Workflow Template
Vendor Selection Workflow
Enables a procurement team to run a structured vendor selection: the owner submits selection criteria and candidate suppliers, suppliers are screened for compliance, a reviewer scores commercial and capability criteria and recommends a preferred vendor, the recommendation is routed for approval, and the outcome is recorded and communicated to the owner. Rejected recommendations are returned for revision with a reason.</description> <parameter name="requiredIntegrations">["postmark"]
Procurement functions in larger organisations require a defensible, auditable process for vendor selection that satisfies internal governance and external compliance obligations. The Vendor Selection Workflow guides procurement owners, compliance screeners, reviewers, and approvers through a structured sequence — from criteria submission and compliance screening to scored recommendation, approval routing, and final outcome communication — with every decision point and rejection reason captured for audit purposes. It is designed for cross-functional use across procurement, compliance, and business stakeholders, with role-based access controlling who can screen, score, approve, or view records at each stage.
Business Outcomes
- Reduce vendor selection cycle time by eliminating manual email-based approvals
- Achieve 100% traceability of compliance screening and approval decisions
- Standardise scoring criteria across all procurement categories
- Cut rejected-recommendation rework time through structured rescoring loops
- Improve audit readiness with a complete, timestamped decision record for every vendor selection
Workflow Steps
Steps
- 1Create Vendor Selection Recordcreate record
Registers the vendor selection request submitted by the owner.
- 2Set Status to Openupdate record
Marks the vendor selection record as open.
- 3Set Status to Screeningupdate record
Advances the record to compliance screening stage.
- 4Screen Suppliers for Compliancecreate task
Reviewer screens each candidate supplier against compliance requirements.
- 5Persist Compliance Outcomeupdate record
Writes the compliance screening outcome to the record.
- 6Route on Compliance Outcome
Only compliant supplier pools proceed to scoring; non-compliant pools are closed out.
compliance_outcome: "Compliant"→Set Status to Under Reviewcompliance_outcome: "Non-Compliant"→Close Out Non-Compliant SelectionDefault→Close Out Non-Compliant Selection - 7Close Out Non-Compliant Selectionupdate record
Marks the record rejected and notifies the owner that no compliant suppliers were found.
- 8Notify Owner of Non-Compliancesend email
Informs the owner that candidate suppliers failed compliance screening.
- 9Set Status to Under Reviewupdate record
Advances the record to commercial and capability review stage.
- 10Score Suppliers and Recommend Preferred Vendorcreate task
Reviewer scores compliant suppliers on commercial and capability criteria and records a preferred vendor recommendation.
- 11Persist Vendor Recommendationupdate record
Writes the scoring results and recommendation to the record.
- 12Request Approval of Vendor Recommendationrequest approval
Routes the preferred vendor recommendation to an approver for sign-off.
- 13Route on Approval Outcome
Approved recommendations are finalised and the owner notified; rejected ones are returned to the reviewer with a reason.
approval_status: "approved"→Record Approved Decisionapproval_status: "rejected"→Capture Rejection ReasonDefault→End - 14Record Approved Decisionupdate record
Marks the record approved with the final vendor decision.
- 15Notify Owner of Approvalsend email
Informs the owner that the preferred vendor recommendation has been approved.
- 16Capture Rejection Reasonupdate record
Records the reason the recommendation was not approved and sets status to Revising.
- 17Notify Owner of Rejectionsend email
Informs the owner that the recommendation was not approved and will be revised.
- 18Return to Reviewer for Rescoringrestart from step
Restarts the workflow from the scoring task so the reviewer can revise the recommendation.
Fields
- Owner Name*
- Owner Email*
- Selection Criteria*
- Candidate Suppliers (name, contact, notes)*
- Supporting Documents (RFQ, specs, etc.)
- Vendor Selection Status*
- +8 more fields
Forms
Vendor Selection Request
5 fields
Data Views
Vendor Selection Requests
owner_name, vendor_status, preferred_vendor, commercial_score +2 more
Dashboard Widgets
Recommended integrations
Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.
Send email in the workflow
AWS SES
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FAQs
How is this workflow audited?
Every status change, compliance outcome, recommendation, approval decision, and rejection reason is persisted as a record within the workflow, creating a complete timestamped audit trail. Compliance and audit teams can retrieve the full history of any vendor selection, including who screened, scored, approved, or rejected it, directly within assess.one without needing separate reporting tools.
Who has access to each stage of the workflow?
Access is configured by role within assess.one, so the selection owner, compliance screener, reviewer, and approver each see only the steps and information relevant to their function. Administrators can adjust role permissions at any time to reflect changes in organisational structure or delegation of authority, without disrupting selections already in progress.
How does this integrate with Postmark for notifications?
Postmark is configured directly inside assess.one to send email notifications at key decision points, such as non-compliance outcomes, approval, or rejection. No external development work is required; the integration is set up within the platform's configuration screens and applies automatically to every vendor selection run through the workflow.
Can we customise the compliance screening and scoring criteria?
Yes, the screening and scoring steps can be edited directly in assess.one to reflect your organisation's specific compliance checklist and commercial or capability criteria. Procurement leadership can update these fields, weightings, and approval logic at any time without rebuilding the workflow or requiring technical support.
What happens when a supplier fails compliance screening?
The workflow routes the record to a close-out step for non-compliant selections, and the owner is automatically notified of the outcome via Postmark. This ensures non-compliant suppliers are formally excluded and documented, preventing them from progressing to scoring or approval stages.
What happens if an approver rejects the vendor recommendation?
A rejection triggers capture of the rejection reason, notification to the owner, and automatic return of the record to the reviewer for rescoring. This closed-loop revision process ensures rejected recommendations are addressed with full context rather than lost or resubmitted without justification.
How long does implementation take?
The Vendor Selection Workflow template is ready-to-use and can be published in minutes. Once live, the procurement team can immediately begin submitting selection criteria and candidate suppliers with no separate implementation project or software installation required.
Who should be granted approval authority within the workflow?
Approval authority should be assigned to individuals with delegated procurement sign-off, typically procurement leadership or category managers, and this is configured within assess.one's role settings. Organisations can also route approvals to multiple approvers or thresholds if governance policy requires escalation for higher-value vendor decisions.
Can this workflow support multiple concurrent vendor selections?
Yes, each vendor selection is created as its own record with an independent status, allowing procurement teams to run multiple selections in parallel across different categories or business units. Reporting and audit visibility remain accurate at the individual record level regardless of how many selections are active simultaneously.
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