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dencilpaul
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
Invoices are detailed statements of products delivered or services rendered and associated charges or one or more purchase orders.  Ariba Network supports invoicing for material items (goods), general service items labor service items, and service items that require a service sheet. Suppliers have the capability to create PO-based invoice, service invoice, non-PO invoice or credit memos.   In this blog series we will explore the different invoicing options that are available to suppliers transacting on the Digital Supplier Network. Before we explore the different options that a supplier has, it is important to understand the workflow of an invoice through the Ariba Network.

 


 

 

Suppliers can either create invoices online in their Ariba Network account or submit them electronically from their external system via cXML or EDI. All invoices regardless how they are submitted to Ariba Network are validated against the specific buyer’s invoicing rules. Invoices that fail that validation are rejected. Only after they are accepted by Ariba Network are they then digitally signed (if required based on the From and To country on the invoice).

Once the invoices are validated and signed, they are downloaded to the buyer’s invoicing system for review and approval. If the buyer finds a discrepancy (e.g. between the expected and actual tax amount or a line item invoice to purchase order mismatch) they can then dispute or reject the invoice and require the supplier to resubmit a corrected invoice.

Invoicing Pre-requisites
The ability, for a supplier, to invoice against a buyer is buyer driven .There a few pre-requisites that must be completed before a supplier can start creating invoices:

  • Supplier Registration- A supplier must register and accept the terms of use before they can start using the Ariba Network Acceptance of the Terms of Use is required for all users of a supplier account. The Terms of Use for suppliers is available for review on http://supplier.ariba.com on the bottom of the page.

  • Trading Relationship - A trading relationship must exist between the supplier and buyer.

  • Buyer Account Configuration- A buyers account must be configured to accept invoices from suppliers  and also have invoice rules configured. Buyers must specifically allow authorized suppliers to create invoices using the Ariba Network user interface or to transmit them from their own back end system through the Ariba Network. If a buyer has disabled the invoicing feature for some suppliers, then those suppliers will not have access to the invoicing functionality when reviewing the buyer’s purchase orders and they will not be able to enter non-PO invoices for those buyers. Suppliers can review the rules that have been specified by the buyer for invoice transactions in the Customer Details page of their Ariba Network account (Customer Relationships > Customer Details).


Invoicing Process Overview


In the rest of this blog series we will expand on some of the key options that a supplier has when it comes to creating invoices on the Ariba Network. Stay Tuned!