Efficient CPQ Software with AI for Your Product Configuration
Automated Processes thanks to Artificial Intelligence
Knowledge-Based Systems: How AI Boosts Your Productivity
The AI-powered CREALIS® CPQ software integrates and automates processes related to product configuration, price calculation, and, ultimately, quote generation. The embedded rules are used to make decisions, solve problems, and draw conclusions. This goes beyond merely attempting to replicate human thought structures on a computer. In fact, knowledge-based configuration solutions like CREALIS® CPQ have long held a place in the realm of AI systems. Known as “expert systems” or “knowledge-based assistance systems,” they are designed to support humans in solving specific problems. Even without additional elements such as machine learning, deep learning, or generative AI like ChatGPT, AI-powered CPQ software encompasses several aspects of the European Commission’s “AI Taxonomy,” including knowledge representation, automated reasoning, and automated planning. As a result, it demonstrably accelerates quote generation while reducing errors. For high-performance companies, its implementation can be considered standard practice.
What are the Key Features for a Seamless Quotation Process and Secure Order Fulfillment?
In CREALIS® CPQ, offer management is fully audit-proof, and change histories are transparently traceable. Access to quotation documents is governed by a secure permissions structure, and sending documents associated with a quote is simple and user-friendly. During the quoting process, offers can be saved at any time, ideally as a new revision. After a contract is finalized, the order is seamlessly transferred into the connected order management system or ERP for further processing. All information necessary for order processing, such as the individual and structured bill of materials (BOM), is included. If the configuration output already contains detailed work plans, these are also handed over to the necessary systems. With CREALIS® CPQ, manual efforts in the quotation process and order management can be largely eliminated.
What Makes CREALIS® CPQ an Intelligent Expert System?
Despite significant challenges in defining artificial intelligence, the European Commission’s AI Watch has addressed this issue by adopting a descriptive approach. Based on existing attempts at definition in contexts such as computer science, politics, or economics, the authors developed an “AI Taxonomy” that identifies key terms to help determine whether a particular technology can be classified as AI. It should be noted, however, that these are only keywords, and it is unlikely that any AI application satisfies all these aspects.
European AI Taxonomy: How CREALIS® CPQ meets the Criteria
ORISA can undoubtedly be considered a pioneer in this field, having worked on AI-related topics since the 1990s. The result is the powerful AI configurator CREALIS® KI-CPQ, which uses object-oriented and rule-based modeling to capture product knowledge. The newly revised, CREALIS®-specific AI component is particularly efficient in mapping relationships between individual components, products, or even entire assemblies and product groups. This ensures a user-friendly and maintainable configurator. It allows a multitude of attributes to be assigned to each component, assembly, or product, which can then be interrelated.
Efficiency and error-free Quote Generation through AI
The AI-driven CREALIS® configurator uses knowledge-based and automated processes to assemble a product step by step based on the components’ attributes and manufacturability rules. For example, this ensures that when configuring an industrial boiler, selecting an appropriate burner is straightforward, as the configurator only offers burners with matching attributes—even if they are produced externally. The same applies to suitable microscope lenses, the right nozzles for custom car wash systems, appropriate laser modules for cutters, or any other imaginable product your company offers.
Next-Generation AI Components – Flexibility and Precision
The “AI Taxonomy” fundamentally distinguishes between the core of AI and its countless other aspects, applications, and extensions, such as the ethics and philosophy of AI or specific use cases like robotics. For these fields, the underlying domains are identified along with concise keywords.
Intelligent Modeling and Automated Maintenance: The Future of Configuration
This approach of defining attributes and their relationships is significantly more flexible than purely rule-based systems or constraints. Unlike traditional solutions, it allows for a wide variety of possible combinations without requiring each combination to be explicitly defined and programmed. Thanks to this intelligent software architecture, CREALIS® KI-CPQ enables highly complex modeling with an enormous range of products and variants. Every possible product structure can be easily represented and modeled.
The complete redesign of the CREALIS®-specific AI component also makes maintenance particularly easy: a new part or product simply needs to be assigned the appropriate attributes to be automatically integrated into the configuration model. This minimizes effort, even with complex and variant-rich models, ensuring your AI-driven configurator remains up to date with minimal effort.
The Future of Product Configuration with CREALIS® CPQ and Artificial Intelligence
Contact us to learn more about the powerful possibilities of AI-driven CREALIS® CPQ and artificial intelligence. Our team of experts will be happy to assist you with the implementation and use of innovative AI technologies for your product configuration.