An RFQ automation brief should define how an enquiry becomes a reviewed customer quotation. Identify the input documents, product matching, supplier response, price rules and approval. Softomate's first-phase implementation starts from £5,000. A supplier portal, complex matching or wider purchasing programme requires a separate scope; ongoing care and usage must also be budgeted.
Reviewed 13 September 2026.
The first workflow should take one agreed type of customer request to a clear review point. That may be a structured RFQ record, a supplier comparison or a customer quotation draft. Define the handover before choosing a tool, because each result requires different connections, data and business checks.
Map the current process with the employee who actually prepares quotations. Record where the request arrives, which information they look up and what prevents them quoting immediately. Keep the original enquiry available alongside the extracted fields so a reviewer can investigate an uncertain result. The RFQ and quotation automation service describes the commercial starting scope.
Correctly reading a number does not establish that the requested item matches the product you intend to quote. Similar descriptions can refer to different grades, dimensions, pack sizes or manufacturers. The brief must explain which identifiers establish a match and when the system should ask a person to decide.
Illustrative example: a customer asks for 100 units, while a supplier quotes for ten packs containing twelve units each. The supplier response covers 120 units. A comparison that ignores the unit conversion can produce the wrong cost and selling price even when every character was extracted correctly. This is a fictional specification example, not a claim about a client's results.
Ask the implementation provider to show how the unmatched request is held, which fields the reviewer sees and how the approved match is recorded. A useful system can prepare work without pretending uncertainty has disappeared. Where matching requires a larger catalogue-cleaning exercise, identify that work separately from the first automation.
Supplier responses should be compared on the same commercial basis. Identify the requested quantity, quoted unit, currency, delivery charge, lead time and validity date. Keep the original response with the structured comparison so staff can check a term before choosing a supplier or preparing the customer quotation.
Do not assume every supplier offers a usable API or a consistent spreadsheet. One may reply by email, another may use a PDF and another may require a portal. The first scope should state which response formats and routes are supported. Portal automation and additional supplier formats can be separate work.
The selected supplier remains a business decision unless specific purchasing authority has been agreed. The first phase can prepare a comparison for staff without automatically placing an order.
Margin rules should be explicit business calculations, with exceptions routed to an authorised reviewer. State the cost basis, currency conversion, permitted adjustments and who can approve a price outside the rule. The AI can help interpret an enquiry, but it should not invent a discount or selling price.
Separate a suggested quotation from an issued quotation. A reviewer needs the selected products, supplier response, quantity conversion, commercial terms and proposed customer price. If a relevant source changes before approval, the workflow should flag or recheck the draft rather than silently issuing an outdated version.
The illustrative RFQ approval walkthrough makes these decisions inspectable. Use it as a conversation starter for your own acceptance criteria. It does not replace testing against the documents and commercial rules used by your business.
Softomate's RFQ first phase starts from £5,000, with optional care from £399/month. The written proposal defines the initial enquiry-to-quotation workflow and its review point. Prices exclude VAT; existing system access, document or AI usage, hosting and required third-party services are separate.
The entry price does not mean every supplier, document format and purchasing system is included. A broader programme can involve catalogue preparation, several intake routes, custom connectors, supplier portals, historical data and multiple approval levels. Compare proposals against the same input and expected output rather than comparing their headings.
Invoice extraction is a separate offer from £4,500, covering one intake route, one document type and validated draft output. Full ERP posting and purchase-order reconciliation are not implied. Likewise, an order or inventory first workflow starts from £6,000. These tasks can connect later, but their separate scopes should remain visible in the quote.
For a wider programme, use the AI integration services hub to map the connected work. Keep a written list of what the first phase will deliver and what requires a later quote.
Use a small set of representative requests with known expected outcomes, including the cases that cause staff to pause. Test the completed quotation and the decision to stop. A system that refuses to issue an incomplete quote can be behaving correctly, even though it has not automated the whole request.
Agree who signs off each test and where the results are kept. A short recording using these cases is more informative than a promise of "fully automated quotations". It also gives the operations team a reference when a later change affects the workflow.
Before quoting, provide anonymised customer requests, supplier replies, a completed quotation and the rules used to prepare it. Identify the system owners and approval roles. At handover, receive the agreed configuration or source deliverables, connection inventory, test results, process notes and a clear route for reporting an exception.
Measure the current process before launch: task volume, time spent preparing a usable draft, number of clarification requests and errors found during review. Compare equivalent work after launch. Faster drafting is useful, but it does not automatically translate into more orders or a guaranteed payback period.
A custom ERP copilot can later let employees ask about quotation status or prepare the agreed follow-up. Begin with a controlled workflow whose result can be checked, then expand only when its ownership and commercial value are clear.
Yes. A first phase can structure the incoming RFQ and prepare a reviewed draft or comparison while employees retain supplier communication. That narrower boundary can be useful when suppliers have inconsistent response formats. The proposal should identify which steps remain with staff and the exact handover point.
The connection depends on the required records, operations and available interface. We inspect the system edition, permitted access and test environment before committing to a design. A legacy application may support an approved import or integration route, but its capabilities should not be assumed from the product name.
It can prepare a comparison, but lowest unit price is not always the correct buying decision. Delivery, pack size, quote validity and other approved commercial criteria may matter. Supplier selection and purchasing authority should be explicit, with review where the business has not authorised an automatic decision.
The agreed approval rules determine whether a quotation may be issued. A first implementation can keep all customer quotations behind review. Later automation requires defined conditions, validation and an action record; a confident model response by itself is not approval to commit the business to a price.
Optional care for the RFQ first phase starts from £399/month. The plan specifies the agreed checks, support and response arrangements. Additional development, licences, hosting and usage are separate, and prices exclude VAT. The quote should also state who owns the workflow and connected accounts.
An effective RFQ brief follows the request from source documents to a reviewed quotation. It defines product matching, units, supplier terms, margin and approval, including when the system must stop. Softomate's first phase starts from £5,000, with optional care from £399/month and third-party costs, usage and VAT separate. Bring representative customer and supplier documents, test ambiguous and incomplete cases, and agree ownership before launch. Supplier portals, extra formats and wider purchasing work need explicit scope rather than an assumption that one starting fee covers the whole operation.
Send an anonymised RFQ and completed quotation to scope your first workflow.
Prepared by Deen Dayal Yadav and the Softomate Solutions team. Softomate implements business software and automation for London and UK organisations. The prices in this guide are Softomate offers, not an independent market survey.
We protect the real names of all clients featured in examples and case studies. Every testimonial is from a real client.
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