By Artem Korsakov ·
A manager opens an old commercial proposal, changes the client and scope of work. The document may retain a previous date, an external company name, or outdated terms. If commercial proposal preparation follows a single scenario, it is useful to separate the permanent template from data specific to a particular inquiry.
Select a document with a stable structure
For the start, a standard proposal, application, or internal report will suffice. It must have a clear template owner and an agreed-upon content structure. If employees use several contradictory versions, the current one must be defined first.
Suppose a company prepares proposals for a standard service. The document contains constant descriptions of stages and contact information, while the client, volume, price, and deadlines change. This is a hypothetical example. The rules for a specific document must be confirmed by the responsible employees of your company.
Full-fledged document management, electronic signatures, and complex approvals are not automatically included in the task.
Identify sources for each field
Create a simple list: field, source, mandatory status, and who verifies it. The company name may come from a verified profile, the scope of work is selected by the manager, and the price is taken from an approved calculation.
It is convenient to divide information into three groups:
- permanent text of the approved template;
- verified data from a form or working system;
- values that must be determined by the employee.
If an obligatory value is missing, the system should show a gap and not issue a file as an approved document. Substituting a similar value from an old profile is more dangerous than an explicitly empty field.
Подпись: Illustrative example. Fields are divided into three groups: template text, verified data, and employee decisions. The AI-generated description draft is edited by the manager before sending.
Where rules suffice and where AI helps
Inserting a name, date, and number can be handled by standard rules. Recalculating the total according to an agreed formula also does not require a language model.
AI can prepare a draft description of requirements or briefly summarize the client's request. Such text must be distinguished from verified conditions. Costs, obligations, and deadlines should not appear solely from the model's assumptions.
Some capabilities are already available in working platforms. For example, Bitrix24 (a CRM and collaboration platform) robots support creating documents by template. Before separate development, it is useful to check whether existing tools fit your format.
What a small working scenario looks like
An employee opens an application, checks the source values, and selects a template. The system creates a draft. After verification, an approved version appears, linked to the same inquiry.
It is necessary to decide whether a file can be edited after generation and where the final version is stored. If a document was modified outside the system, that change must not remain unnoticed in the manager's personal folder.
At the first stage, sending can be left to the employee. Connecting email and legally significant signing is evaluated separately based on the chosen service and company rules.
Example: client changed volume after proposal preparation
In a hypothetical application, there were 12 units of service; the manager prepared a proposal. Then the client confirmed eight. The new edition must receive the actual volume and recalculated total according to agreed rules. The old proposal is saved in history as a previous version. The employee sees which version was sent and which was only prepared.
AI can briefly list the changes: "quantity reduced, deadline requires confirmation." Each line of the summary is linked to a changed field or client message. The total is recalculated by formulas, and discount terms are selected by an authorized employee. A beautifully formulated summary does not replace the confirmation of a new price.
Подпись: Illustrative example. AI lists changes with links to fields and letters. The total is calculated by a formula, and the discount is selected by an authorized employee.
What to include in generator acceptance testing
Check for empty mandatory fields, long company details, zero quantities, multiple pages, and different units. Then change the source and create a second version. Both files must clearly show the original application and template version.
Agree on currency, tax basis, and rounding for final sums. A column named "Total" in two systems may have different meanings. The formula must be verified on a control example by an accountant or calculation owner; interpreting based on the model's assumption is not allowed.
The first volume: one template, one set of fields, preview, and saving the confirmed version. If a company needs a free editor for all contracts, that is already a different product. For the pilot, take the most repetitive document and test awkward layout cases. An example with short titles will show little.
Useful results are visible by the number of edits before sending, missing company details, and time spent on a verified version. Quickly created files with errors in terms are not considered success.
How to pass template documents for work
Open the ready file in programs used by the manager and approver. Ensure that the correct edition was checked, and comments relate to it specifically. After correcting source data, the employee must see whether a new version needs to be issued.
In trike_dev, you can break down one template, field sources, and the verification process. For continuation, application approvals and data transfer are suitable. The general choice of tool is discussed in the article about ready-made services and custom development.
Related reading: Automatic email processing: how to extract a client request; Supplier invoice reconciliation: order, acceptance, and AI assistance.
Частые вопросы ### Can we use our DOCX?
You need to check the file structure and the capabilities of the selected generator. Complex tables, fields, and layout may require separate preparation.
Is such a file considered signed?
No. Document generation itself does not mean approval or signing. These stages and the methods of confirmation are determined separately.