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FAQ KB0396376
Market Feedback: How much pricing and participant info can my suppliers see in a sourcing event?
Question
What are Market Feedback rules and how can they be used within a sourcing event to control the details which are visible to participants?
Answer
You can change the setting of Market Feedback rules to expose more or less information about the participants in your
event and their pricing. The following table shows some example settings in effect during open bidding:
|
Information Exposed |
Description |
Rules Settings |
|
Maximum |
Before bidding, participants see:
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Specify how participants view market information: Do not enable a starting gate Show participant responses to other suppliers: Yes Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias: No–unique aliases |
|
After submitting a bid, participants see:
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Specify how participants view market information: Enable a starting gate Show participant responses to other participants: Yes Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias: No–unique aliases | |
|
Medium |
After submitting a bid, participants see:
|
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a starting gate Show participant responses to other suppliers: Yes - After Supplier’s first response is accepted Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias: Yes–generic aliases |
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After submitting a bid, participants can see:
|
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a starting gate Show participant responses to other participants: No Show lead bid to all participants: After supplier’s first response is accepted | |
|
Minimum |
Even after a bid, participants just see their own rank |
Specify how participants view market information: Enable a starting gate Show lead bid to all participants: No |
Specify How Participants View Market Information
You enable a starting gate to hide all market information from participants until they have successfully
submitted one bid. The bid must satisfy the starting gate criteria. The information is hidden on the bidding
console, Event Details page, and the Lot Details page. This information includes the bid graph, the lead bid,
and the Bid History table.
submitted one bid. The bid must satisfy the starting gate criteria. The information is hidden on the bidding
console, Event Details page, and the Lot Details page. This information includes the bid graph, the lead bid,
and the Bid History table.
- Do not enable a starting gate: All participants can always see market information during open bidding.
- Enable a starting gate for each lot: There is a starting gate for each lot, which means participants cannot see
the hidden information mentioned above until they enter a qualifying starting bid on the lot. - Enable a starting gate for the entire auction: There is one starting gate for the whole auction including all lots.
Participants cannot see the hidden information mentioned above until they enter a qualifying starting bid,
and they can see this information equally for all lots without having to enter a qualifying starting bid for
each.
You use this feature in combination with the ceiling price in order to restrict the display of market information
to competitive participants. You set the ceiling price during lot and line item creation. The ceiling price is the
highest price that participants can bid. Trying to place a bid higher than the ceiling price results in an error.
Show Participant Responses to Other Participants
If the rule Specify how participants view market information is set to Do not enable a starting gate, the only choices
here are Yes or No. To control this for individual content elements, set this to Yes, and use the rule Hide participants
responses from other responses, which appears when you create a question or line item.
If the rule Specify how participants view market information is set to one of the choices that enables a starting gate,
the choices here are After participant’s first response is accepted or No. This respects the requirements of the starting
gate.
Choose Yes or After participant’s first response is accepted to display the Bid History table. Choose No to hide
the Bid History table.
Displaying the Bid History table exposes a great deal of information to participants. The Bid History table
displays all the competing bids, their submission times, and makes it very clear how each participant
compares to the market.
This rule setting affects the options that are available for the Can participants see ranks? rule.
Hide the Number of Bidders by Using the Same Participant Alias
This rule is available only if Show participant responses to other participants is set to Yes. Choose Yes–generic
aliases to alias the names of all companies other than the participant’s own company as Company so that
participants cannot determine how many competitors you have invited to the auction.
If you choose No–unique aliases then Ariba Sourcing aliases the names of other companies and then appends
a number to uniquely identify the company. Participants can then see how many competitors you have
invited to the auction, and perhaps guess at the identity of other companies by observing their bidding
patterns.
These numbers identify only the unique aliases for those bidding on this lot. There might be more bidders
with other numbers who did not bid on this lot. To figure out how many other bidders there are, participants
have to find the highest number among all lots.
By default the alias name is “Company.”
Hiding Line Item Terms When Revealing Bids
When the rule Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias is set to No - Unique aliases, then
when event owners add terms to their event or edit existing terms, they can decide on term level to hide or
display participants’ responses.
To hide line item terms from participants when revealing bids:
1. Make sure the template rule Show participant responses to other participants is either set to Yes, or After
participant’s first response is accepted.
2. Set the template rule Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias to No - Unique aliases.
3. This enables the attribute Hide participants’ responses from each other on the Add/Edit Term page. The
event owner can now decide which terms to reveal and which terms to hide.
Show Lead Bid to All Participants
This rule is available only if Show participant responses to other participants is set to No. This rule allows an
exception for the lead bid. Set this to Yes if you want participants to view lead bid information, the bid graph,
bid history, and the Take Lead button. Specify No if you do not want the Take Lead button to appear.
If Show how participants view market information is set to Do not enable a starting gate, the only choices here are
Yes or No.
If Specify how participants view market information is set to one of the choices that enables a starting gate, the
choices here are After participant’s first response is accepted or No.
Choose Yes or After participant’s first response is accepted to display the lead bid to participants. Ariba
Sourcing displays the lead bid on the bid console, to the right of the ceiling and reserve value information.
Show Reserve Price to All Participants
The reserve price is the price you set in the content at which you might consider awarding the business to a
participant. If you want to communicate this to a participant, select Yes. The alternative choice is to only let
participants see the reserve price after they have met it.
Can Participants See Ranks?
The options for this rule are:
• No – Participants cannot see any ranks, even their own.
• Their own rank when leading – The supplier user interface shows when the participant is in the lead, but
there is no rank indication at all if they are not in the lead.
• Their own rank – Participants can always see their own rank, but no one else’s. This option is not available
(or reverts to Their own rank when leading, when:
1. The rule Show participant responses to other participants is set to Yes or After participants first response is
accepted, and
2. The rule Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias is set to Yes - generic aliases.
• All participants’ ranks – Participants can always see the rank for every bidder. This option is not available
(or reverts to Their own rank when leading, when:
1. The rule Show participant responses to other participants is set to Yes or After participants first response is
accepted, and the rule Hide the number of bidders by using the same participant alias is set to Yes - generic
aliases, or
2. The rule Show participant responses to other participants is set to No.
Show Line Item level rank in Lot
Line item ranking can help you make a more informed decision when awarding. You can also configure
Ariba Sourcing to to allow participants to view their own and other competitor rankings. Allowing
participants to view line item rank can help encourage competition on all items, resulting in a better overall
lot price. Participants that want to improve their lot rank can also see which items require improved bids.
Line item ranking is for informational purposes only, no bid improvement rules or constraints are associated
with line item ranks.
The rule Show Line Item level rank in Lot must be configured to enable line item ranking in biddable lots. Once
configured, line item ranking in biddable lots can be imported and exported as part of your event data. Data
that you can import and export includes content such as event rules, lots, and line items, supplier invitations,
attachments, exchange rates, pre-grades, questions, and terms.
The options for this rule are:
• No – Ariba Sourcing does not display the line item level rank to you or the participants.
• Yes, to Buyers only – You can view the participant’s line item level rank, but participants cannot.
• Yes, to Buyers and Participants – You can view the line item level rank. Based on how you configure the rule,
Can participants see ranks?, participants can view their and other competitors’ line item level rank.
The Bids Report, which lists all of the supplier responses (and the scores for those responses), includes line
item level ranks. You can use this report to export all supplier bids to Microsoft Excel.
Note: You must set the rule, Show Line Item level rank in Lot, to Yes, to Buyers only or Yes, to Buyers and
Participants, for the Bids Report to include line item ranks.
Show Calculated Value of Competitive Term Before Participant Submits Bid
Choose No to prevent participants from determining the formula for a competitive value until after they have
submitted a bid.
Show Formulas to All Participants
Choose Yes to show the formulas used to calculate values, such as Price * Quantity to calculate extended
price. Choose No to hide them all.
Can Owner See Responses Before Event Closes
Set this to No if the type of event requires that the project owner cannot see any participant responses until
the bidding is closed. This rule only appears when “Show lead bid to all participants” and “Can participants
see ranks” are both set to No.
◤Allow Participants to See Scoring Weights
If scoring is enabled for an event, you can control if participants can see the overall weight you assigned to
each response. On the one hand, by showing your scoring setup to suppliers, you communicate to them how
they can improve their bids. On the other hand, by hiding your scoring setup, you can learn about your
suppliers’ strengths and weaknesses as they submit their most natural bids.
When you enable the scoring display, an additional column appears in the suppliers’ bidding console that
shows the overall weight % of your event’s content.
Show Bid Graph to All Participants
Choose Yes to show the bid graph to all participants. You might want to hide the bid graph if you are
concerned that it will discourage participants who can more easily see how the price they are bidding for this
event is getting worse over time (decreasing for a reverse auction, increasing for a forward auction).
Indicate to Participants That Participant-Specific Initial Values Have Been Specified
Choose Yes to tell participants (through the lot rules) that different participants have been assigned different
initial values. An initial value is the floor for forward auctions and the ceiling for reverse auctions.
Show Ceiling Price to All Participants
This rule is only available in Dutch auction templates. Choose Yes to display the ceiling price to all
participants. The ceiling price is the highest price that participants can bid. In a Dutch Auction, it marks the
last price before the event closes.
Applies To
Strategic Sourcing > Sourcing Events