Creation of sourcing items and criteria
- Lars Hecker
Analytics
Sourcing
This article only applies to Sourcing
In Mercell Sourcing, things that are tendered are called sourcing items. Purchasable items are created either in "groups" or "lots". If the sourcing in question is divided into lots, a sourcing section is created in the "Sourcing items and criteria" section of the request , under which the sourcing objects are listed. If the sourcing has not been divided into lots, a group is created in the "sourcing items and criteria" section of the request , under which the sourcing objects are listed.
In the "Sourcing items and criteria" section, the items to be acquired, i.e. the sourcing objects, and what these objects must be, i.e. the sourcing items and criteria, are defined (see the article criteria for the object of acquisition).
Introductory information
You can choose an introduction from pre-saved texts for the sourcing item criteria or by entering the introduction in the text field.
Note: If you want to save this as a pre-saved text, check the box marked ‘Save’ and enter a name for the text. Once you click save on the overall tab, this text will be saved a pre-saved text for future use.
You can hide all score-related information from the provider by selecting "Hide all scoring data from tenderers".
Add a group
If, in the procedure tab, you have selected that the procurement object cannot be divided into lots and partial responses within lots are not allowed, you will only be able to “add a group” in the sourcing items and criteria tab.
Create a group for sourcing items in the "sourcing items and criteria" tab with the "Add group" button, after which the group editing section will open below.
Give the group a name
Asking the price and decimals of the price (see the Asking for a price)
Add objects and their criteria
Add a sub/area
If, in the procedure tab, you have selected that the procurement object can be divided into lots and partial responses within lots are allowed, you will be able to create sub-areas in the sourcing items and criteria tab.
Create a sub-area for sourcing objects by clicking the "Add sub-area" button. This will open a section below for you to enter the details:
Give the sub-area a name
Set the asking price and decimals of the price (see the article Asking for a price)
Add the objects and their criteria
If partial offers are allowed and the cheapest price - scoring has been selected in the tab “Definition of evaluation criteria”, the following options will appear in this section:
Select whether partial tenders are allowed within the sub-area
If "Yes" is selected, the bidder can decide which items in the sub-area they offer and which they do not offer
Select whether the object's weight can be determined from the maximum points of the price
If "Yes" is selected, it is possible to define a weight for different items from the maximum price points (see article price weight)
Choose whether sub-area must be tendered
If "Yes" is selected, the bidder cannot leave the without tendering the sub-area.
IMAGE: Procurement sub-area "Transportation", where the bidder can choose whether to bid for both areas.
Processing of all groups or sub-area
At the top right of the criteria section of the procurement object, there are function icons that allow you to process all groups/areas at once.
Change name
Give your own name to the sourcing items and criteria to better describe your procurement process. These names will be updated in the Supplier portal and in the PDF file of the request
Check information
The system highlights missing mandatory information or conflicting choices in red
Preview (eye icon)
The preview opens in a separate tab, where you can view how the input form of the sourcing items and criteria section looks to the bidder.
NOTE! If there are several sub-areas or groups in the procurement, they are closed by default and the desired group/sub-area can be opened from the link "Expand group >>"
Item metadata fields
The function can be used to add specific additional data fields to all sourcing items at once (e.g. package size, product code)
Upload sourcing items from an Excel file (see instructions below)
You can import the sourcing items at once by importing an excel file of a specific format
Close all groups/sub-areas
You can close all the groups/sections you create into rows for easy management
Open all groups/sub-areas
You can open all the groups/sub-areas you have created so that all the information in each section is visible
FIGURE: A request with three lots. The picture shows the common functions of the sub-areas. With the check information function, you can check whether there are any contradictions in the criteria, which are highlighted in red.
Processing of an individual group or sub-area
In the upper right corner of each group/sub-area section, you will find function icons that you can use to handle that group/sub-area.
Delete the selected items and criteria of the group/sub-area
Select the desired items objects and/or criteria of the group/sub-area by checking the box at the end of each line.
Click on the red trash can icon
Export the selections to a criteria group (see the article Criteria library)
Select the desired items and/or criteria of the group or sub-area by checking the box at the end of the line.
Click the icon with the cloud and arrow
Criteria Library (see article Criteria Library)
Select the desired items and/or criteria of the group or sub-area by checking the box at the end of the line.
Click the book icon
Moving or copying the objects and criteria of a group/sub-area (see the article on moving and editing the objects and criteria of a group)
Select the desired items and/or criteria of the group or sub-area by checking the box at the end of the line.
Click the forward arrow icon
Close the group/section
Click the underscore icon to close the section and view just the name of each group/sub-area
Delete group/sub-area
Remove the entire group/sub-area from the red box
Sourcing Objects
Acquisition items can be created manually or imported using Excel import.
Add a new item manually
Add a new object item by writing its name in the "new item" field.
Add the quantity to be purchased (NOTE! If you leave the quantity to be purchased blank, the system processes the quantity as one)
Add a unit
What is the comparable unit and in which unit do you want the bidder to enter the price
Editing an item
To the right of each item line, there are options to modify the item.
Delete the item
Remove the object in question from the group/section by clicking the red cross
Move the item
You can move the item to another position within the group/section by grabbing the arrow icon and dragging it to the desired position (drag & drop)
NOTE If you want to move an object to another group/subarea, select the arrow button "Moving and copying group/sub-area objects and criteria" at the top of the group/subarea section
Expand more activities by clicking the three lined icon
Close the item
Click the ‘'Close object’' option to condense the details to one line for easy management of objects
Copy the item
The function makes a copy of the item
Object metadata
The function can be used to define object data fields to the additional metadata defined for all items (see processing of all groups/sub-areas > additional information fields of items)
Upload sourcing items from an excel file
The items to be acquired can be imported using an Excel template in a quantity format.
Select "Upload sourcing items from an Excel file" from the top right hand corner of the form
From the window that opens, you can download the correct quantitative import template by clicking "download template"
The items of procurement are defined in the quantitative import file
You can then upload the file by either dragging the saved excel file from your desktop to the window or you can click the area to choose the file manually
Check the "Groups/sub-areas and objects” imported from Excel will replace the current ones" in order to overwrite the information in the soucing items and criteria section that you may have previously entered manually
If you do not check this box, the groups/areas and objects will be entered after the existing ones in the tab
Click the “Submit” button to import the groups/sub-areas and objects
Completing the quantitative Excel form
Excel has quantity-formatted fields into which the necessary information can be filled. You must fill in the data in columns A and B in the sheet. However, fields C to F are optional. If information is filled in those fields, they will be transferred to under the headings for sourcing targets.
In the column A, define whether the row is (OG) a group/subarea or (O) an identifier
The name of the object is defined in column B
The quantity to be acquired is defined in column C
The unit is defined in column D
The product code is defined in column F
From the G column onwards, you can create your own additional columns, which appear in the acquisition items as additional information
