NMSI is Scaling STEM Education with CPQ

Manual Roadblocks with Excel

Before partnering with Plative, NMSI faced significant hurdles in its quoting and contracting processes. The team relied on a massive Excel spreadsheet so complex that it required upgrading a director’s laptop. This “Excel magic” relied on intricate macros that made it nearly impossible to trace formulas or maintain version control.

These manual obstacles created several organizational challenges:

• The risk of human error was high without a standardized approval process.
• Information remained siloed across different departments.
• Teams spent excessive time in meetings just to understand what was sold.
• A lack of a “unifying through line” made resource planning difficult.

“We had an Excel spreadsheet that was very complicated and relied on macros extensively… if a link inside the spreadsheet ever broke, it would take at least an hour every time to even diagnose what the problem was before the Finance team could fix it.”

— Lindsey Stringer, VP for Technology and Business Operations

Crafting a Unified Solution

NMSI sought a partner who could offer strong project management and a clear framework for change. Plative worked alongside the NMSI team to translate their complex Excel macros into a sophisticated CPQ environment.

Over a 12-week engagement, Plative and NMSI collaborated to:

• Create a trail for all revisions and negotiations directly within Salesforce.
• Implement CPQ to automate product and price-book configurations.
• Deploy OmniStudio document generation for professional, automated proposals.

“I do appreciate Plative being flexible to feedback…they were very in tune to what our needs were and could communicate that in a very effective way was super helpful.”

— Belinda Bryant, Director of Business Operations

A Transformed Future

The impact of the new system was immediate. In just two months since going live, the NMSI team has fully adopted the technology. By moving away from manual tasks, NMSI has gained real clarity on their service delivery.

Key outcomes include:

• Improved Accuracy: Automation has reduced the complexity that previously led to confusion and technical crashes.
• Unified Data: Leadership now has a shared understanding of pricing and delivery across the organization.
• Enhanced Visibility: Business development managers can roll up portfolios to see exactly what is on deck without searching multiple spreadsheets.

“Now that we’ve launched, our pricing is clear internally and externally, the team is confident in the proposals we share with clients, and our cycle time dropped from weeks to days. Plative was critical to our implementation of CPQ.”

— Romeo Hereau, Senior Director of Business Development