Creating sections for items or questions in Unimarket is made simple through the Sourcing tool, however in the case of a very large set of bidding requirements, some users may prefer to upload their requirements via a CSV spreadsheet. Using this option, users may download the required template and upload it directly back into Unimarket once they have filled out their requirements. This help document will give you an overview of how to create sections using the Upload feature.
Item Sections Upload
To begin uploading item sections to your bid request, find the Sections tab while creating a bid request. Item Sections are only an option for RFQ Bid Requests, so if you do not see the option for item sections, make sure your bid request type is not RFI or RFP.
Once you select you will be prompted to upload your file, as well as download the template if you do not already have it. A guide to the Unimarket Units of Measure can also be downloaded from this window.
The template will download as an Excel workbook and open in Excel to be edited. The following fields are included in the template:
Column | Description | Mandatory |
CODE | Some products have a product code or SKU number. This can be entered here. | N |
REQUIREMENT | The name of the product you would like to require a quote for. | Y |
SECTION | Your items will be separated into sections. (example: one section may be titled 'Materials' while another is titled 'Labor Costs'). | Y |
SECTION_ALLOW_SUBSTITUTE |
A value of "No" will default the entire section to not allow substitutes, and a value of "Yes" will allow substitute items. This will apply to all items within the section but must only be marked on the first item of a section. | N |
SECTION_BASE_REQUIRED |
Only necessary when allowing substitutes. A value of "Yes" will require bidding suppliers to still quote the original product, even when supplying a substitute item. A value of "no" will not require them to include the original product when quoting a substitute item. This will apply to all items within the section but must only be marked on the first item of a section. | N |
CATEGORY | The UNSPSC category of the item. | N |
QUANTITY | How many of the item you would like suppliers to quote for. | Y |
UNIT_OF_MEASURE | The unit of measure you would like the supplier to quote for. (example: EA [Each]). | Y |
DELIVERY_DATE | The date you expect the item to be delivered. | N |
MANUFACTURER_PART_ID |
An optional manufacturer part ID. This is useful when requiring a very specific model of a product. | N |
ALLOW_SUBSTITUTE | A value of "No" will not allow substitutes for this item, and a value of "Yes" will allow substitute items. | N |
BASE_REQUIRED | Only necessary when allowing substitutes. A value of "Yes" will require bidding suppliers to still quote the original product, even when supplying a substitute item. A value of "no" will not require them to include the original product when quoting a substitute item. | N |
Question Sections Upload
To begin uploading question sections to your bid request, find the Sections tab while creating a bid request. Once you select you will be prompted to upload your file, as well as download the template if you do not already have it.
The template will download as an Excel workbook and open in Excel to be edited. The following fields are included in the template:
Column | Description | Mandatory: Section Line | Mandatory: Question Line |
TYPE | Choose S or R for this value. This tells Unimarket whether this line of your upload is a Section (S) or a Question (R). | Y | Y |
NAME | The Question or information you would like to include (example: "Please enter your contact information"). | Y | Y |
SCORED | This allows the user to choose whether or not this section can be evaluated and counts towards the final score. Choose YES or NO. | Y | N |
WEIGHT | The percentage of the score the line makes up. If TYPE = S then choose what percentage of the final score this section will represent. If TYPE = R then choose the percentage the question should be weighted for within the section. All sections must add up to 100 and all questions within sections must add up to 100 within their own section. If you would like Unimarket to auto-weight your questions within sections by assigning them equal percentages, leave this blank and answer NO on 'WEIGHT_QUESTIONS'. |
Y (If SCORED = Y) |
Y (If SCORED = Y) |
WEIGHT_QUESTIONS | This is asking if you would like Unimarket to allow you to manually weight questions within a specific section. If answered YES then enter weights manually on 'WEIGHT'. If NO or left blank, Unimarket will Auto-weight the questions. | N | N |
INTERNAL | This allows you to choose if these questions will be answered by suppliers, or internally by evaluators. | Y | N |
MANDATORY | If the questions are not internal, they may be optional or mandatory based on what you choose here. |
Y (If INTERNAL= N) |
N |
EVALUATORS | Enter the username of the evaluator. If left blank, the user creating the bid request will be automatically added as an Evaluator. If other users are evaluators on the 'Team' tab, their usernames may be added here as well. |
Y (If SCORED = Y) |
N |
DESCRIPTION | Shows as a caption below the question. (example, for a Yes/No question that says "Can you deliver by required date?" this line can read "If no, explain in comment field" and include an optional comment field). | N | N |
ATTACHMENT |
If question is not internal, choose whether an attachment from the supplier is DISALLOWED, OPTIONAL or MANDATORY. Note: If MANDATORY is chosen then the Section must also be MANDATORY |
N | Y |
COMMENT | If question is not internal, choose whether an attachment from the supplier is DISALLOWED, OPTIONAL or MANDATORY. | N | Y |
QUESTION_DATA_TYPE | If question is not internal, choose whether a question is a PICKLIST (drop down menu allowing multiple options), YES_NO (drop down menu allowing yes or no), or TEXT (blank field for text). Question types are not supported for internal questions. | N | Y |
OPTIONS | If you have chosen a PICKLIST for QUESTION_DATA_TYPE, include the possible options separated by semi-colons (example: Option1;Option2;Option3;Option4). | N | Y |