External Vendor Base Access

[John_B]

So I am using airtable to track, document and collaborate around our new product development process. Included in the work flow are rfq tables for our vendors to quote the manufacture our new products. Currently I am sharing views to each vendor so they can download a csv of the rfq along with art files, drawings, CAD files etc… They will then return quotes which we must enter back into the data base. I really really really wish I could share a limited editable view with each vendor so they could enter their quotes directly into the base!! I have experimented with creating separate free bases for each vendor to enter the data however it is still time consuming and confusing (errors) to copy and paste data back and forth between bases. I know I may be asking for a fundamental shift in the structure of work teams and price structure but I figure I would shoot for the moon with my first post…

[Mohamed_Swella1]

Hi @John_B,

Why don’t you create a Form for your Vendors to fill? Check out this helps article

Airtable - Support

Guide to forms

Airtable forms let you collect information from anyone and save it automatically to an Airtable base. They're perfect for logging expenses, collecting RSVPs, creating polls and quizzes, collecting ...

In the Forms they can add whatever data you need along with the quotations (which can be an attachment).

Feel free to ask if anything seems vague.

BR,
Mo

[John_B]

Hi Mohamed,

Thanks for that, I did try that approach as well but the vendors hate it because they are quoting lines with hundreds of part numbers. It is a pain to enter each part number with quotes and comments via a form, much easier to blast the data down a spread sheet. I also looked at doing a zapier to google doc <> airtable work flow but I lose the file attachments. Just would rather have the magic unified direct airtable style data entry by my vendors solution ;).

[Mohamed_Swella1]

Hi @John_B ,

Unfortunately there is no way to do so that is direct from Airtable, 3rd party integration is a must. Just like you said, Zap.