Answering Questionnaires with Smart Response

Response360 users can utilize the External RFPs & DDQs Module to digitize questionnaires from various formats such as Word, PDF, and Excel. Once imported, questionnaires can be answered by permitted users. This article covers automatically answering imported questionnaires with Smart Response. Users can utilize Knowledge Base Q&A records, previous questionnaires, and additional documents to automatically generate responses.

Please see our full help articles below:

• Answering Questionnaires
• Adding and Managing Questionnaires

This article covers the following topics:

• Run Smart Response
• Viewing Smart Response
• Re-run Smart Response
• Working with Comments

Run Smart Response

1. First, navigate to the External RFPs & DDQs Module, and select a Questionnaire.

2. Select the Run Smart Response Button in one of the following locations:

   1. Questionnaire Level — From the questionnaire's Answering Screen, select on the Run Smart Response icon at the top right of the screen.
   2. Section Level — Select the Run Smart Response icon located on the top-right of the section/subsection card.
   3. Question Level — Select the Run Smart Response icon located on the top-right of a question card.

   

3. After opening Smart Response, within the Select Sources Window, configure your sources:

   1. Answer Library: Toggle this on to match answers from your past questionnaires. You can also filter options to specify which content to match for Smart Response to generate answers. Users select the  "Generate AI answers when no Answer Library match is found" option to have AI fill in any remaining gaps after Answer Library matches are applied.
   2. Supporting Documents: Use the + Add Files to upload files (locally or from File Library), or connect to SharePoint to browse and attach files from a connected site. For more information on this topic, please see our article: SharePoint Integration

   Note: Questions may remain unanswered if no Answer Library match is found and no sufficiently confident AI-generated or verbatim answer is available.

4. Once your sources are selected, click the Run Smart Response button to run Smart Response.
5. The window will prompt you to return to the Questionnaires screen while Smart Response works. Click on the Back to Questionnaire button to do so.

6. You'll see a Padlock icon next to the questionnaire in the Questionnaires tableview. While Smart Response is running, the progress page heading reads "Populating Answers with Smart Responses".

   

Viewing Smart Response

Once a Smart Response generation is complete, answers generated from strong Q&A record matches will automatically be populated in the answer box. Any additional AI-generated suggested answers along with their rationale can be reviewed and applied as well. Answers will indicate whether they were sourced from a string Q&A record match or AI-generated.

From an Questionnaire Answering Screen, answers populated from strong Q&A record matches will be populated in the answer box and be indicated by the Answer Library Match banner. 

• Users can review the match within the Answer Library by clicking the View in Answer Library button.
• Users can also view and apply suggested answers populated by Smart Response by clicking the Suggestions bar.
• The selected suggested answer will populate in the question card and be indicated by the AI-generated banner. To view sources of the AI-generated answer, click the View Sources button.
• Within a question card, click on View Suggestions and then View References. This will display a summary of the reference along with its source.

 

Working with Comments

Respondents can add comments to a question to leave notes, ask for clarification, or collaborate with teammates while completing a questionnaire. Comments can be added, edited, and deleted at any point while a questionnaire is in progress.

Create & Edit a Comment

1. In the questionnaire's Answering Screen, click on a question and select the Comments icon to open the Comments panel. Type your comment in the comment box and click Post to add it to the question's comment thread.
2. You can edit any comment you authored. You can't edit comments posted by other users.
   • In the Comments panel, hover over one of your own comments and click the Edit icon (tooltip: "Edit").
   • Update the comment text using the same formatting options available when posting a new comment, then click Save. Click Cancel at any point to discard your changes and keep the original comment.
3. Once saved, the comment displays an (Edited) indicator along with the timestamp of the most recent edit.

Note: Selecting (Edited) opens the comment's history — see View Comment History below. The original comment text is always retained in the history, even after multiple edits.

Delete a Comment

You can delete any comment you authored. You can't delete comments posted by other users.

1. In the Comments panel, hover over one of your own comments and click the Delete icon (tooltip: "Delete").
2. A confirmation prompt appears before the comment is permanently removed from view. Click Delete to confirm, or Cancel to keep the comment.

Note: Deleted comments are removed from view but retained in the comment history — see View Comment History below.

View Comment History

Every post, edit, and deletion on a comment thread is tracked in a read-only history. The comment history panel lists every action taken on the thread — posted, edited, and deleted — along with the full name of the person who took the action and the date and time it occurred. 

1. To view the history of a single edited comment, click its (Edited) indicator.
2. To view the full history of every comment on a question, click the Comment History icon at the top of the Comments panel.
3. Click Close to exit the comment history panel and return to the Comments panel.

Note: Comment history is tracked starting with this release. Comments posted before this update won't have a "posted" entry in their history.