Vendor onboarding (procurement)
The paperwork a company’s procurement team needs before it can pay a new vendor: forms, tax and bank details, insurance, data agreements and approvals.
It is the paper process in practice and often slower than the sale itself. Expect a supplier form, proof of company registration, a tax form, bank verification, proof of liability insurance, a data processing agreement, a security questionnaire, sometimes sanctions screening or a DUNS number, and a purchase order before the first invoice. Without a vendor number in the system, an invoice may not be paid even with a signed contract.
Related terms
- MSA and SOW (master services agreement, statement of work): The master services agreement sets the legal terms once; each statement of work adds one project: scope, deliverables, timeline and price.
- Security questionnaire (vendor risk assessment, SIG, CAIQ): A list of security and privacy questions a company sends a vendor before buying, to judge the risk of trusting it with data and access.
- Mutual action plan (MAP, close plan): A shared, dated list of steps both buyer and vendor take from first call to signed contract and go-live, with an owner for each step.
- Data processing agreement (DPA): The contract GDPR requires when a vendor processes personal data on your behalf: what, why, how it is protected, who else gets it.
- D-U-N-S number: A nine-digit company identifier from Dun & Bradstreet that Apple and Google require to publish apps as an organization.
