Overview
In AutoRFP, a Project comprises all the questionnaires related to a specific opportunity. A single Project can contain multiple documents, including the RFP documents and other elements like Security Questionnaires.
This guide will walk you through creating a project and importing response documents from Word, Excel, PDF and Web Portal sources. If this is your first time completing an import, we recommend reading this entire guide.
Create the Project
From your dashboard, locate the "Projects" section.
Click the "Create Project" button.
Upload Project Requirements
You have two modes for creating project requirements:
1. Upload Files
Upload one or multiple Word, Excel, or PDF files containing your requirements (you can also upload zips containing these files). After uploading, you'll be redirected to the project importer to choose the requirements for import.
2. Web Portal
Create a blank project and add requirements using the Chrome extension. This is useful when working with a project issued via an online portal.
For more information on using the Web Extension, please review the guide.
Enter Project Details
Customer Name: Specify the organisation issuing the project.
Customer Owner (optional): Receive notifications when the Project is complete.
Project Name: Assign a name for identification (e.g., "CRM Procurement 2023").
Project Owner: Receives more detailed notifications on the Project progress
Description (optional): Summarise the project's purpose.
Collaborators (optional): Add team members working on the project.
Due Date: Define the project's deadline.
Selecting Requirements
You will then be brought to the project importer, which allows you to select requirements.
File Importer Explained
For AutoRFP.ai to generate a response, you must first select Requirements.
Excel Deep Dive: If you're working in Excel, there's a great video guide on our Excel Import Guide.
1. Click on the first requirement/question on the document viewer.
2. Select "Requirement" from the list that shows up once clicked. Requirements are the only mandatory selection for you to use AutoRFP.ai.
In Excel, this will automatically detect all of the other requirements that match the format automatically. In Word, Auto-select is disabled by default but can be turned on by clicking here on the top right of any document:
Requirements
Requirement: any question or statement that will be met with a response. This is the most common element to import, and most documents will comprise just Requirements and not the slightly more complex Child and Combined requirements discussed below.
Example:
Child: to be answered separately but require the context from a parent requirement for the system to have enough context to answer.
Example:
Combined: merges multiple cells into one requirement, great where one response is needed for multiple cells of requirements horizontally or vertically.
Example:
Response
Use responses to export into a customer's formatted document, including Excel and Word Tables. If this is not selected, you can only export into standard template formats and not back into your customer's format.
Ensure you select a response for each requirement you want to export into the customer's format.
Example:
Compliance
In AutoRFP.ai, "Compliance" refers to selecting from lists of different options, such as "Yes/No", that generally indicate your compliance with a requirement. AutoRFP.ai can select these automatically and export it back into the customers format with the responses above.
Types of compliance levels:
Dropdown: a single cell that needs to be filled in with a compliance level out of the provided options (e.g. dropdown).
Horizontal: several columns where one needs to be marked with an X or some other symbol depending on the compliance level.
When you click on the "Compliance" button the first time for a project, it will open up the compliance level configuration options.
If your questionnaire requires multiple different compliance responses, you can click on the '+' button to add additional compliance groups.
Example:
Tip: Keybinds can help speed up the importing process. to learn them see the Guide Tab on the importer.
IDs Sections & Subsections
ID: Searchable Identifiers could be numbers or text
Section: Breaks the document into categories (e.g. Functional & Non-Functional)
Subsection: Breaks Sections down further into sub-categories such as (Implementation & SLA)
Tabs in Excel documents can also be marked as sections:
Example:
Importer Tips and Tricks
Table Selection
When selecting content in tables, you can:
Click and drag to select multiple cells
Click in one cell, and then Shift+Click in another cell to select all of the cells between
Selection
Unmarking Cells
First, select the cells you wish to unmark. After selecting, you can either use the 'Unmark' button or press the esc key.
Select Column
This will select all the cells below the selected cell in a column, useful for manual selection in complex excel documents.
Tip: Press Ctrl + Z or to undo recent actions.
You can also clear all the markings for a particular tab in a spreadsheet by clicking the three dots in the upper right of the importer and selecting “Clear all Selections”.
Zoom +/-
In the top right of the importer, you'll notice two buttons that allow you to zoom in and out of the document you're editing.
Step 5: Choosing Source Documents
Choose the content for the system to reference when responding to this project's requirements. In many cases you can simply select all of your content.
Step 5: Start Reviewing Responses!
Once you've imported your requirements, AutoRFP.ai will begin generating responses. You will automatically be taken to the Response Editor where you can review responses to ensure they’re ready for the customer.