1. Order Management Guide
  2. What’s New in This Release

15Working with Quotes

About Quotes

A quote is an offer to a customer for specific products and services at a specific price. Quotes can be generated by end users such as call center agents, sales representatives, partner employees, and customers using Siebel eSales. The quote may include products and services (configured to show the customer-selected attributes), effective dates, price lists, any discounts by line item and by account, and the price for each item.

For information about creating quotes, see Creating a Quote or Sales Order.

Updating Opportunities from Quotes

When a quote is associated with an opportunity, an end user can update the opportunity with new quote information. When an end user updates the opportunity, information is updated in the Products and Revenues tab. The revenue associated with the quote is transferred to the opportunity listed in the quote’s Opportunity field. It is important to keep opportunity information updated in this way in order to maintain accurate forecasts and charts.

Clicking Update Opportunity deletes only lines associated with the corresponding quote. For example, a monitor appears in two separate quotes, and Update Opportunity is run for both quotes, so the monitor appears twice in the products for the opportunity. If you go to one of the quote line items, delete the monitor line item, and click Update Opportunity, then only the opportunity product and revenue line associated with that quote line item is deleted.

If you do not see the quote number associated with an opportunity product, then use the Update Opportunity method from the menu for the association to happen.

Note: If you are using multiple price types, then updating an opportunity from a quote only creates revenue records for one time charges. It does not create multiple revenue records for recurring charges. This feature works differently in industry applications, as described in the topic about updating opportunities from quotes in Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
Caution: Before updating an opportunity from a quote, verify that the associated price list is available for the quote. If the price list is not available, then the product is deleted from the opportunity.

To update an opportunity from a quote

  1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the Quotes List view.

  2. In the Quotes list, select the desired quote.

  3. In the Quotes form, from the menu, select Update Opportunity.

Including Quote Items in a Forecast

When an end user updates an opportunity from a quote, one piece of information that is sent is whether a product is forecastable. The default setting for this functionality in the quote is determined by a setting in Product Administration. By default, in Product Administration, components of products with components and product bundles are marked as forecastable, unless explicitly changed. Simple products are marked as forecastable and cannot be changed in Product Administration. Components of bundles are marked as not forecastable by default, but can be changed to forecastable.

If end users want to make sure that a product in a quote is forecastable, then they can review the setting in the quote, and mark it as forecastable if necessary.

To include a quote item in a forecast

  1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the Quote list view.

  2. In the Quotes list, drill down on the name of the desired quote.

  3. Click the Line Items view tab, select the desired line item.

  4. In the Line Item Detail subview, make sure that the Forecastable check box is selected.

  5. If it is not already selected, then select the Forecastable check box to include this item in forecasts.

  6. When you are finished working on the quote, update the opportunity. For details, see Updating Opportunities from Quotes.

Accessing An Existing Quote

When an end user wants to review an existing quote or make changes to it, the end user can access the quote from a number of different places in your Siebel Business Application. The procedures in this documentation primarily describe accessing quotes from the Quotes screen, but end users can also access quotes from an opportunity, from an account, from a contact, or from a service request.

To access an existing quote

  1. Navigate to one of the following:

    • Opportunities screen, and then the Opportunities List view

    • Accounts screen, and then the Accounts List view

    • Service Requests screen, and then the Service Request List view

    • Contacts screen, and then the Contacts List view

  2. Drill down on opportunity, account, service request, or contact that the quote is associated with.

  3. Click the Quotes view tab.

  4. In the Quotes list, drill down on the quote name.

    The quote is displayed in the Quotes screen.

The end user can now make additions or changes to the quote, if it is still in progress, or the end user can revise the existing quote, if appropriate.

Revising a Quote

End users can make changes to an initial quote to keep it updated with the appropriate products, price lists, discounts, and so forth. During negotiations with a customer, an end user can add or delete products from a quote and compare features and price.

The Revise feature allows an end user to revise your original quote by creating a new quote record with the same quote number. The versions are distinguished by a revision number. All revisions of a quote appear in the quote list.

Making changes to a quote does not automatically create a new version of the quote. If the end user wants to keep the original quote and have a revision, then the user must complete the steps in the following procedure to create a revised quote.

Note: When the end user revises a quote, the original quote becomes inactive and read-only.

To revise a quote

  1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the Quotes List view.

  2. In the Quotes list, select the quote you want to revise.

  3. Click Revise.

    A new quote, with the same quote number is created.

  4. Edit the information in the revised quote as needed.

    In the Quotes screen you see both the original quote and the revised quote. You can verify which one is the revision by looking in the Revision column.

Viewing Change History for Quote Line Items

End users can view change history for line items in quotes. They can view previous and current values for the following line item fields:

  • Billing Account

  • Service Account

  • Service Point

  • Asset Status

  • Service ID

Note: Change history is relevant when asset-based ordering is enabled. For more information about enabling asset-based ordering, see Setting Up Asset-Based Ordering.

    Viewing the Change History for a Quote Line Item

    To view the change history for a line item in a sales quote, complete the steps in the following procedure.

    To view change history for a quote line item

    1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the List view.

    2. Click the number for the quote.

    3. Click the Line Items tab.

    4. Select a line item and click the Changes link.

      If the Changes link does not appear, then navigate to the Quotes screen, Line Items, and then the Changes view.

      The Modify History Line Items form appears showing previous and current values for line item fields. After the form, the Line Item Attributes list displays previous and current values for line item attributes.

      Adding Line Item Fields to the Change History

      You can add fields to the line item change history by completing the steps of the following procedure.

      To add a line item field to the change history

      1. Start Siebel Tools.

      2. In the S_QUOTE_ITEM_OM table, create a column for the previous value you want to display.

      3. In the Quote Item business component, create a field based on the column you added.

        You can, for example, give this field the display name Previous.

      4. Add the new Previous field to the Quote Item Modify History List Applet and the Quote Detail Line Item Modify Applet.

      5. In the SIS OM PMT Service user properties, add a Delta Old Field user property for the new field.

      6. Follow the standard process to carry the field from Quotes to Orders when Asset Based Ordering is enabled by performing the following steps:

        1. Add the fields in the business components on which the SIS OM Quote.Line Item and SIS OM Order.Line Item integration components are based. These business components are MACD Quote Item and MACD Order Entry - Line Items, respectively.

        2. Add a new user property mapping these integration component fields in the SIS OM PMT Service business service.

        The new field appears in both the quote line item and order line item change histories.

      7. Save the changes and submit the workspace for delivery.

      For more information about adding objects in Siebel Tools, see the chapter on working with objects in Using Siebel Tools.

      Converting a Quote to an Order

      When a customer agrees to purchase the items on a quote, an end user can convert the quote to an order.

      To convert a quote to an order

      1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the Quotes List view.

      2. In the Quotes list, drill down on the name of the desired quote.

      3. Review the line items and related details and make sure they contain the correct information.

      4. Click the Orders view tab.

      5. Click either Sales Order or Service Order, depending on the type of order you want to create from this quote.

        An order is created from the quote, and appears in the Orders list.

      6. To work with the order, drill down on the order number.

        The Sales Order screen, Line Items view or the Service Order screen, Line Items view appears.

      Converting a Quote to an Agreement

      Rather than converting a quote to an order, you can convert a quote to an agreement. There are a number of reasons that you would create an agreement from a quote:

      • To create recurring service contracts that identify terms and conditions, including service level agreements and payment terms.

      • To create of pricing contracts that identify sets of products and services and associated pricing for future purchases.

      For more information about agreements, see Siebel Field Service Guide.

      To convert a quote to an agreement

      1. Navigate to the Quotes screen.

      2. In the Quotes list, drill down on the name of the desired quote.

      3. Review the line items and related details and make sure they contain the correct information.

      4. Click the Agreements view tab.

      5. Click AutoContract.

        An agreement is created from the quote, and appears in the Agreements list.

      6. To work with the agreement, drill down on the agreement number.

        The Agreements screen, Line Items view appears.

      Displaying Charts to Analyze Quotes

      You can use the following charts to analyze quotes:

      • Account Analysis. Shows the number of quotes for each account.

      • Account Discount Analysis. Shows the average discount for the quotes for each account.

      • Rep Discount Analysis. Shows the average discount for the quotes for each sales representative.

      • Status Analysis by Rep. Shows the status of the quotes for each sales representative. Typical statuses are In Progress, Approved, Accepted, and Order Placed.

        Note: The charts analyze all quotes displayed in the Quotes list. It does not matter which quote is selected when you click the Charts view tab. You can display the My Quotes view, My Team’s Quotes view or All Quotes view before creating a chart. You may also use a query to limit which quotes are displayed in the list and included in the chart.

      To display charts analyzing quotes

      1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, and then the Charts view.

      2. Optionally, use a query in the Quotes list to display only the quotes that you want to be included in the chart.

      3. In the Show list, select the type of chart you want to view.

      4. To view different types of chart, such as pie charts and horizontal bar charts, select the chart type from the other list and click Go.

      5. If you are viewing the Status Analysis by Rep chart, then you can use the By list to display the result either by sales representative or by status.