Use cases by role
Purchasing: onboarding a supplier without chasing them
Onboarding with complete paperwork, signed contracts and expiries under control.
Onboarding a supplier is one of those tasks that looks like five minutes and takes three weeks: you request six documents by email, four come back, the fifth is expired and the sixth does not arrive until you phone. And meanwhile the purchase order cannot be issued.
What to ask for at onboarding
- Tax details and clearance certificates from the tax and social security authorities.
- Liability insurance, with its expiry date.
- Bank details, which are better requested as data than as a loose PDF.
- Accepted terms: payment periods, quality policy, confidentiality clauses.
- Whatever your sector requires: certifications, approvals, licences.
Important
Bank details requested over email are the classic vector for invoice fraud: someone intercepts the thread and sends a different account number. Asking for them inside a circuit with a personal link and a record of who supplied them closes that door.
The contract, in the same circuit
Usually the document onboarding and the framework contract signature take separate paths: one by email and one through a signing service. Putting them in the same process, as two phases, means the contract does not go out for signature until the paperwork is approved — which is the correct order and almost never the one followed.
Before paying
Checking that the tax clearance certificate is still valid at the moment of payment, rather than at onboarding, is what avoids joint liability. With the expiry date on record, that check stops being a reminder in somebody's calendar.
Frequently asked questions
›Can I use the same process for every supplier?
You can, but one per type usually works better: a services supplier is not asked the same things as a materials supplier or a haulier.
›What about suppliers we already work with who have no file?
Run the process on them anyway. Because it is a link and not a portal sign-up, friction is low and most reply.
›How do I handle annual renewals?
With the expiry date on each document. The alert fires before it lapses and you can re-request only what expires, not the whole onboarding.
›Does it integrate with our ERP?
There is a public API: onboarding can be triggered from the ERP and the outcome returned to it when the file closes.
A real case
The situation
Purchasing needs to issue an urgent order to a new supplier and onboarding normally takes two weeks.
What you do
- Runs the onboarding process with its two phases: paperwork and contract
- The supplier uploads everything from a phone the same day
- The contract goes out for signature as soon as the paperwork is approved
What you get
The order is issued in 48 hours instead of two weeks, and with a complete file rather than in spite of one.
The situation
Supplier onboarding takes weeks of emails.
What you do
- Launches the process and lets it chase itself
What you get
Onboarding closes without chasing.
The situation
Each buyer asks for different documents.
What you do
- Shares a single template
What you get
The supplier receives a coherent request.
The situation
Purchases are made from a supplier with no file.
What you do
- Launches onboarding with the first order
What you get
No supplier gets in without a file.
The situation
Nobody knows which suppliers are current.
What you do
- Checks everyone's status at once
What you get
You buy knowingly.
The situation
A supplier asks what they are missing.
What you do
- Shows them their own list
What you get
They answer for themselves.
This article answers
- supplier onboarding documentation
- how to request a tax clearance certificate from a supplier
- track supplier contracts and agreed terms
- validate tax paperwork before paying a supplier
- software for a purchasing department