Site management

Create and manage a Bidder site

You can use a bidder site (sometimes called a 'virtual data room') for matters where multiple bidding parties are involved, who all need access to the site but should not be aware of each other's existence or identity. For example, multiple bidders in an auction. A site administrator can add and tag users as bidders or non-bidders ('sellers'), automatically controlling site access.
A bidder site provides a file area to share documents and a Q&A area where bidders may submit questions and receive answers from the seller group.
HighQ ensures that bidders are unaware that other bidders exist. For example, if a bidder has been added to a site group, that group cannot have edit rights to the Files module. Also, when a bidder is added to a site group, permissions are restricted for all users in that group.
note
Bidder or seller roles are assigned at a user level, rather than at the organisation level. This offers flexibility and granularity as members of an organisation can perform different roles without using exception domains.
To preserve the anonymity of buyers on bidder sites, only system admins can see bidder site membership in user profiles.

Recommended steps to create a bidder site

A bidder site requires several steps to ensure security and privacy are maintained. You should first define and plan your requirements, including a list of users and email addresses
then
 create your bidder site:
  1. Create a site
    , configure it as a bidder site with advanced Q&A permissions
  2. Activate recommended modules
  3. Add users to the site
     and mark users as bidders or non-bidders (non-bidders are usually sellers)
  4. Create bidder site groups
     to control access to modules and files
  5. Optionally, define the
    data room team
     - members of the seller team who should not be visible to bidders
  6. Add users to
    the seller Q&A group and bidder Q&A groups
  7. Set
    Q&A group permissions
  8. Optionally,
    add topics
    .
  9. Upload files
    .
  10. Activate the site and invite users
From this point, members of the seller groups can manage the site and handle questions from bidders.
note
Bidder sites use both
site groups
 and
Q&A groups
:
Site groups
 - optionally assign users to control access to modules and files.
Q&A groups
 - assign users to control responsibilities in the Q&A module.

Create a bidder site

To make a bidder site, first create a site then open site
Admin
 and select
Security
 under
Site settings
.
Select
Bidder site
 and set
Advanced Q&A permissions
.
note
See site Security settings for more information on the site options.
The
Advanced Q&A permissions
 setting enables the
Q&A permissons
 section in site admin.
Save
 your settings and continue.

Recommended modules

Open the
Modules
 section in site admin. Ensure that the recommended
modules are enabled
 (Files, Q&A, People)

Add users

Open the
Admin
 module, then select
Users
 in
User management
. Select
Add
 to add users and email addresses.
Select
Next
.
The next screen shows users, grouped by organisation (based on email domains). By default, all users are selected as bidders.
Check the Bidder checkbox for each user, and clear the checkbox for any non-bidders or sellers.
note
As of September 2023, you can now mark
users
 as bidders/non-bidders, even if they are in the same organisation.
note
Any group or user not selected is assumed to represent a non-bidder or seller.
A user set as a bidder cannot see other bidder users or activity, and cannot access admin settings. However, a bidder can see members of the same bidder organisation.
To preserve the anonymity of buyers on bidder sites, only system admins can see bidder site membership in user profiles.
Select
Next
.
Add to site groups (optional)
The next section allows you to set site permissions for users.
note
These are not permissions for the Q&A module - Q&A permissions are defined below.
Site groups allow more control over permissions for individual users. You can restrict or add rights to certain sellers, such as restricting certain sellers' and bidders' access to specific files or modules.
note
A
Bidder
 tag identifies users who are defined as bidders.
If you need to make changes, select users to add to a group, then select
Add to groups
.
Create a site group
Create site groups to control access for bidders or sellers who should not have access to certain items, such as modules or files.
Select
New site group
 to create a site group.
In this example, select
Bidders
 or
Sellers
 to assign permissions to the selected users.
If you have selected all groups, or do not need to make changes to users, select
Add
 to add the users to the site.
Grant admin permissions to sellers
You may grant admin permissions to selected sellers. Select the seller or sellers, then select
Add to groups
. Select
Admin groups
 and the required admin permissions.
Select
Add
 to apply the changes.
note
You cannot grant bidder users admin permissions.
Managing users
The next screen lists all users and shows the organisation and bidder tags.
Select
Go to users
 on this screen.
note
You can send invitations to the site when you activate the site.
As best practice, when users are first added to the site, do not send them an invitation.
note
The
Bidder
 column on the
User
 screen replaces the
Bidder organisation
 page found in earlier versions of HighQ.
note
To return to the
User
 screen, open the
Users
 section (under
User management
) in site admin.
Check the bidder status for all users. Clear the
Bidder
 checkbox to change a user role to a seller.
note
You cannot select 'Bidder' for users with Site admin permissions.
Data room team
Once a site has been configured as a Bidder site, a
Data room team
 section is available in the
User
management
 section of the site admin module.
By default, bidders can see other members of their organisation in the People module. Use
Data room team
 admin settings to ensure that bidders are not able to see other users who are sellers or non-bidders.
Bidders from different organisations are never aware of each other, including not being visible to each other in the People module, where other site users are listed.
The Data room team settings list all non-bidder site users, arranged by organisation. From here it is possible to select which users appear to bidder users in the People module and which do not.
note
By default, users who are
not
 bidders are
not
 listed in the People module.
When non-bidder users access the People module, they can see all site users.
To make a non-bidder (seller) viewable by bidders, select the checkbox and select
Save
.

Create groups for Q&A

Bidders can confidentially submit questions in the Q&A section; sellers can then assign topic experts, research and submit answers and approve replies.
Q&A groups allow you to customise Q&A permissions for bidders or sellers.
Create a seller Q&A group
Create a seller group in
Q&A groups
.
Open
Q&A groups
 in site admin.
Select
Create seller group
, add a name for the group and select the users that act as sellers and
Save
.
note
Update seller group
Open the
Q&A group
 section and click the name of the seller group to update the group.
Create bidder Q&A groups
Open
Q&A groups
 in site admin and select
Create bidder group
.
Add a
name
 for the group, a
Group id
 (for reference), and if necessary, assign a
Question limit
 for the group (a value of -1 means no limit).
Select the users that act as bidders in this group and
Save
.
note
Click the filter symbol in the search box to filter for organisations.
note
Bidders can only view questions from other bidder users in the same Q&A Group.
Set Q&A permissions for Q&A groups
You can set permissions for each user that reflects their Q&A role on the bidder site.
Open
Q&A permissions
 in site admin and click
Edit Q&A permissions
.
Permissions are set to allow a user to view, ask or approve questions, and to allow the member to receive Q&A emails.
Select the permissions required by each member of each group and
Save
.

Add topics (optional)

If you need to manage the type of questions received by the site, you can create a list of topics that users can select when a question is submitted.
Open
Q&A permissions
 in site admin, then select
Manage topics
.
Select
Add topic
 to add a simple
Topic name
 , then select
Save
:
note
To edit an existing topic name, select
Edit
.

Upload files

Upload files
 required on your bidder site to the Files module.

Activate the site and invite users

When the site is configured and all bidder and seller roles are allocated, you can activate the site and invite users to access the site.
Open the
General
 section in site admin and select
Active
 in the
Status
 drop-down. Add any further configuration to this page and
Save
.
Finally, open the
Users
 section in site admin, select all users and then select
Actions
,
Send invitation
.
Site members will receive an
invitation email
 and must use the provided link to access the site for the first time.

Using the site

See the Q&A overview for more information on using the Q&A module.
Ask a question
If you need to submit a question, open the
Q&A
 tab and select
Ask question
.
Check the site, topic and priority, then enter your question.
Click the
Attachments
 tab to upload a file related to your question.
Finally, select
Submit
 to send the question.
The status of submitted questions is shown in the table on the
Q&A
 page.
By default, sellers can see all submitted questions, while bidders can only see questions from their own organisation.

This article applies to:

  • PRODUCT: HighQ
  • Subject: Setup

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