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Introduction
Welcome to the RFP-Leads Source User Guide. There are three sections:
- Trouble Shooting
- Quick Guide to RFP-Leads Source
- Detailed Guide to RFP-Leads Source
Although we have very few issues with the website, we have opted to put the trouble-shooting section first for your convenience.
If we are aware of an issue or there is a routine maintenance on our website, we will always notify you directly in advance.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
If you experience a problem, and to ensure we can address your needs immediately, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. We will deal with it right away. Feel free to Email Patrick or call Patrick or Beth at 1 888 261 0832 or 519 318 6637 or 519 318 6638.
We will be happy to give you full credit for any issues we cannot resolve but only from the point in time when you first reported the problem.
Missing a Daily Bulletin Email?
You can always see the most recent daily bulletin on the home page, near the bottom of the screen, you will see the link: Most recent daily bulletin
It's a handy feature if for some reason your Daily Bulletin has been delayed by your internet service email provider.
We send the bulletin email out every business day. Very rarely and for reasons unknown, your daily bulletin may not reach you.
First, check your Spam. If it's not there: Here's how to see the missing postings for a specific day.
- Click on the link on the home page: Search all RFPs & Leads & News.
- The yellow search boxes across the top should be clear. If they are not, hit "Clear all" near the top center of the screen
- In the yellow box above the first column (Daily Bulletin Sent) type in the date of the bulletin you missed. For Example, For August 16th of 2021 type: 2021-08-16.
- Then press the "Go" button near top left or the Return/Enter key on your keyboard. This will display all the postings we sent out that day, organized alphabetically by country. If you just want to see US results: enter .US in the Yellow Box above the Place column and press the "Go" button near top left or the Return/Enter key on your keyboard. This will display all the US postings for that day. It's that simple. If you want to add another country -- say Canada, type: .us .ca then press "Go" etc.
PROBLEMS RECEIVING THE DAILY BULLETIN? (or if it being blocked or lands in your Junk or Spam folder):
There are many reasons why this can happen. Most of them are within your control or that of your in-house IT person who will know what do about the problem. Sometimes it means tweaking your Spam filters. Typically it means they will need to "WHITE LIST" the source of the daily email to ALLOW it to land on you.
Our websiteserver IP address is: 173.254.240.76
In order to resolve the problem, please ask your IT person to whitelist the daily bulletin.
The daily bulletin email comes from: daily-bulletin@rfp-leads.com
Sent from our host server: @server.rfp-leads.com
Our new server IP addresses are now: 173.254.240.75 and 173.254.240.76 (effective Oct 4.20)
It is also a good idea to also whitelist any email with an address ending:
@rfp-leads.com
@salesforce.com (our CRM)
And also the following email addresses:
- patrick.rfpleads@earthlink.net
- patrickokelly@earthlink.net
- beth.rfpleads@earthlink.net
- bethokelly@earthlink.net
- trevor@rfp-leads.com
Once your IT person has "white listed" the source of the bulk daily email there should be no problem. If you have trouble "white listing" you will need to contact the customer support for the network security/Spam filter program you are using. This is something over which we have no control.
GOOGLE CHROME ADVISORY
On some versions of Google Chrome on some versions of some operating systems, our website does not always behave itself.
The solution? Try switching to another browser such as Firefox, Safari, MS Edge, MS Explorer.
Recently, Google has been delaying or blocking the daily bulletin to its gmail users. Here's the fix:
Login to your gmail account.
- Find and open a previous daily bulletin email in your inbox
- Click the "More" button at the top of your screen
- Select "Filter messages like these"
- All you need is daily-bulletin@rfp-leads.com listed in the "From" entry field, then click "Create filter with this search"
- Click the boxes beside "Star it", "Never send it to Spam", "Always mark it as important", and "Also apply filter to matching conversations"
- Click the "Create filter" button
Very rarely, the daily email is blocked further upstream by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). In these cases you will need to request them to allow the daily email to be added to their white list. Or if you have webmail, the bulletin may be sitting in one of your spam filters where you can "UNSPAM" it.
PROBLEMS LOGGING IN FROM THE DAILY BULLETIN OR VERY SLOW WEBSITE PERF0RMANCE?
If you are not saving cookies you won't be able to login automatically when you click on any link or posting in the daily bulletin.
It means you will have to login on the home page with each visit, using your current login and password. Please also note that between 3-4 pm EST the website can be slower because we are sending out hundreds of daily bulletins during this timeframe.
COOKIES
When you first complete the "notification of email" registration and then login, we set a cookie on your computer.
Please make sure your system is configured to save cookies. Cookies are also lost when a new system is installed on your computer or simply not in play if you are working from a different machine.
With a cookie in place you can automatically login to the website from the link at the bottom of the Daily Bulletin email. As well, any thumbnail posting in the Daily Bulletin is automatically hot-linked to the full item in the website.
"I have already registered or logged in to the website but the system requires that I login again each time?"
This is typically a cookie issue. Some Browsers will do this to you! When you first login or register, we set a cookie on your computer. This is what allows us to see that you are a client and allows you to bypass the login process. The solution is to ensure that your cookies are enabled and that Internet Explorer settings or any other network security system on your computer is saving the cookie. You may find that each day, cookies are being automatically deleted. In the case of Internet Explorer: Tools> Internet Options,>Privacy,> Sites and then follow the prompts. When you are invited to always allow cookies from our site: put in: rfp-leads.com
In the interim you can always keep up to date with new postings by visiting the website directly at www.rfp-leads.com anytime and selecting Most recent daily bulletin from the Home Page. To see the most current items, select: Search all RFPs & Leads & News.
WEBSITE NON-REPONSIVE OR VERY SLOW
Occasionally users experience a temporary CPU overload. This occurs typically when we are sending out the daily bulletin simultaneously to 600+ user email addresses – sometime between 3:30-4:30 PM EST. And if too many users are also simultaneously checking the bulletin on the website at the same time that adds to the overload.
Other factors can also be in play, such as the amount of traffic our respective ISPs and our local servers are handing at the same time. Rest assured in knowing that in almost 17 years, our website has never crashed, nor have we ever missed sending out the daily bulletin. As we've said elsewhere, our PHP code has never been changed either. Every single website issue has always been resolved at the client end.
QUICK GUIDE TO RFP-LEADS SOURCE
All blue text is clickable.
If you subscribe to the philosophy "if all else fails read the instructions" this short guide might be helpful.
Here are a few quick pointers to get you started.
Navigation. Avoid using your Browsers forward and back arrows. Use our breadcrumbs method. Look for >Home > search postings > display (or some such list of locations you have visited). Breadcrumbs are displayed near to the top left of each screen. To return to one of the destinations in breadcrumbs just click on it. Breadcrumbs always begin with >Home.
Once you have logged in, we set a cookie on your computer. This means that next time you receive a daily bulletin, you can click on any item and it will take you to the full display of that item. You are automatically logged in by the system. If you wish, you can also click on the link at the bottom of the daily bulletin to login. If you go directly to the website, at www.rfp-leads.com you will need to enter your first and last name (loginid) and password each time. You can change your password by selecting My account from the Home Page.
From the bottom of the posting display screen you can bookmark the item, add a note, or email the item. Note that emailing is a two-step process. Once you have filled in the form and submitted it, the entry is saved in your email address database. To send the email, click on the word "Show" over your name in the "search email address" screen. At the bottom of the screen are various options, including the "send email" button.
Next time you want to send a posting, you will be taken to this screen. If you don't see an entry, click on "create a new email address" and repeat the process.
Items you have bookmarked or made notes on can be displayed from the Home Page by clicking on: My Bookmarks or My notes.
Once you are in the database proper search postings" you will see yellow boxes on top and bottom of the six columns. You can switch the position of the yellow search input boxes from My account on the home page. The current default position puts the search input boxes at the top of the page. When you are ready to do a search, click on the "Go" button. To display the full posting from any of your results, click on "Display" found just above the date in the first column "created". Note: The other set of yellow boxes (found either at bottom or top of screen) simply display all the text you have entered.
Also note by selecting "My Account" on the home page you can move the yellow search input boxes from bottom to top. I recommend you make the switch to top. Most people prefer this position.
After doing a search, and opening up the posting by clicking on Display you will see the key search word/s highlighted in red.
There are many other features, but this should be enough to get you going. With the help of the Detailed Guide below or a phone tour with Patrick, you will quickly become an expert.
To book a tour over the phone or for any questions call Patrick at 1 888 261 0832 or Email Patrick
DETAILED GUIDE TO RFP-LEADS SOURCE
INTRODUCTION
Our initial objective when launching the website was to provide an uninterrupted flow of business opportunities to you via daily email bulletins. We also wanted to make the information in our archives accessible via a state-of-the-art database management system. We believe we have met these two key objectives. As we said before, pretty will come later! Your suggestions have been much appreciated and are always welcome. After all, this whole exercise is about listening to what our clients say and responding accordingly. This updated guide identifies many enhancements we have made and will continue to make at the suggestion of our clients.
The Home Page Sidebars and Top Bars will give you the big picture about us. Please note that throughout the website any text that is in blue is active. It's either a pop-up window, a menu or link.
Soon each screen will come with its own Help menu. In the meantime, select User Guide from the Home Page sidebar (which you have just done!). So if you are confused or stuck, always take a look there first.
If you are still confused, as Patrick often is, simply give us a call at 1 888 261 0832 or Email Patrick. He will also be pleased to send you the Word version of the User Guide.
We are constantly updating this User Guide to reflect changes and to introduce helpful hints.
THE REGISTRATION PROCESS
Before you can login as a client, we must first register your details in the system typically your, first and last name, your email address, etc. At that time we also generate a password, which later you will be able to change. Once we have created the record in our system, you will receive a Notification of Registration email with a registration/activation link. Simply click on the link and the system will activate your registration and immediately send you an email with your login id (first and last name) and your password. You will also start to automatically receive the Daily Bulletin. To complete the registration process, go to the website: www.rfp-leads.com and login.
DAILY BULLETINS
Each day we sent out between 40-60 new postings. There is no overlap from one day to the next.
The consist of RFPs, Leads, and News postings
RFPs are primarily from the public sector: Federal, State/Provincial/Municipal
Leads are primarily from the private sector
News reflects industry news, client news. We also encourage our Charter Member who are looking to partner with others to use the news for this purpose.
Once you have logged in, a cookie is set on your computer. As long as the cookie remains saved on your system, all the postings we send via the Daily Bulletins are hot links to the full display of each posting within the website. You are also automatically logged in to the website via this method. You can also go directly to the Home Page with auto login simply by clicking on the link at the bottom of the Daily Bulletin: "Go to RFP-Leads".
LOGGING IN FOR THE FIRST TIME
We assume you have gone to www.rfp-leads.com. You are now looking at the visitors Home Page. The central image represents the work of a featured client. Click on the link above the image for background information, etc. You may also search the Examples of RFPs and Leads without registering or logging in. You can access all the information in the Sidebars and Top bars. To close a Sidebar or Top bar window you will need to select the X at the top right corner of the window.
You will also see Client login in the center of the screen below the Featured Client image.
Registration is a one-time process. You will not have to register again unless you are not saving cookies or using a different computer.
Select Client login
Enter the same First and Last Name and the Password that was sent to you by email.
Example: Jane Doe wfpg4543
Note: text is not case sensitive anywhere within our website.
You will see, under Type, that you are already identified as a Client (no action required that is what you are and a valued one at that!)
To complete registration, now click on Login (or Enter)
You are now at the Client Home Page
You now have full access to the site
If you select My Account from the right side of the screen you corner of the screen you have various options. You can log off or change your:
Loginid, Password, Email Address, Daily Bulletin Format, Search Input Position
Note: Search Input Position was introduced in early March, 2008. Initially it was positioned at the bottom of the Search Postings screen. Later, thanks to input from our clients we moved it to the top. But we did not force the change. Currently, the default is to have the search input yellow boxes at the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen there is a matching set of yellow boxes. These simply echo the text typed in the top row so that you can see everything that has been typed without having to horizontally scroll through the text in the active yellow search input boxes at the top of the screen.
If you subscribed prior to early March of 2008 and have not changed the "search input position" in My Account, your active yellow search windows are still at the bottom of the screen and the yellow boxes at the top are not active -- they simply echo the current search input data.
This User Guide has been updated on the assumption that the active yellow search windows are at the top of the screen. If you have not made the change we suggest you visit My Account and make the switch.
THE CLIENT HOME PAGE
The menu options are pretty obvious.
RFPs is used generically to cover a variety of specific and real opportunities -- all Requests of one kind or another.
Leads refer to proposed or potential cultural or attractions opportunities
You can search postings in a variety of ways:
To search them all, choose:
- Search all RFPs & Leads & News
- Or you can choose RFPs or Leads in the USA or Canada
- Or you can select Outside North America or News
- You can also select the Most recent daily bulletin
This is particularly useful if your email provider drops the ball and your Daily Bulletin does not reach you. Please note the Daily Bulletin is sent out each day at approximately 3:00 PM ET.
You can also search on All RFPs or for specific types. The various types are:
- EOI - Expression of Interest
- IDIQ - Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity
- IFB - Invitation for Bid
- ITB - Invitation to Bid
- ITT - Invitation to Tender
- LOI - Letter of Interest
- RFI - Request for Information/Interest
- RFO - Request for Offer
- RFP - Request for Proposal
- RFQ - Request for Qualifications
- RFQQ - Request for Qualifications & Quotation
- SOQ - Statement of Qualifications
- SSN - Sources Sought Notice
You don't have to remember what these acronyms stand for. When you are in a Search Postings screen, simply click on the header Type ? and they will also display.
NAVIGATING THE SITE USING "BREAD CRUMBS" AS IN HANSEL AND GRETEL.
As you move through the website, you will see the navigation panes (sometimes called bread crumbs) which track your path through the site.
A typical breadcrumb would look like this:
Home > Search postings > Display > Search email address
As you move through the website the breadcrumb trail gets longer.
To return to a previous location, just click on it.
If you prefer you can use the Back and Forward Browser Arrows your choice! However, using the Arrows can sometimes be unreliable.
Next time you login
When you next login at the website, you wont necessarily land on the home page. The elephant in the system has remembered where you were when you last logged off and takes you there. This is particularly useful if you were interrupted, accidentally logged off, or had not finished what you were doing. If you want to be returned each time to the home page, before logging off, select Home from the breadcrumbs first and then log off!
But no worries if you forgot to do this. Just select Home from the bread crumbs.
SEARCHING THROUGH THE POSTINGS
We have put a lot of thought into creating a powerful and flexible database management engine and we are constantly tweaking it to make it even better.
When you first select a Search feature (i.e., RFPs in USA) from the home page menu below the image of the Featured Client you will be taken to the Search Postings screen. Summary information on the 10 most recent postings is displayed by default as well as the number of records in the database. For example: "Displaying 1-10 of 8043 matching your search data"
The information is presented in a table of six columns:
Created Place Type Client Title Full Text
To display the full posting of a given item, simply click on Display in the first column. Note that Display is in blue, and there active. The order above, is the default order. You can change the order of columns (see below).
Changing the order of the columns in Display Postings.
The default order of the postings is:
Created Place Type Client Title Full Text
If you wish to re-arrange the groupings, perhaps to read the Full Text first, simply select Setup search from the top right-hand side of the screen and type in the number 1 in the Full Text column. The system will remember your preferences. You can also switch back to the default settings at any time. Most people agree that the default order is the most logical one.
TO BEGIN SEARCHING:
For example, if you selected Search RFPs in USA
Directly below the breadcrumbs you will see a display like this:
Search Viewing 1 to 10 of 8410 matching your search parameters
Immediately below, in the yellow display bars you will see .us over the Place column and RFP% over the Type. This is the default search parameter. It makes sense since this will create a version of the database containing all USA RFPs.
SEARCH HELP
If you would like to read the help menu for searching, click on "To narrow your search (in blue) which is directly below the Go button Home breadcrumb in the top left section of the screen.
You will see the same headings at the bottom:
Created Place Type Client Title Full Text
and below each heading is a matching yellow box. The yellow boxes at the bottom of the screen are not active. Each box contains the same search parameters found in the yellow search input boxes at the top. Unlike the yellow search input boxes at the top, the boxes at the bottom grow to display all the search parameters thus saving you the trouble of scrolling through the top yellow boxes horizontally. Each search input box can accommodate 150 characters.
From here, the world is your oyster. You are at the wheel of an extremely powerful search machine. Every screen in the website which contains data works the same way even the search email address screen (see further down) or the My Bookmarks menu on the Home Page.
Searching and creating saved searches for regular use. Please note that RFPs in North America go back to January of 2007.
Leads in North America go back to April of 2005. All other postings go back to December of 2007.
SEARCHING UNDER THE CREATED COLUMN
If the Created search window is left empty, it means that no filter has been applied and thus every posting in the database will be displayed by default with the newest at the top and the oldest at the bottom. "Created" refers to the date we posted it on the website.
Information in the database
If you want to search only on items posted since October 1, 2008, >2008-10-01
To get the search engine to perform the search, press the Enter key or select the Go button (top left of screen).
To search on a specific day, do not use the < or > symbols. I.e., 2008-11-05
SEARCH TIP
If for some reason you did not receive your daily email bulletin simply select Most recent daily bulletin from the Home Page menu. Please note that we typically broadcast the Daily Bulletin around 3:00 PM ET.
And if you want to get back to the default setting, which displays everything, just clear the created window and press the GO button.
Whenever you activate a new search or return to a Search Postings screen its a good idea to check the fields in the yellow search input windows. They will contain your previous search parameters you selected.
To Start the Search:
Simply click on GO or hit ENTER
SEARCHING UNDER THE PLACE COLUMN
Note that the heading is shown in blue as Place ? This means that the heading is not only a title but also provides help. Click on Place ? to display all the state/province and country codes. You can combine all of these items by typing in the codes in the yellow search input box being careful to insert a space between each item. Please note that provinces and states have a period (.) immediately after them. I.e., ny. bc.
Whereas countries have the period (.) in front of them. I.e., .us .ca
to summarize: .ca = Canada but ca. = California. none of the place characters are case-sensitive
You will find the subtractive minus (-) feature occasionally useful.
For example if you wanted to see all the results except for the USA and Canada you would input
-.us -.ca and press Go.
To be a new Place search, clear out the items in the yellow box above Place ? and enter new place codes. For example:
ny. bc. on. fl. tx. wa. uk. fr.
Note: as you add more item, the text will scroll out of view. There is room for 150 characters. You can either scroll through them horizontally or scroll to the bottom of the screen where all the items will be displayed. Note the yellow display windows at the bottom of the screen will only show the items after you have clicked on the GO button.
SEARCHING UNDER THE TYPE COLUMN
Note that the heading is shown as Type ? in blue. This means that the heading is both a title and a Help. Click on Type ? to display all the acronyms associated with various types of "RFPs".
If the yellow search input box displays the word All it means that no specific filters has been applied. You will see All Leads, News, and RFPs.
To make a specific selection, click on the arrow inside the yellow search input box to display a drop-down menu with a range of choices:
All
Leads
News
All RFPs
EOI expression of interest
IDIQ Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity
IFB Invitation for bid
ITB Invitation to bid
ITT Invitation to Tender
LOI Letter of interest
RFI Request for information/interest
RFO Request for Offer
RFP Request for proposal
RFQ Request for qualifications
RFQQ Request for qualifications and quotation
SOQ statement of qualifications
SSN Sources Sought Notice
If you select All, your other various search parameters will look everywhere.
If you select Rfp-EOI, your other search parameters will just look at all the EOIs in the generic RFP category.
Please note that when searching under RFPs not only do we display the type of RFP but we also display the due date (a recent suggestion from several of our clients)
SEARCHING UNDER THE CLIENT COLUMN
If you are looking for a specific client, type in the name or a few characters.
For example, if you are looking for an RFP issued by a City. Type the word: city
Then click on GO or hit ENTER
You will see all the postings that contain the word city in the client column.
Generally, we advise you to leave this column blank when searching for new opportunities. However, it is sometimes useful to run a check on a client particularly if you have identified a new opportunity. You may find that the same posting was issued earlier, or that this is the first time they have put out a posting, etc.
SEARCHING UNDER TITLE
For example if you are looking for Performing Arts opportunities, the title will often contain performing arts. Type in the words performing arts and click on GO or Enter
Generally we advise you to leave this column blank since the best place to enter your search words and parameters is in the Full Text column. All the key words in the title are also contained in the Full Text section.
SEARCHING UNDER FULL TEXT
There are various ways you can search through the full text of each posting.
Search Help is found immediately below the Go Button. "To narrow your search ? (in blue) .... click on "search ?" to display all the search rules.
If you wish to search on a specific phrase such as: "architectural services" you need to put the phrase in quotes as shown.
Two search features will serve you well, most of the time. They are AND SEARCHES and OR SEARCHES.
"AND" SEARCHES
If you type in a combination of words and phrases, each separately by a space, the search engine will display all the postings which contain all of these elements. The more words you add, the fewer results. Example:
"architectural services" qualifications science college (with All selected in the yellow box above Type ? and with no other filters in place.
On November 23, 2008 this generated 8 results. To see your search results highlighted, click on Display (in blue in the Created column alongside a given posting. All these words will be highlighted in red.
"OR" SEARCHES
Please note that when conduction "OR" searched the word "OR" MUST BE IN UPPER CASE. This is a special command recognized by the search engine telling it to also look for another combination of words and phrases. Thus, you can combine "AND" searches and "OR" searches. When added each new "OR" search you need to insert a space before and after the "OR".
For example:
"architectural services" qualifications science college OR architect "design services" OR campus master plan OR performing arts
The more "OR"s you add the more results. You are limited to 150 characters, so that is a lot of searching.
You can also use the (minus sign) in front of a word or phrase. This tells the search engine you dont want to see any postings containing these parameters. For example: design exhib would be a way for an architect to identify opportunities which do not contain any reference to words containing the root exhib; words such as: exhibit/exhibits/exhibition/exhibitor etc.
Searching on partial words is an excellent way to ensure nothing sneaks through your net. For example by searching on: interp you will find all the postings which contain words with interp in them such as: interpret, interpretation, interpretive, etc.
It you search on museums you will never see a posting than only contains the word museum. But if you search on museum you will see all the museum references but you will also see all the museums, too.
Regardless, to start each new search you need to
click on GO or Enter to see the new search results.
As stated earlier, when you select Display on a given posting (over the date in the Created column) you will see the full description. As well, all your search characters/words will be highlighted. This is very helpful because you will be immediately be able to see the context in which these words occur within the text of the posting.
Note of caution: next time you return to do a search, all your earlier parameters will be remembered until you visit the Home Page. So if you have something else in mind, first clear all the search windows.
Note: your current search parameters show up in the top/bottom yellow display bars as well as in the top/bottom yellow active search windows.
SAVING FAVORITE SEARCH PARAMETERS
Again at the suggestion of our clients we added a new feature in early March of 2008 which allows you to save up to 10 different search parameters.
Heres how it works.
Using the yellow search input windows, create your desired search string. In each of the yellow search input boxes type in the search parameters. Based on the example above your parameters might look like this:
Search: >2008-10-30
Place: .us .bc. on. ab. .uk .fr
Type: All RFPs
Client: (left blank)
Title: (left blank)
Full Text: "architectural services" qualifications college OR architect "design services" OR campus master plan OR performing arts
When you are done, select the empty window right of the "save search -->" button. Type in a short name for your search: i.e., RFPs USA+. To save your search for regular use, click on" save search as ->" to your left.
You will get confirmation your search has been saved. On the Home Page, right of the featured client image, under My Searches you will see a new entry: RFPs USA+ you will see you have a new entry below the My Searches headings.
You may have up to 10 "saved searches" here.
If you wish to delete a search, simply click on the search name under My Searches. Then click on "Delete search --> RFPs USA
You can also modify your search very easily. Just click on the search name under My Searches. Change any of the values in the yellow search input boxes and click the Go button. Your search parameters are now updated.
IMPORTANT TIP:
Effective use of saved searches is, in our view, one of the best features on our website. True it takes a little time to set each one up, but once in place these saved searches will enable you to make amazingly fast and effective use of our service. As well, having gone to the effort to create a detailed saved search, you never really want to have to type in the same parameters each time. That just does not make good sense.
Here's how our most efficient clients make the most effective use of our service.
1. The daily bulletin lands in the inbox. They click on it.
They do not bother scanning through 40-60 items each day because they already have their scanning filters in place via the saved searches in My Searches on the Home Page.
3. They simply click on the hot-link at the bottom of the Daily Bulletin: Go to RFP-Leads.com
3. They then click on the first saved search: I.e., RFPs USA
4. In four seconds or less the system has generated all the results under that search. Three mouse clicks!
Time is money. You have just saved yourself a ton of both.
OTHER NAVIGATION FEATURES IN SEARCH POSTINGS
Below the "breadcrumb trail beginning >Home > etc you will see:
Go Back Next Clear search parameters Show 10 Sort s columns
Its easier to start with the Show 10 menu
Show 10 is the default setting. It means that your Search Postings screen contains 10 postings per page.
To grow or shrink the number of postings per screen, click on the arrows in Show 10 to change the number of results to 1, 5, 10, 20, 40 or 80
The Back and Next buttons allow you to see the previous cluster or the next cluster of results you have specified in the Show field.
Sort s columns is the default and recommended setting. By clicking on the down arrow you will see the search logic that has been applied to the list. First all the items in the database are organized by the date created. Then they are organized by Province/State, next by Type and so on. If you select sort by Place your results will be displayed alphabetically by province and state. Thus your results will begin with AB.ca then BC.ca etc. When all the .cas are displayed it will then display the .us results starting with AK.us and so on. If you only want to see USA results, enter .us in the Place search parameter window. Remember to activate each new search by clicking on the Go button.
Experience teaches us that the default settings are the most logical for most purposes.
Once you have activated a new search, your results will be displayed. At the top of your screen you will see, for example:
Viewing 1 to 10 of 692 matching your search parameters
Showing only 10 at a time, thats a lot of clicking Next. You might want to change to Show 80 at a time.
OTHER ITEMS
Printing. Simply use the Print button at the top right and bottom right of each screen.
BOOKMARKS
You can bookmark any posting for future reference. Heres how it works. Open up a given posting by selecting Display in the first column under Created.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen. You will see "Bookmark this posting" on the left side of the screen. Click on the item. At the top of the screen you will see the message:
This posting is now bookmarked
To see all your bookmarked postings
Go to the Home Page and select My Bookmarks (directly below My account on to right of the Featured Client image.
All your bookmarked postings are displayed. You can search through them using the identical processes described above.
To see the full posting, click on Display as usual. At the bottom left of the screen you will see: "Delete this bookman"
In the center you will see either Make a note or See my note. At the bottom right you will see Email this posting.
NOTES
As a result of client suggestions we added the Make a note feature.
After displaying any posting you will see at the bottom of the screen: Make a note. Click on the button and a notepad appears.
Make your note and when you are done, click on the Submit button below the form. You will see the message: "The record was created"
All the postings to which you have added notes are stored under My Notes on the Home Page right of the Featured Client image.
By displaying a posting there you will now see at the bottom of the screen, in the center, "See this note"
Click on the button to read the note, change the note or delete it.
EMAILING POSTINGS
All postings are emailed from entries you make in your address book on an ad hoc basis.
This is a two-step process. Step one creates a new entry in your Email address book. Step two sends the email.
Once you have displayed a posting from Search postings, or Bookmarks or Notes you can email it to anyone. Simply scroll to the bottom right-hand side of the screen and select
Email this posting
If this is your first email ever, the submit email address form comes up. Fill in the Name, Email Address and Message fields.
When you are ready to send your message, scroll to the bottom of the screen and select
Submit
Please note, this does not mean your message has been sent yet! It means you have created your first entry in your email address book.
The system automatically takes you back to the Search Email Address screen.
You will see a table with three columns headed:
Name Email Address Message
Click on the blue Display button above the name of the person in the first column you have just added
This will display the last email form you filled for that person. At the bottom of the screen you will see title of the posting you are about to send.
Just below the message box you will see four options:
Send email Send email and send a copy to me Submit change Logically Delete record
Before clicking either Send buttons, check the form is correct. Make changes as needed and then click on the Submit change button.
You will be returned to the address book. Click on the blue display button over the name to see your change has been made.
Note, the last message you sent is always shown, so you will likely want to change it, if relates to an earlier posting.
Once you have sent the email, you will see at the top of the screen: The posting has been emailed to (1). A copy of the email is also added to My emails on the Home Page. It is a log of all the emails you have sent. It shows not only the posting but the name, email address of the person, and the message you attached and when you sent it (Pacific Time).
Since there is now a record in the Search Email Address file, the next time you decide to email a posting to someone, the system first takes you back to this screen.
If there is already a record of the person's name and email address you simply click on Display over their name.
If you are sending the posting to a new person, simply click on
Create a NEW email address (at the bottom/top of the screen.)
Fill out the form as described above and press submit.
Their records will be added to the Search Email Address table. To send the posting to the new person, repeat the process above.
Note: If you need to change the message, after editing it, you will also need to select Submit change. Also if the person's email address needs changing this is where you do it. If you are sending the posting to a new person, simply click on Create a NEW email address at the top of bottom of the screen. And then follow the instructions above.
The purpose of this two-step process is to enable you to build up an email address book.
Note: in the Email Address column you will see that we have disguised the email address slightly. This is a security feature to prevent phishing or robots from harvesting your email address.
NEWS
We typically we use News for three purposes: industry news, and news releases submitted by our clients such as new opening, and new contract award, press releases. For Charter Members we have expanded News to allow them to find partners to team with on postings they have found.
Please contact us at toll free at 1 877 373 0339 or 1 613 634 9734
or email your news items to: documentation to: Post RFPs, RFQs, Leads, News etc.
Forgot or lost your Password?
Just select client login and then select:
Forgot your password?
Fill in the form. If your entry matches our records, your
login name and password will be immediately emailed to you. If you get the message
No such "First and Last name / password / Type" is registered please call us immediately at 1 888 261 0832 or email us see below.
If you have any questions/suggestions about our site and service please contact Beth O'Kelly toll free at 1 888 261 0832 or email Beth
LOGGING OFF
Select My Account from the top right of any screen. Logoff is the first menu choice.
But you can exit the website from any screen. But remember, the next time you login, the system will always return you to the last screen you visited.
A list of common acronyms (please send us new ones for our growing collection)
A/E Architect and Engineering
DVBE Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise
EOI expression of interest
HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition
IDIQ Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity
IFB Invitation for bid
ITB Invitation to bid
ITT Invitation to Tender
LOI Letter of interest
MWBE Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise
NAICS North American Industry Classification System (Federal)
RFI Request for information/interest
RFP Request for proposal
RFQ Request for qualifications
RFQQ Request for qualifications and quotation
SIC Standard Industry Classification
SOQ statement of qualifications
SOW Scope of Work
SSN Sources Sought Notice
TBD To be determined (also a good trait for a marketing person!)
WIT Whatever it takes!
WBE Womens Business Enterprise
WBO Work by Owner
Please also note that a separate Guide to Talent Pool Expo can be found on the Home Page sidebar.
Document last updated January 3, 2009 by Patrick O'Kelly
If you have any questions or parts of the User Guide are unclear, please do Patrick the kind favor Email Patrick or give him a call at 1 888 261 0832
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