Discovering Supplier Management

User data is usually divided into two buckets:

External users

• Members of external organizations (suppliers or customers) who have access to your SAP Ariba solutions
• Manage using Supplier and Customer Manager and/or SM Administration
  Note

  We will be focusing on external users in this module.

Internal users

• Members of your organization who have access to your SAP Ariba solutions
• Manage using User Manager

External users belong to your supplier and customer organizations who will need access into SAP Ariba to participate in the supplier lifecycle, respond to sourcing events, or access tasks you may invite them to take part in.

When creating an external user in sites where SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) is enabled, this user is called a supplier contact and can be created through the SM Administration or through various locations in the user interface.

If your SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing site doesn't have SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) enabled, you can manage supplier and customer organizations and their users by accessing the Manage → Administration page and selecting Supplier/Customer Manager.

In this course, we will focus on how to create external users in sites where SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) is enabled.

Supplier contacts are the people you interact with while doing business with the supplier.

Approved supplier contacts are added to a supplier in your site in one of the following ways:

• Supplier contact data imported into your site
• Created through an approved supplier request, which must contain supplier contact information
• Added to the supplier's 360° view
• Added as a recipient for a questionnaire
• Supplier user creates a login to the supplier's Ariba Network account, and your site is configured synchronize them to your supplier's contacts

Supplier contacts have logins that allow them to fill out questionnaires, participate in events, negotiate contracts, and perform other tasks in your site.

Import supplier contact data: Members of the SM ERP Admin, SM Ops Admin, Supplier Risk Manager, or Customer Administrator group can import the SupplierContacts.csv in the SM Administration area of your site.

Approved supplier request: Members of the Supplier Request Manager group can provide supplier contact details in the Supplier Request Form during the supplier request process.

Add to supplier's 360° view: Members of the Supplier Request Manager, Supplier Registration Manager, Supplier Qualification Manager, or Preferred Supplier Manager group can add supplier contacts from the supplier’s 360° view by using the Add link on the Contacts tab of the Overview tile.

Add as questionnaire recipient: Members of the Supplier Registration Manager or Supplier Qualification Manager group can add supplier contacts by using the Add User link when assembling a registration questionnaire or qualification questionnaire, respectively.

Synchronized from the supplier's Ariba Network account: Depending on your site's configuration, new users in the supplier's Ariba Network account might be added as contacts in your site automatically and might be automatically approved or require manual approval.

• The Application.AOD.EnableAdditionalSupplierUserDataSync parameter specifies whether or not new supplier users in supplier Ariba Network accounts are automatically synchronized with existing suppliers in your site.
• The Application.AOD.EnableAutoApproveSupplierUserOnDataSync parameter specifies whether or not new supplier contacts added to your site through synchronization with the suppliers' Ariba Network account are automatically approved.

Organizations can be imported or created in the user interface (UI).

• Supplier organizations can be imported via Manage → SM Administration.

  • Guided buying customers without SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) will use SM Administration menu.
• Supplier organizations that are created in the UI are started with the Supplier Request.
• Suppliers that are created within the new supplier architecture will have a supplier 360° profile that contains various data elements including:
  • Contacts (supplier users)
  • Responses to questionnaires from the supplier lifecycle process
  • SM Vendor ID / ANID
  • ERP and Enriched Company Profile Information

An organization is essentially a company account that contains company information such as contact information and profile information. All users in the system must be associated with an organization. The purpose of an organization is to link multiple users from the same company and allow them to inherit profile information from the company level that is stored as the organization account.

SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing sites that have either SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) store supplier information in the new supplier architecture, also known as the unified vendor model. SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing site that do not have either of those solutions enabled store supplier information differently, in what’s known as the classic architecture. This course will focus on how to create supplier organizations in the new architecture.

New suppliers can be added to your SAP Ariba database via data import or by using the Create → Supplier Request option.

• The supplier 360° profile contains the common supplier data and has tiles for managing the various steps in the supplier lifecycle.
• Each profile will contain different areas and data depending on the customer’s entitlements and which steps of the supplier lifecycle have been completed:
  • When suppliers complete registration via the Ariba Network, enriched information such as ANIDs and Public Profile data points will appear on the Supplier Profile.
  • Qualification area appears after registration is approved (unless qualifications were imported).
  • Preferred category status area available after qualification is approved.
• SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture) only includes processes for request and registration.

Click the Supplier Management tab on your SAP Ariba dashboard to access it.

From the Supplier Management dashboard, you can:

• Search for suppliers by name, ERP vendor ID (the ID assigned to the supplier by an integrated ERP system), SM ID (the ID assigned to the supplier by SAP Ariba), or supplier contact name.
• View supplier projects you have created from the My Activities tiles.
• View the details for the projects that you own.
• View suppliers to which you have been assigned by buyer category assignments (the user matrix – discussed later) and for whom a qualification, disqualification or preferred status process has been started.

From the supplier search results page, you can:

• Refine the list of results using the filters on the left-hand side of the page.
• Click any supplier's name to see their 360° view. This view includes all of their profile information. If you are a category or supplier manager assigned to the supplier, you manage registration, qualification, and other processes from there.

The supplier 360° view shows all of the information your company has about a supplier. If you are a category or supplier manager assigned to the supplier, you also manage the supplier from this view.

The view includes tiles for specific activities; the tiles you see vary depending on which solutions your company has purchased.

If your organization has implemented SAP Ariba Supplier Risk (and you have the necessary permissions to view risk information), a Risk page will appear with relevant data. This does not require enablement via feature or parameter.

Users that are assigned to the SM Ops Administrator group will be able to import and export data within SM Administration.

Key Subsections within SM Administration that relate to setup include:

• Data Import/Export
  • New supplier architecture-related data
• ERP Integration
  • Integration Type, Initial Profile Sync, Profile Update Sync, etc.
• Mass Invite
  • An SM Ops Administrator can download the template file, add the suppliers they want to invite to the selected wave, and upload the file
• Inactive Suppliers
  • Area where inactive suppliers are listed and can be reactivated

Different file types include:

Supplier Data - The suppliers in your site.

Supplier Contact Data - The contacts for your suppliers. Any supplier management activity that involves an external (supplier-facing) questionnaire requires that the supplier have at least one contact defined for it either through this data import or manually in the supplier 360° profile.

Supplier Qualification Data - Qualification and disqualification statuses for your suppliers. In sites that include SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, category or supplier managers can manage supplier qualifications and disqualifications using projects that include questionnaires and approvals. They can disqualify qualifications defined by this data import, requalify disqualifications defined by this import, and so forth. In sites that include SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture), customer administrators can set qualification and disqualification status through data import, but qualification and disqualification projects are not available.

Preferred Supplier Data - Preferred supplier levels (category preferred status) for your suppliers. In sites that include SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, category or supplier managers can manage supplier preferred levels using preferred supplier management projects that include questionnaires and approvals. They edit the preferred supplier levels defined by this data import using those projects. In sites that include SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture), customer administrators can set preferred levels through data import, but preferred supplier management projects are not available.

Supplier Purchasing Org Data - The purchasing organizations associated with your suppliers. This data is used only in the guided buying capability in SAP Ariba Buying solutions. For details, see Guided Buying Administration.

Custom Display Name Data - The custom labels you specify for registration and qualification statuses.

Primary Supplier Manager Data - The primary supplier managers for your suppliers. Primary supplier managers are internal users who are familiar with or responsible for particular suppliers. In sites that use modular supplier management questionnaires, primary supplier managers might receive notifications related to questionnaire expirations.

User Matrix (Buyer Category Assignment) - Assignments of internal users or global system groups to specific project groups in supplier management projects for specific combinations of commodity, region, and department.

ERP Integration Status includes:

• Integration Type
• Initial Supplier Synchronization
• Supplier Profile Update Synchronization
• Ongoing Supplier Synchronization
• Update Configuration Values
• Notification Settings

If ERP Integration is scoped, a technical implementation lead would set these configuration points.

Once you have imported supplier data and set up your supplier management templates, mass registration invitations invite all specified suppliers to register with your company. Mass invitations are a useful tool for onboarding large numbers of suppliers to SAP Ariba supplier management solutions.

You define separate waves or groups of suppliers and upload a list of suppliers to include in each wave. You can then monitor the waves to see how many suppliers have responded to the invitation and submitted registration questionnaires. You can choose to establish a fulfillment relationship in addition to a sourcing relationship with suppliers that you invite to register using a mass invitation.

The presence of a value in the Fulfillment column of the MassInvite.csv indicates that a fulfillment relationship should also be established for the supplier's ERP Vendor ID Supplier registration projects include an Is Legacy field. If a supplier is invited to register using a mass invitation, they are flagged as a legacy supplier.

You can use this setting to create different registration processes for legacy and non-legacy suppliers. Integration settings also allow you to control how the registration data generated by mass invitation waves is synchronized with an integrated ERP system. See the Configuration guide for sourcing, contracts, and supplier data integration with SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA for details.

• Intended to remove an organization from the list of available organizations
• When you deactivate an organization, it is no longer available to add to contracts, projects, or sourcing events

• To reactivate an organization, go to Manage → SM Administration → Inactive Suppliers and click the Reactivate link for the organization

• One common scenario occurs when a member of your organization invites a new supplier to participate in a sourcing event or supplier lifecycle questionnaire, but that supplier is already registered on Ariba Network.
• There is no need to delete or recreate the supplier, simply:
  1. Have the supplier access the email they received about the registration or event.
  2. Click the link to access the event.
  3. On Ariba Network, choose the option for suppliers who have an existing account. This will link the supplier’s existing Ariba Network user account to the account you created on your site.

The screenshot above is the email suppliers will receive when invited to a Sourcing event. When they click the link, they will be taken to a webpage as shown above. There is an option on that page for suppliers with existing accounts.