Using and Organizing Documents

Documents in the template may be any file type. There are no restrictions on file extensions. A document can be as simple as a text file, or as complicated as an eForm created specifically for your business process. Some common examples include Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. You can upload pictures, presentations, HTML, URLs to websites or anything else necessary to the project. Data that is used in conjunction with other spend management applications may also be included as documents, such as sourcing events and analytical reports. You can either upload a document or choose it from the document list.

Many documents will be associated with tasks. Documents can also be submitted for review and approval.

The following document types have special functionality:

Main Agreement

This Microsoft Word document contains all the text of the contract agreement. There can only be one main agreement per SAP Ariba Contracts template and the contract workspace.

Contract Addenda

These optional Word documents serve as additional text to the main agreement document and are also version controlled. They are similar to the main agreement, but you can have multiple contract addenda in each SAP Ariba Contracts templates and contract workspace. You can include documents of any file type that can be used for multiple purposes in the SAP Ariba Contracts template or workspace. However, the Main Agreement and the optional Contract Addenda must be in Word. If the parties involved are using different versions of Word, it is accepted for users of a newer version of Word to use or modify a document created in a previous version of Word. A user on an older version of Word should not use a document created in a newer Word version.

Use a folder structure to organize documents and associate multiple documents with a task.

Even when copying a template, the next step in the creation process is to add documents. Documents that are added to project templates are included in all projects created using that template. When a user creates a project, often there are already some folders and documents included on the Documents tab. These came from the template level. The administrator adds documents to the template that are appropriate for this type (or any type) of project. For example, your organization may have a Project Charter document that is added to each project that is created to collect information on what the purpose and scope of the project is. This document can be added to the template (as a blank version) so that it can be completed by the project owner rather than created each time a project is starting.

Since all documents added to the Documents tab of template are added to the project, setting up documents in a template is an important task. Consider which documents need to be a part of each and every project. If the document can be part of the project under certain conditions, add conditions to the document so that it’s only added into the project under the appropriate conditions.

You can also create a folder structure to organize the documents and then adding the documents themselves to those folders. For simple workspace templates, folders may not be required. For templates that have a lot of conditional document content, they are a useful way to keep the documents organized, conditionalize groups of documents as well as provide users with folder level access control options.

The types of documents added to a template are the same as those that can be added to workspaces. Note that types Main Agreement and Contract Addendum are options only available in SAP Ariba Contracts and contain special functionality.