What is Zip?
Zip is a scalable service that helps organizations manage purchase requests via custom, dynamic workflows. Requests can be submitted by anyone in the organization, and Zip gathers the required purchase information dynamically based on the requester and the product or service being requested. Zip routes purchase requests to the appropriate internal parties for approval automatically, and anyone in the organization can easily check the status of an existing request.
Zip can also facilitate the collection and scoring of RFx survey responses (e.g., for RFIs, RFPs, or RFQs), to help your potential customers with the sourcing process.
Once a purchase request has been fully approved, Zip can generate purchase orders (POs) and help your potential customer send them to you. Customers who use Zip's payment module can process your invoices and issue payment to your company through Zip.
What is the Zip Vendor App?
The Zip vendor app is a service hosted securely by Zip that lets your company create and manage a vendor profile that you can share securely with any customer you like (including non-Zip customers) via email invitation. This lets you enter and upload basic details about your company once and then reuse that information to complete onboarding with new customers more quickly.
One component of the Zip vendor app is the Zip vendor portal, which is section of the vendor app dedicated specifically to one potential customer. The customer can use the vendor portal to request a series of tasks from your company--such as filling out surveys and uploading documentation--to help them onboard your company as a vendor in their ERP or other systems. You can view and access all of your Zip customers' portals individually through your vendor app login.
Detailed Information
Zip places a high priority on the security of your company's information. Since the vendor app may contain sensitive information including your company's payment account details, Zip requires multi-factor authentication (MFA) when logging in to the portal.
In order to sign in, users must perform multiple steps to verify their identity:
- Entering a strong password associated with their email address
- Proving that they have access to the vendor contact's email address
- Proving that they have access to the registered phone number associated with the vendor contact's login
The multi-factor authentication requirement ensures that even if an adversary were to gain access to a vendor contact's username and password, the adversary would be unable to sign in, since they could not access the vendor contact's actual email account or mobile phone.
The first time a new user signs in to the vendor app, the sign-in process is slightly different compared to that of a returning user.
First-Time Sign In
You will initially receive an email invitation to the vendor portal from your potential customer. The message body might look something like this--but with your potential customer's company name and logo:
When you click Get started, you are taken to the Create a password page. Your email address is filled automatically and cannot be edited, since this is the address to which your potential customer sent the vendor portal invitation. Enter a strong password meeting the requirements shown on this page, and then click Create password.
On the next page, Zip prompts you to enter your phone number as a second form of authentication. Be sure to enter the correct phone number at which you want to receive a text message or an automated voice call with your verification code.
When you click Send by text or Send by call, Zip immediately sends your verification code to your phone...
...and the Enter your code page appears.
Enter your six-digit security code in the spaces provided, and click Next. You are logged into the Zip portal.
If You Do Not Receive the Security Code
As a new user, if you do not receive the initial text or call with your security code within five minutes, you can click the back button in your web browser to re-enter the phone number in case of a typo, and try sending it again.
Once you have verified your phone number by entering the security code, that phone number will serve as an authenticator for future login attempts.
If Your Vendor Portal Invitation Expires
If the original invitation email message was sent more than thirty days prior to your first login attempt, the login creation process will be disabled for your email address. You will need to request a new vendor portal invitation from your potential customer. Please check the sender's email address shown in the body of the invitation email message.
Your potential customer can easily send a reminder invitation via the Request Detail Page of the associated purchase request.
Choosing or Creating Your Vendor Organization
As a new user, Zip attempts to match your email domain with an existing vendor organization that is already set up on the Zip vendor app. For example, if your email address is john.doe@acme.com, Zip looks for a vendor organization matching the domain acme.com.
Choosing Your Organization
If Zip finds an organization matching your email domain, the Choose your organization page appears.
If your vendor organization is listed, click Request to join or Join now. Zip displays one button or the other based on your organization's policy:
- If any user with a matching domain can freely sign up, the Join now button appears.
- If your organization requires users to be approved before accessing the vendor app, the Request to join button appears. For more information, please see Requesting to Join an Organization, later in this article.
If you do not see your vendor organization listed, click the Need help? link at the bottom of the page. The Need help? dialog appears, with the contact information for Zip's support team.
You can click Create new at the bottom of this dialog to create a new vendor organization, or click Choose existing org to close the dialog so you can join one of the organizations listed on the page.
Creating Your Organization
In case Zip does not find any organization matching your email domain--or if you click Need help? and then click Create new, the Get set up page appears.
Scroll down to the Create your organization section.
- In the Create your organization section of the page, your Organization name is filled in automatically using the name entered by your potential customer when sending you the vendor app invitation. You can edit or override this with a different name.
- In the Add your logo section, you can optionally click Upload logo and browse to your company's logo file. This will be used in your vendor profile.
- In the section labeled What services does your organization provide?, select one or more checkboxes.
Next, scroll down to the Add your contact information section.
- The First name, Last name, and Job title fields may be filled in already, based on the contact information entered by your potential customer when they sent you the vendor app invitation. Update or complete these fields as required.
- In the Invite teammates section, you can optionally enter the email addresses of other users from your company who should have access to this workspace. Zip will send email invitations to the specified addresses.
- The check box labeled Let people with (your email domain) emails immediately join this organization for customers they have been invited to initially controls whether the invited teammates will see the Join now button or the Request to join button on the previous page. You will be able to change this setting later on via the Company Settings | Domain matching page in the vendor app.
- Click the Zip Network Terms and Conditions link to preview a PDF file containing the terms and conditions. If you agree to them, click the checkbox labeled I have read and agree to the Zip Network Terms and Conditions. Then, click Submit.
The vendor app opens to the customer portal for which you received the invitation.
Requesting to Join an Organization
If you click the Request to join button on the Choose your organization page, the page updates to show that your request has been submitted. Zip sends email notifications to the organization's administrators notifying them of your request to join.
In the notification email message, your organization's administrators can review your request and click Approve request or Reject to respond.
Zip will automatically email you when your request has a response.
If you need to send your admins a reminder, click Send reminder and Zip will send an additional reminder notification by email.
If your admins approve your request, you can click Start onboarding in the notification email to log in to the vendor app and directly to the customer portal.
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Returning User Login
After you have initially created your login password and registered your phone number, the vendor portal login process will be slightly different. You can begin logging in to the vendor portal using the link provided in the original invitation email message (or any other invitation message from your potential customer).
On the Sign in to Zip page, enter your email address and click Next.
Enter your password in the Password field and then click Log in.
The Send security code page appears. The page displays the last four digits of the phone number you have previously registered in conjunction with your email address. Click Send by text to receive a text message with your security code, or click Send by call to receive an automated call with your security code.
Zip immediately sends the security code to your phone...
...and the Enter your code page appears.
Enter your six-digit security code in the spaces provided, and click Next.
The Check your email on this device page appears.
Check your email for a new message with a sign-in link.
When you click the Sign in button, you are signed into the vendor portal.
If You Do Not Receive the Security Code
Once your phone number has been registered to your login credentials via a successful initial sign-in process, Zip will use that number to send the security code for all future login attempts. If you do not receive a call or a text with your security code within five minutes of clicking the Send by text or Send by call button, click Request a new code.
If you need to change your phone number, click Reset your authenticator.
For more information, please see Resetting Your Authenticator, later in this article.
If You Forget Your Password
If you forget your password, click the Forgot your password? link on the Log in page.
Zip prompts you to enter your email address--it is pre-filled for you--and click Next to reset the password.
The next page prompts you to check your email for a password reset message.
The password reset message includes a button and a link you can use to reset your vendor portal password.
Resetting Your Authenticator
If you lose access to your authenticator (i.e., your mobile phone), or if your phone number changes, you can reset your authenticator and enter a new phone number.
| Note: This process may take up to three days to complete. |
To reset your authenticator, click Reset your authenticator on the Send security code dialog...
...or on the Enter your code dialog.
When prompted, click Submit MFA reset request.
Zip automatically emails administrators for your vendor company with a request to reset your authenticator.
Your company administrators can click Review request in the body of the email message, and then click Approve to approve the request, or click Reject to reject it.
Zip also sends an email message to your login address...
...and a text message to your current authenticator/phone number....
...to confirm that you have requested the reset.
| Important: If your administrators do not approve or reject the request and you do not cancel the request within three days, Zip will approve the request automatically. |
Once your authenticator has been reset, the next time you enter your email address and password, Zip will prompt you to enter a new phone number for future authentication.
Switching Between Your Vendor Company and a Zip Buyer Organization
Some users' email addresses may be associated with both a vendor profile and a Zip buyer organization. If this applies to you and you have log in access to the buyer organization, you can switch between accessing the vendor app and your Zip buyer organization by clicking the account switcher at the top left-hand corner of the page.
While logged into the vendor app, the Launch buyer app button appears. Likewise, if you are logged into the Zip buyer organization, the Launch vendor app button will appear at the bottom of the account switcher.
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