From proposal to payment
Before any sale is finalised, there's usually a proposal. A formal document that outlines what you're offering, how much it costs, and how long the offer stands. In Officaid, this document is called a quotation, and it's the bridge between your sales conversations and your invoices.
What is a Quotation?
A quotation is a formal offer from your business to a potential client. It details the products or services you're proposing to deliver, the price for each, and the total cost. Unlike a casual estimate or verbal quote, a written quotation creates a clear record that both parties can refer to.
A typical quotation includes:
- Your business details including company name, address, and contact information
- Client details showing who the quotation is for
- Line items describing each product or service, quantities, and prices
- Totals including subtotal, any taxes, discounts, and the final amount
- Validity period stating how long the offer remains open
- Payment terms explaining how and when payment is expected
Why Use Quotations?
Quotations serve several important purposes in the sales process:
They set clear expectations. A quotation spells out exactly what you're offering and at what price. This prevents misunderstandings later about what was included or how much it should cost.
They create a written record. Verbal agreements can be forgotten or misremembered. A quotation provides documentation that both you and your client can reference throughout the project.
They protect both parties. If there's ever a dispute about scope or pricing, the quotation serves as the agreed-upon terms. This protects your business and gives your client confidence.
They enable comparison. Clients often request quotations from multiple vendors. A professional, detailed quotation helps you stand out and makes it easy for clients to compare offerings.
They streamline invoicing. When the client accepts your quotation, you have all the details ready to create an invoice. No need to re-enter line items, prices, or client information.
Quotations in Officaid
In Officaid, quotations are always linked to deals. This creates a connected workflow where every opportunity in your pipeline can have one or more quotations, and approved quotations can be converted directly into invoices. Your sales process flows naturally into your finance process.
Why Quotations Are Linked to Deals
Every quotation in Officaid must be attached to a deal. This design is intentional and provides several benefits:
- Context is preserved. When you view a quotation, you can immediately see which deal it belongs to and access the full deal history.
- Multiple quotations per deal. Complex negotiations often require revised proposals. You can create as many quotations as needed for a single deal.
- Deal value stays accurate. When you approve a quotation, your deal value automatically updates to match. This keeps your pipeline forecasting reliable.
- Clear audit trail. The connection from deal to quotation to invoice creates a complete record of how an opportunity became revenue.
If you need to create a quotation but don't have a deal yet, start by creating a deal first. This ensures every proposal is properly tracked within your sales pipeline.
The Quotations Dashboard
While quotations are created from within deals, Officaid provides a central dashboard to manage all your quotations in one place. Navigate to Sales → Quotations to access it.
The dashboard displays all quotations across all deals, making it easy to:
- See all quotations at a glance without opening individual deals
- Filter by status to focus on drafts, sent quotations, or those awaiting approval
- Search for specific quotations by number, deal name, or client
- Track validity dates to follow up before quotations expire
- Export your data for reporting or record-keeping
The dashboard shows the following columns:
- Quotation Date is when the quotation was created
- Quotation Number is the unique reference (e.g., QUO-20251100001)
- Status shows where the quotation is in its lifecycle
- Deal shows which deal the quotation belongs to
- Client is the company or contact the quotation is for
- Valid Until shows when the quotation expires
- Amount is the total quotation value
- Currency shows which currency the quotation is in
- Actions provides quick access to edit or delete (for drafts)
Status Filters
The dashboard includes filters to view quotations by status:
- All shows every quotation regardless of status
- Draft shows quotations that are still being prepared
- Ready shows quotations that are finalised and ready to send
- Sent shows quotations that have been sent to clients
- Approved shows quotations the client has confirmed
- Rejected shows quotations the client has declined
- Converted shows quotations that have been turned into invoices
- Expired shows quotations past their Valid Until date
Click any filter to narrow down the list. This is especially useful when you have many quotations and need to focus on a specific stage.
The Quotation Lifecycle
Every quotation moves through a series of statuses as it progresses:
- Draft is the initial state when you create a quotation. You're still working on it and it's not ready to share. Draft quotations can be edited, deleted, or marked as ready.
- Ready means the quotation is finalised and ready to be sent to the client. You can still edit it if needed, but it's considered complete.
- Sent indicates the quotation has been emailed to the client or manually marked as sent. The client is now reviewing your proposal.
- Approved means the client has accepted your proposal. You've confirmed their acceptance and marked the quotation accordingly. Approved quotations can be converted to invoices.
- Rejected means the client has declined your proposal. The quotation remains in your records but won't proceed further.
- Expired means the Valid Until date has passed without the quotation being approved or rejected. You may need to create a new quotation with updated terms.
- Converted means the quotation has been turned into an invoice. This is the final state, representing a successful sale.
You can edit a quotation at any stage except Converted. If you need to make changes after sending, simply edit the quotation and send it again.
Connecting Sales and Finance
One of Officaid's core principles is that everything is connected. The quotation is where your sales process meets your finance process:
Deal → Quotation → Invoice
This flow means:
- Every quotation traces back to a deal, giving you full context on the opportunity
- Approved quotations convert directly to invoices, carrying over all line items, pricing, and client details
- The invoice records that it was created from a quotation, maintaining the audit trail
- Your deal, quotation, and invoice are all linked, so you can navigate between them seamlessly
This connected approach eliminates double-entry and ensures consistency. The proposal you send is exactly what becomes the invoice, reducing errors and saving time.
Deal Value and Approved Quotations
When you approve a quotation, your deal's value automatically updates to match the approved quotation amount. This happens because the approved quotation represents the confirmed scope and pricing for the deal.
If a deal has multiple quotations (for example, revised proposals during negotiation), the deal value reflects the most recently approved quotation. This keeps your pipeline accurate without manual updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Every quotation must be linked to a deal. If you need to create a quotation, first create a deal for the opportunity, then add the quotation from within the deal. This ensures all your proposals are properly tracked in your pipeline.
Yes. You can create as many quotations as needed for a single deal. This is common during negotiations when you need to provide revised proposals, different pricing options, or updated scope. Each quotation is tracked separately with its own status.
Expired quotations remain in your records but cannot be approved or converted to invoices. If the client wants to proceed after a quotation has expired, create a new quotation with a fresh validity period and updated terms if needed.
A quotation is a proposal sent before work begins, outlining what you're offering and at what price. The client can accept, reject, or negotiate. An invoice is a request for payment sent after the client has agreed to proceed, typically after work is completed or at agreed milestones.
What's Next?
Now that you understand how quotations work in Officaid, explore these related articles:
- Creating a Quotation to build your first proposal
- Managing Quotation Details to learn about the quotation page and actions
- Quotation Statuses Explained for a detailed look at each status