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.

You have two modes for creating project requirements:

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.

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.

For AutoRFP.ai to generate accurate responses, you must first make selections to highlight which areas of the document you want the response engine to scan.

Once you are in the project importer screen you can proceed to select requirements, responses, compliance, sections, info and more.

Click on the first requirement/question on the document viewer. Note that you do not have to manually highlight the text, you can simply click on a line and it will capture that piece of information.

Select "Requirement" from the list that shows up once clicked. Requirements are the only mandatory selection for you to use AutoRFP.ai.

In Excel, the system will try to detect all of the other requirements that match the format automatically. Word documents may require more manual selections due to the shifting formats within the document.

The Smart-Select feature will have the system comb through the document tab, and select cells within the same column. If turned on before importing a document, the system will attempt to make selections in the document on it's own. If you toggle on Smart-Selection while working, it will attempt to detect similar cells after you make your first selection.

The "Tab Transition Selection" feature, when toggled on, will go across the extent of a spreadsheet or document and make selections. This feature is most effective in excel format or documents that are laid out in a very orderly fashion.

Requirement: AutoRFP defines a requirement as any question or statement that will be met with a response within our system. This is the most common element to import.

Example:

Child Requirement: Consider using the child requirement selection when you want an item to be answered separately but would like the response engine to consider the context of a parent requirement when drafting a response.

Example:

Combined Requirement: This selection will merge multiple cells, or points into one requirement. Use this selection where one response is needed for multiple cells of requirements horizontally or vertically.

Example:

Responses: AutoRFP defines responses as the selections directly correlated to a requirement. 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: AutoRFP.ai defines "Compliance" selections as responses that are "Yes/No" or on a scale. When selections are highlighted as "Compliance" the system will use the content library or subsequent response to the same requirement and attempt to answer automatically. These compliance responses can later be exported back into the customer's format.

Example:

Types of compliance levels:

When you click on the "Compliance" button the first time for a project, it will open up the compliance level configuration options. Toggle the "Respond" column on/off to enable that compliance option. Click on the pencil icon under "Action" to edit the verbiage for that criteria. Add additional fields in the bottom row.

If your questionnaire requires multiple different compliance responses, you can click on the '+' button to add additional compliance groups.

​Make sure to click the "close" button at the bottom right to save your criteria.

ID: Searchable Identifiers for a requirement (could be numbers or text).

Section: Breaks the document into categories (e.g. Functional & Non-Functional) that can then be filtered in the responses view.

Subsection: Breaks Sections down further into sub-categories such as (Implementation & SLA)..

Tabs in Excel documents can also be marked as sections:

Example:

When selecting content in tables, you can:

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.

Undo Action: Press Ctrl + Z or to undo recent actions. You can also use the "Undo" button in the toolbar.

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”.

Choose the content for the system to reference when responding to this project's requirements. In most cases you can simply select all of your content. Only select specific content if you want to deliberately omit information from other sources, or are confident in the exact place you want the response engine to search. You can later refine your content selections in the "Edit Project" tab of your live project.
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You can also select information you are sourcing by tags if you are utilizing the tags function. Note that this is not absolutely necessary as the AI response engine will be searching the entirety of the content library for accurate first draft responses with the application of tags.

Use the response settings feature to calibrate the response engine's first draft answers. This can be adjusted from project to project as required.
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When you are happy with your Content selection, Tags (if applicable), and Response Settings go ahead and create your project.

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, collaborate, and export responses for your finalized RFP or Questionnaire.