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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 or Proposal 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:
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.
The bulk associations capability has enabled ICM to handle large number of associations in the tune of thousands, by presenting itself as a lightweight association as well as tremendously improving performance. The Sourcing event can include many line items for an RFx ranging from 500 to 50,000 maximum. In Sourcing, line items are considered as associations.
The bulk association configuration has now been simplified by providing a Enable Bulk Processing flag at contract type definition level which triggers a set of defaults that has been intentionally restricted. The end user experience for the bulk association has not changed from the way that the conventional association is handled from the UI, rather the underlying data structure has been further enhanced to make it go the distance.
Performance has been the key while introducing and designing this new association, which has given way to the new type of instance, namely the Proxy Instance, which is retrieved in every GET call. The actual instances are referred by using this proxy instance, thereby reducing the load on the GET APIs. Specialized GET and SET APIs have also been introduced for bulk associations to improve its adaptability and ease-of-use.
Bulk associations have very effectively consumed the Elastic Search Bulk API to sync a large set of data at one go, rather than the traditional way of one instance at a time, adding to the boost in performance.
Bulk association is enhanced to be able to address the large volume of data that Sourcing apps require, including:
To enable the Bulk Processing flag:
1. Click Configuration > Create Contract Type. The Select a type of contract window opens.
2. Select the Contract Type. For example, Associated Document.
3. Click Next. The Create Contract Type Wizard page opens.
4. Enter'a Contract Type Name. For example,Acme Bulk Pro.
5. Toggle Enable Bulk Processing flag to Yes.
6. Click Next.
7. Enter details on the following tabs.
8. Click Create on the Verify tab to create the contract type. It will now be in the Draft status.
9. Click Send for Approval to send the contract type for approval. When approved, the contract type Acme Bulk Pro will be displayed in the grid in the Approved status.
Prerequisites:
To upload bulk associations:
1. Click Create RFx.
2. Enter the RFx Name. For example, Acme Bulk Pro RFx.
3. Click Next. The Select Template page opens.
4. Select the template and click Next. The Verify page opens.
5. Click Create RFx.
The created RFx will be displayed in the grid.
6. Click Line item Details on the RFX Details page. The line itemsDetails page opens.
7. Click the Import associated document data template icon. The Upload Document page opens.
8. Click Select File. Upload the file with the list of line items.
9. Click Upload File. The record processing details will be updated.
10. Click Ok. The RFx Details page opens. The Line Items associations are updated.
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 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 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.
Users require a provision to evaluate the RFx for various suppliers on their capabilities. Also, they want to provide the scores for better information that will help them in the awarding process.
With this release, buyers/Administrators can conduct a review, and evaluators can score the suppliers as well as provide feedback upon the supplier submissions.
Buyers can now:
Assigned evaluator will now:
The Start Evaluation button will be available only after the round is closed.
Note: This applies only to RFx.
The Evaluation Types Master defines the different types of evaluation criteria.
To create masterdata instance:
1. Click Configuration > Masterdata > Create Masterdata on the Home page. The Create Masterdata page opens.
2. Select Masterdata Contract Type in the Masterdata field. For example, Evaluation Types.
3. Click Next. The Attributes tab opens.
4. Enter Evaluation Type Name. For example, Pricing Evaluation.
5. Click Save. The masterdata instance is created.
Users can enable the evaluation process at RFx level by setting the value of the attribute Evaluate Round on the RFx Configuration page to Yes during RFx creation process. By default, the Evaluate Round will be set to No.
Once the RFx is created, complete the RFx workflow by:
1. Creating Line Items Associations for the RFx.
2. Adding Suppliers to the RFx.
3. Sending the RFx for approval and getting the approval.
Auto-round is generated once the RFx is approved.
4. Closing the RFX.
Users can enable the evaluation process at round level by setting the value of the attribute Evaluate Round to Yes.
By default, the Evaluate Round flag is set to No. However when round is auto created, it will have its data copied from parent RFx with Evaluate Round as Yes.
The attribute Evaluation Round is editable and users can edit the round to set its value to No and disable the evaluation process for the current round.
Users can set the value of the attribute Evaluate Round on the Round Information page to Yes during the round creation process.
Note: Evaluation workflow will work in the same way for both auto-created and manually created rounds.
After the evaluation is enabled for RFx and round, the associations Evaluation Type Library and Evaluation are displayed under the Evaluation Information tab on the left panel on the round Details page through the Dynamic Associations rule configured at round level.
To add the Evaluation Type Library instance:
1. Click Sourcing > RFx on the Home page. The RFx index page opens.
2. Click View Record icon next to the RFx you want to start evaluation process for. For example, Procurement of Laptops. TheRFx Details page opens.
3. Expand the Round tab on the left panel. The Round associations section opens.
4. Click Round. All available rounds for the RFx open in the grid.
5. Click View Record icon next to the round you want to add the evaluation type library instance for. For example, Round One for RFx Procurement of Laptops. The round Details page opens.
6. Click Create Association (+ sign) for Evaluation Type Library. The Create Association – Evaluation Type Library page opens.
7. Enter a name. For example, Pricing Evaluation.
8.Select Evaluation Type from the drop-down. For example, Pricing Evaluation.
9. Enter a Weightage for the Evaluation Type. For example, 25.
10. Click Next. The Extension Attributes tab opens.
The set of extension attributes are displayed as per the configured Extension Selection rule based on the selected Evaluation Type.
11. Enter the details in the extension attributes.
12. Click Create. The Evaluation Type Library instance is created.
13. Add one more Evaluation Type Library instance to the round following the same process. For example, Financial Evaluation.
Note: Buyers can add more than one instance of the same Evaluation Type Library to the round. For example, buyers can add two instances of Pricing Evaluation to the Round One for RFx Procurement of Laptops.
Buyers can add users or user groups as Evaluators to the Team of Evaluation Type.
13. Click Evaluation Type Library in the left panel on the round Details page. All the Evaluation Type Library instances for the current round are displayed in grid.
14. Select the View Record icon next to the Evaluation Type Library instance you want to add Evaluators for. For example, Pricing Evaluation. The Evaluation Type LibraryDetails page opens.
15. Click Team tab in the left panel. TheTeam page opens.
16. Click Add Team. The Search user window opens.
17. Select a user or user group. For example, Adam Paikant.
18. Select the role as Evaluator in Select Role field.
19. Click Add. The Evaluator will be added to the Team of Evaluation Type Library.
Note: Buyers cannot add evaluators to the evaluation types once the evaluation process has started.
Once the evaluation types and evaluators for that evaluation type, are added to the round, users can navigate back to the round Details page to start the process of evaluation.
Note: Buyers can conduct evaluation simultaneously in parallel rounds.
1. Click Sourcing > RFx on the Home page. The RFx index page opens.
2. Click View Record icon next to the RFx you want to start evaluation process for. The RFx Details page opens.
3. Expand the Round tab on the left panel. The Round associations section opens.
4.Click Round. All available rounds for the RFx are displayed.
5.Click View Record icon next to the round you want to add the evaluation type library instance. The round Details page opens.
6. Click Send For Approval. The round is sent for approval and if the Team is not available, the round directly moves to Approved state.
7. Click Close once the round is approved. The round moves to Closed state.
The Start Evaluation button is available for buyers once the round is in Closed state.
Note: Buyers can add evaluation type library instances with evaluators to the round until the evaluation process starts.
8. Click Start Evaluation. The Round moves to the Evaluation Started state.
Multiple actions are triggered as the round evaluation process starts.
The evaluators or groups of evaluators added to the evaluation type library instance of round are copied and get added to the parent Round and RFx Teams. For example, evaluator Adam Peikant from Pricing Evaluation is added to the team of Round One for RFx Procurement of Laptops.
Evaluator Adam Peikant from Pricing Evaluation is added to the team of RFx – Procurement of Laptops.
The Evaluation instances are auto generated for each Evaluation Type Library instances defined for the Round. For example, two Evaluation instances are generated, one for Pricing Evaluation and one for Financial Evaluation.
9. Expand the Evaluation Information tab on the left panel on the round Details page.
10. Click Evaluation. All available Evaluation instances are displayed in the grid.
11. Click View Record icon next to the Evaluation you want to open. For example, Pricing Evaluation. The Evaluation Details page opens.
The users added in Evaluation Type Library instance’s Team as Evaluators are copied to the Evaluation Rating’s Team as Primary Owner, whereas the buyer is copied as Observer.
Note:
The Evaluation Rating are auto-generated for each supplier against each evaluation type.
The Team of Evaluation instance will be copied to the Evaluation Rating. Therefore, the buyer added as an Observer, now has only view access to theEvaluation Rating'.
The evaluators can provide the scores and comments for each criteria in evaluation rating to evaluate rounds. As evaluators added to the team of evaluation type are copied to the teams of parent round and RFx, they can access the round by logging in to the ICM instance. For example, evaluator Adam Paikant can access the RFx Procurement of Laptops and its rounds to provide the scores.
To open the rating instance:
1. Click Sourcing > RFx on the ICM Home page. The RFx index page opens.
2.Click View Record icon next to the RFx you want to open. For example, Procurement of Laptops. The RFx Details page opens.
3. Click Round in the left navigation pane. All the available rounds for the RFx are displayed in the grid.
4. Select the round in the Evaluation Started state that, you want to provide scores for. For example, Round One for RFx Procurement of Laptops. The round Details page opens.
5. Expand the Evaluation Information tab on the left navigation pane.
6. Click Evaluation.
Only Evaluations which have Evaluator Adam Paikant added to their Teams are displayed in the grid. (Evaluation instances are created at the confidential path level).
7. Click View Record icon next to the Evaluation you want open. For example, Pricing Evaluation. The Evaluation Details page opens.
8. Expand the Evaluation Information tab on the left navigation pane.
9. Click Evaluation Rating. The Evaluation Rating is displayed in grid.
Now, Evaluator can provide the scores and comments by:
Scoring using Export and Import functionality
10. Click Export associated document data template action icon.
The template ICMAppSrcEvaluationRating.xlsx for the Evaluation Rating opens with non-editable metadata (Name, Evaluation Type, Supplier ID, and Supplier Name) and extension attributes defined at the time of Evaluation Type creation.
11. Enter the scores and comments in the extension attributes columns.
12. Select the Action. Evaluators can only have access to the Edit action.
13. Save and close the Excel sheet.
14. Click Upload Excel sheet action icon on the Evaluation Details page. The Upload Document window opens.
15. Click Select File.
16. Browse and select the file from the location where the file is saved.
17. Click Upload File. The Upload Summary is displayed.
18. Click Ok. The values uploaded through Excel will now reflect on the Evaluation Rating Details page.
1. Click Edit on the Evaluation Rating Details page.
The Edit Associated Document – Evaluation Rating page opens.
2. Click Next. The Extension Attributes page open
3. Provide the scores and comments in the desired attributes.
4. Click Update. The Evaluation Rating instance is updated with scores.
If the user group is added as Evaluator to the Evaluation Type, and any user from the group has already provided scores for the Evaluation Rating, the other evaluator from group can edit and add his scores to the rating. The scores and comments from second user then will be overwritten.
Note: Only one single score for each evaluation criteria is allowed. Scores and comments updated by last evaluator will be displayed.
Buyers can close the evaluation process for rounds after it has been started.
1. Click Close Evaluation on the round Details page.
The round moves to the Evaluation closed state.
Note: Once the evaluation is closed for the round, evaluators cannot provide any scores or comments for the round and the export and import functionality will be disabled.
Buyers can download the evaluation scores and comments provided by evaluators once the round is in Evaluation Started or Evaluation Closed state.
Buyers can download the evaluation data submitted by evaluators for each round separately.
1. Click Download Evaluation on the round Details page. The evaluation template ICMAppSrcRound_Round_One_for_Procurement_of_Laptops__Evaluation.xlsx for round is downloaded.
The evaluation template contains the metadata and extension attributes defined for evaluation types.
Buyers can download the ratings data provided by all evaluators for all rounds (evaluation started or closed), suppliers and evaluation types to view as a consolidated evaluation at RFx level.
Note: To download the evaluation information at RFx level, at least one round must have its evaluation process started.
1. Click Download Evaluation on the RFxDetails page. The evaluation template for RFx is downloaded.
The Excel file consists the separate sheets for each evaluation type and will populate the evaluation data for the RFx according to each round and evaluation type.
For example, templateICMAppSrcRFx_Procurement of Laptops.xlsx consists of the evaluation information for Round One for Procurement of Laptops and Pricing Evaluation and Financial Evaluation.
The ICM Sourcing app sends the notifications to the evaluators when events occur:
The recipients can access the notifications fromNotification Dashboard:
1. Click Notifications tab on the Home page. The Notifications Dashboard opens.
2. Click Agreement Notifications. All the relevant notification are displayed.
3. Expand the notification event. For example, Agreement Created. The notifications belonging to the selected event category are displayed.
4. Select theNotification you want to view. For example,Round Evaluation Started. The selected Notification opens in the right pane. The notification will contain the URL to the ICM instance record.
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.
Procurement team often uses the same template, line items, questions, attachments and suppliers for repetitive procurement of similar category items.
Buyers now have the capability to copy the RFx which helps reduce the timelines and avoids duplication of efforts for similar RFx creation.
Additionally, as procurement often involves globally distributed buyers’ team, they clone the sourcing event at the regional level and link them to one another. Linking the copied RFx to the original RFx can be achieved by enabling the Link To RFx flag on the Copy Record window..
Along with the RFx, users also have the ability to select any associated documents (line items, questions, attachments etc.) where the Allow Copy with Associations flag is enabled at the contract type level. By default, the flag is disabled, hence only the RFx is copied without its associations.Sourcing events can be copied along with the selected associations such as line items, questions, questionnaires, suppliers, supplier contacts, internal and external attachments and commitments.
Copy RFx helps in:
When copying the RFx:
The changes can be viewed in the History audit log on the RFx Details page.
Note:
Authorized users can configure the Agreement Contract Type and set Allow Copy with Associations field to Yes to enable copying the existing RFx.
To enable the Allow Copy with Association flag:
1. Click Configuration and then click Create Contract Type on the Home page. The Create Contract Type page opens displaying the list of available contract types that you can create.
2. Select Agreement and click Next.
3. Toggle the Allow Copy with Associations flag to Yes to be able to copy the record with associations.
1. If the Allow Copy with Associations flag is toggled to No, only the RFx record will be copied and not the associations.
You can also edit the existing contract type to select Yes to enable copying RFx with associations.
Prerequisites
You can copy an RFx from the:
Copying the RFx from Sourcing Index page
To copy the RFx from Sourcing Index page:
1. Click dots next to the View Record icon 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 copied RFx to the source RFx.
By default, the Copy Record window will only display the parent associations. For example, Line Items, Suppliers, etc.
3. Click Expand All on the Copy Record window to display all the associations (parent and child) of the RFx to be copied. For example, Line Items (parent association) and ICMAppSrcLineItem_25578 (Notepads) (child association).
4. Select the Associations checkbox. All the associations are selected to be copied.
You can select specific associations or commitments to be copied from the source RFx.
5. Click Collapse All to view only the parent associations (and commitments, if any).
6. Click Copy.
If the user selects the supplier contacts but does not select the supplier to be copied, an error message is displayed indicating that the corresponding suppliers are not selected. Click Ok on the Alert window to select the corresponding suppliers.If the user selects the questions but does not select the questionnaires to be copied, an error message is displayed indicating that the corresponding questionnaires are not selected. Click Ok on the Alert window to select the corresponding questionnaires.
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 duplication of association records on copied RFx.The RFx Details page opens and the RFx is now copied and is in the Draft status. Note that the name of the copied RFx is same as the source RFx.
Copying the RFx team
When copying an RFx, the RFx team is copied automatically from the source RFx to the copied RFx. Note that the user who copied the RFx is now the primary owner of the new RFx.
Copying RFx attributes
When copying an RFx, the RFx attributes are copied automatically from the source RFx to the copied RFx.
The Copy Record icon is not displayed on the copied RFx. You can now initiate the RFx.
Initiating the RFx
To initiate the RFx:
1. Click Initiate RFx on RFx Details page. The Information window is displayed.
2. Click Ok. The RFx is published successfully and the RFx Details page opens.
Copying the RFx from RFx Details page
To copy from RFx Details page:
1. Click the Copy Record icon on RFx Details page. The Copy Record window opens.
2. Select Yes next to Link To RFx that is being copied. This links the copied RFx to the source RFx.
3. Click Expand All on the Copy Record window to display all the parent and child associations of the RFx to be copied.
4. 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 copied RFx.
5. Click Copy. The RFx Details page opens and the RFx is now copied and is in the Draft status. Note that the name of the copied RFx is same as the source RFx.
You can view the audit log of the copy RFx event by clicking History on the RFx Details page.
To view the changes in the audit log of the copied RFx:
1. Click History on the RFx Details page.
2. Click Show All Changes on the History page of RFx.
The Details window opens and displays the name of the source RFx in the Value field. For example, Procurement for Admin Department.
3. Close the window to return to RFx Details page.
If the RFx is saved but not published, a warning message is displayed indicating that the RFx is not created and must be created to copy.
Click Ok to return to the Sourcing index page. For more details, refer Creating an RFx section.
You can copy only the RFx and not the associations when the Allow Copy with Associations flag is disabled.
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.
The copied RFx (without associations) is displayed in Draft state. In the left navigation pane, the Related RFx displays the source RFx with the linkage type displayed as Peer if configured.
Procurement often involves globally distributed buyers’ team, they clone the sourcing event at the regional level and link them to one another. Linking the copied RFx to the original RFx can be achieved by enabling the Link To RFx flag on the Copy Record window.
To configure 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.
4.'C'lick Update to update the RFx contract type. This links the copied RFx with Source RFx.
Linking the RFx
To link the RFx:
1. Click dots nextto the View Record icon on the Sourcing index page and then clickCopy Record. The Copy Record window opens.
2. Select Yes next to Link To RFx that is being copied and click Copy.
This links the copied RFx with the source RFx and is displayed in the list of related RFx on RFx Details page. The existing related RFx linkage type, if configured, will be tagged as a peer association.
You can also add linked RFx from RFx Details page.
To add linked RFx from RFx Details page:
1. Click the Related RFx on RFx Details page. The section displays the list of related RFx.
2. Click the plus icon next to Related RFx on RFx Details page. The Related RFx window opens displaying the list of RFx that can be linked.
3. Click Select to select the RFx from the available list.
The selected RFx is linked with the copied source RFx and displayed on RFx Details page.
You can view the linked RFx by clicking the View Record icon next to the linked RFx from the RFx Details page.
Related Topics: Agreement Management | ICM Sourcing App | Working with RFI | Obligation Management |
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