In oboloo, the Reopening a Sourcing Activity feature allows you to give suppliers an opportunity to revise and resubmit their proposals after the initial submission. This is useful when you need clarifications, adjustments, or additional information from suppliers. When reopening an activity, you can reopen it to all suppliers or a selected group of suppliers (e.g., shortlisted candidates), allowing for flexibility in managing the sourcing process.
During the reopening process, you can set new opening and closing dates, provide specific instructions or feedback, and track responses from suppliers as they update their proposals. Historic supplier responses are always saved, enabling you to compare new submissions against previous ones to see how proposals have evolved.
More information on Historic Supplier Responses can be found here.
Suppliers can change all areas (including uploading or removing previously uploaded documents) to their response when it is reopened to them.
Visual Guide - Step-by-Step Guide: Reopening a Sourcing Activity
Coming soon. Please use the text guide below for now.
Text Guide - Step-by-Step Guide: Reopening a Sourcing Activity
Step 1: Accessing the Sourcing Activity
To reopen a sourcing activity, first navigate to the activity you wish to reopen:
- Log in to oboloo using your credentials.
- From the left-hand menu, go to the eSourcing module.
- Locate the sourcing activity you wish to reopen from the Sourcing Home Page. You can use the search bar or filters to quickly find the activity.
- Click on the sourcing activity to open its details.
Step 2: Initiating the Reopen Process
Once you are in the sourcing activity details:
- Look for the blue Reopen Activity button, which is located on the bottom left-hand side of the record page.
- Click on Reopen Activity button to begin the process of reopening the event.
Step 3: Selecting Suppliers to Reopen the Activity To
You have the flexibility to choose whether to reopen the sourcing activity to all participating suppliers or only to a selected group of suppliers.
- Reopening to All Suppliers: If you want to give all suppliers the chance to revise their submissions.
- Reopening to Specific Suppliers: If you’ve shortlisted suppliers, you can choose to reopen the activity to specific suppliers only. This allows you to focus on the most promising candidates.
To reopen to suppliers:
- Click the 'Supplier Name' drop down field.
- Select one of multiple suppliers from this drop down- you can reopen the activity to one or multiple suppliers, depending on your requirements.
Step 4: Setting New Opening and Closing Dates
When reopening the activity, you need to define a new response window by setting updated opening and closing dates. These dates specify when the suppliers can access the reopened activity and submit their revised responses.
- Opening Date: Set the new date and time when the sourcing activity will reopen to the selected suppliers.
- Closing Date: Set the new deadline by which suppliers must submit their updated responses.
The new opening and closing dates provide a clear timeline for suppliers, ensuring they know when to submit their revised proposals.
Step 5: Providing Comments or Instructions to Suppliers
In addition to reopening the activity, you need to leave specific comments or instructions for suppliers. This feedback helps guide suppliers on the changes or clarifications you expect them to make in their revised submissions.
- Use the 'Description/Notes' field to explain what changes or updates you are requesting. For example, you might ask suppliers to clarify certain aspects of their proposal, revise their pricing, or provide additional documentation.
Providing clear and detailed instructions will help suppliers understand how to improve their proposals in the reopened round.
Step 6: Supplier Notifications and Responses
Once the activity is reopened, suppliers will receive a notification informing them that the sourcing activity has been reopened, along with your comments or instructions.
- Suppliers can then log into oboloo, view the updated sourcing activity, and submit their revised responses within the new opening and closing dates.
- The creator of the sourcing activity will also be notified each time a supplier submits their response, keeping them informed of the process.
As suppliers respond, oboloo will store their submissions alongside their historic responses, allowing you to review and compare their new proposals against their previous ones.
More information on Historic Supplier Responses can be found here.
You can compare suppliers different responses under the Financials, Supplier Sections, Supplier Questionnaires and Supporting Documents tabs.
Step 7: Reviewing and Comparing Supplier Responses
After suppliers submit their updated proposals, oboloo automatically saves the new responses while keeping a record of the historic submissions from previous rounds. Each response is date and time stamped, making it easy to distinguish between rounds.
- Navigate to the relevant tabs (e.g., Pricing, Questionnaires, or Supporting Documents) within the sourcing activity to view the supplier responses.
- You can use oboloo’s side-by-side comparison feature to analyse how a supplier’s response has changed between rounds. For example, you can compare pricing adjustments or review changes in their responses to questionnaires or documents.
This feature helps you track the evolution of supplier proposals and assess how they’ve responded to your feedback or requests for clarification.
Benefits of Reopening a Sourcing Activity
Flexibility in Supplier Engagement: The ability to reopen sourcing activities to all or a shortlist of suppliers gives you control over the process. You can focus on working with the most promising candidates, streamlining the evaluation process, and ensuring that only the best proposals are considered.
Guided Supplier Revisions: By providing comments or feedback when reopening the activity, you can direct suppliers on how to improve or clarify their proposals. This ensures that suppliers submit updated responses that better align with your organisation’s requirements.
Comprehensive Analysis with Historic Responses: With oboloo’s tracking of historic responses, you can compare how supplier proposals have changed over time. This is especially useful in multi-round negotiations, where you may want to see how pricing has evolved or whether suppliers have adequately addressed your feedback. For more information on historic supplier responses and how to leverage them in your analysis, refer to the Historic Responses Guide.
Efficient Decision-Making: The ability to track, compare, and analyse multiple rounds of supplier submissions ensures that your sourcing decisions are data-driven and well-informed. With all responses saved and easily accessible, you can make decisions based on a comprehensive view of each supplier’s performance.
Conclusion
Reopening a sourcing activity in oboloo provides an effective way to manage multi-round sourcing events, allowing you to request clarifications, revisions, or updated proposals from suppliers. By setting new response windows, providing feedback, and reopening the activity to all or selected suppliers, you can maintain control over the sourcing process and ensure you receive the best possible proposals. With oboloo’s tracking of historic responses, you can also compare new submissions with previous ones, helping you make informed decisions and ensure the success of your sourcing activity.