Working with Suppliers and the BOM

In this lesson, we’ll walk you through how to work with suppliers in the BOM section of your project. 

Specifically, we will look at how to add suppliers to a BOM item and the information contained within the supplier tab.

Suppliers and BOM items

In this video, we will take a closer look at associating suppliers with BOM items and explore the information in the suppliers tab.

Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.

Key takeaways 

  1. Suppliers are added to individual items in your BOM. This can be an assembly or an individual part. 
  2. There can be multiple suppliers associated with one BOM item, and one of the suppliers can be set as the preferred supplier.
  3. Suppliers with an email address will be able to input their own information through a Request for quote.
  4. Suppliers without an email address cannot  input their information through an RFQ. Instead, they must share information with you by other means, and you can input the information manually.

Creating a Request for quote

In this video we will take a closer look at creating an RFQ to gather information from a supplier and how to complete the process. 

Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.

Key takeaways

  1. Suppliers must be added to an item and have an email address before you start an RFQ process.
  2. An RFQ is a type of Investigation request, and can be created anywhere you can create an Investigation request.
  3. The Investigation request type of supplier RFQ must be selected first to get a list of suppliers in the assignee dropdown.
  4. The progress of an RFQ can be tracked under the Business processes > Investigation requests interface.
  5. The initiator of the RFQ will need to review and complete the workflow in Upchain.

Accessing Upchain as a supplier

In this video we will take a look at the RFQ process from the supplier's point of view. From the supplier's perspective, we will receive, access and resolve an RFQ to complete the process.

Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.

Key takeaways

  1. Suppliers will receive an email with details about the RFQ, including supporting documents and CAD files.
  2. Any additional information related to the project is not visible to the suppliers.
  3. Suppliers can add their own documentation to be associated with either the RFQ or the item.
  4. Suppliers will be able to download and check out/check in documents attached to the RFQ.