Requests for quotation¶
Odoo’s requests for quotation (RFQs) feature in the Purchase app standardizes ordering products from multiple vendors with varying prices and delivery times.
RFQs are documents companies send to vendors requesting product pricing. In Odoo, once the vendor approves the RFQ, the purchase order (PO) is confirmed to align on lead times and pricing.
Configuration¶
Product¶
To auto-populate product information and prices on an RFQ, configure products by going to . Select an existing product, or create a new one by selecting New. Doing so opens the product form, where sales and purchasing data can be configured.
To configure purchasable products, tick the Purchase checkbox, under the product name. Next, go to the Inventory tab, and enable the Buy route.
Important
The Inventory tab and routes are only visible if using the Inventory app.
- menu
- Purchase ‣ Products ‣ Products ‣ (open a product)
- shows
- Product form with the "Purchase" checkbox ticked below the product name, the Inventory tab open, and the "Buy" route enabled.
- highlight
- The "Purchase" checkbox and the "Buy" route (red frame).
- data
- Demo company "YourCompany"; product "Office Chair Black".
- module
- purchase
- notes
- English UI, light theme, 1440px width.
Vendor pricelist¶
In the Purchase tab of the product form, click Add a line to input the vendor and their price, to have this information auto-populate on an RFQ each time the product is listed.
See also
Default columns include Quantity, Unit Price, and Delivery Lead Time, but other columns like, Vendor Product Code or Discount (%), can also be enabled.
To enable or disable columns, click the (additional options) icon on the right side of the header row to reveal a drop-down menu of additional columns that can be added (or removed) from the Purchase tab.
Additional columns worth enabling on a vendor pricelist line:
Company: restricts the price to a single company, in a multi-company database. Leave it empty to make the price available to every company.
Variant: restricts the price to a single product variant. Leave it empty to apply the price to every variant of the product.
Validity: two dates (Start Date and End Date) after which the vendor price is no longer used to auto-populate RFQs. Leave them empty for a price that never expires.
Note
Alternatively, prices and delivery lead times for existing products can be added by going to . Click New in the top-left corner. In the Vendor section of the pricelist form that appears, add the product information as it pertains to the vendor.
Note
This list can also show a Created on column (enable it via the (additional options) icon), which is useful for auditing when a vendor price was entered.
Vendors column on the product list¶
The Products list, under , shows a Vendors column listing every vendor with a price on that product’s vendor pricelist. Products can also be grouped by Vendor, via in the search bar.
Note
This column and grouping option are provided by the eYssen Purchase module
(eyssen_purchase).
Warnings¶
To display a custom message, or block the order, whenever a specific vendor or product is added to a purchase order, first navigate to , and under the Orders section, tick the Warnings checkbox. Then click Save.
Next, set the warning on a vendor by going to their contact form, and, in the Sales & Purchase tab, under the Purchase section, select Warning or Blocking Message in the Purchase Order Warning field, and enter the message to display.
To set a warning on a product instead, go to the product form, click the Purchase tab, and configure the same way in the Purchase Order Line Warning field.
Warning: a pop-up notifies the user of the message, but the order can still proceed.
Blocking Message: a pop-up displays the message, and the vendor (or product) is removed from the order.
Order products¶
With products and prices configured, follow these steps to create and send RFQs to make purchases for the company.
RFQ dashboard¶
To get started, navigate to .
The Requests for Quotation dashboard displays an overview of the company’s RFQs, POs, and their status. The top of the screen breaks down all RFQs in the company, as well as individual ones (where the user is the buyer) with a summary of their status.
The top-right corner also provides a report of the company’s recent purchases by total value, lead times, and number of RFQs sent.
Additionally, the dashboard includes buttons for:
To Send: orders in the RFQ stage that have not been sent to the vendor.
Waiting: RFQs that have been sent by email, and are waiting on vendor confirmation.
Late: RFQs or POs where the Order Deadline has passed.
- menu
- Purchase ‣ Orders ‣ Requests for Quotation
- shows
- The Requests for Quotation list with the To Send/Waiting/Late buttons and the recent purchases report at the top-right.
- highlight
- The To Send, Waiting, and Late buttons.
- data
- Demo company "YourCompany"; a handful of RFQs and POs in different states.
- module
- purchase
- notes
- English UI, light theme, 1440px width.
In addition to view options, the Requests for Quotation dashboard provides Filters and Group By options, accessible via the search bar drop-down menu.
Create a new RFQ¶
To create a new RFQ, click the New button on the top-left corner of the Requests for Quotation dashboard to reveal a new PO form.
Start by assigning a Vendor.
The Vendor Reference field points to the sales and delivery order numbers sent by the vendor. This comes in handy once products are received, and the PO needs to be matched to the delivery order.
With the Purchase Agreements feature activated, the Blanket Order field appears, referring to long-term purchase agreements on recurring orders with set pricing. To view and configure blanket orders, head to .
Important
The Purchase agreements view only appears if the Blanket Order setting is enabled. To do so, navigate to , then tick the Blanket Orders checkbox.
Next, configure an Order Deadline, which is the date by which the vendor must confirm their agreement to supply the products.
Note
After the Order Deadline is exceeded, the RFQ is marked as late, but the products can still be ordered.
Expected Arrival is automatically calculated based on the Order Deadline and vendor lead time. Tick the checkbox for Ask confirmation to ask the vendor to confirm the shipping date by email.
Note
Ask confirmation only appears if the Receipt Reminder setting is enabled, under . When enabled, Odoo automatically emails a reminder to the vendor a set number of days before the expected receipt, for any PO where Ask confirmation was ticked and the vendor has not yet confirmed. The number of days is set per vendor, on the Sales & Purchase tab of their contact form, in the Days Before Receipt field.
With the Storage Locations feature activated, the Deliver to field appears, which specifies which warehouse operation (set in the Inventory app) is used to receive the shipment.
Select the receiving warehouse address here, or select Dropship to indicate that this order is to be shipped directly to the end customer. When Dropship is selected, the Dropship address field is enabled. Contact names auto-populate here from the Contacts app.
Important
The Dropship options only appear if the Dropshipping setting is enabled in the Inventory app. To do so, navigate to , then tick the Dropshipping checkbox.
Tip
To create RFQs using different currencies, each currency needs to be enabled in the Invoicing app settings. See Foreign currencies to learn more.
Products tab¶
In the Products tab, add the products to be ordered. Click Add a product, and type in the product name, or select the item from the drop-down menu.
To create a new product and add it, type the new product name in the Product column, select Create [product name] from the resulting drop-down menu and manually add the unit price. Alternatively, select Create and edit… to be taken to the product form for that new item.
Catalog can also be selected to navigate to a product menu from the chosen vendor. From here, products can be added to the cart.
Note
To make adjustments to products and prices, access the product form by clicking the (right arrow) icon that becomes available upon hovering over the Product name.
Tip
With the Variant Grid Entry setting enabled, under , in the Products section, products with several variants (size, color, etc.) can be added to the RFQ through a grid, instead of one variant at a time. This mirrors the Sales app feature described in the Sales documentation; on a purchase order the setting is named Variant Grid Entry rather than Order Grid Entry.
Add items from a previous purchase order¶
On a draft RFQ, click the (add previous items) button, above the Products tab, to copy the product lines of an earlier purchase order into the current one.
In the Add Previous Items pop-up window, select the Previous Purchase to copy lines from, and choose what should happen If Product Duplication occurs (i.e., the current RFQ already has a line for one of the copied products):
Stop: cancels the whole operation with an error message.
Skip: leaves the existing line untouched, and copies over the remaining lines.
Replace: overwrites the existing line’s quantity and price with the copied values.
Increase: adds the copied quantity to the existing line’s quantity, and applies the copied price.
Click Add to copy the lines onto the current RFQ.
Note
This feature is provided by the Add Items from Previous Purchase module
(eyssen_add_item_from_previous_purchase), and is only available while the RFQ is in the
RFQ (draft) stage.
Send the RFQ¶
Clicking Send by Email reveals a Compose Email pop-up window, with a Purchase: Request for Quotation template loaded, ready to send to the vendor’s email address (configured in the Contacts app).
After crafting the desired message, click Send. Once sent, the RFQ moves to the RFQ Sent stage.
Clicking Print RFQ downloads a PDF of the RFQ.
See also
Confirm order¶
Clicking Confirm Order directly transforms the RFQ into an active PO.
Tip
Odoo tracks communications on each order through the chatter of the PO form. This shows the emails sent between the user and the contact, as well as any internal notes and activities. Messages, notes, and activities can also be logged on the chatter.
Once an RFQ is confirmed, it creates a PO.
On the new PO, the Order Deadline field changes to Confirmation Date, which displays the date and time the user confirmed the order.
Depending on the user’s chosen configuration in the Purchase app settings, a vendor bill is created once products have been ordered or received. For more information, refer to the documentation on managing vendor bills.
Note
After an order is placed, clicking Receive Products records the reception of new products into the database.
Note
With the Inventory app installed, confirming a PO automatically creates a receipt document, with the product information and expected arrival dates automatically populated.
See also
Purchase order approval¶
To require a manager’s approval before a purchase order over a certain amount can be confirmed, navigate to , and under the Orders section, tick the Purchase Order Approval checkbox. Then, in the Minimum Amount field that appears, enter the threshold amount, and click Save.
Once this setting is enabled, confirming an RFQ whose total is above the minimum amount moves it to the To Approve stage, instead of directly to Purchase Order. A user with the Purchase Manager role can then click Approve Order to confirm it.
Lock confirmed orders¶
To prevent confirmed purchase orders from being edited, navigate to , and under the Orders section, tick the Lock Confirmed Orders checkbox, then click Save.
With this setting enabled, every PO is automatically set to the Locked status once confirmed. To manually lock (or unlock) an individual order regardless of the setting, click the Lock (or Unlock) button on the PO form; unlocking requires the Purchase Manager role.
Purchase order status¶
Throughout its lifecycle, a purchase order moves through the following statuses, shown at the top of the form:
RFQ: the initial, unconfirmed, draft state.
RFQ Sent: the request for quotation has been emailed to the vendor.
To Approve: the order total is above the approval threshold, and is waiting for a manager to approve it.
Purchase Order: the order has been confirmed (or approved).
Locked: the confirmed order can no longer be edited.
Cancelled: the order was cancelled.
Order quantity totals¶
On the PO form, next to the tax totals under the Products tab, a Sum Qty
block lists the total ordered quantity of each unit of measure used on the order (for example, 12
Units and 3 kg), together with the number of distinct storable products and services on the
order. A shorter version of this total, such as 2 P, 15 Qty, is also available as an optional
column (Sum Qty) on the Requests for Quotation and purchase order lists.
Note
This feature is provided by the Add Quantity Total for Purchase module
(eyssen_quantity_total_purchase).