Support for suppliers on SAP Business Network

Find the information you need to use, maintain, and make the most of your SAP Business Network account.
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Fast, reliable supplier support at your fingertips

Self-service support, documentation, and a variety of other resources are available to help you find the information you need – when you need it.

Help centers

To access self-service support, as well as articles, video tutorials, documentation, and FAQs on orders, invoices, contracts, leads, and sourcing events, visit our help centers.

Select a help center 

Support resources

For extended and customized access to documentation and support resources, log in to your account and click the “Help” button in the top right-hand corner.

Log in to your account  

Documentation

To learn more about using your supplier account; find information on sourcing, catalogs, or integration; and see what features are coming, visit our documentation portal.

Log in to get started 

Quick links to popular topics

Recover a forgotten password

If you need to conduct some business on SAP Business Network but forgot your password, follow these instructions.

See instructions 

Respond to an RFP or RFI

If you've received an invitation to participate in a customer's sourcing event, review detailed guidance about how to respond.

Visit the help portal 
Learn more about RFI management 

Handle a bill

If you’ve received a subscription or transaction service invoice and are unsure of why or how to pay it, review this help article.

See documentation 

Additional training resources

Supplier training

Visit our comprehensive, step-by-step training site for suppliers to learn about account setup, PO fulfillment, invoicing, and much more.

Access supplier training 

Video tutorials for standard accounts

Explore bite-size video tutorials on a variety of topics to help you transact smoothly with your customers on SAP Business Network.

Watch the video playlist 

Video tutorials for enterprise accounts

Find bite-size video tutorials specifically designed for enterprise account owners to take ownership of our extended capabilities.

Watch the video playlist 

Frequently asked questions

There are three simple ways to access your SAP Business Network account as a supplier. You can open the browser of your choice and type in supplier.ariba.com or you can click onthis link. Don’t forget to bookmark it for next time!You can also use the SAP Business Network Supplier mobile app on your smartphone or tablet. Download the app foriOSorAndroid.

In the context of technology platforms, a business network doesn't refer to a formal or informal group of organizations with common goals or interests, or to a professional contact group or business association. It's how technology addresses the necessary intercompany collaboration and interactions in a B2B e-commerce context. The largest business network is currently SAP Business Network, our B2B collaboration platform where trading partners exchange information and data for smooth collaboration. In other words, it's a digital B2B marketplace for business transactions.

Businesses transacting on SAP Business Network are varied and often play a combination of roles. Due to its history in procurement and supply chain – it was previously known as Ariba Network – the main trading partners collaborating on the network are buyers and suppliers. Suppliers can be direct or indirect, goods or service providers, or manufacturers, among others. The more recent developments of the network into logistics introduced the roles of shippers and carriers, who are typically in a buyer-supplier relationship from a procurement perspective.

Transacting on SAP Business Network as a supplier instills speed, transparency, and trust in existing customer relationships and offers growth by joining a network of thousands of potential buyers looking for goods and services. Suppliers can market their products, bid in sourcing events, fulfill purchase orders, create invoices, and maximize their cash flow using only their supplier account on SAP Business Network.

As a supplier, you can choose between two types of accounts:

  • The standard account allows you to transact entirely for free with your customers. You can receive and respond to POs, send invoices, monitor payment status, participate in sourcing events, collaborate on contracts, create digital catalogs, and more. You can transact an unlimited amount of documents with an unlimited amount of customers at no cost.
  • If you feel that you need more automation and dedicated support, you can decide to upgrade to an enterprise account. This advanced account type allows you to fully automate your transactions by integrating your ERP and offers extended, priority support. This includes support for publishing catalogs and your integration project. An enterprise account also lets you run extended activity reports and opens capabilities to streamline supply chain collaboration.

No, SAP Business Network is – you guessed it – a network. Supplier portals have been helping many buying organizations streamline their relationship and operationalize their transactions with suppliers. However, the value of these portals is solely one-sided: most suppliers end up needing to use multiple portals to replicate their usual process in their internal systems, which is cumbersome and time-consuming.

A truly collaborative, two-sided solution for buyer-supplier transactions is a network model, such as SAP Business Network. This one-to-many model offers value to suppliers by allowing them to connect to multiple customers and to operate the full scope of source-to-pay transactions using the same account. In addition, the network offers suppliers the possibility to grow their business by marketing their company profile in front of new buyers.