This article is intended for buyers.

If you’re a supplier check out our supplier help articles here.

This article aims to help readers understand how to communicate on DeepStream.

There are four ways in which you can communicate both within your team and with your potential suppliers. This article will cover them all:

Bulletins are messages that are shared with all suppliers on a Request.

When you issue a Bulletin an email is sent to all participating suppliers that prompts them to log in to DeepStream.

A supplier cannot respond directly to a Bulletin, if they have a query regarding it’s content they would have to open a Clarification.

There are two ways in which you can post a new Bulletin message

... Go to the relevant Request and select the Messages tab. From there you should select bulletins and click the new bulletin option

Next you should type the message you want to send and click new bulletin when you are ready to post.

To edit a posted Bulletin, click the edit button next to the post. Once you have made your updates, click update bulletin and the changes will be made.

✏️ Note: Any updates will be recorded on the Audit trail.

... Is provided automatically as part of that process; any time you make any revisions to a live Request you will be asked if you would like to post a message to the Bulletin before you issue it.

⚡ Top Tip: Send a Bulletin to easily notify your Suppliers of any changes or updates you have made on a Request. Find out how to create and issue a revision here.

Once a Bulletin is posted you can refer to it in response to supplier Clarification messages.

Clarification messages can be initiated and sent by a yourself (a buyer) or supplier to ask for more detail… or clarification! You can link them to a Bulletin post and are downloadable as part of your Audit Trail report.

Regardless of who opens the Clarification, only you can mark it as resolved.

To create a new Clarification go to the relevant Request, head to the Messages tab and select new clarification.

Select the supplier you would like to message. Enter the subject line and messages as suits your need and click open clarification.

If you’ve been sent a Clarification by a supplier you’ll need to respond. To do this, open the Request and go to your Messages tab.

Select the Clarification you would like to respond to and choose from the following options:

You can undo 2) or 3) by clicking Undo and the action will be marked as obsolete for the supplier and look like..

✏️ Note: the action will not be removed from the Audit Trail

If you want to download a trail of your Clarifications on a Request you can do so by…

... Opening a Request from the Clarification page or from the report icon (top right corner of a request), by selecting Clarifications.

Chats allow you to communicate with individual suppliers directly; suppliers can’t create chats.

You can share and exchange documents with individual suppliers through the Chat feature by turning on allow supplier to upload documents.

Chat messages can also be sent after a Request has been closed or awarded.

There are two ways to create a Chat message,

To send a Chat from the Messages tab, go to the relevant Request, select the Messages tab. Once you’re there select bulletins and click the new Chat option.

Type your subject and message and if required, upload the document you would like to share with a supplier.

Don’t forget to choose whether or not to allow the supplier to upload documents. Once you have chosen your preference, you will not be able to change the permissions for this particular Chat.

The final way that you can communicate with suppliers on the DeepStream platform is by posting a comment within an exchange.

You can comment on any documents, questions or lists that are created. Suppliers can also comment too.

You can also communicate with your internal team members on DeepStream through the Comments tab.

You and your team members can post comments on the Request here and use the post a comment feature to build a thread around different topics.

⚡Top Tip: Keep each topic you're discussing separate to create specific conversation threads that are simple to sort through and keep track of.