Creating A Quote

Mashoom's range of software modules can work either in isolation or together. For the purposes of these instructions, the contact module and stock modules are also enabled. This module is also often connected to ERP packages, for instance Sage 200, but this isn't covered in this tutorial.

Starting Your Quote

Select 'Start Quote' from the Quote section of the main menu (the 9 squares next to the logo at the top left).

Input the customer's name in the middle of this dialogue box and then complete the three sections under the heading 'Details'. These are the forecasting inputs, and should be used as follows:

• Win Rate - Percentage chance of winning the quote
• Estimated Order Date - When do you think a decision is going to be made on the quote
• Date Certainty - Percentage confidence level of the date certainty

For instance if you don't think you'll get the business but know a meeting to decide will be happen on a day, you would have a high date certainty with a low win rate. If you know that you definitely will get the business, but have no idea when the customer's project will start, this could be in reverse.

A vague estimate is better than nothing at all, always try and fill in these boxes to the best of your knowledge.

These three pieces of information are then used for forecasting purposes in your Financial Dashboards - more to come about these later.

The Quote Editing Interface

The first thing to check is if the currency is correct. Mashoom supports multiple currency types and with the Contact module enabled these are fixed for the contact.

Mashoom supports proformas, these can be generated after the quote has been accepted, as per the quote lifecycle. Tick 'Is proforma required?' if this is the case.

To the right of the top box you'll see the revisions of the quote, starting at revision 0. As the quote goes through it's lifecycle, more revisions are created. Previous revisions can be viewed by clicking on each box.

Adding Quote Lines

Under the title 'Add New Line', the drown-down box will get you a set of options to select. These can be the following:

• General - a "free text" or uncontrolled line, with a charge set for the customer
• Stock - if the stock module is enabled, adds a stock item to the quote and a quantity. Will also automatically price the line if this is enabled
• Standard charge - a fixed price item, mostly used for things like shipping. Only displays if standard charges have been set in the quote's currency. Possible to automate these being added based on quote value etc.
• Comments - a specific comments line, with a line number, with no value. Each line already comes with a comments section, so this line type is usually disabled. It's enabled when comments need to be sent to ERP systems for some use cases.

Editing a Quote Line

If you're following along with this tutorial, it's suggested to add a generic line, as this is the simplest form in which to try out how the quote builder works.

On every line, there is the opportunity to change the stock item's price, either by entering a numeric value or, as in this example, applying a 10 % discount. Click the "Change to ..." grey text above the discount input to change the mode. This discount is displayed to the customer so it's advised to input the discount, rather than directly edit the price, if one is being applied.

Every quote line comes with a comments section, which is useful for adding comments to the customer for what the line is. Note these comments are displayed on the PDF document, so are visible to the client. However, these comments aren't passed through to the sales order when the quote is accepted. Either edit the stock item's name, or enable standalone comments functionality if this is needed.

Comments lines support line breaks and Unicode characters, so you can structure your comments as you need.

Working With Stock

The following section is only applicable when using the Stock module with Quoting.

You can add a stock line by selecting the "Stock" option from this dropdown. You can then search by the stock item's code or name, then press enter or click to select. Your selected item and it will appear in the blue edged box

Pricing And Band Selection

The stock module includes a pricing functionality. If this is set up, the minimum price that is associated with the currency / contact and the stock item will be auto filled. This price can be overridden, or a different price band selected. Pressing the grey text above the price input will allow you to see this.

This gives you the option to make a decision on what price you will quote for this stock item. You can also type over the displayed price and insert your own. If no price is available, this will default to 0.00.

Checking Stock levels

To the top right of the quote details box is some grey text labelled 'Stock levels'. Clicking this will allow a quick check for the total stock levels for all of the stock items in the quote, with an option to search and view any other stock items.

This is very useful to know what stock levels you have just at the point of including the item in your quote, for instance if you're on the phone with a customer. In addition, this also allows you to lookup component stock levels if you BOM build as part of your quoting process.

If you're using Mashoom with an ERP, stock levels are updated at least every 10 minutes.

Quote Finalisation

In the "Add New Line" section, to the right hand side you can set up discounts for the whole quote. This discount will be shown in the totals box of the quote. In the same way as quote lines, it's advised to input a discount, rather than edit the prices, if one is being applied.

Below the "Add New Line" section are all the details of the quote outside of its content. The 'Notes' section is similar to your individual line notes, but this time commenting on the whole quote. In quote settings, default notes can be set up for every quote. Quote segments can also be set up, to allow users to select pre-written snippets of text for the comments section. The comments section supports line breaks and Unicode characters.

Revision Notes are a separate set of notes that highlight to your client the differences between versions of this quote. They're highly recommended when making quote revisions as it improves the clients buy-in to the process, and ensures that it's clear why revisions were made.

The recipient is the person you're making the quote for, usually inside an organisation. When used with the contact module, this input is locked to people who are set up as related to an organisation via the relations section.

The delivery address and customer reference number (or often purchase order number) can also be input. These will be displayed on the PDF and recorded on the sales order.

The next step is to view the quote, then finish it and send it to the customer. This is described in the following quote lifecycle tutorial.