Estimates and invoices overview

What estimates and invoices are in the CRM, how their lists work, and how to set numbering and terms.

An estimate is what you offer a customer: the items, the prices and how long the offer stands. An invoice is what the customer owes you. In TicAte CRM they are the same kind of document at two moments, so an accepted estimate turns into an invoice with one click and nothing is typed twice.

You can make both from a deal, where they start with the deal's products, or on their own from the Estimates and Invoices pages in the left menu.

The estimates list

Estimates, with the summary tiles at the top

The tiles at the top show the value Waiting for an answer, the value Accepted, how many Drafts there are, and your Acceptance rate. The tabs filter the list: All, Draft, Waiting, Expired, Accepted and Declined.

An estimate is Expired when its Valid until date has passed without an answer.

The invoices list

Invoices, with what is owed and what has come in

The tiles show the total Invoiced, how much is Received, what is still Outstanding, and how much of that is Overdue. Drafts and cancelled invoices are left out of these totals. When you invoice in more than one currency, each currency is added up on its own.

The tabs filter the list: All, Draft, Unpaid, Part paid, Overdue, Paid and Cancelled.

In both lists you can search by number, title, customer or deal. A document the customer has looked at through its link says Opened by the customer. Click a number to open the document.

Quick buttons in the list

Each row has buttons for the usual next step, so you rarely need to open the document:

On an estimate: Accepted, Declined, Invoice, Link, the PDF icon and Document.
On an invoice: Issue, Receive payment, Link, the PDF icon and Document.

Document makes a PDF or Word file from one of your own templates.

Statuses

A document shows its status as a badge in the list and as a row of stages across the top when you open it. A few stages have a shorter name in the list.

Estimate stage	In the list	Meaning
Draft	Draft	Still being prepared. The customer has not seen it.
Sent to customer	Sent	Sent or shared. Waiting for an answer.
Accepted	Accepted	The customer said yes.
Declined	Declined	The customer said no.

Invoice stage	In the list	Meaning
Draft	Draft	Still being prepared.
Issued	Unpaid	Sent to the customer and waiting for payment.
Partly paid	Part paid	Some money has come in.
Overdue	Overdue	The due date has passed and money is still owed.
Paid	Paid	Paid in full.
Cancelled	Cancelled	No longer owed.

Partly paid, Paid and Overdue follow from the payments and the due date. You cannot pick them by hand; record a payment instead.

The row of stages on an invoice lights up every stage up to where it stands. Overdue appears in the row only on an overdue invoice, before Paid, so an overdue invoice never shows Paid lit. If nothing has been paid on it yet, Partly paid is left out of its row too.

Numbering, terms and design

Owners and admins see two more buttons at the top of both pages.

Numbering and terms for estimates and invoices

Numbering & terms sets:

Usual terms and a Footer line, printed on every document unless one has its own.
Estimate prefix and Invoice prefix, such as EST and INV.
Estimate valid for (days) and Invoice due in (days), used for new documents.
Where the numbers start counting, how many digits they have, and whether the year is part of the number.

Customer design sets how the PDF and the customer's page look.

Your company name, address, GSTIN and bank details come from Settings → Workspace.