Discount Analysis
Blended discount by rep, product family and deal size, with the approvals requested, how each was decided and the quotes that expired unanswered.
Quote approval
How a priced proposal gets from a rep's draft to the customer's inbox: the rules that decide who must approve, the steps in sequence, and what happens on rejection, revision and expiry.
6 stages · 1 approval
Roles and responsibilities
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Step 1Draft
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
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Step 2Submit
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
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Step 3Route
QuoteStep NumberReasonRequested DateDiscount Above Entry Maximum
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Step 4Approve
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
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Step 5Send
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
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Step 6Answer
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Draft
The rep builds the quote on the opportunity from the account's price book: lines with quantity, unit price and discount, a header with payment terms, billing frequency, validity date, scope of work and any special terms.
Submit
The rep submits. The rules check each line's discount against the rep's authority and the entry's maximum discount, and each unit price against the floor. They check the payment terms and billing frequency against the standard, the special terms field for any content, and the total against the deal size thresholds.
Route
Each breach becomes an approval step with a reason and an approver. A discount above the rep's authority goes to the first person up the reporting line whose authority covers it; above the entry's maximum it goes to the deal desk regardless. Deal size goes to the sales manager, and to the manager's manager above the second threshold where one is set. Floor price, non-standard terms, payment terms and billing frequency go to the deal desk. Steps are ordered and the first approver is notified; a quote with no breaches is approved by the system here.
Approval required
Approve
The assigned Sales Manager or Deal Desk user reviews the quote, buying committee and price history and records the decision in QuoteApprovals. The final approval marks the quote Approved. Rejection retains the rejected step and returns the quote for revision. A delegate must hold the required authority and pass the same self-approval checks.
Send
The approved quote is rendered to PDF and sent to the recipient contact; the sent date is stamped and the quote is locked. If it is the primary version, the opportunity's values are updated.
Answer
Account Executive or Customer Success Manager records the customer's answer. Accepted requires AcceptedDate and AcceptanceDocument for the current version; Declined records a refusal. An unanswered quote becomes Expired after its validity date. Any new version starts at Draft and requires its own approvals and negotiation review.
Approvals and exception handling
1 approval required in this process
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Approve
Sales Manager signs · send waits
QuoteApprovals, Quotes - Nobody approves their own quoteAnd a manager cannot approve a quote on a deal they own; the rule sends it up a level.
- Approval authority is data on the userThe price book entry and the thresholds table, so changing it is an admin action with an audit trail.
- An approver can name a delegate until a dateThe step records both the approver it was addressed to and the person who decided.
- Every step keeps whoWhen, the reason and the comment, which Discount Analysis and a margin review read.
When the process needs attention
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exception
Approvals that queue
My Approvals shows each approver their own waiting steps with the requested date.
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exception
The side letter
Anything written in special terms routes to the deal desk. A term the customer was promised that is not on the quote is a term the company has not agreed to, and the deal desk sees every one that is.
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exception
The quote that expired in a drawer
Expiry is automatic and Expiring Quotes shows the rep what is about to lapse, so a stale proposal is not still counted at proposal stage.
Records and postings
| Stage | Records | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Draft | QuotesQuoteLines | none |
| 2 Submit | QuotesPriceBookEntriesUsersApprovalThresholds | approval flag set |
| 3 Route | QuoteApprovals | approvers notified in sequence |
| 4 Approve | QuoteApprovalsQuotes | approved or returned |
| 5 Send | QuotesOpportunities | opportunity values updated |
| 6 Answer | Quotes | accepted version ready for the bookings check |
Process reports
All reportsPipeline by Stage
Open amount and deal count at each stage, weighted and unweighted, by owner and territory in the reporting currency, with the movement since last week and the deals whose close date slipped between the two weekly snapshots.
Pipeline Created
New opportunities and amount added per week by owner, source, campaign, partner and type.
Run by an agent
Agent support
The configured workflows must keep lead acceptance with Account Executive, negotiation approval with Sales Manager and bookings validation with Deal Desk. An agent can prepare evidence and drafts for those decisions. Forecast review, quote approval and realignment approval also remain human actions. Rehearsal must verify refusal of unauthorised actions and attribution of every permitted write before the agent is enabled.
# Example after configuration
$ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent
› quote approval · draft on Quotes, QuoteLines
✓ The rep builds the quote on the opportunity from the account's price book: lines with quantity, unit price and discount, a header with payment terms, billing frequency, validity date, scope of work and any special terms.
› quote approval · submit on Quotes, PriceBookEntries, Users, ApprovalThresholds
✓ The rep submits.
› quote approval · route on QuoteApprovals
✓ Each breach becomes an approval step with a reason and an approver.
› quote approval · approve on QuoteApprovals, Quotes
⏸ approval · waiting for the sales manager
# 2 more stages after approval: send, answer
Other processes
4 moreLead to deal
From a lead arriving to a signed contract handed to customer success: routing, qualification, acceptance, proposal, negotiation, the bookings check and the handover, with the gates where a person decides.
6 stages · 3 approvals
Forecast cycle
The weekly rhythm: reps categorise every open deal and submit, managers review and adjust on the record, and the period locks so the forecast can be checked against what closed.
6 stages · 2 approvals
Renewal
From a contract's notice deadline to the next contract signed: the opportunity the system opens, the risk call, the renewal quote and approval, and what happens when the customer says no.
6 stages · 2 approvals
Territory realignment
Changing who owns which accounts without losing deals in flight: modelling the new rules, approving the moves, applying them in bulk, handing over open deals, and checking nothing was orphaned.
6 stages · 2 approvals