How do I make, send and convert an offer?

An offer is made with a project's own steps: issue, send, new versions with their documents, and conversion to a project once it is accepted.

On this page

How do I make an offer? What happens from issue to acceptance? How do I add a line outside the catalogue? How do I change the way my offers look? Who sees what?

An offer is a project that has not been awarded yet: the same form, the same items, the same partners. When the customer accepts it, it becomes a project at the press of a button, with nothing typed twice.

How do I make an offer?

From the menu Projects & customers → Offers (or from the Projects list) press New offer. On its page you add an Item from the catalogue — who does it (you or a partner), the price, the estimated days — and an Estimated expense. The price and the partner's cost are changed only by someone with the Record and change fees and payments permission; everyone else sees the price without changing it. Under Terms you choose whether the document shows VAT. Partners are not told while it is an offer.

The list of offers shows each offer's status and version, and the office's summary. — Offers

What happens from issue to acceptance?

Button	What it does	Status
—	The offer is being drafted	Draft
Issue	Freezes the version and makes its documents: the financial offer for the customer and the internal costing	Issued
Send	By hand: marks it as sent at once. By email: it becomes «Sent» as soon as the email to the customer leaves — if the PDFs cannot be created or the email cannot be sent, the offer says so and offers Try again	Sent
New version	Opens a new version for changes; the earlier ones stay in Files	Draft
Accept → Convert to project	The same record becomes a project, and only then do partners receive their assignments	Accepted
Mark as rejected…	Closes the offer, with a reason	Rejected

The page of an offer in its second version shows its status, its items and the office's own costing. — An offer in its second version

An offer that passes its validity date shows Expired; from a rejected or expired offer, New offer from this one makes a fresh draft with a new number. The project keeps the offer's number without the P (P2026-1586 becomes 2026-1586); its Financial picture compares the offer with what actually happened, and its Files hold an «Offers» folder.

How do I add a line outside the catalogue?

When a service is not in the catalogue, ＋ Line outside the catalogue adds it under its own name and without a price. While any line has no price, the offer can be neither issued nor sent — 0 counts as a price. From the line's ⋮ you rename it, remove it or, if you may change the office's settings, add it to the catalogue.

How do I change the way my offers look?

From the How my offers look button in the Offers header, in four steps with a preview of the document beside them: whether the logo goes in the header, the default terms every new offer starts with, and whether a new offer starts without VAT or with VAT (each offer chooses again for itself). Under «For the office» the user who created the offer signs automatically, with the name and title from their profile. What you change holds for new offers; an issued offer keeps its terms, VAT, logo and signature as they were. The page is opened by whoever manages the office settings:

Permission	Office Owner	Office administrator	Project manager	Technical staff	Secretariat	Accounting	Website manager
Change the office settings	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no

Who sees what?

Offers are opened and made by anyone who may create projects:

Permission	Office Owner	Office administrator	Project manager	Technical staff	Secretariat	Accounting	Website manager
Create and edit projects and work items	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no	no

Amounts, profit, partners' costs and the costing are seen only by someone who can see amounts; everyone else sees the offers and how many there are:

Permission	Office Owner	Office administrator	Project manager	Technical staff	Secretariat	Accounting	Website manager
See the amounts of money on projects and work items	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes	no

No cost or profit ever goes to the customer. Labour cost appears in the costing only for someone with the labour cost permission.

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