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Create a Customer Transaction or Respond to a Customer Request

This guide is for suppliers. It shows how to send a transaction to a customer in ChainTraced, either by answering a request your customer has created or by creating a new transaction yourself.

Two kinds of transactions

  • Lot Transaction: certificates and data tied to one manufacturing lot or delivery, for example an inspection certificate EN 10204 3.1 or a test report. Where: Lot Transactions > Customer.

  • Product Transaction: approvals at product level, for example an Initial Sample. Where: Product Transactions > Customer.

The steps below are the same for both. Product Transactions do not need a manufacturing lot.

Before you start

  • The customer exists under Registry > Counterparties. If the customer is connected in ChainTraced they see the transaction in their own account; otherwise they receive it by email. See Counterparty Management.

  • Your product exists under Registry > Products, or you import it from the request in step 2 below.

  • Optional: in Company Settings, turn on Copy Customer Requirements. The customer's product number and requirements are then copied into your product registry automatically when a request arrives, and step 2 is done for you. See Account setup and company settings.

Respond to a request from your customer

  1. Open the request. Go to Lot Transactions > Customer (or Product Transactions > Customer). New requests have status Requested; click in Requested in the Quickview to filter. Click Open on the request.

  2. Link your product. If the customer's product number is not yet linked to one of your products, the transaction shows Your product number is not set with two choices:

    • Import as new product from customer creates a product in your registry from the customer's product number and description. You can change both to your own values.

    • Choose existing product from list links one of your existing products.

    Once linked, ChainTraced remembers the pair and links it automatically on the next request. See Product Links.

  3. Link or create the manufacturing lot (Lot Transactions only). Under Manufacturing lot, pick a lot with Link an existing lot, or click Create new lot, enter the Manufacturing lot number and click Create. The lot number is printed on the documentation. A transaction holds one lot; if you deliver several lots on the same order, use Actions > Duplicate Transaction order and link the next lot to the copy. See Manufacturing Lots.

  4. Enter results if the product has requirements. Under Performed tests, use Add standard or Add group and fill in test results, chemical composition and so on. If your product has no requirements, skip this step.

  5. Add attachments. Drag files into, or click, Shared attachments (visible to the customer) or Private attachments (visible only to your company). Each file can be up to 32 MB (keep the total below 20 MB to fit in the email notification).

  6. Generate a PDF (optional). Generate PDF creates a certificate from the transaction and lot data; the layout depends on the Transaction Template. Tick Merge PDF Attachments to merge your uploaded PDFs into the same document, with traceability data in the header and footer of every page. Merging is in Beta and some PDF formats are not supported.

  7. Submit. The Submit button appears once a lot is linked. The arrow next to it offers Submit with Email, which also emails the recipients listed on the transaction, and Submit with Email & Duplicate. If your company reviews transactions internally first, use Submit for approval.

Create a transaction without a request

  1. Go to Lot Transactions > Customer and click Create new Lot Transaction (or Product Transactions > Customer and Create new Product Transaction).

  2. Pick the Transaction Template, for example Certificate 3.1. The Header and Subheader come from the template and can be edited.

  3. Select the Customer and the Product. Template, customer and product are required.

  4. Fill in what you have: Order number, Line number, Customer order no., Customer line no., Quantity & Unit (the unit comes from the product), Delivery date, email recipients with Add an email, custom fields and Notes.

  5. Click Next step. The transaction is created in status Ongoing draft and opens. Continue from step 3 above to link a lot, add attachments and submit.

What happens next

Status

Meaning

Requested

The customer has asked for this transaction and is waiting for you.

Ongoing draft

You are working on it. Nothing has been sent yet.

Needs Customer Approval

Submitted. The customer is notified and sees it as Needs your approval.

Approved

The customer approved the transaction.

Requested changes

The customer wants changes. Update the transaction and submit again.

Rejected

The customer rejected the transaction.

Withdrawn

The transaction was withdrawn with Actions > Withdraw.