How to use IBM App Connect with SAP Ariba

SAP Ariba is a cloud-based procurement and supply chain collaboration solution. This end-to-end system focuses on sourcing, strategic reporting, governance, competitive bidding, and contract management.

Availability:
  • A connector in IBM App Connect Enterprise as a ServiceApp Connect Enterprise as a Service connector
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Support Cycle 3)Local connector in containers (Long Term Support Cycle-3 release) 13.0.7.0-r1 or later
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Continuous Delivery release)Local connector in containers (Continuous Delivery release) 12.0.7.0-r5 or later
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Support Cycle 2)Local connector in containers (Long Term Support Cycle-2 release)

Configuring SAP Ariba SOAP web service

To configure SAP Ariba SOAP web service, complete the following steps.

Set up endpoint configuration
  1. Log in to the SAP Ariba solution.
  2. Go to Manage > Core Administration / Administration > Integration Manager > Endpoint Point Configuration.
  3. Click Create New.

    The End Point Configuration - Create End Point page is displayed.

  4. In the General section, enter a name for the endpoint and set Type to Inbound.
  5. In the Mutual TLS Authentication section, select Requires Mutual Authentication as No.
  6. In the HTTP Authentication section, enter a username and password. If prompted, confirm the password. Save the username and password somewhere safe for reuse.
  7. Click Save.
For more information, see Configure the SAP Ariba Solution in the SAP Help Portal.
Enable the data Import or Export tasks
  1. Log in to the SAP Ariba solution.
  2. Go to Manage > Core Administration / Administration > Integration Manager > Integration Configuration.
  3. Search the required task name in the search filters, or click List All to view the list of all the available tasks.
    Important: These services or tasks must be enabled for the chosen environment.
    For Core Administration environment
    • Catalog Item Search
    • Import Suppliers
    For Administration environment
    • Add Users to Group
    • Download RFX Awards
    • Export Organizations
    • Export Supplier Profiles
    • Import Organizations
    • Import Sourcing Project
    • Import Users
    • Remove Organizations
    • Remove User From Group
    • Remove Users
    Restriction: SAP Ariba web services have the following restrictions.
    • Extra customization of the web services is not supported.
    • Any customized web services apart from the standard operations is not supported. This list of enabled services is supported in the SAP Ariba connector. For a list of all standard operations, see SAP Ariba SOAP APIs on the SAP API Business Hub page.
  4. Click Actions on the respective task, then click Edit.
  5. Select Enabled in the Status field.
  6. Select Web Service from the Format field.
  7. Select the endpoint from the End point field.
  8. Click Save.

Connecting to SAP Ariba

Complete the connection fields that you see in the App Connect Designer Connect > Applications and APIs page or flow editor. If necessary, work with your SAP Ariba administrator to obtain these values.

SAP Ariba has the following connection fields.
Connection field Description
Endpoint URL The SOAP API webservice URL of SAP Ariba in the format https://<sapariba-domain>.cloud.ariba.com.
Tip: For more information about endpoint URL, see SAP Ariba on the SAP Support page.
Username The username of your SAP Ariba SOAP API web service.
Password The password of your SAP Ariba SOAP API web service.
Realm The realm name that is configured for your SAP Ariba instance or subscription. The realm is part of the URL that you use to access SAP Ariba, for example, realm=MyRealm-T.
Tip: For more information about realm name, see How to find your SAP Ariba realm name? on the SAP Community page.

To connect to an SAP Ariba endpoint from the App Connect Designer Applications and APIs page for the first time, expand SAP Ariba, then click Connect.

Tip:

Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Applications and APIs page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.

General considerations

Before you use App Connect Designer with SAP Ariba, take note of the following considerations:

  • (General consideration) You can see lists of the trigger events and actions that are available on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer.

    For some applications, the events and actions depend on the environment and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.

  • (General consideration) If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.

Events and actions

SAP Ariba events

These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start completing the actions in the flow.

Note: Events are not available for changes in this application. You can trigger a flow in other ways, such as at a scheduled interval or at specific dates and times.

SAP Ariba actions

Your flow completes these actions on this application.

Object Action Description
Contract workspaces Create contract workspace Creates a contract workspace information from an external application into the SAP Ariba application
Update contract workspace Updates the contract workspace information from an external application into the SAP Ariba application
Organizations Download organizations data Exports the organizations
Remove organizations Removes the organizations
Update or create organizations Updates or creates the organizations
Sourcing projects Create sourcing project Creates a sourcing project
Download award document Downloads award documents from a sourcing project
Update sourcing project Updates the sourcing project
Suppliers Download supplier profiles data Exports the supplier profiles
Update or create supplier Updates or creates the supplier information from an external application into SAP Ariba
Users Add users to group Adds users to group
Remove users Removes the users
Remove users from group Removes users from the group
Update or create users Updates or creates the users

Examples

Dashboard tile for a template that uses SAP Ariba

Use templates to quickly create flows for SAP Ariba

Learn how to use App Connect templates to quickly create flows that complete actions on SAP Ariba. For example, go to the Discover page and search for SAP Ariba.

Learn more

Dashboard tile for a template that uses SAP Ariba
SAP Ariba flow in detailed view

Use IBM® App Connect to build flows that integrate with SAP Ariba.

Read the blog in the IBM Community to learn how to create a sourcing project in SAP Ariba for each project retrieved from Insightly. Click Read the blog to go to the blog.

Read the blog

Model Context Protocol (MCP) support

The SAP Ariba connector supports MCP, and all SAP Ariba actions for the listed objects can be added to an MCP server as tools. For more information on how to configure an MCP server, see Creating and managing MCP servers.