Inviting a factory to the factory portal

The factory portal is where your factory works your purchase orders online: accepting them, asking for changes, marking production complete, recording shipments and asking to be paid. It has an English and Chinese switch. Inviting a factory takes one button.

#Before you start

• The factory needs a Code and Name. The invite refuses without them.
• The person you invite needs an email on People & logins.

#Step by step

1. Open the factory and go to People & logins.
2. On the person's row, choose Invite to factory portal from the ⋯ menu. You can also use Actions → Invite to factory portal on the factory.
3. They receive a bilingual "Set your password / 设置您的密码" email. The link is valid for 7 days.

Pressing the button again is harmless. It re-issues the link rather than creating anything twice.

#What happens when you invite

• If the factory is not connected yet, inviting connects it automatically. Nothing else needs setting up first.
• Once connected, unfinished POs you have already submitted are sent to their board. Products and fabrics follow with the hourly sync, or straight away if you press ⟳ Resync to Flyte platform.
• If the person already has a factory portal account because they work with another company, they are connected to your work instead. There is one login per factory, with POs grouped by company. They keep their password and are not sent a second account.

#What the factory sees

Only its own work:

• submitted POs (never drafts), with lines, buy prices, artwork, logos, detailings and the size chart,
• its products and fabrics,
• messages on each PO, translated between English and Chinese.

They can accept POs, request changes, propose prices, mark production complete, record shipments and ask to be paid.

#Team permissions on the factory side

Roles and which pages each factory person can use are set by the factory itself, by its primary person or admins, in the factory portal. You do not set them.

#Resyncing

⟳ Resync to Flyte platform re-sends the factory's products, customer makeups and fabrics now, and withdraws ones no longer on a live PO. It runs hourly anyway, so you only need it when you want changes to appear straight away. It is only useful once the factory is connected.

#Closures and capacity

These belong to the factory and are entered in its portal.

• Closures (for example holidays) appear on your admin calendar as " closed — ". You cannot edit them. Click one for Show to customers (customers then see "Production closed — ") or Make internal again.
• On PO and order workspaces, a Factory closure note appears when the ETD or required date falls in or within a week of a closure, or a closure cuts into the time before the ETD. This is information only. Dates are not changed.
• Capacity (units per week and working days) is the factory's own planning. It is not shown to you.

#Factories that do not want a login

You can still work with a factory that is not on the portal. You email each PO to them from Flyte and move the status along yourself. See Submitting a purchase order.

#Common questions

The invite never arrived. Links last 7 days. Resend it and ask them to check spam.

Their board is empty after logging in. POs cross over when they connect, and the hourly sync catches the rest. Wait, or press ⟳ Resync to Flyte platform. If it is still empty, contact platform support.

The factory shows Not linked. Nobody has been invited yet. Send an invite.

It says "Factory portal not available". Your company is not set up on the factory portal yet. Platform support can switch it on.

Can I change a factory's closure dates? No, they are the factory's. Ask them.

A factory person wants no message emails. They turn off message reminders in their portal.