Explaining Internal Supplier Request Process

Yes, for new suppliers

• Options exist for both internal users and external supplier users to initiate a supplier request

No, for existing suppliers

• Administrators can import existing supplier data
• Supplier data received via integration with ERP

Integrations with other SAP Ariba solutions

• Approved suppliers become available for use in SAP Ariba Supplier Risk, SAP Ariba Sourcing, and SAP Ariba Contracts
  • SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing requires additional supplier details before use

Users in your company who want to work with new suppliers will request a new supplier by filling out and submitting an internal supplier request.

The internal supplier request is used to:

• Collect basic profile information about the supplier (name, address, contact person details, etc.)
• Solicit information related to your company’s processes (which department wants to use the supplier, cost center information, etc.)
• Conduct initial approvals to create the vendor record in SAP Ariba
• Collect necessary supplier onboarding information for ERP integration

The internal supplier request project template defines the process by which internal users at your company manually create suppliers in your site.

If your site is integrated with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the internal supplier request process also includes a step that looks up the supplier in the D&B database.

During request creation:

• Requester selects matched supplier from D&B database
• D&B data enriches the supplier request

After request approval:

• Additional D&B data added to SAP Ariba vendor record
• Optionally, additional D&B data added to supplier registration questionnaires

If the supplier isn't found in the D&B database, your company might include an exception process for requesting a non-D&B supplier.

This optional integration enables you to require requesters in your organization to search for potential new suppliers in the D&B database during the internal supplier request process, ensuring that all new suppliers created either have D-U-N-S numbers or are approved for an exception.

With D&B integration, the request process adds basic D&B data such as address to the supplier request. After the supplier request is approved, SAP Ariba pulls additional data from D&B and adds it to the SAP Ariba vendor record and, based on your configuration, to supplier registration questionnaires.

D&B integration automates inclusion of standard and verified data in supplier profiles, eliminating the need for category or supplier managers to manually enter not only D-U-N-S numbers, but other detailed supplier data maintained by Dun & Bradstreet. Your company’s template administrators choose which D&B data to include in the supplier profile by adding mapped questions to the internal supplier request and registration questionnaires in your site's supplier management project templates.

Before integrating SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance with Dun & Bradstreet, your company must make sure that you have fulfilled the prerequisites for both Dun & Bradstreet licensing and configuration and configuration in your SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance site.

Duplicate checks help prevent the creation of duplicate supplier records from internal supplier requests by showing requesters and approvers potential matches to existing suppliers.

The information in the request that contributes to the duplicate check depends on your site's configuration and the setup of your organization's supplier requests.

• Duplicate check based on custom questions is an optional feature

The duplicate check runs continuously as the requester enters information and suggested duplicate matches update as the requester adds more text.

When a user submits an internal supplier request, it is checked against the existing suppliers in the database. If the user is presented with potential matches, they may:

• Cancel the request (if they believe it is a duplicate)
• Continue to submit the request (if they believe it is not a duplicate)

The potential duplicate alert message shows in the following places in the supplier request workflow:

• While a requester is filling out an internal supplier request. At this point, the duplicate check runs continuously against the current information in the request form and updates the list of potential matches and match scores as the requester fills out the form.
• When the requester attempts to submit the supplier request. At this point, duplicate check shows results based on entire the contents of the form. The requester can review the matches and either cancel or submit the request.
• After the requester submits an internal supplier request. If the requester edits the request before it is approved, duplicate check updates the list of potential matches and match scores based on the edits.
• While an approver is approving an internal supplier request.

Duplicate check searches for existing suppliers in your site's vendor database by a combination of:

• Exact match to Dun & Bradstreet ID (D-U-N-S Number)
• Strict match to the full supplier name
• At least a partial match to supplier name followed by a partial or full address match (partial name match must occur before address matching is attempted)
• If your site uses custom duplicate check, partial matches to answers

The duplicate check scores matches based on predefined logic.

• Matching is case insensitive
• Score is expressed as a percentage between 0 and 100
  • Scores ≥ 70% are labeled STRONG
  • Scores ＜ 70% are labeled WEAK
• Exact matches (score of 100%) displayed first, then partial matches displayed in descending order

In addition to SAP Ariba's default duplicate check on name, street address, city, state, country, postal code, and D-U-N-S Number, your company can specify additional questions in the internal supplier request for use in the duplicate check.

For custom duplicate check, the answer must match starting with the first character. If the answer contains any spaces, each space-separated word or group of characters is matched separately, and each must either fully or partially match starting with the first character. For example, if your site has an existing supplier with the value "Green Energy Corporation" in a field used for a custom duplicate check, "Green," Energy," and "Corporation" are all indexed for matching separately. Any corresponding supplier request answer that starts with "G," "E," or "C" is considered for matching, and answers such as "Gre," "Energ," and "Corp" are matched. Answers such as "Greed," "Reen," and "Gre Energion" are not matched.

Matching is case insensitive. The duplicate check scores these different matches based on predefined logic. The score is expressed as a percentage between 0 and 100, with scores of 70% and above considered strong matches and scores of less than 70% considered weak matches.

When the requester submits the supplier request (for internal requests only) and during supplier request approval (for both internal and external supplier requests), the duplicate check displays the top 20 matching suppliers, based on match score, in the following order:

• Exact matches (score of 100%) first.
• Partial matches next, in descending order based on score.

1. A user creates a supplier request from the Create menu on the dashboard.
2. Notifications let the approvers know that the supplier request requires approval. They can also see outstanding requests using Manage → My Tasks on the dashboard. The approvers review the supplier request and approve or deny it. Approvers can edit supplier requests in order to add missing information, correct mistakes, or supply information that was designed to be added by approvers, before approving the request and creating the supplier.
3. Notifications let the requesting user know when the supplier request has been approved or denied, and show the final approver so that requesting user can have further discussions about denied requests.
4. When a supplier request is approved, the supplier is created in the SAP Ariba supplier database. Depending on your site's integration settings, the new supplier might be automatically or manually synchronized with your ERP vendor master list either at this point or during the registration process.

Automatic

• Requests are automatically approved on submission

Manual

• Approvers choose to approve, deny, or request additional information

SAP ERP MDG-S validation (optional)

• MDGS Validation step added
  • If request matches existing supplier, request denied
  • If request does not match existing supplier, supplier created in SAP Ariba

Your company’s configuration determines whether supplier requests are automatically approved on submission or must be manually approved, and whether or not they include a step for validation in an integrated SAP Master Data Governance for Suppliers (MDG-S) system.

If your site requires manual approval, approvers perform one of the following actions:

• Click Approve to approve the request.
• Click Deny to deny the request, enter explanatory comments to tell the requester the reason for the denial, and click Confirm denial.
• To request additional information, click Request additional info, enter a comment for requester explaining what information you want, and click Confirm request additional info.

If your site is configured to require validation of approved supplier requests in an integrated SAP MDG-S system, the supplier request shows a new automatic step, MDGS Validation, and the supplier is in In External Approval status. If SAP ERP MDG-S matches the request to an existing supplier, the request is automatically denied and you are redirected to the existing supplier's 360° profile. If SAP ERP MDG-S does not match the request to an existing supplier, the supplier is created in your site with the status Not Invited, and the supplier contact specified in the request is added as the primary contact. The supplier now has a 360° profile, and its Summary area shows information from the supplier request.