Build with low-code / no-code using SAP Workflow Management to gain visibility into SAP Ariba procurement processes

[Venugopal]

https://youtu.be/cYFf-LZrHeY

Check out this 5-minute highlight video from my guided demo session. 

  PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION IS SPEEDING UP 

As any procurement manager knows, business processes and stakeholder management can be time consuming, involve a lot of information routing and it is easy for requisitions to slip through the cracks – especially when the volume is high, and the pandemic is creating chaos. Weeks can go by before realizing that a purchase process is stalled in someone’s inbox and a critical timeline was missed.  

While SAP Ariba is a powerful system that makes e-procurement more manageable with its ability to consolidate and control all spending from source to pay, its capability is truly amplified when you combine it with SAP Business Technology Platform. 

 PROCUREMENT PROCESS VISIBILITY FROM END-TO-END  

SAP Business Technology Platform offers SAP Workflow Management as part of our digital process automation portfolio, which includes other products and capabilities such as robotic process automation. SAP Workflow Management primarily addresses: How do you digitize your workflows, how do you manage your decisions, and how do you gain end to end process visibility? 

Why is this important? According to the Deloitte Global 2021 Chief Procurement Officer Survey, purchasing leaders who can spend less time on transactional and operational activities and more time on transformational activities (such as implementing digital workflows) achieve higher performance overtime. They also state that the best performers are those who invest in innovative technologies and that they are 4-5 times more likely to have fully deployed visualization capabilities for their buying processes.  

SAP Workflow Management with Process Visibility helps companies to realize these benefits in their procurement process for SAP Ariba. The Process Visibility capability enables business users to gain real-time insight into process that are executed in a heterogeneous landscape. Process Visibility enables process operators or process owners to get deeper insight into their processes and understand how key KPIs are functioning and areas of improvement in their purchasing processes. 

 PROCUREMENT PROCESS VISIBILITY FROM END-TO-END 

A few weeks ago, I presented a guided demo on how to “Gain insights into SAP Ariba procurement operations with SAP Workflow Management” as part of the Hyperautomation Webinar Series. Attendance was high and the feedback has been positive, so I thought it would be a useful idea to share the video from that session here. Covered topics include improving visibility for: 

• Purchase Requisition Creation 


• Approvals  

• Purchase Order Creation 


• Process Performance indicators to track key SLAs.  


• Process extensions by adding new transaction events using text rules or new performance indicators. 

 

https://youtu.be/YUltaoxYsZk

Dive deeper with the 30-min. guided demo for SAP Workflow Management + Ariba 

 To get started with SAP Workflow Management and SAP Ariba, we provide a setup guide to help you implement and configure this content and quickly deploy into your landscape, using low-code / no-code capabilities. That means you can consume it out of the box, without any support from the IT side, and you do not need to build any additional content. 

This content package includes: 

• Plug and play integration content to extract Ariba Purchase Requisitions periodically. 

• Business Rules to transform purchase requisition data into process visibility events. 


• Process Visibility scenario with pre-configured phases, performance indicators. 

 For a more technical article with screenshots about the SAP Ariba and SAP Workflow Management solution architecture, integration, business rules and process visibility events and data, please read my article: Real-time visibility into Ariba Procurement Operations (P20) usng SAP Business Technology Platform. 

 LOW-CODE / NO-CODE WORKFLOW DEVELOPMENT FOR PROCUREMENT 

“Low-code / no-code” and “democratization of development” are some of the buzziest buzz-phrases in our industry right now, and while I typically don’t like to overuse such words, in this case there is no better way to capture the essence of why this technology is different from how we worked in the past, with code and professional developers.  

The impact of this new kind of business-user-as-a-developer is really starting to take off globally in every line of business, not only just procurement, because it means that anyone can create the processes and applications they need, with little to no support from the IT department. No more waiting for months and months for IT to clear their backlogs and support your new purchasing transformation projects. 

Citizen developers can pick up the slack with out-of-the-box solutions, drag and drop tools, and can move work faster through organizational processes, and do it while the IT department maintains full control and provides governance in the background. SAP Workflow Management in combination with SAP Ariba can give your procurement operations the transformation edge it needs to move your work forward, faster. 

 WHAT ABOUT LOW-CODE / NO-CODE TECH IN YOUR BUSINESS? 

I am curious to know how this topic is being discussed in your teams, especially as it relates to procurement processes, but also generally.  

• What do you think about citizen development? 


• Will professional developers use no-code and low-code tooling? 


• What does your company need to have in place to make it work?  

Let’s discuss in the comments below...