vendor_compliance_expiredinsuranceThe record of who
you work with.
People, organisations, affiliations and vendors, recorded once and read by every app. And when an award is about to become a purchase order, the check that stops it reaching a supplier who should not receive one.
Everyone keeps a supplier list. None of them stops a bad order.
The list lives in a spreadsheet, the evidence lives in a folder, and the purchase order goes out without asking either.
Typed into three systems
A new supplier is entered into estimating, procurement and accounts, and spelled differently in each. Nobody can say which record is the real one, so every report disagrees with the last.
The lapse you find in the audit
A subcontractor's insurance lapsed three weeks before the award. The order went out anyway, and the lapse surfaces months later, during an audit, when there is nothing left to do about it.
A list filed next to the transaction
The approved supplier list exists, but nothing consults it at the moment of commitment. A control that depends on someone remembering to look is not a control; it is a hope.
Three things that hold
Each one is enforced by the platform, not promised by a process document.
An award cannot become a purchase order for an ineligible supplier
The check runs at the moment of commitment, inside the intake itself, so it does not rely on anyone remembering to look.
Rejections carry reason codes, so the block is actionable rather than mysterious
Every refusal names its resolution scope and reason codes. The buyer knows what lapsed and what to chase.
People, organisations and vendors are recorded once and read by every app
One directory, two views: the vendor view is a strict subset of the directory, so there is no second, diverging list.
The supplier list, wired into the transaction
Not filed next to it. Five capabilities, stated exactly.
Vendor eligibility, enforced at the moment of commitment
When an award is about to become a purchase order, XO Supply Chain asks XO Directory whether the supplier is eligible. If the answer is no, no order is written and the buyer is told exactly why. If the directory cannot be reached, the intake is blocked rather than waved through.
- Fails closed, by designNo directory answer, no purchase order. An outage blocks the intake instead of letting it through
- The decision keeps its evidenceAward intake records a snapshot of the eligibility decision on the order itself
- Enforced in more than one appXO Bid refuses to invite an ineligible vendor to a bid package, with the same reason codes
insurancevendor_compliance_expiredCompliance that reaches the transaction
Vendor compliance, capability and per-project standing are records in the directory, and they are what the eligibility check resolves from. The evidence is not a filing cabinet; it is the input to the answer.
- The latest effective record decidesEligibility is resolved from the latest effective compliance record, not from memory
- Standing per projectCompliance, capability and standing are recorded per project as well as per vendor
- Chase with the reason on screenA refused intake names what lapsed, so the supplier is chased for current evidence and the award proceeds once it is recorded
One list, entered once
A vendor is invited, accepts through a signed link, and becomes part of the record with their people. The acceptance and its evidence are retained, and every app that needs the supplier reads the same record.
- Signed acceptanceThe vendor accepts through a signed link, and the acceptance is recorded with its evidence
- Their people come with themVendors join the record together with their people, not as a bare company name
- No re-keying across systemsOne supplier record instead of three spellings in three systems
People and organisations, with dates that mean something
The directory records people, organisations and their affiliations, and the affiliations are dated rather than assumed. Who worked for whom, and when, is a record you can read back, not a recollection.
- Dated affiliationsWho is affiliated with which organisation, and from when, written down rather than remembered
- Company-scoped by designEvery directory record is scoped to your company, and every endpoint is authenticated
- One directory, two viewsThe vendor view is a strict subset of the directory, so the two can never disagree
Built for identity governance, switched on when you are
Identity bindings are versioned, bitemporal and constrained in the database rather than in application code. The governance layer this supports is available and ships off by default; until you switch it on, bindings are recorded, not enforced.
- Versioned and bitemporalEvery binding carries its validity in time and its version history
- Rules that live in the databaseThe record's constraints are database constraints, not application conventions
- Available, off by defaultIdentity verification ships off by default, and we describe it as available rather than enforced
The directory acts where other apps commit
Infrastructure every app reads, and a decision two commercial workflows cannot complete without.
Questions buyers actually ask
Answered the way we would answer them in a procurement questionnaire.
What happens if the directory is unavailable mid-award?
The intake is blocked, not waved through. On every error path, no purchase order is written; the award proceeds once the directory can answer again.
Does it warn before a supplier’s compliance expires?
No. Expiry is evaluated when eligibility is next resolved, which is the next time someone tries to transact with that supplier. The refusal names the record that lapsed, so the chase starts with the reason on screen.
Is identity verification enforced?
Not by default. Identity bindings are recorded, versioned and constrained in the database today, and the verification layer is available and off until you switch it on. We describe it as available, not enforced.
Who can see contact details?
Person data is company-scoped and every endpoint is authenticated. A dedicated contact-details permission exists and is honoured on the primary people list and detail surfaces; it does not yet govern every path that can return contact details, and we say so rather than claiming platform-wide control.
See the directory answer for itself
Watch an award intake ask the directory, and a refusal arrive with its reasons on screen.