Sidel, window frame quotation software

Company personnel, external technicians (engineers, architects), sales agents and authorized resellers access the software with different levels of permissions and operability from any Internet location.
Without the need for installations or applications other than the browser.

Products and price lists

Such a configure-price-quote type software application allows the managers of a window and door frame company a simplification of procedures and enables interaction with all users in the distribution and sales chain.

Allows you to organize your online fixtures product catalog and various price lists, as well as associate items with one or more price lists.
Each list is characterized by “series” and “essence” and a validity range. The application also manages the renewal and changeover phase from one price list to another, through well-defined quote expiration rules.
Products have various types of prices, such as with grid or linear meter structures.
These, can be further specified through a system of constraints that allows for surcharges and the modification of the final amount upon the occurrence of specified conditions.
A compatibility criterion allows products to be associated with each other. This, allows inheriting the properties of the item with which a product is associated. All through a user-friendly interface.

Discounts

Discounts can be applied when processing the cost: reseller discount, on order, custom discounts and to the final customer.
Such reductions make it possible to manage retailers’ profit margin or to run promotional campaigns for a specific period and on a specific product, even targeting only certain merchants.
A constraint system allows for the specification of warning or error conditions, upon the occurrence of which the software should generate an alert to the user at the quotation stage.
The process is rather complex, but easily extendable and very flexible. In fact, it allows the user to handle all those exception situations that may be useful to him when ordering and creating a quote.

The types of users

Users are those interested in the product production chain. They access the software with a different level of permission.
Sidel, as the system administrator, is able to manage the master records of other users.

• Sidel technician, user who enables interaction with external systems;
• Agent responsible for maintaining relationships with dealers;
• Fixture retailer;
• Professional user interested in the field.

From budgeting to ordering

Underlying the supply chain is a relationship between the parent company and its dealers, through collaboration with officers.
Agents themselves sometimes to make up for the lack of a dealer in the territory, or to deal with a particular customer, can also operate as resellers For and on behalf of Sidel itself.

The process begins with a quote made by a reseller to an end customer. The retailer works with draft quotations to do some testing.
At the time it prints and delivers the quote to its final customer, it is stored on the system and is valid for 30 days. The system retains the quote data, so that even if the list prices change, the quote still remains valid with the prices communicated before its expiration.
When the retailer or agent, generates an order (i.e., converts the quote present in drafts or in the archives, into an order, by clicking on the “order” button), the system generates the windows and doors data sheet in XLS format and sends it via e-mail to Sidel.
At this point, the order goes into “pending Sidel approval” status.
The retailer must also print out the order and fax it to Sidel. The quote also remains in the list of quotes on file, but is marked as ordered.
Then Sidel faxes any hand-edited data sheet to the retailer and changes the order status on the site to “awaiting customer approval.”
The retailer responds to the fax for acceptance, and Sidel, when it receives it, changes the status of the order to “in process,” entering the job number.
Next, Sidel updates the job status so that it can keep track of the status of the order.

Integrations with management systems

The system, given its structure, allows for integrations with external systems. At present, it interfaces with management software for uploading the data sheet containing the quote and with software for managing the order status.

Features/technical specifications

The system is written using the Php language version 5.2.0, making use of the libraries offered by the Zend Framework 1.8.5. It has a modular structure and is based on the MVC pattern, so it is easily maintainable and extendable.
Currently, it is installed on Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 servers. The web server is Apache 2 and the database MySQL 5.
The system also makes use of the PhpExcel library to read and create spreadsheets, wkhtmltopdf to create documents in Pdf format, in this case quotes and orders.
It offers an advanced Web 2.0 interface that allows for the management of the quotation phase, via Drag & Drop of products within the page containing the body of the quotation and divides the sections pertaining to the quotation into TABs, so as to subdivide its elements.

Value

The software allows for significant simplification of procedures, as it enables easy interaction between users in the supply chain.
It allows Sidel to monitor the performance of its dealers and agents, and for dealers and agents to monitor and track their agents.
Finally, it enables reporting through advanced statistics system.

Integrations with other management systems

It is possible to evaluate integration with other window and door management systems such as: Window 3000, Logico, Pragma, FareRetail, Fagis.

Do you want to create such an application for your business?

If you are the owner or manager of a window and door frame company and need to develop a similar application, you can contact Neikos Web Agency and talk to us about your project:
Tel. 0824 255.69 or fill out our contact form