Collecting Pricing Using Lots and Line Items

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to identify Line Item and Lotting Key Characteristics

Selecting Event Templates

Pricing Strategies within SAP Ariba Sourcing Event Templates

When creating events in SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing, there are various standard event templates available, and knowing which one to select may not be intuitive for new SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing users. These event templates accommodate different response options, pricing strategies, cost factors, service items, envelopes, pricing conditions, and other advanced settings within the event rules, line item definitions, and lot settings.

Many of the diverse Guided Sourcing templates for Request for Proposals and Auctions have different rule settings that are enabled for when a situation requires a specific response method or pricing calculation. Most events may not require these more complex strategies, but it is essential to identify specific keywords and features within template names and descriptions to comprehend how pricing can be collected, structured, calculated, and responded to.

This course will help identify key terms like total cost, bid transformation, alternative responses, custom offline response sheets, and envelopes so that event creators can apply specific pricing strategies with custom terms, formulas, and other item attributes when the situation calls for it.

Collecting Pricing with Line Items and Lots

Reviewing Line Item and Lot Key Characteristics

Before we discuss the different template keywords and their applications, we will revisit some critical points about line items in SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing. First, we will establish how line items can be configured, organized, and calculated to better understand the different template strategies, pricing structures, and attributes that accompany them.

To recap, a Line Item is the smallest entity that a supplier can submit prices for and bid on and has special characteristics:

  • A line item is an individual part or service that has an associated price and must always have a quantity.
  • Line items can specify distinct products by their unique identifier, such as a manufacturer’s part number or SKU.
  • Line item terms can be used as reference or be used in formula calculations.

Lots are pricing containers that are usually composed of one or more line items and have the following characteristics:

  • The price of a lot is the combined total of all the items in the lot.
  • Bids for lots are always on the extended price or the total cost.

The Lot Types that are available in Guided Sourcing are:

Add Lot screen is open with Lot Type options highlighted.
  1. Item Lot
    • Competition at the line item level is encouraged, as ranks and bids are shown to suppliers at the item level.
    • Used to collect line item pricing information during competitive bidding.
  2. Basket
    • Suppliers will bid at the lot level and will see competitor pricing at the lot level. Suppliers can provide detailed line item pricing online once the bidding ends.
    • Used to save supplier time and help manage many line items within a lot.
  3. Basket with No Items - Suppliers bid based on the lot description only, no line items are used.

Considerations when Lotting Line Items

Project Owners should consider the following when grouping items into lots:

  • Suppliers traditionally offer better prices when line items are listed separately outside of lots and the item is presented at a more granular level when it is not grouped with other items.
  • Alternatively, lots can solicit discounts from suppliers when they get business across all lines within a lot.
  • Timing rules play an important factor in how line items and lots are ordered, presented, and focused during bidding.
    • Participants select the lot they wish to participate in their bid console and progress through the lots in a linear sequence where open bid times for each lot or line item are specified by the timing rules.
    • Serial and Staggered timing rules can help focus attention sequentially on each line item to concentrate competition and promote urgency.

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