7 Manage Supplier Negotiations

This chapter contains the following:

Create Negotiation

Create Negotiation Online

FAQs for Inviting Suppliers

FAQs for Creating Negotiations

Create New Negotiation Round

Requirements

Cost Factors

Amend Negotiation

Capture Supplier Response

Manage Negotiation Lifecycle

Award Negotiation

Evaluate Negotiation

Create Negotiation

Create Negotiation from Agreement

How can I renegotiate an existing agreement?

The Expiring Agreements area displays agreements for which you are either the owner or a collaboration team member that will expire within the next sixty days or which are up to ninety days past their expiration date. To negotiate an existing blanket agreement, highlight the agreement and click the Renegotiate button. You can access the negotiation document, modify it as needed, and publish the new negotiation for responding.

Create Negotiation Online

Creating a Negotiation: Explained

Your negotiation document specifies the details of the negotiation for potential suppliers. While being developed, your document can be stored as a draft until you are ready to publish it. You can create a collaboration team of other users, giving them access to update the document and allowing them to perform actions on the negotiation.

As you create your negotiation, a series of train stops appear at the top of every page. These identify major sections of the negotiation document for which you may need to enter information, depending on the goal of the negotiation. The following descriptions describe the purpose for each negotiation section. Note that depending on which negotiation style you are using, one or more of the sections may not be available for use and so may not appear among the train stops.

Writing a Cover Page and Specifying Overview Information

You can create a cover page to associate with your negotiation document. Overview information specifies negotiation level controls.

Your cover page can include standard company text as well as document specific details. You can use variables to represent values that are used throughout the document and which may be updated often. An example could be important dates for deadlines in the document timeline. Using variables ensures that values are always synchronized. A cover page is optional.

On the Overview page, you specify many negotiation controls such as preview, open and close dates. For multilingual negotiation, you can define allowable currencies and exchange rates. You can specify many ranking and response controls.

Adding Requirements

Requirements solicit company level information. You can use a supplier's answers to requirement questions in addition to the other response information to help evaluate the supplier's response. You can have the application score responses automatically, or you can score them yourself. Requirement scores can also be weighted to more accurately reflect their importance within the negotiation.

Defining Negotiation Lines

Your lines are the heart of your negotiation. They identify the items and services which you are sourcing. You can add individual lines or lots or line groups. You can specify quantity details such as price breaks and line details such as line attributes for use in response ranking. Cost factors identify additional line costs such as shipping or insurance.

Adding Contract Terms

If Oracle Fusion Procurement Contracts is installed and configured, you can access contract information created and stored in Procurement Contracts and associate it with your negotiation document. Such information could identify important deliverables or contract clauses suppliers must provide along with the timeline governing the deliverable management. See help information on Procurement Contracts for details on contract terms and clauses.

Inviting Supplier Contacts

The Suppliers train stop gives you access to the Supplier-related pages. Using these pages, you can specify the suppliers, their sites and contacts whom you wish to notify about the negotiation. You can use the search capabilities of the Supplier pages to find and identify incumbent suppliers, suppliers who are approved sources for a particular item or service, and suppliers to whom the negotiation is of particular interest. Supplier contacts you identify are sent notifications with information about the negotiation and are invited to participate. If the response control: "Restrict to invited suppliers" is enabled, only suppliers on the invitation list can participate. If you select a supplier site, then for that supplier, only contacts registered for that site can view and participate in the negotiation.

Reviewing and Publishing the Negotiation Document

The application validates your work as you create the negotiation document. As you move from one page to another, the application checks your work and displays any error messages applicable to the work you have completed so far. Additionally, you can use the Validate option from the Actions menu at any time. You can also use the Review train stop to review your work at a higher and more complete level. The review display presents a column of links you can use to access a particular section of the document. If you wish to update a section, you can click the train stop at the top of the page.

Once you are finished creating the negotiation document, you publish it to make it viewable and accessible within the application. Suppliers can view the negotiation during the preview period (if any) and can create draft responses, but they cannot submit the response to the negotiation until its open date is reached. You can always modify the negotiation internally, for example, by inviting additional suppliers or updating the collaboration team, however, once you publish a document, you must create an amendment to make any changes the suppliers see.

Using Variables In Negotiation Documents: Explained

When creating a negotiation document, you can use placeholders called variables to represent textual entries in the document. The variables refer to pieces of information defined elsewhere in the document. After the value of the referenced information is entered, users can see the variable substituted with that value in the Preview window as well as on the Review page. Using variables allows you to ensure that the document is current and that any necessary updates are made consistently throughout the entire document.

Using Variables

For example, on a negotiation document cover page, the title and open and close dates could be specified as variables. Then at a later point during document creation, when the title and open/close dates are actually specified, the variable values on the cover page would be assigned. Also, if at a later date, the title, open or close dates are modified, the variable values are automatically updated.

Negotiation Controls: Examples

Negotiation controls determine which features are available to a negotiation and how they are used. The availability and default values for these controls are specified by which negotiation style you select when you begin defining your negotiation, however, you can override the values here.

General Controls

There are three controls that control the visibility of supplier responses and the general appearance of the negotiation document.

Controlling Requirements

Requirements are questions presented to participating suppliers to elicit high level information. Supplier responses to requirements can be assigned scores for use when evaluating among competing responses.

Controlling Lines

You use the line control section to specify whether price tiering is available for the negotiation lines. You also specify how line rank is calculated and indicated.

Staggered Closing: Explained

You can use staggered closing to cause the closing time for a negotiation's lines to cascade through the negotiation once the negotiation's initial close time is reached. You specify the close time and date for the first negotiation line and then specify a staggered closing period. The first negotiation line closes at the negotiation time originally defined in the negotiation document. The second (and remaining) negotiation line remains open. After the specified staggered closing period, the next line closes. The remaining lines close in a similar fashion, each line closing after its preceding line. Lines in lots or groups have the same close time. When using staggered closing, the lines close in the order they are defined in the document, the sequence in which the lines appear on the negotiation document is important.

Using Autoextensions: Critical Choices

You can choose to have the close time of your auction automatically extended if a new winning bid is received during the final minutes of your auction. These extensions are called autoextensions and are only available with auctions.

Settings that Affect Autoextensions

The following parameters work together to control how autoextensions are performed by the applications.

Allow autoextend - allows autoextensions to be defined for this negotiation. Checking Allow autoextend displays the following autoextend controls.

Lowest Triggering Response Rank - You can choose to have an autoextension triggered for any number of the top ranked bids. For example, you could choose to have auitoextension triggered whenever you receive a better bid for not only the current winning bid, but also for the current second or third best bids as well. If you know you will award this line to multiple suppliers, the feature allows you to encourage competition on not just the top bid, but competing bids as well. Enable this feature by specifying the bid rank for which the receipt of a bid ranked in this position or higher will trigger autoextend.. If this field is left blank, any bid will trigger autoextensions.

Lines to Autoextend - Identifies individual lines to autoextend. You can choose to autoextend all lines or only the lines that triggered the autoextend.

Start Time of Autoextensions - You can start autoextensions from the scheduled close time of the auction or the time that a triggering bid is received during the triggering period prior to the close time. For example, if you enable an autoextend start time of 30 minutes and a triggeting bid is received within the final 30 minutes of the auction, your auction will automatically extend for 30 minutes past the scheduled close time of the auction if you select "Close date." However, if you select "Receipt time of triggering response," your extension will begin as soon as a triggering bid is received within the triggering period.

Triggering Period - the period prior to close date in which responses can trigger autoextend.

Length of Extensions - the duration of each autoextension

Number of Extensions - the number of times a negotiation autoextend. Leaving this field blank will an unlimited number of autoextensions.

For example, you could specify a triggering period of 30 minutes, an extension length of 20 minutes, and a start time of close date. With these settings, if a triggering bid is received at any time within the last 30 minutes of the auction, the close date is moved to 20 minutes past the original close date and time.

Negotiation Response Rules: Examples

There are several settings you can specify to control how suppliers must respond to your negotiation. Many of the default values are inherited from the negotiation style which you select when you begin creating the negotiation, but you can override them here as necessary.

Restricting Supplier Participation

Unless otherwise restricted, a supplier can search and see any negotiation in preview or active status that is associated with a business unit to which the supplier has access. The supplier can participate in any visible negotiation unless you specify that the participants are limited to those suppliers explicitly invited. For example, you might wish to limit participation in a negotiation to only incumbent suppliers. In this case, you select the "Restrict to invited suppliers" response rule.

The default for RFQs is to restrict to invited suppliers.

Allowing Line Selection

You can require a supplier to respond to all lines in the negotiation, or allow the supplier contact to select which lines she replies to. For example, if you have a large negotiation with many lines covering many different product types, you may wish to allow suppliers to only respond to the items or services they provide.

Displaying the Best Price

In open negotiations, suppliers can see information from competing responses. In blind negotiations however, suppliers cannot see any other suppliers' responses. In a negotiation that allows multiple responses within the same round, you may wish to display the best price value so the supplier knows how much to reduce the response price to become competitive again. You can do this by enabling the "Display best price to suppliers" response control.

Allowing Multiple Responses Per Round

Typically, a single response is allowed per supplier contact per round. However, you can allow supplier contacts to submit multiple responses within the same round. For example, you might wish to allow multiple responses to foster competition among several suppliers.

Collaboration Teams: Explained

When creating a negotiation, category managers can nominate collaboration team members to participate in the creation and administration of the sourcing document. This can include actions over the entire life of the sourcing document from the initial creation through the award process.

Users must have the authority to manage the collaboration team.

Team Members

The negotiation creator and the creator's manager are included as team members by default. Other persons can be added to the team. The negotiation creator can send new members notifications when they are added to the team. Team members can be added throughout the life of the negotiation. The person adding the member can specify whether the new member has full access or read only access to the document.

Member Tasks

Each member can be assigned specific tasks. Such tasks could include defining the item attributes, monitoring participating and inviting additional suppliers, awarding business to supplier, and generating purchasing documents. The negotiation creator can assign a date by which all the tasks must be completed.

Creating Collaboration Teams: Worked Example

Category managers can nominate collaboration team members to participate in the creation and administration of the sourcing document.

The category manager for InFusion Corporation is defining a new RFQ

Defining a Collaboration Team

When initially authoring the negotiation, the category manager defines a collaboration team.

  1. On the Edit Negotiation: Overview page, she clicks the Collaboration Team tab. She sees that she and her manager are already defined as team members. She needs to add two more members to handle the participants and monitor the responses.
  2. She clicks the green plus sign icon to add a new row to the Members table. In the resulting row, she clicks in the Team Member cell and uses the Search and Select: Team Member query to select John Finn and add him to the collaboration team. She accepts the default of Full access, and in the Task text box, she enters "Monitor supplier participation and add additional suppliers as necessary." She sets the Target Date to the date when the negotiation ends
  3. She adds a new row to the table. Her manager has asked her to add a new employee to the team so he can gain experience in monitoring negotiations. She gives him view access and does not assign him any task.

Negotiation Lines: Explained

Your negotiation lines are the heart of your negotiation. Here you describe the items and services you wish to purchase. You can use the application to easily define all your negotiation information, pricing information as well as other aspects of the line you wish to negotiate with the prospective supplier.

As you create your negotiation lines, remember the following points.

Required Fields

As you create your negotiation lines, required values are marked with asterisks. You must enter a value for this column, although in many cases there will be a default value present already. Which fields are required varies depending on the negotiation outcome.

Pricing Calculations and Controls

There are two optional fields you can use to control and report on price competition. The Start Price value controls responding and requires that the supplier enter the initial response at a price lower that the Start Price value. The Current Price value specifies how much you are currently spending for one unit of the item or service. If you enter a current price value, the application can calculate the savings. The savings values are useful later when analyzing competing responses.

Additional Line Information

In addition to price, there is other information you can add to your lines and negotiate with your potential supplier.

Cost factors identify additional costs which may be associated with the item or service. Such additional costs could include custom duties, storage, or transportation. You can identify these costs with your negotiation line and include supplier responses into the total cost of the line when analyzing responses.

You can use price breaks and price tiers to negotiate pricing structures. You can create price breaks for negotiations with a purchase agreement outcome based on location, quantity, and start/end dates. You can define price tiers for all negotiation outcomes based on quantity alone.

You can use line attributes to obtain detailed information about the supplier's response to the negotiation line. Line attributes target information other than price which could be important when evaluating supplier responses. You can allow suppliers to enter free form text, or require them to select from a predefined list of acceptable values. If the negotiation is a multiattribute negotiation, you can enter response score values, and the application will calculate the score for a particular response. A line can have multiple attributes and each attribute can be weighted to reflect the relative importance of that attribute for the line.

There are two methods for adding attributes to a line. You can create and add multiple single attributes to a line, or you can add one or more predefined lists of attributes called an attribute list. If predefined grouping labels (called Attribute Groups) are defined in your application, you can use these labels to structure your attributes and attribute lists.

Using Lots, and Groups

Category managers can define lots that contain a collection of lines, giving a hierarchical structure to the sourcing document. A lot may be an assembled product or lines may be organized into lots to obtain the most competitive response. Suppliers are required to evaluate the entire lot and place a response at the lot level. Suppliers may optionally provide line-level responses as well. category managers analyze the responses and make award decisions at the lot level. When the category manager creates a purchasing document from the award, awarded lots are transferred to purchasing document lines.

Negotiation lines can also be organized into groups for ease of analysis and award. Groups are collections of related lines that allow Category managers to model market baskets. Suppliers respond to individual lines within the group, and pricing information is automatically rolled up to the group level for enhanced analysis. Category managers can analyze and make award decisions for the entire group, or they can choose to select the best supplier responses for individual lines within the group. Awarded lines are transferred to the purchasing document, if the category manager created one from the award.

A lot is a complete negotiation line on its own. As such, it can have line attributes, cost factors, and any other characteristics a negotiation line. A group is simply a named collection of negotiation lines. Groups have no attributes other than price (which is the sum of all its line price values). Lots and groups must have at least one subordinate line defined. You cannot imbed lots within groups or groups within lots. You can add independent lines into lots and groups (although you cannot move a line with a backing requisition into a lot), and you can move lot lines and group lines into other lots and/or groups.

Spreadsheet Import

You can use the spreadsheet import feature to streamline the creation of large numbers of lines. You simply export a spreadsheet. Using the reference information, you complete the spreadsheet with your line information. Once the spreadsheet is completed, you import t back into the application. During the import process, each line is verified. If any error is found, all line information is reversed, and error messages alert you to the problems the application found. You can correct the spreadsheet and reimport to correct the problems.

Importing Lines to Negotiations by Spreadsheet

Importing negotiation lines via spreadsheet allows you to effectively reduce negotiation creation time by completing a spreadsheet file offline and then using that file to import your line information. This feature is especially useful for negotiations with a large number of lines or complex lines with multiple attributes. This topic contains instructions on how to complete the spreadsheet file and import it to your new negotiation.

The zip file you export contains a template for you to fill out. There will be other reference files containing any cost factors, UOM values, and attribute groups that exist in the application in case you need to use them.

Once you have exported the appropriate spreadsheet files, fill in the template file with your negotiation line information. The table below describes each spreadsheet field in detail and indicates which fields are required and which are optional. Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). You must enter a value for a required field. You do not have to enter a value for an optional field.

The table also explains each field's length restrictions. If a field's maximum data length is 4000 characters, the length for a multi-byte language such as Japanese the limit will be smaller. If the field length is less than 4000 characters, the maximum length is the same for both single-byte and multi-byte languages.

The following table shows the fields as they appear in the exported spreadsheet. Some columns always appear while other columns appear depending on which negotiation outcome is chosen, standard purchase order or blanket/contract purchase agreement. Generally, you can rearrange the column sequence but should not change the column titles. The attribute and cost factor columns are an exception to this rule. They should not be rearranged. The cost factor columns need to immediately precede the attribute columns and the attribute columns need to immediately precede the End of Line Delimiter column. Be sure that the End of Line Delimiter column is the last column of your spreadsheet. You may also delete optional columns; see the Note below the table for more details.

Notes: All date/time and price format settings should be the same as your user preference settings in the application; for example, 1212,40 vs. 1,212.40. When entering numeric values into the specified fields, set the cell format as Text; other formats might result in error upon importing. If the format is Text and the length is longer than 255 characters, set the cell format as General.

Note that the application treats the values you enter as case sensitive. For example, Lot line is correct, Lot Line is not and will cause an error.

Add Negotiation Lines Spreadsheet Column Explanations

Column Name

All Outcomes

Purchase Order Outcome Only

Purchase Agreement Outcome Only

Line with Price and Quantity (applicable to RFIs only)

Enter Yes if you want to create a line requiring price and quantity values.

* Type

Select the type of line you are defining. Valid entries include Line, Lot, Lot line, or Group, Group line.

To create a lot, first define a row for the lot, and then define a row for each of the lot lines.

Lots and lot lines are defined the same way as regular lines. That is, they can have line attributes, cost factors and other line-related characteristics. Make sure you define your lot lines immediately after the lot row.

To create a group, first define a row for the group, and then define a row for each of the group lines. Group level rows are defined differently from regular lines. They cannot have line attributes, cost factors or other line-related characteristics. When defining a group level entry, enter values only for the Type, Description and End of Line Delimiter columns. Make sure you define your group lines immediately after your group row.

Group lines rows are defined the same way as regular lines and can have attributes, cost factors, and other line-related characteristics.

Description

Enter a description of each line you want to purchase.

This column has a maximum length of 2500 characters.

Requisitioning BU

The business unit requesting the item or service.

Line Type

Distinguishes between quantity-based and services-based lines.

Select one of the predefined values setup in the application.

Item

Enter the item number based on the value in the Item Master in the application.

Revision

Enter the item revision number.

Category Name

The category name describes the broad family or category to which the line belongs. The application has predefined categories for all items.

Quantity

Enter the number of units (in terms of the unit of measure you defined above) you wish to purchase.

Estimated Quantity

The estimated number of units of the item required, in the buyer's specified unit.

UOM

Enter the unit of measure in which you want to negotiate for the line. Not entering a line in the spreadsheet will result in the use of the default unit of measure value associated to that line type.

See the AddLinesUOM.txt file in the zip for available UOM values.

Location

Enter the name of the address where you want the item or service to be delivered. Not entering a location results in the default location being used. If this is a new location, you must first enter the location online before you can use it in this template.

Need by Date

To request delivery to your location address on a specific date, enter that delivery date in this column. Make sure you use the same format in the spreadsheet as the date format in your user preferences for the application.

Estimated Total Amount

Estimated amount of business in dollars that you expect to pay for this line.

Minimum Release Amount

Enter the minimum amount which can be released against an agreement.

Current Price

Enter the price at which you currently buy one unit of the item or service. If you plan to add cost factors to a line, this value represents the Total Current Price for one unit of the item or service. The price should be entered in numeric format (for example, 5.75).Five seventy-five is invalid. Omit currency signs. Current price is used by the application when calculating savings.

Start Price

Enter the starting response price for one unit of the item or service you wish to purchase. If you plan to add cost factors to a line, this value represents the Start Price Total for one unit of the item or service. Use the unit of measure and currency you have specified for this negotiation. The price should be entered in numeric format (for example, 5.75). Five seventy-five is invalid. Omit currency signs.

Target Price

Enter the price at which you wish to purchase one unit of the item or service. If you plan to add cost factors to a line, this value represents the Target Total Price for one unit of the item or service. State the price in terms of the unit of measure and currency that you have specified for this negotiation. The price should be entered in numeric format (for example, 5.75). Five seventy-five is invalid. Omit currency signs.

Display Target Price

Enter Yes or No to indicate whether you want to display the target price to the suppliers. The application will default to No if you do not enter a value.

Note to Suppliers

Enter a text note to the suppliers who will submit responses on the item or service you wish to purchase.

This column has a maximum data length of 4000 characters.

Line Target Price

Enter the total target price of your line excluding any cost factors. This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for this negotiation.

Display Line Target Price

Enter Yes or No to indicate whether you want the line target price to be displayed to suppliers . This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for this negotiation.

Cost Factor

Enter the name of any cost factor to which you want the suppliers to respond. This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for the negotiation.

A text file AddLinesCostFactors.txt is included in the exported zip.

The Cost Factor column and the following three columns comprise the group of columns used to define a single cost factor for this line. Insert and complete a new group of the four columns for each additional cost factor associated with this line.

Pricing Basis

Enter per unit, fixed amount or percentage of line price, to specify how the particular cost factor value will be calculated. This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for the negotiation

Cost Factor Target Value

Enter the target value of the cost factor. This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for the negotiation

Display Cost Factor Target

Enter Yes or No to indicate whether you want the cost factor's target value to be displayed to suppliers. This column only appears if cost factors are enabled for the negotiation

Attribute

Enter the name of the line attribute you wish to define (Example: PPM rate, grade).

The Attribute column and the five following columns comprise the group of columns used to define a single attribute for this line. Insert and complete a new group of the six columns for each additional attribute associated with this line.

Maximum character length 4000 characters

Attribute Group

Used to categorize attributes. If a value for Attribute Group is not defined, the default Attribute Group value will be used. See the AddLineAttributeGroups.txt spreadsheet included in the .zip for the group values available to this negotiation.

Maximum length 240 characters

Attribute Response

Enter Required, Optional or Display only to indicate how you want the suppliers to respond, and whether or not entering a response value is required or optional. If this is a multiattribute scoring negotiation and you want to score the attribute, then it must be Required.

Attribute Value Type

This is the format of the attribute value you want to specify and need suppliers to enter. Enter Text for text, Number for number, Date for date or URL for URLs. Text can display all types. .

Attribute Target

The target value for the attribute. Your entry must match the Attribute Value Type you specify.

Maximum length 4000 characters

Display Attribute Target

Enter Yes or No to indicate whether you want the attribute target to be displayed to suppliers. .

* End of Line Delimiter

Enter EOL.

The spreadsheet template contains the six columns (Line Target Price , Display Line Target Price, Cost Factor, Pricing Basis, Cost Factor Target Value, Display Cost Factor Target) that are required to define one cost factor. If you wish to enter more cost factors, for each additional cost factor, copy the last four columns (Cost Factor, Pricing Basis, Cost Factor Target Value, Display Cost Factor Target) and insert them after the existing six columns. You can enter as many cost factors as you wish. Cost factor columns can be blank. For example, you may want to have the first cost factor for every line to be Tooling. However, if Tooling does not apply to a particular line, simply leave the columns referring to Tooling blank for that line.

The spreadsheet template contains the six columns (Attribute, Attribute Group, Attribute Response, Attribute Value Type, Attribute Target, Display Attribute Target) that are required to define one attribute. If you wish to enter more attributes, simply copy the attribute columns and insert them at the end of the spreadsheet immediately preceding the End of Line Delimiter column. You can enter as many attributes as you wish. Attribute columns can be blank. For example, you may want to have the first attribute for every line to be Grade. If Grade does not apply to a particular line, simply leave the columns referring to Grade blank for that line.

You can customize the spreadsheet files by deleting any of the optional columns although you cannot delete the following columns: Action (when creating amendments or new rounds of responding), Type, Internal Line ID (when creating amendments or new rounds of responding), End of Line Delimiter.Also, the six attribute columns and the six cost factor columns need to be treated as a group: either all columns are deleted or none is deleted.

If you are creating a multiattribute scoring negotiation, you need to enter the scores and weights details online after the lines are imported.

Lookup Files

There are three lookup files included in the zip file you export from the application. These files contain the values defined in the application for

For cost factors and UOM values, you can use values contained in these file to complete the template as appropriate. If you try to use a value that does not exist, your import process will return an error. If you need additional or different cost factors, or UOM values, you must define them in the application first.

For attribute groups, you can use the predefined ones, or you can create new ones in the spreadsheet.


Name

Description

Attribute Group

The name of the attribute group

Description

Description of the attribute group.


Name

Description

Cost Factor

Name of the cost factor.

Description

Description of the cost factor.

Pricing Basis

Method used to calculate the cost factor.


Name

Description

UOM

Name of the UOM.

Description

Description of the UOM value.

Importing Your Line Information

  1. Once you have completed your spreadsheet, save it to the drive/location of your choice. Your spreadsheet must be saved as a tab delimited file.

  2. Return to the application. Follow the directions to import your completed spreadsheet.

  3. When the application receives your spreadsheet for import, the spreadsheet validation process occurs and your imported lines appear on the screen.

  4. If the system discovers errors on your spreadsheet, the spreadsheet lines on which those errors occurred will be identified, and the system will note the specific error that occurred. Errors are diagnosed in 3 phases:

    • Phase one checks file errors.

    • Phase two checks column errors.

    • Phase three checks field errors.

    Errors are listed in a table, which identifies the Spreadsheet Row Number, Column Title, Value, and Error that occurred. Common errors include:

    • File errors occur when your spreadsheet file type or file format does not match the import format type supported by the system. For example, if you import a word processing file which the system does not recognize, a file error will occur.

    • Format errors occur when information that you entered in your spreadsheet cannot be understood by the system. For example, if you enter alphabetic characters into fields where only numeric characters are expected, a format error will appear. Also check that the column names and column sequence in the file you are importing matches the names and sequence in the file you exported.

    • Validation errors occur when information that you entered on your spreadsheet does not match corresponding information already held within the system. For example, if you enter values for UOM or, Category Name that the system does not recognize, a validation error will occur.

  5. If any of your spreadsheet lines contain errors, the application will indicate the necessary corrections. Open the spreadsheet file you tried to import, make changes where necessary, save the file, browse to locate the updated file, and run the import process again. Note: If any error occurs during the import, none of the lines are loaded. Note also that since the errors are checked in phases, you may need to try importing more than once to fix all the errors and obtain a clean import.

  6. If the application detects no error on your spreadsheet, all of your negotiation lines import successfully. You can then edit any of your lines.

  7. Once your negotiation lines import successfully, continue the negotiation creation process.

Importing Lines into a Negotiation: Example

In this example the category manager uses spreadsheet export and import to add lines to an agreement negotiation for janitorial supplies that she is creating. Specifically, she will add

Following the instructions, she exports the spreadsheet zip, opens it, and completes the template according to the details in the tables described earlier. Notice that possible cost factors and line attributes are not shown in this example, but could also be included if appropriate. Once the template is finished, it looks like the following:


Type

Description

Line Type

Item

Revision

Category Name

Estimated Quantity

UOM

Other Columns...

End of Line Delimiter

Lot

Cleaning Supplies

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

10

EA

EOL

Lot line

Cleaning brushes

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

100

Dozen

EOL

Lot line

Cleaning rags

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

90

Dozen

EOL

Lot line

Cleaning brooms

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

50

Dozen

EOL

Group

Cleaning Solutions

EOL

Group line

Solvent

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

20

Gallon

EOL

Group line

Disinfectants

Goods

Miscellaneous maintenance supplies

15

Gallon

EOL

She returns to the application and imports the completed spreadsheet. If there are any errors, they are displayed. She corrects the errors and imports again. Note that since errors are checked in phases, it may require more than one import to correct all errors.

Additional Instructions for Multiple Rounds of Responding or Amendments

You can use the line import spreadsheet to amend the list of lines in a subsequent round of responding. When you start a new round of responding you can add, delete, and update lines from a spreadsheet. This gives you the flexibility to quickly launch the new round. To adjust the list of lines using a spreadsheet you will typically follow these steps:

  1. Export the spreadsheet template. It will include the lines already available from the previous round.

  2. Make the appropriate changes to the line.

  3. Import the modified spreadsheet.

  4. Confirm the modifications.

The spreadsheet template you import between rounds of responding is slightly different than the one used to create the original negotiation lines. The main differences are:


Column Name

Description

From Requisition

The Yes or No value indicates whether the line was created from a requisition in the previous round. If the value is Yes, then you should not modify the following values for the next round: Requisitioning BU, Line Type, Item, Revision, Description (if Item is specified), Category Name, UOM, and Location.

From Agreement

The Yes or No value indicates whether the line was created from an agreement in the previous round. If the value is Yes, then you should not modify the following values for the next round: Line Type, Item, Description (if Item is specified), and Category Name.

Line

The current line number as displayed in the negotiation. This column is for reference only and helps you identify the lines that you want to update or delete. Do not modify the values in this column.

Leave this column empty if you are adding a new line.

Note that existing line numbers do not change.

Action

Specify to add, update, or delete the line. You can enter one of the following values:

  • + to add a new line.

  • - to delete an existing line.

  • # to update an existing line.

If you leave the Action column blank, the application will ignore the row, leaving the line unchanged.

Note: If you are using Excel, use the Tab key to exit the Action column.

Internal Line ID

Application generated ID that is populated when you export the spreadsheet template. Do not change the values in this column.

If you are adding a new line, leave the Internal Line ID column blank.

Internal Line ID must be the last column before the End of Line Delimiter column.

For example, assume your initial spreadsheet looks like this:


Line Number

Action

Type

Description

Estimated Quantity

UOM

Other Columns...

Internal Line ID

End of Line Delimiter

1

Lot

Cleaning Supplies

10

EA

123.221

EOL

1.1

Lot line

Cleaning Brushes

100

Dozen

123.321

EOL

1.2

Lot line

Cleaning Rags

90

Dozen

234.432

EOL

1.3

Lot line

Brooms

50

Dozen

345.654

EOL

2

Group

Cleaning Solutions

345.745

EOL

2.1

Group line

Solvent

20

Gal

346.234

EOL

2.2

Group line

Disinfectants

15

Gal

3467.121

EOL

Amend the line list and import the spreadsheet.

Continuing the example, you can modify the spreadsheet to delete line 1.2, change the Quantity of line 1.3, and add a new line:


Line Number

Action

Type

Description

Estimated Quantity

UOM

Other Columns

Internal Line ID

End of Line Delimiter

1

Lot

Cleaning Supplies

10

EA

123.221

EOL

1.1

Lot line

Cleaning Brushes

100

Dozen

123.321

EOL

1.2

-

Lot line

Cleaning Rags

90

Dozen

234.432

EOL

1.3

#

Lot line

Brooms

75

Dozen

345.645

EOL

+

Lot line

Mops

5

Dozen

EOL

2

Group

Cleaning Solutions

345.745

EOL

2.1

Group line

Solvent

20

Gal

346.234

EOL

2.2

Group line

Disinfectants

15

Gal

3467.121

EOL


Line Number

Action

Type

Description

Estimated Quantity

UOM

Other Columns

Internal Line ID

End of Line Delimiter

1

Lot

Cleaning Supplies

10

EA

123.221

EOL

1.1

Lot line

Cleaning Brushes

100

Dozen

123.321

EOL

1.3

Lot line

Brooms

75

Dozen

345.645

EOL

1.4

Lot line

Mops

5

Dozen

568.245

EOL

2

Group

Cleaning Solutions

345.745

EOL

2.1

Group line

Solvent

20

Gal

346.234

EOL

2.2

Group line

Disinfectants

15

Gal

3467.121

EOL

Price Breaks and Tiers

Price Breaks and Price Tiers: Explained

Quantity based price tiers and price breaks allow you to negotiate line prices with your supplier based on characteristics of your order. For example, with both price tiers and price breaks, you may expect to receive a discount from your supplier if you buy a large quantity of units, and you may specify several quantity levels and the prices you are willing to pay at each. Or by negotiating using price breaks, you may additionally choose to pay more per unit if your supplier can ship the order to a special location, or by a certain deadline.

There are two types of price adjustments you can define for a negotiation document: quantity based price tiers and price breaks. If tiers or breaks are defined, suppliers must reply by entering prices, or modifying the tiers or breaks (if the negotiation creator allows price break modifications). If there are no tier/breaks defined, the supplier can add tiers/breaks, You can only use quantity based price tiers or price breaks if the negotiation style you are using allows them.

Quantity Based Price Tiers

Quantity based price tiers apply only to the quantity of units for your negotiation line. You can add quantity based price tiers to all negotiations regardless of negotiation outcome. Suppliers can respond to the defined price tiers, modify or delete the defined price tiers, or add their own. For quantity based price tiers, only the price tier in effect for the awarded line is passed to the purchasing application.

Price Breaks

You can specify price breaks for a location, a date range, and quantity. You can allow suppliers to modify and offer different price breaks. Price breaks can only be used with purchase agreements. For price breaks, the information on the entire price break structure applicable to the awarded line is passed to the purchasing application.

What's the difference between a price break and a price tier?

Both price breaks and price tiers are used to identify price reductions being asked for by the buyer or being offered by the supplier. The main difference is that price tiers are available with all negotiation outcomes, but price breaks are only available with documents having a purchase agreement negotiation outcome. Also, price breaks used with purchase agreements can be cumulative across the life of the agreement.

Additionally, price breaks can base price reductions on Ship-to Organization, Location, Quantity, and Start and End dates. Price tier reductions are based only on Quantity.

For quantity based price tiers, only the price tier in effect for the awarded line is passed to the purchasing application. For price breaks, the information on the entire price break structure applicable to the awarded line is passed to the purchasing application.

Attribute Lists

Line Attribute Properties and Acceptable Values: Explained

Line attributes identify additional information about an item or service requested by the category manager. Use the following properties to describe your line attribute when defining it.

You use a line attribute's properties to control its behavior and how the supplier should respond.

Response

You can control the supplier's interaction with the attribute by specifying the response type. Optional responses do not require a supplier to offer a response. Suppliers must however provide a value for a required response. Suppliers can view attributes which are display only, but cannot respond to them.

Value Type

There are four value types available. A text value accepts characters and numbers. A number value accepts only numbers and the decimal point. Date values accept dates that you select using the calendar picker. A URL value type accepts a URL in the format http://url.name.here. URLs also accept https:

Target

For each attribute, you can define a target value. This is the value which is most desirable for this attribute. You can display the value to the supplier or keep it hidden.

Acceptable Values

For text values, you can specify a list of values from which the supplier can select. Any value not defined to the list is not accepted. For number and date values, you can define value ranges in terms of From Value and To Value. If you omit a From Value, that range includes everything up to the To value. Likewise, if you omit a To value, the range includes all values starting at the From value and above. Ranges cannot overlap. You can specify a single number by defining it as both the From and To values. Dates are defined similar to numbers.

Line Attributes and Multi Attribute Scoring Negotiations

In a multiattribute scored negotiation, you can have the application include the response values from the supplier along with the price offered when calculating the rank of that supplier's response. To perform this calculation, you give each possible response value a numeric score and then weight the attribute among the other attributes for the line. Note that while each value's score can be between 0 and 100, the weights for all the attributes must add up to 100.

Line Attributes: Examples

Line attributes make your negotiation line more descriptive and can also be used to ensure that all responses submitted for the line include specific details not included elsewhere in the line information. The response values suppliers provide can also be used together with price offered when ranking responses in multi attribute ranked negotiations.

Scenario

For example, a category manager can create an auction to buy vehicles for a delivery service. When she adds the line (for example, called vehicle) to the auction, she can then set up ranges of mileage from which the supplier could pick. Furthermore, if the category manager marks this attribute as required, then suppliers must specify the mileage of any response.

Scenario

Line attributes can call attention to common or industry-specific characteristics. For example, retail industry negotiation items can include such attributes as "color," "style," and "SKUnumber." Metal industry negotiation items can include "grade of metal" as an attribute. Adding these as required item attributes that are displayed to suppliers can customize your negotiation items to your specific industry.

Creating Attribute Lists: Worked Example

Attribute lists are collections of line attributes that are commonly used together. Procurement application administrators can create public attribute lists for use when creating negotiations. When a negotiation author associates an attribute list with a negotiation line, all the attributes on the list are associated with the line. Any attributes on the list that are not needed can be deleted, and additional line attributes can be created if necessary. Attribute lists are an efficient way to streamline the negotiation creation process. They can also be used to encourage standardization and best practices.

In this example, the procurement application administrator is going to create an attribute list.

Creating an Attribute List

  1. On the Manage Attribute Lists page, she clicks the create icon.
  2. When the Create Attribute List page appears, she enters the new list name.
  3. She clicks the Actions menu option or the Add Group button to create an attribute group.
  4. Once the new attribute group is created, she can create new attributes and save them as entries on the list.

What's an attribute list?

A line attribute list is a collection of line attributes that you can apply to a negotiation line. When you apply an attribute list, all the line attributes on the list are associated with that line. Once applied to the line, you can modify the line attributes if necessary. You can also delete any attributes that are not appropriate to the line.

Creating Attribute Lists: Worked Example

Attribute lists are collections of line attributes that are commonly used together. Procurement application administrators can create public attribute lists for use when creating negotiations. When a negotiation author associates an attribute list with a negotiation line, all the attributes on the list are associated with the line. Any attributes on the list that are not needed can be deleted, and additional line attributes can be created if necessary. Attribute lists are an efficient way to streamline the negotiation creation process. They can also be used to encourage standardization and best practices.

In this example, the procurement application administrator is going to create an attribute list.

Creating an Attribute List

  1. On the Manage Attribute Lists page, she clicks the create icon.
  2. When the Create Attribute List page appears, she enters the new list name.
  3. She clicks the Actions menu option or the Add Group button to create an attribute group.
  4. Once the new attribute group is created, she can create new attributes and save them as entries on the list.

Controlling Supplier Access: Worked Example

For suppliers you invite to a negotiation, you can control access at the line level. If you do not grant a supplier access to a line, the supplier contact cannot see the line and therefore cannot respond to that line. You must grant a supplier access to at least one line.

Defining Supplier Access

In this example, the category manager is defining a RFQ to negotiate with InFusion's suppliers. Among the lines defined to the negotiation are the two shown below. Due to past performance, the category manager wishes to keep BWP Distributors, Inc. from quoting on line one and Office Supplier, Inc. from quoting on line two. The resulting access authorizations are shown in the table below.


Line Number

Office Supplies, Inc.

BWP Distributors, Inc.

M and H International

office credenza 50 EA

yes

no

yes

printer paper 500 BOX

no

yes

yes

  1. After adding the three suppliers to the invitation list for the negotiation, the category manager highlights the row for Office Supplies, Inc. and then selects the Control Line Access option from the Actions menu.
  2. On the Suppliers: Control Line Access page, she deselects the checkbox for negotiation line two and then clicks Save and Close.
  3. When the Suppliers: Control Line Access page appears again, she uses the same procedure to restrict BWP Distributors Inc. from accessing negotiation line one. Note that the default is to allow M and H International to access both negotiation lines, so the category manager does not need to alter those access specifications.

Inviting Suppliers to Negotiations: Explained

You can select one or more suppliers (and their contacts) and invite them to participate in the negotiation. For those suppliers you identify, notifications are sent containing information on the negotiation. If you enable the response control: "Restrict to invited suppliers," only suppliers in the invitation list can participate. If you select a supplier site, then for that supplier, only contacts registered with that site can view and participate in the negotiation. Otherwise, any supplier who can view the negotiation can participate. You can only invite a supplier once, but you can invite multiple sites for that supplier. There are several methods you can use when inviting suppliers.

If you know all the supplier contact information, you can enter it directly into the negotiation. This is the quickest way to invite suppliers.

You can use the supplier search capabilities to identify and invite suppliers based on multiple search criteria such as business classification, Approved Supplier List status, or transaction history.

You can register a new supplier while creating the negotiation. Selecting the Register and Add option from the Actions menu on the Edit Negotiation: Suppliers page takes you to the Register and Add Supplier page where you can enter information about the new company and create a company contact.

Reviewing a Negotiation: Explained

At any point while you are creating your negotiation, you can review your work. The application validates your work as you create the negotiation document, checking your work and displaying any error messages as you move from one page to another. At any point, you can use the Validate option from the Actions menu to check your work so far.

Once you complete your negotiation document, you can use the Review train stop to review your work at a higher and more complete level. The review display presents a column of links you can use to access a particular section of the document. If you wish to update a section, you can click the train stop at the top of the page to navigate to the initial page of that section of the document in edit mode. You can also print a .pdf copy of the negotiation document for offline reviewing.

FAQs for Inviting Suppliers

How can I invite suppliers to my negotiation?

You can select one or more suppliers (and their contacts) and invite them to participate in the negotiation. For those suppliers you identify, notifications are sent containing information on the negotiation. If you enable the response control: Restrict to invited suppliers, only suppliers in the invitation list can participate. If you select a supplier site, then for that supplier, only contacts registered for that site can view and participate in the negotiation. Otherwise, any supplier who can view the negotiation can participate. You can only invite a supplier once, but you can invite multiple sites for that supplier. If you know all the supplier contact information, you can enter it directly into the invited suppliers table. Otherwise, you can use the supplier search capabilities to identify and invite suppliers based on multiple search criteria such as Approved Supplier List status or transaction history.

What happens if I invite suppliers to my negotiation?

You can select one or more suppliers (and their contacts) and invite them to participate in the negotiation. For those suppliers you identify, notifications are sent containing information on the negotiation. If you enable the response control: Restrict to invited suppliers, only suppliers in the invitation list can participate. Otherwise, any supplier who can view the negotiation can participate.

FAQs for Creating Negotiations

What's a cover page?

You can use a cover page with your negotiation document to provide a summary of details about the negotiation. This could include standard boilerplate text used with all negotiations or specific details such as open and close dates, responding guidelines or award process explanations. Cover pages are optional and their availability depends on the negotiation style you are using to create your document. You can set up default text for the cover page in the style as well.

What are automatic extensions?

You have several possible ways to modify the close time of a negotiation. You can always manually close the negotiation early or extend the negotiation past its original close date and time. Automatic extensions are also a method you can use to control when a negotiation closes. You define the automatic extension criteria, consisting of the triggering period (a time period prior to the close date/time), the extension length, and the extension scope. Then if a qualifying response is received during the triggering period, the closing time for any negotiation line that falls within the scope of the autoextension is extended by the extension length to become the new close time.

Create New Negotiation Round

Initiating a New Round of Responding: Worked Example

If you reach the end of a negotiation with no clear winners, you may choose to close the round and initiate a new round of responding. Once a new round has been started, all participants can enter responses again. This is useful when there are participants you have restricted to a single response per round.

To start a new round of responding, you close the active negotiation, and then create a new round, giving it a new close date. Note that there is a response control you can enable to require that a supplier's new response price must be lower than that supplier's last response price in the previous round. The new round has a number suffixed to the original negotiation number. For example, if the original negotiation was number 500, the new round is 500-2.

Initiating a New Round of Responding

InFusion Corporation is conducting an auction for high end electronics. The auction is close to its close date but the responses have not been acceptable. The category manager decides to take the negotiation to a subsequent round of responding.

  1. From the Negotiation Workarea Overview page, the category manager accesses the negotiation.
  2. From the negotiation summary page, the category manager selects the Close suboption from the Manage option of the Actions menu. She chooses to close the negotiation immediately and submits the close request.
  3. After the negotiation is closed, she selects the Create New Round suboption from the Manage option of the Actions menu.
  4. She accepts the defaults on the Create New Round popup.
  5. On the Edit Negotiation page, she enters a new close date. She makes any other changes to the negotiation and publishes it, opening it to a new round of responding. All suppliers on the invitation list are sent notifications apprising them of the new round.

Requirements

Negotiation Requirements: Explained

You can request that participants in your negotiation provide high-level information. This information is beyond that applying to the negotiation lines, and it often solicits details about the supplier company itself. Note that participants supplying this information can be both external, such as the suppliers themselves, or internal, such as collaboration team members. Such high-level pieces of information are referred to as requirements for the negotiation.

Examples of requirements might be:

Using requirements allows you to obtain important information on aspects of a supplier such as past performance, personnel qualification, and financial visibility. Knowing such information provides you with a better understanding of the supplier and allows you to make a more informed award decision.

Requirement Properties: Explained

Negotiation requirements request additional information about a supplier company. For example, such information could include company history, structure, personnel or industry certifications. Supplier answers to requirements are used in combination with prices offered when evaluating competing responses. Requirements can also be used internally by other evaluators, for example members of a collaboration team.

When creating requirements for a negotiation, you use the requirement's properties to control its behavior.

Response

You can control the supplier's interaction with the requirement by specifying the response type. Suppliers do not have to respond to optional requirements, but must respond to required ones. Suppliers can view requirements which are display only, but cannot respond to them. Internal requirements can be viewed and answered by participants within the company.

Value Type

The value type controls the data type that can be entered. There are four value types available. A text value accepts characters and numbers. A numbers value accepts only numbers and the decimal point. Date values accept dates you select using the calendar picker. A URL value type accepts a URL in the format http://url.name.here. URLs also accept https:

Target

For each requirement, you can define a target value. This is the value which is most desirable for this requirement. You can display the target value to the supplier or keep it hidden.

Scoring

Responses to requirements can be assigned a numeric score. The application uses response scores when evaluating competing responses to a requirement. Scoring indicates the method used to assign such scores: manually, automatically, or none. If you select None, scores cannot be entered for responses, and no scoring calculations can be made. If you choose automatic, you must additionally define the acceptable response values and a score for each. The application then scores responses when they are submitted by the supplier. If you choose to manually score a response, you (or others) must enter scores once the negotiation is closed.

Weight

Requirements can be weighted according to their importance. Any requirement being scored must have a weight assigned. Weights are used in conjunction with scores to calculate the requirement's (and requirement section's) weighted score. The sum of all requirement weights cannot exceed 100. You enable weights on the General tab of the Overview page. If weights are disabled, the application uses the maximum score field to limit the max score allowed for each requirement.

Knockout Score

You can specify a minimum score value that all responses must meet or surpass for that response to be shortlisted for awarding. When you begin awarding the negotiation, you apply the knockout score. All responses having a requirement response value that doesn't meet the knock out value are marked as not shortlisted for awarding.

Maximum Score

The maximum score indicates the maximum number which can be entered for a response to this requirement.

Requirement Scores: Explained

Requirements are high-level questions that solicit information from suppliers who respond to a negotiations. This can include such information as history, corporate structure, and applicable certifications, among other things.

Supplier responses to these requirements can be evaluated and rated by giving the responses scores. Scores can be weighted to indicate the relative importance among other requirements and can also be aggregated to obtain a total response score.

Types of Requirement Scores

Requirements are used to solicit information from suppliers. How this information is used is up to the buyer who defines the requirement. Requirements can have a score method of None, in which case the response from the supplier is for information only and is not used to determine awards. Requirements can be scored automatically, in which case scoring criteria defined by the buyer is used by the application to obtain a score for the supplier response. Finally, scores can be manually viewed by an evaluator who determines a score value and entered it into the document. Score values entered either automatically or manually can be used to help determine award decisions.

How Score Values are Calculated

When the buyer defines the requirements, a maximum score value is set for all requirements which will be scored. Requirements with a scoring method of None are not scored and therefore have no maximum score value. At award time, the score value (either entered manually or generated automatically) is divided by the value for Maximum Score and the result multiplied by the weight of the Requirement. The weighted scores are rolled up to the response level, that is, a weighted score is calculated for each requirement, each requirement section, and the response as a whole.

Acceptable Requirement Values: Explained

You can specify what values are acceptable to enter as answers to requirement questions. If you define the acceptable values, any value a respondent enters must be allowable. Specifying acceptable values is optional unless you specify a scoring method of automatic. In this case, you must specify both the acceptable values and their scores.

The format you use to specify your acceptable values depends on the value type

Acceptable Values: Text

For text values, you can specify a list of values from which the supplier can select. Any value not defined to the list is not accepted. Text values can include both characters and numbers.

Acceptable Values: Numbers and Dates

For number and date values, you can define value ranges in terms of From Value and To Value. If you omit a From Value, that range includes everything up to the To value. Likewise, if you omit a To value, the range includes all values starting at the From value and above. Ranges cannot overlap. You can specify a single number by defining it as both the From and To values. You can use the date picker to enter dates to ensure they conform to the correct date format.

Importing Requirements by Spreadsheet

This file contains the instructions for importing requirements to negotiations using a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets facilitate easy and efficient offline development and importing of negotiation requirements. Spreadsheet import is very useful when dealing with negotiations that have many requirements.

The table below describes each spreadsheet field and indicates which fields are required and which are optional. Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*) and you must enter a value for them.

For fields which have specific possible values (for example, Yes or No), the entries are case sensitive.

Note that the group of columns beginning with Response Value and ending with Score can be copied and pasted into the spreadsheet multiple times to define more than one allowable value for the requirement. However, the last column in the spreadsheet must be End of Line Delimiter.

Add Requirements Columns Explanations

Column Name

Explanation

Comments

* Requirement

Text of the requirement.

Maximum of 4000 characters long (for non multibyte languages. Length for multibyte languages are smaller).

Section

Section with which to associate the requirement.

You can create a new section or use an existing section. See Using the Requirements Section File below.

Maximum of 240 characters long.

* Response

Requirement behavior.

Possible values are: Required (a supplier response is mandatory), Optional (a supplier response is not mandatory), Display only (informational), or Internal (available for internal viewing and scoring).

* Value Type

Data type allowable for the requirement's response.

Possible values are Text, Number, Date, and URL.

Target

The target response.

Maximum of 4000 characters long.(for non multibyte languages. Length for multibyte languages are smaller).

Display Target

Indicates whether the target is shown to suppliers.

Possible values are Yes, No..

* Scoring

Type of response scoring to be used.

Possible values: None, Automatic, and Manual.

For Manual, you must also specify a maximum score (if there is no default) and a weight (if weights are enabled).

For Automatic, you must also specify From/To Response values. You must specify Score. You must specify Weight if weight is enabled.

Maximum Score

Numeric value indicating the maximum possible score for this requirement.

Must be a positive whole number.

If the Maximum Score is not specified in the spreadsheet, the system will use the default maximum specified for the negotiation (if any) and default that value for the requirement during import.

Weight

Indicates the importance of this requirement relative to the other requirements defined.

The total of all requirements must be equal to 100.

Knockout Score

Minimum score a supplier must attain to be shortlisted for award.

Once the negotiation closes and the requirements are scored (either automatically or manually), applying the knockout scores automatically removes all suppliers having a score less than the knockout score from the shortlist.

Knockout score must be a positive whole number.

Response Value

The acceptable response value for a text requirement, similar to From Response Value and To Response Value that are for number/date requirements.

Maximum of 30 characters long.

From Response Value

The beginning of a value range for a number or date value type.

Specify only if Value Type is number or date, Scoring is automatic, and Response is required.

From/To response values cannot overlap

All date/time and price format settings should be the same as your user preference settings in the application; for example, 1212,40 versus. 1,212.40. When entering numeric values into the specified fields, set the cell format as text; other formats might result in error upon importing. If the format is text and the length is longer than 255 characters, set the cell format as general.

To Response Value

The end of a value range for a number or date value type.

Specify only if Value Type is number or date, Scoring is automatic, and Response is required.

From/To response values cannot overlap

All date/time and price format settings should be the same as your user preference settings in the application; for example, 1212,40 versus. 1,212.40. When entering numeric values into the specified fields, set the cell format as text; other formats might result in error upon importing. If the format is text and the length is longer than 255 characters, set the cell format as general.

Score

Reflects the desirabilty of this response value.

If scoring is automatic, a Score value is required for each range defined.

You can have duplicate score values, but no score value can be greater than 100.

Score must be a positive whole number.

* End of Line Delimiter

Enter EOL.

Using the Requirements Section File

The Requirements Section file contains the names and descriptions of requirement sections that are defined in the application. If you wish to associate any of the requirements you are creating with an existing section, you can use the information in this file to do so.


Column Name

Explanation

Section

The section name. This is the name you enter in the Add Requirements spreadsheet to associate the requirements with this section.

Description

Description of the requirements section.

Cost Factors

Cost Factors: How They're Calculated

Cost factors allow a buyer to identify and control for additional costs associated with a negotiation line. Cost factors can be added to lines in a negotiation document, to line defaults in a negotiation template, or to cost factor lists.

How Cost Factors Are Calculated

Cost factors can be defined as either a per-unit cost, a percentage of the line price, or a fixed amount for the line. A single line can have one or more cost factors (of any type) defined for it. All cost factors are added to the line price (the price being offered by the supplier per unit) to obtain the response price. The response price is the actual price per unit when all applicable cost factors are applied.

Response price is calculated as follows: line price + ((line price * any percentage of line cost factor) + any per-unit cost factor + (any fixed amount cost factor / response quantity))

Example calculation: The following example shows how a supplier's response is adjusted to take into account all the cost factors defined by the buyer. The numbers represent the values entered by the supplier for the line price and all the cost factors.

Calculation: 30 + ((30 * 0.35) + 5 + (15/100)) = $45.65 (response price)

Cost Factors and Cost Factor Lists: Explained

Cost factors allow you to identify and negotiate on additional costs related to a line.

You can use cost factors to obtain a more realistic idea of the total cost of an item or service by factoring in any additional costs beyond just price. Such costs could include additional costs such as consulting or training. Cost factors can be added to a negotiation line, to lines in negotiation templates, or to collections of cost factors (called cost factor lists). A negotiation line can have more than one cost factor (of any type) defined to it. There are three types of cost factors you can create.

Fixed Amount Cost Factors

Fixed amount cost factors are specified as a set value for the line, regardless of the quantity of units being asked for by the line.

Per-Unit Cost Factors

Per-unit cost factors are specified as a set value that is multiplied by the quantity of units being asked for by the line.

Percentage of Line Price Cost Factors

Percentage of line price cost factors are specified as a percentage. The percentage of line price is calculated by multiplying the unit price by the percentage of line price cost factor value.

Cost Factor Lists

Once you create cost factors for your additional costs, you can create lists of cost factors. Buyers can then apply these cost factor lists to negotiation lines to quickly identify the commonly occurring secondary costs that also need to be negotiated. Buyers can create their own personal cost factor lists using cost factors that have been defined to the system.

What's a cost factor list?

A cost factor list is a collection of cost factors that you can apply to a negotiation line. When you apply a cost factor list, all the cost factors on the list are associated with that line. You can delete any cost factors you don't need. Cost factor lists allow you to quickly associate a group of related or commonly used cost factors with a negotiation line. This speeds up the creation process.

Creating Cost Factor Lists: Worked Example

A cost factor list is a set of cost factors which are commonly used together. Once cost factors are placed on a list, you can apply the list to a negotiation line, and all the cost factors on the list are carried over to the line. Once applied to the line, you can delete unneeded cost factors or add additional cost factors as appropriate. Applying cost factor lists allows you to quickly associate a large number of cost factors with a negotiation line. Once the procurement application administrator has added the cost factors to the system, you can create a new cost factor list.

Vision Corporation is expanding into a new branch items and services. Negotiations dealing with this new area will need to negotiate new transportation-related costs with suppliers. The procurement application administrator has previously defined several cost factors and is now going to define a new cost factor list that contains them.

Defining a Cost Factor List

  1. On the Manage Cost Factor Lists page, the procurement application administrator clicks the icon to add a new list.
  2. On the Cost Factor List page, she enters "Shipping List" as the cost factor list name and "Common shipping charges" as a description
  3. The she clicks the plus sign icon, or selects Add from the Actions menu.
  4. When the new line appears, she clicks in the Cost Factor cell for the line. From the drop down menu, she searches for and selects the cost factor appropriate for the new list. The pricing-basis and description for the cost factor is set and can not be changed. She adds the cost factor named Shipping to the list and then uses the plus icon to add Hazardous materials charge and Import tax to the list.
  5. When finished adding cost factors, she saves the list.

Amend Negotiation

Create Negotiation Amendment

Negotiation Amendments: Explained

After publishing a negotiation, you can update information defined in the document if necessary. This update is called an amendment. Once you publish an amendment, respondents are notified that the sourcing document has been amended and are required to review and acknowledge the amended information and resubmit it in accordance with the amendment. Amendments can be created anytime after the negotiation has been published and before it is closed.

The amended negotiations are indicated by suffixing a comma followed by a number to the end of the original negotiation number. The table below shows an example of an original negotiation, the original negotiation number, and the amended negotiation number.


Original Negotiation

Original Negotiation Number

Amended Negotiation Number

New Denver Office Furniture

4562231

4562231,1

The application ensures that the amended information must be acknowledged by the supplier before a response is accepted.

Amending the Document

Once you choose to amend a document, you are returned to the initial page of the create negotiation flow, and you proceed through the flow as if you were defining a new negotiation. Some details of the existing document cannot be changed, and those details will be viewable only. At review time, the application displays all the updates you have made to the document that are viewable by suppliers.

Supplier Responses to an Amendment

Once you have published it, the suppliers who you invited and any other responding suppliers are notified about the amendment. If they attempt to submit a response, they receive a warning message that they must view the amendment and acknowledge it before they can continue. If they have already submitted a response, it is marked as 'resubmission required,' and they have to view the amendment and submit another response to be considered for award. The new draft response pages will contain the updated amendment information.

Amending a Negotiation: Worked Example

You can make changes to a negotiation while it is active and receiving responses by creating an amendment. Once you have issued an amendment, notifications of the amendment are sent to all suppliers who were invited and all suppliers who have responded. The suppliers can then view the amendments. Once suppliers view and acknowledge the amendment, they can create a new response to the negotiation.

The original negotiation number is augmented with a suffix to indicate the amended version. For example, if the original negotiation number was 500, the first amended version is numbered 500,1.

If a supplier is restricted to a single response and had already responded prior to the amendment, a notification is sent to the supplier. The supplier may view the amendment, acknowledge the changes and submit a new response, in which case it becomes the supplier's new single best response.

You can view the changes by selecting View Amendments from the Manage option of the Actions menu.

In the following example, the category manager decides that, based on responses to an existing line, she will add a new line to the negotiation.

Amending a Negotiation

  1. From the Overview page, the category manager accesses the negotiation.
  2. From the Actions menu on the Manage Negotiations page, she selects the Create Amendment suboption from the Manage option.
  3. On the Edit Negotiation page, she enters a description for the amendment, and a new close date. She saves her changes.
  4. She clicks the Lines train stop and uses the Edit Negotiation: Lines page to add a new line.
  5. After she has finished entering the new line information, she clicks Publish. Any suppliers attempting to create a response will now be required to view and acknowledge the amendment before they can respond.
  6. Once the amendment is published, she can view all the amendments and their changes by selecting the Amendments suboption of the View option of the Actions menu on the negotiation summary page.

Capture Supplier Response

Acknowledge Participation

What happens if I acknowledge my intent to participate in a negotiation?

Acknowledging your intent to participate in a negotiation only notifies the buyer company that you are interested in responding to the negotiation. Acknowledgement does not obligate future participation, nor is it required to participate.

Create Response

Responding to a Negotiation by Spreadsheet

Once you have exported the spreadsheet, you can open it in Microsoft Excel (version 2003 or later). Excel automatically formats the display based on the style format that you selected. The spreadsheet will consist of multiple worksheets. The sections below describe the information contained in each worksheet, and the tables in the sections describe each spreadsheet field for that worksheet. As you use the spreadsheets, note the following:

Your spreadsheet can have multiple worksheets, depending on the content of the negotiation. Use the instructions in the table below to complete the spreadsheet. Once you have completed the spreadsheet, import it back to the application.


Response Worksheet Section

Contents

Common Section

This section provides general information about the negotiation. You do not enter any information into this section.

General Section

In this section, you can enter your response to negotiation requirements and enter other general information like a note to the category manager.

Lines Worksheet

Use this worksheet to enter your response information as required by the category manager.

Requirements Scoring Worksheet

This worksheet will show any requirements scoring information if it is provided by the category manager. You do not need to enter any response in this worksheet.

Attributes Scoring Worksheet

This worksheet will show any attributes scoring information for line items if it is provided by the category manager. You do not need to enter any response in this worksheet.

Using Spreadsheet Processing

This file contains the instructions for creating and importing responses in negotiation using an XML spreadsheet. Spreadsheets allow suppliers to easily respond to negotiations offline. Spreadsheet import is very useful when dealing with large negotiations having many requirements or lines, or having complex lines with many attributes or price tiers. Spreadsheet processing effectively speeds up the response process by allowing you to enter data into your spreadsheet offline and import the entire spreadsheet in a single operation

General Section

The common information section appears at the top of each worksheet and contains overview information about the negotiation.


Field Title

Meaning

Negotiation Title

Title of the negotiation as defined by the category manager

Negotiation

Type of negotiation (Auction, RFQ, RFI) and the number assigned by the application

Close Date

Date and time when the negotiation closes and responses are no longer accepted. Note that the category manager may optionally choose to extend the negotiation or close it early.

Negotiation Currency

Currency defined for the negotiation by the category manager

Response Currency

In a multi-currency negotiation, the currency you chose when you initiated your response.

Price Precision

Price precision to be applied to the response currency

Conversion Rate

In a multi-currency negotiation, the exchange rate or conversion currency conversion rate.

Company

Name of the buying company

Buyer

Name of the buyer.

Phone

Phone number of the category manager

E-mail

E-mail address of the category manager

Supplier

Your company name, as registered with the application.

Supplier Site

Your company site

At the bottom of each worksheet, the spreadsheet download time appears.

General Worksheet

The General worksheet displays information about your response. It also displays the Requirements the category manager defined for the negotiation.


Field Title

Meaning

Response Valid Until

Enter a date after which your bid should no longer be considered valid.

Reference Number

Enter a number or ID by which you wish to track this bid internally within your own organization.

Note to Buyer

Field in which you can enter a note to the buyer.

The requirements section contains questions the category manager wishes you to answer. Your responses will be used by the category manager when evaluating your response. If requirements are scored and the category manager has provided scoring information, then you can see it by clicking the View Scoring Criteria link.


Field Title

Meaning

View Scoring Criteria

Link to the Requirement Scoring Worksheet. This link only appears if the category manager has chosen to score requirements and provide scoring related information.

Requirement

The gray row displays the name of the requirement section or the text of the requirement itself.

Response Value

Your response to the requirement. If the category manager defined a target value and chose to display it, a pop-up box appears when you click in this field. If the category manager has defined acceptable values for this field, you can display them by clicking in the field and then clicking the down arrow.

Lines Worksheet

The Lines worksheet displays the line information defined for this negotiation. Note that some fields appear depending on whether the negotiation outcome is purchase order or purchase agreement. The table below contains descriptions of all possible columns regardless of negotiation outcome.

If your negotiation contains many lines, you can control the display by clicking the down arrow at the top left of the lines table. You have several options including sorting the lines by line number or using the Custom option to display specific lines.


Field Name

Meaning

Proxy Decrement Amount or Proxy Decrement Percentage

Enter the amount or percentage by which your response price should be reduced by the application before submitting a subsequent bid in a proxy negotiation.

Response Amount

This value is automatically calculated as you enter your responses into the spreadsheet.

Line

Line number and description as entered by the category manager

Item

The item number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Revision

The item revision of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Rank

The rank of this response among competing responses.

Start Price

The starting response price for one unit of the item or service being negotiated. Your response price cannot be higher than the response start price.

UOM

The unit of measure in which the category manager plans to buy the desired item.

Response Quantity

The number of units the buyer wishes to purchase.

Estimated Quantity

The quantity estimated to be bought over the life of the agreement.

Estimated Total Amount

The estimated total amount that the buyer will pay for a fixed price line item over the period of the agreement.

Target Minimum Release Amount

The minimum amount the category manager wishes to release against this blanket agreement line.

Response Price

The price for one unit of the item or services to be negotiated in your chosen currency for this auction. Use numbers only. Omit currency signs.

This is a required field for any lines on which you wish to bid. For lines that you do not want to bid on, you can leave all the bid-related columns blank. This only applies to auctions that do not require you to bid on all lines.

If this line has cost factors, you do not need to enter a value for this field. Instead enter the line price in the Cost Factors table (see below). Response Price will be calculated automatically based on your line price and cost factor responses.

Proxy Minimum

Enter the minimum price that you are willing to proxy bid for this line. See the online help for a discussion of how proxy bidding works.

Response Quantity

The number of units of the item that you will buy.

This is a required field for all lines on which you wish to bid. If this bid does not accept partial quantities, this field displays the Quantity value and is protected against update.

For lines that you do not want to bid on, you can leave all the bid-related columns blank. This applies only to RFQs that do not require you to bid on all lines.

If the line doesn't allow partial quantity bids, this field displays the Quantity value and is protected against update.

Promised Date

The date by which you can promise to deliver the item or service to the category manager's location.

Response Minimum Release Amount

Enter the minimum release amount you offer for this agreement line.

Note to buyer

Enter any text note to the buyer on additional information for this negotiation line.

Need-by Date

The date by which the item or service the category manager wants to purchase will be needed at his location.

Target Price

The target bid price for one unit of the item or service to be purchased.

Category Name

The category name describing the broad family or category to which this line belongs.

Location

The address where the item or service should be delivered.

The Cost Factor section displays cost factor information defined by the category manager for this line. The first row of this table will be named Line Price. This is where you should enter your per-unit price (instead of Response Price above).


Field Name

Meaning

Cost Factor

Name of the cost factor defined by the category manager

Pricing Basis

How this particular cost factor will be calculated. It can be a fixed amount, a per-unit amount, or a % of line price amount.

Target Value

The amount the category manager expects for this cost factor. `

Response Value

Your response to the cost factor.

Response Price

The response value converted to a per-unit price.

Price breaks are only available for purchase agreement outcome negotiations. If there are empty rows in the table, the category manager has defined the price breaks as optional. In this case, you can enter your own price breaks in the empty rows and/or modify the existing ones.


Field Name

Meaning

Location

The category manager's site address for which this break applies

Quantity

The quantity bought

Effective from

The date this break begins

Effective to

The date this break ends

Target Price

The price the category manager is expecting. This is shown only if the price break optional.

Price Discount Percentage

Whether the Price value you enter is an actual price or discount percentage of the line price.

Price

The price offered or the discount percentage of the line price.

Quantity-based price tiers can be used in negotiations with any outcome. They function similarly to price breaks in purchase agreements enter your own price tiers in the empty rows and/or modify the category manager-defined price tiers.


Field Name

Meaning

Minimum Quantity

The minimum number of units available for this price

Maximum Quantity

The maximum number of units available for this price

Price

The price per unit offered for this quantity range

Information on the line's attributes is displayed in the Attributes table. You enter your response in the response value field. If this field is yellow, a response is required, and you must enter one. If this field is green, a response is optional.

If the category manager defined weights and scores for this attribute, the View Scoring Criteria link and the Weighted Score columns appear.


Field Name

Meaning

View Scoring Criteria

Link that takes you to the Attribute Scoring worksheet. For Multi-attribute Weighted Scoring auctions, you should consult the scoring information the category manager has defined. This link only appears if the category manager defined scoring information for at least one attribute and made the information viewable to suppliers.

Attribute

Gray rows display the name of the attribute group. White lines display the name of the attribute.

Target Value

The target value entered by the category manager for the attribute

Response Value

Your response to the attribute. If the category manager has defined acceptable values for this field, you can display them by clicking in the field and then clicking the down arrow.

Weighted Score

This field is calculated by the application when you enter a value in the Response Value field. This field only appears if the category manager defined scoring criteria and made the information viewable to suppliers.

Total Weighted Score

This field is calculated by the application as you enter values in the response Value fields. It is the sum of all the Weighted Score fields. It only appears if the category manager defined scoring criteria and made the information viewable to suppliers.

Requirements Scoring Worksheet

The Requirements Scoring worksheet only appears if scoring criteria was defined by the category manager and is viewable by the supplier. All requirements will be displayed, including ones that do not have scoring criteria. View the Requirements Scoring worksheet to determine how the category manager will evaluate your responses to the negotiation's requirements.


Field Name

Meaning

Requirement

The name of the requirement.

Response

The acceptable response values for the attribute as defined by the category manager. For a text attribute, this will be a list of values. For numeric and date type attributes, it can be a set of numbers or one or more ranges of numbers (ranges cannot overlap).

Score

For each acceptable response value, the numeric score assigned to that value by the category manager.

Weight or Maximum Score

If weights are enabled, for each requirement, the numeric value assigned to it by the category manager to reflect that requirement's importance, relative to any other requirements; otherwise, the Maximum Score for the requirements is displayed as defined by the category manager.

Attributes Scoring Worksheet

The Attribute Scoring worksheet only appears if at least one line attribute has scoring information defined and the category manager has chosen to display scoring information to the supplier. There will be a table for each line that has an attribute for which the category manager has entered score information. Additionally, if there is a table for a line, entries for all attributes for that line will appear, even if no scoring information was defined for a particular attribute. You can view the Attribute Scoring worksheet to determine how the category manager will evaluate your responses to line attributes.


Field Name

Meaning

Attribute

The name of the attribute.

Response

The acceptable bid values for the attribute as defined by the category manager. For a text attribute, this will be a list of values. For numeric and date type attributes, it can be a set of numbers or one or more ranges of numbers (ranges cannot overlap).

Score

For each acceptable bid value, the numeric score assigned to that value by the category manager.

Weight

For each attribute of the line, the numeric value assigned to it by the category manager to reflect that attribute's importance, relative to any other attributes for the line.

Responding to Negotiation Requirements: Explained

Requirements are questions the Category Manager added to the negotiation document to solicit extra information. Many times, these questions concern your company, its history and structure. Requirements might ask about certifications your company has achieved. Your answers to requirements can be used by evaluators when considering your response to the negotiation.

If there are requirements for you to answer, a Requirements train stop will appear at the top of the Create Response page. Clicking the train stop opens the Create Response: Requirements page, where you enter your requirement answers.

Responding to Requirements

Requirements can be grouped into sections. When you first access the Create Response: Requirements page, you will see the requirements for the first section displayed. If there are additional sections, you can access them from the pull down menu at the top right of the page.

The response area is divided into multiple columns, displaying the requirements questions, providing you an area where you enter your responses, and possibly scoring information is the author chose to display it. You can also use this area to associate any attachments with your response.

In some cases, the Category Manager may have defined target values for a requirement. There are three methods you can use to answer to requirement questions, depending on how the Category Manager defined the requirements:

Responses to requirements can be required or optional. If you have not answered a required question, a message appears when you attempt to publish your response.

Responding to Requirements: Worked Example

In this example, the supplier contact is responding to a negotiation that contains requirements. These requirements solicit information about the company's certification history and corporate structure.

The supplier responder has accessed the negotiation and sees that there are requirements defined (since there is a Requirements train stop that appears).

Entering Responses to Requirements

  1. She clicks the Requirements train stop.
  2. On the Create Response: Requirements page, she views the requirement questions, any target values the Category Manager defined and marked as viewable.
  3. Once she understands the information the requirements is requesting, she enters her response into the Response Value column. Note that the response could be free form text entered in a text box, or an entry she selected from available values specified by the Category Manager.
  4. If she wishes to add any attachments, she can upload them for inclusion in the response.
  5. After responding to all the requirements, she clicks Save and proceeds to respond to the negotiation's lines.

Mass Price Reduction: Explained

Mass Price Reduction is a method of rebidding by which you can update the response price on multiple lines with a single rebid action. Mass Price Reduction is useful when you have bids on many similar lines.

When submitting a second or subsequent bid in an auction, the Reduce Price button appears on the Create Response: Lines page. Clicking the Reduce Price button displays the Reduce Price popup, which allows you to specify how you wish your bids to be updated.

Reduction Price %

You enter a reduction as a percentage. After you enter your percentage reduction amount, clicking the Recalculate button displays the new bid values. Since the reduction amount is calculated from your current bids (not the current best bids), your new bid prices may still not become the new best bids, so you may need to reduce and recalculate until you are satisfied with your new bids. When finished, click Submit.

Apply to

You can select which lines to reduce. You can reduce prices for all negotiation lines you currently have bids on or apply the reduction only to your losing lines. Or you can select which of your lines to update.

Proxy Bidding: Explained

Proxy bidding allows you to have the application automatically rebid on your behalf by a set amount whenever a bid that improves on your bid is received. Proxy bidding frees you from having to constantly monitor and react to competing bids.

When creating a bid for a negotiation in which you wish to use proxy bidding, you must specify two bid controls: proxy decrement and proxy minimum. These two values control how the applications proxy bids on your behalf.

Proxy Decrement

The proxy decrement is the value by which the application will underbid any competing bid which beats your bid. The negotiation author specifies whether the proxy decrement value you enter is considered a flat amount or a percentage of the current best bid. If the value is being used as a percentage, a percent sign appears at the end of the entry field.

Proxy Minimum

The proxy minimum is the amount at which the application ceases proxy bidding on your behalf. The application will not proxy bid for you if the resulting bid would be less than the proxy minimum you specify.

Proxy Bids: How They Are Calculated

The proxy bidding process uses the two proxy bid controls you defined (Proxy Decrement and Proxy Minimum) and the current best bid to determine which new bid value to submit on your behalf.

How Proxy Bids Are Calculated

When you submit your initial bid amount, you can enter a number as your proxy decrement. This is treated by the application as either a fixed amount or as a percentage of the current best bid. Either way, this is the amount used by the application when calculating your next bid pricel. You also declare the proxy minimum amount, which functions as the floor below which you will not bid.

Proxy Bidding Scenario

In the following example, your initial bid is $1000 with a proxy decrement value of 10% and a proxy minimum amount of $500.


Competing Bid

Your Proxy Bid

$995

$895.5 ($995 reduced by 10%)

$763

$686.7 ($763 reduced by 10%)

$660

$594 ($660 reduced by 10%)

$540

Proxy bids no longer submitted because they would drop below your proxy minimum of $500.

Responding to Price Breaks:Worked Example

Price breaks are reductions in the price of an item depending on certain conditions such as purchasing in bulk or from a certain location. For example, a seller might ask a certain price for a purchase of a up to nine cases of widgets but offer a lower price for a purchase of more ten or more cases. Price breaks can be cumulative or noncumulative. Noncumulative price breaks apply only to quantity bought on a single release against the agreement. Cumulative price break amounts accumulate over the life of the agreement. The category manager can choose to allow the supplier to modify the existing price breaks, including even offering new price breaks.

In this scenario, the category manager for InFusion corporation has defined a negotiation to renegotiate an existing catalog with Office Supplier's Inc., one of the company's suppliers. Since this is a purchasing agreement outcome, the negotiation contains price breaks on many of the lines. The category manager has chosen to allow the supplier to modify and/or offer different price breaks. The price breaks are cumulative over the life of the agreement.

James Ng, Office Supplies Inc.'s customer service representative for the InFusion account, responds to the negotiation, including responding to the price breaks.

Responding to Price Breaks

  1. After viewing the Overview and Requirements pages (if present) and accepting the terms and conditions, he accesses the negotiation line by clicking the Lines train stop at the top of the Overview page.
  2. He enters all the appropriate negotiation line information and then notices the icon under the Required Details for one of the negotiation lines. He clicks the icon to access the Lines: Edit Line page.
  3. He sees that the line has additional requested information to which he should respond. This information could include price breaks/tiers, cost factors, and line attributes. For this line, there are price breaks. He views the price breaks suggested by the buyer and replies with the price his company will offer.
  4. When finished, he clicks Save and Close to continue responding to the negotiation.

Responding to Price Tiers: Worked Example

Price tiers are reductions in the price of an item in return for purchasing it in bulk. For example, a supplier might ask a certain price for a purchase of a up to nine cases of widgets but offer a lower price for a purchase of ten or more cases. Price tiers are used by the buyer and seller to minimize the amount paid per unit and to maximize the number of units sold.

In this scenario, the Category Manager for InFusion corporation has defined a negotiation to renegotiate an existing agreement with Office Supplies, Inc., one of the company's major suppliers, and has specified price tiers on many of the lines. John Angelo, is Office Supplies, Inc's customer representative for the InFusion account, and so responds to the negotiation.

Responding to Price Tiers

  1. After completing the Overview and Requirements page, John accesses the negotiation line by clicking the Lines train stop at the top of the page.
  2. He enters all the appropriate negotiation line information and then notices the icon under the Required Details for one of the negotiation lines. He clicks the icon to access the Lines: Edit Line page.
  3. He views the existing price tier values that were entered by the negotiation creator. He can enter a different price level structure if he wishes. For example, the original price tiers suggested by the Category Manager might be:

    Minimum Amount

    Maximum Amount

    Price

    1

    500

    16

    501

    1000

    14

  4. However, Tom wishes to propose a different structure and so enters the following table:

    Minimum Amount

    Maximum Amount

    Price

    1

    300

    16

    301

    600

    14

    601

    1000

    12

  5. He also enters a response price. Note that, depending on the quantity he is offering to sell, the price must match the price reflected in the price tiers he is suggesting.
  6. Once Tom has finished entering his line information, he clicks Save and proceeds creating his response.

Responding to Cost Factors:Worked Example

When creating a new negotiation, a category manager can add cost factors to any line in the negotiation. Cost factors identify additional costs associated with a line which need to be negotiated in addition to the line price. When you respond to a negotiation that includes cost factors, you can view these specific line details (if allowed by the buyer) and enter the additional information requested.

There are three types of cost factors:

Your final response price for the line will be calculated by adding all the cost factors for the line per unit.

When you review the cost factors for the negotiation line, consider how each is calculated as you prepare your response. The negotiation creator may have also displayed target values for some of the cost factors.

The following scenario shows how Vijay Singh responds to the cost factors on a negotiation line. Vijay works for an import company with business in Asia and South America.

Responding to Cost Factors

  1. Vijay accesses the negotiation and navigates to the Lines tab. He sees an icon in the Required Details column for the line he is responding to. He clicks the icon and accesses the Lines: Edit Line page.
  2. On the Lines: Edit Line page, he sees that there are three cost factors associated with the line. He also notices that there is a target of $100 for the shipping charge.

    Cost Factor

    Pricing Basis

    Shipping

    Fixed amount per line

    Hazardous material charge

    Amount per unit

    Insurance

    Percentage of line price

  3. Vijay enters $200 as the unit price offered, $125 for the Shipping cost factor, $50 for hazardous materials charge, and 20 for Insurance. Since Vijay is offering to sell 100 units, this results in a response price of $6251.65 for the line: (200*100 + 125 + 50*100 + 200*20/100)100
  4. Once he has entered the values for the cost factors, Vijay continues responding to the negotiation.

Responding to Line Attributes: Explained

The negotiation document author may have asked you to respond to certain important attributes of a particular negotiation line. Such attributes do not deal with price or additional costs of a line, but instead they are concerned with characteristics of the line.

Line attributes may be required or optional. If a line attribute is optional, you do not have to respond to it. You must respond to all required attributes.

Line attributes can be used when evaluating responses to a negotiation. Such negotiations are called multiattribute scored negotiations. In multiattribute scored negotiations, all required attributes of type text, number, or date, have a list of acceptable values defined by the negotiation author. When you reply to a required attribute in a multiattribute scored negotiation, you must select your response from the predefined values. You can enter a value for a required attribute of the type URL. If the negotiation is not a multiattribute scored negotiation, there are no lists of acceptable values, and you can enter any value appropriate for the attribute data type.

The negotiation document author may have defined some additional information you can use when deciding on your response to the line attribute. If the author specifies a target value for a line attribute, she may choose to display the target value. Additionally, in a multiattribute scored negotiation where there are required attributes, the allowable values are assigned a numeric score that indicates that value's desirability. The author may choose to display this information as well. You should check any targets and scores that are displayed when planning your response to the attribute.

When ready to reply to the attribute, you select an acceptable value from the lists supplied if required or enter the value directly if allowed.

Manage Negotiation Deliverables

Managing Contract Deliverables: How It Works for Suppliers

Use the Manage Contract Deliverables task to communicate the status of deliverables to the purchasing department and to submit any required documents.

Contract deliverables are created by the buyer as part of the contract negotiations and are listed in the contract terms. Each deliverable includes information about the due date and can automatically notify you before it is due.

If a particular deliverable is due periodically, then the application creates separate instances for each of the due dates. Such repeating deliverables share the same name but have different due dates. For example, a safety report that is due every month after the contract is signed, results in multiple instances of the same deliverable each with the appropriate due date.

The following diagram outlines how you use contract deliverables to communicate with the buyer:

  1. Before the due date or when you receive a notification, you log onto the supplier portal. You can edit any deliverable in the Open or Rejected status.

  2. You can add a comment to the deliverable and attach any required files and submit the deliverable for buyer review.

  3. They buyer reviews your submission and indicates if the deliverable is accepted.

  4. If the buyer rejected the deliverable and it is in the Rejected status, then you can edit it and submit it for approval again.

  5. If the buyer rejects the deliverable and it is past due, the buyer changes the status to Failed to Perform. You cannot edit deliverables with this status.

This diagram outlines the role of buyers and supplier for managing contract deliverables.

Buyer Role in Deliverable Management

The buyer reviews the submission:

Automatic Notifications

If you, the supplier, are the responsible party for the deliverable, then the buyer can set up notifications that inform you automatically:

Manage Negotiation Amendment

Acknowledging an Amendment: Worked Example

Acknowledging a negotiation amendment.

Helen Morgan has already submitted one quote and is monitoring the negotiation using View Active Negotiations. The negotiation is an open RFQ, and she notices that her response is now trailing a lower response. She decides to submit a new response and clicks the Create Response button. She is presented with a warning message saying the negotiation has been changed, and she must first acknowledge the amendments before she can continue placing a new quote.

Acknowledging an Amendment

  1. She clicks Yes to continue.
  2. The Acknowledge Amendments page displays summary information about the changes (amendments) to the existing negotiation document. She views this information on the negotiation document change (in this case, a new negotiation line has been added) and decides whether the change affects her new quote. In this case, she decides that not only will she update her existing quote amount, but that she will also submit a quote on the newly added negotiation line.
  3. After viewing the details about all the amendments, she selects the checkbox stating that she has reviewed and acknowledged the amendments. She clicks Submit.
  4. A confirmation page appears from which she continues placing her new and updated quotes.

Monitor Negotiation

Monitoring an Active Negotiation: Examples

There are several displays and graphs available for monitoring active negotiations. Displays are divided between Overview and Line level displays. Also, you can select two displays to view at the same time.

Note that the monitoring displays are based on price offered only. They do not include additional response details such as cost factor, price break, or line attribute responses. Savings display's require that the Current Price was specified when the negotiation was defined. Blanket and contract purchase agreements negotiations must have an estimated quantity defined to generate certain graphs.

Overview Displays

Line Displays

Extending a Negotiation

Sofia Hernandez, a Category Manager, is monitoring a negotiation that is approaching it's close time. She checks the line level Responses by Time display and sees that there is an increasing number of responses for a particular negotiation line. She decided to extend that line to allow more responses to be accepted.

Adding Participants

Mario Tesca is a collaboration team member for an active negotiation. His collaboration team task is to monitor the behavior of the participating suppliers. He notices that for one of the negotiations he is watching, all of the invited suppliers have responded, but the offers are not as low expected. He decides to invite additional suppliers to the negotiation, hoping the new suppliers will offer lower prices for the negotiation.

Comparing Responses

Jane Nakamura, a negotiation author, notices that a particular supplier is offering much lower prices for several negotiation line groups. she checks the line Savings by Supplier display for that line and verifies that the supplier is offering a significantly lower price for the line. However, when she checks the negotiations Savings by Supplier display, she sees that the overall savings available from this supplier is similar to other suppliers participating in the negotiation.

Manage Negotiation Lifecycle

Changing a Negotiation Owner: Explained

You can change the owner of the negotiation. This includes negotiations of all types and statuses. The new owner must be authorized as a Procurement Agent in the Business Unit that owns the existing negotiation.

The new owner of the negotiation can perform all of the management activities of the previous negotiation owner.

Collaboration Team Updates

The new owner and the owner's manager are added to the collaboration team. The previous owner and manager are kept as regular members of the team.

Notifications and PDF Documents

The new owner receives any notifications generated after the ownership is changed. Also, the new owner appears on any printed copies of the negotiation document.

Monitor Negotiation

Monitoring Active Negotiations: Explained

The Live Monitor feature allows you to graphically view and compare responses to a negotiation in real time. It gives you a single location from which you can generate many in-depth graphic and text displays. You can use these graphs to assist in analyzing your negotiation responses both while a negotiation is active and after it closes.

Live Monitor displays summary information for the negotiation. This includes information on participation levels, potential savings, and participating suppliers. Additionally Live Monitor can generate the several displays at the negotiation and line levels. These displays are updated in real time to provide the most current displays. Based on the real-time information displayed on the monitor page, user can take suitable action on the negotiation directly from the Live Monitor.

Overview and lines level information is displayed in different tabs. Users gets all the information to monitor the negotiation effectively without leaving the page. Highly advanced graph components support zooming and scrolling. User can drill down to a response from the graph. Alerts are visible directly on the elements.

The Live Monitor page automatically refreshes. You have the choice between manually refreshing the page or using the autorefresh option. Change indicator icons highlight the changes between consecutive page refreshes.

Bars representing a response are labeled either by the response number or the supplier name. If there are ties among responses, they are distinguished by time submitted. Suppliers are identified on XY charts by shaped icon. Moving your mouse over a graph point or a chart bad displays the time, amount, supplier and supplier site for that response.

If a negotiation is amended or taken to a new round of responding, response information from the previous version is discarded. Pausing a negotiation does not affect Live Monitor information. For charts that track responses over time, the time the first response is received becomes the leftmost entry in the graph. The right side of the graph is the close date. The time indicators are adjusted and displayed accordingly.

Live Monitor displays are not available for:

Responses by Supplier (Negotiation Level)

The graph shows all responses to the negotiation sorted by response amount (the lowest response value appears first). If the supplier has multiple responses, all responses for that supplier are shown.

Savings by Supplier (Negotiation Level)

The graph displays the cumulative savings available from each supplier participating.

Savings by Time (Negotiation Level)

The chart shows savings from each response plotted against time of response submission . No chart is displayed if current prices were not specified for the negotiation lines.

Unit Prices by Time (Line Level)

This graph shows all the responses to the negotiation. If the supplier has multiple responses, all responses for that supplier are shown, both active and archived. The chart shows the responses for the line, lot, or group line. This is a scatter graph which plots the responses from multiple suppliers in both active and archived status for the selected negotiation line. The data points (responses) pertaining to a single supplier/supplier site combination are connected by line. The Y axis shows the response price offered for that line unit. The X axis shows the time range over which the responses have been submitted. Vertical lines indicate the close date, the current price (if a current price was defined when the negotiation was created), and the target price (if a target price was defined when the negotiation was created).

Responses by Time (Line Level)

This chart shows all responses for the line, lot, or group line. The Y axis shows the response line amount offered for the line. This is calculated as price * quantity. The X axis shows the time range over which the responses have been submitted. Vertical lines indicate the close date, the current price (if a current price was defined when the negotiation was created), and the target price (if a target price was defined when the negotiation was created).

Savings by Supplier (Line Level)

The chart shows all responses to the negotiation. If the supplier has multiple responses, all responses for that supplier are shown. The Y axis shows the savings percentage offered for the line. The X axis shows the time range over which the responses have been submitted. Values can be positive or negative. If no current price was entered when the buyer created the negotiation, an empty graph is displayed with a message that savings could not be calculated.

Unit Price Savings by Supplier (Line Level)

The chart shows the savings for the line, lot, or group line. If the supplier has multiple responses, all responses for that supplier are shown. The Y axis shows the savings percentage offered for the line. The X axis shows the time range over which the bids have been submitted. Values can be positive or negative. If no current price was entered when the buyer created the negotiation, an empty graph is displayed with a message that savings could not be calculated.

Extending Auctions: Examples

When you create a negotiation document, you set a close date/time. This is the time when the application stops accepting responses to the negotiation. However, if the negotiation is an auction, and you find that the volume of bids has increased close to the end time, you can extend the auction to allow for more bids be accepted.

You can extend the auction manually or tell the system to automatically extend the auction by enabling the autoextend feature. You enable autoextend by specifying extension values when you define the negotiation document.

Extending Auctions: Examples

To manually extend an auction, select Extend from the Manage submenu of the Actions menu on the negotiation summary page. In the Extend Negotiation section, you supply a new close date and time and submit your change. All participants are notified of the new close date.

To set up the Autoextend feature, you specify parameter values when defining the negotiation document. These parameters control when the autoextension gets triggered, how many autoextensions are allowed, and the length of each extension.

To update the autoextend parameters for an ongoing auction, select Extend from the Manage submenu of the Actions menu on the negotiation summary page. In the Autoextend section enter the new parameter values and click submit.

Monitoring Supplier Activities: Examples

The Monitor Supplier Activities page displays information on the activities of the suppliers who are participating in the negotiation. This includes the time the last activity was completed. The page also allows you to control a supplier's access to the negotiation..

Monitoring Supplier Activities

InFusion Corporation is currently conducting an auction for supplies and services it will use to set up a new West Coast office. Currently there are responses from three suppliers in the auction, two who were originally invited and a third who found the auction during a search. The Category Manager performs the following actions using the Monitor Activities page:

Maintain Negotiation

Managing Negotiations: Examples

There are many operations you can perform to manage a negotiation while it is active. You perform these tasks by selecting the appropriate suboption from the Manage options of the Actions menu.

Managing a Negotiation's Close Time

There are many actions you can take while a negotiation is active and receiving responses.

Managing Negotiation Owners

You can change the owner of the negotiation. The new owner receives any new notifications. The previous owner and the owner's manager are retained as collaboration team members.

Managing Supplier Contact

You can change the supplier contact after a negotiation is published but before it is closed. The new contact receives any new notifications. The old contact is removed from the negotiation's list of invited suppliers and no longer receives any notifications.

Managing Collaboration Teams

There is a new employee in the procurement department. The Category Manager adds the new employee to the collaboration teams for several ongoing negotiations. She can also manage the access level of the new employee between view-only and full access.

Managing Requirements

You can manage requirements for a negotiation while the negotiation is active. You can add new internal requirements and can change the weighting of external requirements.

Inviting Additional Suppliers

You can invite additional suppliers to an active negotiation. The suppliers are notified and can begin responding just like the suppliers who were included on the original invitation list.

Creating Negotiation Amendments

You can update details of the negotiation while it is active. For example you could add additional negotiation lines or change the award date. Such changes are used to create an amendment to the negotiation. When you create an amendment, participating suppliers are notified. They must access the negotiation, view the amendment, acknowledge the changes, and resubmit their responses.

Inviting Additional Suppliers to an Active Negotiation: Examples

Suppliers can access your negotiation in different ways: suppliers can find your negotiation by searching online; other suppliers you explicitly invited to participate. For example, you can research suppliers from the supplier search page and then specifically invite them by adding them to the supplier invitation list while creating the negotiation document. Then when the negotiation is published, invitation notifications are sent to the suppliers you indicated.

Additionally, you can invite other suppliers after the negotiation has been published or even if the negotiation has been opened for responding. You might want to invite additional suppliers if the response prices are not to your liking, if the responses are not meeting negotiation targets, or if new suppliers contact you and ask to be allowed to participate (there is a response control which you can enable that restricts participation to only those suppliers who have been explicitly invited). When you invite a supplier, you specify a main contact to receive notifications. You can change the main supplier contact at a later time if needed, and you can specify an additional contact if necessary.

If the supplier has multiple sites registered, you can optionally identify a single supplier site to participate in the negotiation. If you specify a supplier site as well as a supplier on the invitation, only contacts registered with that supplier site can view and participate in the negotiation.

Adding an Additional Supplier

Consider you have a public sector RFQ soliciting quotes for the construction of a new public library. When you publish the negotiation, invitations are sent to all construction companies with which you have worked in the past, After reading information on the RFQ, a plumbing company contacts you and asks to participate in the bidding, so you add the company to the negotiation.

Changing a Supplier Contact

You are renegotiating a contract with a company you have dealt with in the past. You update the new negotiation and publish it, but the company contacts you and informs you that the previous negotiation contact has left the company. Using information from the supplier, you update the negotiation to reflect a new contact at the supplier. Note that the original contact is removed from the invitation list and no longer receives any notifications about this negotiation. The new contact receives notifications going forward.

Limiting Participation to a Specific Supplier Site

There may be situations where because of certain tax regulations or supplier organization, a negotiation is only appropriate for a supplier site located in a particular country, or a site that performs a particular type of processing. In these cases, you may want to select a supplier site. Then for that supplier, only contacts registered for that site can participate in the negotiation.

Managing a Collaboration Team: Examples

Collaboration team members have the ability to view and manage a negotiation throughout its life cycle. They can participate in the creation of the draft, the evaluation of the supplier responses, and the awarding of the negotiation. They can also be assigned tasks for completion along the way. You can add new collaboration team members or change the capabilities of existing members as needed during the negotiation.

Updating a Collaboration Team

Consider a collaboration associated with a long-running RFQ. Since this RFQ may be active for a considerable length of time, there are numerous changes that could be appropriate as the negotiation moves from one status to another. Such changes could include:

Managing Requirements: Examples

You can update and manage a negotiation's requirements even after it has been published. This includes updating existing requirements and adding new internal requirements.

Updating an External Requirement

Suppliers can respond to external requirements, so change the weight. Additionally, if the responses have not been as low as anticipated, you may wish to change the knockout score to make more responses eligible for further processing.

Updating Internal Requirements

You can add internal requirements while the negotiation is still active. For example, based on the suppliers who have responded, you may decide to additionally solicit information on supplier history from internal participants and use this extra information when evaluating the supplier responses. Also, if the negotiation is a long-running RFQ with many requirements, the importance of some of the requirements my change in relation to other requirements. You could update the weighting factors for these requirements to reflect their changed importance.

View Negotiation Work Area

Negotiation Calendar: Explained

Different types of negotiations, auctions, RFQs, and RFIs are displayed in different colors. These are the negotiations for which you are either the owner or a collaboration member, and published negotiations which you can access. Draft negotiations are not shown. Amended and Round Complete negotiations are displayed as separate negotiation.

The beginning and ending times displayed depend on the negotiation definition.

Additionally, the calendar shows Task events. Task events are displayed in violet regardless of which type of negotiation they relate to. There are two different kinds of task events.

Detail Information Available

You can obtain detailed information from the calendar display. You can view detailed information about the negotiation by clicking and drilling down from the negotiation entry in the calendar. You can view detailed information for an event by hovering over the event.

Views Available

There are two views available when viewing calendar information. My View shows you the negotiations and negotiation tasks for which you are either the owner or a collaboration member. Company views shows you everything that is in My View as well as the negotiations in the same Procurement BU to which you have either full or view access.

Using the Ongoing Negotiations Section: Explained

The Ongoing Negotiations section of the Negotiation Workarea Overview page provides a quick and efficient way, to access and to work on all ongoing negotiations for which the user is either the owner or a collaboration team member.

Using the Ongoing Negotiations section, users can:

Negotiations in the following statuses are considered as ongoing.

Sealed Negotiations

For negotiations with a sealed response style, additional statuses will be included in the above list relating to locked or sealed context.

Using the Recent Activity Table: Explained

The Recent Activity section of the Negotiation Workarea Overview page gives you the status of your current negotiations and also lists any recent activity the negotiations have undergone. It reminds you of any pending tasks and recommends any appropriate action based on the type of activity. If there is a task recommended, clicking the link takes you to the page where you can perform the task. If you do not have authorization to perform the task, the link is disabled. Pending tasks are removed once the task is completed.

Controlling Activity Display

Only negotiation activities for which you are either the owner or a collaboration team member are displayed. For activities which have not yet been performed, no activity date or performer is displayed. You can control the display of the Recent Activity information by entering a date in the Activity Since field. When you generate the display, only activity since the date you entered is displayed (pending tasks are always displayed).

Award Negotiation

Awarding Negotiations: Explained

There are several ways you can break down your award decisions, depending on the responses you receive and the needs of your negotiation. You can award the negotiation and choose to not create a purchase order; however, any backing requisitions not allocated to purchase order lines are returned to the requisition pool.

Awarding a Negotiation to a Single Supplier

You can easily award all the lines of a negotiation to a single supplier. Awarding at the negotiation level allows you to quickly enter your award specifications since you do not have to enter an explicit award decision for each negotiation line. All the lines on which the supplier quoted/bid are awarded to that supplier. Any lines the supplier did not quote/bid on are not awarded.

Award an Individual Line to a Single Supplier

You can award all the business for a single negotiation line to single supplier. If the supplier offered only a partial quote/bid, the supplier is awarded as many units as were quoted/bid. The remaining units remain unawarded. If there were backing requisitions for the units, the unawarded requisition units are returned to the requisition pool.

Dividing a Negotiation Line Among Multiple Suppliers

If necessary, you can split a line between multiple suppliers. This happens often when none of the responses to a particular line offers to sell the entire quote/bid quantity asked for. For example, if you are looking to buy 100 monitors, and supplier A offers to sell 75 monitors for $300 each, but supplier B offers to sell 60 monitors for $250 each, you might wish to award supplier B the first 60 monitors and award the remaining 40 to supplier A.

Analyzing an RFI by Spreadsheet

Once you have exported the spreadsheet, you can open it in Microsoft Excel (version 2003 or later). Excel automatically formats the display based on the style format that you selected. The spreadsheet will consist of multiple worksheets. The sections below describe the information contained in each worksheet, and the tables in the sections describe each spreadsheet field for that worksheet. As you use the spreadsheets, note that some fields are automatically calculated and updated as you enter values into the spreadsheet. These fields are enclosed by a thick cell border. There are also fields in green which allow you to enter provisional values for requirements and observe the results.

Excel will also automatically format date fields according to your user preferences into the spreadsheet.

Your spreadsheet can have multiple worksheets, depending on how the negotiation was defined (for example, if no attributes were defined, the Attributes Scoring Worksheet does not appear).

Using Spreadsheet Processing

This topic contains the instructions for analyzing responses in RFIs using an XML spreadsheet. Spreadsheet processing speeds up the analysis process by allowing you to analyze your response data offline. The spreadsheet does not include all the negotiation details that can be found either online or in the PDF file.

Line Summary Worksheet

The Line Summary Worksheet displays the information defined for the negotiation lines as well as information for any responses on those lines. The worksheet name will specify the range of lines it contains. The Line Summary has entries for each regular line, lot, group, and group line. It does not contain entries for lot lines. In Line Summary table, for each negotiation line, multiple rows are displayed, one for each response received for the negotiation, even though that response may not have responded to that particular line.

If your negotiation contains many lines, you can control the display by clicking the down arrow at the top left of the lines table. You have several options including sorting the lines by line number or using the Custom option to display specific lines.


Field Name

Meaning

Line

Line number and description as entered by the category manager.

Item

The item number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Item Revision

The item revision of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Supplier

The name of the supplier who responded to this line.

UOM

The unit of measure in which the catagory manager plans to buy the desired item.

Quantity

The number of units the catagory manager wishes to buy.

Response Price

The price the supplier is offering for one unit of the item or service.

Response Quantity

The number of units offered by the supplier

Promised Date

The date by which the supplier promises to deliver the item or service.

Supplier Site

The supplier site which submitted the response.

Response

The number the application assigned this response.

Need-by Date

The date by which the item or service the category manager wants to purchase will be needed at the Location.

Category Name

The category name describing the broad family or category to which this line belongs.

Location

The address where the item or service should be delivered.

Line Type

The type of line being negotiated, for example, goods or amount-based.

Overview Worksheet

The Overview Worksheet shows header information for the negotiation. The Overview Worksheet is the default worksheet that appears when you open the spreadsheet. Supplier responses are displayed in different columns to provide for easy side-by-side comparison.


Field Title

Meaning

Supplier company name and response number

The name of the supplier who response on this negotiation and the number assigned to the response by the application.

Supplier Site

The supplier site from which this response was submitted.

Supplier Contact

Contact who submitted the response.

Response Status

The status of the response.

Shortlist Status

Whether the response is included on the shortlist.

Response Currency

The currency in which the supplier submitted the response (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Conversion Rate

The exchange rate defined between the RFI currency and the response currency (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Total (Response Currency)

The amount of the supplier's response (response price * quantity) in the supplier's currency (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Total (RFI Currency)

The amount of the supplier's response (response price * quantity) in response currency.

Time of Response

The time the response was received by the application.

Response Valid Until

The time the response was received by the application.

Reference Number

Number assigned by the application for this response

Note to Buyer

A text note entered by the supplier.

Attachments Flag

Flag that indicates the presence of an attachment that can be downloaded online.

If Requirements were defined for this negotiation, information on the supplier responses is displayed in the Requirements section. For each Requirement, supplier responses are displayed in side-by-side columns for easy comparison. If scoring criteria is defined, you can click the View Scoring Criteria link to access the Requirements Scoring Worksheet to see the scoring criteria. If the Requirement is internal, there will be no supplier response.

If you are a member of a collaboration team for this negotiation, you may not be able to view and/or update certain information, based on your access level.


Field Title

Meaning

View Scoring Criteria

Link to the Requirement Scoring Worksheet. This link only appears if the category manager defined scoring information for at least one requirement and made the information viewable to suppliers

Title

The name of the Requirement section (gray lines) or the text of the Requirement itself.

Weight

The weight assigned to this Requirement (a section's weight is the sum of its Requirements' weights). If manual or automatic scoring is defined for this Requirement, you can change its weight by entering new numbers into the spreadsheet.

Target Value

The target value defined by the category manager.

Score and Weighted Score (Requirement)

The score and weighted score for this Requirement, based on the supplier response. If the Requirement is manually scored, you can enter scores and the weighted score is calculated automatically.

Score and Weighted Score (Section)

The score or weighted score (if weight is enabled) for this Requirement section, based on the supplier response.

Total Weighted Score

The total score or total weighted score (if weight is enabled) for this supplier's response.

Supplier's Response Value (per Requirement)

The response value entered by the supplier

Lines Worksheet

If your negotiation contains many lines, you can control the display by clicking the down arrow at the top left of the lines table. You have several options including sorting the lines by line number or using the Custom option to display specific lines.


Field Name

Meaning

Line

Line number and description as entered by the category manager

Line Type

The type of line (for example, goods or amount-based)

Item

The Item Number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Item Revision

Item revision of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Category Name

The category name describing the broad family or category to which this line belongs.

Location

The address where the item or service should be delivered.

UOM

The unit of measure for this line.

Target Price

The target response price entered by the category manager.

Current Price

The current price the catagory manager is paying for this item or service. The Current Price value is used by the application to calculate savings amounts.

The response section of the Lines Worksheet displays information on the responses received for this line. The Target Value column displays any target values the category manager has defined. Following the Target Value column, responses for individual suppliers are displayed in side-by-side columns to allow easy comparison.


Field Name

Meaning

Supplier Site

The supplier site that submitted the response.

Response Status

Status of the response.

Requirement Score

The score for this requirement.

Shortlist Status

Whether the response is included on the shortlist.

Response Currency

The currency in which the supplier submitted the response (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Price (Response Currency)

The price offered by the supplier. In a multi-currency negotiation, this value is in the supplier's chosen currency.

Response Price (RFI Currency)

The price offered by the supplier. In a multi-currency negotiation, this value is in the negotiation currency.

Response Quantity

The quantity offered by the supplier's response.

Unit Price Savings

The difference between the current price being paid for the line as defined by the category manager and the price being offered in the supplier's response.

Unit Price Savings Percent

The Unit Price Savings amount converted to a percentage.

Promised Date

The date the supplier commits to delivering the item or service (purchase order only).

Note to Buyer

A text note entered by the supplier.

Attachments Flag

A flag that indicates whether the supplier also submitted an attachment with the response.

Requirements Scoring Worksheet

The Requirements Scoring Worksheet only appears if scoring criteria was defined by the category manager. All Requirements will be displayed, including ones that do not have scoring criteria.


Field Name

Meaning

Title

The name of the requirement.

Acceptable Response Values

The acceptable response values for the attribute as defined by the category manager. For a text attribute, this will be a list of values. For numeric and date type attributes, it can be a set of numbers or one or more ranges of numbers (ranges cannot overlap).

Score

For each acceptable response value, the numeric score assigned to that value by the category manager.

Weight or Maximum Score

If weights are enabled, for each requirement, the numeric value assigned to it by the category manager to reflect that requirement's importance, relative to any other requirements; otherwise, the Maximum Score for the requirements is displayed as defined by the category manager.

Analyzing and Awarding an Auction or RFQ by Spreadsheet

Once you have exported the spreadsheet, you can open it in Microsoft Excel (version 2003 or later). Excel automatically formats the display based on the style format that you selected. The spreadsheet will consist of multiple worksheets. The sections below describe the information contained in each worksheet, and the tables in the sections describe each spreadsheet field for that worksheet. As you use the spreadsheets, note the following:

Excel will also automatically format date fields according to your user preferences into the spreadsheet.

Your spreadsheet can have multiple tabs, depending on the negotiation content. Use the instructions in the table below to complete the spreadsheet. Once you have completed the spreadsheet, import it back to the application.


Worksheet Tabs

Contents

Line Summary Tab

Use this tab to view a summary of all responses to each line in the negotiation including any award decisions made. The Line Summary worksheet displays all groups, group lines, lots, and regular lines. It does not display lot lines

Overview Tab

Use this tab to view the responses' header and requirement information side by side for easy comparison. You can optionally enter or change the scores given to the requirement responses and see how it impacts the Total Weighted Score for the supplier.

Lines Tab

Use this tab to view all the responses' line detail information (for example, cost factors, price breaks, and attributes.) side by side for easy comparison. You can award the lines to the responses and can specify other details like award/agreement quantity and award reason in this worksheet. All the lines defined in the negotiation are displayed except for lot lines.

Requirements Scoring Tab

Use this section to view any Requirements scoring information.

Attributes Scoring Tab

Use this section to view any line attribute scoring information.

Using Spreadsheet Import

This file contains the instructions for analyzing and awarding responses in negotiations using an XML spreadsheet. Spreadsheet import is very useful when dealing with large negotiations ( for example, many requirements or many lines) or complex lines (many attributes) and effectively speeds up the response process by allowing you to enter data into your spreadsheet offline and import the entire spreadsheet in a single operation. You can enter award values in the spreadsheet and import to the system using the Import option. The spreadsheet displays only the necessary information for analyzing and awarding responses. You can easily experiment with different award decisions and see how it impacts the overall savings or other award criteria. The spreadsheet does not include all the negotiation details that can be found either online or in the PDF file.

At the top of each worksheet, there are fields displaying negotiation information such as negotiation type, open date, negotiation currency, as well as supplier information and response details.

Using the Lines Worksheet and the Line Summary Worksheet

The application imports the information entered into the Line Summary Worksheet into the application when processing your award decisions. For straightforward negotiations, for example a simple negotiation, you may wish to enter your award values directly into the Line Summary Worksheet.

For more complex negotiations however, for example large negotiations with many additional aspects (cost factors, line attributes, price breaks), you may wish to use the Lines Worksheet. You can use the Lines Worksheet to perform in-depth analysis using the additional supplier response values. For example, you can perform what-if analysis, side-by-side comparison, and additional award and savings calculations that are only available on the Lines Worksheet. You can enter and adjust award quantities to see the effect on the award total.

As you enter award quantities into the Lines Worksheet, the values are automatically copied up into the Line Summary Worksheet, so once you determine your award quantity amounts using the Lines Worksheet, you do not have to reenter the values in the Line Summary Worksheet for uploading into the application.

Note that if you enter values directly into a field in the Line Summary Worksheet, the formula to copy that field's values from the Lines Worksheet is erased.

Line Summary Worksheet

The Line Summary worksheet displays the information defined for the negotiation lines as well as information for any responses on those lines. The worksheet name will specify the range of lines it contains. The Line Summary has entries for each regular line, lot, group, and group line. It does not contain entries for lot lines. In Line Summary table, for each negotiation line, multiple rows are displayed, one for each response received for the negotiation, even though that response may not have responded to that particular line.

Any award information you enter into the Lines worksheet (see below) is displayed in summary form on the Line Summary worksheet. Alternatively, you can enter award decisions into the Line Summary worksheet, but be aware that if you enter award information in the Line Summary worksheet directly, any award information on the Lines worksheet will not be copied automatically to the Line Summary worksheet for upload.


Field Name

Meaning

Line

Line number and description as entered by the category manager.

Item

The Item Number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Item Revision

The item revision of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Supplier

The name of the supplier who responded to this line.

UOM

The unit of measure in which the category manager plans to buy the desired item.

Quantity

The number of units the category manager wishes to buy.

Response Quantity

The number of units offered by the supplier.

Estimated Quantity

The number of units the category manager wishes to buy.

Estimated Total Amount

Estimated amount of business you expect to pay for this line over the life of this agreement. Values only appear if this line is a service line type.

Award

Valid selections are Yes or No.

For amount-based and fixed price services line types for a purchase order, select Yes or No to indicate an award to this supplier.

For purchase agreements, you can enter a value regardless of line type.

Award Quantity

For goods-based line types, enter number of units awarded to this supplier.

Agreement Quantity

Enter the number of units awarded to this supplier (for goods and rate-based temp labor lines only.

Award Reason

Optional text note to the supplier.

Rank

The rank of this supplier's response among the other responses.

Response Price

The price offered by the supplier for one unit of the item.

Score

If the ranking method for this negotiation is Multiattribute Weighted Scoring, displays the overall line attribute score received by the response.

Promised Date

The date by which the supplier promises to deliver the item or service.

Response Minimum Release Amount

The minimum release amount offered by this supplier.

Supplier Site

The supplier site which submitted the response.

Response

The number the application assigned this response.

Need-by Date

The date by which the item or service the category manager wants to purchase will be needed at the location.

Target Minimum Release Amount

The minimum release amount asked for by the category manager.

Category Name

The category name describing the broad family or category to which this line belongs.

Location

The address where the item or service should be delivered.

Line Type

The type of line being negotiated, for example, goods or amount-based.

Overview Worksheet

This worksheet displays the responses' header and requirement information side by side for easy comparison. You can optionally enter or change the scores given to the requirement responses and see how it impacts the Total Weighted Score for the supplier.


Field Title

Meaning

Supplier company name and Response number

The name of the supplier who submitted a response on this negotiation and the number assigned to the response by the application.

Supplier Site

The supplier site from which this response was submitted.

Supplier Contact

Contact who submitted the response.

Response Status

The status of the response.

Shortlist Status

Whether the response is included on the shortlist.

Response Currency

The currency in which the supplier submitted the response (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Conversion Rate

The exchange rate defined between the negotiation currency and the response currency (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Total (Negotiation Currency)

The amount of the supplier's response (response price * quantity) in the negotiation currency (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Total (Response Currency)

The amount of the supplier's response (response price * quantity) in response currency.

Total Award Amount

The total amount awarded to this supplier (award price * award/agreement quantity) in the response currency. This field automatically updates as you enter award decision information into the Lines worksheet.

Time of response

The time the response was received by the application.

Response Valid Until

The date after which the response is no longer valid.

Reference Number

A number entered by the supplier for internal tracking.

Note to Buyer

A text note entered by the supplier.

Attachments Flag

Flag that indicates the presence of an attachment that can be downloaded online.

If Requirements were defined for this negotiation, information on the supplier responses is displayed in the Requirements section. For each Requirement, supplier responses are displayed in side-by-side columns for easy comparison. If scoring criteria is defined, you can click the View Scoring Criteria link to access the Requirements Scoring Worksheet to see the scoring criteria. If the Requirement is internal, there will be no supplier response.

You can use this section of the Overview worksheet to manipulate scores for manually scored requirements. You can enter different values in the Score and Weighted Score fields for supplier responses and observe the resulting total and weighted score values.

If you are a member of a collaboration team for this negotiation, you may not be able to view and/or update certain information, based on your access level.


Field Title

Meaning

View Scoring Criteria

Link to the Requirement Scoring Worksheet. This link only appears if the category manager defined scoring information for at least one requirement.

Title

The name of the requirement section (gray cells) or the text of the requirement itself.

Weight

The weight assigned to this requirement (a section's weight is the sum of its requirements' weights). If manual or automatic scoring is defined for this requirement, you can change its weight by entering new numbers into the spreadsheet.

Target Value

The target value defined by the category manager.

Score and Weighted Score (Requirement)

The score and weighted score for this requirement, based on the supplier response. If the requirement is manually scored, you can enter scores and the weighted score is calculated automatically.

Score and Weighted Score (Section)

The score or weighted score (if weight is enabled) for this requirement section, based on the supplier response.

Total Weighted Score

The total score or total weighted score (if weight is enabled) for this supplier's response.

Supplier's Response Value (per Requirement)

The response value entered by the supplier

Lines Worksheet

These fields are automatically updated as you process the spreadsheet.


Field Name

Meaning

Number of Awarded Lines

The current number of lines you have awarded.

Number of Awarded Suppliers

The current number of suppliers who have been awarded business.

Total Current Value

The sum of all current amounts. The value of this negotiation based on the price currently being paid for this item by the category manager (total current amount = number of units being awarded * current price).

Total Award Amount

The value currently awarded for this negotiation. This is the sum of all current award totals. This field is automatically updated as you enter award decision information into the spreadsheet.

Total Savings Amount

The current amount you have saved.

Total Savings Percent

The current Total Savings Amount converted into a percentage.

If your negotiation contains many lines, you can control the display by clicking the down arrow at the top left of the lines table. You have several options including sorting the lines by line number or using the Custom option to display specific lines.


Field Name

Meaning

Line

Line number and description as entered by the category manager

Line Type

The type of line (for example, goods or amount-based

Item

The Item Number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Item Revision

Item revision number of the item that the category manager wants to purchase.

Start Price

The starting response price for one unit of the item or service being negotiated. Your response price cannot be higher than the response start price.

Category Name

The category name describing the broad family or category to which this line belongs.

Location

The address where the item or service should be delivered.

UOM

The unit of measure for this line.

Current Price

The current price the category manager is paying for this item or service. The Current Price value is used by the application to calculate savings amounts.

Award Quantity

For purchase order outcomes, the number of units currently awarded to all suppliers for this line. This field is automatically updated as you enter award decision information into the spreadsheet.

Agreement Quantity

For purchase agreement outcomes, the number of units currently awarded to all suppliers for this line. This field is automatically updated as you enter award decision information into the spreadsheet.

Award Amount

The total amount awarded for this line. This amount is calculated automatically as you enter award decisions into the spreadsheet.

Savings Amount

The Savings Amount gained based on the award quantity. .

Savings Percent

The Savings Amount converted into a percentage. This percent is calculated automatically as you enter award decisions into the spreadsheet.

The response section of the Lines Worksheet displays information on the responses received for this line. The Target Value column displays any target values the category manager has defined. Following the Target column, responses for individual suppliers are displayed in side-by-side columns to allow easy comparison.


Field Name

Meaning

Supplier Site

The supplier site that submitted the response.

Response Status

Status of the response.

Shortlist Status

Whether the response is included on the shortlist.

Rank

The rank of this response among other suppliers' responses.

Requirement Score

Total score for the response.

Response Currency

The currency in which the supplier submitted the response (if multiple currency responses are allowed).

Response Price (Response Currency)

The price offered by the supplier, including any cost factors (assuming the entire response quantity is awarded). In a multi-currency negotiation, this value is in the supplier's chosen currency.

Response Price (Negotiation Currency)

The price offered by the supplier, including any cost factors (assuming the entire response quantity is awarded). In a multi-currency negotiation, this value is in the negotiation currency.

Total Score

The score attained by this supplier, based on responses to line attributes.

Response Quantity

The quantity offered by the supplier's response.

Unit Price Savings

The difference between the current price being paid for the line as defined by the category manager and the price being offered in the supplier's response.

Unit Price Savings Percent

The Unit Price Savings amount converted to a percentage.

Response Minimum Release Amount

The minimum monetary amount for a release against this agreement (purchase agreements only) offered by the supplier's response.

Award

For a purchase agreement outcome, select Yes or No to enter an award to this supplier. You can optionally also enter a Agreement Quantity value.

This field is enabled when the outcome is a purchase agreement or when the outcome is a purchase order and line type is fixed price services. Select Yes or No to enter an award for this supplier

Award Quantity

If this is a purchase order negotiation for a Goods-Based line type, enter the quantity of units you are awarding this supplier.

Agreement Quantity

Enter the number of units you are awarding this supplier (for purchase agreements only).

Award Price

The response price adjusted based on the number of units awarded to this supplier. This is only displayed if the line has any quantity-based price tiers and/or fixed-amount cost factors where award price will be dependent on the quantity awarded to the suppliers.

Award Amount

The amount of this supplier's award and is calculated as Award Price * Award Quantity or Agreement Quantity.

Award/Reject Reason

Enter an optional text note to the supplier.

Promised Date

The date the supplier commits to delivering the item or service (purchase orders only).

Note to Buyer

A text note entered by the supplier.

Attachments Flag

A flag that indicates whether the supplier also submitted an attachment for this line with the response.

The cost factors section displays any cost factors the category manager applied to the line. There will always be at least two rows. The first, Line Price (Per Unit), represents the response price offered by the supplier for one unit of the item or service. This row is followed by one or more rows representing the additional cost factors for this line. The values in the Target Value column display the category manager's target value. The values under the supplier columns display the cost factor amounts applied to that supplier.


Field Name

Meaning

Cost Factor Name (Pricing Basis)

The name and pricing basis of cost factor. The first row will always be called Line Price (Per Unit) and represents the price for one unit of the item or service.

Target Value

The target value defined by the category manager. `

Supplier Response(s)

The value offered by the supplier for this cost factor.

If the category manager defined price breaks for this negotiation, the Price Breaks section displays the information defined by the category manager and any supplier responses. The Target Value column displays the price break information specified by the category manager. Following the Target column, there are columns displaying the suppliers' responses side by side for easy comparison. If the category manager allows the price breaks to be modified and suppliers defined any of their own price breaks, there will be rows showing the breaks offered by that supplier.


Field Name

Meaning

Ship to Organization

The organization to which the location is defined.

Location

The location to which this price break applies.

Quantity

The unit quantity to which the price break applies.

Start Date

The date when the price break begins.

End Date

The date the price break expires.

Price

The price offered.

Price Discount Percentage

The discount offered.

The category manager can specify price variations based on quantity. These function similarly to price breaks, but are based on quantity only. In the Quantity-Based Price Tiers section, there is one row for each price tier.


Field Name

Meaning

Minimum Quantity

The minimum quantity for this price tier.

Maximum Quantity

The maximum quantity for this price tier.

Response Price

The supplier's price offered for this price tier.

Requirements Scoring Tab

The Requirements Scoring Worksheet only appears if scoring criteria was defined by the category manager. All Requirements will be displayed, including ones that do not have scoring criteria.


Field Name

Meaning

Title

The name of the requirement.

Acceptable Response Values

The acceptable response values for the attribute as defined by the category manager. For a text attribute, this will be a list of values. For numeric and date type attributes, it can be a set of numbers or one or more ranges of numbers (ranges cannot overlap).

Score

For each acceptable response value, the numeric score assigned to that value by the category manager.

Weight or Maximum Score

If weights are enabled, for each requirement, the numeric value assigned to it by the category manager to reflect that requirement's importance, relative to any other requirements; otherwise, the Maximum Score for the requirements is displayed as defined by the category manager.

Attributes Scoring Tab

The Attributes Scoring tab shows the attribute scoring criteria for all attributes under all lines.


Field Name

Meaning

Attribute

Name of the attribute.

Acceptable Response Values

The acceptable response values for the attribute as defined by the category manager. For a text attribute, this will be a list of values. For numeric and date type attributes, it can be a set of numbers or one or more ranges of numbers (ranges cannot overlap).

Score

For each acceptable attribute value, the numeric score assigned to that value by the category manager.

Weight

If weights are enabled, for each attribute the value assigned to it by the category manager to reflect that attribute's importance, relative to any other attributes for the line.

What happens if I don't award all the negotiation business?

After you have awarded the negotiation, any outstanding requisition demand not allocated to a purchase order line is returned to the requisition pool for future processing.

Award Strategies: Explained

There are several ways you can break down your award decisions, depending on the responses you receive and the needs of your negotiation. You can award the negotiation and choose to not create a purchase order; however, any backing requisitions not allocated to purchase order lines are returned to the requisition pool.

Awarding a Negotiation to a Single Supplier

You can easily award all the lines of a negotiation to a single supplier. Awarding at the negotiation level allows you to quickly enter your award specifications since you do not have to enter an explicit award decision for each negotiation line. All the lines on which the supplier quoted/bid are awarded to that supplier. Any lines the supplier did not quote/bid on are not awarded.

Awarding an Individual Line to a Single Supplier

You can award all the business for a single negotiation line to single supplier. If the supplier offered only a partial quote/bid, the supplier is awarded as many units as were quoted/bid. The remaining units remain unawarded. If there were backing requisitions for the units, the unawarded requisition units are returned to the requisition pool.

Dividing a Negotiation Line Among Multiple Suppliers

If necessary, you can split a line between multiple suppliers. This happens often when none of the responses to a particular line offers to sell the entire quote/bid quantity asked for. For example, if you are looking to buy 100 monitors, and supplier A offers to sell 75 monitors for $300 each, but supplier B offers to sell 60 monitors for $250 each, you might wish to award supplier B the first 60 monitors and award the remaining 40 to supplier A.

Awarding a Negotiation by Line: Worked Example

When you have a negotiation with many supplier responses, you may need to break up the award and give different lines to different suppliers. This is typical when the response rules of the negotiation allow suppliers to select lines on which they respond.

In this example, the catalog manager's company is expanding into a new region of the country and is looking to acquire new suppliers. They have opened the negotiation to allow responses from as many new suppliers as possible. Additionally, the negotiation allows the suppliers to choose which lines they respond to. The catalog manager decides to award the negotiation by line.

Awarding by Line

  1. She accesses the negotiation from the home page.
  2. On the negotiation summary page for the negotiation, from the Actions Menu, she selects Award > Award Negotiation.
  3. On the Award Negotiation page, she clicks the Lines tab. The Award table has an entry for the negotiation's lines, lots and groups.
  4. She highlights the first line she wants to award and clicks Award.
  5. On the Award Line page, she enters the award decision for the line. This includes identifying which supplier(s) are receiving awards and their awarded quantity. She can award an entire line to a single supplier or split a line between multiple suppliers by selecting the suppliers for award and entering the awarded quantity for each (groups awarded at the group level cannot be split although the individual group lines can). . Note that the entire line quantity does not have to be awarded.
  6. Once all the award decisions have been entered, she clicks Save and returns to Award Negotiation page.

Awarding a Negotiation by Response: Worked Example

Vision Enterprise has just finished conducting a negotiation on computer supplies it needs to open a new office in Denver. It has received responses from several suppliers. Some of the suppliers are new but several are incumbent suppliers who have worked with Vision Enterprises for many years.

In this scenario, you need to decide whether it makes sense to award at the line level, or does it make sense to award the entire negotiation to a single supplier.


Supplier

Status

Address

Total Response Amount

Acme Office Supplies

Incumbent

4532 Des Plaines Rd., Schaumberg, IL

$1,350,00

Your Office Supplies

New

8776 Rolling Branch Dr., Kansas KS

$1, 250,00

Rocky Mountain Tech Suppliers

New

4135 Nugget Rd., Denver CO

$1,124,00

Atlantic Tech

Incumbent

235 Silver Maple Rd., Baltimore, MD

$1,325,00

To award this negotiation, you need to perform the following tasks:

View Responses and Make Award Decision

  1. Close the negotiation if it is not already closed.
  2. Unlock the responses (if the negotiation is Blind). If the negotiation is also sealed, you can also unseal the responses to let the suppliers view the responses.
  3. Select Analyze Negotiation to view and analyze the responses. See ??? for more information about analyzing responses and making award decisions.

Enter Award Decision

  1. Access the negotiation.
  2. From the Suppliers tab, you can Score requirements that require manual scoring.
  3. Click Award.
  4. On the Award Responses page, you can view the responses from each supplier and compare then side by side. When you are ready, you select the target supplier and award the negotiation.

Awarding a Negotiation by Splitting Negotiation Lines: Worked Example

Vision Enterprise has just finished conducting a negotiation on computer supplies it needs to open a new office in Denver. It has received responses from several suppliers. Some of the suppliers are new but several are incumbent suppliers who have worked with Vision Enterprises for many years. The ranges of prices offered in the responses varies widely in some cases, and additionally, since the negotiation did not require total unit amount to be offered , several suppliers offered to sell only partial line amounts.

In this scenario, since the offers for the lines have varied so widely, you have decided to award the negotiation to multiple suppliers. To do that, you must award each line individually, and must decide how to award each line among the suppliers who have responded. The table below shows the prices offered for an office deck. The negotiation document asked for the supplier to sell 10 desks at $250 each.


Desks

Negotiation Document

Acme Office Supplies

Rocky Mountain Tech Suppliers

Atlantic Tech

Target Price (per unit)

$250

$300

$325

$200

Target Quantity

10

7

8

5

Use the Award by Line option to split this line.

Splitting a Line Among Multiple Suppliers

  1. Access the negotiation.
  2. Close the negotiation if it is open.
  3. On the negotiation summary page, select the Award from the Actions menu.
  4. On the Award Negotiation page, select the Lines tab.
  5. Select the line, group, group line, lot, or lot line, and click Award. (Note that group lines cannot be award individually.)
  6. On the Award Line page, the negotiation line targets are shown and all of the responses to that line are displayed horizontally for ease of comparison. When evaluating responses, also note that some responses may have notes or attachments.
  7. When you have made your award decisions, enter the number of awarded units in the Award Quantity for each response. In this example, you would award five units (desks) to Atlantic Tech for $200 each, and the remaining five units to Acme Office Supplies.

Awarding a Negotiation to Multiple Suppliers: Worked Example

Vision Enterprise has just finished conducting a negotiation on computer supplies it needs to open a new office in Denver. It has received responses from several suppliers. Some of the suppliers are new but several are incumbent suppliers who have worked with Vision Enterprises for many years. The ranges of prices offer in the responses varies widely in some cases, and additionally, since the negotiation did not require total unit amount to be offered , several suppliers offered to sell only partial line amounts.

In this scenario, since the offers for the lines have varied so widely, you have decided to award the negotiation to multiple suppliers. To do that, you must award each line individually, and must decide how to award each line among the suppliers who have responded. The table below shows the prices offered for an office deck. The negotiation document asked for the supplier to sell 10 desks at $250 each.


Negotiation Line

Negotiation Document Target Line Total

Acme Office Supplies

Rocky Mountain Tech Suppliers

Atlantic Tech

Line One

Chairs

$3000

$2700

$3250

$23100

Line Two

Filing Cabinets

$750

$800

$750

$1000

Line Three (Group)

Reception Area Furniture

$2000

$3000

$2100

$1900

Use the Award by Line option to award a specific line to a specific supplier..

Awarding Different Lines to Different Suppliers

  1. Access the negotiation.
  2. Close the negotiation if it is open.
  3. Select the Award from the Activities menu.
  4. On the Award Negotiation page, select the Lines tab.
  5. Select the first line, group, lot, or lot line, and click Award. (Note that group lines cannot be award individually.)
  6. On the Award Line page, the negotiation line targets are shown and all of the responses to that line are displayed horizontally for ease of comparison. When evaluating responses, also note that some responses may have notes or attachments.
  7. Enter the award quantity in the Award Quantity for the selected supplier. Leave Award Quantity empty for the remaining suppliers' responses.
  8. Save your award decision. Return to the Award Line page and continue with the remaining lines.

Automatic Award Recommendation: How It Is Calculated

You can have the system generate a default award recommendation that you can accept and use as the basis of your award decision. The automatic award recommendation is a recommendation only. To use it, you must accept it and complete the award process.

How the Automatic Award Recommendation Is Calculated

The automatic award recommendation is based on price offered in the supplier responses (if Multiattribute Scoring is in effect, the recommendation is based on price/score). No additional response adjustments such as cost factors, manually scored header requirements, or price breaks are considered.

For each line, the system awards the full quantity from the best supplier response to that line. If the line quantity being asked in the negotiation is still not full, the system awards the quantity from the next best supplier responses and so on until the line quantity is satisfied.

Using the Automatic Award Recommendation: Worked Example

While suppliers are responding to the negotiation, the application maintains a suggested award recommendation. You can view this recommendation while the negotiation is open and suppliers are still responding. After you have closed the negotiation to responding, you can have the application generate the automatic award recommendation. This recommendation considers response price and responses to any weighted and/or automatically scored requirements or line attributes. It does not consider the effects of any supplier responses to any cost factors, or any price breaks or tiers.

Once the automatic award recommendation is generated, you can close the negotiation and accept it to use for your award decisions.

Using the Automatic Award Recommendation

  1. Access the negotiation. From the Actions menu on the negotiations summary page, select the Award option.
  2. On the Award Negotiation page, select View Automatic Award Recommendation from the Actions menu.
  3. Review the details of the recommended award decision. The Automatic Award Recommendation page shows which supplier(s) were chosen by the application, how many units were awarded to each, and the savings obtained. .
  4. If you are satisfied with the application's recommended award decisions, click Accept Recommendation.
  5. When you are returned to the Award Negotiation page, you can click Complete Award to continue and generate purchasing documents.

Cost Factors in Awards: How They're Calculated

When comparing competing supplier responses, any fixed-amount cost factors must be adjusted according to the quantity the supplier response is offering. This results in a per-unit price that reflects both the offer price and the effects of all cost factors, allowing you to more effectively evaluate competing responses.

How Cost Factors in Awards are Calculated

Any fixed amount cost factor(s) are added together and the total is divided by the number of units being offered by the supplier. That value is then added to the price being offered by the supplier together with other percentage of line and per-unit cost factors.

Equation: ( line price + (line price * % of line price cost factor(s) ) + per-unit cost factor) + (fixed amount cost factor / quantity offered by supplier)

Allocate Award to Requisition Lines

Default Requisition Allocation: How It's Calculated

If your negotiation line has backing requisitions, the application generates a default allocation to consume any backing requisitions as efficiently as possible. You can accept this default allocation or modify it as you see fit.

How the Default Requisition Allocation Is Calculated

The requisitions with the earliest Need-by Date are allocated first, followed by requisitions with increasingly later Need-by Dates until the required number of units for the line is allocated. If there are requisitions with the same Need-by Date, the requisition with the earlier creation date is allocated first.

For example, assuming a negotiation with a standard purchase order outcome for 2000 widgets, given the requisition information shown below, the three requisitions would be allocated in the order shown in the table.


Requisition Number

Need By Date

Creation Date

Quantity

3257894

11/1/2010

6/15/2010

1200

2357198

11/1/2010

6/30/2010

300

3487230

11/30/2010

6/14/2010

500

Suppliers are awarded based first on promised date (standard purchase order negotiations only), then quantity, then price, then response number. For fixed-price services, the first awarded supplier response is allocated. For example, given the response information shown below, the four supplier responses would be allocated as shown (note that the last response is not awarded or allocated its full offer quantity because the negotiation is only for 2000 units).


Supplier Name

Response Number

Promised Date

Quantity

Price

Acme Distributors

57784

8/1/2010

500

$25

Office Supplies Inc.

46798

8/1/2010

500

$75

Midwest Supplies

34189

8/1/2010

250

$20

Premier Supply Company

88346

10/3/2010

1000 (750 awarded/allocated)

$15

You can modify the default allocation as needed. Any unconsumed requisition demand is returned to the requisition pool and becomes available for other negotiations.

Modifying the Default Requisition Allocation: Worked Example

Once you generate the purchase order document, any backing requisitions will be allocated by default. You can accept this allocation or modify it as necessary.

To modify the default allocation, you should first view the default allocation. If the default allocation does not reflect your award decision, you can easily modify it.

Viewing the Allocation

  1. On the Create Purchasing Documents page, click View Allocations.
  2. On the Line Allocations page, the Lines with Requisitions tab shows the default allocations for each line.

Modify the Allocation

  1. On the Line Allocations page, highlight the line whose allocations you wish to modify, and click the Edit icon.
  2. The Edit Allocation page displays the current allocations. The Requisition Lines table shows the requisition lines that are currently allocated to the negotiation line. The Supplier Allocation Details table displays information on the suppliers who have been awarded units from the negotiation line and how many requisition units they have been allocated.
  3. To modify the allocation, enter the appropriate numbers in the Allocation Quantity column in the Requisition Lines table.
  4. When finished, click Save.

Complete Award

Completing Your Award: Explained

Once you have entered and saved your award decisions, you can complete the award. Completing the award process finalizes the award decisions. Once you complete the award process, you cannot change your award decisions.

When you choose to complete your award, a popup menu appears. Depending on the options you choose, you can

Additionally, you can optionally choose to send notifications to awarded suppliers immediately.

Generate Purchasing Document

Creating Supplier Purchase Documents: Explained

Purchase documents are created for every supplier who is awarded business in the negotiation. The application creates purchase documents according to the following logic.

For a given awarded supplier, the purchasing documents are created based on the Requisitioning BU value on the Awarded Lines page. In addition, tax attributes apply whenever the lines have backing requisition lines in the negotiation. For every unique combination of Requisitioning BU, taxation country and document fiscal classification, one purchase document is created. All lines that fall into this classification will be grouped into the same purchasing document.

Additional information about the negotiation such as responses to negotiation requirements, cost factors and line attributes are passed to the application as attachments.

Generating Purchase Documents: Points to Consider

When you generate purchasing documents, consider the following parameters to control how the application processes the purchasing document.

Additionally, if this is a purchase agreement, there are other parameters available by editing the agreement header.

Required Acknowledgement

This column specifies whether and what type of supplier acknowledgement the buyer requires. The options are:

Acknowledgement Within

This column allows you to specify the number of days within which the supplier must acknowledge receipt of the purchasing document. A value is required here unless Required Acknowledgement is None.

Initiate Approval

If you have an approval procedure enabled in the purchasing application, checking this box initiates the document approval action. Notifications are sent to all suppliers who have been awarded any business.

Agreement Start and End Dates

For purchasing agreements only, the beginning and end dates of the agreement.

Requisitioning BUs

For purchase agreements only, the requisitioning BUs which can create releases against this purchase agreement.

Automatic Processes

For purchase agreements only, the procurement automatic processes consist of the settings to be enabled and the processes to be run while generating this purchase agreement or processing releases against the agreement. Also, automatic processes control retroactive pricing options..

Evaluate Negotiation

Score Supplier Responses

Scoring Negotiation Requirement Responses: Explained

You can score a supplier's response to a negotiation requirement if the requirement was created with a scoring method of manual. Requirements can also be scored automatically by the application (or not require any scoring). If the requirement is scored, supplier responses are assigned numeric values (either manually or automatically). The score values interact with the weights assigned to the requirement. You can use the weighted scores to compare responses when making award decisions. You must first close the negotiation before you can score requirements.

To obtain the weighted score, the score is divided by the value for Maximum Score, and the result is multiplied by the weight of the requirement.

Scoring Requirements: Worked Example

Using scoring requirements in the negotiation.

June Tsai is awarding business in a negotiation. One goal of the negotiation is to identify possible new suppliers for several items. There are several requirements in the negotiation to solicit information about new companies who responded. The negotiation has ended, and June has closed it for responding. She continues evaluating the responses to make her award decisions. The first two requirements deal with company information.


Requirement

Type

Maximum Score

Weight

Mission Statement

Text

10

40

Years in business

Number

20

60

Scoring Requirements

  1. After closing the negotiation, June selects the View Response History suboption of the Award option from the Actions menu.
  2. On the View Response History, she clicks the link in the Response column for the first response.
  3. On the Response page, she selects the Enter Scores option from the Actions menu.
  4. She views the supplier's response to the requirements. She clicks in the first requirement's cell in the Score column. This opens the cell for entry.
  5. She enters her score for the first requirement response, and then continues to the second requirement. In this scenario, she entered 9 for the first requirement and 16 for the second. Once she has entered her scores for the requirements, the values for the two requirements are:

    Requirement

    Type

    Maximum Score

    Weight

    Score Entered

    Weighted Score

    Mission statement

    Text

    10

    40

    9

    36

    Years in business

    Number

    20

    60

    16

    48

Analyze Negotiation Response

Analyzing Supplier Responses: Examples

There are several ways you can analyze supplier responses to your negotiation. You can view and analyze responses both while the negotiation is open and receiving responses, and after the negotiation ends. You can also view the Automatic Award Recommendation generated by the application.

The Monitor Negotiation page provides you with a centralized location to obtain information about all the responding suppliers and their responses while the negotiation is still open. You can obtain information at the response level, or drill down to the line level. Using the displays available, you can easily view competing responses and spot any trends over time. Also, the Response History page lets you view the responses in the order they were received. If appropriate, you can disqualify any responses from the Response History page.

Once you have closed the negotiation, there are many tools and displays available to you to support the analysis of responses.

Scenario

Office Supplies, Inc. is conducting an RFQ on several new items they wish to add to their inventory. Mary Wang, the buyer responsible for awarding the negotiation has been checking the responses coming in and is now ready to enter her award decisions

Mary closes the negotiation. She sees there are many responses, so she and other collaboration team members view and score any manually scored requirements.

She applies the knockout criteria. This removes most of the supplier responses. She views the list of remaining suppliers and decides that no more suppliers need to be removed, so she does not change any of the remaining suppliers' shortlist status.

For the remaining suppliers, she generates the supplier level displays by selecting the suppliers and clicking Award. She sees that there is a group of responses that offer substantial savings, but that they are very close in price. She decides to split the award among the suppliers, so she generates the line level displays to decide the best amount to award to each supplier.