Supplier Owner

What is a Supplier owner?

A Supplier owner is the internal person responsible for managing the work related to a supplier. It helps teams keep clear ownership, distribute work, and follow up consistently.

Supplier owner vs Supplier contact

• Supplier owner = internal person responsible for the supplier
• Supplier contact = primary person at the supplier responsible for communication

Why use Supplier owner?

• Clear accountability: makes it obvious who internally owns the supplier relationship and next actions.
• Faster workflows: filter and segment suppliers (and surveys) by owner to triage work and distribute workload.
• Better continuity: improves handovers when roles change.

Who can set or change the Supplier owner?

Anyone with permission to edit suppliers can set or change the Supplier owner. 

Where can you set the Supplier owner?

You can set or change the Supplier owner in these places:

1) When importing suppliers

If you import suppliers via Excel, you can assign an owner as part of the import.

1. Download the import template (or export your supplier list).
2. Fill in the Supplier owner column.
3. Upload the file and run the import.
4. Review the import summary to confirm owners were assigned correctly.

Notes

• Every supplier must have an owner.
• If no owner is provided in the import, the owner defaults to the person who created/added the supplier (unless changed later).

2) When adding suppliers (search + add flow)

When you search for and add a supplier, you can assign the Supplier owner during the add flow.

1. Go to Suppliers.
2. Choose Add suppliers.
3. Search and select the supplier(s) you want to add.
4. Set Supplier owner.
5. Save.

3) On the supplier profile

You can change the owner on a supplier at any time.

1. Open the supplier from your supplier list.
2. In the supplier profile, Edit Supplier and find Supplier owner.
3. Select a new owner from the list.
4. Save.

Seeing the Supplier owner in lists

Supplier list

The Supplier owner column is available in the supplier list.

• Add the column if it isn’t visible.
• Use it to quickly understand ownership across your supplier base.

Survey list

Supplier owner is also visible in the survey list, making it easier to:

• Add the column if it isn’t visible.
• Filter surveys based on owners

Filtering and reporting

Filter suppliers and surveys by owner

You can filter both suppliers and surveys by Supplier owner to focus on:

• your own suppliers
• another team member’s suppliers

Activity log

When the Supplier owner is changed, it is tracked in the activity log so you can see when and how ownership changed over time.

Troubleshooting

I can’t find the Supplier owner field

• Make sure the relevant column/field is enabled in your view, or open the supplier profile to edit it.

I can’t change the owner

• You may not have permission to edit supplier details. Contact your admin to update access.

What happens if we don’t set an owner?

• Suppliers are expected to always have an owner. If you don’t set one explicitly, the default owner is typically the person who added the supplier.