Kent State University Procurement Department. How to Search for Vendors in the Supplier Diversity Database. Guide for Purchasing Agents

Transcription

1 Kent State University Procurement Department How to Search for Vendors in the Supplier Diversity Database Guide for Purchasing Agents January 2013

2 About The Supplier Diversity Database The Supplier Diversity / Procurement Department maintains a Supplier Diversity Database, which purchasing agents can use to seek out: Vendors registered in the Kent State University Database State of Ohio MBE Certified Businesses State of Ohio EDGE Certified Businesses Minority/woman/veteran owned businesses Vendors who wish to participate in the KSU Supplier Diversity Program are invited to submit a profile of their business, which is made available to purchasing agents in the form of a PDF report. Vendors are also welcome to submit supporting documentation such as brochures, sales sheets, price lists, etc., which are made available to purchasing agents in a second PDF document. The database is searched and documents are viewed using a web browser. Documents may be printed. Keyword searching makes it easy to locate a company through a company officer name, business name, a commodity code, client or product or service, and UNSPC codes. Related Documents The Vendor Workbook guides business owners in completing a profile in the database. Please encourage new diverse vendors to submit a profile, and ask existing vendors to ensure that their profile is complete. Detailed profile information will help you screen vendors quickly and efficiently. Links Search the database at Support Veronica Cook- Euell is the Supplier Diversity Program manager, and maintains the vendor database. Please contact her to obtain access to the database. Her is [email protected]. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 2 of 8

3 2. Public Access Search Anyone may search the database and view basic contact information for a company. Step Action 1 Open a web browser and go to 2 Type a Vendor Name in the upper field, or highlight a Commodity name in the list provided and click 3 Click Update Report to search. to add the name to the Selected field. 4 Scroll down to view the search results. A sample public record is seen below. 5 Click Clear Filters to clear the search and begin a new search. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 3 of 8

4 3. Purchasing Agent Search The Purchasing Agent view gives you the ability to search by different criteria and view detailed information about a vendor, if the vendor has provided it. This is presented as a business profile PDF which is confidential to Kent State University. - Please print only as necessary and shred profiles when they are no longer needed.- Step Action Image 1 Open a web browser and go to 2 Click the KSU Login button at upper right of the screen. 3 Type your FlashLine user name and Password in the fields provided, and click the Login button. At the upper left of the screen under the Kent State logo, click Reports Note: do not attempt to search for a company using the Vendor Name field that appears on the opening screen. This field is used by companies to locate and edit their own records. You will see page one of the entire list of vendors, arranged alphabetically. Page through the list using the page number links seen at lower right, or use different search methods to find a vendor as described on the following pages. Remember to Log Out of the system or close the browser when you are done searching. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 4 of 8

5 Basic Search Step Action Image 1 2 Click Basic Search Options to search by vendor name or by Commodity type. Type a Vendor Name in the upper field. Or highlight a Commodity in the list provided, and click to add the commodity to the right- hand Selected field. 3 Click Update Report to search. 4 Matching vendors are displayed in a list, scroll down to view all. 5 Click Clear Filters to start a new search The Company Name is a link. Click the name to see a capability profile, if available. The More Info button links to a PDF of supporting documentation provided by the company, if available If no PDF is available, a blank screen appears. Click the browser Back button to return to the previous page of vendor results. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 5 of 8

6 Capability Profile (if available) If a vendor has completed the profile information, you can open a PDF containing profile and capacity data by clicking the company name link. Depending on your browser, you will be asked to Save or Open the PDF, or it may be automatically downloaded to your Downloads directory. The profile is confidential to Kent State University. Please print only as necessary and shred profiles when they are no longer needed. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 6 of 8

7 Advanced Search The Advanced Search screen offers additional search specifications: Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 7 of 8

8 Keyword Search The Keyword Search enables you to search for words in specific data fields of the vendor record: Step Action Image 1 Select Keyword Search. 2 Select a field to search by. 3 Type a keyword to search and match. 4 Click Update Report to search. 5 The vendor list is filtered by the keyword. (This search would find company officers who have either the first or last name of James. ) Export Search Results to Excel You can save search results to an Excel file which is downloaded to your computer. This file includes the directory information as displayed on the search results screen. It does not include PDFs. Search for vendors using your preferred searching method as described above. Scroll to the end of the search results display, where you will see. Click the Export to Excel button to download your results in Excel format. The file will be saved in your Download directory. Copyright 2013 Kent State University Julie Kennedy and Veronica Cook- Euell page 8 of 8