Margin exceptions for building-supply dealers.
Lunica lists last night’s low-margin tickets and overrides by rep, asks the reason, and the manager decides.
Sales & estimatingUpdated Oct 202620 ERPs
See it work.
Click through the steps. Fictional data; the real thing runs on your ERP.
| Rep | Ticket | Customer | Line | Margin | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Brennan | 204317 | Westfield Masonry | Type S mortar · 60 bags | 8.2% | Override · asked |
| Mike Brennan | 204401 | Bayview Decks | Composite decking · 1,120 lf | 14.0% | Below floor · asked |
| Counter · Route 9 | 204388 | Cash sale | 2x4x8 #2 SPF · 248SPF · 80 ea | -3.1% | Below cost · asked |
| Mike Brennan | Quote 5102 | Harbor Point Builders | 2x6x12 #2 SPF · 480 ea | 15.1% | Cost change Oct 9 |
Below the floor, overrides, below cost, and a quote a cost change flipped. The reason asked on each.
The problem.
The margin report in your ERP runs at month end, by category, and the damage is already invoiced. A counter override on a Saturday, a job quote at last month’s cost, a rep rounding a ticket down for a good customer: each one is a line in a report nobody reads until the controller asks why gross profit dropped.
The reason is never recorded. The rep remembers it was a price match, or a damaged unit, or a favor, and by the time anyone asks it’s a guess. The same override happens next month because nothing was decided.
How it works.
- 1
Every ticket checked overnight
Each line invoiced that day against the floor for its category and the price level on the account. Overrides are taken from your ERP’s ticket audit where it keeps one, otherwise from the gap between the account’s price and the sold price. The manager sees the list by 7 am.
- 2
Quotes a cost change flipped
When cost on the item file moves, every open quote carrying that item is re-read. A quote that was at margin yesterday and under it today is on the list, with the rep who wrote it, before it is honored.
- 3
One note per rep, with the reason asked
Each rep gets their own exceptions, ticket by ticket: the line, the margin, the account. Each one asks for the reason in a sentence. The reply is logged against the ticket where the manager can see it.
- 4
The manager decides what stands
Every exception with its reason: approve it, reject it for a credit, or change the floor. Lunica reverses nothing and re-invoices nothing; a credit the manager decides on is keyed by your team.
How it connects to your ERP.
Lunica reads invoiced tickets, the item file and the customer file through its database or data warehouse, under an account that can only read: sold price and cost per line, the price level and any contract pricing on the account, the floors by category you set, and your ERP’s price-override audit where it keeps one. Open quotes are re-read after each cost change.
Nothing lands in your ERP without a person and nothing is sent on its own. The nightly note to each rep is a draft until the sales manager sends it, or goes out on a morning schedule the manager set. A floor change is a rule your admins edit. A credit for a ticket the manager rejects goes back as an import file where your ERP takes one, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
What a week looks like.
- Last night’s exceptions by rep, on the manager’s desk by 7 am.
- A reason recorded for every override, in the rep’s own words.
- Quotes that a cost change put under the floor, caught before they are honored.
- Floors by category that the manager changed on purpose, not by accident.
Questions
Does it write to your ERP?
No. It reads tickets, cost and price levels. A credit or a price change the manager decides on is keyed by your team.
Where do the floors come from?
A spec your sales manager edits in plain English: by category, by account, by branch, with exceptions for house accounts and clearance. History and revert.
Does it email the reps on its own?
Each rep’s note is a draft until the manager sends it, or the manager sets a morning schedule for it. Nothing goes to a customer, ever.
What counts as an override?
Your ERP’s override flag where it keeps one. Otherwise a sold price that differs from the price level the account carries, with the gap shown.
Can it see commodity swings?
Yes. Lumber and panel lines are checked against the cost on the day they were sold, so a ticket written at Tuesday’s number is judged on Tuesday’s cost, not Friday’s.
What does the model see?
The ticket lines on the list and the reason the rep typed. The arithmetic is done from your ERP, not by a model.
Available for.
Each version is written in that system’s own terms: its screens, its files, its codes.
Own your AI. Own your software.
Thirty minutes with the people who build it. Bring your ERP.