Acceptance and what happens next

When the customer accepts a quote, Tenvara does the follow-up work in one go: recurring items go on their contract, one-off work becomes a project (or a ticket), a lead becomes a customer, draft purchase orders can be raised for the hardware, and the one-off work is ready to invoice. This page covers the customer's side and then what happens behind it.

What the customer sees#

The customer opens the proposal from the link in their email or from the customer portal. It shows the cover, your introduction and scope, the pricing, the totals and your terms, as in the quote's Preview tab. It works on a phone as well as a desktop.

1. They tick the optional items they want, and pick one option where a section offers alternatives. The totals update as they go.
2. They can download the PDF with their choices.
3. To accept, they give their full name, job title and email, their purchase order number if you ask for one (customers set to Purchase order required must give one), sign (drawn on a pad, or typed), and tick to agree to the terms.
4. They type the six-digit code emailed to them (or texted, where their mobile is on their contact and SMS is set up), confirm, and see the signed proposal. Someone who signed in to the portal with their authenticator app or a passkey a few minutes before is not asked again.
5. If you asked for a deposit, they pay it by card, and set up a Direct Debit if you asked for one (see Deposits below).

To decline, they give their name and, optionally, a reason from your list of lost reasons.

A proposal is signed rather than simply accepted: each signer confirms an emailed code and signs in turn, and the last signature accepts it. See Proposal pricing, signing and tracking. When the customer says yes by phone, email, on paper or with a purchase order, use Record acceptance on the quote instead; everything below happens just the same.

The code makes the acceptance an advanced electronic signature. You can switch it off in Settings > Proposals, under Signing (Confirm the signer with a code); the acceptance is then a simple electronic signature, and the quote and its audit certificate say so. See Is it legally binding?

The acceptance records the version, the options chosen, the totals, the email given, the IP address and the browser. The signed PDF is emailed to the quote's own recipient, and to the address the signer typed only when it is on one of the customer's email domains. An old version, a quote already answered or an expired quote cannot be accepted.

The accepted quote#

The quote becomes Accepted and can no longer change. Its lines show what was bought, with optional lines ticked as the customer chose, everywhere the quote appears.

The owner is told in the bell. The quote's first tab has a Signed and evidence panel: each signer, how their identity was confirmed, when, the IP address and browser, the purchase order, the page fingerprint and the signature, with the signed PDF and both audit certificates to download and a link to the verify page. An acceptance you recorded yourself says it has no electronic signature, and its uploaded copy stays in the quote's files. The History tab shows the acceptance record and What acceptance did. The header links the project the quote became.

What acceptance does#

It all happens once, together. A double click or a retry cannot add lines twice or create two projects.

You choose what acceptance does in Settings > Proposals, under Acceptance rules. A plain quote follows Quotes: when a quote is accepted, a proposal follows Proposals: when a proposal is accepted (below), and both share the rules for a new contract and fixed-price work.

• Put recurring lines on the contract: on or off.
• One-off work becomes: A project, A ticket or Nothing: arrange it by hand.
• Bill the one-off work: At the price quoted (a fixed price project, billed by its milestones or the quote's invoice) or As time worked with the quote as the estimate (a time and materials project).
• Raise draft purchase orders for hardware: on or off.
• Draft the one-off invoice: a draft invoice for the one-off work, unless the project bills it by milestones or as time worked.

What acceptance did#

The What acceptance did card on the quote's History tab lists every outcome: the project, the contract lines, the one-off invoice, the purchase orders and the ticket, each done, skipped or failed, with links to what was made. A skipped step says why (the step is off, there is nothing one-off, the project bills it by milestones), and each outcome names the rule that decided it, for example "Draft the one-off invoice: On". If a step fails, it says so with the reason and "Do this step by hand"; the acceptance itself always stands.

The purchase order number the customer gave goes on the contract, the project, the deposit and the invoice.

A lead becomes a customer#

A lead joins the one customer that has its email domain, or else becomes a new customer, with its contact, quotes and opportunities. If the quote came from an opportunity, the opportunity is won at the accepted value. See Leads.

Recurring items go on the contract#

Monthly, quarterly and annual lines become contract lines at their price after discounts, starting on the acceptance date. They go on the contract you pick when you Record acceptance (one of the customer's running contracts, or a new one), else the contract chosen on the quote, else the customer's default contract.

A new contract is named after its recurring line worth the most a year (such as "Managed IT support"), never the quote's title. It is made from the contract template set in the acceptance rules when there is one; otherwise time beyond its included hours is charged at the customer's rate on the rate card. It becomes the customer's default contract only when they have no other, or when the rules or the acceptance dialog say so, so where ticket time goes is always chosen on purpose. Monthly lines are charged pro rata in a part month; quarterly and annual lines are charged in full, in advance. See Contracts and invoicing.

One-off work becomes a project#

With One-off work becomes set to A project, the one-off lines become a project for the customer. If you chose a template under Project when accepted in the quote's Edit details, the project is laid out from it; otherwise it is a plain project.

The budget is the one-off total before tax, the quote's owner owns it, and the quote and project link to each other.

For a brand new customer the onboarding ticket is still raised, with the project made too when the quote has a template. See Creating a project.

Set to a ticket, the one-off lines become a ticket in the queue and type chosen in Settings > Proposals ("Project: ..." or "Onboarding: ..."), with the contact as requester and the quote linked in an internal note.

Purchase orders for the hardware#

On an accepted quote's Pricing tab, Order the hardware (in the Orders block) previews the one-off hardware and software lines by preferred supplier, less anything already ordered, and raises one draft purchase order per supplier, linked to the quote's project or ticket.

Turn on Raise draft purchase orders for hardware to have the drafts raised as soon as the quote is accepted (the quote's owner is told). Either way you check and send them yourself. See Purchase orders.

Fixed-price work with no milestone amounts#

When one-off work becomes a fixed-price project whose milestones have no amounts, the shared rules decide how it is billed: a draft one-off invoice (the usual choice), or one milestone for the whole price, billed when it is reached.

When a proposal is accepted#

Proposals have their own, fuller list of steps in Settings > Proposals, under Proposals: when a proposal is accepted. Each proposal template can switch any step on or off for its own proposals, so a quick quote can skip the project while a managed services proposal does everything.

The opportunity is won as for a quote. Each step runs once; if one fails (say a distributor feed is down), it is logged and the rest still happen. The quote's What acceptance did card lists everything with links.

Deposits#

A quote can ask for a deposit, paid by card when the customer accepts it. On the quote, beside the totals, the Payment on acceptance card has:

• No deposit, Percentage (of the one-off total the customer accepted, including tax) or Amount;
• Ask for a Direct Debit mandate, so the customer sets up Direct Debit for the invoices to come.

After accepting, the customer sees Pay deposit by card (and Set up Direct Debit) on the signed proposal. The deposit is held against the quote until an invoice with the quote's lines is issued, and is then recorded on that invoice as the card payment it was. If it is more than that invoice, the rest waits for the quote's next invoice. Once accepted, the card shows the Deposit, what was Paid and what is On invoices.

Note: Card payments and Direct Debit use your own Stripe and GoCardless accounts, connected in Settings > Integrations, on the Payments tab. See Taking payments and autopay. Changing the deposit needs the billing permission.

Billing the one-off work#

The accepted one-off work is billed on the customer's next invoice run, unless a fixed price project bills it through its milestones (then the quote's own invoice is not offered, so nothing is billed twice). You can also invoice it straight away from the customer's billing. See Invoice runs.

Export for Xero#

If you keep invoicing in Xero by CSV, press Export for Xero on an accepted quote.

• Invoice CSV: a draft sales invoice for the one-off items (for example INV-Q1001) in Xero's import layout, with the quote discount as a negative line per tax type so the VAT matches to the penny.
• Quote CSV: every line of the quote, for your records.

If you connect Xero or QuickBooks Online directly, invoices are posted for you instead; see Xero and QuickBooks.

Declined and expired quotes#

A declined quote records who declined and why, and the owner is told. When the decision is one the customer should own, such as turning down a security recommendation, press Ask them to sign off the decision on the quote; see Customer sign-offs. A decline is final: use Duplicate as a new quote to try again. A quote past its valid until date expires overnight and its links stop working; move the date with Edit details, or duplicate it.