Pre sales question: Quotes, and sending message from the web interface.

I've been trying CommitCRM CRM for about a week now; so far, great software. I have two question:
1. How do you create a quote in CCRM.
a. How do you convert that quote to a service order/Service Ticket.
b. I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but the opportunity options is next to useless if I can't convert an opportunity to anything other than close it.
2. How do you send messages from the web interface?

Right now, looks like all the quotes have to be done in qb, then manually add them to CCRM.

Hi kerby.p,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for posting these question.

Please find the questions and answers below:

1. How do you create a quote in CCRM.
a. How do you create that quote to a service order/Service Ticket.
RangerMSP lets you generate various items reports and also Charge reports from the Reports window, which will list the items and their prices. If you need real quotes, this should be managed externally to RangerMSP, using quoting tools (such as QuoteWerks) - the quotes can be then exported to files, and attached to the account/sales opportunity in RangerMSP. Click here for more details on managing quotes using Sales Opportunities.

b. I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but the opportunity options is next to useless to me since I can't convert an opportunity to anything other than close it.
The Opportunities can be converted into various entities once you win the opportunity. From the Opportunity window, you can use the More Action option on the tool bar and create a Ticket, Contract or Asset from the opportunity. Each can be helpful in difference scenarios and each option will copy some of the information from the opportunity into the new entity.
BTW, Sales Opportunities have other great benefits while still open, as you can manage the stages, your competition, predict income and much more. You can find more helpful information and tips on Sales Opportunities management on our Wiki here.

2. How do you send messages from the web interface?
The Web Interface lets you view your messages, however, sending new messages is currently possible only via the Client Application. We hope to add this capability to the Web Interface as well in the future. Thanks for bringing it up.

I hope this helps!

Sheli

Sheli
Thank you for the prompt reply.

>>Click here for more details on managing quotes using Sales Opportunities.

The link is missing.

Corrected the link, thanks for pointing that out!

Sheli

This is what I understand, correct me if I am wrong:
1. CCRM can create opportunities, track these opportunities, however, charges cannot be quoted in CCRM.
2. An external application has to be used to create quotes. These quotes must be exported, and attached to an account as a document. Should the quote converts to a sale, the items of the sale have to be manually entered in CCRM.

Regards

Yes, this sounds correct :-)

Note that you do have the option of entering the charges in RangerMSP prior to actually approving them, mark them as "not billable" and print them in a report. Once the purchase it approved, you can change their status to "billable" and invoice for them. This however, can be confusing and create "junk" charges, so we don't recommend on doing this on a regular basis.

Sheli

I can live with Quickbooks and quotewerks. Quoting, quote to service ticket/order, are those in the forecast for an upcoming version?

Hey kerby.p, providing some quoting capabilities built-in to RangerMSP is indeed something which is on our radar and we really want to add this to one of our future releases. I don't have an ETA for this, and this is not an easy one to implement, however, we definitely see this as an important item. Thanks for your feedback on this subject.

Sheli