How to use Quote sub statuses

Introduction

Merchanter’s quote sub statuses introduce a flexible and structured way to manage quotes through a design phase, complete with tracking KPIs to improve visibility and efficiency. This system is ideal for businesses that handle complex or custom orders requiring input from multiple team members before finalising a quote.

This guide will walk you step-by-step through how to raise a quote to design, and manage it through the various sub-statuses, including revisions and the related KPIs.

There is also an approval process that can be switched on, that is covered in a separate training guide.  

Configuring the Quote System - Prime User

Before you begin raising quotes, you need to set the system to use the design phase and configure any employees to be designers. Follow this guide How to set up Quote Design and Approval Sub Statuses to get everything set up before proceeding.

For this demo we will configure the system so that quotes can use the design phase but will not be forced through it. This gives greater flexibility, allowing you to raise quick quotes without needing to go through design if it is not required. We will also set it so designers are assigned manually, and in this example, we will not require approval. 

 

Creating a Standard Quote Without Design

When creating a new quote, you now have the choice between a standard quote and one that utilises the design phase. 

For simple, straightforward quotes, proceed as usual by selecting New > Quote, choosing your customer, and filling in the required details in the quote wizard. Making sure you leave the Use Design Phase checkbox unticked and click Create Quote. 
This generates a standard draft quote where you can add products and use the standard options to confirm or issue the quote directly.

At the bottom of the screen, you now have some new options. 

You can:

• Assign a designer - if you wish to record responsibility for the quote.
• Change the status from Draft Quote to Quote To Issue, which can be tracked by a KPI. This is particularly useful if, for instance, a manager wants to check pricing before the quote is issued.
• Confirm the quote directly if you are ready to proceed to a live quote.

Creating a Quote with the Design Phase

To use the design workflow, select New from the menu, then Quote from the list.

The new quote wizard will load. Fill in any required details, but this time, make sure to tick the Use Design Phase option. If you know who the designer of the quote will be, you can select them at this stage, though this is not mandatory. Add a customer and a reference if required, then click Create Quote.

Instead of being in a status of draft quote, this will open as Draft Quote To Design. 

Note: You can turn the design stage on or off at any time from the sales order header tab, Quote terms section, just tick or untick the check box as required.

You can now add product lines or a text note of the design elements required for the quote, for review and further input from a “designer”.

If the user is not a designer, they can not progress the quote any further, but they can select the designer if known.

At this point, the sales clerk's job is done, and a designer needs to pick up the quote.
When you click Done, the quote appears in the I for Quotes To Design. 

If a designer clicks on the Quotes to design KPI, they will see a list of all the quotes on the system in the to design status.

With filters to tidy up the list if required. A designer looking for work could open the list and filter it by quotes that require a designer to help highlight work that has not yet been picked up.

From this view, the designer can open the quote by double-clicking it. 

Then they can. If set themselves as the designer with the Assign Quote Designer button. Or a manager could assign quotes to the design team this way. 

The KPI for the Quotes to design status can be set for the user to help a designer keep track of all the items they have awaiting design. This will leave the quote in a to-design status if set by a manager, if you select yourself as the designer, the quote will switch to in design, or you can click on the begin quote design ,button, and you will automatically be set as the designer, and the order status will be changed to draft quote in design. (There is also a KPI for tracking those quotes in this status.) and the quote will open in edit mode, ready for you to start the design stage. 

Working with Quotes In Design

Once in the In Design stage, a designer can add the required products and make the necessary changes. 

If the work on the quote is not complete, you can click Done to leave the quote in its current state and return later.

If responsibility for the quote needs to be transferred, you can reassign the designer with the switch designer button. Alternatively, if the design work is complete, but the quote is checked by another user for pricing, for example, you can set the quote to a status of Draft quote to issue. 

Or you can confirm the quote directly, moving it to a live state and generating the documentation.

Reviewing and Issuing Quotes

When a quote is set to To Issue, it will appear on the KPI for Quotes To Issue.

This allows a manager or another staff member to check the quote before issuing the documents and making the quote live.

To review the details and make any adjustments, such as changing the prices, click the KPI to get the list of quotes to issue, then double-click the record you want to open it.

Amend and refine the quote as required.

 and click Confirm Quote ,.if they are satisfied.

The quote confirmation pop-up lets you amend the quote details, reference, Rep, Source, Terms, expiry date, supply method, payment method and fill in any required fulfilment details such as supply date, instructions and address. 

You can back out of confirming the quote with the cancel button, then once filled in you can click the confirm button.

Merchenter will attempt to generate the documentation and finalise the draft quote so that it becomes a live-issued quote.

If you need a copy of the documentation, you can find it in the Documents Tab of the Quote.

To complete the workflow, when the customer agrees to the quote, open it and click the Allocate Order button to turn your Quote into a sales order. 

Revising Quotes

It is common for quotes to require revision, for example, if a customer changes their requirements. 
To manage this, locate and open the existing quote you wish to revise, then click Edit. 

You can either amend the original or create a new revision. If you create a revision and mark the old one as expired, the system will copy across all details from the previous quote. it will have a status of draft quote in design, and the original designer will be set. You will get a revision number added to the order number, e.g. 112233/1. There is also a link to the old quote in the order header, and at the bottom of the screen, you can open the previous quote revision order lines by clicking on the plus symbol (+)

The revision can now go back through the design stage if required, or be updated and set to issue or be confirmed and reissued. This ensures full traceability, as all historical information from the earlier quote is retained below the new revision.

Using KPIs to Track Quotes

The advanced quoting system supports a number of KPIs for your dashboard that help track activity at every stage. These include:

• Live Quotes
• Quotes Today
• Draft Quotes
• Quotes To Design
• Quotes In Design
• Quotes To Issue

KPIs can be selected for the company as a whole, for individual depots, or even per user, giving flexibility in how progress is monitored.

When using the advanced picking status, it is a very good idea to add a new KPI group to your dashboard to track these quote statuses. Please check out this guide for help. Please - How To Set up a KPI Group on your Dashboard 

Tailoring the System to Your Needs

This design quoting system supports a range of configurations, allowing businesses to adapt the workflow to their specific needs. Whether handling simple quotes that move directly to confirmation or complex projects requiring collaboration and review, these tools provide the structure and flexibility needed for efficient quote management.

For further assistance tailoring these features to your business, the Merchanter support team is available to help.

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