We are a computer support service organization. I have a cost calculator Excel spreadsheet (sample attached) that I would like to use to drive a web portal for order entry. We are hoping you can develop a prototype for such a hosted system.
The Excel spreadsheet is simple in that it contains three sections totaling about 100 line items:
1. User Data Input,
2. Services Requested, and
3. Calculated Output
We require your system to parse an input spreadsheet to create an appealing customer-facing order-entry portal. We will want to modify the Excel spreadsheet over time to add items, delete items, change pricing, etc. We are open to modifying and simplifying the input spreadsheet to ease your parsing process. In fact, you may change the Excel spreadsheet to recommend the appropriate input format, so long as it maintains the simple logic of the input/output cost calculator concept.
The User Data Input section allows the user to specify the number of users or endpoints they would like us to manage, the number of service tickets they expect to generate in a given month, and the number of times they would like us to come onsite for a visit in a given month. This section should also collect the user contract information, legal business name, service address, contact name, contact title, phone number, and email address.
The Services Requested section allows a user to specify the types of services they would like us to provide. This is in the form of both generic services (Help Desk, Cybersecurity, Email, Data Backup & Recovery, Telephone Service, Video Conferencing, Cloud-Hosted Servers, Cloud-Hosted Workstations, an other section that is user-specified, and the ability to add additional line items in the future.
The Calculated Output is the price determined by the above input which includes our price per line item under the covers of each of the above services, a calculated labor estimate and cost, a percentage add-on (like a tax), and a profit margin.
The portal output would be both a calculated monthly price for the ongoing services, an executable quote in the form of a contract, and the ability to enter a credit card to initiate service. We can provide the Word document and formating for the quote and contract documents. The output would be emailed to two separate email addresses: the customer, and our notification email address.
We are looking for a fixed price to develop a prototype for this that may result in future business for you in the refinement of the process if the relationship works out well. We are also open to using an existing system that parses an Excel spreadsheet for input if you already have one, or know of one that might work in this capacity. A critical piece of this process is the ability to place the order (and pay for it) after the services are requested and a price is provided.