Explaining the Default Offer Statuses
Under BSS Setup > Sales > Offers > Offer Status is where the default Offer Statuses exist but also where new Offer Statuses can be created. These statuses dictate the various stages of an offer. For our platform to run correctly having a basic functionality, the following Offer Statuses and conditions should always exist by default in an organization as best practice.
Default Offer Statuses
In Progress: This offer status is utilized when the offer is created and submitted to the customer. The status “Type” is In progress and that status must be active. Deletion or deactivation is possible as long as there is another status with In progress “Type” available.
Accepted: This offer status is utilized for the acceptance of the offer by the customer. As best practice, there should be at least one status with “Type” Accepted and that status must also be active. Deletion or deactivation is possible as long as there is another status with Accepted “Type” available.
Lost: This offer status is utilized for the refusal of the offer by the customer. As best practice, there should be at least one status with “Type” Canceled and that status must also be active. Deletion or deactivation is possible as long as there is another status with Canceled “Type” available.
The columns composing the Offer Status list are the following:
No. : This column displays the number of each Offer Status. In cases, where there are two or more similar statuses, then the number acts as a priority number between them.
Description: This column displays the name/description of an Offer Status that is the one being displayed next to the “Status” field of each offer in BSS. The “Description” is a text field where you can type in the exact word(s) that you wish to display as a “Status”.
Type: This column displays the available types of statuses in a drop-down menu fashion. Each selected “Type” option keeps a specific stage of the offering process.
Color: This column allows you to change the color of the displayed Status text in BSS and is based on an extended RGB color palette that appears upon clicking on it.
Active: This column contains a checkbox for each Offer Status so that you can select which status you wish to have enabled and which to have disabled. Please note here that the default (systemic) offer statuses that are displayed in the screenshot above, should not be disabled, since they are the bare minimum.
Moreover, you may need to have more statuses than the default ones, analyzed above. Let’s see how you can add new Offer Statuses in the following section.
Creating New Offer Statuses
Other than the bare minimum statuses explained above, new offer statuses can be introduced inside this list. The reason for doing so is when you wish to have better control over, for example, certain reasons such as “offer pending for changes”, “lost due to competition counteroffer“, etc.
To create a new Offer Status and add it to the list, you must first provide a number under the No column and then you provide a descriptive name, under the Description column.
Afterwards, from the columns Type , you can specify the offer type that suits your needs, by choosing the available option that resembles the situation.
Then, you can choose to either click on the Active checkbox to activate the new offer status upon its creation or leave it as-is if you wish to activate the new offer status later.
Lastly, after you have completed the creation of your new offer status, you must always click the + icon to add this status to the list.
Besides, after you finish with your edits, you must always save your changes by clicking the Save button from the page’s main menu.
Please note that to provide the newly added (custom) canceled offer status based on your defined “Description”, you need to edit the offer in the BSS portal and select from the available status options, your “Description“, for example, Lost due to competition counteroffer.
Offer Statuses Manual Change in BSS
Since Offer Statuses do not change automatically, the responsible BSS user that creates an offer, needs to also change manually the statuses of the offer whenever an action occurs, from the offer’s creation until the offer’s acceptance or rejection from the customer and everything in between. This means that, for example:
During the creation of an offer in BSS, the status of the offer is by default set to “In Progress“ by the system. However, the status, during the order’s creation can be changed by the user before saving it.
During the acceptance of the offer by the customer, the status of the offer must manually be changed to “Accepted“ by the BSS user. This is achieved by clicking on the Edit button of the offer and then selecting from the Status drop-down menu the option “Accepted”.
The same logic applies to the other stage of an offer (be that the rejection by the customer), as well as to all custom offer statuses that you may have created. Every status change of the offers must be done manually.
You can check the following pages for more information on creating, viewing, adding order items, and executing the newly created order.