Supplier and subcontractor portal

The project portal has two sides. Your client follows progress, approves and pays (see Client project portal). Your subcontractors and suppliers get their own page on the same website:

• the work orders you issued them on the project, with what is left to bill on each line
• a form to claim work done, which you certify into their bill
• their bills, payments, retention held and what is still owed
• their compliance papers (trade licence, insurance and the like), with expiry dates

A supplier sees only their own orders, bills and payments. They never see your client's contract, the project budget, other suppliers or your margin.

Before you start

1. The portal is switched on for a store: Ecommerce > Stores & Domains > Client portal. Applying the Studio, Build or Consult template switches it on for you.
2. The supplier has a purchase order on the project. Raise it in Purchase as usual, with the project set on the document. A supplier with nothing on the project cannot be invited, because there would be nothing for them to see.
3. For claims, the order is a service order. Set the document's nature to Service when you raise it. Goods are billed against what you received, so a goods order shows on the supplier's page but takes no claims.
4. Retention, if you hold any, is set on the purchase order (for example 5%). It carries to every bill raised from it.

Invite a supplier's people

1. Open the project and go to the Suppliers tab. Every supplier with a purchase order or bill on the project is listed.
2. Under the supplier, enter the person's name and email and choose what they may do:
   • See their orders and bills is always included.
   • Open documents is for documents you share later.
   • Claim and send papers lets them submit claims and send compliance papers.
3. Select Invite. The invitation is emailed through your company's email gateway. With no gateway switched on, you are given the link to send yourself.

The person accepts the invitation on your website and chooses a password. Their project then shows under My projects, marked Supplier, and opens their supplier page.

To change what someone may do, tick or untick the boxes against their name. Withdraw ends their access at once.

How a claim works

1. The supplier claims. On their page, under the work order, they open Claim work done. They enter the quantity done since their last claim on each line, the date the work runs to, and their name. A line cannot be claimed beyond what is left to bill on it.
2. You are told. The claim is emailed to your company address and appears on the project's Suppliers tab as To certify.
3. You certify or reject it.
   • To certify, leave each line as claimed, or type a lower quantity where less was done. Add a note to the supplier if you cut anything. You cannot certify more than was claimed.
   • Select Certify. A supplier bill is raised from the work order for the certified quantities, at the order's rates, tax and retention. It goes through the purchase flow like any bill keyed in by hand: your approval rules and posting apply.
   • To reject, write the reason (the supplier reads it) and select Reject.
4. The supplier sees the outcome: the certified amount, the bill number, and your note.

Only one claim per work order waits at a time. The supplier can withdraw a claim nobody has decided yet and submit a corrected one.

Certifying needs the Projects: budget permission, because it commits cost. Filing and reviewing papers and inviting people need Projects: portal.

Payments and retention

When you pay a supplier bill in Purchase, the supplier's page shows:

• Paid to you: what reached them, after retention.
• Retention held: what you kept back, less any retention you have since released.
• Still to be paid and Overdue.
• Each payment, with the bill it paid and the retention withheld from it.

For example, a bill of 4,830 on a 5% retention order, paid in full, shows 4,588.50 paid and 241.50 held. In your books, the payment clears the supplier's 4,830 balance, pays 4,588.50 from the bank and moves 241.50 to Retention Payable.

Compliance papers

A paper is a trade licence, insurance policy, tax registration, safety certificate, bank details letter or anything else you need on file.

• The supplier sends one from their page: its kind, a title, its number and expiry date, and the file (PDF or a photo, up to 10 MB).
• You can file one yourself on the Suppliers tab.
• Each new paper waits as Being reviewed until you Accept or Reject it (with a reason). Select Open to read it first.
• Accepting a paper replaces the older accepted one of the same kind.

An expired paper stops certification. When the accepted paper of any kind is past its expiry date, the supplier's claims cannot be certified, and both you and the supplier see why. The supplier can still submit claims. Accept a current copy and certify as normal. Papers expiring within 30 days are marked so you can ask for the renewal in time.

Check it works

1. Raise a Service purchase order on a test project for a supplier, with 5% retention.
2. On the project's Suppliers tab, invite yourself (with another email address) with Claim and send papers.
3. Accept the invitation, open the project from My projects, and claim part of one line.
4. Back on the Suppliers tab, certify it with one quantity lowered. A supplier bill is raised; open it in Purchase.
5. Pay the bill. The supplier page shows the payment, with the retention held.
6. File an expired trade licence for the supplier and accept it. Submit another claim and try to certify it: it is refused, naming the licence. Accept a current licence and certify.

What is not here yet

• Suppliers cannot download their work orders or bills as PDFs from the portal yet.
• Documents are not yet shared with suppliers separately from the client; Open documents is reserved for that.
• Claims are by quantity on the order's lines. Claims by percentage of a lump sum come with the remaining industry packs.