Alternative RfQs

Sometimes, companies might want to request offers from multiple vendors at the same time, by inviting those vendors to submit offers for similar goods or services all at once. This helps companies to select the cheapest, fastest vendors, depending on their specific business needs.

In Odoo, this can be done by creating alternative requests for quotation (RfQs) for different vendors. Once a response is received from each vendor, the product lines from each RfQ can be compared, and a decision can be made for which products to purchase from which vendors.

Note

Sometimes referred to as a call for tender, this process is primarily used by organizations in the public sector, who are legally bound to use it when making a purchase. However, private companies can also use alternative RfQs to spend money efficiently.

Configuration

To create alternative RfQs, the Purchase Agreements feature must be enabled in the Purchase app settings. To enable the feature, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings. Under the Orders section, click the checkbox for Purchase Agreements.

Then, click Save to apply the change.

Doing so enables the ability to create alternative RfQs, as well as blanket orders.

Tip

To save time creating alternative RfQs, custom vendors, prices, and delivery lead times can be set in the Purchase tab of a product form.

To do that, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Products ‣ Products, and select a product to edit. On the product form, click the Purchase tab, and click Add a line.

From the drop-down menu, choose a vendor to set under the Vendor column, then set a Price and Delivery Lead Time, if necessary. Clicking the (optional columns drop-down toggle) icon, at the top right of the header row, provides additional column options to add to the line item.

Create an RfQ

To create a new RfQ, navigate to the Purchase app, and click New.

On the blank RfQ form, add a vendor from the drop-down menu, next to the Vendor field. Then, click Add a product, in the Products tab, to select a product from the drop-down menu in the Product column.

Then, set the desired quantity to purchase in the Quantity column, and change the purchase price in the Unit Price column, if necessary.

Clicking the (optional columns drop-down toggle) icon, at the top right of the header row, provides additional column options to add to the line item.

Repeat these steps to add as many column options in the Products tab as desired, including the UoM (Units of Measure) to purchase the products in, and the Expected Arrival date.

Once ready, click Send by Email.

This opens a Compose Email pop-up window, wherein the message to the vendor can be customized, and attachments can be added, if needed. Once ready, click Send.

This sends an email to the vendor listed on the RfQ form.

Note

Sending emails to each vendor can be useful when creating alternative RfQs, because vendors can confirm if their past prices still hold today, which helps companies choose the best offers.

Create alternative RfQs

Once a PO is created and sent to a vendor, alternative RfQs can be created for additional vendors to compare prices, delivery times, and other factors, to help make a decision for the order.

To create alternative RfQs from the original, click the Alternatives tab. Then, click Create Alternative. When clicked, a Create alternative pop-up window appears.

From this window, select an alternative vendor from the drop-down menu next to the Vendor field, to whom the alternative quotation is assigned.

Next to this, there is a Copy Products checkbox that is selected by default. When selected, the product quantities of the original RfQ are copied over to the alternative. For this first alternative quotation, leave the checkbox checked. Once finished, click Create Alternative. This opens a new RfQ form.

Since the Create Alternative checkbox was left checked, the new form is already pre-populated with the same products, quantities, and other details as the previous, original RfQ.

Note

When the Copy Products checkbox is selected while creating an alternative quotation, additional products do not need to be added, unless desired.

However, if a chosen vendor is listed in the Vendor column under a specific product form included in the order, the values set on the product form carry over to the RfQ, and must be changed manually, if necessary.

Once ready, create a second alternative quotation by clicking the Alternatives tab, followed by Create Alternative.

Note

An option to Compare Product Lines also appears. Clicking this navigates to the Compare Order Lines page, where alternative RfQs can be compared, side-by-side. For more information on this, refer to the Compare Product Lines section.

This opens the Create alternative pop-up window. Once again, choose a different vendor from the drop-down menu next to Vendor. For this particular RfQ, however, uncheck the Copy Products checkbox. Doing so removes all products on the new alternative RfQ, leaving it blank. The specific products which should be ordered from this particular vendor can be added in as needed.

Once ready, click Create Alternative.

Tip

If an alternative quotation should be removed from the Alternatives tab, they can be individually removed by clicking on the X (remove) icon at the end of their row.

This creates a third, new RfQ. But, since the product quantities of the original RfQ were not copied over, the product lines are empty, and new products can be added as needed by clicking Add a product, and selecting the desired products from the drop-down menu.

Once the desired number of specific products are added, click Send by Email.

This opens a Compose Email pop-up window, wherein the message to the vendor can be customized, and attachments can be added, if necessary. Once ready, click Send.

From this newest form, click the Alternatives tab. Under this tab, all three RfQs can be seen in the Reference column. Additionally, the vendors are listed under the Vendor column, and the order Total (and Status) of the orders are in the rows, as well.

The date in the Expected Arrival column is calculated for each vendor, based on any pre-configured lead times in the vendor and product forms.

Link new RfQ to existing quotations

Even if a quotation is not created directly from the Alternatives tab of another RfQ, it can still be linked to existing RfQs.

To do that, begin by creating a new RfQ. Navigate to Purchase app ‣ New. Fill out the RfQ, according to the previous instructions.

Then, once ready, click the Alternatives tab. Since this new RfQ was created separately, there are no other orders linked yet.

However, to link this RfQ with existing alternatives, click Link to Existing RfQ on the first line in the Vendor column.

This opens an Add: Alternative POs pop-up window. Select the desired previously-created RfQs, and click Select. All of these orders are now copied to this RfQ, and can be found under the Alternatives tab.

Tip

If a large number of POs are being processed, and the previous POs can’t be located, click the ⬇️ (down arrow) icon to the right of the search bar, at the top of the pop-up window.

Then, under the Group By section, click Vendor. Vendors are displayed in their own nested drop-down lists, and each vendor’s list can be expanded to view open POs for that vendor.

Compare product lines

Alternative RfQs can be compared side-by-side, in order to determine which vendors offer the best deals on the products included in the orders.

To compare alternative RfQs, navigate to the Purchase app, and select one of the previously-created RfQs.

Then, click the Alternatives tab to see all linked RfQs. Next, under the Create Alternative option, click Compare Product Lines. This navigates to the Compare Order Lines page.

The Compare Order Lines page, by default, groups by Product. Each product included in any of the RfQs is displayed in its own nested drop-down list, and features all of the PO numbers in the Reference column.

Additional columns on this page include the Vendor from which products were ordered, OTD, the Reference number, the Status of the quotation (e.g., RFQ, RFQ Sent, etc.), the product Description, the Expected Arrival date, the Quantity of products ordered from each vendor, the Unit of Measure used for each product (if any), the Unit Price per product, the Total price of the order, and the Currency applied to the order.

Note

To remove product lines from the Compare Order Lines page, click Clear at the far-right end of that product line’s row.

Doing so removes this specific product as a selectable option from the page, and changes the Total price of that product on the page to 0.

Additionally, on the RfQ form, in which that product was included, its ordered quantity is also changed to 0.

Once the best offers have been identified, individual products can be selected by clicking the Choose button at the end of each corresponding row.

Once all desired products have been chosen, click Requests for Quotation (in the breadcrumbs, at the top of the page) to navigate back to an overview of all RfQs.

Cancel (or keep) alternatives

Once the desired products have been chosen from the Compare Order Lines page, the remaining RfQs, from which no products were chosen, can be canceled.

The cost in the Total column for each product that wasn’t chosen is automatically set to 0, indicated at the far-right of each corresponding row.

Although they haven’t been canceled yet, this indicates that each of those orders can be canceled without having an effect on the other live orders, once those orders have been confirmed.

To confirm an RfQ for which products were selected, click into one, and click Confirm Order.

This causes a pop-up window reading What about the alternative Requests for Quotations? to appear. From the pop-up window, two options are presented: Cancel Alternatives and Keep Alternatives.

If this PO should not be confirmed, click Discard.

Selecting Cancel Alternatives automatically cancels the alternative RfQs. Selecting Keep Alternatives keeps the alternative RfQs open, so they can still be accessed, if any additional product quantities need to be ordered later.

Once all products are ordered, Cancel Alternatives can be selected from whichever PO is open at that time.

To view a detailed form of one of the RfQs listed, click the line item for that quotation. This opens an Open: Alternative POs pop-up window, from which all details of that particular RfQ can be viewed.

Once ready, click Close to close the pop-up window.

If all alternative RfQs should stay open, from the What about the alternative Requests for Quotations? pop-up window, click Keep Alternatives.

Then, click Requests for Quotation (in the breadcrumbs, at the top of the page) to navigate back to an overview of all RfQs.

Click into the remaining RfQs that contain products that need to be ordered, and click Confirm Order.

This opens the What about the alternative Requests for Quotations? pop-up window. If desired, and the remaining alternative RfQs are no longer needed, click Cancel Alternatives to cancel all other alternative RfQs linked with this order.

Finally, click Requests for Quotation (in the breadcrumbs, at the top of the page) to navigate back to an overview of all RfQs.

The canceled orders can be seen, greyed out and listed with a Cancelled status, under the Status column at the far-right of their respective rows.

Now that all product quantities have been ordered, the purchase process can be completed, and the products can be received into the warehouse.

See also

Blanket orders