I can see that Ariba has two options, one on the Order that says "Resend to Supplier", while the other is one is found on Manage -> Purchase Orders, the button is under the search results and says "Send Orders to SAP Business Network".

• What's the difference between these two buttons in terms of functionality?
• What do they actually do?
• When to use them?

These two buttons offer two separate and unrelated functions on Ariba, this FAQ will provide a quick comparison between the use cases and requirements of each.

Send Orders to SAP Business Network:

Use case:

This is for manual orders that were created before a supplier was enabled on SAP Business Network, now that the supplier is enabled, you need to get these orders to the suppliers using the SAP Business Network.

Requirements:

• The user must be in one of the groups: Procurement Manager, Purchasing Manager, and Purchasing Administrator.
• The order doesn't exist on AN previously, meaning that previous Ordering Method for the order was manual.

For the last one, you can easily check the History, the Order should be in Ordered status and the History should show that it was only sent to the ERP. No entry about being sent to AN.

Limitations:

• Only the latest version of the order can be sent, in case there are more than one versions (change order).
• Only works when the new preferred ordering method is URL, not with email.

Procedure:

1. On the dashboard, Click on Manage.
2. From the drop down menu select Purchase Orders.
3. Use the search filters to find the order/s that you want to send to AN.
   • There's an option to show only the Orders that can be sent to AN.
   • To use that, set Show orders that can be sent to SAP Business Network to Yes.
4. Use the tick-boxes to select the order/s that you need to be sent to AN.
5. Click Send Orders to SAP Business Network.

Resend to Supplier:

Use case:

The supplier loses the email to the order, or doesn't receive the email for any reason (goes to spam, server down, wrong email, deletes the email accidentally, etc.).

Requirements:

• Supplier's preferred ordering method should be Email or Online.
• The user initiating the action should be the Requester (on the Requisition). Or,
• The user must be in one of the groups Resend Purchase Order or Purchasing Agent.

Limitations:

• The order must be in Ordered status.
• The order shouldn't be received or partially received.

Procedure:

1. Open the Order.
2. Click on Resend to Supplier. This will open a resend window.
3. You can enter an additional email for the supplier, this is optional.
4. Enter a comment justifying the action.
5. The comment can be set to be visible to supplier, this is optional.
6. Click OK.

For more information regarding the "Send Orders to SAP Business Network" functionality, please refer to this Link.

For more information regarding the "Resend to Supplier" functionality, please refer to this Link.

Purchasing