The RFQ inbox
An RFQ (request for quote) is one customer asking for one part — a part number, a quantity, a condition, and how urgently they need it. The RFQ Inbox tab collects every request in one place, checks each part number against your inventory the moment it is captured, and hands the request to the quote builder when you are ready to price it.
Screen: The RFQ inbox. Across the top, a KPI strip with four tiles: OPEN RFQs (with a “need pricing” count beneath), NEED PRICING (with an “agent-captured” count), MATCHED · IN STOCK, and URGENT · AOG/EXP. Below, the heading “RFQ inbox · inbound demand”, a search box (“Search RFQ #, part, or customer…”), and a + New RFQ button. The table lists each RFQ’s number, customer, part requested (description over the part number, quantity, and condition), source, an “In stock” match pill, an urgency pill, the needed-by date, and a status pill.
The KPI strip
| Tile | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OPEN RFQs | Requests not yet quoted or closed — everything in NEW, MATCHED, or PRICING. |
| NEED PRICING | Requests still at NEW. Turns magenta while anything is waiting. |
| MATCHED · IN STOCK | Requests whose part number matched a part you stock. |
| URGENT · AOG/EXP | Open requests at AOG or EXPEDITE urgency — turns red above zero. |
RFQ statuses
| Status | What it means | How it gets there |
|---|---|---|
NEW | Captured, needs pricing. No inventory match was found. | Manual capture, or a portal request. |
MATCHED | The requested part number matched a part in your part master. | Set automatically at capture on an exact part-number match. |
PRICING | Being priced. | Set through integrations or data import — no console button sets it today. |
QUOTED | A quote exists for this request. | Set automatically when you create the quote. |
CLOSED | Closed out. | Set through integrations or data import — no console button sets it today. |
There is no close button on an RFQ. A request leaves the open counts when you quote it — a request you decide not to quote stays in the open tallies for now.
Sources and urgency
Source records where the demand came from: MANUAL (keyed in by your team), EMAIL, ILS,
or PARTSBASE. Requests that APEX captured automatically carry a small dot next to the source
and are counted in the “agent-captured” figure under the NEED PRICING tile.
Urgency uses the same scale as work orders:
| Urgency | Meaning | Pill color |
|---|---|---|
ROUTINE | Normal turnaround. | Cyan |
EXPEDITE | Customer needs it fast. | Amber |
AOG | Aircraft on ground — highest priority. | Red |
Urgent open RFQs (AOG and EXPEDITE) also surface as an attention list on the Pipeline tab, and — if your workspace has the AOG plugin installed — every open AOG-urgency request appears on the AOG desk with a live clock.
Automatic part matching
The moment an RFQ is captured in the console, APEX checks the requested part number against your
part master. An exact match links the part, flips the request to MATCHED, and shows the
In stock pill in the Match column. The RFQ detail spells out the result:
- Matched: “In stock — matched to {part number}. Quote from stock.”
- No match: the detail flags that there is no stock and the part must be sourced via exchange or market.
Matching is by exact part number. An alternate or superseded part number will not match — check Inventory yourself for interchangeable stock.
Capturing an RFQ manually
- Open Pipeline → RFQ Inbox and click + New RFQ.
- In the drawer, pick the Customer.
- Enter the Part # (for example
3214991-7) and an optional Description. - Set Qty and Condition — the drawer offers the seven sellable trade codes (NE / NS / OH / SV / RP / IN / AR); see the condition-code table for what each means. BER and SCRAP from that table are not offered here.
- Pick Urgency (ROUTINE / EXPEDITE / AOG) and Source (MANUAL / EMAIL / ILS / PARTSBASE).
- Click Capture RFQ. The toast confirms the new RFQ number — and tells you right away if the part matched in stock (“RFQ RFQ-2026-0012 captured — matched in stock.”).
The manual drawer does not ask for a needed-by date — the Needed column fills in on requests that arrive from the portal or an integration.
The RFQ detail
Click any row to open the request.
Screen: The RFQ detail. A header with the RFQ number, the part description, and the status pill. A meta row: CUSTOMER, PART #, QTY, CONDITION, URGENCY (pill), SOURCE, NEEDED, RECEIVED. Below, an Inventory match cell stating the match result, and a Quote cell with either a Create quote → button or the linked quote’s number, status pill, and an Open quote → link.
From here the flow continues in one click: Create quote → builds a draft quote seeded with this request’s part, quantity, and condition, and lands you in the quote record — see Quotes & contract pricing. Once a quote exists, the same cell shows its status and links to it instead.
RFQs from the customer portal
Customers you have invited to the portal can submit requests themselves with the portal’s
Request a quote form (part number, quantity, condition, urgency, an optional needed-by date,
and notes). The request lands in this inbox as a NEW RFQ under that customer, and the same
quoting flow applies — but automatic inventory matching currently runs only on RFQs captured in
the console, so portal requests arrive unmatched and are not checked against your part master.
See Customer Portal.
Portal-submitted requests currently show MANUAL in the Source column — the inbox does not yet
distinguish portal demand at a glance.
Roles: anyone with module access can capture and view RFQs, limited to the customers in their data scope.