The objective of Exception Based Price Quoting is to offer a feature in Frontline to Auto Approve the Non DR partner’s quote with eligible discount.

In Exception Based Price Quoting, Frontline will ensure DR policies inside Exception Based Pricing scenarios are upheld automatically resolving potential legal issues, eradicating errors, and decreasing the number of quotes requiring lengthy research, review, and approval cycles. Additionally, ensure the ExceptionDiscounting only with a DR policy is automatically upheld in a quote.

Key Features:

Exception Based Price on a quote would trigger only when a non DR quote has been applied a discount greater than desired discount to be given.
Once the system finds the discount is higher than desired discount , Frontline’s exception pricing discount rules triggers to correct discount and Auto Approve the quote.
When a Non DR quote is compared against a DR quote in opportunity, multiple factors considers like product, Quantity , Term , a valid DR , license and supportagainst the DR quote,
A Non DR quote will also be “Auto Rejected” when it does not meet the rules of exception based pricing against a DR quote,
In addition Frontline has automated the PIF discount to be updated in a Non DR quote.

Key Benefits:

Improved Turnaround Time: With instant quote dispositions, the automation allows for faster quote processing and delivery to customers.
Enhanced Accuracy: The system ensures that all discounts adhere to the allowable discount levels, eliminating confusion and preventing approval errors.
Streamlined Process: By automating the approval process for non-DR quotes, we can reduce manual intervention and expedite the overall workflow.

We are confident that this new feature will provide a more efficient and seamless experience for our users. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to enhance our systems.

Automating the quote approval process for non-DR quotes will enhance the user experience by providing instant quote dispositions, allowing for faster turnaround and delivery to customers. This automation ensures accuracy in allowable discount levels, eliminating confusion and preventing approval errors that could violate a DR holder’s discount advantage.

All exception-based pricing requires a deal registration, In Phase 2 of quote automation, launching on February 05, 2025, the focus will be on automating non-DR quotes under opportunities with an approved deal registration.

Exception priced quotes under opportunities without an approved deal registration will continue to be routed to quote approvers, with guidance to reject the quote unless it qualifies for an allowable exception. Auto-rejection of these quotes will be automated in the next phase of quote automation.

Discounting Methodology for Non-DR Quotes

Non-DR exception discount approval is variable, based on the software discounts of the approved DR Quote

All distributors have access to standard non-DR discounts, which are determined by the zone and term bucket of the software.
When a DR quote is approved for exception pricing, non-DR quotes with the same configuration are also permitted to enter into exception pricing, following the discount advantage guidelines.
The permissible discount level for non-DR quotes is determined by the discount advantage guidelines outlined for deal registration.
To view the permissible software and PIF discount levels for non-DR quotes, please refer to the Distributor Transfer Pricing for PnP 2.0 SPOT page. Discounts are listed by term bucket and price zone.
The Non-DR exception pricing automation is based on NCP (2.0) software SKUs, NX HW Support and the platform integration fee (PIF) on NX & DX quotes
Legacy products and services SKUs follow standard quote approval routing

Discount Guidelines for Non-DR Quotes

Automated Quote Comparison – Product, SKU, Qty and Term

During the quote process, the deal registration must be valid and approved
The BOM is compared first on configuration (SKUs), followed by quantity and then term bucket
When there are multiple DR quotes with similar configurations, the automation will use the quote with the highest overall discount to compare the Non-DR thresholds against (see here for example)
When a DR quote has multiple quote lines for the same SKU with different discounts, automation will use the lowest discount to calculate the Non-DR discount threshold (see here for example)
Every quote line is individually compared against the following scenarios

Auto Approved Quotes

Same BOM: Number of unique software products on both quotes are the same
Same SKUs: The Unique software product License tier and support type on the quotes are the same
Same Quantity
Two Term Buckets at a line level: 1 to 35 months (1) and 36 or greater (2)
- Non-DR quotes with Term Bucket 2 can be approved against Term Bucket 1 but not vice versa
Discounts on the Non-DR quote must adhere to or be below the discount advantage guideline
- When the SKU, quantity, and term on the non-DR quote match the DR quote, but the discount on the non-DR quote exceeds the discount advantage guideline, the system will automatically adjust the discount to the acceptable level and proceed to auto-approve the non-DR quote

Quotes Routed for Approval

Non-DR quotes that meet the auto-approval criteria but are missing a required services SKUs will be routed for approval review instead of auto approving
- Any discount adjustment required for auto-approval will be made before the quote is routed for approval review
Non-DR quotes that meet the auto-approval criteria but have a Sales Program on the Opportunity will be routed for approval review instead of auto approving
- Any discount adjustment required for auto-approval will be made before the quote is routed for approval review
Quotes identified on the exclusion list will be routed for approval (see Exclusions and Exceptions section below)
Quotes with an exception selected will be routed for approval (see Exclusions and Exceptions section below)

Auto Rejected Quotes

Exception-based pricing quotes will be automatically rejected if they do not meet the qualifications outlined in the guardrails or the following scenarios.

Auto-rejection will be a quote status (e.g., Approved, Expired, Void, etc.)
Auto-rejection will be included in the quote history tracking in Frontline
Auto-rejection is recorded as a “System Rejection” rather than an “ApproverRejection”
Users cannot manually tag a quote with’Auto-Rejection’ status
During cloning, if the original quote is in ‘Auto-Rejection’ status, the new cloned quote will be in Draft status.
When a quote is auto-rejected, a pop-up message will appear in Frontline to the quote submitter —regardless of channel, internal, quote creator/editor, etc. Additionally, an email notification will be sent.

Platform Integration Fee (PIF) – Quote Discounting

Standard Discount Quotes: PIF Discount = 0%

Exception Discount Quotes: PIF Discount = Variable (Based on the software discount)

To view the permissible software and PIF discount levels for non-DR quotes, please refer to the Distributor Transfer Pricing for PnP 2.0 SPOT page. Discounts are listed by term bucket and price zone.

Exclusions and Exceptions

The following types of quotes are automatically recognized in our system and do not require discount advantage discounting rules for exception pricing.

These exception priced quotes will continue to go through the approval process for review.

Quote Types	Account Types	Public Sector
Renewals Quotes	Internal Orders Quotes	Quotes for Public Sector, Public Tender (end user account that has“Public Sector” in the account segmentation field & the Opportunity RFX box is checked)
Upgrade Quotes	Direct Customer Quotes
OEM Quotes

Exceptions

Exception requests can be made for the following quote scenarios

In Frontline draft quotes, users can choose from the following exception reasons using a dropdown field to route the quote for approval review

Related Resources

Distributor Transfer Pricing for PnP 2.0Internal resource

Platform Integration Fee Internal resource

Performance+ Deal Registration Program Internal resource

Slack Channel: #non-dr-quote-automation Internal resource