Upgrading Your Membership

There are many great benefits to upgrading your membership, including more ways to get paid faster, lower the costs of serving your customers, and grow your business. When your transaction volume with any customer on the Ariba Supplier Network exceeds the qualifying threshold, you'll be upgraded automatically to a paid membership and will be able to take advantage of additional features on the network.

Want these great features, but don't yet have the volume? No problem--you can upgrade at any time.

Frequently asked questions on Upgrading

1. Q. What is the Ariba® Supplier Network™?
   A. The Ariba Supplier Network connects many of the world's leading organizations with their suppliers for electronic business collaboration. As the largest global network across a broad range of commodities and business processes, the Ariba Supplier Network delivers unparalleled reach, functionality and expertise to support your trading partner relationships. With more than 160,000 suppliers and hundreds of buying organizations, the Network avoids the challenges of point-to-point connections and manual processes by providing a centralized solution to more effectively manage trading partner discovery, transactions and financial settlement.
   



2. Q. What is the Ariba Supplier Membership Program?
   A. The Supplier Membership Program helps suppliers maximize the benefits of the Ariba Supplier Network to their business by providing added functionality and services tailored to their level of participation on the network.
   



3. Q. What are the membership levels?
   A. The Supplier Membership Program offers a three-tiered structure- Basic, Premier and Elite. Suppliers join the program at a level aligned with their transaction frequency and volume on the Ariba Supplier Network. Suppliers utilizing the Ariba Supplier Network frequently or for larger transactions will receive benefits based on their qualifying transaction volume, while less active users can take advantage of a more streamlined set of features. The program membership fees will be structured accordingly.
   
   
   • Basic - Suppliers with no qualifying relationships join the Ariba Supplier Network at the free Basic level-this level constitutes the majority of the suppliers on the Ariba Supplier Network.
   • Premier - Suppliers with at least one qualifying relationship join at the Premier level
   • Elite - Suppliers with greater than $10M USD in volume in qualifying relationships become Elite members.



4. Q. What is a "Qualifying Relationship"?
   A. Qualifying relationships are buyer-supplier relationships with over $100,000 USD in transaction volume and 15 or more documents. There are no Supplier Membership Program fees for relationships that do not meet the qualifying criteria.
   



5. Q. Is there an option to upgrade to a higher level?
   A. Yes, optional upgrades are available for those suppliers who want Premier/Elite level features and benefits, but do not qualify for Premier/Elite level membership through their transaction volume.
   



6. Q. How are Supplier Membership Program fees calculated?
   A. Membership fees are based on the transaction volume of qualifying relationships, which are buyer-supplier relationships with over $100,000 USD in transaction volume and 15 or more documents.
   
   Fees are assessed as a small percentage (0.1%) of volume per qualifying relationship on the Ariba Supplier Network. Relationships with fewer than 15 documents or transaction volume of less than $100,000 USD are exempt from fees.
   
   To illustrate, here are some examples:
   
   

   Annual Volume	Docs	Fee(USD)
   $25,000	14	0
   $99,999	20	0
   $150,000	121	150
   $1,000,000	2,000	1,000
   $7,000,000	8,500	7,000
   $250,000,000	110	10,000




7. Q. How are "Transaction Volume" and "Document Counts" calculated?
   A. "Transaction volume" is the greater of the total value of purchase orders and non-PO invoices for up to the preceding 12 months OR the total value of invoices (PO and non-PO invoices) for up to the preceding 12 months. "Document count" is the number of purchase orders and all invoices (PO and non-PO invoices) for up to the preceding 12 months. Order acknowledgements, change orders, advance ship notifications and other documents are excluded from the document count.
   



8. Q. Are there any caps on Supplier Membership Program fees?
   A. Yes. Fees are applied as a small percentage of the first $10M USD in qualifying transaction volume for any relationship. There is no charge for any transaction volume above the $10M USD limit.
   



9. Q. When are Supplier Membership Program fees calculated?
   A. Eligibility for Premier and Elite membership levels will be evaluated on a rolling 12-month historical basis. Premier and Elite membership subscriptions are for one year.
   
   Ariba charges for future usage of the Ariba Supplier Network based on historical usage to facilitate simplicity and predictability in membership fees.
   
   



10. Q. What if I am being charged for a buyer relationship from last year that I believe will go below the threshold during the annual membership term?
    A. It is possible that a supplier may have fewer qualifying relationships during the membership term than those that were assessed in the prior year.
    
    If you know that you will no longer be transacting with a buyer during the duration of the membership term, you may deactivate the buyer relationship in your Ariba Supplier Network account. To do so, log into your account, find the buyer relationship in the 'Customer Relationships' area, then click the 'Reject' button. You can log back into your account after waiting 24 hours to resume your Membership upgrade process with the re-calculated fee amount. If this option is chosen, you will no longer be able to exchange documents with that buyer.
    



11. Q. How can I upgrade my account?
    A. The membership upgrade process and payment will be handled via a web-based registration process, accessible via your Ariba Supplier Network account on http://supplier.ariba.com Only users with Ariba Supplier Network administrator privileges will be able to perform the upgrade process. Administrator users in accounts that require membership upgrade will be taken to the web-based registration process after login. They will also have a link on their account home page that will take them to the web-based registration process. Suppliers can pay their membership fees with either a credit card or, in some cases, can be invoiced by Ariba.
    



12. Q. When will I need to renew my account membership?
    A. You will receive a renewal pre-announcement 45-days prior to your anniversary date of your membership term. On your anniversary date you will receive a second notification detailing your revised fee calculation based on usage levels during the previous year's membership term.
    



13. Q. How can I see my customer relationship activity levels?
    A. The Transaction Activity report provides visibility into the transaction and document volumes for each of your customer relationships on the Network. To run this report:
    
    Log into your account at http://supplier.ariba.com.
    
    Click the Manage Services link on the global navigation bar (upper right corner). Under Network Transaction Service, Click the Invoice # beginning with SINV At the bottom of the section titled "Invoice Details" you will find a link for the Transaction Activity Report.
    



14. Q. Are there any fee exemptions available for minority- and women-owned businesses (MWOBs)?
    A. Yes. To qualify for the exemption, you must meet the following two criteria:
    
    1. Your organization must be certified with an accredited national organization such as:
    
    
    
    a. Women-owned business
    • WBENC (Women's Business Enterprise National Council)
    • NWBOC (National Women Business Owners Corporation
    • State of Virginia & District of Columbia
    
    b. Small Disadvantage Business
    • Minority-Owned Business (National Minority Supplier Development Council)
    • SBA (Small Business Administration)
    • State of Virginia & District of Columbia
    
    c. 8(a)
    
    d. Hubzone
    
    
    2. The buyer relationship must be a federal, state or local government agency or be a 501 (c) (3) organization under U.S. laws.



15. Q. Where can I learn more about the Supplier Membership Program?
    A. Please see the Supplier Membership Program Fact Sheet for details on the membership levels. There are several ways in which you can get more information about the Supplier Membership Program:
    
    
    • Visit the Supplier Membership Program website at: http://www.ariba.com/suppliermembership
    • Send us an email at SupplierMembership@ariba.com
    • US/Canada-based suppliers may call 1-866-31ARIBA
    • Latin America-based suppliers may call +1-412-222-6170
    • EMEA-based suppliers may call +44 (0) 20 7187 4185
    • Asia Pacific-based suppliers may call +65 6311 4585
    
    



16. Q. What value do I receive from being on the Ariba Supplier Network?
    A. Suppliers tell us they receive significant value from the network in several ways, including:
    
    • Ensured compliance with customers' procurement processes
    • Reduced order administration and invoicing costs
    • Better collaboration with customers
    • Improved visibility into the procure-to-pay process
    • Faster order-to-cash cycle
    • Better working capital management, including discount management/li>
    • Opportunities for increased revenue through access to more buyers, Public RFx, etc
    • Business retention by quickly and efficiently meeting buyers' needs



17. Q. What are the long-term plans for the Ariba Supplier Network?
    A. Ariba will continue to invest in the Ariba Supplier Network to drive even more value for buyers and suppliers, particularly in the following areas:
    
    
    • More efficient ways for buyers and suppliers to discover each other
    • Deeper transactional process support
    • Increased payment and financing capabilities
    • Increased buyer and supplier access
    • Continued leadership in security, reliability, standards, and ease of use


18. Q. What are Ariba's guiding principles for the Ariba Supplier Network?
    A. We recognize the importance of the Ariba Supplier Network as a shared global resource serving tens of thousands of businesses with a diverse set of needs. As a result, we have established a series of guiding principles to help articulate our future path to this diverse community. These principles are as follows:
    
    
• Listen carefully to the broad global community of buyers, suppliers, and allied service providers
• Creating productivity and efficiency for the participants in the Network is the only way to create value.
• Creating and sharing value is the only reason for the Network to exist
• Maintain a reliable, scalable, secure and predictable infrastructure
• Govern the network as if it were a co-op owned by its participants