Supplier approval is the authorised decision that a provider may be used for a defined scope under stated conditions. It should follow evaluation of relevant capability and explain any restrictions or additional controls. Approval is a starting decision that remains subject to actual performance and change.
The Supplier Quality Management Guide: Selection, Evaluation and Monitoring places this topic in its wider QMS context. Do not confuse approval with placing an order or completing a vendor payment record. Commercial setup and quality authorisation may serve different purposes.
Define the decision and its boundary
The practical starting point for supplier approval is an agreed result. Describe what a satisfactory outcome would allow the next person to do, including any conditions that could prevent acceptance. Work backwards from that result to the information and authority required. This keeps the method proportionate and avoids creating extra approvals that do not resolve a meaningful uncertainty.
Temporary approval can be useful when evidence is incomplete and the business need is legitimate. Specify its duration or triggering conditions, additional controls and the evidence needed for a later decision. Avoid allowing temporary approval to renew silently. A supplier may also be suspended for one activity while remaining suitable for another; reflect that distinction accurately rather than forcing every situation into an unrestricted yes or no.
Put the method into practice
Organise supplier approval around decisions rather than signatures. Explain what each participant must establish before handing over the work, including unresolved limitations. A second approval is useful only when it adds relevant expertise, authority or challenge. Remove duplication carefully, checking that the revised arrangement still makes responsibility clear and leaves the receiving person able to act.
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Review the evaluation evidence and resolve essential gaps.
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Authorise the scope, conditions and monitoring arrangement.
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Communicate approval limits to purchasing and receiving users.
Worked example
A fictional service company approves a translation provider for routine commercial documents after review of samples and reviewer competence. Technical safety-critical material remains outside the approved scope.
The purchasing system displays the restriction and routes exceptions for authorised evaluation. Staff cannot infer unlimited approval from the supplier’s presence in the system.
The example makes the judgement in supplier approval visible. It deliberately separates the observed problem from the explanation and the action taken. In a real setting, interview the people involved and inspect the relevant records before accepting that explanation. Keep conflicting evidence available, because an attractive initial account can otherwise harden into an unsupported conclusion.
Useful evidence and records
The record for supplier approval should help a colleague reconstruct the decision without needing the original author. The fields below are suggested content, not a mandatory ISO template. Use existing records where they already provide reliable information. Creating a second copy introduces reconciliation work and can leave two apparently authoritative accounts of the same event.
| Record element | What it should establish |
|---|---|
| Approval scope | Permitted work and locations |
| Conditions | Restrictions or extra checks |
| Authority | Person approving the decision |
| Review trigger | Performance or change requiring reconsideration |
Check the result and avoid a common mistake
A single approved flag can allow unintended work to be purchased. Make meaningful scope restrictions available at the point where orders are raised.
Sample orders against approval conditions and inspect exception decisions. Confirm that changes to approval status reach staff before they make new commitments.
Check the reliability of the evidence used to judge supplier approval. Inconsistent definitions or missing cases can produce a reassuring result even when the operating arrangement is weak. Look at the population represented, the period covered and the reasons for exclusions. Compare outcome information with observations of the work itself before concluding that the intended control is dependable.
Connect the next decision
When supplier approval exposes a disagreement, separate missing facts from competing priorities. Further data may resolve the first, while the second needs an accountable management choice. Record the chosen approach and the conditions that would prompt reconsideration. This allows later reviewers to assess the reasoning fairly instead of judging an earlier decision using information available only afterwards.
Use Supplier Qualification vs Supplier Evaluation when the work moves to the adjacent decision. The related guide to purchased-process controls explains the wider process dependency. The handover should identify what has been accepted, what remains open and who will review the next evidence. Keep the original decision traceable when later information changes the conclusion.
Practical question
Can an urgent supplier be used before full evaluation? A justified exception may be possible under the organisation’s arrangements and applicable requirements. Authorise it explicitly, assess the consequence and define temporary controls. Urgency should not erase the need to understand the risk or leave the exception indistinguishable from ordinary approval.