Manage Item Supplier Associations

Managing item supplier associations involves creating associations between items and supplier addresses for an item organization, updating these associations, and deleting the associations.

You create item supplier associations while creating or editing an item for an organization.

Note: Item supplier associations are only used for master data management. They're not used within supply chain or procurement transactions. For example, you can create an item supplier association in the Product Management work area for a supplier SUPPA123, after that supplier has been created in the Suppliers work area. But you can't use the item supplier association to provide the supplier and site information in the shipment details for a sales order from supplier SUPPA123 in the Order Management work area. You can use item supplier associations for reporting and supplier management, using the relevant Product Management subject areas within Transactional Business Intelligence.

Assign Supplier Organizations to an Item

To add a supplier association for an item:

1. In the Product Management work area, open the item for which you want to add supplier organizations.
2. On the Associations tab, click the Add icon in the Supplier Organizations section.

   The Supplier addresses drawer is displayed.

3. Search for and select the supplier name, and then click Add.

   The selected supplier addresses are displayed in the Supplier Organizations section.

4. Click Save.

   The supplier organizations are saved in the item.

Temporarily Suspend Supplier Associations

Supplier associations are active, by default, but you can temporarily suspend associations. To do this:

1. On the Associations tab of an item, in the Supplier Organizations section, click the Edit icon for the supplier organization that you want to temporarily suspend.
2. In the displayed drawer, from the Status drop-down list, select Inactive, and click Apply.

   In the Supplier Associations section, the Status column displays Inactive for the supplier organization.

Note: You can change the Supplier Organization to active status at any point by selecting the value Active from the Status drop-down list.

Specify a Primary Supplier Organization for an Item

You can choose a primary supplier for the item. There can be only one primary supplier for one item organization association.

To choose a primary supplier:

1. On the Associations tab of an item, in the Supplier Organizations section, click the Edit icon for the supplier organization that you want to set as primary.
2. In the displayed drawer, move the slider to the right for the Primary option and then click Apply.

   In the Supplier Associations section, the Primary column displays for the supplier organization.

3. Click Save to save the changes to the item.

Delete Item Supplier Associations

To remove an associated supplier organization from an item, on the Associations tab of an item, in the Supplier Organizations section, click Delete for the supplier organization that you want to remove. Click Save to save the changes for the item.

Difference Between Item Supplier Associations and Approved Supplier List

Item supplier associations indicate the supplier and address from where an item is supplied and the item organization to which it's supplied. You can create these associations when creating or editing an item in the Product Management work area.

The approved supplier list is where you define your approved suppliers, sites, and other information for procuring specified items. You create entries on this list using the Manage Approved Supplier List Entries task in the Purchase Orders and Purchase Agreements work areas. Suppliers are created in the Suppliers work area.