Getting Started with Vendor Pulse

Overview

Vendor Pulse is Zeron's third-party risk management product. You add the vendors you work with, send them assessment questionnaires, review what comes back, and track the risks you find through to closure.

This guide takes you from your first sign-in to your first vendor, and explains every item in the sidebar and top bar.

Prerequisites

An active Zeron account with Vendor Pulse access
A role that includes at least dashboard:view and vendor:view
vendor:add if you will be adding vendors
A list of the vendors your organisation works with, with each vendor's root domain

Step 1: Sign In

Open your organisation's Vendor Pulse address in a browser.
You are redirected to the Zeron sign-in page. If your organisation uses an identity provider, you are passed on to it automatically.
Once signed in you are returned to Vendor Pulse and land on the Dashboard.

You are signed out automatically after 15 minutes without any activity. A Session Expired! message appears and you are returned to sign-in.

Step 2: Learn the Sidebar

Section	Purpose	Where to read more
ZIN Advisor (top entry)	The ZIN AI chat assistant. Appears only when ZIN AI is available in your environment.	ZIN AI in Zeron: What It Does in Each Product
Dashboard	Portfolio view of vendors, assessments, compliance and risk	Understanding the Vendor Dashboard
Vendors	Your vendor list — add, import, export, open and delete vendors	How to Add a Vendor
Master Data	Assessment Templates and Product & Service Categories	How to Create Assessment Templates (MasterVault), How to Manage Vendor Categories
ZIN Advisor (lower entry)	The ZIN workspace: Checklist, Knowledge Base and Questionnaire tabs	How to Use the ZIN Knowledge Base and Checklist
Documents	Central library of vendor documents and evidence	How to Use Document Central
Reports	Generate and download per-vendor reports	How to Generate Vendor Risk Reports
Admin	Expands to Management (users, groups, departments) and Settings (organisation settings)	How to Invite and Manage Users, How to Configure Organization Settings
Contact Support	At the bottom of the sidebar	See below

Two sidebar entries are both labelled ZIN Advisor. The one at the top opens the AI chat; the one further down opens the Checklist / Knowledge Base / Questionnaire workspace.

The arrow at the top edge of the sidebar collapses it to icons and expands it again. When collapsed, hover an icon to see its name.

Contact Support

Click Contact Support at the bottom of the sidebar.

On cloud deployments this opens the support portal in a new browser tab.
On on-premises installations it opens a Contact Support dialog listing your Support Email and Contacts, with a Support Portal button.

The product version is shown beneath Contact Support.

Step 3: Learn the Top Bar

Control	What it does
AI search bar	Ask ZIN from anywhere. Appears only when ZIN AI is available in your environment.
Dashboard version	Switch between Dashboard V1 and Dashboard V2. Appears only while you are on the Dashboard.
Language	Switch the interface language: English (US), English (UK), 中文 (简体) or বাংলা
Dark mode toggle	Switch between light and dark themes
App switcher	Jump to another Zeron product. Appears only if you have access to more than one.
Your avatar	Opens your user menu, with Sign out, Terms of Service and Learn Product

A breadcrumb trail appears under the top bar once you are more than one level deep, for example inside a vendor.

Step 4: Add Your First Vendor

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → Single Add

Click Vendors in the sidebar.
Click Single Add at the top of the vendor list.
On Vendor Name, enter the company name and its root domain, for example example.com, then click Continue.
On Vendor Details, fill in what you know about the engagement — impact, category, industry, tier and registration details. Everything on this step is optional. Click Continue.
On Contact Details, enter the vendor's SPOC, your business owner and the manager responsible for the vendor. Click Continue.
On Review, check everything and click Add Vendor.

The vendor appears in the list with status Assessment not sent. For the full field reference, bulk import, duplicates and plan limits, see How to Add a Vendor.

Enter the vendor's root domain. Digital risk scanning depends on it and the domain cannot be changed from the vendor's edit form later.

Step 5: Read the Dashboard

Navigation: Sidebar → Dashboard

The dashboard opens with four summary cards — Total Vendors, Active Assessments, Average Compliance Rate and Average Risk Score — followed by panels for Assessment Status, High Risk Vendors, Risk Matrix, Open Risks and Vendor Industry Concentration.

Everything is empty until you have vendors and assessments. See Understanding the Vendor Dashboard.

Step 6: Work Through the Core Flow

Step	What you do	Where	Article
1	Add your vendors	Sidebar → Vendors → Single Add or Bulk Upload	How to Add a Vendor
2	Build or pick an assessment template	Sidebar → Master Data → Templates	How to Create Assessment Templates (MasterVault)
3	Send an assessment to a vendor	Vendors → [vendor] → Assessment Process	How to Send and Track Questionnaires
4	Review the answers that come back	Vendors → [vendor] → Assessment Process	How to Review Assessment Responses
5	Check the vendor's external exposure	Vendors → [vendor] → Digital Risk	How to Monitor Digital Risk (DRM)
6	Record and work the risks you find	Vendors → [vendor] → Manage Risk	How to Manage the Vendor Risk Lifecycle
7	Onboard, reject or hold the vendor	Vendors → [vendor] → status drop-down	How to Manage a Vendor Profile and Onboarding Status
8	Generate reports	Sidebar → Reports	How to Generate Vendor Risk Reports

What Each Permission Unlocks

Permission	What it lets you do
`dashboard:view`	Open the Dashboard
`vendor:view`	Open the vendor list, a vendor's Profile, Documents and Team tabs
`vendor:add`	Add, import and edit vendors, change onboarding status, run Vendor Analysis
`vendor:delete`	Delete vendors
`vendor:assessment:view`	Open a vendor's Assessment Process tab
`vendor:risk:view`	Open a vendor's Manage Risk tab
`vendor:risk:add`	Add, work, send and delete risks
`vendor:digital:view`	Open a vendor's Digital Risk tab
`master:view`	Open Master Data
`report:view`	Open Reports

For the complete list see Vendor Pulse: Roles & Permissions Reference.

Troubleshooting

A page shows an access-denied screen → That area needs a permission your role does not have. The table above shows which one; ask your administrator.

I clicked Single Add but the vendor will not save → Saving a vendor needs vendor:add.

The Dashboard shows no data → The panels fill in as you add vendors and assessments. Add a vendor first.

Company suggestions do not appear when I type a vendor name → Suggestions start after three characters, not every company is in the external database, and the lookup is switched off on on-premises installations. You can always keep the name you typed.

The ZIN Advisor chat entry and AI search bar are missing → They appear only when ZIN AI is available in your environment. The ZIN Advisor workspace lower in the sidebar is unaffected.

I was signed out while reading a page → Sessions end after 15 minutes without activity. Sign in again.

I cannot find the dashboard layout switch → It appears in the top bar only while you are on the Dashboard.

There is no app switcher in my top bar → It is shown only when you have access to more than one Zeron product.

Need more help? Contact support@zeron.one