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Topic:   Links column in 'Suppliers' tab

By: ThomasPosted on: Mar 11 2021 at 08:59:04 AM
Is there any way of adding a link column right after the 'Lead time' column, in the 'Suppliers' tab on each part?
We do use the 'Links' tab, but mostly for part details/datasheets etc.
With a 'Links' column it would be extremely quick to check inventory/obsolescence/validity at that specific supplier.

Thanks.

By: DebraPosted on: Mar 22 2021 at 02:26:00 PM
If you set up your supplier, when you enter a part or edit a part, you associate the part with that supplier. Then you have available options for tracking due dates by part, and tracking everything back to the supplier. This system is really good at associating supplier with part with purchase order. You can track your inventory too, and tie it back to supplier. Everything is within the database if you need it. I use blank fields to add extra information on the supplier - for example: when entering supplier address I make the last few lines of the address "Approval Status" "Certification due date" and "Risk Ranking". Then when I print a report I can tell what the supplier approval status is.

By: Ken at DTSPosted on: Mar 23 2021 at 06:05:51 AM
Like Debra, we use the "extra" Supplier address fields to store additional information about a supplier. The first Supplier address field holds our account number with the supplier and payment terms (credit card, Net 30, etc.). This information is printed on the purchased orders along with the actual Supplier's address in the remaining address fields.

By: ThomasPosted on: Mar 28 2021 at 03:36:42 AM
Thanks for the input, however that is not what I'm asking for :-).

It is a direct link from each supplier line, after the lead time column, to the part on the suppliers webpage.

This is to get an immediate check on the availability with that particular supplier, on this particular part.

By: SupportPosted on: Mar 29 2021 at 08:17:15 AM
Sorry Thomas. If we did put a link column in the supplier's tab then it would be the exact same link data that you see in the links tab.

In other words if an item had 2 or more suppliers then they couldn't each have a different link pointing to the specific supplier's product page.

It sounds like a simple thing but adding a whole new piece of data needs a window where the user can create/manage that data and a new table in the database where such data is stored in relation to each supplier.

It's just not possible. Sorry.

By: ThomasPosted on: Mar 31 2021 at 01:42:37 AM
It is quite possible that I'm not explaining myself clearly enough :-).

It would definitely not be the exact same data, as today we use the 'Links' page for datasheets, drawings, technical info from manufacturer or ourselves if we own the design. I do realize that we could just fill in more links in the 'Links' page, but that would just lead to more manual work, which often times will not be done. But that would just make MiniMRP look exactly like larger systems, and therefore defies the point.
Further to this it should not be another window. It should simply be a link to that particular suppliers webpage, so that any shortage identified can be resolved very quickly, and avoid semi-automatic ordering from suppliers that cannot supply the parts anyway. Very important in e.g. the electronics industry, where shortages occur very frequently, and can be avoided by simple supply chain data.

Anyway, I'm sad that you cannot see that my idea is very much along the 'MiniMRP' philosohpy, but I guess I will have to take that into account.

Over and out, and have a great day.

By: SupportPosted on: Mar 31 2021 at 12:44:28 PM
I think I did understand your question. I was trying to say that it would be very easy for us to add a links button to the supplier's tab. It would be easy because there is already a links button (The one you use for your other documents) and we could simply copy that into the suppliers tab. Which would of course show the same data because it's just a copy of that other button pointing at the same documents.

But I also understand that you do not want the same documents. You want a different link to the supplier's product page. Not the supplier's home page but the page on the supplier's website specific to that one component.

Your idea is interesting but I was also trying to say that storing the link (It's text. It has to be stored in the database somewhere) needs a field in the database where it could be stored - against an individual component. The database structure is already defined. There is no spare column in the database to store this data.

Of course we could roll out an update that created an column of data in the database but this would not only be in your database it would be in EVERYONE ELSE'S as well. Changing database structure in live databases in the field is not a trivial matter.

I have put this into the suggestion box. When a new version (ie version 6) goes into development it may be something we'll look at.

By: ThomasPosted on: Apr 8 2021 at 04:57:18 AM
Excellent. Thanks :-).

By: DebraPosted on: Apr 20 2021 at 04:05:26 PM
There IS another link you could use; its in the supplier contact info - under the website. You could just put the page you want linked there. When you do an output report the link is still active. I was going to put a screen shot here but couldn't. :)




By: SupportPosted on: Apr 22 2021 at 06:58:06 AM
The link in the supplier's contact info is just one link which would usually point to the supplier's home/main website. If I understood your original question you wanted us to show a product specific link that it should be different from the current product links in the 'Link' tab that you currently use for drawings.

Why can't you just put the product specifi webpage link in with the others in the Links Tab. It's just a couple of tabs over to the right.

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