III. Buyer Viewpoint – Initial Proposals
Prior to exchanging proposals in Smartsettle Graphic View, the system requires parties to create negotiating ranges. The negotiating ranges created by Buyer include Annual Savings, which is a private performance variable based on the information in Buyer’s private spreadsheet. Performance variables are calculated as a function of certain other independent variables. If those other independent variables are adequately represented by the performance variables, they can be effectively excluded from preference analysis. In Buyer’s case, the variables shown below in black have been excluded from preference analysis. More explanation about preference analysis is given in the next section.
By default, Smartsettle displays a party’s more preferred outcomes on the right hand side (represented by blue flags in this case), and less preferred outcomes on the left hand side (represented by red flags in this case). The product prices are obvious examples of this. Since Buyer prefers lower prices, the blue flags for price are lower numbers than the red flags.
The Smartsettle process encourages parties to begin with optimistic proposals (i.e., on which they are prepared to be flexible). Initial optimistic proposals from each party are shown below. Buyer’s first proposal (in green) is named Package 1 – Buyer. Supplier’s first proposal (in blue) is named Package 2 – Supplier, where the number 2 means the second published package.
