How quotes work
A quote is the price offer you send before invoicing: it comes from the order, keeps one number across its versions and never reserves equipment.
Before a client commits to a job, they want to know what it costs. You put together the equipment, the dates and the prices, send them an offer, maybe adjust it once or twice, and wait for a yes. Only then do you invoice.
In Filmo, that offer is a quote. It holds the equipment and services, the dates, the prices, the taxes, the insurance and the security deposit, with its own number and the date until which the offer holds. Think of it as the written offer you hand the client across the table: it says what you'll charge, but it doesn't book anything.
Take the Landmark Venues wedding. You've built the order with three large frame tents, 120 Chiavari chairs and twelve round tables. From that order you create the quote, email it, and Landmark Venues signs it in your . Later, you turn the same quote into the invoice.
Three things to know first
- A quote can hold several proposals. Each one is a (v1, v2…) of the same quote, with the same number. One of them is always the : the one that's shown, sent, signed and converted.
- It has two statuses at once. The says whether it's ready («Draft» or ), and the says what the client has answered («Pending», «Confirmed», «Canceled» or ). Neither one stops you editing it.
- The quote comes from the order, not the other way round. You usually create it from the order page. A quote never creates an order, and confirming it doesn't reserve the equipment or change the order.
How a quote connects to the rest
| With | How they're linked | What it doesn't do |
|---|---|---|
| Order | You create the quote from the order. It's listed in the order's «Documents» card, with its version and status. | It doesn't create or change the order. Confirming it doesn't reserve equipment. |
| Project | Taken from the order, chosen in «Additional information» → «Project», or set when you create it from the project. | — |
| Invoice and proforma | «Convert to» → «Invoice» or «Proforma» creates them from the active version. They're listed in «Related documents». | The quote keeps its status, and you can convert it again. |
| Advance payments | Money the client pays before the invoice. It belongs to the quote and moves to the invoice when you convert. | It doesn't create an invoice on its own. |
| Contract | Created from the order: it takes the order's confirmed quote, or its first quote if none is confirmed. | The quote page has no option to create a contract. |
| CRM opportunity | Linked by NEO, the API or a workflow. | Confirming or cancelling the quote doesn't move the opportunity. |
Good to know
- The quote gets its number the first time you save it, even as a draft. All its versions share that number.
- What you change in the quote doesn't change the order. To bring later changes from the order into the quote, you add a version from the order's data.
- A confirmed quote whose active version is also validated is what the order expects to bill: its . See Order profitability.
- Deleting a quote is permanent, in any status. If it already has payments or invoices, cancel it instead.
Up next
See what each status means and when it changes: Quote statuses: draft, validated, pending, confirmed.