Assign Supplier Utility

If you have read the description of the Specification List's "Supplier" fields, you know that any specification can have both a primary vendor (manufacturer) and an optional supplier vendor (from which the item will actually be ordered). These can be assigned individually, but if you have a group of products that will be purchased from the same supplier, you can use this utility to assign a supplier to many specs at one time (or replace an existing supplier with a different one).

You do not need to select a supplier if the primary vendor will be the source of the product (that is, if purchase orders will be sent to the primary vendor). This will happen automatically, so the only time you need to select a separate supplier is when the product is not being purchased directly (for example, not being purchased from the manufacturer).

The utility is accessed through the Utility button on the Specifications List screen, which will display the utilities that include the Assign Supplier button. This button will display the setup form for assigning suppliers:

The utility works by allowing you to 1) select a scope with which to filter the specifications in your project and then 2) select a supplier. It then assigns all the matching specifications to the one you select. It does not change the primary vendor. You can use the utility repeatedly to add more specifications to the same supplier's "group." You can also use the utility for most of your specifications that can be matched to a scope, then manually assign "loners" by simply editing them in the usual way.

Since some suppliers have their own "Supplier Item #" that is different from the manufacturer's model number, the utility clears this field if you replace a supplier with a different one. This prevents accidentally using an invalid item number, but requires that you enter the item numbers manually after you are change a group of specs.

Setup Controls

The following options can be used to control which specifications are affected by the utility:

Assign all specs	The "Assign all specs" options allow these main scopes: All specs from a particular primary vendor/manufacturer All specs currently assigned to a particular supplier All specs with Spec IDs that begin with a particular prefix All specs with a particular code value All specs in the project.
...to this supplier	Select the supplier to which you want to assign the specs in the selected scope. Note that only vendors with the "Supplier" flag marked on the Vendor List screen will appear here. You can also "unassign" a group of specs by selecting the "(N/A") as the "supplier." This resets the value to "no supplier."
Clear "Supplier Item #" entries...	If you have entered separate "Item #" entries for an existing supplier, these will be unlikely to be valid for a new supplier being assigned to those items. By default, the system will clear this field if the supplier being assigned does not match an existing one and to avoid mis-ordering, we recommend that you leave this option checked. This also applies if the "new" supplier is "no supplier" as discussed above. For this reason, we do not recommend storing any other information in this field. Note: This utility does not affect the "Catalog/Model #" field in any way.
Selected Scope	This list shows you which specifications have been selected by the scope you have set up above. Be sure to review the list carefully in case there are any exceptions that have been included. If there are, you can either assign the specifications manually or note the exceptions and do the assignment here, but manually "unassign" those you do not wish to be associated with the selected supplier.
Assign	This command button performs the assignment function, then returns you to the main Specification List screen. Please note that if anyone else has an eligible specification in "editing" mode, the utility will fail and no changes will be recorded. A message letting you know this will be displayed and you can try again when the conflicting editing is finished and saved.