Supplyframe offers a comprehensive ability to customize within your account the various types of template functionalities. The Demand Templates functionalities allow you to customize the validation / population of your uploaded files to a set of System Template Columns and settings.
As an admin, click into the Demand Management module and then on Demand Templates in the upper left to access these files.
Create a New Demand Template
To create a new demand template, click on Add New Demand Template. This will open the side modal Create New Template.
Within the modal, enter your new Template Name and select from all of the available System Template Columns that you want to include. If there are columns you need to include that are not available from the existing columns, then you will need to first create it as a new User Defined (custom) System Template Columns. Click on Create to finish and save your new template.
You'll then be taken to your new demand template with all of your selected column names on the left and their rule specifications listed horizontally to the right for each column.
Demand Template: Settings
You can easily modify a demand template from within the template. Click on Template Settings within the demand template to edit the Demand Template Name.
You can edit which columns you want to be accounted for in the Duplicate Settings filter when uploading lists in Demand Management by checking or unchecking columns to be used. Then click on Save to finish with your modifications.
Demand Template: History
Managing Demand Templates Parameters
Within a created demand templates, there are multiple options and functionalities that you can use to tailor that specific template, such as User Defined and/or Column Defined Rules; Validation; or Populating.
Demand Template: User Defined Rules
Within a demand template, your user-defined Template Rules allow as admins to create formulas that, when true, will indicate an error to the user. Setting the demand template “Rules” will flag a row with an “!” whenever the formula is true for a line. This can be used to draw the user’s attention to that line. In addition, it can help ensure that certain conditions are met, as well as work across multiple columns.
Click on +Add New Rule in order to add a rule to your demand template. Rules can use one or many columns as identified by their column letter (A,B,C etc). You can include math operators (+,-,*,/) and logical operators (OR, AND,<,>,<=,>=,=) to accomplish custom data validation requirements after a demand is uploaded.
When you have finished adding details to the rule’s formula for your demand template, click on Save.
Demand Template: Column Rules
You can apply rules to specific columns within a demand template to further customize your demand. To add a rule for a demand template’s column, click on the column's pencil icon to the far right.
This will open the settings for this specific column within this demand template. From here you can edit the column’s options such as Field Type, Rules, Validation and Populating.
Depending on if the column is a "System" or "User Defined" (custom) system template column will determine the availability of options.
Demand Template Column: View/Edit Rules
As available, you can view and/edit the following column rules.
Field Type: Standard or Cost: If Cost selected and “Editable by Supplier” checked, then it’ll be converted to the default currency in formulas if the currency field in the RFQ is different. This allows the different cost and price columns and formulas to be added together using a single currency.
Internal Rule in Forecast: If left unselected, this column will be available only for reporting purposes and it will not be viewable/editable when users upload their demand.
Internal Rule in RFQ: If left unselected, this column will be available only for reporting purposes and it will not be viewable/editable by your internal team in the RFQ. You can choose if desired to apply the same logic to RFQ scenarios as well. You can specify if this column should be Available in Scenarios for RFQs and check if the column needs to Multiply based on Qty Breaks.
Supplier Rule in RFQ: If selected, this column will be available to your suppliers in their portal. Any validations set will apply to suppliers' data.
Note: When marking a column as required in Supplier Portable, you will need to ensure that the column is also checked as "Viewable & Editable by Suppliers" in order to prevent errors.
Default Value: When a column/field is editable by a supplier in the Supplier Portal, but is not populated by the supplier, it will assign the default value of 0 to the field. You can also change the default value to 1 using the dropdown. Therefore when calculating formulas with no input from the supplier, it will assign the default “0” or “1” value so the formulas will calculate correctly.
Demand Template Column: Validation
Validations are used to ensure that erroneous data is not uploaded or manually entered. There’s multiple options to validate data entered.
Required: You can choose to make the demand template column’s field required in a demand when uploading using this specific demand template. As well as make the column required by suppliers when responding to your RFQs by checking off the Supplier Portal box.
Having validation set to “Required” in the demand or Supplier Portal will trigger a validation error to the user when a field is missing data in that particular column in the demand or the supplier in an RFQ.
Note: When marking a column as required in Supplier Portable, you will need to ensure that the column is also checked as "Viewable & Editable by Suppliers" in order to prevent errors.
Data Type: Choose if you want the Data Type to be either a string, integer or numeric. For integer and numeric types you can set minimum and maximum acceptable values.
Data Source: You can set Data Source parameters to specify if this demand template column should be validated against data either in any available lookup tables, from a provided acceptable list of values, or none. Choose from the following sources: Part Master, Contract Pricing, Purchase Orders, AML, AVL, and Mapping Table.
When a system/user defined column from system/demand templates is in an RFQ (sourced from BOM or forecast), has list values and is set as editable in RFQ, then those fields will be displayed with a dropdown box listing the allowed values for that field.
Demand Template Column: Populating
The Populating section shows all of your options to create a rule for that demand template’s column by using either a “Lookup Table” or a “Formula”. Depending on selections, you can generate data from a particular data source or by formula into this column for use in a demand or RFQ if using this template.
Location: First specify if this populating is to be In Forecast or In RFQ.
Data Source - Choose from either Lookup Table or Formula.
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Lookup Table: Your first option is a Lookup Table. Tables can pull as available from your Part Master, CP, PO, AML, AVL or Mapping Table if the selection was previously uploaded.
To utilize a lookup table, select the radial for Lookup Table, and choose the source type for the column rule to reference. There will possibly be different drop-downs to further customize your column rule’s data source depending on the type of table that you’ve chosen to reference.
Depending on your lookup table selection, make dropdown selections as needed and click Save Column.
As a note, when using Mapping Tables as your lookup table for a column rule, click on +Add New Rule. You’ll have to specify the “Where Column” and “Is Equal To Template Column” using the dropdown since you’re utilizing a mapping table.
- Formula: The other data source option for a demand template column’s rule is a Formula. Select Formula as the data source and type in your formula to identify the column rule’s parameters.
When you have made all of your column selections, then click on Save Column to finish.
Additional Formula Details as a Data Source
Within the Formula area, you can choose instead to add additional fees to line items by defining conditional rules in certain demand template columns.
To enable the “Add Conditional Fee” feature, you’ll need to:
- Open the demand template.
- Click on Edit for a specific template column.
- Go to the Populating section.
- Click on radio buttons In RFQ and then Formula.
- Check the “Add Conditional Fees” box.
- Enter the conditional specifications and values.
- Set if to Apply a Fee or a Percentage and add those details.
- Then click +Add Fee.
This enables the conditional fees functionality and disables the “Formula” function. The formulas and the conditional fees functionalities can’t be used simultaneously.
Demand Template: Duplicate
When creating demand templates, you can quickly Duplicate an existing template as needed. This is helpful when creating a similar template that’s only slightly different in its column selections.
Within the Demand Templates list page on the far right click the duplicate icon. This will open the Duplicate Template modal.
Enter in the New Template Name of your duplicated template and click on Duplicate to save.
Demand Template: Deactivate
You can Deactivate demand templates that you’re no longer using. On the Demand Templates list, click on remove X in the far right column for the specific template. The modal will ask "Are you sure you want to disable this template?" Click on "Yes, I'm sure" to confirm or on Cancel.
Templates can be reactivated at any time by clicking on the checkmark in the same far right column on the Demand Templates page.