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Create a questionnaire

Create a questionnaire from a template or directly, add questions and invite your suppliers.

There are two ways to create a questionnaire:

  • Option 1: Start with a template. Create a template on the Templates tab, then create a questionnaire from it. The template stays on the Templates tab, so you can use it again for your next questionnaire.

  • Option 2: Create a questionnaire directly. Create the questionnaire from scratch on the My Questionnaires tab. It isn’t saved as a template, so it won’t appear on the Templates tab, unless you clone it as a template later.

Which one should I choose? If you send the same or similar questions regularly, for example a yearly supplier assessment, start with a template. For a one-off questionnaire, create it directly.

Option 1: Start with a template

Step 1: Create a template

  1. Go to Vendor Compliance → Questionnaires. On the Templates tab, click Create template.

  2. Enter a name for the template and click Create.

  3. Add your questions (see Add questions below) and click Save.

Step 2: Create a questionnaire from the template

  1. On the My Questionnaires tab, click Create questionnaire.

  2. Choose From a template. Select your template under My templates, or a template prepared by Retraced under Retraced templates.

  3. Rename the questionnaire if needed and click Create.

  4. The questionnaire opens with the questions of the template. Add or change questions if needed and click Save.

Option 2: Create a questionnaire directly

  1. Go to Vendor Compliance → Questionnaires. On the My Questionnaires tab, click Create questionnaire.

  2. Choose From scratch, enter a name for the questionnaire and click Create.

  3. Add your questions (see Add questions below) and click Save.

Turn a questionnaire into a template

Want to reuse a questionnaire you created directly? Clone it as a template:

  1. On the My Questionnaires tab, click the Clone as template icon in the Actions column of the questionnaire. You can also click Clone as template in the builder.

  2. A copy is saved on the Templates tab. You can use it for your next questionnaire, and the original questionnaire stays unchanged.

Add questions

This works the same way for templates and questionnaires. Add questions from the Question library on the right: click a question to add it at the end of the list, or drag it to where you want it. You can also use + Add inside a section. The Outline on the left shows all sections and questions and lets you jump to them.

You can add two kinds of questions:

  • Template questions: Predefined questions, for example about workers, energy or water. Use the search field to find a matching question quickly. See Questionnaire templates for all available questions.

  • Custom questions: Your own questions. Open CUSTOM in the Question library (or filter on Custom) and select the answer type. Once added, enter a question title. You can also add a description, switch on Required and attach a reference file with Attach file.

Ask for certificates, documents or audits: From CUSTOM, select Certificate, Documents or Audit. Once added, choose all accepted types under Select all possible file answer types with Add an asset type.

You can also group your questions into sections to give the questionnaire more structure.

Questionnaires with more than 75 questions load slowly. If you need more questions, group them into sections.

Set a due date

To let invited companies know by when they need to answer, open the Builder tab of the questionnaire, set the Due date below the questionnaire name and save your changes.

Preview a questionnaire

Before you send a questionnaire, you can check how it looks to the companies that answer it.

  1. Open the questionnaire and click Preview in the top-right corner, between the bin icon and Save.

  2. To close the preview, click Exit preview in the top-right corner of the yellow banner.

Invite suppliers

You can only invite suppliers that are in your network (see Building your network). For each invitation, there are two companies:

  • Assessed company: The company you want to collect information about.

  • Answering company: The company that fills in the questionnaire about the assessed company. By default, this is the assessed company itself, but it can also be another company in your network. For example, if you want to collect information about a factory, you can ask your vendor to answer on behalf of that factory.

  1. Start the invitation in one of two ways:

    • In the builder, click the arrow next to Publish and select Publish and invite companies.

    • Or open the Responses tab of the questionnaire and click Invite Companies.

  2. In Select profiles, tick the companies you want to collect information about and click Continue. Use Filter or the funnel icon on Name to find them quickly.

  3. In Invite companies, check who answers for each selected company. To change it, click the company in the Answering Party column and search for another company. To set one answering company for all rows, use Bulk assign all.

  4. Click Send invites. The invited companies appear under Progress By Company with the status Open.

Users who join the answering company after it was invited don’t receive a notification about the questionnaire.

Edit a published questionnaire

When you open the Builder of an active questionnaire, Retraced warns you first: adding or removing questions resets any responses that are in review or completed back to open. Click Continue editing only if you accept that. Otherwise, click Cancel.

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