Read the compliance matrix, attach documents that already answer a requirement, export the matrix or turn it into a submittable document, validate a response document and check coverage before you submit.
The compliance matrix shows every requirement of the tender against your answer to it: whether the response covers it, whether you can meet it, how far the work has got and where it is answered. Evaluators often ask for exactly this table, and it is the quickest way for your team to find what is still missing.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Task | Who |
|---|---|
Read the matrix, export it and see requirement coverage | Team members with View Tenders ( |
Attach documents, generate the matrix document and validate a response document | Team members with Create & Work on Tenders ( |
Administrators can do all of these on every tender. Everyone else works only on tenders whose team they belong to. Buttons you cannot use are not shown.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Open the tender and choose the Compliance matrix tab. A summary above the table gives the number of requirements and how many of them are covered. The table has one row per requirement:
Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
Requirement | The requirement's text and its type |
Covered | Covered or Uncovered, calculated by ComplyTrain |
Disposition | Whether you can meet it: Undecided, Can meet, Partial or Cannot meet |
Status | The requirement's progress: Not started, In progress, Addressed or Not applicable |
Addressed by | Each section linked to the requirement, with its output document's title after a dot; any attached document with its number; and any accepted product answer; Not yet addressed when there is none of these |
When a product answer has been accepted for a requirement on the Products tab, Addressed by lists it as a product answer, and the PDF and Word exports include it. See bidding products.
No requirements yet means the tender has no requirements. Add them on the Requirements tab or extract them with RFP analysis.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
The three columns answer different questions, and they can disagree.
Covered is calculated. A requirement is covered when at least one section with content is linked to it, or when an existing document is attached to it. An empty linked section does not count. This is the same rule used on the Document Sections page and the Submission tab.
Disposition is your judgement of whether you can meet the requirement. Set it, with your reasoning, on the Requirements tab.
Status is set by people on the Requirements tab to track the work. Marking a requirement Addressed does not make it covered, and a covered requirement stays Not started until someone changes it.
A row that is Covered with Cannot meet needs attention: the response says something about a requirement you have said you cannot meet. A row that is Uncovered with Can meet is a gap in the response.
To cover a requirement, link it to a section and write that section; see linking requirements. Or attach a document that already answers it, as described next.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Some requirements are answered by handing over a document you already hold, such as an ISO certificate or an insurance schedule, rather than by writing text. When your organisation uses QMS, each row offers Attach a document.
On the requirement's row, choose Attach a document.
Attach an existing document opens and shows the requirement. Enter at least two characters of the document's name or number in Search your documents by name or number.
Choose Search, or press Enter.
Each result shows the document's name, number and vault. Choose the right one.
The document then appears under Addressed by with its number, and the requirement counts as covered. The search covers QMS documents and Document Vault documents that you are allowed to read. No documents match that search. means nothing matched; try the document number or a shorter part of the name.
A requirement holds one attached document. To replace it, choose Change document and pick another. Find evidence on the Requirements tab can also attach a document automatically when it finds a strong match by name; check such attachments here.
Attaching records which document answers the requirement. It does not add the document to the submission package. If the issuer must receive the certificate, add it as an output document of category Certification too.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Three exports are available once the tender has requirements. Each downloads a file to your computer; nothing is stored in ComplyTrain.
Button | File | Contents |
|---|---|---|
Export CSV | A comma-separated file for a spreadsheet | Columns Requirement, Type, Priority, Covered (Yes or No), Disposition, Reasoning, Status and Addressed by |
Export PDF | A PDF document | Title "Compliance Matrix" with the tender's name, the reference number and issuing organisation, a summary line, and a numbered table with requirement, type, priority, disposition, status and what addresses it |
Export Word | A Word document you can edit | The same as the PDF |
The PDF and Word buttons read Exporting… while the file is prepared. Use the CSV to sort and filter in a spreadsheet, and the PDF or Word file for internal review meetings.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Many RFPs require a compliance matrix as part of the submission. Generate matrix document turns the matrix into a response document that you review, approve and publish like any other.
Choose Generate matrix document. The button reads Generating….
ComplyTrain creates an output document called "Compliance Matrix", of category Compliance matrix, required and included in the submission, with a description of what the matrix is for. If the tender already has a compliance-matrix output document, that one is used.
Its response document gets one section, "Compliance Matrix", holding a table with the columns Requirement, Comply, Addressed by and Notes.
The Comply column is taken from the disposition: Can meet becomes Yes, Partial becomes Partial, Cannot meet becomes No, and Undecided becomes TBD. The Notes column holds the disposition reasoning.
The section shows AI draft under Section progress. Open it from the Output documents tab, check it, then take it through review and Publish; see writing and reviewing sections.
Choosing Generate matrix document again refreshes the table from the current requirements. It replaces the section's content, including any edits you made to it, and returns the section to AI draft, so it needs approving again. Set dispositions and reasoning on the Requirements tab rather than editing the table, and regenerate the document as the last step before publishing it.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId}/documents/{documentId}/sections (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the output document from the tender's Output documents tab and choose Validate.
Validate checks one response document's sections against the requirements linked to them. On the output document's Document Sections page, choose Validate. The button reads Validating…, then Validation appears above the sections with a summary of failing, warning and passing sections.
Result | Message | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Fail | The section is empty, but requirements are linked to it | Write the section; the requirements are not covered until you do |
Warning | Section has no content yet. | Write it, or delete it if it is not needed |
Warning | No RFP requirement is mapped to this section. | Expected for an introduction or cover letter; otherwise link the requirement it answers |
Pass | The section addresses its linked requirements | Nothing |
A final line looks at the whole tender: whether all requirements are addressed across all output documents, either by a section or by an attached document, and which are not. Nothing to report — every section this document owns passed. means there was nothing to flag. Choose Dismiss to hide the results.
Validation checks that sections have content and are linked. It does not judge whether the text actually meets the requirement; that is the reviewer's job.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
Coverage appears in two more places, using the same rule as the matrix.
RFP requirement coverage on each Document Sections page shows how many requirements are addressed across the tender, how many this document addresses, and lists those not yet addressed by any section. See planning the response.
Requirement coverage on the Submission tab shows how many requirements are addressed and lists the rest, leaving out requirements marked Not applicable, or says Every requirement is addressed by at least one response section.
Before you submit, the readiness check lists every requirement with the disposition Can meet or Partial that is still not covered, unless its status is Not applicable. Requirements marked Cannot meet or Undecided do not block submission. See preparing the submission.
Product location: /tender/workspaces/{workspaceId} (fallback: /tender/workspaces). Open the tender in Tenders and choose the Compliance matrix tab.
A software company is bidding for a public-sector framework with 64 requirements. The Compliance matrix summary shows 51 covered.
The bid manager sorts an Export CSV by Covered and finds 13 rows with No.
Four of them ask for certificates. On each row they choose Attach a document, search for "ISO 27001" or "Cyber Essentials", and pick the current certificate from QMS. Those rows now show the certificate under Addressed by.
Seven are linked to sections under Compliance & Requirements that nobody has written yet. Validate on the Technical Proposal lists them as failing, and the bid manager assigns them to authors.
Two are Cannot meet requirements about on-site support in regions the company does not cover. They stay uncovered, and the reasoning explains the partner arrangement.
When the authors finish, the bid manager chooses Generate matrix document, reviews the Compliance Matrix section, approves it and publishes it with the rest of the response.
