This chapter covers the following topics:
You create proposals to position a product or service as a possible solution to a customer's business needs. Oracle Proposals enables you to create proposals using templates, which feature existing content, standardized document formats, and access to information stored in the database during the sales cycle.
You can create a proposal:
From the Oracle Proposals page
From a quote on the Quote Details page
From an opportunity in Oracle Telesales or Oracle Sales
From a customer in Oracle Telesales or Oracle Sales
From a lead in Oracle Sales
If a proposal is created from a quote, opportunity, customer, or lead, customer and sales team information is carried over from the object to the proposal. If the proposal is created standalone from the Oracle Proposals page or Views page, you must provide this information.
Use the Create Proposal page to create proposals. In Oracle Proposals, this page enables you to create a standalone proposal. You can also access this page from other applications to create a proposal in the context of objects in those applications.
Steps
Click Create Proposal.
Enter a proposal name.
Search for and select a customer. You can also select a contact.
You can search for customers you can access, and can search for customers as organizations. You can search for customers as persons if this capability is provided through personalization.
Select a proposal template. You can filter groups of templates by category if your organization has many proposal templates. Click Show to examine the proposal components.
Click Apply.
From the Update Proposal page, you can maintain and generate your proposal.
All Oracle Quoting users can create proposals from a quote unless security is enabled. In that case, only those users with update access to the quote can create a proposal from that particular quote. Refer to the Oracle Quoting User Guide and the Oracle Quoting Implementation Guide for details.
You are not allowed to create proposals from the following types of quotes:
Earlier version quotes
Quotes in Order Submitted status
Expired quotes
Quotes with incomplete pricing
Quotes with incomplete tax
Quotes submitted for batch pricing
Quotes that have been converted to Shopping Carts in Oracle iStore
Quote templates
In addition, you cannot add the following types of quotes to a proposal, nor can you create a proposal from one:
Quotes that are inaccessible
Quotes for other customers
Note: It is possible that an eligible quote might become ineligible after a proposal has been created from a quote. If this happens you receive an error message when attempting to generate the proposal.
Notes
Log in to Oracle Quoting with the Quoting Sales User responsibility.
Navigate to the Proposals subtab within the quote.
Proposals subtab - shows a page displaying the Quote header information along with any proposals already created from this quote, if any.
If you are working on an Opportunity from Oracle Telesales or Oracle Sales, you will see a Proposal link in the Opportunity Detail page which displays all related proposals for an opportunity. You can view/or edit a proposal from the list page.
Prerequisites
Telesales Agent responsibility for Oracle Telesales; Sales User responsibility in Oracle Sales.
Navigation
Oracle Telesales, or Oracle Sales > Opportunity > Opportunity Details page > Proposals > Create Proposal button
Notes
Proposal customer name and primary contact name: Populated based on the information in the opportunity. You can change the proposal contact on the Create Proposal page.
Scenarios for proposal template selection:
If the opportunity is created from a campaign activity, you can select only proposal templates associated with that campaign activity. If there is only one template associated with the campaign activity, it is automatically selected for proposal creation. If more than one template is associated with the campaign, the first template is auto selected.
If all the components of the selected template are complete (meaning they do not have any dynamic fields or do not need any objects), the first version of the proposal document is automatically generated. If any components of the selected template are incomplete, you can modify them.
If no template is associated with an opportunity, you can select from a list of all published templates to create the proposal.
The defaulting proposal name and description should be based on the template name and description. If multiple templates are available through the campaign activity, the automatically selected template is used to default the name and description. If there is no associated template, nothing is defaulted.
If you are working in Oracle Telesales within the context of a customer you will see a Proposal link from where you can view or edit a proposal from the list page. You can also create a new proposal for the customer. In Oracle Sales, you can create a proposal from the Update Customer page by selecting Create Proposal from the Action menu. You can also view proposals by selecting Proposals Received from the View drop down menu in the Business Activities section.
When you create a proposal, the customer name is populated in the Create Proposal page. You can change the proposal contact on the Create Proposal page.
Notes
Log in to Oracle TeleSales with the Telesales Agent responsibility or to Oracle Sales with the Sales User responsibility.
Navigate to the Customer page.
If you have logged into Oracle Sales through Self-Service mode you will see a Create Proposal button on the Update Lead page. You can create proposals from standalone leads or from leads generated from a sales campaign. If the associated sales campaign has proposal templates associated with it, the proposal created from the lead will be generated based on the associated proposal template.
Create a proposal from a lead by selecting the Create Proposal button in the Proposals subtab section of the Update Lead page. The Create Proposal page displays with the Customer field auto populated.
Notice the lead name in the Proposal header section.
Notes
Log in to Self-Service mode with the Sales User responsibility.
Navigate to the Proposals subtab from the Leads section in the Sales Dashboard.
Proposal customer name and primary contact name: Auto populated based on the information in the lead. You can change the proposal contact on the Create Proposal page.
Scenarios for proposal template selection:
If the lead is associated with a campaign activity, you can select only proposal templates associated with that campaign activity. If there is only one template associated with the campaign activity, it is automatically selected for proposal creation. If more than one template is associated with the campaign, the first template is automatically selected.
If all the components of the selected template are complete (meaning they do not have any dynamic fields, have values for all dynamic fields, or do not need any objects), the first version of the proposal document is automatically generated. If any components of the selected template are incomplete, you can modify them.
If no campaign activity is associated with a lead, you can select from a list of published templates to create the proposal.
The defaulting proposal name and description should be based on the template name and description. If multiple templates are available through the campaign activity, the automatically selected template is used to default the name and description. If there is no associated template, nothing is defaulted.
You can delete proposals provided the following:
You have access to the proposal.
Generated versions of the proposal have not been sent to a customer.
The proposal is not in the process of being generated.