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Vendor items — User Guide

Vendor items — User Guide

Module: Purchase
Audience: Procurement staff, vendor administrators
Version: 1.0.0
Last updated: 2026-07-22

Overview

Vendor items connect your organization's item catalog to specific suppliers. When you assign items to a vendor, purchase documents for that vendor can offer only those items in the line-item picker. Vendors can also maintain their own item proposals in the vendor portal; when an item is shared, it is added to your master item list and linked back to the vendor.

Use Purchase → Vendor item for staff-side mapping. Vendors manage their catalog from the portal Items page.

Prerequisites

Role Typical permissions
View vendor-item list Purchase Vendor items → View
View only assigned vendors Purchase Vendor items → View own (must be vendor admin)
Create mappings Purchase Vendor items → Create
Delete mappings Purchase Vendor items → Delete

There is no separate Edit permission — change a mapping by deleting and re-adding.

Step-by-step: View vendor-item mappings

  1. Go to Purchase → Vendor item.
  2. Review the table: vendor, linked item (code and name), date created.
  3. Use filters to narrow results:
    • Vendor (one or more)
    • Commodity group
    • Item (single master item)
  4. Click the vendor name to open the vendor profile, or the item code to open the item detail.

Users with View own see only vendors where they are assigned as a vendor admin.

Step-by-step: Assign items to a vendor

  1. Go to Purchase → Vendor item.
  2. Click New.
  3. Select the Vendor.
  4. Optionally choose a Commodity group to filter the item list.
  5. Select one or more Items from the master catalog.
  6. Click Submit.

Expected result: Each selected item appears as a row linking that vendor to the item. When you create a purchase request, quotation, or purchase order for that vendor, the item picker can be limited to these mapped items.

Step-by-step: Remove a vendor-item mapping

  1. On the vendor-item list, click the Delete icon on the row.
  2. Confirm when prompted.

This removes the link only. It does not delete the item from your master catalog.

Bulk delete

  1. Select rows using the checkboxes.
  2. Open Bulk actions and choose Mass delete.
  3. Confirm.

Requires Delete permission.

Step-by-step: Vendor portal catalog and sharing

Vendors with portal access can maintain their own item list (descriptions, prices, units, and so on) before those items exist in your master catalog.

  1. The vendor logs in to the vendor portal and opens Items.
  2. They add or edit catalog entries.
  3. When ready, they use Share on an item.

Expected result:

  • A new record is created in your master Items list.
  • The item is automatically linked to that vendor.
  • The master item shows which vendor it came from in the From vendor column.

Your procurement team can then use the item on purchase documents like any other catalog item.

Field reference (admin create form)

Field Required Description
Vendor Yes Supplier receiving the item assignment
Group item No Commodity group used to filter the item dropdown
Items Yes One or more master catalog items to link

Common issues

Symptom Likely cause What to do
Empty vendor-item list with View own Not assigned as vendor admin Open vendor profile → Vendor admins → assign yourself
Item picker empty on PO for a vendor No items mapped to that vendor Add mappings under Vendor item or share from portal
Same item appears twice for one vendor Duplicate mapping allowed Delete the extra row
Shared portal item not in master list Share may have failed Check portal item status; re-share or create item manually
Bulk delete button disabled or wrong UI permission mismatch Use row-level delete instead

Related features

  • Items — master catalog and From vendor lineage
  • Vendors — vendor admins and View own scope
  • Vendor portal (separate guide) — vendor self-service catalog

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