DEAR to DEAR Networking allows you to connect directly with your suppliers and customers who also use DEAR. Once connected, you can send purchase orders to suppliers, send invoice and sales orders to customers and approve purchase orders/invoices/sales orders from the DEAR to DEAR Network. 

Before you can create a DEAR to DEAR Network, you will need to send an invitation email to the supplier or customer. This email will include your network key. The invited supplier and customer needs to enter your network key on their own Network Connections table. 

Integration can be performed seamlessly from within DEAR accounts without any need for additional development work. You may also define as many DEAR to DEAR networks as you like. When you no longer need to be connected to another DEAR network for some reason, you may choose to remove the connection with the other network.

NOTE: Only administrators can access the DEAR to DEAR Network page under the DEAR Settings menu. Users can still send purchase orders/invoices to connected contacts even without access to this page.

Prerequisites

• Reference Books (recommended)
• Sale Module - General Information (recommended)
• Purchase Module - General Information (recommended)

Table of Contents

• Invite a Supplier or Customer to Connect
• Create a DEAR to DEAR Connection
• Send a Purchase Order to a Connected Supplier
• Create a Sales Order for a Connected Customer
• Send an Invoice to a Connected Customer/Supplier
• Remove a DEAR to DEAR Connection

Inviting a Supplier/Customer to Connect

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If you know that a supplier or customer has an active DEAR account, you can send them an invitation email to connect using DEAR to DEAR Networking from within DEAR.

Invite suppliers/customers to connect using DEAR to DEAR Networking:

1. Navigate to Settings →  Reference Books → Your Company → DEAR to DEAR Networking.
   
2. On the DEAR to DEAR Network invitation page, click the Send an Invite button.
   
3. On the Send email window, click the + button next to the To box to open a list of your customers and suppliers which are using DEAR. Check the box to the left of the customer and/or supplier, then click Add. You can add as many customers and/or suppliers as you want.
   
4. Edit the email template, including the Subject and Body, if desired. Be careful not to delete your organisation's network key and legal/trading name from the body of the email template.
5. Once you are satisfied with the email invitation, click Send.

Once the invitation email is sent, your partner's information in the Network Connections table will be updated. The Is invite sent box is now checked, and the Status is changed to Waiting to connect. When the supplier or customer accepts the invitation, the Status is updated to Connected.

NOTE: If a supplier or customer with an active DEAR account does not appear on your Network Connections table, you can manually enter the registered email address for their DEAR account as the recipient in your invitation email. This manually adds them to the Network Connections table.

Creating a DEAR to DEAR Connection

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Once you receive an email invitation from a customer or supplier with a DEAR account, you can create a DEAR to DEAR connection to link your organisations together.

Create a DEAR to DEAR connection:

1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Your Company → DEAR to DEAR Networking.
2. Click the + button on the top right of the Network Connections table.
3. Select the customer or supplier from the Contact list, then enter the network key of the inviting organisation on the Network Connections table. You can find the network key in your contact's invitation email.
   
4. Click Save to add the inviting organisation's network key in the Network Connections table. This also updates the network connection's Status from Waiting to Connected.
   

The inviting organisation is informed of your acceptance of the invitation, and its own Network Connections table now reflects a Connected status for your record.

In addition, a new DEAR to DEAR permission is created for both accounts in DEAR. If this permission is turned On, the DEAR to DEAR Network page is shown for the user. If this permission is turned Off, the DEAR to DEAR Network page is not shown for the user, but invoices are created between the two organisations.

Contacts that are connected via the DEAR network are marked with a Connected icon in DEAR.

NOTE: DEAR will only connect the networks between two organisations if one organisation is a Customer and the other is a Supplier. DEAR does not support connections where both organisations have Customer or Supplier as their connection type.

Sending a Purchase Order to a Supplier via DEAR to DEAR Network

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Using the DEAR to DEAR Network, you can send a purchase order to a connected supplier.

Send a purchase order (PO):

1. Navigate to Purchase → New → Simple Purchase, then create and authorise a PO.
2. Click Email → Purchase Order.
3. Select the supplier from the mailing list, and enter the required information on the email. The PO is automatically attached to the email.
4. Check the Send via DEAR Network box, and click Send.
   

Creating a Sales Order for a Connected Customer

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Once a PO is received from a customer, a pre-sale order with Status: Waiting for approval is created for the customer on the supplier's DEAR account. An email notification is also sent to the supplier. 

Create a sales order for a connected customer:

1. Navigate to Sale → Sales, then search for the record from the customer. The record will have an Awaiting Approval status. Click to open it. 
2. Click the Approve button on the top right. The pre-sale order is then converted to a Simple Sale with an authorised order.

The supplier can then send an invoice for the PO back to the customer via their DEAR to DEAR network (see Sending an Invoice to a Customer via DEAR to DEAR Network for more information).

Sending an Invoice to a Connected Customer/Supplier

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Once a pre-sale record becomes a Simple Sale, a supplier can send an invoice to the connected customer. 

A customer can also send an invoice to a supplier via their DEAR to DEAR connection.

Send an invoice to a connected customer/supplier:

1. Once you have created and authorised a sales order or an invoice, click Email  → Invoice.
2. Select the customer/supplier from the mailing list, and enter the required information on the email. The invoice is automatically attached to the email.
3. Check the Send via DEAR Network box and click Send.
   

Removing a DEAR to DEAR Connection

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To remove the connection between your DEAR network and another DEAR network:

1. On the DEAR Settings menu, click DEAR to DEAR Network.
2. Look for the DEAR network to be disconnected from your DEAR account, and click the X button.
3. Click Yes, remove the network to confirm removal of the connection between your networks.