Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way to manage supplier relationships? For businesses that use SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, there is: The SAP Supplier Portal. Keep reading to learn more about this SAP extension and why businesses with supplier relationships should be using it.
But first, let’s talk about the typical pain points around procurement. Procurement is an essential business function for most businesses, but it also can be a pain in the butt. Do any of these procurement headaches sound familiar?
If any of these procurement pain points sound familiar, the SAP Supplier Portal can help.
Businesses that use SAP’s S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition as their ERP backend have the option of using the SAP Supplier Portal Extension for managing their supplier relationships. And they should be using it.
The SAP Supplier Portal is an extension that can be added to S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition that gives additional supplier relationship functionality to a company’s ERP system. The Supplier Portal gives a business visibility into purchase orders, invoices, order confirmations, shipping notifications, receipts, service entry sheets, and credit notes.
Suppliers that engage with a business using the Supplier Portal receive a transparent view of the order cycle, including the status of goods receipts, invoice processing, and payment. Changes no longer get lost in communications, and businesses that use the Supplier Portal have an auditable record of revisions and change orders to eliminate confusion and errors.
This is achieved by the Supplier Portal extension by creating a self-service portal for all your suppliers with seamless purchase order and invoice visibility and collaboration. The business and its suppliers can both see the status of orders and communicate directly through the portal on fulfillment and payment-related issues, and all the documents related to orders can be shared and centrally accessed through the portal.
Businesses that use the SAP Supplier Portal extension gain in several ways.
First, there’s improved collaboration and visibility. The business can automate the procurement process with ongoing, two-way supplier communication.
Payment compliance also is improved. By using the portal, invoices can be created more quickly and data accuracy can be maintained because most of the manual data entry is eliminated. This minimizes incorrect or duplicate payments, and it streamlines accounting processes and overall financial visibility.
Verification is improved with rules-based automation. More than 120 smart business rules built into the extension enable accurate collaboration and limit the need for time-consuming manual verification processes.
The extension also helps businesses achieve faster time to value with their ERP solution. By using the Supplier Porta extension, businesses get template-based, pre-configured supplier processes that are based on best practices. Instead of reinventing the wheel when it comes to supplier management processes, the Supplier Portal extension makes it almost turnkey.
The SAP Supplier Portal also benefits suppliers, encouraging the use of the portal.
When a supplier manages its relationship with the business through the Supplier Portal, it accelerates its order-to-cash cycle and gets paid faster. Suppliers can fill orders fast by digitally receiving and responding to more than 20 different document types, including purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices. Digital catalogs can be published via the portal to improve the ordering process, and quick invoicing and improved data accuracy cut down on payment delays.
At the same time, the Supplier Portal helps suppliers keep track of documents at each stage of fulfillment with instant notifications and status updates, and suppliers can view and manage the documents related to your company in one place with the ability to sort by date and status.
One advantage of using SAP for ERP is the extensibility of the company’s solution offerings. The SAP Supplier Portal is one example, but there also are extensions and add-ons through the SAP Business Technology Platform that bring similar efficiency and cost savings to other functions within a business.
For more on the SAP Supplier Portal or the Business Technology Platform in general, contact one of our experienced ERP consultants at (801) 642-0123 or by writing us at info@nbs-us.com.