Configuring Product Supplier Types

Confirm Access to Product and Supplier Type Settings

Before changing shared classifications, confirm that you can open the relevant configuration lists in Pams. From Configuration, look for Product types and Supplier Types. Each list contains values that users select while maintaining Products and Sub-suppliers.

Open both lists before making changes. You should be able to view the existing type names and use the available actions to add, update, or deactivate entries. If either list is not available, ask the person who manages Users, Roles, and Security in Pams to confirm whether your role is allowed to maintain these shared values.

Product and supplier classifications affect more than one person’s work. A purchasing user may select a Product Type while maintaining a product, while another user may select a Supplier Type when maintaining a Sub-supplier. Agree on who is responsible for keeping each list accurate before adding values.

Use the following division of responsibility as a working approach:

• Configuration owners create, rename, and deactivate Product types and Supplier Types.
• Purchasing users select approved Product Type values when creating or updating Products.
• Users maintaining Sub-suppliers select approved Supplier Type values for supplier records.
• Sales and project users use the resulting classifications when reviewing Products, Sub-suppliers, purchasing records, and project requirements.

Keep Product types separate from product serial settings. Product types describe the purchasing or business grouping of a product, while serial settings define how serial information is handled. For serial setup, use Configuring Product Serial Rules.

Before you edit a list, review its current entries with the users who rely on Products and Sub-suppliers. This prevents one team from introducing a label that conflicts with an existing purchasing vocabulary.

Define the Product and Supplier Type Classification Model

Create classifications that match the way your team groups products and supplier relationships during purchasing and product maintenance. The purpose is to give users a short, consistent set of values to select instead of relying on notes or personal naming habits.

Use Product types to group Products that have similar purchasing characteristics. For example, your list may distinguish materials purchased for use in production or projects from items used for packaging, regular consumables, or finished goods. The exact names should match the terms your purchasing team already recognizes.

Use Supplier Types to identify the procurement role of a Sub-supplier. A type should describe what the supplier is to your business, rather than identify a particular company. Common role-based classifications can include a manufacturer, distributor, service supplier, or subcontractor when those terms reflect your actual supplier relationships.

Choose names that will still make sense when users review them in product and supplier selection fields months later. Use full, business-recognizable names rather than internal shorthand that only one team understands.

Before creating a new entry, search the existing list carefully. Do not create separate values that mean the same thing, such as different capitalization, abbreviations, or singular and plural forms. For example, avoid keeping both “Manufacturer” and “Manufacturers” if users would apply them in the same situation.

Keep the classification model focused. If a distinction will not change how users maintain, review, or organize Products and Sub-suppliers, it may not need its own type. A short, agreed list is easier to maintain and leads to more reliable purchasing data.

Create and Maintain Purchasing Product Types

Use the Product types list to make the approved purchasing classifications available when users maintain Products. Create a type only after confirming that it does not already exist under another spelling or format.

1. In Pams, open Configuration and select Product types.

2. Review the existing Product Type entries. Look for a value that already describes the product grouping you need. Check close variations in spelling, capitalization, and singular or plural wording.

3. Select the action for creating a new Product Type record.

4. Enter the Product Type name using the same terminology purchasing users use when classifying Products. Keep the name clear enough that a user can select it without needing an explanation in a note.

5. Save the new entry using Save. If you are finished with the list, use Save and Close where available.

6. Return to the Product types list and confirm that the new name appears with the other available values. Check the wording one more time before users begin selecting it on Product records.

When a business term changes, update the existing Product Type instead of creating a nearly identical replacement. For example, if the approved business label changes, revise the existing entry so users continue to select one consistent value.

If a Product Type is no longer used, deactivate it rather than deleting it or creating a replacement with a similar meaning. Deactivating a retired type helps preserve the classification already used on existing Product records while preventing new inconsistent selections.

Before renaming or deactivating a Product Type, check the Products that use it. If users still need the type for active purchasing, sales, BOM, MRQ, or project work, agree on the replacement name and update affected Product records in a controlled way.

Create and Maintain Supplier Types

Use Supplier Types to describe how each Sub-supplier participates in your procurement workflow. These entries should identify a supplier’s role, such as whether the supplier is a manufacturer, distributor, service supplier, or subcontractor. Do not use this list to store individual supplier names.

1. In Pams, open Configuration and select Supplier Types.

2. Review the current Supplier Type entries before adding a new one. Check whether an existing type already represents the supplier role you need.

3. Select the action to create a new Supplier Type record.

4. Enter a clear Supplier Type name. Use a role-based label that purchasing users can recognize when maintaining a Sub-supplier. For example, use one label consistently for suppliers that manufacture products rather than creating different labels for the same role.

5. Save the entry with Save, or choose Save and Close after confirming the name.

6. Review the Supplier Types list after saving. Confirm that the entry appears once, uses the intended wording, and does not duplicate another value.

Update a Supplier Type when the approved business label changes. Keep the revised name meaningful for users who review existing Sub-suppliers, purchase Offers, RFQs, and POs.

When a supplier classification is retired, deactivate the Supplier Type rather than replacing it with a near-duplicate. Preserve any type that remains assigned to existing supplier records until those records have been reviewed. If you need to reclassify active suppliers, agree on the replacement Supplier Type first, then update the affected Sub-suppliers so the supplier data remains consistent.

Avoid creating a Supplier Type for a single supplier. Supplier names belong on the individual Sub-supplier record; Supplier Types should remain a reusable list of procurement roles.

Apply Types When Maintaining Products and Suppliers

After the lists are prepared, use the approved values whenever you create or update a Product or Sub-supplier record. Consistent selection is what makes the configuration useful across purchasing, product management, and project-related work.

1. Open Products and select the Product you want to maintain, or create a new Product.

2. Locate the Product Type field on the Product record.

3. Select the appropriate value from the available Product Type list. Choose the type that reflects the product’s purchasing grouping, not a description of one specific sales job, client, or project.

4. Save the Product using Save or Save and Close.

5. Open the relevant Sub-suppliers or supplier record.

6. Locate the Supplier Type field and select the supplier’s procurement role from the Supplier Types list.

7. Save the supplier record after confirming that the selected type matches the supplier’s actual role in your purchasing workflow.

Use the selection fields rather than entering the same classification in Description, Commercial Notes, Technical Notes, or other free-text areas. A selected Product Type or Supplier Type gives all users the same wording and makes it easier to review related records consistently.

Before changing the name or availability of a type, review the Products or Sub-suppliers currently using it. Renaming a widely used value affects how users understand existing master data. Deactivating a value without checking its assignments can leave users uncertain about which classification should be used for future records.

When teams use the same terms in Products, Sub-suppliers, BOMs, MRQs, RFQs, and POs, purchasing decisions are easier to review because the underlying records follow a shared vocabulary.

Verify Product and Supplier Type Configuration

Verify each new or updated classification through the same screens where users will select it. This confirms that the value was saved correctly and is available to the people who maintain Products and Sub-suppliers.

1. Open an existing test Product or create a Product that you can use for checking the configuration.

2. Locate the Product Type field and open its selection list.

3. Confirm that the new or updated Product Type appears with the correct wording. Select it, then save the Product to confirm that Pams retains the selection.

4. Open an existing test Sub-supplier or a supplier record that you can use for checking.

5. Locate the Supplier Type field and open its selection list.

6. Confirm that the new or updated Supplier Type is available. Select it and save the supplier record.

7. Return to Product types and Supplier Types in Configuration to confirm that the saved entries are still present and correctly named.

If a type does not appear in a selection field, check the following points:

• Confirm that you selected Save after creating or updating the type.
• Confirm that the type is active and has not been deactivated.
• Confirm that you are checking the correct list: Product types for Products and Supplier Types for Sub-suppliers.
• Confirm that your user role can open the relevant Product or supplier maintenance area.
• Refresh your review by closing and reopening the Product or supplier record.

If duplicate values appear in a selection list, decide which entry is the approved one. Update affected Product or Sub-supplier records to use that approved value, then deactivate the redundant entry. Do not leave several nearly identical values available, because users will select them differently and reduce the consistency of purchasing data.

Overview

Product types and Supplier Types provide a controlled classification vocabulary for two important areas of Pams: Product maintenance and supplier maintenance. The values you create in these configuration lists become choices that users select on individual records.

A Product Type describes the purchasing grouping of a Product. This helps purchasing users apply the same classification to products with similar procurement characteristics. For example, a team can distinguish items used as raw materials from packaging, consumables, or finished goods when those distinctions are meaningful to its work.

A Supplier Type describes the procurement role of a Sub-supplier. It identifies what the supplier provides to the purchasing process, such as manufacturing, distribution, services, or subcontracted work. It does not replace the supplier’s name, address, contact information, or other information maintained on the supplier record.

The value of this setup comes from consistency:

• Users choose the same approved terms on Product and Sub-supplier records.
• Purchasing teams can read records without interpreting personal abbreviations or notes.
• Product and supplier master data remains understandable when staff members change.
• Teams can review classifications consistently while working with BOMs, MRQs, RFQs, purchase Offers, and POs.
• Retired values can be deactivated so users do not continue selecting outdated classifications.

Keep the lists concise and stable. Each entry should represent a real distinction that users need while maintaining Products or Sub-suppliers. If a proposed type does not affect how users classify, review, or manage a record, record-specific details may belong in fields such as Description, Commercial Notes, or Technical Notes instead.

Prerequisites

Complete the following checks before creating or changing entries in Product types or Supplier Types:

• You can sign in to Pams and open Configuration.
• You can open the Product types and Supplier Types lists, or you have confirmed who can maintain them.
• You understand how your purchasing team currently groups Products and identifies Sub-supplier roles.
• You have reviewed existing entries for duplicates, abbreviations, alternative spellings, and outdated names.
• You have agreed on the approved wording for any new Product Type or Supplier Type.
• You know which users are responsible for selecting types on Products and Sub-suppliers.
• You have identified any existing Product or supplier records that may need updating after a type is renamed or retired.

For Product types, review the purchasing distinctions that matter to your team. Focus on meaningful product groupings rather than creating a separate type for every product family, project, client, or Principal. Product-specific details can remain on the individual Product record.

For Supplier Types, identify the roles that matter in your SRM and purchasing workflow. Use one agreed label for each role. For example, decide whether your team will use “Distributor” or another approved business term, then apply that same term across all relevant Sub-suppliers.

If you are also changing product categories, coordinate the two decisions. A Product Category and a Product Type can support different ways of organizing Products, so avoid using them as duplicate lists. For category setup, see Configuring Product Categories.

Before deactivating a type, review the Products or Sub-suppliers that already use it and agree on whether they should retain the existing value or move to another approved classification.