In order to register suppliers automatically to SAP Business Network, we use the so-called Quick Enablement or interactive Purchase Order flow.
SAP Business Network Quick Enablement allows buying organizations and invoice conversion service providers to create new SAP Business Network "private" supplier accounts on behalf of suppliers. They can create these "private" supplier accounts by specifying the supplier’s company information (the email address) in a correspondent element in the header of purchase orders sent to the supplier. SAP Business Network uses this information to create the "private" supplier account an individual AN ID (identification number of the supplier account).
The suppliers will receive an interactive Purchase Order email, including the full purchase order as an email attachment. To process the order on SAP Business Network, they can click on the incorporated process button within the interactive purchase order and complete their registration on SAP Business Network.
To process the purchase order, supplier can select between one of two options on the SAP Business Network website:
- either to create a new SAP Business Network supplier account. Here, the initially "private" supplier account AN ID turns into a "public" supplier account AN ID. And the trading relationship is automatically confirmed and supplier is listed as "Current" within the tab Active Relationships on the SAP Business Network buyer account.
- supplier logs into SAP Business Network website with his/hers log-in credentials of an already existing supplier account. In this case, the initially created "private" supplier account AN ID is replaced by the already existing supplier account AN ID. This change can be tracked by the buyer with the reporting option "Supplier Enablement Report" available on SAP Business Network.
Once the interactive purchase order is processed by the supplier on SAP Business Network, the Vendor ID used for this connection and the System ID defined on buyer account, through which the purchase order has been send to SAP Business Network buyer account, are automatically listed on the buyer account. Any further purchase orders with the same "Vendor ID" plus "System ID" combination will be then routed automatically to the connected supplier account. No further interactive purchase orders will be triggered. Only purchase order notifications, as defined and managed by supplier on his SAP Business Network supplier account, will be triggered to the supplier email address of his/her choice.
Should any further Vendor IDs be added to the same supplier relationship, it is recommended to add them within the supplier record on SAP Business Network buyer account, which is located under the tab Supplier Enablement → Active Relationships → Current. During the addition of further Vendor IDs, buyer is to specify the combination of both details again per each possible document flow: Vendor ID and System ID.
Quick Enablement or interactive Purchase Order flow demo:
- Buyer account is enabled for quick enablement.
- You send a purchase order to suppliers with whom you do not have an existing relationship. SAP Business Network creates a private account for this supplier.
Note
In this scenario, Quick Enablement is only used together with purchase orders. - The supplier receives an email invitation from SAP Business Network and clicks on the button provided in the email to start the registration process.
- If the supplier is not yet registered, they can accept the invitation by completing the registration process (at this step the "private" AN ID becomes a "public" AN ID).
- If the supplier is already registered, they can accept the invitation and combine their new relationship request with their existing account (initial "private" AN ID is being replaced by the already existing "public" AN ID of the chosen supplier account).
- Once registered, the supplier gains immediate access to the account and can process the purchase order, either with an order confirmation or an invoice (via the PO flip methodology).
