Supplier

You can add any business entity that you buy goods or services from as a supplier. Information such as supplier addresses are used on purchasing documents.

A supplier record contains general data about the supplier and at least 1 address. You can also add commercial and financial details, a list of any relevant certifications, and items and prices available from this supplier. You can view a list of purchase orders for the supplier with links to the original order.

Create a supplier

You can create a new supplier record or you can create a supplier from a current business entity record.

Not all information is required when you create a new supplier record. You can come back any time to fill-in additional data. For example, if you do not have all the information you need like items, prices, or certificates, you can come back and add that later.

Enter general information

1. Select Create. All new suppliers are active by default.
   
2. On the General tab, enter required information such as name, country, currency, legal entity, and tax ID.
3. If you add a Category, and have defined sequence numbers in the Sequence number and the Supplier and customer category pages, you are not able to add an ID manually. The number is generated automatically when you create the supplier. Otherwise, enter the ID manually.

Create a supplier from a business entity

You can save time by creating a supplier from an existing Business entity and import basic information like addresses and contacts. A business entity can be a customer and a supplier. You can identify a parent business entity if you do business with subsidiaries or divisions of the same organization and want to track their contact and billing information separately.

After selecting a business entity from the Create from business entity field, the process is similar to creating a new supplier. You can change the primary address and contacts without changing the original business entity record.

Enter the address

You need at least 1 address for a supplier but you can define as many addresses as needed. If there is only 1 address, it is the primary address for all addresses including billing and returns. The primary addresses are used by default on other documents. You can change these on the Financial tab, which is described in the next section.

Each address can have several contacts. If there is only 1, it is the primary contact by default.

You cannot delete an address if it is used on purchasing documents.

1. On the Addresses tab, select Add an address.
2. Enter the address details in the panel that opens.
3. The name you enter displays on purchasing documents such as orders.
4. When you select the country, other fields localize to your selection but you do not need to reenter information.
   
   For example

   You're entering a French address, but you see Province instead of Department.

   You can enter the French department name and when you select France, the field displays Department. Entered data is not lost.
   

5. Select OK. This closes the panel but does not save your data to the supplier record.

Enter contacts

1. From the Contacts tab select Add contact. Or on the Addresses tab from the More actions menu in the address block for an existing address, select Add a contact.
2. In the panel that opens, you can add a contact, though this is not required.
3. If you enter more than 1 contact for an address, you can select 1 of them to be the primary. A single contact is the primary by default.
4. Select OK. This closes the panel but does not save your data to the supplier record.

Enter commercial data

On the Commercial tab, you can enter data such as a minimum order amount, parent company, delivery mode, and Incoterms® rule. This is optional information that you can enter at any time.

Enter financial data

On the Financial tab, you need to select the payment term when creating a new supplier. Information like posting class and selecting a payment method are optional.

If you only added 1 address for this supplier, the primary bill-by address, pay-to address, and return-to address default to the only address on record.

1. To change the primary address for any of these, you first need to add 1 or more addresses on the Addresses tab.
2. Come back to the Financial tab and from the More actions icon for the primary address you want to change, select Replace.
3. Select the address you want from the Select address list.
4. Select OK. This closes the panel but does not save your data to the supplier record.

Add supplier certificates

On the Certificates tab, you can add certificates related to standards this supplier complies with. The list of certificates is for your reference only and is not required. You can add or remove certificates at any time.

1. From the Certificates grid, select Add.
2. Enter the details in the panel that opens.
3. You can only select a standard from the list. These are managed in Standards.
4. The validity end date is a reference-only field. There are no alerts when the certificate expires.
5. Entering a certification body is optional.
6. Select OK to close the panel, then save.

Enter items and supplier prices

On the Items tab, you can list the items that the supplier provides. Linking items to your suppliers creates item-supplier relationships. You can specify purchase units, minimum purchase quantities, and other supplier-specific details per item. This is not mandatory but recommended, especially for stock managed items.

1. From the Items grid, select Add.
2. In that panel that opens, select an item from the list.
3. The purchase unit is required and defaults from the item record. You can change the unit as needed.
4. Other fields, like identifying this as the default supplier for this item, can be changed or added at any time.
5. Select OK to close the panel, then save.

Enter supplier prices

You can enter pricing details from your supplier. If you have multiple prices for a single item-supplier, you can assign a priority to each price.

1. From the Supplier prices grid, select Add.
2. Enter a value to prioritize multiple prices for the same supplier. The default value is 10, but you can add a lower number to assign a higher priority.

3. When entering multiple prices for the same item-supplier combination, at least 1 of the following values needs to be unique:

   • The validity date range
   • The quantity range
   • The unit
   • The price
   • The currency
4. Select OK.

View the purchase information

On the Purchasing tab, you can view all purchase orders for this supplier and the relevant details like status and approval status. Depending on the purchase order status, you can make any necessary modifications.

You can assign a default buyer. This is someone within your organization who receives an email notification that they can proceed to invoice reconciliation.

Add notes

On the Notes tab, you can add notes about the supplier. These notes are for internal purposes only. They display as default internal notes on the purchase orders, purchase receipts, and purchase credit memos you create with this supplier.

Edit a supplier record

You can edit suppliers even if they have been used in a transaction. However, existing transactions are not updated and retain the original supplier details.

Edit items and prices

You can modify an item-supplier record directly in the Items grid. Or you can select Edit from the More actions menu on a line.

To edit a supplier price, from the More actions icon select Edit.

Delete or deactivate a supplier record

You can delete a supplier record if it is not used on any transactions. If the supplier is also a business entity, the business entity record is not deleted.

You cannot delete supplier records if you purchased items from them. However, you can make the record inactive, which removes the supplier from the selection lists for new transactions.

To do so, turn the Active switch off.

Working with suppliers

This section answers questions about working with addresses.

• How do I change the primary address?
• Why can't I make an address inactive?
• Do all the primary addresses need to be the same?

How do I change the primary address?

• If you only have 1 address, you need to add a new address and select the Primary address checkbox.
• If there are multiple addresses, from the More actions icon in the address block, select Define as primary address. When you save, the other address is no longer the primary.

Why can't I make an address inactive?

• If you only have 1 address, it is active by default and cannot be inactive.
• You need to add a new address, which is active by default.
• You can go back to the other address and make it inactive.

Do all the primary addresses need to be the same?

No. You can have a different primary address for each address. Remember to add them to the Addresses tab and then you can select the address when you replace current primary.