CM PRO / supplier and subcontractor management software
Vendor Management
Keep suppliers, subcontractors and petty contractors in a company-owned directory. Use specialities, project assignments and active status to make the correct party easier to find without exposing another company's contacts.
7-day trial · no setup fee · your own company workspace
Your best subcontractor's number shouldn't live only in one site engineer's phone.
Construction companies work with dozens of suppliers, subcontractors and petty contractors, but the directory is usually scattered across phones and old registers. When a person leaves, the relationship history leaves too.
CM PRO Vendor Management keeps one company directory of suppliers and contractors, tagged by speciality and assigned to projects, and connects them to demands, work orders and payables where those modules are active.
Inside the module
Features in detail
01
One company directory
Suppliers, subcontractors and petty contractors with contacts and details.
02
Speciality tagging
Find a shuttering, steel fixing or tile contractor quickly.
03
Project assignment
See who is working on which project.
04
Connected to procurement
Use vendors in demands and purchases when Procurement is active.
05
Connected to accounts
Track payables by vendor when Accounts is active.
06
Standalone or included
Buy alone, or get it free with QS, Procurement or Accounts.
Who it serves
Specialist workflows. Wider business value.
Procurement teams, contractors, manufacturers, trading companies, service businesses and finance staff maintaining supplier relationships.
Information in
Vendor type and contact details
Speciality tags
Project assignments
Active or inactive status
Operational output
Searchable company directory
Filtered supplier and contractor lists
Project-specific vendor choices
References for enabled purchasing and accounts workflows
The working sequence
From first entry to management review
STEP 01
Create one reliable record
Enter the vendor's name, type and relevant contact details. Search first to avoid duplicates with slightly different spellings. Distinguish a material supplier from a service contractor so teams understand why the party is in the directory. Company contacts belong to the company record, not solely to the phone of an individual employee.
Enter the vendor's name, type and relevant contact details. Search first to avoid duplicates with slightly different spellings. Distinguish a material supplier from a service contractor so teams understand why the party is in the directory. Company contacts belong to the company record, not solely to the phone of an individual employee.
Use speciality tags that reflect the goods or services the vendor actually provides. A consistent vocabulary helps procurement find appropriate suppliers quickly. A tag is a search aid, not a certification or approval rating. Keep any formal vendor qualification process outside the assumption that adding a directory entry makes a supplier approved.
Assign vendors to relevant projects or mark them universal where that is appropriate. Use the project filter when preparing operating records so teams do not accidentally choose an unrelated party. Review overloaded or obsolete assignments periodically. Project visibility improves coordination, but it does not decide contractual responsibility or guarantee the vendor's availability.
Update changed contact details and mark inactive parties appropriately instead of deleting useful history casually. Where QS, Procurement or Accounts is enabled, use the directory in the connected work, purchase or payment workflow. Existing order references need to remain interpretable even when a vendor is no longer available for new work.
Professional practice
The detail behind the workflow
01
Supplier knowledge should outlast staff turnover
A business loses useful relationship information when supplier contacts live only in personal messages. A shared directory gives the company a consistent record of names, contact channels, specialities and assignments. It also reduces repeated entry across sites. Keep information current and respect who is authorised to view or change it. CM PRO isolates enterprise directories, so another company cannot use the same platform to browse your suppliers. The directory stores operational information; it is not a public marketplace or a mechanism for sharing contacts between tenants.
02
Searchable does not mean prequalified
Supplier registration, financial checks, technical qualification and contractual onboarding are different processes. A speciality tag makes a vendor easier to locate but should not be presented as proof of competence. Procurement must still verify suitability, commercial terms and required approvals. Keep names normalised and avoid duplicate entries that split the same supplier's references. Businesses outside construction can use supplier and service-contractor categories for their own operations. Evaluate the actual fields in the trial before assuming specialist tendering, vendor scoring or compliance checks are built into the directory.
03
Connected modules, distinct responsibilities
QS uses vendors for work and purchase references; Procurement uses suppliers in its operating workflow; Accounts uses vendor references when reviewing payments and balances. Enabling a connected module does not remove the need to check the supporting order or bill. The directory identifies the party, while the transaction records explain what is owed or received. Vendor Management can be selected on its own and is included with QS, Procurement or Accounts. Start with the records you need and add the relevant workflow without creating a separate contact list for each department.
04
Active status and historical references
An inactive supplier should stop appearing in new choices where the workflow applies, while past records remain understandable. Before removing a vendor, consider outstanding orders, work and payments. Keep project assignments reviewed as jobs start and finish. A shared record avoids the confusion of an old phone number persisting in several local lists. Responsible maintenance is essential: a directory is only useful when someone owns the review of names, contacts and status. Treat the information as business data and avoid exposing it in public screenshots or marketing examples.
A directory entry or speciality tag is not supplier qualification. Procurement approval and commercial checks remain separate.
Getting started
A practical implementation, not a long setup project
Agree the starting records
Create the company workspace, select the modules the team needs and review who is responsible for each record. Begin with one operating project or location and a small set of checked inputs. Keep existing source documents available during the transition so reviewers can compare the first entries with their original evidence. A trial is an opportunity to evaluate fit, not a reason to abandon established approval procedures immediately.
Review one complete cycle
Take a representative record through the available workflow from input to output. Ask the person who enters the information and the person who reviews it to check the result together. Confirm dates, units, references and reporting periods before adding larger volumes. Where another module is needed for a connected operation, enable it deliberately. Access remains controlled by company, role and module; public free tools do not expose enterprise records.
Establish the review rhythm
Decide when records are entered, how exceptions are handled and when managers review the operating position. Keep ownership clear rather than assuming everyone will update everything. Use the shared reports as a starting point for discussion and reconcile them with the business's source evidence. Add further modules as the workflow grows. Export and document requirements should be checked with the receiving team; software output still needs authorised review before external issue.
Before vs after
What changes on day one
Before: spreadsheets & WhatsApp
After: CM PRO
Contacts in personal phones
Shared company directory
No record of who worked where
Project assignment history
Searching for a trade by memory
Speciality tags
Payables scattered
Vendor-wise payables with Accounts
Separate list per site
One list for the company
By role
Who uses it every day
01
Procurement
Finds and assigns vendors.
02
Project Manager
Knows who is on site.
03
Accounts
Matches payments to vendors.
04
Director
Owns the relationship data.
Economics
Priced to be economical, not to lock you in
No setup fee
Many construction ERPs charge one-time implementation fees before you enter a single record. CM PRO has none.
Pay per module
Start with the module you need. Add more as the company grows.
Free tools for everyone
35+ calculators, site formats, Rate Analysis Pro, Contract Specialist Pro and Smart Floor Planner Pro stay free.
