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Procedure documentationManaging Purchasing Categories

 

As a category manager, you can use purchasing categories to structure purchases made in your company.

Purchasing categories allow you to do the following:

  • Manage your suppliers according to specific categories of goods and services, for example, hardware and software, or installation and maintenance

  • Monitor your pool of suppliers

  • Optimize the purchasing process and reduce costs

The following features are available:

Purchasing Categories

You can create purchasing categories for a wide range of goods, from office furniture to hardware. Purchasing categories are an important structuring element in SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management, as you can use them for questionnaires, qualification templates, and suppliers. For example, if you are responsible for the purchasing category ‘Office furniture’, you can assign a questionnaire related to office furniture to your purchasing category.

Note Note

Purchasing category names cannot be translated. Instead, purchasing category descriptions can be translated into multiple languages. When you log on in a specific language, the name is hidden and the translated description is displayed. For more information, see Translating Purchasing Category Descriptions.

End of the note.

You can assign standard product classifications to a purchasing category. Standard product classifications are structured lists of goods and services, for example, the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) and eClass, that allow suppliers on the sell side to assign themselves to the correct purchasing category.

Master Categories

You can also assign master categories to a purchasing category. Master categories allow you to map semantically identical material groups or product categories with different numbers in a system landscape with multiple back ends including, for example, SAP ERP or SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM).

Certificate Types

You can assign certificate types to purchasing categories. By doing so, you indicate which certificates you expect the suppliers of a purchasing category to provide. This information is visible to suppliers on the sell side of SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management.

You can mark certificate types as mandatory for a purchasing category, and you can send reminder e-mails for expiring or missing certificates to suppliers. For more information, see E-Mail Reminders for Certificates (Based on Certificate Types).

If you temporarily do not want to request a certain certificate type from your suppliers, you can mark it as inactive in the purchasing category.

Note Note

For suppliers on the sell side of SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management the following applies:

  • Certificates appear as mandatory as soon as they have been marked as mandatory for one of the purchasing categories that have been assigned to a supplier.

  • Certificates appear as inactive only if they have been marked as inactive for all purchasing categories that have been assigned to a supplier.

End of the note.
Attachments

You can upload attachments and assign them to purchasing categories. You can, for example, upload the objectives you have set for the current year for a specific purchasing category.

Procedure

Creating Purchasing Categories

To create purchasing categories, proceed as follows:

  1. Log on to the system as a Category Manager.

  2. Under Purchasing Categories, click Create Purchasing Categories.

  3. Under General, enter a name for the purchasing category and assign a purchaser responsible. The purchaser responsible is the category manager.

  4. Select the Inactive checkbox if you do not want the purchasing category to be displayed in the purchasing categories POWL. You can use this feature to hide obsolete purchasing categories.

  5. Save your changes.

Assigning Suppliers to Purchasing Categories

To assign suppliers to purchasing categories, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Suppliers, choose Add Supplier to assign dedicated suppliers to a purchasing category, that is, suppliers who can deliver goods that are relevant for this particular purchasing category.

  2. Save your changes.

  3. Repeat the steps to add other suppliers.

Setting Up Teams

To set up teams, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Team, choose Add Employee to build up a team that supports the category manager and helps him or her make decisions about suppliers and the goods they deliver. You can specify whether an employee is a team member or an internal stakeholder, and describe his or her function.

  2. Save your changes.

  3. Repeat the steps to add other team members.

Note Note

The roles are used for information purposes only. They inform you about the team setup and are not assigned to any PFCG roles.

End of the note.
Assigning Standard Product Classifications to Purchasing Categories

To assign standard product classifications to purchasing categories, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Standard Product Classifications, choose Add Standard Product Classifications.

  2. In the list that is displayed, you can select a standard product classification and assign it to a purchasing category. You can expand standard product classifications to see the tree. The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) and eClass are commonly used classification systems.

  3. Save your changes.

Assigning Master Categories to Purchasing Categories

To assign master categories to purchasing categories, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Master Categories, choose Add Master Categories.

  2. In the list that is displayed, you can select a master category and assign it to a purchasing category.

  3. Save your changes.

Assigning Certificate Types to Purchasing Categories

To assign certificate types to purchasing categories, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Certificate Types, choose Add Certificate Type.

  2. In the popup, use the search function to select the certificate type you want to assign.

  3. Mark the certificate type as mandatory or inactive, if applicable.

  4. Save your changes.

Note Note

In the list of the certificate types assigned, you can see their statuses (in preparation, released, in phase-out, or obsolete) as well as the statuses of their translations. For more information, see Managing Supplier Certificates and Translating Certificate Types.

End of the note.
Uploading Attachments

To upload attachments, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Attachments, choose Add Attachment.

  2. In the popup, use the browse function to select the file you want to upload and enter a description. Note that the file size cannot exceed the maximum size defined in Customizing.

  3. Save your changes.

Specifying Target Languages for Purchasing Category Descriptions

To specify one or more target languages for a purchasing category description, proceed as follows:

  1. Under Languages for Purchasing Category Descriptions, enter the name of the purchasing category description.

  2. Choose Add Language.

  3. Use the dropdown list to select the language into which you want to translate the purchasing category description.

  4. The translation status is automatically set to To Be Translated. This makes the description available to the translator.

  5. Save your changes.

  6. Repeat these steps for any further languages.

Publishing Standard Product Classifications

To publish standard product classifications to the sell side, proceed as follows:

Choose Publish Standard Product Classifications in the list of purchasing categories. All standard product classifications assigned to purchasing categories are sent to the sell side. On the sell side, suppliers can then assign themselves to the standard product classifications.

Viewing and Changing Existing Purchasing Categories

To view or change existing purchasing categories proceed as follows:

  1. Click the Purchasing Categories workset. The list of available purchasing categories is displayed.

  2. Click the description of the purchasing category you want to edit or view.

More Information

Required Role

You have been assigned the Category Manager role.

Required Business Function

SLC, Supplier Portfolio Management

Required Transaction

Maintain Categories and Hierarchies (COMM_HIERARCHY)

Customizing

The following activities are relevant for purchasing categories in Customizing for SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management under Start of the navigation path Buy Side Next navigation step Purchasing Categories End of the navigation path:

  • Define Number Range for Purchasing Categories

  • Define MIME Types for Attachments

  • Define Maximum Size for Attachments

The following activity is relevant for standard product classifications in Customizing for SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management under Start of the navigation path Buy Side Next navigation step Purchasing Categories Next navigation step Standard Product Classifications and Master Categories End of the navigation path: Upload Standard Product Classifications.

The following activities are relevant for master categories in Customizing for SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management under Start of the navigation path Buy Side Next navigation step Purchasing Categories Next navigation step Standard Product Classifications and Master Categories End of the navigation path:

  • Upload Master Categories

  • Specify Use of Product Category Hierarchies

  • Upload Material Groups and Product Categories

  • Upload Master Category Assignments