# CloudFiles for Electronic Components and Contract Manufacturing | Document Automation for Salesforce

> Document automation for electronic components and contract manufacturing in Salesforce: RFQ folders, secure RFQ intake, design registrations and NDAs.

*Electronics manufacturing document automation*

## CloudFiles for *electronic components and contract manufacturing*

Every RFQ brings drawings, BOMs and revisions spread across email, and quoting the wrong revision costs margin. CloudFiles files RFQ packages, maps registration forms and sends NDAs from Salesforce, so sales and pricing teams move faster.

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*Electronics RFQ documents, before and after*

## From an RFQ in an inbox to a *priced* quote

RFQs, quotes and returns all run through Salesforce, yet drawings, BOMs and failure reports arrive as email attachments and wait in shared drives. CloudFiles organizes, shares, checks and generates them on the opportunity and return order.

### The manual way

- Sales engineers save each RFQ's drawings, BOMs and Gerber files to the opportunity's flat files list while engineers work from their own copies in SharePoint. Revisions drift apart, and a quote goes out priced on a superseded design.
- Inside sales reps ask customers to email RFQ packages that bounce off attachment limits, then piece the files together from several replies. The opportunity waits on a complete package while the customer's quote deadline gets closer.
- Pricing analysts key every distributor's design registration and special pricing request into Salesforce by hand, one part number at a time. Requests queue for days, and the distributor's customer waits on a price a competitor may quote first.
- Customer quality engineers open each RMA request's failure report and photos, then search orders for the lot and date code by hand. Returns sit unauthorized for days, and the customer waits on a credit or a replacement part.
- Contract administrators retype each new customer's NDA from an old copy and email it for signature before any drawings can be shared. Signed copies land in personal inboxes, and the RFQ stalls until the legal team confirms one exists.

### The CloudFiles way

- CloudFiles gives every RFQ opportunity one folder in the storage engineers already use, opened from Salesforce. Sales and engineering teams share the same drawings and BOMs, with each revision in its own sub-folder, so every quote prices the current design.
- CloudFiles collects each customer's RFQ package through a secure upload request from the opportunity, with no Salesforce login. Large drawing and Gerber files land straight in the RFQ folder, and the opportunity shows each file as it arrives.
- CloudFiles turns each distributor's design registration form into a ready record before a pricing analyst opens it. The form's details are mapped onto the request record, every part number becomes its own line, and the analyst reviews one prepared request.
- CloudFiles prepares each RMA request for a quality engineer before anyone opens it. The RMA form and the customer's failure analysis are recognized, checked together and matched to the original order by lot and date code, and a draft return order is created.
- CloudFiles generates each customer's NDA from the account and brings it back signed before any drawing leaves the company. The agreement goes out for e-signature in one click, and the signed copy returns to the account where the RFQ team sees it.

*Electronics use cases in Salesforce*

## RFQ files, *controlled* from NDA to returned part

Each job runs in Salesforce Flow on the account, opportunity, quote and return order your org already uses, with CloudFiles doing the document work.

- **RFQ folder automation in Salesforce** — CloudFiles creates a structured folder for every RFQ opportunity in Salesforce, inside the customer's account folder, with sub-folders for drawings, BOMs, quotes and each design revision.
  - Creating an RFQ opportunity runs a record-triggered flow that calls the create folder flow action
  - Each customer's account folder holds every RFQ it has sent, so sales engineers see past quotes for the same part
  - A new revision gets its own sub-folder, cloned from the RFQ template by the copy resources flow action
- **SharePoint integration for engineering drawings** — CloudFiles connects Salesforce opportunities to the SharePoint libraries your engineers already use, so CAD drawings, part lists and fabrication files stay in one place and open from the RFQ record for everyone.
  - Engineers keep working in SharePoint, and sales reps open the same folder from the opportunity page
  - Engineers fill in part number and revision as required columns when uploading drawings from Salesforce
  - Any drawing is found again across every RFQ by a search on those columns, with no folder digging
- **Secure RFQ package collection** — CloudFiles collects RFQ packages from customers through secure upload requests and shares drawings back from the opportunity with the customer's domain only, recording every upload and view.
  - The create file request flow action creates one upload request per RFQ, with no attachment size to bounce
  - Customers upload drawings and BOMs without a Salesforce login, and every file lands in the RFQ folder
  - Revised drawings go back through a link limited to the customer's domain, with each view recorded by email
- **Design registration form processing** — CloudFiles processes distributors' design registration and special pricing forms in Salesforce. Each PDF is mapped onto a request record with its part numbers as separate lines, so pricing analysts review full requests.
  - A form attached to the request record starts the run, and unrelated PDFs sent with it are recognized and set aside
  - The document mapper flow action writes the end customer, the program and each requested part number from the form
  - Pricing analysts open a request with every line filled in, then approve or adjust the special price from there
- **RMA and failure report processing** — CloudFiles prepares RMA requests in Salesforce. The return form and failure report are recognized, checked together and traced to the shipment through lot and date codes, and the return order is drafted for review.
  - CloudFiles tells the return form from the failure report and checks the two together, as one set
  - Lot numbers and date codes trace each part to the order it shipped on, and any part not on it is flagged
  - A draft return order, lines complete, waits for the quality engineer to authorize the return
- **NDA generation and e-signature** — CloudFiles generates mutual and one-way NDAs from the Salesforce account, sends each for e-signature in one step and saves the signed copy to the account, so the RFQ team shares drawings only once the NDA is signed.
  - The flow picks a mutual or one-way NDA for each customer from the templates the get doc-gen templates flow action returns
  - Company names, addresses and signers fill in from the account and its contacts, with nothing retyped
  - The signed NDA returns to the account folder, and a flow can open the RFQ folder to the customer only then

*Document types*

## Key documents we handle for *electronic components and contract manufacturing*

These six show up on nearly every RFQ. CloudFiles also files, shares and produces every other document an electronics manufacturer keeps in Salesforce.

- **Drawings and Gerber files** — Fabrication and assembly data for each part or board, kept by revision in the RFQ's folder and shared with the customer only by secure link.
- **Bills of materials** — Customer part lists in spreadsheet or PDF form, filed on the opportunity beside the drawings and revisions they describe.
- **Quotes** — Priced offers built from the quote and its line items, saved to the opportunity with every revision the customer received.
- **NDAs** — Mutual and one-way agreements signed before any drawing changes hands, generated from the account and kept on it.
- **Certificates of conformance** — Statements that a shipment meets the agreed specification, produced from the order and filed with it for the customer's records.
- **RMA forms and failure reports** — Return requests and the customer's failure findings, gathered on the return order and matched to the original lot.

*Security & compliance*

## Stay industry compliant

CloudFiles is independently audited for SOC 2 Type II, certified to ISO 27001, and compliant with HIPAA and GDPR. Data residency is supported in the US, EU, UK and AU. Your files stay in your own storage. CloudFiles never re-hosts them, and they are not used to train our AI models.

Certifications: SOC 2 (Type II), HIPAA (Compliant), ISO 27001 (Certified), GDPR (Compliant)

[Security overview](/security)

## Frequently asked questions

**Q: How can every RFQ in Salesforce get its own folder automatically?**
CloudFiles gives each new RFQ in Salesforce its own folder as soon as the record is created, filed under the customer's account and split into drawings, BOMs, quotes and revisions. Sales engineers open it from the opportunity, and engineers open the same folder in storage. Admins build it with the create folder flow action, triggered by each new opportunity.

**Q: Can engineering keep drawings in SharePoint while sales sees them in Salesforce?**
Yes. CAD files, part lists and Gerbers stay in the libraries your engineers already work in, such as SharePoint, Google Drive, Azure Blob, Amazon S3 or another provider, and CloudFiles opens each RFQ's folder from the Salesforce opportunity. Engineers keep their own tools and permissions, and sales reps always see the current revision.

**Q: How do customers send large RFQ packages into Salesforce without email?**
CloudFiles emails each customer an upload link tied to the RFQ opportunity, so drawings, Gerber files and BOMs arrive without attachment limits or a Salesforce login. Each file is saved straight to that RFQ's folder, where the record shows every file as it arrives. Admins create the links with the create file request flow action.

**Q: How do I process distributor design registration forms in Salesforce?**
CloudFiles processes a distributor's registration and special pricing paperwork in Salesforce as soon as the PDF lands on the request record. The form is mapped onto the record, with the end customer and program details filled in and one line created for every requested part number. Pricing analysts review a complete request instead of keying it.

**Q: Can CloudFiles take an RMA from request to a draft return order in Salesforce?**
Yes. CloudFiles runs RMA paperwork in Salesforce from request to draft return order. It recognizes each returned-part document, ties it to the shipped order through lot and date code, applies the quality team's rules and creates the return order lines, pausing for an engineer's approval before anything is authorized.

**Q: How do I generate an NDA from Salesforce and send it for e-signature?**
CloudFiles generates an NDA from the Salesforce account in one click, filled with both companies' details and the signers from its contacts, and sends it for e-signature. Once signed, the NDA is filed in the account's folder, so the RFQ team can check it exists before sharing a drawing.

**Q: Can Salesforce generate certificates of conformance for each shipment?**
Yes. CloudFiles generates certificates of conformance from the order in Salesforce, filled with the customer, part numbers, quantities and lot details, from your own Word or PDF template. A flow can produce one for every order that ships, and each certificate is saved to the order and can be shared with the customer by secure link.

**Q: How do I share drawings with customers and distributors securely from Salesforce?**
CloudFiles shares drawings and quotes from the opportunity through secure links that can be limited to the customer's email domain, require email verification or block downloads. Distributors in your Experience Cloud partner portal see only the folders shared with them, and every view is logged in Salesforce.

**Q: Is CloudFiles compatible with Salesforce quotes, orders and return orders?**
Yes. CloudFiles works on the accounts, opportunities, quotes, orders and return orders electronics teams already run, with or without Manufacturing Cloud. As an AppExchange managed package it supports standard and custom objects, so admins extend their current record-triggered and screen flows with document steps, and every record page shows its own folder.

## Book your *personalized* demo

Bring an RFQ package, a design registration form and an RMA request, and watch CloudFiles file, map and prepare them in your Salesforce org.

[Book a demo](https://meet.cloudfiles.io/salesforce?utm_content=sf-industries-manufacturing-electronic-components-and-contract-manufacturing-footer)