End-to-end sourcing workflow in Source-to-Pay Operations
Summarize
Summary of End-to-end sourcing workflow in Source-to-Pay Operations
The end-to-end sourcing workflow in Source-to-Pay (S2P) Operations involves the integration of Sourcing and Procurement Operations (SPO), Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO), and Accounts Payable Operations (APO). This workflow is initiated when a shopper requests a product or service that lacks an active contractual price.
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Prerequisites
To utilize the sourcing workflow, ensure that the necessary plugins for SPO, SLO, and APO are installed and activated. Refer to the product-specific installation sequences for guidance.
Workflow of the sourcing process
- An employee creates a sourcing request for products/services not found in the catalog.
- Approval rules send the request to designated approvers for review and approval.
- Once approved, the request is routed to a procurement specialist who adds it to a negotiation event.
- Negotiations are automatically initiated with qualified suppliers.
- If involving a new supplier, the procurement specialist begins the onboarding process, which includes risk assessments and information collection through playbooks.
- The supplier manager assigns tasks to the supplier contact, who completes required tasks and assessments.
- Upon review of the supplier’s risk score, suppliers are awarded based on the sourcing event outcomes.
- Purchase requisitions are auto-created and reviewed by the procurement specialist to generate purchase orders.
- Employees confirm receipt of products, while invoices are auto-created or manually managed by accounts payable specialists as necessary.
- Accounts payable agents handle invoice cases and maintain visibility for all involved roles throughout the workflow.
Key Outcomes
By implementing this sourcing workflow, ServiceNow customers can streamline procurement processes, enhance supplier onboarding, ensure compliance with contractual agreements, and maintain clear visibility into transaction statuses from various roles within the organization.
Gather a high-level understanding of the end-to-end sourcing workflow with the Sourcing and Procurement Operations (SPO), Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO), and Accounts Payable Operations (APO) products within the Source-to-Pay (S2P) suite.
The sourcing workflow is triggered when there is an active contractual price for a product or service that the shopper intends to purchase.
Prerequisites
Workflow of the sourcing process
The following figure shows how different personas use the various applications withing the SPO, SLO, and APO products to complete the end-to-end sourcing process within the Source-to-Pay (S2P) suite.
- An employee creates a sourcing request for a product or service that doesn't have a contractual price, or isn’t available in the catalog. For more information, see Complete sourcing checkout and Requesting for products or services that you don't see on ShoppingHub, respectively.
Role: sn_shop.shopper.
Application portal: Shopping Hub and Employee Center respectively.
- Approval rules route the sourcing request to one or more assigned approvers.
- An approver reviews the sourcing request and approves it. For more information, see Approve a request from Employee Center.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Employee Center.
- Work assignment rules route the sourcing request to an assigned procurement specialist.
- The procurement specialist, with the contained role of a sourcing manager, adds the sourcing request to a negotiation event. For more information, see Add a sourcing request to a sourcing event.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- Negotiations are auto-created with qualified suppliers. For more information, see Sourcing intake guided experience with playbooks.
If sourcing with a new supplier, see End-to-end sourcing and supplier onboarding workflow in Source-to-Pay Operations.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- Begin the qualification process to onboard the new supplier. For more information, see Supplier qualification.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- Review the supplier onboarding case and start the supplier onboarding using playbooks. For more information, see Use the supplier onboarding playbook to onboard suppliers.
The playbook automatically creates supplier tasks to conduct risk assessment and to collect supplier information, such as banking information and location details.
Role: sn_slm.manager.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- The supplier manager assigns the supplier tasks to the supplier contact.
Role: sn_slm.manager.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- The supplier contact completes the following tasks:
- Assigned tasks. For more information, see Viewing supplier contact tasks from the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
- Risk assessment questionnaire. For more information, see Complete a risk assessment from the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
Role: sn_slm.contact.
Application portal: Supplier Collaboration Portal.
- After the supplier manager reviews the supplier risk score and completes the different activities in each stage of the playbook, the supplier is successfully onboarded.
Role: sn_slm.manager.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- On reaching supplier responses close date, the sourcing manager awards one or more suppliers. For more information, see Award multiple suppliers from a sourcing event.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- Purchase requisitions are auto-created. The procurement specialist reviews the purchase requisitions and its associated purchase lines, and creates purchase orders. For more information, see SPO list page.
Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- On fulfillment, the employee confirms receipt of the requested product. For more information, see Confirm receipt of your order from Shopping Hub Home and Confirm receipt of your order from Employee Center.
Role: sn_shop.shopper.
Application portal: Shopping Hub or Employee Center.
- Invoices are auto-created. When invoices aren’t auto-submitted or don’t match the purchase orders, or when invoice exceptions must be resolved, an accounts payable specialist gets involved. For more information, see Accounts Payable Invoice Processing.
Alternatively, the accounts payable specialist manually creates invoices. For more information, see Accounts Payable Specialist manual tasks.
Role: sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- The accounts payable specialist converts invoices of purchase order type to invoice types such as non-purchase order, credit memo, and debit memo, based on their interactions with shoppers and suppliers of business services.
For more information, see Accounts Payable Specialist manual tasks.
Role: sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- An accounts payable agent manages and works on assigned invoice cases, requests more information from suppliers or employees if necessary, and creates and assigns tasks to the users. For more information, see Invoice Case Management.
Role: sn_ap_cm.agent.
Application portal: Source-to-Pay Workspace.
- The employee, approver, sourcing manager, procurement specialist, supplier manager, accounts payable specialist, and accounts payable agent have complete visibility into the status of the workflow through process completion, from their respective portals.