Estimates and Proposals

Estimates versus proposals

An estimate is a priced quote you can convert into an invoice. A proposal is a fuller document (scope, terms, price) that your client views and responds to in the client portal. Both are found under Finance in the sidebar: Finance → Estimates and Finance → Proposals.

Working an estimate

Open an estimate to see its actions: Send, WhatsApp, Mark as sent, and once it is sent, Accept, Decline and e-Sign. An accepted estimate can be turned into an invoice with 'Convert to invoice' or an engagement with 'Create engagement'. 'Reissue' makes a fresh copy and 'Delete' removes a draft. Proposals offer the same through the row menu: Send, Mark as sent, Send for e-signature, Mark lost…, Send via WhatsApp, Convert to invoice and Create engagement.

Valid until does not expire anything

Both estimates and proposals have a 'Valid until' date, but Oris Work never changes a document's status because that date has passed. A sent or viewed quote stays open until a person accepts it, declines it (Rejected) or marks it lost. A past date is treated as information, since clients often accept late. The only thing the date changes is the automatic follow-up emails, which stop once it has passed. An 'Expired' status can still appear on documents imported from another system.

Automatic follow-ups

• A daily job nudges the client about a quote that was sent but not answered, by email, WhatsApp or both, depending on the client's 'Send reminders by' setting.
• By default an estimate is chased about 3 days after it was sent and then roughly every 4 days. A proposal is chased after about 5 days and then roughly every 9 days.
• It skips quotes past their Valid until date, clients on 'Do not chase', and quotes with nobody to write to.
• Admins can switch these off under Settings → Finance → Notifications ('Estimate follow-ups' and 'Proposal follow-ups'). Email must be set up for your workspace.

Chasing quotes by hand: Sales follow-up

Open Finance → Sales follow-up and choose the 'Stale quotes' tab. It lists sent or viewed quotes older than a number of days (change the number in the 'Days since sent' box), with age, last follow-up, whether the client opened it and the Valid until date. Tick quotes and use: 'Follow up' (sends a follow-up now), 'Extend validity' (adds 1 to 365 days, counted from today if the date has already passed, and reopens an Expired quote) or 'Mark lost' (needs a reason, sets the quote to Rejected and feeds the Win / loss tab). A manual follow-up is a deliberate send, so it ignores the Settings switch.

Common problems

• Quotes are not being chased: check the client is not on Do not chase, the Valid until date has not passed, the Settings → Finance → Notifications switch is on, and the client has an email or phone.
• A quote still shows Sent long after its date: that is intended. Mark it lost, or extend its validity.
• 'Follow up' skipped a row: the client has no email or phone on file. The skipped rows are listed.