Overview
With Supplier structures, you link duplicate Suppliers, subsidiaries and business units into one shared structure. You then see the purchasing volume of the linked Suppliers together in the Negotiation Cockpit and in Analytics.
Important: Nothing is merged, deleted or overwritten. Every Supplier and its ERP data remain unchanged and individually accessible. You can remove links at any time.
What problem does this feature solve?
If several ERP systems are connected, the same Supplier often exists more than once – or a corporate group is set up with several companies. The purchasing volume is then spread across several records. With a Supplier structure, you go into the negotiation with the full volume instead of partial amounts.
Typical use cases:
The same Supplier was imported from two ERP systems with different supplier numbers
Several national subsidiaries of a corporate group are to be negotiated together
Before an annual negotiation, the total volume of a corporate group is to be determined
Relationship types
When linking, you define which Supplier is the parent record and choose the relationship type:
Duplicate of: the same Supplier was created more than once
Subsidiary of: a separate company that belongs to a parent company
Part of: the same legal entity, but a different business unit
Structures can have several levels (e.g. corporate group → national subsidiary → plant). Each Supplier has at most one parent Supplier; circular relationships are not possible.
How it works
1. Prerequisites
Permission edit Suppliers (there is no separate permission for Supplier structures)
2. Link a Supplier
Open the Supplier overview.
Hover over the "Supplier" cell and select Link Supplier in the three-dot menu.
Select the Related Supplier and the Relationship type and click Link Supplier.
3. Link several Suppliers in one step
In the Supplier overview, select the desired Suppliers using the checkboxes.
In the action bar at the bottom, select Link Suppliers.
Under "Which record is the parent?", define the parent Supplier. To help you decide, Tacto shows address, VAT number, tax number and spend of the last 12 months side by side, among other things.
Choose the relationship type and confirm with Link Suppliers.
4. View and edit the structure in the Supplier profile
In the Supplier profile, a badge next to the name shows how many Suppliers are linked. Via Edit Supplier structure, you see the complete structure and can add or remove Suppliers or assign them to a different parent Supplier.
5. All structures at a glance
The Supplier structures view shows all structures of your organization – with relationship type, members, levels, countries and the purchasing volume of the linked Suppliers. In addition, the Part of a Supplier structure column or filter in the Supplier overview shows which Suppliers are linked.
6. Where does the structure take effect?
Negotiation Cockpit: In the parent Supplier's profile, you choose which linked Suppliers are included in key figures, charts and notes (see "Negotiation Cockpit").
Analytics: Use the Supplier structure filter to analyze all linked Suppliers together.
Duplicate suggestions
Especially with many Suppliers, you do not have to start from scratch: Tacto can automatically detect likely duplicates (e.g. based on company name or corporate email domain). You review the suggestions on the Duplicate suggestions page – Confirm creates the relationship, Reject dismisses the suggestion. Use Confirm all or Reject all to process all open suggestions at once. Feel free to contact your Customer Success Manager about this.
Permissions & access
Create, change and remove structures: edit Suppliers. There is no separate permission.
Known limitations
Supplier structures currently only affect spend data in the Negotiation Cockpit and in Analytics.
Documents, RFQs, Requests, Evaluations and Supplier properties remain with each individual Supplier.
Links do not change any underlying data. Suppliers are not merged.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Are Suppliers merged or deleted when they are linked?
A: No. All Suppliers and their ERP data remain unchanged. You can remove the link at any time.
Q: Does the structure also apply to Documents, RFQs or Evaluations?
A: No, currently only to spend data in the Negotiation Cockpit and in Analytics. Everything else stays with the respective Supplier.