Product tools · Tender stage
BetaDeviation register: find, classify and track deviations from the customer's requirements
The Deviation Register finds deviations, exceptions and qualifications across the customer's requirements, your proposal, your technical offer and clarification replies. It merges only true duplicates, records technical, commercial and documentation consequences, and assigns a risk level. Bid engineers and project managers use it to track each deviation to the customer's decision.
Deviation Register is in beta. Request access and we onboard each team ourselves: we run your first real documents with you and check the results together.
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What goes in and what you get out
What goes in
- Customer requirements (required)
- Proposal (optional)
- Technical offer (optional)
- Clarification responses (optional, several files)
- Existing deviation register (optional)Optional. New deviations are merged against this rather than duplicated.
What it checks
- Detect duplicate deviations
- Assess commercial consequence
- Assign risk level
What you get out
- One line per deviation, with the requirement, your position and a quote from each source
- Declared and undeclared deviations, qualified responses and deviations raised in clarifications
- Technical, commercial and documentation consequences recorded against each deviation
- A risk level and review state for each line
- CSV or JSON export
Who uses it: Bid and proposal engineers, Project managers, Contract and commercial managers, Application engineers.
20 questions about the Deviation Register
What is a deviation register?
A deviation register is a running list of every point where your offer or design differs from the customer's requirements. Each line records the clause, what the customer asks for, what you offer, the reason, and the customer's response. It grows through the tender and clarifications, and often carries on into the order. It is the record of what was agreed.
How is a deviation register different from a deviation list?
A deviation list, or deviations and clarifications list, is usually the document you send with an offer at one point in time. A deviation register is the live record behind it. It tracks each deviation from first detection, through clarification rounds, to the customer's decision. The list is a snapshot; the register keeps the history.
What does the Deviation Register tool do?
It reads the customer's requirements and your proposal, technical offer and clarification replies, and finds deviations, exceptions and qualifications in them. It keeps separate sources apart and merges only true duplicates. For each deviation it records the technical, commercial and documentation consequence and assigns a risk level. Every line quotes where it came from.
Which documents do I upload?
The customer's requirements are required. You can add your proposal, your technical offer, clarification responses and an existing deviation register. If you add an existing register, new deviations are merged against it instead of being listed twice. The tool reads PDF, Word, Excel and CSV files, so a spreadsheet register works as an input.
How do teams keep a deviation register by hand?
Usually in a spreadsheet. An engineer adds a line for each deviation found while answering the specification, then updates it after each clarification round. Keeping it current is hard: deviations get raised in emails and clarification replies, some are withdrawn, and the same point can be logged twice under different wording.
What is an undeclared deviation?
An undeclared deviation is a difference from the requirement that isn't listed as a deviation. For example, your compliance matrix says "complies" while your datasheet or technical offer says something else. The customer can hold you to the requirement after the order. The Deviation Register looks for these gaps across your documents, not only in the list you wrote.
What are the most common deviation register mistakes?
Common ones are logging the same deviation twice, losing deviations that were raised in a clarification reply, and not closing deviations that were withdrawn. Others are lines with no reason or consequence, and a register that no longer matches the deviation list sent to the customer. Each makes it harder to show what was agreed at order.
How does it handle duplicate deviations?
When duplicate detection is on, it merges two lines only when they are truly the same deviation, with evidence for both. Similar wording alone is not enough. Separate sources keep their own identity, so you can still see where each one came from. If you upload an existing register, new findings are matched against it rather than added again.
What does "commercial consequence" mean for a deviation?
It is the effect a deviation has on price, schedule, warranty or contract terms, rather than on the product itself. For example, a different test may change lead time, or a material substitution may change cost. With the check on, the tool records the commercial consequence separately from the technical and documentation ones, so commercial staff can review it.
How is the risk level assigned?
With risk scoring on, each deviation gets a risk level based on its consequences, as described in the source documents. The level helps you sort which deviations need attention first. It is a starting point for your team, not a final judgement. Your engineers and commercial staff can change the level and the review state on any line.
Can a deviation be raised in a clarification reply?
Yes, and it is easy to miss. A reply to a customer question can introduce a new exception or qualify an earlier answer. The Deviation Register reads clarification responses as a source of their own, so a deviation introduced there is logged. If a clarification withdraws an earlier deviation, that is reflected too.
What does the customer expect from a deviation?
They expect each deviation to name the clause, say clearly what you offer instead, and give a reason. They want it declared before the order, not found later. Many customers reject vague deviations such as "to be discussed". A clear register makes it easier for them to accept, reject or answer each point.
What happens to deviations after the order?
The customer's purchase order should say which deviations they accepted. Any deviation they rejected, or never answered, may become a requirement you must meet. That is why the register matters after the tender. The Quotation-to-PO Review can then check the purchase order against the register and flag rejected or unresolved deviations.
What do I get back from the Deviation Register?
You get one line per deviation, with the customer requirement, your position, quotes from each source, the type of deviation and its consequences. Each line has a risk level and review state. Duplicates are merged with evidence. You can export the register as CSV or JSON and use it to build the deviations list you send.
Does it decide whether a deviation is acceptable?
No. It finds and classifies deviations and records their consequences. Whether to offer a deviation, withdraw it or negotiate it is your team's decision, and whether to accept it is the customer's. OdysseyGPT does not send anything to the customer. Your engineers own the register and what goes out.
Which kinds of deviation does it find?
It finds declared deviations listed in your documents, undeclared ones where your documents disagree with each other, and deviations introduced in clarification replies. It also reports qualified responses, such as "where practicable", and duplicates. If you upload a previous register, it shows which of its deviations are still open.
What are the limits of the Deviation Register?
It only reads the documents you upload, so a deviation agreed by phone or in an email you didn't include won't appear. It reads text and tables, not engineering drawings. It doesn't decide what is acceptable. It is in beta, so we review each team's first runs with them against a register your team already keeps.
Who uses the Deviation Register?
Bid and proposal engineers use it during the tender to build and keep the register current. Project managers use it at order handover to see what was agreed. Contract and commercial managers use the commercial consequences. At smaller equipment makers, the project manager who answers RFQs often keeps the register from tender to delivery.
Is the Deviation Register available now?
The Deviation Register is in beta. You can request access, and we onboard each team ourselves: we agree a real tender with its clarifications to start with, run it with you, and check the register together. That way you see how it handles your documents before you rely on it. Document Review, our production tool, is generally available.
Which tools come before and after the Deviation Register?
Before it, Document Review, the Customer Specification Review, Datasheet Comparison and the Technical Bid Evaluation find the differences that become deviations. After it, the Quotation-to-PO Review checks the purchase order against the accepted position, and the VDRL/MDR Tracker turns the customer's document schedule into a register for the order.
Where it sits in the order lifecycle
Related standards, guides and templates
Try the Deviation Register on your own documents
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