> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Active Vendors, Sage

> Active Vendors counts the suppliers with genuine activity in the period (open POs, recent Bills, or payments), a clean read on vendor master health and how concentrated your supply base really is. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

**Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained)  •  **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type)

> Count of vendors with activity in the period (open POs, recent Bills, or payments). A vendor master health and spend-concentration signal.

## At a glance

> The number of distinct vendors with genuine activity in the period: an open purchase order, a recently posted Bill, or a payment made. This is not the total count of vendor records (which only ever grows as old suppliers are never deleted), it is the live count of suppliers you are actually transacting with. Read it two ways: as a vendor-master hygiene signal (a count far below your total records means most of your master is dead weight) and as a spend-concentration signal (a small active count carrying large spend means supply risk is concentrated). The card reads the AP sub-ledger and purchasing records, dimension-tagged in Sage Intacct so finance can pivot the active base by Department, Location, or Entity and see who you really depend on.

|                         |                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **What it counts**      | Distinct vendors with at least one qualifying activity in the period: an open PO, a Bill posted in the window, or a payment made. The card de-duplicates so a vendor with many Bills counts once.                     |
| **Activity definition** | Configurable per workspace. Default counts a vendor active on any open PO, posted Bill, or payment in the trailing period. Stricter setups count only vendors with a posted Bill (excluding PO-only relationships).   |
| **Inactive records**    | Excluded. Vendor master records with no activity in the window do not count, which is the whole point: the card separates the living supply base from the historical archive.                                         |
| **One-time vendors**    | Counted if they transacted in the period. A spike in one-time vendors can signal off-contract or maverick spend worth investigating.                                                                                  |
| **Currency**            | The count itself is currency-independent. Multi-Entity Console surfaces the active count per entity and de-duplicated across the group.                                                                               |
| **Entity scope**        | Card respects the dashboard entity filter.                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Dimensional cut**     | Vendor activity carries Intacct dimensions through. Pivot by Department to see which cost centre uses which suppliers, by Location to see site-level supply, by Class to attribute spend to a brand or business line. |
| **Time window**         | `RT`                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Alert trigger**       | None by default. This is a structural and hygiene signal, not an alarm. The risk reads come from cross-referencing concentration and on-time payment. Configurable per workspace.                                     |
| **Roles**               | owner, operations, finance                                                                                                                                                                                            |

## Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Sage data. The card counts distinct vendors with qualifying activity (open PO, posted Bill, or payment) in the period, de-duplicated. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

## Worked example

A UK B2B outdoor-gear brand on Sage Intacct, single entity, GBP base currency, roughly 15M GBP annual revenue sourcing finished goods and components from a mix of UK, EU, and Far East suppliers on Net-30 and Net-60 terms, selling through a BigCommerce B2B portal and a Shopify DTC line. Snapshot 14 Apr 26. The vendor master holds 612 records in total; the card counts the active subset for the trailing period.

| Activity cohort                           | Vendor count | Share of spend |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------ | -------------- |
| Core suppliers (Bills every month)        | 38           | 81%            |
| Occasional suppliers (Bills this quarter) | 71           | 14%            |
| One-time / project vendors (this period)  | 26           | 5%             |
| **Active Vendors (this card)**            | **135**      | 100%           |
| Inactive records (no activity)            | 477          | 0%             |

Five things to notice:

1. **135 active vendors out of 612 records means roughly three-quarters of the vendor master is dead weight.** That 477-record archive is not harmless: every dormant vendor is a potential duplicate, a stale bank detail that could be a payment-fraud vector, and clutter that slows Bill entry and reporting. The card makes the gap visible. Most businesses never realise how much of their master is inactive because the total count only ever grows. A periodic review to deactivate (not delete, for audit history) genuinely dormant vendors tightens controls and speeds AP.
2. **38 core suppliers carry 81% of spend, which is the concentration story.** This is the read that matters for risk. A supply base where a handful of vendors carry the overwhelming majority of spend is efficient but fragile: one core supplier failing, raising prices, or putting you on stop-supply hits hard. Pivot the active base by spend and the Pareto curve is almost always steep. Pair this card with [Vendor Payment On-Time Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/vendor-payment-on-time-rate) to make sure the 38 suppliers you most depend on are the ones you are paying most reliably, because losing goodwill with a core supplier is far costlier than with a long-tail one.
3. **The 26 one-time vendors this period are worth a glance for maverick spend.** A rising count of one-time vendors often means buying is happening outside the approved supplier list, which forfeits negotiated pricing and weakens controls. The Department dimension cut shows which cost centre is generating the one-off vendors. On this account most traced to a single project team buying ad-hoc, which became an easy procurement win: consolidate that spend onto a contracted supplier.
4. **A falling active count is a signal in both directions.** Fewer active vendors can mean healthy consolidation (you negotiated and concentrated spend, which is good) or it can mean a shrinking operation buying less (which tracks a revenue decline). The number alone does not tell you which; read it against purchasing volume and revenue. A consolidation that holds spend flat while cutting vendor count is a procurement win; a vendor count falling because the business is buying less is a demand signal.
5. **Cross-reference the active base against payment behaviour and aging.** The active count is the denominator for the AP relationship cards. Read it next to [AP Aging 60+ Days](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/ap-aging-60-days): if your late AP concentrates in a small number of your active vendors, that is a sharper relationship risk than the same total late balance spread across many. Knowing you have 135 active vendors and that the late ones are 4 of your 38 core suppliers turns an abstract AP number into a named action list.

## Sibling cards merchants should reference together

| Card                                                                                                        | Why pair it with Active Vendors                                                                 |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Vendor Payment On-Time Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/vendor-payment-on-time-rate)                     | Tests whether your most-depended-on active vendors are the ones you pay most reliably.          |
| [AP Aging 60+ Days](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/ap-aging-60-days)                                          | Late AP concentrated in a few active vendors is a concentration risk.                           |
| [Sage COGS Total](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/sage-cogs-total)                                             | Active vendors are where the cost of goods originates; concentration here drives COGS exposure. |
| [Average Landed Cost per Unit](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/average-landed-cost-per-unit)                   | Supplier mix and concentration directly shape landed cost.                                      |
| [New Customers (30d)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/new-customers-30d)                                       | The customer-master mirror of this vendor-master hygiene read.                                  |
| [Sage Health Score](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/sage-health-score)                                         | Vendor-master hygiene is a control input to the composite.                                      |
| [Orders Blocked on Inventory or Credit](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/orders-blocked-on-inventory-or-credit) | Supply concentration shows up downstream as inventory-blocked orders when a core vendor fails.  |

## Reconciling against Sage

**Where to look in Sage:**

The native Sage Intacct views to run side by side with this card:

> **Accounts Payable → Vendors** (the full vendor master with status flags; filter to Active status for the closest baseline)
> **Reports → Accounts Payable → Vendor Activity Report** (vendors with Bills or payments in the period, the closest native equivalent to this card)
> **Reports → Purchasing → Open Purchase Orders** (vendors with open POs, part of the active definition)
> **Reports → Accounts Payable → AP Ledger** (the transaction-level Bill and payment detail behind the count)
> **Interactive Custom Report (ICR)** built on the AP and Purchasing data sources counting distinct vendors with any open PO, posted Bill, or payment in the trailing window, pivoted by Department and Location dimensions

The Vendors list shows every record with its status; this card counts only those with activity in the window, so it will read well below the Active-status record count. The Vendor Activity Report is the closest native match because it already filters to transacting vendors. For Multi-Entity Console accounts, a shared supplier transacting in two entities is one vendor for concentration purposes but may exist as two records; confirm whether your master uses shared or per-entity vendor records before comparing.

Common reconciliation pitfalls:

* **Active status vs active activity.** A vendor flagged Active in the master but with no transactions in the window is not active by this card's definition. The gap between the two counts is exactly the dormant-but-not-deactivated population.
* **PO-only vs Bill-required.** Whether a vendor with an open PO but no posted Bill counts as active depends on the activity definition in the field map. A stricter Bill-required setting reads lower.
* **Duplicate vendor records.** The same supplier entered twice (different spellings, a re-keyed record) counts as two vendors here and in most native reports until the duplicates are merged.

**Why our number may legitimately differ from a Sage Intacct Vendor Activity Report:**

| Reason                           | Direction          | Why                                                                                                                |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Active status vs activity**    | Card reads lower   | The Vendors list counts every Active-status record; this card counts only those transacting in the window.         |
| **Activity window length**       | Either             | A 30-day vs 90-day window changes how many occasional vendors qualify.                                             |
| **PO-only inclusion**            | Either             | Whether open-PO-only vendors count is a field-map setting.                                                         |
| **Duplicate records**            | Card may overstate | Un-merged duplicate vendors count more than once until merged.                                                     |
| **One-time vendors**             | Either             | Some reports exclude one-time vendors by default; the card includes them if they transacted.                       |
| **Shared vs per-entity records** | Either             | Multi-Entity Console: a shared supplier may be one record or several depending on master configuration.            |
| **Inter-entity vendors**         | Either             | A related entity set up as a vendor for intercompany billing may or may not belong in an operational active count. |

**Cross-connector reconciliation:**

| Card                                                                                          | Expected relationship | What the comparison reveals                                                                                 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Sage COGS Total](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/sage-cogs-total)                               | Source                | The active vendor base is where COGS originates. Concentration here is concentration of cost-of-goods risk. |
| [Vendor Payment On-Time Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/vendor-payment-on-time-rate)       | Per-vendor            | Apply the on-time rate to the active base to find which key suppliers are at relationship risk.             |
| [Average Landed Cost per Unit](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/average-landed-cost-per-unit)     | Mix-driven            | Adding or losing active vendors changes the supplier mix that drives landed cost.                           |
| [ERP vs Ecom Inventory Variance](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/erp-vs-ecom-inventory-variance) | Indirect              | Supply disruption from a lost core vendor eventually shows as inventory gaps against commerce demand.       |
| [Sage Health Score](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/sage-health-score)                           | Component             | Vendor-master hygiene and concentration feed the control and risk components of the composite.              |

The cross-channel point is that commerce platforms see customers and orders, never your supply base. Your suppliers, your spend concentration, and your master hygiene live entirely in Sage Intacct. This card turns the AP sub-ledger into a live read of who you actually depend on, and the dimensional carry-through means the answer is always attributable to a Department or Location, so a procurement-consolidation conversation lands on a specific owner.

## Known limitations / merchant FAQs

**Why is this lower than my total vendor count?**
Because it counts only vendors transacting in the period, not every record in the master. Vendor masters only ever grow, since old suppliers are deactivated rather than deleted for audit history, so the total record count drifts far above the number you actually buy from. The gap between the two is the dormant population, and seeing it is the first step to a vendor-master cleanup.

**What counts as "active"?**
By default, a vendor with any open purchase order, a Bill posted in the trailing window, or a payment made in the window. The exact definition is configurable. A stricter setting counts only vendors with a posted Bill, which excludes PO-only relationships where nothing has yet been billed. Pick the definition that matches how you think about your supply base and set it in the field map.

**Should I worry about high vendor concentration?**
Concentration is efficient but fragile. A supply base where a few vendors carry most of your spend gives you negotiating leverage and simpler management, but it also means one supplier failing hits hard. The right response is not to fragment your base, it is to know your concentration, have contingency for your core suppliers, and pay them reliably. Use this card to size the concentration and [Vendor Payment On-Time Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sage/vendor-payment-on-time-rate) to protect the relationships.

**A rising count of one-time vendors, what does it mean?**
Usually maverick or off-contract spend: buying happening outside the approved supplier list, which forfeits negotiated pricing and weakens controls. Pivot by Department to find the source. It can also be legitimate (a one-off project, a sample purchase), so investigate rather than assume. A steady trickle is normal; a sustained rise is a procurement-governance flag.

**Does deactivating a vendor remove it from history?**
No. Deactivating sets the vendor inactive so it cannot receive new transactions, but its historical Bills and payments remain for audit. This is why the master grows: deletion would break the audit trail. Deactivation is the correct cleanup action, and it tightens controls by closing off dormant records (and their stale bank details) to new activity.

**Sage Intacct vs Sage 50 / 100 / 200 / X3?**
This connector targets Sage Intacct. Every Sage product has a vendor master and the concept of active suppliers, but the status model, activity definitions, and API differ. Sage 50 and 200 are UK SMB products; Sage X3 is a different mid-market ERP. The active-vendor concept ports directly; the field map and connector do not. If you run one of those, reach out about connector availability.

**How do duplicate vendor records affect the count?**
The same supplier entered twice counts as two until the records are merged. Duplicates inflate the active count and, worse, fragment spend so concentration looks lower than it really is and you may miss volume discounts. A periodic duplicate-merge exercise is good hygiene; this card's count drops cleanly once duplicates are consolidated, which is itself a useful confirmation the merge worked.

**Multi-entity: is a shared supplier counted once or twice?**
It depends on whether your master uses shared (group-level) or per-entity vendor records. With shared records, a supplier transacting in two entities is one vendor for concentration purposes. With per-entity records, it appears as separate vendors. The card de-duplicates within a single record model but cannot merge what the master holds separately. Confirm your master configuration before reading the consolidated count.

**How fresh is the data?**
The card refreshes on the standard cadence, typically within 5 to 15 minutes of the most recent posted AP or purchasing activity in Intacct. A newly transacting vendor appears on the next refresh; a vendor that goes quiet drops out of the active count once it falls outside the activity window.

***

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*Active Vendors* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Sage and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

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