Industrial RFQ systems · SOULTWARE LLC
Requirements for an industrial RFQ system
An industrial RFQ system should collect the technical and commercial context a team needs to review a request, then make ownership and the next action visible. It should not imply that software can price every job without engineering judgment.
Model the kinds of work you quote
List the job categories and the details needed to understand each one. An automation cell, a machine modification, and an engineering service may require different questions, drawings, constraints, and review roles.
Use conditional intake so requesters see relevant questions without facing one oversized form. Allow “unknown” or “to be confirmed” where the requester cannot yet provide a reliable answer.
Keep files with the request
Treat drawings, specifications, photos, and reference documents as part of the request record. Validate file types and size, restrict access, and make it clear whether a file has been received or reviewed.
Ask the team which document versions matter and how replacements should be tracked. An engineer should not have to search multiple email threads to find the current attachment.
Design the internal qualification path
Define statuses, ownership, review steps, missing-information follow-up, and the conditions for handing a request to estimating. Keep commercial approval and price calculation separate unless those rules have been explicitly scoped.
Soultware’s public industrial RFQ workspace is a product demonstration with fictional records. It illustrates an intake and qualification workflow, not a client implementation or a production quoting engine.