The most appropriate and direct method to classify suppliers by performance tiers for reporting is to add a custom field to the Supplier Performance Management (SPM) project template. The SPM project is the dedicated workspace in SAP Ariba for evaluating and scoring a supplier's performance over a specific period. By adding a custom field, such as "Performance Tier," to the project's layout, a category manager can set the tier (e.g., Gold, Silver, Bronze) based on the scorecard results. This custom field then becomes a reportable attribute, allowing for easy filtering and analysis of suppliers by their performance classification.

A. Add a question to the supplier request template.

A supplier request is used for onboarding a new supplier. Performance data does not exist at this initial stage, making it an inappropriate place to classify performance tiers.

C. Create a supplier registration project.

Supplier registration is also part of the initial onboarding process where suppliers provide their information. Performance evaluation occurs much later, after a business relationship is established.

D. Create a supplier qualification project.

A qualification project assesses a supplier's capabilities for specific goods or services before awarding business. It is not used for evaluating ongoing performance post-contract.

1. SAP Ariba Help Portal - Supplier Management Project Template Guide: This guide details the process of customizing project templates, including those for Supplier Performance Management. It explicitly covers adding custom fields (header fields) to project templates to capture specific business data for tracking and reporting. Section: "About Customizing Project Templates" and "Adding and Managing Fields in a Template". (Note: Direct page numbers vary by documentation version, but the concept is central to template administration).

2. SAP Ariba Help Portal - About Supplier Performance Management Projects: This documentation outlines the purpose of SPM projects, which is to "monitor, measure, and manage supplier performance." It describes how scorecards within these projects generate performance scores, which would be the basis for assigning a value to a custom "Performance Tier" field. This confirms the SPM project is the correct context for this activity.

3. SAP Training Courseware - AR522: SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance - Configuration: This official training course covers the configuration of SPM projects. Unit 5, "Performance Management," details how to configure SPM project templates, including the addition of custom header fields to capture summary-level information like a performance tier for reporting purposes.