Suppliers
How to keep the list of who you buy from, link a supplier to price list items, and what happens when a supplier is named in a CSV file or by the AI assistant.
What it is for
A supplier is a company you buy from: the flooring wholesaler, the adhesive rep, the hire shop. The page says it itself: Who you buy from. Each price list item can name its supplier.
You keep the supplier's name, contact person, phone, email, account number and website in one place. Each line of the price list can name one supplier, so you can see what you buy from whom.
Open Settings, then Suppliers. It sits beside Price list in the menu.
The price list is described on the Price list page.
Who can use it
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | See, add, edit, archive, restore and delete suppliers. |
| Admin | See, add, edit, archive, restore and delete suppliers. |
| Supervisor | No access. Suppliers are not in their menu. |
| Crew | No access. |
| Accountant | No access. |
The rights are the same as for the price list. You only ever see your own company's suppliers.
Supervisors have no access on purpose. Suppliers belong to the money side of the office (what you buy, from whom, on which account), like the price list. Nobody has a read-only view of this page.
Add a supplier
- Open Settings, then Suppliers.
- Press Add supplier.
- Fill in Name. It is the only required field.
- Fill in the other fields you know. See Fields.
- Press Create. Press Create & create another instead to add the next supplier straight away.
Other ways a supplier is added
You do not have to come to this page first. A supplier is also added:
- From a price list item. In the Supplier field of a price list line, press the plus button. The New supplier window has the same fields as here. Only the name is needed.
- From the bulk action Set supplier on the price list. The same plus button is in its window.
- From a CSV import. A supplier name in the file that your company does not have yet adds a supplier with that name when you import. The preview marks it New supplier and counts the new suppliers before you import. See Import and export the price list.
- By the AI assistant. When the assistant adds or changes a price list item and names a supplier you do not have, its approval card shows the name with (new supplier). The supplier is added when you approve.
A supplier added from a CSV file or by the assistant through a price list item has only its name. Open it here later to add the contact, phone and the rest.
How a name is matched
When a supplier is named in words (a CSV file, the AI assistant), FSMCore looks for a supplier of your company with that name. Capitals do not matter, so "abc flooring" finds "ABC Flooring". Spaces at the start and end are ignored. Anything else must be the same: "ABC Flooring Ltd" is a different name and would add a second supplier.
An archived supplier is found too. The line is linked to it and the supplier stays archived.
Edit a supplier
- Open Settings, then Suppliers.
- Open the ⋮ menu on the supplier's row and choose Edit.
- Change the fields and press Save changes.
A new name shows on every price list item of that supplier at once. The items stay linked.
Archive or delete
Archive
Open the ⋮ menu on the row and choose Archive. The window says "An archived supplier leaves the supplier pickers. Its price list items keep it. Use Restore to put it back in the pickers." Press Confirm. You see "Archived" with the supplier's name.
An archived supplier:
- leaves the supplier pickers, so it cannot be picked for another price list item,
- keeps all its price list items, and they still show its name,
- stays in the list here, marked Archived: hidden from pickers,
- still shows as the picked supplier when you edit one of its items.
Restore
Open the ⋮ menu on an archived supplier and choose Restore. The window says "The supplier goes back into the supplier pickers." Press Restore. You see "Restored" with the supplier's name, and it is back in the pickers at once.
Delete
Open the ⋮ menu and choose Delete. The window says: Only a supplier with no price list items can be deleted: archive it otherwise.
- A supplier with no price list items is deleted after you confirm.
- A supplier that still has price list items, archived items included, is not deleted. You see Not deleted with the reason: the supplier still has price list items, archive it instead, or move the items to another supplier first.
To delete such a supplier anyway, first move its items. Click the number in Price list items to open the price list filtered to this supplier, tick the lines, and use the bulk action Set supplier to give them another supplier or none. Then delete.
A deleted supplier cannot be restored from this page. Its name is free again, so you can add a new supplier with the same name.
The list
Suppliers are sorted by name, A to Z.
An empty list shows No suppliers yet and Add who you buy from here, or type a new supplier on a price list item.
Columns
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The supplier's name. An archived supplier has Archived: hidden from pickers underneath. Click the heading to sort. |
| Contact | The contact person. "-" when empty. Click the heading to sort. |
| Phone | The phone number. "-" when empty. |
| The email address. "-" when empty. | |
| Price list items | How many price list lines name this supplier, archived lines included. Click the heading to sort. Click the number to open the price list filtered to this supplier. |
Filters
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Status | All (the default), Active, Archived. |
Search
The search box (Search name, contact, phone, email) looks in those four columns. You do not need the exact spelling: words in any order and small typos still find the supplier.
Suppliers are also in the search at the top of the office, for owners and admins. It finds a supplier by its name. The result shows the name, with Contact, Phone and Status (Archived) when the supplier has them. Click it to open the Suppliers list with that supplier's Edit window open.
Row actions
The ⋮ menu on a row has:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Opens the supplier in a window to change it. |
| Archive | Hides the supplier from the pickers after you confirm. Shown for a supplier that is not archived. |
| Restore | Brings an archived supplier back into the pickers after you confirm. Shown for an archived supplier. |
| Delete | Deletes the supplier after you confirm. Only works when it has no price list items. |
Bulk actions
There are none. Suppliers are archived or deleted one at a time.
Fields
Name
Required. At most 255 characters. One name per company: capitals do not count, so you cannot have "ABC Flooring" and "abc flooring".
If the name is taken you see There is already a supplier with this name. The same rule holds wherever a supplier is saved, where the message reads There is already a supplier called "...". A supplier with no name is refused with A supplier needs a name.
Contact
Optional. The person you deal with. At most 255 characters.
Phone
Optional. At most 255 characters. It must look like a phone number: digits, spaces, and the signs + ( ) - . / only. The rule is the same wherever a supplier is saved, also through the AI assistant. A phone that does not fit is refused with The phone number may only have digits, spaces and the signs + ( ) - . /
A supplier saved earlier with other text in the phone, for example "ask for Tom", keeps it and can still be edited. The rule applies from the moment you change the phone. Put such a remark in Contact or Notes.
Optional. Must be a valid email address. At most 255 characters. FSMCore does not send anything to this address: it is there for you.
Account number
Optional. Your account number with the supplier. At most 255 characters.
Website
Optional. At most 255 characters.
Notes
Optional. Free text for the office, at most 5,000 characters.
What happens after
- A new supplier can be picked in the Supplier field of every price list item at once.
- The price list has a Supplier column and a Supplier filter, and its search looks in the supplier name too.
- The Price list items number here goes up and down as items are linked and unlinked.
- Adding, changing, archiving or deleting a supplier sends no email and no notification. The supplier is not told and gets no sign-in.
- The AI assistant can add, change, archive, restore and delete suppliers for an owner or admin. Each change waits for your approval first. It follows the same rule: a supplier with price list items is archived, not deleted.
Common mistakes
"There is already a supplier with this name." Your company already has that supplier, maybe written with other capitals, maybe archived. Set the Status filter to Archived to look for it, and restore it instead of adding it again.
I have the same supplier twice. It was typed in two spellings, for example in a CSV file ("ABC Flooring" and "ABC Flooring Ltd"). Pick the one to keep, move the items of the other with the bulk action Set supplier on the price list, then delete the empty one.
"Not deleted": the supplier still has price list items. Archive it, or move its items to another supplier first. Archived price list items count too: on the price list they are marked Archived: hidden from pickers.
A supplier is missing from the Supplier field of a price list item. It is archived. Restore it here.
The CSV import took the supplier off my lines. The file had a supplier column with empty cells. An empty cell clears the supplier. A file with no supplier column leaves suppliers alone.
A supplier added by an import has no phone or email. A supplier created from a name has only the name. Open it here with Edit and fill in the rest.