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Facility Account: Adding a Non-Interfaced Vendor and DC to Your Account

Kevin U
  • Updated

Overview

A facility account may have the ability to add to its account a non-interfaced vendor and an associated distribution center (DC) that exists in the system. (This ability depends on the facility account's permissions granted by its parent corporate account.) 

Alternatively, a facility account can create a new vendor and its DC to add to its account (i.e., a local vendor).

Once the vendor and DC are added, then its vendor product list will need to be manually uploaded and subsequently maintained with future uploads:

There are two types of non-interfaced vendors that can be added to your account:

  • Managed vendor (aka system vendor) - a vendor and its DCs that exist in the system and can be selected by an account. With a managed vendor, its products are also maintained in the system, meaning they will be verified and linked to their appropriate food items (i.e., ingredient or prepared food). Note that a managed vendor is also referred to as a system vendor. 
     
  • Account-specific vendor (i.e., user-maintained vendor) - a local vendor and its DCs that are manually created by your account. Because the vendor is specific to your account, any products added by your account will only be specific to your account, and as such you will have to request that the products be verified and linked to the appropriate food items (i.e., ingredient or prepared food) in the system (see Suggesting a Vendor Product be Linked to a Food Item). Note that in the system an account-specific vendor is also referred to as "user-maintained vendor".

Adding a Managed Vendor (i.e., System Vendor) and DC

Assuming as a facility account you have the permissions granted by your corporate account to add a managed vendor (i.e., system vendor) and DC, complete the following steps to add a managed vendor and DC. 

  1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Procurement > Vendors & Products. The Vendors screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Add New button. The Add Vendor slide-out panel appears (screenshot below). 
     
  3. The Search Our Managed Vendors drop-down at the bottom of the slide-out panel contains the vendor available in the system. Search for and select the vendor. Once selected, the vendor slide-out panel appears. 

    Note: If the Search Our Managed Vendors drop-down is not available, it indicates that you do not have the permissions granted by your corporate account to add a system vendor. 

    existing_vendor.png

    Note: If the system vendor is not available from the Search Our Managed Vendors drop-down, it could be that your parent account has published a locked approved purchasing list (APL) to your account for that vendor. An APL is ideal for a parent account to control what vendor products their child accounts can purchase, and if the parent account sets the APL as "locked", it indicates the highest level of control. To see if an APL is published to your account, click here. 
     
  4. In the What is your Customer Number field, enter your customer number with the vendor.
     
  5. In the Which Distribution Center/store do you purchase from? field, select the DC your facility purchases from.
     
  6. If the DC is not available, then click the Request New link to refresh the screen with the following fields:
    • Distribution Center/Store Name - enter the name of the DC.
    • Distribution Center/Store ID - enter the ID of the DC.

      request_new_DC.png

      When you save the vendor, the system will send your request for a new DC to MealSuite Support. Once approved, the DC will be created and available for use in the vendor account. You will be notified via email and also on the home page (accessed by clicking logo at top left of screen).
       
  7. Click Save. The Vendor Name - DC Name is listed on the Vendors Listing screen (Procurement > Vendors & Products). In addition, a message appears asking you if you want to import product. Click No, Thanks to the message, and instead see When to Import Product List section below for your next steps.

    import_products.png

When to Import Product List

Importing the product list depends if your account or your parent account will maintain the vendor product list:

If your Account Will Maintain the Vendor Product List:

If your Parent Account Will Maintain the Vendor Product List:

Contact your parent account to publish the vendor product list. They can refer to the Importing Vendor Product List from Excel® File for instructions. 

parent_publish_vendor_product_list.png

Requesting an Account-Specific Vendor and its DC (i.e., Local Vendor)

A facility account can request a vendor and DC specific to its account whose products the facility orders from. For example, a local dairy vendor with a fixed product catalog. To request a vendor and DC for your account, complete the following steps:

  1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Procurement > Vendors & Products. The Vendors screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Add New button. The Add Vendor slide-out panel appears.
     
  3. Click the Create My Own Vendor button. The New Vendor Request slide-out panel appears.

    new_vendor_request_facility.png
     
  4. In the Vendor Name field, enter the name of the vendor. 
     
  5. If the vendor is to be used for demo or testing purposes, then you can select the Test/Demo Vendor check box. You can select this check box to identify the vendor for testing or demo purposes. This setting can then be used as a filter by MealSuite Nutrition Services team when verifying vendor products for food items.
     
  6. In the What is your Customer Number field, enter your customer number with the vendor. 
     
  7. In the Distribution Center/Store Name field, enter the name of the distribution center/store you purchase from. In the Distribution Center/Store ID, enter the ID of the distribution center/store you purchase from.
     
  8. Click Request. The system will send your request for a new vendor and DC to MealSuite Support.
     
  9. When the request for the new vendor and DC is approved, the Vendor Name - DC Name combination is listed on the Vendors Listing screen (Procurement > Vendors & Products). You will be notified via email and also on the home page (accessed by clicking logo at top left of screen).
     
  10. To import a product list, or add individuals products, for your newly-created vendor/DC, see Uploading Vendor Product List (e.g., Order Guide) / Adding Individual Products.

Note Regarding Locked APL Published to Child Account from the Parent

When a child account is using a Locked APL published from their parent account, the vendor product list associated with the vendor of that APL is hidden from the Vendors screen (Procurement > Vendors & Products) in the child account. 

FAQs

From the Search Our Managed Vendors drop-down, the options Sysco Consolidated Master and Sysco - Managed are available? Can I use them and if so, what is the difference?

The options Sysco Consolidated Master and Sysco-Managed may appear from the Search Our Managed Vendors drop-down.

Please ignore these options and do not attempt to activate Sysco via the non-interfaced vendor activation process above. Sysco is an interfaced vendor, and as such has a different activation method. 

As to a reason why these options may show in the drop-down, it is related to a unique process involving third-party integration services to connect to interface-enabled vendors that some accounts use. It is recognized by the MealSuite product team that these options should not appear, and as such may be removed in a future release.