> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.comforthub.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add a supplier and its branches

> Create a vendor so technicians can order from it and pick up at its branches

export const Touches = ({systems}) => <p>
    <strong>Systems involved:</strong>{" "}
    {systems.split(",").map((s, i) => <span key={s}>
        {i > 0 ? " · " : ""}
        <a href={"/systems/" + s.trim()}>{s.trim().replace(/-/g, " ")}</a>
      </span>)}
  </p>;

<Touches systems="zoho-crm, supabase-backend, the-7am-app" />

A supplier is where we buy parts. Its branches are the counters a technician drives to. Both are typed into Zoho, in **Vendors**, and the branches live in the vendor's **Vendor Branches** list on the same record.

## Before you start

* Zoho open, on **Vendors**.
* The supplier's name, and for each branch a name, a full street address, and a phone or email if you have them.

## Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the vendor">
    In **Vendors**, click **Create**. Fill in **Vendor Name**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the branches">
    In **Vendor Branches**, add one row per counter: **Branch Name**, **Branch Address**, **Branch Phone**, **Branch Email**. Save.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How you know it worked

* The supplier is on our side within seconds, with its branches, and each branch gets a Street View picture of its address within a minute.
* The app lists the supplier with its branches.

## Good to know

* Two fields on the vendor cross, both ways: the supplier's name and its active flag. Nothing else on the vendor record is copied.
* A branch crosses from Zoho to us only, with its name, address, phone, email and map position. An edit made here never goes back.
* A branch you remove from the list in Zoho is removed here, unless a purchase order names it; then it stays.
* The picture is the one thing the engine works out from the branch address: it looks the address up on the map to fetch the Street View shot, then saves the picture and nothing else. **Branch Latitude** and **Branch Longitude** stay exactly as they were typed in Zoho.

## Related

* [What lives where](/handbook/catalog-and-staff/what-lives-where)
* [Order stock from a supplier](/handbook/parts/order-stock)