From quotation to payment

This guide follows the money side of one job, in the order the work is done: the price you quote the customer, the job made from it, the estimates and actuals of the job’s finance, the invoices you send and the bills your suppliers send, the money received and paid, and the closing of the job’s finance. It is for sales and finance users. Each step links the page that describes it in full, and explains what each step needs from the one before.

The running example is an import job with the reference EXBL2610045 and one container, ABCU1234560, for the customer Example Trading Co, trucked by Example Haulage Co.

Before you start, the company’s finance must be set up: its account masters, taxes, payment methods, the workflow’s default accounts, and the forms that print quotations, invoices, credit notes, vouchers and bills, ticked for the company. See Setting up a company and Setting up document templates. The menus you see depend on your role and on how your company has set TrakIT up. The paths on this page are those of the standard menu; see Navigating TrakIT.

The stages at a glance

Stage	Where	Moves on when
1-2. Quotation	Finance > Quotations	It is Approved, then Generated and sent.
3. Job	Create Job on the quotation, or the job’s finance page	The job has estimates.
4. Estimates	Finance job, Estimates tab	They are approved: TrakIT creates the actuals.
5. Actuals	Finance job, Actuals tab	The real figures are in.
6-7. Invoices, credit notes	Finance job, Invoices tab	Approved, then Finalised.
8. Bills	Finance job, Bills tab, or Finance > Bills	Validated, then Finalised.
9. Receipts and payments	Finance > Receipts & Payments	Approved: the amount outstanding goes down.
10. Write-offs	The invoice	Written Off: nothing is outstanding.
11. Closing	Finance job, Job Status box	Closed.

1. Quote the customer

1. Select Finance > Quotations, choose the company and select New Quote.
2. Enter the Title and Currency, choose Example Trading Co as the Customer, and choose the Workflow of the job, here your import workflow, with its Job Type and Services.
3. Select Create. The quotation is a Draft, at revision 1.
4. On the Accounts tab, add the lines: Initialize Accounts copies the workflow’s default accounts, Get Rates prices them from your rate cards, and Add… adds one line at a time.
5. Fill in the Data and Workflow Data tabs, at least the required fields.

What you enter here is used later:

• The Workflow is what lets you create the job from the quotation. Without one, the quotation has no Create Job.
• Income lines are what the customer pays, and are printed. Expense lines are the costs you expect: they show your margin but are never printed. Disbursements are costs you pay for the customer and charge back.
• Applies decides each line’s quantity on the job: per WO becomes the number of work orders, per 20’ the number of 20-foot containers, and so on. See Applies.
• The Workflow Data values are written on the job when it is created.

If your company uses Rate Management, Get Rates prices the lines from the published rate cards: the customer’s contract, your selling tariff and your vendors’ rates. The job made from the quotation keeps those agreed prices: see Rates applied automatically.

To start from a standard price list, open a quotation template and duplicate it. To quote the same work again after a job, use Create Quote on that job’s finance page.

Who: Create in the Quotations section; Get Rates in the Rate Management section.

2. Approve and send the quotation

1. Select Request Approval. TrakIT checks the required data fields and emails the users in Notify Users.
2. The approver opens the quotation and selects Approve, or Revise with a reason to send it back for changes. A user who can approve can also approve a draft directly.
3. Select Generate, choose the quotation form, check the preview, tick the customer’s addresses and select Generate. See Generate the quotation.

Generating adds the PDF to the quotation’s Documents tab, emails it, sets the quotation date to today and the status to Generated. The Validity counts from that date. The accounts can be changed only while the quotation is a draft or under revision.

Then record the customer’s answer:

• Turned down: select Reject with the reason. To offer a new price, select Revise: the revision number goes up, and the quotation goes through approval and generation again.
• Accepted: TrakIT has no status called accepted. Finalise marks the quotation as final; Ops Assigned records that it has been handed over to operations. Both still allow Create Job. Initialize From Quotation and Link to Quotation (stage 3) offer only Approved, Generated and Finalised quotations, so set Ops Assigned once the job is made from the quotation.

Each change of status emails the Notify Users and the users who subscribed to quotation notifications. To follow quotations by status, use Analytics > Quotation Status.

Who: Create for Request Approval; Approve, Generate, Revise, Reject and Finalise in the Quotations section. See Statuses.

3. Turn the quotation into a job

If sales creates the job, do it from the quotation:

1. On the quotation, select Create Job. It appears once the quotation is Approved, if it has a workflow.
2. Enter the job reference, EXBL2610045, and a Work Order Count of 1.
3. Select Create Job.

TrakIT creates the job and its work orders in the quotation’s workflow, with its customer, shipper, receiver, job types, carrier, transporter, services and workflow data. It records the quotation on the job, and copies the quotation’s accounts into the job’s estimates for the quotation’s company, with quantities worked out for the job. The finance job then shows the quotation under Quotation, and the quotation lists the job on its Jobs tab. See Create a job.

If operations has already created the job, bring the quotation into its finance:

1. On the job, select Finance.
2. While the estimates are empty, select Initialize Accounts, then Initialize From Quotation, and choose the quotation.
3. Select Initialize.

The list offers the company’s Approved, Generated and Finalised quotations for the job’s customer and workflow, and those with no customer or no workflow. TrakIT copies the accounts and links the quotation to the job’s finance in the same way. See Initialize accounts.

Link a quotation on the job page only records the quotation on the job and its work orders. It copies no accounts, and the job does not appear on the quotation’s Jobs tab. To bring the prices into the finance, initialize from the quotation as above.

Who: Create in the Work Orders section for Create Job; Initialize Accounts in the Job Finance section.

4. Approve the estimates

The finance job holds the estimates, actuals, invoices and bills of one job, for each company that works on it. Open it with Finance on the job, or from Finance > Jobs (Workflow Finance).

1. On the Estimates tab, check the lines: add what is missing, check who each line is invoiced to or billed by, and use Tasks > Refresh Quantity if the work orders changed.
2. In the Job Status box, select Request Approval.
3. The approver selects Approve Estimates, or Reject Estimates to send them back to Draft.

When the estimates are approved, TrakIT locks them and copies them to the actuals, with their taxes. Income and disbursement lines with no entity get the job’s customer, and lines whose account master names a type of entity, such as the transporter, get it from the work orders. The Invoices and Bills tabs appear. See Job status.

• The customer’s required data fields must be filled in before the estimates can be approved.
• With Auto-Approve Estimates on the workflow (Workflow settings), the estimates are approved as soon as a user initializes them on the finance page. A job made with Create Job on a quotation still starts with its estimates in Draft: approve them here.
• Reverse Approved takes the job back to Draft, until an actual is on an invoice or a bill.
• To approve many jobs at once, use Tasks on Finance > Jobs: see Change the status of several jobs.

Who: Request Estimate Approval and Approve Estimate in the Job Finance section.

5. Record the actuals

The Actuals tab holds what really happens. It starts as a copy of the estimates. As the work goes on, change the rate of a line when the real amount is known, add the charges that were not planned, such as storage, and delete the lines that did not happen.

• Some account masters need their actuals approved: the Appr light is amber. An invoice or bill with such a line cannot be approved or validated until someone selects the lines and Tasks > Approve Accounts. See Approve accounts.
• A line can be changed until it is on an approved invoice, a validated bill or an approved internal posting. Changing an approved line makes it wait for approval again.
• The Inv/Bill/IPost column shows where each line stands, and the Analyse tab compares the actual margin with the estimate.

Who: Update Actuals and Add Account in the Job Finance section.

6. Invoice the customer

1. On the finance job’s Invoices tab, select Create New….
2. Choose the Type Invoice, and Example Trading Co as the entity. Check the currency and the Credit Period.
3. Select Create.

TrakIT creates a draft with all the entity’s income and disbursement actuals that are not on an invoice yet. An invoice is for one entity: if some lines are invoiced to another entity, create an invoice for that entity too. To invoice the lines of several jobs together, use Create on Finance > Invoices instead.

Then open the invoice and take it through its statuses:

Status	How it gets there	What changes
Draft	Created.	It has a pro-forma number, and its date moves to today each time it is opened. Pro-Forma sends a pro-forma.
Approved	Approve: choose the invoice form, check the preview, choose the recipients, select Generate.	It gets its final number, its PDF and its due date, and is emailed. Its lines are locked on the job.
Finalised	Finalize, then Yes.	If your company keeps its books in TrakIT, it is posted to them.

Approval is refused while a line waits for approval or is on a cancelled work order, the exchange rate is missing, a required data field is empty, or no invoice form is set up for the company: see Approve an invoice. Without the Approve permission, use Request Approval. To approve or finalize many invoices at once, use Tasks on the Invoices list: approving there generates no PDF.

Avoid Un-Approve on an invoice the customer already has: its number is released and its PDF deleted. See Un-approve an invoice.

Who: Create, Generate Proforma, Approve and Finalise in the Invoices section.

7. Correct an invoice

Need	Do this
Cancel a whole invoice	On the finalized invoice, select Reverse Invoice. TrakIT creates a credit note for the full amount, approves and finalizes it, emails it, and puts the invoice’s lines back on the job to be invoiced again. The invoice becomes Reversed. The job’s finance must not be closed or waiting to be closed.
Credit part of an invoice	Create a Credit Note with the finalized invoice in Ref. Invoice Number. TrakIT copies the invoice’s lines as negative amounts: remove or lower those you do not credit, then approve it. See Credit notes.
Give back an amount on the job	Add a negative actual, then create a Credit Note for the entity on the Invoices tab: it takes the negative lines.
Charge more after the invoice	Add the actuals, then create a Debit Note.

Credit notes have their own numbering and their own forms, and are allocated to receipts like invoices, with a negative amount.

Who: Allow Credit Notes and Reverse Invoice in the Invoices section.

8. Enter the supplier bills

A bill records what a supplier charges you. It is matched to the expense and disbursement actuals that supplier bills. A bill reaches TrakIT in one of three ways:

How	Where	Starts as
Entered for one job	On the actuals, select the lines and Tasks > Create Bill, or Create New… on the Bills tab. See Create a bill.	Received, or Validated with Validate bill after creation.
Entered for several jobs	Finance > Bills, Add Bill, then allocate the accounts, or select Auto-allocate Expenses.	Received
Sent by the supplier	The supplier enters the bill in the external portal, or its own system sends it through the vendor bill API, attaches the scanned bill and submits it.	Submitted

A supplier’s bill reaches your Bills list only once the supplier submits it. Check it and its files, then select Accept: it becomes Received. Or select Reject with the reason: the supplier sees it, can correct the bill and submit it again. See Accept a submitted bill.

Then, on the bill:

1. Select Allocate and add the lines the bill covers, for example the trucking of ABCU1234560 billed by Example Haulage Co. The list offers that supplier’s actuals that are not on a bill yet. See Allocate accounts.
2. Check the amounts: what the supplier billed and what you allocated must agree within your company’s tolerance.
3. Select Validate: TrakIT gives the bill its bill sequence and locks it. Without the Validate permission, use Request Validation.
4. Select Finalise once all its lines are approved. If your company keeps its books in TrakIT, the bill is posted to them.

A bill you question can be marked Disputed in Modify: it cannot be validated until the mark is removed. On the finance job, the Inv/Bill/IPost column shows each line’s bill as received or validated.

Who: Create, Validate, Finalise and Reject in the Bills section.

9. Record receipts and payments

A receipt records money received and is allocated to invoices; a payment records money paid and is allocated to bills. Both work the same way:

Status	What it means for the invoices or bills
Draft	Nothing yet: the amount outstanding does not change.
Approved	It has its sequence number, and the amounts allocated reduce what is outstanding.
Finalised	Confirmed, normally once fully allocated. Its allocations can no longer be removed. If your company keeps its books in TrakIT, it is posted to them.

• For one invoice: on the approved invoice, open the Payments Received tab and select Add Receipt. The amount starts on what is outstanding.
• For several invoices: on Finance > Receipts & Payments, Receipts tab, select Add, create the receipt, then use Add Invoices to split it over the invoices.
• For a bill: on the validated bill, open the Payments Made tab and select Add Payment, or use the Payments tab of Receipts & Payments.

Then approve it and, once it is fully allocated, finalise it. A receipt or payment can be allocated only to invoices or bills in its own currency. Generate Voucher prints a receipt or payment voucher.

If your company does not record receipts in TrakIT, use Mark as Paid on the invoice instead: its outstanding amount shows 0, but nothing is posted to the books.

Who: Create, Approve and Finalise in the Receipts or Payments section.

10. Write off what will not be paid

When a customer will not pay an invoice, select Write Off on the approved invoice. Its status becomes Written Off and its outstanding amount 0. If your company keeps its books in TrakIT, the invoice must be finalized first, and you choose the account to charge and the date. Remove Write-Off undoes it, for example when the customer pays after all. Debit and credit notes cannot be written off.

For small differences, such as a discount or bank charges, use adjustments instead: on the invoice while it is a draft, on the bill before validation, or on the receipt while it is a draft.

Who: Write Off in the Invoices section.

11. Close the job’s finance

When everything is invoiced and billed:

1. In the finance job’s Job Status box, select Request Closing.
2. The approver selects Close Job, or Reject Closing to send it back.

TrakIT refuses to close while the job has an invoice that is not approved or a bill that is not validated. It does not check that every actual is on an invoice or a bill, so check first: the Inv/Bill/IPost column of the actuals, or Finance Pending filtered on the job.

Once the finance is closed, the actuals can no longer change, no invoice can be created on the Invoices tab, and an invoice of the job can no longer be reversed. Reopen Job, with remarks, opens it again. See Job status.

Who: Request Closing, Close Job and Re-open Job in the Job Finance section.

See what is still due

Question	Where to look
What work is done but not invoiced, and which costs have no bill yet?	Analytics > Finance Pending; the Work Not Invoiced or Billed report.
Which jobs still have lines to invoice or bill?	Finance > Jobs, with the Account Invoice Status and Account Bill Status filters.
What do customers owe, and what is late?	Finance > Invoices, with the Outstanding filter: the due date turns red when it has passed. One customer’s invoices are on the Invoices tab of its entity page, which can also send payment reminders.
How long do customers take to pay?	The Days Sales Outstanding report.
What do we owe suppliers?	Finance > Bills, with the Payment Status filter and the Outstanding column.
Which receipts are not fully allocated?	Finance > Receipts & Payments: the Outstanding column.
How quickly do we invoice, and what did the jobs earn?	The Invoicing Turnaround and Job Profitability reports.

When something is stuck

What you see	Why, and what to do
The quotation has no Create Job	It has no workflow, it is not yet approved, or your role lacks Create in Work Orders.
The quotation is not offered by Initialize From Quotation	It must be Approved, Generated or Finalised, of the same company, and for the job’s customer and workflow, or for none. The estimates must be empty.
The finance job has no Invoices or Bills tab	The estimates are not approved yet, or your role cannot read invoices or bills.
The invoice cannot be approved	A line waits for approval (Approve accounts), the exchange rate is missing, or a required field is empty. The message says which.
The bill cannot be validated	Its amounts do not agree with the lines, a line waits for approval, or it is disputed.
The receipt does not reduce what is outstanding	It is still a draft: approve it.
Finalize or Finalise fails	Your company keeps its books in TrakIT and the posting cannot be made, for example with no open financial year. See When posting fails.
Close Job is refused	An invoice of the job is not approved, or a bill is not validated.