The top bar has the tools that help you find things and understand what you're looking at: Search, the Glossary, the notifications bell, the Area filter and Show work for (called "Viewing as" in the public demo). This article covers all of them except the bell, which is in Tasks, notifications and reminders.
Search
Select "Search" or press Ctrl + K (Cmd + K on a Mac) from any page. Type at least two letters. Search isn't fussy about capitals and finds any record containing what you type. It shows up to 40 results, grouped like this. In a large organisation (more than 150 suppliers or 3,000 invoices), results update a moment after you stop typing.
| Group | Looks in | Selecting a result |
|---|---|---|
| Suppliers | Name, legal name, area, sub-category | Opens the supplier record |
| Sourcing | Title, business need | Opens the sourcing event |
| Open tasks | Task title (open tasks only) | Opens the supplier's Tasks, the sourcing event or the Tasks page |
| Improvements | Title and detail | Opens the improvement |
| Purchase requests | Title, reference, ticket number, PO number | Opens the request |
| Templates | Template name and description | Opens the template |
| People | Name, team, role | Opens that person's tasks |
| Pages | Page names and their descriptions | Opens the page |
Groups only appear for features that are switched on. Search follows the Area filter, so if you can't find a supplier, check the Area box says "All areas". If nothing matches you'll see 'Nothing matches "your words".'
The Full supplier list has its own search box, which also looks in addresses, notes and people. See The Full supplier list.
Long lists and charts
So that pages stay quick in large organisations:
- Long tables show their first 200 rows (50 on the Dashboard), with "Showing X of Y", Show 500 more and Show all underneath. Printing, and every download for Excel, include every row.
- Bar charts show their first 20 bars ("Showing the first 20 of N. Choose “Show as table” to see them all."), and the renewal radar shows its first 25 contracts. Show as table under each chart lists every row.
- Search boxes on the Full supplier list, the TPRM page and the AI in use page update a moment after you stop typing once you have more than 150 suppliers or 3,000 invoices.
The Area filter
The Area box narrows the whole of SupplierVault to one supplier area, such as Technology or Facilities. The standard areas are Technology, Facilities, People & HR, Marketing and Other, plus any your organisation has added (see Settings) or used on a supplier.
Choosing an area filters suppliers, sourcing events, tasks, invoices, savings and purchase requests on every page: totals, charts, lists, search, menu counts and attention items all change to match. Tasks and purchase requests that aren't tied to a supplier still show. Your choice is remembered in this browser, and it's also the starting area when you add a supplier or requirement.
The Area filter is a view, not a permission: anyone can switch back to "All areas". If your admin wants people to see only their own areas, they can restrict access in the Team panel (Professional plan and above). A restricted person sees a banner such as "Your view: you see the Facilities area only. Totals and charts cover these areas.", and their Area list only offers their areas. See Invite your team.
Show work for (Viewing as)
Choose "Everyone" or a person ("Name · Team"). It's remembered in this browser. It changes:
- the Tasks menu count and its overdue highlight, to that person's tasks only
- the Dashboard, which adds a "Name's tasks" panel (the rest of the Dashboard is not filtered by person)
- the Tasks page, which starts on that person's tasks (you can still change the filter on the page)
- the bell, which shows that person's notifications
In the live service this is only a filter: whatever you do is always recorded under your own sign-in. In the public demo, "Viewing as" also decides who you are pretending to be for actions that need a named person, such as going live or releasing a bank detail change. That's why the demo sometimes asks you to choose who you are first.
The glossary
Select "Glossary" (tooltip "What the figures mean") to open a panel of definitions. Small "?" buttons next to figures across SupplierVault open the glossary at the matching term, highlighted. These are the definitions as they appear in the app:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Committed spend | The value written into a supplier's contract, for example £100k a year. It is what you have agreed to pay, not what you have actually paid. |
| Actual spend | What you have really been billed: invoices dated in the last 12 months, plus purchase orders that haven't been invoiced yet. Rejected invoices are left out. |
| Usage and fixed fees | For suppliers billed on what you use (licences, cloud, energy), the monthly usage recorded on their record plus any fixed fee. |
| Inherent risk | How risky the supplier is before any checks or controls: what data and systems they touch, how important they are, and how hard they would be to replace. |
| Residual risk | The risk left after your checks and controls are in place, such as a security questionnaire, a data processing agreement and contract terms. This is the figure to act on. |
| Supplier tier | How closely you manage a supplier, from T1 Strategic partner to T4 Transactional supplier. The tier sets the checks, the approver and how often reviews happen. |
| Notice deadline | The last day to tell the supplier you want to end or change the contract. After it, the contract usually renews on its current terms. |
| Change-figures deadline | Some contracts need notice earlier to change volumes or prices than to cancel. After this date the renewal figures are fixed unless the supplier agrees. |
| Review window | The weeks before the first deadline when you should be gathering usage, quotes and opinions so the renewal decision is ready in time. |
| Checks with evidence | How many of the checks this supplier needs have a recorded result: approved forms, a dated risk assessment, sanctions screening, verified bank details, contract dates and a named owner. |
| Penny test | A tiny payment to new bank details, confirmed by the supplier on a phone number you already hold, before any real payment is made. |
| Confirmation of Payee | Your bank checks that the account name matches the name you entered. A mismatch is a warning sign of fraud. |
| Governance compliance | For each live supplier: are the named owners, review meetings, key documents and escalations all in place and on time. Shown as a percentage. |
| Supplier performance | The latest quarterly scorecard: each measure scored 1 to 5 and weighted as set in Settings. Stakeholder satisfaction comes from the survey. If no scorecard exists yet, the average of the operational KPIs is used. |
| Supplier manager | The person in your organisation who runs the relationship day to day: chases tasks, holds reviews and keeps the record up to date. |
| Business owner | The senior person accountable for the supplier and the budget, sometimes called the SRO or key stakeholder. They sign off major decisions such as renewals. |
| Supplier contact | The main person at the supplier you deal with. Other people at the supplier can be added as contacts too. |
| AI use | Whether a supplier uses artificial intelligence with your data or in what they deliver, including AI features switched on inside software you already buy. AI use is assessed, approved by your AI governance team and checked once a year. |
| Obligation | Something the contract says must happen by a date: a report, a price review, an audit, insurance, a payment milestone. Either side can own it. Repeating obligations roll on to the next date once met. |
| Reporting currency | Totals are converted into this currency at the rates in Settings, so suppliers billed in different currencies can be added up. The original amounts are kept. |
There's also a "What do the tiers mean?" link wherever you choose a tier. It explains each tier, how it's managed, examples, what SupplierVault sets up for it, and how the tier drives the workflow. See Supplier tiers.
"Source:" lines under figures
Many totals have a small line underneath saying exactly where the number came from and how up to date it is:
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Source: invoices to date · orders to date | Actual spend, using invoices up to the latest non-rejected invoice date and purchase orders up to the latest ordered or received date. "no invoices yet" if there are none. |
| Source: contract values from supplier records | Committed spend from the "Committed spend" field on each contract. |
| Source: usage to month | Usage-based figures, using monthly usage up to the latest month recorded. "no usage recorded yet" if none. |
| All figures in GBP · converted from USD, EUR at European Central Bank rates of date | Amounts in other currencies were converted at the daily reference rates for the date shown. "Finance rates" means a rate Finance fixed in Settings. |
| No rate for X | A currency in use has no exchange rate (for example, daily rates are switched off), so it's being counted one-for-one. Select the link to add a rate in Settings. |
If a figure looks out of date, the source line usually tells you why, for example invoices only entered up to last month. See How figures are calculated.
How amounts are shown
- Zero or blank shows as "—".
- Under 1,000 shows in full; 1,000 to 9,999 shows like "£4.5k"; 10,000 and above shows like "£45k"; from about a million it shows like "£1.25M".
- Amounts in another currency are often shown twice: "$120k" with "≈ £95k" in your reporting currency.
- Spreadsheet downloads from Reports use plain full numbers (two decimal places), so they add up correctly in Excel.
- Dates are in UK format, for example "5 Mar 2026". "In 40 days" and "3d overdue" count from today.
Other things in the top bar
- The Help button opens this help centre in a new tab.
- The mode indicator on the right shows "Connecting…" while loading, "Live · shared" when connected, "Live · view only" for view-only users, or "Example mode · saved in this browser" in the public demo.
- Each page's description shows under its title. The menu badges show counts: renewals needing a decision, overdue governance items, open sourcing events, suppliers in onboarding or offboarding, and open tasks. A page your plan doesn't include shows its plan name instead.