We have hit a major obstacle in our implementation of Ariba 9r1 integrated with SAP on our ASN.
We have discovered that the Ariba ASN does not appear to have any support for SAP "Limit" order type line items (also called "Blanket" or "Framework" orders in the SAP world).
These are "value based" line items, such as a line that is strictly set at a $50,000 value, and then suppliers should be able to submit multiple invoices against this line of varying amounts until they hit the limit.
The Ariba ASN is built around lines that have a "Qty" and a "Price", but a Limit line is really a "Value based" line, which is completely different.
In SAP, the line type of Limit orders is "D" and with a UOM of "AU". They always have a Qty of "1", but the Qty does not really have any bearing since these are true "value based" orders (what I usually call "bucket of money" type orders).
We have asked Ariba how to support these on the ASN for eInvoicing, but so far, they have no solution for us. They have a few "workarounds", but none are truly acceptable and will result in much confusion on the part of the supplier and would require us to have to change our network settings to allow suppliers to exceed both Qty and Price tolerance.
Right now, Ariba is saying this will be a "new enhancement" to their product, which I find surprising considering the number of SAP customers they have, and they have no estimate for us as to when this will be possible, or even if it will be possible.
We use Limit Lines for nearly all of our Service types of Orders, so this gap for us is huge.
Is there anyone out there that is an SAP shop integrated with Ariba 9r1 and has found a way to support SAP Limit Order lines through the ASN for eInvoicing?
If so, I would like to hear from you in terms of how you achieved this.
Thank You.
Michael