Your network is the list of companies you work with in Retraced: your customers and your own suppliers. When a company is in your network, you can work with it on the platform. For example, you can add your suppliers to a supply chain or product map for your customer. Building your network once means it is ready whenever a customer asks you to show where your materials come from.
Your network
Your network has two kinds of connections.
Clients are your customers, the companies you supply
Suppliers are the companies that supply you.
Your customers often connect with you first. When they do, you get a Company linked notification by email and on your dashboard. Your own suppliers are the connections you add yourself.
You can find your network at any time under Network in the left sidebar.
Add your supplier to your network
The companies you work with may already have a profile in Retraced. Search for them first:
Open Network in the left sidebar.
Click + Add in the top right of the table.
Start typing the company name. Results appear as you type. You can also search by country or facility type. Search for the full official company name first, then try an acronym or abbreviation. Companies already in your network show a Supplier or Client label instead of a button.
Next to the company, open the arrow on Connect as and choose Supplier (a company that supplies you) or Client (your customer).
Confirm with Connect. Your view of the company’s profile starts with the publicly available data from their profile. You can edit it at any time. Optional: To get you started, your profile view of the company is prefilled with publicly available data from their profile. You can edit that data at any time.
If your supplier isn’t in Retraced yet
If you can’t find the company, create a profile for it:
Before you do, try rewording your search. When a company is added more than once, it causes confusion and blocks collaboration across the platform. If the company still doesn’t appear, click Couldn’t find the company you’re looking for? at the bottom of the search window.
Enter the company’s exact official name, its facility processes (as many as apply, see [List of Facility Processes]) and the address. Select the connection type Supplier, then click Create.
A new profile has no users yet. Invite someone from that company so they can log in and work with you, for example to fill in their part of a supply chain map. Find out how in [Inviting new users].
Remove a company from your network
If you no longer work with a company or added a wrong one, you can unlink it in two ways:
From the Network table: tick one or more companies and click Unlink in the bar above the table.
From the company profile: open the company via its name in Network and click the unlink icon (broken chain) in the top right of the company header.
Unlinking a company removes it from your network view, but not from your business partner's.
Export your network
You can export your network as a file. This is useful when a customer asks for a list of your suppliers, when you want to compare your Retraced network with your own supplier records, or when you need to share the list with colleagues who don’t use Retraced. The download link reaches you by email, so make sure your notifications are on (see [Managing notifications and language settings]).
Open Network in the left sidebar.
To export your whole network, tick the box in the header row. To export only some companies, tick the box next to each one.
Click Export in the bar above the table. Every visible column is exported and hidden columns are not. To choose the columns, use the settings (gear) icon.
You will receive an email with a download link.
What to do next
Depending on your client's request, you can:
Map your supply chain for your customer using the suppliers in your network > [Supplier SCM Journey]
Complete your product map for your customer using the suppliers in your network > [Supplier PM Journey]
Place orders to your suppliers to complete your customer's tracing request > [Supplier Tracing Journey]