Getting Started

This guide describes how to set up the N24 Vendor Rating extension and prepare the first vendor rating sheet.

✅ Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure that:

  • the N24 Vendor Rating extension is installed in your Business Central environment,
  • the user has appropriate permissions assigned — details in the Permissions section,
  • posted purchase receipts exist in the system — these are the source data for calculations.

1️⃣ Module setup

  1. In Search, type N24VR and open the ⚙️ N24VR - Vendor Rating Setup page.
  2. In the 🪧 General section, fill in:
    • Vendor Rating Sheet Numbering Series — select an existing number series for rating sheets or create a new one. If left blank, you will need to enter the sheet number manually when creating each new sheet.
    • Default Evaluation Period (Formula) — date formula suggested when creating a new sheet, e.g. -3M means the last 3 months. You can change this individually on each sheet.
  3. In the 👁️ Rating Sheet section, review the default generator options:
    • Rated Vendor Handling — what should happen to a vendor who already has a line in the sheet when the generator is run again.
    • Vendor Visibility — which vendors should appear in the generator results (e.g. all or only those with purchases in the period).
  4. At the bottom of the page you will find the ⚖️ Rating Criteria table. On first opening, the system automatically populates default criteria. Click on a criterion row to open its card — there you can set the weight, tolerance, and other parameters.
  5. If the system lacks data for a criterion (e.g. no purchase credit memos), you can disable it — use the Enabled field on the criterion card. A disabled criterion is not calculated and does not affect the final score. You can enable it at any time.

Full description of all fields and options: Setup.

2️⃣ Creating a rating sheet

  1. In Search, type N24VR and open the 🏅 N24VR - Vendor Rating Sheets page.
  2. After creating a new record, the system automatically fills in the start and end dates based on the period formula from the setup.
  3. On the sheet card, run the Generate Rating action.
  4. The request page displays the default options from the setup. You can change them for this run — e.g. narrow the vendor list with a filter — then click OK.

After generation completes, the sheet contains lines with rating results for each vendor meeting the criteria.

3️⃣ Review and approval

  1. The sheet displays calculated values: On-Time Percentage, Quantity Percentage, Manual Entry Percentage, Final % and others — depending on enabled criteria.
  2. Clicking a percentage value opens a drilldown to the source documents from which the result was calculated.
  3. If needed, you can manually adjust the Final % or add a comment to the line.
  4. After reviewing the data, change the sheet status to Approved. Approval records the date and user who approved — creating a full audit trail.

4️⃣ AI Summary

After approving the sheet, the AI Summary action is available — the most important feature of the extension. When run, the system sends sheet data to Azure OpenAI and generates a ready-made HTML report containing:

  • Overview — a donut chart with A–E class distribution and a brief description of vendor base health.
  • Actions Required — a prioritized list of vendors requiring attention, based on status, class, and business impact.
  • Positive Highlights — best vendors and those with the greatest improvement.
  • Systemic Observations — patterns repeating across multiple vendors.
  • Trend Analysis — if a previous approved sheet exists, the system compares results and highlights declines and improvements.

The summary is saved in the sheet. On the next opening of the AI Summary action, the saved version is displayed without regenerating.

Note

AI Summary requires a configured Azure OpenAI connection in the module setup. The report is generated in the user's Business Central interface language.

Detailed description: Vendor Rating Sheets → AI Summary.

5️⃣ Ongoing manual ratings

Manual vendor ratings can be entered at any time — you don't need to wait for sheet generation. The ✒️ Feedback & Ratings FactBox is available on vendor pages and purchasing documents. Each entry will be automatically included in the next sheet generation.

If AI mode is enabled in the setup, after entering a comment the system automatically assigns a 1–5 rating and flags entries requiring management attention.

📚 Detailed module documentation