Ariba Procurement and / or SAP Ariba Financial Supply Chain causes all Supplier relationships to need to be re-established, and potentially a lot of Supplier Enablement rework.
Additional Tips
- Suite Integrate as soon as possible
- For a new, full-suite (or nearly full), suite integrate right away. Rare Exception: A customer that wants to minimize administration and start very small on the Sourcing side for a significant time.
- Less Data = Cleaner / Faster Process
- Empty realms integrate very easily
- A new customer interested in suite integrating should have both Test and Production sites integrated at the very beginning
- Suite Integration process is disruptive to a LIVE customer
- Plan well in advance with the customer
- SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing and / or SAP Ariba Supplier Management and SAP Ariba Procurement and / or SAP Ariba Financial Supply Chain must be offline for 4-8 hours (often more if the customer is live)
- Suppliers will not be able to log in during suite integration. Should be scheduled around sourcing events and SAP Ariba Supplier Management can be impacted as well
- It is not always simple – avoid scheduling off-hours without firm agreement from responsible resource
Changes When Suite Integrating
- Contract Compliance
Contract Compliance Requests are no longer available.
Initiated within a Contract Workspace.
Terminology changes: "Contract Compliance Requests" are now "Contract Terms" within the Contract Workspace.
- User Management
User management should be performed within SAP Ariba Buying solution.
Groups will copy from parent to child realms, but not from child to parent.
- Integrating a Live Realm
If you are suite integrating an SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing realm that is already live:
All SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing user passwords need to be regenerated.
Suppliers cannot login intoSAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing during the integration period.
- Suppliers
SLP is the source of truth for common suppliers.
Supplier data conflicts should be resolved by the SAP Ariba technical lead along with the customer supplier manager.
Process Changes with Suite Integration
If the SAP Ariba Buying solution is integrated with an SAP Ariba Contracts solution, the process and application flow of creating Contract Compliance documents changes after suite integration, as well.
Suite Integrated Supplier Example
Common Data:
Data shared between SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing and SAP Ariba Buying
- For users and suppliers, only the Common Data is synchronized.
Partitioned Data:
Data existing only in SAP Ariba Buying
- Partitioned Suppliers and Supplier Locations are not synchronized to SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing.
SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance (SLP) Integration Impact
SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle & Performance(SLP) solution is a supplier management tool which is part of the SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing portfolio of products.
Organizations with SAP Ariba Sourcing and/or SAP Ariba Contracts that integrate SAP Ariba
SLP transition from a supplier data model that uses supplier organizations, supplier users, and the supplier profile questionnaire to a new, unified vendor data model that uses supplier requests and registrations.
Because of the differences in supplier data models, customers with existing SAP Ariba
solutions who want to add or upgrade to SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance solution must migrate their existing supplier data to the unified vendor model.
Adding SAP Ariba SLP solution means existing SAP Ariba Sourcing and Contracts solutions also switch to the unified vendor model.
SAP Ariba SLP impact on SAP Ariba Sourcing:
Once Sap Ariba SLP is enabled, all existing suppliers in SAP Ariba Sourcing will need to be
migrated to SLP (Supplier Management database) to be visible for activities going forward
- If existing suppliers are not migrated, they will not be available in supplier searches for new sourcing events or contracts.
- These suppliers will need to be synchronized to the respective ERP system
Once SAP Ariba SLP is enabled, if users try to add a new supplier in SAP Ariba Sourcing, they will be directed to Supplier Request creation screen in SAP Ariba SLP.
SAP Ariba SLP impact on SAP Ariba Contracts:
Any existing Contract Workspace should not be impacted.
- If users try to create any new Contract Workspaces once SLP is turned on, they will only find the suppliers that are loaded in SLP.
- If existing suppliers are not migrated, they will not be available in supplier searches for new contracting activity i.e. you can't create a Contract for a supplier which does not exist in SLP.
SAP Ariba SLP impact on master data:
- SLP will consume the same master data as in Sourcing and Contracts.
- This master data will be still stored in S4 and will not be impacted nor will it need to be reloaded.
SAP Ariba SLP impact on Buying:
Suppliers in existing B&I solution will need to be migrated to SLP (SM database) to make use of that supplier in the future.
- These suppliers will need to be replicated to the ERP system.
- As the SAP Ariba B&I solution is suite integrated with the Strategic Sourcing solutions, including SLP, the common supplier data will automatically show up in the SAP Ariba Sourcing system.
Suppliers with Transactional ANIDs will still have the same login process, and still be able to access their network using the same process.