RFQ identification for fastener distributors
Identification turns a Buyer's loose fastener language into the exact Part a Distributor sells. Source lines are the raw pasted text — and they are where most quoting time goes.
Identification is turning a Buyer’s loose fastener language into the exact Part the Distributor sells. That is the hard problem FastQuote is built for. The Buyer never uses the product. The Rep does.
What a Source line is
A Source line is one non-empty pasted line of RFQ text — the raw words, in the order they arrived. FastQuote starts from those lines. The Rep does not retype them into a form.
One Source line is not always one Part. A bundled line — a bolt with nuts and washers — can expand into several RFQ lines. Expansion happens before anyone selects a Part.
Why loose Buyer language is the hard problem
Buyers do not write Catalog names. They write Hex Bolt, N, GIHTFT, or a half-remembered drawing note. Those words may map through Category Aliases and Attribute-value Aliases, or they may not map at all.
The Catalog is the Distributor’s own Parts. Identification succeeds only when the loose language resolves to exactly one Part in that Catalog — not a nearby fastener, and not a guessed slug.
When more than one Part still fits, FastQuote keeps the Candidate set for the Rep. It does not pick.
What the Rep reviews
The Rep reviews Resolution on each line: paste Source lines, expand them, resolve Aliases, and look at the Candidate set.