RFQ automation for emailed quote requests

A request for quote usually arrives the same way an order does: an email, sometimes with a PDF or a spreadsheet attached, sometimes just a list typed into the message. Before anyone can price it, someone has to turn that list into lines in the ERP. That preparation is what RFQ automation takes on.

1. Read the request. Pull out who is asking, their reference, the date they need the quote by and the delivery location.
2. List the items. Every item asked for, with the quantity, the customer's code if they gave one, and their description as written.
3. Match to your products. Map each item to your SKU using the customer's past orders, your part-number table and the description, flagging any item with more than one plausible match.
4. Pull price and stock. Bring in the list price, the customer's price level and stock on hand for each matched item.
5. Draft the quote. Stage a draft quote in the ERP for a person to price, adjust and send.

The person quoting starts from a prepared draft instead of a blank screen and an email.

An order is a firm instruction. The customer has decided what they want, usually from a quote you already sent, and the job is to key it without errors. A quote request is the start of a conversation, and it is messier in ways that need judgment:

• Vague descriptions. "20mm valves, brass, about 30" can match several of your items. Someone has to choose, or ask.
• Alternates. Customers ask for a brand you do not carry, and the right answer is an equivalent you do. Picking it takes product knowledge.
• Specs and drawings. Some requests point to a drawing, a standard or a site specification. Reading those against your range is expert work.
• Pricing strategy. Whether to sharpen a price depends on the customer, the size of the job and who else is quoting.

So RFQ automation prepares and proposes, flags every match it is unsure of, and leaves the decisions where they belong.

Our first job is orders. Quote requests are the next step for the same engine. If RFQs are your bottleneck, tell us in the shadow test form. The test can include a month of your quote requests alongside your orders, so you see how well the matching works on them before anything is built.

The reader is built for orders, so it may say it found no order in a quote request. Many RFQs share an order's line layout, so it is worth a try. Paste the request email or drop the attachment into the PO reader. If it reads the lines, the result shows how much of the preparation could be done for you. If a request lists items without quantities, expect it to come back as no order found.

For the rest of the order flow, see purchase order automation and sales order automation.