How best to arrange multiple suppliers

[Simon_Daw]

Hello

If anyone has advice on best practice for setting up the following I’d really appreciate some tips…

I’m creating a list of materials that has many columns detailing each materials qualities and uses. Each material will have multiple suppliers and I’m trying to find the best way of not overloading the user with information until they need it.

I could add multiple columns in a single sheet for each supplier but wondered if there is a neater way of organising this? Is having a separate sheet that lists material name and then the various suppliers each in a separate column a better way? And link through to this?

Many thanks for any suggestions you can give.
Simon

[JonathanBowen]

Hi @Simon_Daw - I would suggest both a materials table and a suppliers table. Keep the materials and its attributes/uses together and have a linked field to make the link to the suppliers table.

If multiple suppliers supply exactly the same product then your linked field could contain one or more suppliers. If the materials are similar but different by supplier, then I think you would have a material record per supplier (and, again, linked to the supplier).

You might also find there are opportunities to normalize your data more. If, for example, there are some common uses, you could make the “uses” field a single select (dropdown) or even a table in its own right (with a linked field to the materials table).

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[Simon_Daw]

Thanks for this @JonathanBowen.

I’ve tried a test version of this and it works well apart from when I try to share the table publicly clicking on the link to the suppliers table doesn’t open the record. It only works when I’m viewing it within Airtable. Is there a way to make a link from one table to another table open up the linked record when the table is publicly shared?