Estimates and Proformas

Use an estimate to propose scope and price, then use a proforma when the customer needs a formal non-posting commercial document before invoicing. Neither document posts to the General Ledger.

6.1 Recommended Sales Flow

1. Qualify a lead into a customer and deal.
2. Add products or services and expected value to the deal.
3. Open the deal and select Create Estimate.
4. Review line items, discounts, tax, validity, notes, terms, currency, and payment instructions.
5. Save the draft, then select Review & Send.
6. SikaBooks queues the email with a frozen PDF and secure customer-review link.
7. The customer may accept, decline with a reason, or request changes.
8. For requested changes, create a revision. The sent version remains immutable.
9. After acceptance, choose one path: create a proforma draft or create the CRM draft invoice directly. Once one path is used, SikaBooks blocks the competing conversion path.
10. When Accounting is enabled, the accepted proforma-to-invoice flow may synchronize the draft invoice to Accounting. It never posts automatically.

6.2 Estimate Lifecycle

• Draft — Editable and not yet issued.
• Sent — Delivery succeeded and the issued snapshot is frozen.
• Viewed — The customer opened the secure review page.
• Accepted — The customer or an authorized salesperson recorded acceptance.
• Declined — A decline reason is retained with the document activity.
• Changes requested — The customer supplied revision instructions; use Revise to create a new version.
• Expired — The validity date passed before acceptance.

Sent estimates may be resent without changing the frozen commercial content. A failed resend does not erase the previous successful-delivery state.

6.3 Proforma Lifecycle

An accepted estimate may be converted into one proforma draft. The conversion is idempotent, so repeated clicks cannot create duplicate proformas. An estimate that already produced an invoice cannot also produce a proforma, and an estimate with a proforma must be invoiced through that proforma.

Proformas use the same draft, send, view, response, revision, PDF, delivery-history, and expiry controls as estimates. Only an accepted proforma can create a CRM draft invoice. A proforma never creates a journal entry.

6.4 Customer Review Portal

The delivery email contains a temporary signed link. From that page, the customer can:

• Review the immutable document and download its PDF.
• Accept the estimate or proforma.
• Decline and provide a reason.
• Request specific changes.

Expired or already-responded documents remain readable but cannot receive another response. Signed portal URLs are generated when needed and are not stored in CRM audit metadata.

6.5 Controls and Troubleshooting

• A document needs a customer email, a future or current validity date, and a positive total before delivery.
• Delivery failures leave the draft available for correction and retry.
• Archived customers remain visible through stored snapshots, but new delivery, revision, and conversion actions are disabled.
• A document already converted to an invoice cannot be revised or converted again.
• If no email arrives, review the delivery state and document activity before resending.

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