Work Tools

How to access the tools of your tender?

1) You have different ways to access each tool. One of them is by clicking on the reference (“Tender Dossier”) of the tender you wish to open;

2) Depending which services you have and if you are a Buyer or Supplier, on the left side you may find the following widgets:

  • Main Area;
  • Tender;
  • Messages;
  • Tasks;
  • Amendments;
  • Teams;
  • Interest and Invitation;
  • Receipts;
  • Events;
  • Integrations

3) When clicking on each widget, the information will open on the right side of the screen without leaving the “Tender Dossier”. From now on, you will have all the information about of your tender available in the same page. The details of each widget, will be explained below.

“Main Area” widget

In this area, you will have an overview of your tender with all the main information, the timeline and the next steps that you need to do on your tender.

How to access the “Main Area” widget? 

To access to the “Main Area” widget go to your “Tender Dossier”. Inside, on the side bar menu, the first tool available is the “Main Area”.

How to manage the “Main Area” widget? 

After clicking on the “Main Area” widget you can find different tabs available inside the “Tender Dossier” such as:

1) Overview;
2) Proposals, opening and qualification;
3) Negotiation and Auction;
4) Evaluation and Award;
5) Contracts.

“Overview” tab

In this tab you will have an overview of your tender, an agenda (as you have nowadays on the dashboard) that will have all the milestones and tasks linked to the tender and also a timeline.

In the center of the “Overview” screen, you will have information about the tender and also the next steps to do or that can be done. For example, if the tender has a workflow, that information will appear here.

On the top of the “Tender Dossier”, on the “Overview” tab you will have available different top counters that will change once the state of the “Tender Dossier” changes to “Dossier Awarded”.

  • Top counters presented before the state of the dossier changes to “Dossier Awarded”:

- Interested: Number of suppliers interested on the tender;
- Replies: Number of replies received for the tender;
- New Messages: Number of new messages received for the tender;
- Pending Tasks: Number of tasks that are on the state “Open” related to this tender.

  • Top Counters presented after the state of the dossier changes to “Dossier Awarded”:

- Interested: Number of suppliers interested on the tender;
- Replies: Number of replies received for the tender;
- Awarded Proposals: Number of proposals that have been awarded;
- Pending tasks: Number of tasks that are on the state “Open” related to this tender.

When the tender is “in Edition” state, you will have that information displayed in this tab. If you click on the “Continue Editing” button you will go directly to the “Tender Creation” page, in order to continue editing the tender.

When the tender creation is being approved, that information will appear. You can click on the button “See Tender”, in order to check the tender.

If the tender has phases and the first qualification finished, you will find that information displayed.

In case you did not received any proposals, you can mark the tender as non-awarded by clicking on the “No Award” button, or change the dates of the call for tenders by clicking on “Extend Dates” button.

If the tender is in phase of receiving proposals, you will have a counter in the center and below the button “Invite Suppliers” available. Depending on the type of tender, this button can be available or not.

In case the tender is in phase of opening proposals, you will have available the button “Check Opening”. If you click on it, you will be redirected to the “Tender Inbox” page.

When the tender has been closed without award, it will appear that information.

If the tender was awarded, you will also see that information in this tab.

For the eAuction as a procedure you will find different top counters. The counters available are the following:

  • Top counters presented during the eAuction:

- Interested: Number of suppliers interested on the tender;
- New Messages: Number of new messages;
- Pending tasks: Number of tasks that are on the state “Open”.

  • When the eAuction finishes the counters available must be:

- Interested: Number of suppliers interested on the tender;
- Bids: Number of Bids received for the tender.

Below the top counters, you will find another counter before the eAuction starts, and also the button “Access the Auction” where you can click to access the auction. When the eAuction finishes, that information will also appear in this tab.

Below, you will find a calendar with the tender dates and tasks and also the possibility to create a new task by clicking on the “Create Task” blue button.

Next to the calendar, there is a search engine where you are able to search for dates and/or tasks and below there is a timeline.  

Timeline 

In the “Main Area” widget (“Overview” tab) you will find next to the calendar, a timeline that will lead you along the several steps of the tender creation, showing the steps that you can or need to do and registering with dates and colors the steps that were already done.

The first level of the timeline will only show the dates defined on the procedure. On the other hand, the second level will show the dates on which the events were made. 

The timeline will automatically expand the level with the next task/event that has a date higher than the current date. The previous level (with a date lower or equal than the current date) will also expand automatically.

The dates defined on the timeline will be reflected on the calendar view with the green bubble on the correspondent day. This calendar will only consider the correspondent tender, meaning the dates from other tenders will not appear in here.

“Proposals, opening and qualification” tab

Before opening the replies, on the “Proposals” tab you will be able to view the number of proposals presented and the information of each one detailed (available or not according to the specific rules of each tender type).

After opening the replies, you will have available the following top counters in the “Proposals, opening and qualification” tab:

  • Replies: Shows the number of replies received;
  • Qualified: Shows the number of admitted + Excluded replies;
  • Admitted: Shows the number of admitted replies;
  • Excluded: Shows the number of excluded replies.

Below, you will have available the “Opening Phases” table with the following columns:

  • Resume;
  • Opening Prevision Date;
  • Opening Date;
  • State

There is another table regarding the “Proposals” and you can choose to visualize it for Proposals or By State, and export them by clicking on the “Export” button next to the Search engine.

The table have the following columns:

  • Reference;
  • Supplier;
  • Delivery day;
  • Global Value;
  • State.

“Negotiation and Auction” tab

If the Tender has negotiation defined on the request, the tab “Negotiation” will appear once the tender is published.

If the Tender has eAuction defined on the request, the tab “Negotiation and Auction” will appear once the tender is published.

If the Tender has negotiation and eAuction defined on the request, on tab “Negotiation and Auction” will appear two different tables. One for the negotiation round and other for the auctions.

“Evaluation and Award” tab

In the “Main Area” widget you can also have the “Evaluation and Award” tab where you can view all the evaluations done and also the awards created.

“Contracts” tab

In the tab “Contracts”, available in the “Main Area” widget, you have a more direct way to access all contracts created for each tender. This tab is only available after the user confirms the Award and the contract is created “In edition”.

“Tender” widget

In this tool you can access the general information about your tender inserted in every step of its creation.

How to access the “Tender” widget?

1) In order to access to the “Procedure” widget, go to your “Tender Dossier”. Then, on the side bar menu, one of the tools available is the “Tender”.

How to manage the “Tender” widget? 

On the “Tender” widget you will find an overview of your tender with all the steps. You can open them, in order to visualize all the information you inserted while creating the tender.

“Messages” widget

The “Messages” widget works as a communication system integrated in the platform. Here, it is possible to create messages, download the attachments, consult the “Message Receipt”, search for messages, and/or mark the most important ones .

How to manage the “Messages” widget? 

If you wish to create a message, click on the “Create Message” button next to the “Search and Advanced Search” engine. After clicking, it will be needed to fulfil several fields (some are mandatory others are optional) such as: The “Recipients Group”, Subject, and so on.

In order to download all the attachments, you have available the “Download” button.

NOTE: You will be able to see all types of messages, except the “Workflow Approval” type that will be in the “Messages Manager” and not inside the widget.

When the Message is in edition, the following buttons will be available:

  • “Delete” button: Allows you to delete a message when the state of the message is “Draft”;

  • “Save” button;
  • “Sign” button (when applicable);
  • “Send” button: This button will be always available or in the case that is mandatory to sign the message, only be available after signing.

In each Message it is possible to consult the “Message Receipt” by clicking on the “View Receipt” button. So, when Buyers send a message, the system automatically generates a receipt. When the Suppliers receive the message, it will applied the same logic.

When you click on the button “View Receipt”, it will appear a drawer with: The Company Name, Receiving Date, Reading Date, Read by and also the three dots icon with more options displayed.

In all the messages you receive, there will be the option to create a new task linked to the message. This option will be available in the three dots option inside each message and also in the messages grid in each message;

When creating a new task, a drawer will appear with the same fields that exist in the task creation to be fulfiled.

As a Buyer, when you reply to a clarification there is the possibility to select the messages you want to reply. To do so:

  • On the message detail, on the bottom of the screen you will see the button “Add messages to reply”;
  • When you click on the button “Add messages to reply”, a modal will be displayed with several fields to be fulfiled .

NOTE: The section “Replying to Messages” will only be available for Buyers.

How to manage all the messages related to a Tender?

Inside the “Message” widget you can search for messages through the “Simple” and/or “Advanced Search” that will be displayed in different tabs, in order to have the messages more organized.

The tabs you will find available are:

  • Inbox: All messages;
  • Sent: All messages that were sent;
  • Draft: All messages that are in draft state;
  • Important: All messages that were marked as important through the “flag”.

NOTE: The information available of each tab will depend on the “Mine” and “All” views.

You can have the most important messages in a separated tab, by clicking on the “Flag” icon. After clicking on the icon, it will turn red and the selected message(s) will be available in the tabs “Inbox” and “Important”.

“Tasks” widget

In this widget, you will find all the tasks associated with the tender. Here, you can view the details, reassign the tasks if you wish to, edit and/or delete them.

How to access the Agenda/Tasks?

1) On the “Work Area” page, you can see all the pending tasks on the top of the page. The “Agenda” icon has a counter with the number of pending tasks. When you click on it, it will appear a drawer where you can access the “Delayed” and “Upcoming” tasks and also tasks for the day you are in (“Today” tasks);

2) To access the Agenda/Tasks go to the “Work Area”. Below, you can find a fieldset related with the “Agenda”, with the same options available in the drawer;

3) To access the Agenda/Tasks go to the “Work Area”. Below, you can find a fieldset related with the “Agenda”, with the same options available in the drawer;

On this widget you will have three tabs at the top of the page (according with the options “Mine” or “All”):

  • Open: Shows only tasks that are “Open”:
  • All: Shows all tasks of the tender;
  • Completed: Shows tasks that were already concluded.

Below the tabs, you will have available a Simple Search and an Advanced Search engine. On the right side of the page, you will find two buttons: 

  • “Complete” Button: By clicking on the button, you will be able to complete tasks without having to access to its detail and check the tasks you want to complete directly on the widget. After “Complete”, it is possible to reopen and execute other actions (example: Reassign tasks).

NOTE: This button will only be enabled when at least the user has selected one manual task.

  • “Delete” button: Once deleting a task, you will no longer be able to see it.

NOTE: This button will only be enabled when at least the user has selected one manual task.

“Amendments” widget 

In this widget, you will be able to find all the amendments that you made in the tender. There is the possibility to view the state and general date of each amendment and create new ones.

How to access the Amendments (Buyer side)?

1) As a Buyer, you can access the “Amendment” widget through the “Tender Dossier”. On the side bar menu, one of the tools available are the “Amendments”.

In the “Amendments” widget you can access all the information related with amendments and also create new ones. Next to the widget is a counter with the total number of amendments.

How to manage the Amendments (Buyer side)?

When you click on the “Amendments” widget, there will be a table with information regarding each amendment:

  • Type: Type of Amendment;
  • Created By: Name of the user that created the amendment;
  • Creation Date: Creation date of the amendment;
  • Publication Date: Publication date of the amendment;
  • State: Shows the state of the amendment;
  • Detail link: When you click on the link, it will open a page with the logs of the amendment.

Next to “Search/Advanced Search” engine where you are able to search by action, previous data and new data, there is one button available:

  • “Export” button: To export the table to an Excel file. When clicking on the button, a modal will appear for you to write the name of the file to be exported to the asynchronous downloads.

“Interest and Invitation” widget

In this widget, there will be listed all the suppliers invited and/or interested in the tender. It is also possible to see the proposals, profile and messages of each supplier depending on the type of the tender and the laws applied to it.

How to access the “Interest and Invitation” widget?

1) As a Buyer you can access the “Interest and Invitation” widget through your “Buyer Dossier”. On the side bar menu, one of the tools available is the “Interest and Invitation” option.

How to manage the “Interest and Invitation” widget?

After clicking on the widget, you will have top counters available that will change according with the step “Invitation”.

 If the tender has the “Invitation” step available it will appear the following top counters:

  • Interests: Shows the number of interested suppliers (tenders that are public but have the invitation step all interest suppliers will be counted even if they were not invited to the tender but they have shown interest on it);
  • Invites: Shows the number of direct invitations and invitations by category match;
  • Direct Invitations: Shows the number of suppliers which were directly invited to the tender;
  • Not Interested: Shows the number of suppliers that marked themselves as “Not interested” (tenders that are public but have the invitation step all not interest suppliers must be counted even if they were not invited).

If the tender do not has the “Invitation” step available it will appear the following counters:

  • Interests: Shows the number of suppliers that have marked themselves as “Interested”;
  • Proposals: Shows the number of proposals received for that tender.

Above the top counters, you will also have available a table that changes according with the type of tender and its specific rules ans laws applied (public or private).

There is also the possibility to write comments when showing interest on a tender. These comments will from now on appear on the widget (only when the Supplier chooses to make the comments available for the Buyer).

To export the content to an Excel file, you will have to click on the button “Export” available at the top right of the widget.  When clicking, a modal will appear to write the name of the file to be exported. The export will take into consideration the filters and order applied to the screen.

As a Buyer, through the widget you are able to invite suppliers by clicking on the button “Invite Suppliers” (depending on the type of tender. When making a public tender this option will not be available). After clicking, a modal will be opened and there you can choose which suppliers you wish to invite. In case you want to send a reminder of the invitation email to the suppliers already invited, click on the button “Notify All”.

“Teams” widget

According with the subscribed services, you can define for each type of action, who will be responsible for it.

In this widget you will find the list of teams related to the tender. It is possible to select who is going to be responsible for the execution of each tasks defined on the teams.

How to access the “Teams” widget?

1) As a Buyer, to access the “Teams” widget, go to your “Buyer Dossier”. On the side bar menu, one of the tools available are the “Teams” .

How to manage the “Teams” widget?

This widget has two main sections:

  • Tender Team;
  • Jury and Approval Workflow Teams (when applicable).

On your right, you will have the button “Change Team”. When clicking, it will open a modal that allows you to change the team that is being used on the tender.

The Button “Reassign” will open a modal with the following options to reassign the task to:

  • All (My company);
  • User;
  • Business Unit;
  • User Group.

When you click on the button “View History” it will open a drawer with the workflow history.

“Receipts” widget

The “Receipts” contents can be different according to the type of action to which it refers to. In this widget you are able to check the following details:

  • Data regarding the actions and its documents;
  • Signatures;
  • Timestamps

How to access the “Receipts” widget?

1) As a user, you can access the “Receipts” widget through the “Tender Dossier”. On the side bar menu, one of the tools available are the “Receipts”. Next to the widget is a counter with the total number of receipts.

How to manage the “Receipts” widget?

Below the “Receipts” title you will find an “Advanced Search” engine where it is possible to search by Type, Event Type, Receipt ID, Created By and Date.

There is a table available with the following columns:

  • Type of receipt;
  • Event type;
  • Date;
  • Created by;
  • Document description.

You can access to the detail of the receipt through the “Detail” button available at each receipt. On the detail view of the receiptyou will have available a new option to access to the object that originated the receipt  (messages, final reports, preliminary reports, tenders, solutions, applications, bid list, bidders list and proposals)

You are also able to download the attachments through the “Receipt Detail”. There is a table on the “Receipt Detail” with the following labels:

  • Name;
  • Description;
  • Signature;
  • See: Text link that downloads the attachment to your computer.

The ones that have attachments will have available the button “Export?” which will download all the attachments of the receipt. Besides that, the “Upload Date” column will be added, to indicate the date that the attachments were uploaded.

After clicking on the button “Export?”, a modal will appear for you to write the name of the zipped folder to be exported.

“Events” widget

The actions made in the tender, are listed on the “Events” widget. Here, it is possible to export information, search and export events linked with the receipt and the correspondent object.

To simplify your search (Simple or Advanced), each event has correspondent receipts and objects linked.

How to access the “Events” widget?

1) You can access the “Events” widget through your “Buyer Dossier”. Inside the “Buyer Dossier”, on the side bar menu one of the tools available is the “Events”. Next to the widget is a counter with the total number of events.

How to manage the “Events” widget?

Inside the Buyer Dossier, you have one view with all the information.

After clicking on the “Events” widget you will be able to search events through Simple Search engine by: Document, Type and Object or/and you can also use the Advanced Search engine to search by: Date, Created by, Document where is it possible to apply different filters with the options: Show All, By Company, By User, By Received.

Next to the Simple/Advanced Search engine, there is the “Export” button. When selected, you will have the possibility to export the events list into an Excel file in order to have the information in a document.

NOTE: This feature is applied to all the buyers and suppliers (SMART and BEST).

Below, you will find a table that contains all the events of the tender with the following labels:

  • Date;
  • Created by;
  • Document;
  • Origin;
  • Event;
  • Receipts: Presents the icon to access to the receipt that is related to that event (when applicable). The detail of the receipt will appear on a drawer on the right side of the screen so you do not lose context (column applied only to all the buyers and suppliers SMART and BEST);
  • Detail: Presents the link to the object (message, proposal, bids list…) of the event generated (when applicable). The detail of the object will appear on the right side of the same screen on a drawer so you do not lose context (column applied only to all the buyers and suppliers SMART and BEST);

“Integrations” widget

In this widget it is where all the integrations are listed. You can search for the state of the integration or the integration entity. It is also possible to see if the integration was published or not by the entity.

This section is only available for the tenders that require integration.

How to access the “Integrations” widget?

1) You can access the “Integrations” widget by clicking on your “Buyer Dossier”. Inside it, on the side bar menu one of the tools available are the “Integrations”. Next to the widget is a counter with the total number of integrations.

How to manage the “Integrations” widget?

You have available a Simple and an Advanced Search engine where it is possible to search by: Integrating Entity/Document Type, Integration State, Publish Date and/or Submission Date.

Below, there is a table with the following columns:

  • Message ID;
  • Document Type;
  • Integrating Entity;
  • Submission Date;
  • Publish Date;
  • Answer Code;
  • Integration State.