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Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ...
Answered

Difference between Preferred and approved vendor ?

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Posted on by 270

Hi, does anyone understood the key difference between approved and preferred vendors ? 

In category policy rules, I have this kind of choice but for me, it's just a question of the status that I will set on category. Is the goal of that option to make possible having a different list of vendors for the same category ? (via the configuration of category policy ?)

  • Allow only vendors that are preferred for this category â€“ Employees must purchase only from preferred vendors.

  • Allow only vendors that are preferred or approved for this category â€“ Employees can purchase from preferred vendors or approved vendors.

Thanks

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Christoph Thaler Profile Picture
    5,442 on at

    Hi Lionel.

    You can check this DOCS page. As you can read there this option can be used in purchase requisitions. 

  • Ludwig Reinhard Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hello Lionel,

    Has your question been answered or do you need any other help / information from the community?

    Best regards,

    Ludwig

  • M.TEJA Profile Picture
    20 on at

    Hi Ludwig, I also have the same question. The blog suggested did not have the answer.. Can you please let me know the difference and purpose of Preferred and Approved vendor under Procurement category

  • Lionel Vrac Profile Picture
    270 on at

    Hi Ludwig,

    Not really... I can live without really understanding the goal of that but if Microsoft has developped both notions, it's, I guess,  for a precise goal and I would understand that goal

    Thanks

  • Suggested answer
    brjo Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    There's another Community thread that seems to discuss the purpose of "approved" vs. "preferred".  And here's the verified answer from that thread:

    pastedimage1598282771159v1.png

    And here's the link to that community thread:

    https://community.dynamics.com/ax/f/microsoft-dynamics-ax-forum/240960/vendor-category

    Let us know if this is at all helpful.

    Thanks!

  • Lionel Vrac Profile Picture
    270 on at

    Hello Brandon, I went through the link but no answer to my question. This is only explaining how we can manage access in PR to approved, preferred, both or all vendors with purchasing policies setup but no the reason why Microsoft has created the 2 types approved and preferred where only one was enough. From my point of view (and from a purely business PoV), a "preferred" vendor is always approved. The preferred notion is only a way to sort vendors in a combo or default a vendor for example with giving the possibility to select a none preferred vendor etc.. The way it has been done in D365 FO is not understood by us and by our client...

  • Suggested answer
    brjo Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hello Lionel,

    To my best knowledge, the above reason I provided is the reason why there was a distinction between the 2 types of vendors (so we can filter on vendors when dealing with purchase requisitions;  depending on how the purchasing policies are set up).

    I have inquired with several colleagues, however, to confirm my findings.  And I'll update you with the consensus once I have obtained that info.

    Thanks!

  • Verified answer
    brjo Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hi Lionel,

    I reverse-engineered the code and was able to see the only purpose for this field (in the Procurement categories form):

    - its sole purpose is to be able to filter the vendors when a Purchase Requisition is created

    Thus, there isn't an inherent difference between a "preferred" or "approved" vendor.  It's just the terms Microsoft decided to use to allow filtering (based on how the Purchasing Policy rule is set up).

    Thanks so much!

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