IEM - Advanced Job Management

Walkhrough: Archive and Restore Job Quotes

In this walkthrough, you learn about the new way of handling Job Quote versions by creating an archived version of a Job Quote and restoring an archived version to a Job Quote. This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:
Create a Job Quote from an Opportunity. Insert a Template and modify the calculation. Send a Job Quote. Create a new version of a Job Quote. Restore a previously archived version if a Job Quote.

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough, you will need:

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
  • CRONUS International Ltd. demonstration database.
  • STAEDEAN IEM demo set.

Story

David is the dedicated sales rep for Jobs at CRONUS International Ltd. David, has had a first discussion with a sales lead and did a discovery on the requirements. With that information he creates a Job Quote from the sales opportunity, selects the Job Template closest to the customer requirements and modifies the details to finalize the first version of the calculation. When complete he prints and send the Job Quote to the prospect.
Based on the prospect?s responses David creates a new version of the Job Quote, makes the required adjustments and re-sends the Job Quote to the prospect.
When the prospect decides that the original Job Quote was the better one David restores that version and after obtaining the prospect?s signature David changes the state of the Job Quote to order.

Setting Up the Sample Data

The IEM demo set requires some additional setup:
Lifecycle: The IEM-JOB Lifecycle is installed by enabling Advanced Job Management in the Product Registration, make sure the Lifecycle has been Released (see also How To: Job Lifecycle):

  1. Type Lifecycles in the Search box;
  2. Locate IEM-JOB in the list;
  3. Verify that the status is Released, if not click Release in the ribbon.

Workflows: The workflow(s) need to be created, make sure to first complete steps 1 .. 4 in the section Creating an Approval Workflow in How To: Job Lifecycle
for step 5 you can also import the workflow from the documentation folder in the IEM Release Package:

  1. Type Workflows in the Search box to open the Workflows list;
  2. Click the Import from File action in the ribbon;
  3. Locate the IEM-JOB Estimate Approval workflow.xml in the release package and click Open to import;
  4. Once imported, Edit the Job Estimate Approval and check the Enabled field

Users: Approvals are linked to users Windows logins and since the IEM functionality is based on Resources they need to be connected. For that reason make sure to first create a User ID for David and one for Kevin. Next link the 2 together in the user setup:

  1. Type User Setup in the Search box to open the User Setup list;
  2. Click New in the ribbon
  3. On the line select a User ID and in the Resource No. field select a Resource to act as David (alternatively create new Resources);

Templates: In this walkthrough we assume that the company is working with templates to create Jobs and Job Quotes. This is an alternative way of working compared to starting in the planning state and build a Job from elements and activities.

Opportunity: The walkthrough assumes that David has an opportunity pending. In this walkthrough you can use an existing Opportunity or add a new one:

  1. Type Opportunity List in the Search box to open the Opportunity list: Departments/Sales & Marketing/Marketing/Opportunity List
  2. Select an existing opportunity and click Edit to open the card or
  3. Click Create Opportunity in the ribbon to start the Opportunity wizard

Once created continue with the first step in the Walkthrough

Process

IEM adds a set of additional actions to the Opportunity to make it possible to create, or open, a Job of the type Quote directly from the Opportunity.

Create an Opportunity from a Job Quote

  1. Type Opportunity List in the Search box to open the Opportunity list: Departments/Sales & Marketing/Marketing/Opportunity List and locate the Opportunity prepared in the sample data.
  2. Click Edit to open the opportunity and select the ACTIONS tab.
  3. Click Assign Job Quote in the ribbon of the Actions tab.
  4. A Job Card will open with the Customer / Contact details of the Opportunity.

Notes 1

  • If you selected a Bill-to Contact only (for which no Bill-to Customer exists yet) you also have to specify a Customer Template. - Use the ?Show more fields? option to make the Customer Template field visible
  • The Job card shows the Opportunity No. field with the linked Opportunity No. and the Job Status field showing the type Quote. ?
  • The Opportunity card shows in the Sales Document Type: field Job Quote and the Sales Document No.: the Job No. just created. You can click Show Job Quote to open the linked Job Quote.
    You have now successfully created a Job Quote. Next step is to complete the Job Quote header with Job Tasks by inserting a template.

Insert a Template in the Quote and modify the calculation

A template allows you to quickly create a Job Quote or a Job. The Base Template further completes the Job header, and can specify a Master template to insert the Job Task structure and an Invoice template to set the Invoicing Method and schedule in case of a Fixed Price invoicing method.

  1. In the Job Quote created in the previous step locate the Base Template field and type or select a Base Template code from the lookup list.
  2. Tab to the next field and note the process of inserting the Job Task structure. a. In this process the system recalculates the filters for the grouping levels in the Job Task structure.
  3. Click Tasks in the ribbon to open the Job Task Lines page as inserted from the Master Template.
  4. To adjust the Budget Lines you can use 2 methods:
    From the Job Task list, click Budget in the ribbon or in the Job Task Information factbox and modify Budget Lines per Job Task.
    From the Job card click Budget from the ribbon and select the Active budget, select Budget from the ribbon to list all Budget Lines for the active budget.
  5. To show the budget totals for your Job Quote open the Summary page from the Job card ribbon. You have now created a Job Task structure and reviewed and updated the budget lines.

Send a Job Quote

When the Job Quote is complete you can send a copy to the customer or contact.

  1. In the Quoted Jobs list select the Job for which you completed the Job Quote in the previous step and click Edit in the ribbon to open the card.
  2. Select the Report tab to show the Print Job Quotation action.
  3. Click this action to preview or print the Job Quotation report.

Notes 2

  • The details per Job Task are depending on the invoicing method: Fixed Price only shows the amount in the header; Time & Material (as well as Delivery) will show the detailed price per Job Task with the total amount in the header.
  • Printing the Job Quote can also be embedded in the Workflow by using the ?PrintReport? action handler, specify the report number 11014515 in the arguments of the action handler. In this situation the Request Approval for a quote actually means getting approval from the customer or contact.

The Job Quote has now been printed and send to the customer or contact for approval the Job Quote.

Create a new version of a Job Quote

When the customer or contact responds to the Job Quote with additional or changed requirements a new version of the Job Quote can be created by archiving the current version.

  1. In the Quoted Jobs list select the Job for which was send to the customer or contact.
  2. Select the Actions tab and locate the New Quote Version action.
  3. Click to archive the current version and continue with a new version.
    A pop-up message will ask you to create the new version from
    Current Job Quote
    Archived Job Quote
    In this scenario select the Current Job Quote, the other choice is explained in the next scenario.
    The action will be confirmed with the following message: The Job Quote has been archived, you can continue with the current Job Quote.
  4. The Quoted Job Versions field will show the number of archived versions of the Job Quote. Clicking on this hyperlink will open the Quoted Job Archive List.

The current Job Quote can be modified as required and send to the customer for approval.

Restore a previously archived version if a Job Quote

When the customer or contact responds to the Job Quote with additional or changed requirements you can also revert back to an earlier version and restore that as the current version.

  1. In the Quoted Jobs list select the Job for which was send to the customer or contact.
  2. Select the Actions tab and locate the New Quote Version action.
  3. Click to archive the current version and continue with a new version. A pop-up message will ask you to create the new version from
    • Current Job Quote
    • Archived Job Quote
      In this scenario select the Active Job Quote, the other choice was explained in the previous scenario. The action will be confirmed with the following message: The Job Quote has been archived, you can continue with the current Job Quote.

The Quoted Job Versions field will show the number of archived versions of the Job Quote. Clicking on this hyperlink will open the Quoted Job Archive List.

When the Job Quote is final, the customer or Contact has either Approved or Rejected the Job Quote continue as follows:

Approved (the status = 230 - Q - APPROVE)

  • In the Job Quote header set the Won/Lost field to Won and select a Reason Code.
  • Use the Change Status action to convert the Job Quote into a Job Order.

Rejected (the status = 240 - Q - REJECT)

  • In the Job Quote header set the Won/Lost field to Lost and select a Reason Code.
  • Use the Change Status action to convert the Job Quote into a Completed Job.

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