SAP SLM/ SAP SLC an Overview..

In this blog and future blog’s am sharing some functional / technical  details on SAP SLM / SAP SLC module.

   Before proceeding further, let me clarify one question, which will come to every consultant, who will start working with this module, i.e. 

Why two names SAP SLM or SAP SLC? When I done some R & D on this , found that ,   SLC stands for  “Supplier Lifecycle Collaboration “   and SLM standards for “Supplier Lifecycle Management“,so initially  the product name was SAP SLM , but  with the same name there is one more module  “Software Lifecycle Management” already present with SAP , so to avoid naming  conflict , SAP SLC has been chosen.  So SAP SLM and SAP SLM are represent same module.

      Initially when I was asked to start working with SAP SLM / SAP SLC, was totally blank about its functionality and processes, even when searched over net found very minimal documentation in help.sap.com – https://help.sap.com/slc , other than this found some config documentation from SAP Market Place.  So here am sharing very basic information on the SAP SLC / SAP SLM, which I have got during the implementation of SAP SRM and SAP SLM.

so lets start  ..

    SAP Says ,

  “SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management is a holistic approach to managing supplier relationships. It deals with the supply base as a whole to constantly determine the right mix of suppliers. It covers the lifecycle of individual supplier’s ‒ from on boarding to a continuous development”.

           So in common terms SAP SLM is the module which deals with “Supplier” life cycle. Unlike SRM SUS, this module is purely developed by making “Supplier” as a central. “. “From the day a Supplier is started business to the day Supplier end the relationship “, this whole lifecycle will be monitored / controlled / powered by SAP SLM.

      So now question comes why a separate module is needed to manage the Supplier?  , answer for above question can by find below …

• With SAP SLM, company can manage end to end Supplier Life cycle efficiently, from Supplier Registration to Supplier Phase-out.
• With SAP SLM, Company can manage “Supplier Qualification “efficiently, as many automated processes are available.
• With SAP SLM Company can manage “Supplier Performance” efficiently, as many automated processes are provided by SLM.
• With SAP SLM company can trust a single centralized supplier source of information.
• SAP SLM has SAP ABAP WD – at Buyer Side and BSP at Sell Side, which makes the UI very rich to use, which intern enables Business people to use the application efficiently.
• SAP SLM can be connected to multiple backend systems, so company can maintain the data as “Centralized”.
• SAP SLM is “Deployment Flexible”, which means, it’s not only deployed with SAP SRM, but also has flexibility to deeply on ECC or standalone.
• SAP SLM usages tools like “Score Cards”, “Questionnaires”…etc for Supplier Evaluation & Supplier Qualification, which intern helps in Reporting.

    Below is the snapshot of Supplier lifecycle in SAP  SLM.

High level architecture of SAP SLM.

     Below is the high level architecture of SAP SLM. 

              In SAP SLM Buy Side represents the Company (Buyer / Purchaser) and Sell Side represents the Supplier/Vendor.             

SAP SLM Processes.

       Below are the processes of SAP SLM.

• Registering Suppliers.
• Maintaining Supplier Data.
• Qualifying Suppliers.
• Managing the Supplier Portfolio.
• Classifying Suppliers.
• Evaluating Suppliers Based on Events.
• Evaluating Supplier Peer Groups.

By this information , am ending this blog , in the next blog will try to discuss on the SAP SLM Processes.  Any comments or suggestions are welcome 🙂 , as always.