Supplier Onboarding Workflow

What happens if a supplier submits incomplete documents?

The workflow includes a 'Documents Complete?' decision step that checks whether all required materials have been received. If documents are missing, the workflow automatically routes to the 'Request Outstanding Documents from Supplier' step, triggering a notification to the supplier before any review work begins. The process only advances to due diligence once the document check is satisfied, preventing reviewers from wasting time on incomplete submissions.

What happens if a supplier is rated high risk during due diligence?

The 'Route by Risk Rating' step directs high-risk suppliers to a dedicated 'High-Risk Supplier — Senior Review' step, ensuring that a senior stakeholder evaluates the case before any approval decision is made. The senior reviewer's recommendation is then routed via 'Route High-Risk Recommendation,' which can lead to rejection with an automated supplier notification or continuation to the compliance and procurement approval stage. This escalation logic is built into the workflow and requires no manual re-routing.

Can this workflow handle multiple approval stages with different teams?

Yes. The workflow is structured with sequential approval gates for compliance and procurement, finance, and — where applicable — senior risk review, each assigned to the relevant role or team within assess.one. Each stage has its own routing logic so that a rejection at any point triggers the appropriate status update and supplier notification without advancing to the next gate. You can customise which roles are assigned to each approval step directly inside the platform.

What if a supplier is rejected at the compliance or finance stage?

Each approval stage has a dedicated rejection path. If compliance or procurement decline the application, the workflow sets the status to 'Rejected — Compliance' and automatically sends the supplier a rejection notification. The same pattern applies to finance rejections, with a separate status and notification step. This ensures suppliers are never left waiting without a response and your team has a clear record of why and when each rejection occurred.

How long does it take to implement this workflow?

You can publish the template and have your team running live supplier onboarding in minutes — there is no implementation project, no external software to install, and no developer work required. Once published, the workflow is immediately available for use inside assess.one. Any customisation to steps, roles, or approval logic is done directly in the platform before or after publishing.

Can we customise the steps, roles, and notifications to match our internal process?

Every element of the workflow — including step names, assigned roles, approval logic, notification content, and routing conditions — is configurable inside assess.one without writing any code. You can add internal approval tiers, adjust the risk-rating criteria, or modify the supplier-facing confirmation and rejection messages to match your organisation's tone and policy. Changes take effect immediately when you republish the workflow.

Who needs access to run this workflow, and how are roles managed?

Access is managed inside assess.one by assigning roles to each step — for example, a procurement officer handles due diligence, a compliance manager handles the compliance approval gate, and a finance approver handles the finance stage. Only users with the relevant role assigned to a step can action it, which enforces segregation of duties without requiring any external permissions configuration. You define and adjust role assignments directly in the platform.

Can this workflow support our compliance and audit requirements?

Yes. Every action taken in the workflow — status changes, approval decisions, document requests, and rejection notifications — is logged with a timestamp and the identity of the user who performed it, creating a complete audit trail inside assess.one. This record is available for internal review or external audit without any additional reporting setup. The structured approval gates also ensure that no supplier can be activated without passing each required review stage.

What happens at the 'Route High-Risk Recommendation' step — who decides the outcome?

After the senior reviewer completes the high-risk assessment, the 'Route High-Risk Recommendation' step evaluates their decision and directs the workflow accordingly — either to rejection with an automated supplier notification, or forward to the compliance and procurement approval stage. The routing logic is based on the outcome recorded by the senior reviewer in assess.one, so the decision is captured, attributed, and auditable. You can configure the conditions for each route to match your risk policy.

Can the workflow send automated notifications to suppliers at each stage?

Yes. The workflow includes built-in notification steps at key touchpoints: an initial confirmation when the application is received, a request for outstanding documents if the document check fails, and distinct rejection notifications for risk, compliance, and finance outcomes. Notifications are configured inside assess.one and can be connected to email or other channels such as Slack without any third-party development work. You can edit the message content for each notification step to reflect your supplier communication standards.