Is SAP Ariba replacing SAP SRM?

[Former Member]

Hi,

My consultant company has received a question / task from a potential customer, and they need help to look through their current procurement process. The aim is to streamline it, and if possible use fewer steps / tools in total.

What they currently do is:

- work with Request for Quotes to suppliers both in their SAP SRM system, SAP ECC and a separate web portal tool.

- their suppliers connect to the web portal, creating Quotes back and also some updates to the masterdata of the products as the initial RFQ is quote vague in terms of details.

- once a Quote is accepted, the company (i.e customer in this case) creates relevant documents both in SRM and SAP ECC.

As I struggle to figure out what SAP Ariba actually works best for, here are some questions:

- as the company will relatively soon have to implement SAP S/4HANA, would one proposal be to scrap SRM and the third party / external web portal? And replace SRM and the web portal with SAP Ariba + S/4HANA?

- as it's super important that the suppliers of the company can log into a "tool" provided by the customer (that's why they today have the external web portal they've created themselves), can suppliers use SAP Ariba through a web browser? They need to see any RFQ's that link to them, be able to respond (either with "no" or a quote") and also provide the customer with more specifics about the Product.

- if the Quote from the supplier is something the customer wants to proceed with, where does the Purchase Order get created? Ariba or S/4?

Many thanks in advance for any specific guidance and comments!

Kind regards,

Susanne

[Former Member]

Some further questions, based on the characteristics of this customer's specifics!

Can S/4 and Ariba handle this type of process:
- the buyer at the customer will create a Request for Quote for a "red wine from Italy". The RFQ is fairly generic, and lacks any further specifications. Currently the buyer does this in SRM, and that is transferred to the external web portal where the suppliers see it and respond.
- the supplier that wants to place a quote or bid to this RFQ fills in more details and creates more specific masterdata linked to their Quote. They specify the price, the name of the vineyard, the size of the bottle, the alcohol % etc, of the wine that they're able to supply. This is all currently handled in the external web portal , and the masterdata for the product and the supplier is separatelt also managed in SRM (by the buyer).
- so in summary: can S/4 and Ariba handle this type of procurement flow, where not all masterdata is available at the start of the process?

[laurent_burtaire · Accepted solution]

Hello Susanne,

here below my answers to your questions:

as the company will relatively soon have to implement SAP S/4HANA, would one proposal be to scrap SRM and the third party / external web portal? And replace SRM and the web portal with SAP Ariba + S/4HANA?

> yes, this is the classical landscape.

as it's super important that the suppliers of the company can log into a "tool" provided by the customer (that's why they today have the external web portal they've created themselves), can suppliers use SAP Ariba through a web browser?

> Suppliers connect to Ariba through Ariba Network.

if the Quote from the supplier is something the customer wants to proceed with, where does the Purchase Order get created? Ariba or S/4?

> This will depend on the scenario you follow.

so in summary: can S/4 and Ariba handle this type of procurement flow, where not all masterdata is available at the start of the process?

> Do not understand your point: which kind of master data cannot be available in both systems?

For more informations, have a look at SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway overview guide

Regards.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Laurent,

Thanks for your reply! Here's some more info regarding the masterdata that you asked about.

- The first Request for Quote to the suppliers are for a very generic Product: as I wrote in my first comment the RFQ would be made for "red wine from Italy". The RFQ is fairly generic, and lacks any further specifications. So the product in the initial RFQ is lacking a lot of info the the material masterdata.

- The Quote coming back from the supplier will include a lot more specifics about the product they want to sell: they specify the price, the name of the vineyard, the size of the bottle, the alcohol % etc, of the wine that they're able to supply. This is currently all handled in the 3rd party webtool, and manually updated in the material master in SRM and ERP.

So essentially I wonder how a RFQ process could work when the material master isn't "complete" in the start of the process.

All the best,

Susanne

[laurent_burtaire · Accepted solution]

Hello Susanne,

based on your comments, i assum supplier Quotation sends customer specific data to your SRM system: those data are not stored into standard fields.

If i am correct, as this is a specific process, it could not be covered by SAP Ariba standard.

Nevertheless, could it be done through specific process berween Ariba and SRM?

I cannot answer to this question.

On SRM side, being an on-premice solution, sure it can be done.

But for a Cloud solution, only the editor (here Ariba) can give you the answer.

Regards.

Laurent