WebSphere Commerce Enterprise

Tutorial: Creating requests for quotes

In this tutorial, you use the Advanced B2B direct starter store and WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to go through the tasks that are involved with using the request for quotes trading mechanism and RFQ notification messaging. Using the Advanced B2B direct starter store and WebSphere Commerce Accelerator you create a pilot version of your online store with the request for quotes (RFQ) trading mechanism and RFQ notification messaging enabled to serve as the basis for your operational store. In a buyer role in the pilot store, you create and send an RFQ. In a seller role in your store, you review and respond to a submitted RFQ. As the buyer organization you evaluate and select a winning RFQ response.

Request for quotes (RFQ) is a type of trading mechanism in WebSphere Commerce. You can maintain and administer RFQs by using WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. When you publish the Advanced B2B direct starter store, the RFQ tool becomes available. In your Advanced B2B direct starter store, a user in a buyer role can create an RFQ for unique variations of goods and services that are contained in your store. If the buyer cannot find a product that matches their needs in your catalog, they can select attributes from the available personalized attributes to precisely define the product specifications. A buyer can also create an RFQ by using the contents in their shopping cart, or add a shopping cart to an existing RFQ.

Note: The request for quotes trading mechanism is not enabled for the Elite starter store. You must have the Advanced B2B direct starter store that is published to enable the RFQ trading mechanism and create RFQs. The RFQ trading mechanism is inoperative unless explicitly enabled by the site administrator. Many of these tasks might be completed by your IT staff. Descriptions are provided to give you an overview of the entire process. The organization type and the role of the user responsible for the task is shown (organization: role) in parentheses. For more information, see enabling the RFQ trading mechanism.

Learning objectives

After you complete this tutorial, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
  • Create a request for quote as a buyer
  • Submit and view a request for quote as a buyer
  • Create a response to a request for quote as a seller
  • Submit and view a response to a request for quote as a seller
  • Close a request for quote as a buyer
  • Evaluate and select a request for quote winner as a buyer
  • Complete a request for quote as buyer

Time required

Expect this tutorial to take 2 hours to complete. This tutorial can take longer if you explore concepts that are related to this tutorial.

System requirements

Before you begin this tutorial, ensure that you complete the following tasks: :
  • Publish the Advanced B2B direct starter store.
  • Enable the RFQ trading mechanism (seller: site administrator)
  • Enable RFQ notification messaging (seller: site administrator)
  • Create users with the Seller role
  • Decide whether response approval is to be functional (seller: site administrator)
  • Setup WebSphere Commerce Payments