SAP Business Network


SAP Supply Chain: Business Network

The challenges in today’s supply chains can be overwhelming. Immerse your organization with agility, speed, and resiliency by increased collaboration in real time for business continuity and growth.

Business Network Simply Defined

A business network allows collaboration with all partners in the supply chain to accomplish strategic and operational objectives. It can include suppliers, logistics, service providers, asset operators, contractors, or other partners. A business network empowers uniform interactions and integration, allowing faster movement than ever before with unparalleled visibility and ROI.

Key capabilities include:

  • Leverage supplier collaboration regardless of size or type by a flexible and scaled network.
  • Execute with confidence by sharing important information to improve forecasting and avoid supply disruptions.
  • Drive supply chain resiliency through tight coordination among suppliers and logistics teams to reduce risks.
  • Utilize resources strategically by digitalizing manual supply chain, asset maintenance and procurement processes.

SAP Supply Chain: Business Network

The challenges in today’s supply chains can be overwhelming. Immerse your organization with agility, speed, and resiliency by increased collaboration in real time for business continuity and growth.

Business Network Simply Defined

A business network allows collaboration with all partners in the supply chain to accomplish strategic and operational objectives. It can include suppliers, logistics, service providers, asset operators, contractors, or other partners. A business network empowers uniform interactions and integration, allowing faster movement than ever before with unparalleled visibility and ROI.

Key capabilities include:

  • Leverage supplier collaboration regardless of size or type by a flexible and scaled network.
  • Execute with confidence by sharing important information to improve forecasting and avoid supply disruptions.
  • Drive supply chain resiliency through tight coordination among suppliers and logistics teams to reduce risks.
  • Utilize resources strategically by digitalizing manual supply chain, asset maintenance and procurement processes.

For example, topics in supply chain like sustainability and circular supply chain need rapid, creative collaboration. Organizations need to be current by brainstorming and making a commitment to re-use, refurbish, remanufacture, and recycle. A business network is a powerful tool for groups to work together in real time. Tie the value chain together for the delivery of goods and services. Each entity is connected to the other creating ever-evolving flexible relationships.

10 benefits for every business in the network include:

  1. Accelerate time to market
  2. Focus on core competencies
  3. Enhance customer service
  4. Communicate in real time
  5. Predict risks and opportunities
  6. Introduce seamless role-based collaboration
  7. Leverage collative intelligence
  8. Act on real-time insights
  9. Discover new partners
  10. Work toward common goals and metrics.

Vendor partners offering powerful digital software solutions are: SAP, Dell, HPE.

SAP offers three solutions — Ariba Network, SAP Logistics Network, and SAP Asset Intelligent Network.

Key highlights of how these can help your business are:

  • Procurement: Buyer and supplier collaboration for standardized workflows.
  • Manufacturing: Manufacturers and contractors can drive process automation and collaboration.
  • Operations: Asset operators and service providers collaborate on end-to-end maintenance activities.
  • Logistics: Shippers and carriers jointly oversee the transportation lifecycle.

It is important to note that SAP has unified existing networks into one. Ariba Network is now called SAP Business Network. The name change can be seen in the portal. It does not change any login credentials, transactions, or network configurations.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

  • Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions with SAP Logistics Business Network. Learn how to get real-time insights by collaborating efficiently to mitigate risks.
  • Increase Supplier Compliance with Sustainable Business Networks. Read the article by William Newman about maintaining accurate records of supplier compliance with efficiency.
  • How to Leverage SAP’s Digital Supplier Network to make Fulfillment Smarter and Simpler. Watch this webinar to learn how to optimize procurement processes through digital transformation.

1282 results

  1. Plants Abroad

    SAP Business Network: A Digital Network for Industry-Specific Buyer-Supplier Collaboration

    Published: 19/June/2023

    Reading time: 2 mins

    The SAP Business Network offers a comprehensive platform tailored to meet the specific needs of industries, providing companies with a collaborative and transparent solution for their supply chains. It promotes business growth by facilitating seamless connections with trade partners and ensuring resilience and sustainability. With a multi-directional approach, the SAP Business Network enables collaboration across…

  2. image of warehouse

    Maximizing SAP Business Network for Logistics (BN4L)

    Published: 14/September/2023

    Reading time: 5 mins

    Many organizations are struggling to meet their supply chain obligations to maximize business value. Whether it is shippers, carriers, warehouse managers, everyone wants an efficient process. To help the supply chain process, SAP has a robust list of supply chain management functions, including SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM), SAP Transportation Management (SAP TMS), SAP…

  3. Collaboration Made Easy – Executing Intelligent End To End Processes with the SAP Business Network

    Click HERE to view the presentation deck slides. See how SAP’s Business Network is reducing the barriers to creating end-to-end processes that span multiple organizations, creating shared value for you and your business partners. With use cases spanning Procurement, Supply Chain, Logistics, Asset Management, Finance, and External Workforce, the Business Network allows you to take...…

  4. How to Use Resource Network Planning in SNP Optimizer Planning

    Published: 01/July/2013

    Reading time: 14 mins

    Resource network planning is used to describe the physical relationships between resources in a plant. It also shows the product flow between resources. The limitation of this functionality is that Supply Network Planning (SNP) tools are unable to read this logical sequencing while planning. SNP planning is purely based on resource and material availability. See...…

  5. Understand Your Project Costs in an Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing Environment

    Published: 17/February/2014

    Reading time: 17 mins

    Financials/SCMIn the engineer-to-order manufacturing process, a product with the exact specifications desired by a company’s customers does not yet exist. Instead, you design and then produce the product specifically for that customer, using Project System (PS). As you collect costs and bill the customer, an accounting entry is made at each step; some of these...…

  6. Increase Supplier Compliance with Sustainable Business Networks

    Published: 18/July/2011

    Reading time: 10 mins

    Brands and manufacturers maintain complex supply chains of material, service, and component vendors. To demonstrate compliance with a myriad of social, economic, and environmental regulations, maintaining accurate records of supplier compliance in procurement and ongoing supplier management activities is necessary. Likewise, suppliers to multiple brands receive duplicative compliance requests simultaneously, driving up compliance reporting and...…

  7. A Handy Guide to Project System Business Content in BW

    Published: 01/January/2004

    Reading time: 90 mins

    Learn which tables the Business Content extractors for PS use to get their data. This will help you achieve more accurate extractions. Project System (PS) is one of the more frequently used modules of SAP R/3, and not one of the most difficult modules from which to extract data into BW. Still, it is useful...…

  8. Get the Most Out of SAPSprint for Server-Based Printing in Microsoft Windows

    Published: 22/April/2009

    Reading time: 19 mins

    SAPSprint is the latest service for server-based printing on Windows. Learn how to install and configure this service with its default options. Drill down into the technical implementation to learn how to manage print requests, restart print processes, configure front-end printing, and include barcodes. Key Concept Processing in SAPSprint means generating print data via the...…

  9. Configure SAPSprint for Secure Server-Based Printing on Windows

    Published: 17/June/2009

    Reading time: 146 mins

    You can have as wide and varied a range of printing needs as you have business needs. Learn about the available SAPSprint options — what they are and what they do — so you can help your organization meet its specific printing needs. Key Concept Secure Network Communications (SNC) integrates an external security product with...…

  10. Eliminate Bottlenecks When You Access Data in the CRM WebClient UI

    Published: 11/February/2010

    Reading time: 11 mins

    These tips and best practices can enhance the performance of your CRM WebClient user interface in a client-server network environment. Learn strategic and valuable pointers that will help you avoid network performance pitfalls. Key Concept A network performance bottleneck refers to a situation that negatively affects end user satisfaction (e.g., slow download time for browser-based...…