Quotes, Projects and the Staff Board¶
Quotes are price offers you send a customer before any work is billed. When the customer accepts one, PNLCS turns it into an invoice. Projects track one-off work for a client as tasks and messages, and the Staff Board collects the internal notes your staff write on client profiles.
Quotes¶
Billing → Quotes lists all quotes, with buttons to filter by status (All, Draft, Sent, Accepted, Declined) and a search on subject and client name. Seeing quotes needs the list quotes permission. Creating, editing, sending, accepting and converting them needs manage quotes.
Create a quote¶
Billing → Quotes → New Quote, or Add New → New Quote.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Client | Who the quote is for. Required. |
| Subject | The quote's title. Required. |
| Date | Defaults to today. |
| Valid Until | The last day the customer can accept. Defaults to 30 days from today. |
| Line Items | Each line has a description, quantity, unit price, discount (an amount taken off that line) and a Taxable box. |
| Admin Notes | For staff. Copied onto the invoice when the quote is accepted (see the warning below). |
| Customer Notes | Shown on the quote's admin page only. A reason the customer gives when declining is saved here and replaces what you wrote. |
| Proposal | Longer text the customer reads on the quote. |
Tax is worked out at the customer's own rate, the way their invoices will be (see Tax Rules).
A new quote is a Draft. Customers don't see drafts.
Send it¶
On the quote's page, press Send to Client. The status becomes Sent and the customer can see the quote under Billing → Quotes in the client area.
No email is sent
Send to Client only changes the status. PNLCS doesn't email the customer, so let them know yourself, for example in a ticket.
Accept or decline¶
The customer opens the quote and, under Your Decision, chooses:
- Accept Quote & Generate Invoice: PNLCS raises the invoice at once and takes the customer to it so they can pay.
- Decline, with an optional Reason.
The customer can do this only while the quote is Sent and its Valid Until day has not passed. After that day they see This quote has expired and the buttons are gone.
Staff use the buttons on the quote's page: Accept Quote or Decline Quote while it is Sent, then Convert to Invoice once it is Accepted. Staff can convert after the Valid Until date.
The invoice¶
- One line per quote line, at quantity × unit price minus discount, taxed where the quote line was marked Taxable.
- Due 30 days after the quote is accepted.
- One quote gives one invoice. Pressing Convert to Invoice again opens the same invoice. Only if that invoice was cancelled or refunded does a new one get raised.
- It is an invoice only. No order or service is created: to set up hosting the customer has bought, create an order for it as well.
Admin Notes are printed on the invoice
The quote's Admin Notes become the invoice's notes, and those appear on the invoice PDF the customer downloads. Don't put anything private in Admin Notes.
Statuses¶
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being written. Not visible to the customer. |
| Sent | Visible to the customer, waiting for an answer. |
| Accepted | Accepted by the customer (invoice raised) or by staff. |
| Declined | Declined by the customer or by staff. |
A quote past its Valid Until date keeps the status Sent. PNLCS doesn't change it to expired.
Developers can react to the customer's decision with the QuoteAccepted
and QuoteDeclined hooks (Hooks). Quotes are also
in the API (Quotes).
Switching on an extension¶
Project Management and Staff Board are extensions (addon modules). Both are off until you activate them:
- Open the Extensions page: in the Setup sidebar under Other, or Setup → Modules and Configure next to Addons.
- Press Activate on the extension.
- Its entries then appear in the Extensions menu in the top bar. Open on the Extensions page shows the extension's own page and its Settings.
See Modules → Extensions.
Project Management¶
Projects record work you do for a client: a status, dates, a task list and a message timeline.
With the extension active, the Extensions menu has Projects and Create Project. The extension's own page (Open) lists the 50 most recent projects.
The project screens themselves need the list projects permission to view and manage projects to create or change.
Create Project:
- Client, Title, Description
- Status: Pending, In Progress, Completed or Cancelled
- Start Date and Due Date
On a project's page:
- Add Task: a task with optional notes and due date. Tick tasks off as they are done. The project shows its progress as the share of tasks done.
- Timeline / Messages: Post Message adds an update, signed with your name.
- Edit Project and Delete Project (deleting removes its tasks and messages too).
Projects are only for staff. Clients don't see them in the client area.
What the extension doesn't do yet
The extension's description mentions assigning staff, time tracking and invoicing from project hours, and its settings list Default Task Limit per Project, Allow Clients to View Projects and Auto-create Invoice on Project Completion. None of these is implemented in 1.6.1: the settings are saved but have no effect. To bill a project, raise an invoice or a quote by hand.
Projects are also in the API (Projects).
Staff Board¶
The Staff Board shows, on one page, the 20 latest notes your staff have written on client profiles (the Notes tab of a client), with the author and how long ago each was written. Notes marked Sticky come first, labelled PINNED. Only staff can see the board.
With the extension active, it is under Extensions → Staff Board.
You don't post on the board itself: write a note on a client's Notes tab and it appears there. The settings Posts Per Page and Allow Markdown in Posts have no effect in 1.6.1: the board always shows 20 notes, as plain text.