Dynamic Tables Added to SalesDoc Architect
For quite some time, SalesDoc Architect has been able to push ranges of cells (i.e., tables) from Excel into Microsoft Word-based outputs like proposals and statements of work. Our clients have used tables pulled from a range of cells in the Excel quote file to communicate return on investment (ROI) calculations, site locations, leasing options, managed services offerings and other information in a visually attractive way, enabling them to communicate proposed solutions more effectively and win more deals versus the competition.
What’s new this month is the ability to push “dynamic” tables that are based on ranges of cells from SDA’s Excel-based quote files into Word-based outputs. In contrast to “fixed” tables that clients have been able to generate in the past, “dynamic” tables enable you to include only the rows that you want to include within a table that is pushed to Word. Depending on how you set up the rows in Excel, SDA will exclude certain rows in the table that is output to Word.
For example, let’s say your company has a process that involves 10 possible implementation steps, but all of the steps don’t apply to every project. In the SDA quote Excel file, you might set up a range of cells that looks like this…
In the left-hand column, the SDA user can choose which items to include or exclude. In the above example, the user unselected “Project kickoff meeting” and “Admin training”. When the scope of work document is generated, SalesDoc Architect strips out these two rows and inserts a table that looks like the following in Microsoft Word:
Dynamic tables can be used to push Excel ranges of cells (with variable row content) to Microsoft Word for all kinds of purposes, including…
- High-level solution summaries to complement or replace the more detailed schedule of equipment and services
- Implementation steps, including calculated start/stop dates
- Lists of customer site locations
- ROI tables that contain items that may or may not apply (e.g., exclude the “carrier savings” row if it’s not applicable)
We’ve made it easy for administrators and managers to set up dynamic tables in SalesDoc Architect. For information on how to set this up, please refer to your Architect Manager help files or user guide.