Licensors are becoming more conscious of how their goods are being manufactured - and with good reason. With issues like the use of child labor, unfair wages, and unsafe work environments damaging brands left and right, it only makes sense that licensors would want to make educated decisions when it comes to who's creating their products.
Licensors have the ability to set manufacturer requirements in specific submission workflows, and can even require that the licensee provide them with a list of manufacturers - including any necessary certification.
Setting a Manufacturer Requirement
To start, go to the Company Settings > Workflow Templates tab. Click on 'Add Workflow' in the top-right corner to add the manufacturer requirement to a submission workflow.
Set up your submission workflow, choose the stages, and add what data points you need for each stage. You can add the manufacturer requirement to any stage of the submission.
If you toggle the required button 'On,' the licensee cannot move the submission past this stage without providing at least one approved manufacturer. Make sure to click 'Save' in the top-right corner before proceeding.
Once you've added the manufacturer requirement, you will see it on the submission workflow. This can be edited at any time.
Reviewing a Submitted Manufacturer
Now that the manufacturer requirement has been specified, it's time for the licensee to gather the required information and upload it to the licensor.
After the licensee has submitted the documentation, you can review the proposed manufacturer from the 'Company Detail' page, which will display the manufacturer in the 'Approvals' tab. Click on the manufacturer name row to review it.
Doing so will take you to the manufacturer detail page, where you can then decide to authorize this manufacturer or not in the top right corner.
If a manufacturer is approved, it becomes available for selection in the product approval process by the licensee.
If a manufacturer is rejected (or pending - not yet approved), it is not available for selection in the product approval process by the licensee
Flagging an Issue
There's also an option to open a specific issue on a submitted manufacturer's Company Details page if you find an error or simply need more information from the licensee in order to make your decision.
Click on the 'Issues' tab, and then 'Add New issue.'
The 'Add Issue' modal will appear. Give it a name and a description and click the blue 'Add Issue' button when you're ready.
You'll now see this reflected as an 'Unresolved' issue under the 'Issues' tab. The licensee will receive a notification about the issue so that they can correct the manufacturer as needed.
Sharing Manufacturers Across Different Licensees
When a manufacturer has been approved by a licensor, then the approval can apply automatically to all contracts of the licensor where this manufacturer has been added. This is contingent on the new optional permission, 'Allow all licensees to use existing approved manufacturers,' which can be enabled by a licensor admin user from the 'Company Settings' page.
When Toggled ON
When a licensor approves a manufacturer submitted by one licensee, then the approval requests of the same manufacturer from all other licensees get automatically approved.
Licensees can see the approval status of manufacturers while searching for the manufacturers when adding them.
When Toggled OFF
Licensors must separately approve approval requests of the same manufacturer from every licensee.
Licensees won’t see if a manufacturer has been approved for another licensee.
Necessary Permissions
A licensor admin user can review the permissions included in their list of User Roles by clicking on Company Settings > User Management > Roles. Licensees (or agents working on behalf of licensees) will need to have the 'Submit' permission under the 'Manufacturers' enabled section, as seen below.
