Perk differentiates between:
- Organization suppliers: Vendors that belong to ALL companies
- Company suppliers: Vendors that belong to a specific company
You can’t view organization suppliers in Perk, but you can consult these vendors via the Perk API. Depending on your account setup, you may have to import suppliers as organization suppliers and company suppliers, or only as company suppliers.
For example, for accounts with multiple companies, you need to import suppliers first on an account level and then individually for each company. If you have set up a single-company account, then you only need to import the suppliers once.
Supplier import file
The format for the supplier import file for organization suppliers and for company suppliers is similar. However, some fields may vary. You can download an example of each file from the Import suppliers dialog window. You can also import suppliers automatically via SFTP server.
Perk supports CSV files with UTF-8, UTF-16, and ISO/IEC 8859-1:1998 (Latin1) encoding.
Tip: The more supplier master data you import in Perk, the better supplier matching is. Supplier recognition (and hence, accurate invoice-supplier matching) is highly dependent on the quality of the supplier data imported.
Fewer manual adaptations are required before submitting an invoice report if more supplier data is available. It is Recommended that you provide Tax numbers, Bank account, and the Address fields as they represent effective matching attributes for Perk and reduce manual work for invoice processing.
Supplier data import fields
| Column | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
bankAccount |
Optional |
Bank account number of the supplier. Highly recommended as this helps Perk to identify the supplier on the invoice. Multiple values are possible |
bankCountry |
Optional |
Country of the supplier’s bank |
bankExternalId |
Optional |
Unique identifier of the bank. Not exposed in the app/frontend |
bankKey |
Optional |
Branch code, which is present in some countries. |
bankNumber |
Optional |
Also called bank code. Another identifier of the bank used predominantly in anglo-saxon countries. |
city |
Optional |
City as part of the supplier’s address |
codingType |
Optional |
Indicates the default coding type for this supplier. If no value is provided, the default value is used |
contactEmail |
Optional |
Email address from the supplier’s contact person |
contactFirstName |
Optional |
First name of the supplier’s contact person |
contactFunction |
Optional |
Job title/job function of the supplier’s contact person. Example: Account Manager |
contactLastName |
Optional |
Last name of the supplier’s contact person |
contactPhone |
Optional |
Phone number of the supplier’s contact person |
countryCode |
Optional |
ISO code of the country where the supplier is located |
defaultApprover |
Optional |
Email address of the default approver for this supplier |
externalId |
Mandatory |
ERP code of the supplier |
iban |
Optional |
IBAN account of the client |
isPurchaseOrderSupplier |
Optional |
Indicates if the supplier requires a purchase order for each invoice. If no value is provided, the default value is used |
name |
Mandatory |
Name of the supplier |
paymentTermCode |
Optional |
Payment term code of the supplier (if defined in the ERP) |
paymentTermDiscount |
Optional |
% of discount the client can get from the supplier if the invoice is paid within a number of days defined in the field paymentTermDiscountDays |
paymentTermDiscountDays |
Optional |
Number of days within which client needs to pay the supplier in order to get cash discount |
paymentTermNetDays |
Optional |
Net days as defined per payment term |
preferInvoiceSimplifiedLineItems |
Optional |
Indicates whether line items should always be summarized for this supplier. If no value is provided, the default value is used |
secondaryName |
Optional |
Secondary name of the supplier |
shortName |
Optional |
Short name of the supplier |
statusActive |
Mandatory |
Status of the supplier in Perk:
|
street |
Optional |
Street name as part of the supplier’s address |
swiftCode |
Optional |
Swift/BIC code of the client’s bank |
taxNumber |
|
DEPRECATED: this field is no longer in use and will not be accepted. |
taxNumbers |
Optional |
VAT number(s) (UID-register) of the supplier. Highly recommended as this helps Perk to identify the supplier on the invoice. |
triggerAutoMatchWithoutPO |
Optional (if no value is provided, the default value will be used) |
Trigger auto-match without purchase order number data. For PO suppliers (i.e. suppliers with invoices that must always have an associated PO), if set as true, Perk tries to match the invoice to a purchase order if no purchase order data is provided. |
url |
Optional |
Website link of the supplier |
zipCode |
Optional |
Post code as part of the supplier’s address |
Importing suppliers in multi-company accounts
If you are managing invoices for multiple companies (legal entities), then you can see two file upload buttons: Suppliers (organization) and Suppliers (company).
To manually upload supplier data, you need to:
Large enterprises usually have single database with all suppliers for the whole organization, but in Perk, you may want to only activate certain suppliers for certain companies.
Upload organization suppliers
To manually upload supplier data, import the file with the Import suppliers (Organization) button.
Select Perk Standard Import file as document format. You can view an example of the format by clicking Example.
For more information on the fields in the CSV file, see Supplier data import fields.
Warning: To effectively import the supplier, you need to set the supplier status to be active in your CSV file. If the status is 0, Perk ignores the supplier and imports it as inactive.
Select your CSV file, click Start import, and wait. When the import is done, you see a summary of the suppliers that have been created in Perk.
Note: Importing suppliers may take some time, depending on the number of suppliers to import. If you see that the importer fails or it is stuck, refresh the page and try again to trigger the import.
The import file can support up to 2,000 items per upload. If you want to import more than 2,000 suppliers, split your import file.
Tip: Update or add suppliers to existing supplier master data
If you need to add a new supplier in your supplier master data, you need to create a new row in the supplier CSV file with new information and new data. Then import as usual.
Activate the suppliers for the company
Once you’ve uploaded the supplier data to the whole account, you need to activate the relevant suppliers for a specific company by clicking Suppliers (company).
A new window opens where you can download an example Perk import file. This other CSV file allows you to add any supplier-specific details such as payment terms.
This Perk import file contains these fields:
| Column | Field type | Description |
|---|---|---|
paymentTermName |
Optional | Payment term name of the supplier (if defined in the ERP) |
paymentTermCode |
Optional | Payment term code of the supplier (if defined in the ERP) |
customerNumber |
Optional | Client number at vendor’s side (i.e., account number, customer id, etc.) |
defaultCostCenter |
Optional | Default cost center, ERP code |
defaultCategory |
Optional | Default category, Perk ID (Admin Menu, categories) |
defaultApprover |
Optional | Default approver of all invoices for this supplier, email address stored in Perk |
supplierExternalId |
Required | ERP code of the supplier |
statusActive |
Required |
Status of the supplier in Perk:
Make sure there are no open invoices in Perk with this supplier if you deactivate it. |
Please make sure to fill out at least the two Required fields, Supplier External ID and Status Active to activate the suppliers for a specific legal entity.
When you created the supplier record in the supplier organisation CSV file, you assigned a certain ERP code to the record (externalId). Make sure you indicate the same supplier ERP code for the importer to work properly.
As before, the status should be 1 for the importer to properly work. If you set it to 0, Perk sets these suppliers as inactive and does not display them.
If applicable, also fill out the other fields. After uploading this file, a confirmation message in Perk shows the number of suppliers created successfully.
Importing suppliers in single-company account
If you are managing invoices for only one company, then you can only see one file upload button Upload suppliers.
To manually upload supplier data, click Suppliers. In the Import suppliers dialog window, select Standard Perk supplier import under Document format. Click Example to download the import file.
Fill in the file with the supplier data as appropriate.
Caution: Make sure to fill out at least the three Required fields: External ID, Name, and Status Active.
After uploading this file, a confirmation message in Perk shows the number of suppliers created successfully. You can download a log file that helps to troubleshoot any issues.