Creating and managing an RFQ

Who can:AdminManagerSales

Open RFQs and choose New RFQ. Fill in:

Customer

Pick from the list, or choose + New customer… and type the company name. The new customer is created with the RFQ; add contacts and addresses later on the customer page.

Currency

The currency the customer wants prices in. It defaults to the customer's preferred currency.

Title

A short name you will recognise in lists and search.

Date received

When the request arrived. Defaults to today.

Deadline

When the customer needs the quotation. The RFQ turns Overdue the day after.

Remarks

Anything the estimators should know.

The RFQ is created as Draft with its own number. Nothing is sent to the customer.

Summary

Customer, received date, deadline with how many days are left or how late it is, currency, costing progress, lot total, and remarks when there are any. The title is next to the RFQ number.

Actions

Beside the summary. Start costing, submit for approval, request no quote or void, depending on the status. Once costing has started, Generate quote quotes some or all of its lines, and the quotations made from it are listed here.

Attachments

Under Actions. Files that belong to the whole RFQ, such as the customer's email or a spreadsheet.

Lines

The line count is next to the heading, and Update FX sits in the header with Files, Paste lines and Add line. One row per part: a coloured status dot and label first, then the part, description, remarks, assignees and price once costed. Long descriptions and remarks are clipped; hover for the full text. The # and Part columns stay visible when you scroll sideways while they lead the column order. On a phone each line is a card with the same details.

A line shows Costed once its costing is marked complete. It stays that way until the RFQ is approved, when it becomes Completed, or it is closed as No quote.

Choose Add line and start typing the part number. After two characters, matching parts from the Product Master drop down below the field, best match first: the same number, then numbers that start with what you typed, contain it, or look similar. Dashes, spaces and case don't matter.

• Use the arrow keys and Enter, or click, to pick a part. Esc closes the list and keeps what you typed. Create new part at the bottom of the list keeps your number and adds a new part for validation.
• Picking a part fills in its latest revision: revision, description, part type, material grade, manufacturer and manufacturer ref.
• The From Product Master panel lets you switch to another revision and choose what to copy onto the new line: its drawings and 3D models (all ticked to start with), and an earlier costing of the same part, newest of the same revision first. Costing is copied at today's rates, and you can change anything afterwards. The Product Master itself is not changed.
• If a file or the costing can't be copied, for example because you can't edit costing, the line is still added and the dialog says what was skipped.
• In the lines table, every part number links to its Product Master history. Click it to see the part's revisions, past prices, other RFQs and quotations, and its files. Each past price has a Costing link to the costing that was quoted. Open in Parts goes to the full part record. A History marker next to the number means the part has been quoted before.
• Part type decides which cost sheets the estimator starts with: MECHANICAL for machined parts, STANDARD for bought-in items and ASSEMBLY for a part built from other lines.
• Once an RFQ has an assembly line, other lines can name it as their Assembly parent. Assemblies go one level deep.
• Remarks on a line are carried to the quotation line made from it, where they can be edited and print under the part.
• To change a line after adding it, choose the pencil button on its row. You can change everything Add line asks for. A new quantity recalculates the lot total from the saved costing, at the same rates. A new part number, revision or type links the line to that part in the Product Master and reopens costing if it was complete. Completed and no-quote lines can't be edited.

Paste lines takes rows copied straight from Excel. Include the heading row; the columns are Part No, Rev, Description, Type, Qty, Material grade.

1. Copy the rows in Excel, including the heading row.
2. Paste into the box. A preview shows each row and any warnings.
3. Choose Import.

• Rows with warnings still import. Could not normalize numeric value means a quantity was not a number; Value not found in master list means the material grade is not in Master data.
• Missing values default to revision A, type MECHANICAL and a quantity of 1.
• The material grade is only checked against Master data; it is not saved on the line.

Drop files on a line, or use batch upload to add many at once (500 MB per batch, 50 MB per file). Drag files onto Drawings batch upload or choose them; a .zip is unpacked first. Batch upload matches each file to a line by its name:

Each upload is listed under the panel with what happened to every file, and later uploads add to the list. Unassigned files stay on the RFQ until you attach or remove them; Assign in Files opens the drawer.

The Files drawer lists every file on the RFQ, grouped by line, with preview and download. Unassigned files are at the top. You can also drop files into the drawer: onto a line to attach them there, or anywhere else to match them by name. Drawings open beside the cost sheets; 3D models open in the viewer. See Costing a line.

Who can:AdminManager

Click the Assignees cell on a line, or Assign when it has none, then tick one or more people and choose Save. A line can have several assignees. Each new assignee is notified and the line appears in their My Task list. Untick everyone to leave the line unassigned. Estimators can cost only the lines assigned to them.

Costing records the exchange rates on the day each line is costed. If rates have moved, Update FX in the Lines header re-prices every line that is still open using the latest rates in Master data. It then lists each rate it used with the date that rate took effect, and the lines that changed. Completed lines keep their rates.

The day after the deadline, the RFQ shows Overdue unless it is Completed, Void or No quote. Overdue RFQs can still be submitted and approved, and they are counted on the Overview page.

The RFQ register shows one row per RFQ. Use the arrow at the start of a row to expand its lines without leaving the list — the arrow shows how many top-level lines the RFQ has, and the header arrow expands or collapses every row on the page. Expanded lines show number, status (a coloured dot and label), a small 3D snapshot when a model is attached (blank otherwise), part number with a type badge (Mechanical, Assembly or Standard), revision, description, material grade, treatment (n/a on the list), quantity required and line total. On a phone the register is a stack of cards (RFQ number, status, customer, title, deadline and total); expand a card to preview its lines as a compact list.

RFQ #

The RFQ number. Click it, or anywhere on the row except the expand control and quote links, to open the RFQ. This column stays visible when you scroll the table sideways.

Quote #

Every quotation made from the RFQ, as links. If none have been submitted yet, the cell shows No Submit. When there are more than two, the cell shows the first two and a +N more control that expands the rest.

Status

A coloured dot and the RFQ's current status label. See the glossary below.

Customer

The customer company on the RFQ. Long names are clipped; hover to read the full text.

RFQ Title

The short name entered when the RFQ was created. Long titles are clipped; hover to read the full text.

Received

Date and time the request was received.

Last Edit

How recently the RFQ header was updated (for example 5m ago). Hover for the full date and time.

Deadline

The customer deadline. Open RFQs also show how soon it is (Due today, In 3 days) or how late it is. The status turns Overdue the day after if the RFQ is still open.

Total

Sum of the lot totals of top-level lines (assembly children roll into their parent), in the RFQ currency.

• Status tabs under the heading jump to All or a single status. They stay in sync with the status filter in Filters.
• Filters opens a search and a status filter. Active filters show as chips under the heading; the × on a chip clears it. You can also filter and sort by any column.
• Views keep the current filters under a name so you can return to them in one click. Choose Save current view to add one, or Remove in the same menu to delete it.
• Export downloads the rows you are looking at as a spreadsheet, including Quote #, Last Edit and Total.
• Drag a column heading left or right to change the column order, or use Move left and Move right in its menu. On a phone or tablet, press and hold the heading first. The order is saved to your account, and Reset column order in the menu puts it back. This works in every list table except the costing sheets and quotation lines.
• Drag the right edge of a heading to resize the column. Widths are remembered in this browser.

The other lists work the same way; see Finding records in a list.

RFQ status chips mean:

Draft

Created but costing has not started. You can still edit header details and add lines.

Open

Costing is in progress. Lines can be assigned, costed and submitted for approval when ready.

Awaiting approval

Someone has asked for approval to complete the RFQ or close it as no quote. Editing is blocked until a decision.

Overdue

The deadline has passed and the RFQ is not yet Completed, Void or No quote. It can still be worked and approved.

Completed

Approved and finished. Lines stay as quoted; the RFQ is closed for further costing edits.

No quote

Closed without quoting, with a recorded reason.

Void

Cancelled. It stays on the register for history but is not worked further.