How to setup and optimize your MERX Opportunity Matching Profiles

Transcription

1 How to setup and optimize your MERX Opportunity Matching Profiles Page 1 v 2.0 7/14

2 MERX Opportunity Matching The MERX Opportunity Matching feature is a saved search that you create which then notifies you of newly posted opportunities that match your business interests. The MERX system will check every weekday morning to see if new opportunities posted match your criteria and send them to your inbox or make them available on MERX once you ve logged into your account. This document has been designed to provide you with guidelines and best practices to help you setup your profile to more accurately receive the results you are looking for. Many users have difficulty setting up their profiles, causing the matching feature to be either too broad (resulting in too many unrelated matches) or too narrow (causing them to miss opportunities they would have been interested in). Please also watch the online tutorial for a more in-depth look at how to optimize your profiles. Our experts are available 7 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time to help you set up or optimize your Opportunity Matching profile. Call us at MERX (6379) for additional assistance. Setting up Your Profile To begin setting up your profile: Log in to your MERX account From the left navigation menu select Manage My Profiles under Opportunity Matching. Once you have completed these steps you will be presented with the screen below: If you already have a profile created, select the profile title and choose to update that profile when prompted. If you have never created a profile before or would like to create a new profile, click the Create Profile button. The next screen image is where you set up your Opportunity Matching profile. Page 2 v 2.0 7/14

3 Step 1 Profile Name Give your profile an appropriate name, especially if you have multiple profiles saved. You have access to up to 9 profiles with your MERX Subscription. Consider using your many profiles for when your company offers more than one service or product and would require more than one saved search, or if you need to search French opportunities. Step 2 Delivery Method Selecting the delivery method will provide you with the option to either receive via (choice of plain text or HTML) or to view your matches online only (you will have to login into your MERX profile to see them). Your Opportunity Match will be updated and sent to you daily as new tenders match your specified criteria. Please make sure to have a valid address in your MERX Account Profile. Step 3 Delivery Language Select English of French for your delivery language. This also determines the language of your search. Step 4 Search Section Operator Selecting AND/OR will determine how MERX searches the different sections of Opportunity Matching. This applies to: Keywords, Region of Delivery, Categories and GSIN Group. AND will narrow your search results. Example: Use AND if you want only Keyword: electrical opportunities within Region of Delivery: Ontario. OR will broaden your search results. Example: Use OR if you want all Keyword: transportation opportunities or all Category: Transportation Equipment and Spares. NOTE: This logic does not apply within sections i.e. Keywords. The next page displays an image of what a new matching profile looks like. Page 3 v 2.0 7/14

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5 Step 5 Keywords Selecting the right keywords will allow you to get the most out of the Opportunity Matching feature. Searching MERX requires the use of what are known as and, or, and not operators. You can search MERX as you would search Google, but the results returned would be limited to the specific criteria you entered. Let us illustrate this with an example. Let s start off by identifying that we are in the training industry but only offer IT training services. Example A In the first example we enter the keywords Training IT. The MERX system will look in every opportunity notice on MERX for the words exactly as they have been entered. If the opportunity does not have the two words directly beside each other you will not receive notification of the tender. In this case, the MERX system returned no opportunities (Example A). This way of searching is most common but did not provide us with a complete list of opportunities posted within this area. TIP 1: When using abbreviations or short forms of words, it is possible the Buying Organization may have a different definition. For example, if we used Training AND IT, we would be looking for anything that has the words training and it (which could mean it is ); both words will be in the searchable fields. Example B This next example illustrates the variations of words that can be used. Perhaps a Buying Organization has used the words Information Technology instead of IT (which we have indicated is not a great search term). We would have to change our criteria to allow for this. Our keywords now appear as Training OR Information Technology. This search says we are looking for all Training opportunities or all Information Technology opportunities. Page 5 v 2.0 7/14

6 This result set returned 153 opportunities from the MERX Canadian Public Tenders service and 12 from MERX for Agencies, Crown and Private Corporations service. These results may not all pertain to the type of training you are looking for based on our previous search criteria. These results are too broad. TIP 2: When selecting your keywords be sure to think of all the possible ways your industry might refer to your particular product or service. If the Buying Organization refers to an opportunity in a different way than you have it listed in your keywords, you will not be notified of the tender as the system will not find a match. Try different combinations of words until you get a result set that is to your liking. This is why testing your profile is important. A great way to find keywords is to visit the MERX Awards and Former Opportunities databases to see what industry words Buying Organizations use to describe your good or service. (Visit these databases from the search field dropdown menu). Example C Perhaps you are not only interested in Training in the Information Technology sector, but also in Training in Computer Applications. This search would appear as Training AND (Information Technology OR (Computer AND Application*)). This search says it will look for all Training opportunities that are related to Information Technology or Computer Applications. The word AND was placed between Computer and Application as those two words may not always appear side by side, but we want them to appear together in the opportunity. Please note when using the AND operator with the OR operator, parenthesis should be placed around items that you are looking for to be grouped together. This result set returned 4 Public opportunities which is a manageable number of opportunities to review. Page 6 v 2.0 7/14

7 TIP 3: Using the * symbol around words will find pluralisation, other verb tenses and various descriptions of the same word. i.e. typing the word design* would catch design, designer, designs, designing etc. Being too specific by using only the word designs would eliminate other important related search terms. Step 6 Categories Categories are to help either broaden or narrow your search (depending on the Search Operator you have chosen). If you select a category the MERX system will search for the category you selected and/or any other criteria you have selected. Remember that it is up to the Buying Organization to choose the category; therefore some opportunities may appear in different categories for the same product or service. The use of Categories is optional. Step 7 GSIN Groups GSIN Groups is defined as Goods and Services Identification Number. This group is used primarily by government organizations to identify what business specialty their tender falls into. Use this option if you want to broaden or narrow your search to search GSINs in addition to any other criteria you have selected. The use of GSIN Groups is optional. Step 8 Refine Search Result By Must Have is a great option to help you refine your search to return only the opportunities you are truly interested in. If for example you are only interested in tenders in Ottawa, entering Ottawa in the Must Have field will ensure that all tenders that are sent to you are only in Ottawa. Must NOT Have will have the same benefits as using the Must Have field, only works in reverse. As an example, if you are not interested in work in Calgary, you would simply enter Calgary in this field. In many cases it is much easier to enter the information that you are not interested in rather than the information you would like to see. Include ACAN (Advanced Contract Award Notices). This is used by the Canadian federal government when there is a justifiable reason for them to not call bids. Selecting this option will allow you to see the notices of this sort that are issued. Please see buyandsell.gc.ca for more information on ACANs. Step 9 Test and Save your Profile One of the best features of MERX Opportunity Matching is Test. At the bottom of the page when you create your profile you have the option to Save, Test or Cancel. Testing your profile will assist you in refining your profile until you have the results you are looking for. If you do not test it you may discover later that you missed out on many opportunities due to a weak profile or received too many matches due to a very broad profile. Returning to this option on a regular basis to test new keywords or combinations is highly recommended. Page 7 v 2.0 7/14

8 Conclusion Opportunity Matching is a great tool to notify you of newly posted opportunities that match your business interests. However; you should not rely completely on the Opportunity Matching service as your exclusive method of learning about bid opportunities offered by MERX. It is always a good idea that in addition to your profile, you also search in the main search field of MERX. The search functionalities in this guide are also applicable to regular searches on MERX. Should you have any questions or require more information please feel free to contact us. As every industry is different we may not be able to fully complete your profile as you are more familiar with the terms and language used. We are happy to walk you through the process and help you setup your profile. MERX MERX (6379) Page 8 v 2.0 7/14