Back to P120: Project Accounting Basic Scenarios

Lesson 2: Creating Projects from Project Quotes

Part 1: Creation of Projects

This lesson explains how you can work with project quotes, which you prepare and process if you need to estimate a potential project and send a proposal to a customer before you create the corresponding project. Aer the customer agrees to the terms of a particular quote, you can convert this project quote to a project.

Project Quotes: General Information

In Acumatica ERP, you use a project quote for planning purposes before you create the corresponding project in the system and begin billing and accounting for revenues and costs. You can create a project quote to estimate the revenue and costs of a potential project and then send this quote to the customer for acceptance. You can modify the project quote as many times as is necessary until an agreement is reached. Aer the customer agrees to the terms of a quote, you convert the accepted quote to a project.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will learn how to do the following:

Create a project quote from scratch
Create a project quote based on an opportunity
Specify the settings of a project quote by using a project template
Estimate the potential revenue and costs of a possible project
Print the project quote and send it by email

Applicable Scenarios

You create a project quote if you want to send a proposal to the customer or potential customer before you create a project, or if you need to agree with the customer about the terms of a potential project before creating the project.

Creation of Project Quotes from Scratch

You create project quotes on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form. In a new project quote, which initially has the Dra status, you specify the following settings:

The description of the project quote.
The project template, which the system uses to populate the project tasks, attributes, and project manager of the project quote. You can change these default settings, if needed.
The business account associated with the project quote. Based on the settings specified for the selected business account, the system inserts the financial settings on the Financial tab and the contact information on the Addresses tab. You can override these settings, if needed.
Optional: The project tasks on the Project Tasks tab, which are copied from the selected project template by default (but you can modify the project tasks that are inserted based on the template). You can also add common tasks to the project quote.
The estimated labor and material costs and prices on the Estimation tab. These lines represent the estimated revenue and costs of a project quote. When you create a project based on the project quote, the system converts the estimation lines to lines of the revenue and cost budgets based on the settings specified in each line:
An estimation line with an account group specified in the Revenue Account Group column establishes revenue; the Ext. Price of the line is the estimated revenue amount.
An estimation line with an account group specified in the Cost Account Group column establishes costs; the Ext. Cost of the line is the estimated cost amount.
Estimation lines with both the Revenue Account Group and the Cost Account Group specified establish revenue and costs at the same time.

Project Quote Processing

When you have finished modifying the project quote settings, you submit the quote by clicking Submit on the form toolbar of the Project Quotes (PM304500) form. A submitted project quote is assigned the Approved status and is ready for further processing. If you have decided to email a submitted project quote to the customer, you click Send on the More menu. The system creates the corresponding email activity, attaches the printable version of the quote to this email activity, and sends it to the recipient. The project is then assigned the Sent status. If you need to track a project quote that has been accepted or declined by the customer, you can use the following commands on the More menu:

Mark as Accepted: Click this command to assign the project quote the Accepted by Customer status. The project quote can be printed, sent, and converted to a project.
Mark as Declined: Click this command to assign the project quote the Declined by Customer status. You can then edit the details of the declined project quote and send it for customer review again. To modify a project quote, click Edit on the form toolbar. The quote is assigned the Dra status and can be modified. If you need to modify an existing project quote but also want to leave its original version intact (for example, to have a complete history of the submitted quotes), you can create a copy of the project quote by clicking the Copy command; you then modify the copy. You can convert a project quote with the Approved, Accepted by Customer, or Sent status to a project. To be able to do this, you should specify the project template and business account in the Summary area of the form. If auto- numbering is disabled for the PROJECT segmented key on the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form, you must also specify the identifier of the project to be created. Aer you have specified the required settings, you click Convert to Project on the form toolbar of the Project Quotes form. In the Convert to Project dialog box, which opens, you specify the settings to be used for the created project and click OK. The system opens the project created based on the project quote on the Projects (PM301000) form; it also assigns the project quote the Closed status. In the created project, a link to the project quote is displayed in the Quote Ref. Nbr. box on the Summary tab (Quote section) of the Projects form.
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        If you delete the project, the system changes the status of the project quote from Closed to Approved,
        so you can assign the Dra status to the project quote, edit it, and again create a project based on the
        project quote.
```

Workflow of Project Quotes

The following diagram illustrates the workflow of a project quote being processed. Project Quotes: Creation of Project Quotes from Opportunities

In Acumatica ERP, an opportunity represents a potential sale to a new or existing customer. You can create a project quote based on an opportunity and then create a project based on this project quote. The following sections describe the project quotes creation based on opportunities. For more information on working with opportunities, see Managing Opportunities.

Creation of a Project Quote Based on an Opportunity

To create a project quote based on an opportunity, you open the opportunity on the Opportunities (CR304000) form, and click Create Quote on the form toolbar. In the Create Quote dialog box, which the system opens, you select Project Quote in the Quote Type box to indicate the type of quote to be created based on the opportunity. Then you specify the basic settings and initiate the creation of the quote by clicking Create and Review. The system creates the project quote and opens it on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form. In the Summary area, the system inserts the identifier of the opportunity in the Opportunity ID box and copies the business account, the description, and the owner from the opportunity to the quote. Once you save the project quote associated with the opportunity, on the Opportunities form, the project quote is listed on the Quotes tab along with any other project and sales quotes associated with the opportunity. The following diagram illustrates the creation of a project quote from an opportunity.

Aer the project quote has been created based on the opportunity, its workflow is the same as that of a project quote that has been created from scratch. For information, see Project Quotes: General Information.

Primary Project Quotes

If you create a project quote for an opportunity, and the opportunity does not have any other quotes, the system sets this project quote as the primary by selecting the Primary check box in the following places:

In the Summary area on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form
In the row that has the settings of the project quote on the Quotes tab of the Opportunities (CR304000) form If you create a new project quote and set it as primary, the previous primary quote of this opportunity becomes non-primary. If multiple quotes are created for an opportunity, one of the quotes must be set as the primary. You can set a project quote as a primary quote for a non-closed opportunity either by clicking Set as Primary on the Project Quotes form toolbar or during creation of a new project quote.
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       The Details tab on the Opportunities form is not displayed if a project quote has been created for an
       opportunity and set as primary.
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You can create a project from an opportunity-based project quote if this quote has been set as primary. To create a project based on a project quote, you click Convert to Project on the form toolbar of the Project Quotes form. The created project is associated with the opportunity and can be used for the creation of sales orders, invoices, and service orders.

Project Quote Addresses

When you create a project quote based on an opportunity, the system inserts the location-related information in the project quote on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form as follows:

Copies the address settings from the Ship-To Address section on the Shipping tab of the Opportunities (CR304000) form to the Project Address section on the Addresses tab of the Project Quotes form for the project quote. If you need to change the project address in the project quote, you can select the Override check box in the Project Address section and update the information in the section.
Copies the contact settings from the Contact section on the Contact tab of the Opportunities form to the Bill-To Contact section on the Addresses tab of the Project Quotes form for the project quote.
Copies the address information from the Address section on the Contact tab of the Opportunities form to the Bill-To Address section on the Addresses tab of the Project Quotes form for the project quote. If you specify a diﬀerent business account in the Business Account box of the Summary area, or a location in the Location box of the Financial tab of the Project Quotes form, the system displays a dialog box in which you need to confirm the replacement of the existing settings in the quote with the new settings.

Project Quotes: To Create a Project Quote Based on an Opportunity

This activity will walk you through the process of creating a project quote from an opportunity and creating a project based on the project quote.

Story

Suppose that the HM's Bakery and Cafe customer has ordered a juicer for one of its restaurants, along with the installation and training services from the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company. The sales manager of SweetLife has created an opportunity for the provision of the juicer and the services. Acting as SweetLife's estimator, you will create a project quote for this opportunity, confirm the project quote with the customer, and convert the project quote to the project.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, the following tasks have been performed to support this activity:

For the purposes of this activity, the following features have been enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form:
Project Accounting, which provides support for the project accounting functionality
Project Quotes, which provides the ability to create project quotes
Customer Management, which provides the customer relation management (CRM) functionality, including management of opportunities
On the Opportunities (CR304000) form, the 000001 opportunity has been created. A note and a file have been attached to the opportunity.
On the Project Templates (PM208000) form, the PROGRESS project template has been configured with the PHASE1 and PHASE2 project template tasks.
On the Account Groups (PM201000) form, the REVENUE, MATERIAL, SUBCON, and LABOR account groups have been created.
On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the JUICER15 stock item has been configured.
On the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form, the INSTALL and TRAINING non-stock items have been configured.

Process Overview

On the Opportunities (CR304000) form, you will initiate the creation of a project quote for the opportunity created for the customer. On the Project Quotes (PM304500) form, you will then create the project quote and specify all required settings, including the estimation lines and the project template to be used for project creation. You will also print the project quote and email it to the customer for review. Once the project quote has been confirmed with the customer, you will convert the project quote to a project.

Step 1: Creating a Project Quote To create a project quote for an opportunity, do the following:

On the Opportunities (CR304000) form, open the 000001 opportunity, and in the Summary area, notice that the amount in the Detail Total box is equal to 3,500.00.
On the form toolbar, click Create Quote.
In the Create Quote dialog box, which opens, do the following: a. Select Project Quote as the Quote Type. Notice that the Set New Quote as Primary check box is selected. b. Click Create & Review. The system creates a project quote based on the opportunity and opens the project quote on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form. Notice the following:

In the Summary area, the Primary check box is selected, which means that the project quote is the primary quote of the opportunity, whose identifier is shown in the Opportunity ID box. The description of the quote has been copied from the opportunity.
On the form title bar, the icon to the le of Notes is shaded in yellow, and (1) is shown aer Files, indicating that the project quote has a note and an attached file, which have been copied from the opportunity.

In the Summary area of the Project Quotes form, specify the following settings:

Project Template: PROGRESS
New Project ID: HMBAKERY1 When you select the project template, the system fills in the relevant elements of the project quote with the settings specified for the template.

On the Project Tasks tab, make sure that two tasks have been copied from the selected project template. Notice that the Default check box is selected for the PHASE1 task. The project task is specified as the default task of the project quote because this task is the default task of the selected project template.

Step 2: Estimating the Revenue and Costs of the Project Quote To estimate the revenue and costs of the project quote based on the customer's order, do the following:

While you are still viewing the project quote on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form, on the Estimation tab, add a line with the following settings:

Inventory ID: JUICER15
Quantity: 1
Project Task: PHASE1 (inserted automatically)
Cost Code: 00-000
Cost Account Group: MATERIAL (inserted automatically)

Add a second line with the following settings:

Inventory ID: INSTALL
Quantity: 4
Project Task: PHASE1 (inserted automatically)
Cost Code: 00-000
Cost Account Group: SUBCON (inserted automatically)

Add a third line with the following settings:

Inventory ID: TRAINING
Quantity: 8
Project Task: PHASE2
Cost Code: 00-000
Cost Account Group: LABOR (inserted automatically) The added lines specify estimated costs by project task and inventory item.

In each of the added lines, change Ext. Price to 0, and make sure the Revenue Account Group column is empty. When this quote is converted to a project, the system will convert these lines to cost budget lines of the project.
On the same tab, add a revenue line with the following settings:

Description: The juicer with installation
Ext. Price: 2900
Project Task: PHASE1 (inserted automatically)
Cost Code: 00-000
Revenue Account Group: REVENUE

On the same tab, add second revenue line with the following settings:

Description: Training of employees
Ext. Price: 400
Project Task: PHASE2
Cost Code: 00-000
Revenue Account Group: REVENUE Notice that for each of the added revenue lines, the Ext. Cost is 0 and the Cost Account Group column is empty. When this quote is converted to a project, the system will convert these lines of the quote to revenue budget lines of the project.

Save your changes to the project quote. In the Summary area, notice that the amount in the Total Sales box is 3,300.00, which is the total of the values in the Ext. Price column on the Estimation tab. The amount in the Total Cost box is 2,640.00, which is the total of the values in the Ext. Cost column on the Estimation tab. The gross margin amount of the quote is $660 (20%).
On the Opportunities form, again open the 000001 opportunity, and notice the following:

In the Summary area, the Detail Total of the opportunity has been changed to the total sales of the created project quote (3,300.00).
On the Quotes tab, where the project quote you created is listed in the table, the total sales of the quote is shown in the Detail Total column (3,300.00). Also, the check box in the Primary column is selected, which means that this is the primary project quote of the opportunity.

Step 3: Confirming the Project Quote with the Customer To confirm the project quote, do the following:

On the Project Quotes (PM304500) form, open the project quote that you have created earlier in this activity.
On the form toolbar, click Submit. The system changes the status of the quote to Approved; you can no longer edit the quote's settings.
On the form toolbar, click Send to send the project quote to the customer. The system changes the status of the project quote to Sent.
On the Activities tab, click the link in the Summary column of the only line. The system opens the email on the Email Activity (CR306015) form. On the form title bar, notice that (1) is shown aer Files: the system has generated the ready-to-print version of the quote and attached the generated PDF to the email. The email has been sent to the customer's email address, which is specified on the Addresses tab of the Project Quotes form.
Close the form and return to the project quote on the Project Quotes form.
On the form toolbar, click Print to print the project quote. The system navigates to the Project Quote (PM604500) report, which is the same report as has been attached to the email. The printed form lists the estimated revenue of the project quote, which the customer needs to review and agree to.
Click Back in the browser window to return to the project quote on the Project Quotes form.
On the More menu, click Mark as Accepted. The project quote is assigned the Accepted by Customer status.

Now you can convert the agreed quote to a project. Part 2: Advanced Billing | 24