RFQs
Quick Start Guide For Buyers
The purpose of this document
is to quickly guide you through adding your first RFQ. There are three basic steps: 1) Define your RFQ, 2) Assign your vendors
using the “Vendor Wizard” and 3) Send your RFQ
Please Note: If you need help entering your RFQ, please call our support staff at (888) 303-2243.
To
Build Your RFQ:
·
Click on
the My RFQs
tab. You will be placed in the “Buyer’s
RFQs” Main screen.
Main
The Main screen is
where you create new RFQs, message your vendors and track price submittals.
You will see a message stating that you do not have
any existing RFQs.
·
Click Add New to proceed to the General
RFQ screen.
General
The General screen is
where you enter your RFQs important dates, notes and delivery instructions.
·
Enter the required data
for your RFQ.
|
Screen Tips |
|
Data must be entered in fields marked with
a red asterisk (*). |
|
To
move from field to field, press the
Tab key or use the mouse. |
|
If you
wish to return to the Main RFQ screen to begin again, click Cancel. |
·
Click Continue to Items to proceed to
the Items project screen.
Items
The Items screen is
where you enter your line item list of materials, supplies or equipment.
·
Click Manually enter new items.
There
are three steps to define each line item. (You will repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 for each line item you enter.)
Step 1:
Enter the following
required fields:
Quantity – enter the quantity required
for this line item.
Unit – select the unit of measure which
applies to this item (default is “None”).
Item Description – enter the item description. Keep the description as basic as possible. For example: for a 36”w by 52”h Pella casement wood window, you might enter “window” as the description. Use the manufacturer field to specify “Pella”. Use the notes field to enter the size, model number and color, i.e. 36”w by 52”h, wood.
After you enter the item description and click or tab to the next entry field, The Blue Book’s smart index will be searched and all categories related to the item description will display under Suggested Categories for: which you may use when you get to Step 2.
Manufacturer –(optional) if you would like to specify the manufacturer(s), use the Pick Manufacturers link to select the desired manufacturer(s).
Budget Amount – (optional) enter the budgeted dollar amount. This amount WILL NOT be included in your message.
Notes – (optional) further describe the item, i.e. color, size, model #. These notes WILL BE included in your message.
Step 2:
The Category is required.
To help in vendor selection, choose the category(s) to identify the type of company that can supply the item.
There are three ways to select the category(s):
Click in the “Category”
drop down menu to select the category. –
OR –
Click
in the “Group” drop down menu to select the group and then the “Category”
drop down menu to select the category(s) within that group for this item. – OR –
Click on a category from Suggested Categories for: (this list of suggested categories was built when you entered the item description in Step 1). When you select a category from this list the “Group” and “Category” fields will be filled in for you.
Step 3:
Click Save Item to save this item. You will see the item displayed at the bottom of the screen.
|
Screen Tips |
|
If you
do not wish to save the item, click Reset. The
screen will be cleared for re-entry. |
To enter a 2nd category for this item:
Repeat
Step 2 and click Add a 2nd
Category for this item.
If
you enter more than one category for this item, you will see the word
“Multiple” under “Description/Categories”.
Repeat step 2 until you have added all categories for this item.
Once
you have added all categories for this item, you may either start a new item or
proceed to the Vendor Wizard.
To enter a new item:
Click Start
a New Item. The screen will
be cleared and you will be placed back in Step 1. Repeat the three line item entry steps until you have added all
items for this RFQ and then proceed to Vendor Wizard.
Continue to Vendor Wizard:
When
finished adding all items, click Vendor
Wizard.
When you see a screen listing your options…
Click the Vendor Wizard link.
Using
Vendor Wizard to Build Your Vendor List:
Vendor
Wizard
The
Vendor Wizard allows you to define the parameters of your vendor selection.
There are five
steps:
1. Categories on the RFQ: Select vendors from all categories on the RFQ or a
specific category. The default value is
“All Categories”. If you want the
Vendor Wizard to target a specific category, click in the drop down menu
and select the desired category.
2. Which is most important: When finding vendors, which is most important: Rank,
Regions Serviced or Radius in Miles.
Click
the button to select one:
Rank, Region or Radius.
Rank: The default value is the range of rank from 1 to
8. If you select rank, you may keep the
default value or click in the box and enter the desired range.
Regions
Serviced: If you select regions
serviced, click in the drop down menu to select the region.
Radius: The default proximity search finds vendors from “My
Vendors” and “The Blue Book” within a
20 mile radius of the zip code for the RFQ. You may deselect “My Vendors” or
“The Blue Book” by clicking on the check mark in the box. You may keep the radius default value of 20
or, click in the box and enter the number of miles (between 1 and
60). If you wish to change the zip
code, click in the box and enter the desired zip code.
3. Minimum number of vendors: The default value is 5. To change the minimum number of vendors that you want selected
per category, click in the box and modify the number to the desired
value, up to 20.
4. Maximum number of vendors: The default value is 10. To change the maximum number of vendors that you want selected
per category, click in the box and modify the number to the desired
value, up to 80.
5. Once you have answered the questions above (you must
answer question 2) you are ready to run the Vendor Wizard, click Find Vendors.
The
Vendor Wizard will display the elapsed time while it is selecting your
vendors. This may take a few
minutes. While gathering your vendors, you
will see at the bottom of the screen, the Categories, the Current Number of
Vendors, Number of Vendors Added and the Total Number of Vendors added for each
category.
Upon
completion, you will see a list indicating the Vendors Added (since the last
time you ran the Vendor Wizard) and the Total Vendors added for each category
on the RFQ.
When
vendor selection is complete, you will see…
|
The Vendor Wizard has found vendors for your RFQ! You can now proceed to the ‘Main‘ tab and send an RFQ
message to ‘All Vendors’ or specific vendors. If you wish, you can skip the RFQ process and send a BUY
message to one or more vendors. To Main OR Return to the Vendor Wizard and add more vendors. To Vendor Wizard Total Vendors Created per Category 0110 Sample Category
Added 5 New Vendors 0220 Sample Category
Added 10 New Vendors |
Click To
Main. You will be placed in
the Main screen where you will see a summary of your RFQ.
To
Send Your RFQ:
In
the lower portion of the screen, you will see… “Send RFQ to: All Vendors”.
·
To message all vendors,
click All Vendors.
OR
·
Click in
the drop down menu to select a particular vendor.
·
Click Send RFQ to:.
You will see…
|
Do you want to send an RFQ message to all ## vendors? If you select OK you can still Cancel at a later point. OK Cancel |
·
Click OK. You will be placed in the
message summary screen.
To
Message Your Vendors:
The “Send Message Summary”
screen displays the number of vendors that will be messaged by In-Network,
Email and Fax. It also details your
messaging costs.
·
To deliver your
messages, Click Send Messages.
A message will be displayed acknowledging that your
messages were sent.
·
Click OK to return to the Main
RFQ screen.
Contractors Register, Inc.
Jefferson Valley, NY 10535
(888) 303-2243 Fax: (914) 962-8412
www.thebluebook.com