Reviewing Customization Management

Customization Manager is an area of the Ariba Administrator menu that contains several tasks that allow administrators to customize certain aspects of their SAP Ariba Spend Management site.

• Parameters
• Branding Settings
  • Bidder Agreement
  • Supplier Welcome Message
  • Browser Title
  • Customer Service Message
  • Company Logo
• Field Configuration information (fields created and maintained by SAP Ariba)
• Enumerations

Customization Manager allows administrators to customize certain aspects of their SAP Ariba Spend Management Solution site. There are certain areas that will pertain to the SAP Collaborative Sourcing solutions which will be covered in this course. There are some tasks in this area, however, that will not apply to the SAP Collaborative Sourcing solutions and will not be covered in this course. This course will cover the following areas:

Branding Settings: This includes information such as the Bidder Agreement, Supplier Welcome Message, Browser Title, and Customer Service Message.

Enumerations: Some custom fields you create may be a text response that will have a list of choices to select from. The values available for selection are controlled by Enumeration lists which can be managed by users with the Customer Administrator permission.

Field Configuration: While customers will not have access to this part of the site as SAP Ariba is responsible for creating and maintaining fields within your SAP Ariba Spend Management suite, there is information that is helpful to know when looking to create custom header fields. This module will provide helpful information to request the creation of new fields.

• Site level controls that can be changed by Designated Support Contacts via Service Request or changed by a Customer Administrator depending on the parameter name.
• Parameters are unique for each SAP Ariba solution; within a suite integrated realm, a Customer Administrator would see different parameter sets under Core Administration versus Administration.
  • Parameters that overlap may not contain different values (for example, the Commodity Code domain setting).
• List of commonly configured parameters during deployment are listed in the Enablement Workbook.
• Can be configured post-deployment.
  • If a parameter is not found by a Customer Administrator via search, or is not visible to edit, a Designated Support Contact should log a Service Request.

Another area within Customization Manager is Parameters. Full access to parameter list is available only to SAP Ariba, however, requests can be made by Designated Support Contacts to have the values of these parameters modified.

If your contract included deployment services, the Enablement Workbook would have included parameters that can be modified to make the site more custom to your business needs. These can be configured during deployment, but they can also be configured by SAP Ariba Customer Support after you’ve gone live.

• Allowable Project Type: This specifies the project type which the system allows project owner to create. The default is allow to create both full and quick project. The following parameter values are supported: Value = 0 Quick Project, but Full Project can also be chosen; Value = 1 Full Project only; Value = 2 Quick Project only; Value = 3 Full Project, but Quick Project can also be chosen.
• Enable Private Messaging: When set to false (default), the Compose Message feature includes a check box to sent the message to all participants. If you set it to true it adds the option to specify one or more specific participants.
• RFX.Enable RFX Custom Templates: Set this to true to allow users with template-creation permission to create templates. The default is false.
• Restrict Copy Project To Owner: This parameter will restrict the copying of projects to just the owner. It is recommended to change to No, especially when Sourcing is enabled.
• Send Notification On Project Create: Specifies whether or not an email will be sent to team members when a Project is created. Changing the parameter will disable the notification for all users. This notification option can also be disabled by each user individually if you don't want to turn it off for all users in the site.
• Send Notification On Project Status Change: Specifies whether or not an email will be sent to team members when a project status is changed. Changing the parameter will disable the notification for all users. This notification option can also be disabled by each user individually if you don't want to turn it off for all users in the site.
• EmailApprovalEnabled: Specifies whether you want to enable email approvals in your configuration. If set to Yes, users can approve or deny approvables by responding to notification messages. If set to No, this feature is disabled. It is recommended to change it to Yes, especially if using Contract Management, unless you want to force approval through the system. However, most users appreciate the convenience of email approval.
• User.Prompt Supplier For Profile At Login: Controls whether if a buyer requires a supplier to answer required, shared, and/or buyer specific profile questions.

  Values:

  • 0 - not required (deprecated);
  • 1 - not required;
  • 2 - buyer specific questions required;
  • 3 - shared and buyer specific questions required.
• Application.ACM.Project Delete Limited: Specifies whether or not project owners can delete their projects. If this parameter is set to true (the default value), project owners cannot delete projects under any circumstances, and will never see the Delete Project item on the Actions menu in the project overview. If this parameter is set to false, users can delete any project they own. Deleting a project doesn't remove the project from the database; instead, it deactivates the project object and removes it from reporting. A deleted project cannot be restored. This particular parameter is often disabled while an administrator cleans up old projects and then re-enabled by support once the deletion has completed.

Using the new Intelligent Configuration Manager, customer administrators can easily manage site configuration options of various SAP Ariba solutions in one centralized location.

• Customer Administrators have more flexibility in testing configuration changes and rolling them out to the production site.
• Members of the Customer Administrator group can access the Intelligent Configuration Manager to:
  • Control a subset of configuration parameters for a site without having to request assistance from SAP Ariba Customer Support
  • Easily configure application features
  • Analyze and audit changes within entitled environments
  • Migration (from environment to environment)

SAP Ariba allows you to provide custom branding messages to your buyers and suppliers.

• In Ariba Administrator, access Customization Manager → Branding Settings to:

  • Modify the browser title
  • Update the customer service message displayed to users when they choose Help → Contact Us
  • Change the supplier welcome message that supplier users see on their supplier home page
  • Update the bidder agreement that suppliers must accept before they participate in a sourcing event
  • Provide translations for customized branding settings

Branding Settings is an area that administrators can use to configure different settings within the site.

Bidder Agreement: A default bidder agreement is provided by SAP Ariba with translations in all supported languages by SAP Ariba. This bidder agreement language can be customized by accessing the Bidder Agreement link within Branding Settings.

Supplier Welcome Message: This is the message suppliers see when they first login to their dashboard for your customer site. You can provide a message welcoming them to doing business with you or you can provide the phone number for SAP Ariba Customer Support. It serves as a place for you to inform suppliers of something.

Browser Title: This is the name that will appear on the top of the browser window. You can customize this so that it has a meaningful title for you, such as Acme Co. Sourcing Site.

Customer Service Message: This is the message that is displayed whenever users click on the Help → Contact Us. There will be default text provided by SAP Ariba on how to contact SAP Ariba Customer Support but it will also display any custom text you add.

If you are configuring your branding settings for the first time, you’ll see that the boxes are empty. This includes the Bidder Agreement. Any default text that has not been modified will be represented by a blank text box. If this text is customized, the custom text will display in the box.

If you would like to provide translations of your custom branding settings text, you may contact Support for assistance.

Service Manager provides access to the Manage Brand tab to configure a customer’s logo to be visible for the different color schemes within SAP Ariba.

Customer logos can be uploaded by SAP Ariba as long as the images meet specific requirements specified within the Enablement Workbook when a customer deploys their solution:

• The displayed size is 30 pixels high and the required size is 60 pixels high (there is no requirement for image width).
• All images should have a transparent background and be in .png file format.

Customer logos need to be uploaded in both Administration and Core Administration to appear in the top-left accurately when navigating a suite integrated site.

• Header fields can be used to search and report on project information
  • SAP Ariba provides standard fields, but custom fields can be added
• Custom fields are created and maintained by SAP Ariba
  • Can be created during deployment and after deployment
• Depending on the solutions your company has purchased, there are limits to the number and types of custom fields that can be configured
  • There are no custom fields available for Knowledge Projects or new supplier architecture projects (for example, Supplier Registration)

Field Configuration is an area of the site that only SAP Ariba will have access to, but as the administrator, you will need to know information about the types of custom fields that can be created and the options available to you. The following slides will cover when custom fields can be created and what information is required when looking to have new header fields added to a project.

Custom header fields can be included with your deployment contract. The team responsible for your deployment will collect the requirements for these header fields and create them while you’re in deployment so they can be tested before go-live.

You may decide to add additional header fields after deployment. The need for additional header fields may be identified once you have gone live with your process, in which case a Designated Support Contact should contact Support.

Creation of custom fields as well as other limitations are discussed with the deployment team and the SAP Ariba configuration leads during deployment using the Custom Header Field Data Collection Template.

• The Custom Header Field Data Collection Template collects all relevant data and configuration options that are needed to create custom header fields. Configuration options include:
  • Reporting availability
  • Conditions
  • Picklist values
  • Translations
  • Renaming standard fields (labels)

If your deployment contract includes custom header fields, you will be provided the Custom Header Field Data Collection Template. This will prompt you to provide the information required to create new fields. Some of the options include:

Reportable: This makes the field available for reporting.

Label: This is the display value of a field. It's possible to modify the label of some of the out-of-the-box fields which can be done during deployment or post-deployment.

Conditions: SAP Ariba allows for both validity and visibility conditions. For example, you may have a custom header field called Contract Type. This field is controlled by an enumeration list with the possible values of MSA or SOW. If I choose MSA, I can have other header fields appear based on this selection, as these fields are only required for MSA contracts. If I choose SOW, those fields are not displayed. This is a visibility condition. You can also add validity conditions. For example, you may want users to select a particular level for the commodity code associated with a project. A validity condition can force a user to select an L2 value instead of a top level value from the hierarchy.

Picklist Value: This is where SAP Ariba chooses the enumeration list you created to manage the options for this field’s dropdown menu.

Translations: Support can also upload string files to translate custom header fields.

The table above represents the different answer types for fields that can be created. The system will automatically format a value placed into the field into the appropriate format. For example, if the answer type is ‘Integer’, the field will only accept whole numbers. A value of 9.56 will be automatically rounded to the nearest whole number (10). If the field value will contain a number other than a whole number, select decimal number instead.

Open Text – This is a free text field for short text responses.

Text Single Select – This is the type of field you would create that would be controlled by an enumeration list. The field will only allow one value from the enumeration list to be selected.

Text Multiple Select: This is the same as the text single select, except it allows users to choose more than one value from the list. You can only create three of these types of fields and once they’ve been used, you cannot add more.

Text Multiple Line: This is a free text field that allows for large blocks of text as the value for the field.

User: This field type will allow users to select from any user created with the site (includes enterprise users, third-party users and external users).

The most common use for a Flex Master Data (FMD) field is as an extended, dynamic picklist where the number of picks available exceeds what would be rational for a standard picklist (up to about 20 or 30). The reason for this is that the FMD field is searchable, user-maintained, and can literally accommodate tens of thousands of picks.

An FMD field can be single or multiple select, and can also act like a mini database. The selected value becomes a hyperlink that can open up a window displaying additional data fields (non-reportable). It's also possible to make the additional data reportable by auto-populating reportable custom fields that are bound to the FMD field. FMD lists are controlled through Data Import/Export rather than enumeration lists.

Fields can do more than capture data. You can add logic to fields to drive desired behavior.

Visibility Conditions

Under which conditions should users see this field?

Example: If the Contract Type field is set to Employment Agreement, the HR Manager field becomes visible.

Editability Conditions

Under which conditions can users edit this field?

Example: Only users with the Contract Manager group can edit the Contract Type field.

Validity Conditions

Validate the contents of this field against a rule. Users cannot submit a document with invalid data.

Example: The Legal Entity field must contain 8 characters.

Relational Entries

A picklist for a field has conditional values based on the entry of another field.

This functionality only works with single-select Flex Master Data Field types.

Example: The Legal Entity picklist contains values based on the selection of a Business Unit.

• An enumeration file contains lists of values for a particular field
• Enumeration files are initially loaded by SAP Ariba during the deployment of your realm, but updates may be needed later
• Updates can be made using the Enumerations page within Customization Manager
• Designated users need to be added to the Customization Administrator group in order to facilitate editing the enumerations
• When updating an enumeration you can modify any Display Value and the new label will be applied to old and new projects

An enumeration file contains pick list values for your custom fields. You can export the contents of the enumeration file in XLS or CSV format, edit it, and import it back into Ariba Administrator. You can also use the export file as a template to create a new enumeration list for newly created fields. It is helpful to create the enumeration list before the field is created by SAP Ariba. This way, they can assign the enumeration list to the field upon recreation rather than having to return later to set the list.

The Export to Excel or Export to CSV buttons are helpful when you’d like to reference all of the current values within each enumeration list but when editing enumeration lists, it's recommended to work with Microsoft Excel files as it will only add/modify data that is in the file whereas the CSV import operation is to remove anything that is not in the file. So if you export all of the enumerations to CSV and then remove all of the lists except the one you are updating and reimport the CSV file, all the values that are not in the CSV spreadsheet will be removed.

It is also a best practice to export the current enumerations to Excel prior to making any modifications using the Export to Excel button. Save this export as a backup so if enumeration lists are accidentally removed while updating values, you can use the backup file to restore the values.

• Add new entries in alphabetical order
• Make modifications to existing entries
  • Display values
• Delete entries
  • Do not remove any value if it is still used in existing projects
• If you modify or delete an existing value which was used in old projects, the value of the field in those old projects will remain the same (old value); but as the old value no longer exists, nothing will be displayed in the UI for those projects
• Save the file with the changes and import

If working with a single enumeration list, click on the title of that particular list and export it to Microsoft Excel. This will export only the values from that list and prevent any possibility of removing values that should remain within the site. This is the recommended method when updating or creating new enumeration lists.

It is also possible that enumeration values will need to be retired. For example, you may have a custom field for the Business Unit. Your organization may realign these business units and thus, the enumeration values will need to be updated. Updating these old values will depend on how you want the data to be maintained within the system. Remove only the display value from the enumeration file if you’d like projects that have used the old value to retain the old value. Removing both the value and the display value will cause existing projects that have this value to lose the value and will need to be replaced with a new value when the project is edited.

Information on working with enumerations can be found by searching the support knowledge base in Connect or by using the Common Data Import and Administration guide in the Help → Product Documentation area of your SAP Ariba site.