Glossary

Learn about terms that you will use in the new online procurement services. Select a letter to go to the list of terms starting with this letter. You can also see the full list of terms below and go directly to the description.

You might find the answers you're looking for below.

A

B

C

O

P

R

S

T

V

Glossary Definitions

A

Amendment

In legal terms, an amendment is an executed change to the original contract that can change the language of a term or condition, or, possibly some of the dates of the contract. In SAP Ariba, an amendment creates a new version of the workspace and, depending on the amendment type, can cause different tasks, documents and/or data input to occur.

B

Buyer

A user who performs the primary sourcing activities in the SAP Ariba application. They are given access to create and manage sourcing projects and contract workspaces. The buyer role can, in different situations, be performed by the end-user, cost centre owner (Section 34), technical authority, transaction authority, or operational manager.

C

Contract

A contract is a binding agreement between a buying organization and a supplier that identifies the terms for purchasing goods and services.

O

Open Tender

A competitive bidding process where any qualified supplier can submit a proposal in response to a publicly advertised opportunity.

R

Request for Proposal

RFP

A formal document used by an organization to solicit detailed business proposals from potential suppliers for a specific project or need.

Request for Quotation

RFQ

A document sent to suppliers asking for price quotes on specific goods or services. Less commonly, it can also refer to a Request for Qualifications.

S

Sole Source

Single Source

Choosing one specific supplier for a product or service, even when other suppliers are available.

Submission

Bid,Proposal

A submission in response to a solicitation document.

Supplier

Vendor,Contractor

A vendor of purchased goods and services.

T

Two-stage

A process, often used in construction, that separates the project into a pre-construction phase and a construction phase. In the first stage, potential contractors are pre-qualified based on their basic qualifications, and the most promising ones are invited to collaborate with the client to develop the design and finalize specifications and costs.