How will data transfer be ensured?

Goals

The Partner Portal is intended to provide all partners with a uniform Internet access for their communication and cooperation with the purchasing, development, logistics, quality, marketing and finances departments of the BMW AG and its affiliated companies. As a partner you can get role-based Internet access to applications and functionalities relevant to you. Thus you can access process, product and project information at any point in time and from anywhere, and use virtual project rooms for joint activities with us. The Partner Portal integrates processes across company borders in order to create a basis for even more efficient collaboration.
 

The information, applications and functionalities provided through the Partner Portal of the BMW Group concern the business processes of  the purchasing, development, logistics, quality, marketing and finances departments. The focus is on two external target groups: First, interested potential business partners of the BMW AG and its affiliated companies, second, actual partners, who are already in a business relationship with us and get access to applications and specific information via the Portal.  The internal target groups include employees of the BMW AG and its affiliated companies who are cooperating with partners on a daily basis.
 

The new Partner Portal provides the context for and access to all current and future B2B activities of the BMW Group. There are further e-business activities in the fields of customer relationship management and internal processes, such as human resources and finances. The e-business initiatives are not isolated. Instead, they jointly provide the context for linking and synchronizing all BMW-internal core processes, and they are the basis for the integration of processes reaching beyond company borders.
 

In future, the BMW AG and its affiliated companies will focus even more on cooperation in partner networks. The Partner Portal supports this kind of cooperation by providing a basis for real-time exchange of data and information, and an access to specific applications - independent of place and time. At the same time the BMW Group consistently pursues its goal to integrate partners of all levels - from "tier 1" system suppliers up to  "tier n" suppliers. An overall transparency will increase flexibility, stability and reactivity throughout the partner network. Thus the Portal will enable all involved parties to increase their efficiency and improve their processes.
 

The Partner Portal provides external partners with role-based access to applications, functionalities and information in the fields of purchasing, development, logistics, quality, marketing and finances. In these fields the Partner Portal is the central point of access for external partners to cooperate with BMW employees. With the expansion of the Partner Portal a reduction of other channels is aimed at, such as direct links via ISDN or email communication.
 

Registration and User Management

The Partner Portal of the BMW Group consists of a public area (which is accessible to everybody) and of a protected area (which is only accessible to registered users). As a registered user you will get access to applications that are relevant to your work. These applications are provided by the purchasing, development, logistics, quality, marketing and finances departments. Above that, you will be offered information that is only available to registered users.
 

All employees of a Partner company who have an active work or project relationship with employees of the BMW Group.
 

Generally, no fees are charged for your registration for and use of the applications provided in the Portal. Find more information in the General Terms and Conditions of Use for the Partner Portal of the BMW Group in section  "3. Costs".
 

The most important requirement for a registration is that your company has a BMW supplier number. If your company has not got a supplier number, please apply here to become a supplier to BMW Group, or contact, if known, the employee in the BMW Group purchasing department who is responsible for you. In the course of the registration process you will be asked to enter your personal data (email address, last name, first name and phone number). To get registered, you also need to give your consent to your data being stored by BMW Group.
 

There is a link on the login page of the Partner Portal of the BMW Group called "Do you want to register?". Follow this link and fill in an online self-registration form called "Apply for registration". First, enter a 6-digit BMW supplier number and a 2-digit supplier plant code. If a master administrator has already been registered for your company, you can immediately register as a user. To fill in the application form, you need to enter only your first name, last name, email address and phone number. The data will be automatically forwarded to your master administrator, who will decide whether you should get registered.
 

To have your employees registered as users of the Partner Portal your company needs to have a BMW Group supplier number. You also need to name and register a master administrator for your company. If these requirements are fulfilled, your master administrator, or the administrators installed by the master administrator, can register new users without BMW Group's participation. User accounts are normally activated within 15 minutes. If permission has been requested for applications requiring approval, a contact person in the BMW Group and/or the relevant application responsible will be involved in the approval process. Please inform the contact person and/or the application responsible prior to submitting your request. Also clarify your contact person's availability to allow immediate processing of your request, which can then be approved within one to three days.
 

If your request is approved you will receive two separate emails containing the information you need to log into the Portal. The first email will contain your login name and the link to use for your first login at the Partner Portal of the BMW Group. The second email will contain your password. If your request is rejected you will receive an email telling you that your request for registration has not been approved.
 

A master administrator is responsible for managing the users of the Partner Portal in his company. This includes registering new users, assigning roles to them, and blocking and deleting users. Master administrators now decide autonomously which employees of their companies to register as users at the Partner Portal.
 

A master administrator is appointed by a Partner company's business manager and then approved by the Portal-Support at BMW Group.

To register a master administrator, follow the link ¿Do you want to register?¿ on the homepage of the Partner Portal of the BMW Group and use the registration form provided at ¿Apply for Registration¿. Registering a master administrator is only possible if no master administrator has been registered before for the specified BMW supplier number. This is automatically verified after you enter your supplier number. Afterwards you will be asked to give the master administrator's last name, first name, email address and phone number.

To make an online request for the registration of a master administrator effectual, a partner company needs to send a request, printed on business paper, to BMW Group. For this, a pre-printed fax form is made available online. Print this pre-printed form on business paper, have it signed by a business manager or an authorised officer, and send it to fax number: +49 (0) 89 382 70 39966. Alternatively the following email address can be used to send scanned documents: b2b.fax@bmw.de. The request will be checked by a BMW Group clearing unit.

The future master administrator will then receive his/her login data via email, including information on subsequent steps in the registration process.
 

If you have already got a Portal account, you can find out which (master) administrators are responsible for you via "Help" ¿ "Search for Administrators", after logging into the Portal. If you register via ¿Apply for registration" the (master) administrators of your company will be automatically informed of your request.
 

Inform support of the Partner Portal of what you wish to do. Please state your phone number for enquiries.

The B2B support team withdraws the master administrator rights from the present master administrator, and informs you as soon as a new master administrator can be installed.

Case A - The new master administrator does not have a Portal identification:
In this case, the new master administrator requests via the link ¿Registration/Permissions¿ an identification as a master administrator; he faxes to +49 (0) 89 382 70 39966 a letter from his business management confirming that he has been nominated as a master administrator. Alternatively the following email address can be used to send scanned documents: b2b.fax@bmw.de.

Case B - The new master administrator has already got an identification:
In this case, the new master administrator logs into the Partner Portal, selects in the User Management the menu item ¿Request further supplier numbers¿, enters his company's supplier number and faxes to +49 (0) 89 382 70 39966 a letter from his company confirming that he has been nominated as a master administrator. Alternatively the following email address can be used to send scanned documents: b2b.fax@bmw.de.

A clearing unit at BMW Group will examine the request, and the master administrator will automatically be informed via email.
 

A master administrator can appoint a deputy, who has the same rights and duties as the master administrator. Above this, a master administrator can autonomously install further administrators to support him in the user management at some of the locations that the master administrator is responsible for. These administrators are no longer confined to an 8-digit supplier number, but they can, in extreme cases, have the same area of responsibility as the master administrator. The deputies and further, location-related administrators can be installed by the master administrator himself, in the Portal via "Administration" ¿ "User Management". The installation of further administrators does not require any confirmations by fax.
 

Yes, a Master Administrator can request that they be allowed to manage several supplier numbers. This may be necessary if the same Master Administrator is responsible for several sites in a company group.
The Master Administrator will usually already have a identification code. To apply for additional supplier numbers, the Master Administrator logs onto the Partner Portal, goes to User Management and selects the "weitere Lieferantennummern beantragen" (request additional supplier numbers) menu item. Here they enter their company's supplier number. They then send the confirmation fax from their company's management to fax number +49 (0)89 382 70 39966. Alternatively the following email address can be used to send scanned documents: b2b.fax@bmw.de.
The Clearing point at the BMW Group then checks the application and informs the Master Administrator automatically by email.
 

You can find information on this under "Administration" and in Surf&Learn under "Help > Online Training".
 

A contact person is a person in the BMW Group with whom the employees of Partner companies are collaborating. This contact person needs to approve registrations for roles requiring authorization. A contact person needs to be registered as a contact person and, before that, needs to consent to being a contact person. In the new user management, the registration of users for applications that require access authorization will still be the duty of the users' contact persons at BMW Group and/or of the person responsible for the particular application.
How do I become a contact for user registrations for the Partner Portal?
 

An application responsible is responsible for one or several applications provided in the Partner Portal of the BMW Group. For some applications the master adminstrator's approval alone does not suffice; they require additional approval from the user's contact person at BMW Group and/or the application responsible. For informations about all application responsibles see "My workspace > About applications".
 

Roles authorize users to use content and applications provided in the Partner Portal. Roles are selected to match a user's tasks in his collaboration with the BMW Group, and the selection of roles for a user needs to be agreed with the user's contact person at BMW Group. The roles assigned to a user decide which content the user is allowed to see in the Partner Portal and which applications he is allowed to use in the Portal.
 

When assigning roles to a user, a master administrator decides which rights a user shall have in the Partner Portal. To assign (one or more) roles to user, a Partner company's master administrator first needs to select a functional area (e.g. Development, Purchasing, Logistics). Each of these functional areas provides certain applications and roles which can be selected by the master administrator. In doing so, a master administrator assigns to users access authorizations for these roles and applications. Above that, it is possible to assign roles for single applications or for packages containing several applications and/or static content. Security-uncritical applications can be directly assigned to users by master administrators; no approval of BMW Group is required; whereas security-critical applications require approval of the contact person at BMW Group and maybe also by the the person responsible for the application.
 

The Master Administrator chooses menu item "Administration > User Management" on the Partner Portal. You can assign your users a role under "Role Assignment" and, when doing this, view your currently available roles, including description.
 

As a user you are responsible for changes in your personal data. You can change your user data, such as your default language, under "Personalization" ¿ "Personal Data". For role changes, please contact your (master) administrator, who will either do the necessary changes himself, or will submit a request if it is a role that requires approval. The (master) administrator can enter the name of the contact person at BMW Group in the window ¿Extended master data¿.
 

In order to change your password proactively, you must firstly perform a Password Reset (cf. What do I do if I have forgotten my password?). This assigns you a new password. You can change this as required the next time you log in.
In addition, you are prompted every 30 days to change your password for reasons relating to security. In this case, you will be redirected automatically to the Change Form.
 

Your password must not include your login name. Find detailed information on the rules applicable to passwords at password policy (please log in first).
 

If you have forgotten your password, it will need to be reset (Password Reset).

External partners have the following options for performing a Reset:

• Performing a Reset themselves:
  If you have created a "knowledge base" (you are prompted to answer a user-defined security prompt), you can reset your portal password independently on the Reset password yourself page.
  You can create a "knowledge base" at any time for your portal ID (if your password is active and you know what it is).
• You can have the password reset by the Master Administrator of the partner company:
  In the Partner Portal under > Administration > Password Reset

Internal staff of the BMW Group are not affected by this changeover since they log in using the Q number (and not their own portal ID). The TSS password can be reset as normal via the TSS Password System.
 

Your qx number will be given to you by the contact person in the BMW Group who assigned an order to you. This contact person can request and administrate qx numbers via the Intranet of the BMW Group. A qx number consists of the prefix "qx" and a 5-digit number.
 

Login with QX number and TSS password is possible only on the BMW Group's intranet (https://b2b.bmwgroup.net).
 

You need a qx number to access certain Partner applications, such as APLAN, OpenDXM, PAP, DZA and VIP. Please refer to an application's documentation in the Partner Portal in order to find out if you need a qx number to access the application.
 

No. Please apply to your Master Administrator for a first_name.surname account and, if applicable, a QX number if you need one.
 

The BMW Group's Partner Portal can be accessed in three ways:

1. via the BMW intranet for internal staff and resident engineers:
   https://b2b.bmwgroup.net
    
2. via the Internet for external suppliers to the BMW Group:
   https://b2b.bmw.com
    
3. via Internet for employees of the BMW Group:
   https://b2b-sra.bmw.com
    

Yes, from now on employees of the BMW Group can log on at the Partner Portal also via Internet. Access is possible via a special login page by Strong Authentication- therefore you need a SecureID Card.
https://b2b-sra.bmw.com
 

You can find the form for Master Administrator applications under Administration > Information about User Management.

 

Technology

You need an Internet connection and an Internet browser. We recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer from version 6.0, or Firefox from version 1.5 at Unix based platforms. The Partner Portal has been optimized for a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 Pixel, Cookies and JavaScript should be activated. It is recommended to use a Java Virtual Machine from version JVM 1.3.1. Please deactivate the pop-up blocker for "bmw.com". To view plug-in documents you need an Acrobat Reader from version 4.x. Find a detailed description of the IT requirements under "Help > IT Requirements". Please note that the use of some applications may include further system requirements, which are specified in the applications themselves.
 

Find in the Portal's "Help" menu information on how to use the Portal, such as navigation in the Portal, IT Requirements and Portal support.
Your company's (master) administrators will find information on roles, user registration and user data administration, after logging in at the Portal, under  "Administration".
Informations about applications (e.g. fact sheets, mauals, contact persons) you will find under "My workspace > About applications".
 

Please contact support for questions of a technical nature.
 

Call the Portal support or in specific cases, contact the person responsible for the application where an error occurred. Find the name and email address of the responsible person in the application or under "My workspace > About applications".
 

Content and Applications

You can find a summary of all available applications on the Partner Portal (incl. contact persons and registration process) under "My workspace > About applications". The Portal User Guide enables you to find the relevant applications for your processes by only a few clicks.

Role-based access facilitates working with the applications in the Portal: You need to log in at the Portal only once in order to access all applications and information you are authorized for - generally, no time-consuming multiple logins are necessary. To get access to the applications and information you are authorized for, please do not forget to log in at the protected area of the Partner Portal immediately, before starting to navigate.
 

Please contact BMW's training centers per email: b2b.training@bmw.de. Your email enquiry needs to describe precisely what kind of training you need. The BMW training center staff will process your enquiry and contact you.

You can also run through individual training units on various applications on the Partner Portal under "Help > Online Training".
 

As first contact as well as for for technical or content-related aspects is the support .
 

Set your preferred language as your default language in the Portal, after logging in, under "Personalization" (in the upper navigation bar) ¿ "Personal Data". Please note that the setting of your default language will be active throughout the Portal only after about 3 hours. You can temporarily set the language you prefer under "Language", or "Sprache" (in the upper navigation bar).
 

The Partner Portal forms the interface between BMW AG, its associated companies and its suppliers. In the Partner Portal you can apply to become a new supplier for the BMW Group (see Portal Homepage under: You are not yet a supplier for the BMW Group? You can apply here.
Your request will be passed on to the appropriate department, which will evaluate the options for working together with your company.
 

Please contact the support and give your department as well as information on the new content to be provided. The Partner Portal Editorial Team will contact you and discuss further steps to be taken.
 

You can find up-to-date news on the individual home pages of the Partner Portal (e.g. central home page and area-specific home pages for Development, Logistics and CATIA V5).

You can also use the Subscription function (at the bottom of each page) to automatically get news sent to you about page changes on the Partner Portal.

Specific information is also sent by the BMW Group in its Newsletter. Please subscribe to the relevant Newsletter under "Services > Subscribe to Newsletter" if you are interested in specific topics (e.g. CATIA).
 

IT-Security, Protection of Personal and BMW Group Information

All personal data that is collected for purposes of registration for and use of the Portal will be processed and used in accordance with German regulations for the protection of personal data, and only to the extent that is necessary to operate the Portal and the applications provided in it. Find a detailed description in the Notice of the Protection of Personal Data. Data collected in the context of cooperation with the BMW AG and its affiliated companies is made available only to authorized persons. The users'  personal data and their roles serve to guarantee confidentiality of communication as well as authorized access to the data used in the cooperation with the BMW AG and its affiliated companies.
 

All data exchanged via the Partner Portal of the BMW Group are encoded and transmitted via the https protocol, using 128-bit-encryption.
 

The measures to be taken by you to ensure data protection are described in detail in Information Protection and General Terms and Conditions of Use.