We are excited to announce that a release of MeRLIN (MeRLIN V18.0) with updates is now live! The updates have been complied into release notes below, providing an overview of the enhancements, and fixes in our product that the users anticipated, ensuring that they are up to date with the latest developments.
Supplier Management
Supplier Onboarding
Users can now rearrange the order of questions in Qualification and Onboarding Questionnaire templates within MeRLIN.
The “Not Responded” reminder notification for MeRLIN’s Onboarding Questionnaire now includes a direct link to the pending questionnaire for easier access.
Supplier Data
Buyers can now view and download the complete list of supplier documents, not limited to registration form uploads, through the Supplier Data Download Excel.
To improve the reliability and security of OTP (One-Time Password) delivery for supplier authentication in Germany, supplier users are no longer allowed to register landline numbers for receiving OTPs.
Supplier Information
To improve communication and avoid response mismatches, MeRLIN now automatically notifies suppliers when an invite is recalled by the buyer, even if the supplier is actively editing their response at that moment.
MeRLIN now records and displays the user identity for supplier data changes. The system will now indicate whether a change (e.g. adding a contact) was performed by a buyer or a supplier.
MeRLIN’s Supplier Documents Expiry Notification email now includes information about the grace period (if applicable). When a document is nearing expiration, the email will clearly state within how many days the supplier must replace it, before action is taken.
MeRLIN now allows Vendor Masters and Responsible Buyers to directly update the Legal Name of a supplier from the supplier profile. Read-only users can now view all supplier information across modules, but editing, adding, or deleting data remains restricted for these users.
The Supplier Registration form now features a “Categories Tree” view, enabling suppliers to easily browse and select relevant categories from a structured, hierarchical list during registration.
Supplier Management
Vendor Masters and suppliers can now select all supplier contacts in the Supplier Contacts sub-menu, both before and after applying a filter and send bulk emails to the selected contacts in a single action.
Business Administrators can now add Partner Configured fields of types “Single Select” and “Single Line Text” to the Mandatory Document Configuration rules. This allows for more dynamic and flexible rule creation, as the business can now decide rules based on these specific field types.
When a Vendor Master sends a Bulk Email from the Supplier Contacts menu, the system will now automatically mark the Responsible Buyers in CC. This ensures that the Responsible Buyers are kept informed and aligned with the communication.
Supplier Scorecard
MeRLIN now offers a special supplier scorecard that aggregates and displays key supplier scores in one place, including Compliance Score, Paydex Score, ESG Rating, Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) Rating.
Feedback Survey
Users can now rearrange the order of questions in feedback surveys within MeRLIN and can manually set weightings for individual answers in single-choice questions within the Feedback Survey feature. This enhancement allows weightings to be assigned for questions with multiple answer options such as “Yes”, “No” or “Maybe”.
Sourcing Events Management
Sourcing Event
MeRLIN now includes an Export Function for supplier quotes submitted during sourcing events. This feature allows users to export quotes to formats such as PDF or Excel, making it easy to share with other departments for review and approval.
MeRLIN now supports two-level functionality for entering assemblies with multiple components in the RFQ entry. Users can create an assembly consisting of multiple components, and the price for the assembly will automatically be calculated as the sum of the individual component prices.
MeRLIN now supports RFQ-wide discounts and additional charges based on percentage values. Suppliers can now apply discounts or charges that will automatically be added or deducted from the total entered price across all items in the RFQ. Item-Level Discounts & Charges and Header-Level Discounts & Charges have been introduced, giving suppliers greater flexibility to manage pricing at different levels of the RFQ.
MeRLIN now allows users to add or modify documents in an approved and published RFQ. When documents are updated, the system will automatically notify all participating suppliers about the changes.
MeRLIN now enables users to add, modify, or remove items in an approved and published RFQ. When changes are made, participating suppliers will automatically be notified about the updated RFQ items.
MeRLIN now allows buyers to request volume and pricing data from suppliers by year or month within the RFQ process. Suppliers can submit volume commitments per year or per month.
MeRLIN now allows read-only users to access and view all Sourcing Events (RFQs, Auctions, etc.) related event details, participating suppliers, submitted quotes, attachments, and negotiation rounds while editing, responding, or managing actions remain restricted for these users.
RFx
MeRLIN now supports price changes for long-term contracts through an in-system price adjustment feature. Buyers can initiate periodic price negotiations or adjustments within active contracts.
The Supplier interface for participating in RFIs has been enhanced to provide a cleaner, more intuitive experience.
As part of improving the RFI process, Buyers can now search for Catalogue Items and add them directly into the RFI, like the functionality available in the RFQ module.
Contract Management
Contract Authoring
The Contract Authoring module has been enhanced with several updates, including corrections to display issues on contract documents and resolution of signature-related error messages in PDF outputs. Renaming of the “Legal User” role will now help avoid conflicts during the legal department’s onboarding. The module now allows the assignment of full read and edit rights to designated users under the Contract Authoring Admin, along with the ability to reassign authoring requests between users within the CA Master role. A Read-Only User role is now available to provide visibility without edit permission. The requirement to enter landline numbers for non-application signatories has been removed, a label has been added in the Documents tab indicating document visibility to suppliers, as well as the option to cancel contract requests at any stage of the authoring process.
Legal Users and Contract Authors can now initiate contract authoring by directly importing Word documents (.docx format), bypassing the need for predefined templates.
Compliance
Compliance
In the Supplier 360 view, Buyers will now have access to a direct link to view detailed survey responses from the survey result line, even if they do not hold an LKSG-related compliance role.
In the Survey Results dashboard, each graph now includes a clear header title indicating the data it represents. Users can now click on any graph element (bar, pie slice, etc.) to view the list of suppliers associated with that result.
Risk Management
Whenever Creditreform updates a supplier’s credit rating, MeRLIN will automatically create a risk record in the Compliance module.
MeRLIN now integrates with Prewave, a powerful supplier risk management platform to enhance Supplier Risk Management.
Audit
When setting up an audit, users can now define a recurrence frequency (e.g., quarterly, bi-annually, annually), and the system will automatically send reminders to the assigned auditors as per the schedule.
A dedicated Audit Schedule dashboard is now available within MeRLIN’s Compliance module. This feature provides a centralized, calendar-style view of all planned audits for the year, offering complete visibility into upcoming, ongoing, and completed audits and Audit Managers have full access to amend the schedule, including adding, editing, rescheduling, or cancelling audits.
Surveys
The current total weighting sum is now displayed in the Survey, Audit, and Questionnaire template editors within MeRLIN. As users assign or adjust weightings for individual questions or sections, the total sum will be updated, making it easy to ensure weight distributions are accurate and aligned with scoring requirements.
Supply Chain Compliance
Score Card
The Scorecard Pie Chart visualization has been enhanced to display grade ranges based on the scorecard configuration settings. The scoring bands are now clearly indicated as High Grade: 25–75 and Lowest Grade: 1–25, with these values fetched directly from the configuration.
MeRLIN’s Scorecard module now includes tooltips next to special scoring questions explaining how each score is calculated and a display of the maximum total achievable score within the scorecard view.
Surveys
MeRLIN now allows suppliers to save surveys as drafts while completing them. Suppliers can now save their progress at any stage of the survey, return later to complete and submit their responses when ready.
MeRLIN now allows suppliers to save their responses as drafts while completing surveys, including surveys accessed via the supplier portal (where the “Save as Draft” button will appear) as well as for surveys accessed via OTP-based links, where previously this option didn’t exist. Surveys will be displayed one question at a time for clarity and progression.
Platform
Platform
Organizations can now configure custom API integrations within MeRLIN SRM to fetch, push, or update supplier-related data.
Buyers can now manage their Follow-ups and To-Dos directly within the Buyer Portal. This integration allows users to track pending tasks, reminders, and action items associated with sourcing events, supplier interactions, or contract processes.
