Use cases by capability
Offboarding a supplier
Onboarding gets documented in detail and offboarding barely at all, which is where the loose ends are.
Onboarding a supplier means asking for everything. When you stop working with them, usually nothing happens: you just stop calling. And that leaves open ends that surface months later, almost always at the worst moment.
What to close
- 1
Any access they held
If they entered your systems or premises, withdraw it the same day.
- 2
What was left half-done
Open orders, live warranties, consigned stock, borrowed tools.
- 3
The documentation you must keep
It is not deleted on offboarding: obligations run their own periods.
- 4
And the reason, in one written line
Price, quality, they closed down. It stops you re-hiring them by mistake in three years.
Important
The fourth looks like bureaucracy and is the opposite. Without it, two years on someone re-approves the very supplier there was a serious problem with, because whoever knew has left and the file only shows they stopped being used.
What not to do
| Temptation | Why not |
|---|---|
| Delete their file | Obligations and possible claims remain |
| Leave them active "in case they come back" | They appear in lists and alerts, polluting counts |
| Say nothing to the team | Someone will keep asking them for things for months |
Watch out
The second is commonest. A supplier neither active nor closed keeps receiving automatic documentation renewal requests, which is awkward for them and consumes on your side for no purpose.
If the exit is contentious
The history includes what went well, not only what went badly. A claim stands up better when you can show the whole year and not just the last month.
Worth knowing
The same scheme suits offboarding a client, an external collaborator or a subcontractor. What must be returned changes; that the exit is documented like the entry does not.
›How long must their file be kept?
Whatever the applicable obligations and claim periods require, with margin.
›What if they work with us again?
Reactivate with current documentation; the earlier history stays and is useful.
›Must it be communicated formally?
It depends on the contract: where notice is agreed, that communication has a form and a deadline.
A real case
The situation
A company stops using a supplier and two years later re-approves them.
What you do
- Writes the reason for offboarding in their file
- Closes access and outstanding items the same day
What you get
The next approval happens knowing what occurred, instead of repeating the problem.
The situation
You stop working with a supplier and their file stays open and active.
What you do
- Closes the file, stating the reason
- Revokes their access and stops the reminders
- Retains the history per the retention policy
What you get
The active supplier list becomes true again and the history still exists.
The situation
The supplier is deleted and the history of what they supplied vanishes.
What you do
- Archives rather than deletes
What you get
What happened stays consultable.
The situation
They keep receiving reminders months later.
What you do
- Stops the open processes on closing
What you get
Nobody receives requests from an ended relationship.
The situation
Work resumes with them the following year.
What you do
- Reopens the file with its history
What you get
Nothing already provided is lost.
The situation
Nobody knows which suppliers are genuinely active.
What you do
- Periodically reviews those with no activity for a while
What you get
The list reflects who you actually work with.
This article answers
- ending work with a supplier
- supplier offboarding documentation
- what to do when a supply contract ends
- closing a supplier relationship