Vendor Import Tool
- Brian Holmertz
Analytics
The Vendor Import Tool allows a user to quickly add many vendors to their Procurement site quickly and accurately, and link their vendor records to the Procurement master vendor database.
Why do I want my vendors matched to the Procurement master vendor database?
Allows the vendor to support you (they can log in and view your orders and invoices with them)
Allows Procurement staff to better support you
Allows for integrations to be set up, if they are available for the vendor
Allows for more robust reporting
The import process is as follows:
Prepare your import file
Upload your file and match columns
Review and correct errors
Review and confirm vendor records matched against the master vendor database
Step 1: Prepare your import file
Template / Format
There is a template you can download from the tool, but you do not have to use it. You will be able to map columns after you upload your file. The file can be in .xlsx, .xls, or .csv format. Required fields:
Vendor Name
Address line 1
City
State
Zip
EIN
EIN or Tax ID is the single most accurate way to match your vendor records with the Procurement Master Vendor Database. We highly recommend you include this information if possible.
Facility Name
You can use the word ‘ALL’ if all locations should have access to the vendor. Alternatively, you can use the name of a Portfolio that you have set up, to give locations within that Portfolio access to the vendor. You can also use the exact facility name to link just that facility to that vendor. If you want to link the vendor to multiple specific facilities, but not all, you can list the vendor multiple times, once for each location. Please note that the general vendor information must match for the same vendor record across locations. For example, you cannot tie two facilities to the same vendor, but have different phone numbers for that vendor. That will result in an error on the Error Review step. Here are the fields where this rule applies:
Vendor Ref Number
Address line 1
Address line 2
City
State
Zip
Phone
Fax
Email address
EIN (Tax ID)
Default GL Account or GL Group tied to the vendor (there can be differences per Customer AP Platform but not per facility within the same CAP.)
Vendor Account Number
Because this is facility-specific data, you cannot include a vendor account number if ALL or a Portfolio name is used on the import file for the given vendor.
Default GL
You can specify a GL Account Code or GL Group Name here. You cannot specify different a different default GL for the same vendor for different facilities within the same Customer AP Platform.
Step 2: Upload your file and match columns
Step 3: Review and Correct Errors
Procurement will perform data validations after the file is uploaded. You will be taken to a results screen with the rows color coded according to whether there are errors or not. If there are no errors, the row is green. If there are errors, the row is light red. You are allowed to edit the data in the rows where there are errors. You can save and resubmit the import to re-run the validation. You cannot proceed with the import until there are no rows in error.
The following are the validation rules:
The number of characters in a field cannot exceed the maximum allowed characters in the field.
Invalid characters for a field are not allowed.
If multiple facilities are listed for the same vendor, and there are differences in the data where there cannot be differences per facility, this causes validation to fail.
Vendor Ref Number
Address line 1
Address line 2
City
State
Zip
Phone
Fax
Email address
EIN (Tax ID)
Default GL Account or GL Group tied to the vendor (there can be differences per Customer AP Platform but not per facility within the same CAP.)
A given facility cannot be listed more than once for the same vendor.
Vendor Account Number must be blank/empty when ALL or Portfolio was indicated for Facility Name.
Facility Name has to be an existing Facility.
Portfolio Name has to be an existing Portfolio.
All required fields must have valid data.
Step 4: Review and confirm vendor records matched against the Procurement Master Vendor Database
After the upload contains all valid records with no errors, Procurement performs a check against the Procurement Master Vendor Database (PMVD) using the following steps:
First, a check is performed against the EIN (Employer Identification Number - Federal Tax ID).
If no match is found with EIN, or if no EIN is provided, Procurement will send the vendor address to a third party to normalize the address (just like USPS address validation), and then attempts to match the vendor to the PMVD using the normalized address.
If no exact match is found by address, a match is attempted based simply on the vendor name (a “fuzzy” search is utilized).
If no match is found by vendor name, the vendor is considered unmatched.
After the matching process is complete, you will be presented with the results in the form of four tabs, indicating how the vendors were matched. You need to review each tab with results and Confirm the results (whether matched or not). If one of your vendors was matched to a Master Vendor and you believe the match is incorrect, you can choose a different Master Vendor or clear the match completely, before confirming.
Confirmed vendors are moved to the Confirmed tab. Once all vendors are in the Confirmed tab, click on the Confirmed tab and then click Process to complete the import.