iquotes Supplier s Quick Guide isoco

Transcription

1 iquotes Supplier s Quick Guide isoco I

2 Table of Contents Introduction...I 1 General issues... 1 Introduction... 1 iquotes Users... 2 Identification... 2 Data modification... 3 Password reminder or change screen... 4 iquotes work areas... 5 Summary... 5 Inbox... 6 Negotiations console... 7 Common Operations... 8 Update displayed data... 8 Select / Unselect all the listed items... 9 Sorting of data Event filtering Sealed Bids...13 Introduction Bid Console Query formulation and bid submittal Bid formulation SBN follow-up Bid modification Visualize previous phases data End of negotiations isoco II

3 Introduction Purchasing processes start by identifying the purchasing needs and conclude with the payment of the corresponding invoice to the supplier. In between, other sub-processes take place, such as identification and homologation of the suppliers that can provide such goods or services, requests for quotations, condition negotiation, purchasing agreements, order formulation, delivery of goods and services, and invoicing. Not all the purchases undergo all these stages, but all of them are required for certain types of purchases. New technologies allow us to make easier the complete process. With this tool Aceralia looks for improving the communication with their suppliers, replacing the traditional way of negotiation by a Supplier s Portal, electronic negotiation. isoco Quotes (hereinafer iquotes) is a tool that supports the entire negotiation process, including the areas relating to requests for quotations, negotiation and decision-taking optimisation. Thanks to its design, iquotes is a user-friendly and flexible tool that can be adapted to any of the purchasing flows used by a purchasing organization or any of its members. isoco I

4 Introduction iquotes comprises three different areas: administrator, buyer and supplier. The administrator area includes the configuration options for the products or services to be negotiated. In the buyer area, the buyer can launch requests for quotations and negotiate with suppliers. The supplier area is used to negotiate with the buyer in negotiation events. isoco II

5 1 General issues Introduction iquotes is a tool that supports electronic negotiations between buyers and suppliers. Although the fundamentals of traditional and electronic negotiations are the same, the latter represent an improvement in the communication between both parties. Listed below are the various types of negotiations supported by this tool: RFX (RFI: request for information, RFP: request for proposal, RFQ: request for quotation).- The buyer invites a number of suppliers to present their quotations for certain goods or services. At any point along the process, the buyer is able to see the quotations received. SBN (Sealed Bid Negotiation).- In this negotiation mode, a date for disclosing quotations (bids) is defined. Only then will the buyer be able to evaluate their contents and, beyond that date, suppliers are not allowed to submit any further quotations. This is the negotiation isoco 1

6 1 General Issues flow most widely used for the purchase of industrial goods and services. Structured negotiation.- Here, buyers and suppliers mutually exchange their offers and counter-offers. In the previous two types, the buyer may decide to start a re-negotiation or a 2nd round of offers. AUC (Auction).- The tool also can also organize auctions, negotiations that are limited to a short period in time during which all suppliers must submit their bids (Non-usable functionality). iquotes Users In iquotes, three different user profiles have been defined: Administrator Buyer Supplier The administrator is responsible for the management of the purchasing organizations and the corresponding users (buyers and suppliers), as well as for the configuration of templates where negotiation features are defined. The buyer is the user that defines and launches a negotiation process, receives quotations and makes counter-offers, and accepts or declines the offers received from the various suppliers, thus managing the negotiation flow at any process stage. The supplier is the user that receives the requests for quotations, places the corresponding offers and responds to the counter-offers submitted by the buyer. Identification To access the Suppliers Website, please enter: isoco 2

7 1 General Issues On the welcome page, visitors shall find information on the various Purchasing Organizations that will use the tool, as well as on the conditions that preside over the commercial relationships held with them. In Contáctenos ( Contact us ), you will find a telephone number and an e- mail to contact the Purchasing Organization you desire. A user name and password are required to log on to iquotes, either as administrator, buyer or supplier. To start a session in the iquotes application, please enter your user name and password in the identification section that appears in the site s home page (Figure 1-1) and click on [Send]. Figure 1-1 Identification screen Data modification Changes to some data can be made through the user s work area (interface language, address and others). To view your personal data and make the modifications you are allowed to, please click on [Change your personal data]. Under your personal data screen (Figure 2-2), you can modify the address where you want to receive the personal messages originated by the isoco 3

8 1 General Issues tool, i.e., notification in case of missing password. To change the , edit the field. Moreover, you can also select the language preferences, if you want to have the screens in English, you have to select English here. Figure 2-2 Personal data modification You can also change some data of your purchasing organization. To do so, click on. Go to your organization s data screen (Figure 2-3) and make the necessary modifications (only those fields which you are allowed to modify will be editable). You may select the communication channel with the portal. In case you do not want to receive the notifications on the changes in the negotiations via , select Ninguno [None] in the channel field. Any other modifications to your data or to those of your organization must be notified to the buyer or to the contact person in the company (as it has been the usual practice until now). For example, you can receive the s in English, if you ask us to change the language of your organization. Figure 2-3 Modification of an organization s data Password reminder or change screen If you don t remember your password, you may request it again by clicking on Olvidó su contraseña? [Have your forgotten your password?] on the identification screen (Figure 1-2), and follow the instructions that will appear. isoco 4

9 1 General Issues Figure 1-2 Access to the password reminder from the identification screen Furthermore, as an iquotes registered user, you may change your password at any time by clicking on in your work area (Figure 1-3). Figure 1-3 Password modification from the work area A data form will be displayed where you will be requested to enter the old and the new password. After filling in both fields, the change in the password will be confirmed in a pop-up message. iquotes work areas In the supplier s work area, the initial screen of the iquotes tool includes three different sections: Summary, Inbox and access to the Negotiations Console. Summary In the summary section, the user can visualize the number of negotiations that are in progress together with their respective status at a certain time. For instance, in the summary shown in Figure 1-4, the supplier has 64 sealed bids in the following statuses: On Course (14), Suspended (1), Finalized (7), Closed (37) and Cancelled (5). isoco 5

10 1 General Issues Figure 1-4 Summary of negotiations for a given supplier For further information on the different statuses of a negotiation process, please consult the section Negotiation monitoring at the end of this document. Inbox On the main screen of their respective work areas, buyers and suppliers can see the messages or announcements whereby they are notified the changes or actions that occur along the negotiation (Figure 1-5). Figure 1-5 Supplier inbox By clicking on the message, the user has direct access to the event to which it refers. For instance, if you select Invitación a Licitación: L A de Aceralia Asturias. Grupo Arcelor [Bidding process has started: L A from Aceralia Asturias - Arcelor Group], you will access the screen where you can submit your bids for this RFQ. To delete messages from the inbox, select them and click on. In addition to the inbox messages, you will be notified the most relevant issues concerning negotiations via . isoco 6

11 1 General Issues Negotiations console The Console (Figure 1-6) is the work area where you can consult the details concerning the events and negotiations in which you are participating as well as placing your offers. To access the console, click on the each event, the following data will be shown: icon on the initial screen. For Code: Number code that is automatically assigned to each event. Click on it if you want more details on an event. Name: Name assigned by the buyer to bidding process when it was created. Client: Name of the purchasing company that has sent the negotiation. Type: Type of event: RFQ (Request for Quotation), AUC (Auction) o SBN (Sealed Bid Negotiation). State: Icon representing the current status of the event. Depending on the status, some actions will be allowed or not. A list with the different statuses has been included at the end of this document,. Lines: Number of lines or lots that form the negotiation, i.e., the number of items. When the supplier places an bid, a tick mark will appear whereby indicating that an answer has been provided for this negotiation. Start: Date and time at which the negotiation was started. End: Date and time at which the negotiation concluded or is likely to conclude. Actions: Operations allowed for this event. Such actions are executed by clicking of the associated icons and vary according the status of the negotiation process. The icons corresponding to possible operations are listed in further sections of this document. isoco 7

12 1 General Issues Figure 1-6 Supplier console Common Operations In all the screens displayed while working with iquotes, the user will always be able to execute certain operations, regardless of the information there contained. These operations are the following: Update displayed data As soon as any change occurs in the events in which the user participates, this will be notified to the user by a flashing exclamation mark to the left of the icon: In such a case, the user can click on to refresh the screen and display any changes that may have occurred. Thus, the user can be sure, at any time, that the information which is being shown is updated. isoco 8

13 1 General Issues Figure 1-7 Data updating Select / Unselect all the listed items On some occasions, the user may only want to select part of the listed items, but if you want to select all of them, you can do so by clicking on the header of the column identified as Select. If all the rows have been selected, you can unselect them by clicking again on the same link: Figure 1-8 Select / Unselect all the items isoco 9

14 1 General Issues Sorting of data Data are usually represented in rows and columns. These can be sorted by increasing or decreasing order, based on the parameter of one of the columns. To do so, you just need to click on the header of the column selected: Figure 1-9 Sorting of data Event filtering To improve event management, a filter can be used so that only those events meeting certain criteria are displayed. To filter the events shown on the console, follow these steps: 1. Click on on the console screen. 2. In the following screen, enter the event filtering criteria (Figure 1-10) and click on. Figure 1-10 Event filtering criteria isoco 10

15 1 General Issues The above figure shows the fields that can be used for filtering negotiations: Code: Number code that is automatically assigned to each event. Normally, this field is not used. Name: Name assigned by the buyer to bidding process when it was created. Material: Description of the goods Type: Type of event: RFQ (Request for Quotation), AUC (Auction) o SBN (Sealed Bid Negotiation), although you can also select all types ( Todos ). Usually, SBN would be selected. State: Icon representing the current status of the event. At end of this document, a list with the different statuses has been included. Lines: Number of lines or lots that form the negotiation, i.e., the number of items. Begin: Date and time at which the negotiation was started. End: Date and time at which the negotiation concluded or is likely to conclude. 3. Back to the console screen, and after determining the filter configuration, click on. At that time, only the events meeting the criteria defined for the filter will be displayed. By clicking on, all the events will be displayed. isoco 11

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17 2 Sealed Bids Introduction In this type of negotiation, offers are accepted until the buyer decides to Disclose the bids or conclude the negotiation event. Suppliers will receive via the buyers invitations to participate in a sealed bid negotiation or bidding process. Moreover, a message will also be sent to the Inbox in the Supplier Portal. To obtain more information on the negotiation and, subsequently, participate in it, you can click on the notification received in your Inbox or go to the supplier s Console, where all the events in which you are participating are listed. In the type column, SBN corresponds to Sealed Bid Negotiations. isoco 13

18 2 Sealed Bids Bid Console Clicking on the participating., you can view the bid negotiations in which you are Each bidding negotiation consists in a set of lines or lots, that are displayed by clicking on the of each SBN. You just have to click on to hide the line detail display, Query formulation and bid submittal To submit a bid in response to any of the SBN s to which you have been invited, follow the procedure below: 1. On the console, identify the SBN for which you want to submit your bid. In the column State you can see wich is the state of the negotiation, if it is waiting for offers or Closed..., if you place your mouse on the icon you can read the state. 2. Click on to view the bid lines. Placing your mouse on the material s description you can read the complete text. 3. Click on. 4. In the screen that will be displayed, a tab for entering bids is associated to each of the SBN lines, in it you can see the quantity needed in each case. 5. Enter your bid in all the tabs, as shown in the screenshots of Figure 2-1. Go to the next section in this manual ( Bid formulation ) to obtain more details on how to fill in the screen fields to formulate your bid. 6. After completing the data in all the SBN tabs, you can submit your bid by clicking on. 7. Check that no error has occurred in any of the SBN tabs. A message button reading Verify will indicate the existence errors and, when selected, information on the type of error will be displayed. In case of errors, click on the corresponding field, make the necessary corrections and submit your bid again. 8. You can Save offer, instead of sending it, if you prefer to work with it. However if you send it, it is the same action, you save your offer too, and the buyer will not see it until the moment he decides to open the offers. isoco 14

19 2 Sealed Bids 9. Select the icon to the right of each SBN to print either the request for quotations and the bid, as appropriate. isoco 15

20 2 Sealed Bids Figure 2-1 Bid formulation through SBN tabs To modify your bid, you just have to follow the above procedure. The buyer will only take into consideration last offer submitted, as it will be the one shown when disclosing the bids. You can submit your bids while the SBN is active. Please check the closing date and time. Bid formulation You can access each of the bid items through the tabs in the bid submittal screen, which also includes a header section containing general data on the SBN. On top of the screen, general SBN information is displayed on the tabs: negotiation name, purchasing organization, the buyer s data, attached documents that the buyer may desire to send, start date and foreseen closing date. If the buyer has made some comment, you could read it here. In the Header tab, a field has been included to enter the user s bid code and, when the buyer requires so, to specify the amounts corresponding to concepts such as freights, packaging, You could include a comment or attach a file about the negotiation in this area. isoco 16

21 2 Sealed Bids For each log, the supplier can view the description of the material or service for which a bid is requested, and the corresponding volume. In the price field, only prices per unit will be expressed. In some cases you will be allowed to bid in a unit different from the requested unit, then, the conversion factor must be indicated. When the language selected is Spanish, the price must be introduced by using comma (,) to differentiate decimals. In order to separate thousands, point (.) can be used, although it is not necessary. As an example of this, price format can be seen on the bid screen. When the language selected is English, the price must be introduced by using points (.) to separate decimals. In order to separate thousands, commas (.) can be used, although it is not necessary. Furthermore, the material delivery term must be specified, which will start at the reception of the order. If you do not wish to bid for a given item, put a mark in the tickbox Decline offer for this line. Moreover, you can formulate your remarks or comments for each item, if necessary. In the same way, the buyer can transmit his/her comments and send the files s/he deems necessary, such as inspection conditions, safety datasheets, technical specifications, You can decline to participate in a certain negotiation. To do so, please click on the icon on the SBN screen and confirm that you decline to participate. After submitting your bid, a mark will appear in the line fields in the console indicating whether an answer has been provided for a given SBN. isoco 17

22 2 Sealed Bids SBN follow-up Bid modification If you wish to modify your bid, access the SBN lines and create a new one as if it were the first one for these lines. The buyer will consider the last bid received for each bid line as the valid one, as previous bids are not shown to the buyer. Visualize previous phases data When a negotiation involves several stages (when phase changes have been done) it will be possible to visualize the data of every phase with the help of and. Once your mouse cursor is over them, all the data of the negotiation shown in the console and in the different actions available will correspond to the phase itself. If the data of a negotiation shown are not the ones corresponding to the last phase (it has been surfed to previous stages) the negotiation state will always be Transitioned. End of negotiations The negotiation concludes when the buyer decides to disclose the bids, i.e., see the bids that have been submitted. At that moment, the negotiation status will change to Negotiation finished, represented by the icon and no further bids or modifications will be allowed. You can only make queries concerning the data for the submitted bids (if any) and wait until receiving notification on the outcome of the negotiation. As a result of the negotiations, the following situations may occur: Winning bid isoco 18

23 2 Sealed Bids You can check in your console if any of your proposals is the winning bid. In this case, its status will change to Winner, indicated by the icon. The fact that a bid appears as winning bid in this portal does not imply any binding obligation for the parties. This means that the winning supplier will not be awarded the contract until a formal order is received through the usual channels for the goods or services concerned. Non-winning bid You can check in your console whether any of your bids is not successful. The non-winning line will change its status to Non-winner, indicated by the icon. Furthermore, if you place the mouse on the status icon, the reasons for not winning the bid will be displayed, provided that the buyer wishes to communicate them. SBN re-negotiation When an SBN has been concluded or suspended, the buyer can start the process again by a re-negotiation or by going to the following negotiation phase. In this case, the supplier may participate in it as if it were a new SBN, although the initial data used would be those of the last bid. Additionally, your offers may take up other statuses. These are represented by the series of icons listed below. Icon Status Un-started published event (An event might have been published, but it is not possible to submit bids to it, as the initial time foreseen has not come). Sealed bid negotiation open to bid submittal. Concluded sealed bid negotiation. The buyer has disclosed the bids. Suspended event. The buyer has temporarily interrupted the negotiation. It can be re-commenced or cancelled in the future. Cancelled event. The negotiation has been finally suspended. The supplier is invited to an event or negotiation. The event is concluded or closed. The buyer has already taken a decision on the winning bid. Winning bid Non-winning bid. Event in-progress, RFQ waiting for quotations. isoco 19