Supplier request projects are available in sites that include SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance or SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture). They’re the first step in the SAP Ariba supplier lifecycle. Depending on your role, you can request a new supplier or approve a supplier request created by someone else. Approved supplier requests create new suppliers in your site.
This process diagram shows the different steps in the SAP Ariba supplier lifecycle:
Supplier requests are not used to add existing suppliers to your site. Instead, administrators can import existing supplier data into your site, or your organization can set up supplier data integration with an ERP system.
There are two types of supplier requests:
- People in your organization use internal supplier requests to request a new supplier. Internal requests are always enabled and are the required mechanism for manually creating a new supplier.
- Suppliers use external supplier requests to request to be added to your site. External requests are an optional feature and must be enabled by SAP Ariba Support.
Internal Supplier Requests
Internal supplier request projects allow internal users to request to work with new suppliers. Procurement agents, functional buyers, people running sourcing events, and others in your company who want to work with new suppliers can request a new supplier by filling out and submitting an internal supplier request.
The internal supplier request is used to:
- Ask for basic profile information about the supplier, such as name, address, and contact person details
- Collect data related to your company’s processes, such as cost center information or which department wants to use the supplier
- Conduct initial approvals to create the vendor record in SAP Ariba
- Gather necessary supplier onboarding information for ERP integration
The internal supplier request project template determines how users at your company manually create suppliers in your site. The template defines what information users need to provide to submit the request and whether the request is automatically approved on submission or must be manually approved. If the request requires manual approval, the template determines who must approve the request.
NoteThere's a separate project template for suppliers to create an external supplier request.
External Supplier Requests
External supplier request projects allow suppliers who want to do business with your organization to introduce themselves. These projects are only available in sites where the external supplier request feature is enabled.
NoteExternal supplier requests are sometimes called self-registration, but the form submitted is a request, the first step in working with a supplier. Supplier registration, the next step in the SAP Ariba supplier lifecycle, is a separate type of project.
The external supplier request is used to:
- Solicit basic profile information about the supplier, such as name, address, and contact person details
- Perform initial approvals to create the vendor record in SAP Ariba
- Collect necessary supplier onboarding information for ERP integration
The external supplier request project template determines what information suppliers must provide to submit the request and which users at your company must approve the request. There are separate project templates for external and internal supplier requests because each scenario typically requires different forms and approval flows.