In the suppliers profile, you describe supplier types that serve the business. You can also create a supplier type that is the name of a particular major supplier. Supplier types might include materials suppliers, professional services vendors, and transportation companies.

The aim is to enter bullet-point observations about your supplier types or major suppliers that help you get a better understanding of your business and relationship to them.

Enter the product or service types that are provided by the supplier.

Enter the categories that the supplier belongs to. Suppliers can be categorized by different processes or unique management issues they require. See also Categories.

Enter in key characteristics of the supplier type that distinguish it from another and identify unique issues. For example, supplier types might vary based on price of their products/services, quality that they offer, and so on.

Enter critical issues related to the particular supplier.

Specify whether the company has the power to impose processes on this supplier type, and/or whether the supplier can impose processes on the company. In the Suppliers box, specify the processes that can be imposed.

Specify the relationship between the business and this supplier type: Strategic Partnering, Arms-length market place transactions, or Formal competitive procurement.

Specify the relationship type between the business and this supplier type: Cooperative, Neutral, or Adversial.

Enter a description of any sharing of infrastructure or standards between the company and this supplier type. For example, use of web for product delivery or services.

List the Supplier Input definitions for this supplier type. Supplier Input can be the name of a particular supplier, or if the Supplier Type is itself the name of a major supplier, supplier input can be a period of time, such as fourth quarter.