Introduction to Vendors

A vendor is a person or an organization that supplies Products or Services to your company. A vendor can also be a manufacturer or a reseller.
When the customer agrees to a quote, the seller generates the Sales Order (SO) to confirm the sale. In return, the customer generates a Purchase Order (PO) and sends it to the seller. 
The seller will now send the PO to the vendor who will provide the required products or services.

Feature Availability

List View in Vendors

List View sorts and lists all Vendors based on the last modified Vendor record.

• Columns in List View 

The columns that are visible by default in the List View are :

1. Vendor Name- Displays the name of the Vendor who has to provide the products or services to the customer.

2. Phone Number- Displays the contact number of the Vendor.

3. Email- Displays the Email ID of the Vendor.

4. Category- Displays the category of the products/services that the Vendor offers.

5. Assigned To- Displays the user to whom the Vendors are assigned to.

• List actions

You can perform many quick actions such as Edit, Delete, Email, Follow, etc. on the Vendors’ records in the List View.
To learn more about List View actions in Vtiger CRM, click here.

Ways of viewing Vendors’ records

• Summary View

Summary View is the view that appears when you click a particular record from the List View. The Summary View displays a collection of all the key information of the record.
The Summary View can be divided into four sections. Each section has a particular functionality.

• Summary View Actions

  • Follow: You can follow any vendor record to get updates on all the activities performed on that record.

  • Tags: You can add tag names to the record to identify the record easily.

  • Print: You can print the vendors or save it as a PDF for future references.

  • Duplicate: You can duplicate the current record and have all the details reflected in a new record.

  • Delete: You can delete a record by clicking this button.

• Activity

  This section lists all the activities performed on that particular record. You can also add filters and view specific activities.

• Do button

  When you click on the do button on the right-hand top corner of the Summary View, you will see the following:

  • Reach out now-You can get in touch with the Vendor via Email, Call or SMS at the moment.

  • Reach out later- You can schedule an email, event or task with the Vendor.

  • Add or Create- You can add or create other modules related to the Vendors.

• Widgets

• Analytics-You can view all the metrics related to the vendors in the form of charts, mini-lists, etc. You can also create new ones here.

• Items- Displays the required products or services that the vendor has to supply.

• Sales Ops- Displays the PO linked to that particular vendor.

• Person- Displays the Contact to whom the delivery has to be made.

• Deep Dive view

You can view and edit all the information about the vendor record by clicking the Deep Dive button in the Summary View of the record.

Important Fields in Vendors

How to Create a Vendor

Listed below are the ways from which you can create a vendor. 

1. From Vendors’ List View 

You can use the +Add Vendor button to create a new Vendor. You can find it on the top right corner in the Vendors’ List View.

Follow the steps below to create a Vendor:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Vendors module.

4. Click the +Add Vendor button.

5. Fill in all the necessary details.

6. Click Save to create a vendor record. 

   • Click Save and Continue to fill in more information.

2. From Quick Create

Vendors can also be created by clicking the + button present on the right-hand top corner of the screen.

Follow these steps to create a vendor using Quick Create:

1. Click the + icon displayed on the top right side of your screen.

2. Click Show all to view all the modules you can create records in using Quick Create.

3. Select Vendor from Order fulfillment.

4. Enter all the mandatory details.

5. Click:

1. Save to save the record.

2. Save and Continue to save the record and go to its Deep Dive View.

Clicking Cancel discards all the information you entered.

To know more about Quick Create, click here.

Actions Possible on a Vendors

You can perform the following actions on the vendors:

• Generate related documents

1. Add a Product

   Products represent a stock of goods in your inventory. Products can be either procured from your suppliers or rendered to your customers depending upon the nature of your organization. 
   Follow these steps to add a product:

   1. Click the Menu icon.

   2. Go to the Inventory tab.

   3. Select the Vendors module.

   4. Open any vendor record.

   5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

   6. Click Add or Create button.

   7. Select Products.

   8. Here, you see two options on your screen:

      1. Select Products

         1. If you want to add an existing product, select this option.

         2. Hover over a record in the list of all existing products to display the radio buttons.

         3. Click the radio button on the left side of the record to select the record.

         4. Click Add Selected button present below of the list.

      2. Create Products 

         1. If you want to add a new product, select this option.

         2. Fill all the necessary details.

         3. Click Save to create the product

            • Click Save and Continue to enter other information.

2. Add a Purchase Order

   A Purchase Order (PO) is a legal document handed over to a Vendor to purchase Products or Services. PO offers you a channel to explain your requirements and intentions explicitly.
   Follow these steps to add a PO:

   1. Click the Menu icon.

   2. Go to the Inventory tab.

   3. Select the Vendors module.

   4. Open any Vendors’ record.

   5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

   6. Click Add or Create button.

   7. Select Purchase Orders.

   8. Provide all the necessary details.

   9. Click Save.

The newly created PO will be linked to the vendor record and will be visible in the Sales Ops Widget in the Summary View.

3. Add a Contact

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Vendors module.

4. Open any vendor record.

5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

6. Click Add or Create button.

7. Select Contacts.

8. Select any contact from the list.

9. Click Add Selected.

The newly created contact will be linked to the vendor record and will be visible in the Person Widget in the Summary View.

• Export

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Vendors module.

4. In the List View, hover over any vendor record to display the radio button on the left side.

5. Click the radio button.

6. Click the Export button.

7. Select any one of the following options:

   1. Export Selected Records- This option will export only the selected record.

   2. Export data in current page- This option will export the records on the current page.

   3. Export all data- This option will export all the data in all the pages of the Project Tasks module.

• Print

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Vendors module.

4. Open any vendor record.

5. Click the More button.

6. Click the Print button.

7. You can perform any of the below options:

   • Edit & Export- You can edit the vendor record and export it to your local system.

   • Email with PDF- You can email the vendor record as a PDF to the contact.

   • Print- You can print the vendor record and keep a hard copy.

   • Save as PDF- You can save the vendor record as a PDF on your local system.

How to change the template of the Vendor record  

Follow these steps to change the template of a vendor:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Vendors module.

4. Open any vendor record.

5. Click the More button.

6. Click the Print button.

7. Select any template from the list of all available templates.

8. You can perform any of the below options to view the applied template on the vendor record.

• Edit & Export- You can edit the vendor record and export it to your local system.

• Email with PDF- You can email the vendor record as a PDF to the contact.

• Print- You can print the vendor record and keep a hard copy.

• Save as PDF- You can save the vendor record as a PDF on your local system.