Ariba Buyer™

Procurement User
Guide
Release 9r1
Document Version 11
March 2013
Copyright © 1996–2013 Ariba, Inc. All rights reserved.

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9r1a.0217.en
Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Using the Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
About Catalog Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About PunchOut Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
About Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Finding and Viewing Catalog Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Searching the Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Refining Your Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Returning to the Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Retaining Catalog Search Refinements After Leaving the Results Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Comparing Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Saving Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Working with Catalog Favorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Working with Partial Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Working with PunchOut Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2 Working with Complex Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Introduction to Complex Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Collaboration Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
About Open Bidding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Approval Phases in Collaborative Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Collaboration Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
About Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Creating and Working with Collaborative Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Creating a Collaborative Requisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Editing a Collaborative Requisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Collaboration Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Quick Enablement Collaboration Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
About Quick Enablement Collaboration Request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Using Quick Enablement Collaboration Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Working with Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Contractor Time Tracking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Do Not Hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Performance Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Working with Time Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Working with Expense Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide iii

Table of Contents

Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating Purchase Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Creating the Requisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Adding Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adding Non-Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Viewing Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Editing Line Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using Split Accounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Submitting Purchase Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Editing a Requisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Working with Imported Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Changing and Canceling Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Copying Requisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

About the Purchase Order Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Quick Enablement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
About the Change and Cancel Order Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Changing Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Considerations About Canceling Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Canceling Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Working with Multiple Orders From a Single Requisition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Change and Cancel Order Process Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Closing Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Force Order and Force Cancel Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Forcing Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Forcing Cancellation of Orders or Payment Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
About Order Fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Viewing Order Fulfillment Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Chapter 5 Receiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
About Receiving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
About the Manual Receiving Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
About Automatic Receiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Receipt Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Receiving Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Searching for the Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Creating the Receipt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Editing Receipts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Approving Receipts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 6 Using Purchasing Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

About the Purchasing Card Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Working with Unassigned Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Assigning Charges to Purchase Orders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Reconciling Charges as Non-Purchase-Order Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Reconciling Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Matching Charges to Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Working With Adjustment Line Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Resolving PCCR Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Resolving Invalid Accounting Information Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

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Chapter 7 Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
About Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Running Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Report Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Charges (Old) Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Charges Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Contractor Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Global Catalog Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Operational Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Order Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Receiving Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Requisition Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

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Table of Contents

vi Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide

Chapter 1 Using the Catalog

• “Overview” on page 7
• “Finding and Viewing Catalog Items” on page 11

Overview
Your catalog contains items available from the various suppliers with whom your company has negotiated
purchasing relationships. In some cases, links in the catalog let you punch out directly to a supplier’s Web
site to add items to your shopping cart.

A typical catalog home page might look as follows:

By default, a category-oriented view of the catalog page is displayed. Click the Suppliers link in the Browse By
field in the upper right corner to display a supplier-oriented overview of your catalog:

Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide 7

Overview Chapter 1 Using the Catalog

Click Categories to switch back to the category-oriented view.

The category-oriented view displays PunchOut items and sub-categories, with a limit of four items per
category. If a category has more than four items, only three items are displayed along with a More ... link.
Click this link to view the complete list. The PunchOut items are displayed at the top of the list, followed by
the sub-categories. Item counts are displayed against a category or against sub-categories. Categories that
have only PunchOut items do not have a total count displayed alongside. Categories with both PunchOut
items and non-PunchOut items display the total count alongside.

For more information on PunchOut items, see “About PunchOut Items” on page 9.

You have various options to find items. For example, you can search the catalog using the Search feature and
Search Options in the search bar. You can narrow your search by supplier from the left panel. Or you can
find items from your favorite item list. If you want to buy items that are associated with a contract, you can
find those items or suppliers though the Contract pull-down menu in the left panel.

For more information, see “Finding and Viewing Catalog Items” on page 11

About Catalog Kits

Catalog kits are items in your application’s catalog that are bundled together into one unit, for example, a
number of items that are always ordered for new employees. When you order from the catalog, you order a
kit as one item. However, they might appear in the requisition as a list of separate items.

Items in a kit can be configured to be required or optional. You can delete optional items after adding the kit
to your requisition, if you do not need them.

If items are configured as kit-only items, they can only be ordered in a kit, and cannot be ordered separately.

You can copy a catalog kit, and you can copy a line item in a kit if it is not defined as a kit-only item.

8 Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide

Chapter 1 Using the Catalog Overview

About PunchOut Items

Punching out means being guided to the supplier web site to order items. When you return from the
supplier’s site, the items you added appear in your requisition. PunchOut items differ from non-PunchOut
items in that the non-PunchOut items are items in your locally created and maintained catalog (local catalog
items). For non-PunchOut items, you do not transfer to a supplier web site.

Various supplier sites will have differing flows when it comes to adding PunchOut items, but all will allow
you to shop for items and return to your requisition.

The items that involve punchout are indicated with small arrows in front of the item name. For example:

Your catalog might be configured for store level PunchOut. In this case, you do your searching and selection
of items on the supplier’s web site.

Or your catalog might be configured so that if you searched the catalog for a particular item, and items
matching the search are in a supplier’s PunchOut catalog, you can view the supplier’s PunchOut catalog to
see store, aisle, shelf or item level results that represent different granularity in item grouping for browsing:

Catalog items that are configured for item level PunchOut are identified with a Buy from Supplier button on
the catalog search result page. When you click the button, you punch out to the supplier’s web site to place
your order there:

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Overview Chapter 1 Using the Catalog

PunchOut Catalog Restrictions

Your company has agreements with suppliers to receive discounts and special prices when you order items
from the suppliers’ PunchOut catalogs. If you decide to make changes to PunchOut items in your order, you
must return to the suppliers’ web sites to do so, since your changes might affect the discounts or special
pricing applied to the final orders. Deleting PunchOut items can also affect the final costs of your orders.

The actions you can take on PunchOut items previously added to a request depend on how the supplier has
configured its PunchOut catalog. For example, you can return to a PunchOut catalog to edit and delete items
if the supplier has enabled those actions, or you might only be able to view descriptions of the items.

You are not allowed to copy items from a supplier’s PunchOut Catalog that you have previously added to a
request because the price or other information might have changed since you initially added the items. When
you want to add new PunchOut items or modify existing ones, you return to the supplier’s site to update the
information in your request.

You cannot copy an individual PunchOut item to add it to an order.

If you copy a request that contains PunchOut items, a copy of your original request is created and any
PunchOut line items from the copy are omitted.

About Contracts
Note: This functionality is only available if Ariba Contract Compliance is installed on your system.

10 Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide

Chapter 1 Using the Catalog Finding and Viewing Catalog Items

When you create a requisition, you can select a contract or blanket purchase order to associate with your
purchase. When you select a contract, the items available to add to your requisition are limited to those items
covered by the contract. The contract might cover specific items, or, as in the case of a blanket purchase
order, might cover items from a specific supplier.

You can also use contracts as a refinement criteria when you search for items. In this case, after you have
searched for items, you can select a contract to view the items governed by a contract.

If you do not manually apply a contract to your purchase, and you select items that are associated with a
contract, the contract terms are applied automatically when you add the item to the requisition.

W To select a contract:
1 In the Contract search area on the left hand panel, click the selection arrow:

2 Select a contract or blanket purchase order from the list, or click Search for more to select a different
document.

Finding and Viewing Catalog Items

• “Searching the Catalog” on page 11
• “Refining Your Search” on page 13
• “Returning to the Search Results” on page 14
• “Comparing Items” on page 15
• “Saving Searches” on page 15
• “Working with Catalog Favorites” on page 16
• “Working with Partial Items” on page 19
• “Working with PunchOut Items” on page 20

Searching the Catalog

The search function contains two fields. The one on the left is a category menu, where you can narrow your
search by pre-defined categories, and the field on the right allows you to enter specific text strings to search.
For example, you might search the Computers and IT Equipment category and filter the search with the
string ergonomic keyboard.

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W To search your catalog:

1 Use the category menu to select a specific category, or select All Categories if you are not sure which
category to search.
2 If you want to narrow the search within a category or all categories, enter a search string in the text box
next to the category pull-down menu. It takes from 3 to 200 characters and uses them to match against
item names and descriptions.
3 Click Search.

When you enter a partial string (a stem), you engage wildcard searching for anything containing with those
characters. For example, the string bat would return things like bat (baseball), batter (pancake), battery, and
so forth. Any punctuation in search strings is treated as white space. This includes punctuation marks like
commas, dashes, parentheses, and quotes, as well as special characters like asterisks and percent signs.

If you added a search string such as ergonomic keyboard, the result might look like the following sample:

Notes: (Refer to numbered callouts, above.)

1 Items found shows the total number of results returned.

2 Your search path displays the hierarchy of catalog pages. Click any of the links in the trail to move to a
different level of the hierarchy.
3 Sort By allows you to sort by different criteria. This setting is retained between searches.
• Relevance places the items with the best or most complete string match near the top.
• Price places the least expensive items closer to the top.
• Best Selling places the ones that have sold the most closer to the top.
• Name sorts the list alphabetically by name.

4 View toggles the display between the details view, shown above, and the Thumbnails view. This setting is
retained between searches.

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5 Options enables you to search by supplier or manufacturer part number, to save the current search criteria
or execute a saved search. If you select Supplier Part #, the search bar expands and the Supplier Part #
search field appears. If you also select Manufacturer Part #, that field appears also, as shown below.

Refining Your Search

If your search has results, the left-hand panel contains links you can use to refine the results of your search
further based on keywords, category, supplier, manufacturer, price, associated contracts, or favorite items.
When you refine a search, the number of items found is updated.

Example: Suppose your search for an ergonomic keyboard resulted in 50 items found. You can then refine
your search results using the criteria in the left hand panel, for example by selecting a price range. If you still
get too many items, you can further refine your results, for example by supplier. If you need to go back to a
previous page to use different refining criteria, click on the links in Your search path to move to a previous
level in your search hierarchy.

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Returning to the Search Results

You can return to the catalog search results from a requisition you are editing to add more items by setting
appropriate preferences. You use either the Add from catalog... button, or the Back to Catalog button for this. By
default, clicking either of these buttons returns you to the catalog home page. Changing the Show
Navigation Panel preference allows you to use them to return to the catalog search results.

W To enable navigation from a requisition to the search results:

1 From the Preferences drop down, select Reset default preferences.

2 In the Reset Default Preferences page, select the check box for the Show Navigation Panel preference.

3 Click OK to save the new setting.

Retaining Catalog Search Refinements After Leaving the Results Page

(This information applies to users on Service Pack 24 or higher only.)

You can retain catalog search refinements and searches when you return to the catalog search results page
after leaving the page by resetting the appropriate preference. By default, leaving the search results page will
clear any catalog refinements and searches. Changing the Remember catalog search refinements when
adding items to the requisition cart preference allows you to retain the catalog search refinements.

W To enable retention of the catalog search refinements:

1 From the Preferences drop down, select Reset default preferences.

2 In the Reset Default Preferences page, select the check box for the Remember catalog search
refinements when adding items to the requisition cart preference.
3 Click OK to save the new setting.

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Comparing Items
You can compare two or more items side by side to quickly review the attributes of those items you are
interested in purchasing. This might be helpful, for example, if you need to decide how to prioritize an item’s
price and lead time against other possible alternatives.

W To compare two or more items:

1 On the catalog search result page, click the check boxes for items you want to compare.

2 Click Compare to display the items side by side for your comparison.

3 Click Add to Cart to add them to the requisition or Done to return to the catalog search result page.

Saving Searches
W To save the current search:
1 Click the Search Options link.
2 Under Saved Searches, click Save Catalog Search.

3 Enter the name for your search in the Search Name field, and click Save. Your search will subsequently
appear in Saved searches under the Options link.

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Working with Catalog Favorites

This section discusses the various processes associated with catalog favorites. If you plan to order an item
frequently, you can add that item to your favorites list. You can then quickly search for your favorite items
from the left hand panel and add them to your requisition.

Favorite items are organized in folders. You select the items you are interested in by selecting the folder
which contains items that you have added as your favorite. Depending on your group membership, favorite
folders can also be made public, so that you can share your list of favorite items with other users in the
system.

If you search for favorite items in your favorite item folder on the catalog home page, Ariba Buyer displays
all items in that folder. If you first search on items using the search options on the search bar, or you select
items by supplier from the left hand panel, and you then select a favorite items folder, your favorite items act
as a refinement to our previous search.

Example: Suppose you have a favorite folder with three items from three different suppliers. On the catalog
home page, you click on one of the suppliers on the left hand panel. The catalog results page displays all
items from the catalog for that supplier. If you then select items from your favorite folder, you are refining
your search to only display the one favorite item for that supplier.

W To add an item to your favorites list:

1 On the catalog page for an item, you can add single or multiple items:

• To add a single item, click the Add to Favorites link for that item.
• To add multiple items, select the check box for each item, then click the Add to Favorites link at the top
or bottom of the list.

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2 From either link, the Add to Favorites menu appears.

3 Click Add to add the item to your default favorites folder. A star appears to the right of Add to Favorites to
designate this item as a favorite. To view the newly assigned favorite, in the left-hand panel of the search
results page, in the Favorites pull-down menu, choose My Default Folder. Your newly assigned favorite
appears.
Click Add To Folders to add the item to a specific folder. See “To add an item to a specific folder:” on
page 17 for more information.
See “To organize your favorite items and folders:” on page 18 for information on how to organize your
favorite item folders.

W To search for items using favorites:

1 On the left hand panel, expand the Favorites drop-down menu.

2 Click the favorite item folder. If an item’s description or price has changed after it was added as a favorite,
it is updated with current information when you add it to the requisition.

W To add an item to a specific folder:

1 From the Add to Favorites link, click Add to Folders. The Add Favorites to Folders page appears.

2 Select the check box for the folder to which you want to add the item, then click Add. To return to the Add
Items page without saving changes, click Cancel.

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W To add a new favorites folder:

1 On the Add Favorites to Folders page, click New Folder. The Add New Favorites to Folders page appears.

2 Enter a name for the folder, for instance, Simple Business Cards.

3 To make the folder and its content available to other users, select the check box in the Public column.
If you make the folder public, click the select link in the Public To Groups column to select the groups to
which you want to make the folder available.
To let other groups add items to the folder, select the check box in the Public Add column.
To let other groups delete items from the folder, select the check box in the Public Delete column.
4 Click OK to create the new folder and add the favorite to it. To return to the Add Favorites to Folders page
without creating any new folders, click Cancel.

W To organize your favorite items and folders:

1 From the Add to Favorites link, click Organize Favorites. The Organize Favorites page appears:

2 To move an item from one folder to another, drag the item from its current location to its new folder. For
instance, drag Business Cards into Fancy Business Cards.
3 To expand or collapse a folder, click the arrow next to the folder name.

4 To delete an item or folder, select its check box, then click Delete.

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5 To edit a folder, select its check box, then click Edit Folders. The Edit Favorites Folders page appears.

To change the name of a folder, you enter the new text over the selected name of the folder, for instance,
Fancy Business Cards could become Exquisite Business Cards.
To enter a new name for the folder, you enter the text over the NewFolder string, for instance Mundane
Business Cards.
Only the user who created the folder has access. Check the appropriate boxes to add public access.
(You must belong to the Purchasing Agent group in order to set the public check boxes.)
• Public – Gives access to all users.
• Public to Groups – Displays a selection box to choose groups that are allowed access.
• Public Add – Allows the public users to Add to this folder, but not delete.
• Public Delete – Allows the public users to delete from this folder, but not to add.

To disallow the placement of a favorite in a folder whose name you have changed, deselect the check box
for the favorite, for instance Business Cards.
6 Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to discard the changes and return to the Organize Favorites page.

7 Click Done to return to your catalog search result page.

Working with Partial Items

A partial item is a catalog item for which you must provide additional information after adding the item to
your cart.

Temporary labor is an example of a partial item. When you first display temporary labor items in your
catalog, little detailed information appears for those items.

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After you add a partial item to your cart, you must specify additional information about that item.

For example, with temporary labor, you need to add information such as the rate of pay, the date
employment begins, the job title, and any specific skills required.

Working with PunchOut Items

Adding PunchOut Items

Depending on your catalog configuration, you either search your local catalog for items and then punch out
to the supplier’s web site to add the item to your order (Buy from Supplier), or you punch out to the
supplier’s web site to search for items on their site. What you see on the supplier’s web site depends on the
supplier, but when you have selected your item(s), added them to the supplier’s shopping cart, and checked
them out, the selected items are returned to your Ariba application. For more information on punching out,
see “About PunchOut Items” on page 9.

Notes:
• When punched out to a supplier’s site, you can click Close Punchout Catalog Shopping Session in the upper
right of the page to exit the supplier site without adding an item to your requisition.

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• You cannot add multiple PunchOut items to your shopping cart in one transaction. However, depending
on how your catalog is configured, you may be able to shop for multiple items on the supplier’s web site.

Editing and Deleting PunchOut Items

A request must have the status of Composing before you can delete PunchOut items. If the request has been
submitted for approval, withdraw it to return it to the Composing status, and then delete the PunchOut items.

Deleting PunchOut items can affect the cost of other PunchOut items. For example, if you order two items
with an agreement that if you buy one you get the second at a 50% discount, and then you delete one, the
cost of the other item must be calculated differently.

If you want to delete only a portion of the PunchOut items from a supplier, you need to do that from the
supplier’s web site. If you want to delete all items from a supplier, you can do that from Ariba Buyer.

W To delete all PunchOut items:

To delete all PunchOut items from a supplier, go to the Shopping Cart or requisition Summary page and
select the check box for all items from that supplier, then click Delete. A confirmation message is not issued
before the items are deleted.

W To delete selected PunchOut items:

On the Shopping Cart or requisition Summary page, click the check box for the item you want to delete,
then click Delete. On the Delete Line Item page, click:
• Delete to delete all items from this supplier
• Edit to punch out to the supplier’s web site where you can delete selected items from your shopping cart.
• Cancel to cancel the action and return to your shopping cart.

Editing PunchOut Items

Your company has agreements with suppliers for discounts on items from the suppliers’ catalogs. To change
PunchOut items in your shopping cart or requisition, you must return to the suppliers’ web site, since
changes may affect the discounts applied to the final orders.

W To edit PunchOut items:

1 On the Shopping Cart or requisition Summary page, click the check box for the item you want to edit and
click Edit.
2 On the item review page, click Edit in the ‘Edit this PunchOut catalog item’ link.

3 Make your changes on the supplier’s web site.

Note: You edit information for PunchOut items that does not impact the cost of your order, such as
accounting and shipping information, in Ariba Buyer. See “Editing Line Items” on page 51 for more
information.

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Chapter 2 Working with Complex Categories

• “Introduction to Complex Categories” on page 23

• “Creating and Working with Collaborative Requisitions” on page 27
• “The Collaboration Phase” on page 32
• “Quick Enablement Collaboration Request” on page 34
• “Working with Contractors” on page 36

Note: Information in this chapter only applies if Ariba Category Procurement is installed and configured on
your system.

Introduction to Complex Categories

Complex category items are catalog items that are controlled by a category definition. The category
definition, or category, allows your administrator to specify fixed, negotiable, or maximum values, groups,
policies, and other settings to govern the procurement of specific types of line items, such as consulting
services, temp labor, print services, and others. The category also specifies extra fields to display for that line
item.

Your administrator can also configure items to require collaboration with a supplier to define the details of
the item before an order can be placed. Collaboration can be configured for any item controlled by a
category.

This section includes the following topics:

• “The Collaboration Process” on page 23
• “About Open Bidding” on page 24
• “Approval Phases in Collaborative Requisitions” on page 25
• “The Collaboration Team” on page 26
• “About Milestones” on page 27

The Collaboration Process

When you add a collaborative item to a requisition, and submit the requisition during the collaboration
portion of the approval flow, a collaboration request is created for each invited supplier on that item, and
then sent to them on the Ariba Supplier Network. A supplier views the collaboration request in their Inbox
on Ariba SN, reviews the details, and responds either by declining the request or by submitting a proposal,
which contains the details of how they will fill the request. For example, if the line item is for a contractor to
work as a temporary administrative assistant, the supplier’s proposal might contain the names of proposed
candidates, their resumes, and hourly rates.

After suppliers submit their proposals, you review them on the Collaboration tab of the requisition in your
application. You can further negotiate a proposal or send questions to the suppliers using the message screen
on the Collaboration tab. Suppliers can send messages back and respond with additional or amended
proposals.

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When a proposal is satisfactory, you can accept that proposal. The remaining proposals are automatically
rejected. If all line items on the proposal have the Allow Partial Acceptance property set to Yes in the
category definition, you can accept individual line items instead of the entire proposal. The information from
the accepted proposal is merged into the requisition, and the requisition is sent for final approvals before the
purchase order is generated and sent to the supplier.

If a requisition contains one or more collaborative items, all items on the requisition must wait for
collaboration to end before the requisition goes through final approval and the purchase orders are generated.
Therefore, if you need to order time-sensitive items that are not collaborative, you should always order them
on a separate requisition from the collaborative items.

The status flow of a collaborative requisition is like a regular requisition, except that it includes two extra
statuses:
• Collaborating, which occurs during the collaboration phase
• Collaboration Completed, which occurs when collaboration ends and the requisition goes on to final
approvals.

Note: Category items can be configured to control who is allowed certain actions, such as limiting who can
end the collaboration, or who can invite additional suppliers at various stages of the collaboration process.
See the Ariba Category Procurement Implementation Guide for more information.

Re-collaboration
After collaborative line items have been merged into a requisition and before the requisition is submitted for
approval, it is possible to redo the collaboration process.

The re-collaboration feature is supported for both requisitions (before a requisition is fully approved) and
change orders (after an order is sent), and requires that you have the necessary permissions for editing the
approvable. The Re-collaborate field in the user interface is only visible if collaboration previously has taken
place.

When the collaboration process is launched again, an entry is added to the History tab, indicating the
previously-accepted collaboration was unaccepted and re-collaboration has started.

When re-collaborating, the list of invited suppliers is the same as the initial list. You can change the list of
invited suppliers for re-collaboration. For example, you can remove a supplier that has previously been
required.

When working with a change-order item that is part of the original order, you cannot change the list of
invited suppliers. You can only re-collaborate with the selected supplier, who has already received an order.
Also, for labor items on the original order, you cannot change the candidate and selected-candidate lists.

About Open Bidding

When collaborating with suppliers, you can set up an open bidding process in which competing suppliers see
certain information about each other’s proposals, helping you drive down the purchase price.

The collaboration process is essentially a bidding process: a collaboration request you send to a supplier is a
bidding invitation, and a proposal a supplier submits in response to the request is a bid. Any counter proposal
you submit is also considered as a bid on behalf of a supplier. Bids are made in response to line items on the
original requisition.

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Bidding Information (Per Item)

The following bidding information can be made visible to suppliers:
• Lowest Amount: The lowest amount (sum of all line items) of all bids in the same bidding session. If
more than one bid has the same low amount, the one that was submitted first is considered the lowest.
• Price: The line-item price in the lowest bid.
• Lowest Supplier: The name of the supplier with the lowest bid.
• Proposal Rank: The relative position of a bid among all others in the same session.
• Supplier Rank: The relative position of a supplier among all others in the same session.

Multiple Choices in a Bid

Temporary labor items can have more than one contractor candidate entered in a proposal. If there are more
than one candidate in a proposal, the candidate with the lowest rate is selected when calculating the bid
ranking.

Bidding Transparency
You set bidding transparency when you create a collaborative requisition. Transparency determines how
much bidding information is available to the supplier. Setting the transparency involves choosing a bidding
type, which impacts the available bidding properties.

A bidding type encapsulates bidding property fields in a single object. Frequently-used sets of bidding
properties can be preset and saved as named objects, so that future setup is a simple “select” operation.

There are three kinds of bidding types:

Bidding Type Description

System Configured at the site level, and available to all users.

In the default configuration, the following system bidding types are provided. Your site may be
configured with additional or different bidding types:
• Closed: No bidding fields are visible to the supplier.
• Open - Amount: Lowest Amount and Price are visible to the supplier.
• Open - Amount, Rank: Lowest Amount, Price, Proposal Rank, and Supplier Rank are
visible to the supplier.
• Open - Amount, Rank, Supplier: Lowest Amount, Price, Lowest Supplier, Proposal
Rank, and Supplier Rank are visible to the supplier.

New Created by a user on a per-collaboration (one-time) basis. A new bidding type cannot be reused
in future collaborations.

None Do not make any bidding information available to suppliers.

Approval Phases in Collaborative Requisitions

When a requisition contains a collaborative item, the requisition can have approvers during pre-collaboration
and post-collaboration. When you add approvers to the requisition, you specify the phase in which you want
them to approve the requisition.

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For example, you might want to specify the hiring manager in the pre-collaboration phase to approve the
item before collaboration begins, and then specify the purchasing agent and professional buyer in the
post-collaboration phase so that they can approve the details including the total amount.

The phases are separated by the Begin Collaboration and End Collaboration nodes. When the Begin
Collaboration node is activated (that is, when all required approvers before this node have approved the
requisition), collaboration is launched automatically. When a member of the collaboration team finishes
collaboration, the End Collaboration node automatically approves the requisition so that it can move on to
the next approver(s) in the approval flow. You cannot manually add or delete the Begin Collaboration and
End Collaboration nodes on the approval flow. They are added automatically when the requisition contains
one or more collaborative items.

Note: The first approver after the collaboration is ended may have to edit the requisition to fix validation
errors introduced during the collaboration phase, for example required fields missing from line items added
during collaboration. Ensure that this approver is a member of the appropriate group, or is assigned the
appropriate role or permission that allows them to edit the requisition.

The fact that the first approver after collaboration should have edit requisition permission should be
documented, so that the approver can edit required fields missing from line items added during
collaboration, for example.

If you are authorized to add approvers to the approval flow between the Begin Collaboration node and the
End Collaboration node, those approvers will be added as watchers, since all approval nodes between the
start and end collaboration nodes are always treated as watcher nodes.

The Collaboration Team

Typically, approval rules determine which users are on the collaboration team, but you can also add users to
or delete users from the approval flow just like any other requisition. During collaboration, you add users to
the existing collaboration team. The collaboration team is identified by the users who appear in the approval
flow between the Begin Collaboration and End Collaboration approval nodes. The approval nodes for
collaboration team members are always watcher nodes, and any new approvers added to the collaboration
team are added as watcher nodes.

In the previous illustration, the user Vincent Lo and the role Professional Buyer are on the collaboration
team. The nodes immediately before and after the collaboration team members are the Begin Collaboration
and End Collaboration nodes.

Collaboration team members can:

• View collaborative requisitions.
• Use the commands on the Collaboration tab, including accepting and rejecting proposals, sending
messages to suppliers, and ending collaboration.

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• Receive notifications during the collaboration process. Collaboration team members receive notification
when the requisition goes into collaboration. They can view the requisition by clicking the Collaborating
link on the navigation pane in your application.

If you are not on the collaboration team but can view the requisitions, you can also view the Collaboration
tab and read the collaboration documents. However, you cannot use the commands on the Collaboration tab,
nor do you receive notifications.

About Milestones
A milestone item must first be defined at the category level for it to be available in your catalog. A
milestones is a type of item you can add to a requisition. It usually specifies a set of conditions or
requirements that must be met by a supplier to satisfy the terms of the requisition. The successful completion
of a milestone typically results in a payment to the supplier.

You itemize a milestone by adding individual line items. The items you add to a milestone are for
informational purposes. For example, if you have a three-phase project to outfit an office space, the first
milestone might include items like cubicles and office chairs, the second milestone might include items like
telephones and computers, and the third milestone might include items like white boards and markers. At
each milestone completion date, you can then verify that the appropriate items have been delivered and
installed as agreed.

If you add a labor item during milestone itemization, and that labor item is configured with a candidate, the
candidate portion is not displayed on the milestone itemization page and you cannot add labor items during
milestone itemization. You can only add labor items on order level.

You can itemize a milestone when you create a requisition, or you can have a supplier itemize a milestone
during the collaborative phase. The amount of the milestone is the total amount of the itemized items. You
can only itemize a milestone as the requestor if the item has the setting Collaborate = No. If the setting is
Collaborate = Yes, then it is up to the supplier to itemize the milestone in a proposal.

The milestone item appears on the requisition as a single line item; the itemized items can be viewed in the
line item details. Only the single milestone line item appears on the order generated from the requisition; the
itemized items do not appear on the order. During collaborative invoicing, compliance is enforced for the
total milestone amount, not for the itemized line items.

The Risk Premium field allows you to specify the percentage over what is itemized which the supplier will
be paid if they are able to complete the milestone by the completion date. For example, if all the line items
add up to $1000, and the Risk Premium is 10%, then the total amount paid to the supplier is $1100 if the
milestone was met.

Creating and Working with Collaborative Requisitions

• “Creating a Collaborative Requisition” on page 28

• “Editing a Collaborative Requisition” on page 30
• “Responding to a Proposal From a Supplier” on page 32
• “Revising, Adding or Canceling a Collaboration Request” on page 32

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Creating a Collaborative Requisition

Creating a collaborative requisition includes selecting the items from the catalog, adding and itemizing
milestones, adding approvers, and approving the requisition so that collaboration can begin.

This example uses a Database Administrator.

W To create a collaborative requisition:

1 Locate a collaborative item in your catalog, then click Add to Cart.
The options available for an item vary according to how that item has been configured for your site.
However, the Invited Supplier option is required for all collaborative items.
2 Set the item-specific options as required. For example, set the start and end dates and the pay rate for a
temporary labor item.
3 You can invite additional suppliers to participate in the bidding, or remove suppliers from the list of
participants. In the Invited Suppliers section, click Change.
4 In the Add to Currently Selected list, click the check box for each supplier you want to add.
In the Currently Selected list, clear the check box for each supplier you want to remove. You cannot remove
required suppliers.
5 Click OK.

6 If available, use the Bidding Type menu to select the bid information visible to suppliers. Depending on
how the category definition that controls this item is configured, bidding type may not be a visible field
available for editing, or you may see different bidding type selections:
• None: No bidding type is selected and no fields are visible to the supplier.
• Closed: No bidding fields are visible to the supplier.
• Open - Amount: Lowest Amount and Price are visible to the supplier.
• Open - Amount, Rank: Lowest Amount, Price, Proposal Rank, and Supplier Rank are visible to the
supplier.
• Open - Amount, Rank, Supplier: Lowest Amount, Price, Lowest Supplier, Proposal Rank, and Supplier
Rank are visible to the supplier.
• New: Create a new bidding type for this collaboration request only. Depending on options available to
you, you can select the following bidding properties: Show Lowest Amount, Show Price, Show Lowest
Supplier, Show Rank, Show Supplier Rank, Hide Before First Bid.
If you want to view the options defined for a bidding type, or edit the options for a new bidding type you
created, first click on the bidding type in the Bidding Type pull-down list to display it, and then expand
the pull-down list again and click View/Edit Details ...
7 Click Calculate to update values and compliance information for the item based on the information you
enter.
8 When you have configured all the options for the item, click OK.

9 Add summary and shipping information, and attachments, and enter comments as necessary.

Note: The files you are attaching should be within the specified size limit and of valid file extensions.
An error occurs if you attempt to upload a large file or a file with an invalid extension. Your
administrator defines the valid file extensions and the file size limit.

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You can add other collaborative or non-collaborative items to the requisition at this point, including
milestones (see “Adding Milestones” on page 29). Click Add from Catalog to add a catalog item. Click Add
Non-Catalog Item to add a non catalog item.

You can also edit, copy, and delete items. Click the check box for an item, and then click Edit, Copy, or
Delete to take the desired action.

10 When the requisition is complete, click Submit.

Adding Milestones

W To add a milestone to a requisition:

1 From the requisition Summary tab, click Add from Catalog.

2 In the catalog search field of the Add Items page, enter milestone, then click Search.

3 Click Add to Cart for the milestone item you want.

The options you have to set depend upon how the milestone item has been configured.
For example, the IT Consulting Milestone item lets you enter text for the project description and the
expected deliverables, add attachments, select start and end dates, select the project type and pricing
structure, and select the person you want to verify the milestone.
The Direct Placement Itemize Milestone item lets you select a supplier, choose whether the item is
collaborative, select a completion due date, select the person whom you want to verify the milestone, and
choose whether the milestone can be itemized.
For information about itemizing a milestone, see “Itemizing a Milestone” on page 29.
4 After you have supplied all the necessary information for the milestone item, click OK. The item is
displayed on the Summary tab.

Itemizing a Milestone
Note: Depending on the category configuration for the milestone, you may not be allowed to itemize a
milestone.

W To itemize a milestone:
1 On the Additional Line Items Details page, set the Itemize Milestone option to Yes.
2 In the Itemize Milestone option, click the Itemize link.

3 Click Add from Catalog to add a catalog item to the milestone.

Click Add Non-Catalog Item to add a non-catalog item to the milestone.

4 When you have added all the items you want, click Done. The itemized milestone is displayed on the
Summary tab of the Checkout page.

Adding Approvers

W To add approvers during the creation of a collaborative request:

1 Click the Approval Flow tab.

2 Click Add Approver.

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3 Supply the following information:

For this option... Do this...

Add approver to approval flow Select a user from the list.

Add this approver as Click the radio button for:

Approver to add the user as an approver

Watcher to add the user as a watcher. If you add additional members to

the collaboration team, they are always added as watchers. See “The
Collaboration Team” on page 26 for details.

Provide a reason Enter an explanation of why you are adding the approver.

Add approver to the approval flow as the Click the radio button to add your selections to the sequence of
first or subsequent approver approvers.

Add approver in parallel to the entire Click the radio button to add your selections in parallel rather than in
approval flow sequence.

Approving a Collaborative Requisition

Note: These steps apply only when the requisition is not in the Collaborating state. If it is, then only
members of the collaboration team can accept proposals and proposal line items and finish the collaboration.

W To approve a collaborative requisition:

1 On your home page, in your To Do content area, click the title of a requisition that requires approval.

2 Click Approve.

3 Enter any comments you want to include, then click OK.

Editing a Collaborative Requisition

After collaboration ends, the collaborative items are updated on the requisition with the information from the
collaboration proposals. You can then edit the collaborative items during the final approval phase, or you can
use the change order process if all approvals are complete. Because some information (such as accounting)
cannot be edited during collaboration, you might want to give a post-collaboration approver permission to
edit the requisition in case validation errors occur.

For information on how to edit requests during the collaboration phase, see “Revising, Adding or Canceling
a Collaboration Request” on page 32

When you edit items after collaboration, collaboration is not relaunched for the edited items. If you want to
launch collaboration again, you must add a new collaborative item to the requisition, or copy the original
collaborative item, delete the original, and then resubmit the requisition. Alternatively, you can set the
Re-collaborate field to Yes.

If you copy an original item, the copied item does not contain the supplier, candidate, or collaboration
history from the original item. Furthermore, when an item has gone through collaboration, the qualifier is
removed, so the qualifier cannot be copied from the original item to the copied item. Instead, the qualifier for
the copied item is taken from the category policy, if specified, or it defaults to Not to Exceed.

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Note: If a user withdraws a requisition during the post-collaboration approval phase, the accepted items are
not canceled automatically, and the suppliers are not notified. The user must take these steps manually.

You can edit a requisition that has a status of Composing. You can withdraw a requisition you have
submitted, and then edit it. If you have the appropriate group membership, you can edit a requisition during
the approval process if you are one of the approvers. After a requisition is in Collaborating state, you cannot
withdraw it without finishing collaboration. However, if no items were accepted, finishing collaboration
would remove all collaborating items from the requisition and you might have to start over.

Editing a Requisition Whose Status Is Composing

W To edit a requisition whose the status is composing:

1 On your home page, in your My Documents content area, click the title of the requisition you want to edit.

2 Click Edit.
3 Make the necessary changes.

4 Click Submit to submit the requisition for approval.

Click Exit, then click Save this request to save your changes and leave the requisition in the Composing
state.

Withdrawing and Editing a Requisition

W To withdraw and edit a requisition:

1 On your home page, in your My Documents content area, click the title of the requisition you want to
withdraw.
2 Click Withdraw.

3 Click Edit the withdrawn request now.

4 Make the necessary changes.

5 Click Submit to submit the requisition for approval.

Click Exit, then click Save this request to save your changes and leave the requisition in the Composing
state.

Editing a Requisition During Approval

W To edit a requisition during approval:

1 On your home page, in your To Do content area, click the title of a requisition that requires approval.

2 Click Edit.

3 Click OK if the Confirm Edit page is displayed.

4 Make the necessary changes.

5 Click Save.

6 If the Warning page is displayed, you can review the warnings and then:
• Click Prev to reopen the requisition and make changes that address the warning.

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• Click Save to save the requisition.

The requisition is then displayed in the To Do content area belonging to the approver.

The Collaboration Phase

When a requisition has entered the collaborative phase, the status changes to Collaborating and the suppliers
identified on the requisition can then respond, and you can respond to each supplier’s proposal, modify your
original request, or propose alternative requests for negotiation. Messages and proposals between the
suppliers and the collaboration team are exchanged until a proposal is accepted and the collaboration phase
is ended (the requisition status is Collaboration Completed). See the Ariba SN Transaction Guide available
at Help@Ariba from your Ariba SN account for information on how suppliers respond to your collaboration
requests.

Collaboration items, even after the collaboration is completed, will remain in your To Do list until you
archive them as you would do with other approval requests. See the Ariba Buyer Getting Started User Guide
for information on archiving items.

Responding to a Proposal From a Supplier

When a supplier has responded to a collaboration request with a proposal, the requisition is updated with the
information added by the supplier.

W To respond to a supplier’s proposal:

1 If you are the requester, click the ID or Title link for the requisition in the My Document content item, or
select the document from the To Do content item.

If you are a member of the collaboration team, select the document from the To Do content item. Click
View more ..., then Watch to narrow your search.

The Collaboration page appears.

2 Click the Please Respond link for the supplier to which you want to respond.
3 Click Detail for a line item to see the details of the supplier’s proposal.

4 Click Reject Proposal to send the requisition back to the supplier for further collaboration.
Click Accept Proposal to accept the terms of the supplier’s bid. If required, you can withdraw your
acceptance later as long as the requisition is in Collaborating status.
5 If you accept the proposal, you have two options:
• Click OK to keep the requisition open for further collaboration with other suppliers.
• Click Finish Collaborating to close the requisition for any further collaboration.

Revising, Adding or Canceling a Collaboration Request

When viewing proposals on the Collaboration tab, or when viewing the details of a collaboration request,
you can revise the collaboration request and resend it to the supplier, or you can create an alternative request
that is sent in addition to the original. Revised and alternative requests do not go through the
pre-collaboration approval flow again.

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When you create an alternative request, the original request is still active. If you want to replace the original
request with the alternative request, you should cancel the original request.

When you revise a request, you can no longer accept any proposals that were sent for the original request.
Any proposals the suppliers are currently composing in response to the original request become obsolete.

Note: You cannot modify policy items such as the bill rate or experience level. The initial limits specified
when the adding the line item to the requisition are used throughout the collaboration process. When
modifying a policy item, the value is reset to the original value when submitting the edited item. You can,
however, create an alternative request with different policy item values and then cancel the original request.

W To revise a request:
1 If you are the requester, click the ID or Title link for the requisition in the My Document content item, or
select the document from the To Do content item.

If you are a member of the collaboration team, select the document from the To Do content item. Click
View more ..., then Watch to narrow your search.

The Collaboration page appears.

2 Click the item for the supplier for which you want to revise your request, and then choose Revise Request
from the Actions pull-down menu. You can revise your request any time during the collaboration phase.
3 You can only edit requests for items that are included in the proposal. Select Included from the Selection
dull-down menu if not already selected, and then click Edit on the same menu. Alternatively, click the item
description.
4 Edit the request and click OK.

5 Click Next to complete and submit your modified request.

6 Click Back if you want to review all the requests for your collaborative requisition or make additional
changes.

W To add an alternative request:

1 If you are the requester, click the ID or Title link for the requisition in the My Document content item, or
select the document from the To Do content item.

If you are a member of the collaboration team, select the document from the To Do content item. Click
View more ..., then Watch to narrow your search.

The Collaboration page appears.

2 Click the item for the supplier for which you want to create an alternative request, and then choose
Alternative Request from the Actions pull-down menu. You can add requests any time during the
collaboration phase.
3 You can only create alternate requests for items that are included in the proposal. Select Included from the
Selection dull-down menu if not already selected, and then click Edit on the same menu. Alternatively,
click the item description.
4 The original request item values are displayed. Make changes and click OK.

5 Click Next to complete your request. Click Submit.

6 Click Back if you want to review all the requests for your collaborative requisition or make additional
changes.

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W To cancel a collaboration request:

1 If you are the requester, click the ID or Title link for the requisition in the My Document content item, or
select the document from the To Do content item.

If you are a member of the collaboration team, select the document from the To Do content item. Click
View more ..., then Watch to narrow your search.

The Collaboration page appears.

2 Click the item for the supplier for which you want to cancel a request, and then choose Cancel Request
from the Actions pull-down menu.
3 Provide a reason for the cancellation, and an optional comment.

4 Click OK. The request is removed from your collaboration page.

Searching for Collaborative Requisitions

W To search for collaborative requisitions:

1 On the Search page, select Requisition as the document type to search. If you are authorized to view other
users collaborative requisitions, you can search for all requisitions.
2 Select Status: Collaborating or Collaboration Completed in the Search Filter area of the Search page to
search for active or completed collaboration requests.
3 Click Search. A green icon indicates if a requisition has recently been updated with a new, revised, or
declined proposal or a new message. Once you click on the icon, or on the requisition ID or title to view
the details, the green icon disappears.

Quick Enablement Collaboration Request

This section contains the following topics:
• “About Quick Enablement Collaboration Request” on page 34
• “Using Quick Enablement Collaboration Request” on page 35

About Quick Enablement Collaboration Request

The Quick Enablement Collaboration Request feature enables buyers to collaborate with suppliers who are
not members of Ariba Supplier Network and do not possess Ariba Network IDs (ANID) or suppliers whose
ANIDs are not available in the Ariba procurement solution. This feature is similar to the Quick Enablement
Purchase Order feature. For more information on Quick Enablement Purchase Order, see Ariba Buyer
Procurement Administration Guide.

W The steps involved in the Quick Enablement Collaboration Request process are as follows:
1 A user adds a supplier whose ANID is not available in the Ariba procurement solution to the collaborative
requisition.
2 The collaborative requisition is sent to the Ariba Supplier Network during the collaboration phase.

3 Ariba Supplier Network creates a private account for this supplier and generates an Ariba Network private
ID.

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4 The supplier receives an email invitation from Ariba Supplier Network and clicks the link provided in the
email to start the registration process.
5 If the supplier is not yet registered, they can accept the invitation by completing the registration process.

6 If the supplier is already registered, they can accept the invitation and combine their new relationship
request with their existing account.
7 Once registered, an ANID is created and the supplier gains immediate access to the account.

8 The supplier can then punchin to the Ariba procurement solution to view and respond to the collaboration
request.

Note: Private IDs are unique per supplier location.You can view private IDs for supplier locations by using
the Suppliers task in the Supplier Manager workspace in Ariba Administrator. For information on using the
Supplier Manager workspace, see the Ariba Buyer Procurement Administration Guide.

Enabling Quick Enablement Collaboration Request

In order to use this feature, perform the following additional actions:
• Set the parameter Application.Procure.ASNOrderForPrivateSupplier to true. This parameter is set to false
by default.
• Only suppliers that exist in the Ariba procurement solution can be added to the invited suppliers list when
creating a collaboration requisition.
If you want to invite suppliers who are not members of Ariba Network, contact your system administrator
to add these suppliers to your customer site and set their preferred ordering method to Email as Ariba
Network routes the collaboration requests only to those suppliers whose preferred ordering method is
Email.
• Before you invite suppliers who are not enabled on the Ariba Network for collaboration, you must
customize the welcome letter that is sent to them along with the collaboration request.
You must also create a custom PDF with the process that these suppliers need to follow to respond to the
collaboration request.

Using Quick Enablement Collaboration Request

Workflow of a Quick Enablement Collaboration Request

When adding suppliers to the invited suppliers list in a collaborative requisition, the requestor can also add
suppliers who do not belong to the Ariba Supplier Network.

After the requisition is submitted, during the collaboration phase, a collaboration request is created for each
invited supplier on that item, and then sent to them on the Ariba Network.

For suppliers that do not have Ariba Supplier Network accounts:

1 The Ariba procurement solution generates an Ariba Network private ID.
Private IDs are unique per supplier location. Administrators can view private IDs for supplier locations by
using the Suppliers task in the Supplier Manager workspace in Ariba Administrator.
2 The collaboration request is then sent to the Ariba Supplier Network.

3 Ariba Network then generates an ANID for the supplier and routes the collaboration request to the
supplier which includes an invitation to log in and complete the registration process.

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For example:

Once the supplier logs in and activates his Ariba Network account, the supplier can punchin to the Ariba
procurement solution to view and respond to the collaboration request.

Email Notifications
When you choose to collaborate with suppliers who are not members of the Ariba Network, the
collaboration request is routed to those suppliers through Ariba Network by an email notification which
includes an invitation to log in and complete the registration process.

During the collaboration phase of the requisition, email notifications are sent to the suppliers and the buyers
respectively when suppliers send proposals and the buyer responds to them.

Working with Contractors

A contractor is a person who provides temporary labor to a company. Hiring companies typically hire a
contractor through a supplier that specializes in providing temporary labor resources.

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When you hire a contractor using a labor category for procuring your contracting service, the contractor is
created automatically when the purchase order is sent. Your administrator can also add contractors manually
in the Workforce Manager workspace in Ariba Administrator. In both cases, a User Profile Request
document is created and sent to the contractor’s hiring manager for approval.

When working with contractors, it is essential to manage issues such as a contractor’s length of time working
for your company and hiring qualified candidates only. See the following sections for more information on
these topics:
• “Contractor Time Tracking” on page 37
• “Do Not Hire” on page 38
• “Performance Surveys” on page 39

Contractors can access Ariba Buyer functions to create time sheets and expense sheets, if required. See
“Working with Time Sheets” on page 39 and “Working with Expense Sheets” on page 42 for more details.

Contractor Time Tracking

Legal or organizational policies may prohibit the hiring of a temporary labor source for extended periods of
time. In the US, for example, co-employment regulations put the hiring company at risk for becoming the
primary employer of a contractor hired through an agency, if the contracting relationship is not properly
managed. Tracking of a contractor’s work duration is one important factor in managing this risk.

Ariba Category Procurement provides the functionality to set thresholds for on site days and good sit periods
to ensure a contractor’s time at the hiring company is within the limits and policies set by the company. On
site days is the number of consecutive days a contractor works, and good sit period is the number of days
that a contractor must not work before they can resume work on either the same or a new project. Sit days are
days the contractor does not work, and they are tracked to determine if the good sit period has been reached
or not.

Ariba Category Procurement tracks both on site and sit days for contractors in your system. Use the
Contractor report to view contractor details such as consecutive on site days, sit days, supervisors, bill rate,
etc. See “Reporting” on page 93 for more information on how to run reports.

For a contractor candidate who has previously worked for your company, Ariba Category Procurement
forecasts the number of on site days (adding the previous on site days to the proposed on site days, and
taking into account sit days), so you can determine whether the candidate exceeds your organization’s limit
on the duration of temporary labor contracts.

Calculating Consecutive On site and Current Sit Days

Policies for consecutive on site days and minimum good sit days can be set at the category item level, or
globally if they are not defined on item level.

Ariba Category Procurement uses the payable time entries submitted on time sheets to calculate on site and
sit days as follows:
• Increment on site day count for each day a contractor works on a business or non-business day. Reset the
count to zero if the consecutive number of sit days meet the good sit period.
• Increment sit day count for each continuous business day the contractor does not work. If the contractor
resumes work, set the sit day variable to zero.

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The consecutive on site day count continues to increment for each day worked, even if there are intermittent
sit days. Once a contractor meets the consecutive on site days threshold, typically he should not work until
he meets the good sit period threshold.

Consider a simplified example in which the consecutive on site day threshold is 20 days and the good sit
period is 5 days:
• In scenario A, a contractor works five consecutive business days, and then subsequently sits for two
consecutive business days. In this case, the contractor can work 15 more business days and then has to sit
for five consecutive business days.
• In scenario B, a contractor works 10 consecutive business days and then subsequently sits for five
consecutive business days. In this case, having met the good sit period threshold, the on site day count is
reset, and the contractor can work for 20 more days.

See “Working with Time Sheets” on page 39 for more information on time sheets.

Forecasting Consecutive On site Days

During the collaboration process for labor line items, Ariba Category Procurement forecasts the expected
number of consecutive on site days for the candidate.as follows:
• If a candidate has previously worked for the hiring organization, the number of work days for the
proposed labor line item (taken from the labor order) is added to the number of days the candidate has
previously worked (taken from time sheets associated with all previous labor orders the candidate worked
on). If the candidate has met the minimum number of continuous sit days, the previously worked days are
not counted in the consecutive on site days forecast
• If this is a new candidate, the projected number of work days for the labor item are counted in the
consecutive on site days forecast.

If the forecasted value for consecutive on site days exceeds the maximum number configured in your
system, you will see a warning or an error depending on your configuration when trying to accept the
candidate. An error message indicates a hard error preventing you to accept the candidate.

The forecast calculation for existing contractors is adjusted to include time sheets which have been
submitted, but not yet approved. By default, time sheets submitted up to 15 days prior to the forecast
calculation are included in the forecast. Time sheets submitted prior to the forecast adjustment period must
be approved in order for the data to be included in the consecutive on site days forecast.

Do Not Hire
To streamline the process of selecting contractor candidates, hiring organizations (especially those that
frequently hire contractors) often maintain an internal Do Not Hire list of contractors who are known to be
unacceptable based on the company’s policies for hiring contractors. If a supplier proposes a candidate who
is on the Do Not Hire list, an icon next to the candidate name indicates that this candidate cannot be hired,
and you receive a an error message if you try to accept the candidate.

You must have Workforce Manager access to be able to update contractors and maintain the Do Not Hire list
in the Ariba Administrator Workforce Manager workspace. See the Ariba Category Procurement
Implementation Guide for more information.

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Performance Surveys
Contractor surveys, if enabled on your system, allow contract managers to rank contractors on their job
performance, skill accuracy and professional demeanor. As a supervising manager, you can create and view
contractor surveys in the Ariba Administration Workforce Manager workspace. See the Ariba Category
Procurement Implementation Guide for more detail on contractor surveys.

Working with Time Sheets

Time sheets are used to track the receipt of labor items. They are collections of time sheet entries, each of
which covers a time period on a single day. In the simplest configuration, a time sheet might contain five
entries, one for each day of the work week.

As contractors complete hours of service, they can fill out time sheets to record the hours worked and the
type of hours (regular, overtime, or holiday).

A time sheet covers a period of one week and is always associated with exactly one labor line item from a
purchase order. The entries in the time sheet must be within the start and end dates specified on the labor line
item on the purchase order.

Each time sheet essentially serves as a partial receipt for the associated labor line item. For example, if the
purchase order contained a line item for an administrative assistant for a total of 500 hours, each time sheet
the contractor fills out is a partial receipt toward those 500 hours. Non-billable hours (such as Meal Break
hours) are not included toward the total hours.

Creating Invoices from Time Sheets

Depending on your configuration, time sheets can be:
• routed through the Ariba Supplier Network to the supplier, who can then create invoices against the
associated PO based on the time sheet information and send them to you through Ariba SN;
• automatically converted into invoices. This configuration option, which is only available if you have
Ariba Invoice installed on your system, creates one invoice for each approved time sheet with separate
invoice line items for each pay code. Ariba Invoice then matches the invoices to the purchase order and
time sheet and processes it just as it would with any other invoice, treating the time sheet as a receipt;
• manually converted into invoices using the Create Invoice pages in Ariba Invoice.

Pay Codes
Sometimes a contractor works different types of hours, such as eight hours of regular time and four hours of
overtime. These different types of hours are called pay codes.

Pay codes are used to calculate the bill rate on the invoice for each time sheet entry; therefore, they can be
associated with a rate multiplier or markup amount from the category or contract

Some pay codes, such as meal breaks, are specifically billable or non-billable, and some are used as
reference to an activity required by a labor law or for timekeeping purposes.

A time sheet must contain separate entries for each different pay code. For example, the contractor would
create an entry for the eight hours of regular time and create a second entry for the four hours of overtime,
even though the hours were worked on the same day.

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The pay codes available on a time sheet are determined by the contractor’s work location. Each work
location has a specific set of pay codes and rules specifying when those pay codes can be used. For example,
the Doubletime pay code is specific to certain work locations such as California.

Summary and Detailed Hours

A time sheet entry can be in one of two formats: summary hours or detailed hours. A summary-hours entry
requires the date and total hours worked. A detailed-hours entry requires the date, start time, and stop time
(the total hours are calculated from these times). By default, time sheet entries are in detailed-hours format.

Labor Law Compliance

Ariba Category Procurement includes a compliance engine that compares time sheet entries to the labor laws
of the contractor’s work location. If a time sheet is not in compliance with the labor laws, the contractor must
correct the violations before the time sheet can be submitted. You can also configure your system to use a
third party or custom compliance engine.

In addition you can specify whether to allow pay code violations on time sheet entries. Note that there is no
compliance checking for minimum pay rates on time sheets or invoices. This validation does not exist
because in some cases, the hiring organization pays a partial amount of the contractor’s actual wages and the
supplier pays the rest.

Time Sheet Process Flow

The following table describes the time sheet process flow:

Time Sheet Status Description

Composing The preparer is creating a new or editing a withdrawn
time sheet and hasn't submitted it for approval. Only the
preparer and authorized users can view, modify, or delete
the time sheet.
Submitted The time sheet has been created and submitted for
approval, and at least one approver still has to either
approve or deny it.
Approved The time sheet has been fully approved and is ready to be
processed. If you have not enabled time sheet routing,
the status moves immediately from Approved to
Processed.
Denied An approver has denied the time sheet. The preparer can
withdraw the time sheet, either to update and resubmit it
for approval, or to delete it.
Processing The time sheet is being routed to Ariba SN.
Processed The time sheet has been routed to Ariba SN. If you do
not convert time sheets to invoices, this is the final status.
Invoicing The time sheet has been partially invoiced, but there are
remaining hours that will be on the next invoice.
Invoiced The time sheet has been fully invoiced.

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Creating Time Sheets

By default, contractors are authorized to create time sheets in Ariba Category Procurement. If you want to
create time sheets on behalf of a contractor, or manage time sheets, you must have the appropriate
permission to do so.

W To create a time sheet:

1 On the Common Actions panel, click Create > Time Sheet.

2 If you are submitting the time sheet on behalf of a contractor, select the contractor for whom you are
submitting the time sheet.

3 If the contractor is associated with more than one purchase order, select the purchase order against which
you are submitting this time sheet.
4 Enter time sheet entries. Specify the date and pay code for each entry, and then specify the start and stop
times or the total hours worked, depending on your configuration. If needed, enter the name of the project
and the task you worked on during the time entry.
5 Click Update after each entry. To add more entries, click Add or click the check box next to one or more
entries and then click Copy.
6 To enter more detailed information about an entry, click Show Details, and then enter the information in
the Notes field. To hide the detailed information, click Hide Details.
7 Add comments in the Comments box as needed

8 Click Add Attachment to add additional files to the time sheet.

9 Click the Approval Flow tab to review and edit the approval flow, if required. See the Ariba Buyer Getting
Started User Guide for details.
10 Click Submit to submit the request for approval.

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Tips:
• If you receive an error indicating that the hours overlap with another time entry, scroll down to the area
showing the number of entries currently assigned to this time period, click the arrow to display the
entries, and then compare the existing entries with the entries you are creating. You can click a time sheet
link to view the time sheet that contains that overlapping entry. Delete or edit the overlapping entry in
your current time sheet. You cannot delete or edit other time sheets unless you explicitly open them for
edit.
• To save the time sheet so that you can edit it later before submitting it, click Exit, and then click Save.
Saving the time sheet allows you to enter your hours on a daily basis and then submit the time sheet at the
end of the work week.

Working with Expense Sheets

Contractor expense sheets, which apply to collaborative requisitions for the temporary labor category, allow
a contractor to submit expense line items for out-of-pocket expenses. Each expense sheet essentially serves
as a partial receipt for the associated expense line item.

In order for a contractor to create an expense sheet, the Category Manager configures the labor category item
to allow contractor expense items, sets policies that specify a total amount for expenses, and permissions that
allow the hiring manager to adjust the total expense amount on the collaborative requisition. An expense line
item can also be configured so that the supplier can adjust the expense amount for a proposed candidate.
Expense line items are only applicable for collaborating line items.

Once a candidate is approved, the expense line item is generated from the proposed expense amount and
merged back to the requisition. Once the requisition is approved, the expense line item is included on the
purchase order sent to the supplier. An expense sheet is always associated with exactly one labor line item
from a purchase order. The entries in the expense sheet must be within the start and end dates specified on
the labor line item on the purchase order.

Creating Invoices from Expense Sheets

Depending on your configuration, expense sheets can be:
• routed through the Ariba Supplier Network to the supplier, who can then create invoices against the
associated PO based on the expense sheet information and send them to you through Ariba SN;
• automatically converted into invoices. This configuration option, which is only available if you have
Ariba Invoice installed on your system, creates one invoice for each approved expense sheet with separate
invoice line items for each expense sheet line item. Ariba Invoice then matches the invoices to the
purchase order and expense sheet and processes it just as it would with any other invoice, treating the
expense sheet as a receipt;
• manually converted into invoices using the Create Invoice pages in Ariba Invoice.

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Expense Sheet Process Flow

The following table describes the expense sheet process flow:

Expense Sheet Description

Status
Composing The preparer is creating a new or editing a withdrawn
expense sheet and hasn't submitted it for approval. Only
the preparer and authorized users can view, modify, or
delete the expense sheet.
Submitted The expense sheet has been created and submitted for
approval, and at least one approver still has to either
approve or deny it.
Approved The expense sheet has been fully approved and is ready
to be processed. If you have not enabled expense sheet
routing, the status moves immediately from Approved to
Processed.
Denied An approver has denied the expense sheet. The preparer
can withdraw the expense sheet, either to update and
resubmit it for approval, or to delete it.
Processing The expense sheet is being routed to Ariba SN.
Processed The expense sheet has been routed to Ariba SN. If you
do not convert expense sheets to invoices, this is the final
status.
Invoicing The expense sheet has entered the invoicing process.
Invoiced The expense sheet has been fully invoiced.

Creating Expense Sheets

By default, contractors are authorized to create expense sheets in Ariba Category Procurement for labor
items configured for reimbursement of incurred expenses. If you want to create expense sheets on behalf of
a contractor, or manage expense sheets, you must have the appropriate permissions to do so.

W To create an expense sheet:

1 In the Common Actions panel, click Create > Contractor Expense Sheet.

2 If you are submitting the expense sheet on behalf of a contractor, select the contractor for whom you are
submitting the expense sheet.

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3 If the contractor is associated with more than one purchase order, select the purchase order against which
you are submitting this expense sheet.
4 Enter expense sheet entries. Specify the date, expense type and amount for each entry. Note that you can
only submit expenses that are defined for the labor line item.
5 Click Update after each entry. To add more entries, click Add or click the check box next to one or more
entries and then click Copy.
6 To enter more detailed information about an entry, click Show Details, and then enter the information in
the Notes field. To hide the detailed information, click Hide Details.
7 Add comments in the Comments box as needed

8 Click the Approval Flow tab to review and edit the approval flow, if required. See the Ariba Buyer Getting
Started User Guide for details.
9 Click Submit to submit the request for approval.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

• “Creating Purchase Requisitions” on page 45

• “Submitting Purchase Requisitions” on page 53
• “Editing a Requisition” on page 54
• “Changing and Canceling Requisitions” on page 57
• “Copying Requisitions” on page 58

Creating Purchase Requisitions

A purchase requisition (PR) is the approvable document created when you submit a request to purchase
items. Each purchase requisition is assigned a unique ID (such as PR2394) to identify and track it as it
moves through the requisition process.

Your purchase request can include catalog items from your company’s catalog or a supplier’s Internet
catalog (also known as a PunchOut catalog), and non-catalog items (from another source). If you cannot find
what you need in the catalog, create a non-catalog item by providing a description of the item so that a
purchasing agent can locate and order it for you.

Creating a purchase requisition involves the following basic steps:

1 You request goods by completing a PR and submitting it for approval.

2 The requisition is routed to everyone identified in the approval flow, based on a set of business rules, and
notifications are sent that a PR requires approval.
3 Each person identified in the approval flow (approvers) approves or denies the PR:
• If the PR is fully approved, the supplier is identified for each item, and a purchase order is created for
each supplier. Depending on the items and your system configuration, orders are sent to suppliers via
Ariba SN, or the orders are required to be sent manually.
• If the PR is denied, you can either withdraw it, or edit and resubmit it for approval.
4 Suppliers receive the purchase orders, ship the items, wait for receipt, and then request payment.
5 If receiving is enabled, each order requires receipts, which are subsequently tracked by your application.

6 You receive the items and submit receipts as the items arrive. If the items arrive in batches, partial receipts
are maintained and the overall receipt is kept open until all items have been received.

Tips:
• You can withdraw an approved requisition only if it specifies a Delay Purchase Until date.
• You can change or cancel a requisition whose status is Ordered if you are a purchasing agent, the
requestor, the preparer, or if this activity is part of your job function.

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Creating Purchase Requisitions Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

Review the following diagram for a detailed description of the process:

User creates
a request
for item(s)

User modifies
User submits
request based User withdraws
the request for
on approver the request
approval
comments

yes
Approver is User resubmits
User adds
notified of the the request for
comments
request approval

yes
User is notified Add
Approver no no Can user
Request is of denial and comments
reviews the Approve? modify and
denied approver and
request submit?
comments resubmit?
Approver logs in yes
to take action
User can add comments to
clarify and resubmit the
request , or modify it
and do a new submit
no no
no

Delay-purchase-
Today?
yes until date?

End

yes no

Order (s) sent to

supplier (s) using one Supplier (s) User receives
or a combination of receive order (s) items and
these methods: and send items enters receipt
•Ariba SN to user details
•Manual order

This section covers the following topics:

• “Creating the Requisition” on page 46
• “Adding Catalog Items” on page 47
• “Adding Non-Catalog Items” on page 50
• “Viewing Items” on page 50
• “Editing Line Items” on page 51
• “Using Split Accounting” on page 52

Creating the Requisition

Note: Organizational and accounting fields available to you change depending upon the type of ERP system
you are using and are not described in detail in this guide. Field labels may be different depending on your
ERP system, in the SAP variant, for example, suppliers are referred to as vendors. Where graphics or
descriptions include specific organizational or accounting fields, a CSV variant is used for illustrative
purposes.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Creating Purchase Requisitions

W To create a requisition:
1 In the Common Actions area, click Create > Requisition.

2 Use the options on the left to select a contract or favorite item, and use the catalog links in the Search
content item to select catalog items.
The Requisition page contains several areas:
• Search for catalog items. This enable you to search the entire available catalog. You can narrow the
search by catalog category, or by using search options.
• Browse by categories or suppliers. The example graphic shows categories. Click Suppliers to see a
view of the available suppliers you can select to add to your requisition.
• View popular categories of catalog items. These views allow you to quickly find and select the most
popularly used catalog items.
• Create non-catalog items. You can create items that do not exist in the catalog.

Adding Catalog Items

Adding Local Catalog Items

Local catalog items show an Add to Cart button on the catalog search result page. Enter the quantity that you
want to order, and click Add to Cart to add the item to your requisition. To add multiple items, select the check
box for each item, then click Add to Cart at the top or the bottom of the items list.

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Creating Purchase Requisitions Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

See “Adding PunchOut Items” on page 20 for information on how to add PunchOut items to your
requisition.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Creating Purchase Requisitions

Every time you add one or more items to your requisition, the requisition Summary page is displayed, from
where you can edit or delete items, add more items, or submit your requisition for approval.

Note: You can reset a preference to redisplay the catalog search result page, instead of being redirected to the
requisition Summary page every time you add one or more items to the requisition.

See “Redisplaying Catalog Search Result After Adding Items to Requisition” on page 49 for information on
how to reset this preference.

Redisplaying Catalog Search Result After Adding Items to Requisition

(This information applies to users on Service Pack 24 or higher only.)

By default, clicking the Add to Cart buttons takes you to the requisition Summary page. Changing the Show
requisition summary after adding items to the cart preference allows you to return to the catalog search
results after clicking the Add to Cart button.

W To enable redisplay of the search results:

1 From the Preferences drop down, select Reset default preferences.

2 In the Reset Default Preferences page, deselect the check box for the Show requisition summary after
adding items to the cart preference.
3 Click OK to save the new setting.

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Creating Purchase Requisitions Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

Adding Non-Catalog Items

If you can’t find what you need in the catalog, you can create non-catalog items by describing what you need
so that a purchasing agent can locate and order the items for you. Non-catalog orders can take longer to
process than catalog orders.

W To add a non-catalog item to your cart:

1 On the catalog home page, or the catalog search result page, click Create Non-Catalog Item.

2 Supply the following information:

For this option... Do this...

Full Description (all ERPs) Enter a description of the item.

Commodity Code Select a commodity code from the available choices, or click Search for more to
select a different commodity code. Depending on your ERP integration, you may
have to enter additional fields, such as Account Type, Material Group (SAP) or
Partitioned Commodity Code (PeopleSoft).

Supplier Select a supplier from the available choices, or click Search for more to select a
different supplier.

Contact The value for this field changes depending on the supplier you choose.

Click the contact name to see details for that person.

Click select to select another contact for the supplier you chose.

Supplier Part Number Enter the Supplier Part Number for the item.

Supplier Auxiliary Part ID Enter the Supplier Auxiliary Part ID for the item.

Quantity Enter the quantity of the new item you are adding.

Unit of Measure Select a unit of measure from the available choices, or click Search for more to
select a different unit of measure.

Price Enter the item price, or an estimated price. The total value of the requisition
determines the default approvers, who must have a price to approve the request.

If you change the price or quantity, click Update Total to update the requisition
total

Select a currency from the available choices, or click Other to select a different
currency.

Amount This is a read-only field that is updated when you click Update Total.

3 Click OK. The item is added to your requisition.

Note: For SAP, when adding line items with ItemCategory as Service, the InternalOrder and WBSElement fields
are not editable. However, when the ItemCategory is Goods, they are editable. These values are loaded from
SAP, and do not need to be edited.

Viewing Items
You can view your items either by viewing your shopping cart, or on the requisition Summary tab.

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W To view items:
1 On the top of the catalog home page, or the catalog search result page, click the Shopping Cart icon.

Or click Checkout on the catalog home page, or the catalog search result page to view your items on the
requisition Summary tab.
2 Review the items you want to order:
• Click Show Details or Hide Details to display or hide detailed information about the line items, such as
the supplier and contact.
• If available, click the arrow next to the catalog kit to collapse or expand it, and hide or show all of the
individual items in the kit.
• The icons in the Type column indicate the line item type, for example, a catalog item.
3 Modify item information if necessary.
• To edit, copy, or delete items, select the check box for each item, then click Edit, Copy, or Delete. If you
edit an item, rectify any errors before proceeding (You will be alerted by your application to errors on a
page).
• If you change the quantity, click Update Total. If you copy or delete items, the total cost is automatically
updated.
4 To add more items to the cart, click Add from Catalog or Add Non-Catalog Item.

Editing Line Items

You can edit the following information for an item from either the Shopping Cart or requisition summary
page:
• Line item details, such as order quantity, suppliers, item descriptions, and so forth.
• The Bill To and Ship To addresses and the recipient of the shipment.
• Accounting information.

See “Editing and Deleting PunchOut Items” on page 21 for more information on how to edit PunchOut
items.

W To edit a line item:

1 Select the check box for the item, then click Edit.

2 Edit the properties under Line Item Details following the same procedure you use when you add a
non-catalog item. See “Adding Non-Catalog Items” on page 50 for more information.
3 Under Accounting - by Line Item, edit the Bill To address and other accounting information. For each
property, select a value from the available menu choices, or select Other, then click Select for the value you
want to add.
4 To spread the cost among multiple accounting groups, click Split Accounting. See “Using Split
Accounting” on page 52 for more information.
5 Edit the Shipping - by Line Item properties.

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Creating Purchase Requisitions Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

For a property whose value is selected from a menu, select a value from the available menu choices, or
select Other, then click Select for the value you want to add.
For a property whose value must be entered, enter the value in the appropriate field.
6 Add comments and attachments if necessary.

7 Click OK to save the changes and return to the previous screen, or Cancel to return to the previous screen
without saving changes.

Using Split Accounting

When you edit the properties of an item, you can divide the cost of that item across multiple accounting
groups.

W To use split accounting:

1 When you are editing an item, click Split Accounting.

When the Split Accounting page is first displayed, it provides you with the option to split the item cost
between two groups. If you need to add additional groups, click Add Split. If you need to delete a group,
click Delete.
2 From the Split By menu, select the method by which the item cost is split between groups:
• Amount (dollar amount)
• Percentage (percent of total cost)
• Quantity (number of items)

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Submitting Purchase Requisitions

The default value is Percent.

3 Enter values in the Split Amount fields for each group.
The default value is 100% for group 1.
You need to manually enter values for each group. The individual values you enter must equal the total
value. For example, if the total value of the invoice is $1,000 and you have two groups, if you assign $300
to Group 1, you must assign $700 to Group 2.
4 Click Update.

5 Enter accounting details.

6 Click OK.

Submitting Purchase Requisitions

You submit a requisition from the Summary page.

W To submit a purchase requisition:

1 Supply the following summary information. There might be additional fields depending on your ERP
integration:

For this option... Do this...

Title Enter a title for the requisition.

On Behalf Of Select a name from the menu, or click Search for more to select a different name.

(Required if you are preparing You can submit a request on behalf of any other user. When you act as preparer and
the requisition for someone else) submit a request on behalf of someone else:

The requester is added to the approval flow as a watcher.

The requester's personal profile is used to determine the delivery and accounting
information for the request.

Notifications about the request are sent to the preparer and the requester.

Delay Purchase Until If you need to delay the purchase until a specific date, use the calendar control to
select that date.You can withdraw and edit your requisition until the purchase order
is placed, even if it has been fully approved.

Related Projects If you have permission to access Ariba Contract Management (ACM), you can add
the requisition to an existing project (click Add to Project) or create a new project
and add the requisition to it (click Create Project).
My Labels Add one or more labels to your document to make finding it easier. See the Ariba
Buyer Getting Started User Guide for more information.

2 Edit the line items if necessary. For information, see “Editing Line Items” on page 51.

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Editing a Requisition Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

3 Review the shipping information.

For this field Do this

Ship To (Generic, PeopleSoft) Select a location from the available choices, or click Search for more to
select a different location.

Deliver To Enter the name of the person to whom the shipment is being sent.

Need-By Date This is an informational field only to document if you need the items in
the requisition by a specific date. Use the calendar control to select that
date.

4 Add or review comments and attachments.

• Enter comments that might help approvers evaluate the request.
• To include an attachment file with your comments, click Add Attachment.

Note: Attachments to suppliers who receive orders via the Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN), email,
or fax are forwarded electronically. If you use a supplier who is not registered, then attachments must
be handled manually. For example, if your purchasing agent prints the order and sends it manually, be
sure to fax any attachments as well.

5 Click the Approval Flow tab to review and edit the approval flow, if required. For information, see the Ariba
Buyer Getting Started User Guide.
6 Submit or save changes.
• Click Submit to submit the request for approval or Exit to stop working with it.
When you submit the request, it has a status of Submitted.
If you exit and choose to save the request, it has a status of Composing. You can edit the request at a
later time and then submit it for approval.
• If you are an approver editing a requisition, click Save to save your changes. You can then view a status
screen from which you can approve or deny the requisition.

Actions taken while a request has the status of Composing (such as adding approvers) do not appear in the
summary on the History tab; actions are recorded only after the status changes to Submitted.

Editing a Requisition
You can edit a requisition that has a status of Composing or Approved. You can withdraw a requisition that is
in Submitted or Approved state, and then edit it. If you have the appropriate group membership, you can also
edit a requisition during the approval process if you are one of the approvers.

Editing a Requisition Whose Status Is Composing

W To edit a requisition whose the status is composing:

1 On your home page, in your My Documents portlet, click the title of the requisition you want to edit.

2 Click Edit.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Editing a Requisition

3 Make the necessary changes.

4 Click Submit to submit the requisition for approval.

Click Exit, then click Save this request to save your changes and leave the requisition in the Composing
state.

Withdrawing and Editing a Requisition

A requisition returns to the status of Composing when it is withdrawn. When a request is withdrawn, there is
no further action required, unless the preparer chooses to edit and resubmit the requisition.

A request can be withdrawn in the following ways:

• The preparer clicks Withdraw, asking to withdraw the request. Requests can be withdrawn at any time
during the approval process. After a request has been fully approved, it cannot generally be withdrawn.
The only exception to this rule is that a request can be withdrawn if it has a hold date, and the hold date
has not yet arrived. The intent is to allow users to withdraw requests and correct them if the order has not
yet been sent.
• The request has been in the system for more than 28 days without being approved. Twenty-one days
before it is actually withdrawn, the requester and all required approvers receive an email notification,
indicating that the request is about to be withdrawn.
• Ariba Buyer withdraws the latest version of a requisition because it has been invalidated when the user
submitted receipts against an earlier version. Ariba Buyer automatically withdraws a change order
(modified requisition) if the user submits receipts for the items on the original order, and those receipts
conflict with the change order. For example, suppose a user submits a requisition for 10 items, and then
submits a change order that drops the quantity to 5. If the user then receives 7 on the original order, Ariba
Buyer removes all approvals from the change order, sets its status back to Composing, and returns it back
to the preparer.

W To withdraw and edit a requisition:

1 On your home page, in your My Documents portlet, click the title of the requisition you want to withdraw.

2 Click Withdraw.

3 Click Edit the withdrawn request now.

4 Make the necessary changes.

5 Click Submit to submit the requisition for approval.

Click Exit, then click Save this request to save your changes and leave the requisition in the Composing
state.

Editing a Requisition During Approval

W To edit a requisition during approval:

1 On your home page, in your To Do portlet, click the title of a requisition that requires approval.

2 Click Edit.

3 Click OK if the Confirm Edit page is displayed.

4 Make the necessary changes.

5 Click Save.

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6 If the Warning page is displayed, you can review the warnings and then:
• Click Prev to reopen the requisition and make changes that address the warning.
• Click Save to save the requisition.
The requisition is then displayed in the To Do portlet of the person whose approval is required.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Working with Imported Requisitions

Working with Imported Requisitions

Requisitions can also be imported to your application from an ERP system.

When importing an item where the supplier, supplier part number, supplier auxiliary id, and Unit of Measure
match a catalog item, the line item price is determined as follows:
• If no price is provided on the imported requisition, then the price will be defaulted from the catalog.
• If a price is provided on the imported requisition, then the price on the imported requisition is used.

Note: In this case, when the imported item’s supplier, supplier part number, supplier auxiliary id, and Unit of
Measure match a catalog item, it is treated as a catalog item, and overrides the existing catalog item. All
other imported requisition line items are treated as non-catalog items.

When importing a requisition with line items that cannot be matched to catalog items, the price is set to 0
(zero), if no price is specified for the imported line items.

If a requisition is imported without errors, its status is Submitted, and it enters the approval process.

If a requisition is imported with errors, its status is Composing, and the preparer is notified by email. If you
are the preparer in this case, the requisition is listed in your My Documents portlet, and you must change the
requisition manually and resubmit it for approval.

In Ariba Buyer 9r1 SP21 or higher, Excel 2010 is supported. You can now import requisitions in the .xlsx
format. You can either import the requisition using the import task, or using the Upload Requisition link on
the UI.

Changing and Canceling Requisitions

You must have the necessary authorization to change requisitions, and to search for requisitions created by
other users.

You can change requisitions whose status is Ordered.

W To change or cancel a requisition:

1 On your home page, in your My Documents list, click the title of the requisition you want to modify.
If you want to modify a requisition created by another user:
• In the Search area on your home page, enter search keywords and click Search.
• Supply the parameters for the search.
• Click the title of the requisition you want to modify.
2 Click Change to modify the properties of the requisition. Edit any of the properties (for example, add or
delete line items, or edit the approval flow), then click Submit.
Click Cancel Requisition to cancel the requisition. Enter any explanatory comments you want to include
with the cancellation, then click OK.

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Copying Requisitions Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions

Tips:
• If a requisition specified a Delay Purchase Until date, the requisition’s status remains Approved until the
date the related orders are actually sent to suppliers, at which time the requisition’s status changes to
Ordered. If you need to change an approved requisition during the time it is on hold, click Edit when
viewing the requisition’s details. Once the requisition’s status changes to Ordered, use the Change button
to change the requisition.
• When you change or cancel a requisition (or delete all line items from a requisition), a new version of the
requisition is created, identified by a version number such as V2, and submits it for approval. When a
change order is approved, a new version of each order impacted by the change is generated and sent to
suppliers. When a cancel order is approved, the requisition’s status is changed to Canceled and all orders
associated with the requisition are canceled.
• If you are editing a line item from an order whose status is Shipping, Shipped, or Receiving, you can
change any field except: Commodity Code, Item Description, Supplier, Supplier Location, Supplier Part
Auxiliary ID, Supplier Part Number, Unit of Measure, and Unit Price. Note that although you can change
the quantity and amount, they cannot be less than what has already been shipped, received, or invoiced.
• If you change a requisition by deleting all line items associated with a specific purchase order, the order is
canceled after the new version of the requisition has been fully approved. If you delete all the line items
on the requisition, the requisition and all associated purchase orders are canceled after the new version of
the requisition has been fully approved.

Copying Requisitions
You can copy requisitions regardless of the state they are in. When you copy a requisition, the data fields on
the copied requisition are evaluated as follows:
• Delay Purchase Until and Need By Date are not copied and need to be entered before submitting the
copied requisition.
• Catalog items from PunchOut catalogs not copied. You need to punch out to the suppliers catalog site
again and add the items manually.
• Comments and attachments are not copied.
• A history record is added to the new copied requisition to indicate that this requisition was created as a
copy.
• The requester value (On Behalf Of) is copied and validated. An error message is displayed if the requester
is not longer active in the system.
• Accounting and address defaults are set based on commodity code configuration or the requester’s current
user profile, if no commodity code configuration can be found.
• The latest currency conversion rates will be applied.
• Catalog view constraints are evaluated for the requester when copying. An error message is displayed for
any line items that are not valid or available to the requester.
• Supplier information is validated. An error message is displayed for any invalid fields.
• Contracts are applied as follows:
• If the original line items were associated with a contract, and that contract is still valid, then the copied
line items are associated with the contract;
• If the original line items were not associated with a contract, and a new contract was created after the
creation of the original requisition, then the new contract is applied to the copied line items.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Requisitions Copying Requisitions

• If the contract that applied to the original requisition is closed or the contract expired, and no new
contract has been created, then no contract gets associated with the copied line items.
• The approval flow for the copied requisition is determined based on the copied requisition’s approval
requirements. For example, a currency rate change might impact the local amount values used to
determine the approval flow, or a new approver has been added to the approval flow.
• Company Code is defaulted as follows:
• If the company code in the requester’s user profile ha been changed after after the requisition is
submitted; and this requisition is copied, then the requisition copy does not retain the company code in
the original document, but picks up the changed Comapny Code value from the requester’s user profile.
For example, if a requester (with Company Code 3000 in the user profile) creates a requisition, the
associated company code is automatically defaulted. Now, after submission of the requisition, the
Company Code value in the requester’s user profile is changed to 1000.
When this requisition is copied, Ariba Buyer automatically picks by the updated Company Code value
from the requester’s user profile and defaults it in the requisition copy. The Company Code value 3000
(existing in the original requisition) is not retained in the copy.

W To copy a requisition:
1 On your Home or Procurement Dashboard, in your My Document content item, click the ID or title of the
requisition you want to copy. Or, if you have permission to view other users’ requisitions, use Search to
find the requisition you want to copy.
2 On the requisition review page, click Copy.

3 Review the details of your requisition, and make changes are needed:
• Click Back to Catalog, Add from Catalog, or Add Non-Catalog Item to add additional items;
• Click Edit, Copy or Delete to change your requisition line items;
• Modify requisition header information such as On Behalf Of and Title;
• Review and edit the approval flow on the Approval Flow tab.
4 Click Submit to submit your copied requisition for approval. See “Submitting Purchase Requisitions” on
page 53 for more information.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

• “About the Purchase Order Process” on page 61

• “About the Change and Cancel Order Processes” on page 63
• “Closing Purchase Orders” on page 69
• “Force Order and Force Cancel Orders” on page 70
• “About Order Fulfillment” on page 71

About the Purchase Order Process

Purchase orders are automatically generated in Ariba Buyer when a requisition is fully approved. Those
orders are then sent to the relevant suppliers, either through the Ariba Supplier Network or by manual
process, as a direct order, or as an ERP order depending on your system configuration.

A purchase order follows this general process:

1 You, as the requester, create a purchase requisition (PR) and submit it for approval. Ariba Buyer notifies
designated approvers that a PR is waiting for their approval.
2 Approvers approve or deny the PR:
• If the PR is approved, Ariba Buyer creates a purchase order and submits the order to the supplier.
• If the PR is denied, you can either edit and resubmit it, or withdraw it.
3 When you receive the items from the supplier, you enter receipt details, based on company guidelines.

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About the Purchase Order Process Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

Review the following diagram for a detailed description of the process:

User creates
a requisition
for item(s)

User withdraws
User submits the requisition,
the requisition or edits based
for approval on approver
comments

Approver is User resubmits

User adds yes
notified of the the requisition
comments
requisition for approval

yes
User is notified
Approver no Add no Can user
Requisition is of denial and
reviews the Approve? comments, modify and
denied approver
requisition resubmit? submit?
comments
yes
Approver logs in User can add comments
to take action to clarify and resubmit the
requisition , or modify it
no and do a new submit
Email , fax, or
Ariba SN ?

yes
Purchasing
agent sends
order (s) to no
supplier(s)

Supplier User receives

Order( s)
receives order items and
sent directly End
and sends enters receipt
to supplier(s)
items to user details

Tips:
• Ariba System typically appears as the user associated with a purchase order, indicating that the order was
automatically generated.
• The records and history of purchase orders are maintained in Ariba Buyer, and do not involve an ERP
system.
• Attachments to suppliers who receive orders via the Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN), email, or fax are
forwarded electronically. If you use a supplier who is not registered, then attachments must be handled
manually. For example, if your purchasing agent prints the order and sends it manually, be sure to fax any
attachments as well.
• A purchase order can be changed or canceled, depending on its status and your system configuration.
Refer to your company’s business procedures for additional information about changing or canceling
orders.
• You can search for and display purchase orders, add comments to them, or print them.

Order Transmission
After a requisition is approved and the purchase order is created, the status of the requisition and purchase
order shows Ordering, indicating that the order transmission is in progress. When an order transmits
successfully, its status changes to Ordered. When all of the orders associated with the requisition have been
successfully transmitted, the requisition status changes to Ordered as well.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders About the Manual Order Process

In the event that a requisition or order has not successfully transitioned from Ordering to Ordered, Ariba
Buyer sends several different notification messages to indicate the nature of the problem:
• If an order transmission fails because the supplier contact information is invalid or the communication
channel is not available, Ariba Buyer leaves the request status as Ordering and sends an email notification
message.
• If an order transmission fails because the order did not include enough information to initiate the
transmission, Ariba Buyer leaves the request status as Ordering and sends an email notification message.

When a purchase order fails to move from Ordering to Ordered, Ariba Buyer provides the following
techniques for error recovery:
• The scheduled task FailedOrders looks for orders that have the status of Ordering and tries to resend those
orders. This task simply retries the transmission operation. It doesn’t do any error recovery. Sometimes
that’s all that’s necessary—for example, if a transmission fails because of a network connection that’s
down, the FailedOrders task keeps resending the order until it succeeds.
• If there was a problem with the data on the order, such as invalid supplier contact information, you can
edit the order by clicking Edit and then click Submit to save the changes. The next time the FailedOrders
task runs, it retries the order again, this time with the changes.
• You can handle the order manually, and then click Force Order, which changes the order status from
Ordering to Ordered. For example, a purchasing manager might call in a phone order and then move the
order status to Ordered by clicking Force Order. After an order has been forced to the Ordered state, future
operations on that order (such as change orders) are not supported. Force orders only when you have no
other options available.

About the Manual Order Process

If you create a requisition that contains items from a supplier that is not registered on Ariba SN, then any
purchase order to that supplier must be handled manually.

A manual purchase order follows this general process:

1 You create the order and submit it for approval.

2 The order is approved, but because the supplier is not registered on Ariba SN, the order remains in the
Ordering status until a Purchasing Agent opens the order and clicks Mark Ordered.
3 The Purchasing Agent must then manually submit the order to the supplier (for example, via email, fax, or
messenger service).
4 If the order uses a PCard, then the PCard information must be communicated to the supplier by a
representative of your company.

If you cancel a manual order, the Purchasing Agent must manually cancel the order with the supplier.

When you create a manual order, the following message is included:

This Requisition contains an order for a supplier that is not a member of the Ariba Supplier Network. In order for this
order to be processed it must be manually sent to the supplier.

If you are a Purchasing Agent, you need to search for orders that have to be sent manually in order to fully
process those orders.

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About the Change and Cancel Order Processes Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

Processing or Canceling a Manual Order

W To search for and process a manual order:
1 In the Search area, click Purchase Order.

2 Click Search.

3 Set the Order Method option to Manual, and set the Status option to Ordering.

4 Click Search.

5 Click the title of an order.

6 Click Mark Ordered or Mark Canceled.

7 Enter your comments, then click OK.

8 Click Print, and forward the order or the cancelation to the supplier.

Quick Enablement
When the Quick Enablement feature is enabled for your site, Ariba Buyer can send orders to suppliers that
do not have Ariba SN IDs. Ariba SN creates accounts for these suppliers and then routes the orders
according to each supplier’s preferred ordering method, which can be either Fax or email.

For suppliers that do not have Ariba SN accounts, Ariba Buyer generates an Ariba SN private ID. Private
IDs are unique per supplier location. Administrators can view private IDs for supplier locations by using the
Suppliers task in the Supplier Manager workspace in Ariba Administrator.

For information on using the Supplier Manager workspace, see the Ariba Procure-to-Pay Administration
Guide.

When Ariba SN routes an order to a supplier, it includes an invitation to log in and complete the registration
process. Ariba SN encourages suppliers to take ownership of their accounts, which changes the accounts to
regular supplier accounts.

The Quick Enablement feature is enabled by default.

About the Change and Cancel Order Processes

When a requisition has been fully approved, Ariba Buyer generates orders and sends them to suppliers. At
this point in the process, you can change or cancel orders by two methods:
• Change or cancel the requisition from which the orders originated.
When you change the requisition, all related orders are also changed.
When you cancel the requisition, all related orders are also canceled.
• Change or cancel the orders.

In both cases, a new version of the requisition is created and submitted for approval, based on the current
approval rules. If the new version is fully approved, a new version of each order impacted by the change is
generated and sent to suppliers.

You can change or cancel requisitions whose status is Ordered.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders About the Change and Cancel Order Processes

You can change or cancel orders whose status is one of the following:

Action Required status

Change order • Confirmed (Ariba SN only)
• Confirming (Ariba SN only)
• Invoiced (if configured)
• Invoicing (if not Received and not all line items have been invoiced)
• Ordered
• Received (if configured)
• Receiving
• Shipped (if configured)
• Shipping (if configured)

Cancel order • Confirmed (Ariba SN only)

• Confirming (Ariba SN only)
• Ordered

You must be a member of the Purchasing Manager group to:

• Change or cancel orders generated from requisitions that were submitted by other users
• Search for specific orders to change or cancel

Changing or canceling orders involves these basic steps:

1 You change or cancel a requisition or order, thereby generating a new version of the requisition, and then
submit the new version for approval.
When you change an order, any receipts associated with the original order are copied to the new order.
2 Ariba Buyer notifies designated approvers that the new version is waiting for their approval.

3 Approvers approve or deny the new version.

• If approved and the supplier accepts change or cancel orders, a replacement order with the same ID as
the original is generated.
• If approved and the supplier does not accept change or cancel orders, you must cancel the original
order (if the order’s status is such that it can be canceled), and then create a new order either by adding
items to the existing requisition or by creating a new requisition.
• If denied, you can either edit and resubmit the new version for approval, or withdraw, edit, and then
resubmit the new version.
4 When you receive the items from the supplier, you enter receipt details if your company has enabled
receiving.

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About the Change and Cancel Order Processes Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

Review the following diagram for a detailed description of the change/cancel order process:

User changes
or cancels A correction or change to an existing order
fully approved creates a change order; canceling an existing
requisition or order creates a cancel order
order (s)

Change and cancel orders modify the User withdraws

User submits
requisition on which the orders are based the requisition
change or
and result in a new version of the requisition, or edits it based
cancel order
indicated by a version number such as V2 on approver
for approval
comments

yes
Approver is
User resubmits
notified of the User adds
the requisition
new version of comments
for approval
the requisition

yes

User is notified Add

Approver no Can user
New version of denial and comments no
reviews the Approve? modify and
is denied approver and
new version submit?
comments resubmit?
yes
no
User can add comments to
Original
Does supplier no clarify and resubmit the
order (s) are
accept change requisition, or modify it
or cancel canceled
and do a new submit
orders?
Replacement order(s)
with same order IDs yes
as original order (s)
Replacement
are generated
order (s) with
different order
IDs are
generated

Order (s) sent to

supplier (s) using one Supplier User receives
of these methods: receives order items and End
•Ariba SN and sends enters receipt
•Email items to user details
•Fax
•Manual order

Changing Purchase Orders

You can change a purchase order to edit the properties of the line items in the order, as well as add items to
or delete items from the order.

Note: The following example is based on a single order generated by a requisition. For information about
working with multiple orders generated by a single requisition, see “Working with Multiple Orders From a
Single Requisition” on page 67.

W To change a purchase order:

1 Search for the purchase order you want to change.

2 Click the title of the purchase order you want to change.

3 Click Change.

4 To edit the properties of a line item, click the check box for that item, then click Edit.

5 To delete a line item, click the check box for that item, then click Delete.

6 Add comments and attachments as necessary.

7 Click Submit. A new version of the requisition is submitted for approval.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders About the Change and Cancel Order Processes

To add items to the order, or to edit the requisition on which the order is based, use the Click here to change
requisition PRn directly link, edit the requisition, then click Submit.

Considerations About Canceling Orders

When you place an order, it typically moves through the following process:
Ordering > Ordered > Confirming > Confirmed > Shipping
Shipped > Receiving > Received > Invoicing > Invoiced

When you need to cancel an order, you must first determine where in this process the order is located, and
then reverse each event that has already occurred, including those within and outside of Ariba Buyer.
Consider the following points when canceling an order:

Is the order fully ordered? If the status is Ordered (fully ordered) or, if you are using Ariba SN and the
status is Confirming or Confirmed, you can cancel the order in Ariba Buyer.

Is the order fully or partially received or shipped? If the status is Shipping (partially shipped), Shipped
(fully shipped), Receiving (partially received) or Received (fully received), you can no longer cancel the
order. However, you, a purchasing agent, or a user responsible for purchasing or receiving can:
• Add a note explaining why the order needs to be canceled
• Call the supplier and cancel the order verbally
• Write Cancel on a hardcopy of the order and send it to the supplier
• Instruct Receiving to return the goods to the supplier
• Add a note when receiving items, or add notes on hardcopy documents when receiving items, to explain
who canceled the order, when, and why.

Has the order been invoiced or paid? If yes, the Purchasing or Accounts Payable (A/P) departments can:
• Cancel or credit the invoice manually
• Arrange a refund
• Add a note to the order to stop further receipts and payments

Canceling Purchase Orders

Note: The following example is based on a single order generated by a requisition. For information about
working with multiple orders generated by a single requisition, see “Working with Multiple Orders From a
Single Requisition” on page 67.

W To cancel a purchase order:

1 Search for the purchase order you want to cancel.

2 Click the title of the purchase order you want to cancel.

3 Click Cancel.
4 Enter any relevant comments, then click OK.

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About the Change and Cancel Order Processes Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

Tips:
• When you cancel a purchase order, a new version of the associated requisition, identified by a version
number such as V2, is created and submitted for approval. The cancel order is noted on the History tab of
the new version; the deleted items are listed in the Deleted Lines section on the Summary tab. If the
canceled order was the only or last order for the associated requisition, the requisition’s status changes to
Canceled when it is approved.
• You can cancel orders whose status is: Confirming, Confirmed, Ordered; and if configured, Shipping,
Shipped, and Received.
• If necessary, purchasing administrators or other authorized users can use the Force Cancel command to
intervene when there are problems canceling an order.
• You can cancel your own requisitions, which cancels all related orders.

Working with Multiple Orders From a Single Requisition

When you view the details of a purchase order that contains multiple orders generated by a single
requisition, you have the option to change or cancel the requisition that generated the orders, or to change or
cancel the individual orders.

Requisition-level commands

Order-level commands

To change or cancel the requisition that generated the orders, use the requisition-level commands.

To change or cancel the individual orders generated by the requisition, use the order-level commands.

Change and Cancel Order Process Enhancements

Note: The following information applies only if you have installed Ariba Buyer 9r1 SP20 or later.

The change order and cancel order processes have been enhanced to support additional scenarios related to
purchasing card orders. The enhancements apply to purchasing card orders and direct orders in the Ordered
state only. You can now change requisitions when there is a change in PCard configuration such as:
• PCard expiring
• User being assigned a new PCard or user’s PCard number changing
• Supplier enabling/disabling PCard acceptance

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders About the Change and Cancel Order Processes

User Interface Changes

You will see the following changes in the user interface:
• Change button is displayed for purchasing card orders
• associated with an expired PCard: Cancels the purchasing card order and creates a direct order
• when the supplier has stopped accepting PCards: Cancels the purchasing card order and creates a dirct
order
• when the user/supplier's PCard number has changed: Cancels the purchasing card order and creates
another purchasing card order with the new PCard number
• Cancel button is displayed for purchasing card orders
• associated with an expired PCard: Cancel such purchasing card orders
• Change button is displayed for direct orders
• when a PCard is associated with it: Cancels the direct order and creates a purchasing card order

Note: In all these cases, the respective buttons will be displayed only for orders in the Ordered state.

Changing Direct Orders to Purchasing Card Orders

When a direct order is in the Ordered state, you can change a direct order to a purchasing card order in the
following cases:
• User PCard/Ghosted PCard becomes available
• Supplier starts accepting PCards

In these cases, you can change the requisition and submit it. When the change is approved, the direct order is
cancelled and a purchasing card order is created.

Changing Purchasing Card Order to Direct Orders

When a purchasing card order is in the Ordered state, you can change a purchasing card order to a direct
order in the following cases:
• User’s PCard has expired and ghosted PCard is not available
• Supplier has stopped accepting PCards
• Ghosted PCard has expired and user PCard is not available

In these cases, you can change the requisition and submit it. When the change is approved, the purchasing
card order is cancelled and a direct order is created.

Changing Purchasing Card Order for PCard Changes

When a purchasing card order is in the Ordered state, change order is allowed in the following cases:
• Ghosted PCard has expired and user PCard is available
• User PCard has expired and ghosted PCard is available
• Ghosted PCard/user PCard is deleted and a new Ghosted PCard/user PCard is assigned
• User’s original PCard has expired and a new valid PCard has been assigned

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Closing Purchase Orders Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

In these cases, you can change the requisition and submit it. When the change is approved, the original
purchasing card order is cancelled and a new purchasing card order is created.

When a user’s original PCard expires during the approval flow of a changed requisition, approvers can
successfully approve the changes. In this case, the original purchasing card order is cancelled and a new
purchasing card order is created.

Cancelling Purchasing Card Order when PCard Expires

When a PCard associated with a purchasing card order expires, you can cancel the order using the Cancel
button. This button is visible only when the order is in Ordered state.

Closing Purchase Orders

When a purchasing agent leaves the company, you cannot transfer their purchase orders to another agent.
You must close the purchase orders belonging to the employee that left, and then open new purchase orders.
As a member of the Purchasing Administrator or Purchasing Manager group, you can close a purchase order
that belongs to a user that has left your company, or if for any other reason you find that you must close a
purchase order.

W To close a purchase order:

1 Search for the purchase order you want to close.

2 Click the title of the purchase order you want to close.

3 Click Close.

4 Choose a close order action:

• Close for Change - indicates that the purchase order cannot be changed further.
• Close for Receiving - indicates that the purchase order cannot receive any further
• Close for Invoicing - indicates that there can be no further invoicing against this purchase order
• Close All Action - indicates that there can be no change, receiving, or invoicing for the purchase order

5 Enter any relevant comments, and click OK.

You can later click Reopen to reopen the closed purchase order.

Tips:
• You must belong to the Purchasing Administrator or Purchasing Manager group to be able close purchase
orders.
• When you close a purchase order the Close Order status of the purchase order changes to the close order
reason specified when you closed the purchase order. When you reopen a closed purchase order the Close
Order status changes to Open.
• The close or reopen comments appears on the History tab of the purchase order.
• You can close orders whose status is ordered, with status of Ordered, Receiving, or Invoicing.
• You can search for purchase orders based on their closed state.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders Force Order and Force Cancel Orders

Force Order and Force Cancel Orders

The Force Order and Force Cancel commands are available for circumstances under which orders or the
cancellation of orders are interrupted and have become stalled in the Ariba Buyer system or in Ariba SN.

Forcing Orders
Use the Force Order command to manually force a purchase order through Ariba Buyer when there has been
an interruption in the ordering process and there is no other way to recover from the problem.

If you force an order but for some reason never actually transmit it to the supplier, you might experience
problems if you later try to change the order.

The only orders you can force are those with a status of Ordering.

W To force an order:
1 Log in to Ariba Buyer as someone who belongs to the Purchasing Manager group.

2 In the Navigation Panel, under Manage, click Searches.

3 Search for the purchase order in question.

4 In your list of search results, click the Order ID link for the purchase order.

5 Click Force Order.

6 Add any comments you want to include, then click OK.

Forcing Cancellation of Orders or Payment Transactions

Use the Force Cancel command when you have used Ariba SN to cancel a purchase order or payment
transaction with a supplier and the cancellation process has been interrupted, stalling the order or payment
transaction in the system. In this case, the status does not progress beyond Canceling.

When you employ the Force Cancel command, the status of the order or payment transaction changes from
Canceling to Canceled, allowing the cancellation process to continue. Keep in mind, however, that only the
status changes: you must take further action to actually cancel the order, such as call the supplier.

The only orders and payments you can force cancel are those with a status of Canceling.

W To force cancel an order or payment transaction:

1 Log in to Ariba Buyer as someone who belongs to the Purchasing Administrator group.

2 In the Navigation Panel, click Manage > Searches.

3 Search for the purchase order or payment transaction in question.

4 In your list of search results, click the ID link for the order or payment transaction.

5 Click Force Cancel.

6 Add any comments you want to include, then click OK.

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About Order Fulfillment Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

About Order Fulfillment

When fulfilling an order, the supplier sends order confirmation messages and advanced ship notices to
acknowledge changes in the fulfillment status. For example:
• On receiving the order, the supplier sends an order confirmation to confirm that the order was received,
though not necessarily that the order will be completed as you have requested.
• When there is a change to the quantity accepted, accepted with changes, back ordered, rejected, or
substituted, the supplier sends an order confirmation message.
• When there is a change to the number of items shipped, the supplier sends an advanced ship notice.

You can view a summary of the fulfillment status changes on the View Request Details page, and view
details of the changes on the View Item Details page.

Selected users receive email notifications of order confirmation and shipment activities. For example:
• Purchasing agents and requesters receive notification messages when an order is confirmed or fails to be
confirmed.
• Purchasing agents, receiving managers, and requesters receive notification messages when an order is
shipped or fails to ship.

Note: These features are available if they are enabled during configuration of your Ariba Buyer site.

Viewing Order Fulfillment Status

When an order is routed through Ariba SN, you can view the current order fulfillment status. (If an order has
been sent manually, this information is not available.)

When an order confirmation or advanced-ship notice is received for all purchase orders associated with the
requisition, the requisition status is updated to Ordered.

W To view order fulfillment status:

1 In either your My Documents list or in a search results list, click the Status link of any requisition whose
status is Ordered.
Each order generated by the requisition is listed, and the status of that order is displayed in the Status
column.

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Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders About Order Fulfillment

2 Click the Order ID link for an order to see its details.

If the order was routed through Ariba SN, you see the number of items acknowledged, shipped, and
received.

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About Order Fulfillment Chapter 4 Managing Purchase Orders

3 Click Detail to view additional fulfillment details about how the order is being handled or fulfilled.

Details include the order number, supplier, and shipping information.

If applicable, you also see:
• Carrier
• Number Shipped
• Number accepted
• Number accepted with changes
• Number back ordered
• Number rejected
• Number substituted

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Chapter 5 Receiving

• “About Receiving” on page 75

• “Receiving Orders” on page 79

About Receiving
The receiving process begins when items from a supplier arrive at their shipping destination. By default, the
person responsible for the receiving of ordered items creates a manual receipt of the items by quantity and
submits it for approval.

In Ariba Buyer, this behavior can be overridden. Your administrator can decide to allow auto-receive by part
number or commodity code, or configure items to be received by amount. In addition, tolerance settings
control over- and under-receiving.

About the Manual Receiving Process

Receiving items manually involves these basic steps:
1 Use Ariba Buyer to find the order associated with the items you received.

Note: You can only receive against orders in Ordered or Receiving state.

2 Create a receipt that indicates the extent to which the order was filled.
For example, an order might be only partially filled due to items being on back order, or you might reject
some items due to damage incurred during shipping.
If there are still items to be received, and the order remains open, you need to create additional receipts as
you receive additional items.
You can edit a receipt to revise the quantity or amount until the receipt has been fully approved. You can
revise the quantity or amount upward by entering positive values, and you can revise the quantity or
amount downward by enter negative values.
You can also create a new receipt to revise the quantity or amount for a receipt that has been fully
approved. When you create the new receipt, enter positive values to revise the quantity or amount upward,
and enter negative values to revise the quantity or amount downward.
3 Submit the receipt for approval.
If the receipt is denied, you must resolve the problem and continue the receiving process until all items are
received, or until the order is closed short.
4 Close the order.
When you close an order, its status changes from Receiving to Received and the process is finished.

Note: When you change an order, any receipts associated with the original order are copied to the new order.

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About Receiving Chapter 5 Receiving

Tips:
• You can receive multiple orders at one time, if the orders do not require additional data. If Ariba Buyer
determines that any orders require asset or other data, it prompts you to enter individual receipts for those
items.
• If a requisition contains line items that do not require a receipt (as configured by your Ariba Buyer
administrator), those line items have a status of Ordered, not Received, when the requisition is fully
approved.

The following diagram provides an overview of the receiving process.

User requested
Supplier ships
item(s) through
items to user
Ariba Buyer

Central Receiver
or User
Physically Receipt can be entered
receive and either by Central Receiving
verify the items or by the user, depending
on your business rules

Click
"Receive" on
your Procure-
To-Pay home
page

Search by Order, Req,

Click "Search"
Receipt, or Contract
and select the
ID, or click Search to
order you want
display all orders to be
to receive Receiver takes Receiver
received
action to reviews denial
resolve the comments on
problem the receipt
Accept no
all items?

If you reject
yes Enter the
any items,
accept and/or
enter the
reject quantity
reason for
and date
rejection
Click Options:
"Accept All" Enter comments Click "Submit"
to accept all and close the to submit the
items order, if desired denial

Option:
Click Exit to save your entries; the
receipt remains in a Composing
state and you can modify the
details before you submit the
receipt for approval
Approver(s)
Central Receiver /
Click "Submit" User will read
Enter the
to submit the Approve these comments
reason for
receipt for receipt? no and take the
denial
Approval appropriate action
yes

Will more no
items be End
received?
Note:
yes Once all line items Receipt and receipt tracker approvals
Order status are received and are optional, and are based on your
receipts are approved, configuration and your company's
is Receiving
status is Received business rules

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Chapter 5 Receiving About Receiving

Under- and Over-Receiving

In general, the quantities and amounts on a receipt are expected to match the quantities and amounts of the
purchase order. However, sometimes you may receive fewer items or a lesser amount than what was
specified on the purchase order (under-receiving), or you may receive more items or a greater amount than
on the purchase order (over-receiving).

How under- and over-receiving is handled depends on the tolerances configured for your site by Ariba
customer support. If you submit receipts for quantities and/or amounts that are within the configured
tolerance limits, the purchase order will be considered fully received. Tolerances can be defined based on
absolute quantity, percentage of quantity or value, and Value (line item amount). Your site can be configured
so that both, absolute and relative tolerances must be met for a receipt to be fully received, or that either one
of the tolerance settings must be met for the receipt to be complete.

Examples:

Tolerances for your site are defined as follows. All three settings must be met for a receipt to be fully
received:
• Quantity tolerance setting: 5
• Percentage tolerance setting: 2%
• Value tolerance setting: $50

Purchase order for PartA is for a quantity of 100. The item price is $20. Receiving is configured for manual
receipt by quantity:
• Example A: Receive by quantity: 96. Order is not fully received and will remain in receiving state, since it
did not meet the 2% percentage limit (under-receiving up to a quantity of 2 for this order).
• Example B: Receive by quantity: 99. Tolerance limits are met and the order is considered fully received
and can be closed.

Purchase order for PartB is for a quantity of 200. The item price is $15. Receiving for PartB is configured for
manual receipt by amount:
• Example C: Receive by amount: $3,050. Tolerance limits are met for percentage limits ($60) and value
limits and the order is considered fully received.
• Example D: Receive by amount: $2,940. Tolerance limit for percentage is met, but tolerance limit for
value is not and the order is not fully received. The order remains in receiving state.

About Automatic Receiving

Your site can be configured to allow automatic receiving on the due date of the receipt for orders or line item
amounts below a specified threshold value. This is useful if you do not want to spend data entry time for low
value receipts, or do not want to risk holding up payment of small invoice amounts waiting for a manual
receipt.

The total order amount threshold is evaluated first, and if it is not met, then the threshold for individual line
item amounts is tested. The receiving rules auto-receive by receipt due date any order for a total less than
specified by these threshold amounts.

If an order, or the line item amounts, exceeds the threshold values, Ariba Buyer checks the receiving type
configuration for the order items. Your administrator can define receiving types by part number or
commodity code to override the default receiving type (manual receipt by quantity) for orders or line item

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values that exceed the auto-receive threshold settings, if configured. In particular, auto-receive rules allow
the automatic creation of a receipt for any order or line item amount when an item is ordered, an invoice is
received, or when the receipt due date is reached

Example:

Part A is configured for auto-receive on invoicing. The threshold setting to limit auto-receiving by receipt
due date are set as follows:
• Purchase Order Limit: $100.00
• Item Amount Limit: $50.00

Case A: Purchase order for PartA with a total order amount of $60: The item will be auto-received by
receipt due date, since the purchase order amount is below the total purchase order threshold limit.

Case B: Purchase order for PartA for $60 and PartB for $30: PartA and PartB will be auto-received by
receipt due date, since the purchase order amount ($90) is below the total purchase order threshold limit.

Case C: Purchase order for PartA for $40 and PartB for $100: PartA will be auto-received by receipt due
date, since the line item amount for PartA is below the threshold limit, and PartB will be manually received
by quantity, since it is not configured with a different receiving type.

Case D: Purchase order for Part A for $60 and PartB for $70: PartA will be auto-received on invoicing, and
PartB will be manually received by quantity, since both, the total order limit AND the item amount limit for
PartA and PartB exceed the threshold limit, and PartA is configured for auto-receive on invoicing.

Receipt Due Date Calculation

Ariba Buyer uses the receipt due date to trigger certain actions, such as sending notifications or
auto-receiving by due date. The receipt, or delivery due date is calculated as follows:

For catalog items:

• Delay Purchase Until is blank on requisition: Ordered Date plus catalog item lead time adjusted to next
business day;
• Delay Purchase Until is not blank on requisition: Delay Purchase Until date plus catalog item lead time
adjusted to next business day.

For non-catalog items:

The receipt due date for non-catalog items is set to the next business day.

Receipt Notifications
When the receipt of an item becomes overdue, Ariba Buyer sends an email notification to the receipt
approvers on the next working day after the receipt has become due.

For more information, see the Ariba Procurement Groups and Notifications Reference Guide at
Help@Ariba.

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Receiving Orders
This section covers the following topics:
• “Searching for the Request” on page 79
• “Creating the Receipt” on page 80
• “Editing Receipts” on page 83
• “Approving Receipts” on page 83

Searching for the Request

W To search for a request:
1 In the Common Actions area, click Manage > Receive.

2 Select the type of request for which you want to search.

3 If you want to limit the number of results, enter a string by which to filter your search.

4 Click Search.
If you would like to apply more strict filtering to your search, click the Advanced link at the top of the
page.
Click Add/Remove Search Filters to add fields to or remove fields from this page.

Select a check box to add a field, clear a check box to remove a field, then click OK.
Set the value for each filter you want to apply, then click Search.

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5 Click the Order ID link for the relevant request.

When you select a request, Ariba Buyer assumes you want to create a new receipt rather than edit an
existing one. It automatically creates a new receipt ID for the selected request and displays the Receive or
Verify Items page. If you need to edit an existing receipt, click Select Receipt in the list of Receiving Steps
on the left to display the Select Receipt or Milestone Tracker page and then click the ID for the receipt.

Creating the Receipt

Once you have opened the order that contains the items you have received, your next step is to create a
receipt for those items. The process of creating a receipt begins on the Receive or Verify Items page.

Note: Depending on how your receiving is configured (by quantity or amount), the columns for line items are
either:

Quantity, Accepted, Rejected

or

Amount, Amt. Accepted, Amt. Rejected

Note: The procedure you use to create a receipt is the same procedure you use to edit a receipt. Refer to the
following procedure to create and edit receipts. For more information about editing receipts, see “Editing
Receipts” on page 83.

W To create a receipt:
1 On the Receive or Verify Items page, click Accept All to:
• Accept the total number of items identified in the Quantity column. If there are a number of distinct line
items, this action accepts the total quantity for each item.
• Accept the total amount charged for items in the Amount column. If there are a number of distinct line
items, this action accepts the total amount charged for each item.

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To accept a specific number or amount for an item (either the entire quantity/amount or some portion
thereof), enter that number in the
Accepted/Amt. Accepted column for an item.
To reject a specific number or amount for an item (either the entire quantity/amount or some portion
thereof), enter that number in the
Rejected/Amt. Rejected column for an item.
You can also enter negative values for the quantity or amount accepted or rejected. You enter negative
values when you want to make a downward revision of a receipt you are editing, or when you are creating
a new receipt to make a downward revision of one that has already been fully approved and cannot be
edited.
2 (PeopleSoft only):
Select the appropriate Business Unit from the menu, or click Search for more to select a different
Business Unit.
3 Use the calendar control to select the date on which you received (accepted or rejected) the items.
4 Use the Close Order field to:
• Close the order for any future receiving upon approval of the receipt. To close the order, click Yes.
• Keep the order open so additional items can be received. To keep the order open, click No.
5 Add any comments and/or attachments you want to include, then click Next.
If you rejected any quantity or amount, the Additional Information Needed page opens. Proceed to Step 6.
If you did not reject a quantity or amount, the Summary page opens. Proceed to Step 7.
6 If the Additional Information Needed page opens, enter any additional information that is required.
Depending on the configuration at your site, you can add asset data when you create a receipt for
particular commodity codes or part numbers. In that case, you must enter the data when completing a
receipt for an item with that commodity code or part number. Asset data information includes serial
number, tag number, and location.
The asset data feature is disabled in the default configuration. If you want to use the asset data feature,
contact your Ariba Customer Support representative to enable it for your site. Your administrator can then
configure asset tracking by commodity code or part numbers.

For this field... Do this...

Accepted/Amt. Accepted Enter the quantity or amount accepted.

This value defaults to what you entered on the Receive or Verify Items page.

Rejected/Amt. Rejected Enter the quantity or amount rejected.

This value defaults to what you entered on the Receive or Verify Items page.

Date Received Select the date on which you received (accepted or rejected) the items.

The date defaults to what you entered on the Receive or Verify Items page.

The earliest date you can set is the Ordered Date, and the latest date you can set is the
date on which you are entering the receipt.

Email Select the check box for Send email to Purchasing to send a message indicating that
you have added additional information to the receipt.

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For this field... Do this...

Rejection Reason Enter an explanation of why you rejected a quantity or an amount.

Serial Number Enter the serial number for your asset. (This field is available if asset tracking has been
configured for your site).

Tag Number Enter the tag number for your asset. (This field is available if asset tracking has been
configured for your site).

Location Enter the location of the asset. Make this as specific as possible so you can locate the
item again. (This field is available if asset tracking has been configured for your site).

Always go directly to the Select this check box to hide this screen in future and instead enter additional receipt
summary page information as comments on the Summary page.

This preference takes effect immediately; you must reset preferences to redisplay the
page.

Click Next.
7 Click the Summary tab to review or change the information you entered.
Click the Approval Flow tab to review the approval flow, and add additional approvers if necessary.

Click Submit.
At this point, a receipt is generated for the items you accepted. If there are still items to be received and
the order is left open, an additional receipt will be generated when you accept the next items.

You can receive multiple line items at one time if the line items do not require additional data. If Ariba Buyer
determines that any items require asset or other data, it prompts you to enter receipts for those items
individually.

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Editing Receipts
You can edit a receipt to revise the quantity or amount until the receipt has been fully approved. You can
revise the quantity or amount upward by entering positive values, and you can revise the quantity or amount
downward by enter negative values.

W To edit a receipt:
1 In the Search area of the dashboard, choose Receipt. Supply any other filtering you want to add, then click
Search. You can edit receipts whose status is Composing.

2 Click the ID link for the receipt.

3 Click Edit. Confirm that you want to edit the receipt.

Edit the receipt using the same procedures you used when creating the receipt. See “Creating the Receipt”
on page 80.

Approving Receipts
W To approve a receipt:
1 Click the ID link for the receipt you want to approve.

2 To approve the receipt, click Approve.

To deny the receipt, click Deny.
3 Add any comments you want to include, then click OK.

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Chapter 6 Using Purchasing Cards

• “About the Purchasing Card Process” on page 85

• “Working with Unassigned Charges” on page 86
• “Reconciling Charges” on page 88

About the Purchasing Card Process

Ariba Buyer handles charges from the following types of purchasing cards:

Card Type Description

Procurement A corporate credit card used to purchase goods on behalf of your company. A
procurement card can either be assigned to an individual or can act as a ghosted card:
• Individual cards are physical cards, assigned to users. Only the cardholder can make
purchases with that card, and that individual is responsible for resolving any issues
that arise.
• Ghosted cards are assigned to supplier locations, but there is no physical card (only a
card number). Any orders sent to the supplier location are billed to the ghosted card.

Expense A corporate credit card used to pay for business and travel expenses incurred on behalf
of your company.

Combination A corporate credit card that can be used either as an expense card or a procurement
card.

Unknown This card type is intended for cards that are used outside of Ariba Buyer. If you import
charges associated with such a card into Ariba Buyer, users cannot see or manipulate
those charges in the user interface.

The reconciliation of charges involves the following steps:

1 Charges are loaded into Ariba Buyer.
1 Charges are either:
• Loaded into Ariba Buyer
• Sent from the bank to Ariba SN, and then pushed to Ariba Buyer
2 If an order number can be determined from the charge, Ariba Buyer attempts to match the charge to the
order, and then reconcile the charge.
If an order number cannot be determined from the charge, then the charge is displayed on the Unassigned
Charges page.
If charges against non-existent cards are loaded, they are listed in the Unassigned Charges page so that
users with the PCardManager permission can view those charges and create the missing cards in the
system. A scheduled task assigns these charges to the card and then reconciles the charges.
3 Unassigned charges are either:
• Matched to purchase orders, and then reconciled automatically

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• Reconciled as Non-Purchase Order charges

4 Charges with exceptions are routed to the appropriate users for reconciliation.

5 Once the exceptions are reconciled, the charge reconciliation document (CR) enters the approval process.

The automatic validation process checks to see if the validation of the charge can be skipped. Ariba Buyer
skips validation if the total amount of the charge is below a certain configured threshold amount. In the
default configuration, the skip amount is set to 5, which represents an amount in the default currency for
your site.

If you want to change the default skip amount, contact Ariba Customer Support.

Working with Unassigned Charges

You have two options with unassigned charges:
• “Assigning Charges to Purchase Orders” on page 87
• “Reconciling Charges as Non-Purchase-Order Charges” on page 88

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The following diagram outlines the unassigned charge process:

Search for
unassigned
charges in
Unassigned
Charges
page

Reconcile charges
Assign charges to
as non-purchase
purchase orders
order charges

Purchase card Purchase card

charge charge
reconciliation reconciliation
(PCCR) generated (PCCR) generated

Reconciliation
process

PCard Managers can view, assign, and reconcile all charges that are unassigned in Ariba Buyer. All Ariba
Buyer users can view, assign, and reconcile their own unassigned charges. Note, however, that you cannot
take action against expense card charges and combo card charges for non-existent cards. These charges will
only be listed.

PCard Managers and Ariba Buyer users can search for unassigned charges based on these search criteria:
• ID
• PCard number
• Charge type
• Reason
• Transaction date
• Amount
• Merchant

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The unassigned charges that PCard managers and Ariba Buyer users can work with are:
• Charges against a PCard which are not associated with any PCard order (shown as Procure charges)
• Charges against an expense card which are not associated with a user (shown as Expense charges)
• Charges against combo cards (shown as Combo charges)
• Charges against non-existent cards (shown as Combo charges)

Assigning Charges to Purchase Orders

If a charge cannot be automatically assigned to a purchase order, it must be assigned manually.

W To assign a charge to a purchase order:

1 In the Common Actions area, click Manage > Unassigned Charges.

2 Under Search Filters, select the type of charges for which you want to search:
• Combo
• Expense (cannot be assigned to a purchase order)
• Procure
You can add or remove search filters to your search.
3 Click Search.

4 Click the check box for each charge you want to assign to a purchase order, then click Assign.

5 From the Field menu select Order ID or Order Title, enter a search string for the order to which you want to
assign the charge, then click Search.
You can also click Advanced to use additional search criteria.
6 Click the radio button for the order you want, then click OK.

7 On the Confirm Assignment page, click OK.

You return to the Unassigned Charges page, from which you can continue to assign charges.

Note: If you need to unassign a charge because you assigned it to the wrong order, you can do so by
manually matching it to a different purchase order during reconciliation. For more details, see “Matching
Charges to Purchase Orders” on page 89.

Reconciling Charges as Non-Purchase-Order Charges

If there is no purchase order to which you can assign a charge, you can reconcile that charge as a
non-purchase-order charge.

W To reconcile a charge as a Non-Purchase Order charge:

1 In the Common Actions area, click Manage > Unassigned Charges.

2 Under Search Filters, select the type of charges for which you want to search:
• Combo
• Expense (cannot be assigned to a purchase order)
• Procure
You can add or remove search filters to your search.
3 Click Search.

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4 Click the check box for the charge you want to reconcile as a non-purchase order charge, then click
Reconcile.

5 On the Confirm Reconciliation page, click OK.

You return to the Unassigned Charges page, from which you can continue to assign or reconcile charges.

Reconciling Charges
When a charge includes discrepancies that violate your company's charge policies, exceptions are generated.
The exceptions must either be reconciled before you can submit the charge, or you can reject the charge
reconciliation as a whole.

W To reject a charge:
1 In the Common Actions area, click Manage > Reconcile Charges.

2 From the statuses menu, select Reconciling.

3 In the Action column, click the Reconcile link for the charge you want to reconcile.

4 Click Reject to reject the charge. Use the Reject Reason list to select one of the following reasons:
Discrepancy Resolved Offline, Unauthorized Charge, or Other.

5 Click OK.

W To reconcile charges:
1 In the Common Actions area, click Manage > Reconcile Charges.

2 From the statuses menu, select Reconciling.

3 In the Action column, click the Reconcile link for the charge you want to reconcile.

4 On the Exceptions tab, use the Display menu to select how you want to proceed:

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Select... To ...

Exceptions you have permissions to reconcile Display the exceptions you are authorized to reconcile
and accept the exceptions.

All exceptions Display all exceptions and accept the exceptions you are
authorized to reconcile.

Unresolved exceptions Display all unresolved exceptions and reconcile those

that you are authorized to accept.

5 At this point, depending on the exception you need to reconcile, you have the following options:
• Manually matching the charge to a different purchase order. The discrepancy between the charge and
order amount might have been caused by assigning the charge to an incorrect purchase order (either
manually or automatically), or the purchase order has been canceled. For more information, see
“Matching Charges to Purchase Orders” on page 89.
• Balance the charge reconciliation to the charge amount if the PCard order is overcharged. For more
information, see “Working With Adjustment Line Items” on page 90.

Note: There are no exceptions generated for undercharged orders and they are always auto-reconciled.

• Accepting the exceptions. See “Resolving PCCR Exceptions” on page 91 for details.

Matching Charges to Purchase Orders

You can reconcile the entire charge by manually matching it to a different purchase card order.

W To reconcile the charge as a whole:

1 At the document level, click Manual Match.

2 Use the Field menu to filter your search for purchase card orders by ID, Title, or Supplier, then enter an
appropriate search string, and click Search.
3 Click Select for the purchase card order to which you want to match the charge.
You return to the Charge Reconciliation page. The purchase card order to which you have matched the
charge is displayed at the top of the Exceptions tab.
4 Click Submit to submit the charge for approval.

Working With Adjustment Line Items

Adjustment line items are added for accounting purposes to PCCRs in Reconciling state for any type of
exception. For example, if a PCard order has been overcharged, a PO Amount Variance exception is
generated, which is justified by balancing the charge reconciliation to the charge amount. The adjustment
line items are added automatically by Ariba Buyer. You can further addand/or modify the existing line items
to match the charge amount with the purchase order amount.

When you try to reconcile the charge, the charge is split into the order amount and tax amount.

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In the default configuration, Ariba Buyer is setup to generate exception based on the purchase order amount
variance. That is, the PO Amount Variance exception occurs when the system compares the PO Balance Not
Charged value with the default line item amount (order amount).

You can choose to configure Ariba Buyer to generate exceptions based on the variance in the
receivedamount that is not yet charged. Contact your Administrator to have this configured.

Note: At any given time, you can have only one type of exception generation configured on Ariba Buyer.

Important: The Amount Variance (PO Amount Not Charged or Received Not Charged) exception that is
generated takes into consideration only the default line item amount and (in the sum total), and NOT the tax
amount and the adjustment line item amounts.

But when the reconciliation is submitted, all line amounts are considered and the amount is calculated.

W To perform adjustments:
1 For level 2 charges, the Line Items section displays the order amount, a tax line (if available), and an
adjustment line.
2 Add one or more adjustment line items to balance the charge reconciliation to the charge amount. When
adding adjustment line items, select an adjustment category from the Adjust Type pull-down menu.

3 When you are finished adjusting the charge reconciliation, select Exceptions you have permission to reconcile
in the Display menu.
4 Select the check box of the PO Amount Variance exception you have just adjusted and click Accept.

5 Submit the charge reconciliation for approval.

Notes:
• When adjustment line items are added, accounting information configured for each adjustment type is
copied to the corresponding adjustment line time. The type of accounting information you see depends on
your ERP system.
• Once the exceptions are accepted, you cannot add, delete, or modify the adjustment line items, since any
discrepancies are now resolved and the charge is reconciled.

Resolving PCCR Exceptions

W To resolve the exceptions that occurred during reconciliation:
1 On the Exceptions tab, all line items with the exceptions are displayed.

2 If you want resolve the amount variance (PO Amount or Received Amount variance) without modifying
the default line item and adjustment line item values, click Update Exceptions.

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3 This action clears all exceptions. Click Submit to reconcile the charge. If you have modified the values and
as a result, the exceptions are not resolved when you click Update Exceptionst, you must then resolve the
exceptions manually before submitting the charge reconciliation.

For example:

There is a charge for $200.00 exists in the system and is awaiting reconciliation. It is associated with a PO
that has an amount of $100. Consider a scenario where the Ariba procurement solution generates a PO
Amount Variance exception, and automatically split thecharge into the following lines to balance the charge
amount:
• Default line item (order amount): $100.00
• Tax line: $20
• Adjustment line: $80.00

In this scenario, if you want to keep the default values and click Update Exceptions, the PO Amount variance
exception is resolved, and you can click Submit to reconcile the charge.

But, if you choose to modify the values as follows:

• Default line item: $120.00
• Tax line: $20.00
• Adjustment line: $60.00

This results in the default line item value to be higher than the order amount ($100). Now if you click Update
Exceptions, it does not resolve the exception.

Important: The Update Exception button when clicked, resolves the exception ONLY when the default line item
amount matches with the order amount (or the amount in the order that remains to be charged).

Resolving Invalid Accounting Information Exceptions

Accounting information for any charge typically comes from the purchase order details. When reconciling
charges that are of a Non-PO or Non-Ariba type, if you encounter invalid accounting information
exceptions, resolve these exceptions by specifying appropriate accounting details in the Charge
Reconciliation Details page for that line item.

Invalid accounting information exceptions can occur for these reasons:

• The accounting information associated with the user that is reconciling the unassigned charge (Non-Ariba
or Non-PO based charge) is incorrect
• The accounting combination of the charge is not valid

W To resolve invalid accounting information exceptions:

1 On the Exceptions tab, the charges with invalid accounting information exceptions are listed.

2 On the corresponding line item exception that you want to resolve, click Edit.

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3 In the Charge Reconciliation Details page that displays, the Accounting - By Line Item section lists the
accounting fields that have invalid information or no information at all.

4 Specify appropriate values in all the fields and click OK.

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Chapter 7 Reporting

• “About Reports” on page 93

• “Running Reports” on page 93
• “Report Summary” on page 95

About Reports
Ariba Buyer provides a number of pre-defined operational reports that you can run to analyze your business.
Before you run a report, you can specify filters and display options to better focus the report results.

Report results can be displayed in Excel, HTML, or CSV format. Some reports allow you to display the
results as a bar graph or pie chart when you select to view your output in HTML. Whenever possible, values
are calculated using historical conversion rates; otherwise, current conversion rates are used. If your
company has also enabled euro-equivalent reporting, multiple columns of currency data appear.

Running Reports
W To run a report:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Manage > Reports. If you have previously saved report queries, the
Saved Reports page displays a list of saved reports you can run from this page. Click New Report to create
a new report using the Report wizard, or Run to run a previously saved report.

If there are no saved reports available, the Report wizard is displayed immediately when you click the
Reports link in the Common Actions panel.
2 On the Reports page, select one of the following report categories:
• Charges (Old)
• Charges
• Contractor
• Global Catalog Reports
• Operations
• Orders
• Receiving
• Requisitions
• Time Sheets
See “Report Summary” on page 95 for a list of reports available in each category.
3 Click Select Report in the Report wizard, or Next on the Report page to display the report selection page.

4 Select the report you want to run and click Run Report in the Report wizard, or Next on the Report page.

5 Select the report output format from the Report Format drop down list. Some reports may provide an
option to also select a display chart when you select HTML as the report format.

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Running Reports Chapter 7 Reporting

6 On the Basic tab, enter your report filter values to limit the output, if required. If you don’t limit your
report selection, all records will be included in your report.
7 If you want to control the information that is displayed in your report, click on the Advanced tab to deselect
the default display values. For example, on the Order Details by Commodity and Supplier report, you may
not be interested in cost center information.

8 Click:
• Run to run your report and view the report results;
• Save to save your report query to your Saved Reports. The saved report now displays in your Saved
Reports page every time to click the Reports link in the Common Action panel.

Note: PCards are encrypted in Ariba Buyer 9r1, and PCard Number cannot be used as a filter in your report
query.

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Report Summary
This section provides a list of pre-defined operational reports by report category. Depending on your
permissions, your access to certain reports may be restricted.

Charges (Old) Reports

This report category is only available if your system was migrated from an earlier version of Ariba Buyer. It
displays unprocessed level 2 charges and PCard charge resolution documents that were not migrated to the
new PCard charges format.

Use the Charges report category to report on charges incurred after your system was migrated to version 9r1.

These reports focus on data for charges made using a corporate purchasing card (PCard) that are tracked by
Ariba Buyer. The reports help you understand how employees have been using their corporate purchasing
cards. You can see charges that have arrived from the bank but haven't yet been associated with a particular
card number, and charges that are either unassigned or cannot be assigned.

Select the Charges (Old) category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Charges Summary (all A general purpose report displaying all charges by cardholder.
partitions) Displays data, summarized by a company's purchasing card numbers,
as recorded by the vendor through the bank.

This report helps purchasing card administrators monitor the flow of

charge processing, and to verify that all charges recorded by the bank
have been reviewed and processed.
Invalid Charges (all A summary of all charges listed on a bank statement, but not yet
partitions) associated in Ariba Buyer with a valid purchasing card or an expense
card. For example, a charge might be included if the card used in the
purchase does not match the card specified on the order.

This report helps purchasing card administrators monitor charge

processing and incoming charges.
Unassigned Charges (all A summary of all unassigned charges. These charges are recorded by
partitions) the bank, but not yet associated with an approvable document in Ariba
Buyer.

This report helps purchasing card administrators monitor charge

processing and incoming charges. Users with the PCardManager
permission can view unassigned charges for inactive PCards and
inactive users.
PCard Charges Displays charges made on corporate purchasing cards.
PCard Charge Displays disputed or reconciled charges on purchasing cards.
Reconciliations (all
partitions)

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Report Title Description

Disputed PCard Order Displays disputed charges associated with purchasing cards.
Charge Reconciliations
Disputed PCard Order Displays purchasing card orders with disputed charges.
Charges

Charges Reports
These reports focus on data for charges made using a corporate purchasing card (PCard) that are tracked by
Ariba Buyer. The reports help you understand how employees have been using their corporate purchasing
cards.

Select the Charges category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Procure Charges Report A general purpose report displaying all charges by cardholder.
Displays data, summarized by a company's purchasing card numbers,
as recorded by the vendor through the bank.

This report helps purchasing card administrators monitor the flow of

charge processing, and to verify that all charges recorded by the bank
have been reviewed and processed.
PCard Charge Displays PCard charge reconciliations for each purchasing card.
Reconciliations Reports

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Contractor Reports
Select the Contractor and Time Sheets category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Contractor Status Displays, by supplier, the contractors on site, their consecutive on site
(Contractor category) days and good sit period, and contract details.

This report is useful to users who actively manage the transactional

activities of contractors, including Hiring Managers and Requesters,
Work Supervisors, Cost Center Managers, Supplier Managers, and
Onsite Supplier Account Managers (the points of contact for orders).

Note: The results you see in the report are restricted. For example,
Hiring Managers only see their orders while Cost Center Managers
can see everything tied to their cost center.
Accruals (Time Sheets Displays the expected invoice amount per contractor based on
category) submitted and/or approved time sheets for which invoices in the
current invoice period are still outstanding.

This report is useful to users like Invoice/AP Managers and Cost

Center Managers who monitor finances across orders and suppliers
and need to accurately forecast future invoices and expenditures.
Time Sheets (Time A summary of the time sheets per contractors, including the status of
Sheets category) the time sheets.

This report is useful to users who actively manage the transactional

activities of contractors, including Hiring Managers and Requesters,
Work Supervisors, Cost Center Managers, Supplier Managers, and
Onsite Supplier Account Managers (the points of contact for orders).

Note: The results you see in the report are restricted. For example,
hiring managers only see their time sheets while cost center
managers can see all expenses incurred in their cost center.

Global Catalog Reports

These reports provide details about active catalog items.

Select the Global Catalog Reports category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Catalog by Commodity Displays all active catalog items available through the catalog, sorted
Code by commodity.
Catalog by Supplier Displays all active catalog items available through the catalog, sorted
by supplier.

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Operational Reports
These reports provide information about how requests are processed, showing areas where the process is
working well, and other areas where you might improve the process. For example, the reports might reveal
that some types of requests take longer to process, indicating that a change in process could reduce delays.

Select the Operations category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Approval History A summary of approvals, organized by request type. The report
indicates:
• The action taken (approved or denied).
• The request ID.
• Whether the action was processed through email (the user clicked Approve
or Deny in an email notification message, and generated an approval or
denial email), or Ariba Buyer.
• The name of the approver. If the request was sent to a role or group, the first
user in the role or group who took action is listed.
• The approver's email address to which the notification message was sent.
• The approver's email address from which an approval or denial processed
through email was sent. The email address listed is the From address in the
email header. It's possible for this email address to differ from the
approver's email address to which the notification message was sent, if the
approver responded from an alternate email address, or forwarded the
notification message to another user for action.

Catalog vs. Non-Catalog A summary of the amount spent on catalog items and non-catalog
Orders items during a specified time period. This report helps you evaluate
whether a catalog meets your needs. For example, if more money is
consistently spent on non-catalog items, and if the same non-catalog
items are consistently ordered, you can arrange to have those items
added to a catalog to reduce costs.
Requisition Average The average number of days required to approve requests within a
Cycle Time Analysis specified time period, with requests grouped by amount. Typically,
requests with lower amounts take less approval time because fewer
people are involved in the approval process. If the report indicates
otherwise, you might want to reevaluate the criteria on which approval
flows are based, or change the monetary limits that trigger approvals.
Requisition Volume Over The total amount spent every month, followed by a summary of the
Time average amount of each request. Use this report to reveal trends in how
you purchase goods over a period of time. The report is also useful for
determining Ariba Buyer usage. For example, you can compare the
amount spent each month using Ariba Buyer against the total amount
spent, to determine the percentage of request volume being sent
through Ariba Buyer.

Order Reports
These reports focus on items being ordered, the dollars being committed, and the suppliers being used. They
help you understand how your money is being allocated.

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Select the Orders category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Order Summary by Summarizes orders ((with status ordered or shipped) based on
Supplier (all partitions) suppliers and commodity.
Order Details by A summary of ordered items. This report helps you identify the kinds
Commodity and Supplier of items being ordered by your company, and from which suppliers.
Orders Overview An overview of orders by supplier, including number of orders placed
with a supplier, the average order amount, and the total order amount.
Orders by Commodity Items ordered by your company, grouped by commodity code and cost
and Cost Center center.
Order Summary by A summary of all commodities ordered from specific suppliers. You
Commodity (all can filter results by commodity code, supplier, and ordered date. The
partitions) orders are for requisitions whose status is Ordered or Shipped.
Order Summary by Cost A list of the cost centers to which items are charged. This is an
Center administrative report that helps you filter results by cost center,
supplier, and ordered date.
Order Summary by A summary of orders based on supplier, cost center, and commodity.
Supplier The orders are for requisitions whose status is Ordered or Shipped.
Requisition Total, by The total dollar amount of items ordered, by supplier, for requisitions
Supplier whose status is Ordered or Shipped. This report helps you see
frequently used suppliers, and possibly negotiate better prices with
them.
Supplier Summary Contact information, such as primary contact person and email
address, for each supplier in your company's supplier directory.

Receiving Reports
These reports list items that have been received, are scheduled to be received, have been rejected, or are
overdue. They can also highlight items you might have forgotten to receive.

Select the Receiving category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Items Not Yet Received A list of items that have been ordered, but not yet acknowledged as
received. Use this report to identify items that are overdue, users who
might have forgotten to enter a receipt, and pending deliveries.
Items Received A list of items received by a specific user. You can also use this report
to verify whether a supplier is shipping promptly, since the report
includes supplier information.

This report displays receipts with both positive and negative quantity
and their corresponding amount values.
Items Rejected A list of items rejected within a specific time period.

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Report Summary Chapter 7 Reporting

Report Title Description

Orders Due Soon Lists items that are expected to arrive within a given time frame based
on the calculated delivery due date.
Overdue Orders Lists the items that are overdue based on the calculated delivery due
date. See “Receipt Due Date Calculation” on page 78 for more
information on how the receipt due date is calculated. Items typically
become overdue when the requester fails to acknowledge receipt of the
item, or the supplier fails to deliver as promised.

Requisition Reports
Select the Requisition category on the Select Category page to run the following reports:

Report Title Description

Commodity Details A summary of line items with descriptions and prices, grouped by
commodity codes. This report focuses on line items instead of
requests, and helps you see the kinds of items you order.
Cost Center Details A summary of line items with descriptions and prices, grouped by cost
centers and commodity codes. This report is a specialized version of
the Commodity Details report.
New PunchOut Items Shows PunchOut items purchases within a specified time period,
sorted by supplier and date submitted.
PunchOut Item Price A summary of PunchOut catalog items with prices that have changed
Change Summary within a specified time period.
PunchOut Item Price .A detailed account of punch out catalog items with prices that have
Change Details changed within a specified time period. This is a detailed version of
the PunchOut Item Price Change Summary report.
Requisition Details Details of requests, including header and line item information for
each request. Because every line item on a request can be included in
this report, it can be quite large. To limit the amount of data included
in the report, use one or more filters.
Requisitions to be Lists requisitions that are either waiting for approval or that have been
Approved explicitly denied.
Requisition Summary A summary of requests submitted during a specified time period,
including the total dollar value and the current status. This report
enables you to quickly grasp the status of your requests, and helps
supervisors monitor how their groups are using Ariba Buyer.
Supplier Details A detailed account of line items ordered from a specific supplier, with
descriptions and prices, grouped by commodity codes.

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active approver
The user who must currently take action on a request. Most requests require approval by one or more
approvers. There can be more than one active approver at a time.

approvable
Any document type that may require approval based on approval rules so that the request can be processed.

cannot resolve
Ariba Buyer requires that you take an action on each exception before submitting an invoice reconciliation
document. By marking the exception with Cannot Resolve, you are taking an action by saying you cannot
resolve the exception. When you refer an item, the responsibility for reconciling that item is transferred to
the selected user.

catalog kit
Catalog items in the Ariba Buyer product catalog that are bundled together into one unit. Catalog kits
contain associated or related items from the same or different suppliers. When ordering from the product
catalog, users order the catalog kits as one item, but can also view and delete non-required individual items
from a catalog kit before ordering. Each catalog kit is assigned its own ID, description, and supplier part #
because the kit itself is an individual item in the product catalog.

change order, cancel order

After an order has been placed, the user can make changes or revisions to that order. A correction to an
existing order creates a change order. Canceling an existing order creates a cancel order. A change or cancel
order is a new version of the requisition and the associated purchase orders that were impacted.

contract
A legal document that allows a buying organization to establish a commitment with a supplier to purchase
goods or services repeatedly over time. Contracts can be specific or open-ended.

contract request (CR)

A request to create a contract. The contract is created when the request is fully approved.

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as PeopleSoft, are used to integrate finance and human
resources departments, and enable manufacturing groups to handle transactions such as order processing and
production scheduling. Ariba applications interface with these ERP systems, leverage the Internet and
corporate intranets, and empower companies to manage their operating resource-related spending. ERP
systems are often listed as partitions after you log in to your system.

groups
Group membership enables users to perform specific tasks in the end-user and Ariba Administrator
interfaces. For example, only users belonging to the Purchasing User group or Legal Entity User group can
create requisitions. Ariba Buyer also uses groups in the approval flow of approvable documents.

A group that is assigned to another group is called a child group. A child group inherits all the privileges of
its “parent” group.

header exception
The highest matching level on an invoice reconciliation document. When Ariba Buyer first tries to reconcile
an invoice automatically, it does so by following a set of validation rules. The default configuration of these
rules tell Ariba Buyer to check first for a matching purchase order in Ariba Buyer. If a matching purchase
order cannot be found, Ariba Buyer creates an invoice reconciliation document and list an unmatched
invoice exception at the header level.

header-level tax
A tax line item that applies to an entire invoice as a whole, instead of an individual invoice line item. An
invoice can contain more than one header level tax line if the tax details on a header level tax are from more
than one tax category. Each tax category in a header level tax results in a separate header level tax line on the
invoice.

invoice exception
A discrepancy between an invoice reconciliation document and its associated orders, contracts, or receipts.
Ariba Buyer checks for certain information first, before it checks for other details. For example, if a
matching purchase order is not found, an Unmatched Invoice exception is listed. Once this exception is
resolved by matching a purchase order manually, Ariba Buyer re-runs the validation check and other
exceptions can arise, such as Quantity Variance and Price Variance. Therefore, the exceptions listed on an
invoice reconciliation document might change as you resolve existing exceptions.

invoice reconciliation document

An approvable document created when an invoice is loaded into Ariba Buyer. The invoice reconciliation
document is matched to purchase orders (or contracts) and receipts and is used to reconcile and approve any
exceptions.

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line item exception

If Ariba Buyer finds a matching purchase order for an invoice, it tries to match each line item in the invoice
to a line item in the purchase order. If discrepancies are found, Ariba Buyer creates an invoice reconciliation
document and lists the invoice exceptions at this level as line item exceptions.

manual match
When reconciling invoice exceptions, match an invoice line item to either a charge category or to a line item
on a purchase order. Once a line item is matched, the exception is considered reconciled unless another
exception is generated by the match. Ariba Buyer also allows you to unmatch a line item from a purchase
order line item or charge category it was previously matched to.

mass edit
Edit multiple line items on a requisition, expense report, or invoice reconciliation document at one time.
Mass edit is useful when you need to make the same change (such as specifying a different billing address
on a requisition or changing the cost center on an expense report) to multiple line items.

on behalf of
Any user can submit a request on behalf of any other user. When a preparer submits a request on behalf of a
requester, Ariba Buyer:
• Adds the requester to the approval flow as a watcher.
• Uses the requester’s personal profile to determine the delivery and accounting information for the request.
• Sends notifications about the request to the preparer, not the requester.

parametric data
Parametric data may be included in your company catalog for certain types of items. When you select the
search option called Type Name, when parametric types exist in the catalog, they are listed in the Type Name
pull-down menu. When you select a parametric type, the associated refinement fields appear and can be used
for additional searches.

partial item
A catalog item imported into Ariba Buyer with some fields missing. You can search for and order these
items from the Ariba Buyer product catalog. When you order a partial item (add the item to the shopping
cart), you are prompted to fill out the required missing fields, turning the partially-specified item into a
fully-specified catalog item. A catalog file can contain both fully-specified and partially-specified items.

payment method
A payment method defines how a customer should make a payment to a supplier. Typical payment methods
include paper check, purchasing cards (PCard), and electronic fund transfer (EFT), such as Automatic
Clearing House (ACH), SWIFT, or Wire. Each payment method has associated bank information; for
example, ACH requires an American Banking Association (ABA) routing number.

See also payment term.

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payment model
A payment model defines where the payments are scheduled.If your site, supplier or the supplier location is
configured for payment through the Ariba SN payment model, payment scheduling is done in Ariba Buyer
and payment settlement through Ariba SN. If your site, supplier or supplier location is configured for
payment through an external system, then the scheduling happens in your external system, and the
settlement can be either through Ariba SN or the external system.

payment request
An approvable document created when an invoice reconciliation document is created. If Ariba Buyer is
enabled, the payment request includes a payment schedule based on the default payment terms and payment
methods for the supplier. Payment requests are used to track and process payments to suppliers.

payment terms
A payment term is a standard pre-negotiated agreement between a customer and a supplier that specifies the
number of days within which the customer must pay the supplier’s invoice. Many suppliers also offer
discounts for early payment. Most payment terms are standardized across a company.

payment transaction (PMT)

A set of scheduled payment requests consolidated into one payment transaction (PMT) document, based on
supplier location and payment method, or other criteria as specified by your company. Payment transactions
are also used to capture remittance details.

preferred supplier
A supplier with whom your company has a contract. Preferred suppliers are based on contracts on the
supplier-level, the commodity-level, or the item-level. When you are choosing a supplier in Ariba Buyer, if
your company has a contract with a supplier, the supplier is marked with:
• Contracted Supplier if the supplier has a supplier-level contract with your company.
• Contracted For This Commodity if the supplier has a commodity-level or item-level contract that includes the
current commodity.
• Contracted For Other Commodities if the supplier has a commodity-level or item-level contract that does not
include the current commodity. (The contracted items are outside of the current commodity.)

preparer
A user who creates and submits a request. By default, the preparer is the user logged in to Ariba Buyer when
the request is created. If you create a request on behalf of another user, you are the preparer and the other
user is the requester.

See also requester.

prorated header tax

When an invoice contains its taxes at the header level, the header level tax must be split among the invoice’s
line items. Ariba Buyer prorates the header level tax amount, determining the tax amount for each line item.

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public favorites
A group of catalog items that have been marked as favorites and made accessible to specific users. When
public favorites folders are created, the creator specifies which groups of people can view the folder, as well
as add favorite items to the folder, and delete items from the folder. For example, a administrative user might
be able to view public favorites, but not have access to add or delete items; while a manager might be able to
view the items as well as add items as necessary.

You must have proper authorization to create and manage access to public favorites folders.

punch out
The process of temporarily leaving Ariba Buyer to access a supplier’s online catalog. When you return from
the supplier’s site, the item(s) you added appear in the shopping cart.

Your company has agreements with suppliers to receive discounts and special prices when you order items
from the supplier’s PunchOut catalog. If you decide to make changes to any PunchOut items, you must
return to the supplier’s website to do so, since your changes may affect the discounts or special pricing
applied to the final order

requester
The user for whom a request has been created and submitted by another user, who is known as the preparer.
The requester takes delivery of any items ordered and is charged for them.

See also preparer.

stem
The leading alphanumeric characters used in catalog searches. When stemming is used in free text searches,
the search results include all catalog items containing the stem. For example, entering “battery” returns a
catalog item called “batteries.”

When searching by supplier part number for items in the catalog, you can enter a part number stem to search
for all items whose supplier part numbers begin with the stem. For example, enter “BTM” to find supplier
parts in the same sequence, such as “BTM00057, BTM00060, BTM00106, BTM00107”.

Supplier Invoice #
The identification number on an invoice entered into Ariba Buyer. If employees from the buying
organization are entering invoices, they usually receive paper invoices from the supplier which contain an
invoice number—this is the number that should be entered into Ariba Buyer when creating the invoice. If
employees from the supplying organization are entering invoices, they should enter their company’s invoice
number when creating an invoice in Ariba Buyer.

validation errors
If a line item contains invalid information, a validation error occurs. The errors are listed on the invoice
reconciliation document along with any exceptions.

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 Glossary

Only users authorized to edit the validation errors can see them on the invoice reconciliation document.
These users must resolve the errors by editing the line item information before the invoice reconciliation
document can be submitted. By default, Ariba Buyer allows authorized users to edit validation errors. Other
reconcilers and approvers in the approval flow without the authorization do not see the validation errors.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

A general consumption tax assessed on the value added to goods and services at each stage in the production
and distribution chain. In those countries that impose VAT, many business expenses include a VAT and
reclaiming this tax is a critical component of expense management. Travel and Expense can be configured to
capture VAT amounts on expense reports.

watcher
A user included in the approval flow for a request, and who can receive notification messages related to the
request, but who is not required to approve or deny the request. For example, an IS administrator might be
included as a watcher on all requests for new computers, to help plan in advance the workload required to
install the computers.

webinfo
When viewing catalog items, the webinfo? (icon) appears beside the catalog item price to indicate that more
information is available from the manufacturer’s web site. Click to display information from the web site.

wildcard
No special wildcard characters are necessary. Wildcard searching happens automatically in the following
ways:
• For text search fields (such as keyword, exact phrase, and exclude word), automatic wildcard searching
happens at the end of the word. When you enter a minimum of three consecutive characters, the search
retrieves items that begin with the characters in the order entered. For example:
• Enter batter to retrieve battery and batteries.
• Enter manag to retrieve management, manager, and managing.
• Automatic wildcard searching does not happen at the beginning of a text field. That is, if you enter
attery you will not retrieve battery.
• For other fields (such as supplier part number and manufacturer part number), automatic wildcard
searching happens at the beginning and end of the string. When you enter a minimum of three consecutive
alphanumeric characters, the search retrieves all part numbers that contain the alphanumeric characters in
the order entered. For example:
• Enter 343555 to retrieve 343555, 3343555, 3435556, and an infinite number of items containing
343555.
• This will not retrieve 343, 355, or 555 because only part numbers containing the entire sequence of
search numbers will match.
• You cannot search for numbers such as 35 because a minimum of three consecutive alphanumeric
characters are required.

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Glossary

Notes:
• By default, you must enter a minimum of three consecutive characters, but your company can set a
different minimum. See your system administrator for more information.
• To find a single part number, enter the part number in quotes. For example: “123-456”.
• A trailing “s” is omitted from wildcard text searches that contain at least 4 characters. For example: a
search for pencils would retrieve number 5 pencil.
• Punctuation marks such as dashes, quotes, percent signs, asterisks, and parentheses are disregarded unless
they are part of a search string that you enter in quotation marks.

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 Glossary

108 Ariba Buyer Procurement User Guide

Index

A purchase order process 63–67

active approver 101 purchase requisitions 57
adding canceling purchase orders
approvers to collaborative requests 29 required status for 64
contractors 37 Catalog Home 7
items to a specific folder in favorites 17 catalogs
items to your favorites list 16 about 7
milestones to a requisition 29 comparing items 15
new favorites folders 17 editing, PunchOut items 21
non-catalog items to your cart 50 favorites 16–19
PunchOut items 9 items, adding to favorites 16
Addresses kits 8
Bill To 51 PunchOut items 9
Ship To 51 restrictions, PunchOut 10
advanced ship notices 71 searching 11–15
approval changing
phases in collaborative requisitions 25 purchase order process 63–67
approval flow purchase orders 65
purchase order process 61 purchase requisitions 57
receiving process 75 changing purchase orders, required status for 64
requisition process 45 charges
approval phases in collaborative requisitions 25 as a whole, reconciling 89
approvers assigning to purchase orders 87
active 101 reconciliation process, overview 85
adding during collaborative request 29 reconciling 88
approving reconciling as non-purchase-order 88
collaborative requisitions 30 skip amount 86
purchase requisitions 45 unassigned 86
receipts 83 unassigned-charge process 86
requisitions 45 closing purchase orders
Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN) 64 procedure 69
fulfillment status 71 co-employment risk
Ariba System as user in purchase orders 62 forecasting onsite days 38
assigning collaboration 23
charges to purchase orders 87 editing items 30
attachments, to suppliers 54, 62 editing items after 27
team 26
collaboration requests 23
B collaboration team 26
creating 26
bidding
privileges 26
information (per item) 25
collaborative purchase requisitions
multiple choices 25
adding approvers 29
open 24
approval phases 25
transparency 25
approving 30
editing 31
C responding 32
collaborative requisitions
canceling approval phases in 25

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Index

creating 28 receiving 76
proposals 23 requisition process 46
comparing items 15 Force Cancel command 67, 70
complex categories 23–32 Force Cancel, procedure 70
composing purchase requisitions, editing 31 Force Order command 70
contractors Force Order procedure 70
creating 37 forcing
do not hire 38 cancelation, payment transactions 70
expense sheets 42–44 cancelation, purchase orders 70
forecasting onsite days 38 purchase orders 70
onsite day calculation 37 fulfillment, purchase orders 71–73
performance surveys 39
sit day calculation 37
time sheets 39–42 H
working with 36–44 How-to
copying add a non-catalog item to your requisition 50
purchase requisitions 58 add approvers to collaboration requests 29
creating add items to folders 17
collaboration team 26 add items to your favorites list 16
contractors 37 add milestones to a requisition 29
expense sheet 43 approve a collaborative requisition 30
purchase requisitions 45 approve a receipt 83
receipts 80–82 assign a charge to a purchase order 87
time sheets 41 cancel a purchase order 66
creating collaborative requisitions 28 change a purchase order 65
change or cancel a requisition 57
close a purchase order 69
D compare items 15
Delay Purchase Until 58 copy a requisition 59
create a collaborative requisition 28
create a receipt 80
E create a requisition 47
editing delete PunchOut items 21
collaborative requisitions 31 edit a collaborative requisition 31
items after collaboration 30 edit a collaborative requisition during approval 31
line items 51 edit a receipt 83
purchase requisitions 54 edit a requisition 54
receipts 83 edit a requisition during approval 55
editing items after collaboration 27 edit a requisition line item 51
exceptions edit PunchOut items 21
display of 89 force a purchase order 70
Exit command 54 force-cancel a payment transaction 70
expense sheet force-cancel a purchase order 70
creating 43 itemize a milestone 29
process flow 43 organize favorite items and folders 18
expense sheets reconcile a charge 88
working with 42–44 reconcile a charge as a non-purchase order charge 88
reconcile header-level exception for charges 90
reject a charge 88
F respond to a collaborative requisition 32
favorites list respond to a supplier’s bid 32
adding folders 18 run a report 93
organizing 18 save searches 15
favorites, catalog search for collaborative requisitions 34
working with 16–19 search for items using favorites 17
flow charts search for the request to receive 79
purchase order process 62 search your catalog 12
submit a requisition 53

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 Index

use split accounting on requisitions 52 privileges, collaboration team 26

view items in your shopping cart 51 process flow
view order fulfillment status 71 expense sheet 43
withdraw a collaborative requisition 31 time sheets 40
withdraw a requisition 55 processes
change or cancel purchase order 65
changing or canceling purchase orders 64
I purchase order 62
imported requisitions 57 receiving 75–78
itemizing milestones 29 requisition 46
items proposal rank 25
comparing 15 proposals
collaborative requisitions 23
responding 32
K proposals for collaborative requisition 23
kits, catalog 8 PunchOut items
adding 9
editing 21
L purchase orders
labor law compliance 40 about 61
line items Ariba System as user 62
editing or reviewing 51 assigning charges 87
fields that can’t be changed 58 canceling 63–67
split accounting 52–53 change/cancel process diagram 65
lowest amount 25 changing 63–67
lowest supplier 25 changing or canceling 62
changing or canceling process 64
Force Cancel command 67, 70
M Force Order command 70
Force Order procedure 70
milestones forcing 70
adding to a purchase requisition 29 forcing cancelation 70
itemizing 29
fulfillment 71–73
working with 27 multiple orders from single requisition 67
multiple choices in a bid 25 process 61
multiple purchase orders from single requisition 67
process diagram 62
receipts copied to changed orders 64, 75
N receiving 79–83
receiving multiple orders at same time 76
non-catalog items, adding 50 replacement 64
required status for change or cancel 64
transmission 62
O purchase requisition
open bidding 24 creating 45
ordering purchase requisitions
partial items 19 canceling 45, 57
changing 45, 57
collaborative 28
P copying 58
partial items editing 54
adding to requisitions 19 imported 57
partial receipts 45 submitting 53
pay codes on time sheets 39 withdrawing 45, 55
payment purchasing cards
canceling 70 combination card, definition 85
forcing cancelation 70 procurement card, definition 85
transactions, forcing cancelation 70
price (bidding information) 25

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Index

Q searching
quick enablement 63 catalogs 11–15
collaborative requisitions 34
requests 79
R Select Receipt command 80
skip amount
rank
charges 86
supplier 25
split accounting 52–53
receipts
Submit command 54
approving 83
submitting
copied during change order 64, 75
purchase requisitions 53
creating 80–82
supplier rank 25
denied 75
supplier’s proposal, responding 32
editing 83
suppliers, sending attachments to 54, 62
ID 80
partial 45
tracking 45 T
receiving
creating receipts 80 temporary labor
denied receipt 75 see contractors
editing receipts 83 time sheets
multiple purchase orders at same time 76 creating 41
orders 79–83 labor law compliance 40
process 75–78 pay codes 39
process diagram 76 process flow 40
re-collaboration 24 working with 39–42
replacement purchase orders 64 tracking receipts 45
reports transmission, purchase orders 62
about 93
create a report 93
V
display values 94
filtering 94 version numbers
output formats 93 requisitions 58
saving report queries 94 View Request Details page 71
requests
searching 79
requisition process flowchart 46 W
requisitions withdrawals of
adding partial items 19 purchase requisitions 45, 55
approving 45 working with
attachments 54 complex categories 23–32
defined 45 milestones 27
Delay Purchase Until 58 working with expense sheets 42–44
denied 45 working with time sheets 39–42
submitting 54
version numbers 58
working with imported 57
requisitions. See purchase requisitions
responding to
collaborative requisitions 32
proposals 32
supplier’s proposals 32

S
Save command 54
saved reports
running 93

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