When you are pricing a quotation and there is no buying rate for the lane, you need a price from a supplier. Supplier request rules tell Freightools which suppliers to ask for which lanes and activities, so the request leaves the quotation in one click as a structured request for quotation (RFQ), and the replies come back on the Supplier Requests screen to be compared and applied as buying rates. This article covers what a rule contains, sending a request from Edit Pricing with Ask Suppliers, and following the request on the Supplier Requests screen.
It does not cover creating the supplier record — see How to create a new supplier — and it is not the CFS supplier portal, which is a different workflow — see How to use the supplier portal for CFS services.
Before you start
- Every supplier you want to ask exists as a supplier in Freightools. See How to create a new supplier.
- Rules live in Settings: open your user menu, choose Company Settings, and under Pricing & Distribution in the left-hand navigation open Supplier rules. The page is titled Supplier Rules — "Configure RFQ routing rules by lane and scope to ensure quotes reach the right suppliers." See Where to find your user and company settings. If Supplier rules is not in your navigation, ask your Freightools administrator.
- To send a request you need the quotation open in Edit Pricing. See How to edit quotation pricing before sending.
- Geo areas used to scope a rule are set up in advance. See Creating a New Geo Area.
What a supplier request rule contains
Click New Rule to open New Supplier Rule; Save Rule stores it. The rule has these sections.
| Section of the rule | What it is for |
|---|---|
| General Setup — Rule Name, Active, Activity, Reply Maximum Time (hours) | The rule's name, whether it is in force, which pricing activity it applies to, and how long suppliers have to answer each request sent under it. |
| Origin Scope — Address Type (From) and Destination Scope — Address Type (To) | Which origins and destinations the rule applies to. |
| Supplier Partners | The suppliers to ask — Add Supplier adds a row with SUPPLIER PARTNER, SUPPLIER CONTACT, SPECIFIC EMAIL, ORDER, RANKING and BOOKING %. |
| Email Configuration and Email Content | The RFQ email the suppliers receive. |
The rules you have saved are listed with their RULE NAME, ACTIVITY, ORIGIN, DESTINATION, SUPPLIERS and STATUS; DUPLICATE copies a rule as the start of a new one.
Lane and activity scope
A rule is scoped by lane and by activity. Address Type (From) and Address Type (To) set how each end is scoped — by country, state, geo area or specific address — the same way a buying agreement is scoped, so a rule can be as broad as "every destination in one country" or as narrow as one address. A quotation matches the rule when its route falls inside the lane scope and the activity being priced is the rule's activity.
When you change the address type on a rule, the address fields clear. Enter the addresses again for the new type.
Ranked suppliers
The rule holds a ranked panel of suppliers under Supplier Partners. Click Add Supplier for each one and set:
- SUPPLIER PARTNER, and optionally the SUPPLIER CONTACT or a SPECIFIC EMAIL the request goes to.
- ORDER — "Priority sequence for supplier selection (1-99, lower = higher priority)".
- RANKING — "Price scoring weight for quote evaluation (1-5, higher = more weight)".
- BOOKING % — "Allocation percentage for this supplier (0-100)".
The rule also carries Reply Maximum Time (hours) under General Setup, which applies to every request sent under it.
Send a request from a quotation with Ask Suppliers
Ask Suppliers sits on each activity on the Buying tab of Edit Pricing, next to the activity's SUPPLIER dropdown — see How to edit quotation pricing before sending. The button is active whenever a rule matches the quotation's route and that activity.
- Open the quotation in Edit Pricing and click Buying.
- Go to the activity that has no buying rate. If a rule matches, Ask Suppliers next to its SUPPLIER dropdown is active.
- Click Ask Suppliers and review the suppliers the rule matched.
- Check the price lines the suppliers are being asked to fill in.
- Send. The request carries the quotation's route — origin and destination — and the activity is marked Active request.
Note: If Ask Suppliers is not active on an activity, no rule covers this route and activity. Either a rule's lane scope does not include the quotation's origin and destination, or no rule is set for this activity.
What the suppliers receive, and what comes back
Each supplier receives the RFQ email from the rule and fills in its prices on a structured page. The replies land on the Supplier Requests screen, where you compare them and put the one you choose on the quotation with Apply This Rate — you do not re-type them.
Follow the request on the Supplier Requests screen
The Supplier Requests screen (Quotes → Supplier Requests) tracks every request you have sent, until you book. Filter it by Supplier, Activity or Service, by status — Sent, In Progress, Responded, Expired — or search by proposal, customer or route. For each request it shows:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| STATUS | Where the request stands — Sent, In Progress, Responded or Expired. |
| SP CODE, CUSTOMER, SERVICE | The quotation the request belongs to, its customer and its service. |
| ROUTE | The lane the request was sent for. |
| PRICING ACTIVITY | The activity the suppliers were asked to price. |
| RESPONSES | How many suppliers have replied so far. |
| BEST TOTAL BUY | The lowest total buying price among the replies. |
| EXPIRATION | When the request expires. |
Open a request to see Supplier Request Details: the proposal number, customer, service, route and cargo summary, the REQUESTED SCOPE, the requests and responses count and the best total buy. The Supplier Responses table lists each supplier with its contact, when the request was sent, when it responded, its expiration, its total and its status; the Activity Breakdown under it shows each charge with quantity, price and total. Apply This Rate puts the reply you choose on the quotation.
If something goes wrong
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Ask Suppliers is not active on the activity | No rule matches this route and activity. Open Supplier rules and check the lane scope and the activity of the rule you expected to match. |
| You changed the address type on a rule and the addresses disappeared | The address fields clear when the address type changes. Enter them again. |
| No replies on the quotation yet | Open the Supplier Requests screen and read the request's STATUS, RESPONSES and EXPIRATION. |
| The supplier you wanted was not among the matched suppliers | Check that the supplier is on the panel of the rule that matched. See How to create a new supplier if the supplier does not exist yet. |
| A buying price on the quotation is not the one the supplier agreed | Type the agreed figure into the line's BUY VAL box in Edit Pricing. See How to edit quotation pricing before sending. |