Quotes
Lines on a deal, a quote printed like the invoice it becomes, sent to the deal's people, and turned into a contract and a first invoice when the deal is won.
A quote is what a deal offers, on paper: its lines, what they add up to, and how long the offer stands. Every deal can have one. It is printed on the same sheet as an invoice, so the quote and the invoice it becomes look alike, and nothing is kept but its lines: the document is made afresh each time it is shown, downloaded or sent.
Note
An administrator can switch quotes off for a workspace (Modules and features). If you do not see them in yours, they are switched off there: ask an administrator if you need them.
Preparing a quote
A deal's page has a Quote line under its description: Prepare a quote until it has one, then its number and total. It opens the quote's own page, with the lines on one side and the quote as it will print on the other.
A line is something offered:
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Description | What is offered. |
| Quantity and Unit | How much of it, and in what: 10 hours, 3 seats. One, when left empty. |
| Unit price | The price of one, in the deal's currency (the workspace's invoice currency when the deal has none). |
| Discount % | Taken off the line, from 0 to 100. |
| Tax % | Added on top of the line. Lines may carry different rates, and the quote shows the tax of each rate apart. |
Add line adds it at the end; Edit, the arrows and Remove change, reorder and take away a line. The quote's subtotal is its lines after their discounts, and its total adds the tax. Amounts are kept exactly as typed and rounded only when written.
Details holds the day the quote is valid until, the words above the lines, and whether the deal's value follows the quote's subtotal, which it does unless you untick it: the deal's Value field is then set from the lines whenever they change, so the pipeline's totals are the quote's.
The quote gets its number when its first line or detail is saved, the next in the workspace's own sequence (Q-0001, Q-0002), and keeps it. The sender's name and address are the workspace's invoice details, which an administrator sets under Invoicing; the recipient is the deal's company, with its billing address. A quote carries no payment details.
Preparing a quote needs the right to edit the CRM for the deal's company and to edit the deal. Everybody who may see the deal sees its quote and its prices, and every change to it is in the deal's history.
Sending a quote
PDF downloads the quote as it stands. Send quote writes to one of the deal's people (its contacts first, then its company's): the message goes from the workspace's address under your name with the quote attached as a PDF, printed as it stands at the moment the message leaves, and the email is on the deal's timeline, the company's and the contact's, like any email written from Alba. An answer comes back to the same timeline.
When the deal is won
Winning a deal offers to create a contract for its company. With a quote, the contract starts with the quote's words as its invoice description and, when every line priced by the hour has the one price, that price as its hourly rate.
The quote's page then has The first invoice, for whoever manages the company's billing: give it an invoice number and Invoice PDF prints the same lines as an invoice, addressed to the company for payment, with the workspace's payment details. Invoice numbers are yours to give, as they are for invoices from time. Later invoices for the time booked against the contract are made there.