Creating questions for an RFI

Whether you are creating your RFI offline or online, Sourcing Optimizer provides you with multiple configurable options for creating, designing, and displaying your questions. The way you configure questions differs depending on which method you are using.

The information in this article describes and explains the available options and question attributes. For instructions on how to create an RFI offline, see Creating an RFI using a downloaded template; for instructions on how to create an RFI online, see Creating an RFI online.

Certain settings and configuration options are only available online in the RFI submenu. For additional information, see RFI configuration: Online and offline options.


Figure 1. Creating questions using the RFI design template

Figure 2. Configuring questions online

For each question you create for your RFI, the following fields and options are available.

  • Question: Enter the text of your question up to 255 characters.

  • Description: Optionally, enter a description of the question to provide additional context. The Description has a character limit of 20,000.

  • Question type: Select one of the following question types.
    • Text: Select this input type if you require a text response, up to the limit of 8000 characters.
    • Number: Select this input type if you require a numerical response. After you select this option, you can set minimum and maximum values for responses online in Sourcing Optimizer using the Minimum value and Maximum value fields.
    • Currency: Select this input type if you require a cost-related numerical response. After you select this option, you can set minimum and maximum values for responses online in Sourcing Optimizer using the Minimum value and Maximum value fields.
    • Date: Select this input type if you require a date as a response. The bidder selects a date from a calendar.
    • File: Select this input type if you require a file to be uploaded in the response. The bidder drags and drops or chooses a file to upload. The following file formats are supported: .xlsx, .xls, .pdf, .docx, .doc, .odf, .csv, .txt, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff, .tif, .bmp, .pptx, .ppsx, .pptm, .gif, .odt, and .zip.
    • Single-choice: Select this input type if you want to create a question with multiple options that requires a single response from bidders. If you want to use a single-choice gating question, you can specify the correct answer online but not using the downloaded template.
    • Multiple-choice: Select this input type if you want to create a question with multiple options that allows bidders to include more than one response.

  • Response: Select one of the following response requirements.
    • Optional: Bidders are not required to answer this question and can access the bid sheet at any time.
    • Mandatory: Bidders can access the bid sheet without providing a response. 
    • Event gating: Bidders are required to provide a response to access event information and documents
    • Bid sheet gating: Bidders are required to provide a response to access the bid sheet.

  • Sub-question: Create a sub-question for the question.

  • Comments: Allow bidders to include additional comments with their responses, up to 255 characters.

  • Reference documents: Enables you to upload supporting reference documents for your question. An option to drag and drop or select the file becomes available for the question in Sourcing Optimizer after you enable this setting.

  • Identifier: Optionally, enter a unique identifier for the question that will be displayed to the bidder and included in error messages.

  • Categories: Optionally, select a category for the question. You can use categories to group related questions. Bidders can quickly filter and navigate to questions based on these categories.