Training Document Supplier Guide - RFI Version 1.0 / October 2010
Table of Contents 1 What is an RFI?...3 2 Accessing the Ariba Sourcing System...4 3 Responding to an RFI...5 3.1 Accessing the RFI...5 3.2 Review Agreement Accepting/Declining Participation...6 3.3 Review RFI Content...8 3.4 Downloading Documents...8 3.5 Message Board...9 3.6 Preparing Your Answers...10 3.6.1 Uploading Documents...10 3.6.2 Replacing and Deleting Documents...10 3.6.3 Exporting RFI Content into Excel and Respond Online...11 3.7 Saving Your Answers...11 3.8 Submitting Your Answers...12 3.9 Revising Your Response...13 3.10 Response History...13 4 Event Status...15 4.1 Open...15 4.2 Paused...15 4.3 Pending Selection...15 4.4 Completed...15 5 Logout from Ariba...17 Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 2/17
1 What is an RFI? RFI (Request for Information) is typically designed as a questionnaire for suppliers to complete. In an RFI, Buyers gather information prior to receiving pricing information and judge suppliers capabilities based on their responses. An RFI event is used to gather non-competitive data, information, comments, and reactions from potential participants. Participants typically do not respond to an RFI with pricing information. Instead, RFIs usually precede other events (RFPs or Auctions) that include price. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 3/17
2 Accessing the Ariba Sourcing System When the RFX opens, you automatically receive an email message containing a link to the Roche Ariba Sourcing website. You can either click on the indicated URL or open an internet browser and type in the following website address: http://rsmsourcing.roche.com Enter your user name and password, which were sent out to you in a separate system generated email. Then click the Login button. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 4/17
3 Responding to an RFI 3.1 Accessing the RFI To access the RFI you have been invited to, simply select it from the Event List that appears after login. If you have been invited to only one event, you will be taken directly to that project after logging in. In case you have been invited to multiple events, you will see them grouped on your screen, based on their status: Completed, Open, Pending Selection. You may expand the panels by clicking on the arrow located on the very left of the page. You can enter the event by simply clicking on the event name. In the upper right hand corner there is the countdown clock, which shows you how much time is remaining to complete the RFI and submit your responses. In the Event Details panel you can check the message board of the event and download tutorials. The Introduction part will give you a general overview of the event. Below that, you can see the owner of the event and the timelines in the Event Overview and Timing Rules panel. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 5/17
Please always pay particular attention to the timing rules and never leave bidding for the last couple of hours. 3.2 Review Agreement Accepting/Declining Participation Before participating in an event, you will need to review and accept the bidder agreement. Normally you will not be able to see the event details unless you accept the agreement and state your intentto respond. This agreement is separate from the initial agreement you see when you first log in to the site, and must be agreed to on a per event basis. To access the bidder agreement, click Review Agreement. Accept the terms of the agreement if you agree to them and want to participate in the event. Decline the terms of the agreement if you do not want to participate. Select I accept or I do not accept and click OK. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 6/17
If you click on Decline to Respond a pop-up window will appear where you can add the reason for declining. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 7/17
3.3 Review RFI Content RFIs consists of different sections. Normally there is an introductory part where you may see instructions posted by the Buyer, and any documents that may have been uploaded for you to review. You can switch to view all content or select only one section to review. 3.4 Downloading Documents To download any documents attached by the Buyer, click on title of document and select either Download this attachment or Download all attachments. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 8/17
3.5 Message Board It is possible to send messages to the Buyer through the system. To do that, click Compose Message. Type in a subject and your message in the Compose New Message screen and click Send. To see all the messages around the event go to the Console and click on Event Messages. Here you will have a list of all messages sent by you, the Buyer and the system. To view a message select it and click View or click on the subject. To reply, select message and click the Reply button. You will also find here system messages generated when you submit an answer or when the event status changes. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 9/17
3.6 Preparing Your Answers In every RFI there is a section with questions that should be responded to by the suppliers. All questions marked with an asterisk are required, which means you cannot submit your response to the bid unless you answer the required questions. Questions not marked are optional. There are several types of answers: text boxes to enter free text or numbers, drop down lists with predefined answers, and Yes/No answers. For entering dates you should use the calendar icon instead of entering the date manually. 3.6.1 Uploading Documents It might be that you are required to attach documents to any of the questions. To attach a file click on the Attach file link, and browse for your document. If you need to attach multiple documents to one question it is better to save them in a zip file. 3.6.2 Replacing and Deleting Documents To replace an uploaded document with another file, click Update file and browse for the new document on your computer. To remove a document, simply click on Delete file. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 10/17
3.6.3 Exporting RFI Content into Excel and Respond Online For RFIs that contain a large amount of line items, you can also export the data into an MS Excel spreadsheet, update it, then import it back to the system. Click Excel Import to export content or import your offline response. In Step 1 you can download RFI content and all attachments by clicking on Download Content and Download Attachments. Attachments will be zipped in a single file. In Step 3 you can upload responses using the RFI template, downloaded in Step 1. To finish the upload, click the Upload button. Make sure that you do not change the format of the template, do not delete or add columns, otherwise the upload will fail. 3.7 Saving Your Answers Any time you stop working on the RFI, you can save it. Saving will let you leave the event and return later on, without losing any responses entered previously.. Click Save button to save your work. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 11/17
Once you have saved your response you will see this message on the upper part of your screen. Please note that simple saving is not sending your response to the Buyer, it will be visible only to you. Therefore never forget to submit your response before the event closes! 3.8 Submitting Your Answers Once you have completed working on the RFI, you can submit it by clicking on the Submit Entire Response button. You will see a pop-up message verifying that you want to submit your response. Click OK to submit, or Cancel to continue working on your response. After submitting your bid, you will see this message at the top of the page. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 12/17
3.9 Revising Your Response If you made any errors or you are required to enter additional information, you may edit your response by clicking on the Revise Response button. Please note that editing an event is only possible while it is in Open Bidding status. Click OK to confirm your intention to revise your response. While editing you can reload your last submitted bid by clicking on the Reload Last Bid button. When ready, submit your answers by clicking on the Submit Entire Response button. 3.10 Response History You can access all submitted versions of your answers by going to Response History on the Console. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 13/17
Here you will find the list of all your submitted answers. To enter any of them click on the Reference Number. This is how submitted answers look. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 14/17
4 Event Status 4.1 Open Open In Open status you can work on your responses. 4.2 Paused Paused The event might be paused by the Buyer for editing reasons. In paused status you cannot post any answers. 4.3 Pending Selection When the event has ended, the countdown clock disappears and the event status changes to Pending Selection. In this status, responses are no longer accepted and the Buyer is evaluating the responses. Here there are four actions you can take: Download Content download the event with your answers into an excel spreadsheet Review Agreement review the agreement you accepted at the beginning Print Event Information - this is a print version of the event. It contains a summary of the event and its contents. Review Bidding shows your last accepted bid 4.4 Completed The final status of an event is Completed. Go to View Award to see the award details. This button is only available if the bid was partly or fully awarded to your company by the Buyer. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 15/17
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5 Logout from Ariba For security reasons, always use the Logout button to exit Ariba Sourcing. Version 1.0 / October 2010 Page 17/17