FAQ for the Vendor Risk Management Module

In this article, you can find frequently asked questions about the KCM GRC Vendor Risk Management module. If this article doesn't include the question you're looking for, please submit a ticket to our support team.

For general information about the Vendor Risk Management module, see our Vendor Risk Management Module Guide. 

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Vendors

Questionnaires

Vendors

For information about working with vendors in your platform, see the questions below:

1. Is it better for a vendor to have a higher or lower vendor score?

2. I'm creating a vendor. Will my vendor receive an email when I add their email address to the Contact Email field?

3. I'm creating a vendor and don't know which data types to select in the Data Types field. What does each data type mean?

4. How can I use the Attachments tab on the Vendor Details page?

5. Where should my vendors log in to complete questionnaires that I assigned to them?

1. Question: Is it better for a vendor to have a higher or lower vendor score?

Answer: Generally, the higher the vendor score, the lower the risk that is associated with working with the vendor. Vendors are scored for each questionnaire based on the number of questions they answer correctly. The vendor score is the average score of all questionnaires that the vendor has completed. Vendors who answer questions correctly will typically have higher vendor scores, unless you manually modify your vendors' vendor scores. 

For more information about modifying vendor scores, see the Modifying Vendor Scores section of our How to Create and Manage Vendor Profiles article.  

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2. Question: I'm creating a vendor. Will my vendor receive an email when I add their email address to the Contact Email field?

Answer: No, a vendor will not receive emails from KCM GRC until when you add their email address to the Contact Email field. Before the vendor begins receiving emails from KCM GRC, you will need to create a vendor user account for them.

To learn how to create a vendor user account, see the Adding User Accounts for Vendor Contacts section of our How to Create and Manage Vendor Profiles article.

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3. Question: I'm creating a vendor and don't know which data types to select in the Data Types field. What does each data type mean?

Answer: You can find the abbreviation, full form name, and description of each data type in the Organization Contact Details section of our How to Create and Manage Vendor Profiles article.

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4. Question: How can I use the Attachments tab on the Vendor Details page?

Answer: You can use the Attachments tab to upload files for vendor users to view. Vendor users cannot upload files to this tab.

When a vendor user signs in to their KCM GRC account, the files that you upload in the Attachments tab will appear in the Documents section of the vendor user's dashboard. 

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5. Question: Where should my vendors log in to complete questionnaires that I assigned to them?

Answer: When you assign a questionnaire to a vendor, the vendor user can click the link in the email they receive. You can also send the URL that you use to log in to your KCM GRC account to the vendor. When the vendor user clicks the URL, they will be navigated to the login page where they can enter their credentials. The vendor user's login credentials will direct them to the vendor portal, which the vendor user can use to complete the questionnaire.

For more information about the vendor user experience, see our How to Complete Questionnaires and Respond to Issues: A Guide for Vendor Users article.

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Questionnaires

For information about working with questionnaires in your platform, see the questions below:

1. Can I edit a questionnaire that is in the Configured status?

2. Can I create custom questionnaire templates?

3. Do the files that vendors can upload to questionnaires need to meet any specific requirements? 

4. Where can I view an attachment that a vendor uploaded for a questionnaire?

5. Will I be notified when a vendor completes a questionnaire?

6. Will the vendor receive an email when I create an issue for a questionnaire?

1. Question: Can I edit a questionnaire that is in the Configured status?

Answer: Yes, you can edit a questionnaire that is in the Configured status. However, you cannot edit a questionnaire that is in the Reviewed status.

To edit a questionnaire that is in the Configured status, follow the instructions below:

1. From your navigation panel, navigate to Vendor Management > Questionnaires.
2. Select a questionnaire under the Name column. 
3. In the Questionnaire Versions section of the page, click the Review button. 
4. In the Questions section of the page, click the Preview button.
5. In the top-right corner of the page, click the Update button. When you click this button, you will be taken to the Update Questionnaire page, where you can edit the questionnaire.
6. After you finish editing the questionnaire, click the Update button again. 

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2. Question: Can I create custom questionnaire templates?

Answer: Yes. After you create a questionnaire and the questionnaire is in the Reviewed status, you can save the questionnaire as a questionnaire template. You can also create custom questions and add the custom questions to the questionnaire. Then, you can save the questionnaire as a questionnaire template. 

For more information about creating questionnaire templates, see the Custom Questionnaire Templates section of our How to Create and Configure Questionnaires article.  

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3. Question: Do the files that vendors can upload to questionnaires need to meet any specific requirements? 

Answer: For each question, the minimum file size is 1 byte, and the maximum file size is 5 megabytes. The maximum length for file names is 250 characters, including the file extension.

The file type must be one of the file types listed below:

• .png
• .jpg
• .jpeg
• .gif
• .bmp,
• .tif,
• .tiff,
• .pdf
• .txt
• .rtf
• .eml
• .msg
• .csv
• .doc
• .docx
• .xls
• .xlsx
• .ppt
• .pptx
• .zip
• .gzip
• .7z
• .gz
• .tar
• .tgz
• .nrl. 

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4. Question: Where can I view an attachment that a vendor uploaded for a questionnaire?

Answer: If the vendor uploaded an attachment for a specific question, you can find the link to the attachment next to the question. For more information, see the Reviewing Questionnaires section of our How to Review Questionnaires and Create Issues article.

If the vendor uploaded an attachment for an issue, you can find the link to the attachment on the Issues Details page. For more information, see the Issue Details section of our How to Review Questionnaires and Create Issues article. 

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5. Question: Will I be notified when a vendor completes a questionnaire?

Answer: The vendor owner of the vendor profile will receive an email notification when the vendor completes the questionnaire. By default, the vendor owner is the user who created the vendor profile. You can view and modify the vendor owner from the Vendor Details page.

If you would like to view the status of the questionnaire from the vendor's profile, navigate to the Vendor Details page. Then, select the Assigned Questionnaires tab. From the Status and Progress columns, you can view the questionnaire's current status. 

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6. Question: Will the vendor receive an email when I create an issue for a questionnaire?

Answer: Yes. When you review the questionnaire and create one or more issues, the vendor user will receive an email notification. The email notification will contain a link that the vendor user can click to navigate to the KCM GRC login page.

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