Introducing Events within SAP Ariba

In SAP Ariba Sourcing, an "event" is the publication of data to suppliers or buyers and their response to questions or bids on goods or services.

It includes requests for information (RFI), or proposals (RFP), as well as forward and reverse auctions.

Users that belong to the following system groups can create sourcing events:

• Category Manager
• Commodity Manager
• Customer Administrator
• Event Administrator
• Junior Procurement Agent
• Junior Sourcing Agent
• Limited Event Administrator
• Procurement Agent
• Sourcing Agent
• Sourcing Approver
• Sourcing Project Administrator

SAP Ariba Sourcing allows you to create and run events in which you exchange business information with other companies and offers benefits including:

• Online sourcing functionality
• Competitive bidding
• Advanced bid analysis

The SAP Ariba Sourcing solution is a comprehensive web-based tool that allows you to create and manage online information bids from suppliers. It allows you and your suppliers to communicate online and expedite the sourcing process.

Because it is a cloud based application, all you need to log in is the ability to access the internet, the URL address for your company’s SAP Ariba Sourcing solution, and a username.

A quick project is a "standalone" document created directly from the dashboard and is not part of a full project. It serves as a one-time event.

A Full Project is a container for a sourcing event, but adds process management functionality, such as the ability to assign tasks and collaboratively edit documents with your team members.

• A full project is a workspace that includes support for process management, including document storage, tasks, a message board, and project team.

• Projects are used to model different sourcing processes to provide consistency as well as visibility.

• Projects enable multiple users to collaborate on the same documents or events with defined roles and processes.

When creating a full project, the Event Type field is not visible and is replaced with template questions.

Template questions are used as a standard practice within full project templates to make sections, tasks and event documents visible.

Ad hoc events can be created within full projects from the Documents tab, under the Actions button (above).

Quick projects serve as one time-events and will require a value within the Event Type field.

Full projects contain more than one-time events, and event creation within a full project is commonly set from template questions upon creation.

Request for Information (RFI) – used to collect information about suppliers and their capabilities (no pricing information).

Request for Proposal (RFP) – used to collect both information about suppliers and price bids (price may not be paramount when making an award).

Auction – used to purchase goods or services (price is the most important factor).

Forward Auction – used for selling of goods or services.

Marco is going to show the steps to create an auction as a quick project in SAP Ariba Sourcing.

From the Create menu, select Sourcing Project.

Event Type is a required field when quick project is selected.

The available templates at the bottom of the project creation screen depend on the value of this field.

The Event Type field cannot be changed, nor its attributes.

Any field with an asterisk (*) is required.

All required fields must be completed, or an error message will prevent creation.

Choose one of the available templates to create the event.

Template descriptions appear below the template name and help users understand how the template affects the event settings.

The template choice cannot be changed after the project is created. If the incorrect template was chosen, a replacement project will need to be created, and the project owner can delete the incorrect project if needed.

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1. On the Create Sourcing Project page, specify values for all required fields (they are marked with an asterisk).
2. Click the information icon to see a description of the field.
3. Fields with pull down menus allow you to search for acceptable values.
4. The "Add More" link allows you to select multiple values for the field.
5. Based on the event type chosen, a list of templates will display. Select the one that fits the scenario.

Rule settings determine event functionality.

Factors that determine which rules are displayed:

• Event Type

• Value sets for other rules (conditional rules)

• Rules that are preset in the template and hidden from view in the event

Rules are organized into logical groups:

• Timing Rules - Control event timing; bidding periods, preview periods, and review/evaluation periods.

• Bidding Rules - These rules are essentially bid-improvement rules. They determine how suppliers must improve their bids.

• Currency Rules - Allows suppliers to select the currency in which they place their bids.

• Market Feedback - These rules expose more or less information about the supplier’s responses and pricing.

You can assign team members to assist in the management of your sourcing event. Team members are granted permissions to perform certain system tasks based on the groups in which they are members.

Used to designate who will have some level of access to the sourcing event:

• Ownership (full read/write capabilities)

• Visibility

• Editing capabilities

Note that as the project owner, you can add additional team groups if needed, but you cannot delete any project groups or users inherited from the template.

Participants are the contacts for your suppliers who are invited to respond to the event.

Participants can be added via:

1. Invite Participants (search for suppliers using the User Interface)

2. Excel Import (upload suppliers from previous event)

3. Create Supplier Research Posting (uses SAP Ariba Discovery to find new suppliers)

Content can be:

• Inherited from the template

• Copied from the Sourcing Library

• Imported from a spreadsheet

• Typed in manually

  Content consists of:

• Sections

• Requirements

• Attachments

• Questions

• Lots

• Line Items

The Actions button on the Summary page has four options:

• Edit Overview allows you to edit the overview information you entered on the Create Sourcing Project screen.

• View Publish Approval Task allows you to see who needs to approve the event, if anyone, before publishing.

• Customize Messages allows you to change the subject and content of the system messages that are sent to participants during the different stages of an event.

• Print Event Information exports the event information in Microsoft Word’s DOC file format.

The event is in Draft status while it is being created. When you are done working on it, you can publish or schedule it.

If the system displays any errors on the Summary page, you cannot publish the quick project until the errors are corrected.

"These are the core steps events must go through before they can be published.

Before we take a deeper dive into the event-creation steps, let's examine some key differences between the RFI, RFP and auctions within SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing, as well as considerations when it comes to choosing the best template or strategy."