Universityof Tennessee

easySourcing™

Training Manual for easySourcing™Users

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Purpose

Additional Resources

Basic Navigation

Logging In

Web Browsers

Web Address

Username & Password

System Overview

Bid Prepare Overview

Getting Started

Bid Screen Area

Bid Specific Terms and Conditions

Bid Category and Description

Bid Navigation Bar

Prepare

Create

Modify

Exercises

Creating a Bid

Bid Attachments

Exercises

Creating an Attachment

Delete Attachment

Exercises

Deleting an Attachment

Bid Notes

Exercise

Creating a Note

Bid Lots

Exercise

Creating a Lot

Exercise

View a Lot

Exercise

Modifying a Lot

The purpose of this exercise is to practice modifying a Lot

Exercise

Removing a Lot

Delete a Lot

Exercise

Deleting a Lot

Response Checklist Items

Exercise

Including a Checklist Item

Exercise

Including a Checklist Item

Exercise

Adding a Checklist Item to an existing bid.

Bid Prepare – View Bid

Bid Prepare – Modify Bid

Bid Prepare – Modify a New Bid

Bid Prepare – Copy Bid

Exercise

Coping a Bid

Bid Specific Terms and Conditions `

Bid Prepare – Additional Bid Terms and Conditions

Appendix A

Terminology

Appendix B

Bid Status

Tab

Submenu Option

Activity Performed

Document Version






Introduction

The ESM Solutions easySourcing™ system is designed to automate the bidding lifecycle. The University of Tennessee will use this system to manage line item bids, construction projected and quotes. The system will be used to facilitate and award bids.

The University of Tennessee has implemented this Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tool for the following reasons:

  • Streamline the sourcing process from bid creation to award.
  • Provide a tool to facilitate paperless issuance and collection of bid documentation.
  • Ability to view events from the Sourcing Event Board.
  • Potentially increase the number of prospective and actual bidders for projects.
  • Place responsibility on prospective bidders to maintain current contact information for bid solicitations.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide University of Tennessee system and campus staff with detailed information about system functionality and practice exercises to reinforce understanding and confidence in using the common tools and functionality needed to manage bids and awards. This document is intended for users that manage bid events, such as Buyers and Purchasing Directors; however, other staffthat have responsibilities and interests in University of Tennessee bids and awardsmay also benefit from this document.

Additional Resources

Additional resources for training help and support can be found at the University of TennesseeMarketplace Training website, or the following web address:

Please contact the following University of Tennessee easySourcing™ system administrators for additional assistance or questions:

Jack Walker865-974-0326

David Marks865-974-0326

Basic Navigation

The purpose of this section is to provide detailed information and practice exercises related to logging into the easySourcing™ system, as well as navigating the various bid types and reports available.

Logging In

Web Browsers

The easySourcing™ system must be accessed via anESM Solutions web browser. The following are the supported browser types that can be used to access the system:

  • Internet Explorer
  • Safari

Because browser versions are constantly changing, the easySourcing™ system is typically certified to work with the browser’s current full release version, as well as one full release version back. It is important to note that the easySourcing™, like so many other web-based applications, does not work well with Internet Explorer 8. Thus, it is recommended to only use Internet Explorer 9 or higher.

If you have any questions about or experience any difficulties with web browsers on your workstation, please contact the University of Tennessee system administrator.

Web Address

After opening a web browser, navigate to the login page by entering the system URL. Note that there are different URLs for the Training and Production environments.

The following is the Training environment URL:

If you have any questions about the login page, please contact the system administrator.

Username & Password

On the Login page, enter the University of Tennessee number, your User Name and Password. The User Name will beyour LDAP.

If you cannot remember your password, select the “Forgot Password?”link next to reset your password. To reset your password, you must be able to provide your username or email address, so that an email message can be sent to you with the new password and instructions.If you cannot remember your username or experience any issues with or have questions about your username and password, contact the system administrator.

System Overview

The easySourcing system has the following solutions areas:

1)easyBid Line Item

2)easyBid Discount

3)easyQuote

4)easyProject

5)Sourcing Event Posting Board

Each of these areas has specific functionality that is made accessible to users based on the permissions assigned.

Bid Prepare Overview

The Bid Prepare Tab allows for the Creation, Modification and Copying of Bids. Upon first entering the Prepare tab in easyBid Line Item, the user is presented with a choice of 2 types of bids. Both are formal, sealed bids that do not allow the bid facilitator to view any vendor responses prior to the predetermined Open Date and Time.

Upon entering the Prepare tab, the default screen is the Create Bid Screen. From here, you will select the type of bid you will be creating:

Bid:Create bid and publish directly to vendors

Requirements Bid:Create bid, solicit requirements from constituents, and then publish to vendors

Getting Started

There are 2 types of Line Item Bid: Requirements Bid and Line Item Bid. The process of creating the bid is identical – all the fields are the same with the exception of no Quantity Field in the Requirements bid. That is because the Requirements bid is distributed to constituents for quantity input so the system can aggregate them for you.

Bid Screen Area

The bid screen is divided into two parts; Header and Detail.

Header: This refers to the area and the fields in that area requiring the Bid. In other words, the information in this area is applied to the entire content.

Detail: Refers to the individual lines that contain item detail information. One line = one unique item.

In the Header the following fields are required for a bid; Description, Category, Bids Due By, Bids Sealed Until, Required Quoted as Specified Response and Rounding Behavior. See Appendix A for Terminology.

In the Detail the following fields are required; Item Number, Description, Per Purchase Unit and Quantity Required (except on a Requirements Bid). See Appendix A for Terminology on all fields.

The Line Item Bid is suitable for a number of different product types. Since the items can be broken down to the smallest unit, the process of comparing vendor responses and the ability to modify a vendor's response (if responding for a different unit size than specified), the award process truly compares "apples to apples".

Bid Specific Terms and Conditions

Please refer to this section in the Terms and Conditions.

Bid Category and Description

Free form fields for the Category and Description of the Bid.

Bid Navigation Bar

The bid navigation bar contains Prepare, Publish and Award. If customer wishes to use Requirement Bids then two extra tabs, Distribute for Requirements and Manage Requirements will be visible. The following sections provide additional information about some of these features.

Prepare

The Prepare tab has three options, View, Create, and Modify. The View Bid Summary on the Prepare Tab will give a status and detail of every bid for your organization (that you have access to). You cannot make any changes to the bid. However, you can see where each bid is in the process and, if a change needs to be made, you can do that in the Modify screen.

In the Prepare>View screen you will not see details such as Requirement Responses or Vendor responses. You will be able to view the bid line items, bid notes, bid lots, Standard Terms and Conditions, Bid specific Terms and Conditions and Addendums

Create

In this section the user creates the Line Item Bid, Quote, Discount or Project Bid.

Modify

Modify Bid screen displays all bids that are at a status of New through the Award Required. Bids that are under Review or awarded are not available here.

A bid may be modified at any time.

Exercises

The following exercises are related to creating a bid in easySourcing.

Creating a Bid

The purpose of this exercise is to practice Create a Bid in easySourcing.

1)SelectBid from the “Create” screen.

2)The bid screen will open

3)Enter the Description in the description field

4)Enter Category information

5)Enter the Bid Due Date and the Bid Sealed by Date

6)Add any Checklist Items, Terms or Attachments (See below on how to add).

7)EnterItem Number. (If you have an internal number then use that).

8)Fill in the Line Item Description.

9)Use the tab key to move over to the next two fields; Manufacturer and Part Number. These two fields are optional and can be left blank.

10)Enter the Manufacturer name for the product – if you have a preference. If you populate this field, the vendor is obligated to respond with a preference for that Manufacturer or else indicate in Notes they are responding with a different Manufacturer than specified. If you leave the field blank, the vendor will fill the information with the Manufacturer Name and Number they are responding with.

11)Tab to the next field, Quantity.

12)Tab to the next field, Item Size.

  1. Item Size consists of 3 fields: Quantity, UOM and Package Type. The item size section is optional. But if you chose to use Item Size, all 3 fields must be populated. The UOM and Package Type fields consist of specific terms for quantifying the bid terms. Choose one from the drop down list.
  2. Use Item Size to break down the product to the smallest level of detail. If using the Item Size fields, enter the information in the smallest Units. Doing so allows more flexibility during the award process.

13)Tab to the Per Purchase Unit field. This field is required and tells the vendor how many of a product they are expected to provide a bid for.

Best Practice recommendation is to put a 1 in this field.

14)Tab to Previous Unit Price.

  1. If there is a bid price for an item that was previously awarded, enter that information. This information is not visible to the vendor – it is meant strictly as an internal budgeting tool for your organization.

15)Continuing adding items. Use the Update button frequently as not to lose any information.

16)When you have reached the bottom of the page (each page only holds 5 lines items), SelectNext Page to continue with items.

17)SelectUpdate when you have finished adding all items.

18)Once you select Update the Bid ID will change from New to a number.

Bid Attachments

Bid Attachments are optional. The presence of the paper clip in the Header or in the line item detail indicates the capability to attach files to bids.

The process for attaching a document is the same for both types of attachments. Any data file is acceptable – it is important to note that the vendors must have the same software used to create the file. If you are attaching a form, the vendors can download the form, fill it out, save it to their own network or hard drive, and then attach the modified document in the response.

Exercises

The following exercises are related to attaching a file in a bid.

Creating an Attachment

The purpose of this exercise is to practice attaching an Attachment.

1)Click on the paper clip.

2)Click on Header Level Paper Clip - The Modify Bid Attachments- Attach dialog box will open.

3)Click on Line Item paper clip - Indicates Line Item Level Attachment.

  1. Enter a description for your attachment.
  2. Click the Continue Button.
  3. Click on the Browse button to locate the file.
  4. The Choose File Dialog Box will open. Search for your file. Click on the file and then click on the Open Button.
  5. The file and its path should appear in the Attach File Field.
  6. ClickContinue and the file has now been attached as evident by or
  7. ClickUpdate to save changes.
  8. Click the Attach button to add additional Files.

Delete Attachment

Deleting an Attachment deletes it from the Bid but not from the original location on your hard drive, network drive or other storage location.

Exercises

The following exercises are related to deleting an attached file in a bid.

Deleting an Attachment

  1. Double Click on the Diskette image.
  2. The Modify Attachment Dialog Box opens.
  3. Click in the Delete Column to the far right of the attachment.
  1. Click the Update button. The dialog box will refresh, showing the attachment is no longer there.
  2. Click the Closebutton.

Bid Notes

Bid Item Notes provide an extra 4,000 characters of information to be added to a line item. Bid Notes can contain anything additional to the item description such as;

  • Acceptable brands/substitutes
  • Purpose of the product
  • If you would like a sample of the product.
  • Unacceptable characteristics in the item
  • Any information relevant to the line item.

Like Terms and Conditions, Notes do not have any formatting characteristics. Use the Space Bar and capital letters to emphasize any message.

  • When copying a past bid, all notes are copied into the new bid.

Exercise

The following exercise is related to creating a note in a Bid.

Creating a Note

The purpose of this exercise is to practice creating a Note.

1)Click on the Notes icon.

2)The Notes window will open.

3)Click in the Text box to begin entering notes for the item.

4)If you require Samples, Select the YesOption button in the Notes dialog box.

5)When you finish with the Notes window, click the Update button.

  1. You can modify or delete Notes by clicking on the Notes icon and either modifying the text or deleting the entire contents. Once you have finished, ClickUpdate button to ensure your changes are saved.

Bid Lots

Bid Lots is a term used in easyBid for grouping items together When items are contained in a bid lot, the vendors must respond to all or none of the items in that lot. Here are a few facts about lots:

  • There can be multiple lots within a single bid.
  • An item can only belong in one lot.
  • There can be lotted and unlotted items in a bid.
  • Use Lots when you want to award a group of items all to one vendor.

Exercise

The following exercise is related to creating a Lot.

Creating a Lot

The purpose of this exercise is to practice creating a Lot.

1)Open the bid containing the items to be lotted.

2)At the bottom of the screen, Click on the Lot Button.

3)The Bid Lot Summary Screen will appear (if this is a Requirement Bid, the Requirements Bid Lot Summary Screen will appear).

4)Click the Create button. The Create Lot Screen will appear. You must give the Lot a Lot Code (alpha-numeric, 10 characters in length) and a Description (50 Characters in length). There are no restrictions or criteria for entering a Lot Code and Description other than they are required.

5)Click the Update button at the bottom of the screen to save your work. Make sure to check the include box for all items in the bid that should be included in the lot.

6)Click the Update button. The Assigned Lot will be populated with the items that have been added to the lot.

7)The Lot View Button now changes to the Bid View button.

8)Click the Bid View button to return to the previous screen.

9)ClickReturn one more time to return to the Bid Lot Summary Screen.

10)To add additional Lots, follow Steps 1-9.

Note: If you create a large bid, click on the Lot View button at the bottom of the page. This will display all the items that are on the active lot.

Exercise

The following exercise is related to View a Lot.

View a Lot

The purpose of this exercise is to practice viewing a Lot

1)Make sure that the bid has lots.