Adding a supplier into Lookout

Before you start

• You have permission to create and edit profiles and third party providers. 
• You have the supplier’s full name or business contact details, email address, business name and valid ABN. 
• You know which services the supplier can provide. 
• You know whether the supplier is registered for GST. 

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Creating the supplier profile

• Navigate to Profile search
• Create a new profile for the supplier contact if one does not already exist
• Enter the required basic details, such as full name, email address, address and time zone
• Save the profile

Step 2: Create the supplier record

• Go to Third party providers and open the Supplier tab

• Click New Supplier

• Search for and select the profile you created

• Select Contractor

• Under What kind of supplier?, select Supplier, Clinician, or both if applicable

• Enter the supplier's ABN and business name

• Confirm whether the supplier is registered for GST

• Add the products, communities and services the supplier can provide

• Select Supplier role, Clinician role, or both if applicable

• Click Save

Step 3: Add supplier rates

• Open the supplier record
• In the supplier price list tile, click New rate
• Enter the rate name, description and external ID if required
• Select the relevant support/service claiming code
• Enter the rate, unit type, applicable service and tax treatment
• Click Save

Step 4: Invite them to the supplier portal

• If Connected Care is enabled, on the supplier record, locate the Supplier connection tile. 
• Click Enable and send invitation. 
• Confirm the invitation is being sent to the correct email address. 
• The supplier will receive an email invitation to activate their Supplier Portal account. 
• If the invitation expires, resend it from the supplier record. 

Step 5: Bulk invite suppliers to the supplier portal

If you have several suppliers to invite, you can send all their invitations from the Suppliers list instead of opening each record.

• Go to the Suppliers list. (You can do the same from the Clinicians list.)

• Using the bulk select tick box, tick next to each supplier you want to invite.

• An actions menu will appear as you begin to select your suppliers.

• In the action bar that appears, click Send portal invite.

• A Before you connect to these suppliers window will open. It reminds you that connected suppliers can see the service requests and scheduled jobs you share with them, which may include personal and health information. Make sure you have an agreement with each supplier that covers this. Your organisation is responsible for these agreements.

• Check each supplier's ABN against your records and tick ABN matches next to each one.

  • If you can't confirm a supplier's ABN, click Remove next to it and invite that supplier separately later.

• when ready, click Confirm and connect. The button only becomes available once every supplier in the list has ABN matches ticked.

• You'll see a green confirmation message like "Sending 3 portal invitations".
• The invitations go out in the background. Each supplier gets the same email invitation to activate their supplier portal account.

For more information, please review our supplier portal articles:

How to set up the supplier portal in Lookout

For Supplier: The Lookout supplier portal

Understanding supplier profiles in Lookout

What happens next?

• Once a supplier activates their portal account, this is reflected in Lookout
• The supplier can then add team members and choose their access level
• All checkout activity is recorded and auditable
• Delivery confirmations flow through to your finance and claiming workflows automatically
• You can view delivery details, must-do responses, and checkout notes directly from the purchase order and/or the Member notebook in Lookout

Troubleshooting

The Supplier connection tile is not visible

• Connected Care feature must be enabled for your organisation
• Refresh the supplier record after saving and give it a minute to 
• Check that the supplier has been saved correctly
• Confirm your permissions allow supplier connection management

The supplier did not receive the invitation

• Confirm the email address on the supplier profile
• Ask the supplier to check junk/spam folders
• Resend the invitation if the previous link has expired

The supplier's organisation details are wrong

These details belong to the supplier, and only their portal owner can change them. See Understanding supplier profiles in Lookout.

The supplier’s rate is not available when creating a purchase order

• Check that the rate has been created on the correct supplier
• Confirm the applicable service is selected on the rate
• Check whether the rate has been archived

A Supplier or Clinician should have been set up as a Helper

If your organisation has the Member contacts & dashboard enhancements release switched on, you can't change a Supplier or Clinician into a Helper. See the troubleshooting section of Offboarding a Helper for what to do.

Still need help?

If you're still experiencing issues, please contact our Support Team and include:

• Screenshots (if possible)
• The Supplier's name
• The exact steps taken
• Any error messages received