Focusing on Requisitions

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the requisitioning process
Describe the functionality of accounting

Buying and Invoicing Process Flow

Requests

A purchase requisition (PR) is an approvable document that is created when items are added to a cart. In Guided Buying, PR’s are often referred to as "requests". Each PR has a unique ID (such as PR3248) to identify and track it as it moves through the purchasing process. After items are added to a PR, the request must be submitted for approval before the requested items are ordered.

Business Use Case Process Flow

Let's look at a practical example of the request-to-receive process using SAP Ariba Guided Buying that covers the workflow from the PR through to the payment request.

Practical Example Procure-to-Pay with Guided Buying Process Flow

Hello, I need to order new keyboards for the HR team.

To do this, I will create a Purchase Requisition in Guided Buying. The user interface will allow me to quickly access the approved catalogs and order items that comply with our technical and spend requirements.

Nandita PR

Classification Codes

When creating a request, each line item must have a classification code. Classification codes are often referred to as commodity codes, and they are used to categorize items. SAP Ariba comes pre-loaded with the United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC) schema. Companies can also use their own custom codes by mapping them to the default UNSPSC codes.

For more information on UNSPSC, visit http://www.unspsc.org/

Accounting Design

Each line item must have valid accounting values set when creating a request. Your ERP is the source of truth regarding accounting field names and allowed values. The SAP Ariba Procurement solution loads these names and values and then allows users to select them when specifying accounting in requisitions.

Accounting can:

Be different for each requisition line
Determine approval workflows based on cost center
Check against a Project or Account budget
Drive journal/ledger entries in the ERP after a payment is approved

Defaulting

Users do not have to fill out all accounting fields
Accounting fields can be automatically populated or defaulted based on configuration
Defaulting can be based on the commodity
Defaulting can be based on the user

Next lesson