Overview of Common Approvables in SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing

Adeoye Oyekan

10/12/20243 min read

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SAP Ariba, a cloud-based digital procurement platform, provides organizations with a robust set of tools to automate and streamline their procurement processes. One of the key components of SAP Ariba Buying is its approval workflows, which help to ensure that procurement activities are reviewed and authorized by the appropriate parties. SAP Ariba administrators have the flexibility to modify default approval processes by creating custom rules to suit specific business needs.

An approvable can be referred to any document type for which an approval process can be applied. Examples of approvable include purchase requisitions, user profile updates, etc. For each type of approvable document, SAP Ariba administrators can create detailed flow diagrams that outline approval rules. These rules define specific conditions and corresponding actions, such as adding the IT manager to the approval flow if a purchase requisition includes an IT hardware item. Listed below are the most common types of approvables for which approval workflows can be configured in SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing.

1. Purchase Requisition: A Purchase Requisition (PR) is the approvable document created when you submit a request to purchase goods or service items. Each purchase requisition created in SAP Ariba (Guided) Buying triggers an active requisition approval process to add the right approvers to the Approval Flow section of a submitted request. After a PR has been finally approved, a Purchase Order (PO) is automatically created and sent to the supplier.

2. Goods Receipt: A Goods Receipt is a document that is created when ordered goods are received. SAP Ariba Buying allows two (2) types of receiving methods — Desktop and Central Receiving. For Desktop Receiving, requesters receive shipments at their desks, and only the requester can receive shipments. On the other hand, Central Receiving means that goods are received at a central location, and more than one user can receive shipments. Desktop and Central Receiving can be set up in the Goods Receipt approval workflow. However, Central Receiving entails specifying the corresponding commodity codes for the goods to be received and the responsible (custom) user groups in the approval workflow.

3. Service Sheet: Simply put, a Service Sheet is a document that describes the services that a supplier has delivered while fulfilling a service order. On the SAP Business Network, the supplier creates a service sheet based on the order and sends the service sheet to SAP Ariba Buying. SAP Ariba Buying then validates the service sheet and, if it passes validation, it enters the approval flow. Once the service sheet is approved, its status then changes to "Processed".

4. Invoice: An invoice is a request for payment, typically sent by a supplier for goods or services provided to a buyer. Invoices usually reflect an amount due for a purchase order or a contract. Typically, invoices are sent as cXML documents over the SAP Business Network. When an invoice is received, the SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing solution creates an approvable invoice document which then needs to be approved by the responsible user or group.

5. Invoice Reconciliation: When the invoice is approved, an associated approvable document is also created called an Invoice Reconciliation (IR) document. An Invoice Reconciliation (IR) document is used by invoice exception handlers to resolve any discrepancies between the invoice, associated orders or contracts, and receipts, to validate accounting and other information. After the exceptions are resolved, the IR is sent to the responsible group or person for approval to pay the supplier.

6. Catalog (Supplier Data Update): Suppliers create customer catalogs to make their product and service content available to their customers in SAP Ariba buying. Suppliers distribute catalogs through SAP Business Network, email, or FTP. Ideally, when catalogs are received, they are reviewed and approved by a member of the Catalog Approvers group before such catalogs can be accessed by requesters.

7. User Profile: In SAP Ariba, each user has a personal profile that contains information such as the user name, email address, shipping and accounting information, etc. Depending on the configuration, submission to change one's user profile can be subject to an approval process. Such profile change is not effected until all required approvers review and approve the request. The same User Profile Approval Process can also be used to set up approval flow for the Delegation of Authority — a process which identifies a user to approve requests on your behalf while you are on vacation.

During the design/explore phase of an SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing implementation, consultants need to walk clients through the approvables relevant to their procurement processes. Once these are identified, approval workflows are then configured to align with the client’s business requirements. Properly configured approval workflows help organizations minimize bottlenecks, ensure compliance, improve visibility into procurement activities, and mitigate risks associated with unauthorized spending.