Starting point
A quoting and configuration process built over two decades across 40 connected worksheets.
from customer questions to production certainty
Years of knowledge, ready for the next order
project at a glance
What we built
A guided application that captures each request, calculates the result, and prepares everything required for manufacturing.
Who uses it
Sales staff during customer conversations, with operations teams using the completed result.
Our role
Discovery, product strategy, business rule modeling, UX, engineering, AI, legacy integration, testing, and launch.
An established custom manufacturer used a complex workbook for a highly variable sales process. Staff entered customer choices, measurements, and commercial requirements while formulas calculated price, materials, quantities, production instructions, and the final specification. The workbook held years of operational knowledge across 40 connected worksheets, hidden exceptions, and unusual results. Node59 preserved that logic in a clearer application, added controlled AI assistance, connected it to the existing system, and carried it through testing and launch.
From questions to a buildable result
Staff use the application while speaking with a customer. Each answer determines which choices, measurements, requirements, and questions appear next, while irrelevant options remain out of the way and required information is checked. Connected values update throughout the same record when a detail changes. When the conversation is complete, it produces the price, finalized configuration, material quantities, production instructions, supporting documents, and structured information required by the existing operational system.
Turning hidden logic into something testable
Node59 traced every formula, dependency, lookup, exception, and conditional choice in the workbook. One measurement could change material requirements, component quantities, finishing details, production time, and price, so those relationships had to remain exact. The team translated this behavior into explicit rules that can be reviewed, tested, and changed without searching through dozens of tabs. Prices, quantities, materials, and manufacturing requirements remain deterministic, while missing details and inconsistent combinations are identified before handoff.
The old system still contributes
Modernization did not require abandoning years of accumulated information. Historical records and essential logic were migrated into the application, while a controlled connection keeps relevant information synchronized with the existing operational system. Staff can retrieve earlier jobs when a familiar request returns or a previous configuration needs to be understood. That history also provides context for the application's intelligence, keeping valuable experience useful without forcing people to search archived files or reconstruct earlier decisions from memory.
AI that knows where to stop
Earlier jobs reveal useful patterns in measurements, recurring details, related requirements, and familiar combinations. The application uses that history to suggest likely inputs, complete repeated information, surface relevant configurations, anticipate connected requirements, and flag unusual combinations with an explanation. Staff can accept, adjust, or reject each suggestion. AI helps reach a complete result efficiently, but never decides price, calculates material quantities, or controls production requirements. Those exact outcomes remain governed by verified rules.
A clearer way to carry knowledge forward
The application is now part of regular operation. Staff no longer need to understand 40 worksheets before preparing a customer request: they follow one guided path, see connected effects, review missing information earlier, and retrieve useful history without leaving the record. The logic is easier to test, maintain, and explain. New team members rely less on undocumented knowledge, while experienced staff retain control over exceptions and judgment. The original expertise is now easier to use, share, review, and apply.
From blueprint to build
Explicit business rules and deterministic calculations power the configurator, while legacy synchronization and human review of AI outputs keep historical information useful.
Business logic reconstruction
Formulas, lookup tables, dependencies, conditions, and exceptions from the original workbook were translated into explicit rules that can be tested, reviewed, and maintained.
Adaptive question flow
Each response controls which choices, measurements, requirements, and validations appear next, allowing the specification to develop through one connected sequence.
Verified calculation engine
Prices, quantities, materials, and manufacturing requirements are produced by deterministic logic, keeping every result predictable and repeatable.
Complete manufacturing output
One structured record produces the finalized configuration, commercial result, material requirements, instructions, supporting documents, and operational handoff.
AI with human control
Earlier jobs provide context for suggestions, recurring details, related requirements, anomaly checks, and useful comparisons. Staff review every recommendation and decide whether to use it.
Legacy synchronization
A controlled connection keeps relevant information aligned with the existing operational system while preserving access to the company's historical records.