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Sales User Guide

Quote Build and Submit Runbook

Step-by-step sales guide for custom quote creation, item rules, stock lookup, PDFs, approval submission, and quote handoff

Use the custom quote flow whenever a customer needs pricing or order intent. Start from the Account or Opportunity and use the Create Quote action.

Quote Path

Before Opening the Creator

Confirm:

CheckWhy it matters
Account is correctDrives customer history, pricing context, AR, and payment methods.
Contact is correctDrives quote communication and payment/invoice contacts.
Addresses are cleanQuote and order address defaults use customer address context.
Opportunity exists or can be auto-linkedThe app can create/link pipeline records, but the customer context must be clear.
Duplicate risk is handledAvoids quoting from the wrong account or contact.

Users should not manually create an unrelated Opportunity just to satisfy reporting. The quote/order automation links pipeline records when needed.

Create the Quote

  1. Open the Account or Opportunity.
  2. Select Create Quote.
  3. Confirm customer, contact, bill-to, and ship-to context.
  4. Optionally import lines from an existing quote when this should start from a prior line set.
  5. Add internal notes or 3PL/warehouse notes when needed.
  6. Select Create Quote.
  7. Open the created Quote record.
  8. Add or edit quote lines from the custom Line Items editor.
  9. Resolve item warnings or blockers before submission.
  10. Save line changes and review totals.

The quote creator is backed by CustomQuoteCreatorController, address/contact helpers, template-import logic, and quote trigger logic. The Line Items editor is where manual item selection, quantity, price, discount, stock, warning, fulfillment, and gateway review happens. Use these custom surfaces instead of the standard new-record page.

For detailed item entry instructions, see Adding Items to Quotes and Sales Orders.

Item, Stock, and Rule Checks

Use Stock Lookup before promising inventory-sensitive lines. Stock Lookup is available from the Sales and Item Operations apps.

SignalSales action
Available-to-promise is enoughProceed with quote and keep the line tied to the selected item.
Stock is low or uncertainConfirm with operations before promising dates or quantities.
Item rule warningRead the message and keep context for the approver.
Item rule blockerFix item, quantity, date, location, or pricing before submission.
Missing gateway or GL setup warningEscalate to admin/operations before customer commitment.

Item rules can be date, product, item group, location, price, or workflow sensitive. A warning is not the same as a blocker, but both should be visible to reviewers.

Payment Readiness

Quote payment readiness can depend on account, contact, item gateway routing, payment terms, payment plan requirements, and saved method/token coverage.

StateWhat to do
ReadyContinue with quote approval or conversion.
New payment method requiredUse the supported payment-method action before relying on saved payment.
Retokenization requiredAsk a payment admin to resolve token/gateway coverage.
Gateway unavailableDo not collect against that route until the gateway is repaired or replaced.

Do not ask the customer for card details just because a saved method looks unavailable. First check whether the issue is route-specific token coverage.

Quote PDF

Use PrintQuotePDF from the Quote record. The custom PDF path keeps customer-facing layout, branding, terms, item detail, and totals aligned.

If the PDF looks wrong:

  1. Check quote lines and totals.
  2. Check company branding settings.
  3. Check contact/address values.
  4. Reprint from the record action after corrections.

Clone and Revise

Use CloneQuote when a customer needs a revised version and the original quote should remain as history. Do not overwrite a submitted or approved quote just to make a new offer.

Clone when:

SituationReason
Customer requests a pricing revision.Preserves the original offer.
Quote was rejected and needs a different proposal.Keeps approval history intact.
Large line-set changes are needed.Reduces manual rebuild time while retaining context.

Submit for Approval

Use Submit_for_Approval from the Quote record. The submission flow creates the approval state and validates required conditions.

Before submitting:

  1. Quote totals match what the customer should see.
  2. Required payment fields and plan details are present.
  3. Item warnings are understood.
  4. Shipping, tax, credit, and discount values are intentional.
  5. The customer-facing PDF has been reviewed if it will be sent externally.

If submission fails, fix the displayed validation issue. Do not bypass by editing raw approval fields.

After Submission

Approvers can use Review_Quote_Approval from the quote or approval list/dashboard. Sales users should monitor:

ComponentUse
quoteApprovalStatusBadgeQuick status.
quoteApprovalStatusBannerInline state and next action.
quoteApprovalTimelineSubmission, email, approval, and rejection history.
Quote Approval DashboardWork queue and pending aging.
Quote Approval SLA DashboardBottleneck and SLA monitoring.

If approval communication needs to be sent again, use ResendApprovalEmail from the Quote or ResendThisApprovalEmail from approval history.

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