SAP Sourcing vs SAP SRM vs SAP CLM vs SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management

[Former Member]

Dear Experts,

I am really puzzled by the multitiude of solutions offered by SAP to support transactional and strategic procurement. Can you kindly advise what's the difference between the following products:

- SAP Sourcing

- SAP SRM

- SAM Contract Lifecycle Management

- SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management

My client doesn't currently have any of the above and we are trying to make recommendations to them on the best solutions to support both their transactional and strategic procurement activities.

Can you kindly help me understand the difference as there is a lot of overlap between the products above?

Thanks & Regards,

Hesham

[Former Member]

Hello Hesham,

- SAP Sourcing: used for the strategic sourcing process including contract management (entire source-2-contract process)

- SAP SRM: used for the operational procurement process however, it also includes some strategic sourcing functionalities (RFx, live auctions)

SAP CLM: CLM is part of the SAP Sourcing module and is mainly used for contract management, i.e. both operational and legal contracting.

SAP SLC: used for supplier management, including supplier onboarding, qualification, risk analysis etc.

Hope this helps a little bit!

Bram

[Former Member]

Thanks a lot Bram.

I understand the differences between them and I have read extensively about them in the SAP pages. However, the real question is which of these solutions is required to cover both strategic and operational procurement. Is SAP SRM sufficient for supplier enablement and performance management or is SAP SLC is better? Is SAP SRM sufficient for bidding or is SAP Sourcing better? Should SAP SRM be used to support contract compliance or is SAP Sourcing/SAP CLM better?

Basically, I am trying to understand which products together would give full coverage of both strategic and operational procurement.

Regards,

Hesham

[Former Member]

Hello,

to answer your questions:

- SAP SLC is definetely better for supplier enablement and performance management compared to SAP SRM and Sourcing.

- SAP SRM can be sufficient for the strategic procurement processes, however SAP Sourcing is more extensive.

- SAP Sourcing is definetely the best-of-breed when it comes to contract compliance.

If you want to cover the entire purchasing flow, you should go for the three different solutions. However, if strategic sourcing requirements are simple/standard processes, you can also choose SRM alone. If requirements are very explicit and detailed, you should definetely opt for Sourcing on top of SRM.

Bram

[Former Member]

Thanks a lot Bram. Very useful information.

Two more questions please, SAP SRM has registration of suppliers, what's the difference between that and the registration of suppliers in SAP SLC?

Also, what's the best SAP tool for Spend Analysis and Supplier Performance Management?

Regards,

Hesham

[Former Member]

Hello Hesham,

SAP Sourcing, SAP SRM (SuS) and SLC have supplier onboarding capabilities (supplier registration forms). The rumor however is that SuS will not be supported and will be completely replaced by SLC. As far as I know, the functionalities are the same (I think workflows are easier and more enhanced in SLC compared to SRM/Sourcing) but SAP is not going to position SuS anymore when it comes to supplier management functionalities. This will be covered by SLC.

On top of that, SLC also supports other functionalities like surveys, supplier risk analysis etc.

Regarding spend analysis, SAP SPM (spend performance management) is the tool positioned by SAP to do all spend analysis tasks. This integrated directly with SAP Sourcing (since spend opportunities can be sourced directly).

Kr,

Bram

[Former Member]

Thanks Bram, That helped a lot. Can you please also explain something about SNC. How it is different from SUS and SLC? Is SLC is best option for a supplier amongst SUS, SNC and SLC?