The questionnaire functionality is available within Tradeshift Network and it allows Buyers to enrich their supplier master data through targeted questionnaires. With trackable and auditable questionnaires, Buyers can get all the information they need to work with Sellers quickly and confidently.
Customers using the survey functionality today will be able to switch over to the new Questionnaires. The basic functionality is available by default, while configuration is required in order to get the full functionality.
Questionnaires can be used for a range of scenarios involving information requests, such as:
- Self-service master data management
- New vendor creation in customer ERP system
- Legal or compliance information requests
Activating the Questionnaire functionality
You need to activate the Ask Questionnaire functionality in order to be able to create questionnaires. This works just like an app. Currently, this can only be activated using API Explorer and cannot be found in the App Store. After you activate it, the Questionnaire tab will become enabled within the Network app.
If you are a Buyer, you can use the Build Questionnaires tab within the Network app in order to create questionnaires for your Sellers. This functionality is enabled on your account when the Ask Questionnaires app is activated.
As a Seller, the View Questionnaires functionality will allow you to view and complete your received questionnaires and is activated by default on all Seller accounts.
Questions and questionnaires have three possible statuses:
- Draft: the only status in which they can be edited
- Published: the only status in which they can be used
- Retired: retired questions and questionnaires will not be sent out any longer, but will not be withdrawn if already issued
Questions can be Default (for example: Company.Names, Payment.Terms, and others in a similar format), meaning that they also map to the respective Company Profile fields, or Custom. The former (Default) questions are present by default in the Questions list when you activate the Questionnaire functionality.
Creating a questionnaire
To get started, go to the Questionnaires tab in the Network app, and click on "Create a Questionnaire" at header level.
In the side panel, enter a name for your questionnaire, which will only be visible internally, and choose the language(s) that your questionnaire will be in from the Supported languages dropdown. As of now, it is also possible to create questionnaires in multiple languages, which will render in the language of the user that is viewing them. Please note that if you choose several languages, then all the elements of your questionnaire, including the title and the questions, need to be translated in all languages. Click on "Continue" to save your changes.
You will then be taken to a page where you can start filling in the details of your questionnaire. Enter a header, which will be public and act as a “title” to your questionnaire. If you hover your mouse over the dotted line under the header field, you will be able to add a text block, which you can use for adding any necessary details.
Click on "Add questions" to start creating your questionnaire. You will be able to choose questions by clicking on the checkbox next to each. You will be able to choose questions by clicking on the checkbox next to each. You can add default questions from the list, but also create your own custom questions. It is only possible to select questions that contain all the languages that your questionnaire is in. Tradeshift provides translations in all the languages supported by the platform for default questions. If you’d like to create a custom translated question, you can do that by scrolling down in the questions list and choosing the “A translatable question” option. You will then be able to add the custom question, title, and any other additional content translations at the next stage.
You can also see how they would look like on the questionnaire by clicking on the "Preview" button. There are several question types, depending on the way in which they can be answered: the main types are input field, choice list, and file upload. Click on "Add selected questions", after which you will be redirected to the initial page.
You can also add text boxes in between the questions if you’d like to include additional explanations - hover with your mouse cursor between the question boxes and click to add a text box. To delete any of the questions or text boxes, click on the trash icon at the end of the respective rows.
Click on "Save as draft" if you want to save your questionnaire without publishing it, or on "Save & Publish" if you’d like to publish it immediately. Please note that once you publish your questionnaire, you will no longer be able to make any changes to it.
Click on any published questionnaire to get a preview of it, and on any draft to edit it.
Related documentation: