Buying groups in Enable allow you to accurately represent buying group structures related to your trading programs, including member movement across groups and authoring program lines with buying groups.
This article will guide you through:
- Creating a new buying group
- Importing buying groups via CSV
- Converting an existing trading partner into a buying group
- Deleting a buying group
Looking for something else?
- Need to add a member to a buying group? Learn how to add members here.
- Need to manage existing members in a buying group? Learn how to manage buying group members here.
Creating a new buying group
Channel admin users have access to the Config area and buying group creation within Enable.
To create a new buying group:
Step 1: Click on Config in the green banner at the top of the page.
Step 2: Click on Structure in the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Click on the Trading partners tab. Note: This may be named differently (e.g. Customers), but will always represent your trading partners.
Step 4: Click on the + button.
Step 5: Enter your trading partner details, ensuring that the Buying Group checkbox is set.
Note: If you are unable to see the Buying Group checkbox, reach out to the Enable Support team to ask about setting up buying group functionality in your channel.
Step 6: Click the Save button.
Once the buying group is successfully saved, a notification will be displayed at the top right of your screen. In the list, the trading partner’s Type will be displayed as Buying group.
Note: Once a buying group has a trading program configured against it or has at least one member assigned to it, it cannot be converted to a regular trading partner.
Importing buying groups via CSV
Channel admin users have access to the Config area and buying group creation within Enable.
To import buying groups via CSV:
Step 1: Navigate to your trading partner listing.
Step 2: Click Download template.
Step 3: Choose whether you want to download a blank template, or if you would like a template Populated with existing trading partners. Then, click Download.
Step 4: Open the downloaded template. Once buying groups is enabled in your channel, the trading partner template will have a new column called Is Buying Group. This column should be populated with Y for trading partners you want to load as buying groups and N for trading partners that you want to load as members or individuals. Note: Learn how to fill out the rest of the trading partner template here.
Step 5: After the template is populated, navigate back to the Trading partners page where you downloaded the file.
Step 6: On the right hand side, click Browse to select and open the relevant populated template file.
Step 7: Click Upload.
The file will then be queued for upload. This may take some time to complete if a large volume of trading partners have been uploaded.
Once processed, Upload results will appear on the right of the page either confirming that the upload has been completed with the number of imported rows, or identifying if the upload file was invalid.
Converting an existing trading partner into a buying group
Channel admin users have access to the Config area and buying group changes within Enable.
To update a trading partner to become a buying group:
Step 1: Navigate to your trading partner listing.
Step 2: Locate the trading partner you wish to update by paging through the list, or use the search box to filter the list by trading partner name.
Step 3: Click on the relevant trading partner to display its details on the right side of the page.
Step 4: Click the checkbox for Buying Group and click the Save button.
Note: If you are unable to see the Buying Group checkbox, reach out to the Enable Support team to ask about setting up buying group functionality in your channel.
A trading partner cannot be converted to a buying group if the trading partner:
- Has an existing trading program configured against them.
- Is an indirect trading partner in a program line.
- Is a member of an existing buying group.
Once a buying group has a trading program configured against it or has at least one member assigned to it, it cannot be converted to a regular trading partner.
Deleting a buying group
Channel admin users have access to the Config area and buying group changes within Enable.
To delete a buying group:
Step 1: Navigate to your trading partner listing.
Step 2: Locate the buying group you wish to delete by paging through the list, or use the search box to filter the list by buying group name.
Step 3: Click on the relevant trading partner to display its details on the right side of the page.
Step 4: Click Delete. This will display a screen confirming that you want to delete this buying group. It will show lists of affected users, affected trading programs and affected members.
Note: All data related to the buying group, including transactions and trading programs will be deleted from the channel. The members will become de-allocated but will remain in the system.
Step 5: To confirm the deletion of the buying group, enter the name of the trading partner and click Yes. Otherwise, if you no longer want to delete this buying group, click No.
What’s next?
Looking to add members to your buying group? Learn how to add members here.
Ready to set up an agreement with your buying group? Learn how to create a trading program with a buying group here.