From quote to order
This guide follows a customer inquiry from quote creation through conversion to a sales order. The next guide covers shipment, invoicing, and payment.
One opportunity, many documents
In Carbon, a , , and link to one . The opportunity can reference each document through salesRfqId, quoteId, and salesOrderId; none is required.
You can therefore create a sales order directly, create a quote without an RFQ, or use all three documents. The opportunity records the relationship without enforcing a sequence.
Quotes are optional. The opportunity is the thread.
A sales order does not require a quote, and a quote does not require an RFQ. Link the documents to one opportunity regardless of where the sales process starts.
Build the quote
Create a quote and add one line for each requested item. Each line supports quantity-break pricing. The negotiated net unit price carries forward to the sales order.
A new quote is "Draft". Each line progresses independently through "Draft", "In Progress", and "Complete", allowing a multi-item quote to be priced incrementally.
Finalizing the quote moves it to "Sent" and marks its lines "Complete". Only a Sent quote can proceed to customer action.
Send it to the customer
With digital quotes enabled, a "Sent" quote provides a private, unguessable share link that requires no login. The customer view excludes internal notes.
The customer can:
- Select Accept Quote to create a sales order, then optionally attach their purchase order as a PDF.
- Select Reject Quote to move the quote to "Lost".
Carbon records either result on the quote.
Acceptance is a first-class action, not an inbox.
Acceptance converts the quote; rejection records the outcome. The customer portal can then display order and job status.
When a quote doesn't land
Carbon records non-converted quotes as "Expired" after the validity date, "Lost" after customer rejection, or "Cancelled" after internal withdrawal.
To revise pricing or terms, create a new quote revision. Carbon increments the revision number and retains the previous terms.
Re-quoting bumps a revision and keeps the trail.
Create a revision from a lost or expired quote to retain the complete negotiation history.
Into a sales order
Internal conversion and customer acceptance both create a sales order. The order inherits the negotiated net unit prices and opportunity. Carbon moves the quote to "Ordered", or "Partial" if only some lines convert. The new order opens at "To Ship and Invoice".
Production, shipment, and invoicing use the sales order as their source.
Jobs come from the order, never the quote.
A quote cannot create a production job. A make-to-order sales-order line creates the job, so the sequence is quote → order → job.