Summary
Rather than using manual methods to share specs back-and-forth with your suppliers, use Connections to share electronically over the TraceGains network. Once connected, supplier(s) are notified instantly and given access to your new Shared Spec so that they can make comments, data changes, and data additions on it within their own Supplier Group.
Collaborating With Your Suppliers
After creating Shared Specs (see article Step 3 - Shared Specifications & Notification), each connected supplier can view incoming Spec Requests by navigating to Customer Manager > "Specification Requests" in the left side nav-bar in their Supplier Group. They will also receive an eNotification email.
When a Supplier first views a Shared Spec, it will become available for review, editing, and commentary. Editable fields will be determined by how you designed your Shared Spec Template. The Supplier User will be able to edit any field with a white background and add commentary using the "Comments" button at upper right.
Before returning it to you, the Supplier User may need to do research, vetting with a manager, writing up Comments to send you, and of course updating the Spec itself. At the very bottom of the Spec, in the Documents section found in any TraceStation, the Supplier will find the PDF version of the Shared Spec, in case it's needed.
When this Supplier-side half-cycle of Spec development is complete, the Supplier User will Save and return their updated version of your Shared Spec, and you will be notified through your Workflow (see below).
Notification Workflow
For you to be notified when the Supplier returns the Shared Spec to you, you will need to create a simple Workflow. For more information on this, please see our Workflow Configuration series of articles. Start with these three:
- Turn on Workflows in Supplier Management
- Create and Edit Workflows
- Set Conditions and Actions for Workflows
Here's an example of a basic Notification Workflow. They can perform a variety of functions when you receive the Supplier's returned Spec. Set up the Email Profile you'll use for the Workflow to send notifications of the Shared Spec updates to any other stakeholders in your company.
Exchanging Commentary & Updates
Whenever you collaborate with a Supplier by exchanging Update eNotifications and Comments, you'll receive a notification each time they make changes and save them. When you get notified, follow these steps:
Steps
Step 1: Navigate to the 'Specifications' tab.
Step 2: Look for the Spec Name mentioned in the eNotification, or for any Shared Spec row with a red Comment box on it. Red indicates an unacknowledged Comment.
Step 3: Click the edit icon on that row to open the newly-updated Shared Spec.
Step 4: Click the small, red Comments icon or the Comments button to open the Comments panel.
Step 5: You can add your own comment to the series in the Send New Comment box. If you need to send your comment and your Suppliers' to only your own company's Users, mark the "Is Internal" box. If you want to show the next person who reviews these comments that you've read them, click the "Mark as Read" link. Then Save. ("Mark as Read" takes effect immediately, and you won't need to Save unless you've added a comment.)
Step 6: Next, click the "X change(s) were made to Specification" link.
Decide which changes you want to apply to your Primary Specification and click Apply Changes. Once satisfied, you can Approve the Spec and end the Collaboration. This Spec would then be completed after just one cycle of Supplier Collaboration.
Step 7: If you need to make more changes to your Primary Spec data, or you find that something your Supplier has provided is unworkable for your needs, then you'll want to send the Shared Spec back to the Supplier for further updates. For this you would use the "Resubmit with Feedback" button to send the Shared Spec with your latest updates back to your Supplier for another round of development.
You can do these "cycles of Collaboration" as many times as you need to, until all parties are satisfied.
Next Step: More Spec Management Features