Project Templates

In the Project Templates tab, you will be able to create or change RFx Project templates according to your needs.

Project template tab

Create a new RFx Template

To create a new RFX Template, click the corresponding icon. A new line will be inserted. Click the corresponding icon in order to customize your new created RFX template.

Edit a RFx Template

To be able to edit a template, it needs to be set inactive. The changes can only be done when the users are not able to select the template. Do not forget to click on the apply icon to save the changes you made on the template.

• Edit the template’s name - You can edit the template name by clicking the open icon
• Assign Physical Roles - By clicking the open icon, a popup page will appear where you will be able to choose the physical role that will be able to use this template
• Assign logical roles - By clicking on the open icon, a popup page will appear where you will be able to choose the logical roles you want to make available in the project template. A logical role is a role inside the RFx project which defines the view/edit rights of a user especially in this project.
• Evaluator role - If your system is set up to use a supplier evaluation inside the project you can define the evaluator role in this list. Please contact your SynerTrade consultant if you have any question.
• Open projects - If “Open projects” is checked, all the projects created with this template will be available to all the suppliers with RFx supplier role. The suppliers can enter the project without being invited by the project leader.

Project Phases tab

In Project Phase tab, you are able to add / delete phases available in the template:

Click on the delete icon to delete the phase Click on the new icon to insert a phase Click on the open icon to edit the phase

• You can define if a phase is mandatory by checking the mandatory checkbox;
• You can define the default phase duration;
• You can define whether a phase can start before or not.

Do not forget to save the changes.

In the project settings you can define if the proposed project phases are fixed or if they can be adapted individually inside each project.

Project Milestone tab

In Project Milestone tab, you will be able to insert milestones into the schedule page of the RFX project.

Add new milestones to the project template

All the selected milestones will be added to the project template, and will be displayed and available once the project template is enabled and used for the creation of new RFX projects, inside the “Schedule” tab of the RFX.

In order to add new milestones to the RFX template, click the corresponding icon.

In the popup list of available milestones the user will see displayed all the milestones defined in Backoffice / Masterdata.

Mandatory in template - this setting is by default checked and not editable, and its purpose is to not allow the deletion of a milestone which came from a project template inside the RFX project.

Compulsory - this setting is unchecked by default inside the project template and if a milestone is marked as compulsory it means the milestone must be validated in the RFX project.

Prerequisites: In order to link one milestone to another the column Prerequisite can be used. This option allows the administrator to choose for one milestone, its prerequisites among the milestones of the project. In the column Prerequisite, the list displays all the milestones of the project template. This column is not compulsory; the selection can be a multiple one because a milestone can have several prerequisites.

In the Schedule tab, inside the RFX project, the milestones are ordered according to their start date and not by the order in which they have been added in Backoffice inside the project template. If two milestones have the same start date, then they are sorted in alphabetical order.

Validation: A new setting has been added in Backoffice - Customizing - Settings - RFX - Project templates - Project settings for the RFX templates : “Allow milestones validation without the first milestone validation” If this setting is checked, it is not mandatory to validate the first milestone to be able to validate the others. So the icon ‘Validate or reject’ will be available for all the milestones for which the user has the role to validate and depending of the prerequisite links between milestones.

Project milestone actions

For the milestone actions a new tab has been created. The new tab is named “Project Milestone action” and it can be found in Backoffice - Customizing - Settings - Project Template/ Project milestones. The tab is available as soon as one milestone has been opened in edit mode.

When the milestone is validated or rejected during a project, an action is automatically triggered, depending on the status and to the settings made inside the project template for each milestone.

Send email action type

When a milestone is validated, its status becomes approved and this triggers an action. By clicking one new, an action can be defined. One or more roles can be selected when the action “Send email” is created – an email will be sent to the users with the corresponding roles assigned to the action. Select the reminder template to be used for the action by clicking the folder icon in the Reminder column.

Once you click apply, you are redirected towards the action list.

The box for the action “Send an email” is checked. In the column “Role” the administrator can select the role to which the email has to be sent. This column is a drop down menu with the role available in the RFX project template. The role box allows the user to make a multiple selection, it is empty by default and editable on the line only when the action selected is “Send an email”. If no role is selected and the user clicks on “Save”, the system will display the following warning message.

“Please be aware that no role has been selected for the action”

Next milestone validation action type

Each milestone has a different role which can be selected for a next milestone validation, only milestones with the same roles as the one opened will be displayed in the list of available milestones.

Please note that only those milestones assigned to the same user roles as the one initially opened on the project milestone list will be displayed in the column of available milestones. If the user clicks on “Save” without selecting any milestone for the current action, a warning message will be displayed.

Start dates/ end dates of the milestones

When the setting “Schedule tab non editable” is checked in the project settings, the date or the duration of the milestones in the Schedule tab cannot be modified by the end user. This setting can be found in Backoffice/ Customizing/ Settings/ Project template/ Project settings, in the “Milestone settings” section.

If the option has not been checked, then the duration, revised start date and end date can be modified by clicking the folder icon for a milestone inside the Schedule tab of the RFX project created using that particular project template.

Allow modifications of the general rules (General Data 1 – 3)

This setting can be found in Backoffice - Customizing / Settings - Project template - Project settings, in the “Milestone settings” section.

If the options remain unchecked the start date of a milestone can never precede the start date of the first one, the end date of a milestone can never follow the end date of the last one, and two milestones cannot have the same start date and end date.

Start date rules:

• Can start before the end date of the previous milestone;
• Can start after the end date of the previous milestone;
• Can start before the start date of the previous milestone.

End date rules:

• Can end before the start date of the next milestone;
• Can end after the start date of the next milestone;
• Can end after the end date of the next milestone.

General rules:

• General Data 1: A start date of a milestone can never precede the start date of the first milestone;
• General Data 2: An end date of a milestone can never follow the end date of the last milestone;
• General Data 3: Two milestones cannot have the same start date and end date.

Project Settings tab

In project settings tab, you will be able to edit settings related to schedule tab, supplier access to documents and tender elements, etc.

Please refer to the platform in order to see all the possibilities. Each setting has an explanation beside, in order to help you. If you need additional help, please contact your SynerTrade consultant.

Automatically invite parent users to a RFX project

In the previous chapters we explained the automatic invitation of superiors defined in the personal information of a buyer as a setup approver. In the project settings you can choose if for some specific templates or projects you want to invite the parent user (i.e. superior) automatically. Access the section Project team and Supplier circle settings and check the options.

For these options, it is possible to select a role (only one, the multiple selection is not allowed). And by default the parent(s) user will be invited with the selected role inside the RFX created using this particular template.

By default, no role is selected, which means that the parent users are not automatically invited to the RFX project.

• In order to be invited automatically, the parent users must have a RFX role: RFX buyer or RFX buyer light. If there is no RFX role assigned to the parent users, then it will not be invited to the project (no error message is displayed on the RFX).

Documents tab

In the Documents tab, you will be able to insert documents which will be available for the project leader when he creates his project. To insert a document, click the New icon.

The users’ access to the uploaded document can be set directly when uploading it, or afterwards according to the option Any other document(s) access has to be given manually after upload:

• Select the document(s) you wish to upload and click Next step
• Fill in the fields available if necessary and click in order to finalize the document(s)’s upload.

If the setting was Any other document(s) access has to be given manually after upload was selected, then the checkboxes for Buyer and Supplier access will be unchecked once the document has been uploaded and the user will be able to select the access for each type of user.

Assign Tender Elements tab

In the Assign Tender Elements tab, you will be able to assign any grid or questionnaire template stored in the commodity template database into the RFx Template.

The project leader will then already have a grid and/or a questionnaire set by default on his project. To insert a grid or a questionnaire, click the grid icon or the questionnaire icon.

To choose the tender element, select the checkbox and click the Apply icon.

If your list of grids / questionnaires is empty or does not contain the structure you want to add to the project template, you need firstly add the template to the commodity template database. To do this, you have to do the following steps:

• In the RFX module, create a RFX project (or open an existing one which is not in the status “Awarded” or “Awarding in process”)
• Go to the phase RFP (or another phase that includes grids and questionnaires)
• Create your tender element from scratch or add it from another project.
• From the list of tender elements created click on the corresponding icon in the column “Actions”:
• Click the option "Paste in comodity tender elements"
• Go back to the BO / Customizing / Settings / module RFX / tab “Project templates” / open the RFX template in which you want to add the tender element and click on tab “Assign tender elements”
• To insert a grid or a questionnaire, click the New grid icon or the New questionnaire icon.
• Select the tender element that you just prepared and click the Apply icon.