Is Ovenca an SAP industry solution for the chemical industry?

No. Ovenca is not an SAP product and not an ERP system. It is independent, ERP-independent eProcurement software for indirect procurement. It runs alongside SAP ERP or S/4HANA: catalogs, shopping carts and approvals reside in Ovenca, and purchase requisitions and orders are handed over to SAP via OCI punchout or interface.

Does Ovenca supply or broker chemicals?

No. Ovenca is software for chemicals procurement and the rest of indirect procurement, not a distributor and not a supplier directory. You connect your own suppliers and their catalogs, by catalog import or by punchout into the supplier's shop, and order at your negotiated terms.

How are hazardous materials represented in the catalog?

Ovenca takes over the item data that your suppliers deliver via CSV, Excel or BMEcat or provide by punchout. Which hazardous substance information is held and displayed on the item, for example GHS labelling or safety data sheets, is something we clarify on the basis of your catalog data in the technical discussion. Approvals can be routed by category, so requisitions from hazardous substance categories reach the responsible function.

Does Ovenca support use across several plants and countries?

Yes. Legal entities and plants, roles and visibility are managed in the Admin Area. At LANXESS, Ovenca is in use worldwide. Requirements for languages and currencies in your organisation are clarified in the technical discussion.

How does Ovenca integrate with an existing SAP and LIMS landscape?

SAP ERP or S/4HANA is connected through OCI punchout, cXML and open interfaces (API). Whether and how further systems such as LIMS or MES should be supplied through the API is clarified on the basis of your system landscape.

Can we use Ovenca for R&D and production separately?

Roles, visibility and approval routing by category allow catalogs and approvals for laboratory and research to be controlled differently from those for MRO and production. Both areas work in the same platform.

How does Ovenca support LkSG and CSDDD requirements?

The Vendor Portal contains freely configurable supplier questionnaires that you use to obtain self-assessments. Approvals and the audit trail make decisions traceable. Risk analysis and the complaints procedure remain the task of a compliance tool. Details are on the Supply Chain Act software page.

Ovenca records activity in the audit trail and controls access through roles and permissions. You can draw on this data for internal and external audits. Questions from your internal audit or information security teams about evidence are answered in the technical discussion.

eProcurement software for chemical and pharma procurement

Ovenca is eProcurement software for indirect procurement in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry: laboratory supplies, MRO, PPE and operating supplies through one catalog, with approvals by category and supplier questionnaires in the Vendor Portal.

Ovenca is a software platform for your purchasing organisation, not a chemicals distributor and not a supplier directory. It runs alongside your SAP landscape. The speciality chemicals group LANXESS has worked with Onveda since 2014 and uses it worldwide.

LANXESS case study

With LANXESS since 2014
Catalogs with more than 5 million items in total
Approvals by category
On-premise or private cloud

What indirect procurement in chemicals and pharma requires

Purchasing in chemicals and pharma means ordering laboratory chemicals, PPE, MRO items for production plants and equipment for research and development. That brings large catalogs with their own pricing logic, approvals that depend on the category, many plants and evidence from suppliers. Ovenca originated in the project with the speciality chemicals group LANXESS and is in use there worldwide; the collaboration dates back to 2014. The software connects to SAP ERP or S/4HANA and does not replace your ERP.

Ovenca Catalog Shop: free-text order with recommendations from the catalog — Catalog Shop with demo data: anyone who finds nothing suitable describes the need. Ovenca suggests catalog items before a free-text order reaches procurement.

Four building blocks for procurement in chemicals and pharma

The building blocks correspond to the four Ovenca modules. They can be used individually or together.

Large catalogs with a link to SAP
The Catalog Shop handles catalogs with more than 5 million items in total. At LANXESS, SAP contracts and material numbers are available directly in product search.
- Catalog import via CSV, Excel or BMEcat
- Punchout into suppliers' shops via OCI or cXML
- Free-text orders with catalog suggestions
- SmartForms for needs captured in a structured way
Approvals by category
Approvals can have several levels and can be routed by category. Requisitions from sensitive categories, for example hazardous substances, reach the responsible function this way.
- Multi-level approvals
- Approval routing by category possible
- Roles and permissions
- Audit trail
Legal entities and plants
In the Admin Area you manage legal entities and plants, roles and visibility. Procurement uses this to control which catalogs are visible to whom.
- Legal entities and plants in the Admin Area
- Visibility rules for catalogs
- Reporting
- In use worldwide at LANXESS
Suppliers and evidence in the Vendor Portal
Suppliers maintain their own catalogs and answer questionnaires that you configure freely, for example self-assessments under the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG).
- Freely configurable supplier questionnaires
- Catalog maintenance by the supplier, approval by procurement
- Queries resolved directly on the item
- No network fees for suppliers

Typical categories and how Ovenca covers them

This mapping shows the means Ovenca provides. Which of them suit your categories depends on your suppliers and catalog data.

Laboratory supplies and chemicals: Supplier catalogs are imported or connected by punchout. Approvals can be routed by category.
MRO and spare parts: At LANXESS, SAP material numbers and contracts are available in product search, so requesters find contract items in the Catalog Shop.
PPE and operating supplies: Catalogs with approved assortments in the Catalog Shop. Procurement controls visibility and approval in Catalog Management and the Admin Area.
Special needs from research and development: Free-text orders with catalog suggestions and SmartForms for needs that are not in any catalog.

With LANXESS since 2014

The speciality chemicals group uses Ovenca worldwide for catalog-based purchasing, with SAP contracts and material numbers directly in product search.

“By integrating SAP contracts and material numbers into product search, we were able to increase the automation of our purchase-to-pay processes as intended. On the clearly structured administration level we control the release and availability of content, manage user permissions and obtain the transparency we want through meaningful reports.”

Project lead in procurement, LANXESS AG (translated from German)

Company: LANXESS AG, Cologne, speciality chemicals, MDAX
Size: approx. 11,800 employees in 32 countries
Use: worldwide; first rollout 2015, renewed rollout 2026
Integration: SAP contracts and material numbers in search

Read the case study

What speaks for Ovenca in chemicals and pharma

Six points for the assessment by procurement, IT and data protection.

Originated in the chemical industry: Ovenca was developed with LANXESS from 2014 and is in use there worldwide.
Operation by your security requirements: On-premise in your own data centre or private cloud as a separate instance in a data centre in the EU (Germany). Hybrid operation is possible.
Complements SAP instead of replacing it: Ovenca connects to SAP ERP or S/4HANA through OCI punchout, cXML and open interfaces (API). Purchase orders, contracts and master data stay with the ERP as the system of record.
Supplier questionnaires where ordering happens: The Vendor Portal collects supplier self-assessments. Risk analysis and the complaints procedure under the Supply Chain Act remain the task of a compliance tool.
Access control and traceability: Roles and permissions, audit trail, SSO (SAML 2.0, OIDC), MFA (TOTP) and TLS encryption are part of the product.
Individual quotation: There are no fixed editions. A cost framework for your organisation is available on request.

Frequently asked questions from procurement and IT in chemicals and pharma

Assess Ovenca for your chemical or pharma procurement

In a demo you see Catalog Shop, Catalog Management, Vendor Portal and Admin Area. Bring your plant structure, your categories and your SAP landscape, and we show where Ovenca fits.