Portal behaviours with no on-screen switch
What this is
Each supply partner carries three settings that change how the portal and the warehouse floor behave for that partner. They're real and they work — but there is no checkbox for them on any screen yet, and the API can't change them either. Today they are changed directly in ConsignTrak's database by whoever runs your installation.
This page tells you what each one does and what it's set to unless someone has changed it, so you can explain the behaviour to a partner and know what to ask for. A request to add checkboxes to the supply partner's edit form is issue #1501.
| Behaviour | Default | Affects |
|---|---|---|
| Let the supply partner edit items in the portal | Off | Portal users at that partner |
| Stop the picker after a short pick | On | Warehouse pickers, on that partner's orders |
| Show customer names in the portal | Off | Portal users at that partner |
Before you start
- Role: Administrator, to request a change. Anyone can read this page.
- Settings: none on screen.
- You'll need: the supply partner's name and manufacturer code, and which behaviour should change. Pass that to whoever runs your ConsignTrak installation.
Step by step
There's nothing to click. To change one of these for a supply partner:
- Agree the change with the partner (and, for the picking behaviour, with the warehouse lead).
- Ask whoever runs your ConsignTrak installation to change it, naming the partner and the behaviour.
- Check the result the next time the situation comes up — the behaviours below say what you should then see.
Let the supply partner edit items in the portal
Default: off. When it's on, portal users at this partner see a pencil next to three fields on each of their item pages:
- the item description,
- the reorder level,
- the selling unit of measure.
They click the pencil, change the value and save — the save button asks them to click again. Every change is recorded in the audit trail, marked as coming from the portal, with the old and new values, so office staff can see what the partner changed.
When it's off, the pencils don't appear. All other portal viewing works normally.
The item record drives picking and ordering in the warehouse. Most warehouses want to agree with a partner before letting them change it directly.
Stop the picker after a short pick
Default: on. This one affects the warehouse floor, not the portal.
When it's on and a picker records a short pick (fewer found than ordered) on this partner's order, their phone shows STOP — order blocked: "A short pick on this order has been flagged to the office. The office must contact the supply partner to decide what happens next. Pack and ship are paused until they resolve." The picker goes back to the queue and does other work.
When it's off, the picker records the short and carries on to the next line of the same order. The order is still held for the office: packing and shipping stay paused until the office resolves the short pick either way. The only difference is whether the picker keeps walking the order.
Turn it off only for partners whose arrangement is "ship what you have", where stopping the picker wastes a trip. See Exceptions & quarantine for how the office resolves short picks.
Show customer names in the portal
Default: off. When it's off, portal users at this partner see a customer's account code but not their name:
- in recent shipments on each of their item pages, and
- in the Customer name column of the orders export (CSV or Excel), which is left blank.
When it's on, the full customer name appears in both places.
Several supply partners may sell to the same customers through the same warehouse — sometimes competing for them. Hiding names by default means one partner never learns another's customer list by accident.
Every field and option
There are no fields or controls: that's the point of this page. The table below lists the three settings for reference.
| Setting | What it means | Required | Default | What changes when it's on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal item editing | Portal users may edit an item's description, reorder level and selling unit. They also need the normal Supply Partner User role, which has this ability by default. | — | Off | Pencils appear on portal item pages; edits are saved and audited. |
| Short pick stops the picker | After a short pick on this partner's order, the picker is sent to the STOP screen. | — | On | Picker stops on that order. When off, the picker continues; pack/ship is still paused. |
| Show customer names in the portal | Portal users see customer names, not just codes. | — | Off | Names appear in portal recent shipments and the orders export. |
What happens next
- A change takes effect straight away — the next page a portal user opens, or the next short pick recorded.
- Once the edit-form checkboxes from issue #1501 ship, an Administrator will change these on the supply partner's edit form instead, and this page will move there.
Common problems
A partner says they can't edit their items in the portal. — Portal item editing is off for them (the default). Agree it with them, then ask whoever runs your installation to turn it on.
A partner sees customer codes instead of names. — That's the default. Turn names on only if the partner should see who their customers are.
A picker got a STOP screen after a short pick. — That's the default behaviour. The office resolves the short pick from Exceptions & quarantine; the picker doesn't need to do anything else on that order.
I looked for these on the edit form or in the API. — They aren't there yet. See issue #1501.