How to add a supplier in ApprovalMax

This page covers adding a supplier while raising a bill or a purchase order, before the supplier has reached Xero's lists. An Administrator switches it on for each Requester who needs it, so the first part of the job is an Administrator's.

The permission is set person by person in the Requester matrix of the Purchase Order or Bill workflow, so the Administrator opens the workflow the person raises requests in. Each person's row needs Any existing Contact selected, which is the default, with Allow to create new Contact ticked.

Have the supplier's details ready before you start the request. Administrators can also stop Purchase Order Requesters from seeing Bank Details while they create a supplier.

1. As an Administrator, open your organisation from the main menu, then choose Approval workflows under Workflows and settings.
2. Open the Purchase Order or Bill workflow.
3. In the first step, click the Matrix icon to open the Requester matrix.
4. Next to the person who should be able to add suppliers, select Any existing Contact and tick the Allow to create new Contact checkbox.
5. Click DONE to save the setting.
6. As that Requester, start a purchase order or bill request and open the Supplier dropdown.
7. Choose New Contact and complete the new supplier's details.

ApprovalMax sends the new contact to Xero the moment it's created on the form, so it doesn't wait for the bill or purchase order to be approved.

In Xero it starts out as a contact, not yet a supplier. Xero's supplier status comes later, once an invoice from that contact's address has been received. Until then the new contact won't show in Xero's Supplier list, even though ApprovalMax called it a supplier when you added it.

Contacts can also be created in ApprovalMax through a Contact request. Those follow a different timing: they reach Xero as soon as the Contact request is approved, not when they're first entered.

Check the name and details before you create it.

No New Contact option in the Supplier dropdown? The setting may not be switched on for you in the workflow you're using, so ask an Administrator to check your row in that workflow's Requester matrix.

If the supplier you added isn't in Xero's Supplier list, that's expected. Xero lists it as a supplier only after an invoice from that contact's address arrives.