Supplier approvals across legacy systems

A maritime business with a headquarters in Singapore kept supplier information in several legacy systems across its offices. The supplier management team handled communications and billing matters for suppliers around the world. Before a business unit could transact with a new supplier, the supplier entry needed approval and creation in the ERP.

Staff obtained approvals by email, then manually entered the approved details into the relevant systems. The supplier team and IT department had tried to improve this process, but other departments owned the legacy applications and had competing priorities for changes. The business needed a way to manage approvals while those systems remained in use.

Zolution built a supplier-management application on Zoho Creator. Its scope included multiple approval levels and notifications, with existing supplier details brought into Creator through a REST API. The design also called for periodic updates to the supplier lists held in the legacy systems.

Single sign-on through Azure AD was part of the requirements.

Users could update supplier information from computers and mobile phones. The application recorded activities and changes for audit review, giving the team a record of work previously spread across email and manual updates.

For your own supplier workflow, start with one request. Trace who reviews it, where approved details are stored, and which system is the main source for each field. Use these questions to plan the process:

• Which changes need another approval, and who may return a request for correction?
• How will the team detect a duplicate supplier across different databases?
• Who investigates a failed update, and how will staff know the ERP has received it?
• Which records must be available during an audit?

Bring an anonymised request, the approval rules and the list of systems that currently hold supplier data to the first discussion.