In Supplier Data Manager (SDM), requirement levels control whether a field is mandatory, advisory, or ignored at each stage of a workflow. There are two places where requirement levels are configured: at the project level (per field) and at the step level via a max_requirement_level parameter.

Field requirement level (project level)

In Supplier Data Manager, each field (attribute) defined in a project can have one of three requirement levels:

1. Required — the highest level of requirement. The user must provide a value for this field. Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*) in the interface and block the user from finalizing the step until they are filled in.
2. Important — an intermediate level. The user is warned if the field is not filled but can still proceed. The field is significant but not strictly mandatory.
3. Optional — the lowest level (and the default). The user receives no warning and is not blocked if this field is left empty.

These requirement levels are set in the field configuration at the project level. They help manage data completeness by indicating which fields are critical for the project.

Max requirement level (step configuration)

The max_requirement_level parameter is a step-level setting available in the configuration of certain Supplier Data Manager workflow steps. It acts as a ceiling: the effective requirement level for each field in that step is the lower of the field's project-level setting and the step's max_requirement_level.

max_requirement_level is supported in the following steps: Extraction, Mapping, Normalisation, and Value Mapping.

The parameter is configured in the step's params via the SDM API or admin configuration. It is not currently editable through the SDM interface.

The default value is "required", meaning all project-level requirement levels are preserved unless overridden.

Here is how each setting affects field behavior in the step:

1. max_requirement_level: "required" (default) — no downgrade. Fields keep their project-level requirement. Required fields block step finalization until they are completed.
2. max_requirement_level: "important" — fields marked Required at the project level are downgraded to Important in this step. Fields marked Important or Optional keep their project-level setting. No fields block step finalization; instead, unfilled Important fields show a warning.
3. max_requirement_level: "optional" — all fields are treated as Optional in this step, regardless of their project-level setting. No fields block or warn.

Interaction between project and step levels

The combination of the project-level requirement and the step-level max_requirement_level gives flexibility in Supplier Data Manager workflow design:

1. Relaxing requirements — use max_requirement_level to temporarily relax requirements for a specific step. For example, in an Extraction step you might set it to "important" to allow the process to continue even if some usually required fields could not be extracted from the source data.
2. Step-specific strictness — adjust how strictly data requirements are enforced at different stages of your workflow. Early steps (such as Extraction) can be more lenient; later steps (such as Normalisation or Mapping) can enforce stricter requirements.
3. Balancing automation and data quality — in steps involving AI or automation (like Extraction), setting a lower max_requirement_level prevents the process from getting stuck on missing data, while still flagging important fields for human review.