Optional Items on Quotations

In this guide we will cover:

• What are Optional Items?
• Add Optional Items to Quotes
• Approving Optional Items using Approval Fields
• Inline Optional Item Approval

Configuration Settings:

• Quotation Approvals

Related Guides:

• Approving Quotes Overview
  
• Creating Quotations

What are Optional Items?#

Lines on quotations can be marked as optional to allow the user accepting the quote to decide if they wish to purchase them or not. This can be useful for bundles, such as where they may or may not need peripherals to go with the hardware. 

Add Optional Items to Quotes#

When creating a quotation, mark any lines you would like to be optional byclicking the pencil icon at the end of the line.

Fig 1. Editing a quotation line.

Within the popup that shows, you will have a checkbox to mark the line as "Optional". An additional dropdown will then show to determine if the optional item has been accepted. Set this to pending before you send the quote to the user, once they have accepted/rejected the quote this field will update to indicate which optional lines they would like included. 

Fig 2. Marking a line as optional

Approving Optional Items using Approval Fields#

On versions prior to v2.253 optional items will be visible within the quote lines, with a column indicating if they are optional or not. Users can then choose which of the optional items they would like (and the quantity) when approving the quote and completing the approval fields. 

Inline optional item selection is available from v2.253+, for information on this see the section "Inline Optional Item Approval".

Show which Items are Optional#

Within the "Details Table" tab, add a column for "Optional". This column will indicate whether the line item is optional (Y) or not (N). 

Fig 3. Optional details table column

The column will show Yes/No for whether that line is an optional item.

Fig 4. Optional column on a quotation

Choosing/Accepting Optional Items#

In Configuration > Quotations > Approvals, the field list for the approval screen can be edited. Here, ensure you add the "Optional Lines" field. This is where users are able to pick which optional items they would like.

Fig 5. Quotation approval field list

Within the same area of configuration, there is also the option to allow users to adjust the quantity of any optional items. 

Fig 6. Optional item configuration

• Allow Users to adjust the quantity of optional items- When checked, after the user clicks "Accept" on the quote, from the self service portal, they will have the option to remove the optional item or change the quantity, this is done by clicking onto the item in the "Optional Lines" table. If they reject the optional item, it will show with a red thumbs down for that item, under the "Accepted" column of the quotation.
• Default optional Products to unchecked- When enabled, the optional items on a quote within the self service portal, will be unchecked when viewed by the user.

When the user navigates to accept the quotation, they will see the option to "Accept and choose options".

Fig 7. Accept button on a quotation with optional items

This will scroll down to show the field list configured in Figure 5. The "Optional lines" field we added is how the user is able to select these. They can check/uncheck the items within it to select which they would like.

Fig 8. Selecting optional items

Clicking on the line will also bring up a popup to allow them to adjust the quantity if "Allow Users to adjust the quantity of optional items" was enabled in Fig 6.

Fig 9. Adjusting quantity of an optional item

Upon acceptance of the quote, the sales order created from it will include any adjusted quantities and remove the lines that were not accepted. As the "Wireless Keyboard" was deselected, the line has been removed.

Fig 10. Sales order from a quotation with optional items

Inline Optional Item Approval#

From v2.254+ users can can add/remove and adjust the quanity of optional items within the quote lines. When adding/removing/adjusting optional items the price of the line will update in real time to show the user the price implications of the optional item. Creating a more user friendly and intuitive experience. 

Fig 11. Quote in portal with inline optional item approval

Keep in mind this option is only available when using a HTML "Quote Approval Display Type" on your quote pdf template. 

To set this up you must configure each of your quotation pdfs accordingly. 

Edit Quote PDF#

Head to Configuration > Quotations > General Settings > Edit Quote PDF Templates > select your template. 

Ensure "Quote Approval Display Type" is set to one of the following options:

• HTML Only
• HTML with a link to download a PDF file

Fig 12. Quote Approval Display Type

Now you will need to adjust the details table of the template to include two new custom columns that allow users to toggle if the item should be included in the quote and toggle the quantity.

Add custom columns that contain the following cell content (do not include the underscores when using variables:

$_OPTIONALSELECT

$_OPTIONALQUANTITY 

The "Quantity" column should be replaced with the custom $_OPTIONALQUANTITY column. For non optional items, this will display the quantity of the line item as set on the quote. For optional items this will contain an editable field that defaults to the quantity of the line as set on the quote. 

Fig 13. Custom column to show line quantity

Name the columns as you would like them to appear for users. The new columns added are highlighted in Figure 14. 

Fig 14. Newly added columns

Note: Once these columns are added to the template (indicating you are using inline approval) the "Optional Lines" field for the quote approval screen is not used. Even if set to be visible, this will not show. 

Now, when this quote pdf is used users will be able to select, within the quote lines, which lines they would like to include, and the quantity. 

Fig 15. Select which lines to include an the quantity

When accepted the quote will update on the agent side to indicate the chosen items and quantities. 

Fig 16. Approved quote following user changes in Agent App