Business Partner Inventory access model
Who are the distributors and why they have a specific access model
When doing business with IBM, End Customers work with IBM through tiers of Business Partners (BPs). The End Customer directly works with "Tier 2" partners (also called "Resellers"). Those partners work with their "Tier 1" partners (also called "Distributors"), which require access to End Customers' data to create proposals.
Business Partners' relationship with IBM is registered and can be verified in the IBM Business Partner directory.
Anytime Business Partners need access to End Customers' data, they need to register for customer numbers. End Customers' administrators are notified by email that contains the subject line: "Business Partner Registration".
Because Tier 1 partners or distributors have a special relationship with IBM, their access path needs an easier process, therefore, a specific Distributor access model to customer inventory was implemented.
What does the distributor model grant access to
- The distributor model is a simplified setup that provides access only to the My inventory > Inventory Explorer application.
- It does not open up for any other functions within ESS.
- The model is restricted to Tier 1 partners or distributors. Tier 2 partners or resellers continue to follow the full registration process.
How does it work
It is not required to go through the full registration process by using the option "Register Customer Number". Instead, the profile can be extended by using Inventory Explorer - advanced search tab and it's no longer required to provide a system number, order number or software maintenance contract number to register a specific customer number.
You can find a machine by selecting a search type and providing one or more values. Search results table is displayed and will show all the matching records. It will also inform on whether the related customer number is already in your profile or not, and whether the customer number has a BP-block.
- No BP-block: extend your profile automatically by accepting the following statement: "I confirm that this access is required due to an existing End Customer order. I understand that my IBMid profile will be extended with this customer number." This acceptance is stored for auditing purposes.
The profile extension is permanent for auditing purposes but you can remove all customer numbers from your profile by accessing the option My profile > View My Authorizations.
No mail notification to the customer administrator is sent then and the registration is not visible until the End Customer decides to activate the BP-block.
- BP-block:
- As a Business Partner, registering the customer number to user's profile is not available.
- Requesting access to the administrator is necessary (through request access form).
Prevents Business Partner users to access the customer number without approval of an administrator user. Only administrator users to the customer number can manually add Business Partner users and application authorities through Manage authorizations/Authorize another user ID. Distributors will only be shown in the Edit user authority list when activating the BP-block.
How can End Customer check which distributors have access to their customer numbers
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By default, the distributors' accesses is not visible to End Customers.
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Full visibility of all third-party access to the data is available when BP-block is activated under My profile > Manage Customer Numbers.
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When the BP-block is activated, the user list shows who has access to the particular customer number:
- (DI) - Tier 1 partners/distributors
- (BP) - Tier 2 partners/resellers
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