B2B / SaaS / Enterprise 2025

Guided Quoting

Intelligent price guidance for Schaeffler's global sales teams

Role UX Designer / Product Designer
Company Schaeffler
Type Enterprise Web Application

What is Guided Quoting?

The Product

A rules-based quoting assistant that calculates GPI pricing, confidence scores, and Net pricing for material parts across Schaeffler's global customer base.

Business Context

Schaeffler's sales teams were creating quotes manually in SAP and Excel—a slow, error-prone process that delayed deal closure and reduced pricing accuracy.

What it Replaces

Legacy SAP export + Excel spreadsheets with no validation, no intelligence, and no approval workflow.

Users & Context

Understanding the target audience and their workflows was critical to the solution.

Target Audience Overview

Key Account Manager

Creates and submits quotes for major industrial customers across European markets.

Location Germany / Poland / Spain
Frequency Daily
Primary Task Create & Submit Quotes

Approving Manager

Reviews quotes submitted by KAMs and applies final pricing approval or rejection.

Location Global HQ
Frequency Weekly
Primary Task Review & Approve

Research-backed Personas

Thomas Klein

Key Account Manager — Schaeffler DE
"I waste half my day re-entering data that already exists in SAP."
Goals
  • Accurate pricing
  • Fast deal cycles
  • Single source of truth
Pain Points
  • Manual data entry
  • No confidence in calculations
  • Approval process unclear
Desktop Daily

Simone Roth

Approving Manager — Schaeffler Global
"I need to trust the numbers before I approve — right now I have to do my own checks."
Goals
  • Pricing accuracy
  • Risk control
  • Audit trail
Pain Points
  • No audit log
  • Inconsistent formats
  • Late submissions
Desktop Weekly

UX Process & Research

5-Phase Design Process

1

Empathize

User interviews and on-site observations

2

Define

Mapping the legacy SAP–Excel workflow

3

Ideate

Collaborative sketching and flow mapping

4

Prototype

Low to high-fidelity iterative testing

5

Test

Validation with 15 global KAM power users

Card Sorting & User Preferences

91%
Item Search by HAFT Number
82%
Quote List as Home Dashboard
74%
Approval State as Status Badge
68%
Price Summary at Top of Quote

Architecture & Wireframes

The transition from Whiteboard to Wire explored key layout questions.

"Is the quote total always visible?"
"Inline edit or modal?"
"Where does the reviewer CTA live?"

Information Architecture

Home Dashboard

  • Recent Quotes (Card Grid)
  • All Quotes (Table View)
  • Search & Filter

Quote Detail

  • Basic Details (KPIs)
  • Items in Quote (Table)
  • Audit Trail
  • Submit for Approval
  • Approve / Reject

What Was Built

Intelligent GPI Pricing

Automated price calculation using Schaeffler proprietary GPI rules engine, with confidence scoring per line item.

Approval Workflow

Draft → Under Review → Approved/Rejected pipeline with complete audit trail and in-app notifications.

Multi-role Access

Role-based views for Key Account Managers and Approving Managers, each with contextually relevant controls.

System Data Flow

SAP / ERP System
GPI Rules Engine
Guided Quoting UI

Key Design Decisions

01

Persistent KPI Summary Bar

Keeping 6 key pricing metrics always visible above the items table meant users never lost context while scrolling through 100+ line items.

02

Confidence Stars vs. Raw Numbers

Star ratings communicate data quality instantly without overwhelming users with raw statistical values—validated in user testing.

03

Inline Item Add vs. Modal

Placing the "Add Item" form inline below the table reduced context switching and let users see running totals update in real time.

Outcomes & Impact Metrics

Guided Quoting launched to Schaeffler's European sales region in 2025.

91%
User Satisfaction Rate

Reported by approving managers in usability testing

3×
Faster Approval Cycle

vs. legacy Excel–SAP workflow

Interested in Learning More?

This project is covered under NDA. I'd be happy to walk you through the detailed design decisions, user flows, and prototypes in a personal meeting.

Schedule a Portfolio Review