Skip to main content

Overview

Seminode is a private supply chain network where companies share material availability, request and send quotes, and place orders with their partners. A handful of concepts underpin everything you do on the platform — understanding them makes the rest of the docs click into place.

Nodes

A node is a permissioned database that holds your supply or demand data. You decide which partners can see each node, so the same platform can serve public catalogs and tightly restricted, partner-specific data. Nodes are the foundation you publish listings to. The app distinguishes three node relationships: My Nodes (nodes you own), Posting (partner nodes you can publish to), and Querying (partner nodes you can search). Shared Views let you share a filtered slice of a node without granting access to the whole thing. Learn more in Nodes.

Networks

A network is the set of connections between your company’s nodes and your partners’ nodes. Building your network — adding partners and granting node permissions — is what turns Seminode from a private database into a live trading channel. Learn more in Partners and Network.

Listings

A listing is a single, standardized item of supply or demand data — a part with its quantity, price, lead time, and attributes. Listings are organized into lists when you post them, and they’re what your partners quote against. A note on terminology: the listing is the object itself. A demand-side listing sent out for pricing is an RFQ while it’s in flight; once a partner responds, you’re working a quote in a thread. Supply-side sends (sharing availability with partners) aren’t called RFQs. Learn more in Listings.

Quotes & Threads

A quote is an offer or counter-offer on a listing. Quotes flow between partners in a thread — request, respond, counter, accept, or reject — and all of that activity lives in your Inbox. Quotes can be routed through approval workflows before they’re sent, and a basket acts as a staging area where you collect listings or quotes before acting on them in bulk.

The Seminode Listing ID

Every listing line you send to partners carries a Seminode Listing ID — a reference such as SN-K7T2MQ3XB4ZPA that Seminode generates from the line itself. It’s what lets Seminode tie a quote back to the right request automatically, no matter how it arrives: in-platform, in an emailed spreadsheet, or in a bulk quote upload. The ID belongs to the line, not the partner. Send the same line to two partners and both see the same Seminode Listing ID. Each partner still gets its own thread, so the two negotiations stay private and isolated from each other.
  • One ID per line. Two lines sharing an ID is vanishingly unlikely, in your team or anywhere else in Seminode, and matching only needs it to be unique among the lines your team sent the same partner (see below). The same part requested again on a new line, for another program or quantity, gets a new ID.
  • One ID per offer. Additional offers get the line’s ID plus a number, such as SN-K7T2MQ3XB4ZPA.2. With Create a new offer for each partner quote enabled in Inbox settings, even the first offer uses .1; the original request keeps the unnumbered ID. A distinct quote under that original ID creates a new offer, while a reply under a numbered ID updates that offer. The setting is off by default. See Quoting by Email for examples and limits.
  • Matched on the ID and the sender. Seminode reads the ID together with who sent the quote (for email, the sender’s company domain) and only looks the ID up among the requests your team sent that partner, so an ID is never matched to another partner’s or another team’s request.
Partners quoting by email only need to keep the ID next to each line they quote — see the Partner Guide. Older files and emails head this column Seminode Thread ID, and Seminode still reads them. In the app, that name now belongs to the Seminode Thread ID below.

The Seminode Thread ID

The Seminode Thread ID names one partner’s quote on a line, such as SN-3F9A12C4B7E1. Two partners quoting the same line share its Seminode Listing ID, but each has their own Seminode Thread ID, and so does each extra offer a partner makes on the line. It stays the same through counters, re-quotes and acceptance, so it is the reference to use when your team talks about one partner’s quote. You see it next to the Seminode Listing ID in the Inbox table and the comparison view, and on its own in a thread’s history and the email review screens. It is for your team only: partners never see it, and it does not route a reply.

Reference Data & Programs

Reference data is your internal tables — costs, contacts, approved manufacturers — matched against listings to enrich them with the context your team needs to quote well. Programs are named configurations that tailor quoting rules (like margin floors or lead-time limits) by program and site. See Reference Data and Programs.

Orders

When a quote is accepted by both parties, it becomes an order once someone on the team selects Create Order on the accepted thread, or straight away if the team has turned on automatic order creation. Orders track fulfillment from confirmation through completion.
Teams can enable single-party acceptance in Inbox settings, where accepting a partner’s quote closes the deal immediately without waiting for the partner to confirm. Some demand programs also close on a single acceptance and place the purchase order outside the platform.
Learn more in Orders.
New to Seminode? Start with the Quickstart, then set up your network in Partners and Nodes.