Basic Order Fulfillment Processing Guide

Part 3: Quoting

This B2B process enables a buyer to request product availability and pricing information.  The supplier may provide fixed or negotiated prices specific to the partner relationship.

Business Process Management

The B2B quoting process allows a buyer to send a message to the supplier to request a quote.

The supplier must evaluate the request, confirm product availability and determine the appropriate pricing.  The supplier then sends a quote to the buyer.

The quote represents a commitment by the supplier to sell products/services at the prices listed in the quote.

Quotes may include one or more items, fixed or negotiated prices, item availability, freight and tax information.

Total Quality Management

The B2B quoting process improves these business measures:

Reduces the amount of time spent by sales departments to deliver quotations per buyer requests.

Speeds the quoting process by automating the pricing decisions within the supplier’s business applications

Improves customer satisfaction by providing a simple and automated method for the buyer to obtain pricing commitments.

Information Technology

The quoting process will require a pair of B2B messages initiated by the buyer.  The complexity of the quoting process can vary from issuing standard pricing to enabling collaborative price negotiations.

The seller’s business applications may be required to automate pricing and discounts for individual partners, products, locations and order volumes.

The quote from the supplier typically includes a unique identifier (quote #) that may be used by the buyer when requesting the purchase order.  The supplier’s business application should maintain each quoted agreement.

The quotes may be sent as an individual quote or as a group (batch) of quotes.

B2B Standards

This table identifies standards supporting the B2B Quoting Process.