RFQ response flow
In the RFQ response flow, several stages have "states" associated with them. States represent the status of the response process at a certain time in its lifecycle. States help the user track a particular business process and provide HCL Commerce with benchmarks it can use to manage all business processes within the system.
If approvals are enabled for the selling organization, the approver plays a role in this process. If the organization administrator 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 following diagram:
| Status | Explanation | Associated actions |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The response is being composed. | Create Response and View Draft Response. |
| Pending approval | Approvals are enabled. An approver is reviewing the response. | All the actions included in the approval chain are represented by this state. |
| Accepted | The approver approved the response and allowed the response to be transmitted to the buyer. | Part of the approval chain. |
| Rejected | The approver rejected the response. | Part of the approval chain. |
| Active | The response was submitted, and approved if appropriate, and is available for evaluation by the buyer. If approvals are 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 did not to send this response to the buyer. | Cancel Response |
| Retracted | A review of the draft within the seller organization generated some concerns. The response cannot be transmitted to the buyer from this state. It can move to a canceled or draft state. This state provides the user with some time to reconsider the response. | The decision point "Is Response OK" is represented by this state. |
| In-evaluation | The buyer is evaluating the responses. | 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 entered the order or contract process. | Receive Buyer Action |
| Lost completed | The RFQ 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 |