SAP Sourcing provides a default supplier type that is assigned to all suppliers in the system during upgrade. This type contains no configured supplier phase definitions, which means that by default, supplier workflow management is disabled.
To enable supplier workflow management, do the following: 1. Create Workflow Definitions.
2. Create Supplier Configurable Phase Definitions. 3. Create or Modify the Supplier Type.
4. Create a Supplier Field Access Definition (optional). 5. Configure Security Templates.
6. Assign Supplier Types to Suppliers. 7. Configure sell-side UI mapping.
3.8.1
Creating a Workflow Definition
1. Navigate to Setup System Setup Workflow Workflow Definitions. 2. On the Workflow Definitions List page, choose New.
3. On the Workflow Definition Summary page, enter workflow information. For details, see Field Help for Workflow Definition Summary page in the Online Help.
4. Choose the Add New Version button to add a process template to the workflow definition. For details, see Field Help for Process Template dialog box in the Online Help.
5. Save your entries.
SAP Sourcing 9.0 Scripting and Workflow Guide 32
© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
3.8.2
Creating a Supplier Configurable Phase Definition
Supplier phases determine the actions that can be performed in supplier registration and modification requests.
To create a supplier configurable phase definition:
1. Navigate to Setup Document Setup Supplier Configurable Phase Definition. 2. On the Supplier Configurable Phase Definition List page, choose New.
3. On the Header page, enter phase information. For details, see Field help for Supplier Configurable Phase Definition Header page in the Online Help.
4. Choose Add to add phases to the definition.
5. In the dialog box that appears, select each phase to include in the phase definition and choose OK. 6. Choose each phase to edit phase information, including the sequence of phases in the workflow.
For details, see Field help for Supplier Configurable Phase Header page in the Online Help. 7. Optionally, assign workflow definitions and supplier field access.
8. Save your entries.
9. Create additional Supplier Configurable Phase Definitions as needed.
3.8.3
Creating or Editing a Supplier Type
Supplier Types can be used to determine the workflow phase definition to enable in a supplier registration or modification request. The Configurable Phase Definition field of the Supplier Type is responsible for defining whether registration/modification requests will use workflow and which phases will have these requests. If the Configurable Phase Definition field is empty, the supplier registration or modification request will not have configured phases, and any supplier administrator will be able to approve or deny requests for this type. To enable supplier workflow management, a supplier configurable phase definition must be assigned to the supplier type.
SAP Sourcing provides one default supplier type. You can modify this type and create new ones. 1. Navigate to Setup Document Setup Suppliers Supplier Type.
2. On the Supplier Type List page, choose New to create a new type or select an existing type to open it for editing.
SAP Sourcing 9.0 Scripting and Workflow Guide 33
© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 3. On the Type page, enter information as needed. For details, see Field Help for Supplier Type
page in the Online Help.
Note
For this type, if you check the Automatically advance to first Status (Phase) Requiring Approval checkbox, the phase should NOT be changed via scripting in the XPDL file, even to the
Approved/Rejected phases. The behavior of this type is different from that of other workflow types, which never advance the phase automatically.
4. On the Type page, assign a Supplier Configurable Phase Definition to the Supplier Type. 5. Save your entries.
3.8.4
Creating a Supplier Field Access Definition (Optional)
A Supplier Field Access Definition allows you to configure access rules for the approver for a specific phase. To create a supplier field access definition:
1. Navigate to Setup Document Setup Suppliers Supplier Field Access Definition. 2. On the Supplier Field Access Definition List page, choose New.
3. On the UI page, enter information as needed. For details, see Supplier Field Access Definition in the Online Help.
4. Save your entries.
5. Open an existing Supplier Configurable Phase Definition. 6. Choose Edit.
SAP Sourcing 9.0 Scripting and Workflow Guide 34
© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 7. Select the phase for which you want to configure access rights for approvers. It must be an
approval phase.
8. Select a supplier field access definition to associate with this phase. 9. Save your changes.
3.8.5
Configuring Security Templates
Any Supplier Administrator can view and approve requests for supplier registrations and modifications that do not have configured workflows. However, if new functionality is added, collaborator security must be in place to automatically assign access rights to the functionality.
A document security template is a set of rules governing the way a sourcing document assigns collaborator roles. You should configure collaborators, defined by role and user type, that are automatically added to a registration and modification requests.
Note
This is an important configuration step for enabling supplier workflow.
Configure two security templates: one for Workflow Supplier Registration and one for Workflow Supplier Modification.
Note the following when creating the templates:
The document owner must be any specified purchaser user.
The document creator (current user) must be added to the collaborator list with a role that allows the user to view, edit, and change phases (such as Collaborator).
Supplier administrators should be included in the collaborator list so that they can view registration and modification requests and manually complete them if automatic completion should fail.
3.8.6
Assigning a Supplier Type to a Supplier
During an upgrade, one default supplier type is created and assigned to all suppliers. It is used to recognize phases for supplier modifications via workflow. The supplier type can be changed for any supplier.
To change the supplier type that is assigned to a supplier, do the following:
1. Open the supplier for which you want to reassign the supplier type. 2. Choose Edit.
3. Choose Document Type and select a new supplier type. 4. Choose OK.
5. Save your changes.
Note
When a supplier is created via workflow, the supplier type that was used for creation is assigned to the supplier
3.8.7
Configuring Supplier-Side UI Mapping
A Supplier Type can be mapped to any supplier-side self-registration form. In the Supplier Type, the Sell- Side Supplier Registration UI Mapping allows you to configure mapping between the supplier type and self- registration forms:
1. Open any Supplier Type. 2. Choose Edit.
SAP Sourcing 9.0 Scripting and Workflow Guide 35
© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 3. Under Sell-Side Supplier Registration UI Mapping, choose Add to add a page that will be
mapped to this type.
4. Choose the value that corresponds to the Supplier Self-Registration URL you want to use. For example, if you map a Supplier Type to UI 3, the registration link for this type will appear as follows, including the final parameter:
/fsguestvendor/vendordesktop/register?ui=ui3 5. Save your entries.
Note
A self-registration form can be assigned to only one supplier type. If a form does not have an assigned supplier type, the default supplier type will be used for registration.
3.8.8
Configuring the System to Use a Supplier Approval Process
Without Workflow
After an upgrade, the SAP Sourcing system will use the supplier approval process without workflow. After configuring a workflow approval process, if you decide to revert to the previous process, remove references to the configurable phase definitions from all Supplier Types.