A Vendor is anyone who provides your company with a service, whether it be an external carrier, customs broker, or insurance provider. Keeping your Vendor records up to date will allow you to assign specific work to specific vendors and ensure that they are paid for that work in a timely fashion.
Creating a Vendor Record
Navigate to the Vendor list via the left navigation bar to create a new Vendor record. Once there, click on the Create button above the list of records.
This will bring up an empty Vendor record. Next, begin filling out the fields, being as detailed as possible. Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory. You can click on the different tabs – General, Address Information, Type – to move through all the available fields.
Dispatch/Remit Address
By default, Tailwind will use the Dispatch Office address as the Remit address. If the Vendor has a different mailing address for Remittance, uncheck the ‘Same Remit Address’ box – and a set of ‘Remit To’ address fields will appear. This will be particularly useful for any of your carriers who “factor” their invoices — you can enter the factoring company’s name in the Remit Name field and the Remit To address fields, allowing you to pay the carrier’s invoice directly to whichever factoring company they are using.
Vendor Type
Selecting the appropriate Vendor Type will generally bring up several vendor-specific fields.
If you select ‘Carrier’ as the type, these fields will include the ability to track MC authority, bond numbers and specific ratings for your carriers. An additional ‘Insurance Details’ tab will also appear, which will allow you to record insurance details for the Carrier. Note that you will not be able to Dispatch a shipment to a Carrier that lacks active Cargo and Liability Insurance.
Create the Vendor Record
Once you have filled out all the necessary fields, click the ‘Create’ button at the bottom of the screen to create the Vendor record.
Adding Contacts
Once you have created your new Vendor, you will most likely want to add Contacts to the record. Contacts are the specific people at the Vendor company who you talk to when negotiating a Quote or clarifying the details of a Dispatch.
To add a Contact, start by navigating to the Contacts tab, then click the ‘Add Contact’ button below the Contacts list. This will take you to the Contact Create screen, where you can fill out the relevant fields for your contact. Once all the information has been entered, click ‘Create’ to finish creating the Contact. This will return you to the Vendor record.
Adding Notes
You may also want to add a Note to the Vendor to record any additional details about the business or your relationship with the Vendor. Navigate to the Notes tab, then click on the ‘Add Note’ button. This will take you to the Add Note page, where you can fill in the details of your note.
For a more detailed look at notes, you can read Adding and Using Notes.
Cargo Claims, Accidents & Incidents
If you have set the Vendor Type to ‘Carrier,’ your Vendor Record will also include a tab for Cargo Claims, Accidents and Incident Reports. Hopefully, since this is a new Vendor, there haven’t been any incidents or accidents!
Your new Vendor record is complete – it will now appear in the Vendors list and be available to select as a Vendor throughout Tailwind.