VRM — Vendor Relationship Management

Roles covered: Vendor Manager · Vendor Relations Supervisor · Procurement Key Account Manager
Primary modules: Vendors · Vendor Portal · Purchase Contracts · Vendor Items · Debit Notes · Activity Log · Notes

What VRM is in CRMConnect

VRM (Vendor Relationship Management) is the strategic approach to vendor relationships — not just transactions (what and when you buy), but the quality of the partnership: who your vendors are, how you communicate with them, what terms you have negotiated, how they perform, and how you manage their access to your platform.

CRMConnect treats vendors similarly to clients — they have a full profile, a dedicated portal, their own item catalogue, contracts, relationship notes and complete activity history.

Vendor relationship map

VENDOR PROFILE
  ├── Company data (VAT, address, bank, default currency)
  ├── Contacts (with individual portal access)
  ├── Internal responsible staff (pur_vendor_admin)
  ├── Vendor categories (what types of products/services they offer)
  └── Return policy (deadline, fee, conditions)

PRICE CATALOGUE
  ├── Items offered by vendor (vendor_items)
  ├── Price per item (vendor_purchase_price)
  └── Vendor item code (their internal SKU)

DOCUMENTS
  ├── RFQs sent → Quotes received
  ├── Purchase Orders (POs)
  ├── Purchase Contracts
  ├── Vendor Invoices + Tax Receipts
  ├── Debit Notes (credits, corrections)
  └── Purchase Returns

COMMUNICATION
  ├── Vendor Portal (self-service access)
  ├── Comments on documents (PO, quotes, contracts)
  ├── Internal notes (visible to staff only)
  ├── Automatic emails per event
  └── Activity log (complete audit trail)

Complete vendor profile

Where: /admin/purchase/vendors → open vendor record

Basic data

Return policy

Set per vendor — may be more or less permissive than the global setting in /admin/purchase/mysetting.

Vendor contacts

Where: Contacts tab from the vendor record

Each vendor can have multiple contacts with different roles (commercial director, sales agent, accounting, logistics).

Fields per contact:

Email preferences per document type:
Each contact can enable/disable notifications for:

• Invoices (invoice_emails)
• Purchase orders (estimate_emails)
• Contracts (contract_emails)
• Tickets and projects if relevant

Enabling portal access

When creating a contact or from the contact record → Send portal invitation:

• Vendor receives email with link and credentials
• Can log in at /purchase/vendors_portal/
• If send_email_welcome_for_new_contact = 1 → automatic email on creation

The Vendor Portal — what the vendor can do

Portal URL: /purchase/vendors_portal/

The vendor works in the portal without having access to your internal CRM. They only see documents that concern them.

Portal sections

RFQ → Quote flow in portal

You create RFQ in CRM → vendor receives email with link

Vendor in portal:
1. Opens the RFQ
2. Per item: ticks available / limited / unavailable
3. Fills in ETA if not immediately available
4. Adds offered prices and quantities
5. Saves → Quote appears in CRM at /admin/purchase/myquotations

Vendor item catalogue

Where (admin): /admin/purchase/vendor_items
Where (vendor portal): /purchase/vendors_portal/items

Price structure per vendor

Each item in your procurement catalogue can be associated with one or more vendors, each with their own price:

Extended catalogue (items_of_vendor)

Vendors can add their own items directly from the portal — products with:

• Code, name, long description
• Price, taxes, unit of measure
• Attributes (colour, size, model)
• Sharing status: private (you only) or public (visible in general catalogue)
• Barcode, SKU

Benefit: The vendor keeps your catalogue updated — new prices appear directly in CRM without sending Excel lists.

Vendor Contracts

Where: /admin/purchase/contracts

Types of procurement contracts

Strategic fields on contract

Renewal and expiry

• end_date — CRM monitors the expiry date
• Configure Workflow Automation for reminder 30/60 days before expiry
• On expiry: negotiate new terms → create new contract from template

Communication with vendors

Comments on documents

Each document (PO, quote, contract, invoice) has a comment thread visible both to internal staff and to the vendor in the portal:

• Internal staff adds comment → vendor sees it on portal login
• Vendor adds comment → staff receives notification in CRM
• Useful for: technical clarifications, price negotiations, special confirmations

Internal notes (visible to staff only)

Where: From vendor record → Notes tab

Notes related to the vendor relationship — not visible in portal:

• Feedback from negotiations
• Sensitive relationship points
• Communication preferences (e.g. "prefers calls, not emails")
• Quality assessment of previous deliveries

Activity log

All actions on a vendor's documents are automatically recorded in pur_activity_log:

• Who created/modified a PO
• When the vendor confirmed an order
• When invoices were paid
• Price changes in catalogue

Access: From vendor record → Activity tab (or from each document → Activity tab).

Automatic emails to vendors

The vendor receives an automatic email when:

Vendor performance evaluation

CRMConnect doesn't have a dedicated vendor scoring module, but you can build an evaluation based on existing data:

Available metrics from reports

Recommendation: structured evaluation notes

Create a convention for internal notes for quarterly evaluation:

[Q2 2026 Review]
Deliveries: 8/10 on time
Quality: 0 returns
Prices: +5% vs. framework contract
Communication: Responds in <24h
Recommendation: MAINTAIN - strategic vendor

Vendor segmentation

Use the Category field in the vendor profile to segment them strategically:

Internal responsible staff

Where: From vendor record → Admins tab → Add responsible

The pur_vendor_admin table maps an internal staff member to a vendor — the relationship manager:

• Receives document notifications for that vendor
• Responsible for negotiations and communication
• Appears as "buyer" on contracts and POs

Returns to Vendors

Where: /admin/purchase/purchase_orders → from the relevant PO → Create Return

When received goods have problems (defects, shortages, non-conformity):

1. Create return request referencing the PO and original receipt note
2. Specify returned items + quantities + reason
3. Vendor confirms return in portal (or communicate by email)
4. Goods leave stock (return delivery note)
5. You receive credit (debit note) or replacement

Return window: configurable globally in settings (pur_return_request_within_x_day, default 30 days) or per vendor (return_within_day in vendor profile).

VRM in numbers — recommended KPIs

Monitor these vendor relationship health indicators monthly:

Recommended VRM automations

Configurable in Workflow Automation (/admin/workflow_automation):

Quick reference

Workflows: Purchase to Pay · Full Commercial Cycle · Warehouse Inbound → Outbound

Modules: Vendors · Vendor Items · Purchase Contracts · Debit Notes · Vendor Invoices · RFQ · Purchase Orders

Related department: Acquisitions Department

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