The information below will help you explore considerations when configuring your QuoteWerks installation.
Existing-Data Considerations
Do you already have product and pricing information in an electronic format, such as a database, spreadsheet, or text file? If so, you can use the QuoteWerks Product Import Wizard to import the product data into a QuoteWerks native product database. The Product Import Wizard can import information from a delimited (tab, comma, and other) text file.
If you have a price list in an Excel spreadsheet that you’d like to import into QuoteWerks, save it as a format QuoteWerks can use with the following steps:
1.Open the spreadsheet in Excel.
2.Click File -> Save As.
3.Select "Text (Tab delimited)" from the Save as type drop-down box.
4.Click Save.
If your data is in a database like a Microsoft Access, dBase™, or FoxPro, open the database with the corresponding product and export the data to a tab-delimited text file.
Note: Microsoft Access can open and export all the above file types. |
When importing products/services, their taxable status will be set to Yes by default. To change their taxable status in the Product Import Wizard, you can explicitly specify the taxable status of each imported item. See Importing Products for details.
If you have QuoteWerks Professional or Corporate Edition, you can link directly to your external pricelist using the Product Data Source Setup feature. Linking directly avoids having to export and import data; you can simply use your existing data wherever it’s currently stored.
Product Data Source Setup can be found under the Products -> Setup Product Sources menu, and will walk you through linking to your Microsoft Excel, Access, or SQL database. Additionally, QuoteWerks can link to any ODBC-compliant data source, salesforce.com product catalogs, and QuickBooks price lists. See Creating and Maintaining Products and Services Databases for details.
Product-Database Considerations
QuoteWerks allows you to create as many product databases as you need. You might ask, “Why would I set up more than one product database?” Well, if you purchase products from several vendors, you may want to store each vendor’s product information in a separate database.
Keeping each vendor’s products in a separate database makes it easier to manage the importing and updating of that vendor’s data. More importantly, if you want to use QuoteWerks’ price-refreshing and price-comparison features, you’ll need to set up a separate database for each vendor.
You may also want to use multiple product databases to make it easier to manage and organize your product lines. Also, keep in mind that QuoteWerks allows you to create multiple folder and sub-folder levels, enabling you to visually organize your products in that particular product database. See Creating and Maintaining Products and Services Databases for details.
QuoteWerks uses the Manufacturer Part # field to uniquely identify a product. You need this unique part number for the advanced QuoteWerks product features, including:
•Bundles
•Configurations
•Required, substitute, and optional items
•Using pictures from a product definition in the product database
•Price comparisons and refreshing
•Price refreshing
When you import or manually enter products into the database, ensure you fill in the Manufacturer Part # field with a unique part number. If you don’t use manufacturer part numbers, put your unique part number in the Manufacturer Part # field instead of the Vendor Part # field, or put the same part number in both fields. See Setting up Native Products and Services for more details on the manufacturer part number.
Pricing-Method Considerations
How do you arrive at your customer’s price? Regardless of your answer, you’re in luck, because QuoteWerks supports a variety of pricing methods.
It’s important to know what pricing method you’ll be using before importing products into your product database or linking to them externally. The QuoteWerks Product Import Wizard will let you import a product’s cost, price, and list price, as well as volume pricing. Linking to external product sources will allow you to link to a product’s cost, price, and list price, but not volume pricing.
If your customer’s price is determined by… |
Then you’ll want to import the… |
marking up cost by a percentage or profit margin |
cost and list price of the product. The price will be calculated when you determine your pricing method. |
discounting from list price |
cost and list price of the product. The price will be calculated when you enter in a discount percentage. |
a fixed price |
static price into the price field. If you want to track profit, you should also import the cost field. |
volume pricing |
volume pricing information including lower quantity, upper quantity, and price. Again, if you want to track profit, you should also import the cost field. |
See Setting up Native Products and Services for details on the various pricing methods QuoteWerks supports.
Costing-Method Considerations
How do you calculate your cost? QuoteWerks supports three costing methods. It’s important to know what costing method you’ll be using before importing products into your product database or linking to them externally.
If your cost is a fixed value, you can simply import the cost of the item into the cost field. If you’re linking to an external price list, link the cost field in the Product Data Source Setup feature.
If your cost is a percentage of the list price, you can import the item’s discount percentage and list price. QuoteWerks will calculate the cost of each item based on the discount. You can also link to the discount percentage in the Product Data Source Setup feature.
If you arrive at your customer’s price through volume pricing, QuoteWerks can track and store the item’s volume cost as its quantity changes. You can import volume costing through the QuoteWerks Product Import Wizard. This pricing method is not available with external product sources.
Pricing methods can be intermixed on the quote sheet, and changed on every line item.
See Setting up Native Products and Services for details on the various costing methods QuoteWerks supports, and Importing Products for details on importing options.
