Vendor Portal
A secure, no-login link that lets vendors review an RFQ and submit their quoted pricing directly — no manual price re-entry by your purchasing team.
Overview
The Vendor Portal is a self-service quote form your vendors open from a unique link — no TotalApp account or password required. When your purchasing team sends a Purchase Order to a vendor, the email includes a "Review & Submit Your Quote" link scoped to that exact order. The vendor opens it, reviews the request, enters their pricing, quantities, proposed delivery date, and any message, then submits. Their response is stored as a vendor quote on the order for your team to review — it never overwrites your order automatically.
Buyer Stays in Control
Submitting a quote never confirms the purchase order by itself. The order simply moves to To Approve so your team knows a response is waiting. A buyer must explicitly apply the vendor's pricing and click Confirm Order before anything becomes official — the same two-step review pattern used by mainstream purchasing systems.
What the Vendor Sees
Order Details
PO number, your company name, the vendor's name, requested delivery date, and any notes from your purchasing team.
Editable Pricing & Quantity
Each line shows the product, SKU, and an editable unit price and quantity so the vendor can propose exactly what they can supply.
Proposed Delivery Date
The vendor can counter-propose a delivery date instead of the one your team requested.
Message to Buyer
A free-text field for notes, conditions, substitution suggestions, or questions back to your team.
Beyond the quote form itself, the portal link is intentionally narrow in scope — a vendor cannot browse other orders, upload documents, or see anything outside the one PO the link was issued for.
Sending the Link
1. Send the RFQ by Email
From the Purchase Orders detail view, click Send by Email on a Draft or RFQ order. TotalApp emails the vendor the order details plus their unique portal link, and moves the order to Sent.
2. Or Copy the Link Directly
The internal Vendor Portal screen lets your team pick any open RFQ/Sent/To Approve order and generate — or re-generate — the same magic link on demand, to copy and share through whatever channel you prefer (chat, a call follow-up, etc.), without sending another email.
3. The Vendor Responds
The vendor opens the link, reviews the order, adjusts pricing/quantity/delivery date, adds an optional message, and submits. No account creation, no password.
After Submission
Once a vendor submits a quote through the portal:
- Their pricing, quantities, delivery date, and message are stored as a vendor quote on the order — your original order lines are left untouched
- A Sent order automatically moves to To Approve, so it's clear a response is waiting on your team
- The Purchase Order detail view shows a banner summarizing the vendor's quote, with an Apply Quote action
Reviewing the Submitted Quote
Open the order in Purchase Orders, compare the vendor's quote banner against your original request, and click Apply Quote if you accept it — this copies the vendor's price, quantity, and delivery date onto the order. Then click Confirm Order to make it official. If you need to negotiate instead, share the link again after adjusting your notes.
Prerequisites
The Vendor Portal only becomes useful once you have at least one open RFQ, Sent, or To Approve purchase order.
- At least one Purchase Order in RFQ, Sent, or To Approve status
- The order must be linked to a vendor with a valid email address in Vendor Management
Company Information
The vendor's quote form displays your company name, the PO number, and the requested delivery date so the vendor has the context they need. This information comes from your company profile in Settings — keep it up to date so vendors have the right details for follow-up questions.
Link Security & Expiry
| Property | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Account required | None — the link itself is the vendor's credential |
| Scope | One link opens exactly one purchase order, nothing else |
| Expiry | 30 days from when the link was generated |
| Auto-closes when | The order is confirmed, cancelled, or received — the link stops accepting quotes even before its 30-day expiry |
Line Items Table
| Column | Editable? | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Product | No | Product name and SKU as entered on the purchase order |
| Qty | Yes | The vendor can propose a different quantity than requested |
| Unit Price | Yes | The vendor enters their quoted price per unit here |
| Line Total | No | Calculated automatically: Qty × Unit Price × (1 + tax rate) |
Coming Soon
Planned extensions to the vendor-facing experience, not yet available:
Invoice & Delivery Note Upload Planned
Letting the vendor attach invoices and delivery notes directly to the order from the same link.
Payment Status Visibility Planned
A read-only payment/billing status view so vendors can self-serve "has this been paid?" questions.
Persistent Vendor Accounts Planned
An optional standing login for vendors who want to see their full order history in one place, instead of one link per order.
Threaded Messaging Planned
Ongoing, archived back-and-forth per order beyond the current single message field.