Gasunie: Orchestrating a procurement transformation fit for a sustainable energy future
Reimagined procurement operations help meet customer needs
Providing safe, reliable, accessible, and cost-efficient transport and storage of natural gas has been a way of life for N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie since the 1960s. As part of the energy transition, the company upgraded its business foundation on SAP Cloud ERP Private capabilities and transformed its procurement and sourcing operations using SAP Ariba solutions and SAP Business Network.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Utilities | Groningen, the Netherlands | >3,100 employees |
sourcing projects managed annually through SAP Ariba Sourcing.
suppliers transacting through SAP Business Network.
orders each year flowing from punch-out catalogs.
Process Manager, Procurement, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie
Better aligning the procurement process with the supply chain
N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie is a state-owned energy infrastructure company engaged in managing and maintaining the infrastructure for large-scale transport and storage of natural gas in the Netherlands and the northern part of Germany. Playing an important part in the energy supply chain, its infrastructure services connect gas producers to gas consumers and serve as an international hub for the supply and transit of methane in northwestern Europe.
As part of the energy transition, the company is transforming into an energy infrastructure company, with a shift toward transporting hydrogen, carbon dioxide, heat, and green gas in rapidly increasing volumes. The company is also driving the feed-in of biomethane and working on the construction and management of heat grids.
With the company’s legacy systems ill-suited to support its transition from a natural gas network operator to one with several companies and activities, Gasunie made the decision to upgrade its operations. Focusing on future readiness, its plan for a company-wide transformation on an SAP Cloud ERP Private solution impacted the company’s procurement, finance, supply chain, and logistics operations as well as its IT, HR, and asset management functions.
A major focus for Gasunie’s transformation was to consolidate procurement systems and optimize supporting applications to enable multicompany procurement, making full use of current best practices and minimizing manual workloads. It also sought to streamline the business of procurement by optimizing self-service functionality.
Erik Grave, process manager for procurement at Gasunie, explains, “In our legacy system, we had two different purchase processes: one for our indirect spend and the other for direct spend. This meant our suppliers got two different orders from two different systems. If they received the order through our instance of the SAP Ariba solution, they had to invoice through SAP Business Network. If they got it from our ERP application, they had to send the invoice to accounts payable by mail. Our goal was to get rid of that complexity.”
Process Manager, Procurement, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie
Establishing future-ready procurement processes
With goals to improve process performance, enhance user experience, simplify compliance with the European Union’s tendering legislation, and gain better insight into supplier risk, Gasunie adopted SAP Ariba solutions to create its new spend management environment.
As shown in the diagram, the solutions are integrated with SAP Cloud ERP Private, and its landscape includes the SAP Fieldglass and SAP Concur portfolios to manage contingent labor and expenses, respectively. The SAP Ariba Sourcing solution sets the stage to streamline the tender process and simplify compliance with industry procurement standards. This includes adopting the guided sourcing capability for the SAP Ariba Sourcing solution to manage its sourcing projects in line with European Union tendering rules that Gasunie must comply with.
Gasunie also established a single channel for ordering and invoicing using the SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing solution, and it centralized management of suppliers and their data with the SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance solution. Gasunie also uses the SAP Ariba Contracts solution to optimize contract management.
To give its people a simpler way to purchase both catalog and noncatalog items needed to do their jobs, Gasunie adopted the guided buying capability through the SAP Ariba Buying solution. SAP Cloud ERP Private is also integrated with the SAP Business Network Commerce Automation solution, enabling near-real-time information sharing and enhanced visibility into procurement processes.
Enabling procurement as a central role in business process chains
Since its procurement transformation, Gasunie no longer needs to process paper documents or manually submitted purchase orders, order confirmations, order amendments, packing notes, and invoices. Instead, it’s using SAP Business Network for the transmission of these documents, gaining new levels of automation and visibility. Digitalizing transactions through SAP Business Network allows for quicker processing for purchase orders and invoices, minimizing costs and impact on the environment. Likewise, the company is now working on migrating suppliers to SAP Business Network to digitalize these processes for coded materials purchases.
Using SAP Ariba solutions integrated with SAP Cloud ERP Private now supports 3,600 end users at Gasunie in overseeing an annual spend of €1 billion with 3,200 suppliers, 1,450 of whom transact through SAP Business Network. The company is also managing 400 sourcing projects each year through SAP Ariba Sourcing and maintains a growing majority of its active contracts through SAP Ariba Contracts.
Having adopted SAP Ariba solutions with SAP Cloud ERP Private, Gasunie’s suppliers can send invoices through the single channel of SAP Business Network instead of having to use two different systems. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition acts as a central nervous system for its transactions, with order creation approval flows and invoice handling automated through the system.
For the request-to-pay process for indirect spend, the company uses the guided buying capability with a large number of catalogs, both static and punch-out. The guided buying capability guides buyers to the right catalogs and helps them intuitively make their requisitions. Grave comments, “We have about 17,000 orders from punch-out catalogs with suppliers, as well as contracts and noncatalog purchases generating about 45,000 invoices per year. Most of the guided buying transactions are fully digitalized, flowing directly from the supplier into our system. The aim is to send all our orders to the suppliers through SAP Business Network.”
Process Manager, Procurement, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie
Keeping aligned with the technology road map
Now that the company has a better procurement footing, Gasunie is looking to move more direct spend transactions to SAP Business Network to maximize the use of digital procurement processes in its business. As such, the company is currently testing the e-tendering functionality from SAP Business Network to optimize access to tender documents for interested suppliers.
Another priority for the company is to implement the SAP Ariba Supplier Risk solution to further simplify its supplier management process and mitigate risk exposure.
It’s also looking to align with technological developments from SAP. Grave comments, “We want to keep up with the road map for SAP solutions as much as possible. For instance, by adopting the buying 360 capability, we’ll be able to provide a more comprehensive purchasing experience for our buyers.”
Elsewhere, with its business foundation built on SAP Cloud ERP Private, the company is well placed to support new joint ventures.
Want to know more about Gasunie?
Gasunie Transport Services B.V. (SAP Innovation Awards 2025)