Every quote a distributor sends exists twice. Once in the takeoff, where the equipment was counted and priced, and again in the ERP, where it becomes an order. Most bid desks bridge that gap by hand, retyping part numbers, quantities and prices into an order entry screen, or exporting a spreadsheet and reformatting it.
That step is slow, and it is where a transcription error turns into shipping the wrong unit. An ERP connection removes it. The takeoff is priced against your real item master and your real contract pricing, and the finished quote lands in the ERP as a record your team can act on.
Which ERPs
Monaro is designed around the systems HVAC and plumbing distributors actually run, rather than general business software.
Epicor Eclipse
The most widely used ERP across HVAC, plumbing and PVF wholesale.
Epicor Prophet 21
Common across wholesale distribution more broadly, including mechanical.
Infor M3
Distribution and manufacturing, typically in larger groups.
Infor Distribution SX.e
A separate Infor platform, long established in large wholesale distribution.
DDI System Inform
Mid-market distribution, strong in trade supply.
Mincron
Plumbing and building materials distribution.
Kerridge Commercial Systems K8
Distribution, with a large installed base outside North America.
NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
General mid-market platforms, used where a distributor has moved off a trade-specific system.
If your system is not on this list, the question is not the brand. It is whether it can expose its customer, vendor and pricing records and accept an order back. Most can, through an API or a scheduled file.
What Monaro reads from your ERP
A takeoff becomes a quote when it is addressed to the right customer, priced the way that customer is priced, and reconciled against the right supplier. Those records come from the ERP.
Customer records
Accounts, ship-to addresses and contacts, so a quote is addressed correctly without re-keying.
Vendor records
So returned supplier pricing reconciles against the right vendor.
Contract and matrix pricing
The customer-specific pricing that decides what the quote actually says, rather than list price.
What Monaro writes back
Once the estimator has finished, the quote should not need retyping anywhere.
Quote header and lines
Part number, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and extended price, as a quote record in the ERP.
Sales order
Created on acceptance, so a won bid becomes an order without a second round of data entry.
Project and bid reference
So the quote stays traceable to the job and the drawing set it came from.
Submittal documents
Attached to the record rather than living in somebody's inbox.
Won and lost status
Written back so reporting reflects what actually happened, not only what was quoted.
Getting connected
There are three practical routes, and which one applies depends on what your ERP exposes.
REST API
The cleanest option, close to real time in both directions, where the ERP offers a usable API.
Scheduled file transfer
A flat file over SFTP on a set interval. This is how older systems with no practical API are handled.
EDI
Where it is already running with larger trading partners.
Scope, direction and frequency are agreed per customer, because no two distributors run the same configuration. Tell us which system you run and we will tell you what is possible.
