> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hitaji360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quotations

> A quotation (or quote) is the priced offer you send a customer before any sale is committed.

A quotation (or quote) is the priced offer you send a customer *before* any sale is committed. It carries no accounting effect on its own — nothing posts to your ledger — but it is the front door to a sale: once the customer accepts, you convert the quote into a real sales invoice in one step, carrying the lines, prices, and terms across.

This page covers building a quote, its validity window, the statuses it moves through, sending and tracking it, and converting an accepted quote into an invoice.

**You'll find this at:** `/accounting/quotations`

> 📷 *Screenshot: Quotations list page with the pipeline stats and "New Quotation" button — to be added.*

***

## When to use a quotation

Use a quotation when you want to give a customer a formal price offer they can accept or decline, especially when:

* The deal is still being negotiated (you may revise the offer).
* You want to offer **discounts** (quotations support both per-line and document-level discounts, unlike the sales invoice).
* You want to present **alternative options** the customer chooses between.
* The offer is only valid for a limited time.

Because a quote never touches the ledger, you can create, revise, and discard them freely without any accounting clean-up.

***

## The quotation lifecycle (statuses)

| Status                  | Meaning                                                            |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Draft**               | Being prepared; fully editable.                                    |
| **Pending Approval**    | Submitted and waiting for an internal approver.                    |
| **Approved**            | Cleared internally; ready to send to the customer.                 |
| **Sent**                | Issued to the customer and awaiting their response.                |
| **Accepted**            | The customer accepted — ready to convert to an invoice.            |
| **Partially Converted** | Some lines/quantities have been turned into invoices; more remain. |
| **Converted**           | Fully turned into one or more invoices.                            |
| **Expired**             | Passed its valid-until date without being accepted.                |
| **Lost**                | The customer declined (with a reason).                             |
| **Revised**             | Superseded by a newer revision of the quote.                       |

> 📷 *Screenshot: Quotation detail page showing the status badge and the action buttons (Submit, Approve, Send, Accept, Convert) — to be added.*

***

## Creating a quotation

From the Quotations list, choose **New Quotation** (this opens the dedicated builder at `/accounting/quotations/new`).

> 📷 *Screenshot: New quotation builder with the line editor, alternatives toggle, and totals panel — to be added.*

### Header fields

| Field                   | Required | Notes                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Customer (contact)**  | Yes      | The customer the quote is for.                                                                                                                                                         |
| **Issue date**          | Yes      | The date the quote is dated.                                                                                                                                                           |
| **Valid until**         | No       | The last day the offer stands. **Cannot be before the issue date.** Drives expiry and acceptance (see below).                                                                          |
| **Currency**            | No       | Defaults to UGX.                                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Notes**               | No       | Free text (up to 2,000 characters).                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Terms**               | No       | Terms and conditions printed on the quote (up to 5,000 characters). If you leave both Terms and Terms template blank, your book's **default terms template** is applied automatically. |
| **Terms template**      | No       | Pick a saved terms template instead of typing terms.                                                                                                                                   |
| **Document discount %** | No       | A percentage discount applied across the whole quote, on top of any per-line discounts.                                                                                                |

### Line items

| Line field               | Required | Notes                                                                |
| ------------------------ | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Description**          | Yes      | What you're quoting (up to 500 characters).                          |
| **Quantity**             | Yes      | Quantity offered.                                                    |
| **Unit price**           | Yes      | Price per unit.                                                      |
| **Line discount %**      | No       | Percentage off this line.                                            |
| **Line discount amount** | No       | A flat amount off this line (applied after the percentage).          |
| **Tax rate (%)**         | No       | E.g. `18` for 18% VAT on the line.                                   |
| **Stock item / UOM**     | No       | Link to a stock item and unit of measure.                            |
| **Unit label**           | No       | A billing-unit label such as *month*, *year*, or *hour* for display. |
| **Alternative option**   | No       | Mark a line as an alternative within a group (see below).            |

#### How a line is priced

For each line the system works out:

1. **Gross** = quantity × unit price
2. **Less** the line's percentage discount, **then** the flat discount amount → **net**
3. **Tax** = net × (tax rate ÷ 100)
4. **Line total** = net + tax

#### Document totals

* **Subtotal** = the net (pre-tax) value of all *non-alternative* lines
* **Tax** = total tax across non-alternative lines
* **Document discount** = subtotal × (document discount % ÷ 100)
* **Total** = subtotal − document discount + tax

> **Alternative lines** (options the customer chooses between) are **excluded** from the headline totals so you don't double-count competing options. They are priced and stored, and become real lines only when one is selected at conversion time.

***

## Offering alternatives

When you want the customer to pick between options (say, two grades of the same product), mark the competing lines as **alternatives** and give them the same **alternative group index**. Only the selected alternative is pulled into the invoice when you convert; the rest are left behind.

***

## Editing, submitting, and approval

* **Editing:** Only **Draft** quotations can be edited or deleted. Once a quote moves beyond Draft it is locked — use **Revise** to make changes (see below).
* **Submit:** Moves a Draft to **Pending Approval**. A quote must have **at least one line item** before it can be submitted.
* **Approve / Reject:** An internal approver moves a Pending-Approval quote to **Approved**, or **Rejects** it back to **Draft** for rework.

***

## Sending to the customer

Choose **Send** on an **Approved** quotation. This:

* Marks the quote **Sent** and stamps the send time.
* Emails the quotation PDF to the customer's email address. If the contact has no email, the quote is still marked Sent — only the email delivery is skipped.

You can **Resend** the email for quotes that are Sent, Accepted, or Partially Converted.

***

## After it's sent

Once the customer responds, record the outcome:

* **Accept** — moves a **Sent** quote to **Accepted**, ready to convert. If the quote has a **valid-until** date that has already passed, acceptance is blocked with a message telling you to resend or recreate it first.
* **Mark Lost** — moves a **Sent** quote to **Lost**. You record a **lost reason** (and optional notes) so you can analyse why deals don't close.
* **Revise** — for a **Sent** quote, creates a brand-new **Draft** copy (new quotation number) and marks the original **Revised**. Use this to send an updated offer without losing the history of the original.
* **Reopen** — for an **Expired** or **Lost** quote, spins up a fresh **Draft** copy so you can re-quote.

### Expiry

Each night the system automatically marks any quote whose **valid-until** date has passed (and that hasn't been accepted/converted) as **Expired**, keeping your open pipeline honest.

***

## Converting a quote into an invoice

When the customer has accepted, choose **Convert to invoice** (available on **Accepted** and **Partially Converted** quotes).

> 📷 *Screenshot: Convert-to-invoice wizard showing line selection, quantities, and alternative picks — to be added.*

In the conversion wizard you can:

* **Choose which alternative** to include for each alternative group (omit a group to drop all its options).
* **Select specific lines and quantities** to invoice now — handy for partial billing. Omit selections to convert everything remaining.

The system then:

1. Creates a **Draft sales invoice** for the same customer, carrying the chosen lines, unit prices, tax rates, item links, and the quote's notes and terms. The invoice is dated today with a **due date 30 days out** by default. (Stock-item lines carry the item's default income account.)
2. Tracks how much of each line has been converted, so a partial conversion leaves the rest available.
3. Sets the quote to **Converted** (everything billed) or **Partially Converted** (more to bill).
4. Records a link between the quote and the new invoice so you can trace one to the other.

> You cannot over-convert: the wizard won't let you invoice more of a line than remains unconverted.

The new document lands as a **Draft invoice** — review it, then submit and send it through the normal invoice flow to actually bill the customer and post to the ledger.

***

## Quotations from CRM opportunities

There is a path to spin a quotation directly off a CRM opportunity.

> ⚠️ **Current state:** This is **temporarily unavailable** while the CRM module is being rebuilt — attempting it returns a "CRM module is being rebuilt" message. Create the quotation manually for now. (Flagged for the team — see Gaps.)

***

## Behind the scenes — the accounting

**None.** A quotation is a pre-sale offer and posts **nothing** to your general ledger at any status — not when created, sent, accepted, or expired. The accounting effect only begins when you **convert** the quote to a sales invoice and then send that invoice. See [Sales Invoices](/accounting/user/transactions/sales-invoices) for the journal entries that follow.

***

## Multi-business note

Quotations belong to a specific **accounting book**. If your organisation runs several businesses or books, make sure the workspace selector shows the right one before you create or convert — a quote converts into an invoice in the **same book**, so it must match the business you intend to bill from.

***

## Related

* [Sales Invoices](/accounting/user/transactions/sales-invoices) — what a converted quote becomes, and how it posts
* [Credit notes & sales returns](/accounting/user/transactions/credit-notes) — reverse or reduce an issued invoice
* [Contacts](/accounting/user/master-data/contacts) — manage the customers you quote