Supplier notifications
This explains how supplier notifications are used for an event.
Depending on the way that your organization has configured the Supplier Portal on Supplier Group, suppliers can browse the Supplier Portal for open events at any time. For registered suppliers, email notifications are sent when these events occur:
- a login is created for the primary contact
- an event is released that lists the supplier contact on the Notifications tab
- an event is amended if your organization notifies suppliers of amendments
- a supplier question is answered by a buyer
- an event is awarded that a supplier was originally notified of or submitted a response to
- an event is canceled that a supplier was originally notified of or submitted a response to
- output is being prepared for the winning supplier
If a supplier email notification fails, then a failure email notification is sent to the event buyer or to the sourcing company.
Commodity codes
During supplier group setup, the Require Commodity Code is used to determine if the registration process requires that supplier contacts have at least one commodity code on their record. The Commodity Registration Level is used to determine the commodity code level for which a supplier can register. This table contains an example of an NIGP commodity code structure with four levels:
| Code structure | Sample code | Sample description |
|---|---|---|
| 3-digit (class) code | 620 | Office supplies: erasers, inks, leads, pens, pencils, etc. |
| 5-digit (class-item) code | 620-80 | Pens: ball point, nylon tip, etc. |
| 7-digit (class-item-group) code | 620-80-21 | Pens: ball point, retractable, refillable, all plastic barrel with metal pocket clip |
| 11-digit (class-item-group-detail) code | 620-80-21-035-4 | Fine point, black ink, 12/box |
| 620-80-21-045-3 | Fine point, blue ink, 12/box | |
| 620-80-21-065-1 | Fine point, green ink, 12/box | |
| 620-80-21-075-0 | Fine point, red ink, 12/box | |
| 620-80-21-095-8 | Medium point, black ink, 12/box | |
| 620-80-21-105-5 | Medium point, blue ink, 12/box |
Suppliers receive a notification for each item that contains the commodity code that they created.
If suppliers only register at the highest commodity code level, then they may receive multiple email notifications for items that are unrelated to their business. If too many commodity code levels are presented to a supplier, then they may sort through thousands of NIGP codes to register. In addition, as commodity codes change and evolve, the supplier registration and notification process can contain inaccurate information.