two customers are actually asking the same question but phrased differently what should I fill in

Two questions, one answer from the supply chain file

If two customers ask the same question in different ways, you generally fill in the same answer for both — only the wording of the question differs, not the underlying fact. If one customer asks "do you have an ISO 27001 certificate?" and the other asks "what technical and organisational measures have you taken against cyber threats?", it is often about the same underlying practice: the control measures from Annex A of ISO/IEC 27001, or the ten measures of Article 21(2) of the NIS2 Directive. One supply chain file with facts is then sufficient for both portals; the system recognises the question and applies the existing answer to that portal's wording.

Pay attention to the level of detail: a question about "do you have a continuity plan?" is broader than a question about "do you have an alternative site for your data centre?" — the latter is a sub-question within the business continuity plan for a serious disruption. Then fill in the more specific answer, not the general one. The same applies to sustainability lists: one customer asks for "number of FTE", the other for "workforce size" — that is the same metric from the number of employees of the undertaking, even if the EFRAG VSME basic module and a banking format use a different word.

Why reuse works here: one source of facts, multiple formats

This reuse works because questionnaires usually refer back to a limited number of underlying regulations or standards — the CSRD Directive (EU) 2022/2464 behind sustainability questions, the NIS2 Directive behind cyber questions, ISO standards behind certification questions — which are themselves fixed, while each customer portal chooses its own question wording and layout. The system matches the question to the underlying fact in the file; if the match is uncertain, it asks for confirmation per answer, and that control always remains with the customer.