🛠️ Create Your Own - Vendor Portal Update Request Form

   Take Control

   Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

    Estimated Configuration Time: 10-20 Minutes

☑️     Requires: Vendor Portal

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Sections in this article:

• Introduction
  • Workflow Diagram
• Mandatory Configuration
  • Add the Template
  • Add a Custom Field for the Form Status
  • Add the Custom Status Field to the Workflow
  • Configure the Trigger
  • Assign an Owner for the Update Vendor Phase

• Additional Configuration
  • Add Additional Vendor Metadata to the Update Form
  • Restrict Access for Vendor Portal Users
  • Add a NetSuite Sync to the Update
• Additional Setup Outside the Workflow
  • Populate Vendor Owners
  • Add the Custom Status Field to Other Workflows
• Getting Started
  • Activate the Trigger
  • Bulk Trigger for Existing Vendors
• Additional Reading

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Introduction

This workflow gives vendor users the option to submit ad-hoc requests to update data stored in their vendor record. This helps reduce the administrative effort required to keep Gatekeeper as your central source of truth. 

It eliminates the need for manual email exchanges between vendors, internal vendor managers, and administrators to request simple changes, and prevents data from becoming outdated. Updates submitted through this workflow are recorded with a clear history of changes, as entered directly by the vendor.

See the video below for a demonstration:

 

Workflow Diagram

 

🛠 Mandatory Configuration 🛠

The steps in this section outline the essential setup required to make your workflow fully functional. By completing the configuration steps below, you’ll have a fully operational end-to-end process for Vendor Portal update requests.

The ⬇️ Additional Configuration ⬇️ section covers optional additions to expand the scope of your process or tailor the workflow to better align with your organisation’s unique policies, procedures, and Gatekeeper subscription features.

Add the Template

To get started, you'll need to add the template workflow:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
2. Click Add, then select Workflow Template.
3. Click Create on the Vendor Portal Update Request Form template.
4. Amend the title if needed, then click Create.

Add a Custom Field for the Form Status

Creating a custom Form Status field is required to trigger the workflow for new vendors, bulk-trigger it for existing vendors, and enable internal users to view the progress  of any requests from the vendor record. To do this:

1. From the navigation menu, expand the Settings option, then click Configuration.
2. Click Custom Data.
3. Click an existing Vendor Custom Data Group or add a new one to store this field in. If you're planning to run more contract and vendor management processes in parallel, consider adding a custom data group named Legal & Compliance to store all related statuses.
4. Within the custom group, click➕ Add New Custom Field.
5. Enter a label for the field, e.g. Update Request Form Status, and select Dropdown list as the type.
6. Add the following dropdown options then click Save.
   1. Update In Progress ⏳
   2. Form Available ✅
   3. N/A

 

Add the Custom Status Field to the Workflow

You'll need to add the new Update Request Form Status field to the workflow form, so that it can be updated automatically once a vendor completes the process.

Part 1 - Add the field to the form

1. Click the start phase of the workflow to edit it.
2. Navigate to Form, then click ADD SECTION and enter a section name.
3. Select the following from the dropdown lists:
   1. Predefined: Vendor
   2. Custom Data Group: The custom group that contains the Update Request Form Status field.
4. Click Save.

You should then hide this field on the workflow form, so that vendors cannot update it manually. To do this: 

1. Click the cog icon to access the workflow configuration.
   
2. Locate the form section that contains the Update Request Form Status field.
3. Select Hidden from the dropdown list on the start phase, then click the copy icon.
   
4. Select the checkboxes for all other phases in the workflow. This will apply the settings for this section from the start phase to all other phases.
   

Part 2 - Configure AutoActions

After adding the field to the workflow form, you'll need to configure the AutoActions so that it can be updated automatically. To do this:

1. Click to edit the ⚙️ AutoUpdate | Set Status ⚙️ phase.
2. From Actions, click Edit AutoAction Values alongside AutoAction | Update Vendor.
3. Navigate to the new custom status field, then select the value as Update In Progress.
4. Click Save.
5. Click to edit the Update Completed ☑️ phase.
6. From Actions, click Edit AutoAction Values alongside AutoAction | Update Vendor.
7. Navigate to the new custom status field, then select the value as Form Available.
8. Click Save.

 

Configure the Trigger

After creating the custom field, you need to configure the trigger using this as a condition:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
   
2. Expand the 3 dots on the relevant workflow, then select Workflow Triggers.
3. Click the Update Request Form Permitted trigger.
4. Click ➕ ADD to assign the field you created as the trigger condition, as below:
   1. Update Request Form Status  ➡️  is one of  ➡️  Form Available ✅

Assign an Owner for the Update Vendor Phase

This workflow is designed to make it easier for vendors to request updates. However, it’s not recommended that their changes are automatically updated within your repository. To maintain control, you can assign a stakeholder or team to review and approve these requests before they are applied. To do this:

1. Click to edit the Internal Data Review 🧑‍💻 phase.
2. From Form Access, select the relevant radio button to determine the owner of this phase.

🛠 Additional Configuration 🛠️

This section covers optional steps to adjust the workflow’s scope or default settings, helping you tailor it to your organisation’s needs.

Add Additional Vendor Metadata to the Update Form

By default, the request form allows vendors to update their core metadata. However, if you have added custom data, you can give vendors the option to update this too. To configure this:

1. Click the start phase of the workflow to edit it.
2. Navigate to Form, then click ADD SECTION and enter a section name.
3. Select the following from the dropdown lists:
   1. Predefined: Vendor
   2. Custom Data Group: The custom group that you want to make available to vendor users.
4. Click Save.

Repeat these steps for any custom groups you wish to add.

 

Restrict Access for Vendor Portal Users

By default, this form will be available for any vendor user who has access to the Vendor Portal. However, you may want to limit this to a designated contact or representative. To do this:

1. Click the start phase of the workflow to edit it.
2. From Form Access, select the Vendor | Owner radio button. This removes access for all other vendor users.

Add a NetSuite Sync to the Update

If you have set up a Gatekeeper ↔️ NetSuite connection using our native integration, you can make sure any updates made via this workflow are synced to NetSuite. To do this:

1. Click to edit the Internal Data Review 🧑‍💻 phase.
2. From Actions, select the Sync to NetSuite on Action checkbox alongside Update Vendor.

Additional Setup Outside the Workflow

If you’ve followed all of the steps above, your workflow is nearly ready to launch. However, to help the process run as smoothly and reliably as possible, there are a few additional areas of your Gatekeeper tenant worth reviewing.

Populate Vendor Owners

This workflow relies on your vendors having access to the Vendor Portal to complete the form. Therefore, you should check that vendors have at least one activated Vendor Portal user. A simple way to check is by navigating to the vendor repository and configuring the columns to display Vendor Manager.

Add the Custom Status Field to Other Workflows

It's recommended to add the new custom field to your vendor onboarding workflow to ensure this form is automatically made available to any new vendors you onboard. To do this:

1. Navigate to your vendor onboarding workflow and click the start phase to edit it.
2. Navigate to Form, then click ADD SECTION and enter a section name.
3. Select the following from the dropdown lists:
   1. Predefined: Vendor
   2. Custom Data Group: The custom group that contains the Update Request Form Status field.
4. Click Save.
5. To set the section to be Hidden on all phases, click the cog icon to access the workflow configuration.
6. Locate the form section that contains the Update Request Form Status field.
7. Select Hidden from the dropdown list on the start phase, then click the copy icon.
8. Select the checkboxes for all other phases in the workflow. This will apply the settings for this section from the start phase to all other phases.
   
9. To make sure the field is updated when a vendor is successfully onboarded, click to edit the Done phase.
10. From Actions, ensure the AutoAction: Update Vendor checkbox is selected, then click Edit AutoAction Values.
11. Navigate to the custom status field, then select Form Available ✅ as the value.

 

⚡️Getting Started⚡️

Activate the Trigger

Once your workflow is fully configured, simply activate the triggers to make it live:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
   
2. Expand the 3 dots on the relevant workflow, then select Workflow Triggers.

3. Click to open the Update Request Form Permitted trigger.

4. Click the  pencil icon on Trigger Status.
5. Select Live from the dropdown list, then click Update.

 

Bulk Trigger for Existing Vendors

To make this form available to all already-onboarded vendors without updating each status individually, watch the video for a walkthrough on triggering the workflow in bulk or follow the steps below.

 

1. From the navigation menu, click Vendors.
2. Click Export, then select CSV | All Pages.
3. Open the CSV file and locate the custom status field column, then input the relevant value for all vendors you want to make the form available to and save the file.
4. Return to Gatekeeper and click Add, then select Bulk Import.
5. Click Choose File to locate your import file, then click Upload.
6. Review the Summary and click Import Data to finalise the import.

The request form will now be available for the appropriate vendors.

Additional Reading 📚

• ⚡️ Vendor Portal Expert - Invitation Emails - Learn how to configure the invitation emails for new vendor users.
• ⚡️ Vendor Portal Expert - Workflow Card Instructions ⚡️ - Learn how to embed guidance in your workflows to avoid confusion and delays for vendor users.