"Jenny’s organization has a custom commodity code list, where a value x has been retired and is no longer to be used on new SAP Ariba projects. As a Commodity Code Manager, Jenny is tasked with removing this value from the system, importing a new value to be used in its place, and mapping to the appropriate UNSPSC value. "
Commodity codes are standard classification codes for products and services used to detail where money is spent within a company.
Commodity codes can be used to do the following:
- Classify and categorize products and services
- Drive journal/ledger entries in your ERP system
- Default other values
Commodity codes can be used to default the following values:
- Accounting Field Values During Certain Transactions
Example: When a user selects items for a requisition, the accounting field values for line items can be defaulted based on the item’s commodity code.
- Receiving Types
Receiving types determine if and how items must be received against purchase orders and contracts.
- Tax Calculations
Commodity codes can be associated with tax codes in the TaxCodeLookup.csv to determine the tax amounts on POs and Invoices.
- Catalog Hierarchy and Views
- Commodity codes are used to categorize and display items to end users.
- Commodity codes can be used with catalog views to restrict users access to items.
There are numerous global standard commodity code classification systems.
Some of the most common include:
- United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC)
- North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
- eClass Standardized Material and Service Classification
Let's look at some key points regarding UNSPSC or Custom codes.
- SAP Ariba Procurement has UNSPSC codes pre-loaded (also referred to as system commodity codes).
- Buyers can load custom ERP commodity code systems (also referred to as partitioned commodity codes) as needed.
- ERP codes must be mapped to corresponding system commodity codes.
- The SAP Business Network uses UNSPSC, and documents sent over the network must have mappings to the UNSPSC values for custom entries.
- If default/UNSPSC values are used, mappings are not required.
- A system parameter points to a domain that is used within the commodity code import. Either UNSPSC or Custom can be used, but not both.
Commodity codes and mappings can be managed from the Commodity Code Manager in the Ariba Administrator.
Navigate to Manage ＞ Core Administration ＞ Commodity Code Manager
Members of the following user groups can access the Commodity Code Manager:
- Customer Administrator
- Purchasing Manager
- Purchasing Agent
- Procurement Manager
- Procurement Agent
- Commodity Code Manage
For an understanding of Commodity Code Manager, watch this video.