Estimate to contract

Carry a reviewed estimate into an agreed scope, budget and financial basis.

8 stages · 4 approvals

Roles and responsibilities

Estimator Commercial Manager Project Manager Finance Manager System 1 Define theopportunity Draft → Submitted 2 Build the estimate Draft → Submitted 3 Review offerexceptions Draft → Submitted 4 Record customeragreement Draft → Submitted 5 Approve contract Draft → Submitted 6 Approve the budget Draft → Submitted 7 Approve recognitionterms Draft → Submitted 8 Hand over the job ProjectMaterialRequirements
  1. Step 1Define the opportunity
    Offers DueDraft
    Quote NumberAccountValid UntilNet Total
  2. Step 3Review offer exceptions
    Offers DueDraft
    Quote NumberAccountValid UntilNet Total
  3. Step 4Record customer agreement
    Sales Orders Awaiting ApprovalSubmitted
    Order NumberAccountContractNet Total
  4. Step 5Approve contract
    Sales Orders Awaiting ApprovalSubmitted
    Order NumberAccountContractNet Total
  5. Step 6Approve the budget
    Budget ReviewPendingApproval
    Budget NumberProjectKindCurrency
    Approved Revision
  6. Step 8Hand over the job
    Commitment BoardApproved
    Commitment NumberProjectCost CodeCurrency
Red diamonds require approval.Rows show responsibility for each step.

Process steps

Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.

Define the opportunity

Estimator records the customer, responsible company, site needs and proposed scope. Identify the selected goods, fixed-price milestone, measured-progress or unit-rate route. Gather the quantity and acceptance basis early, so the later contract can explain exactly what the customer is buying.

Responsible
Estimator
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
AccountsContactPersonsQuotesProjects
Effect
Define the customer and proposed work

Build the estimate

Estimator develops material, labor, equipment, subcontract and other components. Preserve quantities, units, known cost inputs and selling assumptions. Keep incomplete cost evidence visible for resolution, with reviewed zero amounts distinguishable from unknown values. The estimate remains a planned basis rather than actual job cost.

Responsible
Estimator
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
QuoteLinesEstimateComponentsPriceListsPriceListEntries
Effect
Prepare the quantity, cost and selling basis
Approval required

Review offer exceptions

Independent Commercial Manager reviews required quote exceptions, excluding the preparer and material editors. Required Finance Manager review covers protected financial policy or exceptions. Bind the approved revision so a later edit cannot inherit a decision made on different work or value.

Responsible
Commercial Manager · when an exception requires review
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
QuotesCreditReviewsDocumentRevisionsApprovalDecisions
Effect
Review required quote exceptions

Record customer agreement

Estimator records the customer's actual acceptance of the exact offer and prepares its order and contract basis. Preserve external evidence and any agreed qualifications. An internal approval alone does not establish customer agreement. Proposed changes remain pending until their required decisions and acceptance are complete.

Responsible
Estimator
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
ProjectContractsSalesOrdersSalesOrderLinesDocumentRevisions
Effect
Preserve actual accepted commercial scope
Approval required

Approve contract

Independent Commercial Manager reviews the exact order and contract revision, customer agreement and scope, excluding whoever prepared or materially recorded those documents. Quote approval alone cannot activate a new order. Activation requires all current decisions for that accepted scope.

Responsible
Commercial Manager
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
SalesOrdersSalesOrderLinesProjectContractsDocumentRevisionsApprovalDecisions
Effect
Independently approve order and contract activation
Approval required

Approve the budget

Project Manager prepares the project, sites, cost codes and delivery budget. An independent Project Manager reviews the technical and cost-code basis; independent Finance Manager additionally approves the financial cap and currency conversion. Preserve the agreed baseline and future revisions without replacing the estimate or work already performed.

Responsible
Project Manager
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
ProjectsProjectSitesCostCodesProjectBudgetsProjectBudgetLinesApprovalDecisions
Effect
Approve delivery basis and financial cap
Approval required

Approve recognition terms

Independent Finance Manager reviews the contract's performance obligations, allocated consideration and supported recognition basis. Identify the evidence for output/progress or point-in-time satisfaction, the accounting-contract unit and appropriate advance or retention classification. Certification and billing remain separate evidence; a cost-budget percentage does not automatically establish earned revenue.

Responsible
Finance Manager
Status
Draft → Submitted
Records
ProjectContractsPerformanceObligationsPerformanceAllocationsApprovalDecisions
Effect
Approve the allocated recognition policy

Hand over the job

Project Manager takes the accepted contract and approved budget into delivery planning. Material needs, supplier commitments and field work remain connected to that scope. The forecast to complete states whether it includes remaining commitments and owned unused materials. A variation follows a new review rather than silently enlarging the original authorization.

Responsible
Project Manager
Records
ProjectMaterialRequirementsProjectCommitmentsProjectForecastsProjectChanges
Effect
Plan delivery from the approved baseline
Approvals and controls

4 approvals required in this process

  • Review offer exceptions Commercial Manager signs when an exception requires review · record customer agreement waitsQuotes, CreditReviews, DocumentRevisions, ApprovalDecisions
  • Approve contract Commercial Manager signs · approve the budget waitsSalesOrders, SalesOrderLines, ProjectContracts, DocumentRevisions, ApprovalDecisions
  • Approve the budget Project Manager signs · approve recognition terms waitsProjects, ProjectSites, CostCodes, ProjectBudgets, ProjectBudgetLines, ApprovalDecisions
  • Approve recognition terms Finance Manager signs · hand over the job waitsProjectContracts, PerformanceObligations, PerformanceAllocations, ApprovalDecisions
  • Accepted scopeCost budget and current forecast retain separate versions and meanings.
  • New scope and gross increases retain authority despite offsetting reductions.
  • Actual personMaterial authorship determine independent approval.
  • Contract recognitionCustomer certification and invoicing keep their own source allocations.
  • Pending variations remain visible without expanding spendBilling or recognition entitlement.

Records and postings

StageRecordsEffect
1 Define the opportunity AccountsContactPersonsQuotesProjects Define the customer and proposed work
2 Build the estimate QuoteLinesEstimateComponentsPriceListsPriceListEntries Prepare the quantity, cost and selling basis
3 Review offer exceptions QuotesCreditReviewsDocumentRevisionsApprovalDecisions Review required quote exceptions
4 Record customer agreement ProjectContractsSalesOrdersSalesOrderLinesDocumentRevisions Preserve actual accepted commercial scope
5 Approve contract SalesOrdersSalesOrderLinesProjectContractsDocumentRevisionsApprovalDecisions Independently approve order and contract activation
6 Approve the budget ProjectsProjectSitesCostCodesProjectBudgetsProjectBudgetLinesApprovalDecisions Approve delivery basis and financial cap
7 Approve recognition terms ProjectContractsPerformanceObligationsPerformanceAllocationsApprovalDecisions Approve the allocated recognition policy
8 Hand over the job ProjectMaterialRequirementsProjectCommitmentsProjectForecastsProjectChanges Plan delivery from the approved baseline
Data model →

Process reports

All reports

Estimate Comparison

Compare Quotes, QuoteLines and EstimateComponents by project, offered revision and accepted alternative using frozen quantities, units, selling assumptions and effective cost/rate evidence; show material, labor, equipment, subcontract and other planned cost separately from accepted price and approved changes, retain reviewed zero versus unresolved cost, and leave margin percentage unavailable when its cost basis is unresolved or its net-price denominator is zero.

Project Budget and Forecast

At one project/cost-code/currency cutoff, compare original and approved revised ProjectBudgets/ProjectBudgetLines with signed actual ProjectCostEntries/ProjectCostAllocations and the independently approved ProjectForecasts/ProjectForecastLines; forecast final cost equals the comparable actual expense plus disjoint RemainingCost only when both are known, while remaining commitments and owned unused materials are separately disclosed with their included/excluded forecast basis so they cannot be added twice.

Commitments and Subcontract Cost

Reconcile approved PurchaseOrderLines and SubcontractLines through ProjectCommitments, receipt or subcontract acceptance, SubcontractAccruals and BillMatches by supplier/project/cost code and source currency; show gross increases, reductions already included in net current authority, fulfilled scope, active claims and unperformed remainder separately from accepted expense, remaining accrual, billed AP and payment, with known-zero accepted work visible and unknown valuation unresolved.

Retention and Advances

Reconcile RetentionBalances/RetentionMovements and AdvanceAllocations with their original contract, invoice/bill, cash and settlement sources by entity/counterparty/currency at the cutoff; disclose total outstanding, held and released-unsettled retention, conditional versus unconditional entitlement, actual funded assignments, prior recoveries, purpose releases and active claims, treating ordinary retention release as redistribution rather than settlement and an unpaid billed advance as non-spendable until its separately evidenced cash path occurs.

Run by an agent

Agent support

An assistant cannot provide a required independent human decision or invent customer certification, accepted site work, actual delivery or payment. It cannot treat unused stock as consumed, turn intermediate production progress into finished goods or bill the same source twice.

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# Example after configuration $ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent › estimate to contract · define the opportunity on Accounts, ContactPersons, Quotes, Projects ✓ Estimator records the customer, responsible company, site needs and proposed scope. › estimate to contract · build the estimate on QuoteLines, EstimateComponents, PriceLists, PriceListEntries ✓ Estimator develops material, labor, equipment, subcontract and other components. › estimate to contract · review offer exceptions on Quotes, CreditReviews, DocumentRevisions, ApprovalDecisions ⏸ approval when an exception requires review · waiting for the commercial manager # 5 more stages after approval: record customer agreement, approve contract, approve the budget, approve recognition terms, hand over the job

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