Direct procurement software

Streamline and digitize multi-layered direct procurement and contract management across the lifecycle of engineered products.
A list of supplier quotations for the direct procurement of batteries.

What is SAP Ariba Direct Materials Sourcing for Automotive and Industrial Manufacturing in SAP S/4HANA?

It is direct procurement software that helps solve industry-specific source-to-contract problems by streamlining the process and integrating it with engineering, supply chain, and payables workflows.

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Place procurement at the center of the product lifecycle and integrate it with design and supply chain flows through:

  • NPDI planning and design collaboration to accelerate time to market

  • Comprehensive contract management, including index-based pricing, periodic renegotiation, and AI-powered contract intelligence

  • A center-led procurement operating model

  • Structured, workflow-driven, cross-functional collaboration

Key benefits

Accelerate time to market

Bring profitable, innovative, and sustainable products to market with speed and precision through effective procurement planning and design collaboration.

Prevent value leakage from negotiated contracts

Operationalize the complex terms and pricing conditions of procurement contracts and long-term agreements without the cost of system and data integration.

Reduce cost and better manage price volatility

Simplify demand aggregation, price renegotiation, and commodity-pricing management to reduce cost and risk in product launches and ongoing procurement.

Key features

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Procurement project planning for product launches

  • BOM part lists input from ERP/PLM systems

  • Demand consolidation across the portfolio and product lifecycle

  • Multi-level project planning and stakeholder collaboration for tooling investments

  • Intelligent parts bundling with seamless transition from planning to execution

Seamless digital thread unifies process end-to-end

  • One digital thread runs through the design-to-contract process, seamlessly integrating with extended supply chain processes

  • Address a full range of direct procurement scenarios, including forward sourcing, demand-driven sourcing, strategic sourcing, and contract renewal/renegotiation

Advanced collaboration

  • Collaborate with suppliers through SAP Integrated Product Development (SAP IPD) integration

  • Seamless integration with ERP/MRP for demand and forecast collaboration, supported by SAP Business Network

  • Flexible RFQ collaboration through SAP Business Network or company-specific supplier portals

End-to-end sourcing and contracting support

  • Create and execute sourcing projects for materials that are part of material masters

  • Engage in multiple rounds of negotiation, evaluate and compare supplier bids, and award business

  • Benefit from company-wide procurement policies through configurable workflows and approved supplier lists

Accelerated price renegotiation

  • Select multiple items across multiple contracts to renegotiate price

  • Simulate the impact of price changes on overall saving

  • Engage in multiple rounds of negotiation with suppliers, award the final negotiated price, and update the central contract(s) automatically based on the approval process

Commodity index-based pricing

  • Obtain commodity content inputs from suppliers in the sourcing process

  • Operationalize index-based commodity pricing, without complex custom builds

  • Simulate and calculate pricing efficiently by accessing market data through integration and system-triggered lookups to commodity indexes

Featured resources

Try the SAP Ariba Procurement Planning add-on

Advanced procurement product management for your product launches

Track thousands of sourcing activities for complex projects in automotive and industrial manufacturing.

  • Accelerate time to market

  • Boost procurement efficiency

  • Simplify procurement project management

  • Ensure all BOM components are sourced

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Portfolio recognition and awards

SAP Ariba solutions are recognized for their multi-faceted industry leadership based on verified user reviews, ratings, and in-depth customer insights.

Technical and security information

Discover how our cloud solutions fuel your spend strategy with SAP Business Technology Platform and protect your enterprise with built-in security.

Visibility

Unlock spend data with solutions that deliver total spend visibility, aid in planning and forecasting, and connect critical data from SAP and third-party sources.

Extensibility

Customize and extend the value of spend management solutions by eliminating inefficiencies, building new apps, enhancing existing apps, and providing personalized experiences.

Integration

Centralize data, remove silos, and create a connected enterprise with integration solutions from SAP, streaming your source-to-pay process with prebuilt connections.

See what analysts are saying about SAP

IDC Names SAP a Leader in SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Direct Spend

Read the IDC MarketScape report to see why IDC named SAP a Leader for direct sourcing in automotive and industrial manufacturing, citing our ability to simplify collaboration across procurement, logistics, and R&D.

SAP Named a Leader in Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Source-to-Pay Suites

Find out why SAP has been recognized as a Leader for our ability to execute and completeness of vision in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites.

*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, Mike Lowndes, Yanna Dharmasthira, Sandy Shen, Penny Gillespie, Aditya Vasudevan, Jason Daigler, 21 August, 2023. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

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