Ariba Sourcing™
Event
Management
Guide
Release 9r1 SP9
Document Version 4
October 2011
Copyright © 1996–2011 Ariba, Inc. All rights reserved.
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9r1SP9.0002.en
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Quick Start for Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2 Introduction to Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About the Event Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Request For Information (RFI) Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Request For Proposal (RFP) Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Example Use of an Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Auction Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Forward Auctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Example Use of a Forward Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Forward Auction Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Test Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 3 Event Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Auction Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Bidding format for the auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Number of Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Timing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Enable preview period before bidding opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Specify how lot bidding will begin and end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Planned start time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Bidding end time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Due Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Bid Adjustment Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Set a review period after lot closes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Allow bidding overtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Estimated Award Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Bidding Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Use transformation bidding format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Bid Guardian Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Allow owner to change bid improvement rules at the lot level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Allow scoring on participant responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Can participants create bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Must participants improve their bids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Can participants submit tie bids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Can participants submit tie bids during preview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Must participants bid on all items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Currency Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Allow participants to select bidding currency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Show currency exchange rates to participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Initiator Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
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Market Feedback Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Specify how participants view market information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Show participant responses to other participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Show reserve price to all participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Can participants see ranks?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Show calculated value of competitive term before participant submits bid . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Show formulas to all participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Can owner see responses before event closes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Show bid graph to all participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Indicate to participants that participant-specific initial values have been specified . . . . . 42
Message Board Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Receive emails from participants at this address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Allow messages between the project team and participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Chapter 4 Changing Team Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Adding a Team Member to a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Removing a Team Member from a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating a New Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 5 Inviting Participants to an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Chapter 6 Creating Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Content Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Lots and Line Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Sections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Common Content Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Copying Content for Multi-Round Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Importing from Predecessor Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Copying Content From the Content Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Creating Content Library Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Uploading a File to the Content Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Best Practices for Creating Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Content Limits in Different Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 7 Using Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Planning for Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Creating a Simple Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Creating a Complex Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Using Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Using Mathematical Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Function Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Checking for Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Cost Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
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Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
About Bid Transformation Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
How Bid Transformation and Total Cost Auction Differ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Bid Transformation Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
About Cost Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
About Adder, Subtracter, Multiplier, and % Discount Cost Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Applying to Cost Per Unit, or to All Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Summary of Cost Term Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Creating a Bid Transformation Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Step 1: Create Event and Add Line Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Step 2: Create New Cost Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Step 3: Validate Cost Terms In Supplier View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Step 4: Override Transformed Ceiling Value (optional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Bid Transformation Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Thinking about Bid Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Bringing dissimilar products into competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Bringing dissimilar suppliers into competition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Starting/Reserve Price Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Communicating About Bid Transformation to Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Chapter 9 Total Cost Auctions and RFPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
About Total Cost Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Sample Auction Business Case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
How Bid Transformation and Total Cost Auction Differ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
How Total Cost Auction and RFP with Price Breakdown Differ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
How a Total Cost Auction and Total Cost RFP Differ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Creating a Total Cost Auction or RFP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Creating Total Cost Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Testing Total Cost Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
What Happens During the Evaluation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Chapter 10 Index Auctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
About Index Auction Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Amount or Percentage Bidding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Discount or Premium Bidding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
About Index Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Index Auction Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Evaluating Bids Against a Standard Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Deciding Which Index to Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Preparing for an Index Auction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 11 Dutch Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Creating a Dutch Auction Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Setting the Dutch Auction Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Adding Team Members, Participants, and Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Specifying the Price Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Specifying Partial Quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Setting a Price Cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
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Monitoring a Dutch Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Changing Quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Changing Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Chapter 12 RFP with Price Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
About RFP with Price Breakdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Creating an RFP with Price Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 13 Postings on Ariba Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
About Ariba Discovery Postings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Searching for Suppliers on Ariba Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Viewing Supplier Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Managing Postings on Ariba Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Communicating With Suppliers on Ariba Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Viewing Your Organization’s Activity on Ariba Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Chapter 14 Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Translating Textual Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Base Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
About the Translator Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Translating Business Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Using Multiple Currencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Setting the Event Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Setting up Bidding Currencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Resetting the Lot Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Suppliers’ View of a Multi Currency Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Working with Currencies During a Running Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Exchange Rates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Setting User Preferences for Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Chapter 15 Reviewing and Publishing an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Reviewing Your Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Project Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Print Event Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Publishing Your Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Time Zone Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 16 Editing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Editing Published Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Viewing the Draft or Published Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Updating the Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Discarding the Draft Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Viewing the Change History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Two Users Editing an Event Simultaneously. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 17 Monitoring an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
The Monitoring Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
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Monitoring Interface Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Overview Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Bid Console Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Content Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Suppliers Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Team Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Report Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Message Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Log Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Scenario Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Award Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Actions Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Pausing and Resuming an Event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Extending or Reducing Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Stopping an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Cancelling an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Closing an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Opening Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Exporting to Microsoft Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Print Event Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Viewing the Publish Approval Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Deleting an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Download All Supplier Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Viewing Draft or Published Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Viewing the Change History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Using the Pivot User Interface for Content Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Chapter 18 Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Automatic Notification Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Editing site-wide messaging templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Editing event and user-level messaging templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Notification Template Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Automatic Notification Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Automatic Notification Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Stopping Automatic Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Chapter 19 Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Scoring Matrix Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
About Scoring Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
About target Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
About Pre-grading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Hiding or Showing Scoring Weights and Importance Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Scoring Concepts: During Event Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Grading Suppliers’ Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Calculation of Overall Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
About Advanced Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
About Questions in the Base Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Nested Sections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Final Scoring Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Using Team Grading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
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Table of Contents
Chapter 20 Using Optimization to Award Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
About Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Using Manual Scenarios to Award to Suppliers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Approving Submitted Award Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Optimization Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Chapter 21 Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
About Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Viewing a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Chapter 22 Performing Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Performing Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Viewing Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Using Advanced Hierarchical Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Using Boolean Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Using Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Searching for Deleted Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Saving Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Chapter 23 Microsoft Excel Import and Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Exporting Sourcing Event Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Exporting Event Award Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Generating a Spreadsheet Prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Editing Spreadsheets for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Validating Imported Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Worksheet Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Numbering for Line Items and Item Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Creating Content Types by Importing from Microsoft Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Importing Event Data from Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
External System Integration by Excel Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Creating the HTTP Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Running the HTTP Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Importing Participant Responses from Excel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Exporting UI Tables to Excel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Creating an Event Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Configuring the Event Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Event Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Event Template Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Event Template Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Event Template Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Publishing a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
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Chapter 1
Quick Start for Events
In Ariba Sourcing, an “Event” is the publication of data to suppliers or buyers and their response to
questions or bidding on goods or services. It includes Requests for information, or proposals, as well as
forward and reverse auctions. Here is a check list for getting started quickly:
Task
Procedure
Determine event
type
Refer to “Introduction to Events” on page 13 for an overview of event types and the
templates available for each.
Create the event
• Under Common Actions or from the menu bar choose Create > Sourcing Project.
• For fast results, copy from a similar event. Click Copy from Project and select one.
• Fill in the event details and click Create.
This entire procedure is covered in more detail below in “To create an event:” on page 10
Define the event
rules
The rules are described in “Event Rules” on page 21. The rules in your project depend on
the event type and the template you selected. The templates provide a good starting point,
so all you need to do is fill in certain values.
Select team members By default you are the project owner and members of certain system groups are already
included by default. You can add other project owners and observers from the Team page.
See “Changing Team Members” on page 45 for details.
Invite participants
From the Supplier or Participants page you can invite registered suppliers/participants and
you can create new ones. See “Inviting Participants to an Event” on page 49 for details.
Creating event
content
Go to the Content page to add questions, requirements, the items and lots that you plan to
buy or sell and all the cost or other terms required. You can copy some or all of the content
from another event, to simplify this complex step. You can also copy individual items from
other events and drag and drop them to the Content page. See “Creating Content” on
page 53 for details.
Publishing your
event
To publish your event, click Publish. Your administrators may have set up an approval
process. If so, all the appropriate team members and approvers are notified. See
“Reviewing and Publishing an Event” on page 155 for details.
Monitoring your
event
Find the event on the Dashboard or by searching for it and click on its name, and choose
Monitor or View Details. You see the event’s monitoring interface. Be prepared to:
• Pause and resume
• Extend or reduce timing
• Cancel and close the event
• Edit a running event
See “Monitoring an Event” on page 165 for details.
Make the award
From the event-monitoring page you can create one or more award scenarios on the
Scenarios tab and then choose one for your award on the Award tab.
See “Scenario Tab” on page 176 and “Award Tab” on page 182.
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Chapter 1 Quick Start for Events
Note: To print a page, click the Print icon at the top of the page. It formats the screen for printing,
presents a preview, and shows the normal print dialog box for your operating system. Use this
Print icon instead of the browser print function, which does not reformat the page by removing
the tabs and header information at the top.
Following is a more detailed procedure for creating an event.
W
To create an event:
1 Under Common Actions, choose Create > Sourcing Project.
2 On the Create Sourcing Project page, enter a name and description for your event. Do not use characters
/ \ : * ? “ < > | in any field. Name and description fields can take an unlimited number of characters. Other
fields might limit you to 255 characters.
3 If you want to copy another project, click Copy from Project and select the project or event that you want to
copy. The option, Do you want to copy project groups that were not in the template, from the project being
copied?, appears at the bottom of the screen. Select Yes to import the project groups defined in the project
or event you are copying.
Sourcing automatically sets the event type and template to match the project or event you are copying.
You can then modify the data you have copied.
4 Choose the Event Type that you want to create. To read more about different event types, see the chapter
“Introduction to Events” on page 13. The event type controls the display of event templates, which are
different for each event type.
5 Fields with an asterisk are required. Contact Ariba support if you want to change the required fields. A
plus sign means it can have multiple values. Not all of these fields appear for all types of event.
• Test projects are excluded from reporting, if you filter them out, but the system sends notification
emails as it does for a normal event; so be careful not to inadvertently send misleading emails to
participants or team members. To change an event to a test event see “Test Events” on page 19.
• The Base Language is used when there is no version of the template in the user’s language. You cannot
change the base language after the event is created.
• The Owner defaults to the person creating the event, you can change or add owners. The last one
added is listed on the Summary page in reports.
• Commodity refers to the goods or services listed in the event. They are also known as categories, or
UNSPSC codes. For more information see “Commodity” on page 58.
• Baseline Spend is the amount you have traditionally spent for this event.
• Target Savings% is the percentage you want to save for this event.
• Predecessor Project is a related project or event that ran prior to your auction. If you specify a
predecessor project, you get a chance to select which content and suppliers to copy into the new
project, and whether the previous bids should be used an initial bids in the new event.
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Chapter 1 Quick Start for Events
Regions, Departments, Baseline Spend, Commodity, and Target Savings% fields can be used for
reporting. These fields are not shown to participants.
6 Click Create. When editing an event, some portions of a page might be hidden from you, or be predefined.
You may be able to skip some pages. The pages and fields depend on the event template you chose.
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Chapter 1 Quick Start for Events
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Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 2
Introduction to Events
Ariba Sourcing allows you to create and run events in which you exchange business information with other
companies. Depending on the type of information you want to collect, you create different types of events
using Ariba Sourcing. The event templates covered in this chapter are provided with the product. Users in
the Template Creator group may create new templates or copy and modify existing templates. Creating
templates is covered in Chapter 24, “Creating Event Templates.”
This section covers these topics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
“About the Event Process” on page 13
“Request For Information (RFI) Events” on page 15
“Request For Proposal (RFP) Events” on page 15
“Auctions” on page 16
“Forward Auctions” on page 18
“Test Events” on page 19
About the Event Process
In Ariba Sourcing, an event follows a process from creation to awarding contracts to participants. An event
has a status, corresponding to each stage in the event process, which determines the actions you can take.
The following diagram illustrates the event process:
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
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About the Event Process
Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
You can view the event status in multiple places in the user interface:
• On the upper right hand corner of the monitoring interface.
• In the My Documents area on the Ariba Spend Management Dashboard:
The following table describes the various event statuses in detail:
Status
Description
Draft
While you are creating an event, before you publish, it has a status of Draft.
Preview
When setting up an event, you can choose to have a period before the event opens for
bidding when participants can preview it, answering questions or preparing their bids.
You can choose whether to allow prebids. You can edit the event: see “Editing Published
Events” on page 161.
Open
The event is open for participant responses. You can edit, cancel, or close the event.
Pending Selection
The event has closed for responses and is pending your awarding selections. You can
reopen or edit the event.
Completed
The event is completed. You can no longer reopen or edit it. The completed state is the
end point of events that run their course normally.
Cancelled
At any point after publishing an event, you can choose to cancel it. Cancelling an event
bypasses all the other statuses and immediately ends the event. The cancelled state
indicates that you aborted the event. You can undo the cancellation of an event. See
“Cancelling an Event” on page 186.
The Ariba Spend Management Dashboard queries your event database every six hours and displays the
events you created over the last three months, six months, or year, depending on the amount of events you
have created.
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Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
Request For Information (RFI) Events
The My Documents content item displays a maximum of 20 events (RFI/RFP/Auction/Survey) and a
maximum of 50 projects (Sourcing/Contracts/SPM).
Request For Information (RFI) Events
An RFI event is used to gather non-competitive data, information, comments, or reactions from potential
participants. Participants typically do not respond to an RFI with pricing information. Instead, RFIs usually
precede other events (RFPs or auctions) that include price.
Since RFIs are not competitive, they may be open for responses for an arbitrary amount of time (several days
or weeks), allowing participants to log in and respond at their convenience.
If your RFI contains many questions or if you invite many participants, it could become difficult to interpret
all the information that you collect. The Scoring feature can help you rate participants’ responses.
An RFI is often thought of as the qualifying round of a longer sourcing process. In the RFI step, you collect
information about participants for the purpose of selecting a few of them to invite to follow-on events such
as RFPs or auctions. Ariba Sourcing functionality allows you to reuse the information from an RFI in a
further event. See “Copying Content for Multi-Round Events” on page 77.
Request for Information Template
There is one RFI template provided. It includes scoring. Participant responses are not revealed to other
participants.
Request For Proposal (RFP) Events
An RFP communicates business needs to potential participants and asks them to propose goods or services
to fulfill the business needs. The participant typically includes pricing information in the response, but price
might not be the most important factor in your selection.
RFPs are not directly competitive (there is no real-time exchange of information between competing
participants). Therefore, they can be open for responses for an arbitrary amount of time (several days or
weeks), allowing participants to log in and respond at their convenience.
If your RFP contains many questions, use the scoring feature, which allows you to rate the importance of
questions and pricing and grade participants’ answers to create a final score for each participant.
An RFP is generally thought of as the second step of a longer sourcing process. In the RFP step, you gather
more detailed information about participants. For example, determine exactly which goods or services
suppliers offer, and collect information about their production capacity, as well as their prices. You can use
this information to set up a follow-on auction, determine which lots you should invite them to, and
intelligently set up their ceiling prices.
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Auctions
Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
RFP Templates
There are three templates that allow you to create specific types of RFPs:
• “Request for Proposal” on page 16
• “Request for Proposal with Price Breakdown” on page 16
• “Request for Proposal with Total Cost” on page 16
Request for Proposal
This is the standard Request for Proposal template. You can create line items or lots to collect price
quotations from participants.
Request for Proposal with Price Breakdown
This template allows you to design an RFP that, instead of soliciting a single total price from participants,
collects a breakdown of their price. This gives you additional information about the price.
For example, a supplier wants to sell you a part for $20 per unit. You want to understand how they arrived at
that price. You learn that for this particular part there are four primary costs: tooling, labor, materials, and
markup. Therefore you want your participants to quote you on each one of those costs for that particular
part.
See the chapter “RFP with Price Breakdown” on page 125.
Request for Proposal with Total Cost
This template allows you to create a questionnaire with sections, questions, requirements, and line items to
collect pricing information, or qualify participants, possibly for an auction. Buyers can add additional cost
factors, such as Shipping Fees, to calculate a total cost for each supplier. Buyers can weigh and grade
supplier responses, and create an overall score for each supplier. Participant responses are not revealed to
other participants.
To learn more about total cost RFPs, see “Total Cost Auctions and RFPs” on page 105.
Auctions
These event types are more specifically known as reverse auctions in Ariba Sourcing. A reverse auction is a
real–time online event during which participants submit competitive bids for specific goods or services.
Since auctions require a lot of preparation to be successful, sourcing professionals typically prepare for them
by running qualifying information-collecting events (RFIs and RFPs).
Depending on how the event is configured, Ariba Sourcing can provide participants with feedback on how
their prices compare with other participants’ prices, in the form of:
• The value of the lead bid
• Their rank in the auction
• A graph comparing the bids in the auction
Auctions are directly competitive and allow the real-time exchange of information between participants. You
must be carefully schedule your auctions so that all participants can participate at the same time.
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Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
Auctions
Example Use of an Auction
Suppose your computer manufacturing business knows of several participants that are capable of providing,
at competitive prices, the specific goods or services that you want to purchase.
Use an auction to bring the participants into competition for your business. Create line items for everything
that you want to buy. You can group line items into lots to create a package of goods or services to bid on.
Specify ceiling and reserve prices, timing rules, and other strategic rules, to maximize competition.
Train the invited participants in advance so that they are comfortable using the Ariba Sourcing interface. On
bid day, participants log in to Ariba Sourcing and submit bids. Optionally, a real-time graph shows them how
they compare to other participants. You, or someone in your organization, administers the auction, changing
the timing of lots, deleting erroneous bids, and responding to participants’ questions.
Auction Templates
There are six templates that allow you to create specific types of auctions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Reverse Auction” on page 17
“Extended Reverse Auction” on page 17
“Reverse Auction with Bid Transformation” on page 17
“Total Cost Auction” on page 18
“Dutch Reverse Auction” on page 18
“Index Based Auction by Amount or Percentage” on page 18
Reverse Auction
This is the standard auction. In a reverse auction, suppliers submit bids, offering progressively lower prices
in an effort to outdo their competition and offer you the best price. You configure rules to determine the
timing of the auction, the amount of market information communicated to participants, and bidding rules,
such as, “Is the lead bid protected by a buffer?”
Extended Reverse Auction
This is the same as a reverse auction, except that it also includes the bundle lot “Bid discounted value at item
level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing during bidding).” Bundles are described in “Bundle Lots” on
page 60.
Reverse Auction with Bid Transformation
Sometimes suppliers’ prices are very different, but when your costs are taken into account, your total cost for
their goods or services is very similar. For example, you need to buy raw materials for a plant in the United
States and are considering two suppliers: one is local and one overseas. The overseas material is less
expensive, but you must ship it much further. The price of the overseas material, plus the extra shipping
costs, equals the cost of buying it locally
The Reverse Auction with Bid Transformation template allows you to design an auction to bring the two
suppliers into competition. You set up Ariba Sourcing to automatically include the shipping costs of the
material in the prices that the participants bid.
To learn more about Bid Transformation, see “Bid Transformation Auctions” on page 93.
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Forward Auctions
Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
Total Cost Auction
Use this auction type to create a competitive bidding event for line items and/or lots, including factors other
than price, such as shipping cost, taxes, and the cost of changing supplier, which would apply to all the
suppliers except the incumbent. The total cost can expressed in a formula, such as:
Price * quantity + shipping + taxes + switching.
You determine whether the values for these factors are to be provided by the suppliers during the event,
whether you want suppliers to see only their own rank, their own rank and the lead bid, or all supplier
responses. Supplier ranks are based on the unit cost. Suppliers see their total cost and unit cost. They also see
the cost terms that you made visible for them.
To learn more about total cost auctions, see “Total Cost Auctions and RFPs” on page 105.
Dutch Reverse Auction
Use this auction type to create a Dutch-style competitive bidding event for line items or basket lots. In a
Dutch reverse auction the buyer sets a very low initial price and raises it periodically until a supplier accepts
the price or a predetermined ceiling price is reached. Suppliers are motivated to accept the listed price as
soon as they can or risk losing the business altogether. For more information on Dutch reverse auctions, see
“Dutch Auctions” on page 121.
Index Based Auction by Amount or Percentage
If you are sourcing a commodity product that is subject to frequent price fluctuations, use an index auction to
cause participants to bid in discounts or premiums relative to a market index. There are two templates, one
causes participants to bid in a currency amount added or subtracted from the index, and another that causes
participants to bid in a percentage value added or subtracted from the index.
To learn more about Index Auctions, see “Index Auctions” on page 115.
Forward Auctions
You usually use Ariba Sourcing to collect information or pricing on things you want to buy. In a forward
auction, you want to sell rather than buy. Instead of inviting suppliers to compete to offer you the lowest
cost, you invite buyers to compete to offer you the highest price.
Example Use of a Forward Auction
Suppose your company has extra inventory that you want to liquidate, and you know of several parties who
are interested in purchasing it.
Use a Forward Auction to bring the parties into direct competition for your goods. Create line items for each
specific item you want to sell. You can group line items into lots to create a package of goods or services for
buyers to bid on. Specify ceiling and reserve prices, timing rules, and other strategic rules, to maximize
competition.
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Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
Test Events
Forward Auction Templates
There are two templates that allow you to create forward auctions:
• “Forward Auction” on page 19
• “Forward Auction with Bid Transformation” on page 19
Forward Auction
This is the standard Forward Auction. In a Forward Auction, participants submit bids, offering progressively
higher prices in an effort to outdo their competition.
Forward Auction with Bid Transformation
Sometimes participants’ prices are very different, but when your costs are taken into account, your total cost
for their goods or services is very similar.
For example, you might have negotiated with participants and agreed to pay the costs to ship their purchases
to them. Suppose that one of the participants is based in the United States, and the other is based in France.
Since you have agreed to pay the shipping costs, the participants based in France must offer a higher bid if
you are to earn the same profit by selling to them.
The Forward Auction with Bid Transformation template allows you to design an auction to bring the two
participants into competition. You set up Ariba Sourcing to automatically include the shipping costs in the
prices that the participants bid.
To learn more about Bid Transformation, see the chapter “Bid Transformation Auctions” on page 93.
Test Events
Test projects can be excluded from reporting, if you filter them out, but the system sends notification emails
as it does for a normal event; so be careful not to inadvertently send misleading emails to participants or
team members. If an event is not completed, you can change it to a test event.
W
To change an event to a test event:
1 Click Actions > Edit.
2 Click Summary on the left side of the screen.
3 Find the Overview section of the Summary page. Click Actions > Edit Overview.
4 Change the Test Project field to Yes. Click OK.
5 Click Update on the summary page, then you can click Actions > Delete.
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Test Events
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Chapter 2 Introduction to Events
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 3
Event Rules
Event rules control how an event works. This section covers event rules for users who are creating templates
as well as for those who are creating events from these templates.
For information on how to create templates, see Chapter 24, “Creating Event Templates.”
This section contains the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Auction Format” on page 21
“Timing Rules” on page 24
“Bidding Rules” on page 32
“Currency Rules” on page 36
“Initiator Actions” on page 37
“Market Feedback Rules” on page 38
“Message Board Rules” on page 42
When creating a template, you often have the option to withhold control of this rule from the person who is
using the template to create an event, also known as the project owner. The options are:
• Delegated: The ability to edit this rule is delegated to project owner. When they create a project, they can
see this rule and they are allowed to change the setting.
• Read only: When they create a project, project owners can see this rule and setting, but cannot edit it.
• Hidden: When they create a project, project owners cannot see this rule or how it is set.
If this option is absent, the project owner can control the rule setting. For project owners, this means they
may read about rules in this chapter that do not appear in the template they are using because the template
creator chose Hidden.
Auction Format
This rule only appears when creating an event template. Keep in mind that some of the event formats (RFI
and Spreadsheet) are non-competitive events for which there is no bidding.
Bidding format for the auction
English
In an English auction, the participants submit bids that beat their competitors, who gradually drop out of the
bidding until only one participant remains.
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Auction Format
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Dutch
In a Dutch auction the project owner sets the starting price as follows:
• For a reverse Dutch auction, set it just below the absolute lowest price for which they anticipate the seller
would be willing to sell it. Do not start at $0.00 if the price adjustment is a percentage, or the price
adjustment and the price will remain at $0.00.
• For a forward Dutch auction, set it just above the absolute highest price for which they anticipate the
buyer would be willing to buy it.
At specified intervals set by the project owner, Ariba Sourcing changes the price until one of the participants
accepts the price, at which time the specified goods are sold, or the ceiling is reached. Dutch auctions are
covered in greater detail in Chapter 11, “Dutch Auctions.”
Spreadsheet
This option is only available:
• When the Must participants improve their bids is set to No.
• For non-competitive events such as RFIs and RFPs. (Competitive means participants can see market
information such as rank, lead bid, or other competitors’ bids.) It is not available for auctions.
When this rule is set to Spreadsheet, it means that suppliers can only submit responses by downloading the
event as a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet, filling in their responses off line, and then uploading it. This
option is required for events of more than 1,000 lines, but can be used for events of any size.
An administrator must set the Application.AQS.RFX.EnableSpreadSheetBidding parameter to Yes to enable
the Spreadsheet option.
When participants enter a spreadsheet event, they get to a page where the only option is to download the
spreadsheet in which they enter their responses. They can then upload the completed spreadsheet to the same
page. The event content does not appear on the page.
The following differences and limitations apply to spreadsheet events:
• Spreadsheet events are only for non-competitive events such as an RFI or RFP.
• You can have up to 200 participants.
• Item-specific supplier invitations are not permitted.
• There is no Reserve value.
• There are no supplier-specific values.
• You can view content in the user interface, but you cannot edit it.
• The participants cannot indicate their intent to respond, revise bids, or reconcile bids using the user
interface. Participants must use the Excel spreadsheet. They can download the bid to excel to review the
bid details.
• You can perform runtime edits, including adding and removing event-level suppliers. However, you must
add, remove, or update items and terms through the spreadsheet.
• Heterogeneous term definitions are not permitted. (Heterogeneous means that the term has characteristics
that differ in different items. For example, it is visible to suppliers in one item, but not in another.)
• There is no scoring, so there is no manual grading.
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Chapter 3 Event Rules
Auction Format
• You cannot copy the project.
• There are no string translations.
• Multiple currencies are not supported.
• There is no indication of bid rank, best value, or best incumbent value.
• On the Monitoring page, there are no Bid Console or Content tabs.
• You can optimize bids in the UI, including using constraints and showing the optimization results, but you
can only do item grouping in Excel.
• You can create awards and view them in the Award tab, but you can only edit the award in Excel.
• Reports are restricted as follows:
On the Report tab at the project level there are no Financials or Lot details reports.
On the Report tab at the item level, there are no Financials, Invitation Summary, or Response Summary
reports.
Number of Envelopes
For sealed-envelope bidding, this is the maximum number if envelopes you can use in this event. You can
add sections to an envelope. participants’ responses within sections associated with an envelope are not
visible to the project team until the envelope is opened during the Pending Selection period.
The default is No Envelope.
This rule appears for RFI and RFP events. It is not available for auctions.
Sealed-envelope bidding is used when laws require that buyers can only see certain sections of an RFP in
sequence and must qualify or disqualify participants before opening the next section (envelope) in the series.
For example, if the first section contains questions about technical specifications, this event can enforce that
participants be qualified or disqualified before the buyer can seethe second section, containing their price
quotes. Envelopes work as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
When you create a section, you specify whether it belongs to an envelope, and if so, which one.
An envelope can contain more than one section.
An envelope contains responses for all event participants for that section.
Buyers can only see responses in envelopes that are open.
They can only open envelopes in sequence.
When buyers open an envelope, they can only see responses for those who they selected to continue.
When the buyer discontinues a participant, all that participant’s responses (opened or not) are deleted.
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
23
Timing Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Timing Rules
These rules control event timing, bidding periods, preview periods, and review periods. These are some
usage considerations for timing rules:
RFIs do not collect pricing information or involve as much time pressure as an auction. You would generally
set one to open as soon as you publish it. If an RFI is published to Preview status, participants cannot
respond until you open it. You can leave it open however long you think is necessary for all your suppliers to
log in, conduct their own internal research as needed, and submit their responses.
RFPs can collect pricing information. You generally start allowing responses as soon as the event is
published, unless you think it likely that you will need to edit the event as a result of supplier feedback.
You can either end the bidding time after some specific duration, or at a specific time. Specify the date by
which you expect to make your awarding decision so that participants can accurately bid in case the pricing
of their bids depends on their supply of a certain good or on their planned workload at that time.
Auctions involve real-time supplier interaction. For an event to be successful, schedule it when all invited
suppliers can log into Ariba Sourcing and bid at the same time. Suppliers who receive information about
competitors during bidding will frequently update their bids in response. You can create a preview period (or
qualifying round) and allow suppliers to submit prebids. You can configure how overtime works, and set up
the amount of time between staggered lot closings.
Enable preview period before bidding opens
The time between when you publish the event and the bidding start time is called the preview period. During
the preview period, participants can view the auction, plan their bidding strategy, ask questions about
confusing points, and submit prebids or responses during that period, if you allow them. There is no market
feedback during the preview period.
The preview period starts when the event is published (or the specified start time) and ends when the bidding
starts. It provides time for participants to review the event and decide how to respond. You should generally
provide anywhere from a few days to several weeks for the preview period, depending on how complex the
event is. By default, there is no preview period and control is delegated to the project owner.
Can participants place bids during preview period
This rule is only available if you enabled a preview period. Bids placed during the preview period are called
prebids. When a supplier submits a prebid, it becomes their initial bid when bidding opens. The default is Do
not allow Prebids. The other choices are to either allow or require prebids.
If prebids are required, and a supplier does not submit one, Ariba Sourcing automatically locks them out of
the event when bidding starts.
During the prebid period, the system only enforces the bidding rules for whether tie bids are allowed and
meeting the ceiling price. See “Can participants submit tie bids” on page 35, and “Ceiling/Floor/Initial
Price” on page 57. Participants can revise their bids as much as they like during this period.
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Chapter 3 Event Rules
Timing Rules
Start Time
This rule is available only if you enabled a preview period. It establishes the start time of the bidding period.
The preview period always begins when the project owner publishes the event. The preview period ends
when the bidding period starts, unless the Prebid End Time rule is set to an earlier time.
Prebid End Time
This rule is only available if you allow prebids. When you allow prebids, you can specify a Prebid End Time.
It cannot be after the bidding start time. If it is earlier that the bidding start time, it creates a prebid review
period. This is a time period before bidding begins when participants cannot submit prebids. Use this prebid
review period to evaluate participants' prebids and optionally disqualify them from participating.
This is not a required rule. If left blank, there is no Prebid Review Time. That is, the preview period ends
when the bidding begins. If, during the preview period, you extend the duration of the period, Ariba
Sourcing allows you to adjust the bidding start time to preserve the duration of the prebid review period.
Specify how lot bidding will begin and end
This rule enables you to select the sequence of when bidding opens and closes for different lots.
• Parallel means that the bidding start time is the same for all lots and the end time is the same for all lots.
This is the only choice available for an RFI. For more information on Parallel bidding see “Parallel
Bidding” on page 25.
• Staggered means all lots start bidding at the same time but close sequentially. For more information on
staggered bidding see“Staggered Bidding” on page 26.
Staggered is often preferred. It allows participants to concentrate on the item that is closing and also
allows participants that are only bidding on a few lots to leave after they are done. If you are bidding on
one lot of a 20-lot event, you have to wait the full parallel period just in case something happens to your
one lot at the last minute. For suppliers bidding on all 20 lots, they have to manage 20 data points at once.
• Serial means that bidding for one lot ends before bidding for the next one begins. Only one line is open
for bidding at one time. For more information on Serial bidding see “Serial Bidding” on page 27.
Parallel Bidding
In parallel bidding all lots open simultaneously and close at the same time. Parallel bidding advances your
event by allowing participants to bid on all items at the same time. This type of bidding is useful if you do
not feel you have to monitor the progress of each lot closely, and want to get as many bids on the lots as
quickly as possible. Parallel bidding is required for participant-specified bundles to operate. Refer to
“Bundle Lots” on page 60 for information on bundle lots.
Note: When a supplier is working with one line item in a parallel event, and clicks Submit for that item, a bid
is submitted only for only that item, not for all items.
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
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Timing Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Specify a bidding end time for the parallel bidding period, when all bidding stops.
The timing behavior of parallel bids is simpler than serial or staggered bidding. Ariba Sourcing does not
support stopping an item or reducing the timing of an item in parallel bidding. All line items go through
Preview, Open, Review and Pending Selection states simultaneously
With all lots open in parallel, you can compare the bidding activity on various lots as the bids come in. Use
parallel bidding for non-competitive events of any size. You can use it for auctions, but keep the number of
line items is small so participants can monitor all the item bids at once, especially in the closing moments of
the bidding period. Auctions of any size generally use staggered or serial bidding.
Staggered Bidding
In staggered bidding all lots open simultaneously, but close one at a time in succession. Staggered bidding
helps to create a period of excitement and competition as each lot’s closing time approaches.
Staggered bidding allows bidders to focus on a single line item as it closes without losing the opportunity to
compete on, and therefore not having to worry about, other items. The time between line item closings in
this type of bidding is usually short.
Suppose that you have three lots in your auction. When bidding starts, all the lots open simultaneously and
participants can place bids in any lot. However, all the lots do not close simultaneously. The first lot closes
after the amount of time specified in the rule Running time for the first lot (you always have the option to
extend or reduce the running time of a lot, or overtime can trigger and extend the running time). The amount
of time between subsequent lot closings is 10 minutes in this example. It is set in the template with the
“Time between lot closing” rule and the template can delegate changing it to the project owner.
For example, set the rule Running time for the first lot to 15 minutes, as shown in the following graphic:
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Chapter 3 Event Rules
Timing Rules
When bidding begins, Ariba Sourcing opens all the lots. Assuming there are no overtime periods, lot 1
closes after 15 minutes, then lot 2 closes ten minutes later (open for a total of 25 minutes), then lot 3 closes
when another 10 minutes have passed (open for a total of 35 minutes) and so on, as illustrated by the
following graphic:
A summary of staggered bidding:
•
•
•
•
All lots open at the same time.
The lots close in a staggered fashion, one after another.
The first lot remains open for the length of time configured in the rule Running time for the first lot.
The amount of time between subsequent lot closings is 10 minutes.
Serial Bidding
In serial bidding all lots open at different intervals and close one at a time in sequence, so that only one lot is
open at a time. When the auction begins, only one lot is open for bidding. After the first lot closes, the
second lot opens, and so on.
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
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Timing Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Serial bidding the most restrictive pattern of bidding. The supplier can bid on only one lot at a time. This
allows you to control the bidding and see what is bid on a lot before the next one opens. As the event
advances, you might decide to close it at any time, for a lot, or for the entire event.
In Serial events there is no overlap of the open bidding time between any two items. Initially all the line
items are in Preview state. After the preview period ends, the first item to be bid on goes into Open state and
the rest go into Scheduled state. Once the open bidding time of the first item is over, this item goes into
Pending Selection status and the next item goes into Open status until all items have been open for bid.
Summary of timing for serial bids:
• If an item in Open state goes into Pending Selection or Review state the next scheduled item goes into
Open with its start time being the current time.
• At this point, if an item in Pending Selection or Review is reopened, that item is positioned after the
current open item.
• Reducing the timing of an Open item, modifies the timing of all the items in Scheduled status so that they
will open sooner.
• If an Open state goes into overtime, it pushes out the starting times of all the remaining lots.
The following tables show an example of the timing behavior when items in Open state are stopped during
serial bidding.
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Item
Start Time
End Time
State
Item 1
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
Open
Item 2
10:00 AM
11:00 AM
Scheduled
Item 3
11:00 AM
12:00 AM
Scheduled
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Timing Rules
Stop Item 1, Item 2 is the next item to go into Open state. In this case, the buyer closed item 1 at 9:30 and
moved up the starting time for the other bidding periods.
Item
Start Time
End Time
State
Item 1
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
Pending Selection
Item 2
9:30 AM
10:30 AM
Open
Item 3
13:00 AM
11:30 AM
Scheduled
Stop Item 2 as well, and Item 3 goes into Open state starting from the current time.
Item
Start Time
End Time
State
Item 1
Stopped
Stopped
Pending Selection
Item 2
Stopped
Stopped
Pending Selection
Item 3
Current Time
Current Time + Open
Bidding Period
Open
Running time for the first lot
This rule is only available if you selected staggered or serial lot bidding. It is the time during which the first
lot is open for bidding. You can specify minutes, hours or days.
Time between lot closing
This rule is only available if you selected staggered or serial lot bidding. It is the interval between the closing
of each bidding period. You can specify minutes, hours or days.
Planned start time
The planned start time is when bidding begins. For RFIs and RFPs, it is when participants may begin to
respond. To the extent allowed by the Market Feedback rules, participants can see whether they have the
lead, or what the lead bid is. This bidding period is different than the prebid period, in which participants get
no feedback on any competitor bid. If any bid improvement rules are specified for this event (see “Bidding
Rules” on page 32), they go into effect at the bidding start time and a bid graph displays the progress of the
event.
The template might set the start time to begin when the event is published. If this option is delegated to the
project owner or if there is a preview period that starts when the event is published, the rule allows you to
select a date and a time. You can enter these values free form, but it is better to select a date from the
calendar or time list to ensure that the value is valid, in the future, and in the correct format.
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Timing Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Bidding end time
When creating the template you can set the duration in minutes, hours, or days, but the project owner can
change the duration or set the end of the bidding period to a specific date and time. For a date and time, you
can enter these values free form, but it is better to select a date from the calendar and a time from the list to
ensure that the values are a valid date and time, in the correct format, and in the future. You do not need a
bidding end time when using a lot bidding mechanism that specifies a specific bidding time for each lot.
Due Date
For a Survey RFI, or RFP, set the date and time when the participant response is due.
Bid Adjustment Interval
For Dutch auctions, where the project owner controls the bids, you can use this rule to control the interval at
which the bids change by the amount specified in the Improve bid amount by bidding rule. You can enter
intervals of 30 seconds or longer.
Set a review period after lot closes
When this rule is enabled, the lot status changes from Open to Review when the bidding ends. During this
period, the buyer can reopen the bidding. A review period enables the project owner to review the bidding
results. Participants should remain logged in, in case the buyer reopens the bidding. When this period ends,
the lot status changes to Pending Selection.
Review time period
This rule is only available if a review period is specified. This rule specifies the duration of the review period
in minutes, hours, or days.
Allow bidding overtime
When overtime is enabled, any bid received too close to the end of the bidding period extends the bidding
period. Overtime gives participants additional time to respond to late bids of other participants. It benefits
the buyer to allow other participants to further improve their bids. The project owner can specify how close
the bid has to be to the end and how long the overtime period lasts. When overtime is enabled, there can be
an unlimited number of overtime periods.
Bid rank that triggers overtime
This rule is only available if overtime is allowed. Bids have to be at least this rank to trigger an overtime.
That is, if the rank is set to 1, then only a new lead bid can trigger overtime. If it is set to 2, then either a new
bid leader or a new second-place bid can trigger overtime. If set to 3, then a new third, second, or first-place
bid triggers an over time (and so on). Higher ranks are allowed.
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Timing Rules
For example, if you set this to 3, bids in third, second, and first place trigger an overtime. There are two
situations where this rule would apply:
• Someone who was not in first, second, or third place places a bid good enough to move them into first,
second, or third place.
• One of the bidders currently in first, second, or third place places a new bid. This bid need not result in the
bidder changing place.
By setting the rank requirement, you can avoid starting an overtime for bids that are so far off the lead that
there is no need to give other participants additional time to respond.
The recommended settings are that overtime be triggered by:
• Rank 1 for open events where participants can see the lead bid and there is no guesswork needed to find
first place.
• Rank 3 for sealed events where participants have no market feedback and need more time to tick down
and “find” first place.
Start overtime period if bid submitted within (minutes)
This rule is only available if overtime is allowed. If a bid of the specified rank or better arrives within this
number of minutes of the end of the bidding period, it triggers overtime. For example, if you set this to 5,
then a qualifying bid submitted within five minutes of closing time triggers overtime. See the following time
line:
Overtime period (minutes)
This rule is only available if overtime is allowed. If overtime is triggered, this rule specifies how long it lasts.
It sets the closing time to when the bid is placed plus the overtime period. This number cannot be lower than
the number specified in “Start overtime period if bid submitted within (minutes).”
For example, suppose the overtime period is 10 minutes and “Start overtime period if bid submitted within
(minutes)” is set to 5 minutes. If a lot is scheduled to close at 10:05, and someone places an overtime
triggering bid at 10:02 (within five minutes of the end), then the system adds 10 minutes to 10:02 and sets
the new lot closing time to be 10:12. If a bid came in after 10:07, another overtime would start.
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Bidding Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Estimated Award Date
This is the date on which you estimate you will announce who won the bidding. This date communicates
your time line to participants, who need this information to accurately bid in case the pricing of their bids
depends on their supply of a certain goods or on their planned workload at that time.
An actual award date is hard to capture with certainty. Publishing a date might set false expectations, so be
somewhat ambiguous by only giving participants month or quarter and year. If working with multiple
buyers/divisions you can have many target award dates for one project.
Bidding Rules
These are bid-improvement rules: participants are bound by their bids and can only revise them by
improving them. With these bidding rules, Ariba Sourcing gives you additional power to determine exactly
how participants in your events must improve their bids. It is common to specify a common set of bidding
rules for all lines and lots in an event with line-item-specific price decrements. However, if desired you can
configure lot- or line-item-specific bidding rules.
Use transformation bidding format
Transformation bidding enables you to compare bids that are not the same, such as bids with different
quality levels or transportation costs. For more information on bid transformation, see Chapter 8, “Bid
Transformation Auctions.”
This rule only appears for template creators. When set to Yes, it allows the buyer to specify different adders
and multipliers to different suppliers. Use this when you have a transformation that you perform on each bid
to arrive at your total cost.
Suppose, for example, that to compute your total cost, A’s bids are increased by a $100 switching cost (but
no import duty) and B’s by a 10% import duty (but no switching cost).
1 If participant B bids $500, your cost is $550.
2 The bid that participant A sees is $450. This is the total cost of B’s bid with A’s transformation applied in
reverse. A would have to bid lower that $450 for your total cost to be lower than $550, the current best
bid.
3 If A bids $430, the transformation for A adds $100, which means your cost is $530.
4 B now sees a competing bid of $480. If B bids $450, your cost is $500.
Bid transformation enables Ariba Sourcing to transform the displayed bids for each participant in this way.
Bid Guardian Percentage
Bid Guardian helps prevent suppliers from entering erroneous bids which can be very disruptive to other
suppliers competing in an auction. Basically, this rule guards against bids that beat the lead bid by an
excessive amount due to a misplaced decimal point, missing zero, or other typographical error.
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Bidding Rules
Set this rule to a percentage of the lead bid. Any bid that improves the supplier’s last bid or the initial price
by more than the specified percent (the default is 10 percent) triggers a following warning such as the one
shown below:
Participants can ignore this warning and submit their bid anyway. However, they should always double
check their bid when this warning appears, in case they bid the price for an item instead of a lot, misplaced
the decimal point, or made some other typographical error.
Allow owner to change bid improvement rules at the lot level
Improvement values are the amount by which a bid must be improved by another bidder. When set to Yes,
this rule allows the owner to have different bid improvement rules for different lots. The project owner sets
this bid improvement rule when creating individual items or lots for the event. Specifying Yes for this rule
means the project owner can change the improvement rules for items or lots when creating the content of this
event.
Allow scoring on participant responses
Scoring enables you to assign a weight or level of importance to different lots. If you allow scoring on
participant responses, the scoring display option appears when entering content. Scoring enables you to
assign a numerical level of importance to different lots or items, so you can more easily compare bids on
different options. For information on scoring, see “Scoring” on page 199.
Can participants create bundles
This rule only appears if the Specify how lot bidding will begin and end timing rule is set to Parallel. Choose Yes
if you want to allow participants to create bundles. This rule enables participants to create bundles and add
line items to them so they can offer discount prices for these items when you buy the whole bundle, as
opposed to buying the line items separately.
Enabling the project owner to create a bundle is not controlled by this rule. To enable the project owner to
create a bundle lot, the template must contain a lot whose type is Bid discounted value at item level, compete at
lot level (collect item pricing during bidding). To enable participants to create a bundle lot, the template does not
need to contain a lot whose type is Bid discounted value at item level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing
during bidding). See “Types of Lots” on page 56 for more information.
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Bidding Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Must participants improve their bids
If you set this to Yes, the system validates bids based on the bid improvement rules. It rejects bids that do not
meet the requirements of the improvement rules. This must be set to No for the Spreadsheet Auction Format
to be available.
Must participants beat lead bid
This rule is only available if participants must improve their bids. If you select Yes, bids have to satisfy the
bid improvement amount and have to be better than the current, indicated rank. For example, if you select
Yes, rank 2, bids have to be better than the current second-ranked bid. When you enable this rule, tie bids are
not allowed. If no bid to beat is selected and Must participants improve their bids is set to Yes, suppliers
must beat their own best bid.
Create a buffer to protect lead bid
This rule is only available if participants must improve their bids. The lead bid protection buffer allows you
to control how much the lead bid must improve and how close behind it another bid can get. That is, the
buffer extends both in front of and behind the lead bid.
When set to Yes, A buffer requires participants, in order to become the lead bidder, to improve the existing
lead bid by an amount greater than the buffer amount. A buffer ensures that no participant can take the lead
by bidding just a penny better than the lead bid, for example.
The bid decrement rule (in the Content section of the event) is different. It forces participants to improve
their own bids, but it does not force them to improve the lead bid. Suppose that the bid decrement is set at
$50. If the lead bidder is at $510 and another bidder is at $550, the bidder at $550 can improve that bid by
the minimum amount necessary, $50, and become the lead bidder at $500. In this case, the lead bid only
improves by $10.
With a lead bid buffer of $50, the second-place bidder would have been blocked from bidding only $500. In
order to become the lead bidder, a bid that is $50 better than the lead ($460) would be required.
Improve (Adjust) bid amount by
This rule is available if participants must improve their bids. Use this rule to choose whether lot- and
line-item-specific bidding rules are entered in nominal amount or percentage values.
The term Adjust is used for Dutch auctions, when this rule controls whether the price adjustments that the
system makes at the specified intervals are adjusted by a percentage of the current price or by an amount.
Percentage decrements are useful for avoiding the need to specify nominal decrements for many line items.
For example, decrements for lower cost items (say screws that are $1 for a pack of 20) tend to be small
(Perhaps $0.005). For higher-cost items such as tractors that cost $50,000, decrements should be larger
(perhaps $250). If you have a 50-line event with a variety of small and high priced items, you can either
specify nominal decrements line by line or decide to use decrements of 0.5% for all items which would
automatically make the decrements proportional to the unit price of the item.
Having the bid decrement in amounts is simple and easy for suppliers to understand. However, having the
bid decrement in percentages is more flexible. If you are unsure how many bids participants are likely to
submit, then choose percentage. (If you use a percentage, do not start a Dutch reverse auction with $0.00 or
the amount will never increase.)
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Bidding Rules
Allow owner to require improvement on non-competitive terms
This rule is only available if participants must improve their bids. An example of a non-competitive term
would be, if the event ranks participants based on the total cost, the prices of items, and shipping, support, or
other costs are just components of the total cost and as such are “non-competitive” terms. There can be only
one competitive term per line item.
For example, a participant in a reverse auction might want to reduce total cost by raising the cost of one of
these non-competitive items and lowering the cost of others.
If the template creator sets this rule to Yes, it allows the project owner control whether participants may
worsen bids on selected non-competitive cost components.
This rule requires two settings in the project content to be set a certain way:
1 This rule can only affect terms where the answer type is numerical or is text that is mapped to a number.
2 To require bid improvement on this term, “Will participants compete on this term,” must specify Yes,
Downward bidding if improving the bid means lowering it or Yes, Upward bidding if improving the bid means
raising it.
For more information, see “Will participants compete on this term?” on page 67
In the line item definition, select one term from the list to be the competitive term. The other items on this
list are non-competitive terms and subject to this rule.
When participants bid, they must either leave their bid as is or improve it on all the non-competitive
(unselected) terms. If they make the bid any worse with the idea of making up for it by improving some other
term by a greater amount, they get an error message.
For example, if you want to allow a reverse auction participant to reduce total cost by raising the cost of one
non-competitive item and lowering the cost of others, you can set that up as follows:
• Set this rule to Yes. For the term on which you want to require bid improvement, set “Will participants
compete on this term” to one of the Yes options.
• For any term on which you do not care about bid improvement, set “Will participants compete on this
term” to No.
If you do not care about bid improvement on any non-competitive terms, set the “Allow owner to require
improvement on non-competitive terms” rule to No.
Can participants submit tie bids
If you choose No tie bids, keep in mind that a tie bid is for exactly the same amount. A bid for $10,000,000
and a bid for $10,000,001 are allowed. They are close, but not tied. To prevent bids that are that close,
configure the more meaningful rule “Create buffer to protect lead bid.”
The “Can participants submit tie bids” rule does not apply to the preview period. However, if you select the
No tie bids option, the “Can participants submit tie bids during preview” rule appears, which allows you to set
the preview period differently.
If you select one of the options for No tie bid for rank n (or better), the preview period works exactly the same
way and the “Can participants submit tie bids during preview” rule does not appear.
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Currency Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Can participants submit tie bids during preview
This rule only appears if the “Can participants submit tie bids” rule is set to one of the No tie bid options. No
standard templates are set that way, so if you want this rule to appear you must copy and edit one of he
standard templates or create a new one.
No tie bids means that tie bids are not allowed during the preview period.
Yes, allow tie bids means that if a tie bid exists when the preview period ends, it remains a tied when regular
bidding opens. If tie bids are not allowed during regular bidding preview-period ties remain, but no new tied
bids are allowed.
Allow tie bids and break by earliest bid time means that if a tie bid exists when the preview period ends, the tie is
broken by giving the tie to the bid received earliest.
Allow tie bids and break randomly means that if a tie bid exists when the preview period ends, the Ariba
Sourcing system breaks the tie by random selection.
Must participants bid on all items
If you set this to Yes, participants must submit a bid on all the items to which they have been invited. If they
fail to bid on an item, the system does not allow them to submit their bid. The bid must be for the full
quantity. Participants do not have to bid on items to which they have not been invited.
The default, the value is No.
The “Specify how lot bidding will begin and end” rule must be set to Parallel for this rule to appear.
Currency Rules
Allow participants to select bidding currency
When set to Yes, this rule allows participants to select the currency in which they place their bids from a list
currencies associated with the event.
Show currency exchange rates to participants
This rule appears only if you chose to allow participants to select the bidding currency. If you select Yes, a
currency exchange rate table appears on the Event Details page.
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Initiator Actions
Initiator Actions
Can initiator create formulas
Some formulas can be created as part of the template and others can be created by the project owner (who is
the event initiator). Formulas are created in the Content area of the template or event. For more information
on formulas refer to Chapter 6, “Creating Content.”
This rule has five options:
• Yes: The project owner can create any custom formula as necessary. This enables the formula options in
the Content section when the project owner is creating the event.
• No, but enable cost components: The project owner cannot create formulas, but can create terms that can be
used as adders, subtracters, multipliers, and percent discount. These terms are automatically applied to the
standard Total Cost term that is available for use when creating terms in the content section.
• No, but enable cost components in template: The project owner cannot create formulas. The template creator
can add terms that are adders, subtracters, multipliers, or percent discount to the basic formula, but the
project owner cannot change them.
• No, but enable cost components and price breakdown: The project owner can create terms as adders,
subtracters, multipliers, and percent discount, and can also stipulate that the price consist of a series of
adders, which is a cost breakdown.
• No: The project owner cannot create a formula or edit the basic formula that the template creator put in the
template. Terms cannot be set as adders, subtracters, multipliers or % discount to automatically contribute
to total cost,
Total Cost term exists. You cannot create new terms that are adders, subtracters, etc. Extended Price and
Total Cost are both P*Q.
If the ability to create formulas is turned off in the template, there is still mechanism called cost components
that enables you to do some basic calculations to arrive at a total cost. This mechanism is turned on here if
you select one of the No options that enables cost components.
If you specify Yes to enable formulas, you can still use the TotalCost function within a formula to enable
terms that are adders, subtracters, multipliers or % discount to be applied to total cost.
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Market Feedback Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Market Feedback Rules
By changing the setting of these rules, you cause Ariba Sourcing to expose a greater or lesser amount of
information about the participants in your event and their pricing. The following table shows some example
settings:
Information
Exposed
Description
Rules Settings
Maximum
Before bidding, participants see:
• their own rank
• leading bid
• bid graph
• bid history
• number of participants
Specify how participants view market information: Do not
enable a starting gate
After submitting a bid,
participants see:
• their own rank
• leading bid
• bid graph
• bid history
• number of participants
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a
starting gate
After submitting a bid,
participants see:
• their own rank
• leading bid
• bid graph
• bid history
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a
starting gate
After submitting a bid,
participants can see:
• their own rank
• leading bid
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a
starting gate
Medium
Show participant responses to other suppliers: Yes
Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias:
No–unique aliases
Show participant responses to other participants: Yes
Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias:
No–unique aliases
Show participant responses to other suppliers: Yes - After
Supplier’s first response is accepted
Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias:
Yes–generic aliases
Show participant responses to other participants: No
Show lead bid to all participants: After supplier’s first response
is accepted
Minimum
Even after a bid, participants just
see their own rank
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a
starting gate
Show lead bid to all participants: No
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Market Feedback Rules
Specify how participants view market information
Enable a starting gate to hide all market information from participants until they have successfully submitted
one bid. The bid must satisfy the starting gate criteria. The information is hidden on the bidding console,
Event Details page, and the Lot Details page. This information includes the bid graph, the lead bid, and the
bid history table.
• Do not enable a starting gate: All participants can always see market information.
• Enable a starting gate for each lot: There is a starting gate for each lot, which means participants cannot see
the hidden information mentioned above until they enter a qualifying starting bid on the lot.
• Enable a starting gate for the entire auction: There is one starting gate for the whole auction including all lots.
Participants cannot see the hidden information mentioned above until they enter a qualifying starting bid,
and they can see this information equally for all lots without having to enter a qualifying starting bid for
each.
Use this feature in combination with the ceiling price in order to restrict the display of market information to
competitive participants. You set the ceiling price during lot and line item creation. (See “Content Types” on
page 53.) The ceiling price is the highest price that participants can bid. Trying to place a bid higher than the
ceiling price results in an error.
Show participant responses to other participants
If the rule “Specify how participants view market information” is set to Do not enable a starting gate, the only
choices here are Yes or No. To control this for individual content elements, set this to Yes, and use the rule
“Hide participants responses from other responses,” which appears when you create a question or line item.
If the rule “Specify how participants view market information” is set to one of the choices that enables a
starting gate, the choices here are After participant’s first response is accepted or No. This respects the
requirements of the starting gate.
Choose Yes or After participant’s first response is accepted to display the bid history table. Choose No to hide the
bid history table.
Displaying the bid history table exposes a great deal of information to participants. The bid history table
displays all the competing bids, their submission times, and makes it very clear how each participant
compares to the market.
This rule setting affects the options that are available for the “Can participants see ranks?” rule.
Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias
This rule is only available if “Show participant responses to other participants” is set to Yes. Choose Yes–
generic aliases to alias the names of all companies other than the participant’s own company as Company so
that participants cannot determine how many competitors you have invited to the auction.
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Market Feedback Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
If you choose No–unique aliases then Ariba Sourcing aliases the names of other companies and then appends
a number to uniquely identify the company. Participants can then see how many competitors you have
invited to the auction, and perhaps guess at the identity of other companies by observing their bidding
patterns. In the example below, the participant viewing this is XYZ Technologies, and they can see that there
are two other companies bidding on this lot.
These numbers only identify the unique aliases for those bidding on this lot. There might be more bidders
with other numbers who did not bid on this lot. To figure out how many other bidders there are, a participant
would have to find the highest number among all lots.
By default the alias name is “Company.” To change it, have your administrator edit the
Application.AQS.RFX.AliasKeyword parameter.
Show lead bid to all participants
This rule is only available if “Show participant responses to other participants” is set to No. This rule allows
an exception for the lead bid. Set this to Yes if you want participants to view lead bid information, the bid
graph, bid history, and the Take Lead button. Specify No if you do not want the Take Lead button to appear.
If “Show how participants view market information” is set to Do not enable a starting gate, the only choices
here are Yes or No.
If “Specify how participants view market information” is set to one of the choices that enables a starting
gate, the choices here are After participant’s first response is accepted or No.
Choose Yes or After participant’s first response is accepted to display the lead bid to participants. Ariba
Sourcing displays the lead bid on the bid console, to the right of the ceiling and reserve value information:
Show reserve price to all participants
The reserve price is the price you set in the content at which you might consider awarding the business to a
participant. If you want to communicate this to a participant, select Yes. The alternative choice is to only let
participants see the reserve price after they have met it.
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Can participants see ranks?
The options for this rule are:
• No – Participants cannot see any ranks, even their own.
• Their own rank when leading – The supplier user interface shows when the participant is in the lead, but
there is no rank indication at all if they are not in the lead.
• Their own rank – Participants can always see their own rank, but no one else’s. This option is not available
(or reverts to Their own rank when leading, when:
1 The rule “Show participant responses to other participants” is set to Yes or After participants first response
is accepted, and
2 The rule “Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias” is set to Yes - generic aliases.
• All participants’ ranks – Participants can always see the rank for every bidder. This option is not available
(or reverts to Their own rank when leading, when:
1 The rule “Show participant responses to other participants” is set to Yes or After participants first response
is accepted, and the rule “Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias” is set to Yes generic aliases, or
2 The rule Show participant responses to other participants “ is set to No.
Show calculated value of competitive term before participant submits
bid
Choose No to prevent participants from determining the formula for a competitive value until after they have
submitted a bid.
Show formulas to all participants
Choose Yes to show the formulas used to calculate values, such as Price * Quantity to calculate extended
price. Choose No to hide them all.
Can owner see responses before event closes
Set this to No if the type of event requires that the project owner cannot see any participant responses until
the bidding is closed. This rule only appears when “Show lead bid to all participants” and “Can participants
see ranks” are both set to No.
Show bid graph to all participants
Choose Yes to show the bid graph to all participants. You might want to hide the bid graph if you are
concerned that it will discourage participants who can more easily see how the price they are bidding for this
event is getting worse over time (decreasing for a reverse auction, increasing for a forward auction).
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Message Board Rules
Chapter 3 Event Rules
Indicate to participants that participant-specific initial values have been
specified
Choose Yes to tell participants (through the lot rules) that different participants have been assigned different
initial values. An initial value is the floor for forward auctions and the ceiling for reverse auctions.
Message Board Rules
The message board is the Messages tab on the Monitor page for the project team and it is the Event
Messages page for event participants, where participants and team members can compose and read messages
pertaining to the event:
Receive emails from participants at this address
If you select Owner email address, Sourcing uses the email address of the project owner.
If you choose Other email address, you can specify the email address at which to receive email responses
from participants to whom you have sent an email during the event. That is, this is the “Reply To” address in
emails you send to participants.
Your administrator can set it up so that if a mail sent from the system to a participant bounces back, the
project owner gets an online message along with a bounced mail. This function can be configured by your
administrator by updating the System.AQS.MailBoxReader parameters.
Allow messages between the project team and participants
When set to Yes, participants can compose messages by clicking the Compose Message button on their
console. There is also a Compose Message and a Reply button and a on message board accessed by the Event
Messages link shown above. When this rule is set to Yes, these buttons are enabled.
When set to No, the message board is still enabled, but participants cannot compose a new a message or reply
reply to an existing one.
This rule does not affect the Message tab on the project owner’s Monitor page in any way.
When set to Yes, the following two rules appear:
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Message Board Rules
Message board opening time
This sets the time when the Compose Message and Reply buttons are enabled for participants. This only
appears when “Allow messages between the project team and participants” is set to Yes.
When the event type is Auction or Forward Auction, and there is a preview period during which pre-bidding
is allowed, the default value for this rule is Pre-bidding start. In any other case the default is Preview start. The
other options for opening are Open, Pre-bidding end, Bidding Start, Pending Selection start, Completed, and
Specify a time.
Message board closing time
This sets the time when the Compose Message and Reply buttons are disabled for participants. This only
appears when “Allow messages between the project team and participants” is set to Yes.
The default setting is Completed. The other options for closing are Pre-bidding end, Bidding start, Pending
Selection start, and Specify a time.
If you specify a time for either opening or closing, you can select a date from the calendar, which inserts the
date and sets the hour to 12:00 AM by default. You can edit the hour and minute. The To and From times are
validated against these rules:
• Neither the From nor the To times can be in the past.
• The To time must be after the From time.
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Message Board Rules
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Chapter 4
Changing Team Members
The Team page specifies who can see and interact with the event when the project’s access control is set to
“Private to Team Members.” The project creator can only edit the Active Observers and Project Owners,
unless the project creator is also a member of one of the other groups.
The system grants each group permissions to perform various tasks. A user can be in multiple groups.
• Active Observers can view and modify events, create and edit documents, tasks, and announcements,
access participants’ messages and see the audit logs. They get event notifications as Project Owners do.
• Administrators have permissions to edit the event such as to delete irrational bids that block the progress
of the event. You cannot change the members of this group.
• Global Observers can view all projects, Edit and Create Announcements, view audit logs, and access
participants messages. The head of your sourcing organization might be a member of this group.
Members of this group do not receive event notifications and cannot edit documents and tasks. You cannot
change the members of this group.
• Observers can create and edit announcements, but nothing else. (Announcements are described in the
Ariba Sourcing Process Management Guide.) You cannot change the members of this group.
• Project Owners can edit this project. You can have multiple project owners, but the one listed on the
summary page is the one that appears in reports.
• Surrogate Bidders place bids for participants who are unable to place their own bids, perhaps because of
technical problems. This group contains Ariba customer support personnel to ensure proper market
neutrality. You cannot change the members of this group.
Each group in the left column of the Team page is a local group with permissions relevant to this event only.
By contrast the groups that are members of the local group are System groups with permissions across
multiple projects or events. A System Administrator can add users to system groups, as described in the
Ariba Upstream Platform Configuration Guide. See the chapter entitled “Managing Users.”
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Adding a Team Member to a Group
Chapter 4 Changing Team Members
For example, if you are a Surrogate Bidder you would be able to add to members of the this event’s
Surrogate Bidder group on the Team page. But anyone you add is just a Surrogate Bidder for this event. The
members list for Surrogate Bidders would show the system group of Surrogate Bidders plus the user you
added, who would not be a member of the system Surrogate Bidders group.
Note: To globally replace a team member with a different team member, contact your administrator. The
procedure is documented in the Ariba Upstream Platform Customization Guide. Look for the topic entitled
“Replacing Users.”
Adding a Team Member to a Group
1 Click the down-arrow at the right side of the entry field for the group to which you want to add a member.
2 Recently-selected users (for any group) appear in the pull-down menu. Choose Search for more.
3 Check the box to the left of the user you would like to add and click Done in the lower right corner.
Removing a Team Member from a Group
1 Click the down-arrow at the right side of the entry field for the group to which you want to add a member.
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Creating a New Group
2 Recently-selected users (for any group) appear in the pull-down menu. Choose Search for more.
3 On the Currently Selected list, uncheck the user you would like to remove and click Done.
Creating a New Group
The purpose of creating your own group for a project is so that you can select which actions you want to
allow group members to perform. Groups you create on this page are local to this project only.
1 Click the Add Group button on the Team page.
2 Type a group name in the Title field.
3 To add rolls to the group, click Select.
4 In the list of Roles, check the box next to the roles you want to select and click Done in the lower right
corner.
5 For more information on any Role, click on it to see which permissions it has.
Note: Permissions, roles and groups are described in the Ariba Upstream Platform Configuration Guide.
Look for the chapter entitled “Permissions, Roles, and Groups.”
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Creating a New Group
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Chapter 4 Changing Team Members
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 5
Inviting Participants to an Event
Inviting participants to your event is done on the Suppliers page for an RFI, RFP, and reverse auction, and on
the Participants page for a forward auction.
Note: A forward auction is a sales event, as described in “Forward Auctions” on page 18, so “participant”
replaces “supplier” in many places throughout Ariba Sourcing.
• “To invite a registered supplier to your event:” on page 49
• “To register a new supplier:” on page 50
When you publish your event, invited participants receive email invitations. See “Notifications” on
page 193. You can add participants already registered in the system or register new participants to invite. If
you invite a new participant, you must add them to an existing organization or create a new one.
You can also flag incumbent suppliers, to remind you of which suppliers have this status. This information is
useful when making your awarding decision. For example, in many cases, switching from an incumbent
supplier incurs additional costs. You can flag the incumbent supplier at the line item level.
Note: For information on how to invite suppliers to your Supplier Discovery Posting, see “Searching for
Suppliers on Ariba Discovery” on page 130.
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To invite a registered supplier to your event:
1 Click Suppliers on the left side of the page.
2 Click Invite Participants. Alternatively, you can click Excel Import to import a list of suppliers. Excel
import/exports are described in “Microsoft Excel Import and Export” on page 231.
3 If you have already registered the supplier in Ariba Sourcing, search for them by entering information into
the fields and clicking Search. Display a list of all suppliers registered in the system by clicking Search
with no information entered into the search fields.
To add search criteria or perform an advanced search, click Options and choose which fields to use in your
search. Advanced searches allow you to search on supplier profile questions.
4 Select the suppliers that you want to add from the list returned from the search. Click OK. You are returned
to the Suppliers page.
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Chapter 5 Inviting Participants to an Event
Before you can invite a supplier to an event, you must have registered or created the supplier in Ariba
Sourcing. The following procedure describes how to do this.
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To register a new supplier:
Before you create a new supplier, search to see if they are already in the system.
1 Click Suppliers on the left side of the page.
2 Click Invite Participants.
3 Click Create New Participant.
4 In the Participant User Information area, enter details about the supplier. Be sure to enter the correct email
address; Ariba Sourcing sends the supplier’s invitation to this address, introducing them to the application
and allowing them to set their initial password.
5 In the Participant Organization Information area, enter details about the supplier’s company. If the
supplier’s company already exists in Ariba Sourcing, click Select Existing to search the registered
organizations. Be sure to add the commodities areas for the supplier. This enables you to perform
commodity area searches for suppliers and quickly find the supplier appropriate to your needs.
6 You can add profile information as needed.
Note: When you create a new Sourcing project, you can specify whether there is a predecessor project. If you
specify a predecessor project, it creates a multi-round project, and you can choose what to import from the
predecessor project. This includes importing participants from the predecessor project. For details see
“Importing from Predecessor Projects” on page 77.
Note: To globally replace a participant with a different participant, contact your administrator. The procedure
is documented in the Ariba Upstream Platform Customization Guide.
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To import participants from an Excel Spreadsheet:
1 Create a sourcing event project into which you would like to import participants data.
2 Navigate to either the Suppliers or the Content page of the project.
3 Click the Excel Import button at the bottom of the page to open the Import Content from Excel page.
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This page enables both importing from and exporting to Excel spreadsheets.
4 In Step 4 in the screen above, select whether to add this data to the project or to replace the data selected
in step 1 with the same type of data from the spreadsheet.
5 Go to Step 5 and click the upper Browse button to find the Excel spreadsheet file you want to import.
6 Click Done, on the right, to return to the project.
If there are errors, you will get a message listing them, up to about two dozen per import attempt. If an error
occurs, you must correct the problem in your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Clicking cancel takes you back to
the Import Content From Excel page. Browse to your file again and re–attempt to import it.
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Chapter 6
Creating Content
The content of your event is the information that participants see and respond to. For example, typical
content you might create includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introductory text, information, and instructions for participants
Terms to define your relationship with participants
Questions for participants to answer
Requirements that participants must meet
File attachments for participants to view
Line items or lots for participants to bid on
When creating content, consider these questions:
•
•
•
•
•
What is the best way to get pricing information?
Do you want to report on the data?
Does it represent a group of items (a lot, or a section)?
Would suppliers compete on it or negotiate on it?
Should this monetary amount be included as part of a suppliers total cost?
Ariba Sourcing includes an area called the Content Library where you store content to include in your event.
You can also copy content from past events. For an introduction to content creation, download the video
tutorials “Creating Sourcing Events: Basics and “Creating Sourcing Events: Adding Content.”
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
“Content Types” on page 53
“Common Content Fields” on page 69
“Copying Content for Multi-Round Events” on page 77
“Best Practices for Creating Content” on page 82
“Content Limits in Different Events” on page 82
Content Types
On the Content page, create content by clicking Add and choosing the type of content to create. See these
sections for details on the content types:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Questions” on page 54
“Lots and Line Items” on page 54
“Terms” on page 61
“Historic Price” on page 58
“Requirements” on page 67
“Attachments” on page 67
“Sections” on page 68
“Formulas” on page 69
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Content Types
Chapter 6 Creating Content
Questions
Use questions to solicit information from participants. Define the options associated with questions on the
Add/Edit Question page:
Lots and Line Items
Lots are usually composed of one or more line items. It is possible to have a lot with no line items and line
items that are not in lots. Lots have a number of special characteristics:
•
•
•
•
•
54
The price of a lot is the combined total of all the items in the lot.
Lots are optional elements. you do not need to place line items into lots.
Lots always count toward the maximum number of elements in your event.
Bids for lots are always on the extended price or the total cost.
A lot is awarded in its entirety; you cannot award line items in a lot to different participants.
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Chapter 6 Creating Content
Content Types
Lots and Line Items Compared
You can use lots and line items together to collect pricing information.
• A line item is the smallest entity on which a participant can bid. It has a unique identifier, such as a
manufacturer's part number or SKU. When you add a line item to your auction, enter the quantity
associated with the item that you want to buy.
• When you list items separately, instead of grouping them into a lot, suppliers might give you better prices,
because they can bid at a more granular level than if they bid on a Lot (or group) of items.
• A Lot is a group of items, and the price of a lot is the combined total of those items.
• By adding content as a line item (whenever possible), you can take advantage of supplier's ability to give
you a price break on selected items.
• You might be able to get a better price from supplier s if they can give discounts when they get business
across all lines in the lot.
How Lots and Line Items Affect an RFP or Auction
During an event, Ariba Sourcing presents participants with a list of lots under Choose Lot to the left of their
console. Participants progress through the lots in a linear fashion. In a staggered auction each line in the
Choose Lot list closes a few minutes before the next line, focusing attention sequentially on each line just
before it closes. (See “Staggered Bidding” on page 26 for a detailed description.)
In the following graphic, 3.1 through 3.4 are line items created outside of a lot. Notice how Ariba Sourcing
places them into the Choose Lot list separately. In a staggered auction, each line item receives the focus of
the auction for a period.
3.5 is a lot that groups copies of the same four line items together. In a staggered auction, participants bid on
them simultaneously. They do not individually receive the focus of the auction.
Organizing your auction correctly into line items and lots is a very important factor in having a successful
auction. To read more about this topic, see “Lots and Line Items Compared” on page 55.
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To create a lot:
1 In the Content page, select Add > Lot.
2 Select the type of lot.
3 Fill in the fields that apply.
4 Click OK.
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Chapter 6 Creating Content
Types of Lots
The following table defines the different types of lots. For a lot type to be available when creating a project,
it must have been added to the project template. In the template, you can only have one lot of each type, so
the options that appear are for the types that do not yet exist in the template.
Lot Type
Description
Bid at Item level,
compete at lot level
(collect item pricing
during bidding)
This type of lot allows you to collect line item pricing during bidding. This option should
mean more competitive pricing. However, the participants must enter much more information.
If there are many items in a lot it might be hard for them to enter so much information during
the event.
Bid at lot level, compete Ariba Sourcing displays the line items in the lot, but participants cannot enter prices for line
at lot level (collect item items, only for the entire lot. Use this lot type if you have many line items in a lot. It saves
pricing post bidding)
participants time and is easier for them. The bids are always on the extended price or total cost.
When the event is finished, suppliers fill in the individual line item prices in a process known
as Lot Reconciliation. Be sure to examine the item prices before you make your awarding
decision in case participants raised some prices while lowering others to get a better lot price.
Bid at lot level, compete Choose this if you do not want to collect line item pricing information for your lots. You
at lot level (do not
cannot add line items to this type of lot. The bids are always on the extended price or total cost.
collect item pricing)
Bid discounted value at This is for Bundle lots. A bundle is a container into which the project owner can create copies
item level, compete at lot of line items. These line items can have a different price when sold as part of the bundle.
level (collect item
Bundles are described in more detail in “Bundle Lots” on page 60.
pricing during bidding)
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To Create a line item:
1 To create a line item, choose Add > Line Item.
2 Fill in the fields
3 Click OK.
Line items have these special characteristics:
• A line item is the smallest entity that participants compete on.
• A line item is an individual part or service that has an associated price.
• You can use line items to specify distinct products by their unique identifier, such as a manufacturer’s part
number or SKU.
• Line items do not have to be inside lots.
• A line item always has an associated quantity, for example, 50 items, 10 lbs., or 8 hours.
• You can specify line item terms whose values roll up to the lot level and show as a sum.
• A line item can only be awarded separately when it is outside a lot.
Line items can specify a quantity that you can split between participants when awarding, or during bidding,
for some auction types. Correctly organizing your event into line items and lots is important for a successful
auction.
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Ceiling/Floor/Initial Price
A ceiling price is the highest price that participants can bid for a line item in a reverse auction. In a forward
auction, it is the floor, or lowest price. In a Dutch Auction, it marks the last price before the event closes.
It is the initial or starting bid in all types of auctions, including Dutch. The value you enter in an item/lot
Price field becomes the ceiling/floor price. Leave it empty if you do not want to set one, except in a Dutch
auction, where it is required.
Reverse Auction
Forward Auction
Dutch Auction
For a reverse auction, for example, the system displays the ceiling price in the participants’ bidding console.
If they try to submit a bid higher than the ceiling, they get an error:
You can also set a floor price participants cannot bid below. You can use a floor value to prevent bidders
from bidding zero. You would not want to set an initial price of Zero in a Dutch reverse auction if the price
adjustment is a percentage, or the price and the adjustment remain zero.
You can set participant–specific ceiling prices, meaning, a different ceiling value for each participant. To set
these values, in the Item Terms area, click Set Participant–Specific Values, and enter the prices in the List of
Invited Suppliers area. See “List of Invited Participants” on page 60 for details.
The system enforces ceiling prices for both RFPs and Auctions. This concept does not apply to RFIs; the
system does not enforce ceiling prices for RFIs.
If you allow prebids during the preview period (see “Enable preview period before bidding opens” on
page 24) of your RFP or Auction, the system enforces any bidding rules that you defined, such as not
allowing tie bids, or having a ceiling price.
If you want to have a ceiling price during the main bidding, but not during the preview period, leave the
ceiling price field blank when you create and publish the event. Then, during the prebid review period (see
“Prebid End Time” on page 25), edit the event (see “Editing Events” on page 161) and set the ceiling prices.
You can choose whether to discard any bids above the new ceiling price when you update the event.
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Chapter 6 Creating Content
Historic Price
The system uses historic prices to calculate your savings or, for a forward auction, earnings. Enter the price
that you paid for the item or service you are sourcing with the line item, the last time you sourced it. When
suppliers enter their bids, the system automatically calculates the savings you achieve. Historic prices are
typically required for any lot or item that you add.
Reserve Price
The reserve price is the price at which it begins to make sense for you to award your business to a new
participant and they help to manage participant expectations. They understand that you may not award
business to bids that do not meet or improve on your reserve price.
The system can hide the reserve price until it has been met by a participant. Then it exposes the reserve price
only when the participant meets the price. Contact Ariba Product Support to enable this feature.
Decimal Precision
The Set Precision button enables you to edit the number of decimal places for line items, lots, and questions
in the event, individually or globally. The button is located at the bottom of the Terms area, to the right of the
other buttons. See “Number of decimal places” on page 71.
If you enter a number with more decimals places than the set precision, Ariba Sourcing automatically rounds
the number down for RFPs and Auctions and rounds the number up for Forward Auctions. For example, if
you enter 5.167 and the precision is set to two decimal places, Ariba Sourcing rounds the number down to
5.16 in RFPs and Auctions to ensure you receive the lowest price. Ariba Sourcing rounds the number up to
5.17 in Forward Auctions to ensure you receive the highest selling price.
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To use the Set Precision button:
1 Create or edit a line item or lot.
2 In the Terms area, click Set Precision.
3 On the Set Precision page, enter the number of decimal places that you want to use.
4 Choose which content to apply the specified precision. There are two options:
• Change the number of decimal places for this item only: Choose this option to set the precision for only the
lot or line item that you are currently editing.
• Change the number of decimal places for all content: Choose this option to set the precision for all lots, line
items, and questions (with terms of type Money, Decimal Number, or Percentage) in the event. This is
superseded individually by any items that have an their own setting.
Commodity
Your company might refer to commodities as categories, UNSPSC codes, or by some other terminology.
Complete this field to allow your organization to sort your purchases.
Optionally, this field can be required, which forces the project owner to fill in a commodity code for every
line item. To enable this feature, ask your administrator to set the
System.UI.CommodityCodesRequirement.CommodityCodesRequirementDefault parameter to true. Also, read
about the Commodity field at the event level, discussed in “To create an event:” on page 10.
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Bid per unit / Bid all units
Choose Participants bid per unit (unit bidding) to cause participants to enter their bids for the item price. The
system multiplies the item price by the quantity, and adds in the effect of any cost formulas, to calculate the
extended price and savings fields.
Choose Participants bid on all units (extended bidding) to cause participants to enter their bids for the extended
price. The system divides by the quantity to calculate the item price. There is no particular strategy in
making this choice; choose the option that is most convenient for your participants.
Note: Clicking on an Fx link in a table displays the formulas used to calculate the value at that location. A
sample is shown below.
Bidding Rules
In an auction event, you can define bidding rules for lots and line items with the following values:
• Improve bid amount by: This rule shows the value specified on the rules page for the “Improve bid
amount by” rule: it can either be percentage or nominal amount. To change it, change the rule setting.
• Bid decrement: Define how much participants must improve their own bids (in nominal amount or
percentage) before being allowed to resubmit.
The Bid Decrement specifies percentage or amount that each participant must improve their own bid.
Setting the bid decrement correctly is important. Generally, participants improve their bids by the smallest
amount possible. If the bid decrement is too small, the auction progresses too slowly.
If the bid decrement is too large, you may lose potential savings. Each participant has an absolute best
price beyond which they cannot improve. If a seller’s best price is $550, and the bid decrement is $100,
they might stop at $600. They can’t go to $550 because it does not meet the decrement requirement and
$500 is too low for them. You therefore might end up buying at $600 instead of $550.
• Protect the lead bid with front buffer / back buffer: This option appears when the rules “Must
participants improve their bids” and “Create a buffer to protect lead bid” are both set to Yes. Define a
buffer around the lead bid (in nominal amount or percentage) that defines how closely other bidders can
approach. The system rejects bids placed within the buffer.
• Can participants submit tie bids: Set this to No if you do want to prevent a participant from submitting a
bid that is the same as another bidder.
Certain bidding rules apply only to specific lots or line items. Configure them when creating or editing a lot
or line item. Also, see “Ceiling/Floor/Initial Price” on page 57. Ceiling prices are also a form of bidding
rule.
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List of Invited Participants
You can exclude invited participants from specific line items by selecting them and clicking Remove. In this
area you can also set participant-specific values for line item terms. Depending on the term,
participant-specific values have different functions. For example, cost terms for each participant have
different values because your total cost to buy from each participant is different. For pricing terms, the initial
value can be the default value (the value that the participant sees when first logging in to your event), the
ceiling value (the highest acceptable value for the line item), or both.
The button Set Participant–Specific Values turns on participant specific values for the price term. To set
participant specific values for other terms, edit the term and enable the rule Use participant–specific initial
values.
Item Terms
Item terms are line item elements to which you assign a numerical or string value. Line items can contain
various numerical terms that roll up to a line item price as well as string values, or string values that map to
numbers. For more information refer to “Terms” on page 61.
Bundle Lots
The lots described as “Bid discounted value at item level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing during
bidding)“ is a bundle lot. A bundle is a set of items that cost less when they are bundled with other items.
Bundles are useful when you want to give event participants an opportunity to give discounts not just for
volume, but for For this type of lot to be available for a Sourcing project, it has to exist in the event template
that the project is using.
Bundles work by simply dragging an item into a bundle lot. The item in the bundle becomes a copy of the
original and it can have a different price than the same item outside the bundle or the same item in another
bundle.
Whether participants can create bundles is independent of project owners creating bundles and is controlled
by the rule: “Can participants create bundles” on page 33.
Notes:
• The bidding has to be parallel for supplier bundles to operate. See “Specify how lot bidding will begin and
end” on page 25 for information on setting parallel bidding. It does not have to be parallel for bundles that
you create.
• You can optionally set a rule to allow participants to create their own bundles. See “Can participants
create bundles” on page 33. A bundle lot does not have to exist in the event template for suppliers to
create their own bundles under this rule.
• When you define terms for items in a bundle, you have to decide which term the participant can change.
Generally it would be the price. Since most terms are not editable, the default is Not Editable, so do not
forget to make at least one term editable by the participant.
• It is helpful to create an item definition in the template for this event, so that the editable term is preset and
the project owner does not need to set it for each item.
• The bundle lot is available in the standard event template called Extended Reverse Auction. You can make
the bundle lot available in other templates by adding this lot type to the template’s Content page.
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Terms
Terms have specialized functions including:
• Collecting participants’ pricing information:
Price or Extended Price, Index Percentage or Amount
• Collecting other information from participants:
Shipping terms, or any other term that you define
• Containing owner defined information about the line item:
Quantity, Index Name
• Displaying calculated information about line item:
Total and Unit Cost, Savings or Earnings, Discount Amount and Percentage
• Containing cost information. The cost terms used to calculate total cost are specialized item terms. See
“About Cost Terms” on page 95.
• Adding a matrix dimension to a term in Sourcing. See “Is this a matrix term?” on page 63 for details.
Ariba Sourcing comes pre-loaded with the following terms:
Term
Description
Price
The amount that the participant receives for selling an individual item. This term is used in the
TotalCost formula in the Total Cost term in the Total Cost Auction template. It is also a term that
appears in reports, even if you change its name.
Quantity
The number of items (defined by the line item) that you want to buy. Like Price, this term is also
used in the Total Cost Auction template and reports.
Extended Price
This term uses a formula that is the Price term times the Quantity term, or the total price of the line
item. This term appears in reports.
Shipping Terms
A line of text describing the shipping terms. For example: COD.
Savings
In a reverse auction, Savings is the historical value of a term minus the current value; the total
amount that you have saved.
Earnings
In a forward auction (“Forward Auctions” on page 18), Earnings is the actual value minus the
historical value of a term.
Unit Cost
The amount that the buyer pays to purchase a single item. Unit Cost = Total Cost / Quantity.
Total Cost
In a transformation auction, participants’ prices are transformed into your total cost using a
transformation equation that you create with one or more cost terms. See “About Cost Terms” on
page 95.
If you use the Total Cost Auction template you can create new terms and specify whether they are
adders, subtracters, multipliers, or % discount terms. When you do, they are automatically applied
to this Total Cost term.
Index Name
The index used in an index auction.
Index Percentage
In an index auction, the competitive term representing the participant’s bid, in percentage above or
below an index. See “About Index Auction Concepts” on page 115.
Index Amount
In an index auction, the competitive term representing the participant’s bid, in nominal amount
above or below an index. See “About Index Auction Concepts” on page 115.
You can edit terms in the previous table by clicking on the term in the Item Terms area and choosing Edit.
You edit existing terms or create new terms in much the same way that you edit or create questions. Most of
the fields on the Add or Edit Term page are discussed in the section “Common Content Fields” on page 69.
If you change the name of a term, it is automatically changed in any formulas where it is used.
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The most common use of custom item terms is as cost terms. Cost terms are used in bid transformation. See
“Bid Transformation Auctions” on page 93.
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To add a term:
Check the box next to the term(s) you would like to add and Click OK, or choose the New Term tab.
The following sections discuss Item Term fields that are unique to terms. If a term is not listed, check
“Common Content Fields” on page 69.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Include in Cost” on page 62
“Apply to cost for” on page 62
“Rollup in section summary” on page 63
“Is this a matrix term?” on page 63
“Display term in column or row” on page 65
“Has Historic Value” on page 66
“Has Reserve Value” on page 66
“Is term editable in bundles?” on page 66
“Will participants compete on this term?” on page 67
Include in Cost
This option only appears if the template you are using allows formulas. The options are:
• No – non-numeric answer types such as text cannot be used in formulas.
• Custom – enables you to map the non-numerical answer types (text, date, and yes/no) to numerical values
so you can use them in formulas.
• Adder, Subtracter, Multiplier, or % Discount – These options determine how the term is used in the various
functions described in the Formulas chapter.
To see how these values are used refer to the Formulas chapter. See the topics on the functions; “Aggregate
Costs (AGGREGATECOSTS)” on page 89 and “Total Cost (TOTALCOST)” on page 90.
Apply to cost for
This only appears if “Include in cost” is not No. Whether the option is Per Unit or All Units affects where the
term is used in calculating total or aggregate costs.
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Rollup in section summary
This option is only available for terms with numerical answer types. Select Yes to sum up the values in
multiple rows and display them at the section level. The following graphic displays a custom term “Shipping
cost” added to three line items within a section. The rolled up sum of the Shipping cost column is circled:
Is this a matrix term?
Matrix pricing dimensions enable you to create a table of prices for an item or lot. For example, if a certain
commodity had separate pricing for different regions, rather than manually create a separate item for each
region, you can create one item for the commodity and then add a Region term as a matrix dimension. When
you edit the matrix you can quickly add new regions. An example is shown below:
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To set up a price matrix:
This example creates the example above:
1 Add a line item to your project.
2 Click Add > Term.
3 On the Add Term page, click the New Term tab.
4 Enter the term name (for example, Region).
5 The Is this a matrix term? selection must be set to Yes. Yes is only available only if these conditions are met
with the values on the Add Term page:
• Answer Type is a simple numeric, text, or date value.
• Acceptable Values is set to Any Value.
• Response Required is set to Yes, Owner Required.
• Visible to Participant is set to Yes.
• Use participant-specific initial values? is set to No.
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6 Display term in a column or row should generally be set to row. The term will already display a column for
price, initial value, historic value, and reserve value. If you make region a column, the number of columns
becomes the number of regions times four. You can always go back and change this setting later.
7 Click OK to return to the item. the new Region term appears with the value APAC, as entered in the
example. This is the prototype factor for the Region dimension. After providing the required fields for bid
decrement and initial, historic, and reserve values, you must return to the Content page to edit the line
item. Matrix is a new option that appears when a term is defined as a dimension.
Note: Now that you have created this matrix term, it will appear by default in any new line items you
create.
8 Click Done to return to the Content page.
9 Check the line item to which you just added a dimension term and select Edit > Matrix.
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10 The Matrix Edit page is where you define the different values for the dimension term you created. In this
case you are defining the region rows you want for this line item, Select the Region radio button.
When you select a matrix term, the factor you created as a prototype (the APAC region, in this example)
appears in the Matrix Factors list.
11 Click Add in the Matrix Factors list to create additional regions. Create one for Europe (EUR) and USA.
12 Click Apply.
13 Now your pricing terms will appear in a table for which there is a row of pricing terms (Initial, Historic
and Reserve) for each region. Check the different views available in the Display menu:
You can also set it up so that the regions are shown as columns, but each region would show up as a three
columns for initial, historic, and reserve prices. If you have many factors (different regions, in this case)
the table would be very wide.
14 Continue adding term dimensions to cover all aspects of the dimension you want to include (for example,
various regions).
Display term in column or row
You can display terms in a column or a row in the bid console table. Displaying a term in a column requires
more space, so it is best to avoid that unless you use them in the majority of the line items in your event. To
reorder columns, reorder the Item Terms while editing the line item.
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To change the bidding rules for a line item term, see “Bidding Rules” on page 59.
Has Historic Value
Enable historic values to track how the information that you collect compares to past values. Ariba Sourcing
uses pricing information collected through historic values to calculate savings.
You can choose three options when setting this field. Each has a different impact on how savings are
calculated. This is not a cost term.
• No (the default) means there is no historical value for this term, so it is not used in savings calculations and
does not affect the Historical Total Cost fx formula link.
• Yes means you have to supply a historic value for savings calculations. If left blank (zero), any values that
participants enter result in negative savings.
• Yes and required forces you to enter a historic value, so there is no danger of flawed savings calculations.
Cost terms are only in effect in the templates RFP with Price Breakdown and Reverse Auction with Bid
Transformation. See “Bid Transformation Auctions” on page 93 and “RFP with Price Breakdown” on
page 125 to read more. The chapter Bid Transformation Auctions chapter contains more information about
cost terms: “About Cost Terms” on page 95.
Has Reserve Value
In an auction, the reserve value is the price at which it begins to make sense for you to award business to a
new participant. This is not a cost term.
Is term editable in bundles?
The lot type “Bid discounted value at Item level, compete at Lot level (collect item pricing during bidding)”
is known as a “bundle” lot. When the buyer or the participant drags an item into the bundle, the system
references the original item (it retains the original item number), but allows it to have a different price when
sold as part of the bundle. You must to be able to edit the term that needs to be different inside the bundle.
• Not Editable – Neither the project owner nor the participant can change this term when it is in a bundle.
The value that this price has is the same as the term outside the bundle.
• Editable by owner only – The owner can adjust this term when it is in a bundle, but the participant must then
accept is as is.
• Editable by owner and participant – The project owner can set this term, but the participant can change it
when it is in a bundle, for example to lower a price for an item when the item is in a bundle.
Note: An item has many terms. You decide which term the participant can change. Generally it is the price.
Since most terms are not editable, the default is Not Editable, so do not forget to make at least one term
Editable by owner and participant.
In some cases you may wish to make none of the terms editable except a discount term. However you do it,
make sure you remember to set at least one term to be editable, or the bundle will not provide any advantage
at all.
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Will participants compete on this term?
If you choose one of the Yes options, this term appears on the list of terms from which you can choose the
competitive term. It does not actually make it the competitive term. When you are done defining this term
and return to the line item, the “Compete on term” option pull-down menu includes this term. If you do not
want this term to appear on that list, choose No.
You must choose one of the Yes options if you want to require participants to improve their bids on this term,
even when it is a non-competitive term (not selected to be the competitive term). For details see “Allow
owner to require improvement on non-competitive terms” on page 35.
This option also enables you to create a term that bids in the opposite direction of the auction as a whole. For
example, in a reverse auction, where bidding gets lower, you could use this to create a a discount that lowers
total cost by getting higher.
Choose Yes, Downward bidding if improving the bid means lowering it or Yes, Upward bidding if improving the
bid means raising it.
Requirements
A Requirement is a statement you can add to the event to communicate information about your expectations.
Participants do not need to respond to these statements. For example, at the beginning of the section
containing your Commercial Terms, you might add a requirement stating, “You must read and comply with
these commercial terms,” which Ariba Sourcing presents in read-only text.
Requirements can also have attached reference documents. When you export the event to a spreadsheet,
attached reference documents are exported in an accompanying zip file.
Attachments
You can select a file for participants to view. For example, if you are running an event for automobile parts,
you might attach CAD files detailing the design of the parts.
You can either upload the file directly from your computer, or attach a file from the sourcing library. For
example, if many events at your organization have the same file attached, it would make sense to upload that
file to the sourcing library. See “Uploading a File to the Content Library” on page 81.
Participants click a link to download and view the file on their own computer. Communicate to your
participants the file format of your attachments and the applications they need to view them.
Attachments can also have attached reference documents. That is, you can only specify one file to be an
“Attachment,” but the Attachment object can have multiple reference documents attached to it. When you
export the event to a spreadsheet, attached reference documents are exported in an accompanying zip file.
Note: If you want to collect information from participants in the form of a file attachment they upload,
choose Add Question and set the answer type to be File Attachment as described in “Questions” on page 54.
Whenever a participant downloads or views an attachment, an entry to that effect is added to the Audit log.
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Sections
Use sections to organize your content. They are similar to folders or directories. You can create any kind of
content inside of a section. You can nest sections by creating sections within sections. If you are using
scoring, nested sections require additional understanding. See “Nested Sections” on page 214.
Building Envelopes
Sections at the root level can be made part of envelopes, if the event is a non-competitive event (an RFI or an
RFP) and the Number of Envelopes rule specifies one or more envelopes. This rule is covered in “Number of
Envelopes” on page 23.
You can place as many sections as you want within an envelope. Any other type of content you want to put in
an envelope has to be in a section. When using envelopes to comply with regulations, make sure the content
of each envelope is correct, and consider whether you should explain to event participants that you are using
them. Events with envelopes do not look any different to event participants.
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You can tell that a section is part of an envelope by looking for he envelope icon, as shown below. If you
hover the cursor over the icon, it displays he envelope number.
Monitoring an event with envelopes is covered in “Opening Envelopes” on page 187.
Formulas
Formulas enable you to create terms in an auction or forward auction event and then use the term values
provided by event participants or the project owner in calculations. For example you could create terms for
price, quantity, shipping cost, discount, and tax, and then create a formula that uses these terms to calculate
the total cost. Formulas are covered in detail in Chapter 7, “Using Formulas.”
Common Content Fields
Many of these fields are common to more than one type of content described above. If an option does not
appear, it may be set to Hidden in the template or it may require another option to be set differently. If it
appears but cannot be changed, the template is set to View only.
The following fields are included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Name” on page 70
“Include in Cost” on page 62
“Answer Type” on page 70
“Number of decimal places” on page 71
“Acceptable Values” on page 71
“Response Required” on page 72
“Reference Documents” on page 72
“Visible to Participant” on page 73
“Hide participants’ responses from each other” on page 73
“Participant can add additional comments and attachments” on page 74
“Use participant-specific initial values” on page 74
“Team Access Control” on page 74
“Initial Value” on page 75
“Use participant–specific initial values” on page 76
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Name
For questions, enter the question that clearly indicates what answer is required. For example, write “How
many employees do you have?” rather than “Number of employees.” If the question is to be used in a
formula, keep it short to keep the formula readable.
For lots and line items, use unique names that are descriptive of the type or content.
For terms, use a unique name that is clear but, if used in formulas, is not so long that it makes it hard to
decipher the formula.
Answer Type
Specify the answer type. The default is a single line of text. However, with other answer types, such as date,
you can:
• Accept only an answer of that type.
• Restrict the answer to a range.
• Assign scores that affect the grade the participant receives during the evaluation stage. See “About
Pre-grading” on page 204.
These features allow you to ensure that suppliers provide appropriate answers and do not accidentally leave
information out or answer in a confusing or irregular format.
The following table describes the answer types available:
Answer Type
Description
Size / Range
Text (single
line)
The answer field accepts a single line of text (numerical and alphabetic
characters); no carriage returns. If “Include in cost” is Custom, there is no
multiple lines option, but you can add additional lines with this option.
Size: 4000
characters
Text (multiple
lines)
The answer field is initially six lines and can be expanded indefinitely with a
vertical scroll bar. This option does not appear if “Include in cost” is Custom.
Size: unlimited
Whole Number A whole number, for example, 1, 20, 852.
Range: +/2,147,483,648
Decimal
Number
A decimal number, for example, 19.5, or 1.23.
The default value is two decimal places.
Range: unlimited
Date
A formatted date, for example: Fri., 12 Aug., 2005
January 1, 1900–
January 1, 9999
Money
A decimal number plus currency symbol.
The default value is two decimal places.
Range: +/- 10^18
Yes/No
The input field is a drop down box with Yes or No for an answer (boolean).
Yes or No
Attachment
This option is available if “Include in cost” is No. Use this to collect
information from participants as file attachments uploaded from their
computer. You can provide a default attachment, that participants can change.
Max size: 20 MB
To provide an informational read-only attachment that participants can
download but for which you do not want them to upload anything, use Add
Attachment described in “Attachments” on page 67.
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Common Content Fields
Answer Type
Description
Size / Range
Percentage
For example: 33%, 88%, 500%.
The default value is two decimal places.
Range: +/- 10^17
Quantity
The Quantity field is a number. to the right of this field is the unit of
measurement. The default is each. you can click on the unit of measurement
and select from the list.
Range: +/2,147,483,648
To create a question that must be answered by uploading an attachment:
1 On the Content page, click Add > Question.
2 In the Question field, enter text to communicate that users must upload an attachment. For example:
“Upload a CAD drawing of your part.”
3 In the Answer Type field, select Attachment.
Number of decimal places
This field is available for Decimal Number, Money, and Percentage answers.
Acceptable Values
This option enables you to restrict the answers to a list of choices, which allow you to score the answers
more easily. For information on scoring participant responses, see “Scoring” on page 199. The options are
Any Value and List of Choices.
Any Value provides a text entry field that accepts any entry.
List of Choices enables you to create multiple choices. When you select this option, two additional sub–
options appear:
• Allow participants to specify other value?
If you enable this option, an Other field will appear below the question, allowing participants to enter their
own value. The Other field is not displayed while creating content. It is displayed to participants during
the event. You can view it by selecting View as Supplier from the Action menu on the Content page.
Note: The Other field cannot be pre-graded. You must manually grade these.
• Allow participants to select multiple values?
This option displays check boxes instead of radio buttons, so participants can select multiple answers. If
you enable pre-grading, and participants select multiple values, the assigned pre-grade is the sum of the
pre-grades for each answer.
If you allow multiple values, they are mapped to numbers, and this question is included in cost, then all
the selected values are used. If the term is a multiplier, the selected values are added together before
multiplying.
Limited Range allows you to specify a range of acceptable answers to the question. For example, for a Whole
Number: 0–10. For a Date: Dec. 1, 2004–Jan. 1, 2005. This option is only available for numerical answer
types (Numbers, Date, Money, Percentage, Quantity).
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To create a multiple choice question:
1 On the Content page, click Add > Question.
2 Set the option Acceptable Values to List of Choices. An area appears at the bottom of the screen where you
enter possible choices for the multiple choice question.
3 Enter the choices and click Add after each one to display a field for another choice.
4 Set Allow Participants to specify other values to Yes if you want to let participants enable an Other check box
and type in their own answer. The check box is not visible when editing content. To preview it, click
Actions > View as Supplier.
5 Set Allow Participants to select multiple values to Yes to allow participants to select multiple answers. Yes
changes the list from a drop–down list to check boxes.
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To create a question that only accepts numerical answers within a certain range:
1 On the Content page, click Add > Question.
2 Select a numerical Answer Type.
3 Set the option Acceptable Values to Limited Range. A field, Range, appears at the bottom of the screen where
you can enter the range of acceptable values. You can also use this for dates.
Response Required
You can choose from the following options:
• Not Required – Participants can leave the answer field blank. Use this option to create questions that can be
implicitly answered by being left blank, such as “If your business is a publicly-traded corporation, how
many shares of stock are outstanding?” Another example would be questions about a product that not all
invited participants produce.
• Yes, Participant Required – Participants must enter an acceptable answer or they get an error message.
• Yes, Owner Required – Participants see a read-only answer field. The project owner must answer the
question before publishing the event. You could use this option to add data for internal analysis or
reporting purposes. For example, you can specify an ID #, a classification code, or a shipping location.
This option is useful for content stored in the content library and copied into many events. In this way, the
internal buyer users of an organization must answer certain, internal facing, questions each time they
create an event.
Reference Documents
Click Attach a File and choose whether you want to upload a file from your computer or select a file from the
content library. If you choose to upload, you can browse your hard drive or network for any file. If you
choose to select from the content library, you can either search for a document title, or simply browse the
hierarchy of content.
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Visible to Participant
This option controls whether participants can see this section, item, question, or term.
The options are Yes, No, and Yes, after participant accepts the agreement.
• Choose No to hide content from participants at all times. This option is only available if Response
Required? is set to Yes Owner Required, or Not Required. Use this option to hide content that you regard as
confidential or sensitive from potential participants.
• Choose Yes to reveal content that you think might induce the participant to bid, or help him make a
bidding decision. This option appears by default.
• Choose Yes, after participant accepts the agreement if you do not want participants to see this content item
until after they have accepted the bidding agreement.
If you would rather that all content in (all events) be automatically hidden until the participant accepts the
agreement, ask your administrator to set the Application.AQS.RFX.HideContentUntilAgreementAccepted
parameter to “true.” When the parameter is “false,” the Yes, after participant accepts the agreement. option
does not appear. When that parameter is “true,” this option does not appear, and the Yes option always
means that this content appears after the agreement is accepted.
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To control whether content is hidden from participants who have not accepted the agreement:
1 Add a section, item, question, or term.
2 Under Visible to Participant, select Yes, after participant accepts the agreement.
If the controlling parameter is set to true, the Yes, after participant accepts the agreement choice is not
available. See your administrator if you want to use this functionality and it is not yet implemented.
3 Complete the content as needed and save.
Also, you can use this option to create internal questions that the project owner must answer for internal use
only. Place information that is invisible to participants after visible information, otherwise gaps appear in the
hierarchical numbering viewed by participants.
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To create an internal-use question that project owners must answer:
1 On the Content page, click Add > Question.
2 Set the option Response Required to Yes, Owner Required.
3 Set the option Visible to Participant to No.
Hide participants’ responses from each other
When set to Yes, participants cannot see one another’s responses. When set to No, participants can see one
another’s responses. This rule appears under the following conditions:
• The event rule “Show participant responses to other participants” is set to Yes or After participant’s first
response is accepted.
If “Visible to participant” is set to Yes, this rule does not appear.
• The event rule “Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias” is No- Unique Aliases.
By default “Hide participants’ responses from each other” is Yes in new event and No in events that have
been migrated from previous releases in which this option did not exist.
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Participant can add additional comments and attachments
When set to Yes, comments allow participants to add additional information. For example, for a question
whose answer must be a number, participants might have other information to communicate to you. If you
enable this option, participants can write you a note explaining their answer. They can also upload an
attachment as part of their comment.
Use participant-specific initial values
If you set this to Yes, a table appears at the bottom of the page that lists all the participants with a field in
which you can specify the value for each one.
Team Access Control
This option allows you to control who can see the content element to which the Team Access Control
applies. If you leave Team Access Control blank, anyone who can see the content can see this project can see
this content element.
If you specify a Team Access Control, only members of the team who have the specified access control can
see the content.
Click here to add an
access control
Check the boxes for the groups to which you want to grant access and click Done. The Owner has access to
everything regardless of the Team Access Control. Keep in mind that this control relates to team members
only. If you choose Finance Information, for example, members of the Finance group can only see this
content if they or the Finance group itself, is a member of the team, as specified on the team page.
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Notes:
• If the person who logs in to see the event or its reports does not have access to one or more content
elements, then they are not visible. If the Price term is not accessible, for example, the Scenario and
Award tabs on the Monitoring page do not appear at all. The term would be missing from reports that
would otherwise contain the term. It would not show up on the content page or on any other page related
to the event.
• When you create a term, it is available for use in all line items. Therefore, if you set Team Access Control
on a term, it applies to that term in every line item in which the term is used, as well as reports and
relevant monitoring tabs.
You can choose from the following five Team Access Controls:
Team Access Control Limits access to...
Classified
Members of the groups Classified Access, Internal Group, Contract Manager, Sourcing
Manager, and Procurement Manager can view the object.
Finance Information
Members of the Finance group can view the object if the Finance Group or a member thereof
is on the Team page.
Legal Information
Members of the Legal group can view the object if the Legal Group or a member thereof is
on the Team page.
Owner Only
Sourcing event project owners re users in the Project Owner project group. Owner Only also
means anyone who is allowed to manage projects, such as Commodity Code Managers,
Commodity Managers, and Event Administrators can view the object.
Private to Team
Members
Team members listed on the Team page can view the object.
Team Access Controls are affected by the controls set at a higher level. If any parent of this level has an
access control set to Private to Team, then this team access control can only restrict access to those who are
on the team.
Here is an example: Most templates have their access control (set from the summary page’s overview
section) set to Private to Team. If you set access control for a price term to Finance, then you have to add the
finance group (or someone in it) to the Team page.
If the project has no access control set at all, then access is free for all. You can set a price term Team Access
Control to Finance and only the Owner and people in the finance group will be able to see it, regardless of
the Team page.
Range
To limit the range of possible values, specify the upper and lower limits here. this appears for the following
answer types: Whole Number, Decimal Number, Date, Money, Percentage, and Quantity.
Initial Value
Communicate your expectations to participants by setting a default value. For example, for the question “Is
your company ISO-9000 compliant?” set an initial value of “Yes” to communicate your expectation that
participants be ISO-9000 compliant.
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Use participant–specific initial values
With this option you can enter a different initial value for each participant. Participant-specific initial values
allow you to pre-load each participant’s event with specific, targeted values.
For example, you might ask “How quickly can you deliver?” knowing that the industry standard is five
weeks. If you know that a participant is capable of delivering an order in three weeks, you can use a
participant-specific initial value just for them.
Note: If you do not enter a participant-specific value, they see the default value specified in the Initial Value
field. This allows you to set a global default value, and only enter a participant-specific value for selected
participants.
In the following graphic, Ariba Sourcing assigns Teri Brown an initial value of 3 weeks, but assigns the rest
of the participants the default initial value of 5 weeks.
Compete on term
For lots you can specify on which term the participants are competing.
Use initial value as
This specifies how the initial value is to be used. The options are:
• Ceiling (or Floor or Initial (see “Ceiling/Floor/Initial Price” on page 57) – This sets the highest value
allowed. Floor is the lowest. For a dutch auction, it is simply the starting (initial) bid.
• Default – This sets the price that appears when the participant first sees it, but there is no ceiling (or floor)
and they are free to bid either higher or lower than this value.
• Ceiling and default – This the first value that they see and it is also the Ceiling (or Floor, for a forward
auction).
Improve bid amount by
The options are Percentage and Nominal amount. If you set it to percentage the actual amount stays
proportional to the value of the lead bid.
Bid decrement
This is a percentage (%) if “Improve bid amount by” is percentage. Otherwise it is a value.
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Can participants submit tie bids
If you choose No tie bids, keep in mind that a tie bid is for exactly the same amount. A bid for $10,000,000
and a bid for $10,000,001 are close, but not tied. To prevent bids that are that close, configure the more
meaningful rule “Create buffer to protect lead bid” in the Rules section. This rule does not apply to the
preview period.
If you select No tie bid options, the “Can participants submit tie bids during preview” rule appears, which
allows you to set the preview period differently.
If you select one of the options for No tie bid for rank n (or better), the preview period works exactly the same
way.
Copying Content for Multi-Round Events
You can connect Quick Projects together by copying the content of one project (including suppliers’ bids
and line item and lot level invitations) into a new project. This is useful, for example, if you use an RFP to
collect preliminary pricing information, and then run an auction to create competition and drive suppliers’
bids down further. The RFP is the predecessor project to the auction.
If you specify a predecessor project when you create a new project, it creates a multi-round event, and you
can choose what to import from the predecessor project:
•
•
•
•
Selected content
Whether to copy participant invitations for the content being imported
Whether to import participant responses as initial values (Ceiling, for example)
Whether to import participant responses as initial bids
Importing data from a predecessor project is different from using the Copy from Project option on the
project header, which does not include supplier response data.
Whether you specify a predecessor project or not, you can also copy other content from the Content Library.
Either way, copying content a allows you to reuse it in events. It helps you by:
• Saving you from having to recreate identical content multiple times.
• Allowing you to standardize the questions you ask in your events. For example, if you must ask certain
legal questions, create a library document including them.
• Aiding communication. If your organization has multiple employees creating many events, the content
library enables them to share the content of their events.
Importing from Predecessor Projects
Importing data from a predecessor project enables you to connect multiple Quick Project type events. A
Predecessor project cannot be an event within a Full Project. For example, if you have two events (an RFP
and an auction) within a Full Project, you cannot set the RFP as the Predecessor Project for the auction.
To create a multi-round event, create the first project, and then, when you create the second project, specify
the first one as a predecessor project on the project-creation page.
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Chapter 6 Creating Content
To import from a predecessor project:
1 In the second project, go to the Content page.
2 In the Content page, you may want to delete the content that is included as a default from the event
template. Just check the boxes to the left of the content to delete and choose Delete.
3 Click OK to confirm deletion of the Content.
4 Choose Add > Content From Library.
5 Since the project knows that you have selected a predecessor project, it displays the content from that
project for you to select. In addition, it provides check boxes so you can select additional data to import
and what to do with it:
Check the boxes for the desired import choices and the content you want to import and click Copy in the
upper right corner. to import the data.
If you select Cancel, it changes the page to show the Content Library. You can return to this page later to
add additional copies of predecessor content items or to switch to the Content Library to import content
from there. For more on copying from the Content Library see “Copying Content From the Content
Library” on page 79.
Notes:
• Checking the boxes only works if you have selected content to copy.
• Copy participant invitations for content being copied imports all participants from the predecessor project,
regardless of whether they responded to the selected content. However, they are only invited for
individual content items if you select those items.
• Copy participant responses as initial values means that a participant bid from the predecessor project
becomes their ceiling/floor value in the successor project.
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• Submit participant responses as initial bids automatically submits the bid for each content item for which
there is a bid imported from the predecessor project. That bid is becomes the participant’s initial bid as
soon as the bidding opens for that item.
• The participant response options do not appear until/unless the first event is Completed or Pending
Selection. If the first event completes after you created this event, just refresh the screen to see these
two check boxes. You do not need to have permission to be a surrogate bidder to see the participant
response options, when copying from a predecessor project.
• If you do not check any content you get an error that there is nothing to copy. For these check boxes to
work you have to include at least one content item.
Copying Content From the Content Library
You can choose to copy content from an event that is in the Content Library, without making it a predecessor
project. However, including this data is not automatic.
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To add content from the content library:
1 While editing the event, on the Content page, click Add > Content From Library.
2 On the Add Content From Library page, find the Content Library document you want to import. Either
Browse by the document by choosing Explore Library, or Search for the document by choosing Search
Library or Events.
3 Search for the event from which you want to copy and click Select.
4 On the Add Content from Library page, you have these options:
5 Select which specific lots and line items from within the previous event to copy forward.
Notes:
• Checking the boxes only works if you have selected content to copy.
• Copy participant invitations for content being copied imports all participants from the predecessor project,
regardless of whether they responded to the selected content. However, they are only invited for
individual content items if you select those items.
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• Copy participant responses as initial values means that a participant bid from the predecessor project
becomes their ceiling/floor value in the successor project.
• Submit participant responses as initial bids means that for each content item for which there is a bid
imported from the predecessor project, that bid is automatically submitted as the participant’s initial
bid as soon as the bidding opens for that item of content.
• The participant response options do not appear until/unless the first event is Completed or Pending
Selection. If the first event completes after you created this event, just refresh the screen to see these
two check boxes. You must have permission to be a surrogate bidder to see the participant response
options, when copying from the Content Library.
• If you do not check any content you get an error that there is nothing to copy. For these check boxes to
work you have to include at least one content item.
6 Click Copy. You return to the Content page of the new event. Verify that the information from the previous
event is copied forward correctly by editing the individual line items and lots and seeing that the supplier
invitation and ceiling price is set accurately in the List of Invited Suppliers area:
Note: Pay special attention to currencies. If you copy content containing prices into a project that uses a
different currency, the currency notation changes to the new currency, but there is no value conversion and
the price amount remains unchanged.
Creating Content Library Documents
Content stored in the content library is stored in Content Library Documents.
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To create a new library document:
1 From the Ariba Spend Management Dashboard, click Sourcing > Sourcing Library. You see the Sourcing
Library page.
2 Click Actions > Content Document.
3 Complete the Create New Content Document page and click Create.
4 Add content as you would while creating an event.
5 Click Done. You see the Sourcing Library page with the newly created content document added.
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To create a library document from a past event:
1 On the Dashboard, click Sourcing > Sourcing Library.
2 On the Sourcing Library page click Actions > Content Document.
3 Complete the Create New Content Document page and click Create.
4 Click Add > Content from Library.
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5 In the From field, select Past Events.
6 Search through the past events to find the correct event. Choose it and click Select.
7 Select the content that you want to copy into the new library document. Note that the hierarchal structure
of the content is in force. For example, if you choose to copy a certain line, you also copy all content
nested in that line.
8 Click Copy. You see the create content page with the selected event content added.
9 Modify the content if required. Click Done. You see the Sourcing Library page with the newly created
content document added.
Normally only the creator of a content library document is able to edit it. However, the document owner can
grant edit access to add additional users by setting the Editor field.
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To allow other users to edit your content library document:
1 Access the Sourcing Library and find the document.
2 Click the document’s name and choose Edit Attributes.
3 On the details page, set the Editors field to the group or user that you want to grant edit access. Note that
you can only select one group or user.
4 The specified user or group can now edit your content library document.
Uploading a File to the Content Library
You can also store files in the content library. For example, you could store a Microsoft Word document
containing the default legal terms your organization applies to events. If the terms change, your legal
department can simply upload a new version of this document, and users will automatically access the new
version. Or perhaps your organization adds a certain file as an attachment to many events. Upload that file to
the Sourcing Library, and all users can easily access it.
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To upload a file to the Content Library:
1 Under Common Actions, click Manage > Sourcing Library.
2 On the Sourcing Library page, click Actions > Create Document.
3 On the Create New Document page, you can either upload a new document on the New Document tab, or
you can click the Copy Document tab to create a new copy of an existing document.
• Set the base language of the document’s description. For details, see “Base Language” on page 146.
• Check “Announce the creation of this new document” to add an Announcement to the Dashboard of all
sourcing library team members who have the Ariba Sourcing Library marked as a Watched Project. To
learn more about Announcements, see the Ariba Sourcing Process Management Guide.
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Chapter 6 Creating Content
Best Practices for Creating Content
It is helpful to follow certain best practices to maximize the value of your sourcing event. These suggestions
help to create simple, understandable content:
• Organize your content logically so it is easy to understand. Rearrange content by using the Edit menu
(cut, copy, and paste), or by dragging and dropping.
• Certain content structures complicate scoring. See “About Advanced Scoring” on page 213. Specific
recommendations are to:
• Always place questions within a section.
• Avoid creating sections nested many levels deep.
• Phrase questions so that they are obviously questions, and phrase requirements so that they are obviously
requirements.
For example, to ask a question do not say “Number of employees.” Instead say “Please enter how many
people you employ.”
• Create your questions to be as quantifiable as possible. Asking questions that solicit numerical facts or a
selection from a list of choices, as opposed to vague open ended questions, helps you to get the most value
out of Ariba Sourcing. For example, scoring compares bids composed of numerical facts. Auctions
optimize quantifiable factors such as price or cost.
• If you set the rule to hide the leading bid from participants, be careful about using bid buffers in the
Content section. A participant might place a bid with the buffer and, not knowing the lead bid, have to
keep trying until they avoid the buffer and their bid is accepted.
Content Limits in Different Events
Sourcing has limits on certain event elements depending on the selected event rules. These content limits are
validated when you create and publish an event, or when you import content from Excel, add to the content,
or view the Summary page. If you attempt to add more than the content limit, Ariba Sourcing displays an
error message.
Limits That Apply to All Events
The following table lists the limits that apply to all events, both are competitive or non-competitive.
In a competitive event, participants can see market information, such as their own rank, the lead bid, and
other competitors's bids or ranks. An event is non-competitive if participants cannot see any market
information. Typically, auction events are competitive, and RFPs are non-competitive. The following table
describes the event element limits:
Event Elements
Limit
Sum of all questions, requirements, and attachments
500
Note: There are no limits on the number of sections.
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Terms per line item
20
Suppliers
100
Items outside of lots (competitive event)
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Event Elements
Limit
Items outside of lots (non-competitive event)
1,000
Sum of all lots and line items (regardless of type of lot or if line items are inside or outside lots)
1,000
Items in lots where the lot type is “Bid at item level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing during
200
bidding)”
Note: Items in lots of type “Bid at lot level, compete at lot level” are not counted toward the 200.
Maximum date-limited elements: “Date-limited” means elements at the top hierarchical level (n.0),
regardless of whether the event is parallel, staggered, or serial. It includes the sum of:
100
• Items that are not inside a lot
• Lots
Elements in Spreadsheet Events
Limit
Sum of all questions and requirements
100
Note: There are no limits on the number of sections.
Terms per line item
30
Suppliers
200
Maximum for Line items and Lots
5,000
Examples for Item and Lot Combinations
1 Event with 20 item lots or bundle lots, each with 40 items:
• Allowed for serial or staggered competitive events. The number of items in lots is lower than 100, and
the total number of all lots and items is less than the limit of 1,000 (20 lots + 800 items = 820 total).
• Not allowed for parallel competitive events. The maximum number of items and lots during open
bidding in parallel competitive events exceeds 100.
• Allowed in non-competitive events. Total number of items and lots is lower than 1,000.
2 Event with 9 lots, 110 line items each:
• Allowed in non-competitive events. Total number of items and lots is 999.
• Not allowed in competitive events if the lots are of type item lot or bundle lot, since the maximum
number of items in item lots or bundle lots is 100.
• Allowed in competitive events (serial, staggered, or parallel) if the lots are of type basket lot (with item
pricing collection after bidding).
3 Event with 2 item lots with 45 items each, and 10 basket lots (with item pricing collection after bidding)
with 90 items each:
• Not allowed. Exceeds the total number of lots and items limit for any event type:
2 item lots + 90 items in item lots + 10 basket lots + 900 items in basket lot = 1,002.
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Chapter 7
Using Formulas
The formulas feature enables you to use terms you have defined in your event in calculations. You can use
formulas in any type of event. Either participants or the project owner can specify the values. For example
you could create terms for price, quantity, shipping cost, discount, and tax, and then create a formula that
uses these terms to calculate the total cost.
If you are in the Template Creator group, you can create formulas in event templates and control whether or
the extent to which project owners can create or edit templates formulas for events.
A simple formula might look something like this:
‘Price’*’Quantity’ or (‘Price’+’InstallationFee’)*’Quantity’
Formulas support all the common mathematical operators and selected pre-defined functions. You can add
as many terms as you need. You can use terms that are derived from other formulas, so you can make
formulas as complex as necessary to calculate values necessary for any purpose you find useful for the event.
This section contains the following topics:
•
•
•
•
“Planning for Formulas” on page 85
“Creating a Simple Formula” on page 86
“Creating a Complex Formula” on page 88
“Cost Components” on page 92
Planning for Formulas
You can add formulas at various places in the event content.You can build a formula from terms or questions,
if they are numerical and included in total cost. You can also use other formulas. Which formulas, questions,
and terms are available depend on where they are located relative to the formula you are creating.
You can place a formula:
• At the top level of your event
Note: Event content is arranged in a hierarchy of numbered elements in which some elements, such as lots
and sections, can have child elements such as line items and terms.
• In a section that is at the top level (but not in a section within a lot)
• In a line item
• If you try to add a formula to any other content type, it is added after that content, at the same level.
When you add a formula, the formula editor presents a list of other content elements that are available for
use within the formula. The content that is available depends on where the formula is and where and how the
other content was defined.
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Notes:
• For a question to be available for use in a formula, “Answer type” has to be a numerical value. To map text
(or yes/no, or a date) to a numerical value, you have to specify that the term be included in the cost as
Custom.
• For a term to be available in a formula, it has to resolve to a numerical value. See “Include in Cost” on
page 62 for information on mapping non-numerical terms to numerical values.
If you are planning an event that uses formulas, organize the content so that each formula has access to the
content elements that it uses.
-Formulas at the top level or section can use:
• Other top level formulas
• Formulas in sections (but not in line items or cost terms within the section)
• Questions (regardless of where they are located)
Formulas in a lot or line item can use:
• Top Level Formulas
• Sibling formulas (formulas within the same content element)
• Formulas at the section level in other sections
• Terms defined at the lot level in this lot
• For formulas in a line item in a lot, terms in the same item and terms in the parent lot
• Questions (regardless of where they are located)
For more information on creating questions, refer to “Questions” on page 54.
Creating a Simple Formula
Create formulas from the Content section of an event project or template. To create formulas as part of a
sourcing event project, the event template has to allow the project owner to create templates. If this is not
allowed in a project template, the Formula option does not appear. This topic assumes you are in the Content
section of an sourcing event project.
Enabling formulas in a template is controlled by the rule “Can initiator create formulas” on page 37.
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To create a formula:
1 To add a formula at the top level, make sure no boxes are checked and choose Add > Formula.
To add a formula to an item of content, click on the item name and choose Action > Edit. Then choose Add >
Formula.
2 Enter a name for the formula.
3 In the lower section of the Formula pane set up the formula properties as follows:
• Result Type: – The choices are Money or Decimal Number. Money will have the appropriate currency
symbol.
• Number of decimal places: – The default is two.
• Response Required? – Set this to Not Required. A participant cannot supply a value for a formula.
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The following options appear only for formulas added to lots or line items.
• Visible to Participant: – This option only appears if participants are not required to respond. If you
choose Yes, they can see the computed value of this formula. If the template from which this project is
created has set the “Show formulas to all participants” rule to Yes, they will be able to see the value and
the formula from which it is computed.
• Will participants compete on this term? – Yes means that the participants rank is based on the value
computed by this formula. If you choose No, this formula can still be used in another formula in which
they compete, so it still could be a competing term, indirectly.
• Rollup results in section summary: – Yes means that this formula name and value appear in the
section summary. If you create a formula with the same name in other line items in this section, the
sum of their values appear in the section summary. This is a key concept. Since you cannot create a
formula that can see all the terms in other line items, this is how you can total them up.
• Display formula in column or row: – If you choose Column, the name of the term appears on the top
row with the name of the line item and the value is below it. If you choose Row, the name is to the left,
below the name of the line item with the value to the right of it.
• Has Historic Value: – If you choose Yes this value can be used to compute savings over past
purchases. To use the historic value for the formula, you must also specify a historic value when you
define the term.
• Has Reserve Value: – If you choose Yes, this specifies the maximum you are willing to pay. To use the
reserve value for the formula, you must also specify a reserve value when you define the term.
You build the formula in the field below the name field.
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To build the formula:
1 In the Content section, find the term you would like to use in the formula and click the Insert button. This
places the term in single quotes in the Formula field.
The content section lists all the terms in the line item in which you are creating this formula, which in this
example, is 3.2 Printer. It also lists Questions from other sections, such as 2.1 and 2.2. These terms and
questions are set to “Include in Cost.” The lists scrolls, so there are other elements that you can use.
2 Click the button for the operator you would like to place after this term. For example, if you want the
formula to multiply Price times Quantity, click the asterisk (multiplication) button.
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3 In the Content section, find the next term you would like to use in the formula and click the Insert button.
For example, if the formula is to multiply Price times Quantity, the formula field would now look like
this:
You can type directly into the Formula field without selecting operators or terms from below. It does not
check to make sure that the terms already exist, so you can create the terms later, if you want. Be sure to
use single quotes for all terms, use underscores instead of spaces, and avoid typographical errors.
4 The formula is now complete. Click Done to validate the formula and return to the page from which you
started.
Note: For a question or term to be available for use in a formula, you have to set “Include in cost” to Custom.
You can set a term or a question to be a list of text items or dates, but if you set “Include in cost” to Custom,
it allows you to map each list item to a value so you can use the term or question in formulas.
Creating a Complex Formula
You can create more complicated formulas from the terms shown in the example.
You could create a total cost that is the price times the quantity, plus the installation time times the hourly
labor rate times the quantity.
‘Price’*’Quantity’+’Installation_Time_(in_hours)’*’Event.What_is_your_hourly_labor_rate?’*’Quanti
ty’
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This topic contains the following sections:
•
•
•
•
“Using Functions” on page 89
“Using Mathematical Operators” on page 91
“Function Parameters” on page 91
“Checking for Errors” on page 92
Using Functions
The formula engine supports a number of other functions, which may be useful in certain circumstances. For
all of these functions you may use all upper case, all lower case, or initial cap, such as TOTALCOST,
totalcost, or TotalCost. Initial cap means each whole word within the function name gets a capital letter.
Absolute Value (ABS)
The function syntax is ABS(X). for example, ABS(-6) returns 6.
Aggregate Costs (AGGREGATECOSTS)
The function syntax is AGGREGATECOSTS(), It takes no argument. The value returned is the aggregate of all the
terms defined as adders, subtracters, multipliers, and % discount, but without the price or quantity, as
follows:
Aggregate Cost = UA * UM + AA * AM
Where:
• UA are per-unit adders, minus the subtractors
• UM are per-unit multipliers including % Discount
To get a 10% discount you multiply by 0.9 or 1-%D
• AM are all-unit multipliers including % Discount
• AA are all unit adders, minus the subtractors
Earnings over Historic Value (EARNINGS)
The function syntax is EARNINGS(X). Where X can be any term with a historic value, such as Extended Price.
In a forward auction the value returned is the current value minus the historic value. For a reverse suction,
use SAVINGS.
If-Then Construct (IF)
The function syntax is IF(B, X, Y). If B is greater than zero, it returns the value of X. If B is less than or
equal to zero), it returns the value of Y and does not evaluate X. You can use other terms, formulas, or
expressions, for B, X, or Y. If B is undefined (no value is assigned) it is treated as zero and returns Y.
Maximum Value (MAX)
The function syntax is MAX(X,Y). This function returns the greater of X and Y. For example, MAX(2, 3) is 3.
You can use other terms, formulas, or expressions, for X and Y.
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Minimum Value (MIN)
The function syntax is MIN(X,Y). This function returns the lesser of X and Y. For example, MIN(2, 3) is 2.
You can use other terms, formulas, or expressions, for X and Y.
Price from Breakdown (PRICEFROMBREAKDOWN)
The function syntax is PRICEFROMBREAKDOWN(‘Price’). The value returned is the total of all the per-unit
adders defined for this line item.
Savings from Historic Value (SAVINGS)
The function syntax is SAVINGS(X). Where X can be any term with a historic value, such as Extended Price.
In a reverse auction the value returned is the historic value minus the current value. For a forward suction,
use EARNINGS.
Total Cost (TOTALCOST)
The syntax for this function is TOTALCOST(P, Q). This function uses the price and quantity terms (or hourly
rate and hours). the value returned automatically applies all the terms defined as adders, subtracters,
multipliers, and % discount to the Price times Quantity calculation as follows:
TotalCost=(P*UM + UA) *
Q * AM + AA
Where:
• P is Price
• UM are per-unit multipliers including % Discount
• UA are per-unit adders, minus the subtracters
To get a 10% discount you multiply by 0.9 or 1-%D.
• Q is Quantity
• AM are all-unit multipliers including % Discount
• AA are all unit adders, minus the subtracters
Actual Cost of Each Unit (UNITCOST)
The syntax for this function is UNITCOST(P, Q). This function takes the price and quantity terms (or hourly
rate and hours). The value returned automatically applies all the terms defined as adders, subtracters,
multipliers, and % discount to the Price and divides by the quantity to arrive at an actual unit cost as follows:
UnitCost=((P*UM + UA) * AM + AA)/Q
Where:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
90
P is Price
UM are per-unit multipliers including % Discount
UA are per-unit adders, minus the subtracters
To get a 10% discount you multiply by 0.9 or 1-%D
Q is Quantity
AM are all-unit multipliers including % Discount
AA are all unit adders, minus the subtracters
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Using Mathematical Operators
You can type in all the supported operators from the keyboard. Only some of them are assigned to buttons in
the user interface. The operators are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
+ Plus; 3+2=5
- Minus; 3-2=1
* Multiplication; 3*2=6)
/ Division; 3/2=1.5
^ Exponent; 3^2 is 3 squared or 9
% Integer division; 175.6%53.8 = 3
The logical operators below can be used as the B parameter in the IF function. These logical operators
resolve to true or false, where true is 1and false is 0.
•
•
•
•
•
! Logical NOT; !1 is False (zero) and!0 is True (one)
> Greater than; 3>4 is False (zero)
< Less than; 3<4 is True (one)
<= Less than or equals; 3<=4 is True (one)
>= Greater than or equals; 3>=4 is False (zero)
The following cannot be used as expressions in other functions:
•
•
•
•
= Equals; 3=4 is False (zero)
& Logical AND; P & Q is True if both P and Q are true or false. It is false if P and Q are different.
| Logical OR; IF((‘A’ | ‘B’), X, Y) If either A or B is true, X is returned. If neither is true, Y is returned.
<> Not EQUALS; IF((‘A’ <> ‘B’), X, Y) If A is greater than B, X is returned
Function Parameters
Any of the parameters for these functions can be terms, expressions, other functions, or values.
For example, an expression as a parameter in the IF function is valid: IF(‘Price’>4), 100, 10)
Some operators cannot be used as parameters, as noted above. For example you can not use
IF(‘term1’&’term2’, 33, 66), but you can use IF(‘term1’>’term2’, 33, 66).
Additional spaces are ignored: IF ( ‘Price’ > 4), 100, 10)
More complex functions are possible:
IF (MIN('Price','Price2')<7, 33, 'Price'*2)
Some functions resolve to a number. If you use one as a parameter in another function that is expecting a true
or false, values that are less than or equal to zero are false and values that are greater than zero are true.
If a numerical term has no value assigned to it, it is treated as zero or “false.” (This is not the case with
undefined text fields.) You could use this feature in an IF statement that checks to see which of two alternate
fields a supplier provided, and then use that field in further processing, such as calculating extended price.
A function parameter cannot be a string or a term that is not available for use in the formula.
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Checking for Errors
If the formula is complex, you can validate it as you build it, at any stage that you think conforms to the rules
of algebra, by clicking the Validate button. If there is an error it cannot tell you exactly what the problem is,
so you should check for:
• Misspelled terms or function names
• Terms not in single quotes
• Functions should not be in quotes (You can use term names that are the same as function names because
term names are in quotes and function names are not, but this is potentially confusing and you should
avoid it.)
• Mismatched parentheses
• Missing commas
The following anomalies are tolerated:
• Using both the plus and minus operators, such as ‘Price1’ + - ‘Price2’.
• Dividing by zero, such as ‘Price’*’Quantity’/0.
If you would like to test a proposed formula to make sure it is valid, try typing in the formula using actual
numbers and then clicking the Validate button.
You can also go back to the Contents page and choose Actions > View as Participant. Here you can plug in
values and check to make sure the results of the formula are as you expect.
Cost Components
Cost components are content elements that you can set up to automatically contribute to total cost. The Total
Cost Auction template already has these components set up, but you can set them up manually if you are
using a template that allows you to create formulas.
Cost components are terms that contribute to the total cost of a lot or line item. they can include not only the
price of the item, but also shipping costs, import duties, cost of switching suppliers, storage cost, retooling
costs, taxes, discounts, or anything else that you can apply to each unit or all units collectively.
You can control whether the cost component feature is turned on when you create the template by using the
Initiator Actions rule called “Can initiator create formulas” on page 37.
If the cost component feature is enabled, then when you create a term you see the option “include in cost:”
and among the choices are Adder, Subtracter, Multiplier and % Discount.
If Formulas are also enabled, then you must hook up the cost component feature manually by creating a
Total Cost term and using the TotalCost function in its formula.
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Bid Transformation Auctions
Bid transformation allows you to transform participant’s bids by adding cost terms you define. These terms
can be different for different suppliers, such as adding an import duty for one supplier and a switching cost
for another. Yet it enables each bidder to see a “bid to beat” that is adjusted for them.
Bid transformation is useful for:
• Helping you to fairly and consistently factor the differences between suppliers and their offerings into
your awarding decisions.
• Bringing dissimilar suppliers and their offerings into competition.
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
“About Bid Transformation Auctions” on page 93
“About Cost Terms” on page 95
“Creating a Bid Transformation Event” on page 98
“Bid Transformation Strategy” on page 101
About Bid Transformation Auctions
Use bid transformation to create competition even though the total cost of doing business with different
suppliers is composed of different cost components. For example, you invite suppliers from Country A and
Country B to bid on the price of parts for a US manufacturing company. The US charges a higher import
duty on parts from Country A, but the parts are cheaper. How can you figure out if they are cheap enough?
Bid Transformation can compare your total cost for each bidder, even when prices and other components
vary widely.
Bid transformation allows participants to see the auction from their own perspective:
• Participants see their own prices as they enter them.
• The bid that they have to beat is adjusted to their own cost transformation.
• You see participant bids and the cost to you for each participant.
How Bid Transformation and Total Cost Auction Differ
In a total cost event the participants can edit the cost components. In a transformation event they cannot
because the cost components are not visible to them. When a template sets the Bid transformation flag, it
creates several effects:
• The project owner can set up cost components that modifies bids to arrive at a total cost. Participants
cannot see these cost components.
• The cost components can be different for different suppliers. For example, one incurs a switching cost,
another requires an import duty, a third has a different import duty. The cost components can include
other adders, subtracters, multipliers, and % discounts.
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About Bid Transformation Auctions
Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
• Bid transformation auctions have only one value to bid on. The other costs are not visible to them. In a
total cost auction participants bid on the item price, and other costs that contribute to the total cost.
• In bid transformation, the bid to beat, is adjusted for each participant according to the cost components
you added. For an example of how this works, see the “Bid Transformation Example” topic, below.
In Total cost, the cost components are not hidden and all participants see the same bid-to-beat.
• With Bid Transformation, the bid decrement value is adjusted for each participant, so that each sees a
different bid decrement value. Total Cost auctions do not adjust bid decrement value.
Bid Transformation Example
For example, you set up an auction with bid transformation with the following characteristics:
• There is an import duty of 8 percent on parts from Company A, A.K. Consultants.
• There is an import duty of 5 percent on parts from Company B, Apex Corporation
• The ceiling price for a crate of parts is $10,000.
• The bid decrement and buffer values are all $100.
When A.K. Consultants starts bidding they see a ceiling value of $9,259.25. They do not see the 8 percent
you will add to make the ceiling price of $10,000. The bid decrement they see is $92.60. Note that the bid
transformation feature has transformed both values to hide the cost component you added for them.
If A.K. Consultants submits the highest starting bid it can, it would be $9,259.25, as shown above.
When Apex Corporation logs in to bid, they see the leading bid and the required decrement transformed into
their own terms. When they bid to take the lead, it looks as shown below:
The required decrement is $95.24. When the bid transformation adds Apex Corporation’s transformation of
5 percent, it comes out to about $100. At this point A.K. Consulting sees the leading bid as $9,166.65.
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About Cost Terms
The buyer sees these bids as the adjusted costs, as shown below. Fractions of a cent are not computed, so in
this example each value is off by a cent:
So, bid transformation transforms participants’ bids into your total cost as an adjusted value that is different
for each participant.
About Cost Terms
Ariba Sourcing transforms suppliers’ bids into your costs using a formula you define. The basic formula is:
Your cost = (price * multipliers) + adders
Ariba Sourcing models the adder and multiplier terms of the formula using cost terms, a type of line item
term (see “Item Terms” on page 60).
To learn how to create a cost term, see “Step 2: Create New Cost Terms” on page 99.
When creating cost terms, verify that they are behaving as you intend by validating the changes in suppliers’
Ceiling Price using Supplier View. See “Step 3: Validate Cost Terms In Supplier View” on page 100.
Read these conceptual sections:
• “About Adder, Subtracter, Multiplier, and % Discount Cost Terms” on page 95
• “Applying to Cost Per Unit, or to All Units” on page 97
• “Summary of Cost Term Concepts” on page 97
About Adder, Subtracter, Multiplier, and % Discount Cost Terms
Cost terms include adders, subtracters, multipliers, and percent discounts.
Adders
Adders represent costs that you incur by working with a supplier. Adders are simply added to the supplier's
bids during the auction. The cost of switching suppliers is an example of an adder. Adders and multipliers
force suppliers to lower their bids in order to compete.
For example, if the preparation or processing cost for some commodity is different for different suppliers,
place an adder processing costs into the transformation equation:
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About Cost Terms
Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
Your cost = price + processing
Define in advance the different processing costs for each supplier in the List of Invited Suppliers area. When
transforming a supplier’s price into your cost, Ariba Sourcing inserts the supplier-specific costs you define.
Subtracters
Subtracters represent savings that you gain by working with a supplier. Subtracters are simply taken off of a
supplier's bids during the auction. Use subtracters and percent discounts to reward suppliers who are cheap
to work with. Since you save money by working with these suppliers, they remain competitive even when
charging a higher price.
Subtracters are costs that Ariba Sourcing subtracts from the supplier’s price. You might use a subtracter to
model a supplier refund. For example, if a supplier offered to pay $5 of the shipping for each item you buy,
you could create a subtracter cost term shipping refund.
Note: You can also create a subtracter by entering negative values into an adder.
Multipliers
Multipliers also represent costs that you incur by working with a supplier. They cause suppliers bids to be
multiplied by a certain number. Sales tax is a multiplier. Adders and multipliers force suppliers to lower their
bids in order to compete.
The example used earlier of adding a percentage for import duty also works for sales tax. The formula is:
Your cost = (price * (1+import duty/100)
Note: To cause a multiplier to have no effect, set it to 1. If you set it to be greater than 1, it acts as a cost and
penalizes the supplier. You can also reward the supplier (and cause the multiplier to act as a percent
discount) by setting it between 1 and 0.
Percent Discount
Percent discounts represent savings that you gain by working with a supplier. Percent discounts cause
suppliers' bids to be reduced by a percentage. Use subtracters and percent discounts to reward suppliers who
are cheap to work with. Since you save money by selecting these suppliers, they remain competitive even
when charging a higher price.
For example, a certain supplier consistently delivers a week early. You might reward this supplier by creating
a % Discount early delivery award. To lower the supplier’s cost by 5%, set the % Discount term to 5%.
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About Cost Terms
Applying to Cost Per Unit, or to All Units
Line items have an associated quantity. You can apply cost terms to the price of a single item in a line item or
to the price of the line item as a whole (the extended price, or the price times the quantity).
Per Unit
Ariba Sourcing applies per unit cost terms to prices before multiplying the price by the quantity. For
example:
Buyers cost = (price + per-unit adder) * quantity
All Units
Ariba Sourcing applies All Units cost terms to the extended price of a line item. The extended price of a line
item is the price times per unit cost terms times the quantity. For example:
Buyers cost = price * quantity + all-units adder
The rules of algebra dictate that multiplication operations are calculated first, so parentheses around price *
quantity would be redundant.
Multipliers (all units)
Suppose that a certain percentage of all the parts you buy is of low quality. You can create an all units
multiplier low quality penalty. This way, the total cost includes shipping costs for the extra coal you must
buy. For example:
Buyers cost = price * quantity * penalty
Summary of Cost Term Concepts
There are two basic rules:
• Ariba Sourcing applies Per Unit cost terms before price is multiplied by quantity.
• Ariba Sourcing applies All Units cost terms after price is multiplied by quantity.
When adders and multipliers are used together, there are four possibilities:
Adder: per unit
Adder: all units
Multiplier: per unit
(price * multiplier + adder) * quantity
(price * multiplier) * quantity + adder
Multiplier: all units
(price + adder) * multiplier * quantity
(price * quantity) * multiplier + adder
You can also combine (these possibilities:
price * per_unit_multiplier + per_unit_adder) * quantity * all_units_multiplier + all_units_adder
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Creating a Bid Transformation Event
Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
Creating a Bid Transformation Event
Only certain situations are appropriate for the use of bid transformation. It makes sense to hold a
transformation auction when you have two or more suppliers that can provide you with the same good or
service, but at different cost to you. See “Bid Transformation Strategy” on page 101 to read more.
Use the following steps to create an auction with bid transformation:
•
•
•
•
“Step 1: Create Event and Add Line Items” on page 98
“Step 2: Create New Cost Terms” on page 99
“Step 3: Validate Cost Terms In Supplier View” on page 100
“Step 4: Override Transformed Ceiling Value (optional)” on page 101
Step 1: Create Event and Add Line Items
Create the event following the standard procedure in “To create an event:” on page 10. Create an event of
type auction, and choose the Reverse Auction with Bid Transformation template.
When you arrive at the Content page, create lots or line items as you normally would to solicit pricing
information for the goods or services you want to buy.
In our example of sourcing coal, we created a line item named Parts and entered a quantity of 1, for a large
crate full of parts.
Click the Fx link at the right (circled) to see what the extended price is to start.
The formula consists of Price * Quantity because you have not created any cost terms yet.
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Creating a Bid Transformation Event
Step 2: Create New Cost Terms
The next step is to create the cost terms.
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To create a cost term:
1 Edit the line item or lot by enabling the check box to the left of its name and clicking Edit > Content.
2 On the Edit Item or Edit Lot page, in the Lot or Item terms section, click Add > Term.
3 On the Add Term page, click New Term.
4 On the New Term tab, enter the name of the cost term. For example, Import Duty.
5 Set the Include in cost option to multiplier.
6 Set the Apply to cost for term to Per unit, for this example.
7 Set the Answer Type to Percentage.
8 If you are creating an adder or subtracter, set the Initial Value field to 0. If you are creating a Multiplier or
% Discount, set the Initial Value field to 1.
9 In the List of Invited Suppliers area at the bottom of the New Term tab, fill in the value of the cost term for
each supplier. In this example, A.K Consultants is from Country A (8 % import duty) and Apex is from
Country B (5 % import duty).
Note: You can also enter the supplier–specific values for cost terms on the Cost Terms tab of the Content
page. See “Step 3: Validate Cost Terms In Supplier View” on page 100.
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Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
10 The New Term tab should appear as shown below:
11 Click OK to create the cost term.
Repeat this procedure for any other cost terms.
When you return to the Content page, Import Duty appears as a new term.
Click the Fx link next to the Total Cost figure. Now the total cost formula should be filled in with the Import
Duty term that you created.
Step 3: Validate Cost Terms In Supplier View
Once you have created the cost term and entered the specific values for each supplier, ensure that it works
correctly. To do this, click Actions > View as Participant.
Since the point of a transformation auction is to create competition by equalizing your total costs, unless
overridden, Ariba Sourcing ensures that each supplier’s maximum possible bid, plus costs, equals the value
you define as your maximum total cost for the line item. The supplier’s maximum possible bid is also called
the Ceiling Price. In effect, in a transformation auction (unless overridden, see “Step 4: Override
Transformed Ceiling Value (optional)” on page 101) each supplier has a different Ceiling Price.
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Bid Transformation Strategy
To verify this number in Ariba Sourcing by using the View as Supplier feature:
1 On the Content tab of the Content page, click Actions > View As Supplier, and click the name of one of the
suppliers invited to the auction.
2 Check to see that the ceiling value is equal to the value that you calculated with the transformation
formula.
Step 4: Override Transformed Ceiling Value (optional)
Use this option to define a different ceiling price for each supplier. For example, if you have
previously-negotiated prices with each supplier that they expect to see.
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To manually define a supplier’s Ceiling Price:
1 Edit the line item for which you have defined cost terms.
2 Click Set Participant–Specific Values, located at the bottom of the Item Terms area. This causes the Price
column to appear in the List of Invited Suppliers area at the bottom of the page.
3 In each supplier’s Price field, you can enter your value for the Ceiling Price.
Bid Transformation Strategy
The strategy of bid transformation is to not only cause suppliers to compete on your costs, but also to do it in
such a way so as to bring suppliers into competition with one another and create a unified market where
none existed before.
Note: You might find that it is not possible to create this kind of competition. If even after the costs are taken
into account, the companies cannot offer similar prices, then competition cannot take place and you should
re-evaluate your decision to use bid transformation.
These sections describe auctions with bid transformation:
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Thinking about Bid Transformation” on page 102
“Bringing dissimilar products into competition” on page 102
“Bringing dissimilar suppliers into competition” on page 103
“Starting/Reserve Price Guidelines” on page 103
“Communicating About Bid Transformation to Suppliers” on page 103
“Common Problems” on page 104
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Bid Transformation Strategy
Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
Thinking about Bid Transformation
When quantifying your factors, you should understand the difference between soft and hard costs.
• Soft costs: costs based on perception, judgement, or experience; costs that are not quantifiable
• Hard costs: quantifiable costs or expenses
Example of Soft Cost
I prefer to work with local suppliers because I think they give better service.
Examples of Hard Costs
If I work with an overseas supplier, I will have to pay for:
• Extra transportation costs
• Site visit costs (6 per year) or
Relocation costs for one year. Each supplier’s cost could be calculated as a real factor and used as an
adder to their bid.
When considering bid transformation, it is important to focus on hard costs that you can quantify for both
you and your suppliers.
When determining your costs:
• If your initial assessment indicates that you are dealing with soft costs (often the case with quality
assessments), consider having your technical proposals reviewed by your engineers who might be able to
help quantify differences into real costs.
• Ensure that there is an incremental value for the transformation, not artificial distinctions that really do
not factor into your award decisions.
The intent is to bring suppliers’ bids into real competition, even when the goods and services are different,
not separate the bids. That could predispose the outcome and stifle competition.
Bringing dissimilar products into competition
When you are buying commodities, you can use bid transformation to place different commodities into
direct competition. For example, coal, which has different purity or quality levels. Use bid transformation to
transform the value per ton of coal to make lower quality coal worth less.
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Commodity
Quantifiable terms
Fuel Sources or Chemicals
Quantify factors like purity or heat output
Engineered Items
Quantify the long-term value of the equipment’s efficiency, engineering compliance, and
constructability; then adjust in relation to the optimal requirements for each factor.
Services
Quantify the experience of the workforce, capability of the organization, and financial
strength of the company.
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Bid Transformation Strategy
Bringing dissimilar suppliers into competition
The previous table presented ways to bring dissimilar products into direct competition. The following table
presents ways to bring dissimilar suppliers (for example, more or less experienced, or existing in a different
geographical place) into direct competition.
Point of
dissimilarity
Solution
Transportation costs These costs can vary between different suppliers, especially if some suppliers are overseas.
Quantify the additional transportation costs and add those costs to a supplier’s bid in the
auction. This could include duties and customs charges if dealing with overseas suppliers.
Performance
Difference equipment solutions can meet the same functional requirements. Reward higher
outputs or efficiencies, higher reliability rate, or greater feature sets.
Other possible cost terms might include capital cost, depreciation, tax shields, payment terms, risk, travel,
and quality inspection.
Starting/Reserve Price Guidelines
If suppliers are unable to meet the starting or reserve prices that were set for them, examine how you
quantified your factors. Were they based on real hard costs or perception? If you cannot quantify the costs
fairly for suppliers, you might have set them too high, which prohibits participation and competition.
If you feel that your factors were quantified in a true cost manner and the supplier cannot adhere to your
prices, perhaps you should not invite that supplier to participate in the auction. You need to ensure that you
are working with qualified suppliers who can meet your business needs.
Communicating About Bid Transformation to Suppliers
It might not be in your best interest to disclose all the cost terms to the suppliers participating in your
auctions, especially if the nature of the bid transformation is to give certain suppliers advantages.
Communication Guidelines
• Tell suppliers that you are doing a total cost evaluation to ensure that all suppliers are evaluated fairly. Bid
transformation ensures that you compare suppliers’ offerings fairly.
• Tell suppliers that their standards, quality, or location are important and that bid transformation gives
them appropriate credit for these factors.
• If suppliers want to know what the exact factors are and how they are calculated, simply tell them that
numerous criteria were considered and calculated based on true costs to your organization.
If you do decide to communicate with suppliers the exact basis of your factors, do so before the auction gets
started to avoid questions and concerns during your bid.
Suppliers might question the bid transformation process. Giving your suppliers too much information or
incorrect information about the format can cause them to lose interest and suspect that your markets are not
run with integrity and fairness. The most typical solution to supplier resistance is to set up the Market
Feedback rules to only display rank (see “Market Feedback Rules” on page 38), thus masking the
transformation altogether.
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Chapter 8 Bid Transformation Auctions
Common Problems
Auctions with bid transformation work best when you can quantify data that is necessary for making award
decisions. Setting up bid transformation for the wrong reasons or with inaccurate data can cause a number of
problems. For example:
• If you do not calculate your factors based on real costs, you might set them too aggressively. Setting
factors too aggressively could create an unfair market which causes:
• Suppliers to lose interest because they feel they cannot meet your requirements.
• Less competition as potential competitors fail to interact.
• If you do not calculate your factors based on real costs, you might set them too leniently and misjudge the
true costs to work with a specific suppliers. This leads to poor award decisions.
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Chapter 9
Total Cost Auctions and RFPs
This section describes how to use the Total Cost Auction and Total Cost RFP event templates.
Total cost modeling is a way of accounting for the costs of a bid that are in addition to the bid’s simple price.
Total cost lets buyers or category managers include all the factors they need to assess and compare the total
cost of ownership of the goods and services that they source.
A Request for Proposal with Total Cost is used to qualify suppliers or collect pricing information. You can
add cost factors such as taxes or shipping costs and calculate the total cost for each supplier. You can score
each supplier and decide whether they can see one another’s responses.
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
“About Total Cost Formulas” on page 105
“Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP” on page 107
“Testing Total Cost Formulas” on page 112
“What Happens During the Evaluation Phase” on page 112
“Frequently Asked Questions” on page 113
About Total Cost Formulas
Being able to see the cost components and total cost is a key factor when comparing suppliers. Total cost
applies to a broad range of cases, including the following:
• Total system cost
• Fixed-plus-variable cost
• Switching cost
By breaking out the cost components and examining them under different scenarios, total cost helps identify
new opportunities for sourcing savings. Ariba Sourcing defines total cost as the addition of multiple cost
components for an item. Each cost component consists of individual cost items (or terms), combined
arithmetically, which are then applied to the line items in your auction. For example:
Component = Term1 + Term2 * (Term3 + Term4) – Term5, [...]
Total Cost = Component1 + Component2 + Component3, [...]
You can apply different total cost formulas to different line items. You can also apply the same formula to a
group of line items. A standard set of cost terms is tracked in the system by default, such as price and
quantity. The project owner can create other cost terms when they create the event.
When you create a term in a project that uses the Total Cost template, it enables you to specify whether the
term is to be included in cost. If so, you can also specify whether it is to be treated as an adder, subtracter,
multiplier or percent discount. You can also specify whether these then apply to each price unit individually,
or all units taken together. Within each line item any such terms are automatically applied to the Total Cost
term.
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Chapter 9 Total Cost Auctions and RFPs
Sample Auction Business Case
Consider the following business case:
You own a brewery and want to create an auction event for beer bottles. You are considering switching from
your incumbent supplier, but you know that switching to a new supplier will be an additional cost for you.
You also want your vendor to manage your inventory of bottles, so you request a quote on inventory charges
per case of bottles.
The first step in creating this total cost event is to identify the terms that have an impact on total cost. In this
business case, the following cost components might impact your total cost:
• Switching cost
• Inventory cost
The switching cost will depend on which supplier you choose. The inventory cost depends on the quote the
supplier provides for that negotiable term.
How Bid Transformation and Total Cost Auction Differ
In a total cost event the participants can edit the cost components. In a transformation event they cannot
because the cost components are not visible to them. When a template sets the Bid transformation flag, it
creates several effects:
• The project owner can set up cost components that modifies bids to arrive at a total cost. Participants
cannot see these cost components.
• The cost components can be different for different suppliers. For example, one incurs a switching cost,
another requires an import duty, a third has a different import duty. The cost components can include
other adders, subtracters, multipliers, and % discounts.
• Bid transformation auctions have only one value to bid on. The other costs are not visible to them. In a
total cost auction participants bid on the item price, and other costs that contribute to the total cost.
• In bid transformation, the bid to beat, is adjusted for each participant according to the cost components
you added. For an example of how this works, see “Bid Transformation Example” on page 94.
In Total cost, the cost components are not hidden and all participants see the same bid-to-beat.
• With Bid Transformation, the bid decrement value is adjusted for each participant, so that each sees a
different bid decrement value. Total Cost auctions do not adjust bid decrement value.
How Total Cost Auction and RFP with Price Breakdown Differ
For an RFP with price breakdown, suppliers do not enter the value of the Price term; they supply the values
of price components and the price is calculated by adding them.
For Total Cost, suppliers provide the Price and other terms that you define as adders, subtracters, multipliers,
and dividers, each on a per-unit or per item basis. This enables you to create much more elegant Total Cost
calculations, which the price breakdown method cannot duplicate.
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Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP
How a Total Cost Auction and Total Cost RFP Differ
A Request for a proposal and an auction are fundamentally different. These differences are apparent in the
options that are allowed for projects using these two sourcing event templates. In the list below a capability
listed for one type of project means the other type behaves in the opposite way.
• A Total Cost Auction provides for pre-bid period, multiple lots, or overtime bidding periods.
• A Total Cost Auction provides a Bid Guardian percentage and requires bid improvement.
• A Total Cost RFP allows scoring on participant responses.
• A Total Cost Auction allows the buyer to decide whether to use a starting gate.
• Total Cost Auction allows the buyer to show participants the lead bid and participant-specific initial
values.
• Total Cost Auction allows the buyer to show participants their rank.
• The Total Cost RFP defines a Cost Term, also called Total Cost that uses the AGGREGATECOSTS
function (See “Aggregate Costs (AGGREGATECOSTS)” on page 89).
• Total Cost Auction defines two types of lots that the RFP does not have:
- “Bid at Item level, compete at Lot Level (collect item pricing during bidding)”
- “Bid at Lot level, compete at Lot level (collect item pricing post bidding)”
• A Total Cost RFP team can include Team Graders.
Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP
This section demonstrates how to set up total cost using the business case described in the previous section.
It includes procedures that show you how to perform the following tasks:
•
•
•
•
Create the total cost auction or RFP.
Create cost components.
Test calculations.
Map costs.
Creating a Total Cost Auction or RFP
The following procedure shows you how to create an auction or RFP, and set the price and quantity for an
item. It also shows how to add a custom term to the item that will be used in your total cost formula.
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To create an event with the total cost template:
1 In the Common Actions panel, choose Create > Sourcing Project.
2 For the event type, choose Auction (or RFP).
3 From the list of event templates, choose Total Cost Auction (or Request for Proposal with Total Cost).
4 Set the rules for this auction. The rules are described in Chapter 3 “Event Rules.”
5 Set up the event team as described in “Changing Team Members” on page 45.
6 Invite participants as described in “Inviting Participants to an Event” on page 49.
You are now ready to configure the total cost auction content.
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Chapter 9 Total Cost Auctions and RFPs
Creating Total Cost Content
The following procedure describes how to create cost components for bottles, switching costs, and inventory
costs. Creating separate cost components allows cost components to be identified separately in each bid and
compared across different supplier bids.
For this example we create a line item called Bottles. Then we define two terms for this line item. One term
is called Inventory Charge per Bottle. The other term is called Supplier Switching Cost. These terms have to
be defined differently, as shown in this example.
In addition, we invited two suppliers to participate in this example.
The default total cost formula is Price * Quantity. We would like to add some cost components to this
formula so that it becomes
(Total cost = Price + Inventory Charge) * Quantity + Switching Cost
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To set up the component costs for this example:
1 When you are done inviting participants, the Content page appears. Alternatively, you can open the
Content page by clicking the Content step in the left pane.
2 Check the box to the left of Pricing.
3 Click the Add button and select Line Item.
4 Name the line item Bottles. Specify a Ceiling/Initial price of $0.10 and the same Historic price.
5 Set Quantity at a million.
6 Set the decrement and bid buffers as you see fit; they are required fields.
7 Click the Add button and select Term.
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Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP
8 Name the term “Inventory Charge per Bottle.” Set the rest of the fields as shown below:
The following fields are of special interest:
• Include in Cost: This amount is going to be included in the total-cost formula by adding it to the price.
• Apply to cost for: This is specifies that this adder is added to the cost of each unit, which in this case,
is each bottle.
• Response Required: Yes, a response is required from the participant so specify how much this charge
is.
• Initial value: For this sample, set the initial value of this charge at a tenth of a cent (0.001 dollars).
9 Click the Done button.
10 Click the Add button and select Term.
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Chapter 9 Total Cost Auctions and RFPs
11 Name the term “Supplier Switching Cost.” Set the rest of the field as shown below:
The following fields are of special interest:
• Include in Cost: This amount is going to be included in the total-cost formula by adding it to the price.
• Apply to cost for: This specifies that this adder is added to the cost of the entire order of bottles. This
changes where the term appears in the final formula.
• Response Required: No response is required from the participant. As the project owner you get an
opportunity to specify what the value for this is for each supplier.
• Visible to Participant: In this case the answer is no. The participant cannot set this value and you
might not even want them to know you are adding it to the total cost.
• Use participant-specific initial values: Yes. This value must be allowed to be different for each
supplier. For the incumbent supplier this value will be zero. If you switch to a new supplier the cost of
switching might vary depending on the suppliers location, differences in their bottle design, or any
number of other factors. For this example, the Incumbent field will be No for the other supplier and the
switching cost will be $10,000.
• Initial value: For this sample, set the initial value of this charge at a tenth of a cent (0.001 dollars).
12 Click OK.
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Setting Up a Total Cost Auction or RFP
To examine the total cost formula and finish:
1 From the Content list, click item 3.1 Bottles. and click edit, as shown below:
2 Click the Formula link (Fx) to the right of the Total Cost value:
3 The formula that you have created appears.
4 Close the formula box and scroll down.
5 Check the value for the switching costs for the suppliers. The switching cost for the incumbent are zero.
6 Click Done and then Next.
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Testing Total Cost Formulas
Chapter 9 Total Cost Auctions and RFPs
7 Review the summary of this event. You can go back and edit any rules or other settings that you wish to
change, but this event is ready to publish.
If necessary, you can add complexity to your formulas by using functions, as described in “Using Functions”
on page 89.
Testing Total Cost Formulas
You can test the total cost formula with test values per supplier. In addition, you can also test the historic
values to ensure that savings are calculated correctly.
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To test the total cost formula:
1 Select a component from the equation to test (Extended Price in the example above).
2 Enter test values in the fields provided or select suppliers from the Supplier Specific Costs menu on the right
side (3.39 for price and 1.45 for shipping costs, as shown above).
3 Do one of the following:
• To test the selected component only, select Current Component from the Test menu (Extended Price in the
example above).
• To test the entire cost formula, select Total Cost Formula from the Test menu (Extended Price + Shipping
Cost in the example above).
4 Reset the test values to run another test of another value or another component.
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To test the historic cost:
1 Select the Set all terms to be historic price check box.
2 Select Current Component or Total Cost Formula from the Test pull-down menu.
3 Reset the test values to run another test of another value or another component.
What Happens During the Evaluation Phase
This section describes what happens to your total cost formula during the evaluation phase of the event
process.
Viewing a Comparison of Cost Components and Total Cost
During supplier bidding and evaluation, the results of the various item-level total cost formulas are summed
or “rolled-up” to arrive at an event grand total.
Separating total cost formulas into components allows the side-by-side comparison of suppliers’ responses,
on a per-component basis.
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Frequently Asked Questions
To view a comparison of cost components and total costs:
1 On the Ariba Sourcing Home page, click Status > Monitor.
2 Choose your event.
3 On the Items tab, from the Display menu, choose Total Cost or Unit Cost.
4 Click Show Details to see the cost components for each bid or response.
You can also monitor the total cost of bids or responses on the Activity tab and Suppliers tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
This section provides answers to frequently asked questions about the total cost feature.
Can I add a cost to one supplier but not others?
Yes. This is called a supplier specific cost.
Can I specify more than one supplier specific cost?
You can only add one supplier specific cost per item, but you can specify more than one supplier specific
cost per cost component.
What is a cost component?
A cost component is an element of a formula used to calculate total cost. Each cost component consists of
individual cost items (or terms), combined arithmetically, which are then applied to the line items in your
event
I changed my cost formula, but the changes did not save. Why?
When you change your formula, make sure to click Save before you click OK.
I added suppliers to an event after I launched the event. Can I add supplier specific costs for these new
suppliers?
No. And you cannot edit your cost formula after you launch the event.
How do I control what total cost information shows up for buyers and suppliers? Do I have to show
suppliers what their total cost is?
Buyers can see everything, but what suppliers can see is determined by permissions. You do not have to
show suppliers their total cost.
Can you add costs that are not dependent on a supplier’s response or profile attribute?
Yes, the buyer can define a constant to enter a supplier-specific attribute.
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Can total cost amounts be used in scoring designs?
Yes, you can score on total costs, but you cannot apply costs to the score.
Can I include a cost component that I have already created as a cost in another component formula?
No.
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Chapter 10
Index Auctions
In an index auction, suppliers bid in discounts or premiums relative to a market index. Typical index prices
follow this format: price/unit of measurement. For example, $6000/Metric Ton or $300/Thousand Board
Feet.
Index auctions are useful in the following cases:
• You are sourcing a commodity that is subject to frequent price fluctuations, such as commodity oil or steel
markets.
• You want to compare prices to a baseline.
This section covers the following topics:
• “About Index Auction Concepts” on page 115
• “About Index Auctions” on page 117
• “Index Auction Strategy” on page 118
About Index Auction Concepts
Amount or Percentage Bidding
This is the format that suppliers use to place their bids. You choose whether to create an Index Based
Auction by Amount or an Index Based Auction by Percentage when you choose the event template during
event creation.
Amount
You can choose to have suppliers place bids in terms of a nominal (currency) amount above or below the
index. For example, $5 above the index value. If the index value is $50, the bid would be for $55.
Percentage
You can choose to have suppliers place bids in terms of a percentage value either above or below an index.
For example, 5% less than the index value. If the index value is $50, the bid would be for $47.50
Discount or Premium Bidding
When setting up line items or lots in an index auction, you decide whether to use discount or premium
bidding. Within the same event could have a line item set up for discount bidding and a line item set up for
premium bidding.
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Chapter 10 Index Auctions
Discount Bidding
In discount bidding, suppliers compete to offer you the highest discount off of a standard fluctuating market
index.
For example, you are purchasing diesel fuel and, due to a fuel surplus, and you anticipate that the price of
fuel is going to decrease. Discount bidding is the most appropriate for the current market conditions.
The following bid graph is an example of this type of market. Notice how the bids increase from the starting
value of $ -2 (a negative discount, also known as a premium) to the final value of $7. In this type of bidding,
higher bid amounts equate to more savings. Take note that the bidding direction is upward and relative to the
identified index.
Premium Bidding
In premium bidding, suppliers compete to offer you the lowest premium added to a standard fluctuating
market index.
For example, you are purchasing natural gas and due to rising demand you anticipate that suppliers might
submit bids above the current index price. Premium bidding is the most appropriate for current market
conditions.
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About Index Auctions
The following bid graph is an example of this type of market. The bids start at a 5.5% premium above the
index value and then decrease as suppliers lower the premium charges added onto the index. The final bid is
for -1% (a negative premium, also known as a discount). In this type of bidding, lower bid amounts equal
higher savings. Take note that the bidding direction is downward, similar to a reverse auction format.
About Index Auctions
This section describes specific index auction steps in Ariba Sourcing.
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To create an index auction:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Create > Sourcing Project.
2 Choose Event Type > Auction. The list of templates at the bottom of the page refreshes.
3 Choose the template Index Based Auction by Amount or Index Based Auction by Percentage. Click
Create.
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To set the unit of the bid improvement rules (percentage or nominal amount)
1 During event creation, on the Rules page, set the rule Improve bid amount by to either Percentage or Nominal
Amount.
Note: Index Based Auction by Percentage auctions cannot set this value, it is automatically set to Nominal
amount.
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Index Auction Strategy
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Chapter 10 Index Auctions
To create a discount or premium auction format line item
In an index auction, discount or premium format is defined at the line item level. You can have line items
of both formats within the same event.
1 Add or edit a line item
2 Edit the item term Index Amount or Index Percentage within the line item
3 Set the rule Will suppliers compete on this term? to either Yes, Downward bidding for a premium format
auction, or to Yes, Upward bidding, for a discount format auction.
Index Auction Strategy
Index bidding is appropriate when:
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You have previously evaluated supplier bids against an index.
Price fluctuates significantly within your contract period.
The commodity is already tracked on a published index.
You want to evaluate bids against a baseline number that you define.
Evaluating Bids Against a Standard Index
A standard index helps you account for frequent price fluctuations. Use index bidding for standardized
commodities that have established price indices:
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Raw materials
Electricity
Natural Gas
Ferroalloys
Raw Steel
Diesel Fuel
Food Products
Jet Fuel
Lumber
Chemicals
Example:
You are a buyer responsible for purchasing lumber. Due to fluctuations in the price of lumber, it’s difficult to
negotiate a specific price with you suppliers. One week, the lumber might cost $500 / Thousand board feet,
and the next week it might cost $650 / Thousand board feet.
In order to account for these fluctuations and still have a competitive online market, you decide to use index
bidding. Your strategy is to use premium bidding format and base it off of the index value found in the
Hardwood Market Report.
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Index Auction Strategy
Example:
You are sourcing rental car services among five different rental companies. You create an auction using
Discount bidding format. This allows you to define what you want the starting per day rate to be (the index)
and then have suppliers bid a percentage discount off of this rate.
In this type of auction, you can evaluate suppliers by the percent discount that they give you. For example,
one supplier might give you a 7% discount off what you are currently paying and another supplier might give
you an 11% discount.
Deciding Which Index to Use
Deciding which index to use is one of the most important decisions you have to make when preparing for an
index auction.
Some things you should consider are:
• Supplier Acceptance: The index you use should be accepted by all your suppliers.
• Index Volatility: You should choose an index not subject to large price fluctuations.
• Index Value: Be specific—indices are constantly in flux.
For example, a fuel index may indicate the low price per gallon of diesel fuel is $1.00, the average price is
$1.50, and the high price is $2.00. Also, indices typically change value over the course of the day. Finally,
some indices have national and regional values. When you create an index auction, you should define
whether to use the low, average, or high prices, at what time of day, and in what region.
Preparing for an Index Auction
Will suppliers agree to use the index you choose?
All participating suppliers should understand the index you select. You should discuss the index format with
them in advance and make sure they understand your requirements and methodology.
How do I communicate the auction information to all my suppliers?
Information about the index and the auction format you plan to use should be conveyed in your requirements
as well as in any other communication that you have with your suppliers.
What additional information should I convey to my suppliers if I am running an
index auction?
You should convey what index you will be using and how the suppliers will be expected to bid when the
market opens. You should detail how the final pricing for your market will be determined.
Most buyers determine final pricing by taking:
Final Price = Fixed Costs + Index Value on Ship Date +/- Supplier Premium or Discount
If you are evaluating bids against an index that has significant fluctuations, you might decide to determine
final pricing by using the average index value instead of the value on the ship date. If this is the case, you
will want to make sure suppliers understand in advance how this value will be calculated.
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Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 11
Dutch Auctions
In a Dutch auction the project owner sets the starting price as follows:
• Set the starting price just below the absolute lowest price for which they anticipate the seller would be
willing to sell it. This is a reverse Dutch auction.
• Set the starting price just above the absolute highest price for which they anticipate the buyer would be
willing to buy it. This is a forward Dutch auction.
At specified intervals set by the project owner, Ariba Sourcing adjusts the price until one of the participants
accepts the price. At that time bid goods are sold and the next item opens. If a participant wants the business,
they are under pressure to bid as soon as they can, which favors the project owner. If the Dutch auction
allows partial-quantity bidding, there may be other opportunities to do business with the unsold quantity.
Dutch auctions are best suited for events in which cost is the primary concern. Use this type of event when
suppliers are pre-qualified and when there are few suppliers. A Dutch auction pressures participants to bid
the best price they possibly can and to bid before their competitors can take the business away.
A dutch auction has the following special characteristics:
• Forces lots to use serial bidding. One lot is open for bidding. When it closes, the next one opens.
• Disables the overtime option. It is not needed.
• Disables the ability to import responses using Microsoft Excel.
• In a forward Dutch auction, you are selling and the price falls at each interval.
In a reverse Dutch auction, you are buying and the price rises at each interval.
• The screen is refreshed every five seconds. (For other events it is 20 seconds.)
Creating a Dutch Auction Event
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To create a Dutch auction event:
1 In the Common Actions panel, choose Create > Sourcing Project.
2 For the event type, choose Auction, if buying or Forward Auction, if you are selling.
3 From the list of event templates, choose the Dutch Reverse Auction template, if you are buying or the
Dutch Forward Auction template if you are selling.
4 Click Create. You are now ready to configure the Dutch auction.
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Setting the Dutch Auction Rules
Chapter 11 Dutch Auctions
Setting the Dutch Auction Rules
See Chapter 3 “Event Rules,” for complete descriptions of all possible rules.
Can participants place bids during the preview period
The term “bids” in this case means responses to questions. Actual bids on lots and items are not allowed
during the preview period in a Dutch auction. In general a Dutch auction is better when participants are
pre-qualified, but if you have questions you would like to ask before the bidding starts, allow or require
“prebids.”
Running time for the first lot
Bidding for lots/items is serial, as described in “Serial Bidding” on page 27. It is the time during which the
first lot is open for bidding. You can specify minutes, hours or days.
Time between lot closing
It is the interval between the closing of each bidding period. You can specify minutes, hours or days. It can
be different than the first.
Bid Adjustment Interval
This is the interval at which the bid changes. Whether it changes by an amount or percentage depends on
how you set the bidding rule. How much or by what percentage is set when you create each lot or line item.
Set an interval that allows enough time for bidding. It favors you when participants bid in this interval
instead of the next one, so give them time to consider whether they should bid.
Adding Team Members, Participants, and Content
Set up the event team as described in “Changing Team Members” on page 45.
Invite participants as described in “Inviting Participants to an Event” on page 49.
You can add content as described in “Creating Content” on page 53. However there are a few important
differences for Dutch auctions.
Specifying the Price Adjustment
On the Content page, when you add a lot or line item, there is a Bidding Rules section where you can specify
the price adjustment amount or percent for this lot or line item. This enables you to have a different price
adjustment for each lot or line item.
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Adding Team Members, Participants, and Content
Specifying Partial Quantities
With a Dutch auction you can allow participants to specify how much or how many of an item they would
like to buy or sell at the specified price. You can only set up partial-quantity bidding for line items, but not
lots, and not line items in lots.
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To set up partial quantity bidding
1 Set the line item for unit bidding by selecting Participants bid per unit.
2 Right-click on the Quantity term and select Edit.
3 For Response Required?, select Yes, Participant Required.
4 For Acceptable Values, you may select Limited Range. When you select Limited range, the Range option
appears in which you can specify a range of quantities that participants may specify. Use this to set
minimum and/or maximum quantities.
The other options work as described in Chapter 6 “Creating Content.”
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“Response Required” on page 72
“Reference Documents” on page 72
“Visible to Participant” on page 73
“Use participant-specific initial values” on page 74
“Rollup in section summary” on page 63
Is this a matrix term: See “To set up a price matrix:” on page 63
Display term in column or row: See “To set up a price matrix:” on page 63
“Has Historic Value” on page 66
“Has Reserve Value” on page 66
“Team Access Control” on page 74
“Initial Value” on page 75
Setting a Price Cap
You can set a limit to the price, so that when the automatic price adjustments reach this limit the lot closes.
To do that for any lot or line item, edit the Price term to specify a range. In a reverse Dutch auction the lot
closes at the end of the interval that specifies the upper limit price. In a forward Dutch auction the lot closes
at the end of the interval that specifies the lower limit price.
The running time for the lot, as mentioned above in “Running time for the first lot” on page 122, might be
shortened if the price cap is reached before the running time expires.
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Monitoring a Dutch Auction
Chapter 11 Dutch Auctions
Monitoring a Dutch Auction
For best results, plan your event carefully and avoid mistakes that require changes after the event has started.
Mistakes can cause confusion and discontent among participants and should be avoided, if possible. For
more information see Chapter 16 ”Editing Events” and Chapter 17 “Monitoring an Event.”
Changing Quantities
If you change the quantity of a lot or line, the system automatically adjusts the remaining quantity shown to
participants. You should be careful when changing the quantity for two reasons:
• If you specified a minimum bidding quantity, be careful that your change cannot result in a leftover
quantity smaller than this minimum. Participants would not be able to bid on it.
• There is some time lag in the system. If you reduce the quantity at the same time that a participant is
bidding on the remaining quantity, the bid and the change may not show up until after the next refresh,
resulting in a negative quantity. To fix it, you must delete the last bid and reopen the lot/line.
Changing Price
If you opened the lot/line at the wrong price and need to change it after a participant has already bid, you
may have to delete their bid. For example, in a reverse Dutch auction, suppose you start the bidding for a lot
at $500, then realize that you meant to start it at $50. If a supplier has already taken the lot at $500 you must
change the price, delete their bid, and reopen the lot.
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Chapter 12
RFP with Price Breakdown
The RFP with Price Breakdown template allows you to create RFPs that, instead of soliciting total prices
from suppliers, collect a breakdown of the supplier’s price. The additional information helps you to:
• Learn more about your suppliers’ businesses.
• Compare suppliers’ prices more critically.
• Decide if the supplier’s price is reasonable.
This section covers the following topics:
• “About RFP with Price Breakdown” on page 125
• “Creating an RFP with Price Breakdown” on page 126
About RFP with Price Breakdown
Suppose that a supplier sells you a part for $.05 a unit. You want to understand how the supplier arrived at
that price. You learn that for this particular part there are four primary costs: tooling, labor, materials, and
markup. Therefore you want your suppliers to quote you on each one of those costs for that particular part.
In a standard RFP, a line item prompting suppliers to enter their price might look like this:
When creating an RFP with Price Breakdown, you create fields for suppliers to fill out to provide you with
the elements of their price to you. The line item might look like this:
An RFP with Price breakdown and a Total Cost auction are different. For an RFP with price breakdown,
suppliers do not enter the value of the Price term; they supply the values of price components and the price is
calculated by adding them.
For Total Cost, suppliers provide the price and other terms that you define as adders, subtracters, multipliers,
and dividers, each on a per-unit or per item basis. This enables you to create much more elegant Total Cost
calculations that the price breakdown method cannot duplicate.
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Chapter 12 RFP with Price Breakdown
Creating an RFP with Price Breakdown
The first step in creating an RFP with Price Breakdown is to create an event using the RFP with Price
Breakdown template.
• To learn about the RFP with Price Breakdown template see “RFP Templates” on page 16.
• To learn about choosing which template to use to create an event, see step 4 in the procedure “To create an
event:” on page 10.
Once you have created an event using the RFP with Price Breakdown template, follow the normal steps
outlined in “Quick Start for Events” on page 9. The only additional difference when you create an RFP with
Price Breakdown is how you create line items:
• In a standard RFP or Auction, you use line items to collect the pricing for complete items.
• In an RFP with Price Breakdown, you add terms to line items to collect the costs that make up a line item.
Those costs are also called price breakdown information.
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To create a line item to collect price breakdown information:
1 On the Content page, click Add > Line Item.
2 Fill out basic line item information such as Name, Quantity.
3 In the Item Terms area, click Add > Term.
4 Click the New Term tab.
5 Enter the name of the price breakdown term. For example, Tooling.
6 Change the Include in Cost option to Adder.
7 You can modify the other fields on the page. To read about those fields, see “Terms” on page 61.
8 Click OK. You return to the Add Item page. Repeat steps 3–8 to add all of the terms. When you have
finished, the Item Terms area might look like this (note the created terms):
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Creating an RFP with Price Breakdown
9 If you click Done to exit the Add Item page at this point, you will receive an error: You must provide a
Historical Value for Item 1, ‘Total Cost’. There
are two ways to resolve this error:
• Enter an historic value for the Total Cost.
Click the name Total Cost and choose Edit.
Change the field Formula computation to Compute for bidders. Click OK.
In the Item Terms area, the term Total Cost now has fields where you can enter historic and reserve
values. In the Historic field, enter a figure representing the price that you paid for the line item in the
past. Leave the other fields blank.
• You can also enter historic values for each cost term.
To do this, edit each cost term individually and set the field Has historic value to equal either Yes or Yes
and required. See “Has Historic Value” on page 66 to read more about this field.
When you have done this, you will see that each cost term now has a field where you can enter its
historic value. Fill in those values, and refresh the page somehow; clicking Done and then re-editing the
line item is one way to do this.
10 Click Done to exit the Add Item page.
11 You see the Line Item created on the Content page. A quick way to validate that the content will appear as
you intend to suppliers is to use the View as Supplier feature. Click Actions > View as Supplier (supplier
name). Enter values for the cost breakdown terms and click Update Totals to see how they add together into
the total price.
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Chapter 12 RFP with Price Breakdown
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 13
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Postings on Ariba Discovery
“About Ariba Discovery Postings” on page 129
“Searching for Suppliers on Ariba Discovery” on page 130
“Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting” on page 131
“Viewing Supplier Responses” on page 137
“Managing Postings on Ariba Discovery” on page 139
“Communicating With Suppliers on Ariba Discovery” on page 141
“Viewing Your Organization’s Activity on Ariba Discovery” on page 142
About Ariba Discovery Postings
Supplier Discovery Postings provide a low-cost way to increase your potential supplier base, reduce the cost
of acquiring and managing suppliers, and increase competition among suppliers. Postings enable you to
solicit interest among suppliers of specific commodities and services on Ariba Discovery.
Note: Although Ariba Sourcing can easily connect and interoperate with Ariba Discovery, Ariba Discovery
and Ariba Sourcing are separate products.
You can create postings to solicit interest among suppliers of specific commodities and services on Ariba
Discovery. A posting lists the commodity or service, project amount, contract length, and the territory where
the business will occur. Before you can create a posting, your Ariba Sourcing solution must be connected to
Ariba SN.
When you publish a posting, Ariba Discovery sends an email inviting all suppliers in the Ariba Network
Directory that match the specified commodity area and territory to respond. That way, you are not limited to
suppliers in your own supplier database, though you can include any of your own suppliers in the invitation.
With a posting you can access a wide group of suppliers.
When a supplier responds to the posting, you receive an email. When you check the responses in Ariba
Discovery, you can also review the supplier’s profile, qualifications, and rating, and then import their profile
data into Ariba Sourcing if they qualify.
You cannot invite suppliers to events through a posting. To invite suppliers to events, use the event
functionality described in “Quick Start for Events” on page 9, or supplier registration features described in
the Ariba Supplier Management Guide.
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Searching for Suppliers on Ariba Discovery
Chapter 13 Postings on Ariba Discovery
Searching for Suppliers on Ariba Discovery
You can search for suppliers before publishing a posting or to increase your supplier base. For example, you
can search according to commodities or location, such as a state or country. While you are searching for
suppliers in Ariba Sourcing, you access the Ariba Discovery directory. You can add suppliers to your
favorites and also import them into Ariba Sourcing.
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To search for suppliers, mark suppliers as favorites, and import profile data into Ariba Sourcing:
1 Click the Home tab.
2 Choose Suppliers from the Search menu in the navigation bar. The Search Suppliers page appears.
3 Click Search Network Directory. You are automatically logged in to Ariba Discovery.
4 Enter a search term, such as a commodity or territory, in the text box and click Find. You can further refine
your search using criteria in the left margin or click Advanced Search for a more precise set of search
criteria. Ariba Discovery displays your search results.
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Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting
5 Click Add to Favorites in the Ratings/Details section to add the supplier to your list of favorites in Ariba
Discovery.
6 Click the My Account tab and click Favorites.
7 On the Favorite Suppliers page, click the check box beside the supplier’s name that you want to import
and click Import to Sourcing.
Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting
There are two ways to initiate a Supplier Discovery Posting: from a sourcing event such as an auction or an
RFP, or by creating an independent posting on Ariba Discovery before you create your sourcing event.
Note: If you specify an event as a test within your Ariba Sourcing solution, only the suppliers you have
explicitly invited can view the event in Ariba Discovery. For more information, see “Creating a Test
Posting” on page 136.
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To create a posting:
1 Choose one of the following methods:
• After you publish an event in Ariba Sourcing, click Publish in the Supplier Discovery Posting box in the
right margin. This initiates the posting with the same name, description, commodity, and region
associated with the original sourcing event but does not include the details provided in Ariba Sourcing.
• Click Supplier Discovery Posting in the Common Actions panel.
2 Complete the posting in Ariba Discovery. You can modify the posting name as needed and invite specific
suppliers or rely on Ariba to notify suppliers that match your commodities and territories.
3 Modify the brief description as needed. You can refer to any attachments that you add to the posting.
4 Add any attachments required. These can be documents that describe the posting in detail. Suppliers must
have the required applications to open your attachments.
5 Enter an end date for the posting. This date specifies how long the posting is open to supplier responses.
The end date can be carried over from the Sourcing event, if that is how you created this posting.
6 Specify the commodities for the posting. The commodity categories that you specify determine which
suppliers are notified about the posting. You can search by UNSPSC commodity code. Commodities can
be carried over from the Sourcing event.
7 Enter the contact email address. The email address can be carried over from the Sourcing event.
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Chapter 13 Postings on Ariba Discovery
8 Enter your company name.
9 Enter the region that pertains to the work mentioned in the posting. For example, North America. The
region address can be carried over from the Sourcing event.
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Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting
10 You can also enter the potential value of the posting, the potential volume, and the contract length.
Following is an example of a completed posting in Ariba Discovery:
11 Click Continue.
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Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting
Chapter 13 Postings on Ariba Discovery
12 On the Invite Suppliers page, specify which suppliers to invite. You can include other suppliers by
searching the Ariba Discovery directory or by providing their name and email address. You can also
specify requirements and any information about the posting that you want to remain private.
Note: Suppliers you invited in your sourcing event cannot be carried over to a posting on Ariba Discovery.
In other words, you invite suppliers to your postings in Ariba Discovery.
You can state a preference for suppliers that have diversity certifications or green initiatives in the
Supplier Preferences section. Suppliers that meet your criteria are notified after your posting is published.
The privacy settings are as follows:
• Hide participating supplier list—Keeps your invited suppliers private from other Ariba Discovery users.
• Hide my company name—If you click this check box, Ariba Discovery displays a text box in which you
can provide a company alias which all other users see instead of your company name for this posting.
Enter a phrase that accurately describes your company. If you click this check box, your contact name
is also hidden.
• Hide my contact name—Hides your contact name for this posting.
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13 Click Continue.
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14 On the Review and Publish page, you can change the display to see how suppliers will view your posting.
To make changes, click the Previous button to navigate to previous pages. When you are ready to publish
the posting, click Publish.
Creating a Test Posting
You can create a test posting if the event is specified as a test event within your Ariba Sourcing solution.
When the event is published on Ariba Discovery, it will be visible only to the suppliers that you invited in
Ariba Discovery. In other words, Ariba Discovery does not access the supplier list within your Ariba
Sourcing solution. For that reason, you might want to invite yourself as a supplier in order to see how the test
posting looks to your invited suppliers.
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To create a test posting:
1 Create and publish an event in Ariba Sourcing.
2 Follow the steps in “Test Events” on page 19 to create a test posting.
3 Follow the steps in “Creating a Supplier Discovery Posting” on page 131.
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Viewing Supplier Responses
Viewing Supplier Responses
Suppliers with matching commodities and territories receive an email notification when you publish an
posting on Ariba Discovery. They can review the posting, log in, and respond. When a supplier responds to
your posting, you receive an email notification. You can view their response and get additional information
about the supplier, such as their profile information and rating on Ariba Discovery. You can also search for
postings published by other buyers.
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To view a supplier’s response and import their profile:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Supplier Discovery Posting. The Supplier Discovery Postings page in
Ariba Discovery lists the postings that belong to you.
2 Click the link for the posting to access supplier responses.
Click this link to view
the responses
3 Click the supplier name in the Responses section to view the response.
Click the supplier’s name
to view the response
Click Import to Sourcing to
import the supplier’s profile
4 You can specify that you are interested in a supplier’s response by clicking the check box.
5 Click the supplier’s name to view the supplier’s profile information.
6 Click Import to Sourcing to import the supplier’s profile into your Sourcing database. If the supplier already
exists in your Sourcing database, the data is not updated.
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7 After importing a new supplier, you receive a notification message in the Dashboard Notifications area.
8 Click the link to approve this supplier. New suppliers cannot be invited to events until they are approved.
If you approve a supplier and later reconsider, you can always reject them.
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Managing Postings on Ariba Discovery
Managing Postings on Ariba Discovery
You can edit, award, close, and delete your postings. Once a posting has been awarded, closed, or deleted,
you cannot change its status. Closing a posting changes the status of the posting to Closed and notifies
participating suppliers. Deleting a posting removes it from Ariba Discovery and notifies participating
suppliers.
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To edit a posting:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Supplier Discovery Posting. The Supplier Discovery Postings page lists
the postings that belong to you.
2 Click the title.
3 Edit the posting description and click Continue.
4 Edit the supplier list, requirements, and privacy settings and click Continue.
5 Review your changes and click Update.
Ariba Discovery republishes the modified posting and notifies any suppliers that already responded that
they might want to revise their responses.
Note: As a best practice, clearly indicate your changes so that suppliers that have posted responses can easily
identify the changes you have made and update their responses accordingly.
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Chapter 13 Postings on Ariba Discovery
To award a posting:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Supplier Discovery Posting. The Supplier Discovery Postings page is
displayed.
2 Click the check box next to the supplier that you want to award the business to and click Award.
3 Update the award value as needed and click OK.
4 Click Done.
Note: The supplier is notified about the award. The other suppliers that responded are notified that the buyer
has awarded the business to another supplier.
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To close a posting:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Supplier Discovery Posting. The Supplier Discovery Postings page is
displayed.
2 Click an open posting.
3 Click Close. This closes (cancels) the posting.
You can also close a posting while editing it. Suppliers that responded are notified that you have closed
the posting without awarding it.
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To delete a posting:
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Supplier Discovery Posting. The Supplier Discovery Postings page is
displayed.
2 Click an open posting.
3 Click Delete.
Suppliers that responded are notified that you have deleted the posting without awarding it.
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Communicating With Suppliers on Ariba Discovery
Communicating With Suppliers on Ariba Discovery
You can click Contact Supplier on a supplier’s public profile page to send them a direct message. This safe and
secure method of communication conceals email addresses of inquirers and tracks all communication in a
central location. Standard suppliers can receive one incoming message for free and can not send outgoing
messages. Advantage suppliers can send and receive unlimited messages. Ariba Discovery sends you an
email notification when you receive a new message.
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To send messages:
1 After you are logged in to Ariba Discovery, click Contact Supplier on a Supplier Profile page.
Ariba Discovery displays the Compose Message page.
2 Enter your message and click Send.
Ariba Discovery sends an email notification to the supplier, alerting them that they have a new message.
Ariba Discovery sends you an email notification when you receive a response from a supplier.
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To view your messages:
1 After you are logged in to Ariba Discovery, click My Account.
2 Click Messages.
Ariba Discovery displays the Messages page.
3 Click View Message.
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Viewing Your Organization’s Activity on Ariba Discovery
You can view a summary of your organization’s activity on Ariba Discovery. The Organization Activity
page displays a summary of postings created by users in your organization and information about user
activity on Ariba Discovery.
The Organization Activity page enables you to sort your organization’s postings by user or commodity.
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To view postings created by users in your organization:
1 After you are logged in to Ariba Discovery, click My Account.
2 Click Activity.
Ariba Discovery displays the Organization Activity page.
3 Click Postings by User.
Ariba Discovery groups the postings by user name. You can click any of the column names to sort the
data.
4 Click a posting name to view or edit the posting details.
5 Click Postings by Commodity to view the postings created by users in your organization grouped by
commodity.
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To view your organization’s user activity:
1 After you are logged in to Ariba Discovery, click My Account.
2 Click Activity.
Ariba Discovery displays the Organization Activity page.
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3 Click User Activity.
Ariba Discovery displays the following information on the User Activity page:
• Number of postings created on Ariba Discovery.
• Number of times the user logged in to Ariba Discovery.
• The last log in date and time.
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To export your organization’s user activity to Microsoft Excel:
1 After you are logged in to Ariba Discovery, click My Account.
2 Click Activity.
Ariba Discovery displays the Organization Activity page.
3 Click the Table Options Menu.
4 Choose one of the Export to Excel options. If your internet browser tries to block the download of the file,
choose to permit the download.
The file automatically opens in Microsoft Excel.
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Chapter 14
Globalization
You can create an event for an international market in which participants can view the event in the language
of their choice. You can set up the event in a specific currency, and allow You can also choose the currency
on a per-event basis.
Support for international events includes these features:
• Translated textual information:
• Ariba Sourcing supports several major languages. The program’s interface, as well as emailed
notifications, are available in each of these languages. Users access the translated interface by setting
the locale field in their user preferences.
• Next to customer created fields containing textual information, members of the Translator group see a
Translate link. Following the link takes them to a page where they can enter translations in all
supported languages.
• Multiple Currencies
• Buyers can set the base currency of their event to be any supported currency. Ariba Sourcing displays
all monetary figures to buyers using the base currency.
• Buyers can add additional bidding currencies to the event. Participants can place bids in any enabled
bidding currency; the system automatically converts bids into the base currency using exchange rates
that the buyers set.
This section covers the following topics:
• “Translating Textual Information” on page 145
• “Using Multiple Currencies” on page 148
• “Setting User Preferences for Globalization” on page 152
Translating Textual Information
Ariba Sourcing includes a feature for translating selected business data fields in an event so that participants
can view the information in the language of their choice. You can translate from your base language into one
or more of the supported languages:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Russian
Spanish
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Note: You might not see the complete list of languages, depending on the configuration of your site. Please
contact Ariba Product Support to change the configuration of your site.
Ariba Sourcing marks translatable business data elements with a Translations link; these are:
•
•
•
•
•
The project name and description
Content names or titles
Content descriptions
Text initial values (including participant specific initial values)
Text multiple choice questions
Viewing Translations While Monitoring an Event
While monitoring an event, select Action > View Translations to view the translations for event content such as
sections, line item and lot names, and descriptions. For example:
Base Language
When you create an event, your language (the language specified in your user profile) becomes the base
language of the event. You create the content of the event in the base language. Then, you or your translators
translate the content into the other supported languages. You cannot change the base language after the event
is created.
When suppliers log in, they see the event in their language (the language specified in their user profile), if
available. If you have not translated the event into their language, they see the event in the base language.
This gives you the option to translate only part of the business data. For example, suppose your base
language is English, and you are translating your event into French, but you only have budget to translate the
introduction, and not the names of the line items. Suppliers that have specified French as their preferred
language see all the translated text you provide, as well as the application interface, in French. Untranslated
text (in this case, line item names) displays in English.
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About the Translator Group
Members of the Translator group have access to translation features, such as the presence of the Translations
link next to translatable data:
If you do not see the translations link, ask your administrator to assign you to the Translator group. (See the
Ariba On-Demand Administration Guide for Sourcing, Reporting, and Contract Management for
information on what members of different groups can do.)
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To assign a user the Translator role (users with Administrator privileges only):
1 In the Common Actions panel, click Manage > Administration.
2 Click User Manager > Roles.
3 In the Role Name field, enter Translator.
4 Click Search.
5 To the right of the Translator role that search returns, click Edit.
6 Click the Users with Current Role tab.
7 Click Add/Remove.
8 Search for the user you want to add. Enable the checkbox next to their name. Click OK.
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Translating Business Data
There are two ways to translate business data:
• Translate one business data element into all languages.
• Translate all business data into a single language.
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To translate one business data element into all languages:
1 Next to the field that you want to translate, click the Translations link.
2 Enter translations for languages you have decided to support. You do not have to enter translations for all
available languages. When localized users log in, they are presented with translated data, if present.
Otherwise, they see the base language data.
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To translate all business data into a single language:
1 On the Content page of the event you want to translate, choose Actions > Translate.
2 On the Translate Content page, the Base Language is shown on the left in read–only fields. You cannot
modify the base language data from this page.
The Translation Language, the language that you are entering translations for, is displayed on the right.
Choose the Translation Language from the drop down menu on the upper right. Enter new translations or
modify existing translations in the editable fields on the right hand side. If you have already entered some
translated data, it is displayed and you can edit it.
3 At any point while you are editing, you can save your work. Clicking Save does not cause you to exit the
page.
4 When you are finished entering translations, choose another Translation Language, or click Done.
Using Multiple Currencies
Ariba Sourcing allows the creation of events where businesses from many different countries, bidding in
different currencies, can be made to compete against one another for your business. When competing, each
supplier views all bidding (their own, and their competitors’ bids) in the currency they select.
Use this feature to create larger markets, which give you the potential for greater savings.
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To set up a multiple currency event:
1 Set the Event Currency, also known as the Base Currency. The system uses this currency in the following
ways:
• The system stores all monetary values in this currency.
• The system displays all monetary values to the Event Creator and Team in this currency.
See “Setting the Event Currency” on page 149.
2 Set up the currencies that suppliers can use when placing bids. These are called Bidding Currencies.
See “Setting up Bidding Currencies” on page 150.
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Setting the Event Currency
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To set the event currency during event creation:
1 Choose the currency:
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To change the event currency after event creation:
1 While editing an event, go to the Summary page.
2 Select Actions > Edit Overview.
3 Edit the Currency field.
Note: Ariba Sourcing only allows you to choose certain currencies as Event Currencies. You can only use
currencies supported by Ariba Reporting and Analysis.
Number of Decimal Places in Event and Bidding Currencies
When adding content to an event, you can set the precision of monetary terms.
Ariba Sourcing applies the precision that the event creator sets for terms in the event currency to terms in all
bidding currencies. Suppose, in an event with USD as the event currency, the event creator adds a monetary
term with a precision of 4 decimal places. For that term, Ariba Sourcing presents four decimal places of
precision to all participants, regardless of which currency they bid in.
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Setting up Bidding Currencies
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To set up multiple Bidding Currencies:
1 While creating on event, on the Rules page, set the rule Allow participants to select bidding currency to Yes.
The Multi Currency Rules section expands to show additional options:
2 You must choose a set of Currency Conversion Rates. An administrator user must initially add these rates
(see the chapter Defining and Importing Your Own Data in the Common Data Import and Administration
Guide). If an administrator user has not performed the initial configuration, you cannot choose a
conversion rate set, and cannot add or edit bidding currencies.
3 After choosing an exchange rate set, you can Edit and adjust the rates. You can remove exchange rate pairs
from the event or from specific lines within the event, but you cannot set up new exchange rate pairs that
do not exist in the exchange rate set. If you need a currency pair that is not part of an existing exchange
rate set, ask an administrator user to create it.
The exchange rate formula is:
For example:
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4 Choose a setting for Show currency exchange rates to participants. Setting the rule to Yes causes the Currency
Conversion Rates table to appear on participant users’ Event Details page.
Note: Use the View as Participant feature to view the rates as participants see them:
1 Go to the Content page of the event wizard.
2 Click Actions > View as Participant.
3 In the preview, click the Event Details link, in the upper left. Note the Exchange Rates table.
5 On the Content page, you have the ability to customize the available currencies and exchange rates for
each lot or line item that you create.
Resetting the Lot Rate
On the Rules page, you configure exchange rates for the entire event. On each individual lot and line item
page you can customize these exchange rates for that specific lot or line item.
If you customize exchange rates at the lot or line item-level, and then make changes to the event-level
exchange rate, the application does not overwrite the lot-level exchange rate with the change.
Click Reset Lot Rate, located in the Multi Currency section of the Rules page, to erase all customized lot-level
exchange rates and replace them with the event-level exchange rate set.
Suppliers’ View of a Multi Currency Event
When logging into your event, participants choose bidding currencies on the Select Lots page. They choose
an overall event bidding currency, and can choose exceptions for specific lots.
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Participants’ procedure for selecting currencies on the Select Lots page:
1 The participant chooses the event bidding currency.
2 The participant checks the lots they will participate in.
3 Participant can select lot-level exceptions to the event bidding currency.
4 The participant chooses OK and proceeds to the Bidding Console. Bidding proceeds on a lot by lot basis.
Suppliers see all bidding in the currency they selected for each Lot. Ariba Sourcing displays all bids (by
the participant or by competitors) in the participant’s bidding currency for that lot, no matter the currency
the bid was placed in. Besides for extra steps on the Select Lots page, the multi–currency feature is
invisible to suppliers.
Working with Currencies During a Running Event
When you observe your event through the monitoring console, the system displays prices to you in the event
currency. The system automatically converts bids placed in the various bidding currencies into the event
currency.
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Viewing Original Currency Bids
You can view bid values in their original bidding currencies. To do this, choose Actions > Toggle Original
Currency Bids. The system will then display monetary fields in both their original currencies and the event
currency:
Exchange Rates
Sourcing immediately converts participants’ bids into the event currency using exchange rates that you
define for that event. Sourcing stores participants’ bids in the event currency.
Exchange rates used in Ariba Reporting and Analysis are defined separately from the exchange rates used in
Ariba Sourcing. This might cause fractional discrepancies suppliers’ original bids and the values displayed
in the reports. For example:
For an event, the Event Currency is USD; a supplier places a bid for 100 EUR. For that event, the event
creator defined the exchange rate to be 1.24 USD = 1 EUR. The system converts the bid into the event
currency and stores it: 80.64 USD
In Ariba Reporting and Analysis, a user using a European locale views a report which contains data (in
aggregate) from the event. Ariba Reporting and Analysis happens to have a different USD / EUR exchange
rate defined: 1.20 USD = 1 EUR. Ariba Reporting and Analysis converts the bid amount back into Euros,
and the reported amount is slightly different from the original bid: 96.76 EUR
Setting User Preferences for Globalization
Properly configured user preferences are essential for globalized events. The language users see, date and
number formatting, and the accuracy of the times presented to them depend on settings such as:
Locale
Locale determines the language in which users see the interface text. It also determines the formatting of
dates and numbers, which is not necessarily tied to language. For example, although English is the language
of both the United States and the United Kingdom, Americans write January 15th, 2005 as 01/15/2005,
placing the month before the day, whereas citizens of the United Kingdom write 15/01/2005, placing the day
before the month. For that reason there is a locale English–United States and a locale English–United
Kingdom.
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Setting User Preferences for Globalization
To set a supplier’s locale when creating a new supplier:
You can set a supplier’s locale when creating a new supplier. Once you create the supplier, however, they
must maintain their own preferences.
1 On the Supplier Search page, click Create New Supplier.
2 On the Create New Supplier page, specify the supplier’s Locale.
Time Zone
Ariba Sourcing determines your time zone in two ways.
• When you log in to Ariba Sourcing, the system sets its time zone to match your computer’s clock. Make
sure that your computer’s clock is set correctly, otherwise the system could display incorrect times.
• You should also set up your time zone in Ariba Sourcing’s preferences page. The system uses this time
zone information to determine the times to place in system generated emails.
The system tries to display the time that is most appropriate to the user; in email messages, it sets the times
based on the time zone set in the user’s preferences, and in the interface, it sets the times according to the
user’s computer’s clock.
If a user is travels away from the time zone set in their preferences, this could cause confusion. For example,
a user from the United Kingdom (with preferences configured as such) might receive an email notifying
them that an auction will start at 12 noon (GMT). If he or she is travels to California (and changes their
computer’s clock), then when they log on, Ariba Sourcing will show the auction start time as 8 PM (PST).
This is the intended behavior of the system, however, the system does not specify the time zone, which could
cause confusion.
Event time zone handling and Daylight Savings Time are covered in “Time Zone Handling” on page 159.
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How users can modify their own globalization preferences:
Both enterprise and supplier users can modify their globalization preferences using this procedure.
1 Click Home. Suppliers return to the Event List page. Owners return to the Dashboard.
2 Click Preferences, located in the upper center of the screen.
3 To set Locale, click Change default locale and currency.
4 To set the Time Zone, click Change your profile.
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Chapter 15
Reviewing and Publishing an Event
When you go to the Summary page, it checks for errors. Once they are fixed you can publish the event.
Publishing an event exposes it to participants. Whether or not the event has a preview period, accepts
prebids, or immediately opens for bidding depends on how you configured the event’s timing rules. To read
about rules, see the chapter “Event Rules” on page 21.
This chapter contains the following topics:
•
•
•
•
“Reviewing Your Event” on page 155
“Print Event Information” on page 157
“Publishing Your Event” on page 158
“Time Zone Handling” on page 159
Reviewing Your Event
To get to the summary page click step 5, Summary on the left. The top of a sample summary page is shown
below:
If there are any errors, they appear
in a gray box at the top of the page.
You cannot publish the event until the errors are fixed.
If there are errors, return to the appropriate rule or content to fix errors and then come back to the Summary
page. You might encounter event limits when you attempt to publish an event. See “Content Limits in
Different Events” on page 82 for details.
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Below the Overview section, shown above there are also sections for reviewing the event settings for:
•
•
•
•
Timing rules
Bidding Rules
Currency Rules
Market Feedback
• Invited Participants
• Content
• Customized Messages
Review each section to make sure the settings are as you expect. In addition there are certain settings you can
change from the Edit Overview page. Click Actions > Edit Overview to edit the overview.
All the editable settings are described earlier except the access controls for the event as a whole.
Project Access Control
Click on the link to the right of Access Control to set access to this project. You can set the following access
controls from the Edit Event page:
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Access Control
Limits access to...
Classified
Members of the groups Classified Access, Contract Manager, Sourcing
Manager, and Procurement Manager can view the object.
Draft Access Restricted
Only the Owner can access the document when its status is Draft. Once it is
published, this restriction no longer applies.
Finance Information
Members of the Finance group can view the object
Legal Information
Members of the Legal group can view the object
Owner Only
Sourcing event project owners can view the object. These are users in the
Project Owner project group.
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Access Control
Print Event Information
Limits access to...
Private to Content Only Reports Users Users with access to content-only reports can view this project.
Private to Global Catalog Reports
Users
Users with access to global catalog reports can view this project
Private to Internal Users
Internal users of Ariba Sourcing can view the object.
Private to Spend Visibility Opportunity Spend Visibility Basic users can view the object.
Analysts
Private to SPM Users
Supplier Performance Management users can view this project
Private to Team Members
Only team members listed on the Team page can view the object.
Project Description
By default the project description is only available to team members, not event participants. To make the
description visible to participants, ask your administrator to change the
Application.AQS.RFX.ShowDescriptionTo Participants parameter value to true.
Print Event Information
On the Actions menu, this action exports the event information to a file in Microsoft Word’s DOC file format.
You will also see this action from the Monitor page. This function enables you to print the following event
information:
• Overview
• Team members
• Timing rules
• Message board rules
• Market feedback rules
• Invited participants
• Auction Format
• Customized messages
• Bidding rules
• Event content
• Currency rules
• Scoring
• Initiator actions
Suppliers can only see and print the Overview, Timing Rules, and Market Feedback allowed by the event.
To produce the output in HTML format, ask your administrator to change the
value to ariba.sourcing.rfxui.HTMLPrintRFX.
Application.AQS.RFX.PrintRFX.PrintRFXImpl parameter
Once the event is in Word or HTML, you can format it as you like it and print it. There are no differences
between the output formats other than how they are formatted and how you can edit and display them. The
choice is personal preference.
Note: Spreadsheet events are large events and result in a large file after export. It is cumbersome to open and
edit large files in DOC format so Ariba Sourcing automatically produces the output in HTML format in such
cases.
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Publishing Your Event
On the Summary page, click Publish. Publishing the event sends the event invitations to the participants. You
can then click Monitor to view the event’s monitoring interface. See Chapter 17 ”Monitoring an Event” for
details.
If you are a member of a group that does not have permission to publish an event, such as the Junior
Sourcing Agent group, you see a Submit button instead of a Publish button, and you see a highlighted
message:
Before Ariba Sourcing publishes the event, you must submit it to be approved, for example, by a member of
the Sourcing Approver group.
Publishing the event triggers notifying all participants that they are invited. If you must re-send an invitation,
simply delete the participant and then add them back, then republish the event.
After you publish your event, you can:
• Monitor the event, as described in “Monitoring an Event” on page 165.
• Return to the dashboard.
• Publish the event to Ariba Discovery. This option only appears if your system is configured to talk to
Ariba Discovery. If you publish an event to Ariba Discovery, it is called a posting, as described in
“Postings on Ariba Discovery” on page 129.
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To track the status of your event publish approval task:
Buyers who must submit their event for publish approval can track whether or not their event is approved,
and see which people are responsible for approving the event.
1 When you click Submit, you see a screen titled Event Submitted for Approval. Choose View details of the
event. You see the event’s monitoring interface, with status Pending publish Approval.
2 Click Actions > View Publish Approval Task.
The Document Approval Task page displays. Here you can track the approval process of your event. For
example, to see who has the authority to approve your event, view the members of the Sourcing Approver
group.
3 Click Sourcing Approver. On the Review Details for Sourcing Approver page, view the Members field to
see who has the ability to approve your event for publishing.
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Time Zone Handling
To approve an event publish approval task:
Sourcing Approvers have the responsibility to approve the event, allowing it to be published.
1 When a user has submitted an event for you to approve, Ariba Sourcing alerts you by placing a link on the
Dashboard in the Needs Review area.
2 Click the link. You see the Document Approval Task screen. Click Approve or Deny.
3 On the approved or denied screen, you can write a message and add an attachment to communicate why
you approved or denied the event. Click OK when you are finished composing your message.
4 Ariba Sourcing immediately publishes the event after your reviewers have approved it.
Time Zone Handling
The United States and the European Union observe Daylight Savings Time on different dates. You should be
aware of when Daylight savings time starts and stops and make sure you take the change into account.
All times in Ariba Sourcing are stored in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format. When times are
displayed to a user who is logged in, they are adjusted to reflect the user’s local time based on their profile
settings. Every time setting in a profile has a certain adjustment from UTC, either adding time or subtracting
time. One exception is the “Local Time” setting. That means use the computer’s time setting and the
adjustment is derived from that.
Even in notification emails, times or dates are converted to the recipient’s time zone as specified in their
profile.
If you have an event scheduled to start at 8:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time, it is stored in the system as 1:00
PM UTC (Greenwich Mean Time). When displayed to a user, whether a buyer or a supplier, it is converted to
their profile setting, so a supplier in France, for example, would see an event start time of 2:00 PM.
When Daylight Savings time occurs in your time zone, the adjustment from UTC changes to accommodate
it. Essentially your local time is changing to a different time zone. If you set up an event to start at 8:00 AM
next week, and by next week the start or end of Daylight Savings Time will put you in a different time zone,
the system is aware of that change and sets the start time to the correct UTC for that date. That way when
Daylight Savings Time occurs, nothing has to change.
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Chapter 16
Editing Events
Depending on what stage your event is at in the event process, there are certain conditions associated with
editing an event.
This section covers the following topics:
• “Editing Published Events” on page 161
• “Two Users Editing an Event Simultaneously” on page 163
Editing Published Events
You can edit a published event. For example, to invite another supplier, create or change a line item, or add
another team member.
To edit a published event, click Actions > Edit on the Monitoring page.
When you edit a published event, the system creates a draft version of the event. You change the draft
version without affecting the published event. When you are finished making changes, replace the published
version of the event with the draft version by updating the event. Alternatively, you can discard the draft
version. When you update the event, the draft version replaces the published version, and there is nonce
again, only one version.
Viewing the Draft or Published Version
During the edit period the draft and the published versions coexist.
To switch the view to the published version of the event, click Actions > View Published Version. View the
published version to perform Event Administration tasks such as deleting bids or extending and reducing the
timing of lots or line items.
When you view the published version of an event that has a draft version, the system displays a message
informing you that a draft version exists.
To view the draft version, click Actions > View Draft Version. You can also immediately access the draft
version by clicking Actions > Edit. This does not create a new draft version, it returns you to the existing draft
version.
When you view the draft version of a published event, the system displays a message informing you that a
published version exists:
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Updating the Event
To make the changes in the draft version public, that is, to make the draft version of the event replace the
published version, update the event.
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To update your event:
1 Click Actions > Edit.
2 On the Summary page of the event wizard of the draft event, click Update.
Note: You can also update the event by viewing the published version of the event and clicking update in
the warning message at the top of the screen.
3 On the Update Event page, choose an option:
For envelope events the only edit you can perform is to discard everyone’s responses and start over. For
other events, you can change anything about it. If suppliers have already submitted bids, you might make
changes that invalidate some of their bids. For example, perhaps you lowered the ceiling price on a certain
lot. For this reason, when you update the event, the gives you the option to notify the suppliers that you
have changed the event, and also the option to discard suppliers’ existing responses.
Note: See “Automatic Notification Addressing” on page 195 to learn about the notification message that
the system sends and how you can modify it. The notification Event edited and republished is sent when
you republish your event.
4 Click Update Event. The system immediately updates the event with your changes, unless you need
approval before publishing an event. In that case, the system submits your updates for approval. When the
appropriate person provides approval, the system updates the event with your changes.
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Two Users Editing an Event Simultaneously
Discarding the Draft Version
If you edit a published event but decide not to update the published event with your changes, you must
discard the draft version of the event. Otherwise the system does not allow you to award the event.
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To discard the draft version and your changes:
1 View the published version of the event by clicking Actions > View Published Version.
2 In the warning message at the top of the page, click Revert.
Viewing the Change History
You can view the differences between each version of the event and the version before it. For example, if you
view the Change History for version 3, you see the changes made from version 2 to version 3.
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To view the change history:
1 While viewing the event details, click Actions > View Change History.
2 Select an event version.
3 Click View Changes.
Two Users Editing an Event Simultaneously
Occasionally two users try to edit an event at the same time. The system has error messages to support the
following scenario:
User 1 is editing the event. User 2 tries to edit the event. The system displays the following confirmation
screen to user 2:
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If user 2 chooses to ignore user 1’s lock and edit the event in spite of the warning, then user 1 sees this error
message:
You should never ignore another user’s lock on an event when they are actively editing it. If two users make
changes to an event at the same time, the event in Ariba Sourcing’s database can be irreparably damaged,
making it unusable.
However, occasionally users who are editing events simply close their browser windows without correctly
exiting from the event. In this case, the event remains locked, and the next person who tries to edit it receives
the Remove Lock Confirmation message. Since the event is locked in error, it is correct to break the lock and
edit the event. However, before doing so, be sure to contact the user named in the error message and verify
that they are not actively editing the event.
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Chapter 17
Monitoring an Event
After you publish your event, Ariba Sourcing exposes it to participants, and they can respond. Now you can
monitor the event. This section covers the following topics:
• “The Monitoring Interface” on page 165
• “Monitoring Interface Tabs” on page 166
• “Actions Menu” on page 184
For the introductory tutorial, “Event Monitoring,” see Help@Ariba.
The Monitoring Interface
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To access an event’s monitoring interface:
1 If you recently created the event, it might be listed in the My Documents section of the Home tab. Click its
title to see the event’s monitoring page.
2 If your event is not listed in the My Documents list, then you have to search for it. In the Search box on the
Home page, enter the name of the project or any unique string contained within the name of the project
and click Search. It is not case sensitive.
3 When you find the event, click on its name, and choose Open or double-click the event name. monitoring
interface. If the project is not published, you click Exit and select View Details from the Confirm Edit Event
Exit page.
The monitoring interface has two parts, the Actions menu, and a set of tabs. The Actions menu allows you to
take event-wide actions. The tabs allow you to monitor and interact with lots, bids, suppliers and other
elements of the event.
The Bid Clock in the top right corner shows the event status. If a bidding period is open, it shows the time
remaining. The screen is refreshed every 20 seconds, except in Dutch auctions, where the screen is refreshed
every five seconds.
For all of the Monitoring tabs, if any of the content has been restricted using the Team Access Control field,
you cannot see that content element unless you are in the group(s) granted access.
• If an award term is not specified for items, then the user cannot see the Scenario and Award tabs. This
means that in an auction, if you cannot see the bids, you will not be able to see the Scenario and Award
tabs. This applies to auctions only. The Scenario and Award tabs are always visible in RFIs and RFPs.
• You cannot optimize scenarios if doing so requires a term to which you do not have access.
• Access filtering includes the log, which amends entries about content to which the user does not have
access.
• For information on setting the Team Access Control see “Team Access Control” on page 74.
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In Envelope events you cannot see responses in envelopes that have not ben opened, and when participants
are disqualified or discarded, all of their previous responses are deleted.
Monitoring Interface Tabs
The various tabs of the Monitoring Interface allow you to access information and take actions on specific
areas of your event:
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“Overview Tab” on page 166
“Bid Console Tab” on page 166
“Content Tab” on page 168
“Suppliers Tab” on page 169
“Team Tab” on page 172
“Report Tab” on page 172
“Message Tab” on page 174
“Log Tab” on page 176
“Scenario Tab” on page 176
“Award Tab” on page 182
Overview Tab
This tab allows you to view overview data such as:
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The event’s creation date
The template used to create the event
The Target Savings %
The version of the event
The rules that determine how the event runs
Bid Console Tab
This tab allows you to view response activity. From this tab you can also:
• View the bid history table and the bid chart that shows the bidding history.
• View the event bid graph.
• Depending on your permissions, you might be able to open, close, extend or reduce the timing of
individual lots. You also might be able to delete bids. See the procedure “To delete a participant’s bid:” on
page 168.
Note: The Bid Console tab is not available for RFIs or RFPs because participants do not submit bids in those
events.
Totals
The totals row in the event information table does not appear by default. To see the totals row, Click on the
Table Options Menu in the upper right and choose Totals. Totals list the total of all the leading bids, except it
does not include pricing from envelope items.
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Monitoring Interface Tabs
Note: The bid graph and the totals column only show information for participants who have bid on all
biddable items. If a participant failed to bid on one biddable item, all their bids are excluded from this total.
Bid Graph
The bid graph shows the bids for the row selected in the table above it over a period of time. If you show the
Totals row, as described in the previous topic, and select it, the graph shows the extended price totals for
participants who bid on all biddable items. Select one line item in the table to show a graph of the bids for
just that item.
• View – Choose “Selected Participants” to specify which participants’ information you want to include in
the graph. This does not affect the Bid History list, which shows all participants.
• Term – This enables you to view the price or the extended price. This option only appears when you select
an individual line item in the table above. If you show the Totals row, as described in the previous topic,
and click that row in the table
• Period – Choose the time period that the bid graph covers. If you choose a time period during which there
were no bids for the selected participants, the graph displays a message to that effect.
Opening and closing Lots and Line Items
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To close an individual lot or line item:
1 On the Bid Console tab of the monitoring interface click the name of the lot or line item you want to
close.
2 Choose Stop Item.
3 The status of the lot moves to Pending Selection. You can reopen the lot or line item to solicit more bids
(see below), or you can close it without awarding any business. When event is Pending Selection, you can
award the lot or line item if suppliers have submitted acceptable bids.
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To reopen lots and line items
On the Bid Console tab of the monitoring interface click on the name of the lot or line item and choose
Reopen Item.
If you have permission, you can reopen a lot or line item after it is closed. When you do this, Ariba Sourcing
reopens the lot without affecting the timing of the other lots. For example, if you have two lots, and lot one is
closed, and suppliers are bidding on lot two. This graphic shows an example:
If you reopen lot one, it reopens immediately if you are using staggered bidding, with its default end time set
to 10 minutes after the closing time of lot two. Lot two continues with no disruption. For serial bidding, lot
one would reopen after lot two closes. If there was a lot three, it would open after the reopened lot one
closes.
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Deleting Bids
If you have permission, you can delete bids. Suppose, for example, that one of the participants in an auction
is confused, and submits a bid that is drastically higher or lower than the competitive prices. This could also
happen if they inadvertently leave out (or add) zeros. Even though the bid is not reasonable, the system
might define it as the leading bid, and base the bid improvement rules on that bid. In this case, you can delete
erroneous bids in order to allow the auction to progress.
Note: You can set floor or ceiling prices to make it impossible for participants to submit bids that are
drastically high or low. See the question “How can I set a minimum allowed price so that suppliers cannot
bid zero?” in the Ariba Sourcing FAQ.
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To delete a participant’s bid:
1 On the Bid Console tab of the monitoring interface, find the bid you want to delete in the Bid History
table.
2 Click on the bid and choose Delete Bid. The bid is removed from the bid history table. In the bid graph, its
color changes to black, indicating that it has been removed from the auction. The participant receives a
notification informing them that you deleted their bid.
Note: After a supplier bid is deleted, their previous bid becomes active within the market.
Content Tab
This tab allows you to compare supplier responses and send individual suppliers messages by item. By
changing drop down and table options menus, you can sort and organize supplier responses to your event in
a several ways. For example, you can:
• View the responses for a single supplier only.
• Choose which columns to display in the table (up to 13), such as Supplier Name, Leading Supplier,
Historic Price, Reserve Price. You can add or remove them to shown only the information you want.
• View scoring results and event totals.
• Use the Content tab to compare supplier responses to an RFI or an RFP. Use the table options menu to
choose the suppliers to compare.
• Close a line item.
• Send messages to individual participants after they have bid. Click the message icon for a specific item
and participant to send a message to the participant about that item. You can use this feature to negotiate
terms with an individual supplier. The message icon only appears in the participants view for participants
who have bid. Messages only go to that participant, replies are seen by the project team.
From this tab you can view formulas, if there is one associated with an item. When an Fx link appears, you
can click it to see the formula used to calculate that value.
The Content tab is also a convenient place to export participant responses to Excel, as described in
“Exporting UI Tables to Excel” on page 246.
This tab does not show up for RFP events that used the “Optimization for Request for Proposal” template.
That template is designed for large events where the content is entirely imported from Microsoft Excel
spreadsheets.
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Monitoring Interface Tabs
When the event has envelopes, the envelope icon shows which envelopes have been opened, as shown in the
simplified example, below:
The envelope icons show which
envelopes have been opened so far.
To the right is generally a column for every participant and their response for each content element. FOr
Envelopes you can only see the responses for open envelopes.
If, when opening an envelope, you do not select a participant, their column is entirely removed from the
Content tab.
Suppliers Tab
This tab allows you to view supplier information and take actions related to event participants:
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See whether or not the supplier is currently connected to Ariba Sourcing.
See status information about how far suppliers have progressed through the bidding process.
Lock a supplier out of the event.
Submit a surrogate bid for a supplier, if you are a member of the Surrogate Bidders group.
See the date and time of participants last login to Ariba Sourcing.
For envelope bidding, you can only see suppliers who have not been deselected, when opening an envelope.
Supplier Connection Indication
When a participant is connected to the application, a small icon of a head and shoulders appears on the left
hand side of that participant’s row. If you see a red X over the icon, the participant has recently logged off.
When a participant disconnects, the icon disappears.
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Participant Status
The status column tells you where each participant is in the bidding process. Possible statuses include:
Status
Meaning
No status indicates that the supplier has not yet accepted or declined the supplier agreement.
Accepted Agreement
The supplier accepted the supplier agreement, but has not yet indicated intent to bid on specific
items.
Declined Agreement
The supplier actively declined the supplier agreement and does not intend to participate in the
event.
Decline to Respond
The participant has clicked the Decline to Respond button and cannot respond to the event.
Intends to Participate
The supplier accepted the supplier agreement and has expressed interest to bid on one or more
lots.
Participated
The supplier has submitted a bid on one or more lots.
Reconciled Lot
Details
The supplier has provided lot-level details after the auction status moved to pending selection.
This status applies only to auctions in which the supplier bids at the lot level and competes at
the lot level.
Decline to Respond
If any participant clicked their Decline to Respond button, the project owner receives an email and a
message to that effect, and this status appears on the Suppliers tab:
A yellow icon to the right of the status indicates that the supplier added a comment. Click the icon to read it.
The Decline to Respond button is available until the participant accepts the bidder agreement, or selects
Intend to Respond. The participant can also decline to respond by clicking the link provided in the
event-notification email.
Locking Participants
Suppose you determine that one of the participants you invited to your event is not serious about competing.
Perhaps they are attending your event in order to learn about their competitors’ prices, or for some other
reason. You can lock these participants out of the event, completely removing their ability to access any
information associated with the event.
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Monitoring Interface Tabs
To lock a participant out of the event:
1 On the Suppliers tab, select the participant that you want to lock.
2 Click Lock/Unlock. The locked column changes to Yes to indicate that the participant has been locked out of
the event. The participant is immediately returned to the Event List screen and can no longer see your
event. They receive a notification message informing them that they have been locked out of the event.
Locking Participants Versus Removing Them From an Event With a Run Time Edit
Locking participants out of an event is a reversible action. Choose to lock a participant when you need to
remove their ability to access the event, but you might restore it in the future. If you unlock the participant,
their access is restored as if they had never been locked. Locked participants’ bids remain in effect:
• The system counts them in bidding rule calculations.
• If they are leading bids they remain leading.
• You can award business to a locked participant.
You can also remove a participant’s access to an event by performing a run time edit of the event (see
“Editing Events” on page 161) and removing them from the Supplier or Buyer page, or by editing individual
line items and uninviting them. Choose to remove a participant using this method when you are confident
you will not need to restore their access to the event. When you remove a participant’s access in this way:
• Ariba Sourcing revokes their access to the event. If they are currently viewing the event, they see an error
page.
• Ariba Sourcing invalidates their bids. The bids disappear from the bid history, and become black in the
bid graph, signifying that the bids existed, and influenced the progress of the market, but are no longer
associated with a participant and are invalid. If the participant had placed the leading bid, Sourcing makes
the next best bid the leading bid, and indicates that change by placing a new black bidding mark at that
point on the bid graph.
• Ariba Sourcing removes their Lot participation choices (the selections they made on the Choose Lot
page).
• Ariba Sourcing removes the record of their having accepted the Event Agreement. If you re-invite them to
the event later, they have to re-accept it.
• Ariba Sourcing does not delete notifications and messages from their Notification and Message Center. If
you re-invite them to the event, any notifications they received are still accessible.
Surrogate Bidding
The Surrogate Bid button enables a team member to act as a participant for the purpose of placing bids if the
participant cannot do so themselves, perhaps because of technical problems.
You must have permission to surrogate bid, for example, by being a member of the Surrogate Bidders group,
in order to see the Surrogate Bid button to act as a supplier.
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To place a surrogate bid:
1 On the Suppliers tab, select the supplier on whose behalf you want to place a bid.
2 Click Surrogate Bid. You see the event as the supplier would. Note the line at the top of the screen that lets
you know that you are acting as a participant: Welcome <your name> as <participant’s name>.
3 Use the Supplier’s interface to place the surrogate bid.
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4 Click your event in the event list. Navigate to the console and place the participant’s bid.
5 Click on the orange circle containing an X located at the top right of the screen, as shown in the graphic
below, to stop surrogate bidding and to return to your own view of the event.
Team Tab
This tab allows you to view information about team members and groups. Changing team members is
described in “Changing Team Members” on page 45.
Report Tab
This tab allows you to view summary information about the event, including financial, invitation, bidding,
and lot details. Report data is real time, so as the event progresses you see the data change. Use the pivot UI
to adjust the content table.
Evaluating an Event using the Event Reports
The combination of event data and Microsoft Excel pivot table functionality allows you to perform a
thorough analysis using the event reports. You can use the reports to monitor the progress of an event,
perform price analysis, or to create reports on a completed event to present to your managers.
Ariba Sourcing supplies the following event reports:
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“Bids Report” on page 172
“Scenarios Report” on page 173
“Questions and Terms Report” on page 173
“Exporting Bids Report to an External System” on page 174
Bids Report
This report lists all of the supplier responses (and the scores for those responses), and allows you to filter the
data by supplier. The filtering can help you work with large amounts of data resulting from numerous bids.
You can use this report to export all supplier bids to Microsoft Excel.
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To create the Bids Report:
1 While monitoring an event or viewing a completed event, go to the Reports tab and click Download
Reports.
2 Select Bids Report.
3 Select Active Bids or All Bids. This filters the report by the type of bid. Active bids are accepted bids; all
bids means all submitted bids, whether accepted or not.
4 Specify the suppliers to include in the report.
5 Click OK. Ariba Sourcing exports the data to Microsoft Excel. The Bids Report includes these sheets:
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Price
Extended Price
Savings
Rank
Unit Cost
Total Cost
Data (raw data used to generate the report, which you can use to generate custom reports)
Bids Summary Report
The Bids Summary report provides summary information of all bids, including initial, historic, reserve,
leading, best participant, incumbents, and supplier bids.
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To create the Bids Summary Report:
1 While monitoring an event, or viewing a completed event, go to the Reports tab and click Download
Reports.
2 Select Bids Summary Report.
Scenarios Report
The Scenarios Report allows you to compare award scenarios side-by-side, and to determine savings on
various lots and line items in the event.
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To create the Scenarios Report:
1 While monitoring an event, or viewing a completed event, go to the Reports tab and click Download
Reports.
2 Select Scenarios Report.
Ariba Sourcing exports the data to Microsoft Excel. The Scenarios Report includes these sheets:
• Pivot
• Scenarios - Items
• Scenarios - Suppliers
Questions and Terms Report
The Questions and Terms Report contains all of the non-quantitative data from the event. This report can be
useful for RFI or RFP events. You can view all of the data or use various filters.
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To create the Questions and Terms Report:
1 While monitoring an event, or viewing a completed event, go to the Reports tab and click Download
Reports. Select Questions and Terms Report.
Ariba Sourcing exports the data to Microsoft Excel. The Question and Terms Report includes these
sheets:
• Questions and Terms
• Instructions
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Exporting Bids Report to an External System
This option exports the Bids Report as a CSV file by HTTP request. To set this up you need the URL of a
web server that accepts a file containing this data. Call your Ariba representative with this URL to have them
enable this feature. You can specify URLs for multiple external systems and give them any names you wish
as a label for the export menu item.
On the Report tab, click Download Reports and select the name of the external system to which you are
exporting the reports.
This menu option initiates the HTTP request to the specified URL. If you specified a direct-action URL, it
opens that URL in your browser window. You are free to design the receiving URL to handle the file in any
way necessary. The name of the file is <eventname>.csv, where <eventname> is the name of your event.
Message Tab
Ariba Sourcing allows the project owner and participants to communicate using messages, which are useful
for technical problems or questions. Received messages display in the browser window and are archived in
the My Messages or Message tab screen. Messages are also sent to each recipient’s regular email address.
Notes:
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Select an individual message and click the View, Respond, or Delete buttons at the bottom.
View the message text by clicking the Subject, on the right.
If you click the name in the From or Contact column, a properties dialog appears.
To sort the list by any column, click on the column heading.
Messages that you have not read, yet, are shown in Bold.
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Messages can go to all participants or none. If Private Messaging is enabled, you can also choose to select
specific participants. For that choice, a dialog appears from which you can check the participants you want
to select. Private Messaging only adds the ability to select participants. You always have the option to select
individual team members. To enable private messaging, ask your administrator to set the
Application.AQS.EnablePrivateMessaging parameter to “true.”
Note: Messaging is only available with participants during an event when the message board is open. See
“Allow messages between the project team and participants” on page 42 for more information.
When a participant sends a message, it goes to all team members but no other participants. When a
participant replies, it goes to the sender and any other team members who also received the message.
When a team member sends a message, it only goes to the selected recipients. When a team member replies,
the reply goes to the person who sent it, plus any other recipients the replying team member selects.
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To send a new message:
1 Click Compose message at the bottom of the Messages tab.
2 Select the recipients. You can send to all participants, select specific participants (if Private Messaging is
enabled), or you can not select either of those if you do not want any participants to get this message.
Similarly, You can choose to send to all team members, specific team members, or none.
3 Give the message a title. By default the subject is prefixed with the event ID, but you can change or
remove it, if necessary.
4 Type in the text of the message, as you would in any email client, and click Send. When you send a
message, the recipient sees:
• A pop–up in the lower right hand corner of their browser window.
• An message on their My Messages or Message tab list.
• A regular email, if they correctly entered their email address in their user profile.
When a user is logged off, Ariba Sourcing continues to forward received messages to the user’s email
address, and also archives the user’s messages in the Messages tab or My Messages page.
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To use the table options
1 Click the table options icon, shown below.
2 Choose which messages you would like to see by clicking on the type of messages under Show.
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3 Export all the rows in the messages list by selecting Export all Rows. If you have enough rows that the list
has multiple pages, you can click Export Current Page, to just include the data on the current page.
4 You can show the text and envelope information of all messages by clicking Show Details. If the details are
showing, they are exported. If they do not show they are not exported.
Log Tab
This tab displays a list of significant event actions performed by participants, the project owner, system
administrators, and the system. Use the log to verify that users participate, when they downloaded
attachments, or help you resolve disputes. The audit log contains the following information for each event–
related action:
• The time the action occurred.
• The name of the user who performed the action.
• The user’s name if the action was performed on behalf of another user.
• The name of the action.
• A description of the action.
• Sometimes users take actions that only apply to a single lot within the event. When this is true, the Scope
column indicates the lot to which the action applies.
The Log tab also displays messages that result from rejected supplier bids, such as:
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Improvement rule violation
Buffer rule violation
Tie bid rule violation
Required attribute value violation
Invalid attributes value violation
Ceiling value rule violation
Duplicate bid submission
Change in event status while the event is in progress
Scenario Tab
Using award scenarios, you can create alternative winner scenarios and save them in the event. In each
named scenario, you can vary the awards lots and suppliers, compare scenarios, and export them to
Microsoft Excel for analysis. You can award business based on one or several scenarios. The Scenarios
Report displays the various award scenarios for your review. See “Scenarios Report” on page 173 for details.
Note: The Scenario tab is available for competitive bid events that have line items.
There are manual and optimization scenarios. See Chapter 20 ”Using Optimization to Award Events” for
information on using award scenarios. For more details, see the following:
• “Using Manual Scenarios to Award to Suppliers” on page 219: Use to award business to suppliers for
relatively simple or small events. Manual scenarios are available in Sourcing Basic and Sourcing Pro.
• “Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers” on page 220: Use to award business to suppliers
for large or complex events with specific awarding requirements. This is available in Sourcing Pro.
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General award information:
• After bidding closes for all lots, the event enters the Pending Selection state and you can award business
or to invite suppliers to the next round in the sourcing process.
• You are not required to award all items at once; you can return later to complete awarding. You can also
change your mind and submit a new scenario with a new allocation on the lots and line items.
• When you submit your awarding decisions, Ariba Sourcing asks if it should automatically generate
emails informing both awarded and non–awarded participants of your decision. You can customize these
emails by clicking Customize Award Emails. See “Automatic Notification Templates” on page 193.
• After the award, the event moves to the Completed state. If you do not want to award some lots, and want
to complete the event, choose Actions > Close Event.
Note: This tab does not appear if a the awardable term is set with a Team Access Control that you do not
have permission to view.
Lot Reconciliation
If you have lots in your event of type “Bid at Lot Level” or “Compete at Lot Level,” your suppliers must log
back into the system after the event moves to the Pending Selection state in order to submit their line item
pricing. The prices they enter for the line items should add up to the total price they bid for the lot. This
process is known as lot reconciliation. Educate your suppliers about this step in the sourcing process.
You cannot award lots until the supplier completes lot reconciliation. Suppliers who are not getting an award
do not need to reconcile their lots before you can award to others. However, it is good practice for all
suppliers to reconcile their lots, since reconciliation can play a part in the award decision.
Using Manual Scenarios to Award to Suppliers
The manual scenario allows you to award specific lots to individual suppliers, and split the awarding of a lot
by percentage among multiple suppliers. This scenario is useful if your awarding decision is fairly obvious.
For large and complex events where the awarding is not easy to determine, use an optimization scenario.
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To use a manual scenario:
1 On the Scenario tab, select Create > Manual Scenario
2 Enter a scenario name.
3 Under Award Participants, select the award participants for the various lots. You can split the award for a
lot by percentages among multiple suppliers.
4 View the prices and savings for this scenario on the Summary tab
5 You can return to the Award Proposal Details tab and adjust the award as needed. Click Update Totals to
modify the prices and savings you adjust the award percentages.
6 You can click Save As to save a copy of the scenario you are working on.
7 Click Done to save and exit the scenario. The scenario is listed on the Scenarios tab. You can update the
scenario and submit it when you are ready.
8 When you are finished with the scenario, click Submit for award. This triggers the award approval task.
When this task is complete, the awards display in the Award tab.
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Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers
The optimization scenario allows you to analyze the award decision for a large or complex event. The
optimization helps you make the award decision by allowing you to create and compare hypothetical
awarding models with specific constraints to determine the potential awarding results. You do not have to
accept any of the scenarios. When you are done with your analysis, you can accept the award scenario or
scenarios that makes sense to you.
Optimization can be useful decision-making tool, however you must know your baseline first to understand
the scenarios that optimization can provide. To get the most out of the optimizations, run a first scenario
without constraints, to determine what Ariba Sourcing offer as the optimal choice without the influence of
the constraints. After obtaining that result, create scenarios with constraints to see how they vary from the
unconstrained result.
When creating optimization scenarios, keep in mind:
• Use optimization to help you make the best (optimal) decisions for your business.
• Think about the goal of your optimization. Often this will be to minimize total price. It could also be
something like maximize total score or minimize total cost.
• Use care as you add constraints to scenarios. The optimal value will not get better (and often gets worse)
as you add more constraints. Constraints validate Item Terms individually and do not validate their totals.
• You can use scenarios to model different constraints and to see the cost of imposing those constraints on
the possible award.
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To use an optimization scenario:
1 On the Scenario tab, select Create > Optimization Scenario.
2 Enter a constraint name.
3 Select the goal for the scenario. The goal is what you are optimizing. Examples of goals include price or
transport time. For RFPs and RFIs, the most common goal is to minimize total price. Other common goals
are to minimize total cost and to maximize savings. The goals can be influenced by the terms you defined
when you added content.
4 Specify whether to have minimum coverage. This means the smallest group of suppliers that can supply
everything you need. The minimum coverage specification does not take price into account. The
minimum coverage goal takes precedence over the price goals you select, and is calculated first by the
optimization. So, when you select the minimize total cost goal, and the minimum coverage goal, what you
will get is the smallest number of suppliers that can provide the lowest total cost. This might cause you to
have to make choices about certain line items. For example, your optimization of lowest total cost and
minimum suppliers offers you Supplier A and Supplier B, for line items 1 though 7. You find that
Supplier A can supply line items 1 though 4, and Supplier B can supply line items 4 through 7. Your
choice is clear for items 1 through 3, and also for items 5 through 7. You will have to make a choice about
item 4 however, because both suppliers can provide you with that item.
5 Click Add Item Group to add an item group. An item group is a group of lots or line items that you select
and then apply specific constraints the group. You can have multiple item groups, with constraints for
each item group. For example, if you were purchasing computers and their various components, you
could have an item group that focused on printers, another that you used to determine pricing on
peripherals such as keyboards, and yet another item group to use for software purchases.
6 Click Add Items to create the item group. Select items from the list of line items or lots. You an use item
groups to create various scenarios that focus on specific groups of goods.
7 Select the items to add to the group and click OK.
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8 Click Add next to the item group to add constraints.
Select the constraints you want to use for the optimization scenario.
Some examples of constraints are:
•
•
•
•
Allocate exactly 100 computers to Supplier A
Allocate at most 50 monitors to Supplier B; none to Supplier C
Allocate business only to suppliers who have been in business more than 10 years
Allocate 50% of the business to two suppliers
An optimization scenario can have as few as one defined objective, and you can add any number of
constraints. Note that adding numerous constraints does not make the optimal value of the objective
better. In other words, if you are optimizing total price then adding a new constraint to an existing
scenario will not make the lowest total price better. Also, removing constraints can not make the optimal
value worse.
Do not specify mutually exclusive constraints. For example if you request that at least 75% of the
computers be from Supplier A and at least 75% of the computers be from Supplier B, then it is not
possible to satisfy both of these constraints at the same time.
Constraints include:
• Total Amount: Allows you to specify that the total amount of the business be awarded according to the
constraints you specify.
• Per-Item Quantity: Allows you to specify that the quantity of items are awarded according to the
constraints you specify.
• Supplier Count: Allows you to specify the number or percentage of suppliers to receive the award.
You can specify that the constraints apply for specific supplier choices:
• Each supplier: Apply the constraints to all of the suppliers in the event.
• Incumbent: Apply the constraints to the incumbent supplier.
• Selected Supplier: Apply the constrains to suppliers you select from a list of active suppliers.
• Supplier Matching Criteria: Use matching criteria to determine a list of suppliers to choose from.
You can filter the active suppliers by their answers to questions posed during the event, supplier profile
criteria, or line item terms, such as Price or Quantity.
The text version of the constraint restates the constraints you have chose in a sentence. Review this
sentence before deciding to optimize, to be sure that you have chosen the constraints you want.
9 When you are finished with the scenario, click Optimize. This runs the optimization on the scenarios,
applying the constraints you specified.
10 After optimization completes, select the scenario name and click Edit.
11 Click the Award Proposal Details tab. Select the award participants for the various lots.
12 View the optimizations for this scenario on the Summary tab.
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13 After you run the optimization, you can select Display > View Only to view the scenario in read only mode.
You can select Display > Edit to edit the scenario title, set an optimization goal, and edit constraints. If you
decide to modify the award allocations, you can save the optimization scenario as a manual scenario,
modify the allocations, and submit the scenario for award.
14 When you are finished with the scenario, click Submit for Award. This triggers the award approval task. See
“To view the Award Approval Task:” and “To approve an event for award:” for details.
When this task is complete, the awards display in the Award tab. From the Award tab, you can export the
award information to Microsoft Excel. Also, see “Scenarios Report” on page 173 for details on the
Scenarios Report.
If you change your mind about an award scenario after you submit, you can modify the scenario and
submit again. The scenario you submit later will overwrite the previous value of the award.
Create as many optimization scenarios as you want to model various results for your award. Be sure to
create one scenario with no constraints so you can use that result as a baseline and compare that result to
other scenarios that have constraints.
Your award can be based on multiple scenarios. For example you can have one scenario that focuses on
item group1, the and another scenario that focuses on item group 2. You can eventually submit both of
these scenarios for award.
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To view the Award Approval Task:
1 While monitoring the event, click Actions > View Award Approval Task.
2 Click Approval Flow. You can view the status of the task and see which reviewers have approved.
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To approve an event for award:
1 When a user has submitted an scenario for you to approve for award, Ariba Sourcing alerts you by placing
a link in the Dashboard Needs Review area.
2 Click the link. You see the Award Approval Task. Click Approve or Deny.
3 On the approved or denied screen, you can write a message and add an attachment to communicate why
you approved or denied the award. Click OK when you are finished composing your message.
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Optimization Example
Here is an optimization example with three suppliers, several constraints, and six scenarios.
The table below shows the items and final bids from an auction:
Line #
Item Name
Quantity
Years in
Business
180
Supplier A
Supplier B
Supplier C
39
15
1
Line 1
Computer
300
$1250
$1200
$1150
Line 2
Monitor
300
$250
$240
$260
Line 3
Printer
20
$580
$600
$650
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The following table lists the optimization scenarios for the final bids listed in the table above
Scenario
Constraints
Total Price
Line 1
(Computer)
Line 2
(Monitor)
Line 3
(Printer)
Scenario 1: Best None
Price
$428,600
Supplier C
(100%)
$345,000
Supplier B
Supplier A
(100%) $72,000 (100%) $11,600
Scenario 2: Two
Suppliers
At most, two suppliers for
the entire event
$429,000
Supplier C
(100%)
$345,000
Supplier B
Supplier B
(100%) $72,000 (100%) $12,000
Scenario 3: One
Supplier
At most, one supplier for
the entire event
436,000
Supplier C
(100%)
$345,000
Supplier C
Supplier C
(100%) $78,000 (100%) $13,000
Scenario 4:
Older
Companies
Only suppliers with 10 or
more years in business
443,600
Supplier B
(100%)
$360,000
Supplier B
Supplier A
(100%) $72,000 (100%) $11,600
Scenario 5:
Older
Companies; No
Supplier B
Monitors
Only suppliers with 10 or
more years in business;
Exactly 0 monitors from
Supplier B
446,600
Supplier B
(100%)
$360,000
Supplier A
Supplier A
(100%) $75,000 (100%) $11,600
Scenario 6: Only No more than 50% of the
Half of the
computers to Supplier C
Computers to
Supplier C
436,100
Supplier B
Supplier B
Supplier A
(100%) $72,000 (100%) $11,600
(50%)
$180,000;
Supplier C
(50%) $172,500
In the table above, Scenario 1 is a scenario with no constraints. Since this scenario has no constraints, it is
the lowest cost solution.
Dealing with several suppliers has costs, so the buyer wants to know if having three suppliers is worth the
expense. Scenarios 2 and 3 provide the prices for limiting the number of suppliers to one or two. Using two
suppliers costs $400 ($429,000 - $428,600) and limiting to one supplier costs an additional $7000 ($436,000
- $429,000). If the buyer finds that each added supplier costs approximately $5000 then limiting to two
suppliers makes sense but limiting to one does not.
The buyer assumes that older companies are more reliable than newer companies. To verify the cost of using
only suppliers that have been in business for 10 or more years the buyer ran Scenario 4. This result shows that
using only older companies costs the buyer an additional $15,000 ($443,600 - $428,600). The buyer must
decide if it is worth the extra money to avoid using a supplier who has been in business for a shorter time.
Scenario 5 models not buying monitors from Supplier B while still limiting the selection to older suppliers.
The buyer might run this scenario if they know that Supplier B’s monitors are lower quality. We see from the
results that this costs an additional $3,000 on top of the $15,000 for choosing older suppliers.
In Scenario 6 the buyer tries to reduce the risk of using the younger supplier by limiting the purchase to no
more than 50 percent of the computers. This constraint adds $7,500 to the cost over the best price scenario 1.
Notice that as the scenarios become more constrained that the cost for the buyer goes up. For example
Scenario 3 costs more than Scenario 2, which costs more than Scenario 1. Similarly, Scenario 5 costs more
than Scenario 4, which costs more than Scenario 1.
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Award Tab
On this tab you can view the awards for an event that you made in the Scenarios tab. This tab lists the line
item or lot, the winner, the price, and other information regarding the awarded suppliers. It also shows the
award status for awards that are pending approval, or have been approved and awarded.
Notes:
• The Award tab is available for competitive bid events (auctions) and RFPs, but not for RFIs.
• This tab does not appear if you may not view the awardable term, as set by a Team Access Control.
Use the pivot UI to adjust the content table. See “Using the Pivot User Interface for Content Tables” on
page 190.
After you award an event, you can use that event information to export a draft contract to your local desktop
using the Contract button. If you are in a group with permission to create contracts and have the Ariba
Contract Management solution, you can also create new contracts or add this event data to an existing
contract.
If you have permission to export award data to external systems, you can create additional menu items such
as the “External System” option, shown below. See “Export Draft Contract to External System” on
page 182.
These options are visible if you are
authorized to create contracts.
If you are authorized to export award data
to an external system, you can create a
menu item such as “External System,”
shown here. You can set up more than one
and name them as desired.
Export Draft Contract to Local Desktop
This option exports the contract, but no reports and is only available after the event is awarded.
1 Click Contract and select: Export Draft Contract > To Local Desktop.
2 Select the supplier.
3 Click Done.
4 Click Export Draft Contract.
The event details are exported to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing the Contract Management
template. Use this spreadsheet as the basis of information that you can complete and then import into
Ariba Contract Management.
Export Draft Contract to External System
This option exports a draft contract, if the event has been awarded to an external system by HTTP request.
To set this up you need the URL of a web server that accepts a zip file containing this data. Call your Ariba
representative with this URL to have them enable this feature.
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On the Award tab, click Contract and select Export Draft Contract > [external system name]. When you
set this option up, you can define the names to appear on the menu for each external system you define.
This menu option initiates the HTTP request to the specified URL. If you specified a direct-action URL, it
opens that URL in your browser window. You are free to design the receiving URL to handle the zip file in
any way necessary. The name of the zip file is ResultData_nnn.zip, where nnn is a generated sequence
number to keep all subsequent zip file names unique. An example is shown below:
Note: The zip file contains a contract spreadsheet for every supplier to whom you made an award.
Create New Contract
To see this option, you must be in a group that has permission to create contracts.
1 Select Contract > Create New Contract.
2 Select the supplier.
3 Click Done.
4 Click Create New Contract.
The Contract Management Create Contract Workspace page displays. This information carries over from
the event to the contract:
•
•
•
•
Supplier name
Pricing terms (in the Documents tab)
Project owner (as the contract workspace owner)
Ariba Sourcing project name (as the predecessor project)
See the Ariba Contract Process Management Guide for details on creating contracts.
Add to Existing Contract
To see this option, you must be in a group that has permission to create contracts.
1 Select Contract Actions > Add to Existing Contract.
2 Select the supplier.
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3 Click Add to Existing Contract. You can view contracts for the supplier you selected, that have no supplier
specified, or for all suppliers. In this example, there is one contract for the supplier Digi Storage:
Click Select to select the contract to modify. The contract displays in Contract Management. See the
Ariba Contract Process Management Guide for details on creating a contract.
Actions Menu
Available event-wide actions depend on your permissions and the event state. During bidding, you can edit
the event, export content to an Excel spreadsheet, pause, stop, or cancel the event. When the event is Pending
Selection, you can grade supplier bids. The Action menu items are described in the following sections:
Timing (visible for published events)
•
•
•
•
•
“Pausing and Resuming an Event” on page 185
“Extending or Reducing Timing” on page 185
“Stopping an Event” on page 186
“Cancelling an Event” on page 186
“Closing an Event” on page 186
Document
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Editing Events” on page 161.
“Opening Envelopes” on page 187
“Exporting to Microsoft Excel” on page 187
“Print Event Information” on page 188
“Viewing the Publish Approval Task” on page 188
“Deleting an Event” on page 188
“Download All Supplier Attachments” on page 189
Version
• “Viewing the Draft or Published Version” on page 161
• “Viewing the Change History” on page 189
• “Using the Pivot User Interface for Content Tables” on page 190
Note: You must be a member of the Event Administrator group to perform many of the actions described in
this section.
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Actions Menu
Pausing and Resuming an Event
If you have permission, you can pause an event by clicking Action > Pause Event. The clock stops and
displays Paused. When an event is paused, neither participants nor Surrogate Bidders can submit bids.
You might pause an event if:
• There is a bad bid in an event where competitor prices are hidden. This typically occurs when suppliers
misunderstand the quantity on which they are bidding. For example, suppose there is a reverse auction
with only rank shown to competitors, and they are to bid on a total price for 1,000 chairs.
One supplier misunderstands the quantity involved, and submits a price per chair. This bid will be
significantly lower than the rest of the market, and in first place. The second place supplier then starts
dropping his bid to try to reach first place since he can only see his rank.
You would want to pause the market to prevent chase bidding against a first place bid, and resume the
event after removing the bid and chase bids.
• A buyer requests that you pause the event due to lack of participation, confusion, or the need to run the
event on another day.
• Site performance issues that cause you to pause the event as a precaution.
Participants are notified when the event is paused, and they only have read-only access to an event while
paused. The event close time is extended by the paused period.
To resume a paused event, click Action > Resume. The clock reappears and participants can submit responses.
The application notifies participants that the event has resumed.
Extending or Reducing Timing
If you have permission, you can extend or reduce the time remaining in the event’s current phase. For an
RFI, RFP, or when an Auction is in a preview state, you extend or reduce the timing in the Actions menu by
choosing the Reduce Timing or Extend Timing options.
During an Auction, where timing is based on lots, you can click a lot and choose Extend Timing or Reduce
Timing.
Adjusting the bidding start time
If you have defined a preview period, and its end time is before the bidding start time, the period in between
becomes the “prebid review period.” (setting up a preview period is covered in “Enable preview period
before bidding opens” on page 24.
While you are in this preview period, if you extend or reduce its duration, that would change the length of
the prebid review period. When you extend or reduce a preview period, you see an additional option to
Adjust bidding start time, so that you can restore the review period to its intended size (even if it is zero).
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If you enable this option, the system delays or advances the bidding start time to match the extension or
reduction of the preview period, so that the length of the prebid review period remains the same.
Stopping an Event
If you have permission, you can stop an event by clicking Action > Stop Event. All lots close and the event
moves to Pending Selection status, and participants are notified. Stop an event when you know there are no
more responses coming in. You might also stop an event if the buyer does not want a particular item to run or
be bid on, but doesn't want to cancel an entire project. This option is visible until the bidding periods are all
closed.
Cancelling an Event
If you have permission, you can cancel an event by clicking Actions > Cancel Event. You can undo a
cancellation and return an event to Pending Selection state, then edit the event, reopen the lots or line items
for bidding, and so on.
You might cancel an event if:
• You would like to run it another day, but would rather rerun it than pause it.
• There is an error in the project and the event needs rebuilt with new information.
To undo cancellation from the details or monitoring view of a cancelled event, choose Actions > Undo Cancel.
Closing an Event
If you have permission, you can change to the Completed state by clicking Actions > Close Event.
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Actions Menu
Opening Envelopes
If the event has envelopes you can open them by clicking Actions > Open Envelope. The system only allows
you to open the next envelope that you are allowed to open. Every time you open an envelope you must
select which participant responses you want to include.
If you do not check the box next to a participant:
• You cannot see their response on the Review Envelope Content tab.
• Any responses from previous envelopes are deleted.
• The participant is removed from the list for any unopened envelopes. This is how you disqualify and
remove participants who you no longer wish to consider for an award.
When you click Open Envelope, you can specify who should be notified.
Exporting to Microsoft Excel
When you click Actions > Excel Export you see the Export Content to Excel page. Follow the steps to export a
re-importable version of your event into a Microsoft Excel file. To read more about Ariba Sourcing’s
integration with Microsoft Excel, see “Microsoft Excel Import and Export” on page 231.
You can also click the Table Options menu and choose one of the Export to Excel options. This type of export is
available in tables on the Content and the Bid Console tabs. Although this exports a wider variety of data, it
cannot be re-imported into the system.
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Print Event Information
This action exports the event information to a file in Microsoft Word’s DOC file format. You will also see
this action from the Summary page. This function enables you to print the following event information:
• Overview
• Market feedback
• Team members
• Message board rules
• Timing rules
• Invited participants
• Auction Format
• Customized messages
• Bidding rules
• Event content
• Currency rules
• Scoring
• Initiator actions
Once the event is in Word, you can format it and print it.
To produce the output in HTML format, ask your administrator to change the
Application.AQS.RFX.PrintRFX.PrintRFXImpl parameter value to ariba.sourcing.rfxui.HTMLPrintRFX.
Once the event is in Word or HTML, you can format it as you like it and print it. There are no differences
between the output formats other than how they are formatted and how you can edit and display them. The
choice is personal preference.
Note: Spreadsheet events are large events and result in a large file after export. It is cumbersome to open and
edit large files in DOC format so Ariba Sourcing automatically produces the output in HTML format in such
cases.
Viewing the Publish Approval Task
If you are a member of a group that does not have permission to publish an event, such as the Junior
Sourcing Agent group, you see a Submit button instead of a Publish button. A designated approver, such as a
user in the Sourcing Approvers group, must approve it. After approval, Ariba Sourcing automatically
publishes the event.
The link View Publish Approval Task allows you to track the progress of the approval, as described in “To
approve an event publish approval task:” on page 159.
This link is disabled for Sealed RFP events (events where the Marker Feedback rule “Can owner see
responses before event closes” is set to No. When the event goes to Pending Selection state, this link is
re-enabled.
Deleting an Event
The project owner can delete projects with the following limits:
•
•
•
•
188
You can delete a draft event
You can delete a full project with draft event that does not have any started tasks
You cannot delete a quick project that is published
You cannot delete a full project with a published event
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To expand this capability, ask the Administrator to set the parameter Application.ACM.ProjectDeleteLimited
to false. When this parameter is false, you can delete a quick or full project regardless of the state of event,
as long as it does not have any started tasks.
To delete an event, click Actions > Delete while viewing the event details. When you delete an event you do
not remove it totally from the system. However, the only way to search for deleted events is if you have the
“acm.SearchDeletedDocument” permission.
Download All Supplier Attachments
Use this option to download all the attachments from all the suppliers at one time. If there are attachments, to
download, you can specify where to save them. Attachments are in a zip file organized into folders by event,
supplier organization, and participant name. The format is:
<EventName>_<EventID>/<OrgName>_<ParticipantName>/<FileName>
If there are no attachments, a message to that effect appears when you select the action.
All team members have permission to use this action. However if the access control settings prevent a team
member from seeing certain content, then any attachments to that content are not downloaded for that team
member.
For events containing envelopes, the download action does not download any Supplier attachments for items
within a sealed envelope. Only when the envelope is opened and the contents visible in the UI does the
action download its attachment.
All attachment downloads are logged in the audit log.
Viewing Draft or Published Versions
When you edit a published event, the system creates a draft version of the event. You change the draft
version without affecting the published event. When you are finished making changes, replace the published
version of the event with the draft version by updating the event. When there is a draft of this event you can
change between the draft and published versions. For details, see “Viewing the Draft or Published Version”
on page 161.
Viewing the Change History
You can view the differences between each version of the event and the version before it. For example, if you
view the Change History for version 3, you see the changes made from version 2 to version 3.
W
To view the change history:
1 While viewing the event details, click Actions > View Change History.
2 Select an event version.
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Using the Pivot User Interface for Content Tables
The pivot user interface (pivot UI) provides you with advanced filtering of the content data in the Content
Tab while you are creating or monitoring an event. This is useful when your content data is extensive, and
you want to view certain aspects of it to answer various business questions, or to check that you have the
appropriate content for an event.
Using the pivot UI allows you to filter content data and control the data display for your event content in the
various monitoring tabs. For example, here is event content data in the conventional display:
The content is arranged in a continuous list. You must scroll down through this list to see all of the data.
The pivot UI allows you to compare groups of data side by side, as shown below:
Pivot UI allows you to view the data horizontally. In this case, the dimension Region has been added to the
data (Asia and Europe). This dimension allows you to view the data for the two dimensions (the region) side
by side, for a quick comparison.
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Actions Menu
To use the pivot UI:
1 To enable the pivot UI, select Actions > Pivot UI.
2 To filter, click the table icon and select a value under Select/Filter.
3 For this example, you can filter by participants or regions. For example, to filter by region:
The filtering available to you depends on the dimensions you specify, or other terms that you added to line
items or lots in your content.
4 To configure, click the table icon and select Configure Layout. The Layout Editor appears:
You can drag and drop values shown in the Layout Editor to change the layout of the content table.
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Note: You cannot drag and drop the Name field. It must remain under Row Fields.
5 To show additional details, click the table icon and select Show Detail Rows.
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Chapter 18
Notifications
Ariba Sourcing automatically generates notifications to inform users about the state of an event. Depending
on the situation, Ariba Sourcing sends notifications as instant messages, emails, or both.
Ariba Sourcing also lists notifications on the Log tab, to serve as a record of your event. For example:
• When you publish an event, the system automatically sends invitation email to invited participants. The
system does not send instant messages, since generally your participants are not logged into the system at
that time. The system generates different emails depending on whether or not a participant has used the
system before. The system also logs this action to the Log tab.
• If you cancel an event while in progress, the system automatically sends participants both an instant
message and an email, since they are probably logged in at that time. The system also logs this action to
the Log tab.
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
“Automatic Notification Templates” on page 193
“Automatic Notification Addressing” on page 195
“Automatic Notification Example” on page 197
“Stopping Automatic Notifications” on page 198
Automatic Notification Templates
Notification content is determined by a template. You can modify the templates for a single user in an event,
for all users in an event, and for all events. The templates use special capitalized variables enclosed by
brackets to insert contextual information into the notifications. An example of a messaging template:
Subject:
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is cancelled.
Content:
On [CANCELLATION_TIME_AND_DATE], the [SPONSOR_CORPORATE_NAME] Event [CBE_NUMBER] [EVENT_TITLE] was
cancelled. The event is no longer available.
If you have questions, please contact [SPONSOR_BUYER_NAME] at [SPONSOR_PHONE] or via e-mail at
[SPONSOR_EMAIL].
Thank you,
[SPONSOR_CORPORATE_NAME]
The capitalized phrases contained in brackets, for example [EVENT_TITLE], are variables that the system
replaces with information specific to the event when generating a notification. For example, in the following
sentence from a messaging template “Event [EVENT_TITLE] has been extended by [TIME]” the system
replaces the bracketed phrases with specific information: “Event RFP 3 GHz laptops has been extended by
30 minutes.” The variables are described in “Notification Template Variables” on page 194.
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You can edit the template to alter the generated notifications. As you edit the text, add or remove the
bracketed, capitalized variables, but be sure not to change them, or the system cannot recognize them and
will not substitute the desired values.
Editing site-wide messaging templates
Administrators can customize notifications for all events that take place in Ariba Sourcing. The notifications
that the system sends on your behalf appear to participants as communication directly from your business to
theirs. Edit these templates to ensure they give the correct impression of your business.
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To edit site-wide messaging templates:
1 Log in to Ariba Sourcing with an account that has administrative permissions.
2 In the Common Actions panel, click Manage > Administration. The administrator home page displays.
3 Click Event Manager > Messaging Templates.
4 Select the template you want to edit and click Edit.
5 Change the text and rearrange any bracketed phrases. Click Save.
Editing event and user-level messaging templates
You can customize notifications for a specific event, and for a specific participant in the event. For example,
if you are an owner who wants to deviate from the site-wide templates for a single event, you can do that. Or,
if you know that a certain participant is particularly inexperienced, you can edit their message templates to
make the information more detailed.
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To edit event-level messaging templates
1 While editing or creating an event, go to the Summary page.
2 Click Actions > Customize Messages.
3 Choose the message you want to customize, and click Customize.
4 To customize the template for all participants in the event, leave Apply Template to at its default setting of
All participants. To customize the template at user-level, choose that user’s name. An asterisk next to a
user’s name indicates that their template is already customized.
Note: Be sure to choose the Apply Template to setting before editing the template. Changing this field causes
any edits you make to be lost.
Notification Template Variables
The variables available for use in notification messages are listed below:
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Variable
Description
BID_ERROR_CODE
This is a brief phrase that explains why a bid was rejected.
BID_ID
This is the ID of the bid to which this notification refers.
BIDDING_FORMAT
This is the name of the template that was used to create this event.
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Automatic Notification Addressing
Variable
Description
CANCELLATION_TIME_AND_DATE
This is the time and date that the event was canceled. The value of this
variable is null until the event is cancelled. All dates and times are set to
the time zone in the recipients profile.
DENY_TO_RESPOND_URL
This is the URL to which suppliers are directed if they do not want to
respond to the event.
EVENT_END_DATE
The is the date on which the event is scheduled to end. All dates and times
are set to the time zone in the recipients profile.
EVENT_START_DATE
This is the date on which the event is scheduled to start. All dates and times
are set to the time zone in the recipients profile.
EVENT_START_TIME
This is the time at which the event is scheduled to start. All dates and times
are set to the time zone in the recipients profile.
EVENT_TITLE
This is the name of the event specified by the project owner.
EVENT_TYPE
The possible event types are RFI, RFP, Auction, and Forward Auction.
EXTEND_REDUCE
This is the word “extended” or “reduced” and is used when the bidding
period or event is made to last for a longer or shorter period of time.
ITEM_NAME
This is the name of the lot or item to which the notification refers., for
example, if the bidding is extended, or the lot is awarded.
PARTICIPANT_FULL_NAME
This is the full name of the participant to whom this notification is sent or
refers.
PARTICIPANT_USER_NAME
This is the user ID of the participant to whom this notification is sent or
refers.
PASSWORD_URL
This is the URL to which new suppliers are directed to log in for the first
time. Suppliers need to set a new password to continue.
PROJECT_ID
This is the project ID of this event.
SITE_URL
This is the URL of the site where you log in to an event.
SPONSOR_BUYER_ NAME
This is the name of the person who is publishing the event.
SPONSOR_CORPORATE_NAME
This is the name of the company that is publishing the event.
SPONSOR_EMAIL
This is the email address of the person who is publishing the event.
SPONSOR_PHONE
This is the phone number of the person who is publishing the event.
TIME
This is an amount of time used, for example, when a bidding period is
extended or reduced.
Automatic Notification Addressing
Ariba Sourcing addresses and sends automatic notifications according to pre-programmed rules. You can
change their content, but you cannot stop the system from generating them, nor alter to whom the system
sends them. Instant Messages are displayed on both the Event Messages and the Notifications pages.
Note: Participants must maintain an accurate email address in their user profile. Participants whose email
addresses are incorrect do not receive automatic notification emails from Ariba Sourcing.
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The following table details the notification trigger actions for buyers:
Trigger Action and Description
Notification Subject
Instant
Email
Message
Publish event: Notification for team
members.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] published by
[SPONSOR_BUYER_NAME].
X
Invited supplier declines supplier
agreement.
Event [EVENT_TITLE],
[PARTICIPANT_USER_NAME] has declined
the bidder agreement.
X
Supplier submits a bid.
Response in event [EVENT_TITLE] has been
submitted.
X
The following table details the notification trigger actions for suppliers:
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Trigger Action and Description
Notification Text
Awarding; announcement to supplier
who has been awarded.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] - Lot [ITEM_NAME]
has been awarded.
X
Awarding; announcement to supplier
who has not been awarded.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] - Lot [ITEM_NAME]
has been awarded.
X
Bid Collision; occurs when two bids
are submitted simultaneously.
Bid (ID=[BID_ID]) in event [EVENT_TITLE]
has been rejected by the system
(Error=[BID_ERROR_CODE]).
X
Bid deleted: Notification to let supplier Your bid in event [EVENT_TITLE] has been
know their bid has been deleted.
deleted by [SPONSOR_BUYER_NAME]. See
bid history for details (Reference
Number=[BID_ID]).
X
Bid triggers overtime.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] - Lot [ITEM_NAME]
has been [EXTEND_REDUCE] due to a last
minute bid (overtime).
X
Event cancelled.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is cancelled.
X
X
Event duration extended or reduced.
Suppliers who have submitted a bid
receive an email notification.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] has been
[EXTEND_REDUCE] by [TIME].
X
X
Event moves to open state; bidding
begins.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is now accepting
responses.
X
Event moves to Pending Selection
state; bidding ends.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is no longer accepting
responses.
Event paused.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is now paused.
X
Event reopened.
All participants except action initiator.
X
Event republished; occurs after you
edit a running event. Ariba Sourcing
only sends the message when you
choose to email suppliers. See
“Updating the Event” on page 162.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] has changed.
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Email
Message
X
X
X
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Automatic Notification Example
Trigger Action and Description
Notification Text
Instant
Email
Message
Event resumed.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] is now resumed.
X
Lock Supplier; owner removes a
supplier’s access privileges.
You have been locked out of the event
[EVENT_TITLE].
Lot closing time extended.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] - Lot [ITEM_NAME]
has been [EXTEND_REDUCE] by [TIME].
X
Lot reopened.
Event [EVENT_TITLE] Lot - [ITEM_NAME]
has been reopened.
X
X
Publish event: Notification for invited You are invited to participate in event:
suppliers who have never participated [EVENT_TITLE].
in a Ariba Sourcing event and must
create a Ariba Sourcing account before
logging in.
X
Publish event: Notification for invited
suppliers who have participated in
Ariba Sourcing events before.
You are invited to participate in event:
[EVENT_TITLE].
X
Unlock Supplier; owner restores a
supplier’s access privileges.
Your access to the event [EVENT_TITLE] has
been restored.
X
Remove supplier from event during
runtime edit.
Your access to the event [EVENT_TITLE] has
been revoked.
X
Automatic Notification Example
Suppose an owner cancels an in-progress event. Ariba Sourcing notifies participants by automatically
sending an instant message, an email, or both, as appropriate. Ariba Sourcing archives notifications in the
Message Center or My Messages page for a specific event, and in the Notifications page, which stores all
notifications for a specific user. If a user is participating in more than one event, a notification from another
event can interrupt a second event.
Following is a graphic of the notifications page. Note that it contains notifications from various events:
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Stopping Automatic Notifications
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Stopping Automatic Notifications
You can turn off some automatic notifications by editing your preferences on the Dashboard.
Most of the notifications that you can turn on and off are related to Sourcing Process Management
functionality, which your organization might not have as it is licensed separately from Event Management
functionality. However, some notifications are related to Event Management functionality, for example, the
notifications related to the approval of an event for publishing.
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To edit your notification profile and select which notifications you want to receive:
1 On the Dashboard, click Preferences.
2 Click Change notification preferences. You see the Email Notification Preferences page.
3 Change the settings on this page to determine which types of email notifications you receive.
Notifications that concern Event Management functionality are related to approval tasks.
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Scoring
Use scoring to create an objective comparison model to help you choose between suppliers. Weigh the parts
of your event content according to their importance by assigning scoring points, and then grade suppliers’
responses to produce an overall score for each supplier. To turn on scoring see “Allow scoring on participant
responses” on page 33.
Use the scoring feature to:
• Analyze an event that contains a large amount of content or receives many supplier responses.
• Remove bias from your awarding decision. For example, you might want to continue to purchase from an
incumbent supplier even if they do not make the best offer.
• Define and numerically rank the factors in your purchasing decision.
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
“Scoring Matrix Example” on page 199
“Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation” on page 200
“Scoring Concepts: During Event Evaluation” on page 210
“About Advanced Scoring” on page 213
“Using Team Grading” on page 216
Scoring Matrix Example
A scoring matrix is commonly used to make complex decisions. Understanding how a scoring matrix works
can help you to understand the scoring feature. This section gives a simple description of how you would use
a scoring matrix to help your company purchase a fleet of company cars.
First, compile a list of questions about cars. Ask questions that are as specific as possible. By asking for
factual information instead of subjective information, you make the results of scoring more meaningful. For
example, rather than asking “How fast is the car?” ask “What is the top speed of the car in MPH?”
Assign each question a number of scoring points based on how important it is to your decision compared to
the other questions. Use a simple rating system, from 0–10 points, with 10 being the most important. To
calculate the percentage contribution that each question makes towards the overall score (the overall
percentage), divide the number of scoring points assigned to that question by the total number of scoring
points.
Next, collect information about potential cars to buy and grade them based on how well they fulfill the
various questions. For example, using a range of 100–180 MPH, the top speed of Auto A is 176 MPH, or
95% of the range. The top speed of Auto B is 120 MPH, or 25%
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Here is the completed scoring matrix:
Question
Scoring Overall
Points Percentage
Answer/Grade
Auto A
Answer/Grade
Auto B
What is the top speed of the car in MPH?
(100–180 MPH)
2
10%
176 MPH / 95%
120 MPH / 25%
How many feet does the car require to stop
from 60 MPH? (100–250 feet)
3
15%
120 feet / 86%
200 feet / 33%
What is the base purchase price of the car?
(15,000–150,000 USD)
10
50%
$130,000 / 14.8%
$25,000 / 92%
25%
8% APR / 25%
3% APR / 87.5%
What is the APR of your best auto financing 5
loan? (2%–10% APR)
Overall Score 7.2 / 20 points or 36% 15 / 20 points or 75%
Once you complete the matrix, calculate each car’s overall score. For example, the Porshe receives 95% of
the 2 scoring points available for speed, 86% of the 3 points available for braking speed, 14.8% of the 10
points available for low cost, and 25% of the 5 points available for low financing APR. That gives Auto A
7.2 scoring points out of the 20 available points, or an overall score of 36%.
Auto B receives a score of 15 points, or an overall score of 75%. The scoring matrix indicates that, for this
company, Auto B is a better company car than Auto A.
This is a very simple example to explain how a scoring matrix works. As the complexity and number of
involved factors increases, scoring becomes a valuable tool to help you make difficult decisions.
Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation
During the creation phase of your event, try to create detailed questions that ask for factual information. The
more quantifiable the answers that you collect, the easier it is to grade them. Then, click the Scoring tab on
the Content page to access the scoring interface. Enter weight and importance points to rate the importance
of content. Look for opportunities to pre–grade questions.
The rest of this section discusses these concepts in more detail:
• “About Scoring Points” on page 200
• “About Pre-grading” on page 204
• “Hiding or Showing Scoring Weights and Importance Levels” on page 210
About Scoring Points
The more scoring points you assign each piece of event content, the more that content contributes toward the
final score. Ariba Sourcing uses two types of scoring points, weight and importance, together to score
hierarchical content.
• “About Weight” on page 201
• “About Importance” on page 202
• “Weight and Importance Used Together” on page 203
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Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation
About Weight
The Weight is the relative level of importance of this content element. It is used with the score you assign
each participant’s response and contributes to the overall score for each participant. Assign Weight points to
“container” content types such as sections and line items (for scoring purposes, a line item “contains” its
terms). Altering a section or lot’s weight allows you to alter the Overall % for all the section content.
For example, in the following graphic, there are 30 scoring points assigned to the Car Performance section,
and 70 to the Car Financing section. (Assign a total of 100 scoring points to cause the Overall % to be equal
to the number of assigned scoring points.)
Ariba Sourcing calculates the importance of each piece of content to the overall score, and displays this
information in the Overall % column. Use the following formula:
Use the formula to verify the Overall % of the Car Financing section in the previous graphic:
If you do not assign exactly 100 weight scoring points, it complicates the math. For example, in the
following graphic the total of the weight scoring points is 115:
Use the formula again to verify the Overall % column for Section 1:
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Tables similar to the following example appear throughout this chapter to break down scoring calculations:
Number Name
Weight (base
level)
Overall %
1
Section 1 – Car Performance
27
27 / 115 = 23.48%
2
Section 2 – Car Financing
88
88 / 115 = 76.52%
Maximum total points
115
About Importance
Assign importance scoring points to content types that require supplier answers, such as questions and line
item terms. Assign each question between 0–10 importance scoring points, with 10 being the most
important. Content to which you assign zero scoring points does not count towards the score.
In the following graphic, question 1.2 has the highest importance with 10 importance points, and question
1.1 is half as important as question 1.2 with 5 importance points.
The Overall % of questions changes depending on how you weight the section they are located within. To
calculate the overall % of the questions in the Car Performance section, first calculate their percentage
within the Car Performance section, and then multiply that by the overall % of the Car Performance section.
Here is the formula written out for question 1.1:
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The following table combines section weight and question importance to calculate the overall % of the
questions within section 1:
Number Name
Weight
1
Section 1 – Car Performance
30
1.1
Question 1.1
1.2
Question 1.2
Importance Overall %
30 / 100 = 30%
5
10% = 30%*5/15
10
20% = 30%*10/15
Maximum total points in Section 1 15
2
Section 2 – Car Financing
70
Maximum total points
100
70 / 100 = 70%
Weight and Importance Used Together
The following graphic shows a question’s Importance and its container section’s Weight work together to
determine the Overall % of questions within a section:
Although questions 1.1 and 2.2 both have 10 importance scoring points, they do not have the same overall %
because the two questions are in different sections, and section 1 has fewer weight scoring points. This
causes the questions inside section 1 to be relatively less important than the questions in section 2.
Number Name
Weight
1
Section 1 – Car Performance
30
1.1
Question 1.1
5
10% = 30%*5/15
1.2
Question 1.2
10
20% = 30%*10/15
Maximum total points in Section 1
2
Section 2 – Car Financing
Importance Overall %
30% = 30 / 100
15
70
70% = 70 / 100
2.1
Question 2.1
5
23.3% = 70%*5/15
2.2
Question 2.2
10
46.7% = 70%*10/15
Maximum total points in Section 2 15
Maximum total points
100
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About target Grade
When you run an event with scoring, you can put in a target grade for any item that is being scored. If the
supplier’s grade falls below that target, the grade is highlighted on the screen so you will be sure to notice it.
About Pre-grading
Pre-grading allows you to define rules in advance of an event to automatically assign grades. When you
enter the grading page after the event you can modify the pre–grades.
Use pre-grading to save time and to remove bias from your grading. For example, you might be tempted to
grade your incumbent suppliers more favorably than their responses merit.
Pre-grading is not available if the question does not have a pre-gradable answer type. For example, Ariba
Sourcing cannot pre-grade questions with answer type Text (single line) because it cannot read and interpret
sentences. However, questions with answer type Text (single line) can be pre-graded if you set the
Acceptable Values option to List of Choices.
Only quantifiable answers can be pre-graded. The different pre-grading scenarios are discussed in the
following sections:
• “Yes/No questions” on page 204
• “Multiple–choice questions” on page 205
• “Number and Date Questions” on page 205
Yes/No questions
To pre-grade questions with Yes / No answers, enable pre-grading and specify the grades for the answers in
advance:
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades Yes and No based on the values defined. In this
case, Yes receives 100%, but you can assign it any grade value:
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Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation
Multiple–choice questions
To pre-grade questions with a list of predefined possible answers, enable pre-grading and specify the grades
for the answers in advance:
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades each possible answer with the grade that you
defined:
Number and Date Questions
Since questions that require numerical answers receive responses over a range of values, Ariba Sourcing
performs a calculation to assign grades. The calculation is based on from, to, and ideal values that you
specify.
Keep these points in mind:
• The ideal value must be a number between the to and from values.
• Negative numbers produce no special behavior. For example, assigning from = -5, ideal = 1, and to = 10
results in a pre-grade of 0% for -5, which ramps up to 100% for 1, and drops back down to 0% at 10.
• Determine the range of likely answers to your question as accurately as possible and set the to and from
values accordingly. If the to and from values are set too closely together, then some answers fall outside of
the range and are assigned a grade of 0%. If they are set too far apart, Sourcing cannot assign a full
spectrum of grades.
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To expand on the case where the to and from values are set too far apart, consider this example: the
question is “What is the top speed of the car in MPH?” and you mistakenly set the range to be from 0 to
1000. The following graphic illustrates the example:
Most cars have a top speed of 100-200 MPH (the circled area on the graphic). With the range set
improperly, an answer of 100 receives a grade of 83%, and an answer of 200 receives a grade of 91%. All
likely answers receive the same grade, which is not useful.
Different combinations of the from, to, and ideal values produce different behaviors:
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Assigning From, To, and Ideal values” on page 206
“Assigning From and Ideal Values, but Not a To Value” on page 207
“Assigning Ideal and To Values, but Not a From Value” on page 207
“Assign Only an Ideal Value” on page 208
“Assign Only a From Value” on page 208
“Assign Only a To value” on page 209
Assigning From, To, and Ideal values
Use this configuration to favor an answer that is neither too great nor too small. For example, you are
selecting which model of car to purchase for your company’s fleet. You do not want to frustrate your
employees with a very slow car, and yet, you do not want to purchase a sports car, which could occasion
accidents. Set the smallest acceptable top speed to 100 MPH, the ideal top speed to 120 MPH, and the
greatest acceptable top speed to 180 MPH, as shown in the following graphic:
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Scoring Concepts: During Event Creation
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades starting at 0% for the from value, ramping up to
100% for the ideal value, and then dropping back down to 0% at the to value:
Assigning From and Ideal Values, but Not a To Value
Use this configuration to favor an answer that is greater than a certain value, but with no restrictions on how
large the answer is. For example, you select which model of car to purchase for your company’s fleet. You
want the car to hold at least three passengers, ideally five passengers, with no upper limit. To pre-grade in
this case, you would set the numbers as shown in the following graphic:
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades 0% starting at the from value, ramps up to 100%
at the ideal value, and then continues at 100% for all answers greater than the ideal value:
Assigning Ideal and To Values, but Not a From Value
Use this configuration to favor an answer that is less than a certain value, but with no restrictions on how
small the answer is. For example, you select a model of car to purchase for your company’s fleet. You want
the cost to be less than $25,000, and ideally $15,000, but with no lower limit on cost. To pre-grade in this
case, you would set the numbers as shown in the following graphic:
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The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades 100% for all values less than the ideal value, and
then drops down to 0% between the ideal and to value:
Assign Only an Ideal Value
Use this configuration to solicit a single specific answer. For example, you are selecting which model of car
to purchase for your company’s fleet. You want it to have a four-cylinder engine, no more, no less. To
pre-grade in this case, you would set the numbers as shown in the following graphic:
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades 100% for the ideal value, and 0% for all other
values:
Assign Only a From Value
Use this configuration when you have a specific requirement, or threshold value that you require, but after
the supplier has fulfilled that requirement, a greater answer does not add value. For example, you are
selecting which model of car to purchase for your company’s fleet. Your company has a policy of only
purchasing cars that have been in production for at least ten years. To configure pre-grading in this case you
would set the parameters as shown in the following graphic:
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The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades 0% for all values less than the from value, and
100% for all values greater than the from value. The from value itself receives a grade of 100%. For
example, if from = 5, then an answer of 5 receives 100%, and an answer of 4.9 receives a grade of 0%:
Assign Only a To value
Use this configuration when you have a specific requirement, or threshold value that the answer must be less
than, but after the supplier has fulfilled that requirement, a smaller answer does not add value. For example,
you are selecting which model of car to purchase for your company’s fleet. In order to purchase a car, your
company requires it to be financed with a loan of 4% APR or lower. To configure pre–grading in this case
you would set the parameters as shown in the following graphic:
The following graph shows how Ariba Sourcing pre-grades 100% for all values less than the to value, and
0% for all values greater than the to value. The to value itself receives a grade of 100%. For example, if to =
5, then an answer of 5 receives 100%, and an answer of 5.1 receives a grade of 0%:
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Hiding or Showing Scoring Weights and Importance Levels
The Rules page contains a rule to turn on scoring (“Allow scoring on participant responses” on page 33), If
you allow scoring on participant responses, the scoring display option appears when entering content. When
you enable the scoring display, an additional column appears in the suppliers’ bidding console that shows the
Overall % your event’s content. An example is shown in the following graphic:
Your scoring configuration reveals much about your priorities and intentions. You control the flow of
information – for example, by showing your scoring setup to suppliers, you communicate to them how they
can improve their bids. On the other hand, by hiding your scoring setup, you can learn about your suppliers’
strengths and weaknesses as they submit their most natural bids.
Scoring Concepts: During Event Evaluation
When bidding closes and the event moves to Pending Selection state, your next task is to grade the responses
suppliers submitted. Assign a grade from 0%-100% depending on how well each supplier’s responses meets
your needs. Check the pre-grades the system assigned to see that you agree.
Once you finish grading, Ariba Sourcing uses the Overall % and the grades you assigned to calculate an
overall grade for each supplier. This grade is displayed in the Totals row of the Content tab. Factor the final
grades into your awarding decision.
Read the following sections to learn more:
• “Grading Suppliers’ Responses” on page 211
• “Calculation of Overall Grade” on page 212
Note: A team can consensus grade supplier responses. See “Using Team Grading” on page 216 for details.
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Scoring Concepts: During Event Evaluation
Grading Suppliers’ Responses
After an event closes, you evaluate suppliers’ responses by assigning grades.
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To assign grades:
1 Create a Review for Team Grading task.
2 In the event’s monitoring interface, click on the Content tab.
3 Click the survey you want to access.
4 Click Actions > Grade.
5 You see the grading interface. Ariba Sourcing lists the content of your event in rows. Each supplier has a
column where the system displays the responses they submitted and a drop-down list that you use to
assign grades. Assign a grade from 0%-100% depending on how well the responses meet your needs.
The following graphic displays a sample view of the grading interface:
Note the following:
• Grade value range is from 0% to 100%, with 100% being the best possible grade.
• Pre-graded questions already have grades filled in. You can modify the values as you like.
• After modifying grade values, click Upgrade Total Points to recalculate the Total or Overall grades.
• You can add comments to grades by clicking the comment symbol (which contains plus sign) next to the
scorable item and add comments to your grade to indicate your reasons for giving a specific grade to a
supplier:
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Chapter 19 Scoring
Once you have assigned grades, return to the Content tab. Ariba Sourcing displays the overall grades. Factor
them into your awarding decisions:
Calculation of Overall Grade
The Total or Overall grade is a weighted average that Ariba Sourcing calculates by multiplying the overall
weight percentage of each question by the grade that it received, and then summing all those values together.
The formula is:
Use the formula to verify the grade for Indus Consulting in the following graphic:
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About Advanced Scoring
Here is the formula with the weights and grades filled in:
About Advanced Scoring
Certain assumptions have been made in the design of the scoring feature to simplify it for the majority of
users.
Read the following sections to learn more:
• “About Questions in the Base Level” on page 213
• “Nested Sections” on page 214
• “Final Scoring Example” on page 215
About Questions in the Base Level
Scoring is simplest when you place questions and line items inside sections. If you create content differently,
for example, by placing a question outside of a section, it can cause confusion.
In the following graphic, the Maximum total points field does not equal the sum of the weight column. That
is because Maximum total points field is the sum of all the scoring points in the base level. Recall that both
weight and importance are scoring points.
Note: The base level is the root or beginning of the hierarchical scoring structure. Content in the base level
has a number with no decimal points, for example, notice “1 Section 1, or “3 A question created outside of a
section” in the following graphic. When content has a number with a decimal point, for example 1.2, it
means it is nested inside a section.
The Maximum total points field in the previous graphic equals 7, and not 2, because a question has been
created in the base level, outside of any section, causing its importance points to be added into the Maximum
total points field.
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The Overall % of any piece of content is calculated in relation to other content in the same hierarchical
location. Since question 3 is in the base level, Sourcing calculates its Overall % in comparison to the weight
of the two sections. The total number of scoring points assigned in that hierarchical location is 7, five of
which belong to question 3. So the overall % of question 3 is 5/7, or 71.43%.
Place the question inside of Section 2, as shown in the following graphic, to cause the Maximum total points
to reset to 2. Then the Overall % of the question is calculated in the standard way (as described in the section
“About Importance” on page 202).
Nested Sections
If you nest sections inside of other sections, it complicates scoring. For example, in the following graphic,
Section 2 is nested inside of Section 1. The weight points of Section 2 do not count towards the Maximum
total points field since they are not located in the base level. Only the weight points of Section 1 are located
in the base level.
Ariba Sourcing indents the weight fields to illustrate the hierarchical scoring structure. For example, since
Section 1 is the only content located in the base level, it contributes all of the scoring points to that level and
receives an Overall % of 100%. Likewise with Section 2. It is the only content nested within Section 1 and
contributes all of the scoring points to that level, causing it to receive all of Section 1’s Overall %.
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About Advanced Scoring
Final Scoring Example
The following graphic shows both sections nested within other sections, and questions located outside of
sections.
Notice:
• Ariba Sourcing calculates the Maximum total points field by adding the scoring points of Section (at base
level) and Question (at base level), the only content located in the base level.
• To understand how the Overall % values are calculated, examine the following table:
Number
Name
Weight
(base
level)
% to
parent
level
1
Section
2
33%
1.1
Question
1
33%
1.2
Section
(nested)
2
66%
1.2.1
Question
2
50%
11%
50% * 66% * 33%
= 11%
1.2.2
Question
2
50%
11%
50% * 66% * 33%
= 11%
2
Question
66%
33% * 66% = 22%
4
Importance
(2nd level)
% to
parent
level
Importance % to
% to
(3rd level) parent whole
level
Overall %
calculation
2/6 = 33%
11%
33% * 33% = 11%
2/3 * 33% =
22.22%
66%
Total
100%
The above table illustrates how the scoring hierarchy works. The application applies each content item’s
scoring points in the level where it is located. This level is determined by which section it is nested within,
and whether or not that section is nested as well. Although in the application the Weight and Importance
fields are displayed in different columns, it is helpful to think of them as existing together in the same
structure of indentation, as the table shows.
For example, Section (at base level) and Question (at base level) are located in the same scoring level. It
could be difficult to realize this since, as Questions receive Importance scoring points, and Sections receive
Weight scoring points, the two input fields are not in the same column.
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Using Team Grading
Chapter 19 Scoring
Using Team Grading
Team members can have differing opinions about what information is important as well as the quality of a
supplier’s responses. Team grading allows multiple team members to grade supplier responses to an RFI or
RFP event. A project owner can get information about team member’s opinions by having them grade
supplier responses to event content. Ariba Sourcing generates an average from these grades, and the team
members can come together to come up with a consensus grade for each supplier answer.
Note: In team grading, the project owner is treated as any other team member and participates in the
consensus grading.
To use team grading you must use a RFP or RFI event template, or customize a template to have:
• Scoring must be enabled
• Questions or terms in its content to grade, that are not pre-graded
• Review for Team Graders task created for the event
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To initiate team grading:
1 Create a sourcing project with an RFI or RFP event.
2 When you are creating the project:
• Add team members who will act as team graders to the Team Graders group on the Team page. Team
graders are automatically added to the Team Grading Task. Team members who are team graders only
are also observers on the project. The project owner is automatically a team grader.
• Add gradable project content, and add scoring information for the gradable items. Do not select to
pre-grade.
3 Complete and publish the event.
The event status changes to Pending selection at the end of the scheduled event time. Ariba Sourcing then
notifies reviewers (via email and a task reminder on their Dashboard) that it is time to team grade the
participant answers.
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To team grade supplier responses:
1 If you are one of the team graders, you receive email notification that you must complete the team grading
task. Log in and click this link under To Do This Week on the Dashboard:
2 Select Grade.
3 Add your grades. You can click the comment symbol (which contains plus sign) next to the scorable item
and add comments to your grade to indicate your reasons for giving a specific grade to a supplier:
4 You are not required to grade. If you elect not to grade, you can not grade and click Complete Task to exit
the task.
5 Click Submit.
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Using Team Grading
To review and adjust the consensus grade:
1 You receive email notification when each team graders responds, and again when all graders have finished
responding to the Team Grading Approval Task. While monitoring the event, select Actions > View Team
Grading Task to review the Team Grading Approval Task approval flow to see which reviewers completed
the review. This is where you will be able to verify the reviewers who have actually graded, or elected not
to grade. The flow will look like this when the reviewers have completed their task:
2 When all have responded, click Mark Complete to complete the task.
3 Monitor the project, and select Actions > Consensus Grade. The Consensus Grade page is available only to
event administrators or project owners. The reviewers can access the project and see their own grades
when grading is complete in a read only display. You can filter the content to display graded items only.
You can adjust grades for all graded content.
4 Modify the reviewer’s grades as needed, or click Submit if the grades need no modification. If you are not
satisfied with the grades in general, you can restart the event and initiate a new Team Grading Approval
Task.
If you want to exclude a team member’s response, you can adjust the consensus grade to subtract that
response from the overall grade.
When you are modifying grades, notice that the grade shown initially is the average grade. The average
grade in this example is 81.67%:
You can adjust this average grade. For example, you decide to change the average grade of 81.67% to
80%:
Notice that the average grade (provided by Ariba Sourcing) is shown in parenthesis under your modified
consensus grade.
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5 Click the comment symbol (with the plus sign) to add a comment to any adjusted grade to explain the
reason you changed the grade.
Note: Event administrators can view the consensus grade page, and can also submit the consensus grade.
If you are an administrator viewing grades, be sure you do not accidentally submit the grades when you
are viewing the consensus grades.
6 When you are done adjusting the grades, click Submit.
7 Close an RFI or non-competitive RFP event to complete. For a RFP with line items, go to the Scenario tab
and review the scoring. Make the award from that tab.
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Chapter 20
Using Optimization to Award Events
This section covers the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
“About Scenarios” on page 219
“Using Manual Scenarios to Award to Suppliers” on page 219
“Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers” on page 220
“Approving Submitted Award Scenarios” on page 223
“Optimization Example” on page 223
About Scenarios
There are many factors to consider when awarding suppliers. You might decide to select a single supplier for
all lots, or you might want to mitigate risk and award the business to two or more suppliers. This can be a
difficult decision for a large event with numerous lots and line items, and with multiple suppliers bidding for
the business. Only project owners can create scenarios.
Using award scenarios, you can create alternative winner scenarios and retain them in the event. You can
name each scenario, award lots to suppliers in the context of the scenario, compare among scenarios, and
export the scenarios to Microsoft Excel to perform additional analysis. You award business to suppliers
based on one or several of your scenarios. The Scenarios Report displays the various award scenarios for
your review. See “Scenarios Report” on page 173 for details.
Using Manual Scenarios to Award to Suppliers
The manual scenario allows you to award specific lots to individual suppliers, and split the awarding of a lot
by percentage among multiple suppliers. This scenario is useful if your awarding decision is fairly obvious.
For large and complex events where the awarding is not easy to determine, use an optimization scenario.
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To use a manual scenario:
1 On the Scenario tab, select Create > Manual Scenario. Or, from the Award tab, click Award.
2 Enter a scenario name.
3 In the pull-down menu for each item or lot, select the participant to whom you are awarding the item. If
you select Split Award, you can specify the percentage for each participant.
4 View the prices and savings for this scenario on the Summary tab.
5 You can click Save As to save a copy of the scenario you are working on.
6 Click Done to save and exit the scenario. The scenario is listed on the Scenarios tab. You can update the
scenario and submit it when you are ready.
7 When you are finished with the scenario, click Submit for award. This triggers the award approval task if
approvals are required. See “To approve an event for award:” for details.
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8 After you click Submit for award, you can send email to the awarded and non-awarded participants. When
this task is complete, the awards display in the Award tab.
Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers
The optimization scenario allows you to analyze the award decision for a large or complex event. The
optimization helps you make the award decision by allowing you to create and compare hypothetical
awarding models with specific constraints to determine the potential awarding results. You do not have to
accept any of the scenarios. When you are done with your analysis, you can accept the award scenario or
scenarios that makes sense to you.
Optimization can be a useful decision-making tool, however you must know your baseline first to
understand the scenarios that optimization can provide. To get the most out of the optimizations, run a first
scenario without constraints to determine what Ariba Sourcing offers as the optimal choice without the
influence of the constraints. After obtaining that result, create scenarios with constraints to see how they
vary from the unconstrained result.
When creating optimization scenarios, keep in mind:
• Use optimization to help you make the best (optimal) decisions for your business.
• Think about the goal of your optimization. Often this will be to minimize total price. It could also be
something like maximize total score or minimize total cost.
• Use care as you add constraints to scenarios. The optimal value will not get better (and often gets worse)
as you add more constraints.
• You can use scenarios to model different constraints and to see the costs are of imposing those constraints
on the possible award.
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To use an optimization scenario:
1 On the Scenario tab, select Create > Optimization Scenario.
2 On the Goals and Constraints tab, enter a name for this scenario.
3 Select the goal for the scenario. The goals you can choose from vary with the event. Examples of goals
include minimizing extended price or total cost or maximizing savings. The goals are controlled by the
terms you defined when you added content.
4 Specify whether to have minimum coverage. This means the smallest group of suppliers that can supply
everything you need. The minimum coverage specification does not take price into account. The
minimum coverage goal takes precedence over the price goals you select, and is calculated first by the
optimization.
So, when you select the Minimize Total Cost goal, and the Minimum Coverage goal is Yes, you get the
smallest number of suppliers that can provide the lowest total cost. You might have to choose certain line
items. For example, your optimization of lowest total cost and minimum suppliers offers you Supplier A
and Supplier B, for line items 1 though 7. You find that Supplier A can supply line items 1 though 4, and
Supplier B can supply line items 4 through 7. Your choice is clear for items 1 through 3, and also for items
5 through 7. You will have to make a choice about item 4 however, because both suppliers can provide
you with that item.
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Using Optimization Scenarios to Award to Suppliers
5 Click Add Item Group to create an item group. An item group is a group of lots or line items that you select
and then apply specific constraints to the group. You can have multiple item groups, with constraints for
each item group. For example, if you were purchasing computers and their various components, you
could have an item group that focused on printers, another that you used to determine pricing on
peripherals such as keyboards, and yet another item group to use for software purchases.
6 Id you choose All Items, the item group definition is complete.
7 If you choose Selected Items, click Add Items to add lots or line items to the group. You can use item groups
to create various scenarios that focus on specific groups of goods.
8 Select the items to add to the group and click OK.
9 Click Add Constraints next to the item group to add constraints.
Select the constraints you want to use for the optimization scenario.
Constraints include:
• Total Amount: Allows you to specify that the total amount of the business be awarded according to the
constraints you specify.
• Per-Item Quantity: Allows you to specify the business to be awarded at the line item level for quantities.
For example, you can specify to award 30% of a specified quantity to a specific supplier.
• Supplier Count: Allows you to specify a finite number of suppliers to receive the award.
Use the Supplier Matching Criteria Relation choices (And or Or) to specify if the criteria should be
inclusive or exclusive. For example, you would specify Or if you had matching criteria of Minority
Owned Business and Woman Owned Business, and would award business to a supplier who fulfilled
either criteria. You would specify And if you wanted to award business only to suppliers who matched
both criteria.
You can specify that the constraints apply for specific supplier choices:
• Incumbent: Apply the constraints to the incumbent supplier.
• Selected Supplier: Apply the constraints to suppliers you select from a list of active suppliers.
• Supplier Matching Criteria: Use matching criteria to create a list of participants. You can filter the active
suppliers by their answers to questions posed during the event, supplier profile criteria, or line item
terms, such as Price or Quantity.
• Participants Bid on All Items: Apply constraint only to participants who bid on all of the items that are
included in the group to which this constraint applies.
The text version of the constraint restates the constraints you have chosen in a sentence. Review this
sentence before deciding to optimize, to be sure that you have chosen the constraints you want. Click
Update to update the text after changing any constraint.
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10 When you are finished with the scenario, click Optimize. This runs the optimization on the scenarios,
applying the constraints you specified. After optimization, you have the option to continue working or
view your scenarios.
By combining the ability to create an item group of selected line items, with the ability to create a
constraint on that item group, you can set up scenarios with constraints such as the ones below:
•
•
•
•
Allocate exactly 100 computers to Supplier A
Allocate at most 50 monitors to Supplier B; none to Supplier C
Allocate business only to suppliers who have been in business more than 10 years
Allocate 50% of the business to two suppliers
An optimization scenario can have as few as one defined objective, and you can add any number of
constraints. Note that adding numerous constraints does not make the optimal value of the objective
better. In other words, if you are optimizing total price then adding a new constraint to an existing
scenario will not make the lowest total price better. Also, removing constraints can not make the optimal
value worse.
Do not specify mutually exclusive constraints. For example if you request that at least 75% of the
computers be from Supplier A and at least 75% of the computers be from Supplier B, then it is not
possible to satisfy both of these constraints at the same time.
11 After optimization completes, select the scenario name and click Edit.
12 Click the Award Proposal Details tab. Select the award participants for the various lots.
13 View the optimizations for this scenario on the Summary tab.
14 After you run the optimization, you can view the scenario in read-only mode by going to the Scenario tab
and selecting View.
You can select Edit to edit the scenario title, set an optimization goal, and edit constraints. If you decide to
modify the award allocations, you can save the optimization scenario as a manual scenario, modify the
allocations, and submit the scenario for award.
15 When you are finished with the scenario, click Submit for award. This triggers the award approval task if
approvals are required. See “To approve an event for award:” for details. After you click Submit for award
you can send email to awarded and non-awarded participants.
When this task is complete, the awards display in the Award tab. From the Award tab, you can export the
award information to Microsoft Excel.
If you change your mind about an award scenario after you submit, you can modify the scenario and
submit again. The scenario you submit later will overwrite the previous value of the award.
Create as many optimization scenarios as you want to model various results for your award. Be sure to
create one scenario with no constraints so you can use that result as a baseline and compare that result to
other scenarios that have constraints.
Your award can be based on multiple scenarios. For example you can have one scenario that focuses on
item group 1, and another scenario that focuses on item group 2. You can eventually submit both of these
scenarios for award.
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Approving Submitted Award Scenarios
Optimization Status
There are four possible optimization statuses:
Optimization Status
Definition
DRAFT
This is a manual scenario that you are still editing.
IN PROCESS
The optimization is being processed and should be done soon.
OPTIMIZED
The optimization process has completed successfully.
OPTIMIZATION FAILED
There are conflicting constraints that prevent successful optimization. For example,
if there is a constraint that you must award more than 20% to Company A, and
another constraint that you cannot award more than 10% to Company A, it would
be a conflict.
Approving Submitted Award Scenarios
You can use the Award Approval Task to route approvals for the submitted scenarios before they are
awarded.
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To view the Award Approval Task (visible in a Full Project only):
1 While monitoring the event, click Actions > View Award Approval Task.
2 Click Approval Flow. You can view the status of the task and see which reviewers have approved.
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To approve an event for award:
1 When a user has submitted a scenario for you to approve for award, Ariba Sourcing alerts you by placing
a link in the Dashboard Needs Review area.
2 Click the link. You see the Award Approval Task. Click Approve or Deny.
3 On the approved or denied screen, you can write a message and add an attachment to communicate why
you approved or denied the award. Click OK when you are finished composing your message.
Optimization Example
Here is an optimization example with three suppliers, several constraints, and six scenarios.
The table below shows the items and final bids from an auction:
Line #
Item Name
Quantity
Years in
Business
Supplier A
Supplier B
Supplier C
39
15
1
Line 1
Computer
300
$1250
$1200
$1150
Line 2
Monitor
300
$250
$240
$260
Line 3
Printer
20
$580
$600
$650
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The following table lists the optimization scenarios for the final bids listed in the table above
Scenario
Constraints
Total Price Line 1
(Computer)
Line 2
(Monitor)
Line 3
(Printer)
Scenario 1: Best
Price
None
$428,600
Supplier C
Supplier B
(100%) $345,000 (100%)
$72,000
Supplier A
(100%)
$11,600
Scenario 2: Two
Suppliers
At most, two suppliers for
the entire event
$429,000
Supplier C
Supplier B
(100%) $345,000 (100%)
$72,000
Supplier B
(100%)
$12,000
Scenario 3: One
Supplier
At most, one supplier for the 436,000
entire event
Supplier C
Supplier C
(100%) $345,000 (100%)
$78,000
Supplier C
(100%)
$13,000
Scenario 4: Older
Companies
Only suppliers with 10 or
more years in business
443,600
Supplier B
Supplier B
(100%) $360,000 (100%)
$72,000
Supplier A
(100%)
$11,600
Scenario 5: Older
Companies; No
Supplier B Monitors
Only suppliers with 10 or
more years in business;
Exactly 0 monitors from
Supplier B
446,600
Supplier B
Supplier A
(100%) $360,000 (100%)
$75,000
Supplier A
(100%)
$11,600
Scenario 6: Only
Half of the
Computers to
Supplier C
No more than 50% of the
computers to Supplier C
436,100
Supplier B (50%) Supplier B
$180,000;
(100%)
Supplier C (50%) $72,000
$172,500
Supplier A
(100%)
$11,600
In the table above, Scenario 1 is a scenario with no constraints. Since this scenario has no constraints, it is
one of the lower cost solutions.
Dealing with several suppliers has costs, so the buyer wants to know if having three suppliers is worth the
expense. Scenarios 2 and 3 provide the prices for limiting the number of suppliers to one or two. Using two
suppliers costs $400 ($429,000 - $428,600) and limiting to one supplier costs an additional $7000 ($436,000
- $429,000). If the buyer finds that each added supplier costs approximately $5000 then limiting to two
suppliers makes sense but limiting to one does not.
The buyer assumes that older companies are more reliable than newer companies. To verify the cost of using
only suppliers that have been in business for 10 or more years the buyer ran Scenario 4. This result shows
that using only older companies costs the buyer an additional $15,000 ($443,600 - $428,600). The buyer
must decide if it is worth the extra money to avoid using a supplier who has been in business for a shorter
time.
Scenario 5 models not buying monitors from Supplier B while still limiting the selection to older suppliers.
The buyer might run this scenario if they know that Supplier B’s monitors are lower quality. We see from the
results that this costs an additional $3,000 on top of the $15,000 for choosing older suppliers.
In Scenario 6 the buyer tries to reduce the risk of using the younger supplier by limiting the purchase to no
more than 50 percent of the computers. This constraint adds $7,500 to the cost over the best price scenario 1.
Notice that as the scenarios become more constrained that the cost for the buyer goes up. For example
Scenario 3 costs more than Scenario 2, which costs more than Scenario 1. Similarly, Scenario 5 costs more
than Scenario 4, which costs more than Scenario 1.
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Chapter 21
Reports
This section discusses the Ariba Sourcing basic reporting functionality. It lists the reports and how to access
them. For details on report functionality, see the Ariba Sourcing Reporting and Analysis Guide.
This chapter contains the following sections:
• “About Reports” on page 225
• “Viewing a Report” on page 225
About Reports
Ariba Sourcing comes prepackaged with basic reporting functionality that can summarize sourcing
activities. Examples of common reports might include the following:
•
•
•
•
Have many events has John Doe run over the last quarter?
Which events did Acme, Inc. have the opportunity to bid on or was invited to?
Which events has my group run this month?
How many completed events are there for IT equipment, covering the Midwest of the United States?
You can export your reports to Microsoft Excel using the Excel Template.
To see the Explore Prepackaged Reports link and be able to use reports, you must be assigned to one of the
following groups:
• Commodity Manager
• Sourcing Manager
• Event Administrator
Viewing a Report
You can view reports on published events.
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To view a report:
1 In the Common Actions panel, choose Manage > Prepackaged Reports
There are eight folders that contain Ariba Sourcing reports:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Event Reports
General Templates
Health Check
Passive Compliance Reports
Project Analysis (All Project Types)
Project Task Analysis
Sourcing Project Analysis
Supplier Performance Management Reports
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2 Expand the folders to list the reports.
3 Click the report name of the report you want to view and select Open.
You see the Refine Data screen, which allows you to refine which events are included in the report. For
example, you could choose to include only events that took place in Region: USA > Michigan.
4 Click View Report.
If you are requesting an exceptionally large report, it might take a long time to prepare. If you cannot save
the report at the moment, you can click Background to request that it generate in a cache.
Note: Reports that you run in the background are only in the cache as long as there is space in the cache.
After you click Background, you return to the Dashboard where you can continue your Ariba Sourcing
activities. Return to the Refine Data page at a later time, and request the same report. Click View Report to
display the report.
Note: If Ariba Reporting and Analysis is enabled, you see a full Ariba Reporting and Analysis report;
otherwise you see a limited version.
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Performing Searches
This section contains the following topics:
• “Performing Searches” on page 227
• “Saving Searches” on page 228
Performing Searches
You can search for various types of projects and for documents. You access the search pages from the Search
area on the Dashboard. You can search by keyword or object details. Select the type of object you want to
search for, and click Search.
Note: Searches are retained and when you return to the search area, your last search is displayed.
Viewing Search Results
You can display a maximum of 50 search results. After you receive the your search results, you click the
table icon and choose View > Details or View > List to change the results display.
If you select the list display, you can sort each column by clicking the column heading and toggling the
arrow that appears. You can select which columns appear in the list using the Show/Hide toggles in the Table
Options menu. You can also use the Group by Column options to group together all the results with a
particular name, owner, commodity, or status.
Note: If you cannot find the item you are looking for, it is possible you do not have the group access to view
it. Search results only display items you have permission to view.
Using Advanced Hierarchical Match
You can use advanced hierarchical match when you are searching using search fields that are organized in a
hierarchal structure, such as Commodity, Region, or Department. The following example illustrates
hierarchical structure:
Region Level 1: Asia Pacific
Region Level 2: China
Project 1: Region = Asia Pacific
Project 2: Region = China
If you search for Region = China without advanced hierarchical match, the search only returns Project 2.
If you search for Region = China with advanced hierarchical match enabled, the search returns both Project
1 and 2.
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Using Boolean Operators
For keyword searches only, the application supports these boolean operators:
•
•
•
•
and
or
not
near
When you enter these operators in the Keyword field when searching, the application does not search for
them. Rather, it recognizes them as special operators that you can use to create complex search queries. For
example:
• contract AND management returns only results that contain both of the words.
• contract OR management returns results that contain one of the words.
• contract NOT management returns results that contain the word contract but not the word management.
• contract NEAR management returns results that contain the word contract with the word management
located within 100 words of each other.
Enclose multi-word phrases in quotation marks to search for the phrase in exactly the specified order. For
example: “contract management”
You can use parentheses for grouping to build up more complex searching queries, for example: contract
NOT (contracts OR “contract management”)
Using Wildcards
You can use the following search wildcards when searching for titles:
• Use the character % as the multi-character wildcard.
• Use the character _ as the single-character wildcard.
Searching for Deleted Documents
The project owner can delete projects and documents, but it does not remove them from the system entirely.
To search for deleted projects and documents, you must have the acm.SearchDeletedDocument permission set
by your administrator. There is no group that has this permission by default.
Saving Searches
You can save the searches you use frequently as saved searches. Once you have saved a search, you can
access it in your personal workspace or on the Saved Searches tab of the Search page. You cannot share
saved searches with other users.
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To save a search:
1 Perform your search.
2 Click Save Search.
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Saving Searches
3 Enter a name for the saved search.
Giving the saved search a name that reflects the search criteria will help you locate it easily the next time
you want to use it.
4 Click OK.
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To modify a saved search:
1 Refine the saved search using one of the following methods:
• In your personal workspace, navigate to the saved search, click it, and choose Refine.
• In the Search area on the Dashboard, click the Search link for the type of saved search you want to
open. For example, to open a saved document search, click Search Documents. Click the Saved Searches
tab and choose the search you want to open from the My Searches pull-down menu, then click Refine.
2 Modify the search criteria and perform one of the following actions:
• Click Search to search using the modified search criteria.
• Click Save Search to save the modified search. Enter a name for the new search and click OK. When you
save modified search criteria as a new search, the original saved search remains unchanged.
You can also delete a saved search by opening it on the Saved Searches tab and clicking Delete.
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Chapter 23
Microsoft Excel Import and Export
Ariba Sourcing allows you to import sourcing event data from and export data to Microsoft Excel
spreadsheets. This feature helps you enter a large volume of data quickly or save event information outside
of Ariba Sourcing or to collaborate with colleagues. Data that you can import and export includes content
such as event rules, lots, and line items, supplier invitations, attachments, exchange rates, pre-grades,
questions, and terms. Also event participants can export event data, formulate their responses off line and
then submit their response in the Excel spreadsheet.
This section describes the following Excel import/export tasks:
• “Exporting Sourcing Event Projects” on page 232 – Export a complete sourcing event project and save it
to import and create a similar project later.
• “Exporting Event Award Data” on page 233 – Export Award data to an external system such as an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) application.
• “Generating a Spreadsheet Prototype” on page 234 – Export an empty sourcing event project and use it as
a prototype for importing event data in a spreadsheet.
• “Editing Spreadsheets for Import” on page 234 – You can set up the data for a Sourcing event project in
an Excel spreadsheet and then import it into a new project
• “Importing Event Data from Excel” on page 242 – When you have an Excel spreadsheet on your
computer that is ready to import, you can use this function to import it into a project you have created.
• “External System Integration by Excel Import” on page 243 – Ariba Sourcing provides an HTTP request
mechanism for loading an Excel spreadsheet and optionally a zip file of project attachments. You could
use this mechanism from an ERP.
• “Importing Participant Responses from Excel” on page 245 – Event participants can save a published
event as a spreadsheet, fill in their responses, and import it.
• “Exporting UI Tables to Excel” on page 246 – Export individual tables of information from the user
interface for reference. (You cannot import these spreadsheets later.)
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Exporting Sourcing Event Projects
You can export a published (active) event or a draft event and all its attachments, if any. You can import it
later to create a new project or just keep it for reference.
Note: There is no need export old projects as a way to archive them. Ariba Sourcing keeps them indefinitely,
has backup copies, and you can use the search feature to find them at any time.
You can use an exported Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to import data later. The exported spreadsheet contains
a snapshot of content in your event. You can modify that data or add to it in Microsoft Excel, then import the
modified spreadsheet back to Ariba Sourcing to create a new project.
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To export an event project:
1 Open the Sourcing event project that you would like to export. It does not matter if the project is in the
Draft or Published state.
2 Navigate to either the Suppliers or the Content page of the project.
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Exporting Event Award Data
3 Click the Excel Import button at the bottom of the page to open the Import Content from Excel page.
This page enables exporting to Excel spreadsheets in step 2.
4 Select the data you want to export in Step 1. Generally you would pick everything that you might want to
import later.
5 In Step 2, choose “Click here to open your auction in an Excel Spreadsheet.” This option enables you to
either create the file and open it in Microsoft Excel or just save the Excel file to a folder that you specify.
6 If you have attachments to this project and your intent is to create a new project later with this exported
data, choose “Click to download existing attachments into a zip file.” The event data spreadsheet does not
go into this zip file. You specify the folder to which the zip file is downloaded.
7 Click Done, on the right, to return to the project.
Exporting Event Award Data
Event results are available in the Bid Report, Scenario Report, Questions and Terms Report, the Award
Report (draft contract). This feature enables you to send these reports as separate Microsoft Excel files in a
zip file to a specified URL using an HTTP request.
To enable this feature contact your Ariba representative and ask to have set the
Application.Integration.ExternalSystem.ContractExportURL parameter set. It should be set with a URL
that can receive an HTTP request containing a zip file.
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When this parameter contains a value, the Contract button contains the option to Export Draft Contract To >
External System.
These options are visible if you
are authorized to create contracts.
This option is visible if you are
authorized to export award data to
an external system.
Generating a Spreadsheet Prototype
A spreadsheet prototype is one that contains sample event data, but does not contain the data for an actual
event. You would want a spreadsheet prototype if you planned to add event data separately off line. Having a
prototype enables you to create new rows and fill in data that adheres to the Ariba Sourcing Excel format
requirements.
If you would like to write an integration program that exports event data out of some other application, such
as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, you can use the spreadsheet prototype as a model of
how to format the ERP data.
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To generate a spreadsheet prototype:
1 Create a sourcing event project of the appropriate event type. Choosing the event type controls what event
templates are available. The event templates contain rules and content definitions that best suit the type of
event.
2 Create some sample content to serve as the model when entering event data off line. select line items, lots,
sections, questions, and any other content elements the finished even twill need.
3 Export the event as described in “Exporting Sourcing Event Projects” on page 232.
You may now add data to this spreadsheet that matches the content samples in that were exported in it.
Editing a Sourcing Event Excel spreadsheet is described in “Editing Spreadsheets for Import” on page 234.
When you are done, you can import the spreadsheet into a new project as described in “Importing Event
Data from Excel” on page 242.
Editing Spreadsheets for Import
Use a spreadsheet prototype exported from Ariba Sourcing to help you ensure that the format is compatible
with what Ariba Sourcing expects. You may write a program or script to extract data from another database
and create a spreadsheet for import. In that case, use a spreadsheet prototype as the model for the
spreadsheet that the program generates. Generating spreadsheet prototypes is described in the previous
section.
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Validating Imported Data
Ariba Sourcing validates the data in the imported template. For example, if you accidentally enter text into a
Number column, Ariba Sourcing displays an error message when you import it.
Keep the following guidelines in mind when entering data into a Microsoft Excel template:
• Do not edit the fields that are blue. In the example below the System Id column and the header row are all
blue and must not be changed.
• Ariba Sourcing maps data into the input fields according to these column names. If you change the
column names, the data is not be recognized and is be ignored.
• The System Id column provides a unique identifier for each line of content. Ariba Sourcing uses this
System Id to update existing items. It works as follows:
• When imported content has a System ID, the system searches the project for content with that ID and
updates it with the revised values, if any.
• Content with no System ID is added to the project, so if you deleted the System ID after export and
then import, you end up with two items.
• You can create a new project from scratch in which no items have a System ID.
• If you check the box for destructive import, any content, suppliers or any other event specifications are
removed and replaced with the imported data.
• The headings of columns that must contain data are color–coded yellow. Columns with blue headings are
for optional information. Use them as needed.
• You must enter a valid value for a required column.
• If you do not enter a value for an optional column, Ariba Sourcing provides a default. This default is the
same default value as that displayed in the user interface.
• You can remove columns that are not required from the template.
• Terms which are defined in the event template do not have to be redefined in Microsoft Excel in order to
import.
• Terms that are not defined in the Attribute Details sheet and do not have the default value of the term set
under the term column are imported as non-negotiable terms.
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In general a good method for learning how to import content into Ariba Sourcing using Microsoft Excel is to
first export an event that already exists in Ariba Sourcing to Microsoft Excel, and examine how the system
translates content into the Microsoft Excel format.
Make sure you do not exceed the size limits when building your spreadsheet. See “Content Limits in
Different Events” on page 82 for details.
The worksheet descriptions below describe what you can and cannot import on each worksheet.
Nonexistent rules and new currencies are simply ignored.
You cannot import team members.
The spreadsheet you import can reference attachments. You can import these attachments in a zip file when
you import the spreadsheet. For example, the Terms worksheet contains a column called Reference
Documents, where you can enter a file name of a file you intend to attach. There is also a Reference
Documents column in the Content worksheet.
Worksheet Descriptions
A typical auction project contains the following worksheets:
• Design Instructions – This worksheet contains general instructions for filling out the spreadsheet. This
worksheet is ignored during import.
• Content – The Content worksheet includes non-pricing content types such as Questions, Sections, and
Requirements. Do not edit the system ID column
• Pricing – Use the Pricing worksheet for the lot and line item content types. Ariba Sourcing separates lots
and line items into a separate worksheet due to the number of columns associated with pricing. The
sections listed in the Content tab are also shown on this worksheet so that any child pricing elements can
be shown in their proper hierarchy. If you need to create a new term for a line item, make sure it is defined
on the Terms tab.
• Terms – This worksheet lists all the terms defined in your event and all the details of their definition such
as acceptable values, decimal places, formulas, and so on. You can create new terms.
• Participants – This worksheet lists the username and name for the participants in this Sourcing event. In
some places, participants are also described as “suppliers.” You may import new event participants. The
rules for participant names and organizations that do or do not exist in your database are as follows:
• If the participant exists but the organization does not, you get an error.
• If the participant and organization exist and they match, the participant is invited to the event.
• If the participant and organization exist but do not match, the organization is ignored and the
participant is invited to the event.
• If the participant is new but the organization exists, the participant is mapped to the organization and
invited to the event.
• If the participant the organization are both new, they are both created in the system and the participant
is invited to the event.
Note: You cannot invite other users (non-participants) to the event using Excel import functionality.
• Item Participants – This worksheet has a column for each participant username and each row is an item
in the event showing whether the participant has been invited to respond.
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• Rules – This worksheet lists each rule that is defined for this event and the rule value or setting. You can
set values, but you cannot create a new rule. If you export from a project created with a certain template,
be sure to import to a project created with the same template. Templates determine which rules are present
and rules in the spreadsheet that are not in the project to which you are importing are ignored.
• Participant initial Values – For each participant the rows for the various line items show the initial bid
set for each participant, if the these values are to be different than the event initial value. The participants
must match those on the Participants and Item Participants tabs.
• Currency Conversion –This worksheet lists the conversion rate for all the currencies in your Ariba
system converted to the currency for this event. You can change the exchange rates, but you cannot add
currencies that are not defined in your Ariba Sourcing solution.
On each worksheet, the columns contain specific types of information related to that worksheet. For help,
click the plus sign on the left. It expands the spreadsheet to add text under each column describing the
allowed values and default initial value of the column
.
If you are importing new records, the fields with asterisks in front of them are required, such as Number,
Type, and Name, in the example above.
Numbering for Line Items and Item Groups
You can define a line item hierarchy using a number system with a period “.” separating the hierarchy levels.
For example, 1.3.2 indicates the second item in the third subgroup of the first group.
There is error handling in the Microsoft Excel import functionality; if you enter incorrect numbers, Ariba
Sourcing simply adds that content in the base level of the event, assigning ascending whole numbers. You
can then drag and drop or copy and paste the content to order it as you like.
Note: By default, Microsoft Excel interprets 1.10 as a number and removes the trailing 0. In the Number
column, you want Microsoft Excel to treat 1.10 as text instead of a number. You can achieve this effect in
either of the following ways:
• When entering item numbers that end in 0, type an apostrophe first: Microsoft Excel treats the number as
a text entry. For example, if you want the item number 1.10, type ‘1.10.
• Format the entire column of numbers as text, by choosing the column and clicking Format > Cells. Click
the Number tab, and in the Category section, choose Text and click OK. All data entered in the column is
treated as text.
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Creating Content Types by Importing from Microsoft Excel
The following procedures tell you specific information about how to create the various content types by
entering information into the template.
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To create a section:
1 Choose the Content worksheet. That is where you create Questions, Sections, and Requirements. Fill out
a row on this worksheet with information to create one section.
2 In the Number column, enter a number. These numbers are associated with content on the Content page.
They indicate how items should be organized in Ariba Sourcing. If you leave the Number column blank or
provide an invalid number, Ariba Sourcing adds those particular sections, items, questions, lots at the root
level.
3 In the Type column, enter Section. Some columns in the template only accept specific values. The Type
column is one of these; it only accepts the names of defined content types. If you enter other text in this
column the system gives an error message when you try to import the template. See the help page linked
to from the Import Content from Excel page for a list of the values you can enter in this column.
4 In the Name column, enter the name of the section. Other columns in the template accept any value. The
name column is one of those; you can name the section whatever you like.
5 Enter the Description of the section. You can enter any description.
6 In the Answer Type and the Allowed Values column, enter nothing; sections do not accept answers.
7 If the section is an envelope, there is also a column for the envelope number. You can have more than one
section in an envelope.
8 When you finish entering the row, it might look like this:
When you import the template with these changes, Ariba Sourcing creates a section like this:
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To create a question:
1 Choose the Content worksheet.
2 In the Number column, enter a number. You might want to nest the question inside a section. To do that,
specify a hierarchical number. For example, specifying 2.1 would cause Ariba Sourcing to nest the
question under section 2, assuming that you created a section with number 2.
3 In the Type column, enter Question.
4 In the Name column, enter the question.
5 Leave the Description column blank.
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6 Enter the Answer Type. See the help page linked to from the Import Content from Excel page for a list of
all the acceptable answers. For example, you might enter Yes / No.
7 In the Allowed Values column:
• To allow Any Value, leave the cell blank.
• To allow a Limited Range, enter the endpoints separated by a tilde character, for example, to allow
numbers between 0 and 100, enter 0~100.
• To allow a List of Choices, enter the choices you want to allow, separated by pipe characters: 1|2|3|4.
8 When you are finished entering the question information into Microsoft Excel, it might look like this.
Also shown is the section created earlier, so you can understand how the nesting works:
Ariba Sourcing imports the question in this way:
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To create a requirement:
1 Choose the Content worksheet.
2 In the Number column, enter a number. You might want to nest the requirement inside a section. To do
that, specify a hierarchical number. For example, specifying 2.2 would cause Ariba Sourcing to nest the
requirement under section 2, assuming that you created a section with number 2.
3 In the Type column, enter Requirement.
4 In the Name column, enter the text of the requirement. For example: You must agree to the General
Commercial Terms.
5 Leave the Description column blank.
6 Leave the Answer Type column blank.
7 Leave the Default column blank.
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8 When you are finished entering the requirement information into Microsoft Excel, it might look like this.
Also shown are the section and question created in earlier procedures, so you can understand how the
nesting works:
Ariba Sourcing imports the requirement in this way:
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To create a lot:
1 Choose the Pricing worksheet.
2 In the Number column, enter a number. Although the content and pricing information are on different
worksheets, when you import the template, Ariba Sourcing merges the two together. Be sure not to
specify numbers that you have already used on the content worksheet. Use the number column to describe
how you want the rows in both worksheets of the Microsoft Excel template to be merged and organized
when you import the template.
3 In the Type column, enter the type of lot to create. Choose from Biddable Lot, Basket Lot, and Basket Lot
(No Items). See “Lots and Line Items” on page 54 to read about the different types of lots.
4 Enter the Name of the lot.
5 Enter an optional Description for the lot.
6 The remainder of the columns allow you to specify optional pricing information. Entering the Price or the
Quantity in Microsoft Excel is probably faster than using Ariba Sourcing’s web interface.
7 When you are finished entering the lot information into Microsoft Excel, it might look like this:
Ariba Sourcing imports the lot in this way:
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To create a line item:
1 Choose the Pricing worksheet.
2 In the Number column, enter a number. You might want to nest a line item inside of a lot. To do that,
specify a hierarchical number. For example, specifying 3.1 would cause Ariba Sourcing to nest the line
item under lot 3, assuming that you created a lot with number 3.
3 In the Type column, enter Line Item.
4 Enter the Name of the line item.
5 Leave the Description column blank.
6 The remainder of the columns allow you to specify optional pricing information. Entering the Price or the
Quantity in Microsoft Excel is probably faster than using the application’s web interface.
7 When you are finished entering the line item information into Microsoft Excel, it might look like this:
Ariba Sourcing imports the line item in this way (notice how line item 3.1 can be nested inside lot 3):
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To create an item term definition:
1 Choose the Pricing worksheet.
2 Add a column to the worksheet.
3 You can define the detailed attribute definition in the Attribute Details sheet and set the default value of
the term under the term column.
If the term has been applied to multiple items, you only need to define the attribute definition in the
Attribute Details sheet once. If the attribute does not apply to specific item(s), then enter Not Applicable
in the item term column.
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Importing Event Data from Excel
This section steps you through a typical Microsoft Excel Import process.
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To import an event project from a spreadsheet:
1 Create a sourcing event project into which you would like to import event data.
2 Navigate to either the Suppliers or the Content page of the project.
3 Click the Excel Import button at the bottom of the page to open the Import Content from Excel page.
This page enables both importing from and exporting to Excel spreadsheets.
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4 In Step 4 in the screen above, select whether to add this data to the project or to replace the data selected
in step 1 with the same type of data from the spreadsheet.
5 Go to Step 5 and click the upper Browse button to find the Excel spreadsheet file you want to import.
6 If this spreadsheet lists reference documents on the Content or Terms pages, make sure all these files are
in a zip file. Then Click the lower Browse in Step 4 and find the zip file containing the attachments.
7 Click Import in Step 5 to import these files.
8 Click Done, on the right, to return to the project.
If there are errors, you will get a message listing them, up to about two dozen per import attempt. A sample
with a single error is shown below:
If an error occurs, you must correct the problem in your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Clicking cancel takes
you back to the Import Content From Excel page. Browse to your file again and re–attempt to import it.
Note: Not all errors cause an error to be displayed. For example, if you accidentally changed an optional
column heading, the system ignores it during import, and the expected data under the column does not
appear. Always verify that the data you think you loaded is displayed online.
When the template is error free, Ariba Sourcing returns you to the page from which you opened the “Import
Content from Excel” window. Look through the imported information to see if it is what you intended. If
necessary drag and drop, or copy and paste the information to order it correctly.
External System Integration by Excel Import
You can write a program to upload a spreadsheet on a schedule, or create an integration program that
automatically extracts data from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application database, and generate
an Excel spreadsheet. From there you can upload it to Ariba Sourcing.
Ariba Sourcing allows you to use an HTTP request to automatically create a Sourcing event project, upload
an Excel file, and optionally, a zip file containing project attachments specified in the spreadsheet. When the
system receives the HTTP request, it enables you to log in, specify the settings for your new event project,
and then checks and imports the uploaded file.
The upload can include a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file containing event content for a quick project, or
any kind of file for a full project.
For guidelines on creating a valid Sourcing event spreadsheet, see “Editing Spreadsheets for Import” on
page 234.
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In addition, you can also export the bid report and a a draft contract back to the ERP or any direct-action
URL that will accept an HTTP request. These exports are described in “Exporting Bids Report to an
External System” on page 174, and “Export Draft Contract to External System” on page 182.
Creating the HTTP Request
The HTTP request uses your Ariba Sourcing URL and realm ID and sends the files you want to import. A
sample HTML request is shown below. The data you must supply is in bold:
<html>
<body>
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post"
action="http://[your_Ariba_Sourcing_URL]/ad/createProject/
ERPProjectCreationAction?realm=[realm_ID]">
<input type="hidden" name="realm" value="[realm_ID]">
Excel sheet: <input type="file" name="[fileName]"> <br />
<br />
Zip attachment: <input type="file" name="[zipFileName]"> <br />
<br />
<input type="submit" value="Create Project">
</form>
</body>
</html>
The <form> tag specifies your own Ariba Sourcing URL with the appropriate additions to create a new
project with the imported file(s). For [your_Ariba_Sourcing_URL] fill in the URL for your Ariba Sourcing
solution.
The <input> tags specify four pieces of input to Ariba Sourcing:
• The first <input> tag sends the realm ID for your Ariba Sourcing Solution. Replace [realm_ID] with your
realm ID. If your administrator does not know your realm ID, you can get it from your Ariba
representative. The <form> tag in the sample above does not create a data entry field, so the realm ID must
be hard-coded in the URL and the value= attribute.
• The second <input> tag creates a data entry field called Excel sheet: and provides a button for browsing to
the Excel spreadsheet file you want to import. If you want to create a custom integration to an external
application you could write a program to extract event data from an external database and create an
Ariba-formatted event data Excel spreadsheet. For information on getting a prototype Excel file and
creating valid event date in it, see “Generating a Spreadsheet Prototype” on page 234, and “Editing
Spreadsheets for Import” on page 234.
• The third <input> tag creates a data entry field called Zip attachment: and provides a button for browsing to
the zip file containing the project attachments. Entering a value in this field is optional.
• The final <input> tag tells the system to create a project, which is what automates creation of the project.
Running the HTTP Request
This segment of HTML code, or one like it can be used to create a custom integration that allows an end user
to specify the import file(s) and automatically create the project. When this runs, the user’s browser goes to
the login screen for their Ariba Sourcing solution.
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Importing Participant Responses from Excel
Use the following procedure when running the HTTP request:
1 Run the request. How this is triggered may depend on how the external application integration was set up,
or you can just open an HTML file like the one above.
2 Browse to the Excel spreadsheet containing valid Ariba Sourcing event data. An Excel file is required.
3 Browse to a zip file of attachments if there is one. If you are using an Excel file that does not list any
reference documents, and do not need any documents attached to the project, no zip file is necessary.
4 Click Create Project. this opens the Ariba Sourcing login page.
5 Log in when the Spend Management login screen appears. Make sure you log in as a user who has
permission to create projects.
6 When you get to the Create Sourcing Project page, fill out the project details as you would any project.
If you make this a Quick project
• The Excel file is used to supply the event data.
• Make sure you specify the correct event type and select the same template used to create the prototype
after which the imported Excel spreadsheet is modeled.
If you make this a full project, the Excel file and zip file contents are imported as project documents.
7 You may now edit and manage the project as you would any other.
Importing Participant Responses from Excel
This feature enables event participants to export event data to an Excel spreadsheet. Spreadsheets make it
easier for participants to compose their responses, especially if it is a large event or if they already have their
bidding information in Excel spreadsheets. It is especially useful for pre-bid auctions, lot reconciliation, and
open bidding for RFIs and RFPs. For participating companies where bidding is a collaboration among
groups, they can share the spreadsheet using email, combine the results, and then import it into Ariba
Sourcing. This feature is not enabled for Dutch auctions.
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Exporting UI Tables to Excel
Chapter 23 Microsoft Excel Import and Export
When Suppliers have logged into the event, reviewed the agreement, and gone to the Select Lots page, they
can choose the Select Using Excel tab to download the event as a spreadsheet.
Suppliers can Click Download Content to open or save the spreadsheet to their local hard disk.
When they have finished providing the requested information or bids, they can browse to it and Click Upload.
If Ariba Sourcing detects any errors in the spreadsheet it will report them upon upload. The messages should
help the supplier to fix the problems and upload again.
Exporting UI Tables to Excel
An alternative Microsoft Excel export format allows you to export the content of most screens to Microsoft
Excel, although you cannot re–import data exported in this way:
W
To export data to Microsoft Excel:
1 In the upper right hand corner of any table, click the table options menu:
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Exporting UI Tables to Excel
2 Choose one of the Export to Excel options. If Microsoft Internet Explorer tries to block the download of the
file, choose to permit the download.
3 The file automatically opens in Microsoft Excel. It appears in an alternative format as shown in the
following example. These files cannot be re-imported.
Note: If you want to export supplier bids (all bids or the active bids), you can use the Bids Report. See “Bids
Report” on page 172 for details.
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Exporting UI Tables to Excel
248
Chapter 23 Microsoft Excel Import and Export
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Chapter 24
Creating Event Templates
This section describes how to create a template for sourcing events. Creating templates is a separate feature.
If it is not enabled and you would like to obtain it, contact Ariba customer support.
To create a new template, you must be in a group that has permission, such as the Template Creator group.
The following related actions are covered in the Supplier Process Management Guide in the sections
indicated:
• Search is described in the section entitled “Performing Searches.”
• Upload document is described in the section entitled “Introduction to Sourcing Process Management.”
• Import template is described in the section entitled “Creating Sourcing Project Templates.”
This section covers the following topics:
• “Creating an Event Template” on page 249
• “Configuring the Event Template” on page 251
• “Publishing a Template” on page 256
Creating an Event Template
W
To create a new template:
1 Select Manage > Templates from the Common Actions menu, on the dashboard.
2 From the Documents tab on the Templates page, select Actions, on the right.
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Creating an Event Template
Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates
3 From the Actions menu, select Create > Template, at the bottom.
4 From the Select Project Type for Template page, select Sourcing Project and click OK.
5 Provide a name and a description for the template project.
6 Select the Base Language. The Base Language is used when there is no version of the template in the
user’s language.
7 Enter the Name and Description for the template.
8 Select Quick Project. A Quick Project is a sourcing event such as an RFI, RFP, or an Auction (forward or
reverse).
Choosing to create a Full Project indicates that you want to create a project with process management
capabilities turned on. If you choose Quick Project, then you will create a project containing only an event
template.
For information on full projects refer to the Ariba Sourcing Process Management Guide. The full-project
tabs for Documents, Tasks, and Team are described in Chapter 1, “Introduction to Sourcing Process
Management.”
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Configuring the Event Template
9 Specify the event type from the pull-down menu. The choices are RFI, RFP, Auction, or Forward Auction.
A sample is shown below.
When a project owner creates an event, they get to select the event type. When they do, the event
templates that appear for that event type are those that match the event type specified here when the
template was created.
10 Click OK. The template now exists.
Configuring the Event Template
A template consists of rules, a place for the project owner to specify suppliers, content such as questions, and
a summary. While configuring a template, you configure each of these steps in a separate operation.
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Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates
To configure the template, right-click on the template name in the Documents box, to the right, and select
Action > Edit.
You are now ready to add rules and content to your template.
Event Rules
Event rules control how the event works. Each rule that you can include in an event template is covered in
Chapter 3, “Event Rules.”
When creating a template, you often have the option to withhold control of this rule from the person who is
using the template to create an event, also known as the project owner. The options are:
• Delegated: The ability to edit this rule is delegated to project owners. When they create a project, they can
see this rule and they are allowed to change the setting.
• Read only: When they create a project, project owners can see this rule and setting, but cannot edit it.
• Hidden: When they create a project, project owners cannot see this rule or how it is set.
If this option is absent, the project owner can control the rule setting. For project owners, this means they
may read about rules in this section that do not appear in the template they are using because the template
creator chose Hidden. Many of the rules that are Delegated or Read only are also exposed to event
participants.
Event Template Suppliers
The Suppliers page is just a place holder; you cannot add suppliers to a template. The project owner adds
them when creating an event from a template. For more information in inviting suppliers to participate in
your event, see “Inviting Participants to an Event” on page 49.
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Configuring the Event Template
Event Template Content
The Content section of the template has two tabs, Definitions and Content. The Definitions tab allows you to
create definitions for lots, a line item, and a cost term. Whenever a project owner creates these elements in
the project, they look like the ones you define here.
The Content tab enables you to create certain content elements that appear in every project that uses this
template. Content you create in a template become item templates. That means that any content you add to
your project will look like the appropriate item template. When you create item templates, you can specify
whether the element can be modified after being added to a project.
For more information on creating content, see Chapter 6, “Creating Content.”
Definitions Tab (Item Definition Templates)
Item Definition Templates allow template creators to create content according to terminology that may be
specific to a given category. The template creator also has the ability to add custom formulas as part of the
Item Definition Template.
Lots – You can create one lot of each type. The types are:
•
•
•
•
Bid at Item level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing during bidding)
Bid at lot level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing post bidding)
Bid at lot level, compete at lot level (do not collect item pricing)
Bid discounted value at item level, compete at lot level (collect item pricing during bidding)
You can add terms and formulas to lots, but you can only add formulas if the formula rule is set to Yes. If you
need to add a formula here, but do want to rule to allow project owners to add formulas, you can set the rule
to Yes until you have added all the formulas you need and then change it to one of the No options.
You cannot add a line item to a lot definition. When the event creator adds line items to a lot, they are added
using the Line item template, described below.
Line Items – If no line item is defined in the project template, the project owner is free to create line items
containing any terms required. The default line item contains these terms:
• Price
• Quantity
• Extended Price, with a formula of ‘Price’*’Quantity’
You can remove these and replace them with other terms. However, if you have a project in which all your
line items need to be different, it is easier to use a template with the proper line item predefined in the
template, than to have to change each line item as you add it.
If you define a line item in the template, all line items created in a project using this template will look like
that line item.
An example of a line item definition would be one in which you change Price to Hourly Rate and Quantity to
Hours. The easiest way to do that is to edit each term and change the name Price to Hourly Rate and
Quantity to Hours. When you change the name of a term, the name is automatically updated in all the
formulas and functions that use it.
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Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates
In this example the Extended Price term, which uses the ‘Price’*’Quantity’ formula is automatically
updated to use the ‘Hourly Rate’*’Hours’ formula. If you make a copy of the Total Cost Auction template
and change the names of the Price and Quantity terms, the total cost would automatically apply all the
defined adders, subtracters, multipliers and discounts to ‘Hourly Rate’*’Hours’.
Note: The terms Price, Quantity, and Extended Price are all designed to appear in reports. If you change their
names to automatically update any the formulas they are in, they still appear in reports with the original
names: Price, Quantity, and Extended Price.
If you select Delegated, it allows the project owner to change or delete the term when they use this template
to create an event project. Unchecked means the project owner can still set the initial, historic, and reserve
price, they just cannot change any formulas or remove the term.
However, if you are creating a template for a Dutch auction and you want to allow the owner the option of
letting the participant set the quantity on which they bid, you have to select Delegated. Then the project
owner, when creating the event, can say that the participant is required to respond. It also allows project
owners to set a range of quantities, if they want to enforce a minimum or maximum quantity per bid.
The bidding rules for line items are unique to creating a line item in a template.
Extended Bidding Term controls the bidding term that is used when the buyer creates a line item that specifies
“Participants bid on all units (extended bidding).”
Award Term specifies which term you can split up, if you want to award part of your business to different
suppliers. Typically, this term is Quantity, so you can award part of the quantity term to another supplier.
Compete on Term specifies which term is monitored by the Bid Guardian, and the feature for automatically
beating a bid and so on.
Use initial value as can be none, Ceiling, Default, and Ceiling and Default. There may be instances where the
auction uses the initial value as the target value for the initial bid.
Cost Terms – When you add a cost term to the definition page, it becomes a prototype for any cost terms the
buyer adds to the sourcing event project.
Content Tab
In addition, you can create the following content:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Section
Question
Requirement
Attachment
Cost Terms
Formula
Content From Library
Although most content is specific to each event, there are still some content questions and specifications that
might be common to many events of this type. Some common questions might be whether the company is an
equal opportunity employer, minority owned, or willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Content elements you create on the content tab are common to every project.
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Configuring the Event Template
Notes:
• Creating an item is the same as in a project, except for these differences
• You can only create formulas if the Initiator Action rule for creating formulas is Yes. However, if you do
not want formulas enabled in the project you can set this rule to Yes until you have all the formulas you
need in the template, and then set the rule to one of the No options before you publish the template.
• If you want to create cost terms, you must create a cost term definition on the Definitions Tab and all the
cost terms you create on the content tab have to match it. The content tab allows you to change the cost
terms you create so that they do not match, but if you do, an error appears on the summary page and you
cannot publish the template until all the cost terms match the prototype on the Definitions Tab.
• The Team Access control has no effect in the template. It is there so that the control will be present in the
event you build from the template. Team Access settings in the template are not carried into the event.
Event Template Summary
Use the event template Summary section to review the template settings. When you are satisfied, click Exit
and then return to project. There are three actions you can take:
•
•
•
•
•
Edit Overview
View Publish Approval Task
View Team Grading Task
Customize Messages
Print Event Information
The Edit Overview screen enables you to edit the title and description, which you initially set when you
created the project. You generally do not need to change any of the settings on this screen.
The Customize Messages screen enables you to select one of the standard notification messages and change
the subject line and content.
The Publish button is grayed out on this page because it is not available from here. To publish your template,
see “Publishing a Template” on page 256.
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Publishing a Template
Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates
Publishing a Template
Before you can use an event template you have to change its status from “Draft” to “Active.” This is called
“publishing” it. Use the following procedure to change your template status to Active:
1 If you have not already done so, go to the Templates page by selecting Manage > Templates:
2 From the templates page, click on the name of the template whose status you want to change and select
Open.
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Publishing a Template
3 In the Properties box, click the Actions menu and select Publish.
4 Click Exit to return to the Templates page.
5 The status of this template is now changed to Active and you may now use it to create events.
If you get a message that you cannot publish your template until you correct all the errors, edit the template
and go to the Summary page. The errors should appear in a gray box at the top of the page.
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Publishing a Template
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Chapter 24 Creating Event Templates
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Index
A
About Ariba Discovery Postings 129
ABS function 89
acceptable values 71
access control, to content 74
access controls 156
Active Observers user group 45
add item 56
add lot 54
adder cost terms 95
Administrators user group 45
AGGREGATECOSTS function 89
answer types 70
approval tasks, for publishing events 158, 188
Ariba Discovery
creating postings 131
postings
postings 129
Ariba Sourcing, selecting language for 152
attachment
answer type 70
export 233
file 53, 67
attribute, matrix 63
auctions 16
bid transformation 93
example of 17
formulas in 69
forward 18, 49
index-based by amount or percentage 18
selecting as event type 10
template for 17
total cost 18
audit log, viewing for events 176
award date rule 32
award scenarios 176, 219
approving 223
for optimization 220
manual 219
reporting on 173
Award tab 182
B
base languages 146
Baseline Spend field 10
bid clock, stopping 185
bid console
changing display of 65
totals row 166
Bid Console tab 166, 167
bid graph 167
showing to participants 41
viewing 166
bid history, viewing 166
bid transformation auctions 93
bid transformations 93
common problems 104
communicating with suppliers 103
compared to total cost auctions 93
creating 98
defining strategy for 101
example of 94
rule 32
bidder, showing/hiding 39
bidding currencies 150
selecting exchange rate for 150
setting up 150
bidding rules
bid guardian 32
for line items 59
in events and templates 32
overtime 30
parallel bidding 25
scoring 33
serial bidding 27
specifying for lots and line items 59
specifying for terms 67
staggered bidding 26
start and end time 29
bidding start time, adjusting 185
bids
defining rules for 59
deleting 168
downwards 67
extended bidding 59
from predecessor project 77
opposite direction 67
original currency 152
parallel 25
protecting lead with front and back buffers 59
serial 27
setting decrement 59
staggered 26
surrogate 171
transforming into your cost 95
unit bidding 59
upward 67
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
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Index
setting for events 149
specifying number of decimal places 149
support for 145
using multiple 148
bounced email 42
buffer, front/back 59
bundles, defined 60
business data translating 148
C
D
calculations, total cost 105
Cancelled status 14
cancelling events 186
categories of commodities 58
ceiling/floor prices, setting 57
change history, viewing for events 163, 189
characters, limits in fields 10
closing events 186
comments, allowing in supplier responses 74
commodity codes
specifying for line items 58
specifying for projects 10
compete on term 67
competitive event 82
Completed status 14
connection indicator for suppliers 169
content
access control 74
event types 53
filtering content tables 190
content library 77
copying content from 79
creating documents from past events 80
granting access to 81
uploading files to 81
Content tab 168
contracts
adding event information 183
creating new 183
saving events as 182
copying events 9, 10
cost components 37
and total cost, comparing 112
enabling 37
cost terms 95
adders 95
applying to line items 97
creating 99
multipliers 96
percent discount 96
subtracters 96
summary of concepts 97
types of 95
validating in supplier view 100
costs
hard 102
of working with particular suppliers 95
soft 102
currencies
bidding 150
currency rules 36
date answer type 70
Daylight Savings Time 159
decimal
answer type 70
places, in questions 71
precision 58
decrement, setting for bids 59
delete event 189
deleted documents, searching for 228
deleting searches 228
downward bidding 67
draft events, discarding 163
Draft status 14
Dutch auction, setting up 121
260
E
EARNINGS function 89
Earnings term 61
editing searches 228
email
address to receive participant mail 42
undelivered 42
email invitations sent to suppliers 49
email notifications
for supplier responses to postings 137
envelope bidding, defined 23
event content 53
archiving for future events 77
best practices 82
copying from content library 79
copying to a new event 77
creating from past events 80
file attachments 67
hiding from suppliers 73
organizing by section 68
overview of types 53
translating 145
uploading files 81
using the content library 77
event owners, creating questions for 73
event rules 21
bidding 32
currency 36
initiator actions 37
market feedback 38
timing 24
event statuses 14
Cancelled 14
Completed 14
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Index
Draft 14
monitoring 165
Open for Bidding 14
Pending Selection 14
Preview 14
event templates
configuring 251
creating 249, 249
publishing 256
selecting 10
event totals, viewing 168
event type, selecting 10
events 82
access control 156
adding team members 45
adding team members after publishing 172
approving for publishing 158, 188
base language 146
cancelling 186
closing 186
closing lots or line items 167
configuring exchange rates 151
copying 9, 10
creating 10
creating bid transformations 98
creating content for 53
defining rules in advance of 204
deleting 189
designating as test events 19
discarding draft versions 163
editing 161
entering baseline spend amount 10
export attachment 233
exporting 232
exporting to Microsoft Excel 187
extending or reducing time of 185
filtering content data 190
inviting participant to 49
life cycle of 13
linking to prior projects or events 10
monitoring 165
multi-round 77
notifications for paused 185
pausing and resuming 185
postings 129
publishing 155
rejected bid messages 176
RFIs 15
saving as contracts 182
selecting type 10
setting currency for 149
setting preferences for globalized 152
simultaneous editing 163
size constraints 82
specifying target savings 10
status of 14
stopping 186
team members, adding 46
updating 162
user groups 45
using multiple currencies 148
viewing bid graph 166
viewing bid history 166
viewing change history 163, 189
viewing draft versions 161
viewing history of 176
viewing overview information 166
viewing report data 172
viewing translations 146
Excel
import/export event data 231
importing suppliers 49
exchange rates
configuring for events 151
in Ariba Sourcing and Reporting 152
showing to participants 36
exporting
event attachments 233
events 232
events Excel 187
extended bidding 59
Extended Price term 61
F
FAQs, total cost 113
field, character limits 10
file attachments 53, 67
requiring as answers for questions 71
files, uploading to content library 81
floor/ceiling price 57
formulas 69, 85
adding to sections, lots, and line items 85
building 87
checking for errors 92
creating 86
creating complex 88
for total cost 105
logical operators 91
mathematical functions 89
operators 91
planning for 85
showing to participants 41
variables in 85
forward auctions 18, 49
example of 18
formulas in 69
selecting as event type 10
templates for 19
with bid transformations 19
functions
ABS 89
AGGREGATECOSTS 89
EARNINGS 89
IF 89
MAX 89
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
261
Index
MIN 90
PRICEFROMBREAKDOWN 90
SAVINGS 90
TOTALCOST 90
UNITCOST 90
Fx. See formulas
G
Global Observers user group 45
globalization 145
overriding preferences by user 153
setting user preferences for 152
grading supplier responses 211
groups
creating 47
of users 45
H
hard costs 102
hiding event content from 73
historic prices, setting 58
I
IF function 89
import suppliers 236
importance levels 202
importance levels, hiding for scoring 210
index auctions 18, 115
Index Name term 61
initial values 42
initiator action rules 37
instant messaging, enabling 175
integration to external system
export bid report 174
export draft contract 182
import events 243
item definition templates 253
item limits 83
item template 253
item, add 56
L
languages
selecting for projects 10
specifying for user interface 152
translating events into 145
large 82
limitations
event size 82
field character 10
line items 56
adding formulas 85
adding large numbers of 82
262
applying cost terms to 97
closing 167
configuring exchange rate for 151
effect on progression of RFPs/auctions 55
excluding suppliers from 60
in template 253
reopening 167
setting ceiling/floor prices 57
setting dimensions on 63
specifying bidding rules for 59
specifying commodity codes 58
specifying terms for 60
locale, specifying 152
locking suppliers 170
Log tab 176
logical operators, in formulas 91
lots 53, 54
adding formulas 85
adding large numbers of 82
adding/creating 54
awarding to suppliers in scenarios 176
bidding rules 25
closing 167
configuring exchange rate for 151
effect on progression of RFPs/auctions 55
extending or reducing 166
limits 83
reconciling 177
reopening 167
running time 29
setting ceiling/floor prices 57
setting dimensions on 63
specifying bidding rules 59
types of 56
M
manual award scenarios 219
market feedback rules 38
mathematical functions, in formulas 89
matrix attribute 63
matrix pricing 63
MAX function 89
Message tab 174
messages
archived messages 174
bounced email 42
filtering 175
Q&A message board availability 42
Microsoft Excel
data input guidelines 235
exporting events to 187
exporting scenarios to 176
importing event data 232
importing suppliers from 49
responding to events with 245
Microsoft Excel bidding 245
MIN function 90
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Index
monitoring events 165
multi-currency events, suppliers’ view of 151
multiple choice questions, creating 71
multiple currencies, using in events 148
multiplier cost terms 96
multi-round events 77
N
negotiate terms 168
notifications 193
O
Observers user group 45
Open for Bidding status 14
operators, in formulas 91
opposite bidding 67
optimization scenarios 220
best practices 220
creating 220
example of 223
status 223
original currency bids 152
overtime bidding 30
overview information, viewing for events 166
Overview tab 166
P
parallel bidding 25
partial quantity bidding 123
participants
import from Excel 236
inviting to event 49
pausing events 185
Pending Selection status 14
percent discount cost term 96
percentage answer type 71
permissions
for translating events 147
for user groups 45
permissions, for user groups 47
persistent bids 77
pivot UI 190
points, in scoring 200
postings
awarding 140
closing 140
creating on Ariba Discovery 131
deleting 140
editing 139
privacy settings 134
viewing supplier responses 137
prebid review period 25
predecessor projects
content from 77
specifying 10
pre-grading 204
preview period
enable bidding 24
enabling 24
extending or reducing 185
Preview status 14
price breakdown, cost components in 37
price matrix 63
Price term 61
PRICEFROMBREAKDOWN function 90
prices
setting ceiling/floor 57
setting historic 58
setting reserve 58
pricing
collecting for line items 60
matrix 63
printing, a page 10
privacy settings, in postings 134
private messaging 175
Project Owners user group 45
projects
copying 9, 10
predecessor 10
searching for deleted 228
selecting language 10
test 10, 19
published events
editing 161
viewing drafts of 161
publishing
error in event templates 257
event templates 256
events 155
Q
Q&A message board, availability 42
Quantity term 61
questions 53, 54
answer types 70
best practices for creating 82
constraining answer types 70
constraining answer values 71
creating multiple choice 71
hide from participants 73
limit 82, 83
limiting the range of answer values 71
reporting on 173
requiring answers with attachments 71
requiring responses 72
setting starting answer values 75
specifying decimal places 71
specifying initial answers per supplier 76
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
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Index
R
range of answers 71
rank, showing 41
reconciling lots 177
refresh rate, screen 165
rejected bid messages 176
replace a participant 50
replace a team member 46, 50
Report tab 172
reports 172, 225
entering event data for 10
on questions and terms 173
on scenarios 173
on supplier bids 172
viewing 172
requirements
for suppliers 53, 67
limit 82, 83
reserve prices
guidelines for 103
has reserve value 66
setting 58
responses, showing to other participants 39
resuming events 185
reverse auctions 16
templates for 17
with bid transformation 17
review period 30
RFI (Request For Information) events
qualifying rounds 15
selecting as event type 10
template for 15
RFP (Request For Proposals) events 15
selecting as event type 10
templates for 16
with price breakdown 16, 125
with total cost 16
roles, for groups you create 47
rollups, section 63, 87
rules
defining in advance of events 204
event and template 21
market feedback 38
setting for bidding 59
S
saving searches 228
savings
projecting for events 10
with particular suppliers 96
SAVINGS function 90
Savings term 61
scenario reports 173
Scenario tab 176
scenarios
award 176, 219
exporting to Microsoft Excel 176
264
scoring 199, 200
allowing scoring 33
during event evaluation 210
example of 199
for importance 202
for weight 201
grading supplier responses 211
hiding 210
pre-grading 204
scoring results, viewing 168
screen refresh rate 165
sealed-envelope bidding 23
searching
for contract workspaces 228
for deleted projects 228
in a hierarchy 227
using Boolean operators 228
using wildcards 228
sections 68
adding formulas 85
nesting 68
summing values in 63
serial bidding 27
soft costs 102
staggered bidding 26
starting gate 39
starting prices, guidelines for 103
status
event 14
optimization 223
stopping events 186
subtracter cost terms 96
supplier bids, reporting on 172
Supplier Discovery Postings 129
supplier specific costs for total cost 113
suppliers 73
award scenarios 219
bidding on behalf of 171
comparing responses 168
connection indicator 169
creating competition 93
email invitations 49
excluding from line items 60
import from Excel 49, 236
inviting to events 49
limit 82, 83
locking 170
publishing postings to 129
registering 50
setting locale for 153
soliciting information from 54
telling about bid transformations 103
transforming bids from 93
view of multi-currency events 151
viewing information on 169
viewing responses to postings 137
viewing status of 170
Suppliers tab 169
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
Index
Surrogate Bidders user group 45
surrogate bids 171
system user groups 45
T
Target Savings field 10
team access control 74
team members
access to content 74
adding after publishing events 172
adding to groups 46
groups of 45
Team tab 172
Template Creator user group 249
templates
creating 249
event 10
for auctions 17
for forward auctions 19
for forward auctions with bid transformations 19
for index auctions 18
for reverse auctions 17
for reverse auctions with bid transformations 17
for RFIs 15
for RFPs with total cost 16
for total cost auctions 18, 105
item 253
item definition 253
RFP with price breakdown 16
terms 53, 69
adding to line item 60
predefined 61
reporting on 173
setting display options 65
specifying bidding rules for 67
specifying for line items 60
undefined in formula function 91
test events, designating as 19
test project 10, 19
testing total cost terms
formulas 112
text, answer type 70
time
bidding start 29
bidding start and end 29
lot running time 29
preview start and end 25
time zone, selecting 153
time zones 159
timing rules 24
total cost 105
auctions 18
auctions and RFPs 105
compared to bid transformations 93
comparing with cost components 112
evaluation phase 112
FAQs 113
formulas for 105
modeling 105
setting up 107
testing formulas 112
Total Cost, term 61
TOTALCOST function 90
totals row, bid console 166
translated event content 145
translations, viewing for events 146
Translator user group 147
U
undelivered email 42
undoing event cancellation 186
unit bidding 59
Unit Cost term 61
UNITCOST function 90
UNSPSC codes 10, 58
upward bidding 67
user groups
Active Observers 45
adding team members 46
Administrators 45
Global Observers 45
Observers 45
Project Owners 45
Surrogate Bidders 45
system and event 45
Template Creator 249
Translator 147
user preferences, setting for globalization 152
V
validating cost terms 100
validating formulas 92
values, initial 42
W
weights in scoring 201
weights, hiding for scoring 210
whole number answer type 70
Z
zip files, exporting attachments to 233
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide
265
Index
266
Ariba Sourcing Event Management Guide