Restrict items to only vendors setup for that item

We are on BC14
Is there a way to restrict an item from only being ordered by vendors that are setup for that item?
Currently we could order a semi load of flour from Office Max, which would not be correct.

I’ve seen some discussion about approved vendors but I’m not seeing any setup like that in our system.
Is this functionality only in a new version or is some setup I need to do to accomplish this?
Thanks!

I do see I can have an approved status on a vendor, but it doesn’t seem to limit that item to only that vendor.

Have you possibly tried Security Filter in the Permissions area of BC? That is what I would attempt.

Kind of convoluted, but you can set up Item References for the Vendor. The Reference No. and the Item No. could be the same. Only enter those items which the vendor supplies. Then, on the purchase document (order or invoice), hide the No. field or move the Item Reference No. field right after the Type field. When the users clicks the lookup for the Item Reference Field, they will only see those items set up for the vendor.

Note, this doesn’t prevent the user from going directly to the No. field and entering an item, but it may help. Hiding the No. field might also NOT be an option since you would need access to that field for any G/L Account purchases.

Anything more elaborate would require customization.

Yes, there is a way to restrict an item from only being ordered by vendors that are set up for that item. This functionality is available in all versions of BC14.

To accomplish this, you can set up an approved vendor list for each item. This list will contain only the vendors that are authorized to order that particular item.

To set up an approved vendor list, you can follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Item Card for the item you want to restrict.
  2. Click on the “Vendors” FastTab.
  3. Click on the “Approved Vendors” button.
  4. Add the vendors that are authorized to order this item to the list.
  5. Save your changes.

Once you’ve set up the approved vendor list, any purchase orders created for this item will only allow you to select vendors from the approved vendor list. If you try to order this item from an unauthorized vendor, you will receive a warning message.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

What Scarlett has described is either an Extension or a Customization, it is not part of the base system. Dave described the free method for handling this requirement, but as noted it is not a true restriction.

If I was going to Customize a solution, I would use the existing Item Vendor Catalog as the storage place for my Approved Vendors. I would add a check when entering the Item No. on the Purchase/Planning Line that the Vendor is an established Vendor before allowing the Item No. to validate.

You would want to add a validation on the Vendor No. field as well on both the Purchase Header and Planning Line so that if the Vendor is changed the same validation occurs.

Lastly, you could add an “Approved Vendor” Boolean to the Item/Vendor Catalog so that you could see a history of prior Approved Vendors, and maybe a date field on when the Approved Vendor boolean is unchecked so you could see when you stopped using them.

If you add the Approved Vendor flag, you would want to update the filter on the Vendor No. look-up from the Planning Lines to only show Approved Vendors.

Thats just off the top of mind on this requirement. Not a super hard customization, but something you want to think all the way through.

Whether you do this or your partner does this, I would encourage you to discuss your needs with your Partner so they can find the best solution.

Ben,

Thanks for your input.

We were just looking for a simple application for when we enter a PO. When we enter a PO and look up an item – it would only show the items we order from that vendor.

I was hoping to do this with setting or configuration.

Looks like we would need a customization to do this.

But we are looking to upgrade to the latest version – hopefully it is in the latest version.

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