The Mission
Let's get started by creating your first request. We will walk you through each step in order to get you from creating a request through awarding the bid.
Creating the Request
In order to create the request you'll just need a few quick things:
- A meaningful title
- A description for suppliers
- A deadline for when the request will close
At this point, it's a good time to put some process in place. Setting up common guidelines for titles and descriptions will help you and your suppliers easily understand what the quote is for and when it is due. For example:
A good title structure might be: What you are manufacturing / Item Name | Deadline yyyymmdd
This could translate to:
- Crochet Giraffe / 50g Yarn | Close Date 2022Feb22 (for an item with 1 part - 50g of yarn)
- Crochet Giraffe / All parts | Close Date 2022Mar01 (for an item where you will have yarn, eyes, stuffing...)
A good description should provide your supplier with enough information to quickly determine what is being asked for.
This could translate to:
- 200g Yarn color 123, Google eyes - 20 pieces, 100g fiber stuffing (organic) needed for immediate fulfillment. Late deliveries will dampen relationship. Delivery needed by 2022Apr01.
Add Your Contacts
By this point, you should have contacts entered into the system. If you do not, just go back to the Suppliers tab and add additional companies and contacts. If you do have your contacts already in place, just add them to the draft.
Add Items to Your Request
Using your templates, you can enter the necessary items for your request. Be sure that you have finalized the items that you are requesting bids for. Once an RFQ has been published you can make edits to the item information, however, you can not add or delete items once an RFQ has been published.
Show me how to add items to my request
Add Documents to Your Request
Documents can help your suppliers understand what the items in your request will be used for, specifics on shipping, legal disclaimers, really, any item in a document form. You can also choose to not add any documents, this is an optional section.
Show me how to add documents to my request
Add FAQs to Your Request
If there are questions that come up over and over again, save time by creating FAQs for your suppliers. You can quickly answer supplier questions before they come through by providing all of the information at the start of the bidding process.
Show me how to add FAQs to my request
Add Q&As to Your Request
If there are questions that you need an answer to prior to making a determination on awarding the bid, this is a great way to keep all the information in one place. You can ask one or all buyers. Answers are only visible to the buyer and not to other suppliers. Suppliers can also use this method to ask a question of the buyer. If there is a great question asked and answered, the buyer can add this to the FAQs section.
Show me how to add Q&As to my request
Time to Publish and Send
Once you are done adding the above sections, all that is left to do is publish and send the requests out to be bided on. This cannot be undone, so please be sure to double check your items prior to sending. If your supplier has bid before they will be able to go into their existing account to bid. If they are new to SourceDay they will also be sent additional information on how to sign into their account for the first time.
Show me how to publish my request and send my invitations to bid
In This Series
- Getting Started with RFQ for Buyers
- Creating Your Template
- Help Us Get to Know You
- Adding Your Suppliers
- Creating Your First Request for Quote - You are here