Suppliers
Keep one record per company you buy from, with its contacts, terms, tax details, files and approval status.
A supplier is any company you buy from: the propane terminal that fills your transports, the vendor that sells you tanks and cylinders, the parts house for regulators and fittings, or the shop that requalifies cylinders. Each supplier has one record, and every quote, purchase order, receipt, bill and return you raise with them points back to it.
How to add a supplier when you start buying from a new company
- Open Purchasing → Suppliers and select Add Supplier.
- Fill in Name, Supplier Type (see supplier types), Supplier Status, Account Manager (the person in your office who owns the relationship), Currency and Website. Supplier ID comes from your numbering sequence, or you can type your own. It cannot be changed after the supplier is created.
- Save. The record opens on its Details tab. Add contacts and locations next, because purchase orders and quotes pick from them.
How to fill in a supplier's record when you set up terms, tax and shipping
The record's left-hand tabs each hold one part of the supplier:
| tab | what it holds |
|---|---|
| Details | name, type, status, account manager, currency, website, Purchasing Contact and Default CC (addresses copied on emails you send them) |
| Contacts | people at the supplier: name, title, email, phones, notes, and the location they work at |
| Locations | the supplier's addresses: terminals, warehouses, their billing office |
| Payment | Invoice Supplier, Invoice Location, Invoice Contact and Payment Term: who bills you, from where, and when payment is due |
| Tax | Tax ID, VAT Number, EORI, Tax Exempt, Exemption Reason, and an exemption certificate with its Certificate Number |
| Shipping | Shipping Supplier, Shipping Location, Shipping Contact, Shipping Method, Shipping Term, Incoterm and Incoterm Location |
| Processes | outside work this supplier performs, such as cylinder requalification, each with a Minimum Cost and Standard Lead Time; processes themselves are set up under Resources |
| Documents | files that belong to the supplier itself, such as a W-9, an insurance certificate or a signed supply agreement; they also appear in the document library |
| Default Attachments | files offered as attachments every time you send this supplier a purchase order |
| Bank Accounts | the accounts you pay the supplier into; shown only to people with accounting permission |
| Risks | the supplier's entries in your risk register |
| Quotes, Orders, Invoices | shortcuts to the supplier quotes, purchase orders and purchase invoices filtered to this supplier |
Payment and shipping details are copied onto each new purchase order and purchase invoice for the supplier, so set them once here rather than on every order.
How to record a supplier's bank account when you pay them electronically
- Open the supplier's Bank Accounts tab and add a bank account.
- Pick the Country first. The fields that follow, such as the routing code, change to match that country's banking rules.
- Fill in Name, Bank Name, Bank Address, Currency, the account number and SWIFT / BIC where the country needs it. Add Account Holder only when it differs from the supplier's name.
AimRack keeps these details for reference and shows account numbers masked; it does not move money. Before you trust new or changed bank details, confirm them by calling a phone number you already had for the supplier. A correct format never proves the account belongs to them.
How to approve a supplier when your company requires approval before buying
When your company has an approval rule for suppliers (set under Settings → Approval Rules), a new supplier waits at Pending:
- On the supplier, select Request Approval.
- The approver sees it under Assigned to Me on the purchasing page, opens the supplier, and selects Approve or Reject, with optional notes.
- An approved supplier becomes Active; a rejected one becomes Rejected. The header shows who approved or rejected it and when.
Until a supplier is Active, its purchase orders and supplier quotes show Unapproved Supplier. The order's Finalize button and the quote's Order button stay disabled.
How to stop buying from a supplier when the relationship ends
Set Supplier Status to Inactive on the Details tab. When your company uses supplier approval, a person who can approve uses Make Inactive on the supplier's header instead and confirms with Deactivate. The history of quotes, orders and bills stays intact. Delete Supplier is for a record created by mistake. For a supplier you have traded with, make it inactive instead, so its history stays attached.
The four statuses are fixed: Active, Inactive, Pending and Rejected.
Where this fits
A supplier is the starting point for every purchasing document:
- RFQs and supplier quotes ask it for prices.
- Purchase orders buy from it.
- Receipts take in what it delivered.
- Purchase invoices record its bills.
- Supplier returns send goods back to it.
The item's supplier part numbers and prices live on the item in Items.