Supplier enablement is a measure of how well the suppliers interact with the organisation.

Again, good interaction is the result of a good relationship between the buyer and the supplier. But it can be facilitated by cost-effective methods that enable suppliers of all sizes to connect to a number of processes along the sourcing and procurement cycles. For example interaction can be achieved by enabling the exchange of documents such as Purchase Orders with the supplier, or by providing access to a portal infrastructure for supplier self-service over the Internet.

Supplier Portal

Developed on SAP NetWeaver technology, the supplier portal is a secure and role-based single point of access to suppliers of all sizes.

It technically enables single sign on for various SAP applications. For instance, at the supplier site, a planner role can be given to an employee to:

• coordinate supply chain activities
• receive and respond to purchase orders
• search for pending invoices by various parameters
• check unpaid invoices.

Another example is the ability of the supplier to view and respond to RFQs in the bidding engine, or to upload supplier-managed catalogue content into the buyer's catalogue content management tool.

SAP has also recently launched the SAP Supplier Network offering, which offers hosted services for non strategic procurement collaboration. It brings together document exchange capabilities, supplier self-service, supplier 'on-boarding' services, and a supplier and buyer call centre in one solution offering. This is the SAP branded marketplace which includes approximately 16,000 suppliers.

Typical benefits

The typical benefits of SAP's SRM supplier enablement solution are:

• improved quality of relationship with supplier
• improved quality of supply
• faster response from supplier - more efficient procurement
• lower bidding process costs.