Compare and award

Pending Awards brings together the purchase requests that are now ready for a decision: those that have enough quotations to compare, or those where the maximum quotation reception deadline has already passed. Each card summarizes items, suppliers that quoted, potential savings and deadlines. Opening one takes you to the comparison screen, which is the heart of the purchasing decision.

General information

At the very top you see the request's context data: code and title, external ID (if it came from the ERP), delivery address, number of items and number of quotations received.

Currency

A selector at the top right lets you view the entire comparison in each supplier's original currency or converted to any of the currencies enabled for your organization (USD, EUR, ARS, BRL, COP, PEN, depending on your region). When you change it, all prices, totals, equalized totals and charts are recalculated. The exchange rate in effect is shown (e.g. "1 USD = 1,450 ARS").

Adjust the exchange rate. If you prefer to use your own exchange rate (for example, your treasury's) instead of the automatic one, the Adjust exchange rate button in the currency box opens an editor with one row per currency present in the quotations, each expressed as "1 [currency] = value in your accounting currency". The value you enter is used to display converted prices and is frozen on the Purchase Order when you award (full or partial), as well as in the reports and the Excel. It is per request: it is not remembered for the next ones. With Restore market rate you go back to the automatic one.

When the currency isn't supported

If a supplier quotes in a currency Sourced doesn't handle yet (Japanese yen, for example), the quotation is still saved and you can see it in full. It shows up in the comparison with its original currency code and a warning.

Because there is no exchange rate for that currency, the offer is left out of the automatic ranking and of the comparative totals: showing it converted would mean making up a number. For the same reason it cannot be awarded until the currency is corrected; if you try, Sourced tells you which item and which currency to fix. You can correct it by editing the quotation's unit prices.

If exchange rates cannot be retrieved (a temporary failure of the rates service), the prices that depended on that conversion are left out of the comparison and the scorecard tells you which suppliers were excluded, instead of showing an incomplete ranking with no explanation. Try again once rates are available.

Award recommendation

Below the general information, the screen is laid out in three bands, in the same order in which the decision is made: Recommendation (what is worth doing with the round), Unit price comparison (where every number comes from) and Proposals (one card per supplier, with its terms and the actions to award). At the foot, collapsed, the Analysis drawer holds the evidence behind the decision: purchase history, savings, taxes and the criteria evaluation.

The recommendation band heads the screen and states, in a single sentence, what is worth doing: Split between {A} and {B}, Award everything to {supplier}, No proposal covers all {N} lines or No recommendation when exchange rates are missing or there are no comparable quotations. Under the title, a few labels sum up the reasons that apply: on how many lines that split holds the lowest price, how many purchase orders it takes, which is the longest delivery among the parts and —when nobody covers everything— how many lines end up covered.

The headline number is the savings from splitting: how much is saved by buying from each supplier what each one has cheapest, instead of giving the whole purchase to the best single supplier. It appears in a green block, with the percentage against the best complete proposal and the split line by line ({A} 4 lines · {B} 2 lines). If the saving exists but is small, the block turns grey and warns how many purchase orders it takes to gain that percentage, and the main action becomes awarding everything to the best supplier. If no split beats it, that is said in one line instead of showing the block.

When a split is considered worth it. Every organization sets its own threshold: a minimum saving as a percentage —1.5% unless another value is configured— and, optionally, a minimum saving in money. Below the threshold the split stays as a secondary action. Both values are set in Organization settings, in the Split award block, and are changed by an organization administrator.

The actions of the band depend on the case. See the split and create POs opens the partial award already preloaded with the best combination; Award everything to {supplier} awards the whole purchase to the best proposal; Build a split award opens the split empty; and when exchange rates are missing, Adjust exchange rate leads to the editor in the header.

The How was this calculated? link expands the detail of the calculation: a table with every line, the supplier that wins it, the comparable price, the quantity and the subtotal, the total at the foot, the list of lines left out for having no exchange rate, and the best combination breakdown bar (which share of the amount goes to each supplier, and with how many items). When currencies had to be converted in order to compare, a note makes clear that the amounts were converted for the comparison only: in original currency mode prices are still shown exactly as each supplier quoted them. In the PDF the detail of the calculation is always printed, expanded or not.

Unit price comparison

The price sheet compares item by item across all suppliers. On every row the cheapest price is marked with a green pill carrying a tick (✓) and the rest show how much more expensive they are (+X%), even when they quoted in different currencies: the comparison is made internally at the day's exchange rate and, in original currency mode, the amount shown is never converted. When a row cannot be compared (a currency with no exchange rate, an item with no price), no percentage is shown at all rather than risking a false one. The quantity always comes with its unit of measure (70 EA, 100 M), and the bin next to each item cancels that line when it is no longer going to be bought.

In each supplier's header, below the name, you can read its total per currency and how many items it quoted out of the request, without going down to the foot of the sheet. Next to it there are two buttons: attachments, with the number of documents that quotation brought, and Mail, which opens the email the supplier replied with. If there are no attachments, or no email, that button is simply not there.

Above the table there is a search box by item name or code and quick filters (Undecided, Difference >10%, Partial). The Show details switch expands the detail of every row on the page at once —internal code, manufacturer code and technical specifications— and remembers the preference for the next comparisons; the arrow at the start of each row still opens a single one. The ⓘ icon next to a price opens the description that supplier wrote for the item, useful when it quoted a different brand or pack size.

When the request has many items the table is paginated —25, 50 or 100 items per page, or All to read them straight through— and the headers stay fixed while scrolling, so the supplier's name is never lost. The PDF always carries the complete sheet, unpaginated.

The Heat map button tints the cells according to how much more expensive they are than the cheapest one in their row: the deeper the blue, the larger the overprice. The legend below the table shows the bands (up to 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and over 40%). It is switched off with the same button and is not available while prices are being edited.

The sheet closes with a row of totals per column: in original currency mode, each supplier's total broken down per currency; in converted mode, the comparable total with its base currency and the date of the exchange rate used (or the notice that the rate is manual). Suppliers that quoted only part of the request carry the partial suffix.

The table includes:

• Columns: ERP line (if applicable), item with its description, quantity, and each supplier's price.

• Each supplier's status: an icon indicates whether it quoted in full (✓ green), quoted partially (▲ yellow) or rejected (✕ red).

• Lead time per item: color-coded so you can read it at a glance (green for the fastest, red for the slowest, amber in between).

• Additional item data: with the Details button you expand, under each item, the internal code, the manufacturer code and the technical specifications.

• Supplier attachments: if the quotation includes documents, you open them from the attachment icon in each supplier's header.

• Discounts: if a supplier has a global or per-item discount, the original price is shown struck through and the final one in green, with its discount label.

• Items already awarded: in partial awards, the items that already have a winner appear marked as Awarded and dimmed.

Edit prices and quantities

With the Edit button you enter editing mode. From there, click the pencil on any cell to correct the price, currency or quantity. The changes are marked as "edited" and applied with Save, which shows how many changes are pending.

Discounts

The Discounts button opens a panel to enter, per supplier, a global discount (to all its items) or per item, as a percentage or a fixed amount. The panel shows the summary of original, final and savings, and lets you clear everything.

Proposals

The third band shows one card per supplier, on a horizontal rail that scrolls from left to right; with two proposals or fewer they are centred, with no rail. The best complete proposal comes first; every card is drawn the same way —none of them carries a ring or a border of its own— and what crowns it is its label, which also says on what criterion. Each card carries the supplier's name, a label that places it (Best equalized, +X%, Partial, No response), the nominal total per currency in large type —and, in converted mode, the comparable total below—, how many lines it wins and how many it quoted, and its terms: Equalized total, Payment, Delivery and Coverage. The payment term is shown interpreted and in the language of the screen (Immediate, 30 days, Advance), not as the supplier wrote it; if it could not be interpreted, it is shown exactly as it came. The order of the rail is chosen with the Equalized · Nominal · Delivery selector.

The same card settles that supplier's internal approval and award: a pill with the status (Approved, Pending · k of n, Rejected, Expired or Not requested), the name of whoever answered, their comment —trimmed to two lines, with See more— and the technical verdict if there was one; the Request approval button when it has not been asked yet; the attachments and Mail buttons to open what the supplier sent; and the Award action —the whole purchase to that supplier, on complete proposals only— and Partial award, which opens the partial award preloaded with the lines that supplier did quote. The partial award is offered on every card that quoted something, not only on the incomplete ones: splitting is the buyer's call, and a complete proposal can also be split.

The View as table button swaps the rail for the Detailed Comparison: the same information as a table, with the best total and the best equalized total highlighted in green and each supplier's internal review. The preference is remembered. The PDF always carries the table, never the cards.

Both on the card and in the table you can see, per supplier:

• Total: the sum of price × quantity of all items. If it quoted only some, it notes "Partial (X/Y items)". When you view in a converted currency, the total in the original currency is also shown.

• Equalized Total: adjusts the total according to the payment terms so that the amounts are comparable to each other, given that a payment at 30 days does not have the same value as one in cash or in advance.

• Payment terms: the term reported by the supplier (e.g. "Net 30", "Cash", "Advance").

• Lead time: a single value, a range (minimum to maximum) or a specific date depending on what was quoted.

• Internal approval: each supplier's approval status, with the approver's name and comment.

Scorecard

The scorecard scores suppliers on four criteria with a default weight that you can adjust:

• Price: 40%

• Lead time: 20%

• Technical compliance: 30%

• Reliability: 10%

Each criterion has a weight slider (the weights are renormalized to sum to 100%) and a lock to fix it while you adjust the rest. The evaluation is shown as a matrix: one row per criterion and one column per supplier, with the 0 to 5 grade editable and a bar beside it to read at a glance. The last row is the weighted total, with each supplier's position. If any quotations were left out of the analysis, a line at the foot says how many are unevaluated. The Save and Reset buttons in the header save the evaluation or take it back to the default criteria and weights. Above the matrix, the Evaluation profile per criterion chart compares the suppliers already evaluated criterion by criterion —a group of bars per criterion and one bar per supplier—, to see where each one is strong; criteria with no grade draw no bar, because a missing value is not a zero. This whole section lives inside the Analysis drawer, at the foot of the comparison: the evaluation backs the decision, it does not replace it.

With Generate with AI the system fills in the scores and writes a supplier recommendation (editable). You can also reset to the default values and save the scorecard. When a request has already been awarded, the scorecard switches to audit mode: it marks the awarded supplier and raises whether the decision matches the AI's analysis, for traceability.

The scorecard is enabled when there are complete quotations; partial quotations are excluded and the reason is stated.

Savings and price history

When an item matches previous purchases, Sourced shows the savings analysis:

• Nominal savings: historical price vs. price quoted today.

• Real savings: the same, but adjusted for inflation (brings the historical price to today's value). An indicator shows green if you beat inflation.

• Average inflation applied and coverage (how many items have history).

• An expandable table details, item by item, historical price, current price, applied inflation, adjusted historical price and nominal and real savings (normalized to the target currency).

When an item shows no history. Sourced only compares against a previous purchase when it can trust the data. If the historical price has no currency, if there is no exchange rate to bring it into the quote's currency, or if the two prices differ so much that the comparison cannot be real, the item is shown without history instead of publishing a saving that does not exist. This usually happens with imported history whose currency was loaded incorrectly. If you see an item that should have history and doesn't, let us know: it is almost always fixed by relabelling the original upload.

From the history card you can open the full detail of the previous purchases that matched. History, savings and —for organizations in Brazil— taxes live together in the Analysis drawer, collapsed at the foot of the comparison: it opens with one click, remembers whether it was left open and is always included in the PDF, open or closed.

Taxes (Brazil)

For Brazil-based organizations an extra section is shown with the tax breakdown and the net price of each supplier.

Internal approvals

With Request approval you ask for the approvers' sign-off before awarding: you choose the supplier, the deadline and the comments, and the system sends them the request by email. The request is triggered from the Request approval button on the supplier's card, and the form opens with that proposal already selected. The status (approved / rejected / pending / expired) appears on each supplier's card and in the table view, with the name of whoever answered and their comment.

There are two types of request:

• Complete: includes prices, terms and the whole comparison. This is the usual commercial approval.

• Technical: only the technical detail of the items and their attachments, without prices. It lets a subject-matter reviewer confirm that what is offered complies, without seeing the cost. The approver enters a dedicated mode and answers Technically compliant / Not compliant; downloads and attachments with commercial information are blocked for them.

In both cases you choose which attachments to include: the approver sees only the ones you checked, and those containing prices are flagged so they are not sent by accident in a technical review.

When the approver answers, the buyer gets a notice. If an email could not be sent, the screen says so and lets you retry, the same as when a request was already pending for that recipient. And when an offer's amount is unknown, it is shown as amount not reported instead of a misleading US$ 0.00.

Award

• Full award: a single supplier takes all the items, with the Award button on its card or with Award everything to {supplier} in the recommendation band.

• Partial award (split): the items are split among several suppliers. You get there from See the split and create POs —preloaded with the best combination— or Build a split award, in the recommendation band, and also from Partial award on a supplier's card, which preloads the lines that supplier quoted. A modal opens where, item by item, you assign which supplier each one goes to: the cheapest price of each item appears highlighted, even when suppliers quoted in different currencies, and the quantity is shown with its unit of measure. The Use best combination button assigns the cheapest supplier for every item in one go, and the Award summary shows, supplier by supplier, how many items were assigned to each one and their subtotal, as well as how many purchase orders will be generated.

1. Choose the winner per item or for the whole request.

2. If your organization has PO review enabled, before generating the order a step appears to edit its data (terms, freight, taxes, lead time, notes), per PO in the case of a split.

3. Confirm. The purchase orders are generated.

4. Notify the non-awarded suppliers: a modal proposes the notice (configurable template) for the suppliers that quoted and did not win. It is optional but recommended: it takes care of the relationship for next time. No notification is sent to the awarded suppliers.

Large purchases can take a while; if an award is slow, check the result in Purchase orders.

Export

• Download PDF: generates the full comparison ready to print or share.

• Download Excel: exports the comparison with prices, discounts, history, exchange rate and taxes.

Statuses and special cases

• Tender in progress: if the deadline has not yet passed, a banner warns that the comparison is partial.

• Incomplete quotation: partial ones are marked and left out of the scorecard.

• No quotations: if no one responded, you can relaunch the request to more suppliers.

• Partially awarded: the items already awarded are marked and the rest remain available for a decision.

The generated orders are tracked from Purchase orders.

Quotations pending review

When a quotation was reprocessed or imported manually and its extracted data hasn't been confirmed yet, it doesn't enter the comparison: it must first be reviewed in the request's Quotations tab.

So it doesn't slip out of sight, the comparison shows a notice listing the suppliers pending review. Clicking a supplier opens the review and confirm dialog for that quotation directly. Once confirmed, the proposal appears in the comparison like any other.