> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.seloria.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The Buyer Experience

> How Buyers work assigned requests, run RFIs/RFPs/RFQs, manage suppliers, and issue purchase orders

The **Buyer** is the sourcing engine of your procurement team. Buyers take purchase requests that a Procurement Manager has assigned to them, turn them into sourcing events (RFIs, RFPs, RFQs), manage the supplier base, and issue purchase orders to the winning suppliers.

## What Buyers see

The Buyer sidebar covers the full sourcing workflow:

* **Home** — the procurement dashboard.
* **Intakes → My Assignments** — purchase requests assigned to this Buyer.
* **Sourcing** — **Request History** (all RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs) and **New Request** to start a sourcing event.
* **Purchase Orders** — **Order History** and **New Purchase Order**.
* **Suppliers** — **All Suppliers**, **Add Supplier**, and **Evaluations**.

Buyers do not see **Budgets** or **Reports** in their navigation, and they cannot access the PM approval queue.

## Assigned intakes only

Buyers work from an assignment model, not a shared queue. A Buyer **only sees the purchase requests a Procurement Manager has explicitly assigned to them**. Until a PM assigns a request, it simply doesn't appear in the Buyer's list — and a Buyer cannot open or act on an unassigned request even with a direct link.

Once assigned, the request appears under **Intakes → My Assignments**, and the Buyer takes it from there: reviewing line items, adding notes, and launching sourcing.

## Running RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs

From **Sourcing → New Request**, the Buyer picks the right instrument:

* **RFI** (Request for Information) — gather capability information from the market.
* **RFP** (Request for Proposal) — collect and score full proposals.
* **RFQ** (Request for Quotation) — collect priced quotes against defined line items.

These can run sequentially — an RFI can be promoted into an RFP, an RFP into an RFQ, and an RFQ (or an RFP directly) into a purchase order — so the history of a sourcing exercise stays linked end to end.

A typical RFQ flow:

1. Create the RFQ (directly or from an assigned request) and define line items, deadlines, and terms.
2. Select suppliers and **issue** the RFQ. Invited suppliers receive an email with a secure link to a quote portal — they don't need a Seloria account.
3. Answer supplier questions through the built-in Q\&A thread.
4. As quotes arrive, compare them side by side. Where the originating request calls for it, route proposals to the Requestor for **technical review**.
5. **Award** the RFQ to the winning supplier(s). If the award amount exceeds your organization's approval threshold — or the spend has no linked budget and unbudgeted-spend control is on — the award pauses in **Pending Approval** until a Procurement Manager approves it.

## Managing suppliers

Buyers own the supplier master: create suppliers individually or **import in bulk** from a CSV/Excel file, maintain contact details, and record **supplier evaluations**. Buyers can also maintain certain shared catalogs in **Settings** — currencies, tax rules, cost categories, addresses, incoterms, and supplier categories.

## Sending purchase orders

Buyers create purchase orders — generated from an awarded RFQ or from scratch — and **send** them to suppliers by email. If a PO's amount exceeds the organization's PO approval threshold, sending is blocked until a Procurement Manager approves it; Seloria opens the approval automatically and notifies the approvers. The Buyer can track the outcome of their own approval requests, but not the org-wide approval queue.

## Budgets

Buyers can create **draft** budgets, but only a Procurement Manager can activate them. Budget amounts (totals, spent, available) are visible to PMs and Admins only.