Supplier Workplace

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Supplier Workplace

Purpose

The Supplier Workplace (SWP) allows suppliers (vendors) access to a manufacturers’ (customers’) SAP System. The E-Commerce application serves as an alternative or enhancement to the EDI communication that is used in material procurement.

That does not mean, however, that the Web application should completely replace the electronic exchange of important trade documents using EDI. It is a cost-saving means for even small suppliers to enter into competition in the supplier market.

This Internet technology makes it possible for suppliers to access information in a customer’s system and to enter shipping notifications, without time delay. E-commerce is also a cost-saving and time-saving procedure for the customer with regard to purchasing raw materials, parts or systems.

It saves time for getting information, telephone costs and costs for the connection and maintenance of an EDI line. When new suppliers enter the market, the range of products on offer is broadened and competition is encouraged.

As a result, the products can become cheaper for the manufacturer in the long term.
The following graphic shows how the process may work in the manufacturers’ system.

The necessary data for the material procurement process is saved in the customer system and can be accessed and checked by the supplier over the Internet.

The supplier can also confirm the scheduling agreement releases actively. Suppliers calculate requirements using the scheduling agreement schedule lines. They can also view error messages in the customer system.

As soon as suppliers have delivered the goods, they can check the goods receipt at the customer. After placing the invoice, suppliers can monitor the price agreements over the Internet.



Implementation Considerations

Technical Prerequisites:

The necessary data for the Supplier Workplace is supplied by the R/3 System. The alerts can be displayed from MRP in the R/3 System or, if the APO system is available, from the APO Rapid Planning Matrix.

Logging On to the System:

You log on using an R/3 user in the R/3 System. You can find this link on the manufacturer’s homepage. As a user, you enter your user ID on the initial screen. Each supplier can have multiple user IDs and every user should have the option of using several supplier IDs.

Authorizations:

Suppliers can only view data that is related to them. After the supplier has logged on to the system, it runs an authorization check and calls up a menu with the functions that the user is allowed to use.

Navigation:

The user can access all the functions of the Supplier Workplace from the Workplace itself.

Suppliers can search using four different criteria. On the left of the screen they enter either the vendor ID (supplier), the product name used by the vendor (external product) or by the customer (internal product) or the purchasing document number.

For each function, the system displays a list with all the documents related to the search criteria. Users can find the relevant document in this list.

Integration

The Supplier Workplace consists of applications from the Materials Management (MM) and Sales and Distribution (SD) components, which have been simplified and limited to their most important functions for the Internet.

The SWP represents procedures for the material procurement process and is therefore an important part of Supply Chain Management.

The following graphic describes the process for material procurement using the Internet. Using the Internet, the supplier can access information from the systems of different manufacturers, from various plants:

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Features
The following functions are available in the Supplier Workplace:

• Display of purchasing document information
• Display of pricing information
• Display and confirmation of scheduling agreement releases
• Display of goods receipts
• Display of credit memos
• Display of alerts
• Creation and changing of inbound deliveries

Constraints


The supplier can view data in the customer’s system, but the system does not automatically write the data in the supplier’s ERP system. As a user, you transfer the data manually into your system.



You also have a write authorization in two of the functions mentioned: In the function for scheduling agreement releases you can set a confirmation indicator and you can create and change inbound deliveries.