SAP Community - SAP Ariba Invoice Management

Invoicing and Working Capital Management Success: Benchmarking Study Insights

2022-07-28T15:37:00+02:00

Recent economic shifts fueled by rising inflation, extended supply chain disruptions, and continued effects from the pandemic have made it vital for companies to have clear visibility into how they procure and pay for goods and services. As uncertainty continues and the threat of recession looms, the need for spend management and cost controls – along with new strategies to decrease risk and improve cash flow – is top of mind for many procurement, finance, and accounts payable teams.

Digital technologies offer a key resource to meet this need, as a recent SAP customer benchmarking study of more than 100 leading global companies shows. By using SAP Ariba solutions, the top tier of customers realized big benefits despite ongoing supply chain challenges. Improved efficiency in invoice management and processing was a major contributor to this success, allowing these organizations to drive significantly higher savings and productivity gains than their peers. The following metrics offer highlights of the results they achieved.

The top tier of customers processed 70% more invoices per FTE and achieved 100% faster invoice approval than average customers.

What does this mean? Accelerating invoice processing through automation should be a central focus for AP teams, supporting the move toward e-invoicing and increasingly touchless processes. For example, with electronic workflow routing plus automated escalation and delegation powered by SAP Ariba solutions, top-tier companies shortened invoice approval cycle times to less than two days – greatly reducing the delays typical with manual processing while also lowering costs.

Top-tier customers drove more than US$1 million savings per $1 billion in spend.

What does this mean? Through faster invoice processing and the ability to capture early payment discounts at any point, companies can enhance their cash flow and working capital position. Automated discount management can be especially helpful for stabilizing supply chains during rocky economic periods, giving strategic suppliers an immediate, non-debt source of working capital while allowing buyers to boost savings and increase returns on short-term cash.

What spending trends are you seeing in your company?

Seeing the successes these top companies are having throughout all the turmoil is hopefully inspiring to you and your organization, as benefits like these are just the beginning in helping to minimize risk. If you are interested in learning more about the benchmark study results, you can click the following link which will take you to a recently published infographic highlighting additional data points.

How are you reducing risk and increasing cash on hand? Please share and comment below so we can discuss!

For additional community resources and information related to similar topics, follow:
SAP Ariba Procurement blogs
SAP Ariba Procurement questions
SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass topics

New Year's Goals. Ditch the Siloes.

2023-01-06T09:59:51+01:00

As we take the time to get back into the swing of things and dig ourselves out of backlogged emails, we reflect on what we were able to accomplish last year while looking forward to our goals for 2023. Did you close that big deal you were hoping for in Q4? Or were you able to hit those last-minute cost savings objectives? Is part of your 2023 goals to improve your internal collaboration across silos? I know mine is!

We all know going into this new year will come with its own new set of challenges. And if 2022 taught us anything, it’s better to be proactive than reactive in this economy. As a Procurement or AP professional you might be wondering what you can do to set your organization up for success. The following answer may not seem that obvious at first, but the more you read on, the more you will see the value.

Are you ready? Change the mindset or perception of what procurement is in your organization. There are all these preconceived notions of what people think procurement is. You may even have observed or experienced your own infighting between the Procurement and Finance/Accounts Payable departments. It is extremely important that all functions understand the importance of these roles and how these two teams should be allies and on the same page, working together to save costs, improve processes and simply just be more efficient. What better way to set your company up for success than the cohesion of these two units.

Last month SAP ran a LinkedIn Live event called 4 Reasons to Ditch the Siloes Between Procurement and AP. Procurement and AP historically have pursued different goals, with Procurement focused on negotiating savings and AP focused on processing invoices for payment. The two teams often operate separately from one another with different processes and even different systems. In such a siloed environment, it’s difficult to stay aligned and nearly impossible to collaborate toward achieving common objectives. So, what can companies do to bring the two groups together and why should they bother? Frederic Andersen, Procurement Technology Transformation Lead at INVISTA, and Lisa Harding, VP and Head of Solution Marketing, Procurement, and External Workforce at SAP dove into this and more.

Log in to LinkedIn and watch the replay here!

We all know the eventual tsunami of everyone coming back online will soon start to flood that inbox right back up, and before you know it, you’re back in the trenches of the day-to-day. But before things get too crazy, you might want to consider carving out some time to listen to Frederic and Lisa discuss the importance of collaboration and the perception between Procurement and AP. Hearing about INVISTA's transformation story may give you the spark you need in trying to change your own company's mindset. And you never know, it may help you with your 2023 goals!

Happy New Year

...

Want to see more posts like this?

maggie.puncekar

Explore the Intelligent Spend Management Topic Page

How to add different Colors in SAP VIM Workplace?

2023-04-24T17:01:36+02:00

Introduction

SAP VIM Workplace is a Transaction code similar to SAP Inbox but it has a lot of more features than SAP Inbox or My Inbox Fiori App. Sometimes the AP Team or other role wishes to see Items with different Colors. This Blog will cover the steps.

Solution

Go to Transaction Code /OPT/VIM_WP

Now we want to highlight certain Lines

First Create a Class with following Superclass

Add the following Class created later for alv

Create another Class with following Superclass

Below is the Code we have added to make it Red Color

Go to VIM SPRO TCODE /OPT/SPRO

Select the Profile and click below

Change the Highlighted Clas

Add Custom Class we created

Now its time to test. Wala the lines is highlighted as Red

Conclusion

This will work in SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA

SAP Central Invoice Management – Key Innovations 2308 Release

2023-07-28T19:56:47+02:00

In the ever-evolving landscape of business operations, efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness are paramount. SAP, as global leader in enterprise software, has introduced a ground-breaking solution: Central Invoice Management. This innovative product revolutionizes the way businesses handle invoice processing, providing a comprehensive and centralized platform for managing invoices. In this blog, we will explore the key innovations that were introduced in the 2308 release which make SAP's Central Invoice Management a game-changer in optimizing financial processes:

Invoice Clearing Status:

When an invoice is successfully cleared within the connected SAP S/4HANA Cloud system, SAP Central Invoice Management ensures that this information is seamlessly reflected in its interface.

In scenarios where a posting consists of multiple vendor line items, and only a portion of them are cleared, the invoice status is designated as "Partially cleared." This distinction allows users to quickly identify invoices that have undergone partial payment or resolution.

Conversely, when all vendor line items within an invoice are cleared, the status is set as "Cleared." This indicates that the entire invoice has been successfully settled, providing a clear and comprehensive overview of payment status.

Furthermore, if an invoice is subjected to a payment block, resulting in its temporary withholding, this block status is also displayed within the clearing status. This feature ensures that users are promptly alerted to any pending payment issues or restrictions associated with specific invoices.

By incorporating these clear and visible indicators, SAP Central Invoice Management enables users to effectively track and monitor the clearing status of invoices, promoting transparency, and facilitating efficient financial management.

Document Information Extraction of Payment Reference:

In several countries, particularly in Nordic countries like Sweden and Norway, the "Payment Reference" is essential for seamless payment processing. It is transferred to customers through the invoice and must be included when making payments.

Payment institutions include this key in the bank statement, allowing both customers and sellers to access it. This key serves as a vital link between the bank statement items and corresponding invoices, enabling efficient payment clearance.

To simplify the process, the Document Information Extraction service (OCR) now extracts the "Payment Reference" field from invoices. This automation captures the reference and seamlessly transfers it to SAP Central Invoice Management. The result is reduced manual effort, improved accuracy, and accelerated payment reconciliation.

Additionally, I would like to invite you to explore our previous blogs that showcase the exciting innovations introduced in Central Invoice Management. To access these informative resources, please follow these links: Astrid Luckart Blog, and Roxana Craciun Blog.

By following my profile, you can stay informed about future releases and updates on SAP Central Invoice Management. Don't miss out on the latest advancements that can revolutionize your financial processes.

For more information on SAP Central Invoice Management, check out the following links:

SAP Procurement Release Readiness Community for release information

Help Portal Product Page for SAP Central Invoice Management

SAP Central Invoice Management Overview blog

Intelligent Spend Management Community

The Procurement Monthly - July 2023

2023-08-03T16:40:47+02:00

Each month ill review articles, research papers and webinars, and provide you with a brief summary of the most important papers, what they contain, what they may mean and try to draw some parrels between them.

S&P Sourcing

This was a “special” from supply management, authored by S&P global, and had some interesting insights around how technology can be used to drive better data driven decisions for sourcing. Sourcing as many reports have indicated is increasing as organisations both need to manage cost increases, but also seek to increase numbers of suppliers to mitigate risk. This article goes to understanding how up to date information, helps to formulate and change strategies.

According to the study only 52% of respondents felt their organisation ranked medium or low in sourcing performance. The report states that failing to address the entire spend of an organisation is one issue, with many organisations overlooking indirect or ‘tail-end’ spend in their sourcing management activities, where significant potential savings can be achieved using tools such as reverse auctions.

One factor that could hold businesses back here is their technology. According to S&P Global’s research, just 31% of organisations say their sourcing functions make full use of sourcing technologies for all types of spend. This means many may have sophisticated platforms and technologies which they are failing to use to their full functionality, in some cases using them for no more than a platform on which to share spreadsheets or Word documents.

VIZIBL – Procurement Decarbonisation

This report identifies that most companies despite having pledges to reduce scope 3 emissions may not be ensuring that these are capable of being achieved. In fact, only about ¼ feel confident that they will happen. The reasons the report gives are that many responders are struggling with education (only 6% feel well educated) , understanding the strategies (around half feel that strategy has been well communicated) and appropriate incentives, according to this report, only 8% feel that they are full incentivised to achieve them, and as we know incentives drive actions.

BCG 7 Forces in procurement

This was a really interesting article covering some key forces reshaping procurement. From geopolitical tensions to sustainability to mining the market for risks and opportunities, it is a very thought provoking read. The article suggest that procurement leaders must understand these trends and be prepared quickly to adapt. These trends are:

Geopolitics elevating risks.
- Procurement leaders must actively monitor and manage their exposure to geopolitical risks.

Natural Disasters occurring more often.
- Natural disasters can severely harm commercial property, assets, and raw materials. Procurement functions must help to mitigate the associated risks to resource availability, shipping, and the speed and quality of production.

Inflation & recession cause uncertainty
- An inflation-ready procurement function comprehensively considers categories of all sizes, utilizes strategies like hedging and price-indexing, and scrutinizes every price change.

Adoption of climate & sustainability is accelerating.
- Procurement functions play an essential role in helping companies achieve their climate goals. For example, a company must involve strategic suppliers in its sustainability initiatives. This includes requiring suppliers to commit to implementing green practices and reducing Scope 3 emissions as part of the tender process.

Companies strengthening commitment to social equity.
- Procurement strategies should include goals for giving opportunities to diverse suppliers—that is, businesses that are majority owned and operated by individuals or groups who are traditionally underrepresented or underserved. This might entail, for example, asking for information about a supplier’s diversity in RFPs or setting a target for the percentage of diverse suppliers used by the company.

Next Gen Tech promotes efficiency.
- In a 2022 survey, IDC asked more than 1,100 procurement leaders which technologies they planned to implement during the next 12 months and three years. AI and blockchain showed the biggest increases in implementation over three years versus 12 months.

Procurement faces talent shortage.
- Procurement leaders must assess their operating model and create a talent development plan that can support the overall procurement strategy. A well-balanced procurement team focuses on category management while striving to automate routine tasks, such as buying and contracting.

Ardent Partners – State of Procurement

This annual report is a mainstay of procurement strategy. Now in its 18^th year, this year’s report is as insightful as ever and provides insights from over 300 respondents.

For 2023, the report identifies that Cost savings (46%), managing risk (43%), digital transformation (38%) as key priorities, with complimentary strategies of pursuing digital transformation (39%), collaboration internally (38%) and cash – liquidity management (33%) as key strategies to deliver against the priorities.

Also in the report was the state of procurement performance, showing that whilst spend under management on average at 65% was trending down, targeted savings at 6.6% was trending up (though delivery was flat at just over 6%).

Chapter 4 is really worth a read, as it states on multiple occasions that procurement is at a crossroads on many things from data strategy to digital transformations, change management strategies. Its these insights for me that really make the report a must read.

High Performance Procurement – Procurious

I enjoyed reading this report where it looks at what is it that makes high performing teams in procurement and uncovers some concerns, especially if you read alongside either of the Deloitte or Ardent (or Economist Impact) reports.

Some startling numbers – 75% of respondents dount the accuracy of the data they present, which means that nearly 80% of non-procurement leaders are not confident in using data that comes from procurement, which will clearly negatively impact our credibility internally.

In the recent economist report (decoding confidence in procurement) it states that whilst many C suite recognise the importance of procurement, only around half believes that procurement collaborates well internally. This report confirms that with 43% don’t collaborate with manufacturing, and even less with sales.

When it comes to reporting, its still cost savings that dominate the reporting with over 70% saying negotiated or realised savings are KPI reported, with other areas such as sustainability under half.

Perhaps a driver for both, is that spreadsheets still dominate the tools used to track and manage procurement performance with nearly ¾ of respondents still using them.

Deloitte CPO Report

The 12^th edition of this report was published recently.

Some really interesting takeaways which in many ways confirm the Ardent report, as well as the Economist reports. Procurements remit is broadening, with not much to choose between the top priorities from driving efficiency, ESG, cost, digital transformation and risk all within 5% of each other in terms of priorities.

However, it does identify that procurement performance is dropped. Under 70% hit their targets last year and self-perceived performance in partnering with other areas (i.e. collaboration) dropped by up to 11%

So it makes sense that in terms of top strategies being employed to achieve these priorities is collaboration (#1) – both internally and externally with suppliers and a renewed focus on category management renegotiation at number 4. Demand management and digital transformation make up the top 4.

There is a detailed discussion on operating models, which most reports identify as evolving as organisational operating models change, as well as a focus on Supplier Management as a key part of value delivery.

Like Ardent, the report shows a marked difference between top performers (in this report called orchestrators of value) and the rest. Some areas where these top performers concentrate include SRM, market intelligence, scenario planning, digital deployments, and standardisation of approaches.

I have linked to each of the reports mentioned for you to download and consume on your own, but hopefully this has given you a taste!

If you want to discuss further, please reach out!

The Procurement Monthly - August 2023

2023-08-29T19:16:10+02:00

Hackett Digital World Class Procurement

This annual report looks at and quantifies the impact that digital world class procurement functions have over their peer group. The Hackett Group defines Digital World Class® organizations as those that achieve top-quartile performance in business value (a composite of stakeholder experience, digital enablement, and traditional effectiveness metrics) and operational excellence.

The report states that Digital World Class procurement organizations run at a 21% lower cost than peers – a $6 million advantage for a typical $10 billion enterprise – with 32% fewer fulltime equivalent (FTE) staff. Just as significant, they deliver greater value – for example, 96% higher spend cost reduction savings. As a result, they are 86% more likely to be perceived as a valued business partner.

In operating costs most of the reductions sit in the labour element, whereas the increase is in technology. In Labour element, there is less in operations and compliance, and sourcing as the teams have automated and let their digital solutions deliver the value. Interestingly there is an increase in planning and strategy FTE.

So, what do you get for digitising beyond operating with a 21% cost and 32% FTE advantage?

They dissect these into these 5 areas.

Effectiveness – from cost savings to lower saving leakage

Experience – nirvana for procurement is to be considered a business partner and be aligned to organisations – 86% are more likely to be viewed as a business partner.

Enablement -7 x higher use of auctions

Efficiency lower costs per order, quicker transaction times and sourcing times

Automation – greater use of electronic invoices, transaction processed electronically.

North Carolina State Sustainability Survey

This study from North Carolina and GEP looked at how organisations were handling sustainability imperatives in face of disruptions and cost pressures. The pressure for ESG improvements is increasing and unrelenting, despite the economic pressure companies are experiencing, however balancing these seemingly competing demands, even in the best of times without disruption, is immensely complicated. Even the companies that are leaning into implementing sustainability initiatives and goals into their supply chains are struggling.

We consider supply chain resiliency, diversity, and sustainability as complementary capabilities.

Some interesting takeaways:

Chief supply chain officer (CSCO) (9%) is now more responsible for sustainability than chief sustainability officer (4%) or chief financial officer (CFO) (6%) – CEO overall is primarily responsible (32%)

Today, only one-quarter are focusing on Scope 3 emissions, which account for 80% of total emissions whereas 38% are focussing in recycling.

Many are not prepared for new regulations coming, as they fall in the bottom half of the drivers (operational improvement and cost reduction are at the top)

Reflecting the economic situation, Cost is king: Cost reduction drives supply chain investment and KPIs for environmental performance.

World Commerce & Contracting – AI In Contracting

In this over 400 organisation survey World CC sought to uncover the status of AI adoption in contracting, to reveal the benefits realized for those who have already implemented the technology, to expose the barriers to adoption and unveil the true nature of attitudes.

“I believe that most of the short-term claims being made about the impact of ChatGPT and generative AI hugely overstate its likely impact. More significantly, I think that most of the long-term claims hugely understate its impact.”

Richard Susskind, President, Society for Computers and Law

The survey through up some interesting findings. 31% had or were planning to implement AI, 61% had not, and 17% had banned its use! Biggest barriers of use were Security (25%) and low priority (18%), as well as many others awaiting policies to be developed (which is high up in the usage charts).

In terms of where the value was, Metadata extraction led with a 44% implementation rate underscoring the value that can come from streamlining data collection. Clause extraction follows closely at 39%, indicating a focus on leveraging AI for more efficient contract review and understanding. Contract analytics and automation, adopted by 38% of respondents, shows the burgeoning interest in capitalizing on AI’s predictive and automation capabilities.

The economist survey identified improving efficiency as a major benefit of deploying emerging tech (like AI) and the report concurs with 68% identifying time reduction of contracting lifecycle being the biggest benefit and 38% identifying cost savings.

Everest Supplier Management

This was an interesting webinar and report about the future of supplier management and identified that organisations are wanting to transform not only the relationships with suppliers themselves but also the way they measure and manage them. SAP identified this in the Economist Impact survey (and there is a separate soon to be released supplier management paper coming) but this webinar also revealed some interesting research points.

Technology has not been uniformly deployed across all parts of supplier management, notable more frequently deployed on Onboarding, Supplier information and supplier data, but missing largely on performance, relationships, and risk. In fact, according to their research, 85% of respondents use spreadsheets or nothing for relationships, and 77% the same for performance. The report goes onto say that many organisations use ratings providers (69%) to manage supplier financials, but 2/3 don’t use a tool to gather environmental or diversity information.

The main reason for this, apart from budget (69%) are lack of integration with ERP.

Procurement Leaders – Speed and Agility

In this report from procurement leaders, it looks at how can procurement functions operate with agility and speed, what would stop it, and what are leaders planning to do to overcome. One of the knocks on procurement is how long activities take, which can lead to a reluctance from the business to engage. According to the report the 3 main activities that can cause bottlenecks, include onboarding all respondents identified this,) Contracting (93%) and P2P (89%).

During onboarding, the research identified that for strategic suppliers 60% took upto 30 days, and 40% took more than 30 days.

We find that with contracting, there are somewhere between 10 and 15 associated parties that need to be involved in the process,”

William Porter – CPO Mass Mutual

The report identifies that missing data (59%), organisation silos (43%) and technology gaps (37%) are the top 3 drivers of these blockages and unsurprisingly automation (68%) is the biggest strategy for alleviating this.

If you require more info or want to discuss further, please reach out!

Where can I get an understanding of SAP Ariba's cross-solution features and functionalities?

2023-11-08T18:34:54.302000+01:00

You can build the skills you need, for free and at your own pace with our Digital Learning Journey.
on our SAP Learning Site

I recommend to access our Discovering SAP Ariba Cross-Solution Functionality learning journey

Overview
Discovering SAP Ariba Cross Solution Functionality is a learning journey designed to provide learners with a broad understanding of SAP Ariba's cross-solution features and functionalities. This curriculum explores general skills, best practices, and valuable resources, offering a well-rounded perspective on SAP Ariba's capabilities.

Learning objectives

Explore the cross-solution features and functionalities within SAP Ariba.
Practice general skills required for effective utilization of SAP Ariba solutions.
Identify and apply best practices in various SAP Ariba solutions.
Utilize available resources for troubleshooting and enhancing SAP Ariba operations.

Pass all the quizzes and receive a digital badge

Please ask a question related to the digital learning journey in the Q&A area

Our SAP Learning Experts will get back to you as soon as possible! We are here to support you.

We appreciate your feedback and we will make sure to continue sharing interesting topics.

Kind regards
Margit

The Procurement Monthly - November 2023

2023-11-24T02:28:10+01:00

Each month i'll review the procurement research reports, articles, and webinars and summarise here

Supply Chains for Mid-Market – IDC

In this IDC brief (sponsored by open text) the paper uses data from its supply chain survey earlier in the year and focusses on mid-market responses (being defined as under $1billion). The paper looks to the differences between large enterprises and Mid-market companies identifying that they are held to the same business process standards by their customers as large enterprises, but they lack broad resources.

In the near term, efficiency, and resiliency (both visibility and agility to see it and respond) are top two priorities, as both are ways to ensure margin improvements and more reliable operations. IT modernization is on the radar as an important driver of performance but takes a back seat for now.

Responding more quickly to supply disruptions or changes remains top of mind in the shadow of recent global supply chain disruptions. Notably, collaboration is a bigger priority for larger mid-market organizations.

In the medium term, efficiency remains a top priority as mid-market companies see margin erosion and input cost pressure continuing. IT modernization increases in importance to drive better business performance, while operationalizing sustainability joins the list of top priorities.

Whilst over the next decade, almost 40% of mid-market companies view labor availability as a persistent problem, the top priority for these companies in 2023-25 is to reduce cost/eliminate waste to mitigate the effects of persistent inflation.

Attempting to predict major disruptions, the black swan events, if you will, have proven to be an almost complete waste of time for us. What we need is the visibility and integrated systems to be able to respond more quickly than our competitors.

Risk and speed of response are big issues for all but are more keenly felt in mid-market. Supply diversification is a strategy that many are following, but according to the paper, that brings more suppliers, more documents, more exchanged information, and therefore more things which can go wrong.

AQPC Benchmarks & Procurement is changing.

In the first report from AQPC they have published their benchmarks for procurement FTE to perform procurement activities. Where they exist, I’ve put the SAP Benchmarks in.

MEASURE	Metric	SAP
Number of FTEs that perform the process group “Procure materials and services” per $1 billion revenue	36	29
Number of FTEs that perform the process “Develop sourcing strategies” per $1 billion revenue	4.1	11
Number of FTEs that perform the process “Order materials and services” per $1 billion revenue	18.8	10.6
Number of FTEs that perform the process “Manage suppliers” per $1 billion revenue	5.5	NA

An interesting piece here, in the previously covered Hackett world class digital procurement report, it mentions that there is a reduction in total procurement FTE the more digitally enabled functions were, but more strategic procurement people within this.

The second report covers how procurement has been changing over the last few years with over 71% of respondents, (from 1,181) stating they have seen significant transformation of their processes and systems. The report states that Procurement’s strategic objectives have been shifting in line with broader changes in the business environment. In the past, cost reduction and maintaining or improving margin would have been the two most important objectives for procurement. However, the study found that avoiding supply disruption is now the most common strategic objective, followed by reducing procurement costs (there’s about a 2% differential) with increased emphasis on sustainability and improving supplier relationships (though there is a clear distance between the top 2 and next few)

Within supplier relationships, the key areas identified were supplier’s ability to deliver (25 percent of respondents), supplier capabilities (22 percent), and sustainability (16 percent)

The report concludes that whilst cost is always important, the ability to collaborate with suppliers, and better measure and manage suppliers to both avoid disruption and improve relationships are becoming more critical.

World Commerce & Contracting - Implementation

This report looks back at the impacts of contract management technology, some of the pitfalls of implementations (and indeed technology) and suggests some actions for organisations to take. The report makes the point that here is so little usable data associated with the contracting process. In a typical midsize organization, contract-related data sits in 24 different systems,3 spread across multiple business functions. Often, even today, there is no single repository where contracts are stored. Therefore, data analysis, to the extent it occurs, is largely manual and reactive.

“The risk landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. All these aspects – digitalization; innovation of new products and services; technology; market competition; environmental, social, and governance (ESG); geopolitical conflicts; and more – not only represent new risks but also require a completely new perspective and, therefore, a change of mind in our approach.”

The report then goes on to identify the benefits, and good practices for implementation of contract lifecycle management technology. The secret is to understand the foundations for success and select a system that is adaptable, easy to use and supports a wider set of use cases, allowing a reduction in the overall number of systems deployed.

Deloitte Reshoring

This month’s read of the month!

Lots has been written about reshoring since the start of the pandemic, and generally it has taken longer for organisations to achieve this than was first thought. Lots of reasons as to why, but this paper goes into the decision-making process. This is going to become more important, as the wave of “friend shoring” may well increase over the next few years if the current geopolitical issues continue.

According to the report,. In a Deloitte database3 review of 98 major reshoring events over the past four years, 19% of companies involved in reshoring events used some form of an M&A transaction, including joint ventures or partnership, to execute in the new supply chain strategy.

Before tackling the analysis of total costs involved in a reshoring decision, it’s important to consider the full range of factors that may come into play. The drivers of supply chain disruptions seem to fall into three broad groups: quantitative, qualitative, and risk-related.

Quantitative drivers include labour costs; transportation costs; lead time; working capital requirements; taxes and duties; and defect rates.

Qualitative drivers include intellectual property management; environmental, social and governance (ESG) improvement; cross-functional complexity; and brand reputation.

Risks can include regulatory changes; geopolitical developments; natural disasters; and financial and economic volatility. These are issues mostly out of a company’s control and difficult to quantify.

Whilst this paper looks in depth at 4 categories (of which they identified in 3 of them the factors around the decision to reshore or not, have made reshoring more attractive) the factors identified, and calculations made can be applied to any category.

The report identifies the following questions of consideration in making decisions around reshoring.

How long and complex is my global supply chain (geographically and logistically)?

What competitive advantages or disadvantages does my supply chain confer in the marketplace?

How does the total cost of goods sold change by shrinking the supply chain closer to the end consumer?

How is my supply chain a result of price elasticity, and how does customer price elasticity impact decisions?

What are the risks to my supply chain, and how can I control or mitigate them?

Is there unpredictability in my supply chain that could affect business continuity?

What’s the impact of regulations or the potential arc of future regulations (e.g., EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism [CBAM], Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive [CSRD])?

CEO Briefing

2 recent CEO briefings, one on AI stated that the majority of CEOs polled (53 percent) said they are now finding business uses in the new capabilities of generative AI—a whopping 130 percent increase from those who were considering using AI just eight months prior. considering using AI just eight months prior.

CEOs in industries like advertising, marketing, media and PR, tech and professional services all have the highest rates of positive responses when asked if they are finding business use out of generative AI.

In the other briefing, Chief Executive’s October CEO Confidence Index finds CEOs outlook for 2024 at lowest level in a year, with 87 percent of the 240 chiefs polled saying they expect business conditions to either remain flat (29 percent) or turn negative (58 percent). The growing probability of a recession, many said, will lead to further increases in unemployment, sticky inflation, and a prolonged high-rate environment.

Thomson Reuters – Global Trade

Similar to the above, the Reuters report stated that an environment of almost constant disruption continues to hinder global-trade efforts, and these disruptions come from familiar sources — inflation, rising costs, supply chain shortages, international conflicts, regulatory changes, transportation troubles, and compliance challenges.

Not surprisingly, these sources of disruption and uncertainty also comprise the global trade profession’s top strategic priorities over the next 12 months.

Some key points from this study stated that:

46% of companies say they are impacted by retaliatory tariffs between the United States and China

28% of companies say they are affected by Russian sanctions — down from 39% in 2022.

88% of businesses collect information for ESG purposes from their suppliers at least once a year.

The decision to collect ESG data is driven by three main factors:
- i) to comply with local laws.
- ii) to support the company’s or owner’s values and ethics; and
- iii) to mitigate reputational risk.

More than two-thirds of businesses take ESG considerations into account in their decision to use a supplier.

62% of survey respondents rated “supply chain security and data protection” as their top technology priority, up from 54% in 2022.

Ardent Partners – State of Payables 2023

In addition to the state of procurement report, Ardent also delivers a state of e payables report aimed at AP. I think we forget sometimes, the second P in P2P is all about payments, so this is critical for procurement leaders, not just because an increasing amount (see the previous AQPC report last month) of AP and procurement, are now reporting through the same lines, if not to the same person.

In fact, an early part of this report calls that out in terms of strategic priorities. Efficient collaboration between finance and procurement is key to optimising spend management and supplier relationships. 50% of Ap teams leverage data and intelligence to improve collaboration.

Some other key takeaways, a focus on eliminating paper invoicing and enabling more suppliers to submit invoices electronically, driving greater automation and reducing processing costs. Hurdles include payments taking too long, and a high percentage (47%) of exceptions. Clearly these two are linked with each other. Late supplier payments (as a result of the above 2) are the consequence and also does not help in improving supplier relationships which was called out earlier, as a key part of collaboration between AP and procurement.

Whilst adoption rates haven’t improved much since last years report, the section on adoption is interesting for a couple of reasons.

The inclusion of travel and expense management solution for the first time, and

Network more adopted than portals!

University of Mannheim – State of procurement profession

In this annual survey of around 400 procurement professionals, some interesting points emerge.

Cost & uncertainty are the two top priorities of procurement. Cost is more dominant, and procurement are focussing more on cost (than top management) in their evaluation criteria. This also shows up in procurement involvement in top level discussion, when cost, delivery and quality are the points procurement is involved, when talk turns to innovation, flexibility and (worryingly though this is consistent with many reports) sustainability, procurement are involved less.

Strategies are evolving, with localisation of supply increasing, as well as more dual/multi sourcing outcomes becoming the norm. A focus on driving better relationships as well as increasing inventory to combat the uncertainty are also being implemented.

The Cost-Plus World of supply chains

If I could have 2 reads of the month, then this would be the other one!

This report derives form a survey of 400 executives earlier this year and is written by Economist Impact (sponsored by GEP)

Fifty-nine per cent of survey respondents believe that they will have to make changes to their supply chain to manage challenges in the coming year.

Some of the changes include adopting technology to increase supply chain visibility (63%), followed closely by digitally transforming supply chains (57%).

As stated by a couple of other reports, the biggest impact on supply chains is geopolitical events, (ahead of trade protectionism)

Responses highlight the importance executives are placing on inventories in 2023, with 68% stating increasing inventories are a moderate or high priority, and 55% stating decreasing inventories as a low priority. Yet, although inventories can decrease certain risks, they require more capital investment. Sixty-eight per cent of respondents confirm there are additional costs associated with increasing inventories. This shows that executives are focused on factors beyond cost.

Managing cost is critical to offset, these actions, and benchmarking pricing, supplier consolidation (though in the risk mitigation, it talks about increasing number of suppliers, so this is a category v category approach). External supply chain financing, is another way to offset cost, identified by 34% of respondents as a top 3 approach.

Substitutability is another supply chain strategy being adopted by businesses to weather short-term disruptions. Eighty-four per cent of respondents rated substitutability of moderate to high importance in managing procurement and supply chains disruptions in 2023. By employing input substitution, certain firms will be able to minimise inventory holdings whilst preserving output levels, as versatile inputs can be utilised across different products.

As always reach out to discuss more, copies of the reports mentioned are linked above,

Enhancing Field Configuration UI: A Chrome Extension for Field Searching

2023-12-08T22:28:08+01:00

Introduction:

As an SAP Ariba technical lead specializing in Buying and Invoicing, I encountered a recurring challenge: the cumbersome task of manually searching through field labels, leading to inefficiency and time consumption. Fueled by the need for a more streamlined solution, I developed a Chrome extension to simplify field searches, saving time and enhancing accuracy in the SAP Ariba SM environment.

Problem Facing:

When customizing Ariba Sourcing or Buying and Invoicing, identifying the right field is crucial. However, the current design relies on a time-consuming manual process of scrolling and checking individual field names.

Tool Introduction:

Chrome extension [Search Field Configuration] - an automatic Chrome extension solution for swiftly locating the right field in the Field Configuration UI by simply inputting relevant keywords.

Installation Guide:

Download link: Download from here

Download the extension and unzip the file to your local PC:

Launch the Chrome browser on your computer.

In the top-right corner, click on "More" (represented by three dots), then navigate to "Extensions."

Click on "Load unpacked" and choose the local folder where you unzipped the extension files.

How to Use:

Step 1:Access the Desired Service Manager and Navigate to Field Configuration

Begin by navigating to a specific service manager, searching within a particular realm, and accessing the site. From there, click on the link "Field Configuration" under the Menu Customization Manager. Open the class you wish to search for fields. Refer to the image below:

Step 2: Load the Extension and Refresh the opened Service Manager UI

Once the extension is loaded, refresh the opened Service Manager UI.

Step 3: Access the Extension in Chrome

On the upper right of the Chrome browser, click below the highlighted mark:

Step 4: Open the Search Field Configuration Extension

Click the button and select the installed extension - "Search Field Configuration" and the below pop-up will show on the UI.

Step 5:Refresh Page and Input Search Keys

Click the "Refresh Page" button(The search button becomes clickable only after this), then enter the search keys.

Step 6:Initiate Search and Confirm

Click search and click ok after this pop-up shows.

Step 7:Wait for Results

Wait for the tool to find the right label, and a pop-up will appear below.

Step 8:Decide Next Steps

As per the message, you can click ok to carry on the search by clicking ok, or you can copy the field name, click cancel, and search it on the page as below. (Ctrl + F, paste and search) The field is highlighted with green color.

Step 9: Handle No Results

In case no fields are found, an alert message will appear. Click "OK" to close it.

By following these steps, you'll efficiently navigate and utilize the Search Field Configuration extension to streamline your field searches.

Additional Tips:

If the tool pop-up appears, and you wish to discontinue the search, simply press the "ESC" key to cancel it.

Supported Solutions:

SAP Ariba Sourcing

SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing

The Procurement Monthly - December 2023

2023-12-19T21:29:27+01:00

Each month i review all the procurement research reports and articles and summarise the best of them, drawing out the key points.

World Commerce & Contracting – CCM Benchmarking

In this report, (756 responses) sponsored by Icertis, World CC looks at the differences that’s happened over contract management over the last couple of years and there are some interesting takeaways.

Increase in both Agile (25% and relational (14%) contract types. Reflecting the changing shape of the world economy

On average contract data sits in 24 different systems in typical organisations, which will present a “challenge” to ensure that you have a complete picture.

The top 5 most measured areas are:
1. Cost reduction achieved (rather than just identified)
2. Compliance to contract
3. Cycle times
4. Contribution to revenue
5. Customer (external) satisfaction

Post signature monitoring of compliance to terms is the top area of interest (also grown by 15%) in technology (mirrors earlier Economist Impact report), followed by obligation extraction.

Contract repository is the top deployed technology at 62% of respondents.

Visibility into (76%) and finding contracts and data (70%) are the top drivers of new technology.

An interesting nougat that appeared was linked to the spread of contract management being no longer siloed in procurement (if in fact it ever really was). The survey tells us that on average 29% of the workforce is in some way involved in the contracting process.

MIT State of Supply Chain Sustainability

The fourth instalment (2300 responses) shows that commitment to supply chain sustainability appears to be resilient to certain types of crises, but vulnerable to others. Large-scale network disruptions, like those precipitated by the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 are shown to result in increased commitment to supply chain sustainability among many firms. On the other hand, in 2023 many firms’ sustainability efforts appear to have been especially sensitive to this year’s negative economic forecasts.

The gap is narrowing between the goals that are being set, and the investment needed to achieve those goals (though investment is not at the level where the set goals will be achieved). What is interesting is that each year there is a differing priority of importance. Diversity for example appears to be in ascendancy over the last few years whereas circularity has stayed stagnant.

When looking at the current actual practices, Supplier codes of conduct (80%) supplier audits, supply chain mapping and company codes of conduct lead the way and the report calls these table stakes for global sustainability programs.

This year’s report had a section devoted to Net Zero goals and almost half of the respondents who had net-zero goals report that their firm will not begin measuring or reducing Scope 3 emissions for five years or more. At the same time, roughly half of responses show net-zero deadlines of 2040 or earlier. Scope 3 reporting appears to be especially vexing, and how to collect reliable data across firm boundaries is still tricky.

Gartner Incentives Suppliers for Sustainability

On the subject of sustainability, Gartner released a paper looking at the actions that can be taken to incentivise suppliers to achieve sustainability goals, and at the top of the list (linking nicely to the world cc and MIT reports are to include sustainability goals in contracts, and to ensure those goals are measured in performance scorecards.

The list is largely as you’d expect, (linking business to performance etc, but an area I thought was very low was the access to better payment terms for improved sustainability performance (65). Not clear if this is linked to organisations ability to offer those terms, but it does seem like an opportunity missed.

In a nod to the MIT Study earlier, only 16% of organizations are actively reducing Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and another 27% state that conflicting priorities hinder suppliers from prioritizing efforts to reduce their emissions.

CIPS Professional Challenges

A couple of interesting articles from the revamped CIPS communication platform this month. First Dr John Glen discusses the forces shaping procurement and supply in 2024, including:

Geopolitical Flashpoints (Mid East, Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine

Supply Chain Changes – Logistics falling, reshoring increasing.

Inflation & Interest rates

Slow growth

In the second article, a survey of the CIPS member base identified the challenges keeping procurement up at night. Apart from the above there was also

Sustainability

Workload

SRM & Contract Management

Procurement Leaders Compass 2024

My read of the month for this month.

This report looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities procurement could encounter not just next year, but over the next five years and beyond. It’s a little bit of a future focussed report that poses several what if questions…

What if Gen AI becomes as used as spreadsheets are – Report suggests that Gen AI market value could be $36Bn by 2028 and that market intelligence is recognised as having the biggest impact from AI

What if regulators clamp down on AI – See the recent issues surrounding open AI!

What if globalisation goes in reverse (ie will reshoring/nearshoring/regionalisation continue the current trends). Global trade has basically plateaued (and in fact shown a decline) since 2008. The biggest barrier to the reshaping of supply chains is cost (45%) but as other reports have noted (Deloitte reshoring article last month) these cost prohibitors are shrinking to almost nothing.

What if Economic turbulence erodes enthusiasm for ESG – As discussed in the MIT report earlier, the one area that did slow down the ESG impetus was the Economic realities of 2023.

All in all, a great report one that asks some great questions, and gets you thinking about future strategies and the impacts on procurement.

State of Flux Annual Survey 2023

This is the 14^th iteration of the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) study, and it paints an interesting picture. The report starts of by stating that many organisations haven’t progressed in the maturity of their SRM programs (if in fact they have them) which is an issue as according to the report 50% of their workforce isn’t employed by them, but by their suppliers.

There’s lots of good case studies and thought leadership in the report, and for those wanting to know more the first half of the paper is dedicated to those studies and thought leadership.

“Feedback received during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that many organisations who believed they were a customer of choice found out they were mistaken.”

The second half looks at the actual data from the study, segmented into the 6 pillars of SRM. Headline stats include:

Value: 87% believe improved risk management is a key deliverable from SRM programs with 75% reporting measurable (non-financial) benefits. 42% have seen measurable financial benefits of cost reduction programs through SRM.

Engagement¨55% of organisations gather supplier feedback by ad hoc conversations.

Governance: 22% of companies use 3^rd party supplier due diligence services. 89% segment their suppliers on business criticality.

People: 69% of leaders have a dedicated supplier management role and 83% of leaders have developed specific competencies for supplier management. 52% identified that SRM sits in centralised procurement functions.

Technology: 80% of leaders have dedicated contract management system. 76% identified improved supplier performance as a benefit from using technology with 62% identify the centralise supplier information as a key problem they are looking for technology to solve.

Collaboration: 92% of leaders use 360 collaboration assessments, and 72% of leaders report improved levels of trust from collaborative relationships.

SSON Accounts Payable

This report which echoes in many stats the findings from the ardent partners state of AP report from last month, in detailing the opportunity for greater efficiency from AP. The lens is slightly different with a shared services context but shares a similar output that the automation and maturity within many could be improved.

59% do not have a designated owner for end to end P2P

78% identified increased speed of processing and cycle time reduction as a top benefit of automation and 56% cited exception handling as the biggest barrier from AP delivering on their brief. (This was also identified as the activity that will be prioritising in terms of automation next).

Suppliers identified PDF as preferred method of invoice submission (though how automated this allows the process to be is interesting and the report makes the point that this will be due to the low levels of automation.

40% identified E invoicing as a technology planned to be implemented in the next 2 years, with budget (56% and competing priorities (54%) being the biggest barrier.

Amazon State of Procurement 2024

A pretty comprehensive study. Pulling out some interesting stats:

95% stated that their org has to outsource procurement activities to third parties. With 72% stating that strategic activities are the ones they outsource

53% state their procurement budgets will increase in 2024.

Top internal challenge is complexity in process/systems and external is costs.

86% cite retaining and developing talent is a top priority with 84% stating attracting new talent.

36% want to invest in tools or tech to increase efficiency.

Beroe – Digital Procurement Survey

Beroe conducted a survey on the digital procurement landscape within its community of members.

53% identified that the demand for cost reduction and greater efficiency is the main driver of innovation in procurement, with technology being 2^nd at 22%, which is supported by recent technological innovations in the procurement sector are perceived to have most significantly improved the efficiency of processes, as reported by 44% of respondents.

28% expressing concerns about the integration of new technologies with existing systems and training and change management pose challenges for 24% of respondents, highlighting the importance of addressing the human factor in technology adoption.

The survey reveals diverse interests within the procurement community regarding the exploration of new digital solutions., AI-enabled Market/Supplier/Commodity Intelligence, Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), and Spend Analysis each garnered the interest of 10% of respondents. AI-driven insights and data-driven decision-making are evidently key areas of focus.

Additionally, Tendering/RFP and Contracting attract 9% and 7%, respectively, showcasing the importance placed on optimizing procurement processes.

PWC CEO Survey

In this the 26^th (wow!) annual global CEO Survey, over 4000 respondents identified some top areas for organisations to consider.

Surprising no one, Inflation and macro uncertainty is the biggest threat over next 12 months but recedes over next 5 years (40/31 to 29/28)

Cost cutting is the order of the day with 52% stating cutting operating costs, but only 16% stating reducing workforce.

48% identified increasing investments in cyber security and 46% identified adjusting supply chains (reshoring/nearshoring) in response to global conflicts.

76% investing in automation of processes and systems, 69% deploying cloud and AI and other advanced tech.

As always reach out to discuss more, links to the reports are included and always happy to hear your thoughts!

SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management - Key Innovations 2402 Release

2024-01-26T18:31:59.702000+01:00

In 2023, significant attention was directed towards enhancing the invoice incoming channels to tackle key challenges faced by the accounts payable department. As discussed in a previous blog post, key innovations such as the integration of SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management with SAP Business Network, Invoice file extraction from emails and utilizing APIs for structured data inbound were pivotal in addressing the challenges posed by inbound channels.

Looking ahead to 2024, SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management is set to enhance its capabilities in handling and processing invoices. The journey begins in Q1 of 2024 with the introduction of two key innovations in 2402 release:

Request for Information Workflow: In the Manage Supplier Invoices Centrally app, a new feature empowers users with the required access to send a work item to one or more company employees, soliciting information about a specific invoice. This feature's activation can be managed through the Manage Processing Services app in the newly added Request for Information About Supplier Invoices section.

Lab Preview

New Invoice Activity Log Function: Within the Manage Supplier Invoices Centrally app, the newly added Invoice Activity Log button offers an overview of changes made to a supplier invoice during initial creation and manual modifications by users.

Additionally, it's worth noting that SAP Central Invoice Management has been rebranded as SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management to ensure consistency with other products, a change facilitated by SAP Product Management.

As the year progresses, 2024 promises further innovations in invoice processing. Two major advancements outlined in SAP's roadmap for the year include:

Basic Workflow for Invoice Approval or Rejection: This innovation enables users to approve or reject an invoice within SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management. Upon approval, the process triggers the outbound interface to post the invoice against the SAP backend ERP.

Lab Preview

Three-way Matching Against Purchase Order and Goods Receipt: This innovation aims to optimize the accounts payable process, mitigate risks, and ensure precise and timely payment processing by implementing a three-way matching system against purchase orders and goods receipts.

Lab Preview

At SAP, we continuously strive to improve and simplify the invoice management process to enhance efficiency and accuracy for our customers.

Additionally, I would like to invite you to explore our previous blogs that showcase the exciting innovations introduced in SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management.

By following my profile, you can stay informed about future releases and updates on SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management. Don’t miss out on the latest advancements that can revolutionize your financial processes.

For more information on SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management, check out the following links:

SAP Procurement Release Readiness Community for release information
Help Portal Product Page for SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management
Intelligent Spend Management Community

2402 Early Release Series for SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network releases

2024-01-26T19:21:48.669000+01:00

SAP strives to equip our customers and partners with valuable release readiness resources for each SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network quarterly release.

Early Release Series

The SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network Early Release series of webcasts cover features planned for the upcoming quarterly release. This platform, available to customers and partners, has a clear mission: deliver an interactive forum to engage with SAP product experts providing simple, direct answers to your most pressing questions. There is a different session for each product area with content tailored for the specific audience:

Source-to-Contract
Procure-to-Pay
Supplier Management & Risk
Business Network

If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts, we encourage you to participate in these informative sessions. Register now!

Quarterly Release Communications

The release calendar for SAP Business Network and release calendar SAP Ariba Applications, on SAP Ariba Connect, identify release timing several quarters in advance.

Notice of upcoming quarterly releases will be communicated to Buyer customers three weeks prior to the release date. Suppliers receive notice two weeks prior. Releases are communicated via email notification (look for subject line starting with: Advance Release Notice).

Designated Support Contacts (DSC) and anyone from your organization that have chosen to subscribe to product notifications will receive these announcements.

Where to find out more details?

On demand replays of webcasts from completed quarterly releases can be consumed from SAP Ariba Connect.

AI in SAP Ariba Invoicing - Intelligent Invoice Conversion

2024-01-30T13:53:47.321000+01:00

Introduction

Invoicing can be said to be the most crucial part of the overall Procurement process. It forms the basis of payment to Suppliers. For large businesses, the volume can easily run into hundreds each day. We have been having various scanning & OCR (Optical Character Recognition) solutions to automate the process. Even SAP Ariba has been supporting this with PDF Invoicing and ICS solutions. It involved utilizing partner solutions, OCR tools, or ICS to extract, review & validate the invoice data & creating an electronic version of it. More details on the overall Invoicing process & various ways of entering Invoice in Ariba can be found in this Blog Post - Invoicing in SAP Ariba.

With 2311 Release of SAP Business Network, we now have a very helpful solution called 'Intelligent Invoice Conversion'. This new solution is available and supported alongside the existing Buyer driven 'PDF Invoice' solution available through a 3rd Party Partner. 'Intelligent Invoice Conversion' solution is supplier-configured, independent of their buyers. Supplier can follow the intuitive interface in SAP Business Network (earlier Ariba Network) to upload a typical Invoice template and adjust the automatically suggested system mapping from image to invoice fields and complete the template setup. Once done, Supplier can start with upload of actual Invoice files/images. Electronic Invoices are created from Supplier side and transmitted further to Buyer in the usual way. Suppliers have visibility into the process & conversion status using the workbench tiles and draft review. Overall, it has made the Invoice processing look very simple & in comparison to more complex ways, this is little less than magic only. For quick 2 minutes demo, kindly refer Intelligent Invoice Conversion Overview Video.

This Blog Post attempts to explain the important points to be considered while opting for this solution & the setup process to be done by Supplier. It also provides all relevant links at one place for quick referral with overall aim of promoting this super useful solution.

Basics of Intelligent Invoice Conversion (IIC)

Intelligent Invoice Conversion (IIC) is available as a self-service tool for suppliers, independent of their buyers. It needs no enablement from SAP side. Supplier can configure the solution on their own. It is available with SAP Business Network Commerce Automation, SAP Business Network Commerce Automation, foundation option, SAP Business Network Supplier Portal & SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration.

We will now review the important solution features, prerequisites, limitations & other points to assist in gauging the solution suitability. For more details, kindly refer SAP Help - Support for Intelligent Invoice Conversion.

Important Solution Features

Supplier must have an Enterprise Account.
Standard Invoices are supported.
Both Purchase Order-based Invoices and Non-Purchase Order Invoices are supported.
Supports both Commerce Automation & Ariba Buying & Invoicing flows.
Languages supported are Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish & Swedish.

Prerequisites

Suppliers must have a Test account associated with their Production account.
Suppliers need to establish a trading relationship with their buyers on the SAP Business Network.
Suppliers need to complete the onboarding process in their Test account to set up the invoice conversion template and subsequently publish it to their Production account.
The sample Invoice file for Template can be in PDF format or image format (PNG, JPEG or TIFF).
Each sample file must contain only 1 Invoice.
Sample PDF files should not be password protected.
The size of each sample file should not exceed 50 MB.
The sample file name should not include any of the following characters: &, “, ‘, <, >.

Also, refer this link for more details - Pre-requisites to Enable Intelligence Invoice PDF Conversion in Business Network (also covers 'Production Account' error).

Limitations

The Intelligent Invoice Conversion service is currently only available to Enterprise Suppliers.
Invoices that reference multiple POs are not supported.
Credit memos, line item credit memos, and debit memos are not supported.
Material invoices are supported, but service invoices are not supported.
Currently, only upload of Invoices is supported. Sending Email like in case of PDF Invoicing will be part of future release.
For Invoice files, you can upload a maximum of 10 invoice files at once.

Comparison with existing similar Solutions

Below table provides a comparison between PDF Invoicing, Intelligent Invoice Conversion (IIC) & Central Invoice Management.

PDF Invoicing	Intelligent Invoice Conversion	Central Invoice Management
Enables a Supplier to create digital Invoice in SAP Business Network by sending the Invoice PDF copy to a particular Email ID or by uploading the PDF in Business Network Supplier portal.	Enables a Supplier to create digital Invoice in SAP Business Network by uploading Invoice copy in PDF or image format.	It helps managing Invoices at one place & is based on SAP BTP & uses AI. It provides a platform to manage Invoices from multiple connected systems, such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP ERP systems. It also possess the ability to process Invoice uploaded as PDF.
Supports only PDF format.	Supports both PDF & image formats.	Supports only PDF format.
Supports Email channel also (the PDF file can also be sent directly to a particular Email from where it is automatically processed further).	No Email channel yet.	No Email channel.
Requires buyer enablement and support from SAP / 3rd Party Partner for PDF mapping.	Available as a self-service tool for suppliers, independent of their buyers. Needs no enablement from SAP side.	An accounts payable solution needing buyer enablement. Buyers upload PDF Invoices received from suppliers for conversion using the embedded OCR capability.
Supports both Standard & Enterprise Supplier Accounts.	Currently, only Enterprise Suppliers are supported.	Any Supplier Invoice can be uploaded.

You can also refer to AI Value Calculator for SAP Business Network Invoice Automation. It has a video showing the use of AI Value Calculator that simulates the financial benefits for a company using the artificial intelligence based functionality to automate invoice processing in SAP Business Networks. Actual calculator link is also provided on the page.

Invoice Conversion Process

Intelligent Invoice Conversion introduces a new channel for automating invoice processing through a guided self-service onboarding for suppliers on SAP Business Network. Solution leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for automatically extracting fields in a PDF or image and mapping those to relevant fields in a SAP Business Network Invoice. Data from both the header (e.g., Invoice Number, Invoice Date) and line items (for example, Quantity, Unit Price, Subtotal Amount) is extracted & mapped.

This solution [NP-32948] converts PDFs and image invoice files into SAP Business Network cXML Invoices. It uses Document Information Extraction (DOX) from the SAP AI business services, to bring intelligence into the invoice conversion process, extracting and mapping invoice data automatically. It also provides an intuitive document interface that suppliers can use to build and review annotation rules for extracting complex invoice data. It also leverages the capabilities of SAP Business Network to extract data, validate against the buyer's business rules and enhance the Invoice. Finally, Invoice is sent to the buyer through any of the configured routing end points in the usual way. These features help the buyer minimize errors when receiving invoices, resulting in faster reconciliation & quicker payment for the supplier.

System Setup for Intelligent Invoice Conversion

Enterprise Supplier can setup the Intelligent Invoice Conversion process independently. The overall process can be explained as in figure below.

System Setup Process Flow

System Setup Details

Enterprise Supplier need to follow below process to set up the Intelligent Invoice Conversion solution. You can also refer this video for Setup Demo. The process starts with Enterprise Supplier logging into SAP Business Network with link supplier.ariba.com.

Kindly note that if you are trying this in TDD (Test, Demo & Development) environment with a Commerce Automation flow, you may face this Error - 'You cannot login to view documents using a non-standalone test account. Please use an Ariba Network standalone test account'. Kindly refer Support Note KB0404410 for more details. Vendor Upload File (VUF) can be tried to overcome this error. Please refer Notes 165807 & 194276 for more details on VUF.

For setup, the path to follow is: 'Account settings' at top right > Settings > Electronic Invoice Routing > PDF Invoices > Setup Template. Invoice Conversion Template represents the layout & data of your Invoice file. It is used to process invoices that match a specific template, extracting the invoice data and converting it into SAP Business Network cXML invoices. It is recommended to start with Default template. Custom template can be used later once the process with Default template is established. Custom template is used for the Buyer who has custom fields incorporated in the Invoice.

4 Steps are involved with setup of Template:

Upload sample files
Activate template
Test template
Publish to production

4 Steps in Template Setup

1. Upload sample files

Sample file can either be PDF or image format (PNG, JPEG or TIFF). Each file must contain only one invoice. Make sure that sample files for a specific template have a consistent layout. While the number of line items can vary in each sample file, the structure of the invoice data should remain similar. Each sample file must be unique & should not contain the same data. It is recommended to upload at least 2 files. The sample file name should not include any of the following characters: &, “, ‘, <, >. Kindly refer below screen shot from system for more details.

Sample File Upload Requirements

Once valid sample file is loaded, the Status changed to 'Uploaded' as seen in screen below.

Sample file Uploaded

2. Activate template

To activate a template, you need to annotate the sample file, associate it with the template & then 'Activate template'. Annotations are used to map the invoice data in your PDF or (scanned) paper invoice documents to the available out-of-the-box invoice fields. When an invoice is uploaded, the matching template with annotations is used to convert the invoice data into the SAP Business Network cXML invoice format.

Activate Template

Use path Action > Review and Annotate > a new Tab is opened where you can annotate (map fields). Kindly note that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine maps the fields on its own. We need to verify & change as needed. To change the default mapping, click Edit (top right) > then click on particular Field. Click on blue highlighted Field on image to map (or change existing) to Standard Invoice field. Use options 'Next Page' & 'Line Items' for further mapping.

Annotation

Field assignment during Annotation (1)

Field assignment during Annotation (2)

You can use 'Value' on image or Line Item 1 (right side) to edit text and map accordingly. Save the changes once done. You can also download the mapping as csv/json/text file. Note that the Status on original page has now changed from 'Pending annotation' to 'Pending association'. Next, 'Associate with template' & then 'Activate template'.

3. Test template

Next step is to test the Template with 'Start testing'. On next screen, select Buyer & upload Invoice file for testing (Browse, select file & Upload). You can use same file as for Template and edit the values as needed for new Invoice to be posted.

Test templateOnce uploaded, you receive message - Your invoice files were uploaded successfully. You can view the converted invoices or upload more files. Click 'View invoice conversions'. You can find the Invoice under tile 'Draft PDF invoices for review'. Use 'Actions' to 'Edit Draft'. Review the Invoice in UI and edit the fields as needed (especially the Invoice number, quantity, date, Tax %, etc.). You can also use the option of 'View original invoice' to compare UI values with the file loaded. Check the data for any errors. Finally, verify details and click 'Submit'. You see that the Invoice is posted with Routing Status as 'Acknowledged' and Invoice status as 'Sent'. On Buyer side, Invoice can now be seen posted against the PO. Note that Buyer can see the Invoice Submission Method as 'SupplierICS'.

Edit Draft Invoice

Note: While submitting Invoice on UI, you may receive error 'This buyer does not allow attachments for invoices'. This happens if the Buyer has not set the 'Default Transaction Rules' to allow supplier to submit Invoice with attachments. The uploaded invoice file gets attached to UI Invoice by default. You can delete the attachment if Buyer has no plan to allow Invoice attachments. It is recommended to talk to Buyer to set the rule.

Default Transaction Rule for Invoice Attachments

Default Transaction Rules > General Invoice Rules - Allow suppliers to send invoice attachments. Once done, you get 2 more options, select one as appropriate.

4. Publish to production

We can continue to test further or if satisfied with testing, can publish the template to production. For this, Supplier now goes back to Template ('Account settings' at top right > Settings > Electronic Invoice Routing > PDF Invoices) and select checkbox 'The template is ready to be published to production.' and click 'Publish to production'.

Publish to production

Status of template remains 'Publishing to production' for some time and then changes to 'Published to production'.

Transactional Invoice Upload & further Configuration

Supplier can now see that under 'More Actions' (…), the new option of 'PDF Invoice' is available (if not already using the earlier PDF Invoicing solution). This 'PDF Invoice' option can now be used to upload transactional Invoices using Intelligent Invoice Conversion solution.

Further Configuration

Once the overall process is refined & stabilized, the uploaded Invoices can be configured to be posted directly without manual intervention. 'Configuration' option (PDF Invoices > Invoice conversion templates) can be used for the same.

Auto Submission & Notifications

At same place, notifications for one or more Email IDs can be configured in case invoice conversion fails, status of template changes or when invoice is ready for manual submission.

Conclusion

Intelligent Invoice Conversion solution is a big step in optimizing the Invoicing process further. It is yet another example of how AI can simplify & bring efficiency to business processes. Requesting all to explore & embrace this innovation. Here is the consolidated list of important resources for quick referral.

Note: Kindly refer 'Comments' for updates to the Blog Post. Also requesting all to enter Comments if you have anything to add further which can be helpful to all.

INTELLIGENT INVOICE CONVERSION(IIC)

2024-02-13T08:58:48.855000+01:00

Introduction:

Intelligent invoice conversion is a feature introduced by SAP to help suppliers to upload PDF and scanned invoice conversion service. For Intelligent Invoice conversion to work the supplier should have an enterprise account and have both test Supplier account as well as the Production supplier account. The buyer needs to have a Trading relationship (TRR) established with both the test account and Production supplier account.

Working Procedure

If the supplier creates the invoice directly in the Ariba business network production account, there is a scope for error, hence, to mitigate this the supplier will have to create a invoice template in the Test account and then test the invoice creation, once satisfied with the outcome the supplier can transfer the template to Production account and then upload the required invoices in production account.

Read the below steps for detailed understanding to setup Intelligent invoice conversion (PDF Invoicing)

Step 1: Login to Supplier.ariba.com and create a Supplier account by clicking register now

Enter all the required details and create a Production account and the switch to Test account.

Note: To Test Intelligent Invoice conversion it is a pre-requisite for a supplier to have both production account and Test account without this Intelligent Invoice Conversion will not work

Step 2: The test account and the Production account should be converted to an Enterprise account, only suppliers with enterprise account will be able to use intelligent invoice conversion.

Switch To test Account to Setup the template for Intelligent Invoice conversion

Step 3: Main the TTR in buyer portal, please note do not maintain TRR through Quick enablement or directly maintaining it in buyer portal, make use of vendor upload CSV file, the file is in the Assets & Initiative folder> Demo System preparation>Intelligent Invoice conversion.

If Step 3 is not followed and you use Quick enablement, then you will encounter the following error

Step 4: To See the IIC please follow the below steps, Test Supplier account>Settings>Electronic invoice routing>Pdf Invoice

The Ariba business network will not provide a standard template but allows the supplier to create a template and upload invoices with similar structure

Test Case for PO and NON-PO invoice

PO based invoice:

PO Sent from SAP system to Ariba network

Step 1: Login to test Supplier account>Setting>Electronic invoice routing> PDF invoicing and set up Template

Step 2: Upload a sample File as a template , Supplier can use any invoice that is present currently with him to define the template and later upload similar invoices

Step 3: activate the template and select annotation, in this step the system uses AI to capture all the required details from the invoice. Once the supplier is satisfied with the annotation they can select save.

Step 4: Test the template by uploading the Invoice file.

Once the Upload file is selected a mail will be generated to supplier account

Step 5: Once the invoice is added in Intelligent invoice conversion then we can review and see Invoice

The invoice created in sap system is in parked status in SAP S/4 system.

NON-PO Invoice

As the Template is already set, we need not perform steps related to setting up the template the PDF invoice can be uploaded directly

Select Create >PDF Invoice.

Browse and Upload the required invoice

Once the invoice is in the draft stage , we can submit the final version after cross cheching if any issues persists

Once the Supplier is convinced with the process, they can publish the template to production and then upload the Invoice in production.

This below Snapshot is in the production system

Conclusion: With AI getting introduced to Upload and review PDF invoice in Ariba , the task of the supplier reduces considerably in uploading invoices paving the way for much smoother transactions .

Consume Ariba APIs using Postman

2024-04-15T22:31:24.149000+02:00

What is an API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It's groups a set of rules, protocols, and tools that allows different software applications to communicate with each other.

APIs disposes of methods and data formats that developers can use to interact with a particular software component or service.

APIs can be seen as messengers that can get or set data and, in the process, takes, process and return information.

APIs are used extensively in software development to enable different systems to work together, access each other's functionality, and share data securely and efficiently.

SAP Ariba APIs

Ariba REST APIs are constantly being developed and improved by SAP Solution Team, available for consumers and developers in https://developer.ariba.com/api.

In this portal, it's possible to identify all available APIs based on their respective fronts of operation, which vary depending on the SAP Ariba solution:

Business Network
Catalog
General
Procurement
Strategic Sourcing
Supplier Management

The portal also provides information regarding each API: the description of its purpose, mandatory and optional parameters, call URLs, Standard Rate Limits, as well as all necessary documentation for its consumption. Besides, all the documents and information can also be found in: SAP Ariba APIs | SAP Help Portal.

It's also important to mention that while many Ariba APIs are currently available for consumption, it doesn't guarantee that all the necessary information will be readily accessible. Some fields and data may not be included in the available APIs, so it's crucial to conduct an analysis before implementing the API in a real-world scenario (in ABAP, BTP, CPI, etc.).

In such cases, leveraging Postman calls can be beneficial for this initial check as a complement to the documentation.

Consuming Ariba API using Postman

Prerequisites:

Postman app installed;
Customer must have "OAuth Client Id", "OAuth Secret", "Base64 Encoded Client and Secret" and "Application Key" related to the API to be consumed – since this data is crucial for the process since they control the security of each call.

That information must be provided to you by the Customer’s Administrator.

But, in the case where a customer hasn’t requested or has never used this API before, some steps are needed:

Admin must create an Application for the API in Ariba Developer Portal (https://developer.ariba.com/api)

Click in Submit button.
The application will be created (the Application Key will be already generated by the system):

In the upper menu button, click in Actions > Ask your admin to request API access

Choose:

The API you want to consume (for this example, Master Data)
The tenant it’s applied for (for this example, Procurement)
The customer realm

Click in Submit button and this step will be completed:

When the entire process and approvals are completed, you should have all the necessary information for consuming the API. This is how the workflow should look like:

Steps to call API using Postman

Enter in the Ariba Develop Portal and access the API to be consumed.

Along with the provided documentation, you can also download the Swagger* for this API.

(*Swagger simplifies the process consuming RESTful APIs, making it easier for developers to understand and work with APIs effectively, working with a pre-built expected project that can be simply imported in Postman, for example)

Download the API Spec (Swagger).

Open Postman app and import the Swagger

A popup will be opened. Click in Upload Files:

Search for the downloaded Swagger in your local directory and click in Import:

The project will be imported in Postman:

Check the Collection in the left side of Postman:

Authorization / Access Token
1. What is Access Token

Before consuming the API, it’s necessary to get the Access Token for it.

Basically, it’s a credential that represents the authorization of a specific user/call to access resources on a specific server. When a user or application wants to access an API, they typically need to authenticate themselves to ensure that they have the authorization to get/change any data related to the process encoded by the API.

Access tokens usually have a limited lifespan and may need to be refreshed periodically to maintain the access available.

There are several methods for generating this token, each demonstrating a different approach. There's no difference between them in terms of results, but the choice will depend on personal criteria for usage.

If you want to generate the token with:
1. ClientID and ClientSecret > Then use grant_type = client_credentials
2. oAuthbase64 > Then use grant_type = openapi_2lo

This difference will be demonstrated visually in the next steps

Creating “Access Token” call in Postman

Create a New Folder in your API Collection. Name it as “Authorization”:

Create a “Request” inside the Authorization folder:

Now, add the token URL available in the Ariba Develop Portal and complement it with /v2/oauth/token

Postman Request must look like:

Now, here is where it should be decided which token option is going to be used (1-By Client ID and Secret or 2-By oAuthBase64)

OPTION 1 = By Client ID and Client Secret

In Postman, select “Params” tab and set:

grant_type = client_credentials

client_id = <your client ID>

client_secret = <your client secret>

OPTION 2 = By oAuth64

In Postman, select “Params” tab and set:

grant_type = openapi_2lo

In “Headers” tab, set:

Content-Type = application/json

Authorization = Basic XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (your oAuthbase64)

For both options the result must be the same: the token must be returned

Consume API

It is possible for an API to contain multiple endpoints, each performing different actions. For example, within a "Customers API," you might find one endpoint for querying data, another for retrieving addresses, and yet another for updating values for a specific customer.

The same applies to Ariba APIs. Both in the portal and in the imported Swagger, various consumption possibilities of the API are available. It is up to the analyst and the client to determine what best fits the business needs.

In this example of Master Data API, notice that three different endpoints are available:

For demonstration purpose only, we are going to consume the first endpoint: GET ENTITY TYPES

Open the folder related to the endpoint and click in the request

Click in “Auth” tab and select the option “Bearer Token”

Insert the token retrieved in the previous step

In Ariba Develop Portal, check all the obligatory fields expected for this endpoint:

If needed, complement the Postman project with any parameter missing. Also, insert the Application Key (API Key) and the customer realm:

After, click in “Send” button. This action will trigger the request to the server.
If all the information is provided correctly, the API will return the response in the Body along with the data:

I hope it helps everyone!

Regards

2405 Early Release Series for SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network releases

2024-04-16T01:41:44.382000+02:00

Sign up now for the 2405 Early Release Series

Follow this blog to receive notification of new series as soon as registration opens.

SAP strives to equip our customers and partners with valuable release readiness resources for each SAP Procurement and SAP Business Network quarterly release.

Early Release Series

Supplier Management & Risk
Procure-to-Pay
Source-to-Contract
Business Network

If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts, we encourage you to participate in these informative sessions. Register now!

Quarterly Release Communications

The release calendar for SAP Business Network and release calendar SAP Ariba Applications, on SAP Ariba Connect, identify release timing several quarters in advance.

Designated Support Contacts (DSC) and anyone from your organization that have chosen to subscribe to product notifications will receive these announcements.

Where to find out more details?

On demand replays of webcasts from completed quarterly releases can be consumed from SAP Ariba Connect.

Creating a Digital Thread: Streamlining Price Compliance with SAP Ariba

2024-05-07T09:27:30.807000+02:00

Price compliance is a key priority for procurement organizations. SAP Ariba Procurement offers features to ensure organizations make purchases at negotiated prices and terms. Integration between sourcing, contracts, purchase orders, and invoices is essential for adhering to negotiated prices throughout the procurement process. This blog explores how SAP Ariba products start that digital thread that creates a strong linkage for price compliance.

In our previous blog, we discussed sourcing principles for creating a fair and equitable marketplace. We recommend creating events with line items to begin price compliance. While it may seem easier to send suppliers RFPs via Excel or Outlook, line items in Sourcing offer more than you might realize.

Integration of line item details can occur at various stages post-award, directly from Sourcing to your ERP, from your Contract to ERP, from Contract to Ariba Catalog, or from Contract to Invoice. Integration depends on the integrations you enable and the buy channel that supports the goods or services requested.

SAP Ariba products integrate as a suite from S2P, and have seamless integrates to support buying from within your SAP ERP systems and the SAP Business Network, offering several benefits:

Consistency and accuracy across procurement processes.
Reduced manual effort and minimized errors.
Efficient tracking and monitoring of price compliance metrics.
Enhanced visibility into procurement spend and contract utilization.

To optimize price compliance, organizations should:

Analyze historic spend data for opportunities in buy channel efficacy.
Understand robust data integration between SAP Ariba products and SAP ERP systems.
Conduct regular audits and reconciliation of line items across procurement documents.
Provide training and guidance for procurement teams on maintaining price compliance for various buy channels.

Now that you have your Line Items ready to Award in Guided Sourcing, let’s review the various options for compliance:

Line Items in Sourcing: In SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing, line items capture detailed information about products/services, quantities, and negotiated prices. Integration with SAP ERP updates Purchase Info Records, automatically populating purchase orders and reducing errors. Next, let’s review how Ariba Contract Compliance can ensure compliance.

Transferring Price Compliance From Contracts: SAP Ariba Contracts integrates with SAP ERP to transfer price information from sourcing events to contract documents. Contract Line Items Document (CLID) aligns with sourcing line items, ensuring consistent pricing and terms, streamlining contract creation in SAP ERP.

If you would like to purchase from SAP Ariba, the Contract Terms document can create a Catalog Item for users to create POs from. Let’s review some options for Contract Compliance through Ariba Catalogs or Invoices:

Contract Terms: Integration with Purchase Orders: After a supplier is chosen in SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing, line item details go to the Contract Workspace for operationalization. Users can create an operational Contract Terms document to ensure price compliance in purchase orders. This can create a catalog item in Ariba to create a PO that complies with the terms of the contract!

For other types of contracts, it may make more sense to simply allow suppliers to submit an invoice against the contract terms. Let’s talk about Invoice against contract next.

Contract Terms: Ensuring Compliance in Invoices: Contracts can be created to ensure compliance with recurring spend without a PO. Invoices reconcile line items against the Contract Terms, detecting discrepancies and enforcing adherence to negotiated prices. This works well with services that need to happen and the time for creation and approval of a PO is not possible. These Contract Terms can allow the supplier to invoice against the contract without a PO.

SAP Ariba Suite Integration with or without ERP integration can transfer agreed upon pricing and terms from Sourcing to Contracts to Buying to Invoicing and ensure procurement objectives are achieved. SAP Ariba products offer the tools and features needed to build a solid base for price compliance, promoting accuracy, efficiency, and transparency across the procurement process.

For further discussion on enhancing your price compliance using these integration methods, please reach out to your CSP, who will connect you with the appropriate SAP resource.