Using Templates

What Are Templates?

You buy the same things repeatedly — monthly safety equipment replenishments, quarterly IT hardware, regular raw material orders. Instead of filling in the same RFQ from scratch every time, save a template and reuse it in seconds.

A template saves:

• Subject line
• Description
• Priority
• Budget (optional)
• Deadline offset (e.g., "14 days from today" rather than a fixed date)
• Attachments

Click Templates in the left sidebar to open your template library. You'll see all templates you've created (personal templates) plus any shared templates created by Managers or Admins.

Creating a Template

From an Existing RFQ

The fastest way is to save from an RFQ you're happy with:

1. Open the RFQ
2. Click Options (three dots menu) → Save as Template
3. Give it a clear name: "Monthly Safety Equipment Order" or "IT Hardware — Standard Spec"
4. Optionally adjust the deadline offset (default is 14 days from creation)
5. Click Save

From Scratch

1. Go to Templates
2. Click New Template
3. Fill in the template fields (same as the RFQ form)
4. Click Save

The Deadline Offset

Instead of a fixed deadline date — which would be wrong every time you reuse the template — templates use a deadline offset: the number of days from the creation date.

Example: If your template has a deadline offset of 14 days and you create an RFQ from it on March 1, the deadline is automatically set to March 15.

If you always want 14 days to collect quotes, set the offset to 14 and the deadline auto-calculates correctly every time. You can override it when using the template.

Using a Template

1. Go to Templates in the sidebar
2. Find your template and click Use Template
3. A new draft RFQ opens, pre-filled with all the saved content
4. Update anything that's changed for this specific purchase — quantities, specs, the deadline (auto-calculated from the offset), the budget if pricing has shifted
5. Click Activate, add suppliers, and send

The whole process for a recurring purchase: open template → review → activate → add suppliers → send. Under 3 minutes.

Editing a Template

1. Go to Templates
2. Find the template and click the Edit (pencil) icon
3. Update any fields
4. Click Save

Changes to a template only affect future RFQs created from it — existing RFQs are not changed.

Deleting a Template

1. Go to Templates
2. Find the template and click the Delete icon (or Options → Delete)
3. Confirm

Deleted templates cannot be recovered. Existing RFQs created from the template are not affected.

You can also Duplicate a template as a starting point for a new one.

Shared vs. Personal Templates

Managers and Admins can share templates with the whole organization. This is useful for:

• Standardized formats all buyers must follow (e.g., a required format for capital expenditure RFQs)
• Common purchase categories where the spec doesn't change much
• Onboarding new buyers — give them a starting point for common purchases

To share a template, open it and click Share with Organization. To make it private again, open it and click Make Private.

Best Practices

• Name templates for the use case, not the person — "Monthly Safety Equipment Order" is better than "Alex's Template".
• Include a thorough description — the more detail in the template, the less editing buyers need to do each time.
• Always use deadline offsets rather than fixed dates so the template stays usable over time.
• Don't use fixed budget amounts — leave the budget field blank or set it to your typical range. Prices change, and a stale budget can give a false picture of overspend.
• Review shared templates quarterly — specs, contact details, and requirements change. Stale templates lead to incorrect RFQs.
• Create templates for your top 5 purchase categories — this typically covers 70–80% of recurring procurement work.