Quote Estimation System

A manufacturer’s quoting process ran on a shared spreadsheet. Version control was nonexistent. Six sales reps had their own copies, each with different formulas. Quotes were inconsistent. Errors were common. They were losing deals.

Problem

The core problem was simple but damaging. Every rep had a slightly different version of the pricing spreadsheet. Some had updated discount rules. Others still used last year’s formulas. Clients received different prices depending on who they spoke to.

Management had no visibility into quoting activity. There was no audit trail. No way to spot errors before they went out the door.

What They’d Tried

They had standardized the template several times. Within months, people created their own versions again. Old habits returned quickly.

They also considered buying quoting software. Nothing fit their specific product and pricing model. The off-the-shelf tools were either too simple or too complex for their needs.

What We Did

We started with the data model. We mapped every product, pricing rule, discount structure, and approval workflow. The goal was to capture the actual business logic, not just replicate the spreadsheet.

We built a database-driven quoting system with formula logic that matched the real business rules. Full audit trail. Multi-user access with role-based permissions. One version of the truth.

Outcome

Quoting throughput increased significantly. Errors from inconsistent formulas were eliminated entirely. The audit trail gave management visibility they never had before. Over time, the system became a competitive advantage because they could quote faster and more accurately than competitors.

The Database-First Lesson

The spreadsheet was not the problem. The problem was that pricing logic lived in six different copies with no single source of truth. Once the data model was right, the interface was straightforward. The complexity was in the business rules, not the software.