Proposals
Create proposals in SimpliServ, send them, have customers accept or decline them, and convert them into orders.
→ Open the "Proposals" module in SimpliServ
Proposals are service and price offers you send to your customers. Each proposal is linked to a contact, goes through four statuses, and can be converted into an order with one click after acceptance.
Proposals ≠ estimates. The Proposals module (/dashboard/proposals) is for sales proposals. Separate from it, there are estimates (/dashboard/estimates) with additional fields for estimate fees and their crediting. Details in the guide Estimates.
Create a proposal
Open the "Proposals" module
In the left-hand navigation, under Service, go to Proposals and click Create proposal in the top right.
Select a customer
Pick an existing contact. The address data (shipping and billing address) is taken over automatically.
Add line items
Add products or free text lines. Per line you set quantity, unit, net unit price or gross unit price, VAT and an optional discount. A total discount with a discount name is also possible.
Add header and footer text and notes
Using header text and footer text you add rich-text blocks that appear above the line items and below the totals in the proposal PDF. Internal notes aren't part of the PDF.
Check validity and save
Set valid until if needed. If a default validity is stored in the admin settings, this date is proposed automatically on creation as the proposal date + X days.
Line items, addresses and amounts
In a proposal's detail view you'll find the sections Proposal overview, Line items, Addresses, Cost overview (subtotal, tax amount, total incl. tax), Header/footer text, Notes and the status history with the chronicle of status changes.
Preview, print and send
Open the preview
Via Preview you open the PDF preview without committing the proposal.
Print / send
Via Print / send you open the "Commit & actions" dialog. Here you can choose Download, Print, Send by email or – as long as the proposal is still a draft – Commit only. The subject and message are filled from the saved email template and can be adjusted before sending.
When you run these actions, the document is committed. This can't be undone.
When sending, you can also choose the option "I want to send the proposal myself" — then no email dispatch is triggered, only the send date is logged.
Customer link: accept or decline
Via the action menu (…), use Generate customer link to create a shareable link. The link is copied straight to the clipboard; you can copy it again via the Copy link button in the dialog.
Through this link the customer can open the proposal without logging in and:
- Accept — optionally with a short comment (max. 500 characters). The status switches to Accepted.
- Decline — here a reason is mandatory. The status switches to Declined.
Once a proposal has been accepted or declined, the decision is final: an already accepted or declined proposal can't be changed again via the customer link. If enabled in your notification settings, you're informed of the decision by email and notification.
The four statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | The proposal is still being edited, not yet sent. |
| Sent | The proposal has been delivered to the customer. |
| Accepted | The customer accepted — the proposal is locked. |
| Declined | The customer declined — the proposal is locked. |
Lock on acceptance/decline
Once a proposal reaches Accepted or Declined status (or has been archived), it's locked: line items, addresses, texts and notes are read-only, and the detail view shows a note that the document has been committed and can no longer be edited. The Preview button also disappears then; only viewing and follow-up actions remain possible.
Convert into an order
From a proposal you create a new order via the action menu with Convert to order. Line items, addresses, discounts and amounts are taken over, the associated customer flow advances a stage, and you land straight in the new order.
If an order is already assigned to the proposal, Convert to order is hidden. Instead, in the detail view you can use Mirror into order to reflect the current line items, addresses, discounts and amounts into the existing linked order. Changes made directly on the order are overwritten in the process. (This action is no longer possible once the order has already been dispatched.)
More on the next step in the sales process is in the guide Orders.
Admin → settings
You reach the module settings under Service → Proposals in the organisation settings. Two areas are available there:
Proposal document
Assign a layout template to the "Proposal" scenario and open the editor via Open layout editor to design the header, body and footer of the proposal PDF.
Default validity
Set the validity days. On creation, "valid until" is automatically set to the proposal date + days. Leave it empty to set no default.
You maintain the email template for sending proposals (subject and message) separately in the email-templates module via the "Proposal" scenario. Placeholders like {{FIRST_NAME}}, {{LAST_NAME}}, {{INVOICE_NUMBER}} and {{COMPANY_NAME}} are replaced automatically on send. More on this in the guide Email templates.
Permissions
The visibility of actions depends on the role permissions: proposals.view, proposals.create, proposals.update, proposals.delete, proposals.send-email and orders.from-proposal for converting into an order. You manage roles and permissions under Users & roles.
Related topics
- Create an estimate — the estimate variant with a diagnosis or estimate fee, separate from the proposals module
- Create & process an order — the next step once a proposal is accepted and converted
- Document & receipt templates — design the layout of the proposal PDF per scenario
- Text templates — store reusable header and footer texts for proposals
- Email templates — maintain the subject and message for sending proposals
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