How to evaluate rules, exceptions, pricing, handoffs, onboarding and the cost of changing systems.
Most manufacturers I talk to aren't in a panic about quoting. They're quoting customers, getting orders and getting revenue. They've put up with their process for so long that they're used to it. That's why replacing it is hard to justify, and why it's easy to get wrong.
Before you look at any software, ours included, answer these seven questions. They'll tell you what a new process has to do, and what it will really take to get there.
1. What rules does your quoting actually follow?
Not the rules in the ordering guide: the rules your people actually use. Which options can go together, what needs engineering to review, how part numbers are built, and what gets added for special cases.
When we set up a new product family with a manufacturer, the first round of questions almost always turns up rules nobody had written down. People look at each other and say, "We're going to have to go figure that out." Better to find that out now than halfway through a project.
A good answer: the rules for at least one product family are written down, and the people who own them agree with them.
2. How are exceptions handled today?
No process covers every request. There will always be a new cable, a special print on the jacket, or a length nobody has quoted before. Ask how those get answered now, who answers them, and whether the answer is kept anywhere.
A new process should keep exceptions visible and send them to the right person, rather than forcing a salesperson to pick the closest option. Be realistic, too: for a true one-off, any process will feel much the same as your spreadsheet. The gain comes the next time someone asks.
A good answer: you know who decides exceptions, and their answers are recorded for next time.
3. Where do your costs come from, and who keeps them current?
Costs come from supplier prices, labor estimates and judgment. Some manufacturers cost a connector as one line; others list the dust cover, crimp ring and boot separately. Ask where each cost comes from, how often it changes and who updates it. Ask who can approve a margin below the usual, and how that's recorded.
To be fair to spreadsheets, they're pretty good at repeating what they're built to do, as long as the data is up to date. Keeping it up to date is where they fall down.
A good answer: each cost has one source and one owner, and a price change gets made once.
4. What has to happen before you can quote?
Ask your team: Do you have to set up the part number in your system before you can quote it? Do you have to build the bill of materials first? Does engineering have to get involved?
If the answer is yes, every new configuration starts with setup work, even though many part numbers get quoted and never ordered.
A good answer: you can quote any valid configuration without creating it in your ERP first, and you create it when it's ordered.
5. What happens after the quote?
The quote isn't the end of the job. Someone turns it into an order, enters it in your ERP or MRP, sets up the part and its bill of materials, and sends it to the floor. Each of those handoffs is a chance to retype something wrong.
Map every step from accepted quote to work order, and count how many times the same information gets typed. If you connect a new quoting process to your ERP, do it in phases: first check whether the part exists and create it if it doesn't, then send the order, and bring in the bill of materials after that.
A good answer: an accepted quote becomes an order without anyone retyping it.
6. Who will maintain it, and how will new people learn it?
Somebody has to own the rules after you go live: add new options, update costs and decide which exceptions become rules. Name that person before you start. Make sure they can see what changed and undo a mistake, because they'll make some.
Then think about your next new salesperson. With the right process, they shouldn't have to memorize your product line. They need to know what questions to ask the customer to get to the right part number.
A good answer: one named person owns the rules, and a new salesperson can quote your standard configurations without asking for help.
7. What will changing cost, and what does staying put cost you now?
Count the cost of changing honestly. Setting up product families takes time, and the pace usually depends on how quickly your own people can supply the information. Connecting systems takes time. So does getting people to trust a new way of working.
Adoption is the part most people underestimate. Change is hard. You can demo a new process and train everyone on it, and the next day people go back to doing it the way they always have. If using the new process is optional, plenty of people won't. Decide up front that it's how quotes get made, and listen to the people who complain. In my experience the grumpiest users give you the most useful feedback.
Then count the cost of staying where you are. Most companies can't, because they've never measured it: how long quotes take, how often an order goes out wrong, how much engineering time goes into answering sales. Measure those for a month before you change anything. Otherwise you'll have nothing to compare against.
And ask whether you want to be in the software business. Building your own quoting tool is a full-time job that never ends. We've been building ours for more than a decade and we're still not done. If you do build your own, ask who will keep it running when the person who built it moves on, from the rules to the connections with your other systems. Do you want to manufacture cable assemblies, or write software?
What a pilot should prove
Before you commit money, run a pilot on one product family and ask to see each of these. They're fair tests for any option, including a better spreadsheet.
| Check | What you should see |
|---|---|
| Reproduce a few recent quotes | The same configuration, description, quantity, cost and terms as the real quotes |
| Try a combination you can't build | It's rejected with a clear reason, not quietly swapped for something else |
| Leave out a cost or a specification | The line is marked as an estimate or for review, with a named approver |
| Quote several lengths and quantities | Correct units, price breaks, setup charges and descriptions |
| Reopen an old quote after a cost changes | The original quote is unchanged, and a revised quote is clearly separate |
| Turn an accepted quote into an order | The order matches the quote, with nothing retyped |
| Break the connection to your ERP on purpose | A visible error, a clear owner, and no duplicate order when it's retried |
| Make a change without your main maintainer | The backup makes a routine change and gets it approved |
| Ask how you'd leave | You can export your product rules, prices and quote history in a form you can use |
Then add up the full cost: licenses, setup, your own people's time, cleaning up data, connecting systems, training, support, and what it would take to leave. Compare that with what the current process costs you, which is why it pays to measure first.
Start small
Whatever you choose, start with one product family. A simple one is best, like your one- and two-fiber assemblies, because there are fewer decisions to make. Get the part number, description and specifications right first, and only then work on costing. Once that family runs well, the next one is easier.
Your next step: answer the seven questions for one product family with sales, engineering and whoever owns costing, and write down what a pilot would have to prove.
If you'd like to work through these questions with someone who has been on both sides, book a walkthrough.
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