Why would you convert a quote to an invoice? Advanced OpenSales

SuiteCRM Forum - English Language SuiteCRM General Discussion
#1

Hi

Sorry, new to this particular CRM and can’t get my head around the terminology and how it works.

I would normally associate things as follows:

Opportunities - customers you would like to sell to, new or old.

Leads - you have potential customers detail and they have ask you to give them a quote.

Quote - once you’ve actually put a quote together for the customer (you could have multiple quotes for the same customer, i.e. v1,v2,v3

Contract (Order) - a quote thats’ been converted in to a sale.

Invoice - only orders can have invoices associated to them.

I don’t get how to put my understanding of these terms in to how they are dealt with in this system.

I’ve read lots of guides, including this simple guide: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/sugarcrm-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html but to no avail.

Why would a quote convert to an invoice?

Why don’t projects sit inside a quote or order (contract)?

I appreciate I could customise to make it do want i want, but there must be a good reason the system has been built this way, so i’d like to understand this.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Paul

#2

Hi,

Just a few corrections to what you are saying…

Opportunities - In SuiteCRM opportunities model the sale, rather than the customer. The (potential) customer is associated to an opportunity.
Lead - Are unqualified and therefore you would not quote against them. If you qualify a Lead you would convert it to an Account / Contact then create a Quote for them.
Quote - A quote you are sending / have sent a customer. There is no Order module in SuiteCRM as it is assumed a ‘Closed Accepted’ Quote is infact a Quote which has been ordered.
Contract - Not infact an order but just a way of modelling a Contract you have with a customer for example a service agreement.
Invoice - An invoice which has been converted from a Closed Accepted Quote.

Not all business types would associate a Project to a Quote / Opportunity but you could do this via the Studio Tools.

Hope this helps!

Dale

#3

Thanks for your response dale.

So what’s an order in suitecrm?

What would be the best approach to making it work the way i’m familiar with?

Write our own AOS that progress’s the lead > quote > order > invoice or modify the existing modules to work the way we want.
Basically the information would be carried through each area, but perhaps adding more data as you go.
i.e. cases would relate to an order

I’m conscience of making sure we keep the platform easily upgradable and using any potential plugins at a later date.

Thanks again

#4

You would need to configure the existing architecture to meet your needs either through the Studio tools or by custom coding. You can do this without effecting its upgradability or use of potential plug-ins. The platform is very flexible.

If you require some professional consultancy on the matter then contact SalesAgility who would be able to help.

#5

Thanks Dale, we have developers that can make it do what ever we need, but i’m talking to your office about a course to understand the structure of the platform.

It was more about understanding why it has been developed this way and the reasons, as all the other CRM’s we’ve been involved in focus on the backend management of an order as opposed to the front end ability to report on the sales funnel.

This isn’t a bad thing and its why we have moved over to suitecrm as salesforce and sugar seem to really be driving there products in to the market place on exactly these features