User Defined Business Objects
SAP E-Sourcing / CLM is well known for its flexibility and configuration capabilities. Examples of this flexibility include the ease with which new fields can be added to the system and the ability to configure the user interface with different field labels and layouts. There is another fantastic feature of E-Sourcing that many customers use to advance their use of E-Sourcing: User Defined Business Objects.
User Defined Business Objects (UDOs) allow system administrators to configure an entirely new business object. They include all of the major features of E-Sourcing business documents including the document type / template creation model, configurable phase definitions, workflow, and user collaboration. Customers have found many uses for user defined business objects, but the two most common that I have seen are: a repository for non-disclosure agreements and a sourcing request (a way to capture request for sourcing from business users).
A base installation and setup of E-Sourcing does not come with UDOs enabled. UDOs are enabled via system properties that are set by the system user. There is a single property that turns them on and separate system properties that enable each of the five configurable UDOs. There are system properties for both purchaser side and supplier side enablement (UDOs are able to be seen by suppliers in addition to buyers if the requirements dictate such).
System Properties to enable UDOs (click to enlarge)
Once the system properties are enabled, UDOs are available for use in the system. However, E-Sourcing does not come with any security profiles that provide access to the UDOs; as a result, adjustments to the relevant security profiles are required to provide the appropriate access to the UDOs and the associated setup objects (document types and configurable phase definitions).
Security Profile configuration for UDOs (click to enlarge)
With the system properties set and the security profile settings established, a new navigation menu option will exist for UDOs. In the following image, only one of the five UDOs is enabled, but it does show how the common business document functionality is immediately available for the UDO:
Navigation Bar with UDO 1 Enabled (click to enlarge)
E-Sourcing provides a basic set of tabs and data that can be used on a UDO. Obviously, the real power is achieved by adjusting the layout through page customizations and adding new fields via extension definitions. Also, for UDOs, it is important to update the localized resources so that terms such as ”User Defined BizDoc” are changed to the appropriate term based on the configuration.
Default Configuration of a UDO (click to enlarge)
As you can see, there is a lot of functionality provided by the system without any configuration. However, the real power of UDOs is achieved through the inherent E-Sourcing flexibility that enables custom fields and user interface adjustments using the extension definition and page customization capabilities in setup.
To review, the key things to do when adding UDO functionality to an implementation are:
- Enable UDOs using system properties
- Update the appropriate security profiles with the necessary access rights
- Update the appropriate localized resources to reflect the true use of the UDO
- Add the necessary extensions and page customizations for the business functionality required
- Create the appropriate Document Types
- Create the appropriate Phase Configurations
- Add Workflow (if required)
In a future posting, I will look at a real UDO example. In the mean time, I hope you found this information useful.