Apex FAQ
The questions people ask before the first call.
Collected from every Apex page, grouped by the part of quote to cash they are about. Each answer links to the page that covers it in full.
01
About Apex
What is Apex?
Apex is quote-to-cash software built by Ferrata Labs. It quotes from your price book, routes approvals, turns signed deals into ERP sales orders, meters usage, calculates invoices and builds revenue schedules, all on the data already in SAP, NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Does Apex replace our ERP?
No. The ERP stays the system of record for customers, items, posted invoices, payments and the general ledger. Apex calculates what the ERP does not model well (ramps, usage, approvals, revenue schedules) and writes the results back: sales orders, A/R invoices, credit notes and journal entries.
Can we start with one function?
Yes, and most companies should. Start with quoting, usage billing, invoicing or revenue recognition alone. Apex brings your customers, items, invoices and payments down from the ERP into your Ferrata foundation once, and every function you add later reads the same records. Nothing is re-implemented.
What do the agents do, and what do they not do?
Apex's agents read contracts, draft quotes and renewals, review invoices, flag unusual usage, match customer POs and explain revenue schedules. They propose; a person approves in the Approval Queue. Calculations such as rating, billing and revenue schedules are deterministic jobs with no model in them.
Is Apex ASC 606 compliant?
Compliance is a judgment your accountant makes, not a property of software. Apex computes revenue schedules from the policy your accountant sets (obligations, standalone selling prices, methods), shows its working, and waits for sign-off on each close before a journal is posted to the ERP.
Where does our data go?
Your data stays in your Ferrata tenant and your ERP. Models that read it run inside your environment, behind your firewall. No client data reaches a frontier lab.
Does Apex take payments?
No. Apex does not process payments. Cash is applied in your ERP as it is today, and Apex reads the payments back so invoices, the portal and your metrics show what has been paid.
How long does it take to go live?
It depends on the function and the ERP, which is why the first conversation is about one workflow. Ferrata's standard engagement puts a first workflow on real transactions in under 90 days, behind an approval gate on every consequential action.
02
Quoting and contracts
What is CPQ software?
CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. It is the software a sales team uses to put together what a customer is buying, price it correctly against the company's rules, and produce a quote the customer can sign. Apex does this on top of the items and price lists in your ERP rather than in a separate catalog.
What is a quote builder?
A quote builder is the tool a sales rep uses to put a quote together: the products and prices, the terms, the scope and the customer details, laid out as a document the customer can read and sign. In Apex, every line is priced from your price book, so the document and the number cannot disagree.
What is a deal desk?
A deal desk is the function that reviews non-standard deals before they reach the customer: large discounts, thin margins, long terms or edited legal terms. It protects pricing and margin without slowing every quote. Apex gives it written rules and a single queue.
What does contract management mean in Apex?
It means holding every signed customer agreement as structured data: the lines, prices, phases, commitments and dates that billing and revenue depend on, with the signed document attached. It is the commercial record finance bills from, not a document repository.
What is contract renewal management?
It is the work of knowing when every customer contract ends, telling the right people early enough to act, and producing a renewal the customer can sign before the term lapses. Apex runs it from structured contracts, so every end date and notice period is tracked.
What do AI agents do in quote to cash?
In Apex they do the reading and drafting around the numbers: turning a signed PDF into a contract draft, drafting a quote from an inquiry, reviewing invoice drafts, flagging unusual usage, drafting renewals, writing payment reminders, explaining revenue schedules and matching customer purchase orders. The calculations themselves are done by deterministic code.
03
Procurement-led quoting
What is RFQ response software?
RFQ response software helps a supplier answer a buyer's request for quotation: it imports the buyer's line list, prices each line, tracks the deadline and submits the response. Apex does this against the items and price lists already in your ERP, so the response is priced from the same book your invoices use.
What is a product configurator?
A product configurator lets a seller assemble a product from options while enforcing the rules about which options work together. It produces a valid configuration, a price and usually a bill of materials. Apex's configurator uses the items, costs and stock in your ERP, so what is quoted can be built.
What is contract pricing management?
Contract pricing management means keeping the prices you have agreed with each customer, for the term you agreed them, and making sure every order and invoice uses them. Apex holds each agreement as a record and prices orders from it.
What is rebate management software?
Rebate management software tracks the incentives you have promised customers, usually a percentage back once they buy a certain volume, works out what is owed and settles it. Apex counts invoiced volume from your ERP against each customer's tiers and settles rebates as credit notes.
What is index-linked pricing?
Index-linked pricing ties part or all of a price to a published index, such as a steel price, a diesel price or CPI, so the price rises or falls with that cost. The contract sets the base value, how much of the price moves, any caps and floors, and the dates it is adjusted.
What is freight quoting software?
Freight quoting software prices the cost of moving goods, by lane, weight, volume and service, so a seller can quote a delivered price. Apex prices freight inside the product quote, from your own rates, and carries the same charges to the invoice.
What is progress billing?
Progress billing is invoicing a long contract in stages as the work is done, rather than all at the end. In construction it is usually monthly, against a schedule of values that splits the contract sum into lines, each billed by its percent complete.
04
Usage, billing and invoices
What is usage-based billing?
Usage-based billing charges a customer for what they consumed in a period rather than a fixed fee: deliveries made, hours worked, units shipped, transactions processed. The software has to collect that usage, match it to the customer's contract, price it at the agreed rate and produce an invoice.
What is usage metering?
Usage metering is the step between raw usage records and a billable quantity. A meter defines which records count, how they are aggregated (counted, summed, the peak, the latest reading) and over what period. Billing then prices that quantity.
What is subscription billing software?
Subscription billing software turns recurring contracts into invoices on the right dates for the right amounts. It has to handle phases and ramps, mid-term changes with proration, different billing frequencies and renewals, without someone recalculating each invoice by hand.
Does Apex replace our ERP's invoicing?
No. Apex calculates the invoice, including usage, proration, credits and tax, and posts it to your ERP as an A/R invoice. The ERP stays the system of record for the receivable, the ledger and the payment.
What is a billing customer portal?
A billing customer portal is a secure page where a customer can see their own invoices, payments, usage and contract terms without emailing your finance team. It answers the routine questions before they are asked.
05
Revenue
What is revenue recognition software?
Revenue recognition software works out when revenue from a contract is earned, rather than when it is billed or paid. It splits a contract into obligations, schedules each one under the right method, keeps a deferred revenue balance, and produces the journal entries.
What is the difference between ARR and MRR?
MRR is monthly recurring revenue: the recurring value of active contracts in a month. ARR is the same figure on an annual basis. Both exclude one-off fees, and you decide whether usage above a commitment counts.
06
Your ERP
Which SAP products does Apex connect with?
Apex is built to connect with SAP Business One, through the Service Layer, and SAP S/4HANA, through its sales and billing interfaces. The connection is configured for your own company database or company codes when your instance is set up. Apex is an independent product and is not certified by or affiliated with SAP.
How does Apex connect with NetSuite?
Through NetSuite's web services with a dedicated integration role. You choose the subsidiaries, records and permissions. Apex is an independent product and is not certified by or affiliated with Oracle.
Which Dynamics 365 products does Apex work with?
Apex is built to connect with Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, each through its own APIs. Apex is an independent product and is not certified by or affiliated with Microsoft.
07
Industries
What is CPQ for manufacturing?
CPQ for manufacturing is quoting software that understands configured products: options, dependencies, bills of materials, cost and lead time. It lets a sales team quote a valid build at the right margin without asking engineering for every quote.
What does quote to cash mean for a distributor?
It is the path from a customer's request or PO to cash in the bank: the price, the order, the shipment, the invoice and any rebate or credit after it. For a distributor the hard part is pricing each line correctly for each customer.
What is progress billing?
Progress billing invoices a project in stages as work is completed, usually as a percentage of each line in a schedule of values. Each invoice is called a pay application.
What is logistics billing software?
Software that turns operational activity (shipments, storage, miles, accessorials) into accurate invoices at each customer's contracted rates. Apex does this on top of your ERP and takes usage from the systems that already record it.
What is rebate management?
Rebate management is defining, accruing and settling the incentives you pay customers for volume, growth or promotion. Done well, every accrual traces to the invoices behind it and settlement matches the agreement.
What does Apex bill for in financial services?
Activity-based fees: per transaction, per account, per seat or as a share of balances, with tiers, minimums and commitments as your fee schedules define.
What does Apex calculate for a fund?
Management fees on committed capital, invested capital or net asset value, with step-downs, offsets and investor-specific terms, plus performance fees from inputs your administrator provides.
Related in Apex
- CPQConfigure, price and quote from the items and price lists already in your ERP.View
- InvoicingInvoices calculated in Apex, checked against the PO, posted to your ERP first.View
- Revenue recognitionRevenue schedules computed from your policy, journals posted to the ERP after review.View
- AI agentsEight agents that propose quotes, schedules, invoices and journals for people to approve.View
From Ferrata Labs
- Ferrata LabsThe firm that builds Apex, and builds AI agents into ERP-heavy businesses.
- How it worksAssess, Anchor, a first agent live in under 90 days, then your team.
- Human in the loopWhy every consequential action waits at an approval gate.
- Book a discovery callThirty minutes on one workflow, and an honest answer on where to start.
Still have a question? Ask it on a call.
Thirty minutes with Ferrata Labs on one workflow. You leave with a view of where Apex fits, and an honest answer if the sequencing is wrong and you should fix something else first.
Your pricing, approval and billing rules are your advantage, and they stay yours. Apex is configured to the way you sell and bill. You are not handing over a playbook or fitting into a template.