Coupa FAQs
The Coupa Supplier Portal (CSP) is free to use and lets Babcock suppliers receive purchase orders and sourcing requests, create invoices online, and manage catalogues all in one place.
We’ll send an invitation to your main contact as part of our onboarding process. Once that email arrives, just click the link and you can register in under five minutes. If the invite hasn’t reached you, send us a note at [email protected] and we’ll resend it. After you’ve signed up, your CSP account will automatically link to Babcock.
If you already have a CSP account, you’re most of the way there. We’ll still send you a Babcock CSP invitation so we can set your company up properly in our system. Once you accept that invite, you’ll be able to link Babcock to your existing account.
There’s no need to let us know that you already use Coupa with other customers — CSP lets you manage multiple customers from one login using the “Select Customers” dropdown.
You don’t need any extra software. Coupa runs in the cloud, so all you need is an email address and a web browser to log in and work with Babcock.
Here are some useful links with information on the Coupa Supplier Portal:
Yes – suppliers without VAT registration number will have ability to transact via the Coupa Supplier Portal.
Coupa treats your company as one legal entity, so it can’t separate POs or invoices by department. The best approach is to manage this internally — for example, by giving each department its own CSP user so they can view and work with the POs and invoices they need.
Yes – you can have as many users as you need. Your CSP admin can add new users and choose what access each person has.
Yes – you will be able to serve multiple Babcock legal entities through the same CSP profile.
Please refer to the supplier help page on the Coupa website: https://supplier.coupa.com/help/
No – if your company is one legal entity, you will receive one CSP invite and view all POs on the portal.
Just log in to your Coupa Supplier Portal account, open your profile settings, and update your email address. You might be asked to verify the new email before it’s fully updated.
Your primary account administrator can add or remove users in the ‘User Management’ section of the Coupa Supplier Portal. Each user just needs their own unique email address.
You can keep your company details up to date by editing your profile in the Coupa Supplier Portal. If you’re making any major changes—like your company name or legal structure—please also let our procurement team know.
If you decide you no longer want to supply to Babcock, just reach out to our procurement team and they’ll help you with closing the account. We do recommend keeping your account active, even during quieter periods, just in case you need it later.
Try resetting your password using the ‘Forgot Password’ link. If that doesn’t work, clear your browser’s cache and cookies or try another browser. And if you’re still having trouble, supplier support can help.
Yes – you can use the Coupa Supplier Portal on your phone or tablet — it works really well on mobile. For bigger jobs, like creating invoices, it’s still easier to use a desktop so everything’s clear and easy to manage.
Take a quick screenshot of the error and note what you were doing at the time. Then send it to our supplier support team so they can help get it sorted quickly.
Create your invoice in the Coupa Supplier Portal against the correct purchase order. The portal guides you through the required fields, and you can attach a PDF of your usual invoice if needed.
No – all invoices must reference a valid Babcock purchase order number. If you believe you should have a PO but don’t, please contact the relevant department before providing goods or services.
No – once an invoice is submitted, it can’t be edited. If you need to change something, contact accounts payable and they’ll help you resubmit it.
Yes – you can invoice in stages. If you only deliver part of an order, just create an invoice for the quantity you’ve supplied so far. You can submit additional invoices against the same purchase order as you complete more of the delivery.
After you submit an invoice in the CSP, you can download the Legal Invoice anytime. Just open the invoice record and click the ‘download’ link next to the Legal Invoice field — perfect for keeping your own records.
An invoice issue can be flagged in two ways.
- A comment can be added to the invoice. These comments will be communicated via email notification and also via a portal notification (if notifications are set up on the user’s CSP account).
- The invoice is disputed back to the supplier. The dispute will be communicated via email notification and also via a portal notification (if notifications are set up on the user’s CSP account).
If an invoice gets rejected, you’ll receive a notification explaining why. Just review the feedback, make any needed fixes, and resubmit the corrected invoice through the CSP. If necessary, you can also raise a credit note before submitting a new invoice.
No, invoices can only be submitted one at a time. If you need another option, cXML might work — just email [email protected] to check if it’s suitable.
Yes – you can submit multiple invoices against the same annual PO. Just invoice the amount for each month as you go. If an invoice goes over the value of a PO line, it may need an extra check in the Babcock system, but otherwise your monthly invoicing process stays exactly the same.
Yes – when quoting for work/services please ensure this is detailed.
Any email addresses you add to your Supplier record in Coupa will get the PO notifications. Anyone set up in the CSP will get them too, as long as their notification settings are turned on.
No need to check Coupa every day — if you’ve turned on your notifications, Coupa will email you as well as show alerts in the portal.
Suppliers will not receive any email on successful creation of an Invoice, but will receive a notification with the Invoice has been moved into an ‘Approved’ status.
Yes, absolutely. You can add as many email addresses as you need in Coupa to receive PO notifications. Anyone set up in the CSP will also get alerts, as long as they’ve switched on their notification settings.
You can track the exact status of your payment in the Coupa Supplier Portal. The payment date is calculated from when the invoice is approved, not when it’s submitted.
We’ll pay you by bank transfer using the account details you’ve added in your profile. Just make sure your banking info is kept up to date so payments go through smoothly.
Log in to the Coupa Supplier Portal, open your company profile settings, and update your banking details. Just note that our team may need to verify any changes for security.
Check the invoice status in the portal. If everything looks fine but the payment’s overdue, just contact our accounts payable team with your invoice number.
Yes – you can view and download your remittance advice in the Coupa Supplier Portal once a payment has been processed.
Purchase orders are sent through the Coupa Supplier Portal, and you’ll get an email whenever a new one is issued. Just log in to the portal to view the details and acknowledge it.
Yes, it’s a good idea to acknowledge purchase orders in the portal as soon as you can. It lets us know you’ve received the order and are able to go ahead with it as agreed.
If anything on the PO doesn’t look achievable, contact the Babcock buyer listed on the order straight away and wait for their confirmation before continuing.
Yes – all your historical purchase orders are available in the portal. You can search and filter by date, PO number, amount, and status.
You’ll find the Purchase Order terms and conditions right on the PO itself — both in the ‘Print View’ in the Coupa Supplier Portal and in the email notification you receive.
Babcock are encouraging our P&SC teams to utilise the sourcing module of Coupa, however there may be circumstances where email quotation will still be used, please respond in accordance to the sourcing requirements.
Due to the differing aspects of quote submissions rather than a video there is a workbook available to support Source to Contract and providing quotations. Please contact your procurement representative should you require a copy of the workbook.
Babcock sourcing events can not be accessed via the CSP but can be accessed using the link in the invitation email
No the supplier needs to agree their point of contact. If you send the event to more than 1 person, Coupa sees them as competing bids and expects them both to fully respond to the event
The recommended size limit per file is 16MB per upload.
Ideally total files size should be less than 100Mb to aid download but should not exceed 250Mb and the recommended number of attachments is up to 40.
No – the forms ask if you are JOSCAR registered and if the answer is ‘Yes’ you do not need to complete the form
If you have completed the same form before it will be pre-populated with your previous answers. This means that you can just check if anything has changed eg. ISO certificate date and only update where changes are required.
Yes once you have accessed the event you can select ‘Import from Excel’.
This opens up a box where you can ‘download the response template’ which will open up an excel file and once completed you can then ‘Choose file’ and then ‘Start Upload’.
Yes you can use a CSV upload file to upload multiple items.
After accessing the event, you can communicate with the event organiser through the Message Centre on the bottom left of the screen.
If the event owner/creator has made changes to the event, you need to accept that you have reviewed the changes before you can submit your bid. The checkbox to accept changes is to the left of the submit button.
Export to Excel (CSV file), enter your response, and import the file and is particularly useful when inputting lots of pricing for items/services. This also enables you to share with colleagues who may need to input in to the response.
On your homepage under the “All Sourcing Events” table and under “Responses” you can see if a response has been submitted.
You can not partially participate in an event, all mandatory fields marked with a red asterisk * must be answered before submitting a response.
Ensure that you “Save” your changes frequently.
If a buyer is changing an event, the event closes for editing. When the buyer finishes making changes and submits the event, a new revision of the event is created and you will receive an email notification.
You receive emails periodically reminding you that an event is about to end. If you haven’t submitted your response, you need to respond within the last day of the event. If you have responded, ignore the emails.
About Coupa
Coupa is our supplier collaboration platform, designed to streamline procurement processes and make it easier for our suppliers to do business with us.