# Working with Supplier Notifications (QMS)

[QualityOne Vaults](/en/lr/78610/) have built-in tools to process, triage, and track supplier-initiated change notifications. When an external supplier informs your organization through email about changes to an existing ingredient or package, or any other change required per their supplier agreements, Vault can process the email and store its contents as an object record. You can optionally create and track related processes and action items from the notification and collaborate on these with external parties.

Depending on your [Admin's configuration](/en/lr/824751/), object, field, and section labels may appear differently than the labels mentioned in this article.

## About Supplier Notification Automation

Vault uses an [Email Processor](/en/lr/74665/) and an [Inbound Email Address](/en/lr/74285/) configured by your Admin to automate the intake of supplier notifications. Using organization data from _Person_ records, Vault populates the _Supplier_ and _Supplier Contact_ values on the resulting _Supplier Notification_ records. Vault also populates email metadata such as _Email Subject, Sender Email Address_, and email attachments on the _Supplier Notification_ records.

After processing a notification, Vault matches follow-up emails and joins those _Email_ records to the _Supplier Notification_ record as _Supplier Notification - Emails_. Vault adds any follow-up attachments to the _Supplier Notification_ record. In this way, the _Supplier Notification_ becomes a complete repository for emails related to a single notification, making it easier for you to review its impact.

### Supplier Notification Process

While processes for supplier notifications differ across organizations, the example below takes advantage of the automation described in this article.

1. **Initial Setup**: Your organization creates _Organization_ and _Person_ records in Vault for each potential supplier contact that may initiate a notification, and an Admin [configures Vault to automate notification intake](/en/lr/824751/).
2. **Notification Initiation**: A known supplier directly sends a supplier notification email to the designated inbound email address which uses the _Supplier Notification Email Processor_. Alternatively, the designated inbound email address can also be one of the recipients on an email. In both cases, Vault processes the email then creates and populates a _Supplier Notification_ record with information from the email.
3. **Notification Follow-up**: As you communicate with the supplier on the original email thread which includes the designated inbound email address as one of the recipients, Vault collects all messages and attachments in the same email thread in the _Supplier Notification_ record.
4. **Impact Assessment**: You evaluate the notification's impact. You optionally create related records from the _Supplier Notification_ to track any required _Change Controls_, _NCRs_, and _Action Items_, and collaborate on these with external parties.

## About the Email Processor {#processor}

When the _Supplier Notification Email Processor_ runs, the email processor determines whether there is already an applicable _Supplier Notification_ record by checking the `Message-ID` and `References` in the email's header information.

If there is no existing applicable _Supplier Notification_ record, Vault attempts to create a record and auto-populates the _Supplier Contact_ and _Supplier_ information by matching the sender's email address with the _Email_ on an existing _Person_ record in Vault. If there is an existing applicable _Supplier Notification_ record, Vault adds the messages and attachments to the existing record.

## Viewing Supplier Notifications

You can view _Supplier Notification_ records from a _Supplier Notification_ object tab or **Business Admin > Objects > Supplier Notifications**. These records contain information about the email from which they originated:

<table>
  <tr>
   <td><strong>Field</strong>
   </td>
   <td><strong>Description</strong>
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Email Sent Date</em>
   </td>
   <td>A DateTime value.
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Sender Email Address</em>
   </td>
   <td>Plain text of the sender's email address.
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Supplier Contact</em>
   </td>
   <td>Links to the <em>Person</em> record with the sender's email address. If the email processor finds more than one (1) applicable <em>Person</em> record, Vault leaves this field blank.
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Supplier</em>
   </td>
   <td>Links to the <em>Organization</em> of the <em>Person</em> in the <em>Supplier Contact</em> field. The email processor populates this value only if the <em>Organization</em> record is active.
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Email Subject</em>
   </td>
   <td>Plain text of the email's subject line.
   </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td><em>Email Body Text</em>
   </td>
   <td>Plain text of the email's body.
   </td>
  </tr>
</table>

### Attachments Section

The _Attachments_ section contains the original email file and any files attached to the original email or any follow-up emails, up to a limit of 50 files.

## Creating Related Records from Supplier Notifications

If configured by your Admin, run the _Create Related Record_ action from the _Supplier Notification_ record's **All Actions** menu. This action creates related records such as _Change Controls_, _NCRs_, and _Action Items_.