srm 7.0 value of upgrading

The SAP® Supplier Relation-ship Management (SAP SRM) application offers a fully integrated procure-to-pay solution for automating core procurement processes – including services procure-ment. You can optimize the efficiency of your procure-ment organization with cen-tralized sourcing and con-tracts, as well as obtain unified access to function-ality and information across SAP SRM and to relevant data in the SAP ERP applica-tion. The application provides a customizable user inter-face, flexible user-role defi-nitions, and clear insight into spend and supplier data. And you can keep upgrade costs low by using enhance-ment packs to access new functionality.

SAP Value of UpgradeSAP Supplier Relationship Management

SAP® SuPPlier relAtionShiP MAnAgeMent 7.0

4 SAP Supplier Relationship Management

5 New Business Benefits of SAP Supplier Relationship Management

5 Reduce Total Cost of Owner-ship

5 Improve Enterprise Processes and Visibility

5 Increase and Facilitate Contract Compliance

5 Optimize Services Procurement 5 Streamline Sourcing Activities

6 Functional Value of SAP Sup-plier Relationship Management

6 User Interface 7 Operational Procurement 8 Self-Service Procurement 9 Plan-Driven Procurement 10 Services Procurement

11 Catalog Management 12 Centralized Sourcing 13 Centralized Contracts 14 Supplier Collaboration 15 Supplier Evaluation

16 Technical Benefits of SAP Sup-plier Relationship Management

16 Easier Upgrades with Enhancement Packs

16 Harmonized User Interface Across SAP SRM and Other SAP Applications

16 Business Rule Framework Workflow Technology

16 Shift to Web Dynpro for ABAP 16 Enterprise Services

17 For More Information

Content

Preface

This document summarizes the key business benefits and new functionality of release 7.0 of the SAP® Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) application. Written specifically for customers who are currently using SAP SRM 2005, it presents the reasons for considering an upgrade to the new release.

If you are currently using a release other than SAP SRM 2005, please contact your SAP sales representative for information on the value of upgrading to SAP SRM 7.0. Although this document gives you some insight into the benefits of the new release, it does not describe all of its benefits and functions – only those that result from the upgrade from SAP SRM 2005 to SAP SRM 7.0. Please refer to www.sap.com/srm for a general description of SAP SRM 7.0.

This document cannot provide the detailed analysis you need to determine the specific value of upgrading to SAP SRM 7.0 in your particular business situation. It can, however, prompt a detailed discussion of your situation with an SAP representative.

www.sap.com/srm

The latest release of the SAP® Supplier Relationship Management application (SAP SRM), part of the SAP Business Suite family of business applications, delivers a fully integrated procure-to-pay solution for automating core procure-ment processes. In addition to helping you optimize the efficiency of your procure-ment organization, the appli-cation provides a customiz-able user interface, flexible user-role definitions, and clear insight into spend and supplier data.

SAP SRM 7.0 delivers exceptional functionality enhancements as well as reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) going forward. Like the other SAP Business Suite applications, future functionality for SAP SRM will be provided via convenient enhancement packs.

Key investment areas of the SAP SRM 7.0 release include:• Nondisruptive delivery of new func-

tionality – Offers a stable core and reduced upgrade costs by using enhancement packs for delivering new functionality

• Enhanced usability through flexible user interface technology – Provides flexible user interface, roles, and work lists across the SAP SRM and SAP ERP applications

• Centralized sourcing – Provides enhanced sourcing functionality to support better negotiations with suppliers and enable the initiation of sourcing events directly from SAP ERP

• Centralized contracts – Provides centralized contract management by offering a single contract as a source of supply for SAP SRM and SAP ERP

• Services procurement – Enables you to source service requisitions created in SAP ERP as well as facilitate ser-vice-related supplier collaboration

SAP® SuPPlier relAtionShiP MAnAgeMent EFFICIEnT, FLExIBLE, AnD COMPREHEnSIVE PROCUREMEnT PROCESSES

The SAP Supplier Relationship Manage-ment application, an integral part of SAP Business Suite, is the foundation for managing procure-ment processes.

4 SAP Value of Upgrade – SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0

Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

SAP SRM 7.0 enables you to reduce the TCO of your SAP investment. All future functionality will be delivered via convenient enhancement packs. This approach gives you the flexibility to select just the features required by your business – rather than having to include all available enhancements. As a result, you can leverage innovation without disruption to your business environment, efficiently adapting your business in response to change.

Improve Enterprise Processes and Visibility

With SAP SRM 7.0, users throughout your enterprise have access to all of the information, insight, and processes they need, which facilitates strategic business decisions across the organi-zation. A streamlined, intuitively navi-gated user interface improves cross-enterprise visibility, facilitates a wide range of activities, and offers a common look and feel for all users. You can also personalize the user interface for specific job and task demands – further increas-ing efficiency and effectiveness and the overall user experience.

With this release, you also gain unified access to functionality and information across SAP SRM and relevant data in the SAP ERP application. The software provides a single, consolidated view of the procure-to-pay process; one view for all purchase orders and queries; and a comprehensive service access

area that consolidates access for each user in a personalized dashboard based on what’s relevant to that individual regarding his or her role. This is driven by harmonization of users and roles across the entire SAP Business Suite.

Increase and Facilitate Contract Compliance

SAP SRM 7.0 provides expanded func-tionality that improves contract compli-ance, control, and efficiency. Contract management processes are integrated end to end and enable you to set up and maintain a single, global contract as a source of supply within SAP SRM and SAP ERP. This not only increases efficiency but also eliminates the risk of employees using out-of-date contracts.

In addition, you can enforce compliance with contracts by giving global users access to all of your operational con-tracts through a central, online reposi-tory. As a result, you can enjoy signifi-cant savings through extended contract enforcement. The application also facili-tates better communication by using collaboration rooms accessible to inter-nal and external users.

Optimize Services Procurement

SAP SRM 7.0 supports services pro-curement with improved, collaborative functionality and enhanced integration with SAP ERP. You can procure service types commonly used in major industries, such as time-based and deliverable-based services.

Using a collaborative negotiation plat-form for buyers and suppliers, you can electronically request quotes for services and related goods from various suppliers, compare spot bids, and negotiate more effectively. At the same time, you benefit from enhanced sourcing functionalities and supplier collaboration, which enable you to define requirements more accu-rately and align resources to those requirements more closely. The appli-cation helps you simplify compliance enforcement and reduce dependence on manual, offline, and otherwise ineffi-cient processes, as well as better man-age your total spend. Streamline Sourcing Activities

SAP SRM 7.0 gives you improved con-trol over bid and auction activities; this is enabled by major enhancements that bring greater insight and discipline to your sourcing organization. The appli-cation includes enhanced bidding func-tionality to facilitate easier comparison and awarding of bids, such as expressive bidding for suppliers, a bid comparison view, and bid tracking, versioning, and withdrawal functions. You can also im -prove the speed and efficiency of auc-tions by allowing the market to determine final prices. And finally, because the software improves accuracy, account-ability, and transparency throughout processes, you benefit from more fair and flexible sourcing.

You can also increase clarity in sourcing processes with online chat functionality, which enables you to instantly address supplier inquiries.

new BuSineSS BenefitS of SAP SuPPlier relAtionShiP MAnAgeMent DELIVERIng A WHOLE nEW LEVEL OF BUSInESS VALUE

5SAP Value of Upgrade – SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0

funCtionAl VAlue of SAP SuPPlier relAtionShiP MAnAgeMent IMPROVIng CORE PROCUREMEnT OPERATIOnS

SAP has made substantial investments to improve the overall functionality of SAP SRM – for example, in terms of the user interface and core functions used to support daily activities, such as sourcing and procurement. In addition, substantial investments have been made to further harmonize SAP SRM with SAP ERP to achieve procurement excellence. The following sections summarize these enhancements and their overall business benefits.

User Interface

The improved user interface in SAP SRM 7.0 includes an updated, user-friendly work center. This can be personalized to help make it easier for individual users to navigate. new interface functionality accelerates and automates supply man-agement processes and helps deepen supplier relationships. Leveraging this better user experience, you’ll realize benefits summarized in the following table.

New or Enhanced Functionality Business Benefits

Personalized, intuitive user experience• Common look and feel and consistent

navigation throughout the application• End-user profiles that define role-based

access and enable users to see person-alized information at a glance, trigger actions, and easily access services and documents

• Work center portal that gives buyers access to well-organized and relevant information, services, and documents

• Rapid user adoption through enhanced user experience

• Increased productivity that results in faster, easier access to information

• Reduced training time and costs

greater user efficiency and faster task completion• Enhanced task management through

improved access to the universal work list for consolidated workflow items, alerts, and notifications across all SAP® applications, as well as a personal object work list for activities specific to the SAP Supplier Relationship Management application – all with a single, click-to-launch action

• Streamlined purchase-order, query, and search processes

• Ability to define regularly used queries and reports

• Streamlined shopping cart navigation and single-screen information presentation

• Increased efficiency and productivity of users performing daily tasks, such as issuing purchase orders, confirmations, invoices, and supplier performance questionnaires

• Accelerated order processing and query changing

• Rapid, personalized access to important information, including tasks and relevant data

• Faster shopping cart processes to support a more efficient procurement process

SAP SRM provides a single, consolidated view of all purchase orders and queries, with personalized access areas that consolidate functionality for each user via personalized, role-based dashboards.


Operational Procurement

With SAP SRM 7.0, requisition and purchase-order processes are faster, more efficient, and less prone to error. Advanced requisition functions enable enhanced team purchasing, easier configuration of delivery dates, and multiple approaches to efficient handling of general ledger accounts. Purchase-order processing is enhanced through convenient access to purchase orders and related documents. The following table outlines high-level functions and benefits that are shared by all areas of operational procurement, including self-service procurement, plan-driven procurement, and services procurement.


Enhanced requisition handling• Team purchasing• Delivery date configuration• Multiple approaches to general ledger

account handling• Line-item approvals• User-friendly approach to finding default

account codes• More-flexible accounting controls

• Shorter order cycles through the reassignment of tasks

• Increased flexibility • Support for sophisticated procurement

processes• greater compliance assurance through

more-specific approvals• Streamlined requisitioning to efficiently

purchase goods and services• Ability to meet varied corporate strategies

and facilitate compliance

Streamlined purchase orders• Ability to quickly look up previously

generated purchase orders and other documents

• Simple cut-and-paste functionality to rapidly create new purchase orders and other documents

• Quick access to past documents to support replication of best practices

• Improved efficiency and time savings


Self-Service ProcurementProcurement departments are often burdened by the administrative tasks involved in the procurement of routine maintenance, repair, and overhaul items and services, such as office supplies, machine parts, janitorial goods, repairs, and professional services. Centralizing the purchasing process means that your procurement department will likely get bogged down in organizing and process-ing requisitions and answering queries about the status of transactions. These routine tasks prevent your staff from focusing on strategic issues. At the same time, paper-based processes are slow, error prone, and costly. Transaction costs are often extremely high in com-parison with the value of the goods and services purchased. And they impede transparency, preventing corporate decision makers from understanding the impact of purchasing choices and making it difficult to consolidate pur-chasing power across the enterprise.

Self-service procurement functionality within SAP SRM 7.0 empowers your employees to create and manage their own requisitions. The application pro-vides a convenient procurement environ-ment, enabling every employee in the enterprise to search for and buy items while helping to ensure that transactions comply with corporate purchasing poli-cies and internal controls. Costs are cut, cycle-time delays are shortened, and errors that arise from paper-based processes and inefficient communica-tion with suppliers are reduced. Equally important, decentralization of the trans-action processing enables you to reduce overhead and allows purchasing pro-fessionals to focus on managing rela-tionships instead of transactions.

new features and innovations support-ing self-service procurement are sum-marized in the table above.


• Enhanced authorization concept, invoice accuracy, and support of flexible integration scenarios

• Storage of transactional data and other related procurement documents (pow-ered by the SAP® Records Management application) in one central folder

• Automatic back-end enterprise resource planning purchase order or contract creation based on an accepted quote in the SAP Supplier Relationship Manage-ment application

• Ability to use alternate items to fulfill purchase requisition orders

• Increased level of compliance across all sourceable products and services

• Improved availability and quality of purchasing documents, reducing maverick purchasing

• Support of simplified, integrated processes to streamline the entire procure-to-pay cycle

• Flexible purchasing processes to meet demand

SAP SRM 7.0 helps reduce the TCO of your SAP investment. All future functionality will be delivered via conve-nient enhancement packs – an approach that gives you the flexi-bility to select just the features required by your business, rather than having to include all available enhance-ments. As a result, you can leverage innovation without disruption to your business environ-ment, efficiently adapt-ing your business in response to change.


Plan-Driven ProcurementPlan-driven procurement supports the automated procurement of goods, which is especially important for the procurement of direct materials. In a highly integrated procurement process, demand for materials can come from several different planning applications that reside outside of SAP SRM. These applications may include material requirements planning applications

for production planning; automated production systems for advanced, constraint-based planning; project applications for project planning; or plant maintenance applications for maintenance and repair planning.

SAP SRM 7.0 supports a plan-driven procurement scenario that links and uses many processes in the value chain. It integrates requirements with

sourcing, order management, contract management, collaboration, costing, and payment. Demand from production is transferred to SAP SRM through an open xML interface. And you can auto-matically assign contracts to demand, trigger, and send out a purchase order.

new features and innovations support-ing plan-driven procurement are sum-marized in the table above.


• Better identification and automated handling of exception situations

• Improved ability to effectively source a competitive offer and maintain quality standards – even in a rush-order situation

• Ability to transfer SAP® ERP application purchase requirements containing attach-ments to the SAP Supplier Relationship Management application

• Enhanced integration with SAP ERP regarding text transfers, revisions, and PO transfer consistency checks

• Increased scope and depth of compli-ance, even as exceptions occur

• Ability to speed up the sourcing process during material shortages

• Improved quality of products purchased • Increased delivery reliability for customer

orders


Services ProcurementServices procurement is often seen as complex and not standardized, because the requirement of a service is typically undefined in quantity, duration, and price at the point of purchase. This assumption implies that the service is not specified until the supplier confirms it. This ambiguity is one reason that,

while other categories of spend have uncovered significant cost-saving potential in the purchasing process, services have generally not been con-sidered part of cost-saving measures.

With SAP SRM, you can manage resources and monitor costs over the entire range of services. The software

supports analytics, sourcing, contract management, and supplier collabora-tion so you can optimize services pro-curement processes. Functionality cov-ers a wide range of procured services, such as planned and unplanned mainte-nance, temporary labor, and construc-tion. new features and innovations are summarized in the table above.


• Support for service types commonly used in major industries, such as time-based and deliverable-based services

• Support for complex nature of services, including model specifications and service hierarchies

• Ability to leverage information contained in contracts to help ensure compliance with approved suppliers

• Specialized service-delivery management within supplier self-service, enabling supplier-initiated service entries, lump-sum services, and tracking of contractual limits

• SRM-MDM catalog access for purchaser and bidder as a repository for service specifications

• greater control and visibility over total spend

• Advanced demand aggregation and spot-bidding capabilities

• Simplified compliance enforcement• Enhanced supplier collaboration • Centralized repository of services

capabilities for improved process efficiency and accuracy


Catalog Management

In SAP SRM 7.0, enhancements to catalog management functionality allow you to quickly load files directly from suppliers or from the SRM-MDM cat-alog repository. You can also import content such as purchase records, contracts, and other related material masters from SAP ERP – quickly and efficiently. The software also makes it easier for you to interface with supplier contracts, manage images, consolidate and approve content, and publish on the Web. Once catalog content is pub-lished, users enjoy a best-in-class per-formance and search experience.

new features and innovations support-ing catalog management are summa-rized in the following table.


Easier loading of catalog files from suppliers and SAP® applications• Ability to import content from the SAP ERP

application, such as purchase information records and contracts

• Enhanced contracts interface in the SAP Supplier Relationship Management application

• Simplified image management for catalog items

• Ability to publish content on the Web• Easier content consolidation and approval

• More-accurate and timely catalog content• Superior management of catalog data

that saves time and lowers costs • Enriched product content that offers

users clear, accurate choices• Ability to provide wider access to catalog

items through Web publishing• Enhanced catalog content management

Support for master data management hierarchies• Support for services-related hierarchies• Corresponding changes to the Open

Catalog Interface for supplier-provided content

• Extended support for the complexities of services procurement

• Lower cost of creating and maintaining catalog data

Enhanced user interface • Running total for shopping cart included

on all screens• Improved message handling, including

status and warning messages• Customizable user interface (empty tabs

and fields are automatically hidden when not required by user, and images can be displayed or hidden)

• Advanced search functionality

• Increased user productivity and efficiency• Faster issue resolution• Faster user access to information, data,

and views that are relevant to them• Ability to provide better access to goods

and services for purchase

SAP SRM 7.0 sup-ports a plan-driven procurement scenario that links and uses many processes in the value chain. It inte-grates requirements with sourcing, order management, contract management, collab-oration, costing, and payment.


Centralized Sourcing

Support for centralized sourcing helps procurement professionals find the best source of supply – for example, through spot bidding, reverse auctions, and demand aggregation activities. Suppliers are invited to sourcing events (such as requests for quotation and reverse auctions) to exchange information, col-laborate on documents, submit quotes, and negotiate terms. Completion of the sourcing process results in the creation of operational contracts or purchase orders for procurement execution.

SAP SRM 7.0 provides live-auction func-tionality and brings insight and discipline to sourcing practices. For example, the software supports “request for” docu-ments and competitive bidding events. And new functionality facilitates improved competition and flexible sourcing, which increases accuracy, accountability, and transparency throughout the sourcing process, as shown in the following table.


Efficient request-for-x (RFx) bid processing• Response modification within RFx docu-

ments, such as suppliers suggesting alternate, supplemental, or substitute items down to the line-item level

• Enhanced analytics to support bid selec-tion, such as a bid comparison view and weighted scoring

• Creation of a temporary contact person for a bidding event

• Chat functionality between buyers and suppliers

• Enhanced bid tracking, versioning, and withdrawals

• Ability to limit bids to one per company• Electronic confirmation of bidder’s

participation• Online, offline, and surrogate bid

submissions • Bidding in alternative currencies• Award, contract, and PO integration

• More-efficient and fair bidding process• Faster, easier viewing and comparing of

bidding-process results• More agile, adaptive sourcing• Enhanced supplier and buyer communica-

tion and internal and external collaboration throughout the negotiation process

• Fewer errors and incorrect bids • Support for companies’ specific sourcing

strategies• Access to an auditable trail of supplier

participation for internal and external compliance activities

• Widening of the competitive market by enabling varied bid submissions

• Support for sourcing events for a geo-graphically dispersed supply base

• Shorter supply cycle times and reduced process costs

Enhanced auction management• Real-time auction monitoring and bidding• Creation of temporary contact person• Dutch auction functionality• Ability to view all award-relevant informa-

tion and actions on a single screen

• Faster auction resolutions for sourcing events

• Flexible auction management• Faster auction resolutions or lower prices

for sourcing events• Enhanced usability through a streamlined

user interface

Deeper integration• Integration of demand requirements and

contracts in multiple back-end applications • Single contract as a source-of-supply

between the SAP® Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) and SAP ERP applications

• Simplified global sourcing through unified information

• Reduced procurement costs through tight integration between SAP SRM and SAP ERP

12 SAP Value of Upgrade – SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0 12

Centralized Contracts

SAP SRM provides you with tools for centralized, systematic contract man-agement. Through tight integration with SAP ERP, you can use a single contract as the source of supply for your pur-chases. Based on the purchase require-ments, SAP SRM identifies the optimal contract to fill the need while taking into consideration such factors as price, delivery times, and location. It can also

account for different types of discounts, such as value discounts, quantity-based stepladder discounts, group discounts, or rebates based on released values. These functions are used together to automate contract compliance, helping you extract the most value from expertly negotiated agreements.

new functionality regarding centralized contracts is summarized in the table above.


• Single, central contract in the SAP® Supplier Relationship Management application that is shared via integration with the SAP ERP application

• Multiple alert thresholds, such as expiration date, target value, and target quantity

• Ability to determine payment terms on a line-item level

• Ability to determine currency on a contract distribution level

• Contract cockpit that enables efficient searches for existing contracts

• Support for greater compliance between negotiated terms and operational contracts

• Improved visibility into and management over contracts

• Flexible contract management• Enhanced global supplier negotiations• Fast, more-efficient access to relevant

contract information

SAP SRM supports an efficient procure-ment organization with end-to-end pro-cess support, flexible user interfaces and role definitions, and clear insight into spend and supplier data.


Supplier Collaboration

The supplier self-service functionality built into SAP SRM enables suppliers to access supply-side transactions and other relevant information. They can also update their catalog data, process acknowledgments, track payment status, suggest changes to orders, and receive information on inventory

and supply-and-demand plans. The result is reduced process costs, increased automation, and transparency into the procurement process. Suppliers can also respond to services procurement–related requisitions.

new features supporting supplier collab-oration are summarized in the table above.


• Ability to submit services procurement requisition responses, confirmations, and invoices

• Supplier-provided catalog content

• Enhanced supplier collaboration• Assurance of up-to-date, accurate catalog

items


Supplier Evaluation

SAP SRM enables you to better manage suppliers – the key to improving quality, enhancing collaboration, and reducing supplier risk. The software eases clerical and administrative burdens with numer-ous supplier evaluation methods, such as event-triggered surveys, ad hoc sur-

veys, and quantitative questionnaires. Flexible reporting and response moni-toring enable you to improve operations, which ultimately reduces costs and improves efficiency.

new features supporting supplier eval-uation are summarized in the table above.


• Multiple supplier evaluation methods, including event-driven, ad hoc, and quantitative evaluation surveys

• Predefined key performance indicators (KPIs) and evaluation templates

• grouping and weighting function for score analysis based on commodity type and participating internal department

• Alerts for low supplier performance scores• Integration with the SAP netWeaver®

Business Intelligence component for data consolidation and reporting

• Effective tracking of numerous KPIs related to supplier performance, such as on-time performance, quality, and user-determined qualitative items

• Support for standardized, best-practice supplier evaluations

• Sophisticated performance analysis• Risk mitigated by enabling immediate

corrective action plans for low-performing suppliers

• Consolidated view of supplier performance

The improved user interface in SAP SRM 7.0 includes an updat-ed, user-friendly work center. This can be personalized to help make it easier for us-ers to navigate. new interface functionality accelerates and auto-mates supply man-agement processes and helps deepen supplier relationships.


From a technical perspective, the latest release of SAP SRM offers substantial benefits over previous releases, including:• Easier and less costly upgrades• A new user interface that’s consis-

tent with all other SAP Business Suite applications

• Support for flexible workflow processes

• An architecture based on Web Dynpro development environment for ABAP

• Support for enterprise services to support key interfaces with other SAP applications

Easier Upgrades with Enhancement Packs

As part of the SAP Business Suite, SAP SRM 7.0 will deliver future enhancements via enhancement packs that are readily consumed. You can leverage new func-tionality and SAP innovations without dis-rupting existing functionality or investing in costly upgrades that reduce total cost of ownership. When you activate an enhancement package, you can choose the specific functions you want to implement.

Harmonized User Interface Across SAP SRM and Other SAP Applications

SAP SRM 7.0 offers a harmonized user interface across multiple SAP applications, including SAP ERP. The application includes a universal work list that users can configure and use to retrieve data within SAP SRM and other SAP applications. For example, a buyer can query purchasing data

across the SAP SRM and SAP ERP applications from a single launch point. Additionally, users gain access to purchasing-related activities within SAP SRM through a personal object work list. This is made possible through a homogenous user interface for object work lists across application roles.

Key benefits of this harmonized user interface include: • Improved usability and process

efficiency enabled by a common procurement user interface and cross-application search functionality

• Faster access to – and a comprehen-sive overview of – the work environ-ment and all related business objects

• Easy access to up-to-date information

Business Rule Framework Workflow Technology

SAP SRM 7.0 contains new Business Rule Framework workflow technology. This provides you with the flexibility to create workflow processes specific to your business needs. If necessary, you can maintain your former business workflow solution even when you upgrade to the SAP SRM 7.0 release.

Shift to Web Dynpro for ABAP

SAP SRM 7.0 contains new architecture based on Web Dynpro for Java, which gives you the ability to readily make changes to the user interface. For example, you can edit field names and locations, and you can hide entire areas of a screen. You can even make certain fields read-only for specific users. By modifying the user interface, you can customize the user experience and improve usability.

Enterprise Services

Enterprise services make it possible to transfer data smoothly from one appli-cation to another. The result is an unin-terrupted flow of information and accu-rate and timely access to data. SAP SRM 7.0 supports enterprise services to enable the following data transfers: • Transfer of an SAP ERP purchase

request to SAP SRM • Creation of an SAP SRM sourcing

request from an SAP ERP purchase request

• Distribution of a central contract between SAP ERP and SAP SRM

• Transfers relating to services pro-curement activities between SAP ERP, SAP SRM, and supplier self-service functions

teChniCAl BenefitS of SAP SuPPlier relAtionShiP MAnAgeMent SIMPLIFYIng UPgRADES AnD HARMOnIzIng USER InTERFACES, DATA ExCHAngES, AnD WORKFLOWS


SAP SRM 7.0 enables you to integrate and optimize procurement processes across the enterprise. With its new and enhanced functionality, you can inno-vate and grow your business, as well as expand and deepen your supplier relationships.

The new functionality available in SAP SRM 7.0 facilitates communication within your enterprise and across your supplier network. This enables you to improve sourcing strategies, accelerate and automate processes and cycle times, unify disparate data and applications, evaluate and track suppliers, reduce costs, and improve performance. You can also realize sustainable results in reporting, supplier management, invoice management, centralized sourcing, operational procurement, centralized contract management, and catalog management functions.

With SAP SRM 7.0, you have an enterprise-wide solution that closes the loop on supplier relationship pro-cesses in an end-to-end manner – and ultimately trans forms purchasing and supplier management operations and organizations. For more information about SAP SRM, please contact your SAP customer engagement manager or visit us online at www.sap.com/srm.

for More inforMAtionLEARn MORE ABOUT SAP SRM


www.sap.com/srm

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Summary The SAP® Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) application helps you improve supplier communications, streamline operations, and enhance cost management. As a result, you can reduce costs while maintaining access to high-quality products and a reliable supply base.

Business Challenges• Achieve greater visibility into supplier relationships and performance• generate sustainable savings through sourcing• Eliminate risk of procurement noncompliance • Standardize and centralize processes• Manage invoices

Supported Business Processes and Software Functions• Operational procurement – Accelerate processes, shorten the order cycle, and foster

standardization • Catalog management – Avoid maverick buying, improve compliance, and allow users

to search among millions of items in seconds• Centralized sourcing – Reduce costs and cycle times, improve sourcing process trans-

parency, and facilitate bidding competition among suppliers• Centralized contracts – Extract maximum value from negotiated agreements by enabling

better contract compliance and execution• Services procurement – Manage resources, monitor and reduce costs, and improve

procurement processes• Supplier collaboration – Link suppliers to your purchasing processes, collaborate with

suppliers throughout the life cycle, and enable integration with suppliers of all sizes • Supplier evaluation – Better manage suppliers and improve quality • Reporting and analysis – Capture, consolidate, and present data across the enterprise

Business Benefits • Reduce process costs and lower purchasing prices by building collaborative supplier

relationships• Accelerate cycle times and supply management activities by automating procurement

processes • Unify disconnected, disparate applications and data sources with a flexible platform• Evaluate suppliers, streamline the procurement process, and achieve data visibility

with an integrated, end-to-end solution

For More InformationContact your SAP representative, or visit us online at www.sap.com.

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