1. What SCM helps you achieve
Every customer that works with Retraced wants to know the same thing: where their product's materials actually come from, tier by tier — it's how they catch compliance risks early and stay ahead of regulations before those risks turn into liabilities. Supply Chain Mapping (SCM) is where you show that once, visually, instead of re-explaining your supplier network by email or spreadsheet every time a customer, auditor, or regulation asks. Once it's mapped, your customer can see your actual network directly in Retraced.
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2. How SCM connects to your Retraced profile
Your Company Profile is your foundation; Supply Chain Mapping extends that foundation downward, tier by tier. Where your profile shows who you are, your supply chain map shows who you work with — your direct suppliers, and theirs in turn — so your customer sees the full picture instead of only their direct relationship with you. Each company you add can be invited to collaborate and map their own tier directly, so the burden of keeping the map current is not only on you.
Key terms before you start
Term | What it means for you |
Supply chain map | The visual of who supplies whom for one request. You rename it when you start mapping. |
Upstream | Further back in the chain: your suppliers, and their suppliers. Deleting a node also removes everything upstream of it. |
Node | One company at one position in the map. |
Facility process | What a company does at its node, for example Cut Make Trim. You confirm it for each company you link. See Facility processes for a full list of available facility processes a company can have. |
Your network vs. the map | A company can be on the map without being connected in your Network. Only companies in your network are linked suppliers. |
Creator | Your customer, who sent the request. They control the map's status. |
Collaborator | Your role when a customer asks you to map. The Collaboration Rights column shows which requests are yours to act on. |
In review / Done | Once the creator sets either status, the map locks and you can no longer edit it. |
3. How to do it
Get notified. When a customer sends you a mapping request, you'll get an email and it will also appear under Active Tasks on your dashboard and in your activity feed.
Access the request. Open it from the notification, or go to Traceability → Supply Chain Mapping, where every request is listed. If you're scanning the list yourself, the Collaboration Rights column tells you which ones are yours to act on — look for “Invited” (collaboration has not started yet) and "Collaborator" (collaboration request has been accepted by you).
Make sure you complete the correct request. Supply chain mapping and product mapping are separate features with separate requests. Before you start, check that you are working in Traceability → Supply Chain Mapping.
Start mapping. Click the maps’ name, confirm your customer's message, rename the supply chain (optional), and click Start collaborating — this accepts the collaboration request.
Prefer to watch? Here is a video:
Add your network. If a company isn't in your network yet, add them first. Once they're in your network, click the blue + button in your own node and choose between:
Link companies — select the companies from your network that belong at this node, confirm the facility process for each, and click Link X companies.
Paste an existing chain to safe time— if you've already mapped a chain elsewhere in Retraced, reuse it instead of rebuilding it: pick it from the dropdown and choose whether to paste the whole thing or just its connected nodes.
Use zoom, drag, and the filter tool (by supplier, country, or facility process) to keep a large map readable as it grows.
Prefer to watch? Here is a video:
One more thing you'll notice as the map grows: a node with a white link icon means that company is on the map but not yet in your network — click it and confirm to connect them as a supplier (it turns green once linked).
Prefer to watch? Here is a video:
4. Where your information is used
Once mapped, your supply chain becomes a live visual your customer can reference directly — real-time, without you re-sending updates.
It is also what feeds the reporting and insights your customer sees on their side (tier depth, which companies in the network still need to be identified and connected, collaboration progress), so a well-maintained map does some of your reporting work for you.
This benefits your client directly — but it benefits you too: if you invite your upstream suppliers to keep mapping their own tier, you get the same live visibility into your own supply chain, and the work of keeping it current spreads across the network instead of sitting entirely on you.
5. Keep it up to date
A map only holds its value while it is current. As your network changes — a new supplier, a dropped facility, a completed audit trail — go back into the chain and update it.
Via the + icon on that node, you have two options — check which one before you click:
Replace company swaps it for a different one (removes that company's collaborator access, keeps the node's position and upstream links)
Delete node and upstream links removes it and everything upstream of it — their suppliers, and their suppliers' suppliers — plus all associated collaborator access. Double-check the node before confirming; there's no partial undo.
Prefer to watch? Here is a video:
One thing to know: once your customer (the map's creator) marks a chain "in review" or "done," it locks and collaborators can no longer edit it, so raise any changes with them before that point rather than after.
6. What to do next
Keep your map working for you: Upload certificates and general info for each mapped company (including your upstream suppliers) so that data can support DPPs, not just the map itself. This is not automatic: it is a next step you can take, either because a client requests it or voluntarily to strengthen your profile toward your client.
Company Profile / Vendor Compliance is the hub; Supply Chain Mapping is one of the things that draws on it and feeds back into it. This is what the article's "Where your information is used" section is teaching.