Set up Smart vendor selection rules for job offers

Owned by Oksana Vishchuk
Last updated: Jun 19, 2024
4 min read

A Vendor Selection Rule is a set of specific criteria used to create a list of recipients for job offers automatically.

Introduction

You can use vendor selection rules to send job offers in so-called cascades. Each cascade includes vendors who match the criteria of the selected rule. In a vendor selection rule, you can configure the following settings:

  • Number of vendors included in a cascade.

  • Number of cascades.

  • The time interval between the cascades.

  • How will the vendors be sorted within a cascade.

Create a Smart vendor selection rule

  1. Go to the Configuration menu > Projects and Quotes > Vendor Selection Rules (Smart).

    Vendor Selection rules - Add (Smart).png

  1. Click the Add Rule button. You will be directed to the Add Rule page.

    Vendor Selection rules - Add (Smart)2.png

    1. Enter a name for the new rule.

    2. Click the Add Rule button. You will be directed to the newly created rule page.

  2. In the Main Data card:

     

    1. Specify whether this rule should be an Active one and thus selectable.

    2. Specify whether this rule should be marked as a Preferred Item and thus appear at the top of the dropdown lists.

  3. In the Filters card, use the filters to specify how vendors should be assigned to cascades. For details, see the Vendor selection rule filters expand below.
    XTRF automatically filters active vendors to match the required job type, specialization, source and target languages. XTRF also automatically compares the job's planned start date and deadline with the vendor's planned holidays. If the vendor's absence coincides entirely with the job's schedule, such a vendor will be excluded from the list of job offer recipients.

     

    1. To add a filter, click the Add Filter button in the top right-hand corner of the card or click the icon.

    2. Select the required filters.

    3. Set the default values for each filter.

  4. In the Cascades card, you can:

    1. Enter the Number of Cascades for this rule.

    2. Enter the Number of Vendors per cascade.

    3. Select an Interval between cascades.

  5. In the Sorting card, you can specify how vendors should be sorted in cascades: by estimated cost, overall vendor evaluation, or specific vendor evaluation. You can use one criterion or create a sequence of two or three sorting criteria.


    To add a criterion:

    1. Click the Add Sorting button or the icon.

    2. Select the criterion from the dropdown menu.

Vendor selection rule filters

In the Filters card of the vendor selection rule page, you can use one or several built-in filters:

  1. CAT Tool – to include vendors that use a specific CAT tool.

  2. Category – to include vendors with specific categories assigned.

  3. Individual – to include either freelancers or companies.

  4. InHouse – to include either in-house or external vendors.

  5. Not excluded by Client – to avoid including vendors that are not accepted by relevant clients.

  6. Overall Evaluation – to set a threshold for vendor overall evaluation score.

  7. Preferred by Client – to include vendors selected as preferred by relevant clients.

  8. Specific Evaluation – to set a threshold for vendor evaluation score for a specific job.

  9. Vendors on holiday – to include or exclude vendors that are on holiday when the job offer is sent.

  10. Worked for this Client – to include vendors that have already performed jobs for relevant clients.

To create a custom filter, add a vendor-related custom field (see the Add a custom field guide). All custom filters will be grouped in the Custom Fields section.

 

 

  • All the changes in Smart vendor selection rules are saved automatically.

  • To edit a rule, open its page and make the required changes as described above.

  • To rename a rule, open its page and click on the name line at the top. Enter the new name, and click the icon.

  • You cannot delete a rule, but you can deactivate it in the Main Data card.

Example

You want to create a vendor selection rule that will send a job offer every 20 minutes to 3 freelance translators working in memoQ. Translators with higher quality rankings should receive the offer first.

  1. Add a new rule with a distinctive name.

  2. Make sure the rule is active.

  3. In the Filters card, add the CAT Tool and Individual filters, and set their values to 'memoQ' and 'Yes,' respectively.

  4. In the Cascades card, set the Vendors in Cascade to '3' and Interval to '20 minutes’. Also, set the Number of Cascades to your liking.

  5. In the Sorting card, select the Overall Vendor Evaluation value in the Sort by dropdown.