Depending on the use case, you can allow control to various objects by linking the object to one of the vendor objects. The primary link for most of the use cases is the sourcing configuration. Through this link, access to product, colorway, costing, samples, and other details, is enabled, based on type permissions. By way of the supplier object, both the material and material supplier objects are also available.

You can create the sourcing configuration link using the Type and Attribute Management utility and the VendorPortal.properties file. This process is similar to configuring vendor objects.

You define an attribute in VendorPortal.properties for each use case that links to the sourcing configuration.

The value for the <CriteriaAttribute> must correlate to an internal name on the sourcing configuration root type. The attributes must be an object reference, and must point to one of the three vendor objects: agent, factory, or supplier. You can use the same value for both property settings, if the same criteria is applicable to both the RFQ and sample use cases. By default, the value is set to vendor for both use cases in the VendorPortal.properties file.

These two property settings can also use comma separated values to support multiple vendors.

The supplier relationship is inherent to the material. No extra configuration is required. The nature of the material-supplier relationship dictates that vendors can only view those materials for which they are listed as a supplier.

It is not always true that just because a vendor is linked to a given object that the object is viewable or editable by the vendor. Sometimes, additional criteria must be met before the vendor can access the object.

For each use case, there are unique sets of additional criteria that you can add. These additional criteria are added to both the Type and Attribute Management utility and to the VendorPortal.properties file. The table below outlines the use cases and their corresponding additional criteria.