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Return to Working with RFx.
The Icertis Sourcing app enables buyers to create and manage end-to-end RFx process. RFx is an acronym for Request for x, where x may stand for Information orProposal or Quotation. Buyers can create an RFx instance, add line items, select suppliers and supplier contacts, create agreements with the suppliers, add team members to the instance for review and approval process and send the instance for approval. Here is the RFx workflow at a glance:
1. Click the Sourcing tile on the Dashboard. The Sourcing page opens. A list of all the RFx instances is displayed.
5. Select or enter the values for all the required Attributes in the RFx Information group:
6. Select appropriate values and settings under the RFx Configs group.
The values selected in these fields are populated on the RFx Details page under the Agreements tab. This enables the buyer to create Agreements relevant to the RFx that is created.
The attributes for mandatory and prerequisite contracts are interlinked and both the attributes display the list of different contract types that can be associated with the RFx. ICM validates whether the prerequisite and mandatory contracts added to the RFx are in Approved state.
7. Click Next. The Select Template (Step 3 of 4) page opens. This is an optional step depending upon how the application is configured. Usually there would be only one template associated with the RFx that is selected automatically. However, multiple templates can be configured in ICM as per the business requirement.
Buyers can view the current status and details of the RFx in various sections of the left navigation pane on RFx Details page. Buyers can also perform a variety of actions based on the current state of the RFx.
Here is a brief description of the options in the left navigation pane of RFx Details page.
Buyers can perform the following actions from the RFx Details page:
Buyers can copy the RFx which not only saves time but also reduces duplication of efforts. Additionally global sourcing involves globally distributed buyer team that may clone the sourcing event at the regional level and link them with one another. Linking the copied RFx to the original RFx can be achieved by selecting Yes next to Link to RFx on Copy Record window.
Along with the RFx, users now have the ability to select any associated documents (parent-child or peer associations) where the Allow Copy with Associations is set to Yes at the Contract Type level. If this flag is set to No, then only the RFx will be copied without its associations.
Buyers can now:
If the source role and target role is configured, the user roles will be same for the RFx being copied.
If the source role is:
If the target role is:
Authorized users can configure the Agreement Contract Type and set Allow Copy with Associations field to Yes to enable copying the existing RFx.
You can copy an RFx from the:
To copy an RFx from the Sourcing index page:
1. Click dots next to the RFx on the Sourcing index page and then click Copy Record. The Copy Record window opens.
2. Select Yes next to Link To RFx that is being copied. This links the RFx copy that is being created with the source RFx. If you select No, it will not be linked with the source RFx.
3.Click Copy Record to copy the RFx without the associations.
4.Click Expand All on the Copy Record window to display all the associations of the RFx to be copied. You can click Collapse All to display only the parent level associations.
5. Select the Associations checkbox to select all the associations of the RFx to copy. You can select specific associations that you want to copy. You can select the commitments from the Copy Record window to be copied from the source RFx to the destination RFx.
6. Click Copy. The name of the copied RFx is same as the source RFx. The Initiate RFx button is displayed on RFx Details page after the copy of the RFx is created.The primary owner of the copied RFx will be the user who initiates the copy operation.
The RFx copy is created and RFx Details page opens with the status of the RFx as Draft.
To copy the RFx from RFx Details page:
The RFx can also be copied from RFx Details page by following steps 2-5 in the To copy RFx from Sourcing Index page section.
Viewing the audit log of Copy RFx
You can view the audit log of the copy RFx event by clicking History on the RFx Details page.
Viewing the Linked RFx
You can view the linked RFx from the RFx Details page.
To view the linked RFx:
1. Click Related RFx on the RFx Details page. The list of related RFx is displayed.
2. Click View Record icon next to the RFx that allows viewing the original RFx using which its copy was created.
Linking the RFx
Linking RFx with another RFx allows keeping track of the activities happening with both RFx thereby allowing to manage multiple RFx within one another. Linking the RFx helps in supporting global sourcing that involves globally distributed buyers’ team. This team may clone the sourcing event at the regional level to identify and shortlist suppliers and link the sourcing events with one another. ICM allows to link the source and destination RFx.
To configure the two way linkage:
1. Click the View record icon next to the RFx Contract Type on the Configuration page. The contract type Details page opens.
2. Navigate to the Associations section and select the attribute ICMAppSrcRelatedRFx.
3. Click Update and navigate to Verify page and click Update to update the RFx contract type. This links the copied RFx with Source RFx.
You can also add linked RFx from RFx Details page.
To add linked RFx from RFx Details page:
1. Click the plus icon next to Related RFx on RFx Details page. The Related RFx window opens displaying the list of related source RFx that you can link with the copied RFx.
2.Click Select to select and link the copied RFx with the source RFx from the available list.
Exclude auto-attached associated documents during copy
When a user copies the RFx with auto-attached associations, ICM excludes all auto attached associations from being copied to the new RFx. The auto-attached associations won’t be displayed on the Copy Record window. The resulting RFx has the selected manual associations and its own auto-attached associations as per the configured rules. This avoids the unnecessary upload of files into the ICM repository and duplication of association records on copied RFx.
You can add line items at any stage of the RFx instance depending upon RFx configuration settings. Line items are products that the buyer is looking to procure through the RFx instance. When you create the RFx instance, the RFx Details page opens with the RFx status displayed as Draft. You can use the left navigation pane to add one or more line items. You can also add line items using Microsoft Excel import by selecting the file from your local machine and uploading it to ICM Sourcing.
To add line items:
1. Click the Create Association icon next to Line Items under the RFx Package tab. The Line Items window opens.
2. Enter the values in the following fields:
3. Click Create. The Line Item is created. The Count is updated in the left navigation pane on the RFx Details page.
Selecting Suppliers
Suppliers are the businesses that participate in the RFx bidding process. The suppliers and their information such as Names, Addresses, Contact Numbers, Email Addresses, and Supplier Contacts are added to the Masterdata. The name of the existing Supplier Contact Name has been modified to Supplier Contact Full Name. For example, John Doe. Buyers can remove the supplier contact from the Supplier Contact page. This updates the count of selected supplier contact.The selected supplier contact’s full name is displayed on the new selected supplier contacts interface.The suppliers and supplier contacts saved earlier are now displayed as pre-selected when adding more suppliers and supplier contacts.
Now, the buyers can use any supplier and supplier contact masterdata contract type to add suppliers.
The supplier contact full name column will be displayed by default on:
This makes it is easier for buyers and Administrators to identify and select the correct supplier if there are multiple suppliers with the same first name. This is applicable for bulk agreements too.
To add suppliers:
1. Click the Create Association icon next to Suppliers. The Supplier window opens.
2. Search for the desired supplier(s) or select the suppliers from the displayed list under the Supplier tab.
3. Click Next. The Supplier Contacts tab opens displaying the contact details of the suppliers.
4. Click the View Record icon next to the supplier’s name. The supplier’s contact details are displayed.
5. Select the desired Supplier Contact(s).
6. Click Save. The selected supplier(s) and supplier contact(s) are added to the RFx instance. The count is updated under the Supplier Information tab in the left navigation pane.
Buyers have the option to select mandatory and pre-requisite contracts while creating the RFx. The attributes for mandatory and prerequisite contracts are interlinked. The prerequisite contracts are derived from the mandatory contracts. So, if the buyers select the following contracts – NDA, Warranty Agreement, Fixed Cost Agreement as mandatory, then they have the option to select one or more, or all as prerequisite contracts.
Suppose the NDA is the prerequisite contract for accessing the RFx, then the validations are done such that ICM expects that the Instance of an NDA contract type for all the suppliers is associated with the RFx and contract should be in Approved state. Similarly, if Contract Types are made mandatory, then the instances of these should exist before RFx is sent for approval.
Buyers will now receive a system message when:
Buyers will be able to view the validations for the prerequisite and mandatory contracts for the shortlisted suppliers only.
For a shortlisted supplier, if all the prerequisite contracts are inactive or if any one of the contracts is active but not in Approved or later state, then the validations will be displayed.
For example, if there is one shortlisted supplier with two prerequisite contracts NDA 1 (in Draft state) and NDA 2 (in Waiting for Approval) state, then validations will be displayed.
The validations will not be displayed for shortlisted suppliers when at least one active prerequisite contract exists, and all such contracts are in Approved or later state.
For example, if there is one shortlisted supplier with two prerequisite contracts NDA 1 (in Approved state) and NDA 2 (in Expired state), no validations will be displayed since one of the two prerequisite contracts (NDA 1) is in Approved or later state.
To view the error validations:
2. Click the Mandatory Contracts tab next to the Prerequisite Contracts tab.
A message is displayed as above indicating that the contract types are either not created or exist in one of the statuses as Expired, Terminated, or Cancelled. In this example, the contract types Fixed Cost and NDA are not created.
3. Click the plus icon to the mandatory contract that was configured when creating the RFx and create the mandatory contracts using the process to create the bulk agreement.
4. Click Send for Approval. The Contract Status Validation window opens displaying only the Prerequisite contracts.
The Sourcing App offers you a convenient way of creating bulk agreements with the suppliers, without having to move out of RFx instance that you are working on. The agreements must be already configured in ICM. These agreements may be made mandatory for the supplier to sign before the supplier can participate in the RFx. The RFx displays all the agreements created from the RFx and they have all the agreement information. This allows the buyer to conveniently navigate between the RFx and the agreement associated with the RFx.
To create an agreement:
1. Click the Create Association icon next to the agreements in the left navigation pane on the RFx Details page. For example, NDA, Warranty Agreement.
2. The Attributes (Step 2 of 4) page opens in the new browser tab.
3. Enter values for all the attributes, some of which may be mandatory.
4. Click the Select Multiple Suppliers icon next to Suppliers and Agreement Details. The Supplier page opens.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 6 from the Selecting Suppliers section to add a supplier.
6. Click Next. The Select Template (Step 3 of 4) page opens.
7. Select a Template.
8. Click Next. The Verify page opens. Verify all the information you have entered.
9. Click the Bulk Create Agreement button. The agreement is created.
10. Click the View Record icon next to the NDA instance on the Sourcing page. The NDA’s Details page opens with the NDA in the Draft state.
After the Agreement is created for a supplier, you can proceed with the agreement workflow as configured. For example, you can send the agreement for approval.
11. Click the Send For External Signature button on the Details page. The agreement is sent to the supplier(s) for signatures. The status of the agreement changes to Executed when all the suppliers sign the NDA.
Buyers can now:
To link existing contracts:
1. Click the Create Association next to the agreements in the left navigation pane on the RFx Details page. For example, NDA, Warranty Agreement. The Please Confirm window opens.
2. Click Existing Contracts. The Select existing contracts to link to RFx page opens.
3. Select the contract that you want to link with the RFx and click Link Contracts.
The selected contract is linked with the RFx.
A team of Approvers, Reviewers, and Observers can be added to the RFx instance for completing the workflow.
To add team members:
1. Click the Team tab on the RFx Details page. The Add Team page opens in the right pane.
2. Click the Add Team icon. The Select User window opens.
3. Enter the search term in the Search User field to search for a desired user.
4. Select a User from the displayed user tiles.
5. Select a Role. For example, Approver, Business Owner, Observer, etc.
6. Select or enter the Step Number if you select Approver in the Select Role field.
7. Enter a comment in the Add Note field (optional). You can see this comment under the Notes tab.
8. Select the Send Notification checkbox if you want to the user to receive a notification of the task.
9. Click Add. The User has been added successfully message is displayed.
The RFx instance must be in Approved state before a round is created automatically and the RFx workflow can be completed.
1. Click the Send For Approval button on the RFx Details page. The RFX instance is sent for approval to the approver(s) you have selected in the Team.
The status changes to Waiting For Approval. A task is created for each approver.
When all the approvers approve the RFx instance, the status changes to Approved. After the RFx is approved, the first round is created automatically.
One cycle of seeking proposals/bids from suppliers and evaluating them is referred to as a round. A complete Sourcing event may comprise of multiple rounds. The first round is created automatically (if the start and end dates are entered) as soon as the RFx instance is approved. You can see the round on the RFX Details page. You must open the round instance and fill in additional details. There can be multiple rounds for one RFx instance.
Here is the round workflow at a glance:
You can schedule a round by entering the Round Start Date and End Date when creating the RFx instance. The buyer must click the Start Round button on the Round Details page to start the round.
To start the round:
1. Click Round on the RFx Details page. The auto created round instance is displayed.
2. Click the View Record icon. The Round Details page opens with the round in Draft state.
3. Click the Start Round button to start the Round. The status of the round changes to Approved when the round is approved and the status of the RFx changes to Bidding 'Open.
The buyer can also create a round manually if they need to conduct multiple rounds with the supplier. The buyer can create the round manually only if the RFx instance is in Approved state.
To create a round (manually):
1. Click the Create Association icon under the Round tab on the RFx Details page. The Create RFx -Round page opens.
2. Click the Organization Unit icon to select the Organization Unit.
3. Enter an appropriate name for the round.
4. Enter relevant details in the AppSrc Description field.
5. Select a Round Start Date. This field is already populated with the current date. You can select a different date and time if required.
6. Select a Round End Date and time.
7. Click Next. The Verify page opens. Verify all the information.
8. Click the Create Round button. The Round’s Details page opens. The round is now created in Draft state.
9. Click the Start Round button to begin the Round. The status of the round changes to Approved and Scheduled. When the round is approved the status changes to Approved and Scheduled. When the current date is equal to start date of the round the status changes to Published.
Buyers can now:
To edit the round start and end date:
1. Click Round on RFx Details page. The list of rounds is displayed.
2. Click the View Record icon next to the round for which you want to edit the start and end date. The round Details page opens and displays the existing start and end date of the rounds.
4. Make the necessary changes to the start and end date of the round depending on the state of the round. You can edit just the time of start and end date of the round and not required to change the date always. For example, the Planned Start Date was July 8, 2020, 12:00 AM and the Planned End Date was August 8, 2020 12:00 AM.
5. Click Update on round Verify page.
The round Details page opens and displays the edited round start and end date.
A bid is a collection of quotes for each Line Item. The system generates bids when a round is in Published state. The supplier can view the bids that were submitted in the previous rounds if the buyer selects Yes in the AppSrc Auto Copy Bids from the Previous Round option when creating the RFx.
Depending upon how the RFx instance is configured in the organization, suppliers must sign all the prerequisite agreements before submitting the bid responses. The suppliers won’t be able to view the RFx instance until the prerequisite agreement is in Executed state.
Here is the bid workflow at a glance:
A supplier can submit bid responses when the round is published.
To submit bid responses:
1. Click the Sourcing tile on the Dashboard after logging on to ICM. The Sourcing page opens. This page displays a list of all the RFx instances, rounds, and bids that the supplier is a part of.
2. Click the View Record icon next to the bid that you want to respond to. The Bid’s Details page opens with the bid is in Draft state.
3. Click Bid Response under Quotation Details tab. The bid response is displayed in the grid along with its details such as Item Name, Quotation ID etc. As the buyer had added two line items, the count is updated to 2 next to Bid Response.
4. Click the Edit icon. The Edit Bid Response window opens. It displays the information of the line item given by the buyer.
5. Enter values for the following fields:
6. Click the Update button. The bid response is updated. The Bid Response window closes.
7. Click Submit on the Bid Details page. The bid response is now submitted to the buyer. The status of the bid changes to Submitted.
After submitting bids, suppliers cannot edit bids. To edit the bids, the suppliers must click Withdraw. This changes the status of the bid to Withdrawn. Suppliers can revert withdrawal by clicking Revert Withdrawal. They can also edit their bids and submit again.
As soon as one supplier submits a bid, the status of the round changes to In Bidding. When all the bid responses are submitted, the buyer can:
Or
Buyers can now view the status of bids for each supplier regardless of whether the RFx is an open or sealed envelope depending on the status of the bid. These statuses include:
Buyers cannot view the status of the bids depending on the following status of the bid.
It is the process of analyzing supplier responses with an intent to compare one against the others along the evaluation criteria. When all the desired Bid Responses are received, you can view and analyze all the responses to be able to take informed decision.
At least one round should be completed for conducting bid analysis, otherwise the user gets an error message indicating that the round must be started to download bid analysis. For an RFx with Sealed Envelope, at least one round must be in Closed state to download the excel sheet for bid analysis.
The bid analysis Excel will contain all the bids, for all the suppliers, for all the rounds. The bid analysis will also contain currency information of bid currency and RFx primary currency, along with bid analysis attributes converted to RFx primary currencies. An attribute for bid analysis is defined in the masterdata. Users can add the bid analysis attribute for each RFx item and specify its value while creating an RFx or associated document. This helps the buyer to get all the information in the Excel sheet to be able to easily analyze a bid for a supplier.
Buyers can now:
Enter the values for bid analysis attributes and upload the bid analysis Excel sheet. The value of bid analysis attributes will be updated in the bid response.
Downloading and Uploading Bid Analysis for round
1. Click the Bid Analysis button, on the Round Details page. The Bid Analysis page opens.
2. Click Download File. The Excel file of Bid Analysis is downloaded.
3. Open the downloaded Excel. View the Bid Analysis attributes.
Once downloaded, you can edit the Bid analysis attributes such as Bonus, Net Landed Cost, Difference.
4.Enter Bid Analysis attribute values. For example: Enter value of Bonus as 2.44 instead of 1.05.
5.Click Save to save the file.
6. Click Select File To Upload on the Bid Analysis window. The updates will be made, and theBid Analysis has been Saved successfully message will be displayed in the Upload Summary section.
7.Click ok.
Downloading and uploading bid analysis for bid:
1.Click the Bid Analysis button, on Bid Details page.
2.Click Download File. The Excel file of Bid Analysis is downloaded.
3. Open the downloaded Excel file. View the Bid Analysis attributes.
You can add the bid analysis attribute for each RFx item and specify its value while creating an agreement or associated document.
If you add any invalid value in Bid Analysis attribute, error validation message will be displayed in last column.
For example: Enter hdsjbvshd in Bonus, and enter any random value in Net Landed Cost chdsjbcs, then Error message is displayed, indicating that Bonus and Net landed Cost are invalid.
You can not edit other attributes such as Freight, Insurance, landed Cost.
To analyze bid response:
1. Click the Download Bid Analysis button on the RFx Details page. An Excel sheet containing the bid responses is downloaded.
2. Open the Excel sheet. You can view the all the data collected from the bid responses such as Supplier ID, Item Name, Item Description, etc.
The ICM Sourcing app offers an ability to download either all or selected associations (line items, attachments, supplier documents) and attachments (files uploaded to the RFx instance) for review and analysis purposes. This is applicable for all types of RFx instances and all documents (buyer’s and suppliers). The application retains the file names of the attachments as they were while uploading them so that they could be recognized easily.
The files names will be the same when downloading or uploading them to ICM. The files will be downloaded as per the defined folder structure and folder naming conventions which helps users to easily identify files under individual folders of the RFx and avoid any discrepancies. The folder names for associations are now same as the contract type display names such as line items, internal attachments, round, bid response and so on.
Downloading the RFx package displays the folders for RFx, round, bid, RFI Response as they are displayed in ICM. The rounds and bids folders are merged in a single folder and the template files are added to the relevant round or bid folder. This is applicable for both RFx and RFI.
The attachments can be viewed under RFx Package tab on the RFx Details page.
To download associations and attachments:
1. Click the Download Package button on the RFx Details page. The Download window opens displaying all the Associations and attachments.
2. Select the items you wish to download.
3. Click Download. The selected files are downloaded in a zip file.
You can initiate the Awarding workflow after receiving all the required bid responses and after all the rounds are in Round(s) Closed state. Buyers can award multiple suppliers using Excel upload.
To create award instances:
1. Click the Initiate Award button on the RFx Details page. The Attributes (Step 2 of 4) page opens.
2. Select the Organization Unit.
3. Select the Business Status (Default value - Draft).
4. Enter the Name of the Awarding instance.
5. Upload an AppSrc Supporting Document, if any.
6. Click Next. The Select Template (Step 3 of 4) page opens.
7. Select the template.
8. Click Next. The Verify page opens. Verify all the information.
9. Click the Create Award Agreement button. The RFx Details page opens with the status Awarding Initiated. The RFx Awarding instance is created with the status Draft.
After creating the Awarding instance, you must create an Awarding Decision as an Association. The awarding decision contains all the details of all items and the Supplier(s) who are being awarded the RFx along with the other details such as award quantity and price.
To create awarding decision:
1. Click RFx Awarding on the RFx Details page. The awarding instance is displayed in the right pane.
2. Click the View Record icon. The Awarding Details page opens with the status Draft.
3. Click the Create Association icon next to AppSrc Awarding Decision. The Awarding Decision window opens.
4. Click the icon next to Download File. The Awarding Decision excel sheet is downloaded on your computer. This excel sheet displays the information such as the price submitted by the supplier, the quantity of line items, currency, etc. This excel sheet contains all the bids for all suppliers for all rounds.
5. Enter values for the required fields entered on Excel.
Some of the important points to note when splitting the award between multiple suppliers are:
6. Click Select File to Upload and then click Upload File to upload the file. The awarding decisions are created automatically after uploading the File.
After creating the awarding instance and adding the awarding decision, you must send the awarding instance for approval.
To send the awarding instance for approval:
1. Click Publish on the Awarding Details page. The Published Successfully message is displayed.
2. Click Send For Approval. The status of the Awarding instance changes to Approved once the Approver(s) approve it.
After the awarding instance is approved, the status of the RFx instance changes to Awarded.
Contracts are created for the selected suppliers who are awarded with RFx. You can update the pricing information of the awarded line items in the awarded contracts.
To update awarded contracts:
1. Click Update Awarding Contracts on the RFx Details page. The Please Confirm window opens.
2. Click Yes. The Information window opens displaying a message Update to agreements for awarding decision initiated. Please check the agreements after some time.
3. Click Ok. The process of updating awarding contracts starts in the background and the status of the RFx changes to Contract Initiated. After the process is completed successfully, the status of the RFx changes to Contract Created.
4. Click the agreement associated with the RFx in the left pane on RFx Details page. The Agreement Details page opens.
5. Click Awarding Decision in the left pane on Agreement Details page. The awarding decision will be displayed with the updated pricing information.
ICM administrators can now configure the corporate currency in the currency master.
You can create a new currency record in ICM using the extended currency master.
1. Click Configuration and then click Masterdata on the Home page. The Create Masterdata page opens.
2. Select the Extended Currency Master from the drop-down list and click Next. The Attributes page opens.
3. Enter the following information on this page:
4. Click Save. The currency will be created and saved in ICM.
To be configure corporate currency in currency master:
1. Click User Administration and then click Application Settings. The Application Settings page opens.
2. Click Next on Entity Color Configuration and User Theme pages. The Other Configuration page opens.
3. Select the Corporate Currency from the drop-down list. For example, select SGD (Singapore Dollar).
4. Click Update to set the corporate currency for the RFx.
ICM administrators can add, remove, or edit the exchange rates in the currency masterdata. The specified currency exchange rate must have a defined validity period and also set currency exchange rates for supported currencies.
To set exchange rate of different currencies:
1. Repeat step 1 from the configuring the corporate currency in currency master section.
2.Select the Exchange Rate Master from the drop-down list and click Next. The Attributes page opens.
3. Enter the following information on this page:
4. Click Save. The masterdata record for exchange rate between two currencies is added successfully. The masterdata Details page opens.
You can perform the following operations on this page:
You can select the RFx currency (primary currency) and allowed currency on Create RFx page.
Buyers can view the exchange rate throughout the RFx lifecycle by clicking the View Exchange Rate Table icon at RFx, Line Items, Bids, Bid Responses. The exchange rate basis can have one of the following values:
Buyers can view the exchange rate information when selecting the Exchange Rate Basis as RFx Open Date or RFx Closed Date after the RFx is approved and the round is created.
Buyers can select the currencies for the RFx from the list of allowed currencies. The allowed currencies of the RFx can be used as the bid currency by the suppliers. The currency attributes for the line item are restricted to RFx currency. The modified allowed currencies for RFx are displayed as bid currencies for all items.
Buyers can now:
Buyers can take the following actions when the bid is created:
Suppliers can take the following actions when bidding in multiple currencies:
Buyers can take the following actions when updating the awarding object for RFx using multiple currencies.
Related Topics: Agreement Management | ICM Sourcing
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