Using Supplier Collaboration Portal in APO

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Using Supplier Collaboration Portal in APO

    The Supplier Collaboration Portal integrated with Accounts Payable Operations (APO) enables seamless interaction between Account Payable Specialists and suppliers. It facilitates creating invoice inquiry cases, submitting invoices, resolving case tasks, and managing exceptions efficiently. Suppliers and their contacts access the portal to handle invoices, inquiries, and tasks via the portal interface, Virtual Agent, or Live Agent chat.

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    Note that APO itself does not include onboarding workflows for suppliers or supplier contacts; these are managed by Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO). If SLO is not installed, supplier and contact records must be imported from external systems such as ERP, ensuring each contact has a linked user record for portal login credentials.

    Key Features

    • Supplier Collaboration Portal Header: Located at the top-right of the portal home page, offering options such as My Tasks (tasks assigned to the user), My Requests (invoice inquiry cases assigned), and Submit a Request (to raise invoice requests).
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal Widgets: Include
      • My Active Items Widget: Displays Tasks (assigned to the supplier), Requests (invoice inquiry cases), and Invoices (for viewing and raising inquiries).
      • My Requests Widget: Lists submitted invoice inquiry cases allowing users to view and manage them.
    • Task and Request Management: Suppliers can efficiently work with their tasks and invoice inquiries via the portal header and widgets.
    • Universal Request Creation: Invoice inquiries submitted through the portal convert into Universal Requests for processing in the Source-to-Pay Workspace.
    • Supplier Catalog: Suppliers use this to submit new invoice inquiries and invoices for evaluation by the Accounts Payable Operations team.
    • Virtual Agent Integration: Suppliers can check invoice and inquiry statuses or create inquiry cases via chat, accessing predefined chatbot topics for support.
    • Role-Based Access Control: Both internal and external users must have roles assigned to distinguish access levels and enhance security.

    Important Considerations

    • After installing the Supplier Collaboration Portal, approve the restricted caller access privileges generated by the installation to prevent supplier errors.
    • Supplier onboarding and contact management workflows belong to Supplier Lifecycle Operations; without it, import records from external systems with proper user credentials.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By using the Supplier Collaboration Portal in APO, ServiceNow customers can:

    • Enhance collaboration with suppliers by streamlining invoice inquiries and submissions directly through a dedicated portal.
    • Improve task visibility and management for suppliers and internal users, ensuring timely resolution of invoice-related cases.
    • Leverage Virtual Agent and Live Agent chat to provide suppliers with convenient, self-service support options.
    • Integrate invoice inquiry workflows with Source-to-Pay Workspace for efficient case handling and processing.
    • Maintain secure access controls distinguishing between internal and external users, supporting compliance and governance.

    The Supplier Collaboration portal application integrated with Accounts Payable Operations provides seamless interaction between Account Payable Specialist and suppliers for creating invoice inquiry case, submitting new invoices, resolving case tasks and exception tasks.

    Supplier and supplier contact management

    APO grants supplier contacts access to the Supplier Collaboration Portal to manage invoices and invoice inquiries, handle tasks, and submit invoices or inquiries through the portal, Virtual Agent, or Live Agent chat.

    APO does not include workflows to onboard suppliers or to add and update supplier contacts. These workflows are part of SLO. If your instance has APO without SLO, import supplier and supplier contact records into ServiceNow from your ERP or other system of record instead of using the SLO onboarding workflow. For more information, see Manage supplier contacts from the Source-to-Pay Workspace and Add a supplier contact from the Source-to-Pay Workspace.

    Each supplier contact record requires a linked user record. When you import a supplier contact, create a corresponding user record that stores the contact's user ID and password so the contact can log in to the Supplier Collaboration Portal with credentials set up outside ServiceNow.

    Supplier Portal Collaboration header

    The portal header is located at the top-right corner of the home page contains the following options.

    Table 1. Supplier collaboration portal header options
    Option Description
    My Tasks Lists all the tasks that are assigned to the logged-in user. For more information on tasks, see Working with tasks in Supplier Collaboration Portal header.
    My Requests Opens the My Requests page, which lists all the requests assigned to you.
    Submit a request Supplier raises invoice requests.

    For more information regarding the Supplier Portal Collaboration header options, see Working with tasks in Supplier Collaboration Portal header.

    Supplier Collaboration Portal widgets

    The Supplier Collaboration Portal integrated with Accounts Payable Operations consists of the following widgets. For more information on Supplier Collaboration Portal widgets, see Supplier Collaboration Portal.

    My active items widget

    As a supplier contact, you can view specific items from the following tiles in the My active items widget:

    Table 2. My active items widget
    Item Description
    Tasks Opens the My Tasks list page, which lists all the tasks that are assigned to the supplier. For more information on tasks, see Working with tasks in Supplier Collaboration Portal header.
    Requests Lists all the invoice inquiry cases for the supplier. For more information on inquiry requests, see Working with My Requests.
    Invoices Lists the invoices for supplier to view the invoice details and raise invoice related inquiry case. For more information on invoice inquiry see Submit Invoice Inquiry.
    Note:
    From the invoice form, you can submit an inquiry case. For more details on inquiry case, see Submit Invoice Inquiry
    .

    My Requests widget

    Displays a list of invoice inquiry cases that you have submitted. Selecting a case directly opens the My Requests page so that you can work on that inquiry case. Select View All to view the list of all inquiry cases that you have submitted. For more information on My Requests widget, see Working with My Requests.

    For more information on installing Supplier Collaboration Portal, see Configure Supplier Lifecycle Operations.

    Important:
    After you install Supplier Collaboration Portal, approve the restricted caller access privileges that installation generates. If these privileges remain unapproved, suppliers encounter errors when they use the portal. For more information, see Restricted caller access approvals for Supplier Collaboration Portal.