Q&A for Coordinators | VDRPro

1. Display the Q&A dashboard by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. Use the dashboard to understand and manage the Q&A process.

   The dashboard provides graphs of the Most Questions Asked (categorized by Buyer/participant and Category) and a list of the Most Referenced Documents. This information can help you manage questions effectively by providing insight into buyers/participants’ level of activity and their areas of interest. Use the dashboard to filter questions in the following ways:

   • In the Most Questions Asked table, click the name of a buyer/participant group or category to see a list of all questions submitted by the buyer/participant group or all questions that are in the selected category.
   • To see only the unanswered or open questions for a buyer/participant or category, click the text link at the right of the buyer/participant or category
   • Click the quick filters at the top of the dashboard to view questions according to their status.
     • HIgh Priority questions are those that have been marked as high This list shows all high priority questions, regardless of their status.
     • Submitted questions have not yet been replied to or commented on. You can answer the buyers'/participants’ question, or delegate it to an expert.
     • Replied questions have been answered by an expert. You can use the expert’s proposed answer in your answer to the buyer/participant, or reply to the expert with additional comments.
     • Unanswered includes all questions that have been submitted and are in various stages of being answered, but no answer has been sent yet to the buyer/participant.
     • Answered questions are complete; an answer has been sent to the buyer/participant; however, the question remains open, and additional actions can be taken on the question until it is closed.
     • Closed includes questions that are closed to prevent further entries (follow ups, responses and so on) from being made.
     • FAQs displays the list of frequently asked questions.

When buyers/participants submit questions, you can answer them directly or delegate them to experts if they are beyond your range of expertise. You also can provide a single answer to multiple questions at the same time or import answers from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Use the following steps if you want to answer questions directly or import answers from a spreadsheet. If you want to delegate questions to experts, see "Delegating questions to experts" later in this article.

To view a question

1. To display the Q&A view, click the Q&A tab.
2. Use the quick filters at the top to locate the question that you want to view.
3. Click the question title to expand and display the question and its details.

To answer a question

1. To display the Q&A view, click the Q&A tab.
2. Use the quick filters at the top to locate the question that you want to view.
3. Click the question title to expand the question, then click Answer Question.

   To provide the same answer to multiple similar questions at the same time, mark the boxes next to these questions, and then select Answer Question from the Action menu.

4. In the Add a response... box, enter your answer.

   To include comments made by an expert or another coordinator, click the Paste Into Answer button below the comments and edit the comments as needed.

5. (Optional.) If you do not want your name to be displayed in the answer, select Answer Anonymously.
6. (Optional.) If you have permission to add and permission documents, you can link to documents on the exchange or upload documents from your computer or network to the answer. If you do not have permission to add and permission documents, you can link or attach additional documents from the exchange or your computer or network to the answer.
   • If the document is located on the exchange, click Link Document, highlight the document, and click Link Document.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you have permission to add and permission documents, click Upload Document. Select the folder to add the uploaded document to or create a new folder, optionally set permissions and send alerts, and click Upload.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you do not have permission to add and permission documents, click Attach Document, and select up to five documents to attach.
7. If the question includes linked or attached documents, you can reference specific documents in your Click Reference Documents and select the specific documents you want to give the buyer/participant(s) access to, then click Link Document.
8. (Optional.) To save an answer that is in progress, click Save as Draft.

   To review, edit, and submit your draft answer later, open the question again and view the Activity Log. Then click the Answer Question link located beneath your draft answer.)

9. Select one of the following options:

   To submit the question to the buyer/participant and keep the question open for additional answers and comments, click Submit to Buyer/participant.

   To submit the question to the buyer/participant and close the question, click Submit and Close. The question can no longer be edited, and cannot accept any additional follow ups or comments. The question remains visible to you and the buyer/participant team, but it cannot be changed in any way. Note that only Q&A coordinators can close a question thread.

To answer questions by importing a spreadsheet

You can export unanswered questions to a spreadsheet, add the answers, then import the answers from the spreadsheet. For information about exporting unanswered questions, see "Exporting questions and FAQs Microsoft Excel" later in this article.

1. To display the Q&A view, click the Q&A tab.
2. From the Import menu, select Import Answers.
3. Click Browse.
4. Navigate to the spreadsheet and click Open.
5. Click Next.
6. Review the answers that will be imported and click Import.

At times, you may need to ask questions on behalf of a buyer/participant group. You can ask a single question using Intralinks VDRPro, or if you have multiple questions, you can create an import file. For more information about asking questions using import files, see "Importing multiple questions for a buyer group" later in this article.

You can ask questions while viewing the Documents view or the Q&A view within the exchange.

1. Perform one of the following actions:
   • To ask a question about one or more specific documents, from the Documents view, select the document(s), then click Ask a Question. The selected documents are automatically linked to your question.
   • To ask a general question, from the Q&A view, click Ask a Question.
2. In the Ask a Question panel, click in the On behalf of buyer/participant box and select the buyer/participant group for which you are asking this question.
3. Select the category that best describes the question.
4. Enter a title for your question.
5. Enter your question. You can use up to 4,000 characters.
6. (Optional.) To delegate your question to experts in a collaboration group, in the Delegate to box, select the collaboration group.
7. (Optional.) If you delegated your question to experts, you can select a due date for the Experts will be notified that a response to the question is expected by the due date.
8. (Optional.) if the buyer/participant group considers this a high-value question and wants a quick response, you can mark the question as High Priority.
9. (Optional.) If you have permission to add and permission documents, you can link to documents on the exchange or upload documents from your computer or network to the answer. If you do not have permission to add and permission documents, you can link or attach additional documents from the exchange or your computer or network to the answer.
   • If the document is located on the exchange, click Link Document, highlight the document, and click Link Document.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you have permission to add and permission documents, click Upload Document. Select the folder to add the uploaded document to or create a new folder, optionally set permissions and send alerts, and click Upload.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you do not have permission to add and permission documents, click Attach Document, and select up to five documents to attach.

   To select multiple documents, press the CTRL or SHIFT key while clicking on the documents.

10. Click Submit.

    When you submit the question, it will be added to the top of the questions list in the Q&A view. You can answer it or delegate it to subject matter experts for their comments. It also appears on the buyer/participant group members’ Q&A questions list with a status of Submitted. The question will be assigned an ID, which can be used to track the question through its lifecycle.

You can use the Import Questions wizard to add multiple questions at the same time, on behalf of a buyer/participant group, using a Microsoft Excel import file. The questions are checked for errors during the import process, and you will have the opportunity to correct any errors that are found before continuing the import. When importing questions as a Manager, the questions will be imported with a status of Submitted.

1. From within the exchange, display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. Display the The Import Questions wizard by selecting Import Questions from the Import menu.
3. If you have not created the import file, click the Download Import Template link to download a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with the required columns for this import. If you already created the import file, skip to step 5.
4. Open the spreadsheet template. For each row, enter the questions you want to propose:
   • Title — Enter a title for each Entries in this column must be 265 characters or less.
   • Question — Enter the full content of the Each question can be up to 4,000 characters in length.
   • Category— For each question, enter the category to which this question belongs. Enter category names exactly as they appear on your
   • Priority — For high priority questions, enter High in this No entry is required for normal priority questions.

   Keep the following guidelines in mind:

   • Do not leave any cells in the spreadsheet Rows that do not include a title or question will be ignored.
   • If you do not include a category, or if your entry is misspelled, you will be asked to fix the error in the next step.
   • Do not import more questions than the buyer/participant group is allowed to The number of questions remaining for the selected group will be displayed when you select the buyer/participant group in the wizard.
   • If you enter anything other than High in the Priority column, your entry is ignored and the question is imported with a normal priority.

   Save the completed import file and make a note of its name and location.

5. Click Browse, select the import file and click Open.
6. Select the buyer/participant group for which you are importing the questions.
7. Click Next.
8. In the Review Upload step, review the entries on the screen. If the import file did not include a category for a question, a box outlined in red appears for the information that is needed to complete the import. Select the correct category.
9. When you are ready to start the import, click Import.

The questions are uploaded with a status of Submitted, and are added to the top of the questions list in the Q&A view. Each question is assigned an ID, which can be used to track it through its lifecycle.

If necessary, you can change at question’s priority at any time before it is closed or withdrawn.

1. Using the Q&A tab, locate the question. (If the question has been marked as high priority, click on the Priority filter to display only high-priority questions.)
2. Click on the question to view it.
3. Click the More button, then select the option you want:
   • If the question is currently marked as high priority, select Change to Standard Priority.
   • If the question currently is standard priority, select Change to High Priority.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are an easy way to share information with all the members of your exchange. For example, you might use an FAQ to communicate key dates for your deal that are relevant to all buyers/participants.

You can create a FAQ from a previously answered question, or you can write a new FAQ. FAQs are visible to all exchange users; they cannot be permissioned. Use care when creating them to ensure that sensitive information is not shared with groups who should not see it.

To create an FAQ from a previously answered question

1. Display the Q&A view in the exchange by clicking the Q&A
2. Locate and open the answered question that you want to use as an FAQ.
3. Click the More button for the question, and select the Add to FAQ option. The Add to FAQ panel slides out.
4. Review the title, question detail and answer to be sure that they are appropriate for all buyers/participants. Remove any information that identifies the buyer/participant team that asked the original question and review the category assigned to the question.
5. (Optional.) To make buyers/participants or experts aware of the new FAQ, in the Send Alert box, select the group(s) to which to send an alert.
6. If any documents are linked, uploaded or attached to the FAQ, they are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Add or remove documents or links attached to this FAQ, as necessary. Documents should not contain any buyer/participant-identifying information. If the document is located on the exchange, be sure that it is permissioned to all users. If you remove a document or link, be sure to also remove any references to the attachment from the text in the FAQ.
7. Click Submit.

To create a new FAQ

1. Display the Q&A view in the exchange by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. To display a list of saved FAQs, click the FAQs button at the top of the questions list.
3. Click Create FAQ at the top of the screen.
4. In the Create FAQ panel, select the category you want to assign to the FAQ.
5. Enter a title, question detail and answer. Be sure that they are appropriate for all buyers/participants.
6. (Optional.) To make buyers/participants or experts aware of the new FAQ, in the Send Alert box, select the group(s) to which to send an alert.
7. (Optional.) Attach, upload or link any documents that are relevant to the FAQ. If the document is located on the exchange, be sure that it is permissioned to all users.

   Only users who have permission to add and permission documents have the option to upload documents.

8. Click Submit.

You can export information about one or more questions or FAQs to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You can select whether to include all comments, answers, and follow-up questions, and choose the columns to include.

You can also export the history for all questions in a view or for all questions to an Excel spreadsheet. The history report shows all events associated with a single question on one line. You can choose which columns to include, including follow-up questions and a list of related documents, then use Excel to organize and manipulate the content for analysis and management purposes.

To export questions and FAQs to Microsoft Excel

1. To display the Q&A view within an exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. Select one of the following options:
   • To export all questions, from the Export menu, select Export All Questions.
   • To select individual questions, locate the questions and mark the checkbox in front of them to highlight From the Export menu, select Export This View.
3. (Optional.) To include all comments by members of your team, all answers provided by the Q&A coordinator and all of your follow-up questions, mark Include full history for each question.
4. (Optional.) To include follow-up questions, mark Include Follow-Ups.
5. In the Columns to Export section, mark all of the columns that you want to export.
6. Click Export. You can now open the file in Microsoft Excel.

To downloading a history report

1. To display the Q&A view within an exchange, click the Q&A
2. (Optional.) Generate a particular view for which you want to download the history report.
3. Select one of the following options:
   • From the Export menu, select either History Report for This View or History Report for All Questions.
   • To include all of the columns in the report, mark Include full history for each question.
4. To select the columns to include, in the Columns to Export section, mark the columns to include.
5. Click Export. You can now open the file in Microsoft Excel.

Intralinks VDRPro provides a number of reports that give insight into your buyers/participants’ use of Q&A. Taken with information from other reports, analysis of Q&A activity can give you insight into which buyers/participants are most interested and where their concerns lie. The Category/Buyer/Participant Activity Report and the Submitter Activity Report provide information specifically about buyers/participants’ question-asking behavior.

The Category/Buyer/Participant report

This report provides a breakdown by status (submitted, waiting for expert reply, expert reply received, withdrawn, answered, follow-up, closed and deleted) of high-priority questions asked by each buyer group. A similar breakdown by category is provided for each buyer/participant group. This report can be used to identify the groups or users who are most (and least) actively submitting questions, and the categories to which they most (and least) often assign to the questions.

By analyzing the Category/Buyer/Participant Activity Report, you can gain insight into the general types of questions being asked by individual buyer groups and identify trends across all groups that may be useful to your organization during the selling process.

The Submitter Activity report

The Submitter Activity Report provides a detailed breakdown of individual question submitters’ Q&A activity. This can be filtered to show activity for a specified time period and category.

You can generate a report for today, for yesterday, for the past seven days or the past 14 days. You can display information for a specific category or for all categories.

The report is sorted by buyer group, and the total number of questions submitted, followups submitted and questions or followups withdrawn are shown for each group. This information also appears for individual question submitters, along with the name of their organization, their Intralinks status (active, inactive or removed), and the date they most recently submitted a question.

1. From within the exchange, click the Insights & Reporting tab.
2. Click Reports.
3. Click Q&A Activity Report.
4. Select the report you want to view: Category/Buyer/Participant Activity or Submitter Activity.
5. Select the report criteria:
   • For the Category/Buyer/Participant Activity report, select the categories and buyers/participants to include.
   • For the Submitter Activity report, select the time frame for the report and the categories to include.
6. Click Export. The report is exported to your browser download location as a Microsoft Excel file.
7. Open the Excel file to review the report.

You can block all users’ ability to ask questions. Buyers/participants still will be able to follow up on previously submitted questions, and experts will be able to respond to delegated questions. All activities will be available except for submitting new questions. To allow buyers/participants to submit questions again, you can unblock new questions.

To block new questions

1. Display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. From the Action menu, select the Block New Questions option. A message appears asking you to confirm your selection.
3. Click Block Questions.

To unblock new questions

1. Display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. From the Action menu, select the Unblock New Questions option. A message appears asking you to confirm your selection.
3. Click Unblock Questions.

When you are satisfied that a question has been answered completely, you can close the question thread to prevent further entries (follow ups, responses and so on) from being made. The question remains visible to you and the buyer/participant team, but it cannot be changed. Only questions that have been answered can be closed.

Note that only a Q&A coordinator can close question threads.

1. Display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. Locate the question(s) that you want to close, and mark the boxes next to their titles.
3. From the Action menu at the top, select Close. A message appears asking you to confirm your selection.
4. Click Close Question(s).

You can delete questions and FAQs that no longer are relevant.

If you delete a question, all expert responses, follow ups and other entries are deleted, along with any attachments that have been made to these entries. If the question was delegated to experts, it will be retracted automatically, and the experts will receive an email alert advising them that they no longer need to respond to the question.

Note that deleting a question thread is not the same as closing the thread. If you delete a question thread, it is removed permanently and cannot be viewed again. If the thread is closed, both you and buyers or participants can continue to view it, but no further changes can be made to it. If you want to close the thread, rather than delete it, see "Closing question threads".

To delete a question

1. Display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. Select the question(s) that you want to delete by marking the box next to each question’s ID number.
3. From the Action menu at the top, select Delete. A message appears asking you to confirm your decision.

   Note that if you remove a question thread from the exchange, the action cannot be undone.

4. Click Delete Question(s).

To delete an FAQ

1. Display the Q&A view by clicking the Q&A tab.
2. To display a list of FAQs, click the FAQs button at the top of the questions
3. Locate the FAQ that you want to delete, and mark the box next to its
4. From the Action menu at the top, select Delete. A message appears asking you to confirm your decision.

   Note that if you remove an FAQ from the exchange, the action cannot be undone.

5. Click Delete FAQ.

If you need help answering questions, you can delegate them to individual users or one or more groups of experts in collaboration groups. Questions cannot be delegated to exchange or buyer/participant groups. Any of the experts in the group(s) that you select can respond to delegated questions.

You can review and make changes to experts’ responses before sending the answers to the buyer/participant who asked the questions originally. Or you can respond to experts and ask for more information or a clarification before you answer buyers'/participants’ questions.

Important: Before delegating a question, review the question’s content, and remove any sensitive information that could identify the buyer/participant to the expert(s).

If your exchange has been set up to allow experts to re-delegate questions, you can delegate questions to an SME coordinator, who in turn can either answer the questions or re-delegate them to the most knowledgeable experts in the organization. The SME coordinator will collect the expert replies and provide a single reply to you. This can be helpful, for example, if you are an M&A advisor outside the seller organization, and you aren’t familiar with all the experts in the organization. For more information, see Allowing experts to re-delegate questions.

In addition, you can also automatically delegate questions that have been assigned specific categories.

1. To display the Q&A view within the exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. Click on the question you want to delegate, and select Delegate from the Action menu.

   To delegate multiple questions at the same time, mark the boxes next to the question titles, and select Delegate from the Action menu.

3. To delegate to a group of experts, in the Delegate to Groups of Experts field, select the collaboration group(s) to which you want to delegate the question.
4. To delegate to individual users, in the Delegate to Experts field, select the expert(s) to which you want to delegate the question.
5. To specify a date by which a response is expected, enter that date in the Due Date box.
6. To review the question details, and edit the question if needed, click Reword Question. This option is not available if you are delegating more than one question at the same time.
7. Review the question title and the details provided by the buyer/participant. Make any changes needed to clarify the question or to remove inappropriate information, including information that could identify the buyer/participant to the experts.
8. Review any documents that are linked or attached to the Keep in mind that experts can see documents located on the exchange only if they have been given permission to view them.
9. (Optional.) If you have permission to add and permission documents, you can link to documents on the exchange or upload documents from your computer or network to the answer. If you do not have permission to add and permission documents, you can link or attach additional documents from the exchange or your computer or network to the answer.
   • If the document is located on the exchange, click Link Document, highlight the document, and click Link Document.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you have permission to add and permission documents, click Upload Document. Select the folder to add the uploaded document to or create a new folder, optionally set permissions and send alerts, and click Upload.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you do not have permission to add and permission documents, click Attach Document, and select up to five documents to attach.
10. Click Delegate. The question, or questions, appear in the experts’ Reply Pending quick An email alert also is sent to the experts to let them know that their assistance is needed.

If you need further information or a clarification to an expert’s reply, you can respond to the reply by adding comments.

1. To display the Q&A view within the exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. Click the Replied quick filter.
3. Click on the question that you want to view and respond to.
4. Click Add Comment.
5. Enter your comments In the Add a comment... box.
6. (Optional.) If you have permission to add and permission documents, you can link to documents on the exchange or upload documents from your computer or network to the answer. If you do not have permission to add and permission documents, you can link or attach additional documents from the exchange or your computer or network to the answer.
   • If the document is located on the exchange, click Link Document, highlight the document, and click Link Document.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you have permission to add and permission documents, click Upload Document. Select the folder to add the uploaded document to or create a new folder, optionally set permissions and send alerts, and click Upload.
   • If the document is located on your computer or a network drive and you do not have permission to add and permission documents, click Attach Document, and select up to five documents to attach.
7. Click Comment. The question appears in the experts’ Reply Pending quick filter and an email alert is sent to the experts to let them know that their assistance is needed.

If the selected experts have not responded to a delegated question, you can send them a reminder email. This reminder can be sent at any time; the question does not have to be overdue.

1. To display the Q&A view within the exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. Click on the question for which you want to send a reminder.
3. Select Send Alert from the question’s More menu.
4. In the Send Alert screen, review the suggested subject line and make any needed changes.
5. Enter a note to the experts. This is a required field. You will not be able to send an alert unless you enter a note.
6. Select the collaboration groups to which to send the email alert.
7. Click Send.

You can export information about one or more questions or FAQs to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You can select whether to include all comments, answers, and follow-up questions, and choose the columns to include.

You can also export the history for all questions in a view or for all questions to an Excel spreadsheet. The history report shows all events associated with a single question on one line. You can choose which columns to include, including follow-up questions and a list of related documents, then use Excel to organize and manipulate the content for analysis and management purposes.

To export questions and FAQs to Microsoft Excel

1. To display the Q&A view within an exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. Select one of the following options:
   • To export all questions, from the Export menu, select Export All Questions.
   • To select individual questions, locate the questions and mark the checkbox in front of them to highlight From the Export menu, select Export This View.
3. (Optional.) To include all comments by members of your team, all answers provided by the Q&A coordinator and all of your follow-up questions, mark Include full history for each question.
4. (Optional.) To include follow-up questions, mark Include Follow-Ups.
5. In the Columns to Export section, mark all of the columns that you want to export.
6. Click Export. You can now open the file in Microsoft Excel.

To download a history report

1. To display the Q&A view within an exchange, click the Q&A
2. (Optional.) Generate a particular view for which you want to download the history report.
3. Select one of the following options:
   • From the Export menu, select either History Report for This View or History Report for All Questions.
   • To include all of the columns in the report, mark Include full history for each question.
4. To select the columns to include, in the Columns to Export section, mark the columns to include.
5. Click Export. You can now open the file in Microsoft Excel.

You can download all documents attached to questions instead of downloading them one at a time. The documents are downloaded into a ZIP file.

1. To display the Q&A view within an exchange, click the Q&A tab.
2. From the Export menu, select Download All Documents.
3. Open the ZIP file and double click on a file to open it.