Auction description: 

 

Start price, time steps and bid steps are set in advance of the auction. The system will decrease the price automatically after each time step. Supplier will need to confirm the displayed value/price/current bid, in order to stay in the bidding process for current article. Multiple articles are negotiated consecutively.
 

Preconditions and prerequisites:


 Competition: there are 3 or more supplier due compliance reasons. Suppliers are keen on doing business with METRO

  • Transparency: all documents/information must be shown to all suppliers
  • Comparability: suppliers can deliver same product quality based on requirement profile
  • Fairness: winning supplier will be awarded

 

Before starting a new project, make sure the needed documents are ready:

 

  • General conditions (Auction rules) in pdf format
  • Supplier guide - Offer Solution Service Team trains the new Supplier on demand 
  • Supplier list
  • Requirement profile(s) (incl. Layout/Design/Images)
  • Other documents which you want to share within auction

 

Steps in eSourcing:

 

In order to conduct the awarding after the negotiations are done, it is mandatory to create the projects from the RFX module and all data under Project Management and Demand Specification from the RFX that is previously created, should be copied to the auction. 

 

For more information regarding the creation of a project from RFX module, please check the following articles based on your needs: 

 

How to create RFX (incl RFP + AUC)

Local tender template-only with AUC-create AUC from DS

 


1. General data: 

 

1.1 Check and complete the mandatory fields in General Information tab. 

 


 

 

  • Project title - provide a name for the Auction or update, if needed
  • Version - Live
  • Business units - Country participants 
  • Material groups - COMS for your articles 

 

1.2 In Project Team you can see that the internal participants previously invited to the RFX are added and the roles has been given to them. Click on ADD if you need to invite other colleagues. 

 

Note: the user rights should be checked and updated, if needed.

 


 

1.3 In Supplier circle you can see that all potential supplier from the RFX are invited or SSR (Supplier Self Registration) has been send. Click ADD if you need to invite other suppliers. 

 


 

Note: If “Awarding” will be proceeded after the auction, please add all the suppliers in the RFX module.  

 

 

1.4 Check the Documents - All documents from the RFX are copied into the Auction. You can Upload other documents and Update the GC document, if needed. 

 

Note: Other than GC documents which are copied from the RFX need to be re-assigned supplier access, when needed.

 


 2. Auction settings:

 

Continue with Auction Settings tab and under Auction definition choose Japanese as Auction Type with bidding direction “Down”.



 


 

Settings level; You can either choose “Auction Level” or “Position Level” in order to define logic of time and bid steps for the articles.

 

2.1 

 

For Auction Level -> Time step, Bid step are equal steps during the auction. 

Reserve Price (Your “Wish price”), Time Steps and Bid steps are defined in Auction Definition



 

 

 

Standard settings are already preselected by default but in case of need, you can always define your own settings according to your preferences. Please contact us in such cases.

 

 

 

 

2.2 

For Position Level -> Each Time step & Bid step are individual steps during the auction.

 

Individual Time- and Bid steps are defined under Auction Structure- Position Steps

and Time step for Start price and Reserve price are defined under Auction Structure- Positions.



 

 

After the auction type has been saved, switch to Auction Structure tab

 

3. Auction Structure:
 

Continue with Auction Structure - Positions to check the articles which you copied the content of the grid via matching steps from Demand Specification: Article name, Quantity, Unit, Comment, etc. 

 

Click on the Open icon for each article, if you need to edit anything. 

 

If you choose Position level to set up individual time and bid steps, define the first Time Step, which will remain for the start price per article.

Make sure you save your changes.



 


 

Then you can create individual time and bid steps by clicking on “Edit position steps”. 

 

 

 

By clicking on New consecutively, you can create as many steps as you would like to have. 

 

 

Click Save to finalize and confirm the recently created individual time and bid steps per article.



 


 Now, go back to the Auction Structure tab to finalize with setting up this part. 

 

4. Auction settings – continue:

 

4.1 Under Starting Prices you can define the starting prices for all suppliers that will participate to the auction. 

 

Add the starting prices for each article via Open 



 

Add the starting prices for each article and Save



 


5. Preview of the Auction with individual time and bid steps

 

In order to have as buyer/project leader an overview of the Japanese auction: the start price, all individual time & bid steps are displayed in 1 place.

 

You can double check the complete Time and Bid steps per article for the Auction in

Auction Structure under Position Steps.

Please click on “Edit Position Steps”



 


 

Here the startprice and time duration and “Price to be confirmed” are displayed. 

Note: The last Time and Bid step will continue as long the last supplier confirms the bid for current article (and his amount of Joker are over, in case of Joker)



 

 

 

 

6. Joker

In a Japanese auction, the Buyer has the possibility to provide suppliers with a “Joker”. A Joker gives the supplier the opportunity to skip 1 or more steps without confirming the price. 

Please go back to “Supplier Circle” in “General Data” and select the supplier you would like to assign Joker.



 

Click on Max. Steps without confirmation to enter number of Jokers. 

It is possible to set the same number of joker for all suppliers in one click, or different ones per supplier. We recommend due compliance reason to set same condictions for all supplier.

 


 

 

Enter the number of Joker and click on Apply



 

 Go back to the Auction Structure tab to finish with settings of the Auction.

 


 

7.  In Milestones Auction start and Auction end date and hour are set. 

 

The refresh rate is recommended to be 20 - 30 seconds.

 

Click on Save



 

 

 

8.  Bidbox Layout tab is the view of the suppliers during the auction. You can customize this view according to your needs by displaying and/or hiding the columns.

Note: In column “Your Bidding Status” the supplier can see his current bidding status on article level, as Bidding Status “Active” in case the supplier still confirm actual value within the auction (and has still remaining joker). 



 

 

 

8. Auction Status

 

Click on Auction status to see if all elements are correctly completed. If you see any red errors at this stage, check the message and correct what is missing. 



 

 

Click on Publish to set the Auction Online. 



 

            

Once the auction is published all invited suppliers will receive an invitation to the Auction via an email from the system. They will be able to access to the Auction, download and accept the documents, see all the details with regards to the Auction like articles, starting prices, etc. 

 

The suppliers will also receive a reminder email 30 minutes before the bidding starts.

 

When the Start date and time are reached the Auction status will automatically change from Online to Bidding and the invited suppliers are able to bid. You can follow the auction via either Auction cockpit or Auction analysis to monitor auction and supplier activities.



 

 

Click here see information regarding How to check the auction during the bidding.

 

If you need further assistance don't hesitate to Contact us.