Suppliers

Overview

The Suppliers area is where you keep a record of every manufacturing or service partner your company works with. From a supplier's record you can track their basic details and risk level, store the documents you hold on file for them, invite their staff into a read-only supplier portal, and formally request documents (such as certificates and licenses) that you need them to send back.

You reach this area from the Suppliers menu. The main list shows a count of total suppliers and a filter toolbar so you can search by name or code and narrow by status, category, or risk level.

Key concepts

Supplier statuses

A supplier's status appears as a badge next to its name. New suppliers start as Pending; your administrator can configure additional statuses for your company.

Categories and risk levels

Field	Available values
Category	Raw Materials, Component, Service, Software
Risk Level	Low, Medium, High

Asset request statuses

When you request documents, each request and each document line tracks its own progress.

Status	Where it shows	Meaning
Pending	Request / line	Requested, waiting for the supplier to upload
Overdue	Request	Past its due date and not yet received
Received	Request / line	The supplier has uploaded the file
Skipped	Line	You marked that line as not applicable
Accepted	Request	You reviewed the file and accepted it
Rejected	Request	You reviewed the file and rejected it with a reason

note

Contacts are notification targets (email and phone) only. Supplier users are real login identities who can access the supplier portal. They are managed separately.

How to add a supplier

1. From the Suppliers list, click Create New Supplier.
2. On the New Supplier Onboarding page, enter the Supplier Name and a Supplier Code. The code is checked automatically — wait for the Code available confirmation. If you type a name first, a suggested code may be filled in for you.
3. Choose a Category (required).
4. Optionally add the Registered Address, assign one or more Sites, set a Risk Level, and attach Certificates and Licenses under Compliance Documents.
5. Add at least one contact (see below) and mark one as Primary.
6. Click Submit for Onboarding. The supplier is created with a Pending status and appears in the list.

To open an existing supplier, click its row in the list. To delete one, use the delete action on the row and confirm.

How to add contacts

Contacts capture the email and phone number you use to reach the supplier.

1. While creating a supplier (in the Contact Details card) or on the supplier record, click Add Contact.
2. Enter an email and/or phone number.
3. Use the Primary toggle to mark the main contact. At least one contact with an email or phone is required, and exactly one is primary.
4. To remove a contact, click the X beside it. If you remove the primary contact, the next one becomes primary automatically.

How to manage supplier documents

The Documents tab on a supplier record lists every file you hold for that supplier. A badge shows each file's source: via request (uploaded by the supplier through the portal) or ad-hoc (attached by you).

1. Open the supplier and select the Documents tab.
2. Click Upload document.
3. Enter a Title (required), an optional description, choose a document type, and select a file.
4. Click Upload.

Use the open icon to view a file in a new tab, or the trash icon to remove it.

How to share controlled documents

On the Shared Documents tab you can share an internal controlled document with the supplier so it shows up in their portal.

1. Open the supplier and select Shared Documents.
2. Click to share, choose a document from the list (only the latest versions appear), and confirm.

How to give suppliers portal access

Invite people at the supplier so they can log in to the supplier portal.

1. Open the supplier and select the Users tab.
2. Click Invite user.
3. Enter the First name and Email (required), plus an optional last name and job title.
4. Click Send invitation. They receive an email to set a password. Their status shows as Invited until they accept, then Active.

You can cancel an invitation that hasn't been accepted yet using the X on the user's row.

When a supplier user logs in, their portal shows a welcome dashboard with anything explicitly shared with them — documents, CAPAs, and non-conformances — plus their document requests.

How to create document (asset) requests

Use asset requests to formally ask a supplier for documents and track them to completion.

1. Open the supplier and select the Asset Requests tab.
2. Click New Request.
3. Enter a Title and tick at least one Supplier Contact to notify.
4. Choose the Documents to request from the master list (items already on file are greyed out and marked already on file). Add ad-hoc items for one-off documents not in the list.
5. Optionally set a Due Date and Expiry Date and a description shown to the supplier.
6. Click Send. The supplier is emailed and each requested document becomes a tracked line.

On the supplier's side, the Document Requests page lists every line under Pending, Already shared, and Not applicable. They click Upload to submit a file, or Replace to swap a file they already sent.

How to review submitted documents

When a request shows Received, review what the supplier sent.

1. On the Asset Requests tab, click the review (star) icon on the request.
2. Open the submitted file to inspect it.
3. Click Accept, or Reject and enter a reason.
4. Confirm. The supplier is notified, and the request moves to Accepted or Rejected.

tip

Expand any request row to see its individual document lines and their progress (for example, 2 / 3 received). The tab header shows how many requests are still pending or overdue at a glance.