Auction Types

Document types standardize the creation of sourcing documents. Auction types determine the structure of the auction by defining its bidding and disclosure rules. A number of predefined auction types are included in the Auctions module. You can edit auction types and create additional types.

The standard auction types provided with SAP Sourcing are as follows:

Reverse Auction (Standard): A standard reverse auction format with anonymous bidding.
Reverse Auction (Standard with Proxy): A standard reverse auction format with anonymous bidding and proxy bidding allowed.
Reverse Auction (Open Bids): An open bidding format with anonymous bidding and full price disclosure.
Reverse Auction (Sealed Bid): A reverse auction format with sealed bids.
Reverse Auction (Ranked): A ranked reverse auction format with anonymous bidding.
Reverse Auction (Multi-Currency): A standard reverse auction format with anonymous bidding and multi-currency support.
Forward Auction (Standard): A forward auction format with anonymous bidding.
Reverse Auction (Factored-Cost Bidding): A reverse auction format with bid prices weighted by purchaser-assigned factors that reflect the economic value of parameters, such as switching cost, transportation, quality, and service levels.
Reverse Auction (Dutch): A Dutch auction format with anonymous bidding.

This section describes how to create and edit an auction type.

Features

Field Help for Auction Type Page

The fields in the Auction Type page determine many of the options a user has in creating the auction. The following is a description of some fields in this page.

General

Function	Description
Order	Type a value to determine the order in which the auction type is displayed on the Auction Type page.

Features

Function	Description
Discussions	Check to enable the Discussions feature in the toolbar.
Chat	Check to enable Chat during the auction.
Attachments	Check to enable the Attachments feature in auctions of this type.
Accounting	Check to create the Accounting tab in auctions of this type.
Information Sections	Check to create the Information tab in auctions of this type.
Phase Configuration	Select a combination of phases for your auction. Phases are defined as follows: Preview enables suppliers to view the auction before it opens for bidding. Pre-bid enables suppliers to enter pre-bids before the auction opens for bidding. Open enables suppliers to submit bids for auction line items. All phase combinations include Open. Close Pending enables you to reopen an auction for a specified length of time after bidding closes. This enables suppliers to submit a final, best bid if they were not able to do so previously.

Rules

Function	Description
Allows Duplication	Check to enable the Duplicate feature in the toolbar.
Requires Product Category	Check to make Product Category a required field.
Publish as public event	Check to publish the auction in the Events channel of the buy-side Workbench. Checking this box will also create the Publish to supplier checkbox in auctions of this type, which gives the auction creator the option to publish the auction to the Workbench of all approved suppliers.
Enable staggered start or end times for line items	Check to create the Staggered Line Items fields, which enable the creator to stagger line item start times, end times, or both.
Enable automatic early close	Check to create the Early Close fields, which enable the creator to specify an inactivity period and an extension. The inactivity period is the interval preceding the line item close time, after which the line item will close if no bids are entered. The extension is the length of time to extend a line item's bidding time if bids are received during the inactivity period.
Start Type	This field is used in conjunction with preview and pre-bid phases. User entered: Choose to enable the creator to enter Preview Start, Pre-bid Start, and Bidding Open times. System calculated: Choose to enable the creator to enter Preview Duration and Pre-bid Duration intervals, which the system uses to calculate the Pre-bid Start and Bidding Open times.
Access Type	Select one of the following options: Company-wide event with access to all contacts: Select this option to create auctions that are open to all contacts at a supplier company. Contact-specific event with access limited to invited contacts: Select this option to limit auction visibility and bidding to selected contacts within a supplier company.
Awarding	Automatic awards at auction close: Check to enable automatic awarding of line items to winning bidder. Leave unchecked to enable manual awarding.

Bidding

Function	Description
Auction Direction	This field determines whether the price drops or increases during the auction. Reverse Auction: Check to create a reverse auction, in which the price drops as the auction proceeds. Reverse auctions are typically used for sourcing events. Forward Auction: Check to create a forward auction, in which the price increases as the auction proceeds. Forward auctions might be used to sell excess inventory or stock, for example.
Bidding Format	This field determines which bids are valid in the auction. Standard bidding: Check to indicate standard bidding, in which bidders must beat the leading bid price by the specified minimum bid improvement and meet or exceed the leading bid quantity. Proxy bidding: Check to indicate proxy bidding, an automated way to place a bid. Each bidder places one best-offer bid. The software evaluates all best-offer bids and places incremental bids on behalf of each bidder. Each bid is reduced by the amount indicated as the minimum bid improvement. The winning bid must meet the reserve price, if it is set. Open bidding: Check to indicate open bidding, in which bidders must meet or exceed their own most recent bid in both quantity and bid price, but do not have to beat the current leading bid. Any price bidding: Check to indicate any price bidding, in which bidders can place a bid for any value, regardless of the current winning bid. Thus, bids can go up or down, regardless of whether the auction is reverse or forward. At the conclusion of the auction, you choose the winning bidder. Dutch bidding: Select to create a Dutch auction, in which line items steadily increase in price until the first supplier agrees to sell some quantity of the item at the current price. The first supplier to bid on the line item wins the award for that item. (If a reserve price is set, the first supplier to place a bid lower than the reserve price wins the award.)
Disallow tying bids for open bidding	Check to prevent any bid from tying with the current leading bid in an Open bidding format.
Enable factored-cost bidding	Check to enable factored-cost bidding, which allows you to adjust bids based on factors other than price (such as switching costs, import tax, sales tax, and so on.)
Allow bids in multiple currencies	Check to create the Exchange Rates tab.
Enable comments with bids	Check to enable suppliers to submit comments with a bid.

Disclosure

Function	Description
Bid History	This field determines whether bid history is visible to bidders. Public: Check to enable all suppliers to see the full bid history. Sealed: Check to enable suppliers to see only their own bids. No other bid information is displayed.
Supplier Rank	This field determines the rank information that is visible to bidders. Do not display rank information: Check to indicate that suppliers cannot see any ranking information for their bids. Display rank: Check to enable suppliers to see the ranking of their bids compared to other bids. For example, a bidder might be ranked third in the auction. Display rank and number of participants: Check to enable suppliers to see the ranking of their bids compared to other bids and can see the number of bidders in the auction. For example, a bidder might be ranked third out of 11 bidders.
Additional Bid Information	This field determines the other bid information that is visible to bidders. Anonymous bidders: Check for bidders to see aliases rather than the company names of other bidders. Leading bid: Check to enable bidders to see the leading auction bid. Require Bid before View: Check to require that a supplier place a bid before viewing bid information. This prevents the disclosure of price information to suppliers who are simply monitoring an auction. Supplier's factored-cost bidding factors: Check to enable bidders to see the bidding factors in an auction with factored-cost bidding. This checkbox is only applicable if you have checked the Enable factored-cost bidding box under Bidding.

Activities

Creating an Auction Type

To create an auction type:

Choose Setup Document Setup Auctions Auction Types .
On the Auction Type page, choose Create.
On the Creating: Auction Type page, fill in the fields under General and those under Features, Rules, Bidding, and Disclosure.
Save your entries.

Note Note

To edit an auction type, choose the name of the type on the Auction Type page and then choose Edit in the auction type toolbar.

End of the note.