SAP Ariba Customer Resource Page 2018: Supplier Management

Additional Monthly Readiness Resources

Q&A Session Responses

Q&A Session Presentation

Q&A Session Replay

Apps/Network Release Guides

SAP Ariba Customer Readiness Resources 2018 Releases:

supplier management

This page includes a list of features delivered in the 2018 calendar year for SAP Ariba supplier management customers. Detailed information on all features can be found in the release guides and other documentation located on SAP Ariba Connect. Supplemental knowledge transfer materials are available for some features. Click the play or PDF icons to access the materials.

For additional information on the monthly release model, see the About Release Readiness link on the Release Readiness tile of SAP Ariba Connect.


December
Inherent Risk based on pre-grading of inherent risk screening responses This feature introduces support for pre-grading the engagement request inherent risk screening questionnaire in control-based engagement risk assessment projects.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk

November
Inherent risk based on engagement commodity or service criticality This feature introduces the ability to rate the inherent risk of an engagement based on its commodities.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Residual risk based on severity and probability This feature introduces the ability to identify the residual risk for control-based supplier engagement risk assessment projects based on the probability and severity of their associated issues.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Ability to upload risk control status for suppliers This feature introduces the ability to import data on control effectiveness or ineffectiveness for specific suppliers for use in SAP Ariba Supplier Risk control-based engagement risk assessment projects.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk

October
Report exports without the need for ActiveX controls SAP Ariba Contracts used a legacy technology - ActiveX control to export reports and contract Authoring. ActiveX dependency for contract authoring was removed in the Q2, 2017 release. With this release, ActiveX dependency for reports exports will be removed as well.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Risk score terminology updated to risk exposure "Risk score" labels are being updated and now referred to "Risk exposure."	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Enhanced engagement risk management with controls framework This feature introduces the next generation of supplier or third-party engagement risk assessment project framework. It applies the commodity, region, and department to which the engagement applies to determine the organizational and regulatory risk controls necessary to assess and mitigate the potential risk involved with a supplier or third-party engagement. It automatically identifies the required stakeholders to complete the controls, provides visibility and traceability to the controls, and integrates issue management to assess and resolve any risks that are identified during the process.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk

September
Third party financial provider integration into Supplier Risk Supplier Risk now has the ability to integrate with third party financial providers to provide a more complete view of the risk exposure of monitored suppliers.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Template upgrade for modular supplier management questionnaires This feature introduces the ability to upgrade existing modular supplier management (SM) projects that were created with previous template versions to the latest published template version. The SM administrator can manage the upgrade process by selecting groups of suppliers impacted by the template change for each of the previous template versions, by triggering the template upgrade, and sending an automatic notification to the primary contact at each supplier.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

August
Tax component for supplier management questionnaires This feature introduces a new answer type, Tax, for questions in supplier management questionnaires. Tax component questions include a set of customer-configured country-specific fields for Tax ID details. Now, instead of adding individual Tax ID questions to a supplier management questionnaire for all of the Tax IDs applicable to each country, you can simply add a tax question.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

July
Issue tracking and remediation - configurable content and approval workflows This release enhances the existing Issue Management document by establishing a structured framework to follow your issue management process in 5 phases with out-of-the-box tasks embedded in each phase.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Point based scoring on engagement risk project Point based scoring introduces a way to award / pre-grade each response with a number of points and adds all the pre-grades together to calculate the final score.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Bank component for supplier management questionnaires This feature introduces a new answer type, Bank Account, for questions in supplier management questionnaires. Bank Account questions include a set of predefined fields for collecting bank details. Now, instead of adding individual questions to a supplier management questionnaire for each bank detail field, you can simply add a Bank Account question.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
SLP bi-directional integration to SAP using SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG) Integration through SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG) will enable SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle & Performance (SLP) to be integrated bi-directionally with ECC or MDG-s.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

June
Modular supplier management questionnaire This feature introduces a new type of supplier management questionnaire for collecting information from suppliers in modular units, providing buyers flexibility to create standalone questionnaires that can be applied for multiple categories, regions, and business units.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Customer-configurable duplicate check in supplier requests This feature adds a new questionnaire attribute "Enable Duplicate Check" which includes the question response as part of the duplicate check performed during the supplier request process.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Support for business unit-specific notifications in supplier request process This feature supports business unit-specific notifications to suppliers and approvers in the supplier request workflow. The supplier can chose the business unit it wants to submit its self registration request to, which sends the review/approval notification to the reviewer associated with the approval workflow for that business unit.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

May
Supplier risk adverse media feedback Adds the ability for a user to capture feedback for a specific risk alert, by selecting one or multiple feedback options. This feedback is then submitted back to the associated content provider(s) to influence how they capture/classify their risk events. In addition, this feedback is triggers automatic adjustment of the scoring model (e.g. if the user marks a risk alert as irrelevant, that specific alert will be removed from the suppliers risk calculation in real time).	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Manual ERP synchronization group for supplier management This release introduces a new user group SM Manual ERP Sync for which the ERP sync button is shown when the manual ERP sync configuration is selected, and which can therefore initiate initial sync.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Template upgrade for supplier registration This feature introduces the ability to upgrade existing supplier registration projects that were created with previous template versions to the latest published template version. The SM administrator can manage the upgrade process by selecting groups of suppliers impacted by the template change for each of the previous template versions, by triggering the template upgrade, and sending an automatic notification to the primary contact at each supplier.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
External approval API for Sourcing and Supplier Management This feature introduces a new API to process external approvals for tasks in Sourcing, Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, and Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture). It adds a new task type “external approval task” inside a questionnaire, which once activated is set to “pending” and placed in a processing queue that can be queried via the API by an external system.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Supplier certificate management Supplier certificate management leverages modular questionnaires to collect supplier certificates, including meta data like certificate expiration date. A modular certificate questionnaire has its own approval workflow and lifecycle state, and can generate external and internal notifications before expiration. All collected certificates are displayed in the supplier 360 profile view under the certificate tab, and show the associated qualification status. In addition, supplier search has been enhanced with filters for certificate type, status and expiration date.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

April
Suppler Lifecycle and Performance: Supplier Invitation Improvements This feature introduces several improvements to the supplier invitation process: Sourcing and SLP invitations are buyer-branded. Sourcing and SLP invitations sent to named supplier contact Sourcing and SLP invitation includes the buyer's deadline. Supplier sees reason for request for additional email in in email Denial email includes buyer's contact information (email distribution list)	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

March
Open API - Supplier Management Questionnaire Data This feature introduces a new API as part of the SAP Ariba Open API Framework that enables customer to query Ariba SLP for questionnaire data, including question ID, question label, response/value, and mapped technical database field.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
SLP bi-directional vendor replication with S/4HANA On Premise Business Partner webservice integration is available natively in SLP, supporting either direct or mediated connectivity (i.e. via SAP PI or similar middleware). This release includes the validation of bi-directional replication of vendor master data using the Business Partner web services between SAP Ariba SLP and SAP S/4HANA on premise 1610.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Repeatable Section for Supplier Questionnaire This features adds the ability to organize one or more questions in a repeatable section, which - when send in a questionnaire to a supplier - allows the supplier to respond to the entire section multiple times. The buyer can review the submitted information sets in an easy-to-read tabular view. As part of the integration to ERP, SLP maps all response sets to the repeatable section dynamically to the SOAP message. Note: Repeatable section is only supported in supplier facing questionnaires.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Supplier Management Migration Tools; Auto-Migration This feature enhances existing migration tools by supporting automatic migration of supplier organizations, supplier users and SPQ data from strategic sourcing application into the new architecture of supplier management (Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, or Supplier Information & Performance Management).	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

February
Inherent Risk Scoring on the Engagement Request This feature introduces the ability to use inherent risk ratings based on engagement request scores to drive risk assessment recommendations in supplier or 3rd party engagement risk assessments projects.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk
Enhanced supplier self-registration; dedicated registration template This enhancement to the supplier self-registration feature adds a dedicated registration template to the self-registration process.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)

January
Editability conditions in supplier management questionnaires Adds a new condition type for a question in a questionnaire to disallow editing of a response when the condition is met. For example allow editing only when registration status is Invited.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Multiple category/region/BU selection in supplier search Enhances search with ability to make multiple selections of Categories/Regions/BUs.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Associating descriptive answers with codes in supplier management questionnaires Adds capability to associate descriptive answers with codes as part of answer options (list of choices), and only persist the code (as identified via a pair of code delimiters) from the selected option(s) in the vendor master table.	Mandatory	SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management (new architecture)
Ability to skip 'Send assessments' phase when no risk assessments are required For scenarios when an engagement request does not require risk assessments, system will be able to automatically skip the task 'Send assessments'. Customers will be able to configure a parameter to select whether they still want to go through the 'Send assessments' phase in case when no risk assessments are required.	Optional	SAP Ariba Supplier Risk