In the world of e-Procurement there aren’t many mobile apps for phones yet so we were excited to find out that Ariba has launched a new version of their mobile application. There are two versions of the Ariba mobile app, one for Ariba users (buyers) and one for Ariba Suppliers. Since our team works supplier side, we were pleased to see a separate app just for the suppliers.
We downloaded and installed the app for Android on a Samsung Galaxy S6 and had no issues on the installation.
We were able to login using either our production accounts or our test accounts (something we love as a developer!) and upon logging in were prompted to set a four digit pin number, which allows us to access the account with just a 4-digit pin. If you forget your PIN you’ll need to completely reset the app for security purposes.
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| Ariba App PIN After first login you use the PIN to access your account. |
Ariba App PIN Reset If you forget your PIN you’ll need to reset it by logging in again using your normal Ariba username and password. |
If you do reset the PIN the app simply reverts to a normal login where you enter your Ariba username and password. You’ll then repeat the process and set a new PIN once you get logged in. Once you get logged in you’ll see a home screen with a summary and then buttons to view orders and invoices.
Since the mobile app is relatively new, there is not a lot of functionality yet but the bare essentials are there. If you’re on the go you’re most likely looking for a summary of orders rather than the full details. This app fits the bill for that.
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| Home Screen | Order Screen | Invoice Screen |
We were pleased that we could click through to the orders and even view line items for each order. We’d like to see the ability to test catalogs through Punchout in the future, since mobile shopping is becoming increasingly popular at the the enterprise level. Another helpful link might be the ability to resend a failed PO. If there were a temporary issue on my (supplier) side, I’d like to be able to resend a PO from the app before I escalate to the IT department. For larger tablets such as the iPad I’d like to see the ability to send an invoice, although on a phone that might not be practical.
Overall we were very pleased with the Ariba app, but more supplier features would be great in the future.
Learn more about the Ariba Supplier Mobile App on the Ariba Supplier website.