How to Add a Vendor

How to Add a Vendor

Overview

There are two ways to get vendors into Vendor Pulse: add them one at a time through a four-step wizard, or import many at once from an Excel template. This article also covers the vendor list itself — its status cards, columns, filters, export and delete.

Prerequisites

  • vendor:view to open the vendor list
  • vendor:add to add a vendor, import vendors or download the import template
  • vendor:delete to delete a vendor
  • The vendor's company name and its root domain (for example example.com, not portal.example.com)

Get the domain right the first time. The edit form does not include the Company Domain field, so the domain cannot be changed from the vendor's profile after the vendor is created.

The Vendor List

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors

Status cards

A row of cards sits above the table: All, Assessment not sent, Ongoing, Onboarded, Rejected and On hold, each with a count. Click a card to filter the table to that onboarding status. Click the same card again, or click All, to clear the filter.

Buttons

ButtonWhat it does
Single AddOpens the add-vendor wizard
Bulk UploadOpens the Excel import dialog
ExportDownloads your vendor list as an Excel file. A confirmation reads Vendor Report exported successfully.

Columns

ColumnDescription
Company NameThe vendor's logo and name. Hover the name to see the date the vendor was created.
Vendor StatusThe onboarding status: Assessment not sent, Ongoing assessment, Onboarded, Rejected or On Hold. Hover it to see the remark recorded with the last status change and who made it.
Assessment ProgressA progress bar. Hover it for the latest assessment's status, scheduled date, due date and days left (or days lapsed). If nothing is scheduled it reads No assessment scheduled.
Last Assessment DateThe scheduled date of the vendor's latest assessment that has started or completed
Risk ScoreThe vendor's risk score to two decimal places, or a dash if there is none
Impact / MaterialityLow, Medium, High or Critical. Shows Not Available if none was set.
Risk ManagerThe assigned vendor manager
Last UpdatedWhen the vendor record last changed. The list is sorted by this column, newest first, by default.
Updated ByWho changed it

Search, filters and columns

  • Search looks at the vendor name.
  • Filters offers Status, Impact, Industry, Risk Manager and Created On. Created On offers Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Last 3 Months, Last 6 Months, Last 1 Year and Custom Range (with From and To dates).
  • Visibility lets you choose which columns are shown.
  • The table shows 10 vendors per page by default.

Click any row to open that vendor's Profile tab. See How to Manage a Vendor Profile and Onboarding Status.

Adding a Single Vendor

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → Single Add

You can also start from the Dashboard: on the Total Vendors card click Add Vendor → Single Add.

The wizard has four steps, shown across the top: Vendor Name → Vendor Details → Contact Details → Review.

Step 1: Vendor Name

  1. Click Single Add. The wizard opens on Enter Company Name & Domain.
  2. In Company Name, start typing. After three characters the platform searches an external company database and lists up to 15 matches.
  3. Pick a match to fill in the name and its domain, or pick the Add "…" option to keep exactly what you typed.
  4. In Company Domain, check or type the vendor's root domain, for example example.com. Do not include https://, a path or a trailing slash.
  5. Click Continue. The button stays disabled until both fields have a value.

Both fields are required. An invalid domain shows Enter valid domain! e.g. example.com.

On on-premises installations the company lookup is switched off. Company Name is a plain text box and no suggestions appear.

Step 2: Vendor Details

If the external database knows the domain, a read-only Company Details panel appears at the top showing the company name, logo, description, location, domain and industry. While it loads you see Fetching company information…. It does not appear on on-premises installations or when nothing is found.

Service Details — every field is optional.

FieldDescription
Purpose of EngagementWhy you use this vendor
OutsourcingYes or No
Core/CriticalYes or No
Is Technology (IT) Related ?Yes or No
Is Back Office Vendor ?Yes or No
Data Classification LevelsOne or more data classification levels that apply to this vendor
Impact / MaterialityThe potential impact this vendor has on your operations: Low, Medium, High or Critical
Risk Assessment RequiredYes or No. Defaults to Yes.
CategoryThe product or service category. See How to Manage Vendor Categories.
SubcategoryNarrows the category. Reads Select Category first until a category is chosen.
IndustryThe vendor's industry. If you leave it empty the vendor is saved under Others, unless the company lookup supplies one.
RemarksAny additional notes about the vendor
PO NumberThe purchase order number associated with this vendor
TierTier 1 (highest priority) to Tier 4 (lowest priority)

Vendor Registration Details

FieldDescription
CIN NoCorporate Identification Number. Must match the Indian CIN format, otherwise you see Enter valid CIN No.
GSTIN NoGST Identification Number. Must match the Indian GSTIN format, otherwise you see Enter valid GSTIN No.
Contract DateThe date the contract was initiated or signed

Click Continue, or Back to return to step 1.

Step 3: Contact Details

Vendor SPOC Details

FieldDescription
SPOC NameYour primary contact at the vendor
SPOC EmailThat contact's email address. Must be a business email address.
Additional Vendor EmailsOther vendor contacts. Type an address and press Enter to add each one.
SPOC Contact NumberA 10-digit number, optionally preceded by a country code such as +91

Organization Details

FieldDescription
Business OwnerThe internal user who owns this vendor relationship, chosen from your organisation's user list
Additional Business Owner EmailAn extra business owner email, for someone who is not a platform user. Must be a business email address.
Business Owner DepartmentThe owning department

Assign Vendor Manager

FieldDescription
Assign ManagerThe internal user responsible for this vendor. This person becomes the vendor's Risk Manager and the default assignee for its risks.

Click Continue.

Step 4: Review

  1. Check the company details, service details, registration details and contacts. Fields are still editable here.
  2. Click Add Vendor. While it saves, the button reads Adding....
  3. The wizard closes and the vendor appears at the top of the list with status Assessment not sent.

What happens when the vendor is saved

  • Profile details the external database holds (description, logo, employee count, revenue, city, state, country, industry) are filled in for any field you left empty.
  • A digital risk scan of the vendor's domain is requested automatically. See How to Monitor Digital Risk (DRM).
  • If you entered a SPOC email, the SPOC is added to the vendor's Team tab as Admin and is emailed to say they are the point of contact.
  • If you assigned a manager, that user is emailed to say the vendor has been assigned to them.

Bulk Uploading Vendors

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → Bulk Upload

  1. Click Bulk Upload.
  2. Click Download Template. A confirmation reads Sample template downloaded successfully.
  3. Open the file. It has two sheets: Instructions, which is locked and explains every column, and Vendors, where you enter data.
  4. On the Vendors sheet, fill in one row per vendor. Keep the header row exactly as downloaded. Several columns have drop-down lists: Industry, Tier, Impact/Materiality, Data Classification Levels, the Yes/No columns and the two user columns, which list the email addresses of your organisation's active users.
  5. Back in the dialog, click Upload Template and choose your file. Only .xlsx and .xls files up to 15 MB are accepted.
  6. Click Submit. While it runs the button reads Submitting....

Columns that must be present

The header row must contain all of these columns, even if the cells under them are empty:

Company Name, Company Domain, Description, Employee Count, Revenue, City, State, Country, Industry, Tier, Impact/Materiality, Contract Date, CIN, GSTIN, SPOC Name, SPOC Email, Extra POC Emails, SPOC Contact Number, Assign Manager Email, Purpose, Core/Critical, Outsourcing, Tech Related, Back Office.

Optional columns

Business Owner, Additional Business Owner Email, Business Owner Department, Is Risk Assessment Required, Remarks, PO Number, Data Classification Levels.

Rules for the data

ColumnRule
Company Name, Company DomainRequired on every row
SPOC Email, Extra POC Emails, Additional Business Owner EmailMust be business email addresses. Separate several Extra POC Emails with commas.
Assign Manager EmailThe email of an existing user in your organisation. An address that matches nobody is ignored and the vendor is created without a manager.
Business OwnerThe email of an existing user in your organisation. An address that matches nobody stops the import. Leave it blank if there is no business owner.
Contract DateUse the format YYYY-MM-DD
Core/Critical, Outsourcing, Tech Related, Back Office, Is Risk Assessment RequiredYes or No
IndustryLeft blank, the vendor is saved under Others

Things to know:

  • The import is all-or-nothing. If any row fails, no vendors are created.
  • Category and Subcategory cannot be set through the template. Set them afterwards by editing each vendor.
  • Fully empty rows and exact duplicate rows in the file are ignored.

Duplicate Vendors

A vendor counts as a duplicate when both its name and its domain match an existing vendor, ignoring upper and lower case and surrounding spaces. Two vendors may share a domain as long as their names differ, for example a parent company and a subsidiary.

  • In the wizard a duplicate is rejected with Vendor already added.
  • In a bulk upload the whole file is rejected with a message such as 2 duplicate vendors found. This also applies when two rows in the same file duplicate each other.
  • A deleted vendor does not block you from adding the same name and domain again.

Vendor Limits on Your Plan

Your subscription can include a maximum number of vendors.

  • Adding a vendor at the limit fails with Vendor limit reached (current/limit). Please upgrade your plan to add more vendors.
  • A bulk upload that would take you over the limit fails with Bulk import would exceed vendor limit, showing how many vendors you have, how many the file would add and what the limit is. Nothing is imported.

Deleting vendors frees up capacity. To raise the limit, your plan needs to be upgraded — speak to your administrator.

Deleting a Vendor

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → ⋮ on the vendor's row → Delete

  1. Click the ⋮ menu at the end of the vendor's row. The menu only appears if you hold vendor:delete.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. In the Delete Confirmation dialog (Are you sure you want to delete this item?), click Confirm Delete. Click Close to cancel.

The vendor disappears from the list, the dashboard and Reports. There is no restore option in the product, and there is no archive state — a vendor is either in the list or deleted.

Troubleshooting

I click Single Add or Bulk Upload but saving fails → The buttons are shown to everyone who can open the vendor list, but saving needs the vendor:add permission. Ask your administrator to grant it.

Continue is greyed out on the first step → Company Name and Company Domain are both required.

"Enter valid domain! e.g. example.com" → Enter the bare root domain. Remove https://, any path and any trailing slash.

No company suggestions appear → Suggestions start after three characters and not every company is in the external database. Choose the Add "…" option and carry on. On on-premises installations there are no suggestions at all.

"Personal email addresses are not allowed. Please provide a business email address." → The SPOC Email and Additional Business Owner Email must be business addresses. Personal addresses are rejected.

"Vendor already added" → A vendor with the same name and the same domain already exists. Search the list for it.

"Enter valid CIN No." or "Enter valid GSTIN No." → These validate against Indian registration formats. Leave them empty for vendors registered elsewhere.

"Enter valid mobile No." → Enter 10 digits, optionally with a country code in front.

"Template file version mismatch. Please download the latest template." → You uploaded an older template. Click Download Template and move your data into the new file.

"The uploaded file is missing required column(s)" → The message names each missing column. Download the latest template and keep the header row unchanged.

"Company Name and Company Domain are required" → At least one row in your file has one of these cells empty.

"Business owner '…' not found in organization" → The Business Owner cell must be the email of a user who already exists in your organisation. Fix it or clear the cell.

"File size exceeds the maximum allowed size of 15MB" → Split the file into smaller imports.

"Please upload a file" → You clicked Submit before choosing a file.

"Error processing bulk import" → A cell holds a value the import cannot read — for example a Tier, Impact/Materiality or Industry that is not one of the drop-down values, or a Contract Date that is not a date. Re-enter those cells using the drop-down lists.

"Vendor limit reached" or "Bulk import would exceed vendor limit" → Your plan's vendor limit has been reached. Delete vendors you no longer need, or ask your administrator about upgrading the plan.

There is no ⋮ menu on vendor rows → Deleting vendors needs the vendor:delete permission.

Need more help? Contact support@zeron.one

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