On the Salesforce platform, we built a solution that allowed the Sales Rep to quickly create an order with the proper information and the circuit information for each circuit.  A circuit is an internal network connection between two buildings that can be as far as London to Brazil.  The structure allowed the creation of subcircuits to make up the main circuit and all the costs to roll up to see the margins easily.  

After the customer’s circuit information is captured in Salesforce, the Sales rep can then click a button called “Send RFP,” which then shows a list of Vendors in the system and automatically checks which vendors are known to service the addresses and each end of the circuit needed.  This is done by populating the Salesforce database with the vendors and the addresses they service.  You then check the boxes next to each vendor you want to request a proposal from, then click the send button, automatically sending a unique email to each vendor asking them to bid on this specific circuit.  The email contains information about the circuit and a unique link to click to submit their bid.  That opens a webpage that displays the unique vendor name and the circuit information they are bidding on then allows them to submit their bid.  Submitting the form then automatically updates the bid record in Salesforce and notifies the sales rep via email that a new bid was received from a vendor.  The Sales rep can then easily view in a list under the circuit record all the different bids sent to vendors and their status and bid values and decide which vendor to use for this order.  Once the vendor is selected, the costs are applied to the order, and margins are displayed.  If the margins are under a limit, the order is sent for approval by management within Salesforce.  

Then the Sales Rep can click a button to send the service order form to the customer for electronic signature.  Clicking this button automatically sends an email to the customer with an email detailing a summary of the order and a button to click to sign the order form and automatically update the order’s Stage.  The customer clicks the link and views their unique order form in full on a web page, and then signs and clicks a button to accept.  Accepting the order form then updates the salesforce order record as Closed Won and notifies the vendor to request an order form from them and continue the provisioning process.  Because we are now in full control of the order form sent and signed by the customer and the vendor’s exact costs inside Salesforce, we know the exact margins on orders.  We implemented transparent commission tracking for the sales reps, which required complicated calculations and rules of commission earnings.  Previously understanding and viewing any commissions as a Sales Rep was near impossible.  But adding this transparency to each order and in a Dashboard provided a good incentive for Sales reps to hit their goals and much less work by the accounting department each month to calculate and payout commissions.