Supplios Support Policy

NOTE: This article is intended for Company Admins & SuperAdmins for the company hosting the Supplier Portal.

Deploying and managing the day-to-day operations of a Supplier Portal -- on any platform, with any size supply-base -- can be a daunting task. Even though the users of the system are typically your known internal and external contacts, often comfortable with using modern web-based software, there are numerous ongoing operational, security, and support-related tasks that come with running any user-facing IT system.

Supplios aims to help make running a modern Supplier Portal possible (and even enjoyable!) for your organization by taking on much of this operational burden for you -- including providing front-line support for your users.

This is a task we do not take lightly, as your Supplier Portal -- and the supplier relationships it helps manage -- is a critical part of your business.

To make sure things run smoothly, it's important to understand who is responsible for which tasks, and what Supplios will and will not do when interacting with your suppliers and internal users.

This document outlines some of the standard rules, policies, and procedures Supplios intends to follow while providing support and helping manage your Supplier Portal. The information here may be superseded by specific language in your Service Agreement, and/or by separate policies put in place for your company account.

Support for Internal Users

Internal users are people within the company hosting the Supplier Portal in Supplios. They have specific Internal roles.

Generally speaking, Supplios aims to provide a high-level of proactive support for your internal users to help them make the most of the platform.

Supplios will provide (to Internal users):

Technical assistance (login, account setup, technical issues with the product)
Help and recommendations for best practices using the platform
Proactive outreach to internal users if we see a problem
Training materials, training sessions, and onboarding sessions
Receptive input and discussions around feature ideas, integrations, etc.
Availability via all support channels (email, in-app help widget, others as specified)
Timely response within the committed support hours
Knowledge-base articles on how to do things in the app (likely where you are reading this now) - specifically for Internal users
Passing on any business-related questions/messages from your suppliers received on our support channels

Supplios will NOT provide (to Internal users):

Data entry and administrative work, except during onboarding or as otherwise agreed (adding users, day-to-day data entry, and other things otherwise available for users to do)
Special access for users beyond their granted user role(s), unless otherwise approved by one of your Admin/Super-Admin users
Sharing of supplier data not normally visible to internal users (data on un-submitted quotes, security/password information, etc.), other than in very limited circumstances.
Creation of new accounts on end-user request (other than during initial onboarding and specific request from Admin/Super-Admin users) - use the built-in invitation system instead.
Discovering or passing on information sent by users to a non-standard channel (emails sent to a no-reply email address, for example)

Support for External Users (Suppliers)

Supplios's support policy for External (Supplier) users is different than for your internal users, mainly because we want to respect your existing business relationships and avoid causing any communication issues between you and your suppliers.

Generally speaking, Supplios tries to be transparent and establish clear boundaries when communicating with your suppliers. We never want to give the impression that we represent your company, but instead make it clear that we are a service provider that you have partnered with to help you better work with your suppliers.

We are generally less proactive when it comes to working with your supplier users, compared to your Internal users, which is intentional. This is to avoid confusing, annoying, or "sending the wrong signals" to your suppliers. We are still very responsive to your supplier users, but generally speaking, unless you specifically ask us to contact your suppliers, we sit quietly and wait for them to contact us with any issues.

At a high level, our support policy with External users is purposely limited in scope as follows:

Limited to technical issues related to the Supplios platform (login issues, errors in the app, etc.)
Limited to inbound support inquiries, only when your suppliers specifically contact us via our support channels (except for specific exceptions).

We've outlined some examples below of specific things that we will and will not do with your suppliers.

Supplios will provide (to External users):

Technical assistance (login, registration, technical issues with the product) - if contacted by the user
Timely response within the committed support hours, on all support channels (email, in-app help widget, others as specified)
Front-line support for any inbound emails/messages to our support channels. If they are not technical issues with the platform, we will quickly respond stating that we can only provide technical support and either direct them to their "existing contacts" at your company and/or pass the message on to you directly.
Knowledge-base articles on how to do things in the app - specifically for External users
Custom training materials that you develop, made available to your External users in the app (as agreed in a service agreement)
Proactive outreach, only in the event of critical security/privacy issues, or if we detect a specific technical issue with the platform related to that specific user and can help correct it immediately.

Supplios will NOT provide (to External users):

Data entry and administrative work (entering supplier data, quote data, etc.)
Special access for users beyond their granted user role(s)
Sharing of any internal data or data from other suppliers
Sharing of contact information for your Internal users / company contacts (unless already shared on a published RFQ/RFP or other supplier-facing data)
Creation of new accounts on end-user request (see additional details below)
Activation / re-activation of accounts (except in certain circumstances, see below)
Changing of deadlines, or helping to enter data that is otherwise not allowed
Answering of any business-related questions (questions about content of your RFQ/RFPs, product specifications, requirements, etc.)
Discovery, monitoring, or relaying information to you that was sent through non-supported channels (emails sent to a no-reply email address, for example)

Specific Policies for Account Creation / Registration for External Users

One of the main reasons External users contact our support channels is related to creating new accounts and logging in. It is common to get a support message from a user who tries logging in with an expired invitation, or wants to add a colleague, or wants to create an account for themselves, perhaps because a previous colleague left the company. Since the invitation emails come from Supplios, we end up being the ones fielding most of these requests.

Supplios has a feature that allows External Admin users to create/manage/delete accounts for other people at their company, which is the recommended and preferred approach. Your internal users (Full Users) can also easily create new accounts for your suppliers -- and it happens automatically when you invite a contact to an RFQ/RFP or other workflow -- but it's generally easier for all parties (us, you, and your supplier) if the suppliers manage their own users. Whenever possible, we will guide External users to use this feature, and we have specific knowledge-base articles to help guide them through the process.

There are still many cases that need your or our attention, and the list below outlines our general policies for handling External user account/registration issues:

We will never create new company (supplier) accounts in your portal without your specific permission, or unless you have "Open Registration" enabled.
We will never add new External users based on a request from that person. However, if the person is already an External Admin, and you have the setting enabled to allow External Admins to create users in their own company, then we will assist them to create new users, as long as all other criteria is met (same email domain - @company.com), while still recommending they do it themselves from within the app.
If an External Admin wants to add a new user at their company, but is blocked from doing so in the app (likely due to a mismatch of email domain names), we will help them do this manually -- as long as the email domain name is obviously similar (@company.com vs. @us.company.com -- or -- @xyz-inc.com vs. @xyz-solutions.com) and is not an obvious public email address (gmail.com, hotmail.com, etc.)
If a new person from one of your existing suppliers requests access, but they do not have a colleague with an active account (left the company, etc.) we will do 2 things: 1) ask them to contact their existing contact window at your company to create an account for them, and 2) relay the message to our contacts at your company to let them create an account for the user if desired. We do not create new accounts for External users on your behalf, other than during initial onboarding, or unless otherwise agreed.
If an External (supplier) user cannot register only because their invitation expired, and if they email us from the email address that you used in the original invitation, we will renew their invitation without contacting you. We will only do this if you have not otherwise deactivated their account.
If we detect any malicious use, security issues, or other possibly damaging behavior related to an External User account, we may immediately disable the account. If this happens, we will notify you.
When in doubt, we will defer all registration / account creation questions to you and your team, and work to establish specific policies for your Supplier Portal if needed.

Summary

Supplios aims to be a trusted partner to help you better work with, manage, and engage your suppliers, and our Support Policy -- with the shared responsibilities outlined here -- is focused on that goal.

We are continuously adapting and improving how we provide the product and service, and as such, the policies and practices described in this article / document are subject to change.

If you have any questions about your specific situation, please contact our team.