Background documentationSelf-Service Procurement

 

Self-Service Procurement in ERP is a self-service application that simplifies and accelerates the purchasing process. It enables employees to create and manage shopping carts for their requisitions.

Note Note

You can use this application either as a stand-alone or integrated with Human Capital Management (HCM).

For more information on ESS (Employee Self-Service) in HCM see Employee Self-Service under SAP ERP Central Component SAP -> ERP Enhancement Packages -> Human Resources -> Shared Services –> Employee Self-Service.

End of the note.

Finding and Ordering Products

Employees can specify the products they require as follows:

  • By accessing a specific catalog to browse its entire content

  • By entering a search term to search in all connected catalogs

  • By entering an SAP ERP material master directly in the search field

  • By describing the required product separately and adding it to the shopping cart.

    Note Note

    To specify a required product further, employees can enter information for the vendor. The purchasing department then tries to find a vendor, but employees can also enter a preferred vendor.

    End of the note.

Employees can add the products to the shopping cart.

In the shopping cart, the employee can do the following:

  • View the default delivery address.

  • View the account assignment details.

    Note that the account assignment is done at shopping cart level and not at individual item level.

  • View the shopping cart approvers.

    The approvers are determined by customizing the workflow.

  • Save or Order the items added to the shopping cart.

    If the shopping cart is incomplete, the employee can save the shopping cart and open it later to complete it. The employee can then order the completed shopping cart.

  • View own shopping cart contents and shopping cart status by selecting My Requested Products.

Customizing Self-Service Procurement

The items of a shopping cart can require an approval by different managers when they belong to different areas of responsibility, for example, different product categories or material groups. In Customizing, you can customize the workflow by using the Business Process Configuration, which is available under Shopping Cart in the Customizing structure. Here you can define the rulesets that determine the approver for a particular shopping cart, for example.

For more information, see Implementing Self-Service Procurement.

Approving Requested Products

Depending on your Customizing settings, the products employees would like to order may require approval. If so, an approval process is started. Approvers can either approve or reject the requested products. They receive a work item in their workflow inbox.

For more information, see Overview of the Approval Process.

Follow-On Documents

Self-Service Procurement is part of the Purchasing component of Materials Management in SAP ERP. Shopping carts created by employees result in follow-on processes, such as the creation of purchase requisitions or reservations.

For more information, see Follow-On Processes in SAP ERP.