Tailored Offering Guide

Overview
This document is meant to guide users in the various actions that they need to take to create and manage quotes. Quotes are specific products that don't have a price already listed on the marketplace, one cannot directly purchase these products and to be able to, one must first open a request and undergo a negotiation phase. 

   

 Lifecycle of a quote 

 Browse a product offering on the marketplace, click on the button "Request a Quote", fill in the text box and press send, this creates a Quote request. The quote is then visible in the Quote Dashboard from both the customer and the provider side. At this point, the only other action that a customer can take on it, is to set a Request Date, a date in which he wants the provider to provide him either the product, or an update at best. Then the Provider may accept/approve the quote, meaning that he accept the request from the customer and he will work on it. The provider can then set up an Expected Date, which is the date he expect to be able to provide the product. Both Request Date and Expected Date gets periodically checked, if the quote goes over the time limit, it gets automatically cancelled. In the case that both date are present, only the Expected Date gets taken into consideration. 

 At this point the provider can upload a document with the formalized proposal in PDF. After it gets uploaded both parties are able to download the document. 

 Then the last step is for the customer to accept the quote with the proposal. This concludes the Quote system funcitonality. At this point the provider can create a tailored Product, that is visible only by the customer, so that the customer is able to put it into the cart and purchase it 

   

 Chat 

 At any point once the quote is created, both the customer and provider can send messages to discuss any topic needed. This chat is tied to the quote and is accessible from the quote inside the dashboard 

 Deleting a quote 

 At any moment during the negotiation, both parties are able to press a button to cancel a Quote, for example because the provider doesen't want to commit to the request or maybe because the customer doesen't like the proposal and want to interrupt negotiation. Deleting a quote makes any action on it disabled, but it won't get deleted from the list

How to create a product available for Quoting
A quotable product offering is different in one aspect of its creation from other products. 

 The majority of the process to craete a product is unchanged from the normal one, and informations about it can be found here Managing orders, products and subscriptions 

 The key step in creating a quotable product offering is the following 

 

 

 When creating a product offering, at the "Price Plan" step, you need to select " Tailored price " , then click on " Add new Price Plan  " and fill in the details. This will ensure that your product will display a button "Request a Quote" on it, when viewed in the marketplace

How to create a Quote
To create, request a Quote, the process is the following 

 

 

 First, look for the product of your choice that displays the button "Create Quote" or "Request a Quote" 

 This button is present both in the grid list when viewing multiple offerings, or inside the Details of the single offering 

       

 

 

 After clicking the button, a window will open that will let you write inside a box. In this box you  must write the details of your request and add the date where you expect the provider to provide an answer to your request 

 Once you are done, click the button "Send Request" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This creates a quote, with you as the customer, and the owner of the product as the Provider. The created quote is then viewable from the quote Dashboard

Accessing the Quote Dashboard
The Quote dashboard is easily accessible at any moment by clicking your profile icon on the top right of the page and clicking on the "Quote" menu voice

Interacting with a Quote ( as a Customer )
This is a view of the dashboard as a customer 

 

 In this view you can see various fields Request Date - is the Date that has been specified in which a provider must provide an asnwer Provider - the Denomination of the provider Product - Denomination of the product sold Status - The status of the request Chat bubble - access to the 1on1 chat Details - Access to the details of the quest and advanced actions 

 The chat bubble will let you access the chat for the related quote and send messages to the provider 

 

 The Details button will open the Quote Details window 

 

 Once the provider has uploaded the PDF document, and the quote is in approved, the quote has new interactions inside the Details Modal 

 

 Under the " Attachments " Section, you can download the PDF relative to the proposal of the provider 

 

 

 Then clicking  Accept Quote , will let the Provider know that you accept their proposal and this will formally end the transaction 

 At any moment, clicking  Cancel Quote  will cancel the quote, and will interrupt any negotiation on it. All actions on the quote will be disabled. 

 

 Any details regarding the transactions or products should be asked and specified using the chat functionality

Interacting with a Quote ( as a Provider )
This is a view of the Quote Dashboard as a Provider 

 

 In this view you can see various fields Request Date - is the Date that has been specified in which you as a provider, must provide an asnwer Customer - the Denomination of the customer Product - Denomination of the product sold Status - The status of the request Chat bubble - access to the 1on1 chat Details - Access to the details of the quest and advanced actions 

 The chat bubble will let you access the chat for the related quote and send messages to the provider 

 

 The "Details" button will open the quote details window, where you can see the information about the buyer and seller, the customer's request and various info regarding the reuqest. 

 Clicking Accept Quote will let you accept the request from the customer, meaning that you confirm that you will work on it. To be able to click the button, you must  first set an expected date. The Expected Date is the date that you as a provider expect to be able to provide the service requested. 

 This will also move the status of the quote to "In Progress" 

 

 

 Clicking Upload PDF Attachment , will let you add the PDF attachment to the quote with your proposal. 

 This will also change the status of the quote to "Approved" 

 

 

 Once the PDF is uploaded, you can download it for viewing. 

 

 Now as a provider you only have to wait for the customer to accept your proposal. 

 If an agreement is not immediately reached and the request from the customer changes, if you agree to the new terms of the customer and you need to upload a new PDF document with the changes agreed, simply press again the Green Clip, the new document that you upload will overwrite the old one 

 

 At any moment, clicking the Cancel Quote button, will cancel the quote, interrupting any negotiation on it. All actions on the quote will be disabled. 

 

 Any details regarding the transactions or products should be asked and specified using the chat functionality.

Last step
If an agreement is reached, and the customer accept the proposal of the Provider, the scope of the Quote Management is over. 

 To proceed further and let the customer actually buy the Tailored product, the Provider must create a new copy of its product offering, with the details agreed with the customer and let the customer put the Tailored Item in the cart and buy it. 

 If needed the chat functionality is left available on a quote that is Finalized and Accepted, so that further coordination between the parties can be had. For example a last step from the provider, is provide the link to the newly created Tailored Product in the chat to the customer, sto that it can be easiliy found and finally purchased.