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Manufacturer Mappings

The Manufacturer Name Mappings standardize the manufacturer names delivered by suppliers. During import, they automatically replace an incorrect or inconsistent Source Manufacturer Name with a correct Target Manufacturer Name.

What is this for?

Suppliers often deliver manufacturer names inconsistently or incorrectly – e.g. TOSHIBAT instead of Toshiba, or HEWLETT PACKARD and HP Inc. instead of HP.

In the central item pool this causes problems:

  • duplicate manufacturers and messy reporting,
  • incorrectly assigned items, because the Business Central manufacturer code is derived automatically from the manufacturer name,
  • inconsistent presentation towards marketplaces and the shop.

With the Manufacturer Mappings you maintain a correction list once. merchantCENTRAL applies it automatically on every import, so the item pool consistently shows the correct, standardized manufacturer name.

Where is the mapping applied?

The mapping is applied automatically in two places:

  1. During data import – Before a supplier data record is saved, the delivered Source Manufacturer Name is replaced with the Target Manufacturer Name. The Supplier Data therefore already shows the corrected name.
  2. During automatic item creation – The BC item's Manufacturer Code is derived from the (corrected) manufacturer name and set on the item. This ensures all items of the same manufacturer end up under the same manufacturer code.

Priority: supplier-specific before global

A mapping can apply to one specific supplier or to all suppliers (global). If both match, the more specific rule wins:

  1. Supplier-specific mapping (Supplier + Source Name) – checked first.
  2. Global mapping (empty Supplier + Source Name) – applies when no supplier-specific rule matches.

Global or supplier-specific?

Use global mappings for common spellings that occur across many suppliers (e.g. HEWLETT PACKARD → HP). Use supplier-specific mappings when only one supplier delivers a name differently (e.g. Systeam delivers TOSHIBAT, while other suppliers deliver Toshiba).

Opening the Page

  • Via the Supplier Card → Manufacturer Name Mappings action
  • Or via search (Alt+Q): Manufacturer Name Mappings

When opened from the Supplier Card, the list is filtered to that supplier. For a global rule, leave the Supplier Code field empty.

Fields

Field Description
Supplier Code (Optional) The supplier the mapping applies to. Leave empty to apply the rule to all suppliers (global).
Source Manufacturer Name The manufacturer name exactly as delivered by the supplier (e.g. TOSHIBAT).
Target Manufacturer Name The correct manufacturer name to use in Business Central (e.g. Toshiba). Should match an existing BC manufacturer.

Capture the source name exactly

The Source Manufacturer Name must match the delivered value exactly so that it is found during import. When in doubt, check the actually delivered spelling in the Supplier Data before creating the mapping.

Step-by-step setup

  1. Identify incorrect names: Open the Supplier Data and identify which manufacturer names are delivered incorrectly or inconsistently.
  2. Create the target manufacturer: Make sure the desired target manufacturer exists in the BC manufacturer table (create it beforehand if needed).
  3. Create the mapping: Open the Manufacturer Name Mappings and add a row:
    • Source Manufacturer Name = delivered name (exact),
    • Target Manufacturer Name = correct name,
    • choose a Supplier Code (supplier-specific) or leave it empty (global).
  4. Run the import again: Start the data import for the supplier.
  5. Check the result: Verify the corrected name in the Supplier Data and the derived manufacturer code on the item.

Already imported data

The correction is applied on every import. To have already imported records adopt the new target name, run the import again after creating the mapping.

Examples

Global mappings (for all suppliers):

Source Manufacturer Name Target Manufacturer Name
HEWLETT PACKARD HP
HP Inc. HP
Brother Int. Brother

Supplier-specific mapping (supplier SYSTEAM only):

Supplier Code Source Manufacturer Name Target Manufacturer Name
SYSTEAM TOSHIBAT Toshiba

If Systeam delivers an item with manufacturer TOSHIBAT, it becomes Toshiba on import. Other suppliers are unaffected by this rule.