Quote Invoice

MaxForms Quotation and Invoicing in Maximizer

Base Pack Specification

Introduction What do you get? What else will you definitely need for your customers? What else might you need for your customers? How does the pack licensing work and how much does it cost? What does the MaxForms Quotation and Invoicing system do exactly? Modification Potential Further Information

Introduction

The MaxForms Quotation and Invoicing Base Pack is a pre-assembled integrated set of elements that provide a quotation and invoicing system that links directly into a Maximizer database. Because the pack consists of elements that can be easily changed, Business Partners can use it as the basis for customised systems, without having to create them from scratch. In most cases, this can be done without altering any program code at all. Alternatively the pack can be used as it stands. (With appropriate product lookup files.)

What do you get?

The pack consists of:

1. A Maximizer Address Book Folder containing a set of user defined fields to store the quotation/order data. This can be used as the basis for your client’s new Address Book Folder, or the elements may be transferred into a live, existing one.

2. A MaxForms form with 5 tabs for the entry and editing of quotations and orders. This is set up to allow up to 15 line items per quotation/order to be chosen from your client’s products. There are facilities built in to apply both a hidden and a visible % discount to each line. The information for each quotation is written back to Maximizer and can be synchronised using MaxExchange.

3. Base product information lookup files that can be replaced with real product data files. These contain the description and price information for the products your client sells. The format can be easily adapted to include cost information, to provide quotation value added analysis and can, if you chose, be changed to suit variations in description or price for each invoice line. These files are normally generated from, and maintained in, an Excel spreadsheet. They are structured so that your client can easily drill down through a three level tree structure to reach the product item for each line.

4. Base Word Templates for the automatic production of quotations and invoices from the Maximizer data. These are usually run off the quotation form itself. Once the information is correct, a button on the form automatically embeds a Word document against the quotation/order in Maximizer. The document opens up in Word and a macro in the document completes and formats the document into its finished form. It is then printed and closed. The document template can be easily adapted to your specific user’s requirements.

5. Documentation to explain how it works and how to customise it.

What else will you definitely need for your customers?

They will require a Maximizer system, Microsoft Word and MaxForms licences for all users.

What else might you need for your customers?

If you are not confident to do the changes necessary to meet specific variations between your customer’s requirements and the pack’s standard configuration, we can offer you consultancy time to do the configuration of elements for you. This can be charged on an hourly or daily basis and may cover the whole package or just one element. (For instance the Word Visual Basic code.) We will price the work against an emailed specification of the requirements.

How does the pack licensing work and how much does it cost?

Business Partners buy a licence to use the pack for themselves and any of their end user Maximizer customers. This licence costs GBP 1000 (approx USD 1450- VAT extra in England) and is a one off charge. (It does not allow Business Partners to supply the pack, or any part of it, to other Maximizer resellers or Business Partners.) They are then free to vary the basic pack as they wish and to use it for multiple clients.

Normal MaxForms licences for all users are needed at a retail price of GBP 65 per user. Please ask for our standard business terms for the trade discount on MaxForms licences which varies between 20% and 45%, depending upon your order quantity.

What does the MaxForms Quotation and Invoicing system do exactly?

	It is designed to produce and record quotations, invoices and other related documents for companies that have a list of products. Quotations are stored in the contact window of Maximizer and are linked to a contact or individual record. They are generated automatically by MaxForms and can be easily updated and a revised quotation document issued.
	They can have status fields to allow them to be tracked, and then converted to invoices, if and when an order is received against the quotation. The information on all current quotations/orders is available in Maximizer for reporting purposes and is automatically synchronised using MaxExchange.
	Each contact in Maximizer can have any number of active quotations and orders stored against it.
	The system allows up to 15 line items for each quotation/invoice.
	It uses a tree structure of up to three levels of product grouping to allow easy selection of products from a list that may be up to about 10,000 items.
	After choosing a product range from a main list and then sub-category for that range and then finally a short description from a list for that sub-category, the MaxForms screen will look up the product code, two description fields allowing up to 238 characters of description in total per item, a unit cost and a unit price. (All this lookup information can be saved instantly from a master Excel spreadsheet or exported as a “Tab delimited” file from another program to allow for easy updating.)
	For each line item a “hidden” discount and a “visible” discount percentage can optionally be added along with the quantity required.
	After all the items have been entered, the line item figures are calculated using the quantity, the two discounts and the base price. The invoice total is then calculated. A delivery charge, based on either a percentage of the list price of the quotation and/or a fixed amount, is included and the whole lot written back to Maximizer user defined fields against the quotation record. The total value added figure for the quotation can be shown, if cost information is provided for each item.
	A button on the final tab of the form embeds a quotation or invoice document into the document window in Maximizer against the quotation record.
	This document is based on a Template that includes the necessary Visual Basic code to retrieve all the values stored in Maximizer and to fill them into Bookmarks placed within the document body. Unused items are omitted. The Template and, if required, the VB code is easily changed. Embedding ensures that the documents can be synchronised from the field to base and vice versa using MaxExchange.
	The information written back to Maximizer can be used for quotation revisions and reused for invoices or order confirmations etc. The old quotes are retained as the stored Word document. The current information will be used in reports.
	Reporting can be in depth as the cost as well as sales information is retained. All three product tree levels can be used in reporting so client sales and quotation reports can be summarised by product range and subcategory if required. It is common to export data to Excel to build reports.

Modification Potential

	The base package can be used as a starting point for systems that are both more and less complex. In either case the time involved in changing the base system is likely to be substantially less than building from scratch. It also requires less familiarity with MaxForms and Visual Basic coding.
	MaxForms does not require any knowledge of programming at all. Clearly a quotation system is a complex use of the program and business partners that are not familiar with MaxForms will find it efficient to buy in some level of advice or practical work if major changes are required to the basic system.
	The Word Templates have code written in VBA which is very easy to adapt even for those with minimal VB experience.
	The learning curve on the first client system will not be repeated for subsequent client and the cost of the system allows for repeated reuse with further clients. We hope this will encourage business partners to make the system an integral part of their product line.

Further Information

Please contact Martin Young do discuss the suitability for any particular client system or for further information. Screenshots of a specific client implementation are available on request. A simple demonstration quotation form is also available. “Not for Resale” user licences are free to potential business partners so it costs nothing but time to try out MaxForms.

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Last modified: October 25, 2006 Hit Counter