Requirements Tab (FAQ)

This guide answers common questions about the Requirements tab in Olive — from building your requirements list to setting up response formats and organising with tags.

General

Q1: What is the Requirements tab and how does it fit into my project?

The Requirements tab is where you define everything you want vendors to respond to. Think of it as building the question list for your RFP. Every requirement you create here will be sent to vendors, who will answer using the response format you've set. Once vendors respond, you evaluate their answers in the Comparison tab.

The Requirements tab has three sub-tabs:

Sub-tab	What you'll find there
Requirements	Build, manage, and organise all your requirements by section
Responses	Set up and manage the response format templates vendors use to answer requirements
Tags	Create and manage tags for organising and filtering requirements

The Requirements tab — showing the three sub-tabs and quick filters

Q2: How do I get started with building my requirements?

Click the Requirements tab from the top navigation bar, then click the Requirements sub-tab. The recommended setup order is:

Create sections to organise your requirements (e.g. Onboarding, Security, Payroll)
Add requirements to each section — manually, from a library, via AI, or by importing a spreadsheet
Set response formats so vendors know how to answer each requirement
Assign star ratings and must-have flags to reflect your organisation's priorities

💡 Tip: Set up your Scoring Scale and Star rating scale in the Administration tab before your team starts scoring — this ensures everyone evaluates consistently.

Building Your Requirements

Q3: How do I create a section to organise my requirements?

Click the '+ Add New Section' button at the top of the Requirements sub-tab
Type the section name in the field that appears
Click the Save icon

The 'Add New Section' input — type the section name and click Save

💡 Tip: Group requirements by business area or topic (e.g. Payroll, Recruitment, Security) to make evaluation easier in the Comparison tab later.

Q4: What are the different ways to add requirements, and when should I use each?

There are five ways to add requirements. Use the table below to pick the right method for your situation:

Method	Best for	How to access
Quick add (inline)	Single requirements added fast	Click + next to section name
Create New	Requirements needing full detail	+ Add Requirement → Create New Requirement
Add from Library	Reusing pre-built requirements	+ Add Requirement → Add from Library
Recommend (AI)	Starting from scratch with AI help	+ Add Requirement → Recommend Requirements
Upload (spreadsheet)	Importing a large existing list	Upload button in the toolbar

Q5: How do I quickly add a single requirement to a section?

Click the '+' button next to the section name
Type the requirement in the inline text field that appears
Click outside the box to save

The '+' button next to a section name — click to add a requirement inline

Type the requirement in the inline text field, then click outside to save

Q6: How do I add a requirement with full details including tags and departments?

Click '+ Add Requirement' in the toolbar
Select 'Create New Requirement'
Fill in all details — section, tags, departments, users, and description
Click Save to add the requirement to the project

The '+ Add Requirement' dropdown — showing Create New, Add from Library, and Recommend Requirements

Q7: How do I add requirements from an existing library?

Click '+ Add Requirement' in the toolbar, then select 'Add from Library'
Browse or search for a library and click 'View Library' to open it
Select entire sections or individual requirements to add
Use the dropdown to choose which section of your current project to add them to
Click Confirm to add the selected requirements

Q8: How do I get Olive's AI to suggest requirements for my project?

Click '+ Add Requirement' in the toolbar and select 'Recommend Requirements'. Olive's AI chatbot will open and automatically suggest requirements based on your project's current overview, topics, and solutions. You can keep chatting with the AI to refine its suggestions, or ask it to add recommended requirements directly to your project.

Q9: How do I import requirements from a spreadsheet?

Click the Upload button in the toolbar. The Requirement Upload wizard opens and guides you through three steps:

Select File — click or drag your spreadsheet into the upload area
Map Columns — match your spreadsheet's columns to Olive's requirement fields
Upload Requirements — confirm and complete the upload

The Requirement Upload wizard — a 3-step process for importing requirements from a spreadsheet

📌 Note: If any rows have errors, Olive will generate and download an error file. Fix the highlighted issues and re-upload the corrected spreadsheet.

Q10: How do I export my requirements to a spreadsheet?

Click the Download button in the toolbar. A message will confirm your file is being generated — it will appear in the Files tab when ready. You can navigate away while it processes.

Managing Requirements

Q11: How do I view and edit the details of a requirement?

Hover over any requirement row and click the Details button that appears. The Requirement Modal opens on the right side of the screen. It has five tabs:

Tab	What you can do
Details	Edit the requirement text, change section, set star ranking, add tags, write a description
Response	Set the response format template vendors will use to answer this requirement
Ranking	See star ratings given by every team member (visible to project Admins)
Chat	View and participate in the internal team discussion for this requirement
History	See a full chronological log of every change made to this requirement

Hovering over a requirement row reveals the Details button

The Requirement Modal — Details tab, for editing all requirement information

Q12: How do I assign a star rating to a requirement?

You can set star ratings in two ways:

In the Requirement Table — click the stars directly in the star rating column for that requirement
In the Requirement Modal — open the Details tab and set 'My Ranking' using the stars shown

💡 Tip: Star ratings help your team prioritise requirements. Agree on a consistent scale before evaluating — for example, 1 star = nice to have, 2 stars = should have, 3 stars = must have — as configured in the Administration tab.

Q13: How do I mark a requirement as must-have?

Click the must-have flag icon in the requirement's row in the Requirement Table to toggle it on or off. You can also mark multiple requirements as must-have at once using bulk actions — tick the checkboxes next to the requirements and choose 'Must Have' from the bulk actions panel.

💡 Tip: Reserve the must-have flag for genuine deal-breakers — requirements that would rule a vendor out entirely if they can't meet them. This keeps must-have meaningful and makes vendor rankings more accurate.

Q14: How do I add a tag to a requirement?

Click the 'Add Tags' field in the requirement's row in the Requirement Table, then choose from the dropdown of existing tags or type a new tag name to create one automatically. You can also add tags from the Requirement Modal's Details tab.

Q15: How do I perform bulk actions on multiple requirements at once?

Tick the checkboxes next to the requirements you want to action
A bulk actions panel will appear on the left side of the screen
Choose from the available actions — assign ratings, tags, sections, users, departments, response types, copy to other projects, and more
Click Apply to execute the action

Selecting requirements reveals the bulk actions panel on the left

💡 Tip: Use bulk actions to quickly assign response types and star ratings to a large group of requirements in one go — ideal when setting up a new project.

Q16: How do I see the team's rankings and discussions for a requirement?

Open the Requirement Modal by clicking the Details button on any requirement row, then navigate to the relevant tab:

Ranking tab — see the star ratings given by every team member (visible to project Admins)
Chat tab — see and participate in the team discussion for that requirement

The Ranking tab — showing individual star ratings from all team members

The Chat tab — for internal team discussion on a specific requirement

Q17: How do I track changes made to a requirement over time?

Open the Requirement Modal and click the History tab. You'll see a full log of every change made to the requirement — including updates to the label, tags, section, and must-have status — with timestamps.

The History tab — a chronological log of all changes made to the requirement

Filtering and Searching

Q18: How do I find a specific requirement?

Use the Search Requirements box at the top of the Requirements sub-tab. Type a keyword and the Requirement Table will instantly filter to show only matching requirements.

Q19: How do I quickly see requirements that need attention?

Use the quick filters in the sub-tab bar at the top of the page:

Quick filter	Shows
Updated	Recently added or changed requirements
Must Have	Only requirements flagged as must-have
Discussions	Requirements with active team conversations
My Requirements	Requirements assigned to you

Quick filters and the Filters button in the toolbar

Q20: How do I filter requirements by properties like section, tag, or department?

Click the Filters button in the toolbar to open the Filter Requirements panel
Click 'Add a Property to Filter'
Choose from Must Have, Rating, Sections, Tags, Stakeholders, Departments, Assigned To, or Created By
Stack multiple filters as needed — click 'Clear Filter' to reset

The Filter Requirements panel — with the property dropdown open

Setting Up Response Formats

Q21: How do I choose how vendors will answer my requirements?

For each requirement, you can assign a Response Template that determines how vendors will answer. To set it for a single requirement:

Open the Requirement Modal by hovering over the requirement row and clicking Details
Click the Response tab
Choose a template from the 'Response Template' dropdown

The Response tab in the Requirement Modal — showing the Response Template dropdown

Q22: How do I set one response format as the default for all requirements?

Go to the Responses sub-tab and click the star icon next to the template you want to use as the default. This template will be automatically applied to all new requirements unless you override it per requirement.

The Default template — the standard RFP response format with Core, Configurable, Third-Party, and Not Applicable options

📌 Note: The Default template (Core, Configurable, Third-Party, Not Applicable) is the most commonly used option for RFPs. These response types are defined as: Core = fully included in the vendor's standard product; Configurable = available but requires setup; Third-Party = requires an additional tool or integration; Not Applicable = not relevant to this vendor.

Q23: How do I set up a Yes/No response format for a requirement?

Open the Requirement Modal for the requirement and click the Response tab
Choose 'Yes/No' from the Response Template dropdown
Assign a score to each answer option (Yes, No, Other)
Toggle whether vendors must provide an explanation — Required or Optional

The Yes/No template — with configurable scores for Yes, No, and Other

Q24: How do I create a custom response format with my own answer options?

Go to the Responses sub-tab and click '+ Add Response'
Give the template a label and choose 'Single Select' or another type from the dropdown
Add your custom options using the 'Add New' field and set a score for each option
Click 'Add Response' to save the template

💡 Tip: Create your custom response templates in the Responses sub-tab first, then assign them to requirements via the Response tab in the Requirement Modal.

Using Tags

Q25: How do I create a new tag?

Click the Tags sub-tab
Click '+ Add Tag' at the top right
Type the tag label in the panel that opens on the right
Click 'Add Tag' to create it

Clicking '+ Add Tag' opens a panel to type the tag label and create it

Q26: How do I see which requirements are assigned to a tag?

Go to the Tags sub-tab. Each tag is displayed as a Tag Card showing how many requirements are assigned to it. Click 'View Requirements' on any Tag Card to see the full list of requirements under that tag.

Tag Cards in the Tags sub-tab — showing requirement counts and the View Requirements button

Q27: How do I assign a tag to a requirement?

There are three ways to assign a tag:

In the Requirement Table — click the 'Add Tags' field in the tag column for that requirement
In the Requirement Modal — open the Details tab and use the Tags dropdown
In bulk — select multiple requirements using checkboxes and choose 'Assign Tag' from the bulk actions panel

What's Next?

Once your requirements are built and configured, you're ready to move the evaluation forward. Recommended next steps:

Review all requirements and ensure must-have flags and star ratings accurately reflect your priorities
Set your default response template in the Responses sub-tab before inviting vendors
Configure Administration settings — Scoring Scale, Star ratings, and Section/Department Weighting — before your team starts scoring
Invite vendors to submit their responses through the Solutions tab
Use the Comparison tab to evaluate and score vendor responses once submissions are in

Still have questions? Contact your Olive project administrator or reach out to Olive support for assistance.