Quotes the customer accepts or declines online
For work the contract does not cover, the technician prepares an estimate on the ticket and a team lead sends it as a quote. The ticket waits and its clock pauses until someone of the customer with a high enough approval limit signs it or declines it online.
PLANSFrom Growth
Why it matters
Out-of-contract work is where an AMC contractor earns, and where most disputes start. The work was done on a phone call, and the customer's accounts team refuses the bill because nobody with authority agreed. SmartMy Desk turns the estimate on the ticket into a quote. Only the customer's approvers can answer it, each within the limit their admin gave them. They sign it on the portal or decline it with a reason, and the ticket waits, with its response clock paused, until they do. You decide per kind of issue when a quote is required. Your service manager can check large quotes before the customer sees them.
The problem it solves
- Extra work is done on a verbal yes, and the invoice is disputed because the person who said yes had no authority.
- The technician waits on site while the office prepares a quote in a spreadsheet.
- A ticket waiting for the customer's decision counts against your response targets.
- A junior sends a large quote with the wrong price, and nobody in your office saw it first.
How it works
- On the ticket's Quote and Billing tab, add the estimate lines: Labour, Part from Stock, Material to Buy or Other, with the quantity. Prices come from the customer's price list with the contract's discounts; a material to buy takes its unit cost plus the markup.
- Lines the contract covers are marked Covered by Contract and cost nothing. The Estimate Total shows at the top.
- A team lead presses Send Quote. Where your approval chain asks for it, a service manager first presses Approve and Send Quote or Refuse Quote.
- The quote goes by email to the customer's people who may accept it. The ticket moves to Waiting for Quote Approval and its clock pauses.
- On the portal, an approver checks the lines, taxes and total. They press Accept and sign with a drawn signature, or Decline with a reason.
- Accepted: the estimate is locked and the ticket goes back to work. Declined: the reason is written on the ticket and the technician gets a to-do to revise it or close the ticket.
Everything it does
The estimate
- Kinds: Labour, Part from Stock, Material to Buy, Other
- Labour and parts at the customer's price list, with the contract's labour and parts discounts
- Material to Buy: unit cost plus the markup (contract, customer, issue type, then the Entity's 15 %)
- Covered lines show (covered by the contract) on the quote at no charge
- Changing the estimate after approval sends it for approval again
- Lines on an accepted quote cannot change
Who may answer for the customer
- Admins, up to their Quote Approval Limit; 0 means no limit for an admin
- Members only with a limit above 0, and only if the organisation allows members to accept
- Only Admins Accept Quotes: on for a new customer organisation
- Answering needs a sign-in; others see that only an admin with a high enough limit can answer
- A quote past its validity date shows Expired
- Sending is refused when nobody of the organisation may accept quotes
When a quote is required (per issue type)
- Quote Before Work: Never (to start with), Always, or Above an Amount with Quote Above
- Above an Amount compares the estimate and the billable work so far
- Until a quote is accepted, the ticket cannot be solved, unless a service manager waives the billing
- Not for covered tickets or internal requests
Inside your team
- Only team leads send quotes
- Ticket quote approval chain: Approved at Once to start with. Add a chain Only For quotes above an amount, with the service managers or more levels
- Quote Approval shows Waiting for a Manager, and Quote Waits At shows the level
- Sending a new quote cancels the previous open one
- Quote field on the ticket: No Quote, Draft, Sent, Accepted or Rejected
After acceptance
- Billing puts the work done on the accepted quote; work beyond it is flagged on the order
- Quotes and orders on the portal, with To approve, Accepted and the total, and a PDF to download
Who uses it
TechnicianPrepares the estimate on the ticket.
Team LeadSends the quote and revises it after a decline.
Service ManagerApproves large quotes before the customer sees them, where the chain says so.
Customer adminAccepts or declines within their limit and sets the limits of their colleagues.
Customer memberAnswers quotes only when given a limit and the organisation allows it.
Where you use it
- Web: the ticket's Quote and Billing tab, Send Quote, Approve and Send Quote, Refuse Quote
- Customer portal: the quote box on the ticket, Quotes and orders in the menu, the quote page with Accept and sign and Decline
- Email: the quote with its link
- Not in the app: quotes are answered on the portal, not in the SmartMy Desk app
- Not paid at acceptance: the customer accepts or declines; payment comes with the invoice
What you control
Settings
- Quote Before Work and Quote Above per issue type: Never to start with
- Markup on bought materials: 15 % per Entity to start with; also per customer, issue type and contract
- Only Admins Accept Quotes per customer organisation: on to start with
- Quote Approval Limit per person of the customer
- Ticket quote approval chain: Approved at Once to start with
Approvals
- Ticket quote: Approved at Once to start with. Add a chain Only For quotes above an amount, with the service managers as a level and more levels if you need them
Notifications
- Quote to Approve: to the customer's approvers, by email with the quote, in the app's Inbox, and by WhatsApp from message credits
- Quote to Approve (Manager): to the approvers of the level, in the app's Inbox, with a to-do on the ticket
- Quote Answered: to the ticket's technician when the customer accepts or declines, in the app's Inbox; a decline also gives a to-do
- All are work messages: they go out at once and cannot be switched off, only a channel
Questions
Who on the customer's side can accept a quote?
Their admins, up to their own limit, and members their admin gave a limit to, if the organisation allows members to accept. The customer's admin sets these limits on the portal.Does the response clock run while the customer decides?
No. The ticket moves to Waiting for Quote Approval, a waiting stage that pauses the clock until the customer answers.Can our manager check big quotes first?
Yes. Add an approval chain for ticket quotes above an amount. Those quotes wait for the service manager, who approves and sends them, or refuses them with a reason.Can the customer pay when accepting?
No. Accepting only signs the quote. The work is billed afterwards, and the invoice can be paid online where you offer online payment.Can we make a quote compulsory for some jobs?
Yes. Set Quote Before Work on the issue type to Always, or Above an Amount. The ticket cannot be solved until a quote is accepted, unless a service manager waives the billing.Which plan has quotes?
Growth and Scale.Related features
QUOTES, BILLING AND PURCHASEBilling of approved time and materialsApproved, billable time, parts and call-outs go on an order at the customer's prices, with contract discounts and markup. A draft invoice follows for your accounts team. A customer's ticket does not close while billable work is left unbilled, unless a service manager waives it with a reason.CUSTOMER PORTALThe customer's admin manages their own peopleEach customer organisation has admins who invite and remove their own colleagues on the portal. They set each person's role, sites and quote limit. Every change is written on the organisation's record with the name of who made it.CONTRACTS AND MAINTENANCEAMC contracts and what they coverEach annual maintenance contract says which kinds of issue, sites and units it covers. It also says whether labour, parts, call-outs and after-hours work are free or billable. Every ticket is checked against it and marked Covered, Partly Covered or Billable. A team lead can override that with a reason.ACROSS SMARTMY DESKApproval chainsQuotes, time and materials go to the right people in order before they reach the customer or the invoice. You add levels, such as a service manager for large quotes, without code.WORKING A TICKETMaterials used on a ticketRecord every part used on a ticket and where it came from. It can be your stock, bought for the job, bought by the customer or supplied by them. Each source is priced its own way, and a team lead approves the lines before they are billed.CUSTOMER PORTALCustomer portal for tickets, without a login from the emailYour customers and requesters raise and follow tickets on the web. They get a list with plain status, the times you promised, the conversation, visits, the service report, and buttons to confirm or reopen and rate. A link in every ticket email opens the ticket without signing in.
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