Electronics AI agent · B2B quoting
B2B Quoting Copilot AI Agent
Assemble quotes from your own price, lead-time and availability data, disclose the terms that travel with each line, and hold the quote for the named approver who decides whether it is issued.
- Typical delivery
- 4–6 weeks
- Deployment
- Your stack
- Desk approves
- Pre-issue
- After launch
- Agent Care
What this agent does
Assembles the quote, not the decision to issue
In
- 01
Ingest the request, its line items and the account record from supported ERP, CPQ, portal or email sources.
- 02
Normalise each part to its full orderable number, and stop on a partial match rather than quoting a neighbour.
Reason
- 03
Price each line from the account's own contract price file and configured band, never from pooled or competitor data.
- 04
Read lead time and availability from the seller's own feeds, and carry the as-of timestamp onto the quoted line.
- 05
Attach the term set the account is configured for, stating NCNR, MOQ, standard pack and allocation status.
Decide
- 06
Run the restricted-party, end-use and destination screens configured for the seller against each party on the quote.
- 07
Stop the quote where a screen returns a hit, and route it to the named trade-compliance officer as a hard block.
Out
- 08
Retain the sources, the price basis, the screening result and the approver's amendments against the quote.
- 09
Execute write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.
Product statement
The agent assembles the quote; a named approver decides whether it is issued — and a seller who advertised full autonomy has conceded the risk of its own pricing errors.
Example workflow
One quote, request to issue
- 1Request receivedRFQ email, ERP quote request, CPQ record or customer portal
- 2Sources assembledContract price file, availability feed, lead-time basis and account terms, each timestamped
- 3Quote draftedLine pricing, lead time, attached terms and confidence
- 4Controls appliedBand checks, term-set checks, configured party and destination screens, and confidence threshold
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run unaided, and nothing is issued at any of them — the agent is assembling, and the desk's lane opens at the confidence gate.
Goes to the sales desk to approve.
Adds a pricing-manager read first.
Sales-desk approval
The quote is held with its sources, its flagged lines and the confidence.
Approve · Amend · Send to compliance review
Approved — released to issue
- 6ERP and CPQ updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
- 7Outcome evaluatedAmendment distance, flagged-line outcomes, screening stops and post-issue corrections
Amendments
Every approver amendment is counted in the evaluation.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required
8 items
- Issuing the quote to the customer.
- Accepting the buyer's purchase-order terms.
- Pricing outside the configured band.
- Releasing anything a screening hit stopped.
Automation boundary
Agent acts unaided
- ✓Assemble the quote from your own price and availability data.
- ✓Carry each figure forward with its source and timestamp.
- ✓Apply the configured price band and standard term set.
- ✓Flag the lines the desk should weigh, and hold the quote for it.
Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of the approver.
- Promising a lead time or an allocation.
- Waiving NCNR, MOQ or standard-pack terms.
- Classifying a part or deciding a licence.
- Changes to the band, terms or screening rules.
Example output
One quoted line, annotated
Everything the agent assembles is attached to the source it was drawn from.
Quote output · single line
Illustrative example- Customer
- Contract manufacturer
- Quoted line
- Power connector, full orderable part number, tape and reel
- Quantity
- 2,500 pcs
- Price basis
- Account contract price file
- Confidence
- 93%
- Terms attached
- Seller terms, NCNR stated
As received
Read from the seller's own price file and availability feed — nothing on this side is priced by the agent.
Sources used
- Account price file
- Availability feed timestamp
- Published lead-time basis
Why these terms
The seller's own term set, attached as configured — not chosen line by line.
What the score decides
Below the configured threshold the quote takes a pricing-manager read before the desk sees it.
Action
ApproveAmendSend to compliance reviewValue
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value lands
Value 01 – 04
Every request
From your own sources
Assemble from your data
Draw on the account's contract price file, the seller's availability feeds and the configured band.
Assemble it, a person issues it
Routine repeat lines arrive priced, timestamped and with their terms already attached.
Send the read to the risky lines
Screening stops, out-of-band prices and low-confidence lines are marked, so the desk's read starts where risk concentrates.
Build an evidence trail
The quote, the price and lead-time sources behind it and the approver stay together.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
ERP and distribution
- SAP S/4HANA Sales
- Epicor Prophet 21
- Infor
CPQ and price management
- Salesforce Revenue Cloud
- Oracle CPQ
- PROS
- Pricefx
Part data and lifecycle
- SiliconExpert
- Z2Data
- Distributor availability feeds
Agent
B2B quote assembly
- Reads your sources
- Assembles the quote
- Holds for approval
Trade compliance
- Descartes Visual Compliance
- Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE
Observability & evaluation
- OpenTelemetry
- Langfuse
- Supported monitoring/evaluation sources
Integration availability depends on the client's existing systems and API access.
Agent controls
Six layers between the model and the quote
Each control encloses the last. Whatever slips past all of them is named below.
L6 · Outermost — last line of defence
Inward → L1 · closest to the model
- L1 – L2
- Test whether a quote may stand
- L3
- Puts the issue in an approver's hands
- L4 – L5
- Keep the quote and the sources it was built from
- L6
- Cuts back to price lookup when signals degrade
How Nestack evaluates it
Evaluate the quoting workflow — not only the number on the last line.
Coverage runs the whole depth of the workflow, and every layer is cut by slice.
Surface — the quote the buyer receives
- E1Final-output evaluationDid each priced line match the price basis it cited?
- E2Step-level evaluationDid the agent use the right price file, band and term set?
- E3Tool evaluationDid it read and write the correct account and the correct quote?
- E4Confidence calibrationDo low-confidence quotes actually attract more amendments?
- E5Slice evaluationHow does performance change across specific quote types?
- E6Business outcomeHow many quotes needed an amendment, or a correction after issue?
Floor — the exposure the seller answers for
Failure modes
Where each failure originates in the agent
Seven ways a quote goes wrong, set at its own stage.
Agent lifecycle
Direction of processing →
01 · Retrieval
1 mode
- VB-03
Stale availability read
Lead time taken from a feed the supplier has since moved.
Stage gathers
Price file, availability feed, terms and band config
02 · Reasoning
2 modes
- VB-04
Unit or pack conversion
A conversion puts a line price orders of magnitude out.
- VB-06
Competitor-derived input
A forwarded competing bid is reasoned into the price basis.
Stage proposes
Line pricing, lead time, terms and confidence
03 · Tool / write
2 modes
- VB-02
Validity line over a signature
A validity period is written above a signature block.
- VB-05
Bare acknowledgment of an order
A buyer's order is confirmed with no seller terms attached.
Stage writes
Only where write access and approval policy allow it
04 · Output
1 mode
- VB-01
Terms not stated at quote
NCNR, MOQ or pack status is missing from the quote.
Stage returns
The quote the approver issues and the buyer reads
05 · Change / Version
1 mode
- VB-07
Silent template regression
A template change drops the seller's standard terms attachment.
Stage tracks
Model, prompt, band rules and term-set config
- Sev-1 · a quote issued outside the boundary
- Sev-2 · a wrong price or term reaches the buyer
- Sev-3 · source degrades, quote routes to review
Affected slices
Overall quote quality can hide one cohort
Across a quarter the amendment rate reads low, because the accounts carrying it are the fewest — new customers, quoted once, with no pricing history behind them. Nestack reports the rate by slice.
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregate
Illustrative example| Slice | Failure rate | Lift | Lift vs. threshold | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New accounts with no pricing history | 4.8% | 3.7× | Review | |
| Allocated and long-lead parts | 2.9% | 2.2× | Review | |
| Non-standard terms or pack sizes | 2.0% | 1.5× | Watch | |
| Repeat lines on a current price file | 1.0% | 0.8× | Normal |
Bar: amendment-rate lift vs. the repeat-line baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold
2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
A cycle ends in the suite, not the post-mortem
The cycle does not end in a post-mortem. It ends in a case the next release has to clear, and that suite is what the next quote out is measured against.
Improvement cycle · five stages
Switchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
- 01
Detect
Amendment rate rises in one quote slice.
- 02
Diagnose
If the rise holds a second week, a quote-desk manager reads back through the quotes and the price basis behind each until one cause is left.
- 03
Improve
Each change carries a version and the quotes that forced it.
- 04
Verify
Release waits on the affected cases going green again.
- 05
Learn
The case is kept for good, and the quoting rules are rewritten around it.
Learn → Detect
The return edge. The next detection is measured against a suite one case longer.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, quoting workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.
Workstream
Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
- 01Quoting workflow discovery and boundary definition.Week 1
- 02ERP, CPQ and price-file assessment.Week 1, Week 2
- 03Price-band, term-set and screening-configuration mapping.Week 1, Week 2
- 04Request ingestion and part normalisation.Week 2
- 05Pricing logic and price-basis binding.Week 2, Week 3
- 06Confidence scoring and exception routing.Week 3
- 07Sales-desk approval workflow.Week 3, Week 4
- 08ERP and CPQ integration.Week 5
- 09Price and term regression cases.Week 4, Week 5
- 10Guardrails and approval controls.Week 4
- 11Quote-trail instrumentation.Week 5, Week 6
- 12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.Week 6
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallel
Final scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
| Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tier | PilotOne price file, one desk | ProductionProduction ERP and CPQ | AdvancedMultiple entities / regions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduced at Pilot | |||
| Assembly from your own sources | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approver sign-off | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quote-accuracy baseline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Introduced at Production | |||
| Reporting by customer tier | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approval workflow in your systems | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approved write-back | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| ERP and CPQ integration | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Introduced at Advanced | |||
| Multi-entity price and term rules | — | — | ✓ |
| Multi-stage desk approvals | — | — | ✓ |
| High quote volume | — | — | ✓ |
| Multi-entity quoting controls | — | — | ✓ |
| Build price | From $5,000 | From $8,000 | Custom quote |
- Final build price
- Confirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, quote volume, approval controls and deployment requirements.
- Separate from build
- Build pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bring
We build with it
01Your contract price files and account term sets
→Price-file ingestion and band mapping
Week 102Representative quotes you have already issued
→Quoting baseline, price-basis binding and term attachment
Week 203Your standard terms and your non-offer legend
→Term-set, band and screening-configuration mapping
Week 104Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports
→ERP, CPQ and availability-feed assessment, then integration setup
Week 205Quotes you would not want honoured
→Term cases and failure-mode testing
Week 406What a quote may never commit on its own
→Confidence scoring, screening configuration, guardrails and approval controls
Week 307Named approvers on the sales desk
→Sales-desk approval workflow, then pilot and production validation
Weeks 5–6
Nothing else is required
Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
The bands sit on the weeks the work occupies, which is why the fifth carries two kinds at once.
Phase
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
- DiscoveryW1
- BuildW2 – W3
- EvaluateW4 – W5
- Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focus
W1Quoting workflow discovery, term mapping and the automation boundary
W2Source integration and the quoting baseline
W3Quoting workflow, confidence logic and approval controls
W4Evaluation suite, screening configuration and failure-mode testing
W5ERP and CPQ integration, pilot quotes and targeted corrections
W6One quoting cycle assembled under the sales desk, then Agent Care handover
- Reading the band
- Each bar covers only the weeks its work is named in. The week 5 overlap is real work, not padding.
- At the end of W6
- The cycle closes the validation and Agent Care takes over monitoring.
- Duration
- Six-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Electronics AI agent
Build a quoting copilot around the desk that already signs your quotes.
Show us your price files, your availability feeds and the terms that travel with a quote. Who is allowed to issue one outside the band today, and would you know afterwards if they had? We'll set the band, wire the screens and leave the issuing where it already sits.
- Typical delivery
- 4–6 weeks
- Deployment
- Your ERP and CPQ
- Desk approves
- Pre-issue
- After launch
- Agent Care available
Nestack Agents · B2B quoting copilot
AGT-EL-05 · Agent Care available after launch