Creating Supplier Registration

Suppliers must be registered on SAP Business Network before they can send and receive documents.

In order for suppliers to start connecting with their buyers, suppliers must register their company on SAP Business Network.

Registration on SAP Business Network takes only a few minutes - all that's needed is basic company information such as the company name, address, and business contact.

Any supplier can register with SAP Business Network. However, a supplier cannot obtain a fully transactional account until a least one buyer approvers a relationship with the supplier organization.

Registration with Buyer Assistance: Typically, a supplier is already in contact with a customer that transacts with their suppliers through SAP Business Network. The buyer logs in to SAP Business Network for Procurement and invites the supplier to join. SAP Business Network sends an email message to the supplier that contains a link for starting the registration process. SAP Business Network notifies the supplier through email when the account is active and ready to transact with the buyer.

Registration without Buyer Assistance: If a supplier is not already in contact with a buying organization on SAP Business Network, they can create a free, standard account at supplier.ariba.com. The supplier can use this account to learn how to conduct e-commerce through SAP Business Network, create a company profile, and find new business through SAP Ariba Discovery.

Completing a company profile allows buying organizations to locate the supplier's company when searching for suppliers by product and service category, industry, ship-to or service location, or other criteria. After reviewing basic company information, a buying organization can then request a relationship with the supplier. After the relationship request is accepted, the account is ready to transact with the buying organization.

A trading relationship is a link between a supplier account and a buyer account on SAP Business Network. It allows for the transfer of documents such as purchase orders and invoices between the supplier and their buyer. A supplier account can have trading relationships with multiple customers at the same time.

Trading Relationship requests are sent by the buyer directly to the supplier account. After completing registration, Suppliers can provide their SAP Business Network (ANID) number to their buyer. With their ANID, buyers can add a company as a supplier. Establishing a relationship with a buyer will grant suppliers access to additional tabs. They can create invoices against purchase orders that the buyer sends to the supplier account. If a supplier already has a trading relationship on their account, they can also request relationships with more buyers in the Potential Relationships section.

The following process occurs to establish a relationship between a buying organization and a supplier.

1. The buying organization logs in to SAP Business Network and invites a supplier to join the service.
2. SAP Business Network sends an email message to the supplier that contains a link for starting the registration process.
3. The supplier uses the link in the email invitation to register.
4. When the supplier completes registration, SAP Business Network grants the supplier immediate access to the account and notifies the buying organization that the supplier has completed registration.
5. The buyer reviews the supplier's registration information and establishes the trading relationships.
6. SAP Business Network notifies the supplier through email when the account is active.

At the end of this process, the organizations can transact business through their SAP Business Network accounts.

Any supplier can register with SAP Business Network. However, a supplier can't obtain a fully-transactional account until at least one buying organization (a "sponsor") requests and approves a relationship with the supplier.

There are a few ways to establish a trading relationship on SAP Business Network.

The first way is Quick Enablement.

This allows a buyer to send a Purchase Order or Invoice to a supplier without having an existing Trading Relationship. The SAP Business Network creates an account that contains the document. Then it sends the supplier a Trading Relationship Request email.

The supplier clicks on the link included in the email to take ownership of the private account by entering the temporary ID and secure code found within the invitation email, and then clicking on the Create New Account button below. If they already have an account on SAP Business Network, they can follow the option to link an existing account by clicking on the Use Existing Account button. This migrates both the data and the trading relationship from the buyer-created account into the existing account.

The second way to establish a trading relationship is through Light Enablement. Like Quick enablement, buyers can send purchase orders to suppliers without having an existing Trading Relationship.

However, Light Enablement transacts strictly via interactive email. The interactive email allows suppliers to accept, confirm and invoice the purchase orders, without requiring them to register or log into an SAP Business Network account. Suppliers that are light-enabled can choose to register on SAP Business Network at any time and take full ownership of the account.

Also, buyers and suppliers can establish trading relationships manually. Buyers can search for new suppliers that are already registered on SAP Business Network under the Supplier Enablement tab. The filters make it easy to find suppliers by name, SAP Business Network ID, or country, among others. After reviewing the supplier profile, they can choose to send them a trading relationship request.

The Supplier then reviews the request and chooses to accept the trading relationship. Trading Relationship requests display in the Customer Relationships section of the supplier account. Note that if the supplier account is in limited access, accepting the trading relationship will enable the account.

To learn more about Sending an Order Confirmation Register for a Light Account, watch this video.

Manual enablement is when a buyer searches for existing suppliers on SAP Business Network and sends a trading relationship. This requires that the buyer has the supplier's company name or ANID# in order to find them.

A supplier self-nomination project allows buyers to create a project with specific criteria so that registered suppliers can respond with a relationship request. Buyers can configure their account and create a project so that suppliers can request a trading relationships themselves with the buyer.

These projects allow registered suppliers already doing business with a buyer outside SAP Business Network, and any other registered suppliers, to request a trading relationship with the buyer. In the project, a buyer can specify the criteria required from suppliers to establish the trading relationship.

After a buyer publishes a project, it is available to all suppliers on SAP Business Network. Suppliers can view the project and send a relationship request to the buyer. After the buyer views a supplier's response, they can accept or decline their trading relationship request.

When a supplier accepts a relationship request, SAP Business Network automatically establishes the relationship with that buying organization, which then becomes the supplier's customer.

This two-step process ensures that buying organizations are not inundated with catalogs, and that suppliers' product and service offerings are treated confidentially. It also lets suppliers accept only relationships they are prepared to pursue. For example, you might want to configure your back-end systems to receive orders before customers begin sending orders to you.

On the Customer Relationships page, suppliers can perform the following actions:

• Review your relationship requests.
• Review profile information for customers that have sent you relationship requests.
• Accept requests from buying organizations you want to transact with.
• Specify how you want to receive customer relationship requests.

Note

Note that you need to be the account administrator or have the Customer Administration permission to manage customer relationships. You also need to have a least one pending or current relationship to access the Customer Relationships page. Otherwise, you won't see this option under the Company Settings menu.

By default, SAP Ariba sets up new accounts to accept relationship requests automatically. This makes it easy for new suppliers to establish trading relationships and begin transacting on SAP Ariba. Suppliers can configure their account to accept relationships automatically or to require manual review. If Manually review all relationship requests is selected, then when a buying organization requests a relationship, SAP Ariba displays the request in the Pending section of the Customer Relationships page.

Buying organizations can create customized profile pages to collect additional information about their suppliers. When you approve a request from a buying organization that requires a customized profile, SAP Ariba sends you an email that indicates the relationship has been established and instructs you to log in and complete the customized profile.

Watch a video on how to accept customer relationship requests. This demonstration describes how suppliers accept customer relationship requests and how to set your preference for approving these requests. It also explains how suppliers view their customer's profile, invoicing rules, and supplier information portal.