Overview

Estimates are designed to be used to show your Customers what you expect their job to cost, and to let them approve or decline these costs.

What It Does

• Allows you to quickly create Estimates so that your Customers can see what their job is expected to cost.
• Customers can view their Estimates in the Customer Portal and approve or decline them with a click.
• Once an Estimate is approved, easily create a Ticket and get to work on the repair. The line items on the Estimate will carry over as Ticket Charges
• Or, go directly from an Estimate to an Invoice. The Estimate line items will transfer directly onto the Invoice.

Table of Contents

Creating Estimates
Estimates Overview Page
Estimate Details Page
Estimate Message
Estimates Settings
Notifications
Security Groups
Estimate Quickview

Workflow

There are different possible workflows, but typically users create an Estimate first, and when the Customer approves it, they convert the Estimate to a Ticket while they work on the job. Others start by writing a ticket, then write an estimate for what needs to be done, the customer approves it, and the user adds those estimate charges to the ticket. When the work is done, they create an Invoice from the Ticket so that they can get paid!

Navigation

Navigating to the Estimates tab is super easy. There will be an Estimates tab along the top of RepairShopr by default. You can move it around or hide/display it in Admin > Tabs Customization if you want as well.

Creating Estimates

There are multiple ways to create Estimates in RepairShopr.

Click the big green button on the home page.

Click the plus sign button to the right of Search All The Things.


Click the green New Estimate button from the Estimates page

From a Customer page click New > Estimate to generate an Estimate for that Customer.

From an existing Ticket, click New > Estimate to generate an Estimate that's associated with the existing Ticket.

Estimates Overview Page

This is the home of all the Estimates you've created. At the top of the page there is an information box that shows the count of published Estimates that have have been neither approved or declined, their projected value, and the approve:decline ratio for the current and previous months.

By default the Estimate list is sorted so that the most recently created Estimate is at the top of the list, and declined Estimates are filtered out. You can click the column headers to sort by a different field. You can view the full list that includes declined Estimates by clicking the 'Show Declined' button. You can also filter the list by the user that created the Estimates.

If a Customer has replied to an Estimate email and you haven't read it yet, the email will show up in a box of Unread Replies near the top of the page, with a link that takes you straight to that Estimate.

Estimate Overview Sorting

Estimate Details Page

This is an Estimate for a particular customer.


 

Convert to Invoice

Click this button to quickly create an Invoice with all of the line items from the Estimate on it. This will automatically mark the Estimate approved.
 

Process dropdown

• Approve - If the customer approves the estimate, you can use this to mark the Estimate approved. Once it's been approved you can undo this by clicking Process > Undo Approved.

• Decline - if the customer declines to proceed with the job, you can use this to mark the Estimate declined. Once the Estimate is declined it will be hidden from the default view of the Estimates page. If the customer changes their mind, you can click Process > Undo Declined.

• Mark as Draft - this setting lets you hide the Estimate from the Customer Portal so that you have time to work on writing up the Estimate before the Customer sees it. If you want your Estimates to always start out in Draft, you can set that up at Admin > Estimates Preferences > Advanced by checking the box next to "Make new estimates 'Draft' by default".

• Publish - If an Estimate is in the 'draft' state, click Process > Publish to make it visible in the Customer Portal so that the customer can review it and then approve or decline it there.

New Ticket

Click this button to start the Ticket-creation process. The line items you've added to the Estimate will automatically show up on the Ticket charges for that ticket.
 

Actions dropdown

• Email - Email the Estimate (and any attachments that you've added to the Estimate) to the Customer

• Add Attachment - If you want to attach additional documents to the Estimate, you can use this feature.

• Add Charges To Linked Ticket - Use this when you started with a ticket, then created an estimate off of the ticket. This lets you then transfer all the estimate charges to the linked ticket.

• Clone - Use this to create a copy of the Estimate for either the same Customer or a different Customer entirely.

Customer Section

Shows you the Customer's name and email address. If you've selected the incorrect Customer for this estimate, click the Change Customer button to transfer the Estimate to a different Customer.

You can also view additional Customer information by clicking the 'expand' triangle in the upper right corner. With this expanded, you can see the Customer's address, whether they're set up to receive SMSes, as well as the date & time that the Estimate was last emailed.

Estimate Details
Displays the Estimate Date, linked Ticket and Invoice, and the user that created the Estimate.

You can also view additional Estimate information by clicking the 'expand' triangle in the upper right corner. With this expanded, you can see the additional financial information - the Estimate's tax rate, the total tax, subtotal, total, as well as any unapplied credits.

Estimate Name: You can give the Estimate a name to identify it from other Estimates for a customer or just in general. This name can be added to the Estimate Template using the tag {{estimate_name}} so that you can provide it to customers should you choose.

Add Inventory items & Manual Items, just like you would on an Invoice.

Expand individual line items to view additional information (what each user sees and can do may vary, based on their Security Group settings)

Once the Estimate has been approved, you won't be able to add more line items (unless, of course, you undo the approval)
 

Estimate Message

Emails
View the list of emails that have been sent. Click on an email to expand and view what was sent to the Customer.

 

 

 

Attachments
Click to toggle whether attachments are public (viewable in the customer portal) or private (internal only).

 

Related Ticket
Lets you see the comments on the associated ticket to make it easy to check on progress from the Estimate page. Click on the View Ticket button to open the ticket from here.

Change History

At the very bottom of the page Global Admins can view the Estimate's Change History.

Estimates Settings

Find these in Admin > Estimate Preferences

• Enable Estimates Module - By default, this module starts out enabled, but you can disable it here if you'd like

• Last estimate number - if you would like to adjust the numbering - for instance, to continue forward from a previous system- you can do that here

• Show Net Margin total on estimates - lets you see how much profit you're making by subtracting line item costs from line item prices

• Make new estimates 'Draft' by default - this makes all Estimates start out in 'Draft' so that customers can't see them in their portal until they've been published

• Do not pull inventory for estimates - With this unchecked, quantities will be deducted from Inventory when they're added to Estimate. If you'd like to wait until they've actually been added to a Ticket or Invoice, you can check this box.

• Auto Expire after X days - Estimates can be automatically declined after this number of days to ensure that your Estimate list remains up to date and relevant.

• Decline Estimates older than 30 days - clean up your current Estimates list by clicking this button.

• Approve all Invoiced Estimates - ensure that your old Estimates are categorized correctly.
  
  
• Enable Upsell Opportunities - Turns on the upsell modal for line items on Estimates

Notifications

Set these up at Admin > Notification Center
Estimate - email is replied to
Estimate - is approved/declined in portal
Estimate (of mine) - is approved/declined
Estimate - is approved/declined
Estimate - An Estimate was emailed to the customer

Security Groups

Set these up at Admin > Security Groups (and then assign your users to security groups)
Estimates - Create
Estimates - Delete
Estimates - Edit
Estimates - List/Search
Estimates - View Details
Line Item - Add Manual Item for Invoices/Estimates

Estimate Quickview

You can click on the magnifying glass next to an Estimate in the system to view the Quickview modal which will allow you to see the contents of the Estimate at a quick glance: 

The Quickview will list the line items of the Estimate as well as the totals, and you can click on the line items to navigate to the Inventory Product page. 

The Estimate status will be displayed at the top for easy viewing, and the action buttons just below that will allow you to Convert the Estimate to an Invoice, Edit the Invoice, or Approve/Decline it right from the Quickview. You can also view the Estimate PDF or print the Estimate PDF using the action buttons at the top.