Responding to Questions

Modified on Mon, 4 Nov at 5:48 PM

Users responding to questions in Symphony can follow these instructions.

1. Select the Order

Task order Points of Contact (POCs) can use Q&A to create, answer, review, reject, route, and publish questions for Contract Holders.

POCs must select the Order link that is Released-Pending Questions from the Dashboard.
Select the Respond to Questions tab (see Figure 1).
Click on a question's row to respond to Open Questions.
Complete the Q&A using the top menu from left to right.

Answer
Open Questions

Review
Draft Responses
and mark for release

Confirm
questions are
Ready for Release

Release
Questions and Answers

Figure 1. Points of Contact can only Respond to Questions during the Q&A period.

Each menu option is defined below.

Create a Question

In the Question entry field, enter a reference term as applicable, and enter the question (see Figure 2).
Save and Add to place the inquiry in the Unsubmitted Questions list (see Figure 3).
Submit the question(s) to be added to the Open Questions screen. Submitted Questions display at the bottom of the page (see Figure 4).

Figure 2. Create questions that need to be answered.

Figure 3. Edit or delete drafted questions as needed.

Figure 4. Submitted Questions will be updated with the response.

Open Questions

All questions submitted and unanswered will be displayed here (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Open Questions have not been answered.

Filter questions by any of the text in the fields or by tags that have been created by the POCs.

To respond to an open question:

Click on a question.
Choose the response type.
Use or add a tag.
Enter an answer
-or-
Use a previously answered question
(see Figure 6).
Save the changes.

Figure 6. Response options may change based on the selections.

Draft Responses

Draft responses have been answered but have not been released for approval (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. Use the select box to mark questions as Release for Approval after finalizing the answers.

TIP!

POCs can direct others to focus on certain tags after questions have been categorized and a draft for offline review is generated (see Figure 8).

To edit an answer, click on a question to update a response, create or add a new tag, or use a previously answered but editable question.
Save the changes when complete.

Figure 8. When the Q&A is ready to be reviewed, download the file.

Ready for Release

One more option for review (see Figure 9). Click on a question if more changes are needed or use the select box to mark questions for release and Release the responses.

Figure 9. These questions have been answered and are ready to be released.

Released Questions

Use the Download button to retrieve a PDF or CSV file for review (see Figure 10). The PDF is formatted to be a final Q&A release document and is automatically placed in the Documents tab.

Figure 10. These questions have been answered and released.

Note

Questions can be answered in batches and new answers will be appended to the file upon release.
Organizations that have asked questions will see the answers to their questions in their view in Symphony after Release (Return to Figure 4).

Rejected Questions

Figure 11. Rejected questions will not be answered.

Helpdesk Questions

These questions are technical and should be directed to the Symphony help desk (see Figure 12).

Figure 12. Contract Holders will see the Helpdesk referral in the Submitted Questions section.

2. Respond to Questions

Answer Question	Responses allow up to 2500 characters in the text box provided (see Figure 13). Users can also add a Tag to sort questions into categories.
Reject Question	Categorizes the question as being unusable. Users can track the rejected question using the Rejected status filter.
Modify Question	Allows the user to add Reference Text and rewrite the question. Confirm changes by selecting Modify Question. The status will not change.
Mark as Duplicate	Categorizes the question as similar to another that has already been answered.
Mark for Helpdesk	Categorizes the question as a technical issue.

Figure 13. Answering a Question

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