Supplyframe makes it easy for you as an admin to manage your suppliers and contacts within your supply chain for use in your RFQs within Quoting. The Suppliers page is accessible from the top navigation bar.
On the Suppliers page you can see all of your account’s suppliers. When needed, you can modify the display to show you only those suppliers who are in a State of "Enabled" or "Disabled".
You can further narrow the supplier results displayed with the filter view. The options include:
- All Suppliers
- Uploaded
- Linked
- System
- With Enabled Contacts
- With Enabled System Contacts
Upload New Suppliers / Contacts
As an admin, you can quickly upload your suppliers and their contacts.
Upload Suppliers
Clicking on Upload Suppliers on the Suppliers List page will open the Upload Suppliers window. This will allow you to add your own custom suppliers via an Excel/CSV file upload.
After selecting the upload file, as appropriate, use the Select Sheet dropdown to choose the specific worksheet (tab) within your file.
The "Update Existing Suppliers" checkbox allows you to revise information for your existing custom suppliers as listed in your file when they are in Supplyframe already. You will have to map your file. There are three required fields: Supplier Name, Supplier ID, and Supplier Type. They will be marked with an orange "R" next to them.
Once you’ve finished the mapping, click on Save. The system will give confirmation of the successful upload or display any errors.
When the upload is successful, you're directed to click Next and taken to the Supplier Settings. From this page you can link your uploaded suppliers to system suppliers. You can review the Supplier Settings article for more details.
Upload Contacts
In order to Upload Contacts, their respective suppliers have to first exist in your list. Then you can click +Upload Contacts from the Suppliers List page.
This opens the Upload Contacts page and allows you to add your own contacts via an excel/CSV file upload. The "Update Existing Contacts" checkbox allows you to update using the information of existing custom supplier contacts in your file that are in Supplyframe already.
After selecting the upload file, as appropriate, use the Select Sheet dropdown to choose the specific worksheet (tab) within your file. Then you will have to map your file. There are three required fields: Full Name, Email, and Supplier ID. They will be marked with an orange "R" next to them.
It will allow you to map as available a column labeled “State” during the contact upload process in order define whether a contact is enabled or disabled in the system. The “State” column will contain either one of the 2 values: “Enabled” or “Disabled.” This column is not mandatory and can be left unmapped, in which case contacts will default to “Enabled.”
After mapping, click on Save. The system will give confirmation of the successful upload or display any potential errors. When the upload is successful, you're taken to the Suppliers List page.
Manually Add New Suppliers / Contacts
It’s easy to manually add suppliers or their contacts to your list when needed.
Manually Add Suppliers
Click on +Add New Supplier and enter the Supplier ID, Supplier Name and select its Type from the dropdown.
Then click on Save Supplier to add them to your repository. The supplier will now show within your list of the enabled suppliers.
This new supplier will not yet be associated with any of Supplyframe's system suppliers (if available). They will show as a supplier Link Status of “Uploaded” (or created) in your list. For more information about linking your manual suppliers to Supplyframe's system suppliers, please see the help article on Supplier Settings.
You will need to provide your own Contacts and Line Card (list of franchised manufacturers) for this manually "Uploaded" vendor in order for supplier assignments to take place. An existing and enabled contact for a supplier is always required in order to receive RFQ responses.
After a new supplier is created and contact(s) added, and once you have sent them an RFQ, a system email will be generated. This email will invite your supplier contact to activate their new account in order to respond to the RFQ.
Within a supplier's page, you can click on Edit to modify Supplier Details, including:
- Supplier Name
- Type
- Manufacturer
- Distributor
- Subcontractor
- Parent ID
- Status
- Website URL
- Address
- Phone number
- Duns code
Click on Submit when you’re finished updating the Supplier Details to close the modal.
Manually Add Contacts
Within the Contacts section of a supplier, you’ll need to add at least one contact in order to receive responses to your RFQs when parts are assigned to this supplier for quoting.
Click on +Add a New Contact and enter the required fields of Full Name and Email. There are optional fields of Job Title, Phone Number, Fax, and Country Code. Then click Save to finish.
It is highly recommended to keep your contacts current. This will help minimize contact duplicates and maximize efficiency. Most importantly, it helps to expedite supplier responses to your RFQs.
Managing your Line Cards
As needed, you can manage the Line Cards for your Suppliers. The functionality of what's editable will vary depending on if they're a system supplier or a supplier that you manually added.
Upload Line Cards
The Upload Line Cards functionality enables you to upload line cards in bulk using an upload file (ie Excel, CSV or TSV) to streamline the process of adding suppliers and their associated line cards.
Click on +Upload Line Cards from the Suppliers page. This opens the Upload Line Cards page and allows you to add your own line cards via an excel/CSV file upload.
After selecting the upload file, as appropriate, use the Select Sheet dropdown to choose the specific worksheet (tab) within your file. Then you will have to map your file. There are two required fields: Supplier ID and Line Card Supplier ID. They will be marked with an orange "R" next to them. Then click on the Save button to finish.
Please note that suppliers will be linked based on the Distributor Supplier ID and Manufacturer Supplier ID. Suppliers of the same type cannot have Line cards for each other. For instance, Manufacturers can have Distributor or Subcontractor Line Cards, and Distributors can have Manufacturer or Subcontractor Line cards. Line cards for system suppliers cannot be adjusted.
Manually Add Line Cards
You can manually add manufacturers within an individual supplier's page in their Line Card section in order to make assignments in your RFQ by its Line Cards functionality.
Click on +Add Line Card within a specific supplier’s page and enter the manufacturer's name. Then click Save Line Card to finish.
Line Card Connections
If you’re adding a supplier to the Line Card as a manufacturer, then that supplier must already exist in your Suppliers List and be Enabled before you can add them as a manufacturer to a line card.
The Supplier Type provides you the ability to link suppliers' line cards together. For example, if your supplier is identified with a "Type" of "Manufacturer", you can then add distributors and subcontractors to their line card. Conversely, if your supplier is labeled as the "Type" of "Distributor", then you can add other types identified as "Manufacturers" and "Subcontractors" to their line card. These types of connections are referred to as "Customer-added line cards".
Add Supplier Line Card Connection
To add a supplier to another supplier's line card, click on the supplier's name to enter their specific details page. Scroll down to the section to click on the tab labeled Line Card and then click on +Add Line Card.
Enter the name of the supplier that you want to add to this line card and then click Save Line Card.
Remove / Disable Supplier Line Card Connections
You can Remove connections that you or team members created by clicking on the checkbox next to the name of the supplier and clicking Remove.
You can only Disable connections that are made by the system. You can do this by clicking on the X icon to the far right in order to disable it. These are for the connection types known as "System-added line cards".
There are no notifications sent to you when the system adds new suppliers under a line card or when suppliers are removed.
For Line Cards functionality, whether an associated "supplier" (or manufacturer / distributor / subcontractor) has a status of "Enabled" or "Disabled" on the Suppliers page is what determines whether or not that particular "supplier" will be assigned on a line in the RFQ.
All of the Supplyframe system-added Line Cards are "Enabled" by default, but you can disable them if needed. The State column functions as a two-way relationship, meaning that two suppliers must either be both "Enabled" or "Disabled" on each other line cards.
Aliases for Suppliers
The Aliases section within a supplier's detail page is helpful to complete when there are other known names for this supplier. This helps to ensure that all connections are made regarding this specific supplier.
Click on +Add Alias, type the alias name in the field, and then click on Save Alias to finish.
Enabling & Disabling Suppliers / Contacts
It is best practice to utilize the functionality within Suppliers of enabling or disabling your suppliers/contacts in order to maintain an accurate list for RFQ assignments. Suppliers can only be disabled and can’t be removed.
Disable Suppliers
When needed, you can disable a supplier on the Suppliers List page. To the far right of the supplier's name click on to disable them. It will automatically disable them and their State will now show as "Disabled".
Disable or Remove Contacts
Contacts that your team has added can be disabled or removed from within an uploaded supplier. To disable a contact, click on the X to the far right. This will automatically disable the contact and the State will. now show as "Disabled".
To remove a contact, select the person and then at the top of the Contacts section click on Remove.