Only subscribers on the Supplier Plus plan can access this feature

This guide shows you how to streamline supplier onboarding by incorporating key compliance checks and scorecard evaluations.

This guide outlines the step-by-step process of onboarding both new and existing suppliers using document and scorecard requests. It helps ensure consistent, compliant, and efficient supplier onboarding within the Supplier Management area. Create and re-use Onboarding packages to make this task faster and simpler.

When to Use This Feature

✅ When onboarding a new supplier and verifying compliance documentation.

✅ When onboarding an existing supplier and verifying compliance documentation.

✅ When scoring supplier risk, sustainability, or performance as part of the onboarding process.

✅ When maintaining consistent onboarding standards across departments.

📌Onboarding Statuses

Each supplier has an onboarding status to show where they are in the onboarding process. The statuses are:

  • Not Started – The supplier has been flagged for onboarding, but no document or scorecard requests have been sent yet.

  • In Progress – At least one onboarding request (document or scorecard) has been sent to the supplier. Some items may still be pending or incomplete.

  • To Review – All documents and scorecards have been submitted by the supplier and are awaiting internal review, approval or scoring.

  • Completed – All onboarding requirements (documents approved and scorecards scored) have been fulfilled, and the supplier's onboarding is officially complete. If additional onboarding requests are sent to the supplier at this stage, the status will change back to 'In progress'.

Step-by-Step Guide - Onboarding a new supplier

Step 1: Create a New Supplier Record & Onboard

  • Navigate to either the Supplier Management home page or Supplier Onboarding from the main menu.

  • Click the "+ Onboard A Supplier' button

  • On the next popup, choose whether you would like to:

  1. Create and onboard a new supplier which currently does not exist in your oboloo platform, or,

  2. If you would like to onboard an existing supplier that does already exist in the platform.

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Create and onboard a new supplier

  • Fill out the required fields to create a new supplier.

  • Toggle the “Does this supplier need to go through onboarding?" toggle switch to enable onboarding.

  • Click Save. The supplier now appears in the Supplier Onboarding dashboard.

Onboard an existing supplier

  • On the next popup, choose supplier that already exists in oboloo from the supplier drop down

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  • Once selected, click the green 'Onboard Supplier' button

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  • The supplier now appears in the Supplier Onboarding dashboard.

Step 2: Navigating the Supplier Onboarding Dashboard

  • Use filters to search by industry, status, or supplier name.

  • View onboarding progress and status for each supplier at a glance from this table view. You can identify the onboarding owner, the suppliers onboarding process and the over onboarding status.

  • Click a supplier name or select “View” from the actions menu to open the detail page.

Step 3: Request Documents and Scorecards

  • From the supplier’s onboarding detail page, use the tabs to manage requests.

  • Click the “Documents” tab to:

    • Request specific document types (e.g., policies, certifications).

    • Either upload documents yourself on behalf of the supplier or send a document request for the supplier to respond to. You can also send a document directly to the supplier.

    • Review and approve submitted files.

  • Click on one of the Scorecard tab to:

    • Send scorecards from the scorecard library (General, Risk, Sustainability, etc.) to the supplier to fill in.

    • Track which scorecards have been submitted and scored.

  • All requests are visible under the supplier onboarding record.

💡 Note: You can cancel the request of a document or scorecard if it has not already been submitted by the supplier via the "Actions" column on the documents and scorecards tables and clicking the option "Cancel Request". If a supplier has already submitted documents you wish to remove, you can archive those records also via the "Actions" column by clicking the "Archive" option.
You can also choose to remove a supplier from the Onboarding process, whereby all outstanding document and scorecard requests that have not been completed will be cancelled and the supplier notified. Any submissions already made by the supplier will remain and continue to be available under the supplier profile page.

Step 4: Review and Approve Submissions

  • When a supplier submits documents or scorecards, the Onboarding Owner and any Supplier Owners will receive notifications.

  • Navigate to the relevant tab (Documents or Scorecards).

  • Approve or reject each document submitted - If a document is rejected, a new document request will need to be sent to the supplier with an explanation.

  • Score each scorecard from 0–5. For Risk scorecards, 0 = Low Risk, 5 = High Risk.

  • Add comments where necessary and save.

💡 Note: The Onboarding Owner is the main internal user responsible for managing the supplier’s onboarding process. They will receive notifications whenever a supplier uploads requested documents or submits scorecards.
You can assign or change the Onboarding Owner from the dropdown menu at the top of the supplier’s onboarding detail page.
In addition, you can assign Supplier Owners (who also receive notifications) by going to the Supplier Owners tab within the main supplier record. Multiple owners can be added here to ensure visibility across teams.

Step 5: Monitor Onboarding Progress

  • Return to the Overview tab.

  • View real-time onboarding completion percentages for documents and scorecards.

  • Progress bars display approval and scoring completion.

  • The status automatically updates to “Completed” once all requirements are fulfilled.

💡 Note: Suppliers marked for onboarding are visible on the Supplier Management home page table under the Onboarding Status column.
Documents and scorecards requested as part of the onboarding process are also accessible within the supplier’s main record, under the Documents and Scorecards tabs.
Any document or scorecard linked to onboarding will display “Yes” under the Onboarding Record column in their respective tables.

Key Considerations & Best Practices

✅ Enable onboarding when compliance review is important.
✅ Monitor onboarding progress regularly to avoid delays.
✅ Scorecards and document reviews can be accessed from both onboarding and supplier profile pages.
✅ Ensure all documents are reviewed and scorecards scored to complete onboarding.
✅ Use comments and scores to track evaluation history.

Additional Resources

📌 Related User Guides:

📌 Need Further Help?
If you need further assistance, please contact your internal platform administrator for support. Otherwise please reach out to oboloo's support team. If you are unable to view the above area in the oboloo platform, please check your user permissions and access rights.