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Connect SAP Ariba to Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot

SAP Ariba is SAP's cloud procurement suite: sourcing events, supplier contracts, requisitions, purchase orders sent over the Ariba Network, and supplier invoice reconciliation. It is the record of what the business agreed to buy, from whom, and at what price.

Nexatron's hosted MCP server is listed in Claude's connector directory. ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot add the same server as a custom MCP connector. Connect SAP Ariba to your Nexatron workspace once, then ask from whichever assistant you use.

What you can ask​

  • What was our addressable spend by commodity last quarter, and how much of it went through a contract?
  • Which suppliers received purchase orders this year without an active contract workspace?
  • How many invoices are in reconciliation exceptions right now, and which suppliers have the most?
  • What is the average time from requisition submission to purchase order by business unit?
  • Which contract workspaces expire in the next 90 days, and how much did we spend under each in the last twelve months?
  • How much savings did sourcing events award this year compared with their baseline prices?
  • Which preferred suppliers lost share in their commodity to non-preferred suppliers this year?

Questions read requisitions and purchase orders, invoices and invoice reconciliation, receipts, sourcing projects and events, contract workspaces, and suppliers, through Ariba's read-only reporting and retrieval APIs. APIs that create or change documents are not used.

Prerequisites​

  • A Nexatron workspace admin.
  • An SAP Ariba realm, and an administrator who can register an application on the SAP Ariba developer portal.
  • Nexatron access rules for what each person may ask (see below).

Admin setup​

Nexatron reads SAP Ariba APIs from the SAP Ariba developer portal, such as the Operational Reporting API for Procurement, the Analytical Reporting API and the Contract Workspace Retrieval API. Each call carries an application key and an OAuth 2.0 client-credentials token for one realm.

  1. On the SAP Ariba developer portal, register an application for your realm with access to those APIs, and note its application key and OAuth client credentials.
  2. Enable the SAP Ariba connector for your workspace with the realm, the application key and the client credentials.
  3. Opt in to the shared connection with a stated reason, add access rules, then choose who can use it.

The governed shared connection​

Ariba's reporting APIs have no per-person sign-in: a token belongs to an application registered for your realm, not to a person. So this connection is a governed exception, and people do not sign in to Ariba themselves.

  • Your administrator registers the application and states why this source cannot answer as each person. The choice is audited.
  • Nexatron's access rules decide what each person may ask, for example by business unit, commodity or supplier.
  • Every answer says it came from a shared Ariba application, not the person's own login, and each use is audited under the person who asked.

First question to try​

After you add Nexatron in Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, ask:

Which contract workspaces expire in the next 90 days, and how much did we spend under each in the last twelve months?

The answer says that it came from the shared Ariba application.

Permissions and masking​

Because the connection is shared, Nexatron's rules under Settings ▸ Workspace ▸ Access (Access) are what limit each person. Add row rules and column masking before you turn the connection on for people. A question that would total, average or count a masked column is refused.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomCause and fix
The answer says it came from a shared Ariba applicationExpected: Ariba issues API tokens to an application per realm, not to people.
Someone sees more than they shouldAdd or tighten row rules and column masking under Settings ▸ Workspace ▸ Access.
Spend totals differ from another reportName the commodity level, the period and whether spend means invoiced or ordered amounts in the question.
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