5.1 - Quotation Document

What are Quotation Templates?  

Elfsquad allows you to generate documents from your quotations with a Quotation Template. A Quotation Template works as follows: 

1. All data is collected from your quotation. This includes data about the Seller and Debtor and the configurations on the Quotation. 

2. The template is used to determine which data will appear on the document and where this data will be placed. 
   
   

You can generate a Quotation Document  from a Quotation if you click on Document. You can choose to generate a PDF or Docx printout. In this training we are going to create a quotation template for basic quotation documents. In this training we will talk about creating a Quotation Template, but this can also be used for brochures, order confirmations, order lists or request documents.

Preparation

Quotation Templates are created with Microsoft Word using an XML scheme. You can add an XML scheme if you have added the Developers tab to Word. If you have already added this, you can proceed to the next part. Otherwise, follow the steps below. 

Developers tab

1. Open Word.

2. In the top-left corner, click on File.

3. Click Options in the drop-down menu.

4. A pop-up window will appear, go to Customize Ribbon

5. Under  Customize the Ribbons, you will see Developers on the right side under main tabs.

6. Check these and click OK.

Adding Elfsquad XML scheme to Word

In the Developer tab, we now see the XML Assignment window button. We are now going to add an XML schema to the document, we are first going to retrieve it from Elfsquad.

1. In the EMS, go to Quotations → Templates.

2. Click on the top right button 'download XML scheme'.

3. The XML schema is downloaded, you don't need to click on it.

4. Go back to Word and click on Developer →  XML Mapping Pane. 

5. Under Custom XML part, click on the drop-do to add a new part.

6. Click on add new part and add the downloaded schema.

7. After you have done this, you can choose the 'Elfskot quotation Scheme' in Word.

Placeholders

In the 'Elfskot quotation scheme' you see a list of all available placeholders. All the information  about a Quotatio  can be placed on the document using the Placeholders. A Placeholder tells the quotation document which data will be placed where. For example, we can retrieve quotation numbers, customer data and item codes. 

Basic data XML

First, we are going to retrieve some basic data from the quote on our quote document. Add the following table to your Word document.

Put the cursor in the right column behind Quotation number in the table. Then go to the XML Mapping Pane, right-click on QuotationNumber and then on Add Content Control.  You will now see a number of options, most of which you will use: 

• Rich Text: The formatting of the text will be taken from the configurator. 

Note! Word converts the HTML formatting to RTF. This means that the formatting  from the EMS will be lost. 

• Plain text: Only the plain text from the configurator is used. The rest of the formatting is determined in Word.

• Picture: For example a logo or a Feature image.

For the Quotation Number, we choose Plain text. You choose this option because we want to manage the formatting one place in Word. 

The text [[QuotationNumber]] will now appear in the right-hand column. We will do the same for the other data in the table. 

Tip: To make it clearer to distinguish a placeholder from fixed text you can turn on the design mode, orange flags will appear around the Placeholder. 

We are now going to save the template and upload it into Elfsquad.  

1.    Save the template in a recognizable location.

2. Return to the EMS.

3.    In the left navigation panel, open quotations → templates.

4. Click on Upload. 

After you have uploaded the template, we can see if the correct information is displayed.

Assignment

In addition to the general data, we want to retrieve the Customer (Debtor) information on our quote document. Create a table where you will retrieve the Customer name, street name, house number and zip code.