Sourcing and Procurement Operations integration with Project Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Sourcing and Procurement Operations integration with Project Management

    TheProject Costing for Sourcing and Procurement Operationsplugin enables seamless integration between Sourcing and Procurement Operations and Strategic Portfolio Management's Project Management. This integration automates the linking of purchase orders to projects, eliminating manual efforts and improving financial tracking related to project purchases.

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    By associating purchases directly with projects, project managers, shoppers, and procurement specialists can track planned costs during purchase and actual costs upon invoice payment, facilitating better project cost management.

    Key Features

    • Plugin Dependencies: Requires several core ServiceNow applications and system plugins such as Sourcing and Purchasing Automation, Finance Common Architecture, Procurement Case Management, and others to function properly.
    • User Role Assignments: Administrators must manually assign the IT Project User role to shoppers and the PPM user role to procurement specialists for appropriate access to project details during checkout.
    • Checkout Enhancements: During checkout, users must indicate if a purchase relates to an existing project and select the relevant project. This selection auto-populates the Purchase Reason field, linking the purchase to the project and its associated demand number.
    • Purchase Request and Order Line Integration: Purchase request and purchase order line tables can be configured to display project information. Cost plans are automatically created for purchase order lines related to projects, with cost details updated based on purchase and invoice data.
    • Invoice and Expense Line Automation: Once invoices are paid, expense lines are automatically created and linked to the project, ensuring accurate financial tracking.
    • Demand and Project Lifecycle Impact: When demands convert to projects, references update accordingly. Closed demands or projects cannot be selected for new purchases, and cost plans/expense lines are not created, although existing ones continue processing expenses for paid invoices.
    • Sourcing and Off-Catalog Requests: Requests for pricing or quotes require indication if they are for existing projects, ensuring project linkage throughout the procurement process.
    • Email Notifications: Demand and project managers receive automated email alerts when purchase orders associated with their projects are created, updated, or canceled, keeping stakeholders informed of cost plan impacts.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enhanced Project Cost Visibility: Automatically track and manage planned and actual costs related to project purchases, improving budgeting and financial control.
    • Streamlined Procurement Processes: Simplifies the purchase order linkage to projects, reducing manual data entry and errors during procurement.
    • Improved Collaboration: Ensures procurement specialists, shoppers, and project managers have synchronized access to purchase and project details.
    • Integrated Financial Tracking: Links invoices and expenses directly to projects, enabling accurate cost reporting and analysis.
    • Lifecycle Awareness: Prevents purchases against closed projects or demands, maintaining data integrity and financial accuracy.

    Next Steps

    • Ensure all required dependent applications and system plugins are installed and configured.
    • Assign necessary roles to users to enable project visibility during checkout.
    • Configure form layouts to display project and cost plan fields on purchase request and purchase order lines for enhanced usability.
    • Train users on the new checkout process, emphasizing the need to link purchases to projects.
    • Monitor email notifications to maintain awareness of purchase order impacts on project cost plans.

    Eliminate manual efforts of linking purchase orders to projects by integrating Sourcing and Procurement Operations with Strategic Portfolio Management's Project Management.

    The Project Costing for Sourcing and Procurement Operations plugin (sn_spend_ppm) provides this integration. This plugin has dependency on the following applications that can be purchased separately:
    • Sourcing and Purchasing Automation
    • Source-to-Pay Common Architecture
    • Finance Common Architecture
    • Common Service Delivery
    • Procurement Case Management
    • Source-to-Pay Workspace
    • Supplier Common Architecture
    • Playbook Experience
    • Document Templates
    • Common Vendor Core
    The plugin also has dependency on the following system plugins that need to be installed separately:
    • External User Self-Registration
    • Finance Applications - Common Dependencies
    • Fiscal Calendar
    • GraphQL Plugin
    • Insert Multiple Web Service
    • PPM Standard
    • Process Automation Designer Core
    • Process Automation Designer for App Engine
    • Scoped Application Restricted Caller Access
    • Signature Pad
    • User Criteria Scoped API
    • Vendor Core
    Important:
    Your administrator must manually assign the IT Project User, which is a licensed role, to your shopper for them to view project details during checkout. Also, as part of the Source-to-Pay pricing initiative, your administrator must manually assign the PPM user role to your procurement specialist.

    With this integration, project managers or shoppers can associate a purchase with a project, which provides the reason for making the purchase, but also automatically creates cost plans and expense lines for that project. This enables project managers, shoppers, and procurement specialists to easily track planned costs each time a purchase is made for a Project Management project, and realize actual costs each time an invoice is paid for a Project Management project purchase.

    Impact on checkout and purchase details

    When this application is installed, you must answer the additional question Is this a purchase for an existing project? during checkout. If your answer is in the affirmative, you must select your project from the list to proceed with the checkout.

    Each project name is associated with a demand number, both of which are then auto-populated in the Purchase Reason field. You can add more information in the Purchase Reason field if you want to. On completing your checkout, these details are displayed on the purchase details page.
    Note:
    • If this purchase isn’t made for an existing project, you must mention the reason for purchase in the Purchase Reason field to proceed with the checkout.
    • During full checkout, you can select a project for the entire purchase or individually at the product level.
    • You can’t select a project for a credit purchase.

    Impact on purchase request line and purchase order line tables

    When a purchase request is created, you can configure the Purchasing Details form layout on the purchase request line table to display the Project field. This field references the selected demand record. Similarly, when a purchase request line is converted to a purchase order line, you can configure the Summary Details form layout on the purchase order line table to display the same Project field.

    As part of this integration, whenever a purchase is ordered as part of a demand or project, a cost plan is automatically created in association with that purchase order line. You can configure the Summary Details form layout on the purchase order line to display the new Cost plan field. A Purchase Order Lines related list is also added to the corresponding cost plan record. On the Cost Plan form, the Total planned cost field is auto-populated based on when the purchase order had been generated. The Total actual cost field is populated based on invoice and expense line creation.

    For information on how to configure a form layout, see Configuring the form layout.

    Impact on invoice line and expense line tables

    When an invoice is created, and both the invoice and the invoice line are in the Paid state, an expense line is automatically created for the project. This expense line has an Invoice Lines related list reference.

    For more information on invoice creation, see Invoices.

    Impact of demand and project lifecycle on Sourcing and Procurement Operations flows

    When a demand is converted to a project as part of demand and project lifecycle:
    • The demand number isn’t available for selection during checkout.
    • When a purchase request line using that demand number is converted to a purchase order line, the latter references the project and not the demand number.
    • The cost plan references the newly created project and not the one initially selected by the shopper.
    • When an invoice is created, the associated expense line references the project and not the demand number.
    When a demand or project is in a closed state:
    • The demand or project number isn’t available for selection during checkout.
    • Cost plans and expense lines aren’t created for closed demands and projects. However, if a cost plan is already created for a closed demand or project, expense lines continue to be auto-generated until all the invoices are paid out.

    Impact on sourcing request

    When requesting pricing for a product that doesn’t have pricing available, you must answer the additional question Is this a purchase for an existing project?. If your answer is in the affirmative, you must select your project from the list to proceed with submitting the request. On successful submission, the project and demand details are displayed on the sourcing request record.

    As a shopper, you can compare the pricing for your purchase, select a supplier, and proceed to checkout.

    Impact on off-catalog purchase request

    When requesting a quote for a product that is not available on the ShoppingHub catalog, you must answer the additional question Is this a purchase for an existing project?. If your answer is in the affirmative, you must select your project from the list to proceed with submitting the request.

    Email notifications

    When a purchase order associated to a demand or project is created, updated, or canceled, the assigned demand manager or project manager gets an email notification about its impacts on the cost plans of the demand or project.