When a buyer sends your team (Vendor Organization) a Vendor Task, the right people on your team need to know what it is, what they can do with it, and who's responsible for completing it. This article walks through vendor roles in the context of Vendor Tasks so your team knows exactly where they stand.
What is a Vendor Task?
A Vendor Task is a request sent to your organization by a buyer as part of a contract workflow. It may ask you to upload files, provide information, or complete a specific deliverable by a due date. Once your organization receives a Vendor Task, the right team member can review the details, add files and comments, and submit a response directly through the vendor portal.
Vendor Roles
Access to Vendor Tasks is role-based. Not all users in your organization will see or interact with a task, as it depends on the role assigned to them in your vendor account.
| Role | View Task | Add Files | Add Comments | Submit | Reassign |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor Admin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tasks Observer | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| All other vendor users | — | — | — | — | — |
Note
In this context, Submit refers to completing and returning a Vendor Task response to the buyer, not submitting a proposal or bid. It's the final action that marks your work on the task as done.
When a buyer sends a Vendor Task to your organization, it is automatically assigned to the Vendor Admin. If someone else on your team needs to handle it, the Vendor Admin can reassign it.
The Tasks Observer role provides read-only access to Vendor Tasks. Observers can follow along and stay informed, but cannot add files, comment, or submit on behalf of the organization.
Vendor users who do not hold either role will not see the task in their portal view at all.
Note
Having access to a Vendor Task does not automatically grant access to the underlying contract or project record. Task access and contract access are managed separately.
Vendors' Perspective: Task Status
Once your organization submits a Vendor Task, the status updates to Submitted on your side. From the buyer's perspective, the task will show as Vendor Complete. Both statuses reflect the same completed action, and they simply use different labels depending on who's viewing.
Cancelled Tasks
If a buyer cancels a Vendor Task, it becomes read-only for your vendor organization. Cancelled tasks cannot be edited, commented on, or submitted. You can still view them by selecting the Cancelled status filter in your task table.
Note
A new Task Assignee role is in development for vendor organizations. When available, Vendor Admins will be able to designate specific team members as eligible task handlers, and buyers will be able to select the right recipient when sending a task. This article will be updated when the feature is released.