Company types in Wholechain
There are three basic categories of companies in your Network you can specify when adding them Wholechain:
Supplier:
Suppliers are any upstream company from whom your business receives products. A supplier could be a manufacturer, a farm or another type of company depending on your position in the supply chain. You'll be logging Receive events related to products sent by suppliers.
Buyer:
Buyers are any downstream company to whom you'll be sending products. They could be a manufacturer, distributor or a retail partner depending on your business' position in the supply chain. You'll be logging Ship events with Buyers as the recipients of the product.
Third Party:
A company in your Network that is not a direct trading partner, but rather another type of business contact, such as a Nonprofit, certifying body, or retail brand, would be considered a Third Party in Wholechain. The feature these relationships may utilize is Inventory Access, whereby you can grant access to the Third Parties in a Product's settings. Anyone from the Third Party Wholechain account can then view the current inventory and event record history associated with items of that product.