Describing SAP Ariba 2311 Release Features

• Applicable Products
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite
• User Type
  • Buyer
• Enablement Model
  • Automatically on

This feature extends the supplier anonymization functionality in guided sourcing to various pages and enables anonymization of various details such as supplier information, item participants, and comments.

Supplier anonymization functionalities are now extended to the following sections in the guided sourcing interface:

• In the Notifications section in the dashboard, the supplier names are anonymized until the events are closed for bidding.
• In the Monitor stage for RFP events:
  • The Item participants section is hidden in the View item page
  • The supplier name is anonymized in the View bid console popup
  • The supplier name in the page navigation is anonymized, and the Submitted by field is hidden in the Response details page
• In the Review responses stage for RFP events:
  • Comments are hidden in the exported report for the Scorecard page
  • The Submitted for field and the supplier name in the page navigation are anonymized, and the Submitted by field is hidden in the Response details page
• For reverse auction events, data in the Comment column is anonymized in the Response details page

Buyers can choose to anonymize supplier information in published RFPs, RFIs, and auctions until the events are closed for bidding by enabling the Anonymize suppliers rule and defining the scope for the anonymization in the guided sourcing template.

When supplier information is anonymized, you could notice any of the following:

• Real-time supplier data is hidden from the guided sourcing interface.
• Real-time supplier data is replaced with generic data. For example, the supplier name could appear as Company 1 to protect the bidder's identity.

This feature allows customers to be compliant with local regulations related to sourcing by allowing anonymization of supplier details.

This feature is supported only in the guided sourcing user interface. To use this feature in the guided sourcing user interface, your site must have guided sourcing enabled and you must be a member of the Category Buyer group.

Supplier anonymization is not supported in bid analysis and optimization scenarios.

• Applicable Products
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance
  • SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite
• User Type
  • Buyer
• Enablement Model
  • Automatically on

This feature introduces additional supplier search and filtering options in guided sourcing instances that are integrated with SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance. The additional filtering options are integrated from SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance and appear in the Invite Suppliers page of guided sourcing events.

Buyer users can now search for and filter supplier records based on the following additional filters that are integrated from SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance:

• Process Status
• Certificate Type
• Certificate Status
• Integrated with ERP
• Category Status
• Registration Status
• Registration Update Status

Apart from the search filters that are integrated from SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, you can continue to use the supplier search filters that are available in SAP Ariba Sourcing.

You can activate the search filters by selecting the corresponding entries from the Search criteria setting dropdown. However, note that the filters mentioned in the preceding list as well as the Qualification Status and Risk Level filters are dynamic filters and appear for selection in the Search criteria setting listing only if there are matching entries in SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance.

Project owners who are searching for suppliers to invite to their sourcing events now have access to certain SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance vendor data so they can make decisions about who to invite to their events.

• Your site must have an active integration with SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance.
• This feature is supported only in the guided sourcing user interface. To use this feature in the guided sourcing user interface, your site must have guided sourcing enabled and you must be a member of the Category Buyer group.

• By default, only the Qualification Status and Process Status filters appear in the search panel. You need to select the remaining filters from Search criteria setting.
• Users can select only a maximum of 20 certificate types for the Certificate Type filter.
• Guided sourcing does not support the certificate expiry date filter.

• Applicable Products
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite
• User Type
  • Buyer
  • Supplier
• Enablement Model
  • Automatically on

This feature gives template administrators to ability to configure templates that allow for preview periods in non-competitive events.

Preview periods give suppliers time to prepare their bids in advance. Previously, preview periods were allowed in only competitive events, which require quicker response times due to their competitive nature. Preview periods for non-competitive events can be useful for industries that require additional preparation time before bidding or have complex technical requirements for bidding.

Buyers can now enable a preview period in non-competitive events. This will help comply with regulations that suppliers should not know opponents’ bids during the RFP process.

• This feature is supported only in the guided sourcing user interface. To use this feature in the guided sourcing user interface, your site must have guided sourcing enabled and you must be a member of the Category Buyer group.
• To edit template configurations, you must be a member of the Template Creator group.

You must configure a valid Response start date in your guided sourcing template. If the Response start date field is empty in your template, then the event opens when you choose Publish and bypasses the preview period.

• Applicable Products
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite
• User Type
  • Buyer
  • Supplier
• Enablement Model
  • Automatically on

This feature extends the support for email bidding to multi-round guided sourcing events. Email bidding enables buyers to allow suppliers to bid through email. Multi-round bidding enables buyers using guided sourcing to refine pricing and other information and add or remove participants and line items by creating additional bidding rounds in a single event. If guided sourcing events have email bidding and multi-round bidding features enabled, suppliers can submit their bids for multi-round events through email, without logging into the application.

Email bidding invitations that buyers send to suppliers contain a bid sheet in the form of a spreadsheet, a bidder agreement in the form of a read-only Word document, and other attachments as necessary.

This feature allows participants to submit their responses to guided sourcing events via email for multi-round enabled events.

• This feature is supported only in the guided sourcing user interface. To use this feature your site must have guided sourcing enabled and you must be a member of the Category Buyer group.
• To be able to create a multi-round email bid, you must be the event owner or have project owner capabilities for the event.
• The Allow participants to submit bids by email event rule must be set to Yes or Delegated.
• The Enable multi-round bidding event rule must be set to Yes or Delegated.
• To publish an event with multi-round bidding enabled, the event must contain at least one item in theItems that need quotes section.

• Limitations related to multi-round and email bidding apply to this feature. For more information, refer Allow participants to submit bids by email and Working with Multi-Round Bidding Events in Guided Sourcing.
• Multi-round email bidding is applicable only to RFI and RFP guided sourcing events.
• Multi-round email bidding does not support prerequisite questions that have restrictions.
• Multi-round email bidding does not support events having questions with visibility conditions.
• The total size of email attachments used in email bidding must not exceed the value entered for the Application.AQS.EmailBidAttachmentSizeLimit parameter.

• Applicable Products
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite
• User Type
  • Buyer
• Enablement Model
  • Automatically on

This feature enables template administrators to create guided sourcing event templates that prevent the buyer users from discarding supplier bids. This feature helps avoid potential loss of data by preventing buyers from inadvertently or otherwise discarding existing supplier bids while updating guided sourcing events.

By disabling the option for a buyer to discard suppliers' responses when updating a sourcing event, this feature helps prevent buyers from accidentally or intentionally discarding existing supplier bids. This helps prevent loss of data and potential for malpractice.

• This feature is supported only in the guided sourcing user interface. To use this feature in the guided sourcing user interface, your site must have guided sourcing enabled and you must be a member of the Category Buyer group.
• The Must participants improve their bids rule must be set to Yes.