A participant relationship (also called a link) connects your organisation to another organisation in your Ecosystem, the network of Participants you work with. Each relationship has a type that records how the two organisations are connected, and it controls which Participants and their data appear in your look-up lists across OriginsNext. You manage relationships from the Participants List (Ecosystem Registries > Participants).
Relationship types
When you set a relationship you choose one or more types. The types describe the role the other organisation plays in relation to you:
Relationship type | What it means |
Supplier | The other organisation supplies goods or inputs to you. |
Buyer | The other organisation buys goods from you. |
Logistics | The other organisation provides transport or logistics services. |
Regulator | The other organisation is a regulatory body overseeing your trade. |
Regulated | The other organisation is a party that you, as a regulator, oversee. |
Financier | The other organisation provides finance (for example, a bank or insurer). |
Financed | The other organisation is a party that you finance. |
Other | Any other relationship not covered above. |
There is no two-way handshake
A relationship is created instantly and one-sidedly by whichever organisation adds the other. The other party does not receive an invitation and does not accept or decline it, so do not wait for a confirmation step.
Important: the system records the mirror image of the relationship from the other party's side automatically. If you add an organisation as your Supplier, you become their Buyer at the same time. You cannot create a relationship with yourself, and a duplicate relationship of the same type is ignored.
Direct and indirect relationships
A relationship is either Direct or Indirect, set with the Nature of relationship control. A Direct relationship is one your organisation has straight with the other organisation. An Indirect relationship is one you are related through a third organisation, which must already be in your Ecosystem.
Relationships created automatically
You do not always create relationships by hand. The system also adds them automatically as a side effect of other actions, for example:
Linking one of another organisation's Locations creates a relationship with that Location's owner.
Being onboarded into another organisation's Ecosystem creates a relationship between you.
Set or change a relationship
To set, edit or remove a relationship, see How do I set or remove a participant relationship? To add a new organisation to your Ecosystem, see How do I add a new organisation to my ecosystem?