The Vendor Management app was developed to help manage and track vendors through a formal review and approval process. It also allows for user reviews of the vendors to help ongoing vendor validation. If you want to formally track and enforce a review and approval process for vendors, then this template would be a great starting point.
The app allows you to organize and view vendors by name, their associated product/service category and user ratings. This app uses a two stage approval process, requiring both business and finance reviewers before a vendor can be approved.
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App Details
- You can record important information about a vendor and manage them through a review and approval workflow.
- There are 3 forms in this app:
- Vendor – The main form. Stores vendor information and also displays Vendor Reviews associated with this vendor. This form has fields for the primary and additional product or service the vendor is used for. These fields display values looked up from the ‘Product/Service Category’ records. Vendor records can be created by members of the Editor, Business Review, Finance Review and App Admin roles.
- Vendor Review – A simple user review of the performance of the vendor.
- Product/Service Category – A list of categories that define the primary product or service category the vendor supplies to your organization. An unlimited number of additional categories can also be recorded for each vendor. These records can only be created and edited by the App Admin role, but are visible to all.
- Contracts are reviewed by the business manager, then a Finance Department approver.
- Approvers get notified whenever a vendor is waiting for their review, and submitters get notified when the vendor they requested is approved or rejected.
- View and report on vendors as they process through the approval process.
Security Role Details
App security roles, and their general purpose, are:
- Reader – Can read, but not edit Vendor and Product/Service Category records, but can create Vendor Review records.
- Editor – Can read, create and edit, but not delete Vendor records, can create and view Vendor Review records, but can only view Product/Service Category records.
- App Admin – Can read, create, edit and delete all records.
- Business Review – Can approve Vendor records at the Business Review stage. Can create and view Vendor Review records, but can only view Product/Service Category records.
- Finance Review – Can approve Vendor records at the Finance Review stage. Can create and view Vendor Review records, but can only view Product/Service Category records.
Vendor Form Workflow and Security Details
The workflow stages for the Vendor form are:
- Draft – The App Admin role and the record owner (creator) can edit and delete records, and the Editor role can edit records. The Reader role can’t see vendor records at this stage.
- Business Review – The App Admin role can edit and delete records, the Editor role can edit records, and the Readers role can see but not edit records. The Business Review and App Admin roles can Approve/Reject records.
- Finance Review – The App Admin role can edit and delete records, the Finance Approver and Editor roles can edit records, and the Readers and Business Review roles can see but not edit records. The Finance Approver and App Admin roles can Approve/Reject records.
- Approved – The App Admin role can edit and delete the record, the Editors, Readers and both Review roles can see but not edit records.
- Rejected – The App Admin role can edit and delete the record, and return the contract to the submitter so they can rework it and resubmit it. The Editors, Readers and both Review roles can see but not edit records.
The workflow notifications for the Vendor form are:
- Draft stage – On Submit the Business Review role is notified that there is a vendor waiting review. The email template is called ‘Business Review Notification’.
- Business Review stage – On Approve the Finance Review role is notified that there is an vendor waiting review. The email template is called ‘Finance Review Notification’.
- Business Review & Finance Review – The requester is sent a notification if the reviewer rejects the vendor. If the Finance Approver approves the vendor and it moves to the Approved stage, the requestor is notified of the approval. These both use an email template called ‘Approve/Reject Notification’.
Vendor Review Form Workflow and Security Details
The workflow stages for the Vendor Review form are:
- Draft – The App Admin role and the record owner (creator) can edit and delete records. The other roles have no access to Draft records.
- Submitted – The App Admin role and the record owner (creator) can edit and delete records can edit and delete records. All other roles can view but not edit records.
Setting Up the Vendor Management App
Please following these steps to get the Vendor Management app ready for use in your organization:
- The Vendor form asks for the product/service category, to help organize the vendors. To supply this list of product/service categories, you need to go to Lookup Lists > Product/Service in the left side navigation, and create an Product/Service Category record for each category you want to use: i.e. IT Consulting, Office Furniture, PCs and Peripherals, etc. To do this, simply click the + Add New Record button to add a blank record, and then you may click directly in the view and type in the value.
- You will need to assign the appropriate people to the security roles within the application. Go to Lookup Application Setting > Edit App in the left side navigation, and once the app design screen appears, select Security > Roles and Users in the left side design navigation. Then select each of the applications roles (discussed in the App Details section), and use the right side panel, that appears when you select a role, to set who should be in the role.
Using the Vendor Management App
When a new vendor needs to be created, enter the details into a Vendor record. Once all the information is entered, click on the Submit button at the top of the form. The vendor will then go through a two stage review and approval process:
- Business Review – The department manager or VP would usually do the business review. Here we are looking at whether the vendor offers products/services required by the organization and that they appear to be a good company to deal with.
- Finance Review – Members of the Finance or Vendor Management departments would usually do the finance review. Here we are looking to ensure that the vendor is happy to work under our standard accounting practices (related to billing and payment terms).
At each approval stage the reviewer can mark the vendor record as: Approved or Rejected. After all reviewers have approved the vendor is marked as Approved.
All users of the application can create review records for vendor records that are currently at the approved stage. These Vendor Review records allow users to rate the vendor by 4 simple criteria and add general comments. To create a Vendor Review, open the desired Vendor record and go to the ‘Reviews’ tab. At the top of the list of existing reviews, if any, click on the ‘+’ icon to create the review. Once you have completed the review, click on the ‘Submit’ button to return to the Vendor record.
Updating the Vendor Management App
Don’t forget, as well as being a fully functional app that’s ready to go, the Vendor Management template app can also be a useful starting point for you to build from. If you want extra information tracked for your vendors, want additional views to sort the vendors in different ways, or want to change the number of approval stages, you can make those updates yourself. Take a look at our support pages for guidance on how to make those changes, and give it a shot. And of course, we’re always available to help bring your vision to life – just send us an email to [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help!