Glossary of Terms
This glossary provides definitions for key terms and concepts used throughout the Zen AI platform. Understanding these terms will help you navigate the system more effectively and get the most out of its features.
Introduction to Terminology
The field of tender management and AI-powered analysis involves specialized terminology that may be unfamiliar to new users. This glossary serves as a reference guide to help you understand the language used throughout Zen AI and in the broader context of tender processes.
Terms are organized into categories to help you find related concepts quickly. Each definition explains not just what the term means, but how it relates to your work with Zen AI and the tender process. Familiarizing yourself with these terms will help you communicate more effectively about the platform and better understand its capabilities.
General Terms
These fundamental terms form the basis for understanding Zen AI and its purpose.
AI Analysis
The process where artificial intelligence examines tender documents to extract information, identify patterns, and generate insights. Zen AI uses advanced AI models to analyze text, understand requirements, and provide recommendations.
AI analysis goes beyond simple keyword matching to understand the meaning and context of text, allowing for more nuanced and accurate insights than traditional document analysis methods.
Opportunity
A potential project or tender that your company might bid on. In Zen AI, opportunities are the central organizing unit for all tender-related activities and analyses.
Opportunities in Zen AI can be discovered through the platform's search capabilities or added manually by uploading tender documents you've received through other channels.
Tender
A formal invitation to suppliers to submit a bid or proposal for goods or services. Also known as Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or Invitation to Tender (ITT).
Tenders typically include detailed specifications, requirements, evaluation criteria, and submission instructions. They may be issued by public sector organizations, private companies, or non-profit entities.
Tender Types
Different categories of tender opportunities based on scope, value, and issuing authority. Tender types include open tenders, restricted tenders, negotiated procedures, competitive dialogues, and innovation partnerships.
Understanding tender types helps you identify appropriate opportunities and tailor your response strategy to the specific tender process requirements. Each type follows different rules and timelines that can impact your proposal approach. Zen AI focuses primarily on EU tenders that match industry-specific filters to ensure you see the most relevant opportunities for your business.
EU Tenders
Tenders issued by public authorities within the European Union, regulated by EU procurement directives. EU tenders above certain value thresholds must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) through the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) platform.
Zen AI automatically updates daily with new EU tenders from TED that match your criteria, such as those located in specific countries (e.g., Deutschland) and matching relevant CPV codes for your industry. This ensures you always have access to the latest relevant opportunities.
CPV Codes
Common Procurement Vocabulary codes - a standardized classification system used throughout the European Union to categorize and organize public procurement contracts. Each code represents a specific type of work, product, or service.
Zen AI uses CPV code filters to help you find relevant opportunities matching your expertise. The platform specifically filters for the following code ranges:
- 71xxxxxx: Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
- 72xxxxxx: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
- 48xxxxxx: Software package and information systems
- 793xxxxx: Market and economic research; polling and statistics
- 794xxxxx: Business and management consultancy and related services
Understanding these CPV codes helps you identify opportunities in your specific field. For example, to see what exactly "71xxxxxx" covers, you can look up "71000000" at cpvcode.de and explore more detailed subcategories. For a complete reference of CPV codes and descriptions, visit the official SIMAP CPV website.
Proposal
A formal response to a tender, outlining how your company would fulfill the requirements, including technical approach, pricing, and references.
Proposals are the primary deliverable of the tender process and represent your company's offer to the client. Zen AI helps you create more compelling proposals by providing insights and analysis of tender requirements.
Reference
A past project or client engagement that demonstrates your company's relevant experience and capabilities. References are used to support your proposals and show your track record.
In Zen AI, references are stored in your company profile and automatically matched to tender requirements to identify the most relevant past projects for each opportunity.
Status Indicators
These terms describe the different stages an opportunity can go through in Zen AI.
Pre-check
The initial status of an opportunity when it's first added to Zen AI. At this stage, you're evaluating whether the opportunity is worth pursuing further.
During the Pre-check phase, you typically perform a Bid/No-Bid analysis to assess the opportunity's fit with your business and your chances of winning.
In Progress
Status indicating that you're actively working on the opportunity, analyzing requirements, and developing your approach.
Opportunities in the In Progress stage have passed the initial evaluation and are being actively pursued, with resources allocated to proposal development.
Bid
Status indicating that you've decided to pursue the opportunity and are preparing or have submitted a proposal.
The Bid status helps you track opportunities that are in the final stages of proposal development or have been submitted and are awaiting decision.
No-Bid
Status indicating that you've decided not to pursue the opportunity after evaluation.
Tracking No-Bid decisions helps you understand patterns in your opportunity selection process and refine your criteria over time.
Won
Status indicating that your proposal was successful and you've been awarded the contract.
Won opportunities can be valuable references for future proposals and provide insights into successful strategies.
Lost
Status indicating that your proposal was unsuccessful and another supplier was selected.
Analyzing Lost opportunities can provide valuable lessons for improving future proposals and refining your bid/no-bid decision criteria.
Analysis Types
These terms describe the different types of analyses available in Zen AI.
Bid/No-Bid Analysis
An assessment of whether an opportunity is worth pursuing, based on factors like strategic fit, competitive position, requirements, and resource availability.
The Bid/No-Bid analysis helps you make objective, data-driven decisions about which opportunities to pursue, reducing the influence of biases and ensuring consistent evaluation criteria.
Functional Requirements
Requirements that specify what the system or solution should do - the specific behaviors, functions, and features that must be delivered.
Functional requirements define the core capabilities your solution must provide and form the foundation of your technical approach.
Non-Functional Requirements
Requirements that specify criteria for evaluating the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviors. These include performance, security, usability, and reliability requirements.
Non-functional requirements define the quality attributes of your solution and often differentiate winning proposals from the rest.
Management Requirements
Requirements related to how the project will be managed, including reporting, governance, communication, and project management methodologies.
Management requirements define how you'll deliver the project, not just what you'll deliver, and are often critical to client confidence.
Financial Requirements
Requirements related to budgets, pricing structures, payment terms, and financial guarantees.
Financial requirements help you develop appropriate pricing strategies and ensure your proposal is commercially viable.
Custom User Analysis
A user-defined analysis type that can be configured to extract specific information or insights based on custom criteria and requirements.
Custom analyses allow you to extend Zen AI's capabilities to address specific requirements in your industry or organization.
Technical Terms
These terms describe the technical concepts and technologies behind Zen AI's capabilities.
Vector Search
A technology that converts text into mathematical representations (vectors) and finds similarities between different texts based on their vector representations. Zen AI uses vector search to match tender requirements with your company's references and capabilities.
Vector search enables more sophisticated matching than traditional keyword search, identifying conceptual similarities even when different terminology is used.
Content Summarization
The process of automatically condensing long documents or sections of text into shorter, more concise versions while preserving key information. Zen AI uses content summarization for processing long tender documents and queries.
Content summarization helps manage large document sets efficiently while maintaining the essential meaning needed for accurate analysis.
Asynchronous Processing
A method of operation where tasks are processed in the background, allowing users to continue working while complex analyses are completed. Zen AI uses asynchronous processing for time-intensive analyses like requirements extraction.
Asynchronous processing improves user experience by eliminating wait times and allowing you to multitask effectively.
Job
A background processing task in Zen AI, such as analyzing a document or generating a report. Jobs are processed asynchronously and update their status as they progress.
Jobs in Zen AI go through stages like Queued, Processing, and Completed, with notifications when they're ready for review.
API
Application Programming Interface - a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. Zen AI provides APIs for integration with other systems.
APIs enable Zen AI to connect with your existing tools and workflows, creating a more integrated experience.
Output Language
The language in which Zen AI generates analysis results and reports. This can be configured in your company profile settings to match your preferred language.
Multilingual output capabilities ensure that language barriers don't prevent you from getting value from Zen AI's analyses.
Reference Matching Terms
These terms relate to Zen AI's reference matching capabilities.
Relevance Score
A numerical value indicating how closely a reference matches the requirements of a tender. Higher scores indicate stronger matches.
Relevance scores help you prioritize which references to include in your proposal, focusing on those that best demonstrate your capability to meet the specific tender requirements.
Vector Embedding
The process of converting text into numerical vectors that capture semantic meaning, allowing for similarity comparisons. Zen AI uses vector embeddings to power its reference matching capabilities.
Vector embeddings enable the system to understand the meaning behind text, not just match keywords, resulting in more accurate and relevant reference suggestions.
Semantic Search
A search method that understands the intent and contextual meaning of search terms, rather than just matching keywords. Zen AI uses semantic search for finding relevant references.
Semantic search helps identify conceptual matches even when different terminology is used, providing more comprehensive and accurate results than traditional keyword matching.
Document Management Terms
These terms relate to how documents are managed within Zen AI.
Raw Data ID
A unique identifier assigned to uploaded tender documents that links them to opportunities and analyses.
Raw Data IDs ensure that documents are properly associated with the correct opportunities and analyses throughout the system.
Document Collection
A group of related documents associated with an opportunity, such as tender documents, addenda, and supporting materials.
Document collections keep all materials related to an opportunity organized and accessible in one place.
Extraction
The process of identifying and pulling out specific information from documents, such as requirements, deadlines, or evaluation criteria.
Extraction transforms unstructured document content into structured, actionable information that can be analyzed and used in proposal development.
Integration Terms
These terms relate to how Zen AI can connect with other systems and platforms.
API Key
A unique identifier used to authenticate and authorize API requests to the Zen AI platform.
API keys ensure secure access to Zen AI's capabilities from external systems while maintaining appropriate access controls.
Webhook
A mechanism that allows Zen AI to send real-time notifications to other systems when specific events occur, such as opportunity status changes.
Webhooks enable automated workflows that span multiple systems, creating a more integrated and efficient process.
OAuth
An open standard for access delegation, commonly used for secure API authentication without sharing passwords. Zen AI uses OAuth for integrations with platforms like Microsoft and Atlassian.
OAuth provides a secure way to connect Zen AI with other systems while maintaining strong security practices.