Using Auto Answer to respond to an RFx in Excel

Using the AI-enabled Auto Answer functionality available in the QorusDocs Add-in for Excel, you can get to draft on an RFx response spreadsheet and on other vendor questionnaires within seconds.

Before you can use the magic of AI with Auto Answer, your QorusDocs should have at least one Auto Answer content source configured. You can learn more about how that works here. Then, if you haven’t done so already, you’ll also need to have the QorusDocs Add-in installed.

In this article, we’ll explain how to:

1. Access Auto Answer in Excel
2. Set your Answer preferences
   • the Q&A library QorusDocs should search
   • the search filters to apply (optional)
   • whether answers should be inserted automatically, and if so, where
   • the answer sensitivity settings to apply
3. Get to draft in seconds

1.     Access Auto Answer in Excel

In Excel, with the RFx or vendor questionnaire open, log in to your QorusDocs Add-in. Then click on the more menu in the top nav (the three dots) and then on ‘Answer’:

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2.   Set your Answer preferences

Next, click on the gear icon to bring up the answer preferences window:

Here, you can specify:

• the Q&A library QorusDocs should search
• the search filters to apply (optional)
• whether answers should be inserted automatically, and if so, where
• the answer sensitivity settings to apply

When you click on ‘Answer’, QorusDocs will always use the last answer preferences you’ve set.

This means that if you’d like to apply different filters, use a different Auto Answer library, or adjust the sensitivity for another set of questions in the same Excel spreadsheet, you can do so by clicking on the gear icon and adjusting your answer preferences and those adjusted preferences will apply to the questions you select next.

Or you could use the same answer preferences to respond to the whole RFx. It’s really up to you.

The Q&A library QorusDocs should search

You can have more than one Q&A library connected to QorusDocs. To select the one you’d like to use first (you can always select another one later), use the drop down menu:

The Search Filters to apply (optional)

If you’d like the Auto Answer AI to limit the search for matching answers to Q&A records that meet certain criteria, you can select these in the ‘filters’ drop-down menu (this is entirely optional):

Whether QorusDocs should auto insert answers or not, and if so where

Next, the QorusDocs Auto Answer AI needs some information about the layout of the Excel spreadsheet so that answers get inserted in the right place.

There are three options:

1.      Insert answers next to questions

The most common layout is to have the questions listed in one column and a space reserved for answers in another column.

If that is the case for you and you would like QorusDocs to auto insert the answers into your questionnaire, then choose the option “insert answers next to questions”, and then specify the letter reference of the answer column:

2.      Insert answers below questions

If instead your spreadsheet has questions and answers in alternating rows, and you would like QorusDocs to auto insert the highest matching answer it finds into your questionnaire, then choose the option “insert answers below questions”, and then specify if there are any rows in between each question row and answer row (if there are none, leave it as “0”):

3.      Do not Auto Insert Answers

When you select this option, QorusDocs Auto Answer won’t automatically pre-populate your questionnaire with the highest matching answers it finds. Instead, you’ll be able to choose where to insert the answer for each question, at a granular level. It doesn’t have it in the same column or in alternating rows.

This is a good option to use if your Excel spreadsheet has more complex formatting where inserting answers next to or below questions wouldn’t work, or if you’d simply prefer to review the answers in the QorusDocs Add-in first, and then click on insert yourself to insert the answer you want to use.  

Answer Sensitivity Settings

Then the last preference setting is the ‘Answer Sensitivity’ QorusDocs should apply. This determines the minimum percentage match score an answer must meet before it gets included in the matching answer search results returned by the Auto Answer AI:  

If you have a lot of Q&A content, you can increase the sensitivity so that the results include only the very top matching answers.

For example, setting this to 60% (as shown above) will ensure that only answers with a 60% or more match score are returned.

Alternatively, you can broaden the match score range to include responses with a lower percentage match by decreasing the ‘Answer Sensitivity’. This also broadens the range of possible matches.

When you’re done, click ‘Save preferences’.

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3.   Get to draft in seconds

Now that your preferences have been set, select the questions you’d like QorusDocs to answer using these settings and click ‘Answer’ in the QorusDocs Add-in.

In our case, we selected the first 18 questions in the spreadsheet (you can select less or more or even all the questions in your RFx):

What happens depends on whether we chose to have QorusDocs auto insert the answers or not.

When QorusDocs is set to auto insert answers (below or next to questions)

Within seconds, our response column in the spreadsheet is populated with the highest matching answers, and other possible matches are available for us to review in the QorusDocs Add-in:

When QorusDocs is set to 'do not auto insert answers'

Within seconds, you’ll see the QorusDocs Add-in fill up with answers. The Excel spreadsheet will remain unchanged:

Next: Review answers, insert, complete, and suggest improvements

When you’re ready to review the draft answers, insert them, and possibly suggest improvements or edit answers to suit the exact requirements of your client, you can learn how to do that here. 

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