RFQ response flow (Enterprise)
Several stages in the process depicted above have "states" associated with them. States represent the status of the response process at a certain time in its lifecycle. States help the user keep track of a particular business process and provides WebSphere Commerce with benchmarks it can use to manage all business processes within the system.
The approver plays a role in this process only if approvals have been enabled for the selling organization. If the organization administrator has enabled approvals during the membership registration process, the submitted response is first reviewed by an approver. It is transmitted to the buyer if approved.
Sellers can view the state of an RFQ response in the Status column of the RFQ Response page. The statuses that can display, a brief explanation of what they mean and their associated actions from the diagram above include:
| Status | Explanation | Associated actions |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The response is still being composed. | Create Response and View Draft Response. |
| Pending approval | Approvals has been enabled and an approver is reviewing the response. | All the actions included in the approval chain are represented by this state. |
| Accepted | The approver has approved the response and allowed its transmittal to the buyer. | Part of the approval chain. |
| Rejected | The approver has rejected the response. | Part of the approval chain. |
| Active | The response has been submitted, and approved if appropriate, and is available for evaluation by the buyer. If approvals has been enabled, the response goes to the approver rather than directly to the buyer. If the approver approves the response, it is passed on to the buying organization. | Submit Response |
| Canceled | The seller has decided not to send this response to the buyer. | Cancel Response |
| Retracted | A review of the draft within the seller organization has generated some concerns. The response cannot be transmitted to the buyer from this state. It can only move to a canceled or draft state. This state provides the user with some time to reconsider the response before committing to canceling or modifying the response. | The decision point "Is Response OK" is represented by this state. |
| In-evaluation | The buyer is in the process of evaluating the responses received. | Wait for Buyer Action |
| Won | Your response is a winning response. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Lost | Your response is a losing response. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Won completed | The RFQ has entered the order or contract process. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Lost completed | The RFQ has entered the order or contract process. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Won next round | The buyer accepts your response but creates a next round RFQ for continued negotiation. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Lost next round | The buyer rejects your response but creates a next round RFQ for continued negotiation. | Receive Buyer Action |
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