Key tasks: Work with vendor search and search results

  • Article

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

You may want to select a group of vendors or locate a specific vendor in your organization's list of approved vendors. For example, you are creating a request for quotations (RFQ), and you want to contact all of the approved vendors who are in a specific geographical area. Because your organization has many vendors, locating all of the vendors that you want can be time-consuming. However, you can search for a vendor or a group of vendors by defining criteria, such as geographical area, in the Vendor search form.

In the search results, you can view the profile for current, prospective, and unsolicited vendors. You can request to add an unsolicited vendor as an approved vendor for your organization. If your assigned role has the required permissions, you can create an RFQ, a purchase requisition, or a purchase order for a current vendor. You can also add a current vendor to another legal entity and create a new vendor from an unsolicited vendor who is listed in the search results.

What do you want to do?

Select search criteria

Modify search criteria

View a vendor profile from search results

View the transaction history for a current vendor

Create a request for quotation for a current vendor

Create a purchase requisition for a current vendor

Create a purchase order for a current vendor

Add a current vendor to another legal entity

Create a current vendor from an unsolicited vendor

Request to add an unsolicited vendor

Find form help

Select search criteria

Use this procedure to select your search criteria. The search criteria that you select are combined. For example, if you select a city and a procurement category, the search results contain only vendors who are in the selected city and the selected procurement category.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. In the Vendor search criteria form, select the types of vendors that you want to include in your search:

    • Current vendors – Include vendors who are approved to do business with your organization.

    • Prospective vendors – Include prospective vendors. Requests to add these vendors are in review.

    • Unsolicited vendors – Include vendors who have requested to do business with your organization.

    • Employees that are vendors – Include vendors who are also employees of your organization.

    • All legal entities – Include all vendors in all legal entities of your organization.

  3. On the Common criteria FastTab, select procurement categories, part of a vendor name, a location, and diversity status classifications that apply to all vendor types.

  4. On the Vendor specific criteria FastTab, select criteria that apply only to approved vendors, such as a hold status and procurement category. If you want to search for vendor performance ratings in a specific procurement category, select the vendor evaluation criterion group or vendor evaluation criteria that you want to include in your search.

  5. On the Advanced search query FastTab, you can view and modify the search expression that represents your search criteria. If you want to search for specific words, enter terms in the Enter search expression field, and then click Update.

  6. To view the number of vendors of each type that are returned by your search criteria, click the Refresh link in the Search results summary section.

  7. To view the search results, click OK.

Back to top

Modify search criteria

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Action Pane, click Search criteria.

  4. In the Vendor search criteria form, modify your search criteria.

    Tip

    To view the number of vendors of each type that your modified search criteria return, click the Refresh link in the Search results summary section.

  5. Click OK to view the results of your modified search.

Back to top

View a vendor profile from search results

Use this procedure to view the profile of a current, prospective, or unsolicited vendor who is listed in the search results.

To remove a vendor from the list, select the check box on the row for the vendor, and then click Remove.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, click Details to open the Vendors form.

  4. On the Prospective vendors FastTab, click Details to open the Prospective vendor profile form.

  5. On the Unsolicited vendors FastTab, click Details to open the Unsolicited vendors form.

Back to top

View the transaction history for a current vendor

Use this procedure to view the transactions, such as invoices and payments, with a vendor who is listed in the Current vendors search results.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, select the vendor that you want to view transactions for.

  4. Click Inquiries, and then click Transactions to open the Vendor transactions form.

Back to top

Create a request for quotation for a current vendor

Use this procedure to create a request for quotation (RFQ) for a vendor who is listed in the Current vendors search results.

You can create an RFQ for a current vendor if the vendor has a hold status of No, Invoice, Payment, or Never. You cannot create an RFQ if the vendor has a hold status of All or Requisition. A vendor can have the following hold statuses:

  • No – No transaction types are on hold for the vendor.

  • Invoice – No invoices can be created or posted for the vendor.

  • All – All transactions with this vendor are on hold.

  • Payment – No payments can be generated for the vendor.

  • Requisition – No requisitions can be created for the vendor.

  • Never – No transaction types are on hold for the vendor, and the vendor cannot automatically be put on hold because of inactivity. This status is used for vendors who are used regularly but infrequently. For example, you can use the Never hold status for a vendor who does some kind of annual maintenance.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, select the vendor that you want to create an RFQ for.

  4. Click Functions, and then click Request for quotation to open the New request for quotation form. For more information about how to create an RFQ, see New request for quotation (form).

Back to top

Create a purchase requisition for a current vendor

Use this procedure to create a new purchase requisition for a vendor who is listed in the Current vendors search results. You cannot create a purchase requisition for a vendor who has a hold status of Requisition. For more information about vendor holds, see "Create a request for quotation for a current vendor," earlier in this topic.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, click Purchase requisition to open the Prepare a new purchase requisition form. For more information about how to create purchase requisitions, see Key tasks: Create and submit a purchase requisition.

Back to top

Create a purchase order for a current vendor

Use this procedure to create a new purchase order for a vendor who is listed in the Current vendors search results. You can create purchase orders only for vendors who have a hold status of No. A status of No indicates that there is no hold on transactions with the vendor. For more information about vendor holds, see "Create a request for quotation for a current vendor," earlier in this topic.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, select the vendor that you want to create a purchase order for.

  4. Click Functions, and then click Purchase order.

  5. In the Transfer vendor information? dialog box, click Yes to copy the name, address, buyer group, currency, and language from the vendor profile to the new purchase order. Click No if you want to copy only the vendor name and address to the new purchase order. For more information about how to create a purchase order, see Create purchase order (form).

Back to top

Use this procedure to add a vendor who is listed in the Current vendors search results to another legal entity in your organization.

Note

To perform this task, you must select All legal entities in your search criteria.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Current vendors FastTab, select a vendor.

  4. Click Add vendor to another legal entity.

  5. In the Add vendor to another legal entity form, select a legal entity. Select a vendor group, currency, and vendor hold status, if there is any hold for the vendor, and then click OK.

  6. In the Vendors form, enter any additional information about the vendor for the selected legal entity.

Back to top

Create a current vendor from an unsolicited vendor

Use this procedure to create a new vendor for your organization from a vendor who is listed in the Unsolicited vendors search results. Your assigned role must have permissions to create new vendors.

Note

If your assigned role does not have permissions to create new vendors, you can request to add an unsolicited vendor. See "Request to add an unsolicited vendor," later in this topic.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Unsolicited vendors FastTab, select an unsolicited vendor.

  4. Click Functions, and then click Create new vendor.

  5. In the Add vendor to another legal entity form, select the legal entity that you want to add the vendor to.

  6. Select a vendor group and a currency for the vendor.

  7. Select a vendor hold status, if there is any hold for the vendor, and then click OK. For more information about vendor holds, see "Create a request for quotation for a current vendor," earlier in this topic.

  8. In the Vendors form, enter any additional information, such as contact information, about the new vendor.

Back to top

Request to add an unsolicited vendor

Use this procedure to request to add an unsolicited vendor to your organization as an approved vendor.

  1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Inquiries > Vendors > Vendor search.

  2. Select search criteria, and then click OK.

  3. In the Vendor search results form, on the Unsolicited vendors FastTab, select a vendor.

  4. Click Functions, and then click Create vendor request to open a new vendor request on the Vendor requests page in Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

  5. Complete and submit your request to add the unsolicited vendor.

Back to top

Find form help

Vendor search criteria (form)

Vendor search results (form)

New request for quotation (form)

Purchase requisitions (form)

Purchase order (form)

Unsolicited vendors (form)

Add vendor to legal entities (form)