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Business

Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy
6,162 Points
Posted by Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy
6,162 Points

Suppliers Database

Hello,

I am trying to implement a suppliers database at my company, are there any software packages preferably in the cloud that you could recommend? I am looking for something that will rate suppliers based on price, service and efficiency.

Due to the nature of our business I need a platform that will allow for searching not just across a product classification but a product type for example:

I want to find a green T-Shirt

Shorthand would be to search for "T-Shirts" Long hand would be "T-Shirts" + "Green"

I suppose something similar to the Ebay search filters would be ideal.

Hope this makes sense, any feedback would be appreciated.

Ben Tristem
Ben Tristem
9,978 Points

Hi Paul, and welcome! Before I suggest a solution, I'd like to ask a few questions...

  1. How many suppliers are we talking (or at what rate will they be added)?
  2. What information about them do you need, or just a few criteria and a link?
  3. How will the database be kept up-to-date? i.e. who is adding and updating?

Thanks!

2 Answers

Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy
6,162 Points
Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy
6,162 Points

Apologies for the late reply i've been on vacation.

How many suppliers are we talking (or at what rate will they be added)? Initially around 50 suppliers and for argument sake I'll say add around 2 a week.

What information about them do you need, or just a few criteria and a link? Lets say these are suppliers of Shirts I'd need to able to filter results for suppliers that have stock of shirts in varying lengths and widths.

How will the database be kept up-to-date? i.e. who is adding and updating? The database would solely be managed and updated by me with other users just using the database as a reference tool to find appropriate suppliers.

Many thanks for your previous reply

Ben Tristem
Ben Tristem
9,978 Points
Ben Tristem
Ben Tristem
9,978 Points

Given your answers I would start with a well-formatted Google Spreadsheet. That is all the fields in their own columns. You can then securely share anyone you want to read the information.

They can sort by any column (e.g. width etc), and you could even use "protection" on the sheet to allow them to make comments in just one column, but not be able to write to the rest.

This is quick, effective, simple and can easily be uploaded to a database later if really needed. If that doesn't meet your needs, let me know and I'll dive deeper with you.