Request for Quotation
MM Request for Quotation Part 2: RFQ Strategy, Sourcing Integration and Award Governance
Beyond simple RFQs: when to run sourcing in SAP Ariba or other sourcing tools versus S/4HANA, integration of awards into contracts and info records, competitive bidding rules, documentation of award decisions, and governance for audit.
An Ariba sourcing event selected a new supplier with a 7% lower price, but no contract or info record was created in S/4HANA. Buyers kept ordering from the old supplier for months. Automating award-to-contract transfer and a weekly check of awards without S/4HANA sources closed the gap.
MM Request for Quotation Part 1: RFQs, Quotations and Price Comparison
Get competitive prices before buying: create RFQs to several suppliers, enter their quotations, compare prices, reject losing bids, and turn the winning quotation into a PO, contract or info record — in classic transactions and S/4HANA apps.
A buyer chose the lowest unit price, but freight and minimum order surcharges made it the most expensive. Entering all conditions in quotations and using the effective price in the comparison changed the award and saved 6% on the category.
Interview questions covered
- How do you configure output management for RFQs to ensure automatic email or print transmission to vendors, and what are the key configuration nodes involved?
- When designing a global sourcing process comparing quotations across regions with differing currencies and RFQ document types, what architecture considerations ensure a valid, apples-to-apples price comparison?
- Describe the process and key considerations when comparing quotations for external services procurement involving complex service specifications.
- During an RFQ process for external services, the vendor claims they never received the RFQ despite the buyer confirming it was released in the system. How would you troubleshoot the output management configuration to identify the root cause?
- When configuring RFQs for external services procurement, how does account assignment on the RFQ item affect the resulting quotation comparison and PO conversion?
- In a multi-vendor RFQ comparison scenario for a complex sourcing event, what factors beyond net price must a procurement architect evaluate to determine the winning vendor and how does source determination integrate with this decision?
- A buyer picked a supplier by unit price in a spreadsheet, and later freight made it the most expensive option. How should the RFQ process run in SAP?
- Design the sourcing and award process for a company using SAP Ariba Sourcing and S/4HANA.