This article shows you how to answer supplier questions in the Q&A area of a sourcing event in the Strategic Sourcing module, keep question threads organized, share answers with all suppliers, and broadcast announcements.
How does Q&A work in a sourcing event?
The Q&A area is where suppliers ask questions about the sourcing event and the buyer answers them. Suppliers can submit new questions until the questions deadline configured in the event timeline; after that deadline suppliers see "The question period has ended" and can no longer ask new questions. Each question starts a thread of messages between the supplier and the buyer team. A question can be a general question or be linked to a specific item: a lot, a line item, a document requirement, a questionnaire question, or a commodity group. The linked item is displayed on the question, and shortcut links such as "View in pricing", "View in questionnaire", or "View in documents" take you straight to the item the supplier is asking about.
How do I find and answer a question?
Open the sourcing event and select Q&A in the sidebar. The list opens at
/buyer/sourcing-project/<event-id>/qawith tabs All, Open, and Resolved.Narrow the list with the filters: Status (Open or Closed), Supplier, Linked Item type, and Published. Sort by "Needs attention", "Newest first", "Oldest first", or "Most replies". Questions waiting on you are marked "Needs your reply".
Click a question to open the thread at
/buyer/sourcing-project/<event-id>/qa/<question-id>. The thread shows the original question, every reply, and each sender's role (Buyer or Supplier).Type your answer in the reply box ("Type your reply...") and click Add Reply. You see the confirmation "Reply sent successfully", and the supplier who asked receives an email with the subject "<event title> - New message from buyer".
How do I resolve a question or share the answer with everyone?
To resolve a question, open the thread and click Mark as Resolution on the message that answers it. A confirmation dialog explains "Are you sure you want to mark this message as the resolution? This will close the question." After confirming, the message is labeled "(Accepted Answer)", the question shows "This question has been resolved", and no further replies can be added. To share a useful question and its answer with all suppliers instead of only the supplier who asked, switch on the Publish to suppliers toggle in the thread. The question then shows the Published badge; unpublished questions remain private between you and the asking supplier. You can filter the Q&A list by Published or Unpublished to review what is visible to everyone.
How do read and unread messages work?
Read tracking in the Q&A area works in both directions. In the buyer list, questions with new supplier activity are flagged "Needs your reply", and stale threads show hints such as "Message received 3 days ago - respond?" so nothing slips before the deadline. Reply counts (for example "4 replies") appear on every question. On the notification side, each new supplier message creates a New Q&A Message entry on the buyer notifications page at /buyer/notifications and sends the buyer an email with the subject "<event title> - New message from <sender name>". When you reply, the supplier receives the "New message from buyer" email described above, so both sides are alerted without watching the page.
How do I create an announcement?
On the Q&A page, locate the Announcements section ("Broadcast important updates to suppliers") and click New Announcement.
In the Create Announcement dialog, enter a Title and the Content of the announcement.
Choose the Visibility. All Suppliers makes the announcement visible to every supplier on the sourcing event; Internal keeps it visible only to the buyer team.
Click Save. The announcement appears in the Announcements section for its audience, and suppliers see an announcement banner with a counter (for example "2 Announcements") in their view of the event.
You can edit or delete an announcement later from the same section; deleting asks for confirmation because the action cannot be undone.
When can suppliers no longer ask questions?
The questions deadline controls when new supplier questions stop. The deadline is set in the event's Timeline Configuration ("Question Deadline") and must fall before the submission deadline. After the questions deadline passes, suppliers can still read existing threads, published questions, and announcements, but the ask-a-question form is disabled with the message "The question period has ended. You can no longer ask new questions." As the buyer, you can still reply to existing open threads after the questions deadline, and you can extend the questions deadline from the event's key information while the event is live.