Sales job lifecycle

Sales job lifecycle at a glance

A sales job carries commercial work from an early opportunity through inquiry, offer, order, and delivery. A Potential is an early sales opportunity you record before Inquiry work.

mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Potentials
    Potentials --> Inquiries: Inquiry
    Inquiries --> Offers: Offer
    Offers --> Orders: Convert To Order
    Orders --> Delivered: Deliver Order
    Potentials --> Missed: Missed Opportunity
    Inquiries --> Regretted: Regret To Offer
    Offers --> Regretted: Regret To Offer
    Inquiries --> Cancelled: Inquiry Cancelled By Client
    Offers --> Lost: Lost job
    Orders --> Rejected: Reject Order Acceptance
    Orders --> CancelledOrder: Order Cancelled By Client

The normal path is Potentials, Inquiries, Offers, Orders, then Delivered. The lifecycle exits are Missed Opportunity, Regret To Offer, Inquiry Cancelled By Client, Lost job, Reject Order Acceptance, Order Cancelled By Client, and the archived outcomes for rejected and deleted work.

Before you follow a sales job

Before you follow a sales job, make sure you can open the sales area and work with the record.

Prerequisites

• You are signed in.
• The record is saved before you use an existing-job stage action.
• You have edit access when an action changes the stage.
• Company setup determines whether Order chance is required.
• Your saved list layout determines the columns shown.

Direct-order and instant-job records do not follow the same Potential-to-Inquiry route as a target job.

Result: You know which access, record, job-type, and setup conditions affect the route.

Find the job and its current work list

The sales-job list groups work by the stage or outcome you need to review. The Inquiry list shows Inquiry date, Inquiry type, and Inquiry stage.

Prerequisites

• You are signed in.
• You know whether you need Potential, Inquiry, Offer, Order, or archived work.

Steps

1. Open Sales jobs.

2. Select Inquiries.

3. Select the list tab for the work you need.

4. Read Inquiry date, Inquiry type, and Inquiry stage.

5. Select a job row to open its record.

6. Select the list tool you need:

   If you need to…	Select
   Reload the list	Refresh
   Adjust the saved list layout	Table Layout
   Open list settings	Settings

Result: The selected list remains on screen, or the selected row opens the sales-job record.

Read the job's lifecycle position

A sales-job record is the workspace for one job as it moves between commercial stages. The available controls depend on the job type, current stage, edit access, and related records.

The item area uses Item Description, Unit, and Qty. Item Description is required. Qty must be greater than 0 and no greater than 999,999.00. Unit is unavailable for package items or products.

On an active record, Offer and Order may be available. Status and Regret To Offer may not appear. Availability varies by record; Project management and Delivered may not appear on an active record.

Follow the happy path

The happy path moves one sales job from early opportunity work to delivery. Use the focused page for the fields and committing action at each handover.

Prerequisites

• You can open the saved sales-job record.
• The current stage and job type meet the next action's condition.
• You have edit access for a stage-changing action.

Steps

1. Select the stage you need:

   If you need to…	Select	When
   Work with early opportunity information	Potentials	The job is a target job, not a direct order or instant job.
   Open inquiry work	Inquiry	The job is not a direct order, instant job, or missed potential.
   Open offer work	Offer	The job type and readiness conditions allow offer work.

2. Select Convert To Order after a valid offer is available.

3. Select Order to review order work.

4. Select Deliver Order when the order conditions allow delivery.

Result: The job is in the next work area when the handover completes. Continue with Potentials, Inquiries, Offers, Orders, and From orders to delivered.

Handle exits and alternate branches

An exit records why a job no longer follows the normal route. Choose the outcome that matches the job's current stage.

Prerequisites

• You know the current stage from the available stage controls.
• You have edit access for the outcome action.

Steps

1. Select the applicable outcome:

   Current work	Control
   Potential work that will not continue	Missed Opportunity
   Inquiry or Offer work that is regretted	Regret To Offer
   Inquiry work cancelled by the client	Inquiry Cancelled By Client
   Offer work that is lost	Lost job
   Order work rejected by the client	Reject Order Acceptance
   Order work cancelled by the client	Order Cancelled By Client

2. Open Missed, regretted and cancelled jobs.

Result: The outcome branch is identified and its focused procedure is available.

When the route goes wrong

Use the exact message on screen to choose the next focused page.

These messages belong to focused pages:

Continue the work

This page maps the route. Use the focused destination for the next action.

Result: You have a destination for the next sales-job action.