The Vendor Main frame is used to create and maintain vendor records to be used in inventory management and workflow management as well as employee and fuel management.
This vendor information can be used for parts and products, commercial repairs, and unit purchases. The vendor number is also used in reordering, processing part orders, receiving of non-stock parts, and commercial charges.
Create
To create a new vendor record, type a new vendor number in the Number field in the Vendor Information section. This field has a limit of 12 characters.
You will receive a pop-up asking you to confirm that you want to create the new vendor. Click Create to confirm the action. Next enter a description in the description field. This field is required and has a limit of 20 characters.
Once you have a vendor number and description entered, enter any other required or applicable information on the following tabs:
General
The General tab contains basic information about the vendor including mailing information, contact information as well as inventory location information.
Mailing Address Section:
Vendor mailing information can be recorded here. Street Address, City, State, and Zip Code. The Country field is the only required field in this section.
Contact Information Section:
Vendor Contact information can be recorded in this section, all fields are optional. You may have separate contacts for Parts or Service that can be entered here. There are multiple fields for recording phone numbers as well as a field for E-mail and Web Address for the vendor.
Location Information:
Hub Location – In many organizations there is a central warehouse (hub) that acts as the center for supplying parts to satellite part rooms (spokes). Enter a valid inventory location, if applicable, that will serve as the hub location for the vendor.
Inventory Location – Enter a valid inventory location from Location Main or double click in the field to select one from the list of values (LOV).
Commercial WO Information:
Contact Information - Enter a contact name and phone number for commercial work order charges.
Default Labor Rate - See System Flags 5480 and 5481. 5480 controls display of this field.
Payable
The Payable tab contains billing information pertaining to the particular vendor. There is a billing information section as well as address and contact information sections.
Billing Information Section:
Billing – Drop down menu, choices are ‘Direct’ and ‘Corporate’. Direct is the default value. Corporate is set for an interface to bill multiple vendors to a corporate vendor.
Require Contracts on Invoice Entry – If this flag box is checked, then the Direct Invoice Entry frame will require that the vendor has an awarded, current blanket commercial contract or a Service Code line item with sufficient funds.
Tax Scheme – Enter a Tax Scheme or double click in the field to select one from the list of values (LOV) to apply to transactions involving the vendor.
Finance Approved – Drop down, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The default value is ‘No’. This is specific to an SAP financial interface and ‘Yes’ would be used to indicate the vendor is approved for processing.
Net Terms (Days) – this field is for reporting purposes only.
Discount % – this is used to set the default discount on part purchases only and will be applied upon receipt of the parts (the default discount can be changed or removed when receiving parts).
For Day(s) – this field is for reporting purposes only.
EEOC Status – drop down menu, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Customer Account Number – free form field, not validated. This could be used to record an account number or other identifier you may have with the vendor.
Billing Address Section:
If the billing address for the vendor is the same as the mailing address, you can check the ‘Same as Mailing Address’ box to use that same information.
Billing Contact Information Section:
If the ‘Same as Mailing Address’ box is checked, the information displayed in this section will be pulled over from the General tab as well (the Contact field and E-mail Address field).
Notes
The Notes tab contains a free form notes field that can be used to record additional notes or information related to the vendor.
Service Codes
The Service Code tab allows you to assign user-defined service codes to the vendor record for use on Service Orders. Above the Service Code i-frame, there is a drop down menu:
On the Service Orders, do this if the vendor/service code/location is not in the list below: ‘Allow Anyway’, ‘Forbid the Service’, ‘Warn the User’. The default value is to Allow Anyway.
To add a service code, enter one in the blank Service Code field or double click to select one from the LOV. The Description and Contract No. fields are displayed as read-only.
Enter a valid Location, Priority (1-9), and a Qualifier. Once all information has been entered, click the Save button to add the service code to the vendor record.
Locations
The Locations tab can be used to authorize Location Groups for the vendor record. These location groups must first be setup on the Location Groups frame.
To authorize a group, click on the Location Group in the Unauthorized Location Groups column to make it active and then click the >> button to move it over to the Authorized Location Groups column.
If you want to move a group from Authorized to Unauthorized, click the << button to move the group over. Click Save to finalize the changes.
Distributors
The Distributors tab can be used to assign valid distributors from Distributor Main to the vendor record. To add a distributor, enter a valid Inventory Location and a Start Date.
Then enter a Distributor or double click to select one from the LOV. The Distributor Name field will automatically populate. Click Save once complete.
Reorder
The Reorder tab allows you to setup reordering information for a specific vendor record. You can assign valid Inventory Locations as well as what days of the week reordering will be allowed. Click save once all information has been entered.
Vendor Gateway
The Vendor Gateway tab allows you to complete the setup for the Vendor Gateway Portal module (this is a licensed module). Vendor Gateway is a ticketing system that extends FleetFocus maintenance functionality to vendors of FleetFocus customers. Vendor Gateway can be accessed through an outside portal along with internal access from FleetFocus.
Can Vendor Create a Ticket? – When this checkbox is checked, the vendor will be able to create new tickets in the Vendor Gateway portal. If the check box is not checked, that option will be grayed out.
Variance allowed on Work Order Charges – If a variance is set on the vendor record, it will override the system flag variance percent set on System Flag 5421.
Job Location – This is the default location of the job when the vendor add tasks to the ticket. This must be a valid FleetFocus M5 Maintenance Location.
See the Vendor Gateway Quick Guide for more information.
Modify
To modify a vendor record, enter the vendor number in the Vendor Information section or double click to select the vendor number from the LOV.
Once you have made the necessary changes, click the Save button to update the record.
Disable
To disable a vendor, select Disabled from the Status dropdown in the Vendor Information section to the right of the Name field. Select SAVE to disable the vendor.
You cannot manually create a purchase order when the vendor is disabled.
Inactive
To inactivate a vendor, select Inactive from the Status dropdown in the Vendor Information section to the right of the Name field. Select SAVE to inactivate the vendor.
You cannot manually create a purchase order when the vendor is inactive.
You can create non-manual purchase orders with vendors that are inactive.
Delete
You can delete a vendor provided the vendor number is not in use on any other tables in the system. If the number is in use, you will not be able to delete it from the system.
To delete a vendor that is not in use, click the Delete button (Red X) at the top of the frame. You will receive a popup asking you if you are sure you want to delete the vendor. Click Delete to confirm the action.
Vendor Merge
Note: If System Flag 5385 is set to 'V', this functionality will not be available.
Users that have the VENDOR MERGE privilege assigned to their role have the ability to merge vendor records using the 'More' drop-down at the top of the screen and clicking the 'Merge with another vendor' option. Alternatively, if your user profile is set to display the 'More' options as icons, there will be a gear icon you can click to execute the vendor merge.
This will launch the Vendor Merge screen. In the 'Vendor to be eliminated' section, enter the vendor number (or select from the LOV) that you want to merge into the vendor number entered on Vendor Main. This will eliminate the record.
Upon entry, you will receive a popup asking if you would like to schedule the merge of the two vendor numbers along with a warning stating, "Note: This action cannot be undone."
Click 'Yes' to confirm the action.
Next, you will receive a popup to enter the execution date/time which will default to the current date/time. Click the Schedule/Reschedule button after entry.
The system will save automatically and after the screen refreshes the scheduled vendor merge appears on i-frame at the bottom of the screen with the merge record details.
When the process is complete, the system sends an confirmation message to the e-mail address associated with the application user profile.
If there is an issue with the merge process, the merge record will remain on the i-frame after scheduling with a 'Merge Error' hyperlink in the Merge Process Error Message column. You can click the hyperlink to view the error message associated with the merge.
Note: Aside from two specific scenarios, any instance where the merge violates a primary key, constraint, and/or a unique index in the database will cause the merge process to error out.
Scenario 1 - Location Reorder information will always cause a constraint error as all vendors have the ‘ALL LOC’ lines (this value cannot be deleted for any Vendor’s record). In all cases, the system will delete the eliminated vendor’s Location Reorder data. The remaining Vendor’s Location Reorder information will remain as it was.
Scenario 2 - When a Vendor Item will cause a constraint violation during the merge process, that Vendor Item will be deleted from the eliminated vendor’s record and the remaining vendor’s record will not be updated. All other vendor items will be merged, meaning those that exist for the eliminated vendor, but do not for the remaining vendor, will now exist for the remaining vendor.
System Flags
5133 – Do Vendors Have Tax Schemes? (1) Always, (2) Optional, (3) Never – If "1", then a tax scheme is required on every vendor. If "2", then a tax scheme is permitted but none is required. If "3", then tax schemes cannot be entered on vendors. If no tax scheme is entered, then transactions where the vendor is the source, such as part receipts, are untaxed.
5385 - Vendor Invoice duplication warning (W/V/N) - The default will be N. No validation, allow duplicate vendor and invoice combination. W = Warning message that vendor and invoice combination have been used, allow user to continue. V = Warning message that vendor and invoice combination have been used, do not allow user to continue.
5421 - Vendor Gateway Variance - Allow user to enter an estimate variance - Used for Vendor Gateway. User can enter a variance for estimates in a numeric field formatted as a percentage that cannot exceed 100 and must be a positive number. Any variance entered at the vendor level will override the variance entered here for that particular vendor.
5480 - Use Vendor Labor Rates? (Y/N) - Setting this flag to "Y" will populate the commercial labor amount on the Work Order Main Commercial tab and the Commercial Work Order frame based on a new field on Vendor Main called "Default Labor Rate" Setting this flag to "Y" will allow users to enter a Default Labor Rate on the Vendor Main record. This will also display the Vendor Labor rate on Labor Rate field on the Work Order Main Commercial tab and the Commercial Work Order frame. Finally, it should set the existing Labor Amount field on the Work Order Main Commercial tab and the Commercial Work Order ready only and calculated based on the Labor Hours and Vendor Labor Rate filed (Labor Hours*Labor Rate=Labor Amount).
5481 - Default Vendor Labor Rate - This flag works in conjunction with System Flag 5480. If a vendor labor rate is not set on the vendor record this value will be used to populate the Work Order Main Commercial tab and the Commercial Work Order frame. This flag will be reference for any vendor record which does not have a value populated in the new Default Labor Rate field. It should be numeric with a positive value and up to 2 decimal places. The default value should "0" (zero).
Role Privileges
COMM WO VENDOR – Gives the user authority to add any vendor on the commercial work order. NOTE: If the vendor has assigned location group and the user does NOT have this privilege, the user will only be able to use vendors on Commercial Work Order Entry that are in the same authorized location groups.
VENDOR MERGE - allows users to use the vendor merge functionality to merge vendor records.
Last Update: 03/19/2021
NOTE: To view a list of System Flags and Role Privileges that may impact this screen, hover over the screen title in M5 to display the bubble help/tooltip. At the bottom of the bubble help/tool tip, there is a Settings hyperlink. Click that hyperlink to display the list of flags and privileges.
Additional training and technical documents on this subject may be available in the Resource Files area.