Improve Data Tracking and Analysis with Ariba Supplier Network Reports
Reporting capabilities available through Ariba Supplier Network (Ariba SN) are useful in helping suppliers better understand and track online transaction activity. Ariba SN reports make it easy to analyze a wider range of data than is possible through the inbox/outbox transactions area of your account and provide greater control and flexibility. The following questions and answers will help you take full advantage of this valuable feature.
Q: Who has access to Ariba SN reports?
A: Access to reports is available by default to the organization's account administrator, who can make them available to others by creating specific permissions for each user role. The account administrator is also responsible for providing access to any new reports that become available.
Q: What types of reports exist?
A: Users can generate reports that provide summary or detailed data on a variety of transactional activity areas, including purchase orders, invoicing, orders, AP Plus transactions, and time sheets. For example, a user can request detailed line item information on all the purchase orders sent to a specific customer, track overall invoice volume, or assess total sales volume to each customer for a certain period of time.
Q: How are reports created?
A: After a user has received access to a particular report, he or she can perform all tasks related to it, including creating, editing, copying, and deleting report templates. Templates allow users to define what information will be included in the reports they generate; each Ariba SN account can maintain up to 20 templates at a time. When a user produces a report from a template, Ariba SN creates a report file in comma separated value (CSV) format and overwrites the last report run from that template. (Because reports and report templates are global to your Ariba SN account, any changes you make to a template will affect all others who use that template within your company.) Users can download completed reports to their local drive to save records of account activity over time.
Q: What scheduling options are available for reports?
A: Scheduling capabilities vary depending on supplier membership level. Premier supplier members can schedule reports to run automatically on an ongoing basis at specified intervals (daily, weekly, or monthly). Basic supplier members must run reports manually from their templates whenever they wish to obtain the results.
Q: How many documents can I access when using the reports feature?
A: Ariba SN reports allow users to draw data simultaneously from up to 10,000 documents. By contrast, the inbox/outbox transaction audit reports are limited to 1,000 documents per report.
Q: How can reports help me with data retention?
A: The reports feature allows you to retain valuable summary data as long as you need it. Ariba SN stores documents only up to 180 days for organizations that have not subscribed to the Data Retention service. For this reason, running, downloading, and saving regular reports on data you wish to track over time ensures that you'll always have the information you need-even after your documents are no longer available on Ariba SN.
To find out more about Ariba SN reporting capabilities, log in at supplier.ariba.com, select "Help" at the top of any page, and review chapter 10 in the Ariba SN Transactions Guide.
