1. Introduction
Tender Logbook is a complete, enterprise‑grade tool to manage your tenders from start to finish. It helps you track every detail – from publishing to submission, bid results, and team collaboration. This manual covers every feature so you can get the most out of the application.
2. Getting Started (Login)
Sign In: On the login screen, enter your registered email and password, then click Sign In.
Sign Up: If you do not have an account, click Don't have an account? Sign Up and fill in your details. You will receive a confirmation email from Supabase to verify your account.
Forgot Password: Click Forgot Password? and enter your email – a password reset link will be sent to your inbox.
3. The Dashboard
When you log in, you see six summary cards:
- Total Tenders – all tenders you have access to.
- Submitted – tenders that have been finalised.
- In Progress – tenders currently being worked on.
- L1 Identified – tenders where the lowest bidder has been recorded.
- Quoted – tenders for which you have entered a quoted percentage.
- Reminders – tenders closing today or tomorrow (click the card to see them).
Below the cards, you see an Upcoming Deadlines ticker – it scrolls through tenders that are closing soon. Click any entry to view that tender's full details.
4. All Tenders (Main List)
This page shows a table of all tenders. You can:
- Search – use the search box to filter by Tender ID, Work Name, or Publisher.
- Filter – click the Filters button to narrow by Status, Date, Location, or Team (My Tenders / My Team's Tenders).
- Sort – the list is automatically sorted by Submission End date (newest first).
- Navigate pages – use the pagination buttons at the bottom of the table.
- Inline editing – double‑click any cell in the Publisher, Tender ID, Work Name, or Sub End columns to edit that value directly (if you have permission).
The Actions column gives you quick buttons:
- 👁️ View – see the full tender summary and print it.
- ✏️ Edit – opens the tender in the Add/Edit form (only if you are allowed).
- 🗑️ Delete – permanently deletes the tender and its uploaded files.
- 🔗 Share – generates a link to share the tender via WhatsApp, email, or copy to clipboard.
- Workflow buttons – depending on your role, you may see Submit, Approve, Rework, or Finalise buttons to move the tender through the approval workflow.
5. Add / Edit Tender (The Form)
The Add/Edit form is split into logical sections. Fields marked with a red * are mandatory.
- Basic Details – Publisher, Tender ID, Tender Ref. No., Type (Open/Limited), Name of Work, Published Date, and Job Location.
- Bid Schedule – Submission Start, Submission End (with time), and Opening Date.
- Financial & Validity – Value (Excl. GST / Incl. GST), GST %, EMD Criteria (Payable/Exempted), Exemption checkbox for MSME/NSIC, EMD Amount, EMD Validity, Tender Validity, and Completion Time.
- Open Tender Specifics – appears only when Tender Type is "Open". Includes Pre‑bid Meeting, Reverse Auction, Annual Turnover, Definition of Similar Works, three Similar Work values, and Purchase Preference.
- Bidding Status & Results – Bid Status (Draft / In‑progress / Under review / Submitted / Regretted / Cancelled), Results Disclosed checkbox, Quote Status, Quoted %, and an automatic calculation of Quoted Amounts (Excl/Incl GST). You can also upload a Bid Results file (Excel or PDF) and enter L1–L5 bidder names and quoted percentages.
- Contact Information – Authority Name, Designation, Phone, Email.
- Scope & Documents – a rich‑text editor for the Scope of Work (supports bold, italics, lists, and indentation). Upload SOR files (multiple types allowed) and Corrigendum files (PDF/DOCX/XLSX).
- Role Assignment – optional emails for Checker and Approver (used in the workflow).
- Internal Review Notes – a free‑text area for internal comments, flags, or updates.
Once you fill in the form, click Save Tender to store it. You can also Preview & Print to see how it will look before saving, or use Clear to reset the form. The Load Sample button populates the form with example data.
6. Workflow (MCA – Maker, Checker, Approver)
Tenders follow a four‑stage workflow:
- Maker creates the tender (Draft or In‑progress). Once ready, they click Submit on the tender table – this moves the status to Under review.
- Checker receives an email notification. They review the tender and can either Approve (moves to Approved) or Rework (status becomes Re‑work, with a comment). If rework is requested, the Maker edits and re‑submits.
- Approver (if assigned) reviews the Approved tender and clicks Finalise – this moves it to Submitted.
- Once Submitted, the tender is considered final and cannot be edited or deleted. Statuses like Regretted / Not Quoted or Cancelled are used for closed tenders.
All status changes are logged in the audit trail (visible inside the tender summary).
7. Printing a Tender
From the All Tenders table, click the 👁️ View button on any tender. The summary modal opens. At the top, you can select which sections you want to include in the printout (by checking/unchecking the tickboxes). Use the 🔒 Mask Bid Values checkbox to hide sensitive quoted percentages and amounts with ****.
Click Print Selected – the browser's print dialog will open. The layout is optimised for A4 paper, with black borders, grey section headers, and a footer showing the Ref. No / Tender ID on the left, "Designed/Developed/Owned by: SDB" in the centre, and page number on the right.
8. Sharing a Tender
In the All Tenders table, click the 🔗 Share button. A popup appears with three options:
- Copy Link – copies a unique URL to your clipboard.
- WhatsApp – opens WhatsApp with a pre‑formatted message containing the tender details and link.
- Email – opens your default email client with the subject and body pre‑filled.
9. Analytics
The Analytics page shows a line chart comparing the L1 Quoted Percentage against your own Quoted Percentage for tenders that have bid results. You can filter the chart by Team (if you belong to multiple teams).
Below the chart, you see Similar Tender Recommendations – this suggests other tenders with similar work names (based on keywords) to help you benchmark your bids.
10. Teams
You can create a team (if you are an Admin or Manager) by clicking the Create Team button. Enter a team name and optionally an invite email. A unique invite link is generated – share it with your colleagues so they can join.
Once you are a member of a team, you can filter the All Tenders list by "My Team's Tenders" to see what your colleagues are working on.
11. Settings
The Settings page (visible only to Admins) offers:
- Customise Dashboard – show/hide the six stat cards.
- Two‑Factor Authentication (2FA) – a placeholder to enable extra security (requires further setup).
- Data Retention – set the number of months after which tenders are automatically deleted (requires a cron job).
- Compliance Reporting – generates a summary report with total bid value, submission rate, and success rate.
- Email Notifications – toggle automatic emails for workflow events (requires a Supabase Edge Function).
12. Data Management
On the All Tenders page, you have tools to manage your data:
- Export – downloads a CSV file of all displayed tenders.
- Import – upload a CSV file to add new tenders in bulk (must match the expected columns).
- Backup – creates a full JSON backup of all tenders and bid results.
- Restore – upload a previously created JSON backup to restore all data (overwrites existing data).
13. Mobile Access
On phones and tablets, the layout adjusts:
- Use the ☰ hamburger icon to open the sidebar navigation.
- Tables are fully visible with horizontal scrolling – pinch‑to‑zoom works to see the whole table.
- The Filters button expands to show all filter options.
- All actions (View, Edit, Delete, Share, workflow buttons) remain available.
14. Roles & Permissions
- Admin – full access to all tenders, teams, settings, and can perform any action.
- Maker – creates and edits tenders (Draft/In‑progress/Re‑work). Can submit for review.
- Checker – reviews tenders (Under review status), can Approve or Request Rework.
- Approver – reviews Approved tenders and can Finalise (move to Submitted).
- Manager – similar to Admin but with limited access to Settings.