Supplier Tiers

You can define preferred suppliers by setting a tier in the supplier agreement. The tier controls the display in the Sourcing section when setting up a request. Suppliers that appear in a defined tier and (and have the tiers added when creating a request) are displayed and selected by default. Tier behavior is configured at the OpUnit level for both staffing and project request types. For more information about setting up tier releasing, see Sourcing Configuration.

Tiers are defined for a combination of job category, client location, and request type. You configure the tiers for the combination at the supplier agreement level. Suppliers are automatically notified for open requests based on their tier. You can configure the time interval for notification of different tiers at the OpUnit level.

Note: The automation only notifies suppliers over the business week, Monday through Friday.

The tier hierarchy is set up with tier 1 being the top. Suppliers defined at tier 1 are displayed to client managers first. After a set number of days, if the requisition is not filled, the application displays suppliers in tier 2, and so on. Client managers also have the ability to search for a specific supplier, or search from a configured supplier pool, if the location has the search feature enabled.

The MSP has the ability to view all suppliers for a requisition, regardless of the tier definition. You can remove a supplier from notification by deselecting the supplier from the default list when creating a request. If a supplier does not appear, you can add the supplier to the request using the Request Suppliers Not Shown functionality. For more information about this function, see Request Suppliers Not Shown.