The Inquiries Overview screen is used as a starting point for the maintenance of inquiries. On this screen, you can create inquiries and supplements, maintain inquiries, and delete inquiries.
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From the Home screen, select Procurement > Inquiry > Inquiries Overview.
To read detailed field descriptions see Inquiries Overview.
The Inquiries Overview page allows you to view and edit inquiries. Additionally, you can create new inquiries or supplements and delete inquiries. If you have the ASSIGN BUYER privilege, you can view all available inquiries and assign the inquiries to buyers. If you do not have this privilege, you can only view inquiries that you have created or to which you are assigned as the buyer for at least one bidder.
The columns of the Inquiries Overview grid and their descriptions are listed below.
Column
Description
Inquiry Number
Number of the inquiry
Supplement
Inquiry supplement number
Purchase
If Purchase is set to Yes, you can create agreements from the quotes associated with this inquiry. If it is set to No, you cannot transform any quote resulting from this inquiry into a Purchase Order or Subcontract agreement; you can only create a blanket order or a master agreement.
Inquiry Type
The inquiry type specifies which agreement type is available for the inquiry later on, it is either Order or Subcontract.
Agreement Type
The available agreement types depend on the Purchase indicator value, the selected inquiry type, and the setting of project default ZP_CONSPCI.
If the inquiry can only be used for inquiries and ZP_CONSPCI is set to Y, only the agreement type Blanket Order is available for inquiry type Order and only the agreement type Master Agreement is available for inquiry type Subcontract.
If the inquiry can be used for purchasing or if the project default ZP_CONSPCI is set to N, more options are available.
If the inquiry type is Order, you can select:
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Blanket Order
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Purchase Order
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Notice of Commitment
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Notice to Proceed
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Blanket Order Release
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Field Order
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Rental Order
If the inquiry type is Subcontract, you can select:
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Master Agreement
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Subcontract
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Notice of Commitment
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Notice to Proceed
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Service Agreement
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Work Order
If a blanket order is assigned to a requisition, you can create a purchase order (= blanket order release) based on this blanket order. If a master agreement is assigned to a requisition, you can create a work order based on this master agreement. A notice of commitment can be converted into a purchase order.
Show Bids
If project default ZP_TND_PRD is set to Y, you can set Show Bids to Yes to open the Commercial Evaluation screen during the tender period.
Payment Type
You can assign a payment type from the select list to the inquiry, the available values are:
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Measured Qty
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Milestone Progress
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Schedule of Values
Pricing Type
You can select a pre-defined pricing type from the select list.
Agreement Budget
Enter a value to define a budget for the agreement resulting from this inquiry. If the budget was already specified on the requisition, it would be copied and displayed here.
Currency
Currency of the inquiry. On creating a new inquiry, the currency defined with project default ZX_CURCY is set, but it can be changed.
Buyer
The buyer is assigned when creating the inquiry and cannot be changed.
Bidders Approved
This indicator shows if the list of bidders assigned to the inquiry has been approved. If project default ZP_SUPAPRV is set to Y, the inquiry can only be approved if Bidders Approved is set to Yes.
Class System Code
To assign a CMS (Component Management System) class system to the inquiry, select a value from the select list.
Class Revision
Displays the revision of the selected class system.
Material or Service Type
If you select a material or service type, you would restrict the selectable materials or services to this type.
Material or Service
If you select a material or service, you can only assign bidders to the inquiry who can provide this material or service.
If technical and/or commercial questions are defined for the selected material or service, these questions are attached to the inquiry and the line items.
Revision
Displays the revision of the selected material or service.
Section
If a section is assigned to the inquiry, only buyers allowed for this section can edit the inquiry.
Expediting Level
Optionally, assign an expediting level to the inquiry.
Inspection Level
Optionally, assign an inspection level to the inquiry.
Criticality Level
Optionally, assign a criticality level to the inquiry.
Created On
Displays the date when the inquiry was created. This date is automatically set on inquiry creation but can be updated.
NIB Due Date
Enter the Notice of Intent to Bid due date to define the latest date when the bidders should notify whether they want submit a bid.
Bid Due Date
Enter the bid due date to define the latest date when the bids must be returned from the bidders.
On inquiry creation, the bid due date is set automatically depending on the setting of project default ZP_CALC_BD as follows:
If ZP_CALC_BD is not set, the bid due date is calculated by adding 14 days to the actual date, without consideration of the project calendar.
If ZP_CALC_BD is set to any negative value, the bid due date is not set.
If ZP_CALC_BD is set to a positive value, the bid due date is calculated by adding the number of days given by the project default to the actual date, under consideration of the project calendar.
If ZP_CALC_BD is set to 0 (zero), the bid due date is copied from the previous supplement when a new inquiry supplement is created.
If the calculated date is not in the range of the project calendar, the current date plus 14 days is entered.
If you update Issued On and the inquiry is not approved, the bid due date is recalculated according to the rules described above, based on the entered issue date instead of the actual date. If the issue date is cleared, the bid due date remains unchanged.
Bid Due Time
You can enter a time in any format to define the latest time when the bids must be returned from the bidders.
Revised Bid Due Date
If the due date must be updated after approval you can enter the revised bid due date.
Post Bid Due Date
If project default ZP_TND_PRD is set to Y, the post bid due date specifies the date from when the buyer can view the bids. This means, the bids would not be available until this date, although the bid due date is already over.
Post Revised Bid Due Date
If project default ZP_TND_PRD is set to Y, the post revised bid due date specifies the date from when the buyer can view the bids. This means, the bids would not be available until this date, although the revised bid due date is already over.
Bid Opening Date
If project default ZP_TND_PRD is set to Y and the bid due date and revised bid due date are in the future, the bid opening date specifies the date when the bidding information of this inquiry will be available. If no bid opening date is entered or the entered date lies after the (revised) bid due date, the bidding information will be available when the tender period ends.
Allow Split Tag
If you want to disable the Split Tag functionality for this inquiry in Smart Materials Portal, set Allow Split Tag to No.
Allow Split Quantity
If you want to disable the Create Split functionality for this inquiry in Smart Materials Portal, set Allow Split Quantity to No
Non-Public
If project default ZP_ALLOPTD is set to Y and Non-Public is set to Yes, the inquiry is only available in Smart Materials Portal to the bidders who are assigned to the inquiry. If Non-Public is set to No, the inquiry is shown to all bidders.
Portal
If the inquiry should not be available in Smart Materials Portal, set Portal to No. If the project default ZP_DEF_PTL is set to Y, Portal is set to Yes by default when a new inquiry is created.
Approved On
Displays the date when the inquiry is approved.
Approved By
Displays the user who has approved the inquiry.
Issued Date
Enter the date on which the inquiry has been issued. Future dates are not allowed. When updating the issue date of the inquiry, the bid due date is recalculated as described above under Bid Due Date. If project default ZP_SET_ID is set to Y, the issue date of the inquiry is copied to the corresponding quotes. If ZB_SET_ID is set to N, the issue date of the quotes is not changed.
Bid Return Date
Displays the date when all quotes assigned to the inquiry have been returned/submitted from the bidders. This date will be set by the software if the quote received date or the No Bid indicator has been set for all assigned quotes.
Preliminary Commercial Evaluation
Enter the date on which the preliminary commercial evaluation has been done. This date can only be set until the final commercial evaluation date is entered.
Final Commercial Evaluation
Enter the date on which the final commercial evaluation has been done. This date is copied to the related quote summaries.
Reason for Supplement
If the inquiry supplement is greater than 0 (zero), enter the reason for building the supplement. You can only enter/change text if the approval of the inquiry is not yet started, and vice versa a reason for the supplement must be entered to start the approval.
Bidders
Displays the number of bidders assigned to the inquiry.
Started Quotes
Displays the number of bidders assigned to the inquiry who started quotation.
Finalized Quotes
Displays the number of bidders assigned to the inquiry who finalized quotation.
Tender Closed
Indicates whether the tender period of the inquiry is closed.
Agreement Created On
Displays the date on which an agreement has been created for a bid based on the inquiry.
Agreement Issued On
Displays the date on which an agreement based on a bid for the inquiry has been issued.
Agreement Closed On
Displays the date on which an agreement associated with the inquiry has been closed.
Short Description
Displays the inquiry short description.
Description
Displays the inquiry description.
Bid Email Recipients
This cell can be used to specify email addresses that are used to send additional emails if a bidder submits a bid for this inquiry. On submitting a bid in Smart Materials Portal, an email is sent to the buyer, and additionally to the recipients defined here.
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To create an inquiry, click Add Inquiry.
For more information see Create inquiry from scratch.
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After selecting an approved inquiry supplement you can create a new supplement clicking New Supplement button.
A new supplement is created as a copy of the previous supplement, with supplement number increased by 1.
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To view or edit properties of an inquiry, select the inquiry, click Manage Properties.
For more information see Manage properties.
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To add a new property, do the following:
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Select Add Row.
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Select a property Group.
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Select a Property.
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Enter a property value in the Value cell.
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If a select list was defined for the property, you can select a valid value from the list.
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Select Save.
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To add a pre-defined set of properties, do the following:
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Select Add Property Set.
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Select the Property Set.
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Select Copy.
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To remove properties, do the following:
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Select the property you want to remove.
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Select Delete Row from the Row Actions burger menu.
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Select Save.
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To display additional columns with property or CIP values, click Display Columns and do the following:
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On the Display Properties tab, select the properties to be viewed in the Property cell.
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On the Display CIPs tab, select the CIPs which results should be viewed in the CIP Name cell.
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Click Save and close the dialog.
The specified columns are displayed most-right in the Inquiries Overview grid.
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To add additional bid email recipients, click Assign in the Bid Email Recipients cell and do the following:
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Click Add Row.
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Type First Name, Last Name and Email, or select a user from the select list.
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In Assigned To, select This Inquiry to assign the email address only to the selected inquiry.
Alternatively, select All Inquiries to assign the email address to all inquiries.
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Click Save and close the dialog.
If recipients are assigned, you can click View to view and edit the recipients.
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Click the Inquiry Number and continue with any of the following.