Quotation builder

How a quotation is generated from an enquiry, what a draft shows, what can be changed on it, and how a version is issued and revised.

Turns a reviewed enquiry into a numbered Flowtech quotation: one line per instrument, each with its item code and model number, a rate, the commercial terms and a PDF.

Where it starts

The Quotation card beside an enquiry in the inbox. It generates a quotation for that enquiry, or, where quotations exist, opens one and offers another. Where the enquiry’s lines are under two or more projects, generating offers three choices: One quotation per project, each with its own number and its project’s lines, which waits until every line is under a project; one quotation for a chosen project; and All lines in one quotation. Otherwise a quotation starts with every line of the enquiry. Each choice is unavailable while a line it covers still needs review, and says how many, such as “3 lines still need review”; an excluded or confirmed line does not count (R38). Lines are left out per quotation. Generating is refused, with the reason, while the enquiry’s requirements have not been read or the T&C Master has no active template.

A quotation for projects names them in its header’s Project, which can be edited, and prints it highlighted under the title of the quotation and the tag schedule and on every datasheet page. The quotation list shows each quotation’s projects, or “All lines”. Where an enquiry has two or more quotations, the card lists them all, and with two or more for projects, Download all projects (one PDF) saves every project’s quotation, tag schedule and datasheet in one file, each at its latest revision, a draft marked as one, in the order the projects first appear (R74).

A quotation belongs to its enquiry’s office and moves with the enquiry when that is reassigned or routed to another office.

Open enquiry beside the quotation number opens its enquiry in the inbox, on the conversation its board card opens. It shows only to someone who may open that enquiry’s mail.

What a draft shows

A draft is rebuilt from the enquiry’s line review on every view (R45). Each line carries the product, item code, model number, quantity and rate that line review currently gives it, so a corrected product record or a changed line reaches every draft.

Each line says why it cannot be issued yet:

no product fits it
the product’s datasheet could not be read
the product has no item code for the line’s size
an option is still open, or the model number cannot be composed
there is no rate: the item code has no price or no price band covers the line’s flow; an option that affects the price is unchosen, no longer on the datasheet, a Custom option needing a rate typed on the quotation, or charged by a quantity the line does not state; or deductions bring the price to zero or below
the item code has no HSN, or its HSN is inactive

Each reason a line would be refused at issue is shown on the line first. Where a line’s product comes from another category than the line, the product’s own defaults fill its options, and the reason names both categories and only the options still open.

Four things only warn. They are shown in amber on the line and counted in a banner above the lines, do not stop the issue, and are never printed:

the line went back to review in line review after the quotation was generated (R38)
the enquiry does not state the line’s quantity, so it is quoted at the quantity the reading defaulted, until one is set on the quotation
a fluid property from the library fails a limit of the line’s product and the customer has not confirmed it, until the line holds a figure FlowOS reads (R97)
an option that affects the price, other than the default, has no rate or no charge method in the item master, or is charged by parameter while the line holds its figure in another unit or with none, or a field affects the price. That adds nothing and the line is priced without it, with a marker beside the rate (see Pricing and totals)

A line in a category Flowtech does not make has no product, so it carries the no product reason until it is skipped on the quotation. Skipped lines are listed under their own heading with the reason.

A line marked outside range (R92) is already excluded in line review. It stays excluded on the quotation, listed with its reason, and the other lines are priced as usual. The quotation does not yet carry a regret note for it. A line the client’s remark excluded (R112) is skipped the same way, its reason such as “Client: Deleted”.

A rate, discount, quantity or skip typed on a line that has since changed is withheld and not applied (R36). A line has changed when it is no longer on the enquiry or now offers another item code. A card above the lines lists each withheld change with what it set, such as “Rate ₹42,000.00 · Discount 5%”, and why. Enter it again on its line if it still stands and dismiss what is left; the quotation cannot be issued while any is listed.

What can be changed where

On the quotation:

the header: customer, addresses, GSTIN, contacts, customer reference, place of supply and validity
the terms: template, delivery, payment, warranty and the clauses
the charges and the overall discount
each line’s quantity, rate, discount and whether it is left out
each line’s options, from Options on the line. A choice is saved on the enquiry’s line, not on the quotation

The product family of a line is picked in line review, not on the quotation (R96). The quotation takes the family the reviewer picked, and the item code for the line’s size within it.

The place of supply is the state chosen on the header, from the list of Indian states and union territories (R86). It starts as the state of the enquiry’s contact, and picking a party from the party master sets it to that party’s state. The delivery address and the GSTIN do not decide it.

A new quotation starts from the party the enquiry’s customer matched, with that party’s billing address, GSTIN and state. It lists the customer’s people from the enquiry’s emails: each sender with what their signature gives, the colleagues a forwarded enquiry copied, and the To and Cc addresses on the customer’s own domain. With no match it starts from the company the reading found; with none, the customer name is empty and has to be typed before the quotation can be issued. It never starts from the person’s name.

A line’s quantity starts as the enquiry’s. A quantity set on the quotation replaces it, and clearing the box goes back to the enquiry’s, as clearing a rate goes back to the catalogue price. Where the enquiry does not state the quantity, typing the defaulted quantity again sets it too, which clears its warning.

Options on a line lists the options that make up its model number, in code order, and marks each one still to choose, filled by the product’s default or assumed. On a draft, someone who may edit both the quotation and the inbox chooses an option from a menu of what the product offers for the line, and the choice is saved at once. It is saved on the enquiry’s line as an edited value, not on the quotation (R45). Line review shows it; the model number, the price and the reasons the line cannot be issued follow; every quotation for the enquiry changes with it; and a confirmed line goes back to not confirmed in line review. A choice that changes the line’s item code withholds what was typed on the line (R36). When the line was changed in line review first, the choice is refused, the line’s options are read again and the panel says so. Custom wording for an option is entered only in line review. A value the enquiry states that the product’s header does not list, on a header with Custom, is shown as the Custom option worded as that value; it takes its own option once the product’s datasheet lists it. A Custom option’s row has a Custom option rate box, for anyone who may edit the quotation: the rate typed there is the option’s add-on, part of the line’s unit price on the PDF, and emptying the box clears it. On a row that affects the price the line stays unpriced until a rate is typed (₹0 may be typed); on any other row it adds nothing until one is. On an issued version the rate reads as text. A size is never quoted as Custom (R78). Where a line’s product comes from another category than the line, its options are the item master’s defaults and cannot be chosen here. On an issued version, on a skipped line, and for anyone else, the options are read as text.

The payment split follows the terms template’s price rules: the first rule whose delivery option is the quotation’s and whose price condition its basic value meets gives the split, and it changes as the value or the delivery option does. Where no rule matches, or while the totals are pending, the split is the template’s default. A line under the split says which it is: the rule, the template default, or Edited for this quotation. A split typed on the quotation stays as typed until Use the template’s rule is chosen on the saved card, or a template is applied again. Issuing freezes the split shown. A revision keeps a typed split; otherwise it follows the rules again, and where none applies it takes the template’s default as it is when the revision is started. A revision whose template has since been deleted keeps the split its issued version was frozen with. See Pricing and totals.

Each card saves on its own, a line’s quantity, rate and discount save when the box is left, and an option saves when it is chosen. A box whose save fails goes back to the saved value with a note to enter it again. When someone else changed the quotation first, the save is refused, the quotation reloads and says the unsaved changes were not saved. Switching revision, or closing or reloading the page, asks first while a change is unsaved.

Only in line review: a line’s other values, custom wording for an option, and whether it is excluded. A quotation never changes them; a line excluded in line review shows as such and cannot be brought back on the quotation. The person assigned the enquiry confirms or excludes its lines there (see Roles), and a quotation is generated only once every line it covers is confirmed or excluded (R38).

Nowhere yet: choosing the product or the item code. The quotation takes the product line review suggests, or the first alternative on a deviation, with the item code for its size. Editing the line’s values in line review, or choosing an option, can change both, and a line whose product is not wanted is skipped on the quotation.

Issue and revise

Issue freezes a version: its number, date, lines, totals and letterhead never change afterwards (R45). It asks first, showing the grand total it will freeze, and is refused:

while a change typed on the quotation is withheld (R36)
while an included line cannot be issued (R37, R38), or no line is included
without a place of supply, or while the company profile’s state is not on the list (R86)
when the quotation changed after it was opened: someone else saved it, or line review or the catalogue moved its grand total. The quotation reloads and nothing is issued (R45)
while an edit on the page is unsaved. The reason shows beside the button and names the line when it is a line’s box

Warnings do not stop it. Revise asks first, then makes the next draft from the latest issued version, copying its header, terms, charges and each line’s quantity, rate, discount and skip. The new draft becomes the latest version. Revisions print as -R1, -R2 after the number (R85). Issuing is not sending.

What changed since the last issued version

A revision, draft or issued, is compared with the newest issued version before it, and everything that differs is marked where it is. A line’s changed values (description, item code, model number, quantity, rate, discount and amount) show the earlier value struck through above the new one, and a changed description marks the words that changed. A strip above the sections counts the lines changed, added and left out, the customer details and terms changed, and gives the grand total before and after, or says it is unchanged.

Where a change came from, when FlowOS knows: Edited on this draft (a rate, discount or payment split typed on the quotation; Edited on R1 once that revision is issued), Changed on the enquiry line (the line’s values, product or options changed, in line review or from the quotation’s options), and Price follows the line (a catalogue rate that moved with the line’s item code or options, or with the price list). A change whose origin is not recorded, such as a quantity, has no label.
Added lines are shaded green. A line the earlier version quoted that the revision skips reads Left out of R1 (the revision’s own number) on its own row, with the amount it was quoted at struck through and what leaving it out takes off the total; one the revision has no line for at all is listed last, struck through, with the amount it takes off the total.
Lines that did not change fold behind one row, which opens them. Opening a line lists its options, operating conditions and specifications that changed; an option whose code changed under the same wording shows both codes.
The customer, terms and charges cards list their changed fields at the top. A contact counts as changed when its name, designation, email or phone does.
A change shows once it is saved. Lines are matched by their enquiry line, or, when the enquiry was read again between the two versions, by line number and item code together, and the strip says so.
The PDF marks nothing on its lines; a revision’s quotation closes with a page listing these changes instead (see The PDF). The email to the client carries no marks.

Discard draft shows on the draft of a revision, to someone who may edit the quotation. It asks first, then removes the draft: its edits are lost, the quotation goes back to the last issued version, and the lists show that version and its total again. Revising again starts a new draft from that version. Discarding is refused when the draft changed after it was opened; the quotation reloads and nothing is discarded.

Delete quotation shows on an original draft, a quotation that was never issued, to someone who may edit it. It asks first, naming the number, then deletes the quotation with its draft and opens the quotation lists. The number is not given to another quotation, so the series skips it (R85), also when a PDF of the draft was downloaded and shared. A quotation with an issued version cannot be deleted. Deleting is refused when the draft changed after it was opened; the quotation reloads and nothing is deleted.

Quotations in the lists:

List of Quotations: every quotation
Quotes Pending to be Sent: the latest version is a draft
Quotes Needing Revision: the latest version is issued and either a revision request arrived on the enquiry’s conversation after it was issued or a client change waits on its revision list (R118); see Revision requests

Each list shows the grand total and how many included lines are ready to issue. An issued version shows its frozen figures. A draft’s figures are as of the last time it was opened or saved, and its total is marked Draft; a change in line review shows once the draft is opened again. The Quotation card beside an enquiry shows the same count for a draft.

A banner on an issued version says when the enquiry was read again after it.

The PDF

The PDF is previewed and downloaded in the browser. Every page carries the quotation number at its foot, and on a draft the DRAFT mark beside it, so a page a long line runs onto and the closing page are marked too. The letterhead is the company profile with the issuing office’s name, email and phone; the profile’s email and phone stand in where the office has none. BILL TO prints the customer, its address (“Address not given” when it has none, R103), GSTIN and place of supply, and every contact on the quotation; a strip under BILL TO and FROM carries the customer’s reference when there is one. FROM names the sales office with its address and phone, the sales representatives — the enquiry’s assignee, then everyone who created, edited or issued a revision — and the quotation number, revision, first quotation date and revision date. Pages after the first carry the quotation number and revision under the letterhead. An issued version prints the office and representatives it was issued with. Each line prints its unit price, discount, net rate (the unit price less the discount, to the paisa) and amount, and its item code, HSN and GST rate under its description. Its conditions open with Tag No. (the line’s tag; where the enquiry gives none, the customer’s item code; with neither, “Not provided”, R102), the service (the fluid as the customer wrote it, R40), its type and its application where one is named. A grid follows with a row each for pressure, temperature and, on a flow meter or rotameter, flow, and columns for minimum, operating, maximum and design, one figure to each of the datasheet’s rows, then the Flowtech Flow Range (R108), each marked Stated, Calculated, Assumed or Suggested, or printed as Not stated (R87). Every other value the line holds under the datasheet’s OPERATING CONDITIONS follows, in the datasheet’s order and under its labels, including what the enquiry states once for several lines. A version issued before 29 October 2026 prints its conditions as it was issued, in pairs. The rest of a line’s datasheet prints by each field’s On quotation and Quotation heading on the product’s Fields list in Product Limitations: a field prints when it is set to Always, or to Auto and the line holds a value for it, stated, defaulted or Flowtech’s; a field Flowtech supplies after the order prints its placeholder, such as “After Confirmation”. It prints under its heading: rows under the datasheet’s design or calculation headings in Design Specifications, its Technical Specifications rows there, and any other heading as a section of its own after Technical Specifications. A Flowtech figure held in Product Limitations prints in its field’s place under the figure’s own On quotation, whatever the field is set to; a field whose figures are all set not to print prints nothing, never the customer’s value in their place; and a specification linked to no field, such as the accuracy of a product whose datasheet has no Accuracy row, prints under its name in Technical Specifications. The buyer’s required accuracy, Branding and Packing are set not to print. A line of a family whose datasheet has no row for a figure still prints its standard wording, such as Pipe Size on a rotameter, the orifice values of an ORF flange assembly, or “WE Value: As per sizing sheet”. Technical Specifications list each option with its code before its value, two to a row, and no prices, then the fields set to print there. The totals run from gross, less the line and overall discounts, to basic, then the charges billed, transportation, the taxable value, the tax by rate and the grand total, each with its percentage or N/A. Transportation reads ex-works at the client’s scope while freight is off, and FOR once it is on; other charges switched off or at zero are left off (R42). The payment terms print each part’s percentage and its share of the grand total, then their total (R101). Each line’s notes list only its size, option and corrosion cautions, a duplicate tag the line still holds once confirmed (“Tag LS is listed on more than one line of the enquiry”, under a Duplicate label, R95), the values the platform assumed that its operating conditions do not print, a flow unit not stated or assumed, the request to confirm a Suggested range, and a flow below the Flowtech minimum. Where a reviewer picked the family and it breaks a limit, the notes also state each limit the family was chosen past, worded as line review words it. A line that deviates from the family the customer asked for keeps what was asked for, the family offered instead and each reason, as the line’s product suggestion reads them (Line items), frozen with the version when it is issued. The PDF prints them under a Deviation heading, before the notes, in two columns, You asked and We offer: the product, a Why row for each reason, then the line size and flow range where either side has one. The product and Why rows are highlighted. When no family fits, the offered product reads “No product fits”. Figures print with at most two decimals, or three significant figures below 1. Line warnings are not printed.

A draft PDF prints every included line with what is open marked as open (R38): an option not yet chosen as a dash, the model number as “?” until every option is chosen, and a rate or total not yet known as “Pending”. No document prints option prices. A character the PDF’s font does not hold prints as a placeholder mark; it does not stop the PDF.

Three documents can be previewed and downloaded: the quotation; a tag schedule, which opens with one row per line keyed by its tag number, the totals and the amount in words, before the line pages and the terms; and a datasheet, one portrait page per line with its operating conditions, design specifications and options, and no prices or terms. A line with several tags lists them all in its row.

A revision’s quotation, R1 onwards, lists Changes in this revision after its last line and ahead of the totals, comparing it with the newest version issued before it, the same comparison the quotation page marks. It names that version by its printed number and the day it was issued, gives the grand total before and after with the difference, then lists each line that changed under its number on this PDF, with each value it was and is now, including options, operating conditions and specifications; each line added, with its quantity and amount; and each line left out, with what it was quoted at. The customer details, terms and charges that changed follow under their own headings. Where a change came from is not printed. A revision with nothing changed says so. The original prints no such list, nor do the tag schedule and the datasheet. A draft’s list shows its saved changes, and a revision’s PDF cannot be drawn until the version it is compared with has loaded; when that fails, the preview or download fails with a retry rather than print without the list.

Pricing

See Pricing and totals.

Limits

FlowOS does not send the quotation yet. It is downloaded and sent from the salesperson’s own mail; sending is next.
There are no accessory lines.
The item code of a line cannot be chosen, in line review or on the quotation. It follows the line’s size within the product family, which a reviewer can pick in line review (R96); the quotation does not pick it.
The options of a product from another category than its line cannot be chosen on the quotation.
A revision request on another conversation that FlowOS cannot link to the enquiry (R97) does not list the quotation under Quotes Needing Revision, and neither does an enquiry email typed as a revision request because it answers the quotation.
A quotation with an issued version cannot be deleted. Only the draft of its revision can be discarded.
A revision’s marks do not say that the client asked for a change. Which of them came from the client’s email is shown in the inbox, under Changes asked for, and not yet on the quotation.

Rules that apply

R36–R38, R40–R45, R85, R86.