Supplier Group
Supplier Group is a master used to classify suppliers into meaningful categories. Grouping suppliers makes it easier to organize vendor records, apply common payment terms, simplify reporting, and manage permissions.
For example, you may group suppliers as Raw Material Suppliers, Hardware Suppliers, Service Providers, or Pharmaceutical Suppliers.
To access Supplier Group, navigate to:
Home > Buying > Supplier > Supplier Group
1. Prerequisites
Before creating a Supplier Group, ensure that:
- A Supplier has been created (recommended).
2. How to Create a Supplier Group
- Go to the Supplier Group list.
- Click New.
- Enter a name for the Supplier Group.
- If required, select a Parent Supplier Group.
- Enable Is Group if the record will act as a parent group.
- Optionally select a Default Payment Terms Template that should apply to suppliers belonging to this group.
- Click Save.
Default Payment Terms assigned to a Supplier Group are automatically available when creating Suppliers under that group, helping maintain consistent payment conditions.
3. Features
3.1 Supplier Classification
Supplier Groups help organize suppliers based on the products or services they provide.
Examples include:
- Raw Material Suppliers
- Hardware Suppliers
- Electrical Suppliers
- Pharmaceutical Suppliers
- Local Vendors
- Service Providers
- Distributors
This classification simplifies supplier management, reporting, and purchasing analysis.
3.2 Parent and Child Supplier Groups
Supplier Groups can be organized into a hierarchical structure.
- Enable Is Group to create a parent group.
- Create child Supplier Groups by selecting the appropriate Parent Supplier Group.
- This allows businesses to build logical supplier classifications that scale as the organization grows.
3.3 Supplier Group Tree
ERPNext displays Supplier Groups in a tree structure, similar to the Chart of Accounts.
To view the hierarchy:
- Open the Supplier Group list.
- Click Tree from the sidebar.
- To return to the list view, select Menu > View List.
The tree view makes it easy to manage parent and child Supplier Groups within a single hierarchy.
3.4 Hierarchy-Based User Permissions
Supplier Group hierarchy can also be used with User Permissions.
If a user is granted access to a parent Supplier Group, they automatically receive access to all of its child groups.
For example, if a user has permission to view the Distributor Supplier Group, they can also access child groups such as:
- Book Distributor
- Electronic Distributor
- Medical Distributor
This reduces the need to assign permissions individually for every Supplier Group.
