Master data used in the SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing are highly fundamental to the procurement solution’s efficient and effective operation. Having clean, consistent and accurate master data enables seamless data flow. It also prevents errors when creating transactional documents such as Purchase Requisitions (PR), Purchase Orders (PO), Goods Receipts (GR), Invoices etc.

The SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing solution is hardly used as a stand-alone realm, it is usually connected with the backend ERP such as SAP, Oracle etc. Master data and transactional documents are exchanged via the SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG) now called SAP Integration Suite, Managed Gateway for Spend Management and Business Network which connects the two ends.

While some master data such as Purchasing Units, Account Types etc. are SAP Ariba-specific and have to be manually imported into the solution, others such as Company Codes, Plants etc. are imported from the connected backend ERP. You can schedule background jobs to export master data from SAP ERP to SAP Ariba. You must ensure that you have the ARBCIG_MASTER_DATA_EXPORT program configured before scheduling the export job with the transaction code SM36.

Here below are common master data used in SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing:

1. Organizational Master Data: The organizational master data represents the legal or organizational structures of a company. All the organizational master data below are imported from the backend SAP ERP except the Purchasing Units which are SAP Ariba-specific master data.

• Purchasing Units

• Purchase Organizations

• Company Codes

• Plants Data

• Plant to Purchase Organization Mapping

• Purchase Groups

2. Accounting Master Data: These master data ensure that correct accounting information is defaulted during the creation of approvable documents such as requisitions, invoices etc. in SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing thus enabling the accounting department to classify these documents appropriately. All the accounting master data below are imported from the backend SAP ERP except the Account Types which are SAP Ariba-specific master data.

• Account Types

• Item Categories

• Internal Order Codes

• Company Code Internal Order Mapping

• Account Categories

• Assets

• Cost Centers

• WBS Elements

• Company Code WBS Mapping

• General Ledgers

• Account Category Field Status Combinations

3. Supplier Master Data: In SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing, a supplier record includes suppliers' basic information, supplier organization, supplier location, payment terms, remittance locations etc. Other procurement-specific information such as the supplier’s preferred ordering method for receiving orders, preferred payment method, and preferred billing address is essential to the process of creating requisitions and sending purchase orders to the suppliers.

• Supplier Data

• Supplier Partitioned Data

• Supplier Location Data

• Purchase Organization to Supplier Mapping

• Payment Terms Data

4. User and Group Master Data: The user and group master data below provide information about the users in SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing and their respective groups which grant the users access to specific procurement and administration functionality in the solution.

• User Data

• User to Group Mapping Data

5. Commodity Code Master Data: Commodity codes are a classification system for goods and services. The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC), which supports commodity code hierarchies, is the default SAP Ariba system commodity code. Additionally, organisations with custom material groups/ERP Commodity Codes can import them into SAP Ariba. These commodity codes are then mapped to define default accounting information during requisitioning.

• System Commodity Codes

• ERP Commodity Codes

• ERP Commodity to Commodity Mapping

6. Other Master Data: Master data such as UOMs/UOMs mapping ensure that the SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing solution correctly interprets the units of measure used in the supplier catalog files and those included in the transactional documents being sent to the backend ERP. Purchase Order Conditions (POC) are used to define purchasing terms and conditions texts which are included in the purchase orders being sent to suppliers. Organisations must define currency conversion rates to use multiple currencies in SAP Ariba.

• Units of Measure

• Units of Measure Mapping

• Purchase Order Conditions

• Currency Conversion Rates

7. Flexible Master Data: Often referred to as flex master data (FMD), these are custom data structures for storing master data that are specific to the needs of an organization. Flex master data is for data that is typically more complex than data stored in normal fields and usually something unique to every organization.

Master Data Replication:

In a Parent-Child SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing realm setup, cross-variant data such as Purchasing Units, Supplier data, User data, Units of Measure etc. are loaded into the parent site and later replicated to the child site. Here below is an overview of which site to load master data in the SAP Ariba Buying solution while also highlighting the SAP Ariba-specific master data.

In conclusion, master data quality in SAP Ariba significantly impacts data integrity and operational efficiency in procurement processes, making it essential for organizations to prioritize accurate and well-maintained master data.

Reference(s): Common Data Import and Administration for SAP Ariba Procurement Solutions

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