Partner File Exchange

Suppose a procurement team exchanges purchase orders and invoices with several suppliers. Supplier staff occasionally upload through the web interface, while their accounting systems transfer files unattended. Procurement needs one managed relationship per supplier, consistent exchange folders, and evidence of missing deliveries.

Model the External Organization

Create each supplier as a Partner in the Workspace responsible for procurement. A Partner represents the organization and can contain both human users and machine accounts. Separate credentials let you identify and disable a supplier's application without disabling every person at that supplier.

All Partner Users share the Partner's folder permissions. They cannot join groups or receive individual folder permissions. Set the Partner's access for the relationship as a whole, and do not promise different file entitlements to two users within that Partner.

A Partner Admin can handle permitted user and credential maintenance for the supplier. Your administrators retain responsibility for the relationship's root folder, access, and operational configuration. If a third-party service must work across several Partners' folders, evaluate the documented regular-user exception instead of trying to stretch one Partner across them.

Define Each Exchange

Create a Partner Channel for the order-and-invoice exchange. In this example it has both directions: your site places orders in the To Partner folder, and the supplier submits invoices into the From Partner folder. Use a one-way Channel when only one direction is needed.

The Channel creates its folders and applies the Partner's directional permissions. Suppliers can retrieve files from the To Partner folder. The From Partner folder permits uploading and listing submissions, without downloading them back out. Internal staff receive their own ordinary folder permissions separately.

The supplier sees these folders beneath its Partner root, without the wider site or other suppliers' areas. Record the supplier-visible paths as well as the full paths used by your administrators and workflows. Channel Templates can keep repeated exchanges consistent as you add suppliers.

Connect People and Systems to the Same Exchange

Supplier staff can sign in through the web interface while a supplier application uses its configured SFTP or API access. Both act within the Partner's access boundary. The human interface does not require a separate copy of the relationship or a separate set of exchange folders.

Your internal process can read the received invoices from native storage and deliver approved files to the accounting system. If files must reside at an existing connected location, evaluate a Channel Route Path and its supported targets. A routed path exposes the target's files; it does not create an independent copy with separate recovery behavior.

For occasional visitors who do not need accounts, a Share Link or Inbox can handle an individual exchange. It is not a substitute for the Partner's account-management model when the relationship needs recurring authenticated access.

Agree on Delivery and Recovery

Document expected filenames, completion signals, timing, and the business identifier that distinguishes one invoice from another. Decide whether a replacement filename means a correction or a duplicate and how the accounting system handles it.

Use an Expectation for a supplier delivery that must arrive on a schedule. Use run and transfer records for processing failures. Agree with the accounting team on the acknowledgment that establishes successful import; a supplier upload alone does not establish that result.

Keep rejected invoices available for investigation without making them eligible for repeated automatic delivery. Assign contacts for supplier credentials, missing submissions, and accounting rejections.

Test Before Onboarding the Next Supplier

Test as the Partner User through each intended interface. Confirm that the supplier can upload and list in the intake direction, can download delivered orders, and cannot browse another Partner's area. Test a missing delivery, a replacement file, and credential removal.

Then test as the internal operator and receiving application. Inspect the evidence across the complete journey. Once the exchange works, reuse the configuration pattern while reviewing each new supplier's endpoints, keys, timing, and permissions.