Q&A module: Common workflows and best practices

There are many appropriate ways to use the Q&A module.  One recommended approach is provided below, along with some Q&A best practices.

Common Workflow

In a situation where there is a Bidder site with two (or more) bidder organisations and a seller organisation, here is a recommended way to configure Q&A roles:

• Each bidder organisation will have:
  • One or more users with Ask-Question rights
  • At least one user with Submit-Question rights (but possibly more)
• For the seller organisation:
  • At least one user with Reply-to-Question rights (but possibly more)
  • One or more users with View-All-Question rights

All users should be given Q&A Email rights as well, so that they will receive email notifications.

With this configuration, a question might be asked, approved, responded to and disclosed in the following manner:

1. A user from Bidder1 with Ask-Question rights asks a question.
2. A different user from Bidder 1, who has Submit-Question rights, receives an email that the question was asked and needs to be approved.  This user reviews and, if necessary, modifies the question and approves it.
3. A user from Seller with Reply-to-Question rights receives an email that the question was submitted.  This user reviews the question, drafts and then submits the final response.  (If necessary, additional responses can be added later.)
4. The Bidder1 user who originally asked the question is notified via email about the response and reviews the full answer on the site.  Other users from the Bidder1 organisation with Q&A access can also view the answer on the site.
5. The Seller user decides that the question and answer are relevant to other bidder organisations.  The Seller user discloses the question and any response(s) to all bidder organisations.
6. The Q&A users from bidder organisations can view the disclosed question from the Q&A module.

Best Practices

Adhere to these best practices when configuring and use the Q&A module:

1. For every user who has access to the Q&A module, also give them Q&A Email rights. That way, all Q&A users will receive email notifications when they are responsible for taking an action.
2. If there are multiple organisations that may need to ask questions, set up the site as a Bidder site.
3. If the site is not set up as a bidder site, do not give a user who is part of a bidder organisation Reply or View-All-Questions rights.
4. For commonly occurring questions, the Site Administrator, or a user from the selling organisation, can ask a question, answer that question themselves, and then disclose that question to all other parties.  This is similar to creating a FAQ.
5. If a question is going to be disclosed to other organisations, make sure there is no identifying or confidential information in the question or its response(s).  If the question is not "clean," using the technique from Best Practice #4, the Site Administrator can simply recreate the question, remove any identifying information, and then disclose the recreated question.