Sales and quotation software: the process, flow by flow

Opens an enquiry for each new email or upload, with the original email and attachments attached.

• An email from the same sender with an identical attachment within 14 days is linked to the first enquiry instead of opening a second one.
• An email from an address that matches no customer contact still opens an enquiry, marked "sender not matched".

Reads the email body and attachments and lists each requested line with its description, quantity and unit as written.

• A quantity it cannot read, or a vague one such as "a few boxes", is left blank and flagged.
• When the document states a line count or a total, the lines read are counted against it, so a missed second page shows up.

Matches the sender to a customer account, by email address first and then by the company name and UEN on the letterhead.

• A match on a known contact's email address is accepted. A match on company name alone is shown as a suggestion for a person to confirm.
• With no match, the customer is left blank. The agent never creates a customer account.

Matches each line to an item, looking up the customer's own part numbers first, then Harbourline item codes, then supplier part numbers, then description and size.

• A description match is accepted only when exactly one item fits. When two or more fit, all candidates are shown and the line stays unmatched.
• Units are converted with the item's unit table (1 carton of sealant = 24 tubes). A unit with no conversion is flagged.

Assigns the enquiry to the account manager on the customer record, or to the sales manager's queue when the sender is unknown or the account manager is on leave.

Checks the draft against the original side by side, resolves every flagged line and confirms the enquiry.

• Each flagged line must end as matched to an item, marked non-stock for purchasing to price, or dropped with a reason. An enquiry with an open flag cannot be confirmed.
• Corrections to the agent's matches are logged against the draft, and a corrected customer part number can be saved to the customer's account for the next enquiry.

Sets the response target and passes the confirmed enquiry to the quotation agent.

• Target: a quote the same working day for enquiries confirmed before 3 pm, and by the end of the next working day for the rest.
• Enquiries past their target show at the top of the sales manager's list.

Resolves a unit price for each line from the first price source that applies.

• Order of sources: an active contract price for this customer and item, then the customer's account price list, then the last price quoted to this customer in the past 90 days, then the volume break for the quantity, then the list price.
• The first source with a price wins, and the draft shows the source on every line.
• A last price quoted is used only if that quote was approved without a discount exception and the price still clears the margin floor.

Calculates the margin on each line and on the whole quote, using the higher of the item's average cost and its last purchase cost.

• Margin = (unit price minus cost) divided by unit price.
• Any line under the 18% floor is flagged, and the quote goes to the sales manager even when the whole quote is above 18%.

Checks free stock for each line and proposes a delivery date.

• Free stock = on hand minus stock reserved for confirmed orders, checked at Tuas first and then at the Ubi showroom.
• Where free stock is short, the date is the expected receipt date on the open PO plus one working day. With no open PO, it is today plus the supplier's lead time.
• Availability is shown with the time it was checked, because a quote reserves nothing.

Adds the delivery charge, payment terms and validity date, then calculates GST at 9% on the subtotal.

• Delivery is S$45.00 when the goods total is under S$1,500.00 before GST, and free from S$1,500.00.
• Payment terms come from the customer account. New customers default to cash on delivery until finance sets terms.
• The quote is valid for 30 days from the date it is sent.
• The total including GST is printed at least as prominently as any amount before GST, and a note such as "prices subject to GST" is never used on its own. That layout also meets the IRAS rule that prices quoted to the public include GST.

Routes the draft to an approver using the approval matrix.

• Order of checks: a total above S$50,000.00 before GST goes to the director; any discount above 10% or any line under the 18% floor goes to the sales manager; everything else goes to the account's sales executive.
• When several rules apply, the most senior approver decides and sees every rule that applied.

Reviews the draft line by line, edits what needs changing, and approves it or passes it to the approver the rules named.

• A price typed over the resolved price counts as a discount from the resolved price and is checked again against the 10% limit and the margin floor.
• Every edit is logged against the agent's draft, so the record shows what the agent proposed, what the person changed and who approved.

Approves or rejects quotes that hit a discount or margin rule, with a reason.

• The reason is stored on the quote and listed in the monthly exceptions report by salesperson and customer.

Sends the approved quote to the customer from the system.

• The quote number is assigned at approval, so drafts that never go out leave no gaps in the numbering.
• Only a person can send it. The quotation agent cannot email a customer.

Sets the follow-up dates when the quote is sent and puts the quote in its owner's follow-up list.

• Follow-ups at 3 and 10 working days after sending and 7 days before the validity date, stopped as soon as the customer replies.

Drafts a follow-up email for each quote due that day, with the quote attached and any change in stock since it was sent.

• Stock is checked again. If a quoted line no longer has free stock for the quoted date, the draft says so and proposes a new date.
• The draft waits for the salesperson. Messages to customers always stop at a person.

Sends, edits or skips the follow-up, and logs the customer's response.

• A skipped follow-up needs a reason or a new date, so overdue follow-ups cannot pile up unseen.

Records a change the customer asks for, which creates a new version of the quote.

• A change to an item, quantity, price, discount, terms or validity creates version 2, 3 and so on under the same quote number. Header notes and contact details can change without a new version.
• Earlier versions stay read-only, and the customer's copy shows the version number.

Prices the new version and shows the difference from the previous version line by line.

• Unchanged lines keep the previous version's price while the quote is within its validity date. After that date every line is priced again from today's sources.
• Each new version goes through the same margin, discount and value checks as a new quote.

Marks the quote expired at the end of its validity date and takes it out of the open pipeline.

• An expired version cannot become an order. It has to be requoted as a new version with current prices and a new validity date.

Closes the quote as lost, with a reason from a fixed list, when the customer declines or stops replying.

• Reasons: price, delivery date, item not available, bought elsewhere, project cancelled, no reply after the last follow-up.
• A "price" reason asks for the competing price if the customer gave one, so the lost-on-price report shows the gap.

Reads the customer PO and drafts a sales order with the PO number, lines, prices, delivery address and requested date.

• The PO is linked to the quote by the quote number printed on it. Without one, open quotes for the same customer and items are shown as suggestions for a person to pick.
• A PO number already used on another order for this customer is blocked as a duplicate.

Compares the PO with the accepted quote version, line by line.

• Compared per line: item, unit, quantity and unit price. Then charges, payment terms and the quote's validity date.
• Any PO price below the quote price is a difference, whatever the amount. A PO price above the quote is flagged too, because it often means the customer used a different quote.
• A higher PO quantity is checked again for stock. A lower quantity is accepted, and priced again if it falls below a volume break the quote used.
• An order cannot be made from an expired quote version.

Resolves each difference by keeping the quote's term, accepting the PO's, or querying the customer.

• Accepting a lower PO price is a discount from the quote and goes through the same 10% and 18% rules.
• A query to the customer is drafted for the sales admin to send. The system does not send it.

Checks the customer's credit exposure against the credit limit.

• Exposure = unpaid invoices + delivered but not yet invoiced + confirmed orders not yet delivered + this order, all including GST.
• The order is held and routed to the finance manager if exposure is over the limit. Any invoice more than 60 days past its due date flags the account for the finance manager to decide on a hold.

Confirms the sales order once every difference is resolved and the credit check has passed or been released.

Reserves free stock for each line at the moment the order is confirmed.

• Reserved at the order's fulfilment location only. Free stock at the other location is shown on the order but is reserved for it only after a transfer linked to the order is confirmed. Stock already reserved for other orders is never taken.
• A line without enough free stock is reserved in part. The balance is backordered against an open PO, or passed to purchasing as a request tied to the order when there is no PO.

Sends the order confirmation to the customer, with the delivery date for reserved lines and the expected date for backordered ones.

Puts the order on the delivery list for its promised date.

• The customer PO number and the quote version are carried onto every delivery order and invoice for the order.

Builds the day's delivery orders from confirmed orders due that day, one per order and delivery address, with the reserved quantities only.

• A line goes on the delivery order up to its reserved quantity. Any unreserved balance stays on the order as a backorder.
• Orders for customers whose account says "no part deliveries" wait until every line is reserved.

Checks credit again before the delivery orders are released to the warehouse.

• Same exposure rule as at order confirmation. A hold here stops the pick and goes to the finance manager.

Picks each line from the bin shown and confirms the picked quantity.

• The picked quantity can never exceed the reserved quantity.
• A short pick reduces the delivery order line and returns the shortfall to backorder, with a reason such as bin empty or damaged.

Deducts the picked stock when the delivery order is dispatched, and prints the delivery order with the customer PO number.

• Stock leaves the books at dispatch, because that is when it leaves the bins. A failed delivery is booked back in.

Delivers the goods, has the delivery order signed and photographs the signed copy.

• The customer writes any shortage or rejected item on the delivery order before signing.

Reads the photo of the signed copy and drafts the delivered quantities, the signature date and any handwritten remarks against the delivery order.

• A handwritten quantity that differs from the printed one is flagged, never accepted as read.
• A remark it cannot read is flagged for a person to read.

Confirms the delivered quantities against the signed copy.

• The confirmed quantity on a line can never exceed the dispatched quantity.
• Rejected items go back to an inspection location and do not count as free stock until they are checked.

Updates the balance on each order line and passes the confirmed delivery to invoicing.

• Balance = ordered minus confirmed delivered. A line with a balance stays open as a backorder with its expected date.

Allocates stock arriving on a goods receipt to open backorders, oldest promised date first, before any of it shows as free to sell.

• Backorder lines keep the order price, whatever the price list says when the stock arrives.
• A backorder delivery carries no second delivery charge. The charge is billed once, with the first delivery.

Drafts invoice lines from the confirmed delivery order at the sales order's prices.

• Quantity to invoice on a line = confirmed delivered minus already invoiced. It can never exceed what was delivered.
• Prices, discounts, payment terms and the customer PO number come from the sales order, which came from the accepted quote version.

Adds the charges that fall due with this delivery under the order's rules.

• The delivery charge goes on the first invoice for the order only.

Reviews the draft and issues the tax invoice in the finance module.

• For a GST-registered customer, IRAS requires the tax invoice within 30 days from the time of supply, which for most sales is the earlier of the invoice date or a payment.
• In general, IRAS does not treat a sales order or a pro-forma invoice as an invoice for GST purposes, so neither starts the GST timing unless it is used as the bill for payment.

Links the invoice to the sales order and the delivery order, and marks the order invoiced once every line is billed in full.

Passes the invoice to receivables, or to the accounting package the client keeps, where collections take over.