---
article_id: KB0393216
article_type: FAQ
component_ids:
  - BNS-ARI-CP-CORE-SM
  - BNS-ARI-CP-CORE-UM
component_descriptions:
  - Core Procurement > Core Administration > Core Administration Supplier Management
  - Core Procurement > Core Administration > Core Administration User Management
products:
  - SAP Ariba Procurement, cloud edition
personas:
  - Admin
  - Buyer
language: en
created: 2025-05-28
updated: 2026-04-15
source: Knowledge Base
url: https://support.ariba.com/item/view/KB0393216
connect_url: https://support.ariba.com/item/view/KB0393216?min=1
sap_for_me_url: https://me.sap.com/notes/KB0393216
---

# Error: "Error: Your user account on the customer's punchin site is pending approval"

## Symptom

One of my suppliers sees the following error when punching into our SAP Ariba Buying solution from their account on the SAP Business Network:

Error: Your user account on the customer's punchin site is pending approval. Try again later.

## Cause

One of the following apply:

- You have not approved the supplier's User Profile (UP) request that was automatically generated in your SAP Ariba Buying solution
- The shared user or partitioned user is inactive for the associated supplier
- The supplier user in your SAP Ariba Buying solution application is missing the appropriate user groups

## Resolution

First, sign in to your SAP Ariba Buying solution, and search for and approve any UP requests for the supplier user.

Next, ensure the shared user associated with the supplier is present and active.  
You must first hide the **Type** filter from the user search screen:

1. Sign in to your SAP Ariba Buying solution
2. Click **Manage** > **Core Administration**
3. Click **User Manager** > **Users**
4. Click **Add/Remove Search Filters**
5. Uncheck **Type**
6. Click **OK**

Then, search for the supplier:

1. Set the **Active:** search filter to **Either**
2. Set **Business Email Address:** to the supplier's email
3. Click **Search**
4. Click **Actions** > **Activate** next to any inactive users, and make note of any user IDs in this step

Next, ensure the supplier user has the necessary groups assigned to them:

1. Click **Actions** > **Edit**
2. Click **Groups**
3. Ensure they have the group **Supplier Invoice Entry User**.  
   If they don't, add it to the user and click **Save**.

Finally, check if the partitioned user is active for the supplier user:

1. Sign in to your SAP Ariba Buying solution
2. Click **Manage** > **Core Administration**
3. Click **User Manager** > **Other User Info**
4. Set **User ID:** to one of the IDs, you obtained earlier
5. Click **Search**

If you do not get any results, you must activate the partitioned user via the data import task **Import User Data (consolidated file)**.