What it is for
Main data
Relationship with items
Creating a supplier is not enough for a useful purchasing recommendation. A supplier-item relationship must exist with the relevant supply data.
Maintain one primary supplier per item when you want the purchasing assistant to propose a default source. Use secondary suppliers for real alternatives.
Relationship with purchase orders
Each purchase order belongs to a supplier. The order header stores the commercial context, and its lines explain which items you purchase, in what quantity and with which expected date. Confirmed lines generate pending supply. Draft lines do not generate incoming stock.The supplier identifies the supply source. The purchase order explains the commitment. The receipt records the physical inflow.
Lifecycle
When you delete a supplier, Bold marks it inactive through soft deletion. Previous orders, receipts and events retain the reference to preserve history.
Operational rules
- The external reference should remain stable if the supplier comes from an integration.
- If a primary supplier’s lead time changes, review related purchasing recommendations and forecasts.
- Do not mark a supplier you only use for urgent purchases as primary.
- If a supplier becomes inactive, review items that had it as their primary supplier.