Spreadsheet pricing
Pricing rules maintained in spreadsheets that are fragile, hard to audit, and dependent on whoever built them last knowing what the formulas mean.
The problem
Pricing rules too complex for a standard ERP module.
Most ERP platforms handle simple list pricing or basic cost-plus calculations well. When your pricing depends on material combinations, variable labour inputs, customer agreements, tiered margins, or configurable product options, the built-in module stops working accurately.
The gap gets filled by spreadsheets. A salesperson applies rules manually, checks against a reference sheet, and enters the result into the ERP. Every quote depends on one person knowing the rules — and any rule change means updating the spreadsheet and retraining whoever uses it.
Inconsistent quotes
Margin rules applied differently by different people, missed surcharges, outdated cost inputs — each quote introducing potential for pricing errors that affect margin or customer trust.
Manual ERP entry
A price calculated outside the ERP that then has to be typed back in — adding re-entry time, creating a version mismatch risk, and producing no audit trail for how the number was reached.
How it works
From input rules to output price — automatically.
A custom pricing engine sits between your input data and your ERP output. It reads the information a quote needs — product specs, material costs, customer tier, labour inputs — applies your exact rule logic, and produces a validated price that flows directly into the ERP record or quote document.
Map your current pricing logic.
We work through your existing rules in detail — every condition, exception, and manual adjustment that determines a final price. This includes the logic that lives in spreadsheets, in someone's head, and in informal policy. Nothing is assumed correct until confirmed against real quote examples.
Model the rule structure.
We design the rule engine architecture — how pricing components are structured, how rules are evaluated in sequence, how exceptions are handled, and which parameters are configurable by your team without code changes. The model is reviewed against your real quotes before engineering begins.
Connect to your ERP data.
The engine reads live inputs from your ERP — current material costs, supplier prices, product records, customer data, and any other fields your pricing depends on. It writes results back to the ERP or to a quote document, depending on your workflow. Integration points are scoped and tested against real data.
Deploy and hand over control.
The system ships with a rule management interface so your team can update margins, surcharges, and pricing tiers without developer involvement. Every price calculation is logged with the inputs and rules that produced it — giving you a full audit trail for every quote.
Process examples
Rule types we have encoded into production systems.
The following examples illustrate the kinds of pricing logic that do not fit standard ERP modules but can be fully encoded into a custom calculation engine.
Material weight pricing
Price assembled from material type, dimensions, and current stock cost per unit weight — with automatic surcharge applied when total material cost crosses a threshold.
Configurable product assembly
Final price built from selectable components — each with its own cost, margin, and compatibility rules — with the engine validating combinations and calculating the assembled total.
Customer contract pricing
Per-customer price agreements stored in the system — applied automatically when the customer is selected, with fallback to standard pricing when no agreement exists for a given product or category.
Tiered volume discounts
Quantity thresholds that trigger margin adjustments — with rules configurable by product category, customer tier, or order value, and override controls for sales team exceptions with an audit trail.
Labour-linked cost pricing
Quote price assembled from estimated labour hours, role-based rates, and material inputs — with the engine reading current rate tables from the ERP and producing a validated total for approval before the quote is issued.
Multi-currency with margin overlay
Base cost calculated in source currency, converted at a configurable rate with a currency risk margin applied on top — adjusted per customer region or contract requirement.
Outcomes
What an automated pricing engine delivers.
The goal is consistent, auditable pricing that does not depend on any individual applying rules correctly — so quotes go out faster, margins are protected, and your team can focus on selling rather than calculating.
Faster quotes
Pricing rules executed in seconds rather than minutes. Complex multi-component quotes that previously required manual calculation are produced automatically from the inputs your team already enters.
Consistent margins
Rules applied the same way every time, by every person. Missed surcharges and incorrectly applied discounts are eliminated because the calculation is not done by hand.
Full audit trail
Every price is logged with the exact inputs and rules that produced it. You can review any quote, understand exactly how the number was reached, and identify any rule that needs updating.
Team-managed rules
Margins, surcharges, and pricing tiers updated directly by your operations team — no developer required for routine adjustments, and no spreadsheet to maintain.
✓ Full audit trail per quote
✓ ERP read/write integration
✓ Team-managed rule updates
✓ Full codebase ownership
✓ No vendor lock-in
✓ Approved scope at every phase
Frequently asked questions
- It is software that encodes your specific pricing rules — material costs, labour rates, margin tiers, surcharges, and product-specific conditions — and executes them automatically when a quote or order is created. Instead of a salesperson applying rules manually from a spreadsheet, the system applies them consistently every time, reading live data directly from your ERP.
- Generic ERP pricing modules are built for standard cost-plus or list-price scenarios. If your pricing depends on custom material combinations, variable labour inputs, customer-specific agreements, or multi-step margin rules, most platforms cannot model that accurately without significant workarounds. Those workarounds usually end up as spreadsheets running alongside the ERP — which defeats the purpose of having a system at all.
- We build the integration layer during the scoping phase. The engine reads the data it needs — stock costs, supplier prices, product records, customer data — directly from your ERP via API or database connection, depending on what your system exposes. Pricing output is written back to the ERP or used to generate a document, depending on your workflow.
- Yes, where your rules allow it. We build a rule management interface so your operations or sales team can update margins, surcharges, and pricing tiers directly — without touching code. More complex structural changes to the rule logic itself would require a development update, but routine adjustments are handled by the system without developer involvement.
- We have modelled cost-plus with variable labour inputs, material weight-based pricing, tiered volume discounts, customer-specific contract pricing, multi-currency with margin overlays, surcharge stacking, and configurable product pricing where the final price is assembled from selectable components. If your current process involves a spreadsheet and someone who knows the rules, we can encode that into software.
- Yes. Full codebase ownership is transferred on delivery. There are no per-transaction fees, no vendor access requirements, and no subscription to maintain your own pricing logic. You can take the codebase to any developer and extend it as your business changes.
Ready to replace your pricing spreadsheets?
Tell us how your pricing currently works and where it breaks down. We will assess whether a custom calculation engine is the right fit and what that would look like connected to your ERP.