How do I configure guided buying?

What do I need to have in place to enable guided buying?

With guided buying, users outside your organization's procurement department have one place to search for goods and services, and they can make purchases with little to no involvement from the procurement department.

Before you begin to configure guided buying, make sure an administrator has configured the following areas in your SAP Ariba cloud solutions:

• Approval processes (video tutorial)
  
• (Optional) spot buy capability
• Catalogs
• Commodity codes (video tutorial)
  
• Regions
• Purchasing units
• Suppliers
• Users and groups

Find out more about regions and suppliers in the following videos:

• Preferred and Qualified Suppliers with SLP
• Preferred and Qualified Suppliers without SLP

If you're ready to configure guided buying, you need to belong to either the Customer Administrator or Customer Catalog Manager group in your SAP Ariba buying solution in order to access the Guided Buying Administration page. All the below steps are managed from the Administration page, which can be accessed by choosing Admin from the menu in the upper left corner in guided buying.

You can start by setting up data related to your polices. There are three main steps related to policies to consider for guided buying:

• Set up Validation Policies: You configure validation policies to make sure users follow your internal procedures when making purchases. You can configure policy errors and warnings related to different scenarios that occur during the creation of a request. Check out this video tutorial for additional details.
  
• Configure Supplier and Touch Policies: You configure supplier and touch policies to determine how much procurement department involvement is necessary for a certain purchases, based on amount and category of purchase. You don't need to configure supplier and touch policies if you don't plan to request quotes from suppliers.
• Import translations for your Policies: Add translations for the titles and messages for your validation policies and supplier and touch policies in order to support users in multiple languages. Here's a video tutorial to learn more.

In order to get started with all the above policies click Policies > Manage Policies.

Once you have set up your policies, you can continue following these high-level steps to get your organization ready to use guided buying:

1. Design request forms and customized ad hoc forms: In the forms builder within guided buying, you can design forms that capture user input in order request quotes from suppliers. You can also build forms that add custom fields to the standard ad hoc request page. To get started, click Forms > Manage Forms. See the following videos for additional help:
   
   • Forms Builder Walkthrough
   • Line Item Form
   • Forms Builder Basic Configuration
2. Load branding and landing page images: You load your organization's logo and a search banner image to customize and brand your guided buying site. You also import custom images for tiles on landing pages. Users click these images to find the goods or services they need. To get started, click Images > Upload Images.
3. Set up landing pages: You create landing pages to make the buying process easier for casual users and for functional buyers who make purchases in specific categories, such as marketing, facilities, or IT. Guided buying supports four hierarchy levels for landing pages. To get started, click Landing Pages > Upload landing. See the following videos to learn more:
   
   • Introducing the landing page designer
   • What is the landing page designer?
   • How to add components with the landing page designer
4. Import translations for landing pages: Add translations for the titles and descriptions of your landing pages and tiles in order to support users in multiple languages. To get started, click Translations > Upload Translations.
5. Review the guided buying parameter settings: You review and update the guided buying parameters in order to define how certain processes work in guided buying. A member of the SAP Ariba Delivery Services team typically configures your parameters. To get started, click Parameters > Manage Parameters.

For more information on the specific steps to configure your guided buying site, see Guided buying administration, which is available by going to Help > Help Center in your SAP Ariba buying solution.

Guided Buying > Guided Buying Administration > Landing Pages
Guided Buying > Guided Buying Administration > Policies
Purchasing > Custom Forms