Finalise a quotation

Every new quotation starts as a Draft. When you are happy with it, finalise it: it takes its quotation number and becomes Open, ready to send to the customer. This page is for the salesperson who prepares quotations.

Before you start

• You need Quote View and Edit on the quotation.
• The quotation must be a Draft. The page shows “This quotation is a draft. Finalise it to give it a quotation number before you send, accept or invoice it.”
• Check the lines, totals and terms first — preview the PDF if you like. A draft PDF carries a DRAFT watermark.

Steps

1. Open the draft quotation.
2. Select Finalise at the top of the page.
3. In Finalise quotation, check the Quotation date. It starts as today.
4. To date the quotation earlier, choose an earlier day. Use today puts today back.
5. If your company holds quotations for approval, add a Note for the approver if you want to.
6. Select Finalise.

What happens next

• The quotation takes its QN- number as its Quotation ref, becomes Open, and a message reads “Finalised as …”. It cannot go back to draft.
• Its old QD- number stays on the page as Draft number.
• A Quotation name that was still the draft number becomes the quotation number; a name you typed stays.
• The Quotation date shows on the page and prints on the PDF.
• The Expires date moves with the quotation date and keeps the same number of days the draft had. A draft with no expiry stays without one.
• You can now preview and send it, mark it as sent, accept or reject it, and raise invoices from it.

If your company’s approval rule holds the quotation, it is not finalised yet: the page says Submitted for approval, the quotation shows Pending approval, and it takes no QN- number until an approver selects Approve and issue. See Document approval.

Rules to know

• The quotation date cannot be later than today.
• If you choose a day earlier than your latest finalised quotation, easySales warns that the running number will not follow date order. You can still finalise.
• The expiry keeps its number of days, not its day: a draft valid for 30 days is valid for 30 days from its quotation date, even if you typed the expiry date yourself.
• Deleting a draft does not use up a QN- number, so the quotation numbers stay without gaps.
• Finalising a draft revision gives it the next revision number, such as QN-10000125-R1, and makes the old version Superseded.
• The Quotations list shows Draft and Open quotations when it opens. Drafts are left out of the sidebar’s open-quotations count and of an opportunity’s contract figures.

Why it works this way

The number marks the offer as real. A draft is work in progress; a QN- number says this is the offer you stand behind. Because only a finalised quotation takes one, deleted drafts leave no gaps, and every QN- number in your series belongs to a quotation you actually made.

There is no way back to draft. Once a number is given it is used: a customer may already hold it. Returning to draft would leave a number with no quotation behind it. Change the offer by editing or revising it instead.

The date can be earlier, never later. The quotation date is the day you made the offer. When you agreed the price on site last week and finalise it today, you can date it then. A date in the future would date an offer you have not made yet.

The validity travels with the date. “Valid for 30 days” means 30 days from the offer. Keeping the number of days, rather than a fixed day, means a quotation finalised a week late is still valid for as long as you intended.

Work faster

• Check the PDF before you finalise. PDF works on a draft too, with a DRAFT watermark, so you can check the layout and figures with the customer before the number is taken. See Quotation PDF.
• Find drafts waiting for you. The Quotations list opens on Draft and Open, so unfinished drafts are in view; an approver can filter on Awaiting my approval instead.
• Leave a note for the approver. A short Note for the approver saves a round of questions when a quotation is held, for example why the margin is low.
• Fix the expiry after finalising. If the customer needs a fixed last day, edit Expires on the Open quotation and save. See Edit a quotation.

Examples

Mei Tan prepares the Harbour Café fit-out on Monday and saves it as draft QD-10000042, valid for 30 days. She checks the draft PDF with Grace Wong by phone on Wednesday and selects Finalise. The Quotation date reads Wednesday; she selects Finalise again. The quotation is now QN-10000125, Open, and expires 30 days after Wednesday.

A fixed expiry date. On 1 October Mei creates a draft for Kelvin Ong and sets Valid until to 31 October, because her supplier’s price holds until then: 30 days. She finalises it on 6 October. The expiry keeps the 30 days and moves to 5 November (6 October + 30 days). Mei edits Expires back to 31 October and saves.

A quotation held for approval. Lim & Co’s approval rule for quotations is Margin below 25%. Mei’s draft has two lines: banquette seating, 4 × 1,250.00 with a cost of 950.00 each, and a design fee of 1,000.00 with no cost. She finalises it; the page says Submitted for approval and the Approval record gives the reason Margin unknown: a line has a price and no cost. Daniel Lim finds it under Awaiting my approval, selects Approve and issue, then Approve; only then does it take its QN- number. Had Mei entered a cost of 400.00 for the design fee, the margin would have been (6,000.00 − 4,200.00) ÷ 6,000.00 = 30%, not below 25%, and the quotation would have been finalised at once.

Common questions

• Can I send a draft quotation to a customer? You can preview its PDF, which carries a DRAFT watermark, but you cannot mark it as sent, accept it or invoice it. Finalise it first.
• Can I undo finalising a quotation? No. A finalised quotation cannot go back to draft. You can still edit it while it is Open or revise it. Deleting it needs Quote Delete and is refused once an invoice raised from it has been issued.
• Can I backdate a quotation? Yes, to any earlier day. If that day is earlier than your latest finalised quotation, easySales warns that the numbers will not follow date order; you can still finalise.
• Why did the expiry date change when I finalised? The quotation keeps the number of days it was valid for, counted from its quotation date. Edit Expires afterwards if you need a fixed day.
• Why does my quotation show Pending approval instead of a number? Your company’s approval rule held it. It takes its number when an approver selects Approve and issue. See Document approval.
• Can I change how quotation numbers look? Yes. Someone with System Edit sets the prefix, date part and number of digits under System settings → Company → Document numbers. Numbers already given do not change. See Document numbers.

Related

• Create a quotation
• Mark as sent
• Issuing and numbering
• Document approval