The Quotes, Invoices, and Contracts modules support the post-opportunity sales process — from preparing a Quote for a prospect, through issuing an Invoice, to managing an ongoing Contract. All three modules share the same line items structure for recording products and services.
AOS Settings (initial quote and invoice numbering, line item groups, and tax behaviour) are configured by an administrator. See AOS Settings.
The Products module (also called the product catalogue) stores the items available for selection when building line items on Quotes, Invoices, and Contracts. Each Product record holds:
Name and Part Number
Category: relates to a Product Category record
Cost Price and List Price: List Price is the default selling price used in quotes
Supplier Contact: the point of contact at the supplier for this product
Image and Product URL: optional reference information
To create a Product, navigate to the Products module and select Create Product from the module menu.
Product Categories let you organise Products into a hierarchy. Each category can have a Parent Category, or can be marked as Is Parent Category to indicate it is a top-level category, in which case no Parent Category can be set.
The PDF Templates module lets you create reusable document templates for generating PDFs from Quotes, Invoices, Contracts, Accounts, Contacts, and Leads. Templates support dynamic field insertion, line item tables, headers, footers, and page margins.
See PDF Templates for full details on creating templates and generating PDF documents.
Navigate to the Quotes module and select Create Quote from the module menu. The key fields are:
Quote Number |
Assigned automatically; read-only. |
Title |
The name of the quote. |
Quote Stage |
The current stage of the quote: Draft, Negotiation, Delivered, On Hold, Confirmed, Closed Accepted, Closed Lost, or Closed Dead. |
Valid Until |
The expiry date of the quote. |
Approval Status |
Whether the quote has been approved: Approved or Not Approved. |
Approval Issues |
Free-text field to describe any approval issues. |
Invoice Status |
Whether the quote has been invoiced: Not Invoiced or Invoiced. Set automatically when the quote is converted to an Invoice. |
Payment Terms |
Net 15 or Net 30. |
Account |
The billing account. Selecting an Account automatically populates the Billing Address and Shipping Address fields from the Account record. |
Contact |
The billing contact. |
Opportunity |
An optional link to a related Opportunity. |
The line items section is where you build the detail of the quote. If line item groups are enabled in AOS Settings, you can organise line items into named groups, each with its own group subtotal.
Select Add Group to create a group. Enter a Group Name, then add product or service lines to it.
Select Add Product Line within a group. To select a product from the catalogue, start typing in the Product or Part Number field to search, or use the selector icon next to the Part Number field to open the product selector pop-up.
When a product is selected, the List price and Sale Price populate automatically. You can adjust:
Quantity: the number of units
Discount: enter an amount and select Pct (percentage) or Amt (fixed amount)
Tax: VAT rate, for example 0%, 5%, 7.5%, 17.5%, or 20%
The Total for the line is calculated as: (Sale Price × Quantity) + Tax.
Select Add Service Line to quote for a service that is not in the product catalogue. Enter the List price manually. Discount and Tax fields work the same as for product lines.
Each group shows a Group Total. Below all groups, the summary shows:
Subtotal: sum of all line item totals before tax, if "Add Tax to Line Total" is off in AOS Settings
Discount: total discount across all lines
Tax: total tax across all lines
Shipping: enter a shipping cost manually
Shipping Tax: tax applied to the shipping amount
Grand Total: the final total
From the Quote Detail View, use the Actions drop-down to output the quote:
Print as PDF: select a PDF template and download the quote as a PDF file.
Email PDF: select a PDF template, then open the compose screen with the PDF attached and the quote’s Contact pre-filled as the recipient.
Email Quotation: open the compose screen addressed to the quote’s Contact. The quote is rendered in the email body; there is no PDF attachment.
Select Convert to Invoice from the Quote Detail View’s Actions drop-down. SuiteCRM opens the Invoice Edit View with all fields and line items copied from the quote. Save the Invoice to confirm the conversion. The Quote’s Invoice Status field is set to Invoiced automatically.
Select Create Contract from the Quote Detail View’s Actions drop-down. SuiteCRM opens the Contract Edit View with fields and line items copied from the quote. Save the Contract to confirm.
Select Create Opportunity from the Quote Detail View’s Actions drop-down to create a new Opportunity linked to the quote.
Navigate to the Invoices module and select Create Invoice from the module menu. Invoices can be created independently or by converting a Quote (see Converting to an Invoice).
The key fields are:
Invoice Number |
Assigned automatically; read-only. |
Invoice Date |
The date the invoice was raised. |
Due Date |
The payment due date. |
Status |
Paid, Unpaid, or Cancelled. |
Payment Terms |
Net 15 or Net 30. |
Account |
The billing account. Selecting an Account populates the Billing Address and Shipping Address. |
Contact |
The billing contact. |
Opportunity |
An optional link to a related Opportunity. |
Groups and line items on Invoices work identically to Quotes. See Line Items.
From the Invoice Detail View’s Actions drop-down:
Print as PDF: select a template and download the invoice as a PDF.
Email PDF: select a template and open the compose screen with the PDF attached.
Email Invoice: open the compose screen addressed to the invoice’s Contact. The invoice is rendered in the email body with no PDF attachment.
Navigate to the Contracts module and select Create Contract from the module menu. Contracts can also be created from a Quote using Create Contract (see Creating a Contract from a Quote).
The key fields are:
Contract Title |
The name of the contract. |
Reference Code |
An optional reference identifier. |
Status |
Not Started, In Progress, or Signed. |
Contract Type |
An admin-configured drop-down for categorising the contract. |
Account |
The account the contract is with. |
Contact |
The primary contact for the contract. |
Opportunity |
An optional link to a related Opportunity. |
Contract Manager |
The user responsible for the contract. The renewal reminder call is assigned to this person. |
Start Date |
The contract start date. |
End Date |
The contract end date. |
Customer Signed Date |
The date the customer signed the contract. |
Company Signed Date |
The date your company signed the contract. |
Renewal Reminder Date |
Populated automatically when End Date is set, based on the Renewal Reminder Period in AOS Settings. Can be edited manually. |
When a Contract is saved with a Renewal Reminder Date set, SuiteCRM automatically creates a Planned Call named "[Contract Title] Contract Renewal Reminder", scheduled for the Renewal Reminder Date and assigned to the Contract Manager. The call is related to the contract’s Account.
If the Renewal Reminder Date changes, the call is updated. If the contract is deleted, the call is deleted.
Groups and line items on Contracts work identically to Quotes. See Line Items.
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