Describing SAP Ariba 2311 Release Features

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe new or changed features for SAP Ariba Procurement in the SAP Ariba 2311 release

AINV-1189: Adding Comments for Suppliers When Denying Invoices

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
    • SAP Ariba Invoice Management
    • SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Automatically on

Description

When users deny an invoice created on SAP Business Network, they can now add a comment that's visible to the supplier to explain the reason for the denial. Comments to suppliers can be made mandatory by an administrator.

Suppliers can view the comments on the invoice in their SAP Business Network account.

Note

This feature pertains to invoice (INV) documents only. A similar capability already exists for rejecting invoice reconciliation (IR) documents.

Customer Benefits

With this feature, buyers can enter comments during the invoice denial process which will be sent to the supplier on SAP Business Network so that they know the reason for the invoice rejection.

Feature Details

User Interface Changes

When a user denies an invoice in the user interface, the dialog box for adding comments includes a new text field for adding comments to the supplier, as shown in Figure 1.

Screenshot of the new Comments to Supplier text field on the dialog box for adding comments when a user denies an invoice in the user interface.

Administrator Changes

By default, users aren't required to include comments to suppliers when denying an invoice. To require comments to the supplier in the user interface, and to require comments to the supplier through email approval, set the self-service Intelligent Configuration Manager parameter Require comments to supplier for invoice denial (Application.Invoicing.RequireCommentsToSupplierOnInvoiceDenial).

CP-19875: Support for Resending Multiple Purchase Orders and Receipts

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Customer configured

Description

Buyers can now initiate resending multiple purchase orders and receipts that appear stuck in the SAP Ariba solution. Purchase orders may be stuck in Ordering or Canceling state due to various reasons while sending or resending them from the SAP Ariba solution to SAP ERP or SAP Business Network and receipts may be stuck in the sending or failed state while sending them to SAP Business Network.

Customer Benefits

Purchase orders or receipts may get stuck due to various reasons while sending from SAP Ariba buying solutions to ERP or SAP Business Network. Currently, customers need to reach out to customer support and create customer cases to request resend of multiple stuck purchase orders or receipts to ERP and SAP Business Network. This can lead to delays in the procurement process and inefficiencies for the customer.

This feature provides greater flexibility and allows customers to self-correct issues by providing them the ability to request resend of multiple stuck purchase orders or receipts to ERP and SAP Business Network. This feature should provide customers with a faster way to resolve their problems with stuck purchase orders or receipts.

Prerequisites

Your administrator must enable the following parameters:

  • To resend purchase orders, set the Set hours to enable resending of stuck purchase orders (Application.Purchasing.SetHoursToEnableResendingOfStuckPurchaseOrders) parameter.
  • To resend receipts, set the Send receipts to SAP Business Network (Application.Receiving.SendReceiptsToAribaNetwork) and Set hours to enable resending of stuck receipts to SAP Business Network (Application.Purchasing.SetHoursToEnableResendingOfStuckReceiptsToSAPBusinessNetwork) parameters.
  • Enable resending of multiple approvables (Application.Common.EnableResendingOfMultipleApprovables).

Feature Details

User Interface Changes

When the required parameters are enabled for a buyer site, the Resend Approvables option is displayed on the Manage menu. When a user from the Purchasing Approvable Resend Administrator group chooses the Resend Approvables option, the Resend Approvables page is displayed. The user can then select and resend stuck purchase orders and receipts from this page.

GB-24299: Support for Adding Groups to Requisition Approval Flows in Guided Buying

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Customer configured

      Note

      This feature is optional in this release. In the future, SAP Ariba plans to turn it on for all customers. SAP Ariba will notify customers before enabling the feature for everyone.

Description

Guided buying users can add user groups to approval flows when they create purchase requisitions.

New icons in the approval flow show whether an approver is an individual user or a group. In Figure 2, approver 1 is an individual user and approver 2 is a group.

Screenshot of an approval flow for a purchase requisition that includes an individual user and a group.

Upon approval, the icons change color: a green check mark for Approved or a red X for Denied, as shown in Figure 3.

Screenshot of an approval flow that shows a green check mark to indicate the individual user approved and a red X to indicate the group denied the purchase requisition.

When this feature becomes mandatory SAP Ariba will remove the existing parameter ENABLE_SHOW_APPROVER_GROUP_MEMBERS, which determines whether guided buying displays the individual members in groups. Then, the visibility of group members will be determined solely by group definitions in SAP Ariba Procurement solutions.

Customer Benefits

Users can now add and delete groups to the approval flow for purchase requisitions in guided buying. Previously, they could add only users, not groups; they had to add each user individually or go to SAP Ariba Buying to add group approvers, both of which were time-consuming.

Prerequisites

Administrators define user groups in SAP Ariba Procurement solutions. Guided buying users can then add them to purchase requisition approval flows.

Restrictions

Groups can be added to purchase requisitions only, not to other document types, such as forms or invoices.

Feature Details

User Interface Changes

When you add a group to the approval flow, the Choose user or group box now allows you to search for users and groups. Groups returned after a search might have a right arrow that you can click to see the members in that group.

User Tasks

To add a group to a purchase requisition approval flow:

  1. Hover over the dotted line in the flow and choose the plus (+) icon that appears. The Add Approver Request page displays, as shown in Figure 4.
    Screenshot of the Add Approval Request page for a purchase requisition.
  2. Select whether the group will be an Approver or a Watcher.
  3. Optionally enter a Reason for adding the new approver or watcher.
  4. Search for the group name.
  5. Select a group and choose Add. The group is added to the approval flow, as shown in Figure 5. Choosing the red x removes the user or group from the approval flow.
    Screenshot of a group added to a purchase requisition approval flow.

Administrator Information

Administrators enable this feature by setting the following guided buying parameter:

OptionDescription
PARAM_ENABLE_ADDING_GROUP_APPROVERS_ TO_APPROVAL_REQUEST

Allows users to add user groups to purchase requisition approval flows.

If set to false (default), users can add only users, not groups, to requisition approval flows.

If set to true, users can add users and groups to requisition approval flows.

GB-24309: SAP Companion Enabled for All Guided Buying Users

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Automatically on

Description

The SAP Companion help and learning platform is now turned on for all guided buying users. It comes with standard help content and tutorials. You can optionally modify help topics and add new content by purchasing an SAP Enable Now license.

Customer Benefits

Guided buying has in-application help through SAP Companion, powered by SAP Web Assistant. As users work in guided buying, they can open a help panel that contains context-sensitive information. Help topics describe specific functions and link to tutorials so users can perform just-in-time learning as they use guided buying. Customers with an optional SAP Web Assistant license can modify and add their own SAP Companion content that is relevant to their organization. Customers can also disable SAP Companion by setting a guided buying parameter.

Feature Details

User Interface Changes

As shown in Figure 6:

  • SAP Companion adds a question mark icon (?) to the right-hand header of the guided buying window. When you choose it, the SAP Companion panel slides in from the right.
  • Help topics on the right connect to individual UI elements in the guided buying page. Users can choose the mortarboard cap on the far right to start guided buying tutorials.

Screenshot of the SAP Companion panel in the guided buying window.

User Tasks

End-user instructions for using SAP Companion appear in Getting Help Through SAP Companion.

Administrator Information

You can optionally turn SAP Companion off for all users by changing the guided buying parameter PARAM_ENABLE_WEB_ASSISTANT to false.

For more information about SAP Companion and the requirements for modifying help content, see SAP Companion Online Help and Learning.

PFD-13941: Enable Administrators to Search for all Form Documents and Add or Delete Approvers

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Automatically on

Description

This feature enables administrator users in the customer's organization to search for all form documents. In addition, they will be able to add or delete approvers in the approval flow of the form documents.

Previously, form documents were visible only to the submitters and approvers. With this feature, administrator users can search for and view form documents and update the approval flow in them for various purposes such as audit. This feature introduces two new groups. Members of the QueryAll CustomForms group can search for form documents. Members of the Edit Approval Request CustomForm group can make changes to the approval flow of custom forms.

Note

Members of the Edit Approval Request CustomForm group can make changes only to form documents with the classic approval flow.

For users with the guided buying capability enabled, searching for guided buying custom forms (including transfer of ownership request forms) is possible only in their SAP Ariba Buying or SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing solution. If guided buying users want to open any custom form in guided buying to view it, they can click on it in the search results. However, they must be members of the Purchasing User group to be able to do this.

Customer Benefits

This feature enables administrators to query all transfer of ownership requests and add or delete approvers.

Prerequisites

  • If you want to search for guided buying custom forms, including transfer of ownership request forms, you must have the guided buying capability enabled.
  • If you want to view the custom forms in guided buying when you open them from the search results in your SAP Ariba Buying or SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing solution, you must be part of the Purchasing User group.

Feature Details

Administrator Information

This feature introduces the following groups:

GroupDescription
QueryAll CustomFormsAdd users to this group to enable them to search for form documents in SAP Ariba Buying or SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing.
Edit Approval Requests CustomFormAdd users to this group to enable them to modify the classic approval flows of form documents.

SAS-55: Adding Non-Catalog Items to Requisitions in SAP Ariba Shopping Mobile App

Technical Details

  • Applicable Products
    • SAP Ariba Buying
    • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing
  • User Type
    • Buyer
  • Enablement Model
    • Automatically on

Description

With this feature, users can add non-catalog items to their requisition and submit a purchase requisition that has a non-catalog item as a line item.

The non-catalog item request form consists of seven fields, six of which are mandatory. The user provides input to these fields, describing the item that doesn't belong to the catalog. The user can add the non-catalog item to the cart by creating a new purchase requisition or adding it to an already existing purchase requisition. Checkout details apply at the header level to all catalog and non-catalog items. Non-catalog items that have been submitted are described as non-catalog items in the purchase requisition details.

Customer Benefits

By leveraging SAP Ariba's non-catalog functionality, this feature enables SAP Ariba Shopping mobile app users to create or add items to a requisition that do not belong to the catalog.

Related Resources

Information about all the new or changed features in the SAP Ariba 2311 release is available in What's New in SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network.

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