Abstract

To be more competitive in the market, many companies are trying to speed up the quotation process,produce quote with more attractive prices, and have identified a need for support in the quotation process. The goal is to reduce the quotation lead-time, and ensure a higher level of accuracy in the estimation of the operation hours. In the case of Ciena, a first investment has been made for an automated quotation system with respect to the equipment/products that are sold by the company (currently under development). However, Ciena is also interested in including the price quotation for customer projects as well, and this is a far more challenging enterprise as it not only includes equipment/products, but services (e.g., circuit, node or ring updating or replacement) and highly specialized manpower. In addition, the execution of the services depends on the quality of the customer network and the experience and expertise of its technical support and type of equipment. The objective of the research project is to design and develop a web-based quote management application in order to semi-automate the quoting process for CIENA internal and external sales or technical engineer personnel.