¶ Request for Quotation
At a Glance
Owner: Purchaser / Procurement Manager · Table:tb_request_for_pricing(+ detail, comments) · Workflow: none (date-window driven) · Upstream: templates/price-list · Solicits price quotes from vendors before atb_pricelistis awarded.
¶ 1. What & Who
Request for Pricing (RFQ) is the procurement-initiated outbound document that solicits quotes from one or more vendors before a vendor-pricelist is awarded. The buyer picks a templates/price-list (which carries currency, validity window, reminder schedule, and the product catalogue under quote), names candidate vendors, and dispatches the request. Each invited vendor gets a tokenised link to a portal where they submit prices; submissions land as draft tb_pricelist rows keyed back to the RFQ. After the deadline, the buyer compares bids and awards one (or more) by flipping its status to active.
Created by Purchaser / Procurement Manager · Responded to by invited vendors (no login — token-scoped portal) · Produces no inventory or AP effect.
¶ 2. Common Tasks
| Task | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Create an RFQ from a template | Vendor Management → Request Price List → New | Template binds currency + product catalogue |
| Invite vendors | Detail → Add Vendor | One row per (RFQ, vendor); unique constraint enforces no double-invite |
| Send / resend invitation email | Detail → Send | Idempotent — reuses existing pricelist_url_token |
| Extend the deadline | Header → edit end_date |
Audit-logged; required to accept late bids |
| Compare bids | Detail → Compare | Normalises to BU base currency via master-data/exchange-rate |
| Award a pricelist | Pricelist row → Activate | Flips enum_pricelist_status to active — RFQ itself has no "awarded" status |
¶ 3. Validation & Errors
| Symptom / Message | Cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| "Vendor already invited" | A non-deleted detail row exists for (RFQ, vendor) | Edit the existing invitation instead |
| "end_date must be after start_date" | Date window invalid | Re-pick the deadline |
| "Cannot change template — invitations sent" | pricelist_template_id is immutable post-dispatch |
Cancel the RFQ and start a new one |
| "Late submission rejected" | Portal POST after end_date |
Extend end_date first (audit-logged) before re-sending |
| "Vendor must be active" | tb_vendor.is_active = false |
Reactivate under master-data/vendor |
| Invitation link 404s | pricelist_url_token rotated or row soft-deleted |
Re-issue the invitation; a fresh token is generated |
¶ 4. Edge Cases
- Token security.
pricelist_url_tokenis a long random string per invitation; portal access is scoped by the token alone (vendors do not authenticate). Token rotation invalidates all outstanding invitations for that vendor. - Late submissions rejected. A
tb_pricelistinsert afterend_dateis rejected at the API layer. The buyer must explicitly extendend_datebefore close to accept additional bids. - Award is a pricelist-level flip, not RFQ-level. The RFQ has no system "awarded" status — awarding = flipping the chosen
tb_pricelisttoactive. Multiple pricelists may be active per product (split awards). - Currency cascade. RFQ inherits currency from the template; vendors cannot override per-line. Cross-currency RFQs require separate rounds per currency.
- Idempotent dispatch. Re-sending the invitation reuses the existing token; no new
tb_pricelistis created. - Snapshot semantics. Vendor name, contact, and template fields are snapshotted at invitation time. Master-record edits do not retroactively change the RFQ row.
- No workflow engine. RFQ has no
workflow_*columns; lifecycle is purely date-window + pricelist-status driven.
¶ 5. Data Model (Dev)
Source: tenant schema.
¶ 5.1 tb_request_for_pricing
| Field | Prisma Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
id |
String @db.Uuid |
No | Primary key. |
name |
String @db.VarChar |
No | RFQ display name (e.g. "Q2-2026 Beverage RFQ"). |
pricelist_template_id |
String @db.Uuid |
No | FK to templates/price-list. Carries currency, validity, reminders, catalogue. |
start_date |
DateTime? @db.Timestamptz(6) |
Yes | Date vendors may begin submitting. |
end_date |
DateTime? @db.Timestamptz(6) |
Yes | Submission deadline; drives reminders. |
custom_message |
String? @db.Text |
Yes | Free text rendered in the invitation email. |
email_template_id |
String? @db.VarChar |
Yes | Identifier for invitation / reminder mails. |
info, dimension, doc_version |
mixed | Yes | Standard metadata. |
| Audit columns | — | Yes | created_*, updated_*, deleted_*. |
Constraints: @@unique([name, deleted_at]) map request_for_pricing_name_u; @@index([pricelist_template_id]); @@index([name]). FK to tb_pricelist_template onDelete: NoAction.
¶ 5.2 tb_request_for_pricing_detail
One row per invited vendor.
| Field | Prisma Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
id, request_for_pricing_id, sequence_no |
mixed | No / No / Yes | PK, parent FK, ordinal. |
vendor_id, vendor_name |
String @db.Uuid / VarChar |
No / Yes | Invited vendor + snapshot. |
contact_person, contact_phone, contact_email |
String? @db.VarChar |
Yes | Vendor-side contact for this round. |
pricelist_id, pricelist_no |
String? @db.Uuid / VarChar |
Yes | FK to tb_pricelist created on submission — null until then. |
pricelist_url_token |
String? @db.VarChar |
Yes | Tokenised URL fragment for the portal invitation. |
comment, info, dimension, doc_version |
mixed | Yes | Standard metadata. |
| Audit columns | — | Yes | created_*, updated_*, deleted_*. |
Constraints: @@unique([request_for_pricing_id, vendor_id, deleted_at]) — one invitation per (RFQ, vendor); @@index([request_for_pricing_id, vendor_id]). FKs to tb_request_for_pricing, tb_vendor, tb_pricelist — all onDelete: NoAction.
¶ 5.3 Comment tables
tb_request_for_pricing_comment and tb_request_for_pricing_detail_comment follow the canonical comment shape.
¶ 6. Workflow / Business Rules
RFQ does not use the generic workflow engine. Lifecycle is driven by date windows and child tb_pricelist state:
- Setup — RFQ created from template; vendor detail rows added. No invitation sent yet.
- Invitation sent — each detail row gets
pricelist_url_token; emails dispatch viaemail_template_id. - Open for response (
start_date <= now < end_date) — vendors submit through the portal; each submission creates atb_pricelistindraft. - Reminders / escalation — per templates/price-list
reminder_days[]andescalation_after_days, a background job chases non-responding vendors. - Closed for response (
now >= end_date) — portal locked; late submissions rejected. - Award — buyer flips the chosen
tb_pricelisttoactive; losers staydraftor flip toinactive.
Date validation: end_date > start_date; both must be in the future when invitations are sent. Template-bound: pricelist_template_id immutable after first invitation. Currency: inherits from template; per-line override forbidden.
¶ 7. Cross-References
- vendor-pricelist — vendor responses materialise as
tb_pricelistrows; the awarded one becomes the active catalogue. - templates/price-list — RFQ requires a template (currency, validity, reminders, product catalogue).
- master-data/vendor — invited vendors must reference active vendor records.
- master-data/currency — currency cascades from the template.
- purchase-request / purchase-order — downstream consumers of the awarded pricelist.
- system-config/workflow — not used by RFQ; mentioned for contrast.
¶ 8. References
- Prisma:
../carmen-turborepo-backend-v2/packages/prisma-shared-schema-tenant/prisma/schema.prisma—tb_request_for_pricing(lines 4039-4070),tb_request_for_pricing_detail(lines 4106-4142),tb_request_for_pricing_comment(lines 4072-4104),tb_request_for_pricing_detail_comment(lines 4144-4176). - Frontend route:
../carmen-inventory-frontend/app/(root)/vendor-management/request-price-list/. - Carmen docs:
../carmen/docs/business-analysis/price-list-ba.md;../carmen/docs/business-analysis/procurement-ba.md(RFQ section).