You can select items that are already in a quote, and compare different vendor’s prices for those items. To launch the price comparison worksheet, open an existing quote, or have a quote open with some line items in it, select a line or lines and select the Compare button from the standard toolbar. If you do not select any items on the quote sheet, all the items on the quote will be compared.

Choosing Vendors

You will be prompted to select which vendor databases you would like to include in the comparison.

Vendor Price Comparison Worksheet

Next, the Vendor Price Comparison Worksheet will appear. QuoteWerks will search for the manufacturer part number of the item that is being compared in each of the selected product databases, and display each vendor’s price for that manufacturer part number.

The Vendor Price Comparison Worksheet contains a wealth of information. It displays the manufacturer part number of the item it is comparing, the description of the item, and the price from each vendor that was included in the price comparison.

Save Column

When you make a change to an item in the price comparison worksheet such as changing the vendor, or updating the selected vendor’s price with real-time pricing, a save icon () will become selectable in the left-most column. If you click on the save icon, the changes that you made will be applied to the line item back in the quote. If you do not click on the save icon, then any changes made to this item on the price comparison worksheet will not be applied to the quote. You can also click on the () toolbar button to save all the line items that have changed.

Vendor Column

There is also a vendor column that lists the vendor that you are currently sourcing the product from. You can change the vendor that you would like to source the product from by selecting a different vendor.

Selected Vendor Indicator

You may also notice that one of the vendor’s price cells has a check mark in it and the rest do not. QuoteWerks marks vendor that is currently selected under the vendor column with that check mark, making it easier for you to locate the selected vendor’s price.

Export to Clipboard

You can use the () toolbar button to export all of the information to the Windows clipboard so that you can paste the information into another application for further analysis if desired.

Select All

You can use the () toolbar button to select all of the items in the window.

Deselect All

You can use the () toolbar button to deselect all of the items in the window.

Real-time Pricing & Availability

You can also use the () toolbar button to retrieve the real-time data from all the vendors at once for all the items in the comparison worksheet, or for just the selected items. Once you have retrieved real-time pricing & availability, the availability will be displayed in two ways. The total availability and the availability from your warehouse (if one is selected for that distributor on the Real Time tab of the Setup -> Options menu) will display if you hover your mouse over in the vendor column.

To add the product to the quote using a different vendor, click the radio button that vendor’s column and hit the button.

Source item(s)

You can use these toolbar buttons to automatically Source item(s) from the Vendor that best matches your needs. There are 3 different options. They each source the item(s) based on some different criteria.

Source item(s) from best cost vendor ()

This option simply finds the vendor with the lowest cost even if the vendor does not have any stock of the item.

Source item(s) from best cost vendor with Stock ()

This option sources the product from the lowest cost vendor that actually has the item in stock.

Source item(s) from best cost vendor with Stock in Preferred Warehouse ()

This option sources the product from the lowest cost vendor that actually has the item in stock at your preferred warehouse. You can specify your preferred warehouse for each vendor under the Real-time tab of the Setup -> Options menu. Usually your preferred warehouse would be the warehouse geographically close to you. The advantages of shipping from your preferred warehouse are that the shipping charges would be lower since the product does not have to be shipped as far and also in some cases, you can pickup the items from the warehouse directly.

General Disclaimer

Items in the distributor’s pricing databases do not always have the correct manufacturer’s part #. This can lead to difficulties in comparing prices by using the manufacturer part number as the reference point. Some distributors include or exclude hyphens and/or spaces. Some distributors make up their own extensions. In most cases the comparisons will work properly, but it is important to note that inconsistencies do exist and are out of the control of Aspire Technologies, Inc. the manufacturer of QuoteWerks. If you are not sure about a price derived from a comparison, look it up manually.

The following is an example of the inconsistencies:

WD Caviar 540Mb drive

Ingram Manufacturer Part# AC2540

TD Manufacturer Part# AC2540 00HSW

Part Number Handling

There may be times when QuoteWerks runs into an issue pulling information from the distributor. This can be for a number of reasons, often related to there being multiple part numbers for an item or an issue with the feed. To help identify potential issues, each cell containing the vendor pricing will also have a circle in it. Depending on QuoteWerks ability to verify that part number and other components being pulled from the distributor this button will display in either green, yellow, or red.

•Green: This part number has been verified and no issues have been found.

•Yellow: This item has more than one part number listed.

•Red: There is a significant issue that could impede the fulfillment of this product. This can be because of insufficient stock, an issue resolving the part number, or an issue with obtaining product information from the selected vendor.

If there are multiple part numbers returned for an item a # will appear in the vendor cell that includes pricing. Clicking the # will open a window where you can select which part number to use.